Atlanta Braves vs. Cincinnati Reds — Box Score — May 24, 2012 — ESPN
Well, that sucked.
The offense continues to sputter, and the starting pitching continues to pitch not all that badly, but badly enough to lose with the lack of offense. Homer Bailey was the mediocre righty who would give us fits on this particular occasion.
Delgado pitched very well until the third time through the Reds’ batting order, in the sixth inning, when he loaded the bases before Medlen was brought in to give up a grand slam to effectively lose the game. Homers by Bourn and Francisco gave the Braves their runs. Prado continues to rake; Venters continues to look hurt.
Glad to be getting out of Cincy. Here’s hoping our best hitters get healthy and into the lineup sometime soon.
Stu, can we ban you from doing any recap again?
Good thing is we are leaving Cincy, bad thins is we are about to face good pitchers.
1—Please do. Not exactly a fun job.
(We won the games I recapped earlier in the season. Don’t think it’s me, unfortunately.)
@2 It may actually be good news. The team actually play better against good pitchers.
@3 I understand Stu. That’s why I admire how Mac, and you now, has managed to write these amazing recaps regardless of whether the team wins or losses.
Don’t admire me; I put less and less effort into these with each one I have to do (especially when the Braves are losing).
Mac is freaking awesome, though. Doing these certainly gives me a greater appreciation for all his work over the years.
Oh no, guys, do you realize it’s almost June?
From the last post…it’s hard to think of a team whose imperfect roster construction won’t cause them to get swept like this. It is an issue, I suppose, but it doesn’t put us at a disadvantage at the same time.
Is there any team desperate enough to take Jurrjens off of our hands and pay his remaining salary? Oswalt has come out recently saying that there’s 3 teams he prefers to play for…and we’re one of them.
Oswalt has been saying that for a while. Wren also said something coy about the possibility, like “You never know” or something to that effect. We’d have to get creative, that’s for sure.
@8 I don’t see how we can manage to find more money to pay Oswalt than the Rangers. If the Rangers want Osqalt, they will get him.
The rangers want oswalt for the pen and he wants to start. The braves need to upgrade the rotation and we cant play through Minor and Delgado’s growing pains.
Well, that was a Great American Ballpunch.
Best case scenario: Chipper agrees to restructure his contract to accommodate Oswalt and plays next year 🙂
@13 And Chipper would play one more year…
I made the trip to Cincy tonight in hopes that I would get to see Chipper one last time. I was bummed he still wasn’t in the starting lineup, but was hopeful he’d pinch hit. Before tonight I didn’t have a strong opinion one way or the other about Juan Francisco, but I can honestly say now he’s on my bad side. All he had to do was NOT hit into a double play in the 9th and Chipper would have been up. So naturally that is the exact thing he did. What a wasted trip.
‘Rissa, I made the trip too (2 hour drive) and was equally pissed at Francisco for the DP.
I’ll also point out that tonight’s infield might have been the worst I have seen at a major league game.
Living in Reds Country has been misery this week.
My office is full of Reds signs this morning. Even my lovely new bride asked if I’d heard last night’s score and then whispered, “Don’t bother.”
A fan’s gotta take his lumps, but it hurts when casual Reds fans ask who we’ve added since last September besides Fransisco.
Why they gotta to bring up September?
Just show them the Fangraphs chart from the Brooks Conrad game and tell them to smell your farts. That’s what I do.
Ask your coworkers why Dusty Baker wears all those sweat bands.
Yeah. Or play them some of Bronson Arroyo singing Goo Goo Dolls songs.
@17
Ask them what happened the last time we played in the playoffs
Or they last time THEY made the playoffs.
Cough *No-Hitter* Cough
Melky Cabrera .362/.409/.519
Jason Heyward .240/.329/.420
🙁
Actually JHEY .237/.329/.414
I think Melky may be my least-favorite player of all time.
Heyward is hitting way under .200 for the last month. If he doesn’t hit and Chipper only plays half the time (or less) then we’re going to finish in the bottom half of the division. Our pitching isn’t good enough to hide this team’s flaws.
Last Month – .188AVG .298OBP 25K’s in 90AB’s.
Woof.
#17 – I feel your pain. I live in Columbus. One of my colleagues here at work gave me the sweep signal this morning. Egads. After our display of ‘offense’ the last 4 days I couldn’t even muster up a finger to tell him he was number 1.
Heyward looks helpless. Aside from the double the other night he isn’t making any hard contact.
Adam Jones is about to get 6/$85
What were the O’s wanting for Jones? JJ and something else?
JJ + Prado + premier pitching prospect, as I recall.
Braves were playing incredibly well on the road, but I think fatigue has gotten to them. Tonight will be their 15th consecutive game with no break and they will play 20 consecutive games from May 11 to May 30. Of the 14 consecutive games so far, 10 of them have been on the road.
It should be helpful for the Braves to get back to Atlanta, but with all the nagging injuries for several players, the off day next Thursday will be really nice.
@32 Well, good thing we held onto Prado, at least.
I live in Columbus.
No, it is we who should be feeling your pain.
I’m having to spend time in Columbus this summer for work reasons. I can’t believe there is a capital city suckier than Tallahassee.
Hudson and Beachy need to be lights out in this series. I dont think Minor/Strasburg will work out in our favor. I just hope Minor doesnt give up a long ball to Strasburg.
Will Strasburg take Minor deep?
Everyone else has been.
“If the U.S. was a person,” he later became fond of saying, “and it sat down, Columbus, Ohio would instantly be plunged into darkness.”
– Thomas Pynchon
(Self-plagiarized from a bit about Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but the point stands.)
#35,#39 Sigh. To paraphrase someone that was writing about Charlotte NC, Columbus is a nice place to live but you wouldn’t want to visit there.
Its pretty bad that I’m having a hard time coming up with any virtues to extol about old Chris town.
#31 – O’s wanted Marteen, JJ, one of Vizcaino, Teheran, Delgado, Wren’s first born child, tickets to Cheetah 3 and a tour of the CNN center.
Maybe it’s because I have no standards and I’m just easy to please, but I’ve enjoyed Columbus on the times I’ve visited.
There are no virtues.
You know what Columbus has in spades? Subway “restaurants,” that’s what. There’s really nowhere else to eat downtown after, like, 5 PM that isn’t higher end…see for yourself: http://www.subway.com/storelocator/default.aspx?zip=Columbus,%20OH
Have you ever been in a Subway? How disturbing is it that it smells the way it does? No place in the world smells quite like Subway. You could blindfold me and lead me in there after a period of extreme sensory disorientation, and I guarantee that I could still tell you exactly where I am.
It almost goes without saying that many people in Columbus smell like a combination of cigarette smoke and Subway.
I really like Cincinnati, though.
Have you ever been in a Subway? How disturbing is it that it smells the way it does?
Try working two doors down from a Subway. Its awful. I can go in for less than a minute or two to get a drink and smell like Subway for the rest of the day.
It almost goes without saying that many people in Columbus smell like a combination of cigarette smoke and Subway.
Where have you been hanging out?
#41 – Like I said, Columbus isn’t exactly a destination city but its a pretty good place to live and raise a family.
I will say that campus on a sunny day is the most scenic place in Columbus.
The Subway Stink is indeed unmistakable and awful.
It would be a great place to sell sofas, that’s for sure.
Cincinnati is a great town
Well, I wasn’t even aware of a mercy rule in college baseball, but Tech just achieved it against Virginia. Now I reluctantly root for FSU tonight to get us into the Championship game.
McLouth DFA’d. Career = over.
@50
Ouch. Someone will give him a minor league deal.
Sure, someone probably will, but I think he’s in the twilight of his career.
Since 2010: .203/.312/.313 in 566 AB
Greetings from Detroit…
#42
If you hated Columbus, let me show you Cleveland.
(Go Devils.)
We’re in a leased space (have been for a few years) right above a Subway until we move into a campus building in the fall.
I smell it when I first walk in and then don’t the rest of the day. Can you call it anosmia if you still smell it everyday (but apparently get used to it very quickly)?
Since 2010: .203/.312/.313 in 566 AB
Ouch!
Trivia discovered during random Wikipedia-ing: What retired MLB player had the most career ABs of anyone who never hit a homer?
Don Sutton had over 1000 AB’s without one.
Bill Holbert
From Stark
Teams that have checked in with the Braves say their offense has been so good that, barring injuries, they’re more likely to shop for an impact starting pitcher in July than a bat. But GM Frank Wren says: “We have a guy internally who’s probably better than any arm who will be available, and that’s Kris Medlen. He’s never thrown over 120 innings in a season, so we’ve got to be careful with his innings. But if we feel we need a guy late in the season, we wouldn’t be afraid to take him out of the bullpen and transition him into the rotation.” In case you hadn’t noticed, Medlen has the lowest WHIP (1.04) in a very talented Braves bullpen these days.
Growing up there was a kid on our street that could never hit a homerun, no matter how hard he tried. We looked it up in the Baseball Encyclopedia and use to call him Bill Holbert
Freeman is back, no Bmac or Chipper
Bourn
Prado
Freeman
Uggla
Diaz
Heyward
Ross
Wilson
Hudson
Ross/Wilson will always be in there for Huddy, so I dont know if Bmac/Chipper are available to PH. I would say we could DL Chipper, but that PH walk the other night would delay his return.
DOB – •Freeman has new contacts and new glasses and he’s going to test them out during bp. Ideally will wear contacts and have glasses as backup
Jeez.
And today’s episode is brought to you by Tim Hudson and AFLAC, the Anthrax Duck.
Can we just… win a game? Would that be okay?
I was wrong. It got worse.
Well, chip away, boys.
Prado doing Prado things.
Is it September already?
Ballgame?
Just a note: I live in Columbus OH too, and I think this attitude towards the city is crazy. Columbus has tons of good food, an excellent night-life (though you have to be careful to avoid the undergrads) and I’ve generally enjoyed my years here.
Insult to injury…
Season’s going down the f*cking tubes.
Ross off w an injury. If McCann is pinch running, surely he’s staying to catch?
What? What just happened? Why is B-Mac going into the game? Did Ross get hurt?
http://www.wsbtv.com/s/sports/home/
Check the video half-way down the page for a shot of Chipper’s “bruise.”
****
Huh. I guess McCann is the emergency catcher!
Pull a groin, checking his swing.
#76: Flesh eating virus, obviously.
“HOT SMASH, RIGHT FIELD!”
Prado does another Prado thing, and the rest of the offense will now do rest-of-the-offense things and strand him.
Matt!
Atta boy Matty.
Detwiler has thrown 77 pitches through 3.
And the Braves have scored one run. Our offense sucks.
I wonder if the Braves have to put Ross on the DL if they will call up Bethancourt.
Groin strain for Ross. No sex for David tonight.
This feels a lot like September.
Sounds like Joe has a mancrush on Harper.
I’ve got a mancrush on Prado.
Freddie doesn’t need to be playing.
Uggla is tied for second in the NL in walks. Interesting.
YES!!!!!!!!!!
Whatever Prado and Matty have been eating should be force-fed to the rest of these hitters.
and no.
Dare we hope?
@71, My in-laws live in Columbus, it’s nowhere near as bad as it’s being made out to be. And if there’s a contest for the worst state capital city, I nominate Montgomery.
97- Gotto go with Montpelier, Vermont, home of about 6000 people, all of whom failed their tryouts for Newhart.
Montgomery is awful.
I like living in Columbus. But as far as the stuff that makes an interesting town it pales compared to my hometown, Charleston SC.
I hate this.
Oh joy, another Episode.
I actually like Montpelier. Visited some friends that were there for culinary school a few years back. Had several great meals, saw a really good French horn/guitar jazz duo. They had a nice yarn shop, according to my wife, and a couple good book stores.
And while we were visiting the capitol, the President of Macedonia came strolling by with a bunch of high ranking military dudes. The earpiece guys stuck to us like glue, just in case. Wouldn’t live there, but it was beautiful that fall.
/well crap, Tim.
That’s what happens when you walk the pitcher.
And of course, Fredi leaves a gassed Hudson in long enough to give up three more runs, squelching the comeback. I take back anything nice I’ve said about you, Fredlot.
A pitcher with one career hit and a bad hammy.
Clearly y’all haven’t been to Helena, Montana.
Back up the truck… It is September 2011 again. Fredi is a moron… Just had to state the obvious again
I don’t envision putting a lot of heart into this recap, you guys.
The Nats announcer won’t shutup about how personally Zimmerman took the walk to Harper.
Well, pack it in; the Odarp’s run out of awesome for today.
Matty D with the D.
He didn’t miss that one.
#107: I haven’t been to Helena, but I have been to Missoula, Bozeman, and Billings, which are awesome little towns set amidst gorgeous Big Sky scenery, and I’ve also been to Butte, which is ass.
Good thing Fredi let Wilson hit.
Pastornicky < Hernandez as a hitter. Why didn't he pinch-hit for Jack (Sh**) Wilson?
Not watching but through game summary it looks as though Frediot is in full swing.
“A complete moron ran onto the field.” -Jim Powell
Was it Fredi?
We need a pitcher, a bat, and a new manager. Nothing more. Oh wait, a useful SS and a middle reliever.
You just really have to tip your cap to the Washington hitters tonight. They just kept fighting up there.
And another outfielder. And a new manager. And infielders who can play defense. And a new manager. And at least one set-up man we can depend on, and did I mention a new manager? Because we need a new manager.
Homer Simpson overheard talking about the Braves on the telephone.
Drew Sutton 2-3 again today. He couldve been useful.
Also, for what it’s worth, urbandictionary.com definition of “hot smash.”
(Porcelain? I never knew Chip was so European.)