Braves 14, Mets 6

New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – April 18, 2012 – ESPN.

Tim Tebow was unable to lead a game-tying last-minute drive, and… Okay, I’ll stop. It was certainly not a pitchers’ duel. Not much surprise, how he’s pitched so far, that Jair Jurrjens was knocked out in the fifth with no outs recorded and four runs allowed (one that inning) with two runners on base. It was a surprise that the Braves still had a two-run lead on R.A. Dickey.

The Mets struck first with a solo homer in the second. But Juan Francisco, getting a spot start, hit a two-run job in the bottom of the inning to make it 2-1. And then David Wright doubled in two to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. And then Martin Prado hit a two-run double, followed by a two-run homer (Dan Uggla‘s first ever hit off of Dickey).

Cristhian Martinez got out of Jurrjens’ jam in the fifth without further damage. The Mets left Dickey in to pitch the fifth, and Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer to make it 8-4. The Lisp had some trouble in the sixth but held it to one run, stranding two Mets.

A pinch double by Chipper Jones in the sixth scored Tyler Pastornicky, and Michael Bourn singled in Chipper. Then Fredi Gonzalez brought in Chad Durbin. I can’t really blame him. I blame Frank Wren for getting the guy. Durbin loaded the bases but got a strikeout to get out of it. Really, David Ross got the strikeout, pulling the ball back over the plate.

Matt Diaz singled in Ross in the bottom of the inning, then Bourn singled in Pastornicky, making it 12-5. The Mets got a couple of hits to score a run off of Livan Hernandez — again, this one’s all on Wren — then Jason Heyward became the last Brave starter to get his first hit of the day with a triple leading off the eighth. He scored on a Freeman sac fly, then Francisco doubled and scored on a Ross double to make it 14-6. Then the most remarkable thing happened — Livan threw a 1-2-3 ninth. Weird.

200 thoughts on “Braves 14, Mets 6”

  2. Damn, I’ve been JC’d!:

    I think we finally reached an overload point where everybody and their mother was stacking lefties against us (I don’t really think it was entirely coincidental rotation scheduling, though I could be wrong) so much that we finally got enough ABs against them to figure it out. Let’s hope people keep throwing some lefties against us so that we don’t lose it again.

  4. It should also be noted that this offense that multiple people claimed was terrible is currently leading the league in scoring. (Yes, I know…SSS and everything.)

  8. Nick/4: More importantly than SSS, we’re up a game on most clubs. Let’s see who’s leading the league at the end of the day. However, I am really encouraged by the excellent offense in the early going, and I’ve always felt that if a reasonable number of factors broke right (Heyward getting back on track, Chipper making 120 starts, Uggla hitting to his career numbers, Prado hitting to his career numbers), there’s no reason this couldn’t be a top 3 offense in the NL.

  9. I understand the issue people have with Durbin, who is terrible, but Livan isn’t THAT bad (I need to learn how to do italics). Certainly the money could have been better spent but it’s not like he is incapable of getting anyone out.

  10. Second try:

    [i]My italicized stuff herre[/i]

    Only replace “[” and “]” with “greater than” and “less than” signs.

  18. I saw about Levon yesterday. So sad. The last great voice of The Band to go silent.

    I feel a little bit better knowing that he’s seeing the outpouring of support from fans around the world right now. And that, after a long period of not exactly taking good care of himself, he was able to fight for nearly fifteen years. Take a load off, Levon.

  19. I’ve lived with the silent shame of not knowing how to italicize ever since I started posting here – hoping that ALL CAPS would make do.

    Now that I see Marc, Sam and (apparently) spike are similarly afflicted, I am liberated!

    Where’s George Michael when you need him? FREEdom! FREEDOM!

    I’m coming out!

    Uh, ahem, so how does one italicize on Braves Journal again?

    Thank you.

  20. Hey! I can italicize the living crap out of some italics, buddy! I can also bold the shiznit out of some bolding and strike through like a champion, and that doesn’t even get us into the wonders of my

    mad, mad blockquoting skillz.

    What I can’t seem to do is to type the directions for doing that into this little window of Mac’s here.

    I admit, I usually look up, copy and paste href tags.

  22. We spent a good bit of time on HTML in my programming class this semester. As a result I’m pretty good at the basics now. I don’t usually do it though because the extra 7 characters takes too much time. Those two sentences alone took like 20 extra seconds for me to type.

  23. #9 — I don’t mind Livan *that* much, he can at least go out there and throw slop for as many innings as needed. He wouldn’t be my first choice for that role, but employing him might also mean some wins due to him not being on some other NL team and mysteriously baffle the Braves every outing.

  24. Hope that you’re feeling better soon, Mac. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

  29. Thanks for the help fellas. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one with this problem.

  31. A question: I’ve volunteered to provide the music for an “old-timey” themed event. Anyone have any favorite folk/bluegrass tunes to suggest? I’ve got the Carter Family/Stanley Brothers/Bill Monroe stuff covered but I’m open to suggestions. Difficulty: needs to be kid friendly. Thanks in advance.

  32. testing testing

    Ok, Ive learned something. Just took 10 years, thanks. How do you strike through or underline then? And how do I stop it once its started?

  33. It’s a small thing, but Jurrjens’ hit today marked the sixth time in 12 games a Braves pitcher reached base this season. This modest goal was not achieved until game 34 last season. There have been a few other good swings that didn’t result in hits, as well.

  34. Not bluegrass, but whenever I start with Bill Monroe, I end up with the Louvin Brothers.

  35. Love the Louvin Brothers, but I had a hard time finding stuff that fit. The problem I’m running into is a lot of the older stuff is so double entendre (or about killing, drinking, etc) that I can’t include it. I’m also trying to stay pretty secular, which also rules out a lot of the Louvin catalog. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I’ll take another trip around YT and see if I can find something that works.

  36. I’m not as upset with fatty Livan being on the team, either, other than that whole business of him being a Braves nemesis.

  37. Use the / to end your HTML tag. Where [I] opens italics, [/I] closes the formatting.

  38. Use the / to end your HTML tag. Where [I] opens italics, [/I] closes the formatting.

  45. I’m tempted to use a let-me-google-that-for-you link.
    But I don’t want to be “that guy.”
    I guess that even mentioning it, though, is pretty douchey.
    The site’s good for some snark, though.

  47. @31, the Doc Watson stuff, especially Songs for Little Pickers, is a ripe trove of family friendly tunes in the old time style.

  50. The Giants just beat the Phillies on a walkoff hit by Melky, of all people.

    Where was this guy in 2010?

  51. Melky 2010: .255/.317/.354, 4 HR, 42 RBI, 162 TB
    Melky 2011: .305/.339/.470, 18 HR, 87 RBI, 309 TB

    Guy stinks up the joint in ATL, goes to KC and has a career year. F that.

  53. Your trivia for today:

    Braves’ ERA: 4.24, 13th in the NL.

    Braves’ ERA without Chad Durbin: 3.87, 11th in the NL.

    Yes, one man ineffectively mopping up can make a difference!

  56. Clearly someone in KC went into Melky’s source code and closed out the [suck] tag with a [/suck]. Either that, or someone Googled “how to hit a baseball” for him.

  58. Fun with numbers: the Braves are actually in the top half of the league in wOBA (.320) yet in the bottom half in FIP (3.99). If there has been a problem so far–and 12 games is probably too quick to name problems, admittedly–it has been more pitching than hitting.

    Looking deeper, the starters have a 4.18 FIP (4.35 xFIP) while the relievers have so far posted a 3.69 FIP (3.24 xFIP). Getting Hudson back should help a little, though let it be noted that Delgado has looked a lot better than Jurrjens so far. As I see it, the best chance for the pitching to improve is for Jurrjens either to regress or be replaced.

  59. Patsy Cline fan. Her first cousin graduated first in his class at UVA and was a rocket scientist for NASA. I knew his daughters at school. Neither could sing.

  61. Mac, I hope you feel better soon. Most of us understand the occasional ‘Betsy Ross, Bravqs Catjer’. I get quite amused by them, and quickly offer up an extra prayer. Dee just completed her 8th of 12 chemo’s. We’ll be in the middle of a conversation, I’ll glance at the TV, glance back, and her head will be down fast asleep. My reaction is the same, wry smile and a quick prayer. Stay strong.

    When Hudson returns, will we disable JJ and keep Delgado in the rotation? For JJ, shouldn’t it be the Unable List?

  63. Mac,

    I hope I didn’t offend by pointing out the Ross issue. If I did, I must deeply and humbly apologize, and can only add my wishes and prayers for your speedy recovery.

  64. Please consider the following:

    A college would be crazy to hire Larry Brown to coach their basketball team.

    A college would be crazy not to hire Larry Brown to coach their basketball team.

    Is either of the two statements absolutely true?
    There seems to be a big disagreement on this in the sports op columns.

  66. Today On The AJC Boards

    Evidently this has been going on for a while, but I’ve just become aware of it this morning — there are people who believe that because the Falcons “swapped” first round draft picks last year and gave up four additional picks for the pick that became Julio Jones, the trade was four-for-one. They cannot be talked out of this.

  67. Seat Painter, I apologize. I should be in therapy for my passive-aggression. My comment should have been ‘all of us’, not ‘most’.

    I would have put those quotes in italics, but I don’t follow instructions well.

  68. So Bartolo Colon threw 38 straight strikes last night. I guess the A’s pitching coach told him to visualize that the ball was a fork and the catcher’s mitt was a lasagna.

  70. No worries Mark. I think we can all agree that Mac needs to get better soon.

    (And Durbin sucks, but that goes without saying.)

  72. @57
    .. [Melky] couldn’t find any strippers in KC and hasn’t found them yet in Frisco

    There may be something to this. I spent some time in St Louis a few years back (in my young, single days) and was told (OK, shown) by locals that you had to go into East St Louis (Illinois) for the adult entertainment venues since Missouri had very stringent laws governing these places.

    Show-Me State, indeed…

  73. I read @15 as Livan Hernandez is dying, took it as a dig at his crappy pitching and had a chuckle. Now I has a sad.
    And yes, I just learned how to italicize.

  74. All right kids, fantasy advice needed.

    Drafted Liriano in the late rounds because he had a great spring, but so far he sucks hard. Jair has just popped up on waivers. Do I pull the trigger?

  75. So I was perusing the braves schedule and after this West Coast trip they play 33 games in the next 34 days. 13 straight, day off, then 20 straight. That’s nuts.

  76. @56 – LOL or LOL!

    There have been a lot of players that prospered after leaving the Braves. Melky is the last guy that I thought would improve that much. Y’all might have to put up with some random bolding and italicizing from me. I tend to learn more by repetition than memory.

  79. @74, In a league where Jurrjens would be put on waivers, there’s really nothing better out there? I’d rather stand pat.

  80. The problem with Jair in fantasy baseball is he doesn’t provide a high strikeout rate. Group that with the fact that, as of right now, he cannot get anyone out making both his ERA and WHIP high, and he has no real fantasy value.

  81. The K rate is definitely an issue. But JJ has posted xFIPs (I know it’s not a fantasy category, I’m just using it for its predictive value) in 2009-2011 of 4.28, 4.29, 4.23. He says he’s healthy, so I’m assuming he’ll work it out and be that type of pitcher. Not great, certainly, but worth having in a deep league. I’d pick him up but bench him when he pitches in bandboxes.

  82. You might also bench him in parks where the mound is 60’6″ from home plate and the other team uses those wooden thingies.

  84. Stu- For pitchers, it’s WHIP, ERA, QS, Ks, saves (which I intentionally ignore).

    JJ would be fighting for the last spot on my staff, as it’s currently my team’s strength. I had both Cain and Lee last night, which, whoo.

  85. I tend to follow Ks and assume the rest will follow, as a general rule. And Jair is not pitching like the kind of pitcher who messes with my general rule.

  86. When he’s right, Jair throws strikes with good movement and doesn’t give up homers. This year, his velocity is down, he’s having trouble finding the strike zone, and he’s giving up longballs in bunches. I’d stay away.

  87. But on the flip side, JJ isn’t annoying Sam like Hanson is. So, he’s got that going for him at least.

  89. I was the one that dropped Jair in the fantasy league. :) It’s not really a move I wanted to make, but JJ seems to be steadily declining and, as others have mentioned, doesn’t strike out a lot of guys or go deep into games. As a result, his bloated ERA and WHIP were killing my fantasy team. I have Halladay, Strausburg, Beckett, Feliz and Buehrle highlighting my staff (with Capuano, Dickey, and Westbrook as “gambles”) so I decided to drop Jair for a guy who may get a chance to pick up some saves. Closers are tough to come by after all.

    Curious to hear what you decide to do, DN Nation. I’ve had zero luck on the waiver wire thus far.

  90. According to ESPN, the Braves are the only team in the league who haven’t been hit by a pitch or intentionally walked this season.

  92. @31 – Woody Guthrie did a bunch of wonderful children’s music; when I’ve taught littler ones, “Why, Oh Why?” and “The Car Song” are both really great. Are you playing for kids, or teaching kids? As far as old-time stuff in general goes, I’m just now learning myself, but in the interest of brevity, ya cain’t get much better than Roscoe Holcomb – if you play clawhammer he kills “Little Birdie” (a great version here) and hearing him play really makes me want to learn clawhammer. I think that’s one kids could enjoy as well. Kids might also dig if you played “Freight Train Blues” and held the high note super long like Dylan did on his first record. Good luck!

  94. @85

    Actually, I do the same thing. Which is why I continue to take Ricky Nolasco every year, unfortunately….

  95. I only read for the pictures. Well that and so I know what prevailing viewpoint to parrot.

  96. 89—And don’t get him started on the whinging!

    (Seriously, don’t. Of the ~40 times I’ve seen that word used, ~30 of them were by Sam. One time was by me, in this comment. One time was by dictionary.com, when I looked up the definition, after the first time I saw Sam use it. And I think I’ve seen about eight times in which people have questioned or mocked Sam in response to his use of the word.)

  97. For fantasy pitchers Ive always looked for high K:BB and low whip guys. Rest usually works out.

  98. I’ve seriously screwed up my lower back (trying to catch a wiffleball that one of my students drilled over my head). Aside from intervals of heat and ice, beer, and advil, what do any of you guys use to recover?

  99. I’m in a deep keeper league where I’ve tried drafting high K-rate minor leaguers…and ended up with Buchholz and Cahill. If it weren’t for Kennedy and Hanson, I’d have quit fantasy baseball.

  100. On fantasy strats…
    I like hoarding closers that rack up K’s. I had 5 in our 14 teamed league until Andrew Bailey went out for the season.

    I also decided early on to completely ignore 1 stat. That stat was the stolen base. I had 2 last week and 1 of those were from McCann.

    My other strategy: draft 2 strong offensive catchers and 2 strong offensive shortstops. So many teams end up having offensive duds at both positions due to an injury so it’s better safe than sorry (also, one could be used as a big trading chip). In our league there are 2 Utility spots so the extra C and SS can start each game.

    One strategy that I decided to use this year that I don’t know if I’ll ever do again was to not draft SP studs. In fact, my first pitcher that I chose was Doug Fister. There are so many young, unknown pitchers that sneak in and receive the 5th starter job and pitch brilliantly throughout the season. I load my SP staff up with 6-7 starters and weed out the unproductive ones. Right now I have Delgado, Minor, Fister (DL), Nicasio from COL, Alvarez from TOR, Floyd, Arrieta, and Hudson (DL). It’s looking like Nicasio might be the first out of the door.

    Lineup note: Chipperless with Don Juan starting at 3rd.

  101. According to DOB, Chipper again with the knee swelling during the flight. Not as bad as last time, no draining necessary, should play tomorrow.

    Might I suggest lining up a John Madden bus for Chipper?

  103. Yeah I avoid all closers since a lot of my leagues have hold categories with equal value. I look for high run, rbi, avg, obp guys. I choose to ignore SB also.

  104. #97

    Flip your mattress if you haven’t lately (I just did this a few days ago for the first time in a couple years…amazing difference, although I didn’t think I’d be bringing it up here, necessarily…….). Also, don’t wear old or flat-soled shoes while you’re in pain. I’m old.

  105. Thx for the tips sansho! On another note, Gattis hit his 5th HR today and his video game numbers continue:
    .435/.509./.848/1.357 5HR 19rbi in 13 games

  119. Does anyone know if the 680 iphone app works during the games? I bet not, which is why I haven’t just tried it yet.

  122. 119—Sure is.

    120—It’s about time we got one of those in our favor. Bourn has been called out at least twice on successful steals.

  123. Maybe someone has already mentioned this but Levon Helms died today. I was on my way home from Manhattan, KS when they played “Up On Cripple Creek”. I cranked it up and shed a couple of tears….

  126. Speaking of Gattis’ hot start, has anyone noticed the Cards have a team OPS+ of 146 and four starters at 190 or better?

  134. Okay, I’m an idiot… so how do I listen to the radio guys while watching MLB.tv?

    Hover your cursor over the screen, that brings up the pause/rewind control thing. Click on the icon that looks a speaker. Select WCNN under audio overlay.

  141. I love that Heyward’s last two at-bats have both resulted in line drives to the opposite field.

    Well, I hope Minor has some more left in the tank. With O’ having some trouble, I guess he may just be thinking of going with Ventbrel tonight.

  142. AAR, I’m on a Mac too. Using Chrome. If you haven’t installed the NexDef thing, that’s probably the issue.

  143. Alright, I’ll be the one to say it. I think Francisco was a pretty good pickup. Everybody who thought he would compete for Whipping Boy was pretty far off-base IMO. He and Prado >>> Prado and Diaz.

  145. Make sure you have NexDef toggled on. If you click on video quality, you can see if it’s on standard or NexDef. I had some issues installing it as well, then one day it was working.

  148. #97: I think I can help you.

    My lower back goes out from time to time. I jumped out a first floor dormitory window after Sid’s slide in ’92, fell down the steep hill outside the window and rolled all the way down the hill. Boy, it sure was fun, but it fucked my back up for a while.

    And in the last few years, it’s reared up again something fierce. It got to lingering for longer than I’m accustomed to that I was really worried I’d have to actually do something about it other than suffering. Being a Braves fan since 1982, suffering is something that comes easy. But as much as I like to hate on Fredi, back pain is even worse.

    Now, it turns out that my dad goes to visit a retired massage therapist who used to work for the Marlins. He worked on the ’97 team that won the World Series. He’s worked on Livan so you know he’s good. So I go in to see this guy and he works me over for an hour and I come out of there feeling pretty good.

    I describe my pain to him and after finding a few of my pain thresholds, he suggested that it might have something to do with my sciatic nerve being pinched or pulled or whatnot. I don’t know from sciatic nerves, but he did give me a stretching routine that he promised would show results.

    I did the routine for 2-3 days and every bit of the pain went away and it hasn’t returned. My back feels amazing, even thought I’ve been lazy and haven’t really continued with the stretching like I probably should.

    I’d be glad to email you a copy of the stretching routine. It’s Marlins approved, so you may or may not want to use it. But the main exercise that helped me was to lie flat on my back, pull my right knee up toward my chest, and slightly pull it in and over my body. You want to feel the sciatic nerve in your posterior getting pulled a bit. Hold that position for a minute or so, then switch to the other leg. Do it a couple times. Repeat daily.

    There’s a bunch of other good exercises he gave me as part of an organic routine that work well, too, but that one’s the big mamma jamma.

    Hope that helps!

    PS: Go Freddie!

  155. The future of this team looks bright tonight.

    @147, Is that true? Wow, that’s some story.

  157. If he didn’t already have such an incredible nickname, I’d propose the following for Francisco:

    The Slug.

  159. 154: Yeah, it’s true. Guy’s a pretty cool dude. Crusty old guy, looks like a former Merchant Marine. He’s all business with his massage! He’s got a special massage chair the Marlins gave him for their WS win.

    Things I like about the Braves right now: We’re running up the score on our opponents. We didn’t do that a lot last year. We’re also scoring runs in multiple innings. Not just 1 or 2 innings, but 3 or 4, and in bunches.

    Makes games a little more fun and helps you pace your best bullpen arms over the long haul. All good stuff.

  160. After an 0-4 start, I was one of the ones calling for Fredi’s head. I tell you, things look a lot different with this team right now. I love being wrong if this is what it looks like.

  165. @John R.
    Wow! Thanks. My email is cothrjr at hotmail dot com. My sister says she goes through a back stretching routine (both parents have degenerative back disease and my mom’s bottom 5 vertebrae are fused together) and she says it helps but it hasnt worked for me. Send it on out!

    This team sure is fun to watch right now!

  167. When did Venters last pitch? I am too lazy to look it up and I’m hoping he actually needs this work.

  170. 164: It may be a few days. I’m currently out of town and the printout is at my home address. But I’ll shoot you an email now so you can keep contact. I’ll probably forget! :-)

  173. What an ass-whipping. Keep those bats hot, boys.

    BTW, we made up those 4 games on the Mets (them 4-0, us 0-4) in a hurry.

    #122
    Yeah, we’ll be watching “The Last Waltz” DVD this weekend. Even though Levon had said that he wasn’t so crazy about the film—I think he thought that Robbie Robertson, who was big pals with Scorcese, got too much attention—I still think it’s the best rock pic ever made. Thanks for the music, Mr. Helm.

  174. @153 – I think he’s from that place that chop-blocks everybody.

    Seriously, Minor looked great. Simply great. In command, all business, just mowing them down. Eight strikeouts and ZERO walks.

  175. I fell asleep after the second inning but had the radio feed playing on my phone. It cut in and out a few times but at midnight it came back in when Fransisco got 2 RBIs in the 8th.

    So stunned to see the team hitting like this, and without having Chipper in the lineup most days and Uggla starting slow.

  176. As of this morning, Juan Fransico is OPSing .987.

    Small sample size sure, but an encouraging number nonetheless.

  178. “I guess the season did not end on April 9.”

    Yes it did. Fredi is still at the helm, Jones has missed over 50% of the games thus far and Durbin and Hernandez still exist. This is all a mirage. Doooooomed!

  179. So 24 runs in two days without Chipper. Man, seems like the whole team is coming around with the bats. Also seems like they are crushing every lefty that they are seeing during these past 9 games.

    If someone is bored, how many XBH and SB’s do we have in the past 9 days?

  182. I saw the score and wondered why the D-backs scored only 2 runs. I mean, in a blowout like this Durbin or Hernandez had to pitch, right? Now I see that Minor pitched the first 8 and Venters the 9th. It makes sense now. The record for the combo of Durbin and Hernandez never going more than 1 inning without allowing a run remains intact – whew!

  183. In our last nine games, the Braves are 8-1, batting .297.356/.497 as a team, scoring 7.2 runs a game (and 7.1 LOB a game). The Braves have 35 XBH overall, 13 of them homers, and have 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts.

    Just for comparison:

    In the last nine games of last season, the Braves were 2-7, batted .199/.257/.320 as a team, and averaged 2.6 runs a game (and 6.1 LOB a game). The Braves had 21 XBH, 8 of them homers, and had 7 stolen bases in 10 attempts.

    Seriously, who am these guys?

  184. Fredi has overused Durbin and Hernadez and Wren ordered Fredi to rest them. No chance they will go on DL,

  185. This Freeman kid is pretty good…where is he from?

    Beachy and Minor plus Hanson, Huddy and JJ…I am sure JJ will rebound soon. This is pretty good.

  186. #182 – Thanks. Pretty impressive numbers there. We probably didnt have 12 steals before June last season. I like seeing Jason run more. He’s got 5 steals in 13 games. He only had 20 in his previous 270 games.

    JJ will either rebound or be placed on the DL.

  188. I’m worried about our offense.

    I mean, they let the Cardinals score a safety on them! We need to get a stronger o-line in my opinion. Plus putting up only one TD and a measly FG? That’s not gonna cut it come playoff time.

  190. Exactly right, csg. This year, we got our 12th stolen base on the 12th game of the season. Last year, we got our 12th stolen base on the 61st game of the season, June 7th. What’s more, as of the end of that game, we had 13 stolen bases and 16 caught stealings — we had a stolen base percentage under 50% for much of the season.

    I think that beyond hiring Walker, it was a great step for them to hire a second hitting coach, which is something that Mac has advocated for years.

  191. If firing Parrish got Heyward to hit fewer groundballs (probably) and got Freeman over his early-season hump in mid-April (not likely), then yes.

    Prado and Uggla still have yet to get it going. It’s nice to know there will be players to pick up the slack when some of these guys cool off.

  192. Prado made a couple fantastic plays last night, cutting down a guy at the plate and making a fantastic running grab. Judging from body language, he doesn’t appear nearly as frustrated with himself as he did last year. I’m not worried about him.

  193. Also, as I mentioned yesterday, the pitchers’ OBP is about 100 points higher than last year (small sample size etc), which might indicate a more thorough job of coaching. The line drive percentage has gone from 15% last year to 19% this year, which is a big jump.

  194. 173—Nine strikeouts, and I see that you still haven’t learned the definition of a chop block.

  195. This is baseball; one week you look like the worst team in the history of baseball, the next you look like the ’27 Yankees. It’s going to be awhile before we know what this team really is. I think even more encouraging than the offense is getting good pitching from Beachy and Minor. Plus, the offensive explosion has given Venters and Kimbrel some rest so maybe they won’t be so overworked late in the season.

  197. Nice outing from Minor! The Braves are red hot right now, and the only think masking it is the 0-4 start. Gotta love what they’re doing. TBH, I have more confidence in Minor than JJ and possibly Hanson right now. :-0 Granted, the Astros and this Diamondbacks lineup aren’t the best in the league, but he’s looked really solid. Everything he gave up was a dinky single. Nothing behind the OFs.

    Also, it was really good to see Freeman get some knocks. He’s been hitting the ball hard lately but he’s had a lot of ‘at-em’ balls. Guess the solution is just to put it over the fence. :-D

  198. Braves have had the benefit of some nice scheduling lately, missing Greinke and Gallardo in the Brewers series, no Upton or Young in this series and we miss Kershaw and Billingsley in the LA series.

  199. 195—Yeah, maybe. I think Wren took the wrong lesson from Minor’s success, though. The lesson was not to draft crafty college lefties and hope they add velocity to become legit; the lesson was to draft Mikies from the SEC and profit.

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