I mean, it’s no “Baby”…
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I mean, it’s no “Baby”…
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
That is deeply weird.
From the last thread. We dont need to worry about Freddie just yet, but there was ZERO reason for him to be in the two hole last night.
Another day game? Sheesh. I’m really not going to get anything done at work this afternoon.
I am not ok with losing a series to a depleted Brewers team. Don’t you dare suck, Tommy.
I have always viewed a split of a 4 game series on the road as a win.
We need Chippers bat in the lineup today
Lemme just say that trying to work logistics to get to and from Turner Field tomorrow, when many of the people are leaving work at different times, is much more difficult than it should be.
Surely it’s not this difficult in other cities.
per Bowman, per Twitter, per the Internet:
Prado 5 McLouth 8 McCann 2 Uggla 4 Heyward 9 Gonzalez 6 Freeman 3 Young 7 Hanson 1
Young gets a second start.
Well done Mac, but they’ve got nothing on Vanderbilt’s baseball team.
At least Heyward’s moving to the 5 spot in the lineup today – that’s a step in the right direction. Obviously given that he’s the best OBP guy on the team (with the possible exception of Chipper) he should be hitting #2 or #3 but still, I have a feeling based the things Fredi has said that Heyward will be in the top half of the lineup by the end of the month.
Freddie Freeman hasn’t hit well at all thus far, but 1) it’s way too soon to draw the conclusion that he can’t hit, and 2) from what I’ve seen, he’s not overmatched at all; he just needs to settle down and exercise some better plate discipline. That said, I don’t think he’ll hit all that many HRs with his current swing; like Heyward, Freddie’s swing doesn’t have a lot of natural loft to it.
Freddie needs to get himself a man’s bat instead of the twig he takes up there currently.
Let’s get the split & get outta beertown.
Freddie & The Dreamers vs. Justin Bieber. Discuss…
from last night’s recap: “Moylan got some good defense to get out of a jam”
one of the coolest double plays i’ve seen turned and all poor AAG gets is a “good defense” compliment haha. it’s tough being the whipping boy i tell ya.
Re Freddie: I was at the game on Sunday and, FWIW, he absolutely scorched one ball right at the shortstop. It almost knocked him over but he caught it.
9—Yeah, the awesomeness of that, featuring big-time MLB prospects Sonny Gray, Navery Moore, and Jack Armstrong, Jr., cannot be overstated.
#11 – Barry Bonds used a small bat. Freddie just needs to cut down on that swing and his trying to lift the ball.
Francoeur, KJ, Schafer, Pitcher
AAG, Young, Freeman, Pitcher
Im having bad flashbacks
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED.
Do you know what would be cool? It would be cool if the goddamned earthquakes would let up for a while.
F++k.
Freddie will be fine. He just needs to stay in the bottom of the lineup.
Stay safe, Billy.
Yeah, I saw that this morning. Stay safe.
Working on it.
I hope the Braves aren’t distracted.
Also: I love you guys.
Eric GD Hinske: hit a home run and I will love your hamster.
Hopefully Jason Heyward doesn’t hit Japan with any more batting practice foul balls. I assume that’s what caused the tsunami in the first place.
I believe Francouer is the only player who has hit a ball around the earth. I saw a video of it, courtesy of Delta I think. On the rare occasion that he actually makes contact, he ruins lives.
@13
hear hear
#Braves manager Fredi G. plans to use his full lineup for the weekend series vs. Phillies, now that most backups have had a start/ABs
DOB tweet:
Those who’d bat #Braves’ Heyward 2nd, where u hitting McLouth? 6th? Want McLouth, Gonzalez, Freeman, pitcher 6-7-8-9? Protection for Uggla?
Protection makes so much sense (in theory) that it’s a difficult mythical beast to slay. Just get Heyward more atbats…
Yes, David. I want a Prado-Heyward-Chipper-McCann-Uggla-McLouth-Gonzalez-Freeman-pitcher lineup. That’s EXACTLY what I want. Are you saying you want McLouth striking out four times a game between Prado and Chipper?
DOB…
Apparently not. All about “losing PAs.” RT @matt_T: @ajcbraves did these folks not see Heyward DRIVE IN MCCANN AND UGGLA LAST NIGHT? lord.
I have totally given up on that guy being anything other than a quote getting errand boy with a miserable attitude as a bonus
C’mon, you’re better than that DOB.
At this point, I seriously doubt it
DOB was good before he started that blog.
His attitude is bad and he really is a errand boy. Reading his stuff you feel like Fred Hickman or Jerome Jerenovich wrote it.
Really, he attacks anyone who disagrees with anything the organization does at any level. Then he adds some song lyric to the end.
He tweeted a longer explanation about the realities of Chipper being the number 3. That makes sense. But that doesn’t change that I’d like to see Heyward get more chances:
DOB tweet
It’s clear to seemingly everyone close to the team that Heyward is the #Braves’ future No. 3 hitter; just a matter of time. While Chipper still hitting, though, it’s difficult to find another spot for Heyward with this particular team’s personnel, even though you obviously wouldn’t normally have such a quality hitter (OBP, slugging, everything) in 6-hole. If McLouth or Matt Young hits, then you could move one of them down in order. But currently, you can’t realistically expect a lineup with some order of McLouth/Gonzalez/Freeman/pitcher in bottom four spots to be an improvement. And they spent $62 million on Uggla, a 3o-homer-a-year man. Not to have him hit without any good protection behind him. Again, Heyward fits the 3-hole perfectly. But in real world, not Fantasy, Chipper currently stays in the 3-hole. That’s just how it is. Not my decision, but I also understand the manager not wanting to move him from that spot until it’s obviously time. Say, if Chipper hits like he did at beginning of last season. He’s far from that, right now.
I’m a 26-year-old college grad who is down with social media, but I am always confused when I read these twitter posts:
“RT @matt_T: @ajcbraves did these folks not see Heyward DRIVE IN MCCANN AND UGGLA LAST NIGHT? lord.”
I have no idea how to interpret who is talking to whom here, so I just make wild guesses and speculations
Using DOB’s logic, then who is supposed to protect Heyward, the best hitter?
In this case, someone calling himself matt_T posted a tweet calling attention to DOB (ajcbraves). matt_T’s post was:
DOB broadcasted matt_T’s post (as a “retweet” indicated by the RT) and added to it:
37 — No idea.
You’d think the concept of “put all your best hitters in front of your bad hitters” wouldn’t be so tough, and yet… And DOB WAS good before he got this gig – that’s the part that hurts. When he first started, I had a lengthy email exchange with him on OBP weighting in computing OPS+. You don’t go from that to this without a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome or worse.
@34
Seriously, what’s with the lyrics thing?
I mean, I get it.. being well traveled, the guy thinks he has the best/most unique taste in music that is humanly possible for a mere blogging mortal. But come on, I feel like I’m reading a 16yr old’s myspace page ever time I finish reading one of his blogs.
The argument isn’t that Heyward wouldn’t be better in the 2-hole than McLouth. I think everyone everywhere knows that. The argument is that Heyward in the 6-hole is WORLDS better than McLouth because (1) Heyward will do more with the RBI opportunities and (2) McLouth’s speed would mostly go to waste in that position.
I disagree with this because giving Chipper, McCann, and Uggla more RBI opportunities matters more than having someone behind them to drive them in, and if McLouth were to get on, he’d be more likely to run with the bottom of the order behind him than he would be with Chipper and McCann.
In the column of “no one will ever like this”, you could always do a McLouth/Heyward/Chipper/Uggla/McCann/Prado/Freeman/AAG lineup. Aside from the obvious flaw of McLouth leading off, this would work quite well.
But when it comes down to it, this is a lineup that’s going to have a lot of holes in it unless at least one of McLouth and Freeman starts hitting well.
I’d still like to see Chipper hit 2nd, but, as DOB rightly mentioned, the reality is that he’s the number 3.
@41, today it was Led Zeppelin. That’s fresh! Seriously, not to pile on but what makes it worse is that if that guy posts something, it’s guaranteed to be at or past it’s sell-by date. He’s got a link to The Clash Online website for christ’s sake.
The Brewers are infield shift crazy.
Velocity down again.
So, Hanson sucks, this year.
He might be going through a dead arm period typical in spring training or early in the season.
I don’t care that it’s only his second start, I’m officially worried about Hanson. Good God, his pitches are put on frickin’ tee.
I read last week that Tommy said his back was bothering him. I will try to find the source. In any case, Ryan Braun owns him.
Not to worry – we have a TON of starting pitching depth.
I hate Tommy Hanson so much.
over/under on Braves runs is 3
Ive got the under
I’m watching on game cast, is Hanson really sitting 90-91 with his fastball still? Maybe I’m crazy but i feel like he usual is around 93-94.
Good AB again, Freddie!
Freddie needed that poke single.
Trade Hanson NOW. Do it Frank.
Hanson’s struggling but the problem, as it was last year for much of the year, is the offense. The Braves should really be 5-1. But they seem to have so much trouble hitting even mediocre starting pitching.
Hanson FA averages
2009 – 92.2mph
2010 – 92.7mph
2011 – 90.9mph
small sample size but he may be aiming his pitches or just not getting loose this early in the season
overreacting a bit? why would we trade Hanson?
59- Maybe hes injured? I noticed that hes been a little low on his fastball too
Nice.
Matty Young, being fast. 🙂
YES!!!!!!! I love you Martin!!!!
The only problem with a day game like this…other than Hanson pitching is I have to leave to broadcast a baseball game over the web and can’t catch the conclusion.
Also, I can’t remember the last time the Braves had a sequence like that, with two little grounders, a walk, and a sac bunt resulting in two runs. Great thing to see.
do we lead the league in ground outs to 1B…seems like a Nate/Freeman specialty
As far as the lineup goes, we can’t do it now, but I’ve been thinking that if we can get McLouth going, a lineup of McLouth/Prado/Heyward/Uggla/McCann/Chipper/Freeman/AAG would be ideal. Now this is obviously in Dream World, because we would never move Chipper, and it would require McLouth hitting at least .250, but oh well…it’s the lineup I like.
“He has six hits this year, and five of them have come against the Braves!” — Chip Caray, on Nyjer Morgan
Man, just think of all the other games he’s played against other teams!
Hanson is FRUSTRATING to watch. Brings back memories of watching Russ Ortiz pitch.
Is Hanson just grooving pitches or are they hitting well?
Double post, sorry: First 92 mph fastball
Nyjer Morgan owns the Braves.
Note to self: read preceding comments before posting.
Jeez. This sucks.
UGH. This sucks.
Good grief.
Why the hell was the infield in??
Well, at least he can strike the pitcher out…
Looks like Hanson is stretching his back after every pitch.
Because they thought they could get a weak ground ball and an out at the plate. And they got the first part, but Morgan just got there so damn fast it didn’t matter.
Ok, so in Hanson, we have a guy with questionable mechanics, iffy control and a completely inability to prevent baserunners from stealing at will. Why was he hyped so much?
McCann probably catches a better throw, but he would’ve gotten steamrolled.
Maybe a little chin music for Morgan next AB.
I’m really frustrated that Yahoo deletes its fantasy notes. Someone else had to have seen this. It was after Tommy missed his last ST start due to back soreness.
Tommy said he dealt with it last year, that he focused his offseason exercises around strengthening his back, and thought it had worked until it struck again at the end of ST, which we know. He said he planned to pitch through it just before the Nats start.
Tommy has stretched his back after every single pitch since his rookie season.
No harm there, but I disagree with bringing the infield in this early, especially with Morgan on third.
I’m getting real tired of people trying to light McCann up at the plate.
Well, Heyward’s certainly hitting the ball hard.
Also, christ, guys, it’s two starts. Hanson was fantastic last year. He’s a really good pitcher having a couple bad outings. Have some patience.
#81 –
2009 – 2.89ERA 1.18WHIP
2010 – 3.33ERA 1.17WHIP
after allstar break – 2.51ERA 0.977WHIP
Hanson just makes things difficult on himself sometimes. He gets ahead 0-2 and cant finish them off.
@81 @89, It probably also had something to do with his total dominance of the minor leagues…best exemplified by a 10.71 career K/9 that put him on the doorstep of the majors at age 22…you know, just a guess.
Boston just lost to Cleveland 1-0
thats 0-6
I miss Wil Nieves.
Red Sox will come into their Fenway opener vs the Yankees winless. Some kinda homecoming, eh?
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer fanbase.
Why don’t we work counts anymore?
Nice diving catch by Young. He’s easy to like. But I wish we would just go get Blanco. He’s about 5% better than Young in every respect.
@70-I’ve been thinking the same thing for awhile now. The way he cocks his wrist prior to releasing the ball is similar.
Blanco is less of a threat on the basepaths than Young. Or at least that’s my understanding.
@96 – When did a Braves lineup ever go into a game with a cohesive plan to work the count and make a starter labor? Lack of offensive game plan was one of my favorite things to blame on TP, but that was probably unfair. I just don’t think the Braves have enough of those type hitters. The Red Sox and Yankees we ain’t.
I wonder how much of the adjustments Hanson made on his delivery to keep runners close this spring is playing a part in his velocity.
I’d trade a stolen base now and then for dominant Tommy.
Morgan is really starting to bug me.
everyone in the lineup, outside of BMAC, is hitting .250 or less
Good move, Fredi.
who is warming?
Whew.
C’mon, guys. Let’s win this damn thing.
Uggla’s been 100% fine at 2B. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised.
And by the way, there’s nothing wrong with Uggla’s defense.
I told you guys that Uggla probably wasn’t THAT bad defensively.
Someone explain Matt Young…I don’t get it. We’ll be longing for the good old days with Melky soon enough.
Braves need a RH bench bat.
100—The Braves led the league in walks and OBP, last year.
107—Ditto.
So the Brewers are going to turn the Folk Hero around an let him hit from his good side?
Fredi, don’t burn Henski here!
Oh well…
Uggla is a serious defensive downgrade, but I don’t care. We need bats and his will be key this year.
Nice. Fucking Beautiful.
Everyone praising the defense can stop doing so now.
Death by a thousand cuts in this series… Not putting a lot of stock in it, but damn, this sucks.
@60,
I was being facetious in that a number of people last year were calling for Hanson to be traded when he was struggling.
A walk was not what we needed there, Petie.
Peter, you dingo.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer somebody covering first on a bunt attempt. I can’t put all the blame on Moylan, it should be first and second one out right now.
Well, so Venters will strike out the next three.
Ach Freddie.
Defense doesn’t matter if you only score two runs a game. Still desperately need a legitimate outfield bat. But we needed one last year, and the year before, etc.
Oh, Freddie. Take the out, stupid.
Intentionally walking Yuniesky Betancourt?
#$!&@* the heck?
Jonny Venters should never under any circumstances be intentionally walking Yuniesky.
IBB to get to Morgan? Really?!
Yay!
If I were married to Fredi Gonzalez, I would make him sleep on the couch every night he intentionally walked a player with a career OBP under .300.
Being bald and having a beard looks just wrong
Jonny Venters is a beast.
Yes!!!
80-82. Next season, etc.
Pretty encouraging use of Venters there from Fredi. Seeems mighty progressive, but I guess since he’s not the (de facto) closer, it’s somewhat easier to use him in a non-save situation, PR-wise anyway.
Seems to me, the Braves haven’t hit a single ball hard this game.
Come on Jason.
Hop commiseration as a Milwaukee past time was actually a pretty good line from Chip.
Heyward better come through. No chance with the bottom of this order next inning.
3-1 count. HR coming.
Or BB. Whatever.
What are the chances Gonzalez takes a walk here? 1000:1?
please PH Chipper for AAG
Ugh… Heyward needs protection.
I would totally pinch hit Chipper or Hinske here.
Heyward will lead the league in walks if he keeps hitting down in the order.
Wow, good thing we’ve got AGony “protecting” our best hitter. Heyward saw some awesome pitches in that at-bat. Sure did.
142 — was just about to post the same thing
No. No. No. No. No.
couldn’t have predicted that ground out
Random comment:
In that particular situation, with a runner on third and two outs and a force at 2B, the baserunner shouldn’t slide. They should run through the bag because even if they’re later tagged out, the runner going from 3rd could get there before the tag is applied and hence score, whereas if the player is forced out (rather than tagged), the runner cannot possibly score.
As is, that was a really close play.
Phillies up 6-0.
Young is in the on deck circle? Hinske or Chipper plz.
Was that at bat by Freeman as bad in real life as it looked on Gametracker?
Our bottom of the lineup is a deep black hole at the moment until Freddie finally starts hitting.
Gonzalez and Young are both batting this time around. Does Hinske have leprosy?
Bah. Gute Nacht.
This road trip just went off a cliff in a hurry.
Damn. Had a couple hard-hit balls today, just right at ’em. Actually, I think those were the only hard-hit balls the Braves had….
I pined away for you for months, missed you with all my heart. And now that you’re back, you make the Braves lose three games to the Brewers. Sometimes I hate you, baseball.
bleck. time to listen to mumford and sons and cry angrily.
Bring on the Phillies!
Sigh… Braves. Well, if this is the low point of the season, that would be awesome, right?
I know the braves are high on Freeman, but he’s looking pretty bad out there.
Well, the Red Sox are 0-6. I wonder what their fan base is saying.
Recapped.