Don’t be afraid to take some pitches, guys. You were doing so well, too!
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Don’t be afraid to take some pitches, guys. You were doing so well, too!
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
hopefully, bobby goes with a melkyless lineup that has diaz leading off.
Diaz needs to be leading off against Moyer just looking at his career numbers.
btw, useless stat for the day. The Pirates pitching has given up 5 doubles, 1 triple, and 4 hr’s in todays game. But no, Morton wasnt the starter. They are losing 16-0 in the 7th
One of my favorite records of theirs.
Two Braves things from twitter:
Freeman 4-for-4, 2HR, 3R, 4RBIs
Lineup 4/22: Diaz, 7; Prado, 4; Chipper, 5; McCann, 2; Glaus, 3; Escobar, 6; Heyward, 9; Cabrera, 8; Lowe, RHP
What do the Braves do if Melky doesn’t perform? Does he have minor league options?
#3
IMO, all 3 English Beat records are superb. Terrific live band, too. And a great, great cover of Smokey’s “Tears of a Clown.”
Oh sure. Saw them in B’ham in ’82 for the first time, when they were still a full on Ska act, and have loved them ever since. “Save it” is an amazing densely layered pop record though. I was genuinely surprised they had the chops to do something like that.
/and the cover of Andy Williams’ “Can’t Get Used To Losing You” is every bit as good as “Tears”
so, milwaukee won 20-0 today. that’s just sick.
Not as sick as losing 20 – 0.
Melky doesn’t have any options left. He got a hit last night, but he’s doing a great imitation of Raul Mondesi at this point.
I don’t love Melky, and I wish Bobby would stop benching Diaz and McLouth in favor of him, but I think folks have given up on him too quickly. He’s been a solid player, especially for a 4th outfielder, and I think he’ll prove to be one again.
Did you know that Melky hit for the cycle on August 2, 2009? So there’s always that.
Foot, meet mouth.
Our problem is that Melky, Diaz and McLouth all need playing time to work out of their slumps. Our second problem is that we can’t afford to play Melky, Diaz and McLouth because they are in such terrible slumps.
Of the guys above, Diaz and McLouth have both shown signs of breaking out of it, but then regress – not so much with Melky. Diaz’s lack of walks probably concerns me the most at this point.
The thing about Jordan… I am admittedly not exposed to the team outside of the games, but on the rare occasions I made it to Atlanta when he was on the team I always got to the ballpark early. And Brian was always the first player on the field, and always did a lot of stretching and running. Likely it’s a legacy of being a football player, but I doubt there was any player in baseball who worked as hard at the athletic part of the game as Jordan. And like a lot of players, he thinks other players should find important what he thought was important.
It’s certainly a whole lot smarter than Joe Simpson’s hit-to-the-opposite-field fetish.
I gotta say in re: Jordan, considering the source, it’s only “foot in mouth” if it’s demonstrably false. And I would love to hear what Chipper has to say in response.
Spike,
I like their fast stuff better than the crooner stuff, but, yeah, Wakeling always was a pop guy in a ska band. Their third album was full of the poppier stuff, like “Save It for Later” & “I Confess.”
Also…
Today, the Yankees turned a triple play—A-Rod to Cano to Johnson. It was their first triple play since 1968. Back then, it was Dooley Womack to Bobby Cox to Mickey Mantle.
Pitcher-third baseman-first baseman? That must have been some triple play.
I never really heard the English Beat before, and I just looked up the “Tears of a Clown” cover… thanks, guys.
I’ve learned as much about music as I have about baseball in my years on this board.
Check out Ranking Full Stop. It’s the definitive Second Wave ska single for me.
#13 & #15
Don Sutton has pretty much said the same thing about how aging players need to work harder to avoid injury (flexibility, longer recovery times, etc.).
And considering Don won 94 games after turning 36…
Mac, when was the last time you thought you’d be using Pitcher Wins to defend something Brian Jordan said?
…and speaking of MIL, Jim Edmonds would have been a great LH platoon mate for Diaz. We shoulda signed Jimbo and flipped Melky for something shiny the day after the trade.
i, not knowing chipper at all (and with the ability to hide behind my keyboard) have also expressed that i thought chipper needed to work more on his flexibility instead of just lifting weights. the past few years, he looks good physically, but when he tries to bend it’s a different story.
on freeman: the dude raised his ops 230 points today to .736. so much for the slump.
4,
Freeman also hit a double and drew a walk today. Heck of a game for him.
Not that this impacts the current series that much, but the Phillies have placed Jay Aay Happ on the DL and called up JC Romero.
Well, I wasn’t expecting to do that… I probably have a higher opinion of pitcher wins than most other stat geeks. I think they’re a pretty valuable statistic in a career context, because they usually balance out, unlike the results from just one season. Not always, but if judging a pitcher’s quality I’d rather have his career wins than any other stat.
Actually, Mac, I’ve come around to agreeing with you about the relative value of wins over a long period of time. I just thought it was kinda funny.
#18
I’d guess a line drive back to the pitcher while a double steal was attempted. Of course, the guy leaving first had to get a great jump.
AAR,
The Beat’s first album (“I Just Can’t Stop It”) is really one of the great ska revival records. “Ranking Full Stop” is super & I’m pretty sure you can find “Best Friend” (my fave) on youtube. “Mirror in the Bathroom,” another good one, was the main single.
After 3 records, they broke up. The main songwriter Dave Wakeling took Ranking Roger with him & they formed General Public (only hit, “Tenderness.) The guitar player & the bass player formed Fine Young Cannibals & they had that one huge album with a buncha hits (“She Drives Me Crazy,” etc.)
An English Beat best-of CD exists, but if you had to buy one original record, I’d go for the first one.
Wakeling’s apparently still touring under both (or all three, depending upon how you look at it) band names at various times.
That FYC stuff that Cox/Steele did is really good. I love both of the albums.
I’m not a big FYC fan — maybe because they were so ubiquitous during the “She Drives Me Crazy” period. But I do like their “Suspicious Minds” cover a lot.
Mac/27,
You’d probably like this from Patriot: Putting Pitcher W-L Records in Context.
Hey, at least Jordan can raise his foot to his mouth.
If Chipper’s conditioning regimen is indeed poor, I’m glad Jordan said so. And I’ll bet he has a pretty good idea. OTOH, at age 38 Chipper is unlikely to change much. He’ll do it his way until it doesn’t work anymore, then he’ll retire.
Greg Dobbs, third baseman? If we had anyone who could run, I’d suggest testing him on fielding bunts.
#33
Thanks for that, PW. I printed it out. Looks like good train reading.
I hope we can hold Utley to a double.
Lowe sucks.
Phillies are one of the best defensive teams I can remember seeing. Ugh.
You know what Simmons calls “No F—ing Way Game”? I swear to God, these are real-world NFW Games. The world just won’t let the Braves get any runs.
Going to need to score 8+ runs tonight to have a chance of a win. That or Lowe tiring in the fifth with maybe only 5 up for the Phillies.
41 — I’m not familiar with that term, but I think I see what you’re getting at with the Phillie defense.
I think they’re a pretty valuable statistic in a career context, because they usually balance out, unlike the results from just one season. Not always, but if judging a pitcher’s quality I’d rather have his career wins than any other stat.
That’s a good way to get jumped by the Sabergeek Blyleven Mafia.
A little late tonight, still no offense I see…
LoweMelky sucks.Greg Dobbs, slugger.
I’m not sure if it’s more annoying seeing Lowe suck and knowing we’re stuck with him, or watching hitters not being able to do anything to Moyer’s 83mph “gas”.
Lowe blows.
Just turned on the game–down 2-0 with runners on first and second nobody out in the third. Lowe’s pitching, eh?
I’ve only been watching for an inning and I’ve already seen Moyer get a called strike six inches inside (Glaus) and six inches outside (Melk).
That’s a recipe for another long night.
lowe might give up a hundred runs tonight.
Lowe is up to 60 pitches and we’re only in the 3rd.
Maybe that’s good news.
Hit the effing strike zone, jeebus.
well played.
NFW.
yunel is about to get benched.
That was horrendous.
Our Opening Day starter, folks. If Lou can move his to the ‘pen…
I realize that was a bad throw but Yunel didn’t seem real interested in trying to catch that ball.
Would Lowe be one of our four best relievers? I’m not convinced.
Really embarrassing considering how well the Phillies have played defensively in this series. Pitiful.
That E4 will be the excuse…
Bobby: “Lowe was dealing. We just gotta make plays behind him. He’s fine.”
62—Does it matter? He’s not one of our five best starters. Hide him in the bullpen.
Well, that wasn’t a strike either. Ted Barrett must have a plane to catch.
Yunel isn’t interested in anything other than his hairdo this season.
I wasn’t arguing against it; just making fun of Lowe. Sorry for the confusion.
62 — He’d probably be the worst, since he doesn’t strike guys out much.
Our keystone combo was certainly lacking there. That one play cost us 3 runs.
Lowe sucks…..only 80 more starts of this crap over the next 2+ years.
Is anybody watching the NFL Network’s Draft coverage? I like Mike Mayock, but his mispronunciation of “Berry” is maddening.
Can we put Derek Lowe on the DL for depression? As in fans get depressed when he starts.
DAMMIT.
Diaz always gets off to slow starts and finishes sizzling, doesn’t he?
Matty, if you have to scrape the ball off the ground to hit it, it’s cool if you just let that one go by.
33 PAs and no walks. A contender for the DiSarcina award.
Just Prado.
You can’t look at stats to judge Diaz, braves14. You have to just know.
I’m at the game. Braves are sleep walking. Lowe sucks even worse in person. Moyer is lobbing the ball and they can’t hit it.
Our pen is too good for Lowe I don’t want his suck rubbing off on them.
I find comfort in the Mets. They been no hit in the first four inning by Tom Gorzelanny.
Why are we making Jamie Moyer look like Whitey Ford?
Jamie Moyer is older than Whitey Ford.
Smoltz sure uses the phrase “people don’t understand” a lot.
Let’s force Lowe’s wife to withhold sex from him until he pitches properly.
And he promises not to reproduce.
Utley screwed up? That’s unusual.
And again?
NFW with these liners.
hitting moyer hard that inning. hope he stays in for another.
Kris has screwed the pooch here.
Lowe is killing the bullpen, dude has to start logging some innings for this team.
Derek Lowe ruined my Miller Lite.
I don’t drink, but I heard that came pre-ruined.
Melky gonna save us!
gameday had that pitch to Heyward 6 inches inside….
can we start calling melky “skim melk”?
Whenever you see “Heyward struck out looking” on a gamelog, you can bet the pitch was not really a strike. I trust his strike zone judgment a lot more than most of the umpires.
when do we start putting Infante in CF and Hinske in LF?
the pitch to Heyward was a strike
Hard to watch.
Edit: hard for me to tell from sec.124, but the Heyward pitch looked outside.
so against Philly starters
23IP 0ER for the Braves offense
Hopefully it wont matter but can anyone explain to me why McClouth wasn’t going home on the Prado single?
McCann swung at ball four twice there. It’s April and our best hitter is already getting out of his game pressing.
Also, I’m ready to see Hinske in there everyday now, between 1b and in LF.
#101 – bigger issue is why isnt McLouth starting over Melky. Melky shouldnt see the field, unless we need a pinch runner
Glaus pretty much sucks doesnt he?
We deserved to be swept and we weren’t.
We managed to play terrible baseball, lost 2 out of 3, and we can say we were lucky.
WE WANT SCHA-FER
Hinske hits it hard again. Well, back to the bench with him tomorrow.
What’s a “David Herndon”?
Apparently something that just got an Atlanta save.
The good news from tonight is Chipper Jones appears to be Chipper Jones.
Recapped, sort of.