Dry game thread: April 24, Braves at Mets

As something of an expert on the Atlanta Braves and on Jeffrey Braden Francoeur, people often ask me, “Mac, baseball playing and ship designing are all well and good, but what if Jeff Francoeur did something else? What if he was, say, United States Secretary of Agriculture?” Well, I think it would go a little something… like this:

144 thoughts on “Dry game thread: April 24, Braves at Mets”

  3. I’m glad someone else noticed Escobar’s lack of hustle down the line on those double play balls against the Phillies. It makes me wonder if he’s being a diva about Heyward taking his place in the line-up and the spotlight.

  4. The Braves have the pieces to get Gonzalez, but if they make a move for him, they’d better make damn sure he’s going to be around for a while.

  5. Francoeur on Heyward: “They’ve got a superstar on their hands there,” Francoeur said. “It’s worked out great for him there, and it’s worked out great for me.”

    I love the insinuation that we traded him to make room for Heyward. I think it’s safe to say that if Frenchy wasn’t such a toolbox and played well for us, Heyward would have started in LF.

  7. There’s no reason to dump our farm system on San Diego for Gonzalez when we could give up a lot less to get somebody like Laroche, Konerko, or Derek Lee for the rest of the year. Or Freddie Freeman might even be ready in a few more months. Way too early to be talking trades. I would like to see Melky DFAed though and Clevlen called up. There’s no reason to keep running a 4th outfielder out there if he isn’t producing.

  9. Mccannless lineup:

    1. Infante 2B, 2. Escobar SS, 3. Chipper 3B, 4. Glaus 1B, 5. Diaz LF, 6. Cabrera CF, 7. Heyward RF, 8. Ross C, 9. Jurrjens RHP
    8 right-handed batters in the lineup.

  10. Johnny Damon so far with Detroit: .322, with a .429 OBP…with 5 doubles, 10 walks and 10 K.

    juss sayin

  11. What kind of lineup is that? Glaus cleanup? Heyward 7th? No Prado? At least swich Diaz and Escobar. Please tell me you are just making that up and it’s not the official lineup bobby is throwing out there.

  12. Wind was whirling & chilly in the park last night, but you gotta catch those pop-ups. And how ‘bout a refresher course on the Infield Fly Rule? (Paging the ghost of Skip Caray.)

    A few Citi Field observations: Met fans have been neutered. Not a whole lot of enthusiasm last night, except for the Ike Davis blast. (And that was a blast.)

    A group of Asian girls behind me. When Francoeur came to bat, his big mug was on the outfield screen & one said, “Such an all-American-looking boy!” Had to chuckle at that.

    As always, a fair amount of Braves fans at the game. Guy in front of me wearing a Bobby Cox jersey. First time for that.

    Went down to the “Beers of the World” stand and, in a line near me, I saw a guy with a Braves jersey (the full-on polyester kind) with a #49 on the back, and he wasn’t a nostalgic Preston Hannah fan. From shoulder to shoulder, it read “Rocker.”

    Couldn’t help myself, so (wearing my red-and-black UGA cap & genuinely wondering about the sociological implications) I asked, “Hey, are you from Georgia?” He turned to me very confrontationally and with a thick New York accent, said, “No, but thank you very much.”

    OK, whatever, dude. I quickly lost my curiosity & moved on. Charming.

    DVR Alert: At 7 pm on MLB Network, Hank Aaron is the hour-long interview subject for Bob Costas’ “Studio 42” show.

    Off to Flushing. Go Braves.

  13. I’m not sure which is more confusing.

    Today’s line-up, or a New Yorker wearing a Rocker jersey…

  22. God I am sick of this offense. Its almost a bad thing to get the bases loaded with this team

  23. ububba,

    I’m going to the game tomorrow with the lady and some friends if you’re there. It looks like it’s going to rain, but I’ll try to tough it out.

  24. As if the group of players playing today wasn’t bad enough, the order makes NO sense….. Heyward is in an abyss of ineptitude. Basically he has to hit a home run or he can’t score or bat anyone else in.

  25. It’s only Game 17, but my spirit may already be broken. I’m changing the channel to the sixth round of the NFL Draft.

  27. Another strikeout with a runner in scoring position. How does TP still have a job?

  28. Radio guys channeling Skip.

    Jim: It always seemed appropriate that the old Mets stadium was in Flushing.

    Don: Especially given the way it smelled.

  29. It’s very frustrating to watch these guys flail around out there. When he’s healthy, maybe we should try batting Jo-Jo Reyes in clutch situations. It would be more useful than putting him on the mound again, and I’m sure his strikeouts will be more fun to watch.

  31. Braves .217 BA w/ bases loaded is 14th in NL.

    I would love to see the following lineup against lefties

    Prado 2B
    Heyward RF
    Jones 3B
    McCann C
    Hinske 1B
    Escobar SS
    Diaz LF
    McClouth CF
    Pitcher

    and Against Right Handers

    Infante LF
    Prado 2B
    Jones 3B
    McCann C
    Heyward RF
    Hinske 1B
    Escobar SS
    McClouth CF
    Pitcher

  32. andruw jones now with 6 dingers on the year, a 1.164 ops, and 3 stolen bases without being caught. which ex-brave is going to win comeback player of the year?

  34. I love it when Joe waxes poetically about the “quantum physics” in baseball.

    Chipper looks gimpy

    EDIT: very appropriate that is Glaus’s 1st double as a Brave

  35. i dont know his name, but the old mets announcer said “that should have only been a double in little league”.

  36. As of right now, 5 of the 9 people in our lineup have season BAs of .200 or below.

    including our 4-5-6 hitters

  37. 32: Do you think Chip and Joe have any idea how dumb they sound, talking about the statistical “quantum physics?” I mean, seriously.

  40. the only explanation is melky was sent from new york to single-handedly destroy the braves.

  53. Wow. Yunel escobar. I’m getting sick of him too. Especially when he isn’t hitting

  62. Yunel ran halfway to home on the fly ball and didn’t go back to tag for whatever reason. He got back to third as the throw got there, and Prado was stuck in between 2nd and 3rd.

  63. Yunel didn’t tag on a deep flyball for some inexplicable reason, and Prado did without realizing Escobar was still on 3rd, so he had to return to 2nd and was easily tagged out.

  65. Sac fly Glaus. Yunel didn’t tag up, The Prado did. Ensuing clusterf*** at 3rd ends inning.

    Yunel should be benched, but Bobby doesn’t have the bodies

  66. Tom, you don’t want to know. But in case you do, Glaus hit a flyball to mid-right field. For some reason (Yuny being Yuny), Escobar didn’t tag and drifted off the base. Prado (at 2B) did tag and sprinted for 3rd, but stopped when he saw that Escobar was still standing there having a smoke. They doubled up Prado, but the play was Escobar’s fault. I’d call it vapor lock, but that would be an insult to vapor.

  67. either Yunel lost track of outs (there were 1) or he lost it in the sun looking back to right. Either way he didn’t tag, Prado did and tried to advance. By the time they realized what was going on it was inning over.

    Bobby took his hat off.

  70. Melky-yunel-glaus have my blood pressure at unhealthy levels

    And henry blanco steals. Wtf

  71. @67 if he thought there were 2 out he should have been going home not just halfway–head up his @$$ either way

  72. Did the Mets just send Henry Blanco with the pitcher hitting against a guy throwing out 40% of attempted base-stealers– and he made it?

  73. Dammit. Really, if you can’t play baseball, you should be sitting on the couch watching it with the rest of us.

  74. @71, you’re absolutely right. It’s tough when you are looking for excuses and can’t come up with any.

  80. That’s a pretty decent analysis by Joe in response to another stupid question by Chip. It’s not that the Braves are too passive, it’s that there are too many holes in the lineup and pitchers are working to those holes and exploiting them.

  81. Whatever. I am just horrified at the state of this team. It ain’t just Yunel – although he’s not helpng – they are all just mailing it in or something.

  85. I really like ross. Gives us great depth.

    Manny Acosta. If history tells us anything, we could put up a 4 spot here!

  97. Good Lord. How many C-to-2B throwing errors have the Braves made this year? We look like the Bad News Bears when guys try to steal.

  101. I thought it was the smart play for where he was. You could argue that he should have been playing farther back to start, but the smart play once it was hit was to play it off the wall.

  103. That’s the fourth throwing error by Braves’ catchers this year, on the 11th opposing stolen base attempt. More than a third of the time, when someone runs toward second, McCann and Ross will chuck the ball into center field.

  105. I agree with Mac.

    1-0 with this offense, you have to go all out for it. There’s no way Bay is getting an inside the park job so he doesn’t really matter.

  107. Nate McLouth would have had time to strike out a few times on his way to make that catch.

  111. Since the Edit function is not showing up for me for some reason, I will add:

    Can we start a Mondesi Watch on Glaus?

  112. If Prado couldn’t start b/c of a hammy problem, why have him try to steal?

    And now batting–the compensation pick for the crummy signing of Tom Glavine. Ick.

    Well sh…..

  115. Oh, I hate this game. Francoeur to knock in the probable winning run, Acosta get the win? I hate this game.

  117. I have discovered the secret to Frenchy – he is doomed to destroy the Braves. Whether playing for them or against them.

  118. KJ, Andruw, and now Jeffy. With Atrosta in line for the win.

    The ghosts of scrubs past…

  119. I sure am glad we went out and got that big bat via free agency.

    I mean, just where would we be without Troy Glaus?

  125. Maybe the gubmint can bail out the Braves? They are too important of a company to fail, right?

    Hell, at least the tax money wouldn’t be pissed down the drain (unless Frank Wren was in charge of spending it).

  130. Hey, look at that! Yunel can catch a ball that’s not thrown directly at his chest. Go figure!

  132. At the moment, I’m hating this entire team, except Prado and J-Hey. And maybe a couple of the pitchers.

  133. With Glaus, Lowe, Reyes, and Escobar, we can’t concentrate enough hate on any one of them to match the loathing we directed toward Francoeur.

  137. with the exception of lowe, the pitching staff has been good.

    so we got that going for us, which is nice.

  138. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but then I’ve never seen a guy trotted out there for game after game despite the complete lack of any discernable baseball skills.

  141. You’re forgetting the hamsters we used as backup catchers before Ross, the return of Terry Pendleton, and Raul Mondesi, just for starters.

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