New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – September 17, 2011 – ESPN.
Thank God for Tim Hudson. Hudson threw eight shutout innings while the Braves were getting shutout in their turn, keeping the team in the game singlehandedly. Sure, it was only the Mets, but tell that to Derek Lowe.
Hudson struck out ten, a season hit, and allowed just four hits. The Mets had a few chances to score, but mostly of the two-out, two-on type. The Braves had virtually no chances to score against R.A. Dickey, getting just two hits (and three walks) in the first seven innings. Their best chance was a Chipper Jones double leading off the seventh, but Dan Uggla didn’t get him over so Brian McCann‘s flyout didn’t score him, and he was later stranded.
Finally in the eighth, Jason Heyward led off with a walk, and was pinch-bunted to second by Jose Constanza. Michael Bourn grounded out, and Martin Prado walked, bringing up Chipper. On a 2-2 pitch, Chipper singled up the middle to make it 1-0. After Uggla walked, McCann popped up to keep the score there.
Craig Kimbrel did his thing in the ninth, striking out the side. Good thing, too.
Phillies’ magic number to clinch the NL East is one. So they’ll want to win tonight, right?
Hopefully Kimbrel proved on national TV today that he deserves ROY.
What’s been the latest update on Sherrill?
“What’s been the latest update on Sherrill?”
265.
Loved that waay-up-and-in-at-96+-mph-heater-for-a-ball that Kimbrel threw for his first pitch to Wright. Really set the tone for his entire 9th.
4,
Comment of the day. Up for nomination for comment of the week.
Dan: I don’t normally do this (this may be the first time ever), but LOL.
Phillies 3, Cardinals 0 in the 7th
If the Cards lose, it’ll be close to a perfect day.
And predictably, Michael Stutes screws the pooch by giving up four straight hits in the 8th. 3-2 Phillies, go-ahead runs on 1st and 2nd.
… but Lidge comes in and gets the third out. Still 3-2.
Interesting note: If Arizona & Milwaukee finish tied, we’d play Arizona because the D-Backs won the season series with the Brew Crew, 4-3.
Hang on, Phils…
Phillies erupt for six more runs, including a Raul Ibanez grand slam. 9-2 Phillies.
9-2 Phillies.
Rockies tie the Giants 1-1, now going to the sixth inning.
Bottom line: The wild-card lead was 4 1/2 coming out of St. Louis; it’ll be 4 1/2 tonight. For all the fretting, and in spite of a Lowe start, our guys have done what they needed to do this week.
Congratulations, Phillies. You only have nine more to go.
Magic number is 7, right?
16- That is correct. The magic number to eliminate the Giants is six; everyone else is already mathematically eliminated.
The Phillies scored 9 today. I wondered when was the last time we scored 9 or more. Turns out it was August 12th against the Cubs, when we beat them 10-4.
Of course, between that day and today, the Phillies scored 9 or more 7 times. Their O is better than our O, it would seem.
I’m really starting to doubt we can hold off the Giants. They just refuse to lose right now.
Mac, I’m sure you’re glad you listened to me now. Do I need to bother to get into Aaron Murray’s accolades for next week?
Do the Braves pitch Hudson on three days rest on Wednesday on three days rest, so he can pitch against the Phillies on Monday and be ready to start the playoffs on normal rest? I would do that because he gets two more starts the rest of the way, it doesn’t really matter which game he pitches against the Phillies and you might as wel have him ready for the playoffs if they hold on. I’m going to see Strasburg pitch against the Braves on Friday. If Huddy pitches on Wednesday, that would mean skipping Lowe and he would probably pitch on Friday against Strasburg. Maybe I should reconsider.
Interesting idea. I’d definitely keep it in mind, pending developments in the WC race. If the Braves increase their lead by Wednesday, I’d probably have Hudson skip that start and pitch him on the 26th against the Phillies. If things get tighter, then we’ll see.
Speaking of which, the Giants hold on in Denver, 6-5. They’re five behind us and Arizona with ten to play, and play three against the D-backs in Phoenix next weekend. So even if they keep surging, they’d have a decent chance of passing Arizona, making the D-Backs the Western team chasing us.
The Giants aren’t catching anybody.
Huge win. Just keep winning.
I just noticed that both Jeff and Melky have 83 rbi for KC.
Emma, you do know that just because a team wins several games in a row it doesn’t mean that they’re gonna win every game the rest of the year, right? This is at least twice now that you’ve made that assumption.
Emma is just a follower of the Fredi G. Small Sample Size School of Statistics.
Hey they won 2 in a row, they’ll never lose again!
@27
Well we have won 3-4, that makes us a machine.
Or it just means we’re playing the Marlins and the Mets.
I’m pretty sure this team could be no-hit by Lance Cormier. We’re going to limp into the playoffs and then we’re going to lose in the first round. I hate how smug it makes me to be pissed off by that.
Here’s our “Gee Whiz” lineup:
1. Bourn CF
2. Prado 1B
3. Jones 3B
4. Uggla 2B
5. McCann C
6. Diaz LF
7. Gonzalez SS
8. Heyward RF
9. Beachy P
Does anyone think the Braves are going to end up regretting the trade to bring Diaz back? He was terrible with the Pirates (.627 OPS), terrible in a small sample size with the Braves since the trade (.624 OPS), and like Lowe is signed through the end of the 2012 season and will probably continue to get playing time from the manager no matter how bad the performance.
As soon as Heyward starts hitting lefties, we can talk about regretting it. Until then, I don’t really know what you expect.
I think we are giving Diaz more ABs for the post season.
@33
Well, it’s going to be hard for Heyward to start hitting lefties if he doesn’t face them. He hit them in the minors, he hit them pretty well last year (though did have a platoon split), and will never get anywhere close to his ceiling if he doesn’t learn to hit them in the future. I think it probably makes sense to sit him at this point, at least in this context, but the Braves may do longterm damage to themselves if they continue to sit him next year. Especially for Diaz, who absolutely sucks.
I recall a few years ago BP called for the Tigers to find Granderson a platoon partner. He was MVP caliber against righties, but couldn’t hit lefties at all–so bad that his 2007 and 2009 splits looked even worse than Heyward’s do now. This year, though, Granderson has a 953 OPS/.404 wOBA against them. So there’s hope.
My God that was the worst national anthem I’ve ever heard.
So Cam Newton is, uh, pretty good.
Beachy is just so awesome. That can’t be overstated. If he figures out how to start going 6 or 7 innings instead of 5+, he’ll start looking very ace-like next year.
Gonzalez now has 100 more strikeouts than walks (122 to 22). Still, some good came of it; better than his standard GIDP.
Way to go, Chipper!
Now, can we start piling on here???
Well done, Chipper!
Chipper’s career-long Met-destruction continues. Great time for it, too.
Uggla has a helicopter swing sometimes.
This is why you don’t intentionally walk the bases loaded.
Beachy has walked 5. (1 intentional)
Well, crap.
Sickening.
No one currently on this staff except Hudson inspires postseason confidence.
I didn’t see the play. Should Diaz have run that ball down?
He was playing shallow. Prado or Constanza might have gotten it.
God bless Alex Gonzalez and the solo home run.
Why not PH for Beachy with the expanded roster?
Oh, Mets.
lolMets
Nice to see these guys come up off the deck.
55 – Yes, but they’ve had some help.
Either way, gotta get the tying run in here.
Even before the error, you had three hits and a HR, and Heyward would have scored on Prado’s single. We need to string together hits and then get a big hit more often.
And here comes Dan Uggla to provide it. I hope. (Well no, but he does drive in the tying run.)
It would be nice to bat around more often.
Good thing Matt Diaz is in the lineup, what with that 544 OPS against righties. I’d walk McCann there every time.
Good thing we let Beachy hit for himself!
Tim McClelland sucks at umpiring.
Yes. Beautiful turn.
For those who see the box score later, don’t let Heyward’s line fool you–he has an IBB and two balls chopped straight into the ground.
That would count as a “hot hand” for Costanza.
It’d be considered “skill” too, but that wouldn’t make it so.
Yeah, 2-2 with two infield singles and a walk is almost exactly what people were pretending was great about Constanza. Now it’s a negative for Heyward?
Nice work from The Lisp today.
@66 Is that seriously what you’re getting from my statement? Praise for Constanza? Whatever. Strawmen are fun, I guess.
As for Heyward, my point is that he’s still hitting the ball into the ground–that his swing is still messed up–and that most of us desperately hoping he turns things around should not take heart from a box score that is, in this case, deceiving.
67: Yeah, for a guy who was at one time this year so exceptional a long man that he got exiled to the minor leagues for it, it sure seems like a lost opportunity that we haven’t tried him in a start or two down the stretch. Better than Lowe, more healthy than Hanson or JJ, more “veteran” than any of our rookies…
Need Heyward to come through here.
@69
It is one of those things where he would get exposed (like Ross or Hinske can) if they play too much
When you have three rookies and Derek Lowe in your rotation, you need a long man.
Alright Freddie!
There you go, Freddie!
Boy that hole in Heyward’s swing seems to get bigger and bigger.
Nice Job, Freddie!
71: So he’s not that good of a pitcher?
72: Why can’t Lowe be the long man? He’s proven he sucks! C-Mart has not proven that he sucks.
Go Freddie!
Oh, Jonny. Hold ’em here, please.
@76
He is okay, he probably isn’t great. This is one of those situations that Fredi has figured out to use him correctly.
Lowe is making $15 million to start, they aren’t going to pay that for a guy to be a mop up man. However, come October, he might become a long man out of the pen.
Venters’s BB/9 this month is around 7 now.
Okay, Venters’s sinker has turned into a cutter. It is not going where he wants it to at all.
Why can’t we bring Kimbrel in here?
He has no idea where the ball is going.
This is getting dicey…
I just don’t get why we couldn’t bring in Kimbrel
So O’Ventbrel is now just O’Brel. And yes, it’s time for Kimbrel to learn about the four-out save.
This sucks.
Uh, can we pull him now?
FREDI TAKE HIM OUT FOR GODS SAKE !!!!!
Edit: There you go, idiot!!!!
Three walks. Way to make them earn it, Venters.
Fredi is retarded and it’s because of him that we’re likely to miss playoffs
I’m pretty sure the last two to Paulino were strikes. But it doesn’t matter. Our second bases-loaded walk of the game.
Nice, Jason.
I think Venters shouldn’t get as much rest as he has been
It’s looking more and more likely that the Giants will win out…. we’re in trouble
Please re-ban Emma.
Venters pitched 83 innings last year. He has now pitched 84 innings this year. That’s the most innings of any Braves reliever since Peter Moylan in 2007, and we all know what happened to his arm.
@93
I bet you $10,000 they don’t
@96… you tell me… Do you HONESTLY see us making the playoffs if we lose this game? Look at the Giants dude
Alex at 95,
Tommy Glavine just talked about how Venters’ control problems were caused by to MUCH rest, like he is overthrowing because he feels too strong. Glav won over 300 games in the Big Leagues, so he must know SOMETHING, right?
@97
Yes. The Giants won’t win out either.
There’s no rule against being relentless negative. I don’t see the appeal of it myself.
Glavine knows more about pitching than I do. But the fact is, his fastball is breaking to the side — like a cutter — a lot more often than it’s breaking down, as it usually does. The different break indicates to me that his mechanics may be degraded by exhaustion.
Anyway, I’m glad that the Mets are being inspired by a sense of fairness.
@100: of course, there are exceptions (Francoeur).
I would have let Constanza run for Chipper…
That’s a bullshit call
Oddly, Venters has had all kinds of trouble vs. the Mets this year: 9 IP, 7 R, 6 ER, 9 H, 11 BB.
Damn, that was close.
I hate Chip Caray
Chip sucks.
@104
It was a strike
Caray trolls Braves’ fans.
and now we have Brooks Conrad… aka can’t hit for craprad as our last hope of scoring today… b/c there’s no way we score in the 9th
@108 no it wasn’t
Damn Chip woke me up again.
Yes, it was.
@113 no it wasn’t
Conrad is so bad
GO GO NOOOOO….
fuck you Brooks
At least Caray didn’t act as if that was going to be a home run.
Getting shut down by Atrosta adds insult to injury.
Hey, Adam Lawson, you were complaining about profanity a few days ago. So are you a hypocrite, or do you just complain about everything?
oh so NOW you bring in Kimbrel??? Way to be late, Fredi
13 left on base, 10 of them in scoring position.
Constanza should pinch-hit for AAG to lead off the 9th. Yes, it’ll mean a lot of moving players around if we go to the 10th, but the objective now is to get there.
Ugh.
Well, that’s rare.
So one step forward (yesterday: Braves win, Cardinals lose) and one step back?
@126. It’s getting pretty unlikely that we’ll make the playoffs. Just a steep hill to climb with 2 more Lowe starts
Giants up 10-3 over Rockies. They’ll be four back after today.
“It’s getting pretty unlikely that we’ll make the playoffs”
Don’t be stupid. The Braves have a lead of a few games with less than ten to play after today. “Pretty unlikely”?
126- Maybe one in-place step. The pitching matchup of Hamels vs. Carpenter favors the Phils.
And of course AAG flies out. We made center field too big.
@127
Ye of little faith
ILoveEmmaStone — that is to say, Adam Lawson — are you ignoring my question?
Are you a hypocrite regarding your complaint about profanity, or do you just complain about everything?
Next week on Lawson Unleashed: Adventures in High-Effort Pessimism: Why it’s Better to be 4 Games Back in the Wildcard with 2 Weeks to Go than 4 Games Up.
The situation called for profanity
ILoveEmmaStone is really a Philly fan
Not two weeks, Pete, ten days. Remember, the regular season ends a week from Wednesday.
Wish Bourn had home run power.
Here comes the game-ending Prado pop up.
Bourn has to go here
Utter disappointment
WHy have Bourn if he isn’t going to steal in obvious base stealing times?
Adam Lawson prepares for his 50 daily comments on Braves Journal by reviewing game film of Chief Nocahoma’s comments.
137- Like all too many plays this year, that would have made too much sense.
Go Padres! Go Phillies! (Retch)
It really bothers me to watch Manny Acosta succeed at anything.
we have 9 games left. a 3.5 game lead when the Cards win tonight. We have 2 more Lowe starts, a bad Hanson start we have to face Strasburg and probably the Phils big 3. YOU TELL ME how we get into the playoffs
Well, that sucked. Is it fair to say that if you lose 2 out of 3 at home against the Mets, who lost eight out of nine coming into the series, you don’t deserve the playoffs?
Anyway, Go Phillies!
@143
The Cards and Giants will lose too, Adam Lawson. What if the Cards lose tonight.
When Manny Acosta makes your entire lineup his prison bitch for an 1.1 innings, that is sign you should just forfeit the rest of the year and go home.
Recapped.