Atlanta Braves vs. Boston Red Sox – Box Score – June 24, 2012 – ESPN.
First off, sorry for no recap of yesterday’s game. I seem to have contacted one of those 24-hour viruses that laid me out. You didn’t miss much, but then you wouldn’t miss much if I didn’t recap this one.
We saw a standard Mike Minor pattern in this one. In the first three innings, he allowed just two singles, one of the infield variety. In the fourth, he allowed back-to-back homers, the first one by Commando Cody Ross with two men on, and it was 4-0.
The Braves rallied in the fifth. Eric Hinske hit a two-run triple (!) and came home on a Juan Francisco groundout to make it 4-3. But Minor allowed three more runs, including a two-run shot by Commando Cody, to make it 7-3. These runs are “unearned”. Unearned runs are stupid.
Jason Heyward, who had three hits and is now hitting .278, hit a solo homer in the sixth, but that was all the Braves would get. Kris Medlen allowed a run in the sixth, and Chad Durbin one in the seventh.
Hope you’re feeling better Mac.
Glad you’re alive, Mac. wish the Braves were.
It’s weird to defend Durbin, but Durbin’s run should have been “unearned” as well. The ball fell between Bourn and Heyward, both of whom were jogging and gesturing for the other one to call for it. Finally Bourn charged into fifth gear but wasn’t able to dive in time. Really stupid, cheap triple.
Hello from Chicago!
I went to a Sox game last night. What a dump. I am going to Wrigley tomorrow.
Hope your feeling better Mac
i don’t understand why Heyward isnt hitting 3rd. he brings speed and power to the position, he’d have 2 guys constantly on base in front of him, and he’d set up the rest of the order nicely.
1 Bourn 2 Prado 3 Heyward 4 Uggla 5 McCann 6 Jones 7 Freeman 8 Simmons
you even get to alternate L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R if you care about such things.
what the hell is so hard about that?
If nothing else, you send a message to Heyward: It’s your time now. Show us that you’re a superstar.
Bethany, story on Auburn’s Pacer HS
http://auburnjournal.com/detail/211346.html
Sorry, Auburn California
@4. The Cell’s not a dump. It’s just dull–no real personality; nothing that says Chicago White Sox. Have fun tomorrow. Wrigley really is a dump, but a terrific one! There’s no better place to watch a ball game.
Heyward and Simmons have had a nice symbiosis at the bottom of the order. I’m not saying that’s a reason to keep JHey batting seventh — just that I don’t think it’s been costing us too many runs.
@11 Wow, I wonder if any children wept for Pete Orr when he left the Braves.
I don’t understand why Medlin isn’t starting. Send one or both of Minor and Delgado back to AAA. I think Medlin, Teheran, or even Redmond and Carlyle can do a better job.
Youkilis was had for peanuts (and the Red Sox also sent a lot of cash to Chicago).
This was not a trade for on-the-field reasons.
13: Teheran has been lousy at AAA this season. Hopefully he’ll turn into the ace he was meant to be, but for right now, he needs to stay in the minors.
Completely agree that Minor needs to be swapped for Medlen, stat. You can’t stay in the majors if 20% of your fly balls go for home runs. Delgado I think we can live with; he’s an okay, not great fifth starter. Minor has got to go.
NL WAR rankings update:
Bourn-4th
Prado-6th
Heyward-7th
Our whole outfield should make the All Star game
Moving Medlen creates a problem in our bullpen. No pitcher in AAA is currently the answer — again, Teheran is being asked to work almost exclusively on his breaking ball in AAA, which shows the Braves don’t think he’s ready.
We need to acquire a starter via trade. I suppose we could trade for a reliever and stretch Medlen out again, but that seems inefficient and landing a starter better than Medlen would be would by definition help the team more.
This is ostensibly a playoff contender that has two starters basically learning on the job. It’s going to be pretty hard to win like that.
There are about 4 attainable players on the Cubs roster that would look great in an Atlanta uniform.
@12 – *shamefully raises hand*
Scrounging for Minor League success and here’s what I’ve found…
Offensively…
1. Mejia is putting together another great year at AAA: .909 OPS 14HR. He should get a cup of coffee in September or if Freeman goes on the DL, but probably won’t because he has the dreaded quad-A label.
2. Joey T is rebounding nicely in Mississippi: .886OPS, 8 doubles 1HR in 16 games
3. Catcher Braeden Schlehuber is having a breakout year in Lynchburg: .903OPS 8HR in 48 games
4. SS Nick Ahmed is having another good year: .770 OPS with 21SB
5. 2b Tommy La Stella is also having a good year: .781 OPS 5HR 11SB
6. 1b William Beckwith is still hitting in Rome: .846 OPS 7HR
7. 3b Kyle Kubitza could be our best hitting prospect (sad) outside of Gattis: .809 OPS 8HR
Pitching (I’ll skip Gwinnett’s roster)…
1. Gilmartin, unsurpisingly, having a good year at AA: 3.15ERA 1.15WHIP
2. Ryan Buchter, who we acquired for Rodrigo Lopez, is having a great year at AA: 25.1 IP, 31K, .95WHIP 1.45ERA
3. Aaron Northcraft, who threw a 7 inning no-hitter last week, is having a good year with Lynchburg: 3.38 ERA, 78K in 80 innings
4. J.R. Graham might now be our best pitching prospect not in AAA: 2.53ERA and only 15 walks in 81 innings. Should get a callup soon.
5. Cody Martin doing well at High A: 3.41 ERA with 69K in 60.1 innings
That’s about all I have time for and I’m sure that I missed a bunch.
*(On Graham) by callup, I mean to MS obviously.
Todd Redmond! He’s gotta be at least as good as Varvaro.
So, who among us would have said before the season that our outfield would be the strong point of the team and that our pitching is the weak point? This game will drive you nuts.
BTW – Stu, we didn’t get to see much of Nashville. The CMA Music Fest had all of South Broadway accessible only with a pass so we didn’t get to go to Robert’s. Vandy has a beautiful campus. To save some dough we stayed in Brentwood/Franklin. I know its a chain but I liked Famous Dave’s BBQ.
Our lineup does look pretty good if you ignore the 3, 4, 5 spots. At this point Struggla and McCann should probably move down…but that’s not how we do things I guess.
Saltalamachia – .259 / 13 HR / 34 RBI
McCann – .239 / 9 HR / 32 RBI
Getting a little less worried about Brian’s signability …
@26 Even at a “discount” I don’t think he’s worth it. Let him go to an AL team and have a nice long career.
@26 pretty small sample size there.
.283 .355 .480 .835 – McCann career
@26, And it’s 2012, so don’t judge players based on their batting averages, home runs, and RBIs 🙂
We’d be signing McCann for his future expected value, not what he’s done in the past. There’s no reason we should overpay. If he gets a huge offer elsewhere then more power to him. We’ve got at least a couple of decent catching prospects. I’d rather go with a low-cost great defender and spend the money elsewhere.
To be clear, if Heyward doesn’t end up a better hitter than McCann even at McCann’s peak, something’s wrong. Heyward should be batting third now, and it’s no knock on McCann that that’s the case.
McCann’s line drive rate has continued to rebound to career levels after a worrisome dip last year — probably brought on at least in part from his performance after the oblique injury. Other than that, he’s pretty much the same guy he’s always been. Some of what we’re seeing is the shift, some of it’s bad luck. I don’t have to tell you that, after watching him line out a ton and miss homers by mere feet these past few series.
I think if we can’t land a pitcher and there’s some horrible collapse, it might not be the worst thing to deal McCann and get something nice in return.
Johnny,
CMA Fest is terrible; I’m sorry. Famous Dave’s is out of Memphis, and as far as chains go, it’s very good.
If you’d told me you were gonna be in Williamson County, though, I could’ve given you some good recommendations…
McCann has obviously been a great player his whole career, and having a bat like his at the catcher position is a real luxury.. unfortunately, the team used the existence of his bat at catcher to go cheap at LF and 1B for his entire career… now, when we’ve at least gotten 1B taken care of, McCann is about to be too expensive for us. A real wasted opportunity.
(I say 1B is taken care of, and not LF, as Prado will be moved to 3B and LF will be up for grabs again next season.)
Ideally, you would have loved to have gotten even average production from LF and 1B while McCann’s been around. We could have been championship caliber once or twice in the last 3-4 years. But I think if the team had produced a star LF or 1B instead of a catcher, or had traded a young McCann for one, and plugged in any defense-first catcher, while not necessarily championship caliber, we’d have won more games.
Finally, a Gattis update from poster Rhyno over at Talking Chop…
“Gattis strained a tendon in his wrist loading his suitcase into the overhead compartment on the team bus. He did it but didn’t tell anyone and tried to play through it. Eventually, he told the team and when it was checked out he was put into a removable brace/soft cast/whatever. I think he was suppossed to be in the brace for like 3 weeks or so, then he could start working back toward “baseball activities”. Its the type of thing that is going to take 6 to 8 weeks for him to return from at best, and maybe longer.”
#31,
McCann’s advanced metrics tell a bit different story. He’s swinging at less pitches but making better contact than his career rates, yet his BABIP is still .234. And part of that is because his GB% is the highest it has been since his rookie year. I know basing everything on what you see on TV isn’t the best method to evaluate a player but to me it just doesn’t seem like he is making solid contact. He rolls over an outside pitch and hits a weak GB to the right side.
Stu, my bad really. I thought that we’d be in town but the CMA fest jacked the hotel price up, I’m guessing. I am betting with all the money down in Williamson County there is some fine dining around.
#34 – Read something like it on the official blog. They said he won’t be back in action until July. Bummer, I really wanted him to hit his way to Gwinnett this year.
Atlanta could use him more than Gwinnett.
Tidbits
DOB – Wouldn’t surprise me. “@shadyd4: @ajcbraves you think we’ll get an announcement next couple days about Medlen in the rotation?” 5 hours ago
MLBTR – The Braves have discussed using money budgeted for 2013 to make a trade this year according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (on Twitter). Atlanta could be on the hunt for pitching with Brandon Beachy injured and Mike Minor/Randall Delgado experiencing growing pains.
@38 – Greinke. I want Greinke.
36—There’s definitely money in Williamson Co. — as of a couple years ago, it was the wealthiest county in the country, with cost of living factored in — but the best places I know of are more hole-in-the-wall-ish. Most of the nicest restaurants are closer to downtown Nashville. The food scene has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 5-10 years.
Greinke and Willingham.
Let’s not forget just how good Brian McCann’s peak was. In 2006, he hit .333/.388/.572, with 24 homers and 93 RBI. It is almost certainly the second-greatest season that any 22-year old catcher has ever had, second only to Johnny Bench’s first MVP year in 1970.
Can’t believe that Minor hasn’t yet been taken out of the rotation.
It really is an off-day.
@35, That’s true. His recent adjustment was apparently to get the ball in the air more.
@39, Yes. Greinke would be perfect.
It seems to me that the shift had really hurt McCann. A lot of the hits that used to make it through the right side aren’t there anymore.
Hey guys, our 7-hole hitter is the NL Player of the Week. Imagine how good the rest of our lineup is!
I dont know what you do with Minor and Delgado, we better pray that the good Jurrjens is back for us also.
Marlon Byrd busted for PED’s – 50 game suspension
Well, I guess we know who the Oakland A’s next outfielder will be.
Players who are banned from playing are the new market inefficiency.
The A’s might finally have worked out their outfield situation.
I’d like to see the Braves add a starting pitcher and upgrade the bench.
48/csg: Prayer ain’t worth a thing. Make a trade now to fill Beachy’s spot in the rotation, send Jurrjens down (or ship him out), keep Delgado up, replace Minor with Medlen.
Went to the Rays/Phils game on Saturday, the one where Papelbon melted down & Thome won it with a walk-off HR. (Also, quite oddly, Juan Pierre just crushed a 3-run HR—probably the hardest ball he’s ever hit in his life).
Of course, who was in the middle that 9th-inning Rays rally? None other than our old pal, Brooks Conrad, with a 2-out, 2-strike, everybody-on-their-feet-for-the-last-out-of-the-game RBI single to tie things. Oh, and was there some classic Philadelphia grumbling after that AB!
He’d come up the previous inning to pinch hit with the bases loaded & got struck out on a 3-2 breaking ball from Bastardo (something Paps wasn’t throwing).
What does he do the next day? Gets 4 RBI to help Tampa sweep the doubleheader.
The Rays don’t have the most imposing offense, but they’ve already caught a little lightning in a bottle with Brooks. Nice to see him contribute to a team that can really use him.
So Rick Sund did all the easy things and decided to quit when there are plenty of problems to be solved. He is such a smart guy.
Classic Hawks. Just when the NBA moves to outlaw flopping, the Hawks hire a Dukie!
Duke hate aside, what do we think of this hire?
Also, does anyone know if Sund opposed the MaxJohnson contract or recommended it? (Or was just cashing a check?)
I’m surprised Ferry would take the job.
Jerry Sandusky.
@56 Good hire. Now get rid of Joe Johnson.
Congrats to Arizona winning the CWS. Any Wildcats fans here?
Arizona is good at baseball? (I obviously stopped paying attention after Vanderbilt was eliminated.)
I believe Ferry has more familiarity with advanced metrics, which, if true, would be a welcome change.
I hated Sund. Even if the Johnson contract was ordered from higher up, he signed the deal with a smile. I feel angry just typing this stuff right now…
#40 – Hole in the wallish places are the best. Now I’m kicking myself for not talking to you more.
CWS – I don’t follow college baseball but its cool that USC made it to the final for the 3rd year in a row.
So who among us trades Teheran or Delgado for a veteran pitcher? I’m thinking that you have to at least dangle them to see what you can get.
I’d be hesitant to do it for one of these three-months-from-free-agency veterans, but I’d definitely consider it for a guy with a few years of team control.
@64 Are there any pitchers who fit that requirement for you, Stu? I’m not up to date on who is worth getting in terms of pitching.
Signing Brad Lidge to a Minor League contract with incentives if he were to make it to the big leagues would be pretty smart. We could use another RH bullpen arm if/when Medlen goes to the rotation.
@63 – Not me. I think we hold on to those two. Could Zeke Spruill and Ernesto Mejia get us Greinke?
Doubt it
Ian Kennedy would look much improved in our park and with our outfield defense backing him. And Trevor Cahill — with that long, affordable contract — would look good with Andrelton behind him, the rest of our infield notwithstanding. Just because the Diamondbacks have Bauer, Skaggs, and Bradley doesn’t mean they wouldn’t want to pad their comparative advantage, especially if they’d be willing to deal older, costlier pitchers to make room for their bumper crop.
RA Dickey is the 4th most valuable player in Yahoo fantasy baseball. That’s f’ing bizarre.
I don’t think Arizona will be selling.
Scutaro and Betancourt would be nice, and the only way that the Rockies are going to get good starting pitching would be through a trade.
@70. And I dropped him before the season started…
The D-Backs have had a disappointing season, but they’re still basically in the mix in that division. If they’re much further out in a month, they might listen.
That said, Cahill would cost a LOT. Back in the offseason, when they got him from the A’s, they traded Jarrod Parker and a couple of useful parts for him, and Parker was one of the best pitching prospects in the game at the time. I’m not sure that we can afford to pay that kind of price. (Not saying that Teheran doesn’t have that kind of value, but trading Teheran away probably isn’t the best way to solve our short- or long-term problems.)
With the extra wild card, there are really very few teams completely out of contention–in the NL, it’s probably the Cubs, Padres, Astros, and Rockies. Everyone else has a shot if they get hot. I don’t see why Arizona would give up when they are over .500; even if they don’t win the division, they certainly aren’t out of the wild card race. Even the Brewers, as poorly as they have played, aren’t really out of it. I think they would have to be overwhelmed to give up Greinke. The Cubs seem to be the team that has the most valuable parts that they would be willing to give up. I think it will be very difficult for the Braves to make a move unless they really are giving up on Teherran.
I said a month ago that I think the Braves will get Matt Belisle from the Rockies. He’s old, he’s not glamorous, and he’s got one year on his deal after this one.
And this year, he’s posted a 2.03 ERA, a 1.150 WHIP, with 33 K and 7 BB in 40 IP. (4.71 K/BB). And he’s done that pitching in Colorado.
Betancourt is having a fine year himself in Colorado, at 2.93 ERA, 1.084 WHIP, with 29 K and 7 BB in 28 IP (4.14 K/BB). And they are both under contract for the same duration and the same salaries.
But… Betancourt would be the sexier pickup. So you know the Braves won’t do that.
Belisle’s a Braves draftee. I bet there are still one or two people in the organization who like him — perhaps some of Schuerholz’s men.
Anyone else follow Bowman on Twitter? He’s winning my seal of approval this year. He’s much less of a mouthpiece now than I ever recall.
We now have a Fabian!
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/06/minor-moves-jonathan-meloan-fabian-williamson.html
I like Bowman and I think he’s a pretty good reporter. But it’s not about what he says. It’s about what he fundamentally can’t say because of who cuts his checks. He’s an employee of Major League Baseball. He isn’t necessarily a puppet or a mouthpiece for the Braves or for MLB to disseminate information, but he also is not at liberty to report at will. He will never be independent.
DOB, warts and all, does not depend on the Atlanta Braves or Major League Baseball for a salary. I’m glad that Bowman’s there, because as long as he has a job, he’ll always have access. He does a pretty good job of writing what he sees, and it’s good to know what he sees — even if it’s just what they want us to know, it’s still indicative of the organization’s mindset.
He’s somewhere in between a journalist and a corporate PR flack. There’s a lot more of this going on these days, as print journalism is dying and a lot of print journalists are winding up in PR. A lot of them are very talented and do good work. But it isn’t exactly journalism.
64—No idea who’s available, but those trades (Cahill, Geo Gonzalez, etc.) happen.
Now this is funny!
http://helenair.com/sports/baseball/professional/minor/osprey-edge-brewers—in-innings-on-controversy/article_a63a2370-bf52-11e1-8872-001a4bcf887a.html
Heyward, oddly enough, back to batting 2nd. Prado moves to 3rd.
MLB Trade Rumors says a player named Parker Bangs was just let go. The farm needs Parker Bangs.
We’re in trouble now – if Heyward is batting second, that means we only have ONE OTHER GUY as good or better.
It never fails to surprise me. He doesn’t want to mess with Heyward because he’s doing well where he’s at, and he wants to keep the L-R balance in the lineup.. But then he does move Heyward up, but he messes with Prado, who’s doing fine, AND he puts two lefties at the top.
I guess he didn’t want Uggla hitting 4 and McCann 5?
Whatever Fredi wants, Fredi gets.
Hmmm, Hudson vs. Hudson tonight.
Brandon Hicks has seen some time with the Athletics this week. He’s 2 for 6 with both hits being doubles.
They/He have completely reworked his swing.
Athletics: http://athletics.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22533889&c_id=mlb
Braves: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13154269&c_id=atl
@86
Does it really matter? If we’re taking it on faith that Heyward won’t get messed up by moving up five slots (a premise I don’t agree with in the first place), why would it mess up Prado to drop down one? Don’t they bring their skill set to the plate either way? As long as there’s no managerial pressure to change their hitting approaches based on batting order, I don’t see the problem.
@90- I don’t think it’ll make a lick of difference. I just think Fredi is an idiot.
JJschiller, that’s really interesting. At this point, I just wish him well. Some guys need a change of scenery.
@90, of course it doesn’t matter – it just directly contradicts what Fredi said he was going to do a week ago. I am sure the players are ok with it too, but why make declarative statements, and worse stupid ones, that you have no intention of carrying out? Does it ever impact one’s credibility with the team?
@92- Yeah, for sure, me too. I wasn’t bemoaning the fact that we “let him get away,” or anything. Just keeping track of our old guys. And I didn’t read anything about his new stance/swing, just noticed it was different and went back to have a look. He might just be a tinkerer for all I know. I just find it interesting when a certain team’s personnel sees something in a guy and knows what they’d do and why they take a flier on him, etc.
@93
I doubt it — don’t they just look at the lineup card to see where they’re hitting that day, and then do that? Do you really think the players pore over Fredi’s utterances at all?
I have no idea. But if the coach says to assembled reporters “Jason is batting 7th for the forseeable future”, I am pretty sure he gets a “reaction” question from one at some point without any need for him to pore over anything.
AS I said, I am sure the players are ok with it. But then the rational thing for them to do is not give your public statements any credibility at all, which is fine too. The thing is, the players and reporters, as well as the public, being served notice that it’s all just kabuki, should disregard everything you say in public. I’m not sure that’s the best way to handle public relations internally or externally.
Really? I don’t think it’s that big a deal. You just get all the players together in the clubhouse and say, “Hey, guys? Just so we’re clear, everything that I tell reporters is meaningless. The same should go for all of you. If you want to say what’s on your mind, say it in here. Don’t go to the press.”
In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s what already happens.
@mlbbowman Dempster @PozDatRefreshes Who’s most likely to end up in a Braves uniform? Grienke, Garza, or Dempster?
84- Didn’t REM sing about him?
Seriously, I’m okay with Heyward batting second; he gets on base at a decent clip and if he gets hot, he’s a guy who should get plenty of plate appearances.
BOURN! AGAIN!
PAY THE MAN.
How do you like playing with a real shortstop, Timmy?
#100
Lester Bangs, Parker Stevenson—what’s the difference?
He lives!
It would be nice if Huddy didn’t have to throw 41 pitches in the first 2 innings.
Brains!
And Simmons makes me love him even more. At this point Alex and I are going to have to have a catfight for his affections.
Who are these guys, and where are my Braves?
Simmons really isn’t this good a hitter, is he? I mean, we can’t really be this lucky, can we?
Pistols at dawn, Bethany?
@111 You’re on!
#110
Y’know, in over 1,000 minor-league PAs, Simmons hit 299/352/347, so he’s not exactly Rafael Belliard.
Great job Jason!
I think Jason likes hitting second.
Simmons is basically a not-crazy version of Yunel Escobar. Cannon arm, terrific defense, great contact hitter with decent pop for a shortstop.
Yunel Escobar, minor leagues (950 PA): .297/.370/.414
Andrelton Simmons, minor leagues (1039 PA): .299/.352/.397
I think I prefer our Hudson.
Also, Dan Hudson has pretty much been their version of Mike Minor this year.
Do you guys know that Minor is going to start against Washington? Ugh.
In Schulz’s column today:
“Gonzalez even showed Heyward three different lineups before the game and asked him which one he liked best.
“I said, ‘Whichever one I’m in,’” Heyward said, smiling. (He was in all of them.)”
119- Against Strasburg, unless one of our rotations change.
Welcome home, boys.
I don’t know who, but one of you chuckleheads owes Brian another Coke.
@123 I don’t know who you could be talking about. It’s not like he has any business hitting that high in the order.
Agree, Bethany.
Timmy looked quite unhappy about giving up that one.
Awww, Chipper, bad move.
Once again, agree.
Hudson and Simmons look like a winning combination.
In former Braves action Conrad hit a homer off Bruce Chen. Brooks seem to be getting some starts for Tampa Bay.
Good for the Folk Hero.
Wow, I hope this is a turning point for Freddie.
McCann would be a solid seven-hole hitter.
After those 41 pitches in the first three innings, Hudson’s thrown 30 in the next four.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Around the league, Bronson Arroyo is into the 8th with a no hitter going. In case anyone wants to watch online or anything…
That got done quick after I switched over.
Sorry, Bronson.
Maybe when McCann’s OPS gets below 700 he will be moved down in the order.
Simmons!
So do we keep Freddie batting seventh because he’s doing well there, or do we move him up because he’s hitting better than McCann?
Apparently we’re scouting Francisco Liriano.
Maybe Andrelton should be the cleanup hitter 🙂
@142 Eww, why?
Simmons has been doing his best Vlad impersonation at the plate tonight.
It is really *really* nice to have Hudson on this team.
144- He’s got a 2.82 ERA since May 8th, and opponents are hitting 174/ 278/ 252 against him during that time, so he’s rediscovered some idea of what he’s doing.
Liriano has pitched well in June: 5 starts, 2.87 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 31 K in 31.1 IP.
And a FIP around 4 for the year. In other words, Liriano’s less of a tease than Minor is.
Jason Heyward needs to watch his f*cking mouth.
what was the highest number of hits Ralph Garr had in a season?
219 in 1971.
219 in ’71, 214 in ’74.
Guessing Liriano would cost a lot less than Garza. He’s a free agent at the end of the season.
Thanks Brian! Ralph was one of my all time favorite Braves even though he played in a time when the Braves weren’t very good. He was fun to watch!
Jason is on fire!
One good month is not enough to make me want Liriano.
Pretty awesome to see hibernation mode in abeyance tonight. And looks like a win at home too. Hope both of those turn into trends.
Uggla’s the only starter without a hit; he and Hudson are the only ones without two.
Does it occur to Chip and Joe than when everybosy (sorry, Dan) is hitting it doesn’t much matter what order you put them in?
Just heard Ravech on Baseball Tonight say the DeWayne Wise “catch” wasn’t a referendum on instant replay. Why not? It seems like a PERFECT example of a time when replay would have helped. First, you could easily correct a clearly erroneous call, one that was totally on the umpire. Second, there was no impact to baserunners or any of those vague (and I think specious) arguments you hear against replay. Third, it was a case where the umpire was very hard-pressed to actually see the play, whereas the replay camera could capture it perfectly. I am confused.
Varvaro was chunking it. Nice win, Braves.
Liriano is a guy who seems to be either awesome or atrocious — there is not a lot of middle ground. Still, when he’s on he’s pretty great, and right now, we could just use a warm body. I don’t mind the idea of taking a look, especially because many people seem to think that part of the problems may originate in his head.
Like I said about Youkilis, if we’ve targeted him, he must be dirt cheap. And if he’s as dirt cheap as Youkilis, I’d take him over Mike Minor.
In fact, I’d send Mike Minor over in the deal.
Come to think of it, maybe the Twins would like to just take Minor, and they can keep Liriano.
@150- what did Heyward say to warrant that response?
Fredi Gonzalez on [Freddie] Freeman in the seventh spot:
“If he keeps doing that he won’t be in the seventh spot very long.”
Chipper just passed Ted Williams on the all-time hit list. He also secured a spot in the Top 50 all time runs scored list. Not bad.
@82: Ryan, that is funny stuff. Helena manager Jeff Isom said that players learned the lesson that they should jump on home plate. I guess he doesn’t remember Kendry Morales. See here: http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100529&content_id=10569596&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
#165: I thought you were joking. But you weren’t joking.
@164: Every time Hayward fails to square up a ball he thinks he should have hit, he issues an imprecation which is clearly picked up (maybe the crowd should make more noise) and is alluded to in 150’s comment.
I should point out that I think Hinske is even worse about this.
NL WAR update:
Bourn-4th (1st among CF)
Prado-6th (2nd among LF)
Heyward-8th (1st amond RF)
Uggla-20th (2nd among 2b)
Simmons-54th(9th among SS)
Chipper-60th (8th among 3b)
McCann-67th (7th among catchers)
Freeman-77th(8th among 1b)
@166,
Not to denigrate Chipper’s achivement but, of course, Williams missed five years serving in two wars.
Ya know, if this lineup stays healthy and we can pitch a little, there’s simply no reason we can’t win the East. (Or at least, one of the wildcards.)
Uggla’s getting into Struggla Mode. He’s swinging where he wants the ball to be, not where it is.
Fortunately, he usually works himself out of it rather quickly. Well, except for last year at the beginning and stuff.
I think that all posters on this website, when they have kids, should name their baby Jason Andrelton xxxx. Even the girls.
That is all.
#172: Understood, but he still moved past him. Worth noting.
@160 – Or he could have asked him to show him the ball, like a Little League ump knows to do.
@175,
No doubt. Chipper has been a great player and would have even batter stats if he had been healthy these last several years–and, perhaps, if he had played his entire career at the old stadium.
Interestingly, if Chipper was in the AL, he would probably be able to play several more years. That was, in fact, one of the arguments in favor of the DH, that it would prolong the careers of great hitters.
Anyone have a good handle on Ernesto Mejia? I know he’s destroying AAA, but is he simply a AAAA hitter? If not, is he athletic enough to play LF next year?
@178 – Why wait until next year? I think Mejia could be brought up and we can do away with Hinske or Diaz. Mejia can play 1B, RF or LF correct? He’s 26 or 27….ain’t getting any younger. A season and a half of .900+ OPS is at least worth checking out.
FWIW, CC Sabathia to the DL.
Diaz has been good this year. No reason to get rid of him.
Simmons is just awesome to watch. I think my favorite play from him last night was a single to the right side of second base that he ALMOST got to. It was ridiculous for him to even be in the neighborhood!
Mejia is a defensive question mark.
I do not see how we could know if he is more than a AAAA hitter as we have not given him the chance. He was our best hitter in the minors last year, but a little old for AA.
Of course, the Braves did bring him back to the system after he left as a minor league free agent, something we did not do with Barbaro or Mauro Gomez. The organization must think there is some possibility.
Not sure why Diax is still getting the bad rap. He’s scuffling but still hitting lefties at a .290/.353/.435 clip. Compared to what we are getting from Hinske, Wilson, and Fransisco thats an all star performance.
Cant Wilson cover third? Seems like Mejia could replace Fransisco and nothing would be lost.
Diaz
I want Willingham, dammit. Chipper is probably going to be on a “two on, one off” day thing for the rest of the season and Francisco needs to go.
I want Gattis to get well and give me unwarranted hope that he can fill the left field black hole to infinity and beyond. Then we’ll have enough bucks to re-sign Bourn and improve the rotation, pen and bencj.
Mark Bowman @mlbbowman
Nothing has changed the odds of McCann being in ATL beyond 2013. Still think he’ll be elsewhere by the start of 2014
If thats the case then the Braves need to lock up Bourn pretty soon. Id also like to see the Braves go after Willingham and Liriano.
This is only Sabathia’s third trip to the DL in his career, but I have to imagine that he won’t be as healthy in his 30s as he was in his 20s.
Recapped at last.