And now, Jeff Francoeur riding a hippopotamus.
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And now, Jeff Francoeur riding a hippopotamus.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
I love this Monty Python-like kick Mac is on.
Hippos kill more people than Lions in every year in Africa
Well of course they do, but once N’domakung Suh figures out the double team schemes, the Lions will pick up the pace I think.
Are there any college or professional teams named the “Hippopotamusses” or “Hippopotami”?
Melk-man in center
Infante – 4 Heyward – 9 Prado – 5 Lee – 3 McCann – 2 Diaz – 7 Gonzalez – 6 Cabrera – 8 Jurrjens – 1
I wouldn’t put Melky in center against the Bad News Bears. I don’t care if Hamels is left-handed; it’s not like Melky is going to hit him anyway.
$1 says Bobby pulls the Kyle Davies switcheroo with Beachy. Only not as effective because the Phillies have had a few hours to scout him.
Melky Cabrera eating something off of his bat.
Quickest of hooks for JJ tonight? Like walking one Phillie?
—————–
Is that really true about Werth and Mrs. Utley?
@8 I haven’t laughed so hard in quite some time.
Mac, that picture is like my favorite thing ever. GO BRAVES!
Have an interesting evening ahead. Going to the Yanks/Rays game & they’re dedicating a monument (in Monument Park) to Generalisimo Steinbrenner before the game. (Torre & Mattingly will be there. ) Curious to see the reaction.
BTW, somebody’s gotta cool off the Phils. Might as well be us.
Another senseless “FREEBIRD!”-related crime.
Best picture ever. I have finally found something worthy of being my work computer wallpaper.
Pittsburg State (KS) Gorillas, original mascot unlike Lions Tigers and Bears OH MY!
Atlanta has(had?) a professional soccer team called the Silverbacks. I know, nothing to do with Hippos but continuing the primate theme.
o boy. good luck kid
RHP Brandon Beachy will be pitching for the Braves tonight in place of JJ. He’ll wear #37
Opposing batters have referred to getting struck out by Beachy as “Drowning at the Beach.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Beachy
@15
Really?
I do not understand why McLouth has not earned himself the job of every day starter, at least until he comes back to Earth. What happened to playing the hot hand?
Beachy, Minor, Hanson vs Hamels, Holliday, Oswalt = 1 win please…
Terry Pratchett made his own sword. By hand. Out of meteorites! | Blastr.
I think someone has been having fun with the Kid’s wikipedia page….
My love for baseball really comes from my relationship with my brothers. We used to toss each other the ball in our back yard. And by toss each other the ball, I mean that I would just throw fireballs and my brothers would be too scared to catch them because they were made of lightning. Have you ever caught a fireball made of lighting? I would be scared to catch it too.
Ill take 5IP with 4ER or less from Beachy
speaks a lot about how the Braves view KK now
Alexis Texas.
So given that Jurrjens hurt himself Fri., wouldn’t it have made sense for Beachy to go against the Mets and have Hudson go against the Phillies after an extra day of rest? Let Beachy get his debut against a lifeless Mets club and save Hudson for the all important Phils series, rather than toss the kid into basically a playoff atmosphere for his MLB debut. I dunno how much composure the kid has, but facing Howard, Werth, Utley et al. in front of 45,000+ screaming Philadelphians will not be easy.
Not to sound pessimistic, but in this series, we’re sending Hanson and two rookies, one of whom has had dead arm for a couple of weeks, against three pitchers who all have number one type stuff. At least the Roys are right-handed.
@20
Terry Pratchett convinced me that the most valuable trade is armourer.
“Nobody ever wants to kill a good armourer,” he wrote.
Beachy has the green light, per DOB.
@24 – Couldn’t agree more
Is it even official? I haven’t seen it reported on AJC or the braves official site.
nevermind.
It might work out. The Phillies have never seen him; remember Kyle Davies’ debut in Boston against the defending world champion Red Sox. At this point, he probably can’t be any worse than JJ. As for saving the top guys for the Phillies, I’m not sure that would be such a good idea. Whoever the Braves pitch, the matchup would still favor the Phillies and, at this point, catching the Phillies is unlikely. May be better to keep the rotation in order and go after the other games.
No doubt, a sweep by the Phils is definitely possible. On the other hand, the Phils are bound to lose a game eventually.
If anybody needs me between now and first pitch, I’ll be in the clubhouse puking.
bobby playing the small sample rather than playing hot streaks. melky is 4/9 in his career against hamels while nate is only 1/9. i still dont like it.
@23, you’re a bit late with that.
Come on Mac. We need a player write-up for Beachy. Please make him sound like Sidd Finch. I have so little right now.
I will gladly take one out of three in Philly. Winning the series would be fabulous but avoiding the sweep is key.
Well it is now on the offical site. Doesn’t get more offical than that.
@30 agreed. We pull one game out of this series and actually show up for the Nats and Fish, we could still make the wild card.
On a positive note, DOB is reporting that Saito MRI showed only tendinitis, and is expected back in a few days. That’s huge.
I don’t know if I should be pumped or pissed.
I’m pretty pessimistic, but I’m not sure why everyone seems like taking 1/3 here would be the best possible outcome. It’s almost like we’re the Mets or Astros or something.
The only game I’m really worried about is tonight’s simply because Hamels is a lefty. At this point I think Mac could go up there and throw the ball lefthanded and give up less than 3 runs to the Braves. The only consolation here is that Hamels is probably the lefty that the Braves hit the best, so maybe we can do something there.
The Phillies have nearly the same problem with lefties, so I’m not particularly concerned by the Minor/Halladay game either, especially since he’s looked the worst of the 3 lately.
Hudson/Oswalt is a toss-up I guess. It all depends on how well Hanson keeps the ball in the park and how alive the Braves offense wants to be on that given day.
2/3 is definitely possible, and a sweep isn’t out of sight either imo. If McLouth keeps up and Derrek decides to be slightly better than abysmal, I think we have a shot.
After Wednesday, the
Braves will be tied for first, and
I’ll almost be free.
I know of what Beachy has done somewhat, anyone got a scouting report or have any idea what he thorws? He strikes a lot of guys out, so I assume he has at least three pitches with one quality out pitch.
I mean a strike out pitcher that these guys have never seen, might not be too bad.
I don’t see 1/3 as the BEST possible scenario, it’s the most realistic outcome.
41,
Peter did a great scouting report of Beachy awhile back.
http://capitolavenueclub.com/?p=3018
Once our WHIPs were low.
Philly crowds wreck rookie nerves.
Beachy year no more.
Phillies big three are going to be a force to reckon with, Hamels/Oswalt/Halladay is just rediculous. With the offense the Phillies have, I see no NL team being able to compete.
I know virtually nothing about the minor leagues. All I know is the stats and the one game I watched. Beachy’s stats are ridiculously good. He was born in Kokomo, Indiana, and I will never under any circumstances play the video for “Kokomo”.
My guess is if Beachy gets through the first inning, he will do pretty well. Veteran teams (not just the Braves) often have trouble with pitchers they haven’t seen. There really shouldn’t be much pressure on him because no one expects him to win anyway.
What’s the roster move to get Beachy on the 40 man? Is it moving Chipper to the 60 day DL?
At this point, they might as well DFA Kawakami.
Beachy led the entire Minor Leagues with a 1.73 ERA
What To Make Of Braves Pitching “Prospect” Brandon Beachy
Interview with Beachy
They put Brandon Hicks on the 60-day with a broken finger.
The ERA is a bit of a joke — 11 of the 34 runs allowed by Beachy this year were “unearned”, which is high even for the minors. I’m more impressed with 148 strikeouts and 28 walks in 119 1/3 innings and just five homers allowed.
Brandon Beachy has a kind of unimposing real name. He needs a killer nickname. How about The Beachmaster?
@50: Pinch running doesn’t require healthy fingers.
Brandon Beachy has a chance to become a Braves legend if he wins this game and starts a run to the division title. Or not.
I think the Braves strategy should be to try to hit fly balls to left; it doesn’t much to go out in that bandbox. I wonder how many cheap homers Ryan Howard gets that would be easy outs anywhere else. The one he hit the other day against the Nationals, even he was grinning because it was really a pop fly that carried.
@39
I’m with you. The Phils are, after all just a baseball team. A very good, and lately very hot one, but we took 10 of 8 from them last season and 7 of 12 so far this season. Perhaps the Mets sweep is a sign that the Braves are heating up as well. This should be a very competitive series. I live in Philly, and my friends who are Phils fans don’t consider this series a done deal (at least not the ones who are thinking baseball fans). They are confident, but view the Braves a very dangerous team. I find they often fear the Braves more than I give the team credit for.
Anything could happen.
He has 549 friends on Facebook which is a lot. http://www.facebook.com/brandon.beachy
Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor – the Philthies always struggle against alliteration
Beachy will be wearing 37.
If I were him, I’d ask for number 11.
@56. He’s either gonna have a lot more or a lot less after tonight.
@45 Mac, if he throws a no-hitter you play Kokomo.
Per Facebook he also likes National Treasure 2, Con Air, and Hanging Out with Friends.
A perfect game, maybe.
Jordan Capri.
His friends on Facebook include an inordinately large number of guys with their shirts off. In the circle of gayness/super not gay that’s the demarcation separating the two at the top of the circle.
Or in the Venn Diagram of Gay/Not Gay that’s where the circles overlap.
All my guy friends on facebook may also just look particularly bad with their shirts off. I just thought of that.
@52 The Sandman
@49 hpotter. Thank you. cool interview. Looks like a great kid!
Go Beachy!!
Well he’s a fan of The Office so he can’t be that bad. Then again National Treasure 1 and 2 are pretty awful.. maybe he just likes the historical aspects and not Cage’s terrific acting.
Don’t understand all the hate for Nic Cage. He makes enjoyable movies, dammit!
Yes, he does. He also makes mounds upon mounds of crap.
i feel like comment 69 should have been reserved for someone to write a random porn star’s name.
There aren’t many more stressful scenarios for a major league debut than tonight.
Maybe Jair’s injury is why he’s been pitching shitty.
He plays the same character in every movie, just in different situations. It’s like he’s trying to make his life into a vast situational comedy where he and a bunch of convicts hijack a prison plane, then he gets out of that jam and joins a bunch of nerds looking for hidden Freemason treasure (twice), and then has a wacky adventure after he makes a deal with the devil and becomes a motorcycle driving D-list superhero.
The Rock was an awesome movie. That might have been more Sean Connery and Ed Harris, though. But I am entertained by the National Treasure movies, although as you said that might be more about the historical aspects.
69,70- And enjoyably crappy ones, like the Wicker Man remake! I did enjoy the National Treasure movies, though.
Ah, come on, Mac. I wanna catch a glimpse.
——–
Con Air is a guilty pleasure to which I readily confess. (But have you ever heard a worse Southern accent in your life?)
If he gives up too many homeruns, his nickname may end up being “Beach Ball.”
a motorcycle driving D-list superhero.
You’ve nailed my aspirations down pat.
Nicolas Cage was pretty good in The Bad Lieutenant. At least he’s not Jennifer Aniston. Talk about mounds and mounds of crap.
He’s also had some really good ones; just last year I thought he was great in Bad Lieutenant.
Jennifer is hot though
well, Werth may be off our radar now. The latest….
It didn’t take long for Scott Boras to start hinting at Jayson Werth’s free agent value. The agent, who recently added Werth to his long list of clients, suggested to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that the outfielder will be seeking more than the $66MM Jason Bay obtained as a free agent last winter. Without making demands or mentioning dollar figures, Boras made it clear that he considers Werth more similar to Matt Holliday (a Boras client who signed a $120MM deal) than Bay.
“Werth is a totally different type of player [than Bay],” Boras said. “He’s an athlete who can play center field, run, steal bases, be a Gold Glove type outfielder.”
Raising Arizona is still top 5 all-time for me. Probably where Cage peaked too
I’m already pissed at Chip for shouting “and Beachy looks peachy!”, and it hasn’t even happened yet.
@83 Or, it’s been no day at the Beach for Beachy. I can hear it in my head.
In law school, we used to have “Bad Nic Cage Movie Night,” where we would drink 40s and be astonished by the mere existence of Nic Cage. The Wicker Man, in which he dresses in a bear suit and punches a lot of women in the face, was definitely the most baffling.
Nic Cage is the Jeff Francoeur of actors. For every Lord of War or Bad Lieutenant, there are the other ten movies per month he makes that are really head scratching.
For Your Consideration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6i2WRreARo
And a PSA: http://themovieblog.com/2008/10/dont-watch-nicholas-cage-movies-psa
OR if he’s going well: There was an Ubermensch in Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche. Tonight he’s on the mound and with that fastball Thus Spoke Beachy.
Shoot, I still love Valley Girl. Although that’s mostly because of The Plimsouls, but Cage is great.
Go Braves!!
Among his Facebook likes he has included “Laughing”.
I checked. Mac does not like laughing.
He also enjoys “food.”
Re:85 – you can’t say we lack for obscure cultural references here at the ol’ Braves Journal.
85- Sounds much too highbrow for Chip.
How about: No one has collaborated with an enemy this bad since Vichy, Beachy!
magglio ordonez is venezuelan and he’s going to be a free agent next year.
I’m guessing Ordonez won’t be offered arbitration either.
Anyone else surprised how slow Prado was at getting down the line there?
brandon beachy wears a magnetic necklace.
Mac, this should have been your Francoeur-hippopotamus image:
http://i53.tinypic.com/2h6hpuf.jpg
@93 That’s attractive.
That was Peachy, Beachy! Let’s get some runs!
Big ump strike zone and the wind blowing in is working for the kid so far. Nice play by Diaz, too.
@92, Absolutely. It wasn’t even close.
Diaz getting his cardio in.
Hell yeah!!
Nice work, B-Mac!
Question: Why didn’t I ever give Yunel Escobar the nickname “The Frosted Flake”?
you just did…it’s a better nickname for someone not on the team you root for.
does anyone have any confidence in melky getting brian home here?
Melky sucks.
f*ck a fat bastard. nice managing bobby.
Thanks, AAG and Melky. I was getting confused by our sudden competence.
Geez.
What is it with Cox and these center fielders? Cabrera, Blanco, Jones in 2007…none of them should have gotten the playing time they did.
How does Beachy look so far? Hard to tell from Gameday, however, I do have the pleasure of watching the Rays and Yakmees play.
Raising Arizona is on my all time list….love that line ” Son, you got a panty on your head “
We’ve got to be the worst team in MLB at getting runners in from 3rd with no outs.
Should McCann have been sent on the Diaz single? I’m following on the internet, and once McCann got held, I assumed we wouldn’t score.
@102
Wow, I dunno. It’s so perfectly obvious.
Better late than never.
That sucked.
Why can’t our fat guy hit like that?
McCann held up on the ball, it was a liner past the shortstop. He would have been out by 40 feet.
I think Melky hits the ball so softly because the bacon wrapping is dampening the impact.
we can blame melky all we want but bobby fills out the lineup. putting melky in center tonight is idiotic.
The Round Mound of Grounding Into Double Plays.
Aw shoot.
Do you guys think a girl will ever play in MLB? Besides Hamels I mean.
Really hurts not to have Chipper tonight.
123- Rafael Belliard spent 17 years in the majors, and I’m sure there are women who hit better than him. Similarly, there’ve got to be women who throw harder than Livan Hernandez or field better than the Melkiest Man on Earth.
@123, There’s that ugly chick named Tim who plays for San Francisco.
Ah yes, where the women are women… and so are the men.
I’m already pissed at Chip for shouting “and Beachy looks peachy!”, and it hasn’t even happened yet.
This was great sansho. Very funny.
Yeah that is pretty tough to do Joe, especially since ‘don’t take to much responsibility on yourself’ is pretty worthless piece of advice for a starting pitcher.
The Melky is clearly a frog transformed into a human. How else can you explain the video @8?
It’s days like this we miss not having Smoltz in the booth. Chip and Joe bring nothing to the table in talking about a young pitcher.
“Try to keep the top of the order guys off base”. Yeah, no shit. For that matter try to keep everyone off base and try not to let their power hitters hit any home runs.
Walkin’ a tight rope but kept it okay so far.
He’s throwing strikes, no unintentional walks so far, but isn’t missing many bats either.
I’d feel better about this if Hamels was closer to 70 pitches right now. This feels like delaying the inevitable.
braves free swinging or is hamels dealing?
F*** THESE G**DAMN F***ING PHILLIES!
2GIDP’s certainly didn’t help matters.
@134
He is dealing
This has to be it for Beachy, they are hitting the ball super hard off him.
@136 sounds like par for the course, for the bottom of the order.
#137 – I wouldn’t mind at all bringing out a fresh pitcher to start the fifth. Top of the order, third time through, it could get ugly.
Obviously, I don’t think there is anyway that it happens.
Lots of fly balls. I see good control but not overpowering stuff. Average fastball, changeup, curveball.
If you’d have done that last at-bat, AAG, we’d have had two more runs.
so? do they strand AAG here?
btw, whatever became of the folk hero?
@142 I’m afraid so.
melky=frankier francoeur
Hamels is good
I actually had more confidence in Beachy getting a hit than Melky.
I hope Melky’s philly cheese steak didn’t get cold while he was striking out.
Beachy has handled himself awfully well tonight, but someone has to tell him to keep the bat on the shoulder.
@144 at least frenchy could throw the ball. melky does nothing,least we count keep the bats clean.
I would have PH for Beachy there.
FUDGE.
who’s warming up in the pen, its time?
Boot.
That was Melky-licious The Phillies are about to explode
@150, I think I’d reluctantly agree. He is 3rd time through the order now.
ah crap.
Sigh.
Bobby’s going to let the bases be loaded with a run or 2 in before he considers getting someone up.
Edit: Okay, maybe not. Still should have pinch-hit for him.
Just keep us in it young man
Smart move Bobby. Good job Beachy
Good try, Beachy. It’s not your fault.
Kid did well.
He kept us in the game. Can’t ask for much more.
bobby’s doing a bangup job tonight. i dont think i’ve criticized him hardly at all this year, but letting beachy hit last inning (after he’d been hit hard in all 4 innings) with a runner on is may management, not september playoff hunt management.
The kid pitched really well, right now he’ll have to be considered for a spot on the pitching staff next year.
AAG had Victorino dead to rights, imo.
Can we get Cueto to kick AAG into retirement?
You have got to be kidding me. Screw you Brian.
Sloppy baseball.
Walk him
Dear Chipper, please let your last parting gift be teaching McCann to play third.
Good walk
I think Prado should have caught that ball
that wasnt on mccann, and he’s been a much better defender this year than previous.
171, Agreed.
I blame Heyward for effing up this inning.
This may be the ballgame here.
And it starts.
Why didn’t Bobby bring in Moylan to face Werth?
Good play AAG
Tough break.
see melky, you have to actually make contact.
177 — Because Ibanez was on-deck.
This sucks.
I’ll take 3-1. If we hold these guys to three that is something. We have to have better AB’s and force Hamels out of the game. We can score on their pen.
Three runs is too much against one of the best lefties in baseball. Nice work defense.
And nice work by Moylan there.
Our D and wasted AB’s have cost us in this game. Beachy pitched as well as could have been expected. Bobby has made good moves so far. The Phillies have just taken advantage of our mistakes. That is what good teams do. They know they can step on our throats this week and they plan to do it.
However, it isn’t over. In this park we can score two. We just need to work Cole Kofax better
So, how much longer does Cox bat Prado third? Last I saw: Prado’s OPS was over .850. Now it’s currently .815.
Also Prado is hitting .253/.291/.320 in September.
The game is not over, and our pen’s outstanding. Two runs isn’t that big a deficit to overcome.
Bad AB by Infante
Good PA. Make him throw a lot of pitches with no out. Get him out of this game.
Great AB by Heyward
damn
Man, I thought that was gone.
And there’s the expected result.
Instead, the inning is gone.
DAMMIT!
frustrating
Utley is damn good
Utley is so good out there. Tough break for Prado.
Went from almost tying the game to ending the inning. Baseball is a cruel sport.
Ugh, that’s just too cruel.
Prado, incidentally, has a 733 OPS in the 3-hole. That’s probably owes more to the wear of the season than his batting position, but still.
We are going to get Hamels next inning. We need a 1-2-3 6th here.
Ok, here we go. We tie it up here.
There’s the Moylan I know and love.
Here we go, Braves. Time to rip out their hearts.
Nice inning. Cole has at least one more inning in him… hopefully only that.
Former Gamecock WR Kenny McKinley has apparently committed suicide after being injured for 2 years with the Broncos.
I think ‘ugh’ pretty much sums up this whole game so far.
Our lack of speed to 1st has really cost us some baserunners tonight. They’ve been able to fumble and still throw guys out.
@207 – Jesus, really? I had classes with him, saw him around campus all the time, etc. I don’t have any words.
Did Cox forget Moylan was out there?
http://tinyurl.com/2ew6cbh
That was awesome.
Best field invasion ever?
Diaz apparently tripped a fan who ran on the field. I wouldve loved to have seen that.
They didn’t show it on the Phillies network… or maybe I missed it. Did Diaz do something cool?
Diaz tripped him from behind.
Yeah, he kinda waited for the guy to pass him, then he snuck up and tripped him from behind/beside. It has to make Sportscenter.
ajcbraves Play of the night: LF Diaz just tripped a guy in orange spandex who ran on field and was alluding security. He knocked him down from behind
Fill in the punchline.
SCREW MELKY.
I blame Melky for swinging at ball four.
God we suck.
A 2009 Yankee site has Melky at 170 pounds. This year he’s 200. Could that possibly be right?
223- I see what you mean, Rob. That 200 sounds awfully low.
Diaz rocks!
Yep. Forget the scoreboard, Matt Diaz is the winner.
Terrible, Jason.
Way to mail it in, Jason.
@225, Thanks for sharing. That was pretty incredible. That kid has nothing on Charlie Day.
Why are we making Lidge look like a competent closer?
Damn Phillies.
Well…
Lidge sure looks rejuvenated.
Am I the only one that knew definitively that we were about to lose the game going into the 5th? I think not.
The Melky GIDP in the second was pretty ominous too.
i have no confidence in a team that trots out melky cabrera’s sorry ass in their starting lineup.
Recapped.
Maybe the reason we always lose against lefties is because Melky always starts. Heres hoping we see McLouth and Diaz/Ankiel in the next two.