Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – April 08, 2011 – ESPN.
The Braves jumped all over Cliff Lee, knocking him out in the fourth, and despite an epic case of Hibernation Mode it held up.
The Phillies took the early lead, actually. Tim Hudson gave up singles for the first two men of the game, and runs on a sac fly by Ryan Howard and a single from Ben Francisco. In the second, an error by Alex Gonzalez helped lead to an “unearned” run scoring on a groundout by Shane “Burn In Hell” Victorino.
But the Braves came right off the mat and tied it up in the bottom of the second. Heyward tripled to lead off, and AAG followed with a double. Freeman singled, and Prado hit a ground-rule double to make it 3-2. McLouth grounded out to tie the game.
After a scoreless third, Freeman was hit by a pitch leading off the fourth. Hudson couldn’t get the bunt down, but Prado and McLouth singled. Chipper‘s 2499th hit was a double off the glove of Burn In Hell, clearing the bases. It appeared he could have scored on McCann‘s following single (which chased Lee) but Snitker held him up, and the Braves wound up leaving the bases loaded. They didn’t do much of anything after that — in the sixth and seventh, Phillie reliever Antonio Bastardo struck out six Braves in a row after allowing Chipper’s 2500th hit.
The Phillies had a golden chance, thanks to some shaky defense and umpiring, to get some runs in the fifth, but the Braves got a 1-2-3 double play from Howard to get out of a bases loaded situation. After that, Hudson was great, retiring eight in a row before a two-out double in the eighth. Venters came in to get the last out, and then Kimbrel finished it off for the save.
Kimbrel is nasty
Phillies Post Game Live cannot get over that the 3 run knock was scored a hit instead of an error.
I can see why they’d make such a big deal since it would have gone to extra innings… wait, unearned runs count?
It’s a good sign when Kimbrel gets a 1-2-3 inning, but I’m disappointed that he only had 1 strikeout. If Kimbrel and Venters can keep it up, our bullpen will be awesome despite having Sherrill.
Probably the best part about Kimbrel’s inning is that he seemed to have a really good idea of where his pitches were going, and a game plan to beat the hitters. He threw 10 strikes against only 1 ball.
That back-door slider was just nasty, especially after 9 FBs.
Interesting what Fredi did on the Howard shift when nobody was on base, sending Chipper to the 1B side of the second base bag and leaving the rangier AAG at the SS position. Howard promptly hits a pop fly down the RF line that 1) was probably fair, and 2) Chipper might not have gotten to. AAG makes the play, and Francisco’s subsequent double is rendered harmless. Very clever, sir!
Cheer up, Charlie (Manuel). You lucky POS.
So Ramirez calls it quits instead of facing the Muzak. Interesting.
Huddy should be shaking lots of hands tonight, and I’m sure he is. Terrible bunting, error in the field, and got bailed out a couple of times by his defense. The offense got him out of a 3-run hole, and the bullpen gave up nothing.
@6 With one out it was at least a SF, so it was 4-3 in earned runs.
CJ turned him around.
Probably at least two would have been scored earned, because McCann followed with a single.
Hudson gave up nothing but weak contact (lots of ground balls which is exactly what he was trying for) in the early innings and it just kept missing gloves, and then line drives and poor execution in the middle innings somehow didn’t score runs for Philly. Individual games make no sense – there’s only meaning in the aggregate, and fortunately for us, Hudson tends to be very good on the long scale.
Also, I’m not sure if they showed it on TV, but there was an incident between Prado and AAG sometime around the 7th inning. There was a really high pop-up to short left field near the line. Prado came in while AAG went back and made the catch. They had extended words afterward, which I didn’t think anything about until the stadium camera showed AAG close-up walking back to short and making this mocking, scornful face to someone (Uggla maybe) and gesturing back at Prado. It made me wonder if Prado was lecturing AAG about some bit of fundamentals that he’d neglected (like maybe that should have been Prado’s ball since he was coming in instead of back-pedaling), and maybe AAG resented it a bit. Prado always seems like a really serious hard worker when he’s interviewed – I wonder if that might create some friction with players who take things more lightly in general. That’s pure conjecture on my part, obviously. It was a strange look to see on AAG’s face after that particular play though.
It should be mentioned that we have a first baseman now. I must have watched so many butchers at that position over the years that I had completely forgotten how nice it is to have someone in the cold corner who can really pick it.
Went to dinner/movie @ 3-3, just watched the replay, nice to kick Cliff Lee around.
Man, Kimbrel is scary.
@ 14 – great point.
On the (perhaps) game-saving DP, McCann threw a terrible, rushed throw to first that Freeman picked clean.
Over the course of a year, a great defensive 1B saves your arse so many times and no one ever says a word about it. Let your shortstop pirouette every now and then and everyone dies the little death.
As noted earlier, Peachtree TV needs to be made aware of the fact that they have these things called “radar guns” now. I think Home Depot has them. Or, better yet, just post the number provided on the scoreboard.
Btw, anybody know the science behind the baseball radar gun? Does release point make a huge difference in the reading?
I think they’ve given Chip some Xanax. Given many opportunities to hyperventilate last night, he was actually pretty calm – which allows his positive traits to come through.
@7
I was thinking the same thing. No way Chipper gets to that ball. I think Fredi has pulled all the right strings so far.
Also, McLouth had a good game last night.
Individual games make no sense
They do to the people performing, which was my only point. Hudson appears to outwardly appreciate others’ effort on his behalf, and while he pitched well in stretches, he also got bailed out a few times.
#21 it’s a team sport, after all.
Sigh. Yes. Occasionally I watch in simple appreciation of that fact, leading to some less-than-revolutionary insights.
Sansho – I didn’t mean to contradict what you said – I agree. On the whole, I think he got bailed out more than he got unlucky with balls in play. The regularity with which he was getting unlucky in the first two innings was just shocking though. Bleeder after bloop after misplayed ball seemed to advance runners, and I got somewhat exasperated in the stands. I guess that left a bigger impression on me than the good luck stuff later.
I for one was perfectly content that snedeker held chipper on 3rd. last thing this team needs right now is #10 in a play at the plate.
@13, I noticed that little flap between AG and Prado, too. It looked to me like Prado said something to AG about not calling for the ball, or not loudly enough, or something. And you are right, AG didn’t look happy about it, at all.
It’s cool, I just needed some coffee.
@ 15
ububba: Kimbrel is just downright filthy when he’s on. luckily, that’s been pretty much since opening day. methinks he was doing the gamesmanship thing in the spring and took a good 5-7 mph off that fastball of his. hitters look silly against him right now.
not just that, but he looks like he’s 15.