Did that really happen? Really?
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Did that really happen? Really?
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Let’s hope it happens again tonight… or something like that. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like there might be a 2 hour rain delay in the 4th that will knock Roy out of the game early tonight… is the best we can hope for to knock him out early due to horrible GA heat?
great song btw
DOB’s blog: “Heyward’s homer, his fourth of the young season, also gave him 16 RBIs through 13 games, matching Teddy Ballgame for the most since 1920 by any player under 21 years old in the first 13 games of his career.”
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2010/04/21/heyward-matches-splendid-splinters-start/
Ted Williams is a comparison I hadn’t heard yet.
wow… quite a few typo’s in that DOB column. Refers to Cliff Lee as Carlos Lee… says Halladay is 0-3… that the Phils scored one run in each of his losses last year?
Sorry – for me it’s crossed the line into laziness. “Teh” is a typo. 0-3 versus 3-0 is just sloppy.
Roy Halladay, meet Jason Heyward. Heyward’s gonna take him deep tonight.
Mac,
Since you contributed to getting an unnamed team put on probation, is there any way you can duplicate this feat with Tennessee? Actually, can you take a trip to USC for a few weeks? Since UT has Dooley, I’ve resolved not to hate them as much.
The line up is:
1. Nate McLouth* – CF
2. Martin Prado – 2B
3. Chipper Jones# – 3B
4. Brian McCann* – C
5. Troy Glaus – 1B
6. Jason Heyward* – RF
7. Yunel Escobar – SS
8. Melky Cabrera# – LF
9. Tim Hudson – RHP
With a ground ball pitcher on the mound that also misses bats and facing one of the best RH-pitchers in the game, why not go with Hinske in LF?
PW, what we must remember is who’s managing this team. As well as giving a player every opportunity to succeed (diaz), he gives them every opportunity to fail (francoeur).
Heyward looks inhuman in that picture. He’s enormous.
Okay, this is awesome.
http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2010/04/21/fordham-baseball-player-brian-kownacki-believes-he-can-fly/
This is great for all of us LaRussa haters.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/04/19/tony.larussa/index.html
10- I know the catcher is in his squat, but he really looks like an oompa loompa compared to J-Hey.
I still find it hard to believe that he is 2 years younger than I am…
Heyward is listed at 6’5″. That puts him three inches shorter than LeBron James and Joe Johnson.
Oh, stop your whining. Some of us are counting that stat in decades now.
There’s an unspoken rule that he has to be compared to black players, for some reason. He reminds me of a more polished, more powerful young Larry Walker.
I say Musial.
His swing reminds me of Utley.
I can see both Musial and Williams as tangible best case scenarios, but I hesitate to “project” anyone – no matter how great his minor league numbers and major league debut – as ONE OF THE TEN BEST PLAYERS EVER. I mean, Larry Walker was very freakin’ good for a while there. “Better than a perennial All-Star” is high praise. But I have to shy away from comparisons to the inner circle of the inner circle Hall of Famers. I’m just now getting to the point where I’ll think of Pujols in those terms…
I just loaded up Braves Journal and the series of pictures leading up to “Hallelujah” is both awesome and hilarious at the same time. Well done, Mac. Well done.
Jim Hendry moves Zambrano to the bullpen. The website release says “The Cubs didn’t want to move Carlos Silva into the bullpen because he’s been on a hot streak.” And they are scouting Braden Looper.
I don’t think Hendry could win a fantasy baseball league. I have no words.
With a ground ball pitcher on the mound that also misses bats and facing one of the best RH-pitchers in the game, why not go with Hinske in LF?
I’ll go with 1) Halladay has no platoon split and 2) Cabrera has seen a lot of Halladay from their AL East days.
I’m going to ignore that Melk is hitting .205/.205/.282 career off Roy. Although Hinske has a similarly futile line against Halladay.
I’m going to Staples for Game 4, so I’ll miss Halladay carving up the Braves like deli meat in this one. After Madson’s “peformance” last night, I would say Halladay’s chances for a complete game tonight went up by a factor of about 1000.
@22 – I actually wish we’d do that with Lowe and move Medlen to the 5th starter spot.
But yes, I agree – that is completely moronic of the Cubs. Who do they have that is better than Zambrano that is going to replace him? Silva? Ha.
But yes, I agree – that is completely moronic of the Cubs.
So against the Braves Z was killed by flares and bleeders and then a bomb by Heyward (hardly a mortal sin). Since then:
7 IP, 3 ER, 9 K
5 IP, 3 ER, 7 K
6 IP, 2 ER, 9 K
Somehow not good enough. That seems like pretty high standards for a team with Tom Gorzelanny in the rotation.
I swear to god, if ESPN uses up 30% of screen during tonight’s game for draft updates…
If I really wanted to know what Mel Kiper’s hair was thinking 24/7, I’d sign up for his twitter, or something.
Don’t do it ESPN!
23,
Halladay’s platoon splits have nothing to do with it, both Hinske and Cabrera would be hitting left handed. There’s no platoon advantage to be exploited, here.
Hinske is a career .263/.347/.457 (.304 BABIP) hitter in 2779 PA’s vs. RHP. Melky Cabrera is a career .272/.311/.390 (.296 BABIP) hitter in 1540 PA’s left handed vs. RHP (he has 5 PA’s hitting right-handed vs. RHP, presumably against a pitcher with a screwball or a good circle change).
Cabrera has seen Halladay 39 times and Hinske has seen him 32 times. Here’s their PA’s vs. Halladay by year:
Cabrera:
2006 – 5
2007 – 10
2008 – 11
2009 – 13
Hinske:
2006 – 3
2007 – 7
2008 – 15
2009 – 7
Hinske has also played on the same team as Halladay for 4 and 1/2 years. If either of them has the familiarity advantage, I’d say Hinske. But let’s just say for the sake of simplicity that neither one does. Hinske has still been the better hitter vs. RHP in his career. Unless you think Hinske is going to give that much or more back in the field, he’s your guy.
I’ve got marinaded steaks and buttered potatoes on the grill. The Braves play on ESPN in about 10 minutes.
I think the only way it could get better is if I was eating steak at Turner as the Braves took the field.
Matchup of the night: Howard vs. Hudson
Ryan Howard owns Timmy.
how did that not go out?
No clue. It was on a tee
does anyone else notice john schuerholz chiling in the first row of seats (not the suntrust club, first regular row of seats) 2nd seat in from the aisle…very odd, never seen him there before…
Well, the Phillies just hit two straight doubles. I, for one, am convinced that the Braves are a below-average ballclub and will never win another playoff series in my lifetime.
Nice catch, Nate.
If you vote for anyone other than Utley in the poll, you haven’t watched baseball ever.
Nice catch!
Smitty, in fairness, here are their numbers against the Braves:
Chase Utley, 402 AB, 17 HR, 62 RBI, .289/.371/.498
Ryan Howard, 307 AB, 32 HR, 88 RBI, .339/.421/.720
Utley hurts us, but Howard kills us.
I still voted for Dark Lord Utley, of course, but there’s an argument to be made for Howard.
Damnit.
Great. Now Glaus is going to get the idea that hitting long fly balls is a waste of time.
DAMN it. Troy wuz robbed.
I won’t bitch about Troy for at least 2 more innings. He damn near tied this game, and Victorino literally caught it above the wall.
I don’t know that it would have gotten over the fence, but it was close.
Well Glaus is finally hitting more flyballs. This seems like a positive trend.
Heyward’s been a little pouty after getting rung up last night and tonight. Last night’s call was questionable, but it was right there tonight. Kid’s gotta remember he’s still a rookie. 🙂
Tough luck there. Glaus creamed it.
@42, I was thinking the same. Not showing up the umpire, but a little mopey.
Damn you, Chase Utley.
Pete!
That was a beautiful 5-3 DP that never happened.
So good to hear Pete on the air again.
Wait, where are you hearing Pete?
Good to hear Pete.
Good to see Huddy pitch out of a jam again.
Oh, the Peachtree TV feed… shoot, I’m watching it muted on ESPN and listening to the WCNN radio feed. Argh, I guess I missed him.
Peachtree (MLBtv)
Right now, I’ve just set my expectations for a hit.
Smelky Ca-Bad-Hack.
Again, the Phils are working our starter. Hudson up to 61 pitches thru 3 IP. Halladay’s perfect, breezing with 34.
The national networks are going to start carrying every game we play against any pitcher with good stuff, hoping to broadcast a no-hitter.
Like I said last night, they’re the NL’s answer to the Yankees and Red Sox. A lot of what the Phillies do is work pitchers. Even the guys who don’t walk much at least seem to get some deep counts.
Well Hudson isn’t helping himself by throwing 3 balls to Halladay.
What I can’t figure out is, how do you learn to foul balls off on purpose? Because there’s no way it’s an accident with this team.
I played organized ball for about 14 years, and never once was instructed in methods of foul-tipping.
Jason Giambi is hitting in the 3 spot for Colorado and is hitting .000 for the season.
A HIT!
Whee, no more of this no-hitter crap!
Unfortunately, we still have to deal with shutout crap.
Last year, Halladay took the count to 3-0 to only 1.66% (16/963) of batters faced. Wow.
I liked the Phillies a lot better when Ed Wade was GM.
60- The only thing I was ever told was in AAU ball, and a coach said if you can’t stop the bat, go inside out and drop the bat head. You’ll probably get a stinger in the hands, but there’s a better chance you’ll foul it.
Not to disparage the Phillies, who I think are good at working pitches, but I think Hudson is mostly doing it to himself tonight.
Well I thought Hanson was doing it to himself last night, nibbling.
But if Hanson’s stuff couldn’t get swings and misses, I don’t know how Huddy could do any better.
For what it’s worth, 53 strikes to 35 balls for Huddy.
And Ethan, that’s better than the early check-swing advice I got: Don’t trust the ump to agree with you, if you’re going to swing, swing.
Yunel needs to stop sucking
Doesn’t look like we’re going to score tonight. Halladay might throw a CG SO.
It’s the fifth inning.
No kidding. He’s throwing smoke and has 56 pitches in 5 innings.
We’ve had some pretty good swings against him. Lots of line drives and Glaus’s almost HR. I’m not quite ready to put my money on a CG shutout.
Yeah I was starting to wonder how much rope Yunel’s 5 RBI’s on Opening day was going to buy him around here.
Damn Geico caveman.
Does McCann even know how to block the plate?
I’m guessing he’s leery of doing so considering the risk of a collision and injury, and that he’s possibly our best hitter.
After last night, I have a lot of confidence in Atlanta’s ability to come back on anyone.
I missed the game last night but just watched the highlights and read all about it. THAT WAS AWESOME! The walk-off walk off was great too. I’m glad my team did that. Ingenius.
Watch Conrad pinch-bunt.
Ok, I wish he had.
That inning was… disappointing.
watching a pitch or two against this guy would at least help get his pitch count up. Sorry Timmy, you needed to be perfect tonight
probably was the perfect time to let Huddy bunt though
I think the Braves might have gotten in to their own head against Halladay here.
Melky, I take back five, no wait, six percent of the bad things I’ve said about you.
Halladay is not the type of pitcher you really want to “take a pitch.” You’re just giving him an 0-1 count that way. Some pitchers you need to attack. Halladay is one of them.
63,
That’s amazing.
I like this Venters kid.
That called strike three was pay back for the non-call on the previous pitch.
could you justify sending Venters down for Proctor?
My first time seeing Venters. I thought he was a soft-tossing lefty type. I like him.
His curve isn’t that big ‘only a lefty could throw this, and only to a lefty batter’ sweepers like O’Flaherty has. I really don’t know if it PLAYS better against lefties, but it’s probably easier to throw for a called strike, like that on Utley.
#84- true
cmon glaus
Our bullpen could be really good. Though it’s going to have two ERA’s this year. The official one, and the one minus the JoJo
abortioner…appearanceNo, Joe, Glaus was not robbed of a HR by a ‘great play’ by Victorino. Glaus flew out to the warning track and Victorino almost overran the ball.
Guh, we can’t expect Heyward three games in a row, can we?
Both managers are pissed at the home plate umpire.
That’s just great plate discipline.
I smell a GDIP.
Please, Yunel, don’t hit into another DP.
Good time for Yuni to bust out!
Sam, I hate your nose.
ugh
DAMN it. Yunel didn’t deserve for that to be a GIDP. Great play by Chutley.
Can’t catch a break.
What shit luck
Ehhh…shut your pie hole Halladay. You got real lucky there brutha.
Phillies’ luck 2, Braves’ luck 0
Escobar hit that hard, but he hits a lot of ground balls and those get turned into double plays.
And for the record, the best pitcher in baseball just pitched around Jason Heyward to get to Escobar.
Their defense is real good. Very athletic bunch of guys.
I want to see that replay. Suuuuure looked like the SS was not on the bag when he caught that ball. Not a time for the “neighborhood rule”.
OK, fine. He kicked the bag. Very nice play.
Venters did throw Howard that sweeper there..
If he’s around the bag, he’ll get the call. That’s baseball.
I’ll say this for Yunel, he plays a great SS.
I think Yunel has some goodwill saved up around here.
I’m really impressed by Venters so far. Of course, I don’t have the greatest track record when it comes to evaluating relievers, especially hard-throwing lefties, so I will reserve judgment.
Barring an 8th inning comeback, Chavez in the ninth? With O’Flaherty loosening incase it turns over again?
114- Agreed, but past opening day, it’s not from this year.
Did anyone else happen to catch the promo for “Asthma Awareness Night” at the CBP on Phillies radio? That should really help pack’em in???
Hinske needs to get some time in LF.
With all the Phillies b**** hits this series, we deserve that.
I bet Manuel sticks with Halladay as long as possible tonight after last night’s events.
Apparently Saito and Wagner are warming up.
Saito hasn’t pitched in a few days; he probably gets the call.
Halladay is sick… His ERA this season in the NL will likely be in the 1.75 range, I predict. He will rival Maddux’s 1995 season.
No, Joe. That was a fly ball to the warning track. Andruw Jones would have caught it standing still.
Two of the Braves’ hardest hit balls turned into 3 outs, arguably nullifying 3 runs. Phils can play some D.
Don’t hate it. Nice to have him in case we tie it up though.. I think Chavez could get it done, bottom of the order, down two. But I don’t hate Saito here.
Saito needs the work
What did Saito just throw that went 65 mph? It looked like a friggin knuckle ball.
Did Saito throw harder during his big years before the Dodgers pre-injury, or has he always been around 90?
129 — Haha, Victorino looked stunned and stared at him after that pitch.
Ugh. Howard…
Dammit, Howard shouldn’t be able to move like that!
The Phillies defense is just unbelievable.
130- I can’t remember him topping out over 94 ever. Seems like his threw a tighter breaking ball with the Dodgers though.
i’m not sure glaus makes either one of those plays.
Manuel can’t do that to Halladay all year though. The Phils are going to need bullpen help. And I’m not sure just Lidge will be enough.
Recapped.
Tip your cap tonight.
Lowe vs Moyer tomorrow. We could see some runs.