Braves 10, D-Backs 2

Atlanta Braves vs. Arizona Diamondbacks – Box Score – April 19, 2012 – ESPN.

He got a lot of run support this time, but this is the Mike Minor I was expecting entering the season. He was outstanding, going eight innings, striking out nine with no walks, allowing two runs (one “unearned”) and just generally being dominant.

Also dominant, the Braves’ offense, especially Freddie Freeman. Freeman hit a two-run job in the first inning to take the lead. After the D-Backs worked their way back to tie it, it was all Braves.

In the sixth, Jason Heyward doubled in Brian McCann, then Juan Francisco‘s single scored Dan Uggla and Heyward. In the seventh, Freeman’s second two-run homer of the evening made it 7-2. Then in the eighth, Prado doubled in Minor and Michael Bourn, making it 9-2, and Freeman doubled him in to make it 9-2.

Freddie, being Freddie, brought in Jonny Venters to pitch the ninth. If ever a situation called for Chad Durbin… All the starters but Minor had at least one hit.

124 thoughts on “Braves 10, D-Backs 2”

  1. Stu – From the previous thread, were you advocating Mahtook as our draft pick last year? That’s the guy I would’ve taken.

  2. Mike Minor makes me think of Minor Threat.

    Tommy Hanson makes me think of Hanson.

    I like Mike Minor a lot more.

    Also, Venters hadn’t pitched in 5 days, and a guy that relies on a sinker needs to get work in order to keep his pitches down.

  3. 1—Yep. Couldn’t believe he slipped on draft day, last year, and when we had a shot at him and took Sean Gilmartin, I was not pleased. The Braves Journal archives may well reflect a minor meltdown.

  5. With the new draft slot rules, I hope we’ll be able to draft based on talent and upside rather than just signability. Wasn’t that the fear with Mahtook?

  6. From prior thread:

    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.

  7. 5- I don’t think signability was an excuse. The Braves went with the arm that probably should have gone 20 picks later.

    And one might have argued that we were in more need of bats in the minors.

  12. “Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.”

  14. I knew a girl in high school whose last name was Major & her dad had the same rank in the service, so…

    On that note, one day when I worked at the Navy Supply Corps School’s exchange in Athens, there was a Lt. Commander who came over to my area in the store & I saw what his nametag read—Blood.

    “Y’know, sir, when you get 2 more promotions, things are going to get really interesting for you.”

    “Yeah, I know… Captain Blood. Very funny, kid. Where’s my dry cleaning?”

  15. What do you guys think happens next week when Hudson comes back? Delgado to the minors? Delgado to the bullpen? Jurrjens to the DL?

  16. I hope Jurrjens to the DL. Who knows.

    Small sample, but this is pretty good run by the Braves. I did not expect this coming out of Spring Training and the Mets opening series.

  17. My brother is a captain in the Marines. His name is Jack. He is Captain Jack. I was so pumped when that happened.

  18. Only at this site will a discussion of baseball move straight into a quotation from Catch-22. Nice, Alex. If I could figure out how to mark through things army style, I would wage war on all articles and most modifiers.

  19. As long as Delgado’s winning (and pitching way better than JJ), I can’t imagine he’s going anywhere. It’s only 2 starts for him, but still…

  21. “@Jim_Powell: Fredi spent a good 15 mins talking about Evan Gattis today. Loves his bat. Said he is going to get some time at 1B and LF b4 going up to AA.”

    I’m on fire today!

  25. Lets be smart here Chipper ..My goodness .. the guys walks a batter , hits a batter .. 2 balls to you Chipper .. how about making him throw a strike huh !!!!!!! No you jump on a 2-0 pitch and ground weakly to 2nd .. way to go !!!!!

  26. Chipper has a career 361/.354/.700/1.054 line on a 2-0 count. I’m ok with a swing there.

  28. Stupid numbers… What about my indignation and outrage? Huh? Got a number for that!

  30. Hey Spike @ 26 .. but Chipper has a career .386 BA on 3-0 count and a career .375 BA on a 2-1 count .. so its safe to say you take a pitch there ….. enough said !!!

  31. #29–I loved Mark Grace’s comment: “that pitch will lock up your bowels”….

  32. He isn’t good because the count is 2-0, and better because its 3-0, Tad. He’s good because he picks good pitches to hit. If he’s hitting an aggregate .375 in all hitters counts, the point is he likely makes better choices than Tad would.

  37. Nothing easier than complaining about someone swinging. You’ll be right 70% of the time.

  38. @32 .. he didnt did he ??? Chances are he would have made a better decision on 3-0 and 2-1 hitory tells us .. Spike brought up the count average not me … but it was not a smart play to hit there when pitcher had already walked a batter and hit a batter and he’s 2-0 to you and you have a hot hitter behind you … agree to disagree !!

  39. You’re a weird guy, Tad. You and hank should hang out and talk about how awful our two best players are.

  41. Spike ..Id say your the weirdo . anybody that goes out to sites to get stats based on counts to argue a post . I only did it to show you that when people bring up stats to argue should further check out the stats so they dont look stupid when they post them …. so now I am done.

  48. This whole 2-0 swing 3-0 swing thing is an argument over like 10 hits across a season, not trivial, but not worth spending time arguing over one at bat. I’ll trust chipper over anyone on this blog.

  54. McCann the man! I am getting a bit tired of the Diamondback announcers saying that Montero is the next McCann…”all that separates them is half a decade of work”.

    That half a decade says a lot….

  55. 52 — He’s like way over the Mendoza line, compared to last season I’m pretty sure that constitutes a positively sizzling start.

  68. Is this the first dancing bobcat reference this year? In the same inning where molecular physics and yale were mentioned. Chip and joe get paid for this ya know.

  72. Drop 4 on them to break the game open, the mow them down in order by pumping in nothing but strikes? Who are these guys?

  76. I think it was better to just Kubel the single than to work 12 more pitches for an out.

    Freddie just proved that right!

  78. With a 7 run lead we should be able to put Hernandez in. 7 runs is too close to put in Durbin.

  81. OK, here’s a decision I don’t understand. Why is Beachy batting for himself here with a pitch count of 101 and the game in hand?

  84. I assume Livian or The Chad are up and ready at the first hint of trouble in the 8th, but yeah, I let him go out there and try to close it out.

  85. He’s blowing through the lineup and that 101 pitch count has been pretty much stress free. One more inning isnt going to hurt him.

  90. Not sure why Venters is up in the pen.

    Of course, Durbin coming in with 2 on is a little risky.

  94. We got rid of Yunel for some of the dangerous lobs to first base. Isn’t the beating McCann is taking grounds to let Durbin go?

  95. I really want Durbin to give up a Grand Slam here. That way Kimbrel gets a save and he’s one more step closer to being gone.

  98. Just got back from the game (my son is 6 and this was getting late plus, I hate to admit it but he was getting a little bored) and while Beachy was awesome, some of his success has to be discounted against a woeful D-backs offense. Unless it looked a lot different on TV than at the yard, he looked to be throwing a very straight, low 90s fastball up in the zone much of the time, which I’d expect MLB hitters to rake. His curve was a lot better than I’d expected but a lot of seemingly hittable pitches got fouled off or popped up. According to the results I am just a shitty scout and I’m OK with that, but against a solid lineup I think Beachy might have gotten smacked around a little tonight.

  100. Guess I’ll have to learn how to spell “Durbin.”

    It’s hard to complain about a pitcher, you’ll be wrong 70 % of the time. ;)

  101. Wow, Durbin actually looked like a good pitcher there. Good movement, hitting spots, keeping the ball down.

  106. Ok trivia guys, when was the last time the Braves scored 10+ in 3 straight games?

    I really dont have the slightest idea either.

  109. I thought Beachy’s FB was breaking in on righthanders late. It definitely looked straighter in the 8th, though.

  114. A another nice win! I would rather have had the shutout, but I’ll take it. Aren’t we now 9 out of 10 since Chipper returned….

  115. 114: We are now 9 out of 10 since I saw my first game of the year in Houston, which also coincided with Chipper’s return. I am taking credit, yes.

    Four blowouts in a row. Spanking left-handers. Two straight games where the starter got more than 22 outs. Sac flies and stolen bases.

    WTF is this???

  117. Know what? It’s been really fun watching the past few games. Not only because of the runs, but also seeing the starters pitch well AND go deep into games. Been quite refreshing.

    Also, I’m surprised (pleasantly) that there hasn’t been complaining about Fredi letting Minor go to 114 pitches last night. The way he was going, there was no reason not to let him pitch the 8th. Those were easy innings he was having.

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