Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies – Box Score – April 07, 2009 – ESPN
Nice start to the season so far. (ESPN is already pushing the panic button for the Phillies.) KJ led off the game with a homer, Chipper doubled and scored later in the first and hit a solo homer in the fifth, and the Braves won fairly easily.
Jair Jurrjens didn’t allow a run, but was not nearly as sharp as Derek Lowe was. He had only one 1-2-3 inning, and in the first, second, and fifth allowed two baserunners each time. Bobby pulled him after a two-out walk to Pedro Feliz (you should never walk Pedro Feliz) in the sixth with 96 pitches thrown, three walks and four hits allowed. Bennett gave up a hit, but O’Flaherty ended the inning. After he threw the seventh, Soriano gave up one hit and got a strikeout in the eighth, and Gonzalez settled down and pitched a perfect ninth.
If there’s a concern, it’s that the Braves are still having trouble scoring without homers. They did score two runs without them, but one was on an error and the other on an infield single. Also, the Braves got eight hits in five against Jamie Moyer, but no baserunners against the Phillie bullpen.
Day game today, so this is also the game thread. Enjoy.
You should also never walk Jamie Moyer.
I’ve been out of the country for 4 days but coming back feels like I’ve been transported to some bizarro world–scanning the last two game threads shows more love for a Frenchman than a romantic walk on the Seine.
Kidding aside, nice start to the season.
nice start. francoeur does look better thus far. not to repeat joe morgan (which is never a good thing), but he is pulling an awful lot of balls foul. hopefully, he can make an adjustment soon and get some of those lasers fair. great pitching so far. kotchman needs to start pulling his weight because it seems everyone else is.
as a non-frenche fan I have to admit I have been impressed by his AB’s.
As a non-Kotchman fan, I have been wholly unimpressed by his. What the Angels fans said when we got him (lunging and not staying on his back foot, leading to a lot of weak ground balls to the right side) sure looks accurate right now.
Kudos to the Braves for recognizing that Schaeffer was ready; he has been appropriately selective and will be good or better than Kotsay was last year, without the down-time.
If Frenchy AND Andruw have good years, is Jaramillo (is that the spelling of the hitting coach in Texas?) the Leo Mazzone of hitting instruction? And what would it take to get him out of Texas? (you know, when they give Cox’s job to Pendleton and need a new hitting coach).
I will also add kudos – so far- to Frenchy’s at bats. (I know Gadfly will read this and do backflips as Frenchy’s only true supporter so calm down, Gadfly, it’s early…I want to see more before I declare myself changed on him).
Kotchman hasn’t looked great but he’s a veteran and a fairl professional gap hitter so I am not hitting the panic button.
However, with our plethora of excess pitching in Gwinnett and beyond, Frank Wren will HAVE to keep first base and left field on his radar in the coming months.
Let me say this though about Kotchman and the rest of the defense: WOW. One of the reasons we’ve given up 1 run in 18 innings to the Phillies is our defense.
Several sharply hit ground balls and deep flies that have all been hauled in because our defense is superb – it’s actually been more noticeable to me than anything.
And considering the criticism those outside of the Braves organization typically heap on Chipper and KJ defensively, both have looked superb. Kotchman, while he is struggling at the plate, is a superb defensive first baseman so he’s at least contributing in a very positive way so far on at least one level.
CharlesP-
Considering the amazing work Jaramillo has already done with Frenchy and possibly Andruw, he’s more like the Dr. Andrews of hitting instructors!!!!! Ha.
Of course, the flipside is that it exposes Terry Pendleton as a mediocre hitting coach, at best. Pendleton’s done fine with some hitters but the difference between a Jaramillo and Pendleton is night and day.
The caveat I would say that being a good hitting coach is different than being a good manager. I would still maintain that the most seamless “transition” for the Braves when Bobby finally retires is promoting Pendleton to manager.
If Terry Francona has shown us anything and Bobby showed us in the 90’s, a manager doesn’t need to be a genius, just needs to be an efficient and easy going caretaker. While a few clubs here and there occassionally need the “Larry Bowa type”, it seems more often than not, with Baseball being such a long, grinding, 162 game season, that Francona, Cox, Joe Maddon, Scoscia style works more often with most teams.
That being said, while Bobby’s personality is a plus (so likeable even Gary Sheffield liked playing for him…that says something) he still makes inexplicably silly game to game decisions with regards to his odd overuse of certain relievers (Boyer) or underuse of other, just as qualified relievers (Joey Devine), or even little things like not starting your hottest spring training righty bat (Diaz) against a lefthander (Jamie Moyer).
Now we WON the game, but Garret Anderson was in no way the reason we won.
Day game, eh?
Wonder if I should stay up.
I too wondered about the Anderson over Diaz choice.
Csg, you’re in my thoughts.
No one here ever wanted Francoeur to fail and I don’t think anyone said (and truly believed) that he had no hope.
General concensus was that if he didn’t start turning it around this season, that he’d probably never turn it around.
He hasn’t looked bad yet, and that’s a better start than I expected.
Nice start, and I think our pitching has been much better than we have given credit. Recall our slow start the last 2-3 seasons and this is a real plus — maybe even a real surprise. Hard to be concerned yet that we haven’t scored much except on HRs, since we’re playing in the Phillies’ park.
Man, is it just me or has Garrett been awful so far?
First of all, he put zero effort into getting that fly ball that dropped in early. Then he dropped that fly ball he should’ve had.
His at-bats suck, too. He got one lucky bloop single. Diaz should’ve been in there against the lefty. I don’t care that Anderson has 5 career homers against him. He looked lost.
Against righties, fine. But if not, get him out of there.
Looking forward to seeing Vazquez in action tonight. Before watching Lowe two days ago, I thought that he was the best signing of the three new SP. Should be another fun game. And I agree with Alex R: the most obvious positive thing for me was the great defense so far, especially from Kotchman.
Go Braves!
Grrr, I hate day games during the school year.
So 5 home runs in the first two games? I know we won’t keep up that pace, but it is encouraging.
(Of course, it IS Philadelphia’s Little League sized park….)
Garret Anderson has not impressed. If I had to guess, Cox started him yesterday because of all the ST he missed, and Cox wanted to make sure he got some ABs early. Maybe that’s just me hoping Cox is still planning on platooning him, but it’s the best I can do. :-/
Frechy’s looked alright, had a couple nice ABs, etc. But let’s see him do this for a month before we conclude anything.
The most impressive thing I saw Schafer do yesterday was cut off what I thought was going to be a Chase Utley double and get the ball in to hold him to a single. Kid really does fly out there.
@16
Garrett has pretty good career #s against Moyer, which include 5 homers. I’m assuming that’s one of reasons, if not the main one, that he got the nod.
with all the talk about Francoeur’s “improvements”, Garret’s “struggles”, and Kotchman’s “he-looks-terrible” ……. what is the general consensus for the number of games/AB where these claims can be deemed legitimate? 30 games? 2 months? 200 AB?
@18, rehab,
I think 30 days is enough to give you the big picture stuff. (not like will Francoeur hit 260 or 280 but will Francoeur perform significantly better than last year).
This extremely cold weather is a real wild card that throws lots of players off. Like Jair. Until last year, except for a late season game or two in Detroit, he had never pitched in that kind of weather.
I only need to see Kotchman play in two games to legitimately claim that he looked bad in those two games.
Anderson did get a hit.
#10
I second what Dix is saying on Frenchy and I think that’s the concensus. I think I can speak for all the Francouer “complainers” in here *(that includes myself) that we ALL hope we’re wrong, that he turns it around, has a terrific season and is part of a resurgency back towards the post season.
We all just remain highly skeptical.
The general concensus is that through two games, the worst two looking Braves starting offensive players have been Garret Anderson and Kotchman.
Of those two, Kotchman is providing the Braves at least some intrisic value because he plays absolutely stellar defense at first. So, I can live with him taking a while to get going offensively, with the way he handles the glove. He’s helping us kill opposing teams rallies.
But Anderson hasn’t looked good at the plate and has looked average in the field. He’s made most of his catches though looked bad last night when he let that ball pop out of his glove.
So of the two, I think Anderson has to be viewed on the shorter leash, especially since we have an able replacement in waiting with Diaz.
If Diaz could even be league average this season (with him being slimmed down and a new plate approach) against righties, he may yet get an opportunity to be an effective everyday player, if Anderson continues to be a non factor at the plate.
It seems a little silly to try to find a consensus on how poorly any individual player is doing offensively based on all of 7-8 PAs — given that baseball players fail far more often than they succeed offensively. McCann hasn’t exactly been lighting things up — except for one (very long) HR — but I don’t see anyone here saying he should be on a short leash. I think the HR is his only hit, and he has a couple of Ks to go with it.
My point being that let’s a least get through a couple of series, and maybe a few games without gale force winds, before we put targets on people’s backs.
Free Matt Diaz!
Ridiculous that he wasn’t in the lineup last night.
As for first base, I’d rather have the Mighty Thor out there. I swear Kotchman is slower than McCann.
Any power-hitting 1B out there for trade? I fear Freeman needs at least this full year in the minors.
Of course 2 games isn’t enough of a sample size to give up on anyone, or to pronounce anyone fixed. We do have Kotchman’s wonderful second half here, from last year (237/331/316/647), to provide us more sample size, and the prophetic comments from the Angels fans on how unbalanced he looks. Methinks a winter with the Texas hitting guru maybe could do Casey some good.
As for the whole hitting coach situation, it’s not surprising at all that a different hitting coach might be able to help a player that TP can’t reach. That doesn’t mean that TP is a bad hitting coach — I don’t think that he is — only that different players require different approaches. I’ve commented on this before.
‘Cause the last trade for a power-hitting 1B worked out great….
You mean McGriff? It sure did!
As far as Jaramillo/TP is concerned, I think it’s worth noting that neither Andruw nor Frenchy is the sharpest knife in the drawer. Or is that worth noting? Maybe it just seems that way from the outside looking in, but TP did his damnedest to help those two and neither one was capable of following his instructions. Eh, just an observation.
Yeah, the Tex trade pretty much ended up a disaster.
Is Thorman still in our organization? Does LaRoche want to come back?
I hear the 1B for the Cardinals is pretty good …
Maybe Jaramillo is the blockhead whisperer …
Sometimes it just takes hearing the same thing in a different voice. I’m that way for sure, especially when the different voice is my wife’s.
@27
We got fleeced becasue we were desperate, and it was getting late in the season. That being said, Tex did what he was brought here to do, produce runs. It wasnt his fault that all the starters broke down and the bullpen sucked worse than a hooker with braces….
No, no, the bullpen did a splendid job of sucking.
I understood starting Anderson. Moyer isn’t a death-to-lefties southpaw, and nobody in his career has faced him more than Anderson (he’s had 110 PAs vs. Moyer, Bernie Williams is second with 100). Pretty good numbers, too — .317/.327/.567.
Trivia time:
Among active players, only two batter vs. pitcher matchups have occurred more often than Moyer vs. Garret. Who are they? (Hint: the other two matchups are comprised of four different players, none of whom are Moyer or Garret…)
That’s a tough one.
Out on a limb here, maybe Jeter and Wakefield? Glavine and…Abreu?
I would think maybe Glavine vs. a veteran NL east player on Phils; marlins; nationals; and/or Smoltz for the same, with someone in the NL east not a brave.
Pettitte/Crawford, maybe?
Glavine/Rollins?
I disagree, sansho, on starting Anderson over Diaz.
It’s not that Anderson doesn’t have good career numbers against Moyer – he does – no dispute. And yes, I also agree that Moyer isn’t a killer on lefties.
The reason to start Matt Diaz is that he was arguably one of your HOTTEST hitters in Spring Training and thanks to “real baseball”, he’s been sitting, maybe going cold over on the bench.
Last night against Jamie Moyer, was a perfect excuse to start Diaz. A lefthander starting for the opposition, it’s only Game 2, and you’re giving Diaz a chance to see if the momentum of Spring Training would carry over.
#26
Mac, we’ve talked about this before and I’ve always been of the belief, like you, that Major League Baseball teams should in fact deploy multiple hitting and pitching coaches because there are different styles and approaches.
There may in fact be hitters who work better under Pendleton as opposed to Jaramillo. If every team deployed 2-3 hitting instructors and 2-3 pitching instructors, hiring people based on certain areas of expertise, you could maxmize far more players.
No correct guesses yet.
Alex, that makes sense, too.
Halladay/Jeter? Livan/Chipper? Pettitte/Ramirez?
The hitter Smoltz and Glavine both faced the most is Biggio, who is now retired.
Only two of the four players involved have been named.
Tim Wakefield and Jason Giambi, oddly.
Hank –
don’t fear the Freeper.
Yep, that’s the most common faceoff:
Wakefield/Giambi — 112
Mussina/Manny — 111
Moyer/Garret — 110
Mussina is retired, which is why I couldn’t get the other one.
He is? I totally missed that. Moyer/Garret moves up to #2 — folks, this is getting REALLY interesting….
The Moyer/Garret thing makes sense because of all those years Moyer was a Mariner and Garret was an Angel.
Trivia time part 2:
Among those players for whom we have complete records (I think this goes back to the ’30s or ’40s), what has been the most common batter vs. pitcher matchup in history?
(No peeking for 10 minutes!!)
Niekro/Rose?
Maybe Sutton/Rose?
I’ll say Spahn and Mays
Since the talk is about Freddie Freeman, if he has that much potential, can you play him in A for a month, AA for another and then AAA before calling him up at the All Star break? I’m just asking for opinion.
I will agree that Kotchman is a very, very good defensive first baseman, but we need production at that position, whether it’s a guy who will hit right around .300 and get on base setting up our 8 hole hitter or a given cleanup hitter who knocks out 30 home runs and drives in 120 runs. So far, I’m not sold about Kotchman’s ability to produce except some of his swings have made me hurt with the way he’s almost corkscrewed into the ground.
Guys, Freeman is 19. He won’t see the majors until 2011. At the earliest.
Yeah, I don’t thing Freeman is better than Kotchman is right now.
Niekro/Rose is correct — 266 PAs. Having the modern leaders in plate appearances and batters faced in the same league for 20 years will do that.
There are probably more common matchups from the days of 8-team leagues, but the records aren’t there.
Yes, I second Stu. If Kotchman doesn’t hit, it’s worth dealing some of our excess pitching this Summer for an everyday first baseman for the rest of this year and 2010, at least.
You second me? I never suggested that.
But if Kotchman’s OBP is anywhere near .350 or so, we’d be wise to make sure Hanson can take over Vazquez’ spot.
I’m surprised Giambi’s faced Wake more than Jeter. So it goes.
I wonder how many Angels message boards have threads designated to hating on Kotchman and Anderson.
30 — ha! He has a gift.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/tom_verducci/04/07/yearafter.effect/index.html?eref=T1
Tom Verducci rates the 10 pitchers most susceptible to the Year-After-Effect (due to excessive innings-pitched jumps last season).. Jair Jurrjens made the list.
Final note on matchups — Walter Johnson and Ty Cobb are almost certainly the all-time leaders. They were in the same league, but never the same team, for Johnson’s entire career. Johnson is 3rd all-time in batters faced with 23749. Assuming 1/7 of those were Tigers (or A’s in 1927), and 1/10 (give or take) of those were Cobb, they would have faced off around 320-340 times.
I was reading Voices of Cooperstown last night and read Cobb’s account of first facing Walter Johnson, and Johnson’s account as well. Basically he was a rook they thought they were going to wear out, and wound up having to bunt at him through the late innings to get a run across. Great stories, great book.
I second Stu in that a hooker with braces sucks splendidly.
Sounds like somebody’s been to Thailand.
Dix is just upset that he’s getting walloped by a team that OPSed .449 yesterday.
does anyone know if any of the brave affiliate radio stations carry the game broadcasts over the internet (bypassing mlb gameday)? thanks ND
I could make a joke about Dix and Thailand, but I’m going to take the high road.
Trivia time #3: Of all the players Greg Maddux faced, he walked only one (Bonds) more than 20 times (23). Who is second on that list?
(Hint: That player finished his career with 546 strikeouts but 718 walks).
I could have taken the high road while in Thailand, but opted for the metal-mouthed hooker instead.
To clarify to Stu at #58, I was merely seconding you on the point that Freeman won’t be seeing the majors before 2011.
Sorry for any confusion 🙂
I also second the notion that Thai hookers with braces probably do suck badly!
My mother was a metal mouthed hooker from thailand, you assholes. A little respect, please.
72 – Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, pal.
73 – We already knew that.
Jeez, it’s the fourth day of the season and the Braves are 2-0. I can’t imagine what the discussion will get like in September if they fall out of contention again.
Douglass,
I would imagine that made for “awkward conversation” when she showed up for PTA meetings.
Douglass,
tell her I say hi.
also, please post pics.
Chipper scratched from the lineup today with a bruised thumb, infante will start at 3rd and anderson will bat third
@70
I’m going to guess Tony Gwynn.
That’s it! I’m leaving Braves journal forever!
Tom:
I say Tony Gwinn
My, what a putrid lineup:
KJ
Escobar
Anderson
McCann
Kotchman
Francoeur
Infante
Schafer
Vazquez
With Vazquez (a fly-baller) pitching, I’d have taken the defensive hit at third and stuck Prado in there.
Per David O’Brien
Anderson hitting third, Infante playing 3B and hitting seventh, Kotchman 5th, Francoeur 6th
Chipper got jammed on a pitch last day of spring, and has been jammed couple times since.
This time, folks, I can honestly say I looked at it and it’s nasty looking. Black and blue from the index finger down to hand and up the thumb, that whole area.
Says he’ll play Friday, just has no top-hand strength against a right-hander today. Tried to hit and bat was dragging because he couldn’t grip bat tightly
The Freeman love is out of control (not in this post, but online in general). He had one good season in Low-A ball. Those stats are about as useful as spring training stats. He might be good, and some scouts have had some good things to say about him. But I think those stats are getting people over-excited. I’ve done some work using minor league stats to project major-league performance, and I find no relation until players hit High-A ball.
If the problem is no top-hand strength batting lefty, can’t he just bat righty?
Chipper going righty vs a righty has got to be infinitely better than Infante against anyone.
Oh Chipper.
Ugh, that lineup is gross.
Well crap monkeys (re: chipper hurt)… but at least it’s a minor thing and it might “pace” him a bit and keep him from getting really hurt in a couple months… wow that’s delusional optimism.
Oh, and looks like the Marlins will be the first team to three wins this season.
Yeah…and Brian should see NO pitches today with Kotchman behind him now.
Tony Gwynn
Actually, it’s Dave Magadan with 12 (I looked it up). Gwynn is actually more impressive — 10 walks and no strikeouts.
Tony Gwynn more impressive than Dave Magadan? That’s unpossible.
Or at least imlikely.
Tony Gywnn?
oops. inlikely. The n goes to m because it’s easy to say before p, but the prefix is in. And I’m sure little Wiggam knows that.
I think the Marlins will end the season under .500.
84–and the same would apply for Hayward
you mean sublikely
The Marlins are sweeping the Nationals, who very easily might be the WORST team in Baseball this year.
I can’t wait to see the Braves (hopefully) add some easy wins here in D.C. April 20-22.
Unprobable.
100 — Alex R, I hope the same… but for some reason those wins in DC just haven’t come very easily for the Braves. Frustrating. The Nats’ pitching is just bad. Can’t win like that, even though they have a decent lineup.
So, I just downloaded the MLB.com for iPhone application….wow. Mind officially blown – very cool. (and highly recommend if you have an iPhone).
Boy, was DOB ever wrong about the lineup:
Infante
KJ
Escobar
McCann
Kotchman
Francoeur
Diaz
Schafer
Vazquez
So, we’re starting Anderson against lefties and Diaz against righties. Good times.
ESPN.com says “delayed”. I guess it’s raining?
No, the Phillies needed to do celebration #2 for their freaking endless W.S. celebrations.
I HATE THEM.
Well, Alex, they are the losingest professional sports franchise of all time. They have to take their celebrations where they can get them.
THE START OF THE GAME IS BEING DELAYED DUE TO CEREMONIES.
I hate the city of Philadelphia, hate their fan base, hate all their teams…sickening.
Why would Cox put .304 career OBP Infante as the leadoff hitter?
Stu, Anderson is hurt.
What’s wrong with Anderson?
Ah, thanks, Dan.
why Kotch before Frenchy? If they were swapped the lineup would be L-R balanced. Plus Frenchy is swinging a better bat right now.
Does Schafer get the nod at home on Friday as the leadoff hitter? Or will Bobby wait so not to put pressure on the kid?
TomL, they said it’s the nagging calf injury that’s bothering Anderson.
boom mac!
MAC DADDY!!!
The long ball again.
@110
Bobby and OBP in the same sentence? Good one.
The only thing worse than day games while I have to work are when there’s not a radio affiliate in this town (or anywhere else in Alabama, as DOB pointed out earlier this week) and MLB still insists that I can’t get gameday audio.
BMAC!!!
3 games, 3 2-0 leads before the sillies bat. WIN
I like scoring 2 runs in the first inning of every game we play.
You know, Mark Bradley’s pick of McCann for MVP isn’t looking too shabby right now…
Bobby and OBP in the same sentence? Good one.
I’ve heard Cox mention OBP a few times in radio interviews.
Infante also stole ZERO bases in 2008, so it is not the speed obsession here either.
Hey, a hit with RiSP that got out of the infield!
Of course, it’s a homer. But I’m not against it if we keep hitting em.
McCann still hasn’t been voted into an all-star game. 2006-2008 were all manager picks.
Sad thing is, with Soto and the Cubs’ fan base, it’ll likely have to be the same case again this year.
I think the Braves need to go ahead and re-extend McCann’s contract.
1-2-3, with a K of the Dark Lord. Welcome to the rotation, Javy.
MLB Gameday is pretty cool – it just popped up a screen to let me watch McCann’s HR. For some reason the video tag line is “McCann’s two-run shot, CLE O, PHI 2, top 1” but still, I like the video feature.
Good start for Vazquez. I’m kinda hoping this is indicative of strong pitching on our part, not poor hitting on their part. Even though I love seeing the sillies look…well…silly
I like Blanton working fast… and getting his butt kicked fast.
Gee, if I had known the hooker with braces thing was going to go over THAT well, I’d have saved it for later. It has nothing to do with girls from Thailand, just a bad experience in H.S. with a girl with braces…..nevermind GO BRAVES!
God I hate the Philly announcers. I wish MLB.com had the option for the “road” announcers.
(at least my iPhone does)
Damn…baseball season started already and Francouer is already batting .222? WOW.
131 – that’s either too much or not enough information.
bases loaded no outs. God at the bat.
Another ho-hum clutch single for God.
Wow, we got a hit with runners on base……feel the ground, Hell must be freezing over.
Well, Kotchman struck out, it must be warming back up, he could have helped my cred on the blog, but he failed.
Wait……it getting cold again, Frenchy with a 2-RBI single, WAY TO GO BRAVOS!!!!!
Of course, this is the Braves, so the runner at second can’t score on a single.
Kotchman’s contribution to try & kill our rally – woo hoo?
Frenchy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hell freezing over would be a Frenchy walk with the bases loaded.
Critics silenced again.
Countdown to Bowman’s “Clutch Francoeur is back” article.
Another good Frenchy AB. If this was last year, he would have came out of his shoes swinging at those first two pitches he saw.
And Diaz comes to play as well.
Gee, maybe we should play that Diaz guy in left field more often. Just sayin.
I could really get used to this.
Where is your GANDERSON now?
Way to go Franc…
Remember when people wanted the Braves to trade for Joe Blanton?
141
Well said, I agree
O/T: An Interview With Michael Schur » Joe Posnanski
I miss FJM.
Yes, Mac. I did. Thank you, Frank, for not doing so.
That is a score I like to see… 7-2 Braves…
I’d feel BETTER about that score if the Phils didn’t keep getting base runners though.
I am guessing that we’re going to see a reliever get the win today, no matter which team comes out on top.
Vazquez is reading (vs. looking) pretty shaky so far today. Hopefully he can get us 6 innings with the lead and better luck next time.
it looks like if our new inning-eater eats many more we’ll lose the lead………..again
150: I miss that website too. Great interview by Posnanski.
Prado has to be thinking that he could have done that.
Regarding the trivia question #3, Mac is right of course. I would have guessed Gwynn, too. It’s hard to believe that only one guy managed more than 12 walks against a pitcher who gave up 999 for his career.
How did they score? MLBtv quit working and I missed some batters.
“J. Werth grounded out to third, C. Utley to third”
Either Infante is having some really fun adventures or I’m missing something there.
Maybe a slow roller would explain it.
This reminds of one of those games I watched as a kid on WGN. Every so often the Cubs and (Phils, Cards, Reds,…) would have a 15-13 marathon devoid of any good pitching and lots of bombs by Bull Durham, Ryne Sandberg and Mike Schmidt.
This game just might go that way while the current starters stay in the game. CBP is not a good place for mediocre RHP’s facing strong LH lineups.
Well at least we didn’t walk Feliz this time.
160
the arch nemesis victorino tripled. Scored on a grounder to Infante, which he threw away allowing Utley to reach.
I would take 5 innings with the lead, can I get 5?
This umpire must have dinner reservations. Good lord.
I’ll take a big strike zone while we’ve got the lead, hope he calls it consistently.
9 pitch walk by McCann, AKA the outing-ender. (Bullpeninator?)
Blanton at 86 pitches already.
Way to be awake Frenchy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
not a real impressive inning for Mark Wegner:
balls are strikes
strikes are balls
found balls caught off screens for outs.
Yikes
Kotchman is starting to annoy me.
Blanton’s out of the game. Will we get another appearance from Chan Ho Park? Was that last night or Sunday night?
Schafer!
WOOOOOOOOO Schafer!!!
Kid!!
Has he out-homered Blanco/Anderson yet?
So when will Jordan Schafer wind up on an SI cover and see his career go downhill from there?
Park is scheduled to start on Sunday, so I doubt very much we’ll see him again. It was probably just his day to pitch yesterday, so they decided to bring him in.
Joe Morgan must be so angry at Schafer right now. How’s he going to lead off if he keeps hitting homers?
Schafer = Man Beast in Training
He is going to be a good one.
“Logan” Schafer has already hit more homeruns for the Atlanta Braves this year than Blanco did in all of 2008.
Jordan Schafer – me likey!
this is quite enjoyable
I still haven’t gotten over you guys talkin about my mom, but the team playing like this sure is helping!
Jordan Schafer – Can anyone be this good?
you think that’s bad, I was verbally assaulted by some genius Phillies fans at Wawa for wearing my McCann jersey…lol…phuck em!
So, we escaped the 5th with the lead. What’s Vazquez’s pitch count?
I think 86.
as long as Kotchman makes plays like that at 1st base he belongs in the line-up.
just put his ass at 8 though.
Not a bad outing by Vazquez. He’s got poise.
That’s an ugly swing by Kotch but if that’s what it takes…
102 pitches for Vazquez in 6 innings, so he’s done for sure. 5 hits in 6 innings, but the 4 walks weren’t good. Ump has been weird from what I can tell, though.
Nice walk for Schafer, let’s see if Norton can do some more damage.
Very inconsistent calls, drewdat, I agree.
I guess walking counts as a very passive form of damage. Bases loaded for Infante.
Infante walks and a run scores, that’s three straight from Durbin. Nice “rally” from the bottom of the order.
wow…
Not a great AB by Fran- in the 7th. It had promise as he worked the count to 3-1 then popped up a weak slider off of Dick Durbin. It would have been nice to see him swing at a better pitch in that situation and possibly move the runner over. Maybe it was a 6 run lead thing.
Anyway, he did a good job earlier stroking the single up the middle. He does look better so far this year.
This is nice.
Dick Durbin? lol, was that on purpose?
KJ has started off in one of his slumps besides the homer yesterday.
If there’s one thing we can say about this team, it’s that we’re good at scoring a lot of runs, not giving up many runs, and winning.
Other than that, though, this is a very flawed team. I blame Terry Pendleton, Frank Wren, and Bobby Cox.
And yet no one is calling for Kelly’s head, but Kotchman just HAS to go.
Typical Alex. You’re a Roger apologist.
I think he should obviously get added to the list.
Looks like it was that darned Chipper Jones that was holding our offense back.
KJ will be fine. Kotch? Eh …
Boone O’Flaherty…not really sure he’s ready for prime time.
O’flaherty sucks.
A Roger apologist? Hardly!
I wrote a sonnet disparaging him:
Run past third base, the coach is hoarsely yelling
“Oh SHIT!” says Bobby, far too many times.
Got Ray from Richmond, Key or Ken by spelling,
Ends the inning, and his arm, with changeup slime,
Right next: Frank Jobe, with Huddie there–I’m weeping;
And all the pitchers, terrible or sleeping.
Mets beating us in pitching? What the *#%!?
Can’t anyone here play this game? You suck!
Days, weeks–what next? LaRoche, a lefty, pitching?
Or worse, a Sosa slider hung to Dunn
Which he just KILLS. Score’s 605 to one.
Earned runs? No, no. There’s more to all my bitching.
Let me be clear: the Second Spitter blows.
Leo had smarter boogers in his nose.
Moylan sighting
B+
C’mon bullpen
Tying run on deck?
Peter Moylan = NOT effective today. TAKE HIM OUT.
this is going well
O’Failerty and Moylan are doing the impossible here.
Boyer in. This is starting to make my stomach hurt
My kingdom for a double play
Can’t anyone throw a strike?
It’s still a 4 run lead. Somebody throw strikes!!!
Strikes, where dey at ?
I take full responsibility for this pitching implosion.
Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit.
Oh man, i totally forgot about that seinfeld episode and the second spitter incident, and that it was mcdowell. I’m going to have to start calling him that now
balls. we haz dem.
And not in a good way
Why isn’t Gonzalez warming up? This is the decisive moment.
Hopefully the bullpen can just keep it close enough for our offense to have a chance to come back.
@200: Yeah, I don’t get it… it seems a little early to be calling for anyone’s release, but so far KJ’s offensive production is just as bad as Kotchman, and Casey has already proven to be a more valuable defender.
@203-204: If my memory serves, so far he’s faced 8 batters this year. He’s retired 5 of them, given up two singles to Chase Utley, and hit Ryan Howard with a pitch. Not a good result today, and I wouldn’t have pitched him back to back days like this already, but I don’t think we’ve seen enough to judge on this one either.
@Blaine Boyer: END THIS INNING NOW!!!
What is wrong with our pitching? we’re going to kill ourselves
This is pathetic.
Just to recap: Terry, Bobby, Frank, Roger, and ALEX R!
Blaine Boyer SUX
According to Gamecast, when the inning started, we had a 99% chance of winning the game. That number is now 68%.
Watching this bullpen performance is making physically ill.
I think this is a situation where we miss having Chipper out there as a leader. Mac’s calling nothing but fastballs, there’s not much more he can do.
@199
You had to say it…
Make that 55%.
Really we just need to get it to Utley or Howard with the bases loaded. Good strategy.
Well this sucks.
Disgusting.
What a nightmare.
Moylan = infinity ERA
Fantastic…
9 straight batters have advanced to first base, walks, singles, and a HBP. Slow and painful.
The strike zone has to be playing some part in this, right? The bullpen can’t be this bad.
10-10.
2008 Braves are back.
wow
nightmare.
Are you fucking kidding me? Is this little league? Who walks in this many runs in an inning?
It is finished.
I can’t believe this.
Gadfly…8 hitters is not a sample size, but he O’Flaherty just looks like he should be in Omaha, Montgomery or Norfolk and not in the big leagues. One of the “outs” by the way was a shot by Matt Stairs, that most often would be a gapper or a bomb. I’m not sure i’d trust him in a tight situation when he looks intimidated with a 7 run lead.
5 walks….
this inning
Remember when we had a big lead and kept getting called out on strikes that were balls?
10 straight reach 1st base.
Has to be the first swinging strike in 30 minutes.
this is just ridiculous
Pitcher – Pitches/strikes
o’flatulance – 17/11
moylan – 16/7
boyer – 9/1
campillo – 9/4 (last i looked)
I will never understand the inability to throw strikes.
New year, same horrific ‘pen.
Agree @ 244, this is little league bad. It is so bad that I am past angry or frustrated, I’m just laughing at this point.
Some things, like the Braves bullpen, just don’t change overnight. Boyer is done, Moylan probably rushed back too soon, and the rest aren’t major league pitchers.
This is beyond inexcusible. The strike zone is not the problem. None of Moylan’s and Boyer’s balls were close.
Pa-thetic
Wow. I’m genuinely stunned.
Sweet Jesus it’s finally over…
I think we may need to update the definition of a “Braves save.”
this is just great
Welcome to the Braves, Javier Vazquez. Get used to having your sure wins frittered away.
Alright, as Milo Hamilton often said, gotta go get ’em, Braves…
That was the most sickening display of “relief pitching” I’ve ever seen.
That was comparable to what Jon Stewart did to Jim Cramer on “The Daily Show”.
I want blood, need at least one set of walking papers in the pen after today.
On the plus side, we can start a new streak of 1-run road losses (though it looks like we’ll be lucky to lose by one at this pace)…
Like the Stewart/Cramer comparison 🙂
I need a psychiatrist…and a lozenge
I hope Skip Caray’s getting loaded in heaven.
I want O’Flaherty gone. At least the others have goodwill built up.
Our odds of winning dropped from 99% to 25% in the course of a half inning.
@267 – I hope you’ve learned to keep your mouth shut until the game is over. LOL.
How many runs do you guys think Lidge will walk in? No?
I would rather have a grand slam than another ball.
We won’t get a man on base the rest of the way. Hopeless.
That was a Francoeur-esque appearance by Kotchman.
We’re just down one run on the road! We can com–never mind.
What’s up with this Francoeur-idolizing commercial? Yuck. Today just turned awful in a hurry
255—To clarify, I wasn’t blaming the strike zone for the walks in the 7th.
We had our chance to step on their throats but alas….
As a sidebar…this home plate umpire has been terrible with his balls and strikes today. He has been incredibly inconsistent for both teams. How on earth the 3-1 pitch to Utley was a ball and Kelly Johnson was rung up on worse pitches twice in that same vicinity.
Unreal
@267 Joshua, It’s early in the season. Did Alex R blow this one? Sure. We need to rally around him now though. Help build up his confidence so he doesn’t kill us in September.
Campillo, 3 straight balls to start the 8th, nice joke. LOL.
We’re going to take two out of three against a team that has sodomized us for two years. Yet this series now feels like a failure.
they’re trying to give Campillo an out…apparently, he doesnt want it
Did the Phillies spray the visting bullpen with mustard gas or something? Lord have mercy.
@270 Mac, Is there a G-Journal? Can we make Alex R comment over there for a few weeks? Get him some work and then bring him back?
Hard to have a worse bullpen meltdown than this. Reminds me of that 2000 game vs the Mets when Mulholland gave up the HR to Piazza.
Seasons over.
This reminds me of the late July Saturday game against Philadelphia last year that was essentially a mercy killing. It prompted the end of the Texiera era.
This is like that game against the Mets from back in June 2000 when we gave up 10 runs in the eighth to blow an 8-1 lead. I remember it was a series of walks with the bases loaded and a parade of relievers who couldn’t get it together.
Ordinarily I would want Bobby to get ejected here and maybe save some face and stick up for the bullpen. They deserve everything they’re getting and will get, though.
Who needs Will Ohman? We’re good…
On the bright side, Bennett looks marginally competent. In comparison.
Way to fucking ruin my day, asshole worthless arms in the bullpen.
It is completely inexcusable to not throw strikes with a 7 run lead.
At least Bennett’s throwing strikes.
A strikeout, give this man a raise!
JEFF BENNETT FOR CY YOUNG!!!
Bring back Resop!
(I should be shot for typing that.)
So is there any chance Chipper pinch hits in the 9th?
This is like that time I was banging that Thai hooker with the cute braces and then just as I was about to put the finishing touches on a nice solid opening to my pacific holiday, Douglass walked in and and it all fell apart.
Lidge vs. Francoeur, what do we think here, strikeout?
Inevitable.
Braves Bullpen = Hooker with braces
I’m impressed he made it to 5 pitches.
Diaz will ground out and Schafer will pop out on the infield.
I’m just surprised it took 5 pitches to happen.
drewdat—Jinx!
Well, here’s some false hope.
Well if only Bennett didn’t give up that run.
To be fair, it was actually Campillo’s run that Bennett inherited.
OK, nobody’s perfect (right bullpen?).
HR Matty!
Kotchman 5 men LOB…..thats just not gonna work.
The cult hero Diaz makes a bid for playing time. I like it.
I’ve been an apologist of his, but Kotchman kinda makes me a little sick to my stomach.
Matt Diaz = Hooker with dentures
One-run loss.
2008 Braves really are back.
Obviously I meant that Diaz would homer and then Schafer would ground out.
Lousy bullpen, blown lead, one-run loss. The 2006-08 Braves in a nutshell, continuing into 2009.
I can’t wait to see Mac’s recap for this debacle.
Dis-gust-ing
This just sucks.
I could live with a 5-4 loss and maybe one releiver struggling, but we had basically 4 releivers who basically stunk it up today and blew a 7 run lead with 9 outs to go.
Disgusted, brief recap is up.
@315
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Just unbelievable.
@316: I suggest that we all just take the next few hours to vent the disgustipation you just watched, and then never speak of this game again.
We’re a game ahead of the defending champs, and we’re heading home.
Now if only this team had more power…