Florida Marlins vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – April 14, 2011 – ESPN
If the Braves could just play one-game series, they’d be great. They’ve lost all the games but the openers. Brandon Beachy had a bit of a Bruce Chen moment tonight, not trusting his stuff and getting burned when he did. Though he struck out eight, he kept getting ahead of batters then nibbling, and walked four, and gave up seven hits, including a homer and two doubles, in five and a third. The Marlins got three runs in the first to take the early lead.
But the Braves then got four runs in the bottom of the inning, Chipper driving in Prado with a single, then McCann hitting a three-run homer. Beachy couldn’t hold the slim lead, however, allowing a single to tie it in the second, then a solo homer to make it 5-4. The Braves tied it up with a Uggla homer in the fourth, but that was the last run they’d get.
After Moylan got out of a Beachy jam in the sixth, O’Flaherty didn’t have it in the seventh, allowing three singles to give the Marlins the lead, taking the loss. This bullpen is not well-constructed if the starter doesn’t go six. As it was, Linebrink had to bail O’Flaherty out, and did manage a pretty good job of that, but I doubt that will last.
A lot of what happened tonight was just one of those things. The Marlins struck out 15 times but had 13 hits, meaning that more often than not, if they got the bat on the ball it landed fair. The Braves struck out just seven times and had two homers, but had lots of balls that found gloves. Play it again, they probably win, but baseball doesn’t work that way.
It happens. That’s how I look at it.
Frustrating.
Of 115 innings with a turn at bat this year, the braves have only scored in 21 of them.
I don’t know if that can be an advanced stat or anything, but it sucks. The braves cannot string anything together. There are too many outs in this lineup.
Freddie at least looks like he’s putting better swings on the ball the last couple of games.
Heyward needs to be out of the 6th spot ASAP.
Kimbrel continued to strike fools out at an historic rate, Heyward managed to increase his already ridiculously high walk rate and OBP, and young Freeman looks like he’s started breaking out (offensively, not in a rash). These small encouragements might get me through the sad night.
As soon as the game ended, I wondered if Mac was going to post a frustrated recap or a zen one. Clearly this one is more zen, but it could’ve gone either way tonight. A frustrating outing by Beachy who was digging a hole all game (that bunt with a runner on 2nd was icing on the cake), but that’s not unusual for a young pitcher. Like Glavine was saying, young pitchers need to treat these outings as learning experiences and learn how to get outs when you’re having a rough game.
And man did Kimbrel’s stuff look nasty.
Close game. McLouth hits a HR 5 feet foul, then hits one hard right at the 1B who catches and steps on the bag. Brooks rips one into the gap that Coughlan lays out for and keeps 3 runs off the board. Tough one to lose but the offense fought back. AAG will kill this lineup because Heyward isnt going to see much to hit. Freddie put some nice swings on some tonight
A question for Auburnians: what’s the deal with Toomer’s zombie oaks? I was in Auburn for work this morning and we drove by the corner – the supposedly doomed trees were covered in spring greenery. Did the nation lend its sympathy for a false alarm, or did the trees rise from the grave, hungry for walnuts?
@9 There is considerably less spring green than usual, having been around the trees my whole life they look half dead in my eyes.
Im a Bama fan so I probably shouldnt say anything, but those trees will die. However, these trees were already dying off before that idiot poisoned them.
I hope they live, but the poision takes two or three cycles to take affect. They are probably good as gone. As an Auburn fan, it sucks, but we will move on.
According to people in the know, you can tell a difference already, some dead leaves, branches, etc. It takes awhile for the trees to uptake the posion. I can barely grow grass in my front yard, so I don’t know the difference.
Of course, it could be the trees are rallying from their own 24-0 deficit, sorta like a football game I remember from last season.
12—On the back of an elaborate pay-for-grow scheme?
@11 No, you probably shouldn’t have said that.
This bullpen is not well-constructed if the starter doesn’t go six
Who has one that is?
The Braves haven’t lost all their games except for openers. They won games 1 and 3 of the season-opening series against the Washington Nationals.
13
Ask Brent ‘Benedict Arnold’ Callaway, Dre Kirpatrick’s Mom and her Cadilac, and Trent ‘Linked to Will Lyles’ about pay for play schemes.
When all the dirt comes out on everybody in the SEC, this conference is going to make the old SWC look like choir boys.
I went to the Nats-Phillies game tonight. Zimmermann pitched really well, but his defense killed him — four runs with just one earned is kind of about right, as much as Mac loves to put scare quotes around “unearned runs” — and obviously no one could touch Lee, who pitched a complete game three-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts, good for a game score of 92.
I’ve now seen Zimmermann twice this year; the first time was the game we won 11-2 by beating up on their bullpen. He’s a real good pither, and he’s gonna lose a lot of games on that team. Cliff Lee… is absurdly good at baseball.
Teheran only pitched 4 innings tonight despite only giving up 1 run. Anyone know why?
Lots of encouraging signs, but man, it’s getting tough to stay positive with all the losing.
And to make a minor correction, the Braves did win the 3rd game in the series with the Nationals. They haven’t won anything but the openers since. Does that mean we should be optimistic about tomorrow? 😀
The Phillies are running away with the division already, and we have a nice little west coast trip ahead of us. No time to panic, but things are not looking good early.
#18 – Game recap said he was at 87 pitches after 4IP. They apparently dont want him throwing much more than that.
#19
Thanks mraver, I actually popped on here to make the point you did – that HEY, we won that third game of the Nats series. Whoopety do!
As a Spurs fan who just watched Manu Ginobili go down in the last (completely effing meaningless) regular season game – right before the playoffs, and now see my Braves go 5-8 and cant even beat the stinking, freaking, hateful Marlins AT HOME, I’m ready to pull my hair out and bang my head, repeatedly against a wall.
I’m sorry…it’s definitely not too early to be gravely concerned. Were not a good offensive team and as potentially good as our starting pitching can be, we cannot match the Phillies. Especially when tewo guys like Hudson and Beachy, who were excellent previously, both look very mediocre at home against the freaking, god damned Marlins.
And I am not ready to throw Fredi G overboard – yet – but for the love of God, get Nate McLouth out of the 2 hole and move Heyward back up.
You miss Bobby yet?
Saw an O’s/Yanks game tonight that I’ve seen many times before. O’s break out early, their starter tires, Yanks chip away at the bullpen, then win it late in walk-off fashion.
Back in BravesLand: So, hopefully, the Flushing Madoffs will be a tonic for the troops. Let’s turn things around with a sweep. The Mets seem to be in the mood for that.
Apparently 8% of the Braves Journal poll voters like Justin Bieber.
At least Stu is an equal opportunity insulter.
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At what point does bad luck become the McTruth?
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Beachy hasn’t figured out what his out pitch is yet. I think it might be his low, inside fastball (to righties, anyway). He needs that to succeed at a high level, but shows a LOT of promise.
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Hate to think that a sweep is necessary starting on Tax Day, but I’m afraid it is.
I’ve disparaged Tommy Hanson’s mechanics in these pages before – here’s one of the reasons why (said far more eloquently than I ever could):
http://m.si.com/news/archive/archive/detail/3631254/2;jsessionid=8FC5FC30E07633C92082BC9B58185268.cnnsi1
@26, no, spike just has a lot of accounts.
I know he hit a massive hommer, but Uggla is sucking at the plate.
I miss Bobby already. This team is missing something. There is a listlessness about them that is weird.
One of those things missing is a true leadoff hitter. I love Prado, but he is mis-cast as a leadoff hitter. He is a guy that walked 40 times in 651 PAs last year. He has 1 walk mixed in with his 56 ABs this year. In comparison,Matt Young as 2 walks this year. I think not having Heyward behind him is hurting him. No one is scared of McLouth and so he not getting anything to hit.
He is great at putting the ball in play with authority. I wish there were more guys on base when he was hitting.
Freeman is showing signs of life. I think he is going to hit. Nate and A-Out er A-Gon are killing us. The bench is killing us. Has Hinske been disaapeared? What about Ross?
Something is wrong with this team.
I’ve changed my username (formerly Vulcan Change) in the hopes of spurring more victories. Surely the Bravos will take notice. Surely.
And look on the bright side: we don’t have to watch Melky’s hefty self misjudge balls in the pasture between the infield and warning track.
This is a more readable version of the piece Justhank posted. But it doesn’t mention Hanson. What was the point you were trying to make, justhank?
This is the second consecutive April that we have had to unleash the Collins. We haven’t lost 9 in a row, but it still feels like the team is in a funk. It’s only more disappointing because of the way they played on Tuesday, which I think was representative of their true potential.
A sweep of the Mets would right a lot of wrongs.
Invisible touch.
17—If all the dirt ever comes out on the programs in the SEC, my school will be sainted, immediately.
23—Thank you, Alex. I needed that.
Didn’t the Braves start 8-5 last season before going on that nine game skid? Well, perhaps we now win nine in a row… Though we should also make sure not to invert the entire season’s results…
I expect Alex to be irrational but come on–it’s two weeks into the season. About the same time last year, the Braves lost 9 games in a row. There’s no “listlessness.” It’s just something that fans always say when their team is playing poorly. Baseball teams play well at times and poorly at other times. It was true of the 2010 Braves, it was true of the 1998 Yankees, it was true of the Phillies. When teams play well, they are playing with passion and fire; when they are losing, they are listless.
As for saying you miss Bobby, how many times did I read how Bobby was a doddering old fool who didn’t know what he was doing. Now that they have had a bad two weeks, you miss Bobby?
There are obviously issues with the team. The Phillies’ pitching is much, much better than the Braves. Gee, there’s a shocker. Certainly, hitting Heyward 6th is stupid, but it’s hardly the major problem with the team. Are the Braves a great team? No, they have been built to be a wild card team–at least in this division–with hope that they might be more. Some of the pre-season predictions about the Braves overtaking the Phillies look to be misplaced. But,you know, the other team is trying to win too and the Marlins are actually pretty good. The fact is, if Conrad’s ball is two feet farther away, it clears the bases and the Braves win. If Freeman’s two drives are a little lower or have a little more carry, things are different.
I’m sorry for the rant but it drives me nuts to see how a couple of bad weeks drives makes people totally lose their perspective. Everyone forgets all the ups and downs of a baseball season. They have 149 games left. And the Braves have rarely played well in April. By the way, I see that Cleveland is in first place.
@29, the sad thing is, if my 5 year old daughter could set up fake accounts and vote, she would. I got home from Vegas last night to find a hand lettered Justin Bieber sign that I am told she likes to carry around the house and do the occasional Justin cheer (don’t ask). However, she spelled his name correctly and used a complete sentence, so all things considered I couldn’t really gripe about it.
I missed the fact that Heyward was double switched out of the game in the 9th inning. It didn’t make that much of a difference in the end, but I do question the logic of taking your best player out AND opting to use, as a result, one of your weaker hitters in the bottom half of the inning. I would have rather seen Hinske or Ross hit, not Young.
Also, why the hell is Marek still down in AAA? If Moylan has already pitched, he’s the guy who comes in to face the three righties that O’Flaherty faced. We need to jettison Sherrill, use O’Flaherty as the exclusive LOOGY, and bring Marek up. Enough is enough already.
Spike,
Good stories always start with, “I got home from Vegas …”
We’re dead last in OBP (.282) and 13th in OPS (.640). So, basically we’re the Atlanta Seabasses.
I don’t mind the team having a mediocre to poor first couple of weeks. We have some guys who historically are slow starters, Freeman and Uggla, and Fredi is still getting to know the team and figure out what he has — particularly in the bullpen, which is something Bobby always used to do.
The good news is, we never were supposed to win the division. We’re playing for the Wild Card, and the only teams we really need to worry about are not in our own division: the Brewers/Reds and Rockies/Giants. None of those teams are invincible. They’re all a lot like us, teams who could win 85 in their sleep and 90 with a little luck, and anything above 90 will be awfully hard to manage. On paper, we’re probably the best of all of them — and all we need for the Wild Card is to be better than two of them.
So if it takes us a few weeks to figure out what we have, for guys like Freeman and Beachy to feel comfortable at the major league level, for Uggla to warm up, and for Gonzalez to figure out once and for all whether George Sherrill or Scott Linebrink can ever be permitted to pitch in a meaningful situation, I’m okay with that. The team is relatively listless right now, but it’s still April. If this lasts through our annual June swoon, THEN I’ll be worried.
Anybody in the ATL area think this game will be played tonight? I’m driving down for the game–the forecast seems ominous tonight.
And Fredi’s hat tipping to our guys as well, yay!
“They’re going to hang a loss on our bullpen. But to cover four innings and give up one run and get the loss is a shame. You’ve got to tip your hat to our guys.”
@43, wind is blowing hard already and it’s gray, but the forecast is for the bad weather to be after midnight.
@44, you’d think by now even Fredi would realize this is beyond dumb to say.
44 – Sigh.
I am not distraught yet, but I am frustrated. Here’s to hoping for an incredible May.
Its awful in Birmingham right now.
JC Boscan is on our bench and yet, David Ross hasn’t appeared once in a game since game 4. This is on Fredi.
When Uggla starts hitting, we will score a lot more runs.
Team OBP is .282. I miss TP.
AAR @ 33:
My problem with Hanson’s mechanics is largely that he doesn’t finish out over his front leg enough AND that said front leg does not stride out anywhere near 100% of his height. That, and his arm recoils dangerously on some of his pitches.
Compare that to Hudson or, more extremely, Lincecum – both of whom stride over 100% of their height and finish down smoothly and thoroughly.
I just think he’s cheating himself and asking for arm trouble.
Questions for my Vandy peeps:
How tall is Sonny Gray in bare feet?
Is the Vandy v. USC game on ESPNU tonight?
Maybe 5’9″. No.
A preview of tonight.
Game thread.