Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals – Box Score – May 05, 2010 – ESPN.
Nobody wanted to hold a lead in this one, but the Braves managed to hold one for one inning, and it was enough. The Nats led 1-0 and 3-2, while the Braves led 2-1, 4-3, and 6-4. In the end, the Braves won a game in which Tommy Hanson didn’t have his best stuff and Jason Heyward left the game with a sore groin after one at-bat.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first, the Braves took the lead on a two-out two-run homer by Omar Infante. The Nats took it right back in the bottom of the second, only for the Braves to tie it in the third and take the lead in the fifth. Tied up again in the bottom of the inning, the Braves came back with two in the sixth to make it 6-4.
Saito, however, couldn’t hold the lead, giving up two runs in the eighth. After nobody could score in the ninth, Glaus led off the tenth with a single and was pinch-run for by Brandon Hicks. Melky bunted Hicks to second, and Diaz singled him in. Wagner allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning but held on for the save.
Chipper seems to be coming out of it, going 2-3 with a double and two walks (one intentional). If Heyward misses any real time (he expects to miss tonight’s game only) they’ll need Chipper to heat up even more.
I only got to watch bits and pieces of the game, but by the mid innings it looked like Hanson’s curve just wasn’t fooling anybody when it was ending up just outside the zone. Glad to see Diaz making something of getting a spot in the line-up… Hope J-Hey and Escobar (and JJ) get back soon.
From the last thread,
Would not [Jordan Schafer’s] 6 year minor league free agency kick in if he’s not on the 25 man by the end of this year?
No, because it takes seven years to qualify for minor league free agency and only if you’re not on the 40-man roster.
How about Julio “is the Man” Teheran.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2010_05_05_hagafx_romafx_1
10K’s, no BB’s.
couple of things from the last thread
I would not trade Escobar to let Infante play everyday, at least not while he’s cheap. We have no SS even close to being ready and it seriously diminishes our depth. I dont know how, but its in the Braves interest to keep Omar around though.
As for the OF depth at Gwinnett cant Mitch Jones play 1B and I think the braves should consider moving Young back to the infield anyways.
Im hoping Schafer cn develop by maybe mid June enought to where Melky can get traded off or released. Once again, this team has 1 decent OF’r at the moment. Still have hope for Diaz, but Bobby likes him sitting 4 out of 5 games
@3: wow.
So… Comeback player of the year awards (yes I have work to do and I’m avoiding it), is Andruw more likely to take the AL award than KJ is to take the NL one?
KJ has (at this point in the season anyway) stiff competition with Barry Zito being 5-0 with a 1.49 ERA and Livan Hernandez’s sporting a 0.99 ERA… and Pudge hitting .400
AJ’s competition is probably… who? Liriano?
My guess is AJ wins his, but KJ was never good enough for this to be considered a comeback (especially not if Zito keeps pitching well…)
yeah how would you compare Liriano and Andruw really.
What if Liriano wins 17-18 games with a sub 3 era and Andruw hits 40+ HR’s again…who wins?
If I remember correctly, Andruw got off to a pretty good start last year and fizzled out at the end. He seems to be in much better shape this year, but let’s see how he’s doing in June and July. As for KJ, his hot and cold streaks are legendary. Let’s see his numbers at the end of the month.
Off topic, but do people think that Hanson nibbles too much? He has an awesome curve, but he seems to fall in love with it and doesn’t want to throw his fastball. IMO, he gets behind in too many counts because he doesn’t challenge hitters enough. Even if he gets outs, he ends up with high pitch counts. At least, that’s my opinion. I suppose it’s a matter of experience, but, I can understand him being careful with guys like Zimmerman and Dunn, but not with the Adam Kennedys and so forth. He should just blow some of those guys away.
well yeah, nobody’s giving them the award just yet. Andruw did have a nice start last year, but also didn’t show much power during that, and he (and KJ) both have 9HRs already. AJ had an OPS of .900 still in June and July before dragging it down in August and Sept to .750ish I think.
Sometimes he nibbles. Last night, I thought it was warranted; neither home run was hit that hard, but the balls seemed to be flying out. Good time to be careful.
4,
I think you’re on to something WRT moving Young back to INF, at least temporarily. But WRT M. Jones playing first, no. The 1B job belongs to Freddie Freeman.
#8 & #10 – Is it Hanson or the way that BMAC calls the game. Hanson will get ahead 0-2 and then Mac will set up off the plate for two straight pitches. I think its a combo of both these guys because I dont see Hanson shaking off any of the signs
Hanson was definitely nibbling his first couple of starts, but against the Astros he made an adjustment–and he said as much. I would like to see him go deeper into games more often, and my guess is that in time he will.
Stu, saw this and thought of you: http://www.section303.com/we-are-nashville-4366
EDIT: @12 I’ve wondered the same thing about McCann.
#11- sorry, I meant 3B for Mitch jones not 1B. Freeman has that one locked down
problems everywhere…
if you move matt young back to the infield, joe thurston, wes timmons, luis bolivar, and j.c. holt will be jammed up. there are no real solutions except trading or releasing a player.
6 — My fantasy team.
@8
Yes…agree completely. The kid has great breaking stuff but he under-utilizes his fastball IMO.
@4
If healthy, I think Shafer gets a shot to get in the OF mix sooner rather than later. I’d love to see him come up and claim CF, and then have Diaz and McClouth split LF.
Hopefully MAC gets it going soon. I don’t recall him looking this bad at the plate.
this is pretty funny…
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/The-unlikeliest-NBA-hopeful-on-the-early-entry-l?urn=ncaab,237955
The best solution is just get rid of Gregor Blanco.
#5
Alex Rios is playing very well right now. He’s a comeback player.
Let’s see: Diaz starts the game, gets two vital hits, including the game winner.
That means: Bobby will sit him again for some undetermined time and pinch-hit him a week from Sunday while Melky melks away. Oy.
Not only Chipper needs to get hot, he needs to find his power stroke again.
So is McCann.
per mlbtr…
As I mentioned yesterday, quitting on a season is not the Astros’ style. But Berkman, even at age 34 and coming off knee surgery, could give a contender an offensive boost while saving the Astros over $5MM. The Red Sox, A’s, White Sox, and Mariners could be fits if Berkman is open to DHing, while it’s more difficult to find an NL contender with a first base opening. Perhaps the Braves, depending on how Troy Glaus is doing a month or two from now.
with Melky hitting .125 or something like that vs LH, Id like to see Hinske play LF for once tonight even though Olsen is on the mound. Both Infante and Nate have great numbers vs Olsen, but Im sure Bobby will have Omar leading off
I don’t think Chipper’s power is going to return to anything similar to his previous levels. Especially his power from the LH side of the box. He’s lost a bit of batspeed and the power alley in RCF is doing to his LH swing what it did to Casey Kotchman, Kelly Johnson and now apparently Nate McLouth.
@8
I think he has games where he nibbles. When he does, it always seems somewhat warranted, though. There was this game, which Mac described, and there was the ridiculous comeback against Philadelphia where he didn’t get out of the fifth and threw over 100 pitches. It also seemed like nibbling was the best course of action in that game, though, as the Phillies were fouling balls off and seeing a lot of pitches, and if he had given in to them, he probably would’ve gotten shelled.
It doesn’t happen in every game, though. It certainly didn’t happen the other day against the Astros.
Also, I don’t have a problem with keeping Gregor Blanco in AAA, necessarily. They do only have four OFs at the moment. But I will say that he is completely expendable if they ever need a free spot. It might also help his career to go somewhere where they might need a fourth outfielder, as well.
With Heyward out, the Nats didn’t know who to pitch around.
I’m pretty sure the Braves would listen to offers on Escobar, and consider moving him if the return is right. Sure, he’s underrated and cheap, but he gives away alot of outs on the bases and is a bit douchey.
Personally, I’d be open to trading him along with Melky for a real LF and a good glove man at short. Not sure who lines up with us there, but I’d consider a deal like that.
love him or hate him, Yunel is a top 5 SS IMO. Teams would trade for him. I dont know what the minors look like, but Im sure Wren could find good offers. I still wouldnt move him
I’ve got nothing against Esco, in fact I think he’s one of our better players. But given the mess that is our LF situation and the fact that you gotta give something to get something, he seems a logical candidate.
The only problem is getting a replacement as I don’t see Infante as an everyday player.
Whenever he does something stupid, just shout in your best sitcom live studio audience voice, “That’s our Yunel!!” It helps to compartmentalize frustration — then you can go back to watching the range, the arm, and the (typically) reliable hitting.
@30,
It’s Yunel being Yunel.
To revisit a recent topic…
KLaw chat: http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/32223
Bill (Toronto)
Any idea what KC is doing with Gordon? At this point what would it take for a team like Toronto, with a hole at 3B, to acquire him?
Klaw
(1:14 PM)
The demotion/position switch is a pretty good sign that the Royals have no interest in turning him around. I imagine Dayton has gotten or will get a few calls on him. No idea what he’d want but I’m guessing you could get the guy for 60 cents on the dollar.
—
It wasn’t as specific as my question, but gets to the same point.
I still wonder what the Braves’ scouts think of him.
any chance berkman can still play a decent left field? that would be nice. i’ve always liked berkman.
dont think Berkmans legs will hold up in the OF
I’d trade Escobar for Michael Taylor…
36
I wouldn’t
its really sad that we could use almost every starter for the Yankees on our team, except for one, Melky. We got him and apparently Bobby feels the need that he should start him and that he’s a good player
And looking at the minor league stats I still wouldn’t. I must disclose that even with all the boneheadedness, Yunel is my fav Brave, but while it’s hard to call OF an organizational strength, we still have much more depth there than SS. Heyward and Schafer should make up 2/3 of our future OF.
Yeah, I wouldn’t trade Yunel for Taylor. Even with his foolishness, he’s still a top-10 SS, and we really don’t have depth to speak of at that position.
I’d trade him for Michael Stanton, but I hear that the Marlins already have a shortstop.
@33–I think a better strategy would be moving Prado to 3rd and then getting a 2B who provides better defense. Of course, it’s easy for me to say that as a chatboard quarterback.
a melky trade when schafer is ready would be right on! who would be stupid enough to trade with us?
That’s why we keep playing Melky. He needs some trade value.
FYI – The Phils look on the way to taking 3 of 4 from the Cards. Makes it look more and more like the Wild Card is our ceiling.
@43 – Let’s just work on .500 first.
i’m realizing slowly that with an improved division, the wildcard’s a longshot.
melky for alex gordon…
At least we’ll miss Halladay in Philly this weekend.
#33 – Prado is fine at 2B, he doesnt carry the bat for a corner position
Jazzed about missing Halladay, but you can’t really do much worse than Lowe, Medlen, and KK on our part for the PHI series, much as I love Medlen, Hudson and Hanson are our two best and neither of them go against PHI
Today’s lineup: Infante, ss; Prado, 2b; Chipper, 3b; Glaus, 1b; Diaz, lf; Ross, c; Cabrera, rf; McLouth cf; Hudson, p
Like everything but Melky hitting before Nate.
Looks like Bobby’s going all righty (or as much as possible).
This is funny:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5166260
Reminds me of this site:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
Robin Roberts died:
#22, they’re the only guys in the top 20 in the NL in OBP who are hitting below .270, and they’re both in the .240s.
I think it’s quite encouraging that we can be this bad and still be within a series of .500.
Heyward not starting today is disturbing
Heyward out a couple of days with sore right groin.
New thread is up guys.