Of course, we’ll probably see one of those “special” lineups tonight. And I still don’t know why Norton is DHing. I should stop complaining, I know.
159 Comments
Advertisement
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Of course, we’ll probably see one of those “special” lineups tonight. And I still don’t know why Norton is DHing. I should stop complaining, I know.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
I love that Rangers slip-and-slide video.
Chuck James still has it – at minor league level at least. Cruising through 6 innings with only 2 hits given up on 75 pitches.
I’d give serious consideration to calling him up for the pen after the ASB.
So far this year, cautious optimism has been a recipe for disaster.
Of course, pretty much everything has been a recipe for disaster.
Who knew so many different things would make the same thing?
Has anyone found the game on TV yet?
Go Fresno State!!
Ah, it’s coming on at 8:00. I thought it was coming on at 3:30.
Little heads up, Corky is starting tonight at C.
How do you know that at this time, Jake?
Hopefully McCann is the DH…please?
I’ve been lobbying for Sammons to replace Corky, but unfortunately he wouldn’t be a huge upgrade at this point. Batting .257 in AAA with 1 HR and a .664 OPS isn’t going to cut it. Apparently Pena must have called an awful game and had very poor defensive skills – if not, we really messed up.
Campillo pitching = Corky catching
evidently
Is the game at 8pm? Seems listed at that time all over but I’m pretty sure they said during last nights game it was moved up to 5pm… or have I gone completely mental at last.
I hope Mcann is the DH.
James should stay in AAA for a long strecth, let him get his velocity back, lord knows he need it(some).
5 p.m. Pacific = 7 p.m. Central = 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPN, right?
Is the game at 8pm? Seems listed at that time all over but Iâm pretty sure they said during last nights game it was moved up to 5pm⌠or have I gone completely mental at last.
I assume they meant moved to 5:00 PM PDT after tonight’s game was picked up by ESPN.
Ah, d’uh. Silly me, as it was already listed at 8pm when they said it in game I didn’t even think about Pacific time, just figured it was moved for some reason.
Thanks.
Side note: Watching PHI-STL, they have the camera directly behind the mound, looks sort of weird.
And the Cardinals wins it in the 10th on the second bad throw in the inning by Utley to Gordon at first.
Phils lose. Maybe, we can gain another one.
Maybe the Phills will keep cooling off and we will keep playing like we did the last two nights. I think we beed to shoot for being within 4 or 5 at the break
Damn Yankees….13-0 over the Astros?
Not to get off the subject, but is Mike Mussina a Hall of Famer? I think so. Considering the league he pitched in, the bandbox he pitched in and he still is going to get to 260 wins….has my vote….
Tonight’s lineup:
1. SS Escobar, 2. 2B Kelly Johnson, 3. DH Chipper Jones, 4. 1B Mark Teixeira, 5. RF Jeff Francoeur, 6. 3B Omar Infante, 7. LF Brandon Jones, 8. C Corky Miller and 9. CF Gregor Blanco
Infante and Corky?
Ballgame.
Dan,
That’s the line-up? You mean Norton gets a night off….
actually, apart from Porky catching, I don’t mind this lineup. I wish McCann was in but it’s good that Chip gets the night off in the field without losing his bat — and right now, I’d rather have Infante in than Norton.
but, I’d rather have Infante hitting in the 2nd slot and drop Kelly back to 6th or 7th
I agree with joesteve…
Damn, KJ is down to .283. he’s slumping that bad?
Johnson hit a homerun just last night….
Tony, I hereby challenge you to make 3 or more consecutive posts that don’t include the word, “damn.”
That lineup begs the question. If Corky is batting #8, why doesn’t Bobby bat the pitcher 8th in NL games?
Chipper DH tonight
Escobar SS
Johnson 2B
Chipper DH
Tex 1B
Francoeur RF
Infante 3B
B. Jones LF
Corker C
Blanco CF
I can’t tear myself away from this golf tournament.
32 — there’s something you’ll never hear me say.
nothing against the game of golf… i’ve just never gotten into it. definitely can’t get into watching it on tv.
sweet, 2 hits to lead off the game.
Hear that, everybody? Chipper had a “cute little antidote” about his trip to the hospital.
heh heh. oh joe morgan…
well, way to waste the 2 hits
I really dislike you, Mark Teixeira.
What a waste.
(Looks like Chipper is finally cooling off.)
It does, Stu. Though it’s really awfully hard to see in that stupid half-light necessitated by the ESPN start time.
nice DP
That 3-1 pitch was ridiculously inside. I think the ump just wanted to show Yunel up for starting to walk to first before the call.
Agreed, AAR. It wasn’t close. I wonder if some umpires take exception to Yunel’s bat-flip.
what’s the line on how many times will joe say “chipper has an advantage being a switch hitter” tonight?
Sheesh–Cox finally DH’s Chipper on the night McCann is out of the lineup. Hard to complain about winning last night but that would have been the game to DH Chipper.
That was close.
28 pitches, 22 strikes
Saunders with 35 pitches after 3 and Campillo with 28… that’s pretty ridiculous.
No, Joe Morgan, you are wrong.
Pop quiz: Should pitchers attempt to field a batted ball with their pitching hand?
a) Yes
b) No
The correct answer, Joe Saunders, is b.
Damn, Tiger is clutch. 18 hole playoff tomorrow.
I love watching Tiger Woods play golf.
Jon Miller seemed awfully surprised at Saunders’ having retired Francoeur on one pitch. He must not watch a lot of Braves games.
Stop the presses…Corky with a base hit!
Corky gets his one hit for the month with two out and no one on…
We’re fielding such a terrible lineup.
That’s harsh on Corky.
Don’t forget his home run when we were 7-0 down late earlier this week.
Man, Campillo is just throwing slop. I love watching this guy. His pitches are so slow and have so much movement he’s almost Wakefield.
Well, that ought to be enough to bury tonight’s offense.
How the heck was that a homerun?
ballpark’s too small down the line if that went out. one handed, out in front.
stupidest homer i’ve ever seen. And i haven’t seen it posted tonight, but joe morgan is an idiot.
Yunel should be fined every time he tries to bunt.
Miller just said that a leadoff single was “much more satisfactory” than a leadoff walk.
Yunel’s going to make a life-long enemy out of that home-plate umpire.
I’m just waiting for an umpire to revive the Little League rule about not flipping the bat and call Yunel out after a single.
I would agree with him, braves14. It’s much more satisfactory for a hitter to get a hit than a walk. Of course, they’re both great, but at the end of the day, a hit is better than a walk.
How accurate is the K-Zone?
A leadoff hit? If there are baserunners, sure, but in that situation it doesn’t matter.
Either is satisfactory, because they both accomplish the hitter’s primary goal of reaching base; but you’re right, the single is probably more satisfying. But that’s not what Miller said.
Chipper is now hitting .403
I saw Yunel before one of the Cubs game talking to the home plate umpire before the game, letting him know that flipping the bat is “his thing.” I’m sure/hope he’s been doing that before every game with a new umpire.
Jason, I was listening. That is what he said. The umpire screwed him on the walk, so he ripped a single. Miller said that that was much more satisfactory. And it was.
I know this is nothing new, but how is Joe Morgan still employed by ESPN?
Ooh, a chance for Francoeur to strand 2 baserunners!
I can’t stand Morgan’s hitting analysis. Teix’s head is pretty still.
Rob,
I wasn’t implying that you weren’t; I was simply saying that, in a vacuum — or at the beginning of an inning — a single and a walk are essentially equal. Thus, neither is more satisfactory. However, as you alluded to, a hitter would prefer a single to a walk. Which leads me to believe that Miller meant to say (or should have said) satisfying rather than satisfactory. Sorry if it came off as snippy toward you.
Fr*nc***r just hit that ball off his shoes.
I rewinded the DVR to see again what Morgan said, so I told me sister by the time we went back to the live action, the inning would be over (Frenchy was down 1-2). When we got back, there were runners on 2nd and 3rd, so I said, “Now he’ll strand two runners in scoring position instead of one.” I wish I wasn’t right.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but dumb and dumber had a pretty good point. For all the $hit that we give Francoeur, it’s good to point out that he is younger than Escobar.
Wait a second, another two stranded. He’s got to have the worst approach at the plate of anyone I’ve seen
Do you guys like Lou Pinella? I’ve always kind of liked him, but he’s never really been recognized as a top manager.
Joe Morgan got an honorary doctorate?!?!?!?!
I’ve lost faith in academia…
Hey, Corky threw someone out!
And he got a hit earlier. What the heck is going on here?
what school did he make the speech at
California State University.
Wow… a doctorate for Joe Morgan. I may as well give up. I’m almost 30 years old and still have at least a couple of more years before I get my phd (assuming I can even pass my tests at the end of the summer). And my great reward will be a $30k job. heh heh. The road less traveled by…
Rob… coming from inside academia, I advise you to not have much faith in it. heh heh.
If only Francoeur were an alcoholic, we might occasionally get a “flu-like symptoms” reprieve. Alas, he plays and sucks every single day.
Cal State East Bay
Campillo might go 9 tonight. It would be nice if we could score some runs.
soooo are they gonna give ole george campillo some run support tonight?
Pinella: Good to play for when you’re doing well; I’ve noticed not so much when you’re not.
Corky’s defensive legend grows
Joe giving a speech for college grads is like Ahmadinejad giving a pro-Zionism speech. Tough to imagine.
Campillo’s face two over the minimum through six, and those two are the ones that scored on that dinky-ass pop-up by Kotchman that somehow made it over the fence.
The offense really needs to get it in gear.
This ESPN broadcast has talked about the Braves a lot more than the Angels.
Corky looks like Vinny Castilla at the plate. Too bad he doesn’t like even late-career Vinny.
hit like*
@93, I noticed that too. Weird, huh?
Raise your hand if you are sick and tired of the “Daily Willie Randolph Job Status” stories. We get it, he’s on thin ice. Thank you.
97 — one of the problems of 24-7 sports coverage.
If you trust the ESPN radar gun, it said one of Campillo’s last few pitches was at 61 MPH.
we need to score runs next inning – i don’t like our chances against K-Rod.
that curve should have rung vlad up
Yeah, that was strike 3.
I wouldn’t like this lineup’s chances against me in slow-pitch softball.
Campillo at 80 pitches through 7.
LOL, I absolutely hate the DH in the AL, but I have to admit, Campillo would be pulled this inning if we were playing in the NL for a batter on the bench – who would proceed to strike out or something.
Joshua, I don’t like them against Shields either.
I’m listening on the radio. Pete and Lemmer are discussing that the Angels are closely examining a foul ball in the dugout. The implication is that they think Campillo movement is so good that they are wondering if he is doctoring the ball.
Interesting.
Jorge Campillo may be Spanish for Lew Burdette.
(minus the career)
Why the hell is Kelly bunting with Chipper on deck.
Thank God their starter is gone. This team is bad against left handers.
I hope Cox doesn’t yank Campillo out of habit. Let him pitch.
jj3bagger, I’ve been tired of that for a long time. It also seems to be a story the media has manufactured. If Wilpon was going to can him, he would have done it by now. Just cut it already, ESPN…
Bunting?!?
Ugh!
Damn it, Bobby. We need two runs. Getting Escobar to second does very little good. Do not bunt.
I have no clue.
Well, maybe Chipper can hit a homer.
Bleh, looks like game over.
Or a patented Braves lineout.
I think that’s ball game right there.
Can’t believe the Braves are going to lose 2-0.
Or maybe 2-1 just to obtain that MLB one-run road loss record.
At least the Phillies lost…
This may be the relatively rare 8 inning complete game for Jorge.
This may be the rare 8 inning complete game for Jorge.
Is there a word for being anti-clutch?
blah double post.
If our younger guys keep up what they have been doing, we may just have a good to very good rotation.
Seriously, who thought we’d throw out Reyes, Morton, and Campillo and win at least 2 games against the Angels??? That’s pretty good.
What do you guys bet Bobby still doesn’t bring in McCann to replace Infante or one of our other scrubs in the 9th???
Great game by Campillo.
I went to the R-Braves game this afternoon, and got to enjoy a 3-1 win. Looks like that’ll be the only win I get today.
Chuck James was the starter and he went 7 very solid innings. He gave up three hits (two in the second inning, one of which was a popup to right that the RF trapped on a dive), and did not walk anybody. He had eight strikeouts and looked sharp. When he had two strike on a batter he really bore down and got his man for the most part. I really enjoyed watching him.
Mike Gonzalez pitched the 9th and allowed two hits, but he got out of it on a double play. He looked like he still needs to get some work in before coming back up. I was a little discouraged watching him pitch. He was hit hard.
Brent Lillibridge has been in a terrible slump, but he went 3-3 today with a triple (he scored on a sac fly by Anderson) and two singles. The opposing pitcher looked like he was throwing a knuckleball (and made the rest of the team look silly for the most part), so maybe Lillibridge just likes slower pitches. When he was up, did he look overmatched on fastballs? The last R-Braves game I was at was last season, and Lillibridge hit a walk-off grand slam that night, so I’ve never really seen him struggle.
Jason Perry was the hitting hero tonight. He went 2-4 with a two-run homer. Barbaro Canizares (I’ve never heard of him) DHed and had the team’s other two hits.
After the game families got to play catch on the outfield grass in honor of Father’s Day, which was pretty cool. I’ll be sad to see the team leave after this year.
That’s our cleanup hitter…
Thansk Rissa for the update from Richmond–its nice to have a AAA game made vivid.
Francoeur vs. K-Rod is a joke. What a total mis-match.
See, Mac, this is what happens when you’re optimistic. Go back to despair.
Why Norton, and not McCann?
Anybody down in our lineup behind Chipper is a joke against K-Rod.
That’ll teach Mac to be cautiously optimistic. Anyway, I’ll echo the sentiment about winning two out of three. That’s two more than I thought.
You needed a runner on before you used McCann.
“Why Norton, and not McCann?”
In case Corky gets hurt in the post-game press conference, and you need to bring in your backup.
Duh.
‘Rissa, thanks for the update. I keep holding out hope for Chuck to get back to his form of two years ago and become an effective major league pitcher. He’s so damned tantalizing!
Once again…Tex and Frenchy kill us against a righthander. Now Chipper has finally cooled off against righties too…
I want to look at the bright side tonight and am pleased that this team missing so many players on such a terrible losing streak and on the road, won 2 of 3 in Anaheim. It’s a miracle, frankly.
Anyway, I am also passing a message to everyone from Mac that power has gone out across the state of Alabama (interestingly, he chose not to blame from Jeff Francouer) and he’ll have to post a new thread tomorrow.
Night everyone.
I think Chuck may be ready.
His Richmond numbers: 1.18 ERA, 38 IP, 11 BB, 38 K, 0 HR
28 K*
Here’s hoping that some extra rest will help Jurrjens get back on track.
Spent the weekend at the beach, didn’t get to see any of the weekend games. Kinda disappointed I missed em, after all the pain and suffering we went through last week.
Just got done browsing the threads…
…sounds like we played a great series. Got some great performances from the kids, a great start by Campillo, kinda disappointed we didn’t get the sweep for him…but I guess that’s gettin greedy. Definitely more positive tone to the threads here this weekend than what we were posting last week. đ But I guess that’s to be expected when you go into interleague play against one of the AL’s best coming off of a pathetic 6 game losing streak with a bunch of injuries, playing a bunch of kids, and then surprisingly, take 2 out of 3. I don’t really know what else to say except, “Classic Braves.” đ but I’ll take it, that’s for sure.
Obviously, the team still has a lot of issues, and this, in all likelihood isn’t our year. But here’s to hoping this is the beginning of a turnaround!
Looks like Cole Rohrbough’s troubles are continuing:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_06_15_romafx_clmafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb
At least Barrett pitched ok out of relief. Given their trajectories, I wonder if these pitchers are really healthy….
Stephen, you see can Rohrbough’s problem is his control. He has no problem in getting his Ks and the hit-allowed rate is not out of control.
Yes–but at the same level last year he was dominating and did not have the same control problems, leading me to believe (plus the time in extended spring training) that something is amiss….
I am with KC; I think if he was hurt, his k rate would be down, and his hits given up would be terrible. You have to like 31 k’s in 24 innings, which isn’t that off the 38 k’s in 28 innings last year. Maybe it is just rust, and when he drops the walks, he will be okay? I sure hope so.
It’s a small sample. The components are fine except for the 14 BBs in 24 IP. Relax, if he gets his control fixed he’ll be back on track.
Meanwhile, the first round pick of Cody Johnson is looking kinda dumb.
Former Gamecock second baseman Travis Jones is hitting really well at Myrtle Beach, as well as shortstop Brandon Hicks.
To be sure, its hard to know–but he was absolutely lights out last year; now his era is 6.75. In other words, he should have sailed through the South Atlantic League, but instead required extra spring traning and lost his command. I hope that it is just an issue of control.
With respect to Cody Johnson, I continue to hope against hope–seriously, he was terrible in 2006 moved up to Danville and dominated in 2007. I am hoping that since he has significantly improved before he will again….hope does spring eternal…
Can’t complain about taking two out of three in Anaheim; a sweep was not really realistic, especially in a twi-light game against a tough left-hander.
In the long run, the injuries to Smoltz and Glavine might help the Braves. They might finally be developing some decent young pitching. Unfortunately, they are stuck with Jeff “Out Man” Francouer in the lineup and, with Mark “I suck hitting right-handed” Teixera, against lefties, they have the equivalent of Andruw Jones in the clean up spot.
Abbreviated quickie recap is up. Sorry for the delay. Blame Comcast and/or AT&T, who are blaming each other for the problem.
Teixera is almost as good defensively at first as Andruw was in center. Maybe the mountain air will wake him offensively.
Brandon Jones has surprised pleasantly so far. I hope he’s not Marte Redux. If he wants to earn everyday leftfielder status, that’s fine by me. I’ll be glad to admit I was wrong.
Also, the kid starters and middle-aged rookie Campillo have done better than could have been expected. Hope lives.
“Sweep was unrealistic”. I don’t understand that at all. Here is Joe Saunders line his last time out:
4.2 innings 9 hits, 8 ER against the Rays at home.
Let’s not make Saunders Johan Santana b/c he is not. Bottomline is against any lefty the Braves suck. The reason: Mark Texieria and Jeff Francouer.
âSweep was unrealisticâ. I donât understand that at all. Here is Joe Saunders line his last time out:
4.2 innings 9 hits, 8 ER against the Rays at home.
Letâs not make Saunders Johan Santana b/c he is not. Bottomline is against any lefty the Braves suck. The reason: Mark Texieria and Jeff Francouer.
Why is Brandon Jones being compared to Andy Marte? From what I can remember…Marte did nothing at all when he was called up. And they play two different positions.
Well, the Angels are one of the best teams in baseball and Saunders does have 9 wins (10 now). Just because he had a bad game the last time out doesn’t mean he is a bad pitcher. All I was saying is that you can’t generally expect to sweep good teams on the road, especially since the Braves can’t hit any lefties. The old Braves might have done it, but this is not that team.
Interesting, though, that the Braves are 3-0 against pitchers named Santana.