Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – June 29, 2010 – ESPN.
You beat Strasburg and you lose to — nay, are dominated by — “Craig Stammen”, who was, I believe, a pitcher automatically generated by the computer. I’ve never even heard of this guy before. The Braves got a run off of him in the third when Prado — good, reliable Prado — tripled (really a single with a bad misplay, which I may not even call a “Prado” anymore) to score Blanco from second.
Derek Lowe, unfortunately, forgot how to win, not that many pitchers ever have won much when they get only one run to work with. He needed a lot of pitches to get anyone, and in the fifth it caught up with him, allowing three runs, two on a two-out double by Zimmerman. He allowed another run in the sixth, and was relieved (having already thrown 105 pitches) by O’Flaherty. He did okay, allowing a leadoff single in the seventh, but Bobby lifted him for Moylan with two out in that inning, and Moylan allowed his first automatic homer in over two years to Willingham, a sure sign, as if more were needed, that it was definitely not the Braves’ night.
Chavez, the Human White Flag, allowed a run in the eighth, not that it mattered much at that point. Prado and Melky had back-to-back doubles in the bottom of that inning. The Melky double stung, him having grounded out weakly twice with runners in scoring position and two out earlier in the game, most notably with the bases loaded in the fifth; if the double had come there, then we’re talking a whole different ballgame. C’est la vie.
Dan Uggla singles in Jorge Cantu, and the Marlins beat the Mets. Our lead stays at 1 1/2.
2011: $15 million
2012: $15 million
Apparently Prado was the only one to get the memo that tonight’s game counts that same as last night’s.
The world is basically just random at this point.
@2 Robert, Lowe is a winner, A WINNER! He just forgets how to win once a while.
““Craig Stammen”, who was, I believe, a pitcher automatically generated by the computer.” THis is precisely how I feel about that name.
When our 3-7 hitters go 0-19, we are not going to win ANY game.
This CWS is a nailbiter.
I am extremely disappointed in our Dawg fans.
Has it really gotten so bad that they won’t rise to the bait, er, challenge of the Orlando Sentinel (aka, the Orlando Urban Lewinski) which ranks their football team SIXTY-FOURTH in the land?
Erk Russell is spitting nails in his grave …
When you want to really insult someone or something you don’t respect, you ignore them.
Who cares about what a Florida newspaper thinks?
I’m no UGA fan but that’s a ridiculous ranking.
I try and ignore Melky, but its hard too when we get these kind of performances from him. Swinging at that awful pitch after the walk to load the bases was brutal. He’s not really good at anything, but makes $3+mil. He cant run, hit, field or do anything well
@9 I think he is a fine #8 hitter. Putting him at 2-hole is evil. I would rather see Bobby putting Yunel back there.
USC beats UCLA again. Congrats, Cocks fans.
Gotta say it…
S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C!
Well, outside of Tech they’re really the only team I can truly root for, so I’m happy with this.
Next year, the Yellow Jackets will break in the new stadium with a College World Series Championship! COUNT IT.
Who cares about what a Florida newspaper thinks?
The Church of Scientology, apparently.
I’m not a Georgia fan, but look:
a)Since it is the local paper of a town that is an alumni base for your arch rival, I really don’t think I’d worry about it too much. It’s not like it was written by some respected national publication or something. I think you can expect the Orlando newspaper to be a little bit biased against Georgia.
b)This is not meant to belittle you. If you care deeply about this, that’s fine. In fact, I’m pretty sure a lot of people are gonna disagree with me here. But personally, even if I was a Georgia fan, or if something ridiculously negative were written about my team, I really don’t think that I would care about it very much, for the simple reason that I couldn’t care less about football right now. That’s not to say that I won’t care about it when the season starts, because I absolutely will. But there’s so much going on right now, what with the Braves actually looking like potential postseason contenders and the World Cup and general summer plans, that personally, football isn’t even on my radar screen right now.
In fact, whenever ESPN or a sports talk radio show brings up a football story of some sort over the last month or so, it almost feels like they’re unnecessarily trying to jam it in. Frankly, I almost never see the need to talk about football at all between the draft/the end of spring practice and the start of training camp. It has always seemed a bit ridiculous to me. Fans of baseball and basketball have to go at least two months without talking at all about their sports. Can we not go two months without talking about football? It’s always baffled me that people are that interested in football in the early summer months, although I guess they are, because I assume ratings are driving what is talked about to a large extent.
Be that as it may though, with the Braves in first place in late June this year, I think that maybe other people are feeling that way a bit more than recently, at least around these parts. So maybe that would help to explain why no one seems to be that infuriated about that tidbit.
I have enough trouble paying attention to the ridiculous rankings that actually do impact the game. I’m damn sure not going to pay mind to one that doesn’t.
USC beats UCLA again.
As if it could be any other way.
Fans of baseball and basketball have to go at least two months without talking at all about their sports
I’ll take your word for it. The lead story locally here every single day is the Lakers. The big news today? Was it the Dodgers epic meltdown against the Yankees? The Angels series against the red hot Rangers? No, of course, it’s that Shannon Brown opted out of his contract! OMG! Is Jordan Farmar next? God forbid we have to find new shitty backup guards. And what is Phil Jackson going do to? Is Brain Shaw taking the Cavs job? Ahhhhhhh! Every single day.
The point being that football will never take a backseat in SEC country. Too many people care too much.
well, apparently we’re searching for a rh power bat…first decent rumor about us in a while. the problem is that none of the guys rumored can play centerfield.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/06/braves-seek-righthanded-bat.html
its mlbtr and they also say that teams will be asking for Teheran, Minor, or Vizcaino. None of the guys mentioned should cost us one of those players
per Carroll the lisp is getting sent down tomorrow for JJ
Guys.
Sorry about the above post, it’s a little crazy around here.
Just wanted to say Go Cocks. Carolina fans don’t get too many moments like this, but maybe that makes them sweeter.
braves14, are you going to the stadium tomorrow? I fully expect bedlam.
Chavez, the Human White Flag
Who was the pitcher that used to be called “the towel”? Kevin Barry?
Marteen getting some love from Verducci.
mac,
Might I suggest amending the glossary to provide:
Prado 1.0: the fielding play that was bad but not called an error, etc.
Prado 2.0: Good hitting play
Prado 3.0: Unusually good fielding play based on the usual expectancy for the player.
Congrats to the Gamecocks!
#18 – That website has as much credibility as a BP senior executive.
@26
the website in itself has tons of credibility because all they do is consolidate everyone else’s rumors onto one page. if anything, the people that initially report the rumors are the ones without credibility.
@3 – Mac, that sounds like a Family Guy moment… “That went over about as well as the time Bobcat Goldthwait made that Kinks musical.”
I would be more interested in the CWS if they used wooden bats. Metal is not baseball.
Just because you beat one pitcher one day doesn’t mean you will beat an inferior pitcher the next. That’s not the way baseball works. The Nats were due to win a game. If the better team won every day, why have the O’s play the Yankees? That’s the problem with dissecting every game in a baseball season; the result of any individual game is often random. That’s why you see teams with odd records on particular days; there is nothing causal about it, you just have these odd patterns that develop.
BTW, apparently, the Nats are willing to trade Dunn–the White Sox are interested. Of course, with the Braves he would have to play the outfield, but does anyone think it might be worth the loss of defense to get his bat? He is a free agent, so you would likely lose him at the end of the year. What would you give up for a half season of Dunn?
I came on here to post about the rumors of the Braves looking for a right handed bat and I see I’m late the party 🙂
Regarding the players listed in the ESPN blurb: Kearns, Bautista, Willingham, DeJesus, Crisp and Corey Hart – the only guys who interest me of that group are Willingham and DeJesus.
If we’re serious about challenging for the Playoffs this year and being a real player throughout Cox’s last season, then we should be open to dealing some good prospects – not Tehran – but some good prospects to securing a bat like Willingham or DeJesus. The impact of adding an everyday right handed bat to our outfield makes a HUGE difference with this team.
I have always wanted Dunn on the team, but with him being a lefty, I’m not so sure at this point.
Is there a young Mike Cameron out there?
Willingham – the most desirable thus the most expensive. Age 31. Do you trade a Delgado or Teheran for him? He has a good contract too.
Kearns – the most intriguing. A guy finally meeting his potential by being healthy. Making 750 k this year. Cleveland is out of it.
Kearns was healthy in Washington and stinking miserable. I don’t want him and I don’t trust him.
Morosi’s report lists Hart, Bautista, and Willingham. Originally, I saw Bautista’s name and almost threw up, but he would make pretty decent Chipper insurance at third.
Hart would probably be my preference — younger, healthier — but if we have to give someone up out of the Teheran/Delgado/Minor/Vizcaino foursome, I’m not sure I would.
How about Kawakami and Robinson Lopez? Come on, Milwaukee!
@29
dunn’s interesting, but there really is no spot for someone like him. our outstanding weakness is rh power from left and center. while he’s been playing better lately, it cant be discounted that melky only has 13 extra base hits, no speed, and doesnt walk often. his .658 ops is below replacement level.
candidates i’d like to see the braves take a gander at:
chris young
matt kemp
cody ross
jose bautista
corey hart
if the braves were willing to take a risk and slide heyward over to centerfield, it could really open up the field for rh power candidates.
btw,
freddie freeman has his ops over .800 for the first time this year and has been ripping the cover off of the ball lately.
Willingham is the most desirable, but it does nothing for the CF problem. Hinske/Diaz IMO, should be fine in LF. Melky/Blanco/Nate is the concern
AKA, Matt Kemp, until Manny got hurt last night. Torre had benched him for 3 straight
btw, heard an update on Nate this morning. Said he was fine, no headaches and no soreness. He can also take BP inside in the batting cages. Is still having some issues when being outside and doing any physical activities in the heat. Its good to hear he’s getting better, Ill be surprised if we see him on the field again anytime soon
Yeah, as PW noted on Twitter, trading for a right-handed bat is at least as much about next year (when we’re likely replacing Glaus with Freeman) as this year.
how super sweet would this lineup be?
prado
heyward- cf
chipper
mccann
glaus
hart-rf
hinske/diaz-lf
escobar
i know….it wouldnt happen.
Hmmm … Heyward in CF. Not prototypical but might work and certainly opens up possibilities to add power to the lineup (at the expense of some speed).
I’ve become such a huge GlausBeast fan that I’ll hate to see him go. Think he would accept a 2-year deal? A year at Gwinnett and then a year off the bench might be a good progression for Freeman.
I think Troy Glaus is a legitimate MVP candidate.
@37 – I had noticed the 3 game benching as well, and was trying not to get my hopes up for a super secret fait accompli to be announced.
40—I’ll hate to see Glaus go, too, but I think the money’s going to be prohibitive. And a year on the bench won’t do Freeman any good.
41—Ditto. Manny getting hurt doesn’t help our chances, though.
If we are looking for a trade. Realistically we are gonna get someone like Kearns. Count it. I don’t think the team gets serious until they see how Heyward does when he comes back.
edit: me too. Glaus would also slide nicely over to 3b should chipper hang it up after this year and if they think Freeman is ready
If Chipper is retiring, would the Braves or anyone here want to take on Torii Hunter and his contract. Is that possible
pass on Torii Hunter. 34 year old CF, a good one for sure but how much longer is he a CF? 18 mil this year. dunno how much next.
When Chipper retitres, why not move Glaus to 3rd when Freeman is ready? I’m still looking for Freeman to be ready by 2012 and no earlier. Even at that, I’m not sold on the guy. We’ve had too many great 1B prospects who have turned out to be average or well below average (Helms, Thorman, …). LaRoche is probably our biggest success at 1B and his overall career has been about average. Nothing against Freddie, he’s doing great for his age and level, but I still don’t see him as a sure thing.
I dont know if Glaus could go back to third. Can he throw that much anymore
None of Helms, Thorman, and LaRoche ever OPSed .800 as a 20-year-old in AAA.
would the Cubs move Marlon Byrd?
No chance the fish move Cody Ross? what’s his arb situation? He’s got to get too expensive for them soon.
I want no part of Byrd.
What good is Ross if he doesn’t get to hit against us?
Freeman is raking right now, I dont see why you wouldnt have high hopes for the kid. Dude’s 20 at AAA. I was a little critical of them starting him at that level and he struggled early. Seems to be finding it now
247AB’s 29XBH 22BB 39K .279/.342/.470/.811
He’s another kid who has good plate presence. Gotta like his chances
@48 – In fairness, LaRoche had a pretty good minor league track record, and let’s get Freeman to the end of the season before citing his AAA stats. I agree with the general point though, although Marte is the gold standard by which busts are measured.
Interestingly, their minor league stats of this group are strikingly similar (of course you have to factor FF’s age into things). Just for fun:
LaRoche – .289 .359 .451 810
Helms – .283 .345 .444 789
Thorman – .274 .334 .461 795
Freeman – .291 .354 .453 806
And then there was Marte – .277 .350 .489 .839 career, and .275 .372 .506 .878 as a 21 YO at AA. How did that guy miss?
Braves are hosting the 2011-2012 Civil Rights Game.
The Civil Rights game? Will there be marches, protests, and sit-ins before, during or after the game? I’m sorry…just joking.
Anyway, Willingham has been solid all year here in DC, he just needs to hit the ball to right a little more. I agree with AAR about Kearns, no thanks.
@47 I have suggested signing Glaus back to play him at third base. I mean the guy will have two years of rest on his shoulder by then. He oughts to be able to throw by then I assume.
Kids with Marte’s pedigree don’t often miss. Prospecting isn’t an exact science. But guys who hit that well in the minors at that young of an age almost always wind up having a long career in the majors.
Age is a big deal. LaRoche and Thorman were 24 when lost his rookie eligibility in the majors, and Helms was 25. Those guys were putting up their minor league numbers when they were much closer to their final physical maturity. Freeman has more growing to do, and very conceivably will continue to get bigger, stronger, and better.
@58 I am afraid Freeman has been rushed too quickly when he is obviously not as talented as Heyward. I hope it will not ruin him.
@54 The way we turned Marte to become JJ is quite amazing. I think Marte was also rushed a little bit, but not as fast as Freeman.
I hate this time of year. I get so excited about possible trades and I’m almost always disappointed. And it’s worse this year because the stakes are so much higher. This team has GOT to get another bat.
@57
i dont know…troy looks awfully straight up out there at first. his range of motion seems to be miniscule.
@54
i dont think any of us would have guessed laroche would be as successful as he’s been. on the other hand, i’m not quite sure any would have thought thorman would be as bad. helms’ career path is probably fairly close to expectations.
another big difference when comparing those 3 to freeman is that all 3 of those guys had a much higher strikeout rate (roughly 1 every 6 at-bats). thus far, freeman’s is at about 1 out of every 7 1/2 atbats.
DeJesus seems like the obvious match since he could at least fake center field. He’s hitting .331/.398/.478 this season? I had no idea. That OBP would look pretty sweet in the two hole.
@60, yeah, if there was only an right handed outfielder on the market who hits for a good average, has some pop, hits lefties especially well, and has a name like Matt Diaz.
#63 – Yeah except it’s nearly July and that guy hasn’t shown up yet after no showing in ’08.
Personally I think a lineup like this would be unstoppable:
Prado – R
DeJesus – L
Jones – S
McCann – L
Glaus – R
Heyward – L
Hinske – L
Escobar – R
Against lefties, swap Glaus and McCann and play Diaz for Hinske. Print the playoff tickets.
#62 – they want a top prospect and we have plenty of LH CF’rs. I dont see DeJesus staying on his current pace which is way above his norm.
June .410/.450/.530/.980
no way he’ll continue, his uzr/150 sits at -79.5 in CF also
he’s still an upgrade over Nate/Melky/Blanco, but Im skeptical
@58, agree, which is why he is the gold standard, although a close second (maybe even first) – at age 22 in AAA – .334 .433(!!!) .596 1.029…Brad Komminsk. I remember the heartbreak, but didn’t recall just how good he was in the upper minors.
@64 – in that scenario, what do you do with Melky/McLouth, assuming KC won’t take either in exchange?
After Diaz’s ugly strikeout last night I’m not confident he’s back and is the right handed power bat we need.
DeJesus seems like a classic “buy high” situation. I don’t think so, unless Dayton is completely infatuated with guys we don’t need, which is always possible.
I don’t trust Diaz, or Hinske.
With regard to Freddie Freeman – it’s great to see him holding his own at AAA, especially at his young age. I think it would be reasonable to project Freeman in 2011 to produce something like Adam Laroche’s rookie year numbers – .278/.333/.488 – which is nearly identical to Freeman’s AAA stat line right now. Of course he’ll only be 21 (whereas Laroche was 24 as a rookie), so the sky is the limit with Freeman as he matures.
Something to look out for – Freeman is showing a large platoon split right now; .885 OPS against righties, .578 vs. lefties. He’ll have to learn to hit left-handed pitching more effectively if he’s going to reach his potential.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=1B&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=518692
I’ll agree that Marte should be considered the gold standard for busts, but Brad Komminsk would have to be the platinum standard.
DeJesus won’t hit .330 all year, and he doesn’t walk a lot or slug a lot, so once he hits his usual .270-.280, his OBP and OPS will be a lot more pedestrian, too. I’m with Mac. This guy is going through the hottest streak of his career, and it won’t continue. He’s not going to make us a whole lot better than we already are.
@69, Aren’t all contender deadline deals going to be “buying high” by default? Does anyone looking for help buy someone who is sucking on the chance they will get better down the stretch?
edit – not using this as an argument for DDJ, just saying in general, anyone we get will be pricey because underperformers are rarely sought out for a stretch run.
I don’t see why we can’t just trade Jurrjens and Melky for Kemp and call it a pennant.
@71, seen Heywards’ splits lately? 891 to 674.
@76 – Sizeable platoon splits are pretty common, especially (it seems) among lefty power hitters. Ryan Howard’s platoon split might be the textbook example – for his career, he’s .300+ OPS better against righties.
Freeman’s platoon split at AAA is around .300 also, which is .080 higher than Heyward’s platoon split. Also, I feel like Heyward’s statistics at this point are skewed by his wrist injury, which lead to him weakly pulling a lot of outside pitches from lefties – before the injury, he was hitting pitches from lefties hard to the opposite field. I’m guessing a healthy Heyward’s platoon split will be substantially less than it is now.
Just to put it in perspective – against lefties in AAA this year, Freddie Freeman becomes Nate McLouth at the plate.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7513;_ylt=Aulz4m6Cjd2i9PGsC3pY.paFCLcF
After seeing Marte bat in an Indians game on TV I thought his bat was slow. Komminsk had this weird uppercut motion with his swing.
I don’t want Kearns either. I’m just saying that his level of player is what we’ll get if we trade.
So with all the trade speculation, would anyone here be willing to trade for a guy like Willingham or Kemp even if it means a repeat of the Texieria trade? Giving up two great pitching prospects for a potential pennant?
There’s no way we’d have to give up two great pitching prospects for Willingham. He’s nowhere near as valuable as Teix was when we acquired him.
I wouldn’t give up Teheran or Minor for any of our supposed targets, and I’d be uneasy about Delgado or Vizcaino.
I guess we disagree about the value of a career .849 ops outfielder with one more year of team control in a sellers market.
Maybe not 2 but at least one of our top pitching prospects.
If you want Willingham, that’s what you are going to have to do. He is a very good ballplayer; good outfielder, great OBP. He would immediately improve the team significantly. But he would be very expensive in terms of prospects because the Nats are not going to give him away.
Dunn could play left field–not very well but he was an outfielder until last year. He would probably be less expensive because he is not signed.
I would hesitate to move Heyward to center in the middle of his rookie year after dealing with an injury. Let him settle down and focus on offense.
I guess we disagree about the value of a 31-year-old career .849 ops outfielder with one more year of team control and a bad back…
Why do you say it’s a seller’s market? Is it any more so than at every other trade deadline?
And do you realize that our top 4 pitching prospects are all in (at least) the top 50 prospects in all of baseball? I just don’t know that Josh Willingham is worth someone in that group.
Komminsk was going to be the second coming of Dale Murphy; Marte, of Chipper. That’s a lot of pressure to put on kids.
I havent seen a name mentioned that is worth Teheran, Delgado, Minor, Kimrel, or Vizcaino.
Its funny most people hated/still hate the Vasquez trade, but they are all high on Vizcaino
I too am happy with a Hinske/Diaz platoon. If we have to part with one of our (TINSTAAPP) top pitching prospects, I want a real live centerfielder with adequate+ defense, power potential, a reasonable amount of team control, like Kemp or the under-performing, currently in the dog house B. J. Upton.
If we cannot get one of these guys or equal and the Braves decide to trade, I’d prefer Oswalt or Lee or even a late inning proven righthanded reliever than most of the names being mentioned.
It’s too bad we don’t have anybody doing the Charlie Morton this year; someone doing something the Braves know is not their true talent level, but to outsiders seems believable due to his ‘pedigree.’
I would move Delgado for Kemp or Upton. I’d give up a JJ Hoover for Cody Ross.
If I’m parting with any of my BEST prospects, I want a right-handed centerfielder who can hit.
I’d welcome any of the LF’ers we’ve been talking about, but then I’m STILL running Blanco/Melky/McLouth out there everyday, so what those LF’ers brings me is limited. I wouldn’t pay much for it.
For the record, I’ll probably be pleased with whatever surprise Wren brings us.
Another nice comeback from Cincy today.
Down 3-0 to Halladay in the 6th, the Reds go to the 9th up, 4-3.
Hang on today, Redlegs.
If we’re looking for a right handed outfielder to play part time with a little pop what about going for one of the Jermaine Dye Gary Sheffield pair if they were willing to come down on their contract demands a little to play half a season? Maybe if they see that we’re a contender they might think its worth it for a half season.
@69, Aren’t all contender deadline deals going to be “buying high” by default?
That’s the whole idea, yeah. DeJesus is a .360/.450 player, if you are not interested in plugging that into CF I’m not sure what to tell you. Defense would be an issue, but Melk and McLouth don’t bring much to the table there anyway. Obviously you don’t break the bank for him but KC is usually pretty reasonable to deal with.
Let’s face it, the Braves are a mid-market team. They don’t draw particularly well, for whatever reason, and, clearly, Liberty isn’t going to pour lots of money into a team with a stagnant fan base. Under those circumstances, they can’t afford to mortgage the farm for the short-term. I’m not saying don’t make a move, but they can’t do another Teixera.
Game thread.