Today’s video is dedicated to Melky Cabrera!
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Today’s video is dedicated to Melky Cabrera!
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
if you get no-hit yet still win 2 out of 3, is that considered a success?
Sure.
Absolutely.
Thanks for posting that video,Mac. I forgot how hot Linda Ronstadt was back then, and I had completely forgotten that Eric Gregg once hosted ‘The Midnight Special’
Might as well whip ’em today.
Diaz lf
Prado 2b
Jones 3b
McCann c
Glaus 1b
Escobar ss
Heyward rf
Cabrera cf
Jurrjens p
The first Brave to ever toss a no-hitter was Big Jack Peffer on May 7, 1907, man I remember Big Jack really was bringing it that day.
I want to like Brian Jordan, but he’s not very good at talking.
Reading through the assaults on LaRussa and Manuel this morning over at fangraphs makes last night feel better. Jimenez just was on last night. At least our manager wasn’t doing everything possible to prevent us from winning the game.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/baseball-is-amazing
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/opposite-paths-to-the-same-end
I’m not a big fan of this Melky playing everyday thing with a Diaz/McLouth platoon.
LaRussa was making no detectable effort to win that game last night. He seemed most interested in doing the craziest things he could think of. I wonder when the last time (in a non-blowout situation) that a team had a position player pitching and a pitcher playing a position? Ever?
My favorite thing was when he brought Felipe Lopez into pitch an inning, Lopez actually looked pretty good out there, so he – of course – pulled Lopez after one inning a put Mather in. Mather had no idea what he was doing out there and gave up a run (Jerry Manual of course called for a sac bunt. Gotta love Jerry), so LaRussa says ‘loved that’ and sends him back out for a second inning.
Velocity seems down again.
prediction: jair goes to the dl after this game. he’s throwing all fastballs and abot 3-4 mph below his normal velocity.
@10 Well at least Bobby doesn’t see him as “speedy leadoff hitter” anymore, just “defensive asset”. It’s a process. Once he completes the 7 stages of grief, Cox will realize he’s just “pedestrian replacement level 4th OF” and things will come right. I anticipate this occurring in 2011 sometime.
Chip mentions the Braves are looking for their first hit…before they’ve even batted.
13 — He did hit 93 on the strikeout pitch to Gonzalez.
I’m very surprised they ruled that hit a triple. Fowler flat out dropped the ball and Diaz looked like he was holding up at second.
11 Unfortunately, I remember when the Braves lost a game to a position-player pitcher. We were playing the Cardinals sometime in the mid-80’s, they ran out of pitchers around the 15th inning, and we still couldn’t score, and actually wound up losing. Those were some sorry teams back then, and yeah I watched the whole game.
That was not a “bullet,” Chip.
17,
That happened more recently against the Rockies. I think the position player actually struck Chipper out.
Brent Mayne, pitching for the Rockies, beat us in 2000. Note losing pitcher.
well, he looked really sharp the last 2 batters. i take my prediction back…
You suck, Melky.
Not really Melky’s fault, but the statement is true nonetheless.
melky is the opposite of fast.
If Melky can’t score from 2B on a single to RF, then what CAN he do?
Tom, that’s exactly what I just screamed at my tv.
Did Chip just say “Any 3B coach will tell you, if you don’t have a guy thrown out at the plate once in a while, you haven’t done your job”?
I must have misheard. Must have.
The ball was hit hard and the throw to the plate was perfect.
Still, it should have been a little closer than that…
@25 – See? That was the play that should get Cox to stage III, “Anger and Bargaining”.
He’s supposed to be a speedy center fielder. But he’s not. Either, except technically the latter.
Prado is hitting the ball too hard.
@27 Why, Tom? It seems a reasonable statement to me. If you never get anyone thrown out, you’re being way too cautious.
chip’s lack of actual baseball knowledge is mind-boggling.
Grst, not at all. If you never get anyone thrown out, you simply might be very good.
And even besides that, the statement is just nonsense. Everybody fails once in a while, sure, and that’s ok, but you have NOT done your job when you fail.
Glavine does a fine job. “On 3-1, my approach always was to rather walk him and give up one than serve him one down the middle”. Great insight.
You still suck, Melky.
Man, Heyward would have crushed that 3-0. But knowing him, even if he did get a green light he probably would have been taking.
Smelky Ca-shithead.
7 minutes after my last comment, WordPress just told me “You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down.”
What I wanted to say was: Mac, put Melky in the doghouse!
@34 That’s just unrealistic. You’re talking about a situation in which there is imperfect information. No one can possibly only send runners when they will score and only hold them when they will not. Using that as a standard is silly. If you’re not getting anyone thrown out in a situation where you have imperfect information, it can only be because you are leaving runs on the table.
It’s also a matter of odds. Even a 95% chance of scoring means being thrown out 5% of the time. So you would hold a runner with a 95% chance of scoring? Nonsense. It’s not a failure every time a runner gets thrown out. Sometimes it might be a bad decision, but other times they just made a good throw or got lucky.
You’re trying to hard to criticize Chip and it’s forced you to make a silly argument.
39,
I’ve had a similar issue lately.
Now all Matt needs is the dinger for the cycle.
You just gotta let Diaz heat up…
It’s not a failure every time a runner gets thrown out.
Then WHAT is it?
And thank you for calling me “silly”. I’m not going to talk to you again beyond this post.
11 baserunners…2 runs
Good thing we really wore out the Rockies bullpen last night….. oh wait
Nice to see JJ reach back for something extra.
Nice going, Jair! Way to work around that error.
It’s absolutely true that a 3b coach who never gets a runner thrown out at home isn’t doing his job well. The defense screws up that play pretty regularly, so it pays to gamble when then need to make a perfect play to get you. I mean, how many times do you see the catcher drop the ball or it take a funny bounce or whatever? BP had an article on this before the start of the season, and the results were staggering. Being aggressive pays off. Not sending runners is a good way to make sure you don’t get criticized, but it’s not the best way to win ballgames.
That said, I don’t think Snitker is a particularly good 3B coach, mainly because I think he often doesn’t send runners when he should but still manages to get a fair few thrown out.
I swear, when Chip finally dies, his last words are going to be about that no-hitter.
Let’s see if we can get Jair a W.
Ok, we can’t lose to the Rockies 5th starter/middle relief.
There’s been some pretty smart baserunning so far this season.
Man, good for Chipper!
Ok so I spoke too soon.
Definitely safe there.
This is twice in two games that we’ve had a runner picked off of second. This just reeks of bad baserunning instruction.
Terrible call. That wasn’t even really close and completely changes the game.
Idiot can’t get out of Prado’s way and now blows this like he’s being paid.
Shouldn’t that been a balk on Biemel? He turned the wrong way.
Crap on a cracker.
Well, thats just about it I think
Nice rebound outing for JJ.
You suck at bunting, Melky.
Bunting sucks.
So apparently we’re at a rodeo now? Does that make Melky the clown?
Worthless
Yes, the guy who’s 3-5 is worthless. What is your deal?
OK, Chip’s gonna make me throw up in my mouth if he says the Rockies got an excellently-pitched game again. Smith sucked. He was terrible. The Braves let him off the hook time and time again, starting with Snitker’s moronic sending of Melky to the terrible call on Chipper at 2nd. The Braves should have 10 runs today.
Tom just predicted that Jimenez would pitch a perfect game?
I’ve enjoyed Glavine thus far.
Yeah, I’ve thought both he and Smoltz have been good. In fact, I liked the Joe/Smoltz booth Friday night without Chip.
The Braves have to start getting some production out of Glaus. You can’t have a guy hitting in the middle of your order who can’t produce in rbi situations!
PRADO! he’s made himself into a really good hitter.
FEAR THE PRADO.
It’s only fitting that the Braves would get a guy on to start the inning.
You suck even more than Melky, Chip.
I HATE Chip Carey.
swing and a drive!!!!!
What’s your love affair with this guy Mac? Wow… 3-5 great game Diaz. Way to go up there with 2 outs, runner on 3rd and hack at the first pitch. Diaz is a free swinging fool who doesn’t make this team better. He’s better than Melky, but he’s not a starter in my mind. Way too inconsistent
jon, you’re not a starter on braves journal, so please stop posting so frequently. go back to wherever you were this offseason. all you bring are your complaints.
What is going on??
Be nice with two strikes if BMac could go inside out down the 3B line
EDIT: That’ll work. Please come through Glaus.
He’s better than Melky, but he’s not a starter in my mind. Way too inconsistent
One of the most remarkable comments I have ever read here. Have you even considered Diaz’ record as a starter? In the three seasons Diaz had north of 300 PA’s, he’s been over 300 BA, over 360 OBP, over 475 SLG. Just what sort of “consistency” were you after?
He was out. You suck, Glaus. You too, umpire.
Troy Glaus is reliably unreliable.
I thought he should have been out at first, too, but he looked safe on the replay.
Bases juiced for Heyward… can I be excited?
I’m with Matt, I thought that the play at first was awfully close. If he was out, it was hard to tell even in slo-mo.
That said, Glaus sucks.
Nerve-wracking!
Gamecast says Morales is getting squeezed
YESS!!! JASON HEYWARD!
Uh. Let’s say we’ll take it and we’re glad we’re not Rockies fans tonight.
How about that?
HEYWARDDDD!!!
Ryan C
whatever you say amateur
Morales got a borderline call at 2-1 on Heyward, but he got screwed on the balk call — the 1B ump called a balk a couple pitches previous, then changed his mind, but then the 2B ump called the same thing a couple pitches later. That clearly got into his head, and so did the Glaus safe call.
But man, Heyward hit that ball real damn hard the other way. I sure do feel good about having him in the lineup.
BRAVES WIN!
It was bad umpiring all around today. The win counts, and the Braves escape with a series win.
Sign him to a 10 year extension. Now.
Woo-hoo!
That was a bizarre 9th inning.
What exactly happened with the first base umpire early in the inning?
That did not suck at all.
Big, big win for the bravos.
I love how hard Heyward hits the ball almost every time.
Still not sure what happened with the first base umpire earlier, but man was that a satisfying win!
Great game. I agree with Ethan. Lock him up for 10 years ASAP
It was bad umpiring all around today.
I second that. I thought the home plate umpire did a very good job calling balls and strikes though (unlike many of his workmates I have seen so far this year).
even you cant ruin my mood now, jon. heyward is insanely clutch.
ask yourself this jon…what do you say on this blog other than negative thoughts? if you can come up with a decent answer, let me know. otherwise, go smoke your peace pipe with chief.
GO Braves!
Thanks to TW Cable here, I got to see the 2-0 pitch to heyward, then immediately switch to a WWE pay-per-view ad, and a commercial for Blue Cross Blue shield, getting back just in time to see the freakin’ replay of Heyward’s game winner.
TW Cable – you are the Melky Cabrera of television service providers.
EDIT- Though to be fair, it was a lot better than coming back to see the Rockies in a post-game handshake line.
I’m finally starting to think that Jason Heyward just might be in a special class. Was really impressed with him today from the catch in the sun, to the going to 3rd on the passed ball, and then that opposite field hit to win it! Wow!
No disrespect, but I think we should lock him up for at least 25 years. Are you saying he can’t play as long as Julio Franco?
That 9th inning also brings me back to some comments made by Joe and Chip at the beginning of the inning pooh-poohing the walks the Braves have gotten yesterday. (“6 yesterday, 9 today, and that hasn’t worked”) How big a role did walks (and patience in general) play in that inning? Heyward’s at-bat was a work of art, mostly because he was willing to wait until he got his pitch. Love that fact about this year’s team– too many years in the past, there were too many free-swingers. Now they work counts and make pitchers fight through nearly every at-bat. I think that bodes well for this team.
Recapped.
as of right now, heyward is a .300 .400 1.000 player.
I said Heyward is a beast. I give credit where credit is due, RYAN! Plus this is a free speech blog, when the players make mistakes I’m going to point them out. Quite frankly I think Diaz is overrated despite all the stats you can throw out. He’s an average player at best and the fact he’s such a free swinger makes him a target of good pitchers because he’s going to swing at everything. But that’s really besides the point, Heyward’s the man and came through today with a win that will be remembered throughout the season. This was a monster victory, giving the team momentum going into the series with a Phils. A loss would have proved devisating to the the moral of the team going into this key series. To gain a game on the phils was huge today.
That was awesome.
Give him back if you don’t like him. We love us some Melkman in the only city worth living in. Oh.