You know who sucks? Everybody in the Braves’ lineup, that’s who. Francoeur still sucks, but he hit a solo homer in the eighth inning. This not only was all the runs, it was half the hits the Braves had on the night, as once again the Dodgers flirted with a perfect game — no baserunners through six innings, until Blanco singled leading off the seventh. This is embarrassing.
The Dodgers starter was Derek Lowe, who either dominates the Braves or gets knocked out of the box. Obviously, it was the former last night. Tim Hudson matched him for the first four innings, but the Dodgers got a double in the fifth. With two out in the sixth, he gave up a solo homer. In the seventh, he ealked a man to face Andruw, who singled up the middle to make it 2-0.
The Braves’ only “rally” was after Blanco’s leadoff single in the seventh, when he made it to third with one out. But Chipper — who is officially in a slump for the first time this year — grounded out to the pitcher. Teixeira almost flipped the game, but his drive was caught on the warning track.
This has gone from frustrating to pathetic.
I remember someone said the Braves should do pretty well on this roadtrip….Well 1-2 so far and get Jake Peavy tonite, Maybe Jake can finally do what the Braves have been asking for and pitch the perfect game.
Don Mattingly will be the new Dodgers hitting coach. Why can’t the Braves see that what is going with the team now is not working. TP has done a great job, “promote” him to another position.
Chipper has cooled off now, which was expected. But no one else has picked up the slack. I wonder if Escobar is completely healthy? He’s starting to slump.
If this team is more than 5 out at the all-star break…I say sell.
I agree that the team on paper seems to be ok, but for some reason they can’t put it together. Maybe the legendary Bobby Cox should do a Giraldi and light a fire. Or maybe he should quit…4.5 behind the Marlins? Would Freddy come back to Atl? This is beyond frustrating.
It’s hard to believe this team is as bad as it seems to be. Even with the injuries and the bad outfield, is this really a below .500 team? Apparently it is. I really can’t see this team finishing .500; there is nothing to suggest that things will get much better. I’m really just baffled, although this is pretty much the way the team has played for the last three years. I almost think they would be better off if they traded Teixera, threw in the towel and just relaxed. For all the talk over the years about how Bobby’s clubhouse was a major reason why the Braves won, it doesn’t seem to be working anymore. These guys are tight as a drum.
from the last thread…..”I really wonder if Bobby really sent Kotsay to steal in the eighth inning or if Kotsay ran on his own…it took away Chipper’s chance in the ninth.”
good question. I didnt mind the move, but its not like Gotay would’ve gotten anything done anyways. It would have cleared a chance for Chipper to hit, which is what you would normally want. Chipper flat out sucked that series (just like everyone else), but he had his chance in the 7th and did a terrible job.
Serious question here….Did Chipper even hit a ball to the outfield in that series? Seems like he either K’d or hit very weak grounders
just if you’re wondering, this should sum everything up about our offense….
“During each of the first four innings in these three games, they went hitless in 36 at-bats.”
this may or may not be politics, but Jesse Jackson said that he wants to cut Obama’s nuts off. All politics aside, thats pretty funny that Jesse got caught on air saying that.
Chipper should not play again until after the All Star break, he is hurting so is esco. We are losing with them in the line-up, we can lose without them.
Let Lilli play everyday, if he gets a hit maybe we can trade him for a Hitting Coach.
csg, I think it relates in the same way that some of our fans have gotten angry enough to do that to our own players. On a similar note, Joe was telling a story last night that when the Braves were walking through centerfield after the game to head to the bus, a Dodgers fan yelled at them to please take back Andruw Jones. Now THAT is hilarious.
Let’s not go there, CSG.
Pythagoras was a dope dept: The Braves outscored the Dodgers for the series, 10-8.
We’re about one more game where Francoeur gets a hit and we can’t score from the “Phillip Wellman for hitting coach” movement.
I think Jesse Jackson would be an offensive upgrade from Corky Miller, but that’s all I’ll say on the subject.
Would the Braves fire TP during the season? Or is the best we can hope for an upward promotion? Would that even happen?
why does everyone think Chip is hurting? He’s not going to hit .400 all year, he’s going to have slumps. He’s running fine, swing is okay, and he’s not grimacing out there at all. Lets face it he had a terrible series, plain and simple. If you take him and Escobar out of this lineup, oh my, we would reach a new level of suck!
as for the Kotsay/Cox decision to run. I really think Cox was trying a hit and run with Gotay at the plate. Gotay swung through a fastball and Kotsay was out by 3 steps. Seriously, without Infante, the only possible guy on the bench to try and hit and run would be Prado. Bobby saw Torre do the hit and run in the 1st game and everytime we got someone to 1st, he started trying the same thing.
#9 – my bad
What worse level of suck could we reach? Is better to have players hurt and struggling in the lineup when the team is not even treading water?
If they are hurt, which many feel is the case, sit em, cant hurt our record any.
looking for positives… Frenchy hit a mistake (so I read — sinker that stayed up). If he can revert back to hitting those and not letting too many fastballs by him then maybe he could at least get back to normal Frenchy level instead of recent abysmal Frenchy level.
csg….
if Chipper didn’t play in the dodger series at all he wouldn’t have made a difference seeing how his stats for the series read 0-10 with 5 k’s. So if you did take chipper out this past series, we wouldn’t have reached a new level of suck. This team can’t suck anymore.
Only he knows if he is hurt and like all the players have said, they press way too hard at times. Having Chipper in there isn’t going to carry this team face it. I think Chipper may feel like he is pressed to play even though he is not up tp par just because this team has been so disappointing.
Chipper is a .239 career hitter in Dodgers Stadium.
This is what folks were afraid of back in May, when the team was just losing tough games for reasons related to bad luck, bad managing, and bad late-game performances. While we knew Teixeira would come to life, we knew (1) Chipper and McCann would slow down a bit, (2) the back end of the rotation would falter, and (3) the weak outfield would never pick up any slack.
Is this a .500 team or better? No way. Not even fully healthy (which nobody ever is). This team is six games below .500 with Chipper and McCann both having monster years, with the pleasant surprises of Blanco, Reyes, with the breakout of Jurrjens, and with some of the best overall pitching in the NL.
Did everyone miss this – Jason Phillips in Richmond.
I have not heard about this. Surely, this is the beginning of the process to replace Corky.
Amazing series. Perfecto’d for the first 4 innings in all 3 games? Amazing.
I considered making a quip yesterday before the game about how we had another golden opportunity to out-score our opponents and still lose the series, but I don’t like being on the pessimism train….
Yep.
So Chipper has a bad series and you want to make him sit out another one? I dont understand how taking him out would do anything for anyone. Like I said, just because he had a bad series doesnt mean he’s hurt, it just means he’s human. You take him and Escobar out for the SD series and replace them with Lilli and Gotay, we probably lose all three and the season is completely lost. Both of them played very solid defense in the last series, no one did anything with the bat in the 1st and 3rd games.
Well, Rob Neyer seems to think that run differential is far more important than actual record so he probably thinks the Braves are really a good team. At the end of the season, the Braves can host their Pythagorean championship banner or something.
Im bored, so here you go….our catchers in our farm and its not a pretty sight
avg/obp/slg/ops
Sammons -AAA .230/.289/.302/.591
Phillips – AAA .133/.235/.200/.435
Boscan – AA .204/.299/.272/.571
Camarena – AA .201/.261/.268/.529
Johnson – Rome .227/.280/.297/.577
Dominguez – Rome .216/.286/.284/.569
Britton – Myrtle .226/.249/.312/.560
Flowers – Myrtle .271/.411/.436/.847
Kennelly – Danville .281/.313/.469/.782
Sucre – Danville .180/.212/.320/.532
Anderson – Danville .125/.364/.250/.614
Elorriage-Matra – GCL .375/.392/.500/.892
Marvel – GCL .364/.417/.364/.780
Schlehuber – GCL .216/.341/.243/.584
Redden – GCL .000/.200/.000/.200
so DFA’ing Pena was probably the worst thing that could have happened. Flowers is the next best catcher in our system behind McCann.
Read on the AJC blog that someone had started calling Frenchy ‘Stenchy’ Well at least I thought it was funny
I am resigned to the fact that this team simply isn’t good. I can’t figure out why it isn’t winning more since as Mac has pointed out we have the hard stuff working. Good hitting infield, decent to good starting pitching, ok to decent relief pitching. Ok so the outfield and the bench stinks. Maybe its becuase we don’t do anything great. And good isn’t good enough to overcome a bad outfield and a stinky bench. Frustrating.
Has Francoeur made it onto the All-Mac Hates Them Team?
I can’t believe that Mac hates Reggie Sanders more than Frenchy.
a few notes from the game last night and thoughts for the future:
chipper had a nice foot sandwich last night when he couldn’t deliver with one out and a runner on third.
imo, chipper looks healthy, or as healthy as chipper can be. taking him out for any reason when he says he able to play is setting his team up for failure.
escobar is not making good decisions at the plate. he has not drawn a walk since jun 19th, his last 49 at bats. just like everyone else that can hit on this team, he seems to be feeling the pressure to produce. being young, he probably feels like walking isnt production. in this period of time, his obp has dropped 24 points. if someone in braves mamagement would even take a glance at stats, they might see the problem and have a talk with him. however, knowing bobby’s abilty to shun cold hard facts (like using greg norton to pinch hit against a lh pitcher instead of kj), it wouldnt help anyway.
on a frenchy note, let him rip at the ball. i know he’s not going to walk. i know he’s going to get out in critical situations, but his swing the past few nights has actually looked lethal again. as baseball-educated braves fans, we can see through the bullshit and know that he is not that good, but he’s not going anywhere (especially now). if he can collect 1-2 hard hits per game and play above average defense, he might be useful.
after last night’s game, i wanted to declare a fire sale and trade our team for a lifetime supply of wet-naps. but today, i feel a bit different. i think it’s an ideal time to start shopping tex hardcore. if we can package tex and ohman for some major league ready talent, i say do it. if ortiz can’t stay healthy, sending tex and ohman to boston will allow youkilis to be the primary dh and make casey expendable for the rest of the year. if we could acquire casey to fill-in for the rest of the year, another lower level 1b (aaron bates) for the future, and 1-2 right handed hitting outfield prospects, then it would be worth the “seemingly” sacrifice for the season seeing as though our minor-league cupboard is dry of rh outfielders and any first basemen worth a nickel.
so here’s my projected trade:
will ohman
mark teixeira
for:
sean casey
aaron bates
daniel nava
jason place
check out baseball cube for stats on these players…..what do you think? too much? too little? jason place would be an interesting player to watch develop.
http://tinyurl.com/5766ce
Did everyone miss this – Jason Phillips in Richmond.
I have not heard about this. Surely, this is the beginning of the process to replace Corky.
That happened either just before or just after they dealt Fasano to the Indians.
Actually, I think he and Reggie Sanders are the corner outfielders on the “All-I-Can’t-Believe-How-Bad-They-Are” Team. Let’s see…
C Hamster
1B Brogna
2B Lockhart (01-02)
3B Nettles (87) or Evans (89)
SS Andres Thomas, of course
LF Sanders
CF Hall
RF Francoeur (08)
SP Barker
RP Kolb
Esco has hit for no power since his shoulder injury and you do not think he is still hurt? Never put a young player who is injured in the line-up, it is bad for their development, Chipper is always hurt now, so giving him a rest is not a big deal. Do it once in a while, especially if hits a little slump.
Ryan C
This team has failed haha. Chipper or no chipper when are you going to realize that it just doesn’t matter? The team isn’t going to make the playoffs plain and simple even if chipper doesn’t miss another game
FWIW, they really faced some GREAT pitching this series. I am not a TP fan but it didn’t matter if Mickey Mantle was the hitting coach, those pitches were nasty all three games.
Mondesi?? the late Jordan??
I don’t think that’s nearly enough, ryan c.
No, I found it easy to believe that they were as bad as they were.
http://www.soxprospects.com/players/place-jason.htm
Check the MLB comp…no thanks.
Whats Mark Whiten doing these days?
Porky Miller makes the old Damon Berryhill days look great.
You know who sucks? Everybody in the Braves’ lineup, that’s who.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. That’s what I’ve been saying all year. It’s a TEAM thing.
I’d have to say Escobar, McCann, Tex, and Chipper do NOT suck. That is half your lineup. The problem is the other half, well they aren’t very good.
That team sucks…Mac.
I say sell, sell, sell. That means Tex.
As stated before, I expected Chipper to slump, but I don’t ever remember him hitting in LA or San Diego. Especially at night. But he wasn’t the only one who did nothing for the series.
I’m pulling for Peavy and the perfect game. Maybe that will pump some life into this team. By the way the Braves have the #2 pitching staff in the National League.
TP would great in a suit and tie and special advisor to Wren.
I guess Huddy needs more stamina. He should know by now that he is not going to get any run support. Sort of like Maddux back in the day.
How about Jim Presley for your 3B, Mac? .242 AVG, .282 OBP and his glove was made of iron…night and day difference the following year when Pendleton joined the team…
I thought about Presley, too. It came down to the choice between a guy who was horrible, and two guys who used to be great but were completely done.
NO doubt the pitching was excellent but the Braves must be the unluckiest team ever because they always seem to run into a pitcher’s career game, whether it’s Oliver Perez or Kuroda.
BTW, Mickey Mantle is dead. Would he be a better hitting coach than TP?
its very very possible that Peavy will no hit this team through 4 innings also.
That’ll be 4 straight games where a pitcher has a perfect game against us through 4IP. Has that ever happened before. 0-48 in the first 4 innings of the last 4 games, is almost impossible to do. We’ll be lucky to win that series in SD and make it a .500 road trip.
Our offense seems to do very well when we work the count and make the pitcher throw a lot of pitches. That seems to be our game plan on home games, but as soon as we get on the road we start swinging early in the count and let the pitcher get into the late innings on low pitch counts. I’m guessing that falls on the game plan that TP sets for the offense
I wonder what Greg Olson is up to these days.
Marc at 44,
No, Mantle probably wouldn’t be better.
BUT Ted Williams (on tape and by books) would be.
New thread.
I think Gregg Olson has to have a prime bullpen spot on that team.
jon k.,
i’m done addressing you until you start reading my posts. your post has nothing to do with my post. you’re basically beating a dead horse on an argument that was exhausted last night. Playoffs? PLAYOFFS? I never said anything about PLAYOFFS!
stu,
that mlb comparison is hilarious. i dont see how he compares to francoeur though. he doesnt hit for average, but he WALKS, and has power. i’m sure they know more than i do. jeff francoeur has never really shown any plate discipline.
on what side is that trade not enough? can you explain your thoughts?
Mantle would be too hungover to give instructions…
Wow…the good ol’days. Wonder what Jim Morrison is doing? Remember him?