It’s that time again! Home teams in italics, Tennessee always picked to lose, and I spent as little effort as possible deciding.
Alabama 62, San Jose State 9
South Carolina 19, So. Miss 10
Georgia 41, Louisiana-Lafayette 6
Florida 51, Miami (OH) 0
Kentucky 17, Louisville 16
Ole Miss 16, Jacksonville St 3
Auburn 56, Arkansas St. 12
Arkansas 70, Tennessee Tech 14
Northwestern 20, Vandy 14
MSU 24, Memphis 14
LSU 40, UNC 10
Tennessee-Martin 7, Tennessee 6
I’m going with 13-10, Northwestern, but it’s the same general idea.
1. Infante 2B, 2. Heyward RF, 3. Prado 3B, 4. Lee 1B, 5. McCann C, 6. Diaz LF, 7. Gonzalez SS, 8. Cabrera CF, 9. Hudson P
I’m glad I didnt bet. I thought for sure Glaus would start today at 3rd seeing as Bobby gave Freddie the start at first yesterday. Guess csg was right when he reported that Prado’s thumb is bothering him too much to play 2nd. If that’s the case, then it’s either Prado or Glaus and that’s a pretty easy choice for Bobby to make.
LSU 40-10 is a bit pessimistic don’t you think? There’s no way the Tar Heels will stay within 30 points after the turmoil they’ve been through these last few weeks.
Seat Painter
UNC ’86
Re: last Braves fight
The last one I remember was a Spring training game in Vero Beach between I think Brian Jordan and Kevin Brown. Of course it wasn’t on the field it was down the right field line towards the locker rooms. I was there and all of a sudden you just see the entire benches empty as guys go running towards the clubhouses.
I think Marin score more that 7. But the Vols will pull away late.
So Alex Rodriguez fired Scott Boras.
Normally, I wouldn’t want Tommy Hanson or Jair Jurrjens to take their cues from the man, but in this case, I really really hope they follow his lead.
This is some funny stuff right here –
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9368/1273716628602.jpg
http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2010/5/12/1469664/starting-a-meme
They are photoshops and GIFs of Nyjer – SFW, and hilarious.
Every time I go on one of these links to a site, I’m stunned by the idiocy of most of the comments. The criticism of Wagner for not celebrating a meaningless record after a loss just blows me away. If he did the opposite, he would be criticized for that too.
My immutable theory of humanity – the vast majority of people are nothing but food tubes.
The vast majority of the internet is nothing but complaints and pornography.
@8, I actually agree. It’s almost an insulting record, too. Like among pitchers who weren’t able to make it as a starter, you’ve thown the most strike outs. Oh, wait, the most strikeouts of lefty failed starters.
Celebration time!
Actively avoiding the spotlight… I kinda like that.
Re: Braves Scraps
I was at a game at Shea for a Braves/Mets brawl, back during the ’94 strike season.
Smoltz didn’t have it that day and he gave up a grand slam to this bummy Met to put the game out of hand in the middle innings. (Remember Ryan Thompson?) Next pitch, he drilled little John Cangelosi for the second time in the game.
The dwarf Met charged the mound, got tackled. Benches & bullpens empty. Everyone got tossed. It somehow ended up on the cover of SI.
Braves sweeping the Mets, USC vs Hawaii, a nice Utah vs Pittsburgh game…my wife’s withering stare is warming up in the bullpen.
Oh, so they are on TV.
@12 – the best part of that brawl was Ryan Klesko charging in from LF and yanking two Mets players off of the scrum, one in each hand, and dragging them backwards.
I miss Ryan Klesko.
@10, you have to take the bad with the good.
From the last thread, in response to DowneasterJC…
I’m pretty sure even I could handle Hanson in a fight.
I also miss Ryan Klesko.
10- Can you use your computer for other things besides Braves Journal and porn ? I had no idea.
Not that it will matter much, but Louisville is the home team against Kentucky. UK ought to win handily despite it being the first game of the new coach.
Glaus was told he’ll be in a bench role the rest of the year according to DOB.
I was looking over the Mets 40-man roster and was wondering if there has ever been a worse collection of players?
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/roster_40man.jsp?c_id=nym
How is that possible with the money the mets have?
@16, well, there you have it. I would consider that a fact of life.
@21, just this year the Pirates are worse.
Can’t answer the money question, though.
The Ole Miss pick is pretty good. About what I expect all season. Us fighting for 17 points and the opposition fighting for 10. Well except against the rest of the SEC west and Fresno and Kentucky. Then it could be opposition fighting for 17 and us fighting for 10.
Why would Prado’s thumb prevent him from playing 2nd but not 3rd? I’m not being contentious, it’s an honest question.
@ 12
My friend who is a Mets fan told me that story and cited it as his reason for hating John Smoltz, more than ten years ago.
How are the Mets this terrible?
They handcuffed themselves in previous years by throwing money around promiscuously and establishing a pattern by which the only way they would improve their team was via the free-agent market. They spent a lot of money unwisely — the Oliver Perez contract, the insane Luis Castillo extension, overpaying for Jason Bay — and got unlucky with the injury to Carlos Beltran, who probably was worth the contract but may never be the same. Thanks to Bernie Madoff, the team basically lost the ability to improve itself on the fly and use money as a bandaid to fix all their myriad holes. So, instead, they’ve had to improvise. Sometimes that works out, like R.A. Dickey, and a lot of the time it doesn’t.
Basically, they’re a mid-market team on the hook for a lot of big-market contracts. That’s a sure recipe for pain.
10-
AAR, that’s fantastic. There should be a pop up warning box saying that every time someone signs on.
@25, He doesn’t have to take throws too often at third.
Second basemen take throws. Third basemen generally don’t.
Well, to be fair, I’d argue that Bay was a combo of overpay AND bad luck. This year bears little resemblance to his career arc coming into the year. Teams with money are allowed to overpay to maintain competitive advantage.
#26
Yup. Bad decisions, bad luck, bad combo.
It’s really that hideous lineup that’s been the main problem.
The Mets’ overall pitching, especially in that park, has been good.
funny, Mets have less productive players than Frenchy
they said Prado has trouble taking the throws, but most of the pain comes from him making more of a side arm throw from second. He’s able to throw more over the top from 3rd and it hurts less apparently
The Mets really aren’t that bad.
Going to watch the G Braves play at the Durham Bulls. Should be fun, but I’m disappointed there won’t be any Freeman… or really anyone else of consequence. :-/
With Beltran Bay can get healthy if Pagan is for real and David Wright they have a good core IMHO.
@36, that Reyes kid looks ok too.
And then, of course, Reyes, who was pretty devastating from 2006-2008, but who right now is a speed guy with leg problems. It’s awfully hard to win when you’ve got two five-win players like Reyes and Beltran with major injury issues.
Teams with money are allowed to overpay to maintain competitive advantage.
Agreed. But that’s a major part of the problem for them. They used to have a lot more money — like when they gave $100 million contracts to Santana and Beltran — than they do now. They really couldn’t afford to come up short with Bay, and they really can’t afford to improve their lineup with him underperforming expectations.
They basically are going through a lot of the same problems that the mid-’00s Braves went through with the Time Warner payroll contraction. Except their farm system, GM, and ownership are worse.
The Wilpon situation is the big unknown over there—how much did the family actually lose to Madoff & how will it impact them going forward?
BTW, the Met fans have gone back to calling him “Fred Coupon.”
The mets are just ill-conceived more than anything.
Theoretically, they could be good, but everyone knew Bay was brittle, K-Rod wasn’t worth what they gave him, Castillo and Frenchy sucked, and Reyes had issues. (this doesn’t even mention the lack of bullpen and overall organizational depth)
That many if’s was bound to catch up eventually….even with Dickey and Pagan being pleasant surprises.
Bethany, Do not park near a high rise. Man fell from 39 stories and destroyed Dodge Charger. He survived/
I love Peachtree games. Our cable company broadcasts some kind of direct feed with no commercials, and I just watched a chorus sing the National Anthem.
Also, no Chip.
Except for the one in Coors Field bizarro land, the Braves won every series that started in August, including the 4-gamers.
Food for thought: The Braves could very well end up with the Rookie of the Year, Batting Champion and Cy Young winners this year.
Terrible, Omar. Freaking terrible.
A less fat center fielder would have cut that off.
That was terrible.
God, Melky sucks. Way to play a double into a home run, Short Round.
Uh…
Huddy’s not looking too sharp.
This is too early for an Episode.
Even Peanut was making fun of Melky on Twitter.
@42 Noted!
Geez, just got back from running, what happened?
Sigh.
What the…
He should’ve ran into the runner. Inning over.
It’s amazing that the Braves manage, finally, to shed Jeff Francoeur–only to add Nate McLouth and Melky Cabrera. It’s also amazing that both those guys will be on the postseason roster.
A good team would’ve scored at least 9 runs in that half-inning.
I wish Lee weren’t so crappy as a Brave. Or that Bobby would bat Diaz ahead of him in the line-up against Santana.
Thanks, Chris Iannetta! 3-run homer to put the Rox up 3-0 in the 2nd.
Nice dig.
I do wish Lee would turn it around, otherwise I’d rather see Freeman.
Im off the Lee bandwagon…..his bat is SLOOOW. Marc, give us a paragraph on Lee
Hudson with 47 pitches through 2.
Bam!
i love BMAC!…wow, that went a long way
BMAC! The comeback begins.
M-V-P
M-V-P
AAG just got robbed of a HR
Nice play.
Freaking awesome, way to go, Brian!!!!
Joe doesn’t know what the harm is of running hard out of the box. Does he not realize that Cabrera is fat? Fat guys don’t like to run.
Melky should be on second base.
That dude(-a) is a good fielder.
Poor Alex. A defensive meltdown inning that he actually wasn’t a part of, then he gets robbed of a double.
No, Joe, that third of a second he would have gained running at full speed vs almost full speed would not have gained him a base. Geez.
Only Melky could get ripped for effectively clearing the pitcher.
Santana is clearly hittable tonight….now if Huddy would show up
Nice play Melk!
wow, nice play Melky
Nice catch there by the bowling ball.
Alright, Melky has earned a reprieve from my fat guy references.
That was a single which, after the drop, was still a single. You don’t risk an out trying to squeeze an extra base out of that, even if you’re hustling like a dyed red head in an indie German movie. That drop might send a runner home from second, maybe, but not make a single a double.
Good job on the catch, Melky. Nice. Quick read, too.
how does Tim get an earned run on the Beltran triple/throw in the dugout for the run?
84—Because he gave up hits afterward, so the run would have scored, anyway.
gotcha
That’s how you win batting titles. Nice.
Omar beats out some infield grounders
Looks like the Mets’ new SS, Arias, has replaced the suckitude which Frenchy took with him when he left town.
EDIT1: Crap. Send Heyward to AAA!
EDIT2: Just kidding.
Fudge. Heyward, that hurt.
See, but Ike Davis won’t be charged an error on that, even though if he had made the play, Omar wouldn’t have had a chance to reach. It was an indirect result.
However, Hudson is charged earned runs even though the runs were a direct result of an error.
?
Hey, NASCAR in the Ted. Nice.
That’s too easy to look up. I prefer questions like the one a couple of days ago, “Who was the last person to lead in each of the triple crown categories at the All-Star break?”
I imagine that by the time you write something to find that out, the answer is on the screen, and you lose.
Sixteen pitches in the last two innnings. Hudson’s figured out that he’s still pitching against the LolMets.
Anyone think Glaus would have made that play at third?
@94, Are they still the LolMets now that Frenchy is gone? I imagine the Rangers will emerge from bankruptcy as the RoflRangers.
Only if he happened to be standing right where the ball was hit.
Looks like McCann’s strategy of “get to 0 – 2, wait for Santana to throw a meatball changeup” didn’t work a second time.
at 50 pitches through 4IP, we arent doing ourselves any favors against Johan
all 3 guys had 0-2 counts
@99, I know. The team needs to remember how it won when Josh Johnson was dominating. Make him throw a lot and wait for him to go home.
Luis Castillo’s walk up music is the theme to Louis CK’s new show “Louie”. Great show by the way.
96- Their closer put himself out for the season by punching his father-in-law. Their owner lost God-knows-how-much in a pyramid scheme. Their stadium is named for a ward of the government. And of course, they actually thought Frenchy was worth acquiring once. They are, and will remain, the LolMets.
Utley up with the bases loaded – 1 out
he hit a sac fly to cut the lead 4-2, Howard flew out to end the inning
It is kind of crazy that Hudson, after the horrendously long first inning, has only thrown 72 pitches through five.
103- At least they only got one run out of it.
Here’s to a hellish night in Denver.
FWIW, Met radio announcers say they were walking outside the press box and they ran into Frank Wren—who was with Fredi Gonzalez.
Cargo HR 5-2 Rox
I really hate when announcers start talking about stats. Wright no HR’s in 104AB vs the Braves. Very next pitch – HR
TV folks saying something may be up with Santana
whats the deal with Johan, they are saying that his night may be over
BMAC has to be able to block that pitch
Whew.
Alright, let’s do some damage.
But not damage to Hudson’s hand. Because that would be bad.
Johan’s night is over
Maybe he has a family issue. I didn’t see anything that looked like an injury.
dangit Jason, thats why you run
Yeah, unlike with Melky, hustling actually would have helped that time.
Derrek, you can start being useful any time now.
Freeman, Lee, Glaus.
You have one month. One of you show something.
Perhaps Jerry and company just don’t want to see the Phillies win the division.
here we go again
6-3 now, Phils have bases loaded 1 out…Rollins up to the plate
Rollins GIDP
Well, that run sure did make it harder.
Mets are getting lucky (apart from that whole Santana thing). Doesn’t look like our night.
they arent getting lucky, the Braves are just giving this one away
There’s definitely been some BABIP luck favoring the Mets tonight.
Lots of hard hit balls when I’ve been watching. Lineout double play. That ridiculous catch by Duda at the wall – interesting route there.
So, is Moylan just … broken?
Braves’ last sweep: Kansas City, June 18-20.
3 out of 4 from anybody is great.
yeah, what the hell is wrong with Moylan. Dont understand leaving a reliever out there after walking two straight either
132- The Mets meet that incomprehensible decision with another one: giving us an out when our pitcher doesn’t know what area code home plate is in.
@129–looks broken–terrible August for the Aussie–1.9 WHIP and only 3K/9
@12–I was also at the Smoltz-Cangelosi brawl game–Cangelosi was a little guy but he had some fight in him
Very generous call from the home-plate ump, there.
Wow – that ump must have a date…
Howard 2R Hr – 7-6 Rox
Come on, Martin. You got this.
And Werth follows with a solo shot to tie it at 7 in Denver.
Edit: The Prado delivers.
Well there’s a start.
OK, D-Lee. It’s time to make your mark.
EDIT: I hate the Rockies.
EDIT #2: Sigh. Starting to hate Lee. Which I hate.
Wow. I was so sure that was an out coming off the bat.
need that run at 3rd
Big spot for Lee here..
Would be nice to have McCann here instead of Lee.
Honestly, can’t we have a useful 1B? Or CF?
How long is Lee’s grace period?
146—Or at least not bat the useless ones ahead of McCann and Diaz.
Phils up 8-7
at least BMAC showed up with his bat
Why is Ankiel running for McCann?
this ump is awful
This umpire…
wouldnt it be ok to let Glaus hit for Melky?
Once the ump gave the (foot) outside the corner on the first pitch, Gonzalez was (mentally) done.
You’d still need someone to hit for the pitcher if he got on, though.
Edit: Though I guess we got plenty, I forgot we have a deeper bench now.
Grand slam Utley, 12-7 Phils.
Utley grand slam. 12-7 Phillies. Why couldn’t the Rockies suck this badly when we visited them?
utley hit a GS 12-7 now
Ouch. And the Phils are now pouring it on in Colorado.
That was a nine-run seventh for the Phillies.
This is one of those games that just happens. I’d have to imagine four game sweeps against anyone are rare. As bad as the umpire sucked against the Braves those last few innings, without calling that pitch EOF doesn’t get that call against Hessman with runners on earlier.
That said, this would suck a lot less if not for the Phillies playing tonight in that God-forsaken park in Colorado.
Recapped.
Rockies get one back. 12-8.