The good news is that today we’re facing a righty. The bad news is that he is a knuckleballer.
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The good news is that today we’re facing a righty. The bad news is that he is a knuckleballer.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Headin over the bridge from NJ to NY now with my McCann jersey and a smile on my face. Wish me luck, I’m goin in!
Here’s to a bounce back game. That off day was a long one…
@1, Very jealous, good sir. Don’t let the parolees give you too hard of a time.
Update: switched to the chipper jersey. Figured it adds insult to injury, plus we can talk about how chipper retiring was mets best offseason move…..
This is like being backstage at a Cher show. Break a leg, Bob!
@3
Good call. When the Mets fans start in on Chipper being hurt, you can point to Mr. Met and say, “No, there he is!”
Perhaps a quip to the effect of “Actually, he’s meeting Mr. Wilpon about these ownership shares he’s been trying to sell.”
Hopping on the 7 train. Will be at the game, too. Will look for #10.
Sorry boys, but I’m way to familiar with this game to let you move the goal posts like that. Here is the original claim, one more time.
The claim is not “I can keep a list of moves or lack of moves that I disagree with over the course of the year!” Anyone can do that, because it’s a meaningless exercise of Monday morning quarterbacking. Fifth graders can do this. That’s not the claim.
Equally, claiming “I could do this better than Fredi!” isn’t a response either. Unless you can get yourself hired by a MLB team and prove your case, *that* is a classic case of wish-fulfillment fantasy (and also, an actual tautology.)
Finally, I never made any sort of tautological claim. I certainly haven’t made any of the claims attributed to me @87 of the previous thread. I simply asked for examples of these better managerial options that are “easily found.” To date, I have seen one response that even attempts to do that, rather than deferring, hemming and hawing to avoid the fact that you can’t support the assertion with any actual names.
That one response, JJ @89 of the previous thread:
I appreciate the response, but it doesn’t meet the criteria of the original statement. Joe Maddon manages the Ray. Bud Black manages the Padres, Ron Roenicke the Brewers, Mike Soscia the Angels. Dale Sveum the Cubs. Davey Johnson the Orioles.
Unless you have some reason to believe that one of those men would leave their current positions with their current clubs to manage the Braves, they don’t count as part of a readily available pool of replacement options for Fredi.
The claim is that their is better manager easily found to replace Fredi Gonzalez. I’m still waiting to see a list of those easily found, readily available, unemployed managers who would so obviously outperform Fredi.
More braves fans than us expect, and being from nj my whole life, mets fans here are surprisingly humble. It’s the Yankees fans who are unbearably arrogant and th phillies phans (for every sport) who are trash. Wish I had a place to throw pics up
Missed the first game — did it happen? My theory: the season hasn’t started until the Braves score.
Should be going today, but the trip was nixed by the significant other. So I’m watching SNY with my Braves polo shirt on.
Here’s to Game 1 of an oddly truncated 161 game season.
Way to go Bourne!
@8, Sigh.
The claim is actually “finding an NL manager who can actually manage competently…really should be easy.” As someone who’s had to navigate around the semantics of what it means to be polite to other people on a messageboard, Sam, I think you’d appreciate that “should be” gives me quite a lot of leeway.
But would it make you happy if I said I didn’t have any names? I don’t think it matters whether I do or don’t, and I can tell you now you’re not going to persuade me that it does matter — any more than my not being able to name names in, say, 1983 would be relevant to whether a front office could successfully deploy a SABR-friendly player development and procurement strategy in the future.
So would this end more quickly if I said I had no names? Since I don’t think anyone besides you is interested in naming names, I’m going to continue keeping track of Fredi’s decisions regardless, you can continue being Sheriff of Teh Internet by getting the last word in — the floor is yours — and everyone can be happy that way.
[For the record…having not had the chance to do an exhaustive search, I’d nominate Mac to replace Fredi, but since Mr. Schuerholz would be unlikely to approve — a mistake on his part — I put sansho at the top of my list. Let’s face it, some of us are too excitable — me included — for the job, and the Braves deserve an even-keeled, fair, and wise personality to make this hypothetically important set of tactical adjustments. 🙂 ]
Just get my fire started for my smoker and come back in to see Bourne double. Could be a good day?
Ugh.
Wait, nevermind.
Well I guess I wasn’t clear on what it was you were looking for, Sam, as the original quote you keep pasting wasn’t said by me. But I will point out that Sveum and Roenicke were both available when we hired Fredi.
And to get to where I think you’re trying so stealthily to get someone to go: I don’t have the inside info on what non-manager coaches would make good managers. That’s “inside baseball,” if you will, and fans aren’t really privy to it, except when a writer drops a “rival execs wonder when ____ will finally get his chance to manage.”
Which plays right into your common “experts know more than we do” theme.
But the problem, is that I’d like my team’s experts do a better job; survey the available options, interview some people with an open mind, call a few other inside guys with other organizations and see if they’ll talk off the record on what they did or didn’t like about candidates they interviewed when they last had an opening.
But they did none of that, as far as I can tell. Our next manager was a virtual certainty the very day Fredi was fired in Miami.
And when you hire that way it doesn’t inspire confidence. And when your heir-apparent shows some pretty clear deficiencies on a day-to-day basis, questions are asked aloud. And when that choice subsequently presides over an HISTORICAL collapse.. the natives can’t really be blamed, or brow-beaten, for getting restless.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
That was Fredi’s fault, right?
If there was a statistics category called “Squandering Scoring Opportunity”, the Braves would certainly be leading it.
I’m on Gameday, so it just says Bourn was out at home, Thole to Dickey. Was it a passed ball that didn’t go far enough, or what?
Wild pitch.
Thanks, Adam R.
That was crap. He threw 3 strikes to Wright.
Ump has a really inconsistent strike zone so far.
Do you think our hitters will notice this and be patient at the plate? I doubt it.
@24
At least J-Hey was patient.
Good AB here by the new kid, even though he struck out
Francisco dances around in the box almost as much as Matt Diaz.
Drawing a knuckler on your debut with a new club, not easy.
I have not idea where this ump’s strike zone is.
Bourn is having a lot of trouble with the sun this series.
@29,
Neither does he
Jurrjens isn’t even hitting 90.
Do something crazy and hit a double, Martin.
Jurrjens rarely hits 90. He earned his All-Star role last year hitting spots and keeping hitters guessing.
That last pitch was a thing of beauty from Jair. McCann may have duped Ike by setting up outside then moving in during Jair’s windup. Not sure I’ve seen him do that before.
Way to go, Uggla, you’re 0 for a million against the guy and swing at the first pitch.
Happy holidays to you all and happy baseball season. Over/under on when we will score a run 16 1/2 innings. Also continued blessings and health to you Mac
I bet all this walking would be useful in front of McCann and Uggla.
Jesus JJ.
I don’t want to say “ballgame,” but….
Feel bad because jj can go 6 and give up 2 and its an outing where we cant win
@42
Think you are being generous thinking JJ can go 6 with only allowing 2 today
Hope im wrong
Lol im keeping the faith. If we dont fet 5 we will see livansauras rex
We’re only down 2-0 and it feels insurmountable. I don’t like this feeling.
Can you scare the bats awake?
@46, This lineup scares me half to death.
At least Bourn is getting going.
MVPRADO!
Too bad he pulled it though. Would’ve liked to seem him go the other way.
Hello offense!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WooHoo!!! Pessimissim fading… fading….Gone!
Holy pasta fagiole! A run!
Inconceivable!
Atta baby!
Rally killer.
That’s enough out of you, Jeffy.
Livansauras
We’re getting Livan w 2 on? We can’t get a short reliever to get out of the mess, and then go to the long man next inning?
Nice popped collar, Fredi. He walked out there like he was the Fonz.
Dickey vs. Livan
Slow pitch softball match up of my nightmares
Good grief. Livan makes Todd Coffey look thin.
Surprised he didnt bring in costanza to pitch
Dammit Fredi.
Thole=Braves killer.
They were playing thole like he was pujols
Do we have any left-handed relievers who could’ve been brought in?
Livan’s junk reminds me of the Campillo days.
I’d have liked to see Medlen there… 2 on, 1 out, three lefties coming up.. Medlen gets groundballs, handles lefties well, is good at baseball… Three major advantages over Livan
@65 Correction… Fredi=Braves killer
We cant use oflaherty or venters unless its after the 6th no matter how crucial the situation is before the 7th
Well we could have gone to Flande.
Oh..
As for the manager thing, Davey Johnson and Bobby Valentine, among others, were available a year and a half ago when Fredi was hired. They weren’t considered. Nobody was considered, much less interviewed, they just decided to hire Fredi. It’s bad business practice and another indication that upper management doesn’t care.
JASON!
Agreed if they cared they woulda made an attempt to upgrade the team rather than hope for the best
Bobby Cox wanted Fredi so the FO got him. Bobby wanted to get rid of Escobar so they got rid of him. I realize that borders on conspiracy theory, but it makes a lot of sense. Bobby is a king in this organization.
I think Jason hits that ball out if he doesn’t catch the catcher’s glove on the swing.
Good lordy, Livan is the Spanish version of Ray “Lighter Fluid” King.
The livansauras is bordering on extinction here
Managing doesn’t matter, y’all, dontcha know?
I’m neither here nor there about picking up Livan, but man do his pitches move.
This whole social media thing on Sports South seems a little forced….
The guys over at Capitol Avenue Club wrote about the new bullpen… Basically about Hernandez and Durbin replacing Linebrink and Sherrill… Two innings eaters instead of righty/lefty specialists..
And the writer there surmised that this is Fredi/ the braintrusr reacting to our bullpen over-use problem last year. Get more innings at the expense of specialization.
But I think its a case of tailoring the roster to the manager. Fredi either doesn’t understand or doesn’t value matchups, so now he can just set himself some rules. “5th inning, up or down, goes to Hernandez. 6th inning up, Hernandez, 6th inning down, Durbin…”
@73
This ownership’s idea of radical change is a cream-colored alternate jersey.
Having worked for a couple of major pro sports organizations in a previous career life, the Braves are the very epitome of a stale, overly content organization that believes that what it did before can and will again, regardless of changing times. It reminds me of the post-Elway Denver Broncos. Mike Shanahan had his fingerprints on every decision, and was so strategically inflexible he kept making the same mistakes, year after year, trapped in the “it won championships before; it can again” vortex. The Braves need a cultural change, from the top down. The organization is completely stale in every decision it approves, from the manager to the broadcaster who only has his job because of a familiar surname. Any change below ownership is just deck chairs on the Titanic.
Liberty typically does its big group outings from corporate HQs when the Braves visit the Rockies. Whether it’s through signs snuck into Coors Field or as many Braves fans as possible coming together and chanting during otherwise quiet moments (and yes, I know that goes against the mentality of many Braves fans, who don’t have the rabble-rousing élan of Phillies, Red Sox or Yankees fans), making those company nights at the park at least a little uncomfortable for the suits couldn’t hurt.
Costanza is dy no mite
Jose Can’t-stand-ya.
Its game two and im already disgusted
Chad Derp-in.
So with the game in the balance yesterday, Fredi got Constanza in to the box. With the game in the balance today, he gets Hernandez on the mound.
He’s got to be doing this on purpose.
God what a nightmare. Livan for two innings followed by Constanza pinch hitting (??) and Durbin comes in to replace him. Just…ugh.
Even Simpson seems a little baffled by the decision to sign Durbin.
Thanks Wren.
Why is Chad Durbin pitching?
Everyone in the park saw that coming.
Blech.
Ugh, I’m done. I might have to take a month off from this team.
This is disgusting. I despise the mets
What a meatball….
Thanks Frank for filling the last 3 spots on the rosters with turds.
I think I dislike Fredi and the front office more than the Mets right now. You sit on your hands, how can you expect different results?
Im with you bethany. This is just terrible. Durbins serving up BP
I think we have a new whipping boy.
Durbin’s a veteran! He must be good, right? …right?
Sitting on their hands would have been preferable. If they’d sat on their hands, we wouldn’t have Livan or Durbin.
Now for the trifecta, we get Durbin to put it out of reach.
Durbin’s doing his best to uphold the legacy of his jersey number.
Yes, sitting on their hands would’ve been great. They could’ve re-signed Linebrink and Sherril, both far, far superior options to Chad Durbin. Linebrink was, in the very recent past, an effective reliever. This worthless sack has never, ever been effective. I would undoubtedly prefer to have Linebrink instead of Durbin, and I would infinitely prefer Sherril to him.
Id prefer using some younger guys rather than signing retreads that you know will fail
Silver linings: Durbin and Constanza will both be gone sooner or later, and the Braves, coming on the heels of last September, won’t have the luxury of sucking for long.
Incidentally, let it be known that Durbin came in for high leverage pitches. A smart manager would have employed O’Flaherty and Medlen in this game long before he got the 7th best guy to pitch a high leverage seventh. And a smart GM never would have touched Durbin in the first place. I remain baffled by that signing.
Man, the lack of runs is one thing, but it’s the lack of even quality at-bats in these first two games that has me really worried. Bourn and Heyward doing ok, but everybody else seems off-balance and swinging a balls.
@108
The thought occurred to me that an 0-10, 1-12 or other calamitous start wouldn’t be a bad thing because it might push Fredi out — especially given the craptacular opposition in the first six games. But it wouldn’t change ownership.
I could jump in and give equal quality at bats as these guys. Hacking at bad pitches and a ton of weak pop outs. Its disgusting
Maybe Francisco can get it done at 3B…
Seriously. The Mets’ half innings are obnoxiously long. Have we seen more than 12 pitches in an inning?
He just blew heyward away
I hate this team.
The competition is only going to get harder after this series.
No more Chip Caray and Joe Simpson for me. I’ll be watching the away feeds from now on.
Its gonna be a long season….
Mets up 2-0 over the Braves in the battle for fourth place.
It’s difficult to avoid reading too much into two games when all they’ve done is confirm suspicions.
<75-87
Gant just called the Braves out for not getting the job done with guys on base.
I’ve adjusted my hopes for the season.
I’m not looking forward to the Braves winning it all, I’m looking forward to Fredi being fired midseason just to appease people.
So, for me, the Braves are off to a great start.
Recapped.