Marlins 3, Braves 2

Florida Marlins vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – July 04, 2010 – ESPN.

Well, you’re just looking to win two of three, aren’t you? [ROLLS EYES]

Tim Hudson had one of those games — they didn’t score for him, and the other team put all their hits together. From the second to the seventh, he didn’t have to go to the stretch, but in the first he allowed three singles to produce two runs. It was just bad luck, really. The fourth hitter of the inning hit a soft ground ball that was in the wrong spot to get a double play, or even a force, moving two runners up, and the fifth hitter hit a ball that bounced off Hudson and into right field to score two runs.

The Braves had a chance to tie it up or even take the lead in the first, as Prado led off with a single, Blanco bunted his way on, and then instead of taking the out, Ricky Nolasco walked Conrad, who was trying to bunt. But he struck out McCann on a high fastball, then Hinske hit a fly ball to the warning track to score a run. Melky was up next, and of course was easily out. The Braves did not get a hit with runners in scoring position in the game.

The Marlins made it 3-1 with an Uggla homer in the fourth. McCann cut it back to one with a solo homer in the sixth. But the Braves blew an excellent chance to get a run in the eighth after Blanco reached on a terrible error by Hanley Ramirez, and went down 1-2-3 in the ninth.

53 thoughts on “Marlins 3, Braves 2”

  1. To Tony, from the last thread:

    So Prado should be in the 3-hole. Then Blanco leads off and you bat Conrad in the 2 hole? Or Conrad leads off? Or… Diaz can hit 2!… but he’s not even hitting .200. No, wait, Hinske leads off! Blanco 2, Prado in the three-hole! Problem solved.

    It was a Sunday: Day Of Rest game in a series that we’d already won. With Chipper and Glaus off for the day, and Heyward on the DL, everyone hit where they should have. The only plausible change is flip-flopping Melky and Conrad, and I like Conrad in the 3-hole better than Melky.

    And all things considered, you either bunt there to give McCann a shot, or you pinch hit Chipper for Conrad, and give him, and McCann each a shot with a man on first.

    But then you have to hit Infante for Hinske, or let Hinske face the lefty. And if you hit Infante there, you have only Hicks to hit for the pitcher in the 9th.

    Long story short: you’re searching for factual evidence to prove something you feel.

    It is definitely not astronomically stupid to bunt Conrad there.

  3. No jj….just don’t like giving away an out when u r behind, with only 6 outs left. That is all.

  4. I don’t like bunting generally. Bunting with your fastest guy on first is just dumb — which is why Blanco should be hitting seventh and Yunel eighth.

  5. Apparently, the manager of the National League team who has lead his team to the last two World Series agrees with me that

    OMAR INFANTE

    should be playing SS for us when we trade the light-hitting but (for the moment) over-rated Claudell Escobar for someone of value.

  6. McCann drives me nuts. Look at his results today and you’d have to say “great day!”.

    But if he’d even managed to drive in one of those first-inning runs with a useful out, the game would have been different. As it was, Hudson was pitching uphill all day.

  8. justthank, you have a mind of your own my friend. Looking for Charlie Manuel to justify your argument is kind of funny!

    @4 Mac, aren’t we used to that by now? That’s just Bobby. Enjoy it while it lasts!!!

  9. If some of you haven’t noticed, our offense is struggling again.

    Heyward is on DL; Glaus and Hinske are slowing down; Chipper, Mac and Yunel are not turning the corner as we have thought; Melky is Melky. These leaves us with Prado, Blanco and Infante…which aren’t much.

    Jason, I hope your thumb will get well soon.

  10. Apparently the Braves signed Willy Taveras to a minor league deal. Two things: 1) gross. 2) If Willy Taveras and Josh Anderson play in the same outfield does the sun start to melt?

  13. @10 With that kind of speed, I propose the team to just play two outfielders and five infielders. Of course, the outfield arms are terrible.

  15. I really hope we are still in first by the All Star break. We are really going to be shorthanded for these next two series.

  16. @11 Of course, how come Brian is not another Piazza? Just like how we asked why can’t Andruw be another Willie Mays. Why Chipper is not another Mantle?

    Boy, they all suck.

    @14 That’s a brilliant idea.

  18. only some here can find problems with a team in first place. This team is winning with great pitching and timely hits. Give me one or two guys to carry the offense any given night and its much better than everyone hitting all at once for a couple of games. We are 6-3 with Heyward on the DL and we’re on pace for 95-96 wins and after a one run loss and another series win, the world is crashing. Unreal

    We just got Jurrjens and Diaz back, we got at least 5 guys going to the world series and it should be more. Cheer up folks

  19. @18 I hope the entire team will play in the world series instead of just five guys!!!

  20. Mac, I hate to go asking for things, but is there anyway that on an upcoming off day we could get a brief write up on the Braves All-Stars and how they stack up with their competitors? I’d like to get your insights into our All-Stars now that we are halfway through the season.

    I can’t remember if you’ve done that in the past, but there haven’t been a whole lot of All-Stars representing Atlanta over the last few years.

  21. #19 – according to you we wont get there. We only have Infante, Prado, and Blanco. Be optimistic…

  22. @21 I am definitely not one of those who are complaining about where we are. But it’s not hard to see the offense is struggling right now. Will have to pitch good in the coming week.

    Out of all people, we need Glaus to get hot again! Hope the couple days of rest will help.

  24. I hate to call any pre-ASG series big, but this upcoming series against the Phillies is a chance to put some real separation in the division with a sweep or let them back in the race and give them real hope for the second half. I like most people on here, I would think, fear the Phillies a helluva lot more than the Mets in the second half and it would be nice to have as big of a lead as possible when they start getting their guys back healthy.

  27. Forgot to mention, Huddy was throwing 93-94 mph in the eighth inning. Boy, that was awesome to see.

  28. Ok just got back from the fireworks show at the mall here in DC. Maybe I’m getting too old to enjoy fireworks. Anyway Lowe against Holladay tomorrow….I hope the offense wakes up. Phillies then Mets before the ASB.

  29. Hudson ran into some bad luck and we sent the B team out there… I’d only be worried if we had some injuries and that offense was what we trotted out every night.

  30. The braves are not agressive enough on the basepaths. I hate that everytime someone gets on first late in games, its an automatic bunt.

    I wish on occasion, just to change things up, the braves would try and steal the bag with their faster guys instead of bunting everytime.

    Anyway, I would have been PISSED if I was a paying customer to that game and watched that lineup, but the big dogs, especially Troy needed a day off before the biggest 6 game stretch of the season.

    Chipper is hitting some better, as is McCann, but not to standard. If Glaus and Hinske can start showing a pulse again, maybe the offense will be okay. The OF we are running out there right now is laughabale.

    I honestly don’t understand how we are in 1st place. I am just enjoying it.

  32. Or Alfredo Griffin…that year he only got picked because he was in the same city at the last minute with a 48 OPS+.

  33. Robert Fick was the lone Detroit rep in 2002. The team won 43 games, coming off a 55-win season, but someone had to go. On top of that he had an .831 OPS in the first half, coming off an .816 OPS the previous year; considerably better than Infante.

    Braves fans should be happy that Infante made the team, not because he deserves it, but because it indicates that Charlie Manuel has totally lost his mind.

  34. I agree JC, but I don’t think he is the worst ever. If he were on the Pirates, and played everyday, he might have made the team.

  35. Alfredo Griffin was chosen at the last minute simply because he was there.

    In 1984, he was named to the All-Star team. This was explained by John Feinstein of the Washington Post as: “Making the All-Star team the hard way: Major league baseball pays the expenses for each player here and for one guest. In most cases, players bring wives or girlfriends. Damaso Garcia, the Toronto Blue Jays’ second baseman, brought his shortstop, Alfredo Griffin. When the Tigers’ Alan Trammell hurt his arm and could not play tonight, Manager Joe Altobelli named Griffin to the team, partly because he’s a fine player, but mostly because he was here.”

    Link

    I believe Infante was the worst pick ever, excluding fulfilling the one-player-per-team and odd choices like Griffin.

  36. Biff Pocoroba was a bit of an odd choice in 1978. He was the fourth-string All-Star catcher (on a 29-man squad), behind Simmons, Bench, and Boone. If you look at his 1978 season line, his selection appears to be as completely inexplicable as Infante’s.

    327 PA, .242/.312/.332, 72 OPS+

    However, here’s the 1st/2nd half splits:

    261 PA, .262/.337/.349, 96 OPS+
    66 PA, .167/.212/.267, 37 OPS+

    Throw in the fact that he hit .290/.394/.445, 115 OPS+ as a 23-year-old in 1977, and you realize (or remember, if you’re as old as some of us) that the Biffster was, very briefly, a rising star. But it was still an odd pick.

  37. Here’s a fun stat. Charlie Morton has the second-worst career ERA+ of all pitchers who’ve pitched at least 200 innings since 1970.

    1. Mike Johnson (1997-2001) 218 IP, 6.85 ERA, 67 ERA+
    2. Charlie Morton (2008-2010) 215 IP, 6.07 ERA, 68 ERA+
    3. Garrett Olson (2007-2010) 254.2 IP, 6.43 ERA, 69 ERA+

    Dewon Brazelton, Ruben Quevedo, and Doug Konieczny each had a career ERA+ of 70.

  38. More stats (yes, I’m bored). Lowest career frequency of doubles hit, since 1970.

    Over 3000 PA — Roger Metzger, 101 in 4676 PA, or one every 46.29 PA
    1000-3000 PA — Rodney Scott, 43 in 2487 PA, or one every 57.84 PA

    In 1970, Dal Maxvill had 466 PA and hit 5 doubles.

  39. Lowest career isolated power since 1970:

    Over 3000 PA — Otis Nixon, 0.44
    1000-3000 PA — Luis Gomez, 0.29

    Gomez was amazingly awful. His 40 OPS+ is the lowest in the last 40 years. Added to that, he hit into 32 DPs in 1391 PAs and was caught stealing 22 times in 28 career attempts.

  40. Lowest career OPS+ since 1970. Minimum 2000 PA, and played for only one team:

    1. Andres Thomas, 61 OPS+
    2. Gary DiSarcina, 66 OPS+
    3. Bruce Benedict, 71 OPS+

  43. I just invented a stat I call Pitcher Imposingness. It’s very simple — H/K. NL averages in the last few years have hovered around 1.25 H/K, while the AL averages have been around 1.33 H/K. Here’s a rough guide to unimposingness:

    1.5 H/K — Garden-variety unimposingness. Kenshin Kawakami (1.52 this year)
    2.0 H/K — Serious unimposingness. Livan Hernandez (1.98 this year)
    2.5 H/K — Uncommon unimposingness. Craig Stammen (2.45 this year)
    3.0 H/K — Freakish unimposingness. The freakishly unimposingly named Dana Eveland fits the bill nicely (3.00 this year)
    4.0 H/K — Utter milquetoast. Nate Cornejo gave up 404 hits and struck out just 103 batters in his career, thus making him the Least Imposing Pitcher of the last 40 years (min. 250 innings).

    (Cornejo’s stats were amassed in 313 innings. His 11.62 career H/9 is the second highest figure since 1970. Quelle unimposing!)

  45. LOL thanks c.shorter

    Just to make sure my Pitcher Imposingness scale works, here are the four most imposing pitchers since 1970 (min. 1000 innings):

    1. Kerry Wood, 0.681
    2. Randy Johnson, 0.686
    3. Nolan Ryan, 0.687
    4. Pedro Martinez, 0.704

    Looks about right.

    If you drop it down to 800 innings, Billy Wagner blows everyone away with 0.508. He is the least-hittable pitcher in history, all the way back to 1876, with a career 6.04 H/9. I did not know that!

  47. Sorry Alex, but I gotta go do some actual work now. Remember, kids — BBRef Play Index is your key to happily wasting massive amounts of time!

  49. I like that new stat sansho.

    Regarding Infante on the All-Star team, if you go by the true position of ‘Utility Man’, Infante has a case. He is hitting over .300 with an average OPS and can play 6 positions pretty well defensively.

    Manuel may have needed someone to plug in and went by the letter of the law on the postiion. I kind of like that.

  50. H/9 – K/9
    H/PA – K/PA
    AVG – K/AB

    I’d use one of those, rather than the ratio.

    Or if you wanted more = better:

    K/9 – H/9
    K/PA – H/PA
    K/AB – AVG

  51. Perhaps I’m willfully obtuse, but I just can’t believe the Hawks are content to have signed Joe Johnson (JOE JOHNSON!) to a max deal and then go sit in the corner and say “what a good boy am I”.

    Especially since they traded for a player with a lot of Joe’s skills on draft day.

    I’m holding out hope that they think they’ll be able to work a sign-and-trade with the Knicks.

  52. I could be wrong, but I don’t think you can do a sign-and-trade with a 6-year deal.

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