Atlanta Braves vs. San Diego Padres – Box Score – April 14, 2010 – ESPN.
The Braves finally scored some runs for osmeone who wasn’t Derek Lowe. And Troy Glaus finally did something.
It didn’t start out that way. Nobody scored through the first four and a half innings. The breakthrough for the Braves might have come when they gave up the Padres’ lone run. Hanson hit Padres pitcher Clayton Richard in the foot; Richard, to my eyes, clearly swung at the pitch for strike three and also didn’t try to get out of the way, but of course the umpires let him go to first anyway. He eventually came around to score. But after that, Richard, who had been blowing the Braves away, fell apart. I don’t know if it’s coincidence, the foot, or running the bases.
Prado doubled with one out in the sixth. Chipper walked semi-intentionally, and then McCann laced one into the center-right gap, all the way to the wall, scoring both runners. Glaus singled to move him to third, but Brian was cut off at the plate on a groundout by Yunel. Heyward came through with a single to score Glaus. Melky was intentionally walked (ha!) and the Padres got Hanson to end the threat, but damage done.
In the seventh, after Diaz reached on an error and McCann walked (again, semi-intentionally), Glaus hit a massive homer, his first as a Brave, to make it 6-1. It was really very impressive, certainly more impressive than anything else he’s done with the team. Hell, everything else he’s done.
Bobby went with the top relievers again, but it was a pretty reasonable decision as they hadn’t pitched in awhile and you certainly didn’t want to blow this one. Moylan gave up a hit but got out of it with a double play. Saito gave up one hit but recorded two strikeouts. Wagner’s control was a bit shaky as he walked two, but also recorded two strikeouts in the ninth.
I don’t know about coincidence. Alot a Braves were hitting him hard all night and just not finding holes (Jones, McCann, Esco, and Glaus most notably). They were hitting some shots early, just right at people. Glad they were able to string some together though.
Also, FWIW, that ball hit Richard in the shin, not the foot.
Man, it was good to see Glaus unload. He’s still got plenty of power.
Glaus killed that one. I’m having doubts creep back in, though. Was it a hanging curve he hit? Nothing wrong with that — you’ve gotta hit the mistakes. But it wouldn’t dispel the rumor that he’s got a slider-speed bat. I’m still in favor of giving him some time… it’s just a nagging doubt.
If nothing else, it helped Melky take a commanding lead in the “Who sucks more?” poll.
They definitely hit Richard pretty hard before our big innings. Escobar hit one up the middle that bounced off the pitchers mound to the second baseman and Chipper hit several line drives that carried just a little too long. Great to see Glaus destroy that pitch.
3—Yeah, I dunno. I mean, he’s always had a long swing. But, at least one of the nagging doubts I had — that the shoulder injury might have sapped his power — was put to rest by that bomb.
Yeah it was a hanging slider. I thought the same thing – there were a couple of mediocre fastballs in his prior AB that I thought he should have killed. It’s a doubt I’ve had since I watched him swing through a bunch of average fastballs in spring training. But still, he put some good swings on balls today and I’m certainly willing to give him some more time. He’s not THAT old, and he’s got a good track record of production right up to his injury last year.
If bat speed is a problem for Glaus, why doesn’t Cox or TP convince him to swing a lighter bat? He’s swinging a tree up there.
@8 – Seems like I remember reading during Spring Training that Glaus did try swinging a lighter bat last season and it didn’t really help much because his shoulder was still too weak. He switched back to the bigger bat because he thinks his shoulder is much stronger this season. Will it hold up? We shall see.
One thing’s for sure: for that one at bat last night, I’m OK with the big bat. That was an absolute shot.
Anyone seen how far he hit that ball? I’m curious whether it went further than Heyward’s first, and it’s not up on Hit Tracker yet.
@10 I can tell the ball was hit much higher than Heyward’s HR, but I think Heyward’s went further.
Glaus’s swings were much better looking last night.
According to the broadcast, Glaus’ HR went 416. Looked a lot longer to me.
Guys,
Just stumbled on something so unbelievable I don’t have words. I really can’t believe the Marlins paid him for this. Just wow. Enjoy
@12
Yeah, we’re probably gonna have to wait for HitTracker, then. Heyward’s gained a good 30 feet after HitTracker tallied it, if I recall.
A slightly overlooked aspect of that game, as everyone is rightly excited about our offense breaking out: Tommy Hanson was very impressive. He really has been in both starts. Good to see him pick up where he left off. The walks is really the only nit I can see to pick thus far with him.
Also, that pitch to McCann in the sixth, the one that resulted in the game-turning double, was an absolutely awful 0-2 pitch.
@13
I think that just caused me to have a stroke.
@12, Agreed, Tommy was throwing it right by all the hitters. Lots of desperate swings last night.
@13, Truly horrendous. Thank you for sharing.
Scansion is always going to be loose in rock music (if you can call that rock music), but starting the song with “it’s game DAY” already let me know how crappy the song was going to be.
Yep, the Marlins will soar… and then flop around on dry land before expiring ’cause they’ve got no lungs. We’ll mix metaphors until the cows come home to roost.
Creed sucks so much that I would never, ever, subject this blog to a Creed video. Phil Collins is one thing, but you have to have some standards.
I loved the replay of the Padres’ pitcher and catcher’s reaction to mcCann’s hit. They knew they screwed up immediately.
Yeah, Tommy was… so freaking good. He walked a few people, and clearly missed his spots a few other times, but for the most part when he missed he didn’t leave it in the hittable part of the zone. Otherwise, 95 mph fastball and hammer curve, both nearly unhittable. He’ll be good for a long damn while.
By the way, for all the journos out there, a 1965 job booklet about journalism is rather tragically hilarious today: “The story that a reporter worried and sweated over will be read by thousands and perhaps millions of people who will be informed, enlightened or amused. … He has prestige and influence that most persons can never hope to attain.”
In other news, the Pulitzer Prize winning nonfiction book this year was David Hoffman’s “The Dead Hand,” a book about the Cold War arms race and the fate of the weapons that got produced. I worked for two years as a research assistant on this book. Hoffman’s a great reporter and it’s a great book. I recommend it heartily. Kind of a thrill that I was a small part of something that won the biggest prize in journalism.
The fastball was good, but the curve was unbelievable. He threw one in the PA when Gonzalez worked him for a walk that Adrian just got a piece of, and I couldn’t believe he did. The curve can take a lot out of a pitcher’s shoulder… but you don’t see a lot of curves that good.
Anybody gonna be downtown this weekend? It is supposed to be absolutely insane here. Braves are in town, Bon Jovi is having a concert, there is some robotics convention happening somewhere, and Freaknik is making its return. Man am I pumped for the traffic disaster that is going to occur.
21—He threw one for strike 3 to Clayton Richard in Richard’s first PA that was equally impressive. Just unfair to do to an opposing pitcher.
Also, he was having trouble commanding it last night, but that slider is at least as nasty as the curve.
MELKYYYYY CABRERA!
@22
As of a week ago, they were also going to shut down the Downtown Connector in both directions for road work. Last weekend, they decided they were only gonna shut it down in one direction. And then a day or so after that, they decided just to scrap the road work entirely until a better weekend. Can you imagine if they had entirely shut down the Downtown Connector this weekend? I don’t even wanna think about it.
Legend Before His Time.
I assume somebody linked this yesterday (I got the link from Talking Chop) but I haven’t seen it here. I am not a Verducci fan.
no way Glaus’ HR was 416. It was 20 rows deep in the second deck. I guarantee you that if Adrian Gonzalez hit it in the same place, we’d get a much different number.
Mac–
Saw the article on Heyward in the dead-tree SI. Gotta say, it was a really good article- almost more about the East Cobb system than Heyward himself. Loved the stuff about him and Freeman together, though- I see the two of them batting 3-4 in the Braves order for a decade or more.
#26
Yeah, read it the other day. Nice story
@24 – “I like-uh da woman.”
Me too, Melky. Me too.
Game thread.