Brqves 9, Mets 3

New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – April 17, 2012 – ESPN.

Well, what do you know? It is possible to beat the Mets. Easily. Chipper Jones drove in Michael Bourn with a first-inning sac fly, and in the second the Braves chased Johan Santana, scoring five runs and holding him without na strikeout for the first time in a start. (“Unearned run” update: The run in the first was correctly scored unearned. I do not understand how the run in the second was.)

Things settled down until the fourtykn when the Mets somehow sdored two runs. I was out of the room at the time, but the phrase “Jason Bey doubled to shortstop” were involved.) But they only held it close for a little while, as a Matt Diaz sacfly scorred Chipper, and Freddie Freeman singled in Brian McCann.

The Mets chased Randall Delgado in the sixth after a strong performance, and as been usual in these sithations Medlen came im to put the fire out. Delgado had a pretty good start , and Medlen did a fine job in relief, allowing the one inherited run,striking out one and gettubg two groundouts in the seventh, and got a popup and two strikeouts the in eighth.

Juan Francisco capped the scoring with a solo homer against Manny Acosta, who is somehow still pitching.

219 thoughts on “Brqves 9, Mets 3”

  2. Mac- I have read every one of your game updates for a few years now and always thoroughly enjoy them. I rarely post but wanted to take a sec and say thanks for the laughs and best recaps anywhere.

  3. Good win!

    And Delgado’s run was the unearned one in the 2nd inning I imagine. That throw-away was a fielders choice to attempt the out at 3B – Delgado should have been out on the sac bunt had he not made that bad throw to 3rd.

  4. Delgado wasn’t terrible, all things considered, but he really didn’t have fastball command. He was getting squeezed a bit but for the most part he really struggled to throw strikes. I give him credit for battling and it looked like he had some nice movement on the fastball but it was pretty clear that he didn’t have a great idea of where it was going.

    That said, hey, offense!

  5. Just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that I duly appreciate Kris Medlen, even though he wears his hat like a stupid person, looks 12 an spells Chris with a K.

  6. Teheran is blanking innings once again in AAA. I know this is a good problem to have but it’s still odd looking at the holes on this team and realizing we could have filled all of them by trading one of our 8 starter candidates.

  7. Medlen looks like he was plucked off the most remote trailer park in the country, but I love him. Seriously, have you seen him without a uniform on? The definition of redneck.

  8. Considering the fact that Tim Hudson is still in rehab, Tommy Hanson can hardly break a pain of glass with his heater and Jair Jurrjens needs old lady shoes just to take the mound, I’m not terribly upset about holding onto the pitching prospects for a little while longer.

  9. If Medlen sucked, at least one person would be talking about how they hate his stupid looks.

  10. If that’s a dig at me, I’ll point out that I’m *already* talking about how I hate his stupid looks.

  11. ‘I know this is a good problem to have but it’s still odd looking at the holes on this team and realizing we could have filled all of them by trading one of our 8 starter candidates.’

    @6 – Not that simple. Payroll, Payroll, Payroll. Recall that Wren tried his ass off to trade Jair Jurrjens during the off season. If you don’t get return on value you do what Wren did and hold em.

    Yeah, Medlen out of uniform looks like a poster child for People of Walmart.com . I truly think the flat brimmed hat thing looks stupid.

  12. The only piece I wished we would have traded might be Teheran, if only because I don’t think he’s nearly as sure a good thing as we’re being told, and by now he’s lost that glow he had before he came up to face MLB hitter and didn’t have a lot of success. Yes, he’s still extremely young and yes, he still could be amazing but if we were going to trade a big prospect for some positional help, I would have traded him.

  14. They got Rafeal Soriano for Horacio Ramirez. I expect more than a A-ball prospect for Jurrjens.

  15. I highly doubt Wren would make a move with JJ before the offseason. He couldve moved him last year when his value was at an all time high around the AS break, but what team moves their best starter while in contention? Same thing with this season, if JJ is pitching well then there is no way Wren moves him mid season and if he’s pitching poorly then of course there is no value there.

    Side Note: I dont think JJ is our best pitcher, but he was at the mid season point last year statistic wise.

  19. 12, 16, 17.

    I agree with all of your setiments. Someone like Teheran should bring you back a foundation type piece that is under your control for a long time.

    The Yankees and Mariners did that kind of deal in the Pineda/Monterro deal, but GMs are so risk adverse and too scared of ‘losing the trade’ to pull triggers on that kind of deal.

  20. I was out of the room at the time, but the phrase “Jason Bey doubled to shortstop” were involved.

    I lol’d.

  21. The Yankees and Mariners did that kind of deal in the Pineda/Monterro deal, but GMs are so risk adverse and too scared of ‘losing the trade’ to pull triggers on that kind of deal.

    I expect the pendulum to swing back towards deals like this, in the not to distant future. We seem to be at the high arc of “prospect value” – some might dare say “over valuing prospects.” I think we’ll see some of the smarter GMs start to leverage other GMs over valuing of prospects to collect better MLB ready players, soon.

  22. @3 The throwing error allowed the run to score. The scorer did not assume the runner would be out on throw as the play would be close. Delgado was safe on fielder’s choice. No defensive error would have be given if throw had been caught and runner beat the throw.
    Just a mental error.

  23. 21 – I agree. I think prospects are over valued. If a prospect can deliever you a proven commodity that you can keep under your control, especially at a position of neeed, trade that prospect.

    I think alot of braves fans, including myself are still shell shocked from Wainright/Drew and Farm System/Texiera deals and that affects our view of our prospects. Last year I would have said ‘never tade Teheran’, but know I am a lot more open to it. Two reasons, 1. we need a big bat for the OF or 3B and 2. the shine on these prospects does not last long, some people are already saying the some kid for Arizona is now the top pithcing prospect in the game after 1 start in AAA this year.

  26. OK, I’ll put on the dunce hat, what’s with the misspellings? I know it’s intentional, but I’m not seeing the point unless there is no point. In which case I get it even though I don’t.

    Oh, I don’t care if Medlen is sitting out in the bullpen pickin’ on a banjo and dreaming of Ned Beatty, he can pitch for my team any time.

    Edit: @25 – I think that those three are on a Mayan prophecy somewhere in Central America aren’t they?

  27. I don’t think Mac’s typos are intentional. I think he was posting under the influence of something stronger than Advil, or via a smart phone, or possibly both.

  28. Notably, AA balked at Montero for Lawrie this winter. But we did see Cahill for Parker (plus other players swapped in that deal too), though the As’ circumstances are a little different than ours.

    I agree with Sam on this, but I think the pendulum will swing somewhat slowly because many teams are still experiencing the shellshock stupup74 mentioned @23.

    @23, Trevor Bauer, right?

  29. Sam, that was not aimed at you.

    BTW, for the lawyers on here, the Mets have made it to the United States Supreme Court:

    Justice Kagan is not high on the Mets this year. From her Caraco Pharmaceutical Labratories, LTD, et al, v. Novo Nordisk A/S et al. opinion, released yesterday:

    “The meaning of the phrase turns on its context. See Johnson v. United States, 559 U. S. ___, ___ (2010) (slip op., at 5) (“Ultimately, context determines meaning”). “Not an” sometimes means “not any,” in the way Novo claims. If your spouse tells you he is late because he “did not take a cab,” you will infer that he took no cab at all (but took the bus instead). If your child admits that she “did not read a book all summer,” you will surmise that she did not read any book (but went to the movies a lot). And if a sports-fan friend bemoans that “the New York Mets do not have a chance of winning the World Series,” you will gather that the team has no chance whatsoever (because they have no hitting) …”

    Some might argue that this is dicta but I think this should be considered Supreme Court precedential law from now on, so that the Mets are not even allowed to be in the World Series.

  30. I’m okay with Medlen’s stupid looks, at least moreso than his spelling of Chris with a K. “Kris” is a girl’s name.

  31. “OK, I’ll put on the dunce hat, what’s with the misspellings? I know it’s intentional, but I’m not seeing the point unless there is no point. In which case I get it even though I don’t.”

    Danny Kolb most have usurped the site from Mac.

  32. Has anyone tried the Rathbun’s steak sandwich at the ballpark yet? How was it? How much did it cost? How long was the line? I’m jazzed about Turner Field finally stepping up their concessions to match some other MLB parks.

  33. Ahh, OK, Impaired posting I can understand.

    And to continue with my KM mancrush, I don’t care if he spells his first name “Throatwarbler Mangrove” but it’s pronounced Kris, he can pitch etc etc…

  34. Yeah, I kinda expected to see, “Sent from my iPhone” after the text of the post. >_<

    But it's no biggie. I just realized the other day that I've been here for like 6 years now. Or something crazy like that. I think there's like one other site that's been in my browser history as consistently as this one over that time period, and it's gmail. So thanks, Mac!

  35. Teheran’s value is at a high point and we could probably get more for him than JJ right now.

  36. But, unlike a few years ago, hitting seems to be at a premium. A lot of teams seem to be developing pitching and a team like the Yankees likely would not want a prospect who isn’t ready to step into the rotation. So, it might not be as easy to get value for the pitchers as one would think.

  38. I think Teheran would be in most rotations right now. Braves have more depth than almost every other team.

  39. Angels bench a 1200+ OPS because he can’t play 3B and they don’t have room at 1B or the corner outfield spots.

    Julio Teheran would look just fine in an Angels uni.

    Bats right. Throws right. Power. Throw in Juan Francisco as a sweetener.

  41. Trumbo does look good – I put a little more stock in his 113 OPS+ from last years full season rather than his current pace, so I don’t know if I’d move Teheran for him, but pretty much anything else would be ok.

  42. 10 games in RF last year. 1 game in LF. Mostly a 1B and DH for the Angels in 2011, but he’s as adept on the OF corners as Ryan Klesko ever was. So, I’d say he can play LF better than Juan Francisco can play 3B.

    Minor league numbers suggest he’s not really a 400+ OBP player, but he can crush the ball from the RH side of the plate.

  46. The lineup today is a classic Fredi screw up.

    Chipper or McCann one should have sat last night so that the other could sit today and we wouldn’t have them both on the bench today.

  47. This rush to get rid of Teheran…. It’s silly. Sure, he’s not a #1 starter right now, but he’s also probably 3+ years away from his prime. This is a guy that EVERYONE in the prospecting world thinks can be a real difference maker at the pro level. Trading him away for a good-but-not-great bat in Trumbo seems…. premature. I’d certainly consider moving Delgado or Medlen or some package centered around one of them, but Teheran is just too much.

  48. I don’t mind McCann sitting against a knuckleballer. Or Chipper for that matter.Especially on a wet track

  50. I dont think Fredi had the plan to sit both of them last night. Chipper has his knee wrapped today to keep the swelling down. He may not even be eligible to PH today.

  52. Juan Francisco’s homer last night was atrocious. Manny Acosta should be ashamed.

    The homer was purely a display of his raw power–the swing was absolutely and utterly atrocious.

  55. AAR, I’m a big fan of the sweet looking whiff.

    (As long as it’s a Met that’s doing the whiffing, that is…)

  59. Jurrjens’ entire first half of 2011: 5 homers allowed

    Jurrjens’ first three starts of 2012: 5 homers allowed

  62. Just put him on the DL and have him go get that knee fixed properly. I guess those orthopaedic shoes arent helping.

  64. #63,
    Fastball that was supposed to tail over the inside corner that ran out up and over the middle of the plate. Just an awful pitch.

  84. Yes it was. Personally, I’ve said nothing negative about Francisco and was reasonably positive in my reaction to his signing. My only problem has been with Fredi’s use of him — starting him over Heyward that day in Houston, thereby weakening three defensive positions; using him to pinch-hit instead of Freeman.

    I’m glad to have him and am not at all surprised by the power production.

  86. A feeling of pleasant surprise is coming over me.

    Dave Cameron just compared Trumbo to “peak Grady Sizemore.” I’d deal Teheran for that, but would certainly ask for more.

  88. Dave Cameron just compared Trumbo to “peak Grady Sizemore.”

    From the same guy that argues vehemently that Adam Jones is worth Jurrjens + Prado + Teheran?

  91. Well, I think Prado is worth more than Adam Jones to this team. Id certainly trade JJ for Jones, but dont see any reason why Baltimore would do that.

  92. I don’t see any reason why Baltimore would trade Jones for JJ and Prado. It was a silly rumor for both sides.

  95. Uggla needs to let Pastornicky get that. And Freeman needs to come off the freaking bag to stop the ball.

  99. My bad on the Francisco Houston thing. And I’m on record defending the trade. But I think that the man has FULLY earned the derision he has garnered. He has also hit two bombs, so he’s earned plenty of non-derision too. I’m just hoping he keeps the bombs and loses the boots.

  108. I, for one, am disgusted by all this offense. These certainly aren’t the 2012 Braves that I came to know and love during the first four games of the season. Who are these ruffians and what have they done with my team? How dare they score 17 runs in two games against the Mets?

  109. You know, Wright is probably the best position player in Mets history, not that he gets any credit for it. He became the team RBI leader today, is a few weeks from becoming the runs leader. If he plays through next season he will (finally) supplant Kranepool as the hits leader, probably Strawberry for home runs.

  112. Plenty of Yankees fans dislike Rodriguez too. Maybe bashing the best player on the team is a New York thing.

  113. That sucks — I like Ed Kranepool being the Mets all-time hits leader. It’s just so pathetic.

  114. The lengendary Kranepool. I have a ball signed by the Washington Senators sent to me via Marv Throneberry’s sister.

  115. David Wright is easily the most popular Met, and probably the most popular Met since Piazza.

    And A-Rod’s relationship with Yankees fans has always been a little complicated. It goes way beyond the notion of “hating your best player.”

  122. were we trying to walk Wright there? on game cast the first three balls were outside, I thought for sure it was an intentional walk.

  124. Whats the leash on Pastornicky? If he cant hit for a decent average when do we call up Simmons? Or do we just stick Jack Wilson out there everyday?

  125. David — Lisp just missed on the first pitches. Probably going about it carefully with Wright but not walking him.

  126. Fredi has no concept of leverage. Venters, or at least O’Failurety, should have been warming, in case that inning made it to Davis. Especially given the possibility of rain shortening the game. But, no. DERPin was up.

    Sigh.

  127. “We already had a reliever nicknamed the ‘white towel’ — can’t believe I’m blanking on his name.”

    Kevin Barry.

  128. Well remember, they just gotta get Durbin in there so he can get some life on his fastball.

  135. The Mets announcers on SNY are *outraged* that Bay was charged with an error for that play.

  137. Both announcing crews are decrying the call of “error” there, but I guess I expect $80 million professionals to make that play. Either way, I’ll take it.

  139. The box score for the game is something. Every time the Mets score in the top half of an inning, the Braves score twice as many in the bottom half.

  140. If I could’ve made the play, and an MLBer didn’t, it’s an error.

    That was clearly an error.

  144. How has Jason looked at the plate? 3 strikeouts = no bueno, but is is just getting fooled out there or what?

  147. 143 – I am actually rooting for a solo shot, followed by 2 more Braves’ runs in the bottom of the 7th.

  152. I’m more concerned with Durbin having a 1-2-3 inning than giving up a couple of runs.

    There goes teh clean inning.

  156. Wasn’t the hardest of hits he’s given up (yet) but it also looks sort of lucky when he gets someone out.

  159. Way to go, Durbin! Best performance of your Atlanta career!

    (I’m actually starting to feel kinda bad for the guy.)

  163. Gameday has had several of these “balls” squarely in the strike zone.

    Durbin got out of it. I am semi-happy.

  165. that might have worked out perfectly, Durbin continues to prove that he cannot get guys out, but no damage done game-wise.

  169. Actually he looked a lot sharper than against the Brewers. Kept the ball down for the most part. I’m trying to keep my mind open.

  171. “that might have worked out perfectly, Durbin continues to prove that he cannot get guys out, but no damage done game-wise.”

    Frediot is the manager. He’ll say Durbin was sharp in the post-game comments.

  173. Does Fredi push the envelope and allow for a multiple inning appearance for Durbin. Maybe we can add on and Durbin can give up two solo shots.

  174. Well, Durbin has a one-inning scoreless streak. That’s probably enough to get him resigned for next year.

  177. “Honestly, is there anything better than beating the snot out of the Mets? Anything in this crazy ol’ world?”

    Trading them Francoeur.

  179. I hate Fredi as much as the next guy, but he really does have to pitch Derpin and/or Livan at some point lest Medlen and the rest of the horses have their arms fall off 50 games in.

    What I would really like is for Wren to say ok, my bad, let’s cut him/them and bring up someone useful.

  180. @Jim_Powell tweeted “Guess what team leads the National League in runs scored? Bet most would not know that it’s the Atlanta #Braves.”

  182. The problem is that they have now guaranteed money to Durbin and Livan through their contracts. They cannot drop them as quick as they obviously should.

  184. Well, there are a lot of teams yet to play today, and if you do R/G it’s not quite as impressive – I saw that on FB a little while ago and looked. Still, a great early showing by the bats after the first two games.

  186. Hahaha, Sutton on Radio:

    “Can we just do this like a DVD and go ahead and fast forward to the end?”

    Not exactly the way to keep fans engaged. I guess back in his TBS days he would already have Bloopers and Andy Griffith cued up.

  187. @179 True, though EOF warmed up already. He could use some work too, considering how crappy he looked last weekend.

  188. Does being made to watch Dustbin and El Fatty Hernandez in succession constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the US Constitution?

  189. Its just strange that we give up on a guy like Asencio for a guy like Durbin. Redmond, Gearrin, Carlyle could all provide us with these innings.

  191. Parish, I understand that but at some point you have to realize it’s a sunk cost. I guess Derpin could theoretically turn it around, but he really, really doesn’t look like a major league pitcher.

    Livan and his slob arm could at least fill in as a starter if needed, but I just see no upside to Durbin.

    Csg — he did, yeah.

  192. Possibly, I didn’t watch the game. In any event, the pitches he throws in the bullpen count in real life, if not the record books. I agree with the Mets announcers who argued that a guy who gets up might as well come in.

  196. This lineup is finally performing like it looks on paper. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be a good hitting team.

  197. csg – Letting Ascencio go makes it even more infuriating.

    Tomas – they will hang hoping they get something out of the sunk cost, making the poor move more costly, I would think.

  200. If Wren does the right thing and gives up on Durbin, I guaratee none of the young guys get the callup. It’ll be Buddy.

  205. Retaining team control is only reason to sign vets rathering than promoting rookies who need to play on regular basis. How much is extra year of team control worth?

  208. Hernandez gives you the impression that he’s bored out of his skull while pitching, but he had a big grin on his face at the end of the game.

  209. In fairness to Wren, the way the team has played over the last week would tend to justify his approach to the offseason, preferring to stand mostly pat rather than hit the panic button. This is a pretty good team, and if both Heyward and Freeman hit, it just might be a really good team.

  211. 209 — I’m a huge Wren fan and apart from Derpin I don’t really have a problem with anything he did in the offseason :)

  213. Considering how badly EOF has pitched this year, I don’t think it’s a bad move to get him some low stress innings to work his sh*t out.

  214. Our recent success vs LH’d pitching has me very optimistic about this team. Funny how things can change so quickly.

  215. “Our recent success vs LH’d pitching has me very optimistic about this team. Funny how things can change so quickly.”

    Especially having played all of 7% of the season.

  216. #215 – We have beaten the last 4 LH’d starters and none of them made it more than 4.1IP. Sorry, but yes thats encouraging to me after watching this team get shutout by almost every lefty they faced last season.

  217. At least two of those lefties – Wandy Rodriguez and Johan Santana – are pretty good pitchers, too.

    To repeat the obvious from all winter long – if Prado bounces back, Chipper plays 125+ games and Jason Heyward is 2010 more than 2011, this team will be fine.

  219. 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.

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