Welcome, Brooks Conrad! This one was a little more adventurous than I’d like, but the Braves keep finding ways to win, which is nice. They look like a real baseball team all of a sudden.
Neither starter had much tonight—Kawakami was not helped at all by his defense, which managed consecutive Prados, one by the man himself, in the bottom of the 2nd—and while they were in, the game basically consisted of the Nats taking a lead and the Braves immediately tying up the score in the subsequent inning. Atlanta finally took its first lead in the 4th, when Detwiler was chased; Kawakami was chased in the bottom of the 5th, when he refused to take the easy out and thereby allowed the Nats to tie it back up.
Pinch-hitter Brooks Conrad, the game’s hero, broke the tie in 7th when he knocked one over the right-field fence with two outs, driving in three; the homer was his first in a 20-PA career. I think KJ may be at the wrong end of a double-Pipping.
Moylan made it interesting in the bottom of the inning, giving up one, and after Gonzalez breezed through the next inning by striking out the side (and the Braves added an insurance run to bring the lead back to three), Soriano uncharacteristically made it really interesting in the 9th by giving up two and putting the tying run in scoring position before recording the final out of the game.
Anyway, a win’s a win, and Atlanta is only a game south of .500 now. The Braves are still 2 back of the Phillies, but they moved into a tie for third with the hapless Mets and are now only a game back of the Marlins. The Braves look for their sixth straight win and Tommy Hanson looks to keep his perfect record going tomorrow against John Lannan, the only half-decent starter in the Washington rotation.
(Francoeur, who sucks, was again pinch-hit for with ACHE in the late innings; the trend is encouraging.)
(from the previous thread)
Francoeur sucks!
Guess who hit another grand slam today? Yep. Albert Pujols.
schafer was pulled from gwinnett’s game with wrist trouble again.
francoeur left 6 men on base tonight, and would have came up with the bases loaded had he not been pinch hit for by garret. so, he would have left on 9. man, no matter where you put him, francoeur always comes up with runners on. bobby needs to make out his lineup, put francoeur in at a spot. then, last minute, move him. maybe that will trick the baseball gods. braves baseball is real fun to watch right now. lets keep it rolling. it would be nice to go into the all star break above .500 and in first place.
Somebody in the previous thread pointed out that indeed G-Rod and Sumoza were promoted to MB to replace Freeman and Heyward. The Pelicans were shut out and 5-hit, but the new additions accounted for 3 of the 5 hits.
I see Milligan got called up to Rome and Hoover is still there.
Does anyone know the further ramifiactions of the movement in the minor league system? Is KK gone? He did not play tonight.
It was a brutal night on the farm, by the way, with losses from the GCL up to AAA. Several shutouts, too.
Riaan Spanjer-Furstenbur is like Pujols of the Appy League.
What a bizarre time for a bad year for Kaaihue. He had a good year at the same AA level last year and is repeating the level, I guess, because of Canizares at AAA.
Half way through the year and hitting .157.
I would not say Ka’aihue had a good year there last year, though, but it looked like he may have figured it out and was poised for improvement.
Oh well.
From Carroll Rogers – The decision for McCann to bunt was his own.
I would say he did. He hit .274 /.417/ .457, admittedly with more strikeouts than you’d like for a prospect.
Diaz everyday in right/left and platoon Frenchy and Ganderson and we are the best team in the division. It’s so easy! That’s why it’s so frustrating.
@8
This is clear evidence that Cox’s bunting sickness has metastasized, and has spread all the way to our cleanup hitter. It is no longer necessary to give a bunt sign. I’d say this means Bobby must go, but I’m afraid it’s too late.
I don’t know if someone cut the Ka’aihue boys’ hair or something, but Kala and Kila are now known via BBRef as Isaiah and Micah. This may be all the explanation required for both of them having an off year.
“John Lannan, the only half-decent starter in the Washington rotation.”
Not true. Jordan Zimmermann has been pitching very well. In fact, the starting pitching, until tonight, had been pretty good and the offense was sucking.
You’re right that I gave short shrift to Zimmermann, but the Nats’ starters’ ERA is around 5.00. That’s not good.
i was just browsing through the new SI and I saw Hansen in the “Who’s Hot” section. I hope he doesn’t suffer from some SI jinx karma and lose his first game to the crappy Nationals.
Today’s lineups:
McClouth – 8
Prado – 3
C. Jones – 5
Anderson – 7
Escobar – 6
Diaz – 9
Ross – 2
Conrad – 4
Hanson – 1
Morgan – 8
Johnson – 3
Zimmerman – 5
Dunn – 7
Willingham – 9
Guzman – 6
Hernandez -4
Nieves – 2
Lannan – 1
umm wheres frenchy? misprint? I’m all confused…
@15 – The beginning of the end for Frenchy???
@16 – I love it when everyone looks specifically for one guy to be OUT of the lineup. Awesome…
Also of note is that apparently we’d rather start Conrad at 2B than Kotchman at 1B. I guess it’s ’cause he’s a switch hitter and Lannan is a Lefty (like Kotchman). It’s probably just a way of helping Prado stay off his ankle a bit more and rewarding Conrad for the heroics last night. But it could also be a signal that Kotchman’s starting gig is anything but assured. The way he’s hit this year, that seems only appropriate.
@19 – Yeah, but eventually we will need an outside replacement for one of these positions. We still need another bat. If we could get one, we’d probably be favorites to win the division.
We better hope Hanson only has lfyballs and strikeouts because that is the worst infield i have ever seen in my life.
The OF is pretty sad too.
SHIT, am i going to get FOXed and miss the game on MLB.COM?
Why is it they can’t show the Noon games, when FOX doesn’t show a game until 3? I don’t get it.
That would be 1 and 4 for you East Coasters.
Yeah, i dont get it either, but at least I will get a few innings in before i head out to the neighbors BBQ/kegger.
I’ve got a trade for the Natinals – Kotchman and Frenchy for Nick Johnson. Nick doesn’t have a whole lot of power, but he would be very consistent in an otherwise inconsistent lineup (when healthy).
Who is the Diaz guy anyways?