Tampa Bay Rays vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – June 15, 2010 – ESPN.
The game began after a rain delay of almost two and a half hours. It would have been better had it not. Kawakami gave up four runs (only one of them “earned”) in the first, allowing a two-run homer and a pair of doubles as the Rays batted around. Heyward scored an “unearned” run of his own in the bottom of the inning on a two-base error and a wild pitch, but the Rays got another run in the second, and that was all they would need. But not all they would get.
Chris Resop showed once again that he is indeed a Poser. The Braves had cut it to 5-3 with runs in the third and the fifth. Poser loaded the bases in the sixth, then gave up a two-run single. In the seventh, he gave up a triple to score one run, a double to score the next, and a single to finish it off at 10-3. Five runs on five hits and three walks, a 22.50 ERA. AAA is a different level than the majors, but Resop makes it look like a different sport, possibly badminton. Poser.
Zombie Chipper homered in the eighth to cut it to 10-4, big whoop. The Braves actually outhit the Rays, 13-12, but nobody but ZC (who also doubled) had an extra-base hit, while the Rays had tons of them.
lines like this… “AAA is a different level than the majors, but Resop makes it look like a different sport, possibly badminton”…are the reasons i come here.
man, i never imagined resop would be that bad. i was really starting to believe that a new pitch made him a new pitcher, but maybe the new pitch just made his velocity drop by 6 mph.
oh well, let’s get ’em today.
‘badminton’, still laughing.
Maybe Chipper needs to ‘retire’ more often. Anyone still wondering why we didn’t get Alex Gordon for Poser?
Also, the Rays played some defense.
The margin was bad, but how many thought we would win a matchup of arguably the American League’s best pitcher this year versus Kenshin Kawakami? Even “Good Kawakami” was unlikely to get a win for the team here.
I have somehow accidentally ingested the “Koolaid” and can’t get it out of my system. I believe Resop can be a mediocre right handed reliever at the ML level, although all extrinsic evidence is to the contrary.
anyone keeping up with myke jones thus far? he’s old for the level, but i hope he ends up being the real deal. we need some more hitting prospects. being 22, i know that i shouldn’t put too much stock into his numbers, and apparently he sucks defensively. lots of joneses at the class A advanced level so hopefully one of those guys can push through to the big club to keep our jones streak going.
gandering at talkingchop’s website daily sure is exciting and depressing at the same time. man, do we have some pitchers in our system, but we can’t hit for shit.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=jones-001myc
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – June 15, 2010 – ESPN
New headline or accident?
AAA is a different level than the majors
Yep. How many times now has Jo-Jo Reyes been brilliant in AAA only to do nothing in the majors? AAA is just a bunch of old retreads and emergency filler to supplement the big league club.
On the bright side, I sure am glad Chavez went down and not Kimbrel. Kimbrel looked dominating and he actually threw strikes. In two innings he threw 18 pitches (13 for strikes) and stuck out 3.
so, did chipper ignite himself last night or what? he had 4 really hard hit balls. let’s hope he continues to hit. we need chipper out of the dumps. for that matter, let’s hope he’s not reading bravesjournal or he’ll really be depressed.
I think we should release that shuttlecock Poser befeore he does any more damage.
7—If Kimbrel could earn Bobby’s trust, that would be huge. Having 6 relievers used regularly would be good for everyone.
I fixed it.
Just for kicks:
Braves will not trade RHP Resop by Tue opt-out unless they get amazing return.
5,
Yeah, Mycal is the man. Extremely athletic, good hitter, plus power potential. He really isn’t that bad defensively… he’s just not a SS. I really have no idea why they’re letting him play SS. I see him as a future 2B.
@12:
Based entirely on his performance last night, a combo meal from Taco Bell would’ve sufficed.
so apparently Resop doesnt throw as hard so he can control his pitches better. Maybe he was tired from his last 9IP effort, but his pitches looked flat. No movement on 90-91 isnt going to get you anywhere.
So, just like I wasn’t sold on Resop based on his great performance in AAA, I’m not ready to dump him based on two innings in the majors. He should get at least one more chance to go out there and throw strikes. I wasn’t impressed with what I saw, mostly because he wasn’t locating his FB for crap. If he can consistently hit the outside corner (and get the ball down in the zone, because it looked middle up for both innings), he can be a useful arm in relief. The curve sucked initially, but he located it pretty well in the second inning. I’m not sure that it’s good enough to get ML hitters to swing-and-miss, but it’s good enough to keep them off balance.
So hopefully we blow someone out soon so he can get another shot. I’d be disappointed if he ended up completely sucking.
Unless he really heats up the rest of the way out, I would like Chipper to retire. I think it would be fitting that he leave the game with Bobby and an announcement now would give the Braves a chance to start searching for someone to be a long-term third-baseman–any ideas on that one?
It sounds to me that a Chipper’s decision is already made–the only issue is to what the Braves are to do with the rest of his contract earnings should he walk.
cruising around baseballreference.com today at work, looked at the team page for the 2001 Atlanta Braves. was that lineup awful or what? Rico Brogna, BJ Surhoff, some guy I’m honestly not even sure existed named “Quilvo Veras” (???). Team OPS+ of 87 (!!!)
2 players had OPS+ above 100: Chipper had a monster year with a 160, and Brian Jordan had a 109. Everyone else was just bad. Andruw’s 34 HR included.
I wonder if that’s the lowest team OPS+ to ever make the playoffs? I mean that’s awful.
@17 – resign Troy Glaus and then sign someone like Orlando Hudson and move Prado to third.
I think (hope) his reason behind meeting with the Brass is to let them know that he is retiring. Hopefully, they go out and add some payroll to make a run knowing Chipper is off the books next year.
18 — Quilvio Veras was acquired via trade along with Reggie Sanders and Wally Joyner…we sent Ryan Klesko, Bret Boone, and Jason Shiell to San Diego in return.
The trade ended up being a bust for the Braves. Sanders sucked as a Brave. Joyner was basically insurance in case Andres Galarraga didn’t come back from the season he missed with cancer, and ended up being a pinch-hitter defensive replacement. Veras had a good year in 2000 as a leadoff hitter for the Braves, but had injury problems and was released in 2001.
Meanwhile, Klesko had some of his best years as a Padre. We definitely could have used him in the early 2000s.
I know this post is not going to be popular, and I hate to say this, but the braves need at least one bat and a SP to be “World Series” good.
Sometimes I don’t understand how this team has won games this year. Glaus is going to come back to the median eventually, and I am afraid the braves are going to find it hard to score runs when that happens, unless Zombie Chipper turns back into a human, and Heyward starts hitting HRs again the runs are going to dry up. The braves do great when teams give them runs by errors and walks, but they leave way too many on base, and they still strike out way too much.
I know the SP opinion is not what people want to hear. Tommy and Timmy are fine, but following them up with any three of the following: twice injured Jurgens, Derek Lowe, 0-9, Poser, and Medlen just is not going to cut it over the long haul.
22-
I don’t think your post is off-base at all. As it stands right now we’re “playoffs-good” but not “world series- good”.
We need about 1 or 2 more thumpers to get to that level.
Chipper will keep on playing as long as he has fun. Contributing to a winning team is fun. If last night was not a fluke he can still hit with power. Glaus is better than he was in April, not as good as he has been lately. Average that out and he is effective.
Anything can happen in 7 games series. Getting there is though part.
@22:
That’s hardly controversial. You’re saying we need a bat and a SP to be in the running for best team in baseball? We have a ton of hitters that are underperforming. You have to figure that some of them are going to come around. Chipper may be done. McLouth may have forgotten how to play baseball. But seriously, half the team? That doesn’t happen. Pitching? That’s harder to figure. We don’t seem to have a true ace, but we have loads of arms. Say what you want about Lowe and Kawakami (and if you figure in contracts, well, you can say an awful lot), but fit those guys somewhere in a five man rotation and they’re not terrible.
^^
I was agreeing with you until I started running at the keyboard. I still am in agreement for the most part.
You know, Chipper’s swing looked balance and solid last night. It looked different. His HR swing against the Phillies was ugly, his HR swing last night was solid and balanced. I hope this is a start to something good. I still love you Chipper.
the world series is a crapshoot based on your top 3 pitchers performance in that series. hanson, jurrjens, and hudson are plenty good enough for the world series. it just depends on what team shows up.
on hitting, i can agree with, however we have the team to stay with anyone offensively. chipper’s year shows his age, but there’s really no real reason why mclouth and mccann should be struggling this mightily. eyes are a bitch.
look at it this way…when diaz returns, hopefully he can put up diazesque numbers in left. when saito adn jurrjens returns, our bullpen and rotation will be dominant once again.
with the way medlen is pitching, kawakami has to go to the pen. people keep talking about medlen’s innings but many pitchers over the years have said that pitching out of the pen is harder on your arm than starting. anyone know the comparison of starters vs. relievers that have had tommy john surgery? it sure does seem like relievers go under the knife much more than starters (granted there’s more of ’em). that would be an interesting study.
plus, getting saito and kawakami in the pen together can’t be a bad thing for morale. i mean, kawakami’s morale can’t be too high right now.
Geez, everybody got on base at least twice last night except for the ninth spot…how on earth we only scored four runs?!
@30
The Braves were facing flamethrowers (e.g., Price and Balfour) who know how to bear down when they need to. That’s what good pitchers do–we saw the Braves of the 90s do it time and again (though, most impressively, without the same velocity).
Random distribution of BABIP.
There’s not much difference between playoffs-good and WS-good. Certainly not a big bat and an ace worth of difference.
And you think Glaus regresses to the mean, but Yunel and McLouth don’t?
I’m not that worried about Glaus, who’s playing at about his accustomed level (on average). What I don’t get about Yunel is his complete power outage. He has no homers and only nine doubles, and an isolated power of .048. The only players on the team with more than two PA and a lower ISO are Jurrjens and Hanson.
Here’s a day brightener –
I always hated those mid 80’s Mets teams – thought they were a gang of douchebags and dopers, especially Dykstra and Backman. Here’s a capital video of Wally being a redass, and guaranteeing he’s going to be managing Single A ball for a looong time, although this appears to be from 2007, when he was managing the independent league South Georgia Peanuts(???).
http://boston.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/must-watch-wally-backman-gets-ejected-and-unloads-a-giant-can-of-awesomess/
I think there’s a very real difference between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves.
The Rays have an ERA+ in the 120s, and ours is barely over 100.
And although their OPS+ is only 2 points better (104 to 102) they have 7 starters with an OPS+ > 100, we only have 5. And Carlos Pena has an OPS+ of 96 with a BABIP of .203, so he’s been unlucky.
David, do those OPS numbers include our pitchers hitting compared to their DH?
34-
I’m a little worried about McCann myself, at least in terms of his loss of power. He’s actually getting on-base at a much better rate than previous years (career OBP-350s, 2010- 386), but he’s only slugging 410 this year after slugging 486 in 09, 523 in 08, and 572 in 06.
csg- yes. the numbers might change maybe 1 or 2 points. we’re talking about 149 pitcher-PAs and 2400 position player PAs
will Minor get promoted to AAA before the year is over? Seems like he should get promoted and take Resop’s place at Gwinnett
Im more than concerned with Yunel’s lack of power also. He’s approaching almost 300 AB’s without a HR. However, he seems to be heating up. Check out his splits
April – .215/.295/.266/.561 79AB’s
May – .207/.313/.241/.555 58AB’s
June – .347/.475/.408/.884 49AB’s
He’s putting the ball in play and walking more than striking out. He seems to have cooled his emotions on the field a bit also. Just want to see him driving the ball again
And you think Glaus regresses to the mean, but Yunel and McLouth don’t?
I’d love to be wrong but I think Yunel and McLouth are broken.
Yunel is spending way too much time trying to hit the ball the other way and up the middle. It’s like he has dinner with Joe Simpson every night or something. Go to mlb.com and pull up his hit chart for Turner Field and look at all the flyouts to right with practically none to left. He has some power but not to right field. Somebody has been giving him bad advice.
McLouth is just a mess. Takes strikes, swings at balls, no pitch recognition. It’s hard to imagine we’ll ever see the Good Nate from Pittsburgh again.
Got a PR from Sirius that was of some interest.
There’s really no reason at all why McLouth can’t fix himself. In fact, two weeks off should do him some good if he was that screwed up mentally.
And as far as Escobar goes, I don’t know that it’s really all that important that he hit for that much power, as long as he starts hitting in general, which he has been.
People also have to remember that we only need three starters (maybe four) for postseason. Between Jurrjens, who should fit right back into the rotation, and Lowe, who has very good postseason numbers BTW, there’s no reason why our rotation can’t be a playoff rotation.
#35
“Let’s go get a beer, Doc…”
Hysterical.
Nick – Assuming we make it to the postseason…do we really have to give Lowe a start?
42—Well, you know I’ve never been much good at predicting Yunel’s future.
No, we don’t have to. All I’m saying is that his postseason pedigree should count for something, and if we were in that situation and Lowe doesn’t fall back off the cliff between now and then, it would be a consideration.
Well, the DLowe that has pitched recently probably deserves a playoff start.
(Can you believe we’re having this discussion? Like old times…)
Infante at SS isn’t a bad move – especially if Yunel can net some pop in the outfield. Or Cliff Lee.
infante at SS isn’t a bad move…its a terrible one.
Looked pretty solid there (not spectacular, I’ll grant you that) when he filled in for Yunel.
From watching Infante, I’d gguess he’d be a below average shortstop. Not terrible. But below average.
The problem with Infante to short is that Yunel has been about the best defensive shortstop in baseball this season.
He’s still a numbskull, though.
Looking at Chipper’s career rankings on Baseball-Reference.
Not that it means a lot, but there are 21 guys who have played more games at 3rd than Chipper. There are 80 who have made more errors at 3rd than he has.
And there aren’t many who were better hitters.
Escobar is as frustrating a player as we’ve had since Andruw Jones. But moving him for half a season of Cliff Lee so we can start a bench player would be dumb beyond belief. Infante is a fine starting SS if you’re a crappy-to-mediocre team or if he’s your worst regular. But if you want to make the playoffs and you’re OF options include a healthy dose of Nate McLouth, Melky Cabrera, and Gregror Blanco, Infante’s not a guy you’d want. Besides what happens if Infante gets hurt or needs a day off? The Brandon Hicks show begins?
In general, I’d guess that now that Escobar is hitting the ball well in general, the doubles and HRs will eventually come. I say he finishes the season with double-digit HRs.
Edit: Speaking of McLouth…
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=11206