Atlanta Braves vs. Milwaukee Brewers – Box Score – April 06, 2011 – ESPN.
Well, if Mike Minor wants to win the fifth starter job back from Brandon Beachy, that’s not the way to do it. Handed a 1-0 lead in the first after doubles by Prado and Chipper (followed by a single to center by McCann that Chipper was throw out on), Minor walked the first three men he faced in the inning. Vegetarian Fatboy followed with a single to make it 2-1, though Minor managed to get out without further damage.
The Braves couldn’t get any runs across, despite chances, in the next couple of innings, then Fielder scored on a Yuniesky Betancourt double in the fourth. Minor was finally chased in favor of Cristhian Martinez after a run scored in the fifth; one more of Minor’s runs scored to make it 5-1.
In the top of the sixth, Chipper and McCann singled, and Heyward hit a laser over the fence in right to make it 5-4. But they didn’t get another hit in the game; their only baserunner was a leadoff walk to Heyward in the ninth.
Eric O’Flaherty and Peter Moylan pitched an inning apiece, the latter getting some good defense to get out of a jam.
Vegetarian Fatboy was out at the plate. I hope Venters drills him in the back again tomorrow. Was that my out load voice ?
IMO, Minor looked like he was pitching with a serious lack of confidence in his stuff. I know the Brewers are a good offensive team, but four walks to a lineup than features Erick Almonte, Yuniesky and Wil Nieves hitting before the pitcher is alarming.
Well, looking on the bright side… Our defense looks pretty awesome.
Also, I’m not hitting the panic button, I’m merely asking, what’s the backup plan if Freddie continues to not keep his head above water ?
@3 He is having good at-bats. Give him a chance to adjust to MLB hitting. He struggled when he first got to AAA and finished with some of the best stats in the International League–as its youngest player.
That said, I do not know. Probably some combo of Barbaro/HInske/Conrad/Mather. I’d love to see Barbaro get his shot, but we all know that day will never come.
@4 Barbaro was released this week.
Didn’t the Braves let Barbaro go?
My guess is the backup plan for Freddie is Hinske. Dot.
@5: Yep.
If Freddie fails, the backup plan will be someone who’s not a Brave right now. And yes, we let Canizares walk.
I like Matt Young, but I’d have liked to seen *swaller hard* Mclouth pinch hit during that situation.
As I said, not worried about it at all, I was just asking if he’s still getting on base at a .190 clip or whatever after two months. He just looks like he’s pressing a bit to me, trying to do too much, like in his first at bat with Prado on second.
Way too early to worry about Freddie Freeman. Check back in a week.
The backup plan at first base is Martin Prado II, a result of our secret cloning facility in Caracas. But maybe I’ve said too much.
¡Viva Venezuela!
Freeman is going to take a month or two if his resume is any judge. He’ll be worth it, but it is going to take a minute.
IIRC, Kelly Johnson started with like one hit in his first 30 at bats. He had an OPS of .865 last year, his fifth year in the league.
My point was that if Freddie were to bomb until the All Star Break (which I don’t think he will), the Braves would go outside the org to fill the need.
What’s weird is how much this lineup has performed pretty much how we would expect. Usually when looking at the first six out of 162 games there’s a lot of weird things that won’t hold up, kind of like McCann hitting .400. The Braves lineup
-is driven by McCann, Heyward, and Chipper
-has a big hole in CF
-has a SS hitting under .250
-has a horrible bench except for David Ross
-is led in HR by Uggla and Heyward
-has a rookie 1B that’s taking some time to adjust
Amazingly, that what everyone thought would happen. Freaky.
With regard to the Braves’ defense, I agree that it has been solid with the exception of the DH playing 3rd.
Hinske would be the fallback option at first.
@16
I don’t think we have a horrible bench. With the exception of Hicks, every bench player is capable of putting up a .750-800 OPS. What’s horrible about that?
And when you bullet your points, sure, it sounds about right. However, the stats don’t match your theory.
http://tinyurl.com/3kxaqu9
Freeman will be fine. No reason to panic AFTER SIX GAMES!
Matt Young will be lucky to post a .650 OPS, let alone .750.
@16,
I think Uggla is a big part of “driving” the line up.
AAG has a couple of big games. I don’t think him hitting .250 is an issue SIX GAMES INTO THE SEASON
Can we really say at this point that Freeman is having adjustment issues SIX GAMES INTO THE SEASON?
The double play AAG turned was stupendous. He transfers the ball from his glove hand to his throwing hand faster than anyone I can remember.
@22, that’s my whole point. Six games into the season, you usually see a lot of surprises that end up being nothing. This year, in the lineup, that hasn’t really happened. I usually expect some kind of Beachy-like omghessoamazing or some kind of omghestheworstplayereverwhathappeneddoomed performance. There hasn’t been any kind of crazy expectation-defying variation in the offense, though.
Just saw the highlight of Heyward’s HR. Smoked.
And to pile on Chip (because that’s what we do), I’m pretty sure it’s neither very high nor a fly ball if it’s out of the park before you finish saying “high fly ball.”
@25,
He should just borrow his dad’s call on that one
“There’s a drive…”
@23 it was more than just that. The timing was spectacular, only getting the ball an instant before leaving the bag, having basically already moved across and started the throw.
I can’t help but pull for Matt Young, mainly because his size and stature reminds me of the undersized infielders of the early 90’s like Lemmer, Blauser and Belliard.
Speaking of Raffy, it was nice to hear his name mentioned during the broadcast last night . . . even if it was about The Great Homerless Decade (1987 – 1997).
I am sure this must have been said in the game thread, but I blame Snitker.
No way should he have sent Chipper in the 1st. We really had a young pitcher on the ropes and ran our way out of the inning.
29—Totally agree. That was awful. Chipper didn’t even bother sliding.
Fire Wren, Fire Fredi. Fire Snitker. Trade Hanson. Now.
The Braves lineup has both McLouth and Young as CF, but one of them has to be playing left. I wonder which way they’ll go on that.
1. Prado, 3B
2. McLouth, CF
3. McCann, C
4. Uggla, 2B
5. Heyward, RF
6. Gonzalez, SS
7. Freeman, 1B
8. Young, CF
9. Hanson, P
Young’s in left, according to MLB gameday. I guess they really like McLouth and his powerful throwing arm in center.