Continuing on yesterday’s topic… Obviously, players can thrive with lots of strikeouts. It just makes it more difficult. Two names that were mentioned in this topic were Ryan Howard and Adam Dunn. Howard has a good walk rate and hit enough line drives that when he did hit the ball he had a good chance of getting a hit, especially a homer (last year, 78 of his 153 hits were for extra bases). But Howard also illustrates the limits of this approach. Because he doesn’t walk a ton, he can’t hit in the .250s and put up a good OBP; last year, it was .339. He’s arrested some of his batting average decline this season, but has lost power. He really isn’t a star-quality player anymore.
Adam Dunn is an extreme example of a “type”, a low-average power hitter who walks 100 times a year. If you do that and hit 40 homers a year like clockwork (Dunn has hit exactly that many for four years in a row) you can be a successful player hitting .236. There aren’t many who could. Harmon Killebrew, who is on Dunn’s similar players list, was like that. (Reggie Jackson also appears on Dunn’s comp list, but his relatively low batting averages in his prime are really a context illusion.) Like Howard, Dunn is a poor defensive player, and this limits his value, and probably his future.
The Braves, in the Schuerholz-Cox regime, have never really had a player like that. Ryan Klesko had some of the characteristics, but never (even in San Diego when he played every day) finished in the top ten in walks or strikeouts, and his career batting average with the Braves was .281. Dave Justice had years when he hit .253 and .256, but those were atypical years, granting that it’s hard to define a “typical” Justice year. Andruw Jones probably comes closest to the type, and like Dunn had uncanny home run consistency, but he really didn’t strike out that much, never finishing higher than eighth in the league, and never finished in the top ten in walks.
At any rate, to thrive with lots of strikeouts, there’s one thing you need, and that’s power, and usually POWER. And Jordan Schafer does not have that.
From the last thread…
I think a better course of action is to kick the tires on a Jermaine Dye rental.
Well, I advocated for this pretty much all offseason, and I think he’d certainly help us now, but that doesn’t do anything to help our OF in 2010 and beyond.
Other players who’ve had some success while striking out a ton: Jose Hernandez and Mark Reynolds.
Career, Jose Hernandez slugged .418, and had an OPS+ of 88 (which is fine for a bottom-of-the-order up-the-middle defender, like Schafer), with a K% of 27.3%. Reynolds has a K% of 32.3%, and career SLG of .477.
Right now, Schafer’s got a 33.3% K% and .340 SLG.
Schafer doesn’t have to be a Dunn-like monster to have some value. If he provides good defense in center an OPS of .750-.800 will be fine, and with his walks he can manage that with a .350 OBP and .400 SLG. That’s harder to do with a K-rate as high as his, but not impossible… but he really really needs to be able to put the bat on the ball. He’s 3 for his last 32, with 6 walks and 16 K in his last 9 games.
One thing our top 3 starters are really doing a good job of is going deep in games, at least relative to the current MLB environment. Not counting the rain-shortened starts of Jurrjens and Lowe, they’re all averaging at least 6 1/3 IP per start.
I’d be willing to bet most teams aren’t getting a combined 11 innings out of their 4th and 5th starters every time the rotation, either.
That all means less Jeff Bennet, and that’s something of which I’m in favor.
Of the 282 innings pitched by Braves pitchers this season, over two-thirds of them (189 2/3 IP) have been pitched by the starters. Man, that’s good for our bullpen.
I think Dye makes a whole lot of sense for this team. He’s right-handed. He hits for power. He plays either corner OF. And *that* means Wonderboy is no longer the best option for RF.
If Dye keeps hitting, and Heyward doesn’t look ready for ’10, you can look at resigning Dye.
From the last threat: I don’t disagree that it makes sense to trade from a surplus of talent to shore up positions on the team. But, with a guy like Jurrjens who seems to be getting better, you had better be pretty sure that you are getting real quality in return. Realistically, with all the hype about Hanson, we have no idea if he will ever even be as good as Jurrjens until he actually performs in the majors.
This was something they did on a football site that I’d be curious to see how the Braves fans here thought.
You name one thing about the Braves that is overrated, one thing that is underrated, and one thing that is rated just right.
Here’s my shot:
Overrated: The concept that the Braves are great at developing pitching
Underrated: Yunel Escobar
Just Right: Brian McCann
Realistically, with all the hype about Hanson, we have no idea if he will ever even be as good as Jurrjens until he actually performs in the majors.
Which is why if you’re looking to land a major haul by trading a SP, perhaps Hanson is that guy. I know I’d feel much better about trading Hanson than JJ.
OK, I’ll play.
Overrated: The new-look Frenchy (duh)
Underrated: Jair
Just Right: Derek Lowe, Big Game Pitcher (see: Last Night)
Overrated: Bobby
underrated: a healthy Moylan
About right: B-Mac
Overrated: Watching a game from a suite
Underrated: Free parking at the Capitol (shhh)
Just Right: Watching batting practice from the Bud Pavillion
But, with a guy like Jurrjens who seems to be getting better, you had better be pretty sure that you are getting real quality in return.
I guess that’s my real question: Why do you think he seems to be getting better? He’s good, no doubt, and it seems like hitters have a really tough time squaring his pitches up. But he’s also struck out 20 and walked 16 in 40 innings this year and, as AAR has mentioned, he doesn’t really have a strikeout pitch. I just think he’s been a bit lucky, ERA-wise, and with his stuff, I don’t see his ceiling as any higher than a 2.
Again, 2s are super-valuable, but if you could get a guy like Quentin or Ethier for him, given our starting pitching depth, I just think you’d have to seriously consider doing it.
Jair may not be a 2.01 ERA pitcher, but who is? If he never gets better than last year he’s a definite plus-3 and probably a solid-2. It seems too early to chalk this start up to luck, and assume he’s reached his pinnacle at the age of 23.
You know who else never had a specific “strikeout pitch”? Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. They managed alright without it. Jair’s got a similar sort of depth of repertoire and mental makeup, albeit in its infancy.
I’m not saying you don’t listen to offers, but there’s no way I shop a guy like Jair. What has Quentin proved? You do realize he’s almost 27, and closer to free agency. Ethier’s closer to a good fit, but he really looks more like LFer to me, and we don’t really need another left-handed bat… plus, he’s also closer to free agency than Jair.
Jair’s got long-standing connections with this team. I say lock him up long-term as soon as it is reasonable to do so, and if you feel the need to deal pitching for another bat then look at dealing a veteran or one of the many unproven prospects we’ve got tearing up the IL.
Overrated: Our rightfielder.
Underrated: Our starting staff, our setup guy
Just Right: Our catcher.
A quick look at NL team pitching stats reveals that Atlanta is:
4th in ERA
2nd in Ks
1st in fewest HRs allowed (tie)
4th in fewest BBs allowed (tie)
7th in fewest hits allowed
A quick look at NL hitting stats reveals that Atlanta is:
11th in runs
6th in avg.
6th in OBP
10th in Slg
5th in fewest Ks (Schafer has 1/4 of them)
5th in most BBs
13th in HRs (2 more than the Mets, though)
Also, they’re 16th in SBs (dead last)—6 SB, 5CS.
We can pitch, but it’s tough for this bunch to score.
The thing with lots of strikeouts is that it forces you to be an exceptional hitter on contact. Basically if you make contact, you better be hitting it very hard.
From last year, Cust, Dunn and BJ Upton come to mind. This the thing, very few players can sustain an exceptional on-contact rate. My beef with Schafer is not the high K rate ( hell, he is still has a better than 2:1 K/BB ratio ). It is that when he is making contact, he is making lot of weak contact.
And the king of being successful with strikeouts. Surprised noone has mentioned him. Alex Rodriguez.
Who?
Overrated: Chip Caray
Underrated: Javier Vazquez
Just Right: Turner Field
16—The key to your fantasy team.
.. or Ryan Howard has a .903 OPS before getting hot and will again be an All-Star, MVP-candidate with over 50 HRs.
No longer a star though because he didn’t win Rookie-of-the-Year or MVP last year? Mac, we agree most always, but here we strongly differ.
And for what it’s worth, no errors for Howard this year at 1B. It’s a miracle.
Braves I would rather have than Howard.. maybe.. McCann? (if his eyes aren’t screwed up)
Actually, A-Rod isn’t really anywhere near the level of strikeouts we’re talking about. For his career, he whiffs in about 18% of his plate appearances. This year, Jordan’s whiffing in 33%. Big difference.
Also:
You know who else never had a specific “strikeout pitch”? Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux.
Sigh.
Are you telling me you really never saw Tom Glavine or Greg Maddux throw a changeup?
Greg Maddux has the 10th-most career strikeouts ever. Glavine has the 24th-most strikeouts ever. This may seem hard to believe, but a good way to crack the top 25 all-time strikeouts list is to strike a lot of people out, by pitching. Both Maddux and Glavine had pitches that struck people out, in other words. You could call those strikeout pitches. Maddux’s cutter and changeup, and Glavine’s changeup, were particularly devastating; each was, in its time, considered one of the best pitches in baseball. So devastating, in fact, that the two of them struck out nearly 6000 men combined.
Jurrjens isn’t quite in their league. But that’s okay. Almost no one else is either.
Overrated: Brian Snitker
Underrated: Casey Kotchman
Just right: Chippah
Overrated: Francoeur
Underrated: Rafael Soriano
Just Right: Washington Nationals
But 33% is an outlier in any case. We are assuming Schafer is going to cut down on that, but still strike out a fair number of times.
I don’t think we are disagreeing. You can strike out a lot and still be successful. But players of that ilk are rare, and tend to be extremely talented / powerful hitters. Schafer is striking out at this rate, as he is swinging through a lot of pitches he SHOULD be hitting, which is the problem. He is young, has played half a season over A-ball. He will eventually fix it.
A poster at BTF ( the resident minor leagues guru ) predicted this uncannily. He said Schafer is going to swing through a lot of pitches, and he said patience with him is the key. On a good note, he also said he thinks Schafer is going to be very good hitter in years to come, and going to flash some power.
Overrated: Bobby Cox 2000-2009
Underrated: Bobby Cox 1982-1985
Just right: Bobby Cox 1991-1999
Nice!
Schafer’s a weird player, certainly. The “old player skills” stereotype — like Howard or Dunn or Cust — is a slow guy with a lot of power who strikes out a lot and walks a lot.
Schafer, if anything, is more like Upton — he’s a fast guy who strikes out a lot and walks a lot. Thing is, Upton had a ton of power two years ago — when he was 22 — and it remains to be seen whether he’ll recover it all post-surgery. Jordan doesn’t have nearly the power at this point in his career that Upton did. He’s more like the 2008 Upton, fast and powerless.
Overrated: thongs
Underrated: whitey tighties
Just right: boxer briefs
I don’t know if this means anything, but here’s a list of some (mostly) medium-power, high-strikeout, lefty-hitting centerfielders. There are some good players on the list, but also some busts.
SEASON
CF
LEFT HANDED HITTERS
HOMERUNS <= 25 STRIKEOUTS YEAR SO HR 1 Curtis Granderson 2006 174 19 2 Corey Patterson 2004 168 24 3 Brad Wilkerson 2002 161 20 4 Grady Sizemore 2007 155 24 T5 Ray Lankford 1992 147 20 T5 Brad Wilkerson 2005 147 11 7 Rick Monday 1968 143 8 8 Corey Patterson 2002 142 14 9 Curtis Granderson 2007 141 23 10 Ray Lankford 1996 133 21 11 Grady Sizemore 2005 132 22 12 Andy Van Slyke 1988 126 25 13 Reggie Jackson 1972 125 25 14 Dwayne Murphy 1985 123 20 T15 Andy Van Slyke 1987 122 21 T15 Lloyd Moseby 1986 122 21 T15 Lloyd Moseby 1984 122 18 18 Omar Moreno 1982 121 3 19 Ruppert Jones 1977 120 24 20 Corey Patterson 2005 118 13 21 Tom Goodwin 2000 117 6 T22 Jim Edmonds 1998 114 25 T22 Ray Lankford 1991 114 9 T24 Darin Erstad 2001 113 9 T24 Ray Lankford 1994 113 19 T24 Todd Dunwoody 1998 113 5 T24 Laynce Nix 2004 113 14 T28 Oddibe McDowell 1986 112 18 T28 Jimmie Hall 1964 112 25 T30 Ray Lankford 1993 111 7 T30 Michael Bourn 2008 111 5 T30 Curtis Granderson 2008 111 22
I’m a little surprised that Medlen isn’t getting more attention than he is. Does anyone know what kind of pitching arsenal he has?
I’m a little surprised that Medlen isn’t getting more attention than he is. Does anyone know what kind of pitching arsenal he has?
Decent FB, dandy curve and decent change. Throws everything for strikes. He won’t walk anybody. Someone from the Twins must be secretly coaching him.
If Schafer could hit like Lankford, I’d be extraordinarily happy. He’s one of the more underrated players of the past 20 years.
How does he project, Godot? Middle of the rotation type?
Am not believer in the “#1 / #2 ..#5” assignment for pitchers. Medlen is hard to project anyway. He has blown away the minors when he has started ( barely a year of starts under his belt ). Undersized, so the old hands have some trepidation. Keith Law didn’t like him in the AFL despite the numbers. Said his velocity was down, but that was the end of his longest season.
I think the Braves should give him a chance to be a starter. You throw strikes, you get some swing and misses, you can start in this league. He is going to get hit around. He doesn’t have the pure stuff of Hanson’s, but better command. I guess that makes him not ace material, but if all goes well, a very capable starting pitcher.
But then, I assume lots of people said that about Roy Oswalt too. Oswalt though does have a much better fastball.
Interesting. He’s definitely an unusual pitching prospect with the conversion to starting.
Chipper’s a go.
1. KJ
2. Escobar
3. Chipper
4. Anderson
5. McCann
6. Kotchman
7. Francoeur
8. Schafer
9. Jurrjens
That description could have fit Maddux. Of course, you’ve got to figure in the voodoo with Greg.
“Zen and the Art of Getting Your Sorry Ass Out by Any Means Necessary”, by Greg Maddux.
Man, I miss that guy. I mean, I even rooted for him when he was wearing a Dodger uniform.
So the Rangers are in first largely WITHOUT Josh Hamilton.
Wonder if they’d like a pitcher or two for him.
Agree on Lankford.
If we had a Ray Lankford in his prime, we’d be in great shape. Lotsa XBHs, lotsa Ks, lotsa BBs, lotsa SBs (lotsa CS, too).
Looking for a big effort from Jair tonight and, I gotta say, Pelfrey is one of the most annoying pitchers in the world. The guy has no stuff, but the Mets score a million runs for him.
Off to Bailout Field. Go Braves…
So Matty sits after a big day??? Can Bobby please give Frenchy and Schafer a day off sometime. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I want Infante starting in CF tomorrow, though chances, are he will start at 2B
francoeur’s obp is, once again, below .300. there has been no change. i sure as hell hope that by mid-season we acquire a bat to take his spot and outright release him. he hasnt resembled a ballplayer for 2 years. jeff francoeur is the center of all braves problems.
there’s a guy named andruw in texas that could be had for peanuts.
Francoeur’s current OBP is lower than his season OBPs in 2006 and 2008.
Think about that.
Frenchy has made 104 outs, just one behind Brian Giles for the NL lead. His consistency is incredible.
Good thing he never gets a day off.
New York announcers regarding Casey Kotchman’s defense after flashing up no errors in 260 chances: “he’s not a great defensive first baseman. He’s a journeyman.”
Ummmmmm….WHAT?
CLEVER. NO ONE WILL EXPECT THE SLOW GUY TO RUN SO HE CAN’T POSSIBLY GET CAUGHT. IT WORKED WITH THAT BUNT HIT IN MAJOR LEAGUE!
Considering that Brian was 6 of 6 in stolen base attempts since the beginning of last season, I don’t think you can criticize him. He’s slow, but a good baserunner.
So, you’re assuming that Brian has a permanent green light and went on his own and not that Cox sent him? This doesn’t really fit into my framework for understanding Braves failure which is based around blaming all dumb moves on Bobby.
I didn’t realize that McCann had been such an effective base stealer. That is the kind of knowledge that I come to Braves Journal for.
Way to place that foot, KJ
Listening to Boog talk to Joe about current music is painful.
Can’t the Braves whore away airtime in another manner?
Kotchman is the man.
The good old 7-4 forceout!
Knock me over with a feather — nice play by Anderson.
Dye makes too much money to look at acquiring right now. Maybe in July it’d be a more realistic possibility, but right now it isn’t.
I think JJ and Bobby were the only two people in the stadium unamused by the streaker. Can’t really blame JJ.
Well, now he’ll get to spend time streaking in Citi Jail lol
Should have been a homer…
The RBI machine gets his 5th of the year.
Picture in Picture is awesome
Bruins-Canes
Braves- Mets
life is good
Jair Jurrjens me cae bien.
Jurrjens is the Mets’ daddy right now.
Boog just gained 1000000000 cool points for making fun of the Mets radio callers. He loses 1 every time he mentions the facebook page, though, so he’s down to about +3000 on the year.
Terrrrible job by Francoeur.
really weird bounce off the wall though, it defied
YES!!!!
Great job by Schafer.
Schafer’s got a pretty strong arm.
Love to see Bmac pumped up like that.
A little insurance couldn’t hurt.
that was awesome
If that had been on the money then Wright was out by yards. Nice arm.
You have got to hustle there, Yunel. That should have been a triple.
He’s gonna try to steal it, don’t worry.
Twice Yunel has done that. So bushleague.
nice one Bmac
BMAC!
The ball has ZERO carry in this ball park.
It is okay by me when the braves are pecking the Mets to death.
And there’s Joe Simpson with his obligatory puffing about McCann “going with the pitch”.
Its freakin baseball, it’s not being greedy to want more runs, it’s the object of the damn game.
Hey, we have no home run power, this is a great ballpark for us. Deadball Braves!
Yunel should have had a triple…and Wright should not have. Some degree of loafing/poor play by each Brave involved. Francouer just looks terrible in about every facet right now.
Tatis is almost Caminiti-light over at 1B.
Well, Jeff’s consistent. Give him that.
Francoeur is terrible.
Well, the good news is Yunel’s LaRoche-a-gagging didn’t cost the Braves a run thanks to McCann.
Brian McCann is awesome. Whatever the opposite of awesome is, Jeff Francoeur is that.
Where is Superfly to remind us how badly our lineup needs Francouer’s run-producing skills…
Oh and I might add, I think this ballpark is about the ugliest one that has been built in a while.
The outside is decent enough, but it looks TERRIBLE on the inside.
Oh and to paraphrase immortal puppet Peanut (ahem) OH Jeff fa fa OH Jeff fa fa, you suck ka ka, OH Jeff fa fa OH Jeff fa fa you REALLY SUCK KA KA
For Francoeur, we can just settle on the word “Terribad”.
tomorrow’s starters have weird stat lines
Jo Jo 0-2 5.48ERA .241BAA
Neise 0-0 3.00ERA .292BAA
so is Jo Jo just unlucky because the opp average is good for him. I think he just has great innings and then falls apart all of a sudden. Just dont know what to think of the kid. Well right now I think he’s a head case
Ugh, Anderbum
Getting Reyes at 3rd saves the game. Too bad Chipper didn’t tag him.
Thank you Jose Reyes for being a MORON.
Diaz would have had that.
More nice defense from Schafer.
reyes was out by 10-12 feet
Bobby should have lifted Jurrjens when the top of the order came back up. Hope it doesn’t cost us.
Why don’t the braves send down Parr and bring up Blanco or Jones to play D in LF in the late innings?
Effing Anderson.
Chipper completely whiffed on the tag, though. Oh well, we’ll take it.
Why Moylan against a lefty? He hasn’t done jack against lefties?
why is Parr here anyways
is Infante a bad outfielder? I mean he can’t be worse.
Soriano probably can’t go, or at least shouldn’t, and if you go with O’Flaherty Manuel will hit Castillo for Cora.
I’d rather O’Flaherty have pitched against Castillo, then the left-handed Murphy.
terrible pitches from Moylan there
Another wasted Moylan appearance. Makes absolutely no sense to bring him in there.
Parr is here to mop after JoJo Reyes gets knocked around in the second or third inning.
Also, the pitcher’s spot is due up for the Braves, so you have to pitch Moylan against a lefty anyway. Two outs, bases empty is the better spot to do it.
So the Bad Bobby makes the appearance tonight after a week of the Good Bobby.
Thank God Gary Sheffield is the Mets RH bench bat.
Ok, Sheffield’s done. If O’Flaherty throws strikes the inning is over.
Can we start believing in Oflaherty now?
great job by kotchman
He threw strikes. Whew.
Casey Kotchman has carried this team on this Road trip. He may have saved the game with that play on Sheffield.
I’d rather see Bobby take Moylan too early before it’s too late. Moylan should have never been used in the first place, however.
CSG, you’re probably signed out.
I’m not quite willing to make O’Flaherty “Things I was wrong about: II” but he’s growing on me.
With the innings the starters are giving us, we really don’t need seven relievers, and especially not six righthanded ones.
Id like to see Schafer try bunting sometimes
edit: nevermind, btw huge defensive game from him tonight
How bout sending Schaffer here?????
We’ve had a lot of game saving plays today
Again, I’d send down Parr and bring up BJ to platoon with Francoeur.
Believe it or not, Francoeur’s actually been good against LHPs. But he’s just atrocious against RHPs.
Oh, God, here comes the pinch-bunt. Why not use Kawakami for this?
Mac, what do you mean by being signed out
Bring in Infante to bunt? the pitcher couldn’t do that or did I miss a double switch.
I may have to buy this.
CSG, check the right sidebar, bottom, under “Meta”. If it says “log on” you have been signed out and have to go to the admin screen to log back in.
No, no, no, it wasn’t a bad decision. Whoever Bobby put in to pitch is going to get pinch-hit for in the bottom of the inning. You’ve got two lefthanded hitters in a row. Two outs, nobody on in the eighth is lower leverage than leading off the ninth. So if you get the out, you don’t burn O’Flaherty yet, and he’s available for the ninth.
Mac @113–Gonzo is also LH
Stop the presses–Schafer got a hit off KRod.
But we still have Gonzalez for the ninth, right?
Except, Gonzalez is likely to pitch the 9th after a day off.
Bunt worked out great.
C’mon Gonzo.
Just a thought, but the braves relievers, especially Gonzo and Soriano are going to have to throw on lots consecutive days because we can’t score enough to pull way ahead on a lot of nights.
that leadoff double….dammit. Now you gotta strike someone out
Huh — well, I was assuming Soriano would get this save chance.
Oh, wuvwy. Jurrjens’ start is going to be wasted.
I’m somewhat surprised Beltran didn’t try for third on that.
And now he does.
Looked out to me.
oh man, what a waste.
he was out
All umpires should have iPhones and all plays should be reviewed on replay before the next batter gets into the box. There’s enough time.
He moved into the pitch. That is not supposed to be a free base.
Was out. Not often a base ump gets to do a makeup call….
That rule has gone by the wayside Mac
Gonzalez cleverly sets up the DP here….
C’mon double-play ball…
any non run scoring out would be nice.
It’s still in the damned rulebook.
Fire Garrett Anderson.
Well, Bobby’s ridiculous 8th inning management comes back to bite us in the ass.
that wasnt Andersons fault
Beltran was caught stealing and the game should be over
Horses**t.
He was out. It wasn’t even close.
Like Anderson’s throwing to 2nd
don’t like giving Castillo breaking balls to hit when he can’t seem to catch up with the fastball
agree w/ Mac about Tatis moving into the pitch–next time they should give him one in the ribs
That breaking ball has killed us. Hung one on an 0-2 pitch to Beltran for a double, hit Tatis with it on an 0-2 pitch, and gave Castillo something he could actually make contact with on a 1-2 pitch.
Stupid pitching. I hate the Mets.
If the braves blow this to the bonehead Mets I might kill myself.
Rooting against Garrett Anderson is very easy.
Mac,
As I have said before, the game would better if they just read that antiquated thing called the rule book from time to time.
Bottom line, BC should have pulled Jurrgens sooner and we might not be in this situation.
Some good news, the braves get to hit against the underbelly of the Mets bullpen.
On the bad side, the mets get to hit against our underbelly too.
Edit: I am shocked to see KRod for a second inning.
well, that’s the game. no way we’re winning an extra inning game on the road
We’ve got the bench advantage at the moment — might be worth something.
Time to bunt with the cleanup hitter.
might not be so bad to bunt OUR clean up hitter–not that he could execute that very well either
edit–at least a bunt would have had a chance to get the runner to 2nd
Should have bunted.
Well, I guess Chipper’s non-tag on Reyes that was called out was evened out on Beltran’s phantom SB.
Anderson has such a lazy bat
pathetic
@121
Steve Earle covering TVZ can’t be anything but good. It just can’t.
And yeah, that HBP was the baseball equivalent of a flop.
This could be a very, very long game in this park.
That sounded fair on radio.
There we go!
Chippah with the hot foot.
Well we’ve got our best bats coming up…
Chipper and McCann both with attempted steals? Is Piazza back behind the plate tonight?
I assume Chipper did that on his own initiative. Now both of our best hitters are useless, as they’re both on base, where they can’t cause any runs to be scored.
I hate Anderson. If someone told me that the Mets were paying him 5 MM to intentionally sabotage us this year, I would believe it without hesitation.
alright kotchman, make them pay
Well, hopefully we can get it to the eleventh.
It’s a good thing we have a 2 out clutch RBI specialist coming up.
Pathetic.
Francoeur is a disgrace.
at least we cleared Frenchy for the 11th–what a useless turd of a hitter
Dang, I am surprised.
Jeff Francoeur. You can’t stop him, you can’t contain him- if you were on another team, why would you want to?
I have no doubt that Francoeur is an undercover Mets operative.
You mean like, after the 2007 season, Tom Glavine was called an “Atlanta Braves sleeper agent”?
Frenchy sucks.
We’ve got Bennett, Carlyle, Soriano (on his 4th? straight day), and Parr left in the bullpen….
…and I wasn’t talking about Francoeur. From here, he looks to be sliding down the slippery slope of suck.
Mike Hampton as well.
Francoeur is the guy who would strike out against a position player on the mound.
Beltran was out. Anderson “hitting” cleanup and being horrible in the outfield.
Frenchy simply sucking. It all adds up.
So annoyed right now.
On May 27, 2005 Raul Mondesi had an OPS of .630. Jeff’s sitting at .665. Where is he going to be in two weeks? And if he’s at the Mondesi line, do the Braves make a move?
186 — we all know the answer to that. no chance.
edit: unfortunately. it’s like whatever pickup basketball team gets stuck with me.
I have no doubt Francoeur will be allowed to suck all year long with no danger of losing his job.
I hope I’m wrong.
Warning, Braves killer.
At this rate, the good news is if Francoeur keeps this up the Braves will be forced to finally liberate us of his sorry ass.
no chance we get to the 11th
@186,
Not as long as he and Bobby share agencies.
Not with Bennett pitching around Cora to get to Beltran.
191–esp not with the tight strike zone on the 2-0 pitch–ump must have a Spitzer girl lined up after the game
Bennett has got to go.
What a ridiculous decision to WALK ALEX CORA.
I do not believe this crap.
this is what happens when bennett pitches. he’s just not that good.
Beltran game winning hit right here.
Well, this game has hit every branch of the ugly tree on the way down…
And that was the last one. Thanks a heap, Bennett.
Or a walk.
doesn’t have to swing the bat if he doesn’t want to
F*CK JEFF BENNETT
Get Kris Medlen up here, stat.
disgusting
gave this one away
3 F’ing walks–make them swing the lousy bats
What crap.
What an asshole.
Believable
argh… how do you lose that game?!?!
i guess it was predictable
I mean what’s the point?
Is major league pitching that watered down that some schlub like Jeff Bennett, who can;t throw a freaking strike, can get a job? is there no one better? He should be demoted immediately.
You f—ing suck, Bennett
last 3 batters didnt swing at one pitch
I’m not a big fan of Reyes clapping like a five year old on the third base line in Bennett’s view, but what can you do.
Yes–it was predictable and Bennett truly sucks….
How long do we have to have Bennett on this team?
This really exposes another weekness. The braves are not going to win with 3 and a half useful relievers in the pen.
(Moylan is the ‘half’)
This is a bad loss. I have never seen a team squander more momentum than this bunch does. I hope the people that bought season tickets tonight can get their money back.
I liked Bennett more when he was fat and I didn’t know how much he sucked.
for debate–who goes first Frenchy or Bennett
I say Bennett, though not soon enough
edit–maybe that should be the next poll question
Good thing we burned Moylan on Alex Cora with none on and two out in the 8th.
how many men did Fransucker leave on base for the game?
I don’t understand the IBB to Alex Cora AT ALL. If that came from the dugout, then Bennett is off the hook just a tad. Terrible management tonight. Terrible.
I missed most of the game, but I love the way Frenchy had to swing at the first pitch. I am sure that the NL loves it as well….
But Frenchy isn’t going anywhere….
Recap is up.
Bennett had Cora 2-1 when the IBB was issued.
#220 No pitcher has the authority to make the call for an IBB, I’d suspect.
To be fair to Bobby, I’m sure he was thinking that resetting the count against a banged up catcher would be a good chance to get out of it. You can’t manage thinking your pitcher will not make the next two guys swing.
Why Why Why .. does Cox stick with a guy thru the whole inning when its obvious he is having trouble getting the ball over … get somebody else in there please .. Carlyle, Parr somebody … he sticks with pitchers too long in innings till they get away … he always has .. thats crazy to let such a great outing by jurrgins get away …
And Bennett isn’t even left handed! I mean, if he was a lefty I *could* see where he MIGHT keep a spot in the pen, but he’s a righty!
I mean, come on, that’s ridiculous. Lay it down the middle of the plate and MAKE him hit it.
There is just something about this team and has been since 2005. Every time they look like they are going to get on a roll, they blow a game one way or another. You know damn well they will lose tomorrow. It’s just unbelievable how they just find ways to lose. I know sabermetricians pooh-pooh the idea of “clutchness” or knowing how to win, but it’s hard not to think that there is something to it when you see these losers time after time lose games in the most egregious manner. There is something lacking in this team–and, yes, some of it is clearly physical–but there is an intangible quality that good teams have that this team does not. You just have to win a game like this if you are a serious team. There have been way too many games like this the last four years. You simply cannot continually piss away games like this over and over. There is just something about this group of players that just does not click. Even Bill James acknowledges that there is something beyond the numbers and this team seems to lack “it” totally.
I really don’t know what to say about this team other than they suck.
its all kelly johnson’s fault…
I thought it was ‘all Andruw’s fault’….