I haven’t checked the schedule in detail, but I believe the Braves’ home opener is on Memorial Day.
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I haven’t checked the schedule in detail, but I believe the Braves’ home opener is on Memorial Day.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
4 straight day games to open the season. Im ready to sit on the couch after work and have something to watch. These day games do help with a boring day at the office though.
Houston was depressing. What a horrible city and horrible game. UConn fans are the most obnoxious fans I’ve ever met, all SEC schools included.
http://johnjosephbachir.org/uconn_riot/
All in all, a great season for UK. The team far exceeded expectations. Now on to baseball.
I guess I’m eating lunch at 1 PM, somewhere with lots of TVs.
Yea I’m ready for some night games, too.
Game is at 2:10 PM, just to throw you off.
Being in Euroland I’m happy about day games since it means they start before the usual 1 AM here, though of course I’m working late today and will miss the game.
The upcoming west coast swing will have a few night games for you.
I’m just glad to be out of DC. It means I can watch the games live now! (Well, the parts of them I’m around for anyways!)
F**k west coast games!!!
Everybody complains about time zones, but nobody ever DOES anything about it.
With the current global cooling playing in day time is doubleplus good.
If the Marlins, Rays, Blue Jays and Dimondbacks contracted, and no one was around, would it make a sound?
@5, same here. I love afternoon games.
You know who are good hitters? Jason Heyward and Brian McCann, that’s who.
UCONN riots after both teams won their Final 4 games. Keep it classy Connecticut. I really enjoy the premeditation involved with making the poster in #15 and am actually concerned the guy in #4 may be dead.
http://johnjosephbachir.org/uconn_riot/
@14
Sad part is, the women didn’t win their game.
Huh. I didn’t actually watch the women. I just thought they never lost. I wonder why the dean references a victory.
EDIT: my bad. This is actually from 2004.
from the previous thread …
If OBP is truly the uberstat, I like the direction we’re heading.
Question: does OBP win championships?
Getting on base obviously wins championships, yes.
From the last thread: Two rookies in a row with 90 walk seasons?
No. Freeman walked 133 times in 1759 MiLB PA’s. He’d need to more than double his minor-league walk rate to get to 90, assuming he stays healthy and doesn’t start getting benched against lefties (or just at all). His patience has improved some; he isn’t quite Billy BB% yet.
Getting on base just clogs up the bases.
10 – I have no idea what that means.
Scrolling through the last few years of NL team stats, there are years (like 2010) when OBP looks to have a stronger correlation to runs scored than SLG, but other years (like 2008) when SLG looks just as clearly superior. I’m just eyeballing it, though. OBP is traditionally held to be the more important component of individual OPS, but I wonder if there’s something about the relationship between the two stats on a teamwide or leaguewide level that might be murkier.
For those who can watch the afternoon games…have we done any pointless bunting yet?
Not today.
23—If you like pointless bunting, please get on the VU Baseball bandwagon.
2010 aggregate difference in NL team ranks between (A) runs scored and OBP, and (B) runs scored and SLG:
(A) 22
(B) 30
In 2008:
(A) 46
(B) 26
The last few years, the Braves have been a real test case for the limitations of an OBP-first offense. When you leave 10 men on base every game, you start to wonder what else it takes.
Canizares let go by the Braves.
…in favor of Shawn Bowman, among others.
Scoring more than your opponents in the requisite number of postseason games wins championships. Anything else is just a surrogate.
Jeff, that’s just what Tim McCarver says every October!
“The way to win a baseball game is you’ve got to have good pitching. And if you don’t have good pitching, you’ve got to put runs on the board and outscore the other team.”
In baseball, paying players wins championships. Just like in college football.
I have been on the VU baseball bandwagon since Pedro Alvarez made an error in a game I attended while at UGA. Some no name pitcher tossed that game for VU actually. Sad story, I heard he recently stole an AK 47 from a rental home in Florida.
DJ @ #2 I was going to correct you and say that Red Sox fans are the most obnoxious fans on the planet, but then I realized UCONN fans are Red Sox fans.
They’re riding a high, football and basketball team both won their conference this year. Imagine how obnoxious fans from Ohio State would get if that ever happened there.
A Kentucky fan complaining about how obnoxious someone else’s fans are. That’s amusing.
Also, college baseball is filled to the brim with managers who will bunt at every single opportunity. I’ve never understood it. With the crappy pitching and metal bats, it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Some managers will even bunt with their best hitter with runners at first and second and one out. I guess they’re trying to convince themselves that they’re world-class managers or something, but a large number of them would do better just to sit there and not do anything.
Man, the pregame show w/ Buck Belue, Lemke, Chuck Dowdle and Leo Mazzone is really grating.
#32
Believe it or not, plenty of UConn folks root for the Yankees.
BTW, UK & UConn fans are similarly entitled. I saw the 2 teams play at MSG last year & I thought those 2 groups kinda deserved each other.
When asked who helped him get to the Hall of Fame, Rodman had a simple answer: “Me.”
If only more basketball players were like Dennis Rodman.
@35,
I understand why the appeal of using former Braves in the booth and pre/post game show, but the guys they have are all terrible. Gant, Jordan, Lemmer, Leo, and Jay Powell, blah! Glavine is decent, but I am a Glavine guy.
Smoltz was great. I wish they could have kept him in the booth.
I like Joe, Don and Jim Powell. Those guys together would be great.
What’s smoltz doing this season?
Just heard Jay Powell during the rain delay on Saturday. His lack of insight is matched only by his lack of enthusiasm. Between that and the unfortunately gruesome end to his pitching career, I can say I’ve had more than enough Jay Powell in my life.
Any broadcast featuring Gas Bag Belue is hard to listen to.
——————
I guess I’m not phrasing my question correctly (and, yes, there’s probably a website for this), but here goes:
If On-Base-Percentage is the most directly-relatable statistic to success in baseball, is there empirical evidence that teams at or near the top in OBP make it to the World Series?
If anyone has that answer at their fingertips (or would like to use this question as a basis for discussion), I look forward to your answer.
If not, I’ll go looking myself and report back.
mlbbowman
#Braves lineup: Prado 7 McLouth 8 Chipper 5 Uggla 4 Heyward 9 Gonzalez 6 Freeman 3 Ross 2 Beachy 1
I’d rather have Ross bat 6th than AAG. Everyone already has commented about the McLouth/Heyward thing already.
I find your OPS question interesting in its relationship to run scoring, but not in its relationship to championship winning, as there are rather significant aspects of playing baseball (pitching and defense) to which it is immaterial.
Nice…what Jay Powell lacks in insight and enthusiasm, he makes up for in lack of insight and lack of enthusiasm.
Narveson’s breaking pitch looks a little short, so far. Fastball is up a little. Hope he keeps this up.
Nice one, Nate….
Joe: “Miller Park plays small to me”
Ballpark: Miller Park
Park Factors: Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
Multi-year: Batting – 98, Pitching – 98
We are making it easy on a guy who hasn’t found his stuff yet.
To be fair, last year it was 123 for HRs (according to ESPN), though it’s 100 for the last 4 years. I’d guess that statement is based off home runs rather than scoring.
Adventures in LF. I guess it’s good to get those out of the way early, and of course it’s a bonus when someone makes the play.
Fielder with the intentional HBP. That was so blatant. Maybe the next guy should just try to catch the ball barehanded and then walk to first.
Fielder made no effort to get out of the way.
Boo. Fielder leaned right into that one.
Fielder just leaned into that pitch, blatantly.
Fielder leaned toward that pitch. If the umpires called it by the rulebook, that’s a strike.
Of course, the only time they ever called it that way was to preserve Drysdale’s scoreless innings streak.
Jim and Don on the radio even discussed how they thought it was a strike.
It would be so awesome if umpires enforced the rules of the game.
In honor of LCD Soundsystem’s swan song, can we get a game thread in the near future set to “All My Friends” or “I Can Change”? I’m trying to think of a way to tie in in to the season.
No harm done. Prince is still a tool, though.
Hopefully Prince got a painful bruise for that bush league play.
I like that Beachy didn’t lose his cool. Horacio would have let in five runs by now.
Fielder is a douche. Beachy should make him lean back on the next one.
Nice pitch to get Freeman there.
I love this AB by Freddie.
Edit: He strikes out, but that’s not bad work up there.
Yuni with a double off the fence? Really?
Nice K, one more.
Attaway Beachy. Nice escape.
Giving up a double to Yuniesky Betancourt…ugh
No good reason to throw a first-pitch fastball to as inveterate a hacker as Yuniesky Betancourt. It’s like throwing a fastball to Francoeur — why make it easy on him?
Beachy and Minor could make JJ a good trade piece.
edit: if he comes back healthy and productive
I agree, but we need to wait until we can get him healthy and pitching well for at least a couple months — if all goes well, maybe we could dangle him at the trade deadline. But right now he’s on the DL, coming off the worst season of his career. If we were going to trade him, the 2009-2010 offseason would have been the time. He’s at the nadir of his value right now.
I agree that his value is low right now
2 out bunts are usually a bad idea
Did I just see McLousy square to bunt with two outs?
Throw the ball, Narveson. It’s Prado, not Lou Brock.
The bunt was because of the 3B’s positioning, it sounded like. I’m still not sure Nate would have pulled it off if he’d gotten it down.
Nate’s just trying to get into their heads. He just needs to pull his own out of his a$$ first.
@ me @ 23
…I knew it wouldn’t be long
Boo.
Are we going to suck vs. lefties again this year? For all the talk of Uggla, if anything, he has a reverse platoon split. Heyward and McCann both are noticeably worse vs. lefties as well. Those are three of our top five hitters.
Today notwithstanding, the reason I bring it up is that the next Phillies series where we face both Lee and Hamels worries me.
Are we going to suck vs. lefties again this year?
A wild-assed guess off the top of my head: Yes.
Guys, it’s the 4th game. Let’s get at least a week in before we start freaking out.
Oh crap, we suck. (Just had too …)
That last pitch to Nate looked about a foot and a half outside. Did gameday agree? I cant seem to get to it.
Gameday showed the last pitch to Nate being right in the middle of the zone
AAR- Figured at much; it was really just a desperate plea for some optimism I could tap into. Probably my main structural concern with the team.
Heyward has walked in every game this season.
Man, Heyward is really really patient with the lefties. Love it.
@84 – he’ll walk in every game with Agony behind him
and thats why, 3 pitch K
79-Absolutely right. This making every mediocre lefty look like Glavine in his prime has been going on for awhile though and is getting old.
STOP THROWING YUNIESKY BETANCOURT FIRST-PITCH FASTBALLS.
Brandon seemse to have a blind spot. Someone needs to tell him that Yuniesky Betancourt sucks.
At least he’s figured out on his own that Wil Nieves also sucks.
Hot damn!
Well, he’s pitching like Kim Jong-Il — baserunners in every inning, and plenty of runners in scoring position — but at least he’s pitching like good Kim Jong-Il. Four strikeouts in four innings against just one walk is a pretty good day.
No fooling around with the back end of that lineup.
Wil Nieves doing a very good Jeff Francoeur impression. What the hell has he been swinging at?
Braves should focus on trying to get a runner to 2nd
I may be developing a bit of a crush on Brandon Beachy.
Couldn’t pick a better time for his first 1-2-3 inning. I sure do like all the strikeouts.
I’m with you, Stu!
Looked like Weeks got a late jump on that? Tough play either way. Need to take advantage of the weak single.
Uggla vs. an average lefty. I’d like to see a little more.
Struggla
Still no runner in scoring position for the Braves. This is sad.
One more inning for Beachy?
This pitcher is really getting on my narves.
Just got to tip your cap sometimes.
We’ll hear that at least 5 times in the recap
These games are frustrating, no matter is they are game 4 or game 144.
Uggla 0-7 against LHP. That’s not the start we would like.
g’lord, beachy looks peachy.
Nice, breaking ball to Yuni.
Maybe go back to it, or face high fastball.
does anyone know what a good brewers board/forum is? i’ve looked online and not really found one, and i am headed to milwaukee on wednesday and thursday and want to ask some questions about tickets at miller park…
Beachy is a strike throwing machine!
For anyone listening, Don Sutton has perhaps the worst Australian accent in the world.
Andrew, check Disciples of Uecker.
Come on, one more inning for Beachy!
great outing from Brandon
brewcrewball.com
let’s go boys. get some runs for beachy.
Attaboy, David.
@103,
HA HA HA HA!!! Post of the day. I don’t mind home team announcer being a little “homer-ish,” but the Braves guys are terrible.
Lucky.
McCann in. You would have never seen that from Bobby. Made an out, but still, good move.
So, we’ll get a crack at Saito and the extremely-hittable Axford, now…
Oh, good, George Cheryl.
Saito’s actually a good pitcher. So, naturally, I expect that we’ll hit him hard.
oh boy.
please don’t keep him in to pitch to a righty
Leadoff walks suck, but in fairness, ball four was a strike, and ball three was awfully close to a strike.
I hope he’s gone soon.
Sherrill should never face a RH’r. Esp after walking his first batter.
Did we just bring in Sherril to pitch in a close game?? Say it ain’t so Fredi.
Reliever walking the leadoff batter is a whipping offense, no?
Office mail just came in… Got my Eephus League Scorebook! I fear I may turn into Gollum: “My precious. We loves it.”
Nice work from Moylan. Some good pitching today (maybe just bad offense and a big strike zone for Narveson… petty).
Well done, Pete. Now let’s get a damn run.
Allrighty. Come on now. Time to score.
I’m so thankful that Roenike had Nieves bunt.
Saito is great, every other day.
Prado is great every day.
MARTEEEEEEEEN!
PRADOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Good call, AAR.
Nitram!
MARTIN!
NITRAM
YESSS!!!
Just get us a major league pitcher and we are good!
MARTIN
Anybody else having trouble with MLB.tv today? I have it set at the lowest resolution and it’s still really spotty!
Nate McLate
So what happened?!
McLouth got at least 4 strikes there. Weak.
Prado hit a solo HR. 1-1 Top 8, 1 out.
Can we switch Heyward and McLouth in the lineup already, for cripes’ sake?
Joelk, I’m on mlb.tv. Is their NexDef plugin working for you?
Uh… not sure what that is?
Beat with Uggla Stick!
I’m so good at predictions I spook me.
Joelk, try going to this page.
Uggo!!
UGGLAAAA!!!!
Haha, yes!
Uggla obviously needed to ditch the platoon advantage.
oh danny boy
Dan Uggla is so strong.
UGGLA! BORK BORK BORK!
Cue the good Venters/Kimbrel duo
Wow, ATL leading the league in HRs.
I didn’t know Saito was still on the Braves payroll
Joel, if you’re at home, it’s on 792 again
Martin should get credit for Uggla’s HR. Thanks for moving to LF!
Alex swings a lot….
As far as I’m concerned, Martin should get credit for Coca-Cola tasting so good. There are few good things for which he isn’t directly or indirectly responsible, and few bad things which he isn’t ardently working to change.
Thanks Alex, that is much better! RJ, unfortunately I’m still in the office!
Martin’s reputation has certainly changed in the last couple of years, hasn’t it? We don’t give out “Prados” for defense anymore…
Venters!
OH YEAH, nice double play!
Shame about the inning/baserunning sitch. Venters would be the perfect guy to help Prince remember when it’s time to duck.
Venters, he good. I know, real insightful there, but the obvious must sometimes be stated.
Venters is da man!
I remember I once wrote here, maybe three years ago… “I do not want to see Prado anywhere near the Braves 25 men roster”. Man! How wrong I was.
AAR @ 148 – exactly what I was thinking.
Or, would the backend of our order just become a total black hole?
Hanson (or Jurgens) and McLouth for McCutchen. Yes, you can, Wren.
Prado & Uggla.
Tango & Cash’s mortal enemy.
@ 169 – oh, hell – just do it anyway.
They’ve been very generous for both teams on the check swings today.
Well if you flip Heyward/McLouth, then Uggla will never see a pitch to hit and then the bottom 4 will be a black hole.
The back end of the order is already a black hole most of the time — Freddie Freeman can’t hit that many solo homers behind AAG and in front of the pitcher.
157 – Swedish Chef?
159 – Really? But they’re all solo shots, aren’t they?
179- Yep. Dan’s of Swedish descent, donchaknow. I figured it needed to be done once.
Once again, I am extremely nervous in anticipation of a Kimbrel appearance.
I would think Tex would be leading the league. Kinsler and Cruz HR’d in the first 3 games
Fear the Baby Face?
182—Well, they’re in a different league…
National league?
I guess I mean leading all of baseball
good start
Filth.
Wow. Kimbrel made McGehee look dumb.
Yep, great start. I’m still nervous though.
nevermind the fastball, I love that slider.
edit: yikes, let’s see fielder lean into that heater.
Horrible call. McCann caught that.
EDIT: So, Kimbrel follows it with an F-you fastball. Love it.
No tip!
Bad call.
Funny makeup call, though (not really a makeup since he swung, but judgment in our favor).
SWEET!
Now THAT’s how you pitch Yuni Betancourt.
Hosed… But it don’t matter
My goodness, Kimbrel has disgusting stuff.
Favorite words I’ve ever heard Chip say: “nyjer Morgan, final hope for Milwaukee.”
Niiiice win.
unbelievable! I am in love with Kimbrel!
Kimbrel is ridiculous
Good win!
Nice job by the pitchers. Wow.
Man, Kimbrel is really, really fun to watch.
Beautiful! Well done, Craig. Well done, everyone.
Kimbrel + Control = Peace in the valley!
Craig Venters, Johnny Kimbrel, whatever! What a pair of aces at the end of the game. Betancourt could have had 10 strikes against Kimbrel wouldn’t have mattered.
That dude is sick
Loving it…in that early season, only game 4, sort of way.
Beachy looking peachy.
I love it when the boys pull one out late in the workday.
Love these games, whether it is game 4 or game 144.
Man. This MLB extra innings free preview is kind of undermining my decision not to buy mlb.tv until after finals.
Recapped.
@211 Agreed. Watching “the first few innings” turned into 3 wasted hours. Great game though.
Glad the boys were able to bail out Beachy. Would have sucked for him to get saddled with the loss after a pretty great performance against a line-up stacked with good hitters.