Tampa Bay Rays vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – June 17, 2010 – ESPN.
And another series win for the Braves. Imagine what they’d do if they weren’t from such an inferior league.
Hudson was in Groundball Mode even more than usual tonight. Even the Rays’ one run came on a fourth-inning groundball which Prado fielded but couldn’t get an out on, Crawford scoring all the way from second on the play. But Heyward tied it up in the bottom of the inning with a homer, breaking a long drought. The Braves took the lead in the sixth with a bases-loaded single by Glaus, picking up Heyward who’d struck out with runners second and third, one out.
Hudson, meanwhile, went seven innings and of the fourteen outs on balls in play off of him, thirteen were grounders. He also struck out five, though he walked four. The main thing was lots and lots of easy outs.
Venters pitched the eighth, and while he issued a two-out walk got an easy grounder to get out of it. Wagner had no problems whatsoever in the ninth, getting a little flare out, followed by a three-pitch strikeout and a first-pitch fly out. Easy as pie.
I LOVE how the Mets go on the road against two teams who are a combined FORTY-FOUR games UNDER .500 and suddenly they’ve “figured out how to win on the road.”
Give me a damn break.
Two-of-three from the Rays. I’d like to see the Flushing Commodes do that.
I hate this f’in team so much. Hudson isn’t striking anyone out, Heyward looks terrible, and we can’t hit with runners in scoring position, Bobby’s an idiot with the bullpen, and we lose games we should win. We’re never gonna make the playoffs!
Yeehaw!
@2 …and you forgot to say Glaus, Prado and Wag suck big time.
we won? good, that means no chief or jon k.
knew we’d win…..cant wait for JJ, Saito, and Diaz to come enjoy the fun
And now we get days off. Or games against the Royals, which amount to the same thing.
Ryan, it’s a little like talking about a no-hitter… You’re tempting fate here.
Where’s Alex R to tell us that Troy Glaus is another KEN CAMINITI and that Frank Wren HAS GOT TO GO!
And Frank Wren is an idiot as well.
Beating the Rays and Twins is fun.
I still can’t believe they walked McCann to face the Glausonator.
Yes you can because GLAUS IS TERRIBLE AND OLD!
I can tell we are all happy, ha.
how great is it to finally have a real closer in your bullpen? 6 pitches, 6 strikes, 3 outs, that is efficient
@14 I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.
Rob Neyer is such a douche.
Such a great year to be a Braves fan. I mean, this is my kind of fun. WHOOOOOO!!!
Yeeeeeeeeeee hawwwwwwwwwwwww
Suck it American league
I think we watched the World Series preview this week. At least I’m hoping we did…
The first thing I did when I checked the box score today was to see Hudson’s GB/FB ratio. 13-1 didn’t surprise me, and that’s surprising. I, like some, don’t really trust defensive metrics, and thus don’t know what they are saying about our infield defense, but I am a bit concerned that our infield will not be able to consistently sustain Hudson’s success. At the end of the day, he struck out 5 in 7 innings, so the K rate was good tonight.
Hudson, Hanson, and a healthy Jurrjens is a pretty good 1-2-3 punch in the playoffs. We may not have a Roy Halladay or a C.C. Sabathia, but I would bet Philly or NY would want our rotation.
Hudson looked good tonight. I love to see the 5 k’s, even if there were a few walks. Great series win.
Good lord, I’m glad I don’t follow basketball. This is the worst game ever. It’s like the World Cup — nobody’s scoring, all they’re doing is making poor shots, fouling each other, and every so often burying a charity shot after a penalty.
Haven’t had the chance to watch the last few weeks. It’s always great to catch up on the action on Braves Journal.
As great as this team is playing, I’d love to make a splash at the trade deadline.
I think we should trade for Juan Rivera, Dan Uggla, and Luis Durango.
@22: If we’re still playing as well at the deadline and with the surplus of pitching we have, we’ll be able to get the parts that we need at the deadline. Easily.
where do you put Uggla?
25 — I think AAR was making fun of a certain former poster.
gotcha
Put Uggla in shortfield!
Good lord, I’m glad I don’t follow basketball. This is the worst game ever. It’s like the World Cup — nobody’s scoring, all they’re doing is making poor shots, fouling each other, and every so often burying a charity shot after a penalty.
I’m sad the Lakers won but watching Kobe crap the bed in the biggest game of his career was priceless.
nobody’s talked about this guy in a while. man, what an awful season he’s having. he never seemed like a very friendly guy.
http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=425773
ryanc, just looking at that no talent ass clown makes me glad FW shipped his ass out for LaRoche last year. It helped JJ & Tommy pitch in some ‘meaningful’ games down the stretch last year that I’m hoping will come in handy down the stretch this year. It also helped get a look at Huddy, who I don’t think would have came back if we were out of the race.
seriously, i was just looking around at the teams that were out of it and who in the world could we possibly pick up to play centerfielder/left field against lhp?
andruw?
kearns?
chris young?
aside from chris young (who would cost a fortune), any player out there isnt capable of the numbers matt diaz can put up.
my sleeper pick: a guy that i could see really being an impact bat from the right side is shelley duncan. he’s probably pretty awful in the field, but has true power from the right hand side and would probably not cost very much.
however, he doesnt extinguish the true need, which is a centerfielder that can hit. melky had us fooled for a while, but he’s coming back around to Smelky numbers. He’s 4 for his last 21 with 0 walks and 0 xbh.
we need a centerfielder that can freaking hit.
Anthony Lerew pitched well today.
@32 – I think our best option is patience. Whenever McLouth can overcome his concussion and whatever else was wrong with him I’m hoping he returns to his career averages going into the season. If that appears to be unlikely as we approach the deadline then we can see if there is anything out there.
I was pulling for the Celtics only because of Doc. Too bad, they almost pull it off…
Somehow I missed this, and while I’m not sure how much was lost in translation, KK definitely outdid himself.
@36 KK, you should come to Germany then and go as fast as you like…
Tonight represents a start to Chipper’s semi-retirement. Seems like Bobby will start giving Chipper more days off than ever.
Wow, I didn’t even know…we have the best record in the NL!!!
Shin-Soo Choo from Cleveland is decent and on a crappy team but his numbers have been drifting year to year.
I am really impressed with Prado’s defense overall, his range seems to have improved.
Good game to rest Chipper with media buzz. Could he have bunted as well as Conrad did?
No, that was a pretty impressive bunt, as far as bunts go.
“I’m sad the Lakers won but watching Kobe crap the bed in the biggest game of his career was priceless.”
Sadly, I’m not sure Kobe’s historic no-show will be as remembered as his 5th title. Such is the nature of the team sport, not to mention this culture’s emphasis on winning. But all the same, I’ll sure as hell laugh anytime someone brings up Kobe Bryant in the same breath as Michael Jordan. He was awful last night.
I have realised ovlivion is not the only way but as for me, it is the the best way for the Braves!
OH,TGIF^.^.
16,
Why do you say that?
@45 http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/3998/chipper-delays-decision-about-2011
We now have the best record in the NL.
35 – Doc Rivers is one awesome coach. I absolutely love him.
Can I say again that Wag is absolutely AWESOME?
Match-ups against KCR:
Brian Bannister vs. Derek Lowe
Zack Greinke vs. Kris Medlen
Kyle Davies vs. Kenshin Kawakami
Interesting. The funny part is we miss Bruce Chen and Anthony Lerew. Seriously.
Just to be a contrarian I don’t think we should be looking for a mid season acquisition. Caveat, if we have an injury then we will have to. This team can win it all.
But lets say the Braves disagree with me and decide to trade for a high quality hitter.
Teams will be demanding one or some of our young pitching in a trade scenario. Knowing ttinstaapp, which of Teheran, Delgado, Vizcaino, or Minor do you trade? Or Jurjjens, Medlen?
51,
Vizcaino and C. Bethancourt. Possibly Kimbrel.
Soccer Officially Announces It Is Gay
I can’t believe that someone has proposed reacquiring Andruw. He sucks.
Mac, AAR typed in the name Luis Durango. How come ‘I love Gregor Blanco’ didn’t appear in his post?
Peter, that was an interesting BP article on McLouth although I didn’t understand half of it. Essentially Nate is just better than a 4th OF but not quite a starter. Too bad Schafer is sucking right now.
I dont think there is a single person available in which you trade Medlen or Jurrjens. We have pitching prospects by the handfulls that teams can look over. However, a bat like Austin Kearns, Juan Rivera, Andruw Jones doesnt cost top talent. I also doubt that Seattle would trade Franklin Gutierrez. Seems like he could cost one of our good arms, but I dont think they’d have any interest moving him. Xavier Nady could be another guy we could look at
We could probably move KK to Texas if there is anything to that DOB rumor, for maybe a RP and salary relief for next year
44—Welcome back!!!
39 & 47—We also have the league’s best run differential. There’s a pretty good argument that we’re just the best team in the league.
Regarding Prado’s defense. When was the last time Prado made a Prado? It seems like it’s been a long time.
Andruw – why?
Juan Rivera – Spanish for Jeff Francouer
Austin Kearns – he is having a good year.
Did someone actually propose acquiring Dexter Fowler?
Just trolling the bottom feeders of each division with the idea that our need was an outfield bat with some pop, there was no one. Only Kearns. Of course when I say no one I mean that there are untouchables like McCutchen and Markakis too, unless we have a magical unicorn that I don’t know about.
Johnny, didnt say I wanted them either. They are just RH bats that may be available. I honestly think our best bet is that Diaz is back in 2/3 weeks and returns to 2009 form
I agree. And I think that Greg White and Melky can play enough CF just in case Nate simply doesn’t return to form.
It’s interesting that outside of Jason Heyward this organization has had such a hard time acquiring or developing outfield talent. Of course if you have to be good at something, then developing pitching or at least having the reputation for developing pitching is the one to have.
Willingham. I think he’s get-able.
Facing Kyle Davies is going to be fun.
DOB had a good injury update up last night.
Saito probably o.k. to go by Saturday or Sunday unless he has a set back.
McLouth still having concussion symptoms.
Diaz just taking a very few dry swings under Dr.’s care (I am thinking with no set backs he is 2 weeks from a 3 to 5 game rehab and then back).
If I am adding right, then AL has one more win than NL so far this year in interleague play as of this morning.
Shin-Soo Choo is not “decent.” He’s very, very good. You might as well be talking about trading for McCutchen.
jurrjens will be starting tomorrow and, without setback, should be pitching for the big club tuesday, june 29th against washington.
Arrogance in baseball tempts the gods. KC is still a major league team and facing Zach Greinke will not be a walk in the park. And there is still a lot of season to go.
with bobby cox managing, ya know what’s great about a major bullpen arm, such as saito, going on the dl? bobby’s forced to rely on a pitcher that he normally wouldn’t pitch in high leverage situations, such as venters. now, when saito comes back, bobby has 5 guys in the bullpen (2 righties, 3 lefties) that he can trust. and when jurrjens is back in a week and a half, he’ll have 6, one way or the other.
who can go on the dl to make bobby trust kimbrel?
If you could DL Kimbrel’s tendency to throw the ball all over the ballpark instead of to the strike zone that would probably help.
Of course McLouth is still ailing. They want him nowhere near the lineup for a while.
7.1IP 4H 8BB 13K 1.23ERA .148BAA
5BB’s came in in 1.1IP stretch in the middle of May, yeah he’s trying to throw it over the ball park
That may be true, but before you take too many rim-shots at McLouth’s expense, consider a few players of recent note who attempted to rush back from a concussion. In particular, take a look at Ryan Church prior to wall collision and Ryan Church after wall collision. Or take a quick gander at Marcus Giles prior to Mark Prior and Marcus Giles after Mark Prior.
meanwhile, Moylan has 8 appearances in June
4IP 7BB
did Church run into a wall or Yunel Escobar?
@65 – alright! Sam thinks we can trade for McCutchen!
Seriously, is there ANY scenario wherein the Pirates would trade him? I love that guy. He’d be our CF and leadoff man for a decade.
Anybody notice the smiling interaction between Glaus and Conrad last night? It’s a small thing, but is part of what makes this team easy to like.
Loved that McCann at least tried to bunt into the shift last night. Might need some time in the cage on bunting practice.
@72: Good points, Sam.
Stupid question: How does Glaus pronounce his name? Most of the announcers pronounce it “Gloss”, but Bobby Cox and a few promo pieces pronounce it “Glause” (rhyming with blouse).
As far as McCutcheon goes, I would normally say that they would never be that stupid to trade him. It would be a disaster from a PR standpoint and I think he’s good enough to be one of the pieces to build the team around. But after that I have to consider that this is the Pirates and they haven’t built a team in 15 years. Still, I would put the chances of him being traded in the next 3 years at about 10%. Then again, this is the Pirates!
KAWAKAMI TRADED TO PHILS?: http://TwitPWR.com/KOo/
FINALLY!!!!!
The referees are completely screwing us against Slovenia. Calling phantom penalties, disallowing a goal — I’m calling Donaghy. Donaghy!
was it a 2:2 final?
Yeah, it was. It would have been a 3-2 win for us if they hadn’t called back the winning goal.
DONAGHY!
Yes, it was 2-2.
That was the Armando Galarraga of World Cup games
Oh, the Pirates WILL trade him. Just probably not for a couple years. It’s pretty much their M.O. to act as a AAAA major league farm team for the 29 other teams. It’s one thing to trade to restock and rebuid to contend every 4 years or so a la Cleveland, but with the Pirates it is clearly all about getting rid of stars before they become expensive. Their fans hate them for it.
well that sucks. We have to beat Algeria most likely to advance and need anything other than a tie between England and Slovenia….does that sound right?
According to Wikipedia, the pronunciation for “Glaus” is /ˈɡlɔːs/. So, the “au” in “Glaus” is pronounced like the “aw” in “dawn.” So it’s like “gloss” rather than “glouse.”
I get the original, unedited versions of comments emailed to me. So I was about to tell td when he asked how Glaus pronounces his middle name, “Edward”.
Ideally, we want Algeria to draw England when they play in a couple hours. If that doesn’t happen, and England wins…
Slovenia has four points, England will have four points, and we have two points. We would need to beat Algeria, and then when Slovenia and England play, we need one of them to beat the other.
Why is Phil Jackson a great coach?
csg:
Only if England beats Algeria in a couple of hours. That would make Algeria a must-win for the US, and if England and Slovenia tie, we’re still OK if we beat Algeria by two goals. A one goal win for the US would be the same goal difference as Slovenia, so it would go to the next tiebreaker (goals scored?).
If England loses to or ties Algeria, then a win for the US against Algeria puts us through no matter what.
If ENG-ALG, USA-ALG, and ENG-SLO all end in ties, then I think it goes to total goals scored since ENG and USA would both have 3 points and a 0 goal differential. Looks like it would also work if England lost to Slovenia. That’s the only scenario where another tie for the US could get them through.
#88 – the best thing that could happen for the US if for Algeria to upset Eng. That would break down the scoring to
Slovenia – 4
Algeria – 3
US – 2
England – 1
The US is going to have to win the Algeria game no matter what and then it wouldnt matter what takes place between Eng and Slovenia
Our worst case scenario is an England win today and then an England/Slovenia tie. If we beat Algeria and the former happens, it becomes a three way tie
If England draws the team had better not come home.
90 – yeah, that sounds right
The tie from ENG-ALG is better since it still lets us advance with a win vs. Algeria no matter what, and it opens up the tying scenario where we tie Algeria and England ties or loses to Slovenia (would have to score more total goals than England if they tie). Points would be:
Slovenia – 4
US – 2
England – 2
Algeria – 1
And I edited my earlier post since Algeria wouldn’t be in a tiebreaker with a tie. Whoops.
Edited this one for clarity, but tiebreaker scenarios are never very clear.
Mac,
Can we ban soccer like politics and religion?
It is much more objectionable and more people die as a result of it.
the US hasnt had the lead in any match. They are due. Sounds like the US just needs to take care of business vs Alg and that will pretty much get them in. Outside of a England win today and a England/Slov tie. How would that scenario most likely play out.
It would give Eng, Alg, and US all 5 points
Disallowing that goal was a crime against soccer and the World Cup.
The game may have been a classic, but the thrilling comeback was marred by the call. I left the Irish pub where I was watching with a real sinking feeling.
They showed the play over and over and no one knows where the foul was, though there were potentially two against Slovenia.
#89 – the triangle
Phil Jackson is very good at motivating his players, and unparalleled at his ability to get them to buy into his system even if it’s not the best thing for them as individuals. There’s probably no other coach who could have gotten Jordan to accept a role in the triangle, or kept Kobe and Shaq from killing each other for so long, or convinced the current Lakers to go along with Kobe’s whims.
Man I am disappointed by the tie. Big time pressure for the U.S. to beat Algeria now. But its better than a loss and in soccer unlike most sports a clearly inferior team can pack the penalty area, get lucky and beat or tie a superior opponent. Go Algeria!
Stu, I respectfully disagree about Willingham. That is, if your definition of ‘gettable’ is not parting with one of our prize prospects or guys like Medlen/Jurrjens. They have every reason to believe that they are just a player or two away from contention. Willingham is a major contributor. A guy you keep.
csg had it right on Kearns,IMHO. A guy that may be having an outlier year or a guy finally fulfilling his potential playing for a team that is out of it and looking to get younger.
Sure glad that:
DeRosa got too expensive. Injury plagued season for him.
We let KJ go (yeah I said it). Prado is exceeding expectations beyond comprehension. Kelly is having a great season …… at home but away…
We signed Troy Gloss or Glouse or Edward. Nice roll of the dice by Wren.
We signed Hinske or Highnskee or Eric.
That we kept Gregor Blanco.
We didn’t rush Jordan Schafer back.
I don’t know about y’all but this winning and playing well thing has me happy.
Last part of this non sensical post. Do we dangle Jurrjens, Medlen or KK out on the market?
2-2 was a good result for the USA because it keeps qualification in your hands. A 2 goal win over Algeria, which you should be capable of doing comfortably gets you through no matter what happens elsewhere. The referee was terrible at the end though, I counted no less than 4 Americans being fouled and no Slovenians.
England losing either of the next two games is highly improbable, most likely we’ll win by 2 or more goals, but I guess this has been a week of suprises so far.
@99
Thanks Mac!
The argument here has been over whether Jackson’s success makes him without peer.
I’ve been touting Casy Stengel. There may be better choices for comparison, but I’ve heard (or read, in Jackson’s case) much that has been said on their respective success, but haven’t understood much of how they did it.
csg @96:
That scenario would leave USA, SLO, and ENG all with 5 points. First tiebreaker is goal differential, and the only games with goal differential would be the wins for each team against Algeria. So it basically would turn it into a contest of who can beat Algeria the worst. Slovenia only beat them by one, so if England or the US beat Algeria by 2 goals or more in that scenario, then they advance.
If each team beats Algeria by one (all would be +1 differential), it goes to total goals scored; then points, goal differential, and goals scored in games by the tied teams against each other (so ignore the Algeria results). The last resort is seriously a casting of lots by FIFA.
They should work blown calls by an idiot referee into the tie-breaker criteria.
I too am in shock by that disallowed goal. It was just so awful. But judging by reactions to the piss-poor officiating in 2006, especially in regards to the favoritism shown Italy when they played the US, I’m guessing that all the American “whiners” will be told to shut up and deal with it, that it’s just part of the game. That same attitude got me to quit on the NBA for almost a decade, and it’s pissing me off now. That call was unforgivable.
So all the World Cup talk got me to thinking – organized soccer should get rid of the offsides call. I don’t say this lightly (oh who am I kidding, of course I do) – but hear me out. I played soccer growing up, and as I got older until it was apparent I had neither the coordination nor endurance to be serious about it at all. But I think, as a “casual” fan, getting rid of the offsides call would be a good change for the game. I know that, in a lot of ways, it would change the overall structure of the game. But I also think it would open up the game in ways that, under the current setup, people can barely imagine (and would ultimately be a huge boon for the sport).
I know that a lot of people are happy with the game as is – but wouldn’t a big chunk of them be even happier with more action, strategy & scoring?
#100 – KK yes, Jurrjens and Medlen no
Saw the replay of the ‘foul’ online, and even though I don’t follow soccer one bit even I can tell that none of the USA players did anything on that. Furthermore, did the refs even say what the foul was? I don’t know what I’m even supposed to be looking for.
@95:
+1
Game thread.
Algeria is not upsetting England, that’s kind of silly to hope for, but USA is in good shape.
http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/ept_sports_sow_experts__8/ept_sports_sow_experts-808658848-1276878832.jpg?ymwPTUDD0_8KCZZQ
#106 – Might as well let everyone use their hands.