Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies – Box Score – August 06, 2012 – ESPN.
A lot of the spirit seems to have gone out of the Phillies since the trades. (On the other hand, without Shane Victorino they’re 22 percent less evil.) Or maybe they’re just not very good.
On the surface, Ben Sheets had another superb outing, allowing just one run, a fourth-inning solo homer by John Mayberry Jr., in seven and a third innings. Of concern, however, is that he didn’t strike anyone out — the Braves had no strikeouts of Phillie hitters — and that’s not a sustainable achievement. Eric O’Flaherty and Cristhian Martinez finished up.
The Braves took the lead in the third, Freddie Freeman doubling in Michael Bourn and Martin Prado and advancing on the throw, allowing him to make it 3-0 on a wild pitch. Paul Janish hit a long double over the fielder’s head in the fourth and scored on a Michael Bourn single to make it 4-0.
It was 4-1 until the seventh, when Brian McCann singled in Jason Heyward, then Heyward hit a homer in the ninth for the final score. All Braves regulars had at least one hit.
I imagine that if the Braves go to a six man rotation, it’s because Hudson is feeling less than 100%.
I’m sure this has been brought up before, but I’ve never thought about it — the extra wild card team could reinvigorate a close divisional race, because who wants a half of a playoff slot when you can get a whole one? Gotta see how it plays out, but I may have to rethink my disdain for this concept….
6 man rotations dont work and it weakens your staff. If Huddy needs to skip one start thats better than putting him on and every other starter on 5 days rest. You need to pitch your best starters as much as possible and your weaker links less.
@ 2 – agreed. I think it will slow down that surging Wild Card team that we’ve seen come up the last couple of years and actually reward season long performance.
@3
You’re right. A six man roation is a terrible idea. I think you have to skip your 5th starter as much as possible as it is. Plus, it taxes your bullpen.
Dan Says:
“99-Keep winning and that will not be a problem”
“Keep winning in August, build up a 10.5 game lead and take the foot off the gas in September. It’s perfect.
August 7th, 2012 at 9:26 am”
Injuries and fatique of pitching staff were prime causes of last year’s collapse. Fredi is much smarter when batters hit well and pitchers get rest.
Stu mentioned that a six-man rotation in September wouldn’t tax the bullpen, because of roster expansion. I’m not ready to summarily dismiss the idea — I don’t think it’s been tried often enough to say it doesn’t work (partly because I also don’t know how well it’s worked when it’s been tried). I do know the idea of a little extra rest for the starters certainly has some appeal.
It’s not like there’s really much difference between our 4th/5th/6th starters. I’m kinda leaning towards Fredi’s comments being a nice way of saying that Medlen will continue to get starts and he’s not sure what else will change. If indeed he does go with a 6-man then I’d have to think that maybe Hudson just needs some rest because his ankle is hurting.
Not to mention the fact that (should we make the playoffs) the playoff rotation isn’t exactly set in stone, and the hot hand in early August is not necessarily the hot hand in early October.
Is Hanson going to be out until the playoffs?
And do we really have guys in AAA that we desperately need to give innings to?
And by “playoffs” I meant “September”.
I wouldn’t say desperate need, but Randall Delgado is hardly out of the picture for a postseason roster spot, and will surely get some work in September.
Well Fredi’s actual quote was “We can’t consider it until we see where Tommy’s at, but it makes a lot of sense.”
That tells me they’re happier with the rotation now than they were when Hanson was in it, but they’re leaving the door open for the possibility that skipping three turns will “fix” Hanson. And since they’ve done this, like, every single year with Hanson, I wouldn’t count on it.
They have to give Tommy a rehab start or two to see if he’d actually be better than anyone who’s already in the rotation.
7—Did I mention that a long time ago, or are you confusing me with some other handsome devil?
I wonder what the SPs think. Do they prefer the normal routine or would an extra day between starts be welcomed?
Setting you up as a scapegoat in case it’s a stupid idea after all?
FWIW, I seem to remember that the ’99 Mets used a 6-man rotation down the stretch: Leiter, Hershiser, Reed, Yoshii, Rogers, Dotel/Mahomes
Worked out for them. They tied Cincy for the WC, then beat them in a playoff (Leiter with a 2-hit shutout).
#2
So, if 2 teams tie for the last WC spot, do they have a one-game playoff that earns them the right to another one-game playoff?
csg said it best earlier. A six man rotation will cost us one or two Hudson and Sheets starts. Plus, it puts everyone off a day. Hudson doesn’t like too much rest. Screwing with your rotation at this point is stupid. If we were 12 games up, maybe. But we are three down.
We’re 3 down, but we’re also 3 up.
I think the second wildcard spot is great for baseball. More teams play meaningful baseball in September and the winner of the wild card is penalized (for lack of a better word) by having the extra game, potentially burning their best starter before game 1 of the first round. I think it’s one of Selig’s better ideas in recent years.
Regarding the two WC teams, Im guessing the team with the best record gets home field advantage?
#17 – Good question. If there is a tie for the second wild card team. Where is it played and will the winning team have to travel to play the next game?
@21, If there’s a tie, the potential wildcard teams play a 0.5 game playoff on a field with no third base or left field.
#21
I’d imagine it’s a coin flip, then the winner travels to play at the park of the #1 WC team.
20 – I definitely agree with you Rob. And Sansho, that’s why I thought this was a good idea.
Regarding the recap, I want to note that Heyward scored from first on McCann’s single. It was a great play.
And suppose there’s a five-way tie for the two wild card spots, with two of the teams also putative division champs? I suppose this is all written down somewhere, but I suspect that Segal gets to make it up as he goes along… sort of like the ASG tie.
Usually a sixth starter is a guy who makes the occasional spot start as needed per off days, rainouts, blowouts where the starter gets removed in the second inning, etc., rather than a guy who physically alters every other pitcher’s rest. I was kind of assuming that’s what they had in mind, rather than six starters who all made an equal number of starts.
Got a job offer in Columbia, SC. Does anyone have any thoughts about that city?
Its better than Boston.
No, it’s not. The place is a pit.
@27
Not per se, but it’s roughly equidistant from Charleston, Athens, and Asheville, three of the best places a person could go.
I was there last December when school was out for two days. I was told that it’s a lot livelier when the University is in session. The bartender I was talking to (who else do I learn anything from?) moved there from NYC and wasn’t hankering to move back.
So long as it’s easy to get around and safe I’m happy. I’m a recluse so social life doesn’t do anything for me.
Well, I was sitting in a bar in an old bank vault. I doubt you could be much safer than that.
Columbia is an awful place. Two of my sisters live there, so I’ve seen far more of it than I’d like. Traffic isn’t terrible though, and it’s a cheap place to live. Sansho is correct that there are many superior places surrounding it, including the closest, Greenville, which is a beautiful city.
Throw me into the “Columbia sucks” camp, though it does seem pretty easy to get around, assuming you have a car. Don’t know about crime there.
Its baseball team is more accomplished than the one in Boston.
Let me put it this way: Of the college football venues I’ve been to a game at, Columbia is by far the worst in overall experience, and I haven’t even been so much as glared at as an opposing fan there, so it started with a big lead.
Bethany,
I live currently in Columbia. I enjoy it. It is easy to get around. Five Points and the Vista are fun. It’s really hot in the summer. It is close to every place in the state and getting to Atlanta isn’t bad.
The college does make the town livelier but is not the entire town and you can avoid that scene if you want to.
Email me at clarkenewton at gmail. com and I’d be happy to tell you more about it.
Jonathan F – that bank vault bar is an interesting idea but not a really great place to go.
I wonder if a six-man rotation would have a negative effect on your starters for the playoffs. It’d be tough to ask someone to go on short rest when they’re already used to having an extra day wouldn’t it?
if Papa Jazz is still around, Columbia at the least has a decent record store, for what that’s worth.
Bethany, if you decide to move to Columbia you have to go see Charleston.
Brooksy DFA’d by Tampa Bay.
Columbia? It has an SEC school & it doesn’t really snow.
#25
It could turn into some NFL/NHL-type tie-breaker thing, whereby the 2 teams with the best combined records vs. the other tied clubs end up squaring off.
BTW, tough story today about former Hawks hoopster Dan Roundfield, who apparently drowned in Aruba.
Rounds was a terrific power-forward on those late-’70s/early-’80s Hubie Brown-coached teams. John Drew was the scorer & Eddie Johnson was the fly guy to watch, but Roundfield did all the dirty work—-he was always battling the other teams’ stars, like Elvin Hayes or Larry Kenon or Bobby Jones.
A rough-and-tough defender/rebounder, a real lunch-pail kinda player, never backed down from anyone. He was kind of like the Hawks’ version of Maurice Lucas, Portland’s enforcer forward—no easy layups.
Of all the all-star Hawks over the years, he was probably the most under-appreciated.
Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. It doesn’t seem like a pretty place at all, but it does seem like a great job. More than I made here, better benefits and the cost of living in columbia is very low.
@44
If it is a good job, then you can find away to make the town cool.
Yeah you can make it work. Especially with the proximity to Greenville and Charleston, which are awesome.
Papa Jazz is still here and is still great.
44 — Sounds like a good combo.
45 — Agreed. Especially if you get along well with the people you work with.
@38: It wasn’t a great bar, but it was in my hotel, and the bartender was a pretty cool guy. And I don’t get many chances to say that I was in a bar in a bank vault.
Yep, I’ve found that willingness to employ me can make most any place beautiful.
Big Roundfield fan here. That’s a shame.
Bethany, my brother lived there near 5 Points and he and family liked town. It is not Boston, which is a good thing. No more Southern than Auburn. Too much SC on TV and paper. You can drive your car to work. My brother walked a mile or so to state capital.
You will not have to pay back your moving expenses. Gas is cheapest in SC.
My brother went to University of South Carolina and loves the Columbia area.
But then again he was a college student at the time. His opinion may very well be different now.
But Columbier won’t have any chowdah.
Didn’t those morons start the Civil War?
@56 I won’t miss the chowdah.
#57
Right state, wrong town—that’s Charleston.
But it’s still South Carolina.
Uggla sitting
Bourn
Prado
Heyward
Chipper
Freeman
Bmac
Johnson
Janish
Minor
It’s interesting — other players get moved around in the batting order as they get hot or slump. Bourn is the exception. Does speed just so wed him to his spot that he can’t be moved no matter how he hits? Prado soesn’t move much either, but he’s probably the steadiest batter (he says without looking at any stats).
Jonathan, I think it may be as simple as the fact that Bourn still has a decent batting average. If he had his slump to start the year, and he was batting around .200 at the start of June, they might consider dropping him.
Then again, I’m not sure that a BA-centric approach is entirely crazy. With Bourn, this slump might just be one of those random fluctuations in the season. With Uggla, considering this is the second straight year that he’s disappeared for two months, this is almost certainly more than just a random fluctuation, and so a more radical shift seems appropriate.
Prado as 2B, Uggla as PH. There’s your flexibility.
Uggla career vs. Hamels: 8/55, 2 HR, 5 BB, 18 K: 145/226/291
And just for fun (vs. Hamels):
Chipper, 44 PA, 324/432/649
Prado, 50 PA, 313/340/438
McCann, 61 PA, 278/361/556
@57, 59
As SC was 1st to secede, in a way its Capitol was the birthplace of the rebellion and the war. Gen. Sherman was particularly thorough in scorching it.
I thought the War started when North invaded South. My grandmother told me.
I’ve been to more places in the US and abroad than some, and Charleston is my second favorite place. Behind the Grand Canyon.
Bethany, good luck on your job search. Imagine the hottest stinking day you experienced at Auburn,and that is every summer day in Columbia, at least by reputation.
I know you will find the right position in the right place.
Good things happen to Braves Journal people. Mac is back to ‘normal’, and Dee is, at the moment, cancer free!
Bethany might not be able to get a job in Grand Canyon but Heyward could hit it out of that park.
68- great news there.
Charleston rocks.
Drove through Columbia on the way back from there recently and it seemed pretty meh. But, as someone else said, if you are happy in your job and they are paying you plenty of money, Columbia is close to some pretty awesome towns.
#66
Got the same story from my Grandmother.
When my grandmother told me the story, it wasn’t the north but “The Yankee Oppressors”
It was either the Late Unpleasantness or War of Nortern Agression.
Apparently Nick Green is, A.) Still playing organized baseball, B.) Doing it in the big leagues, and C.) Starting at 3B for the Marlins tonight…
68—Wonderful news, Mark! My prayers for her (and you) will continue.
The Astros DFA’d Juan Abreu, one of the guys in the Bourn trade. The other guys? Schafer has an OPS just over .600 and a negative fWAR, Brett Oberholtzer and Paul Clemens are both sporting 6+ ERAs in AAA as well.
All of that for 1.5 seasons of Michael Bourn. What an awful trade for the Astros.
Thanks, Stu. Talk about profiles in courage, a foot of her colon and a third of her liver later, she is more beautiful and feisty than ever. All thanks to the prayers and positive thoughts you and many others sent.
Wives, in my experience, are much tougher and more courageous than husbands are.
You are correct, sir.
Good news, Mark. Congratulations, Bethany; I’ll take Columbia over Boston any February day.
Bleah.
Well, if Minor pitches like this, there won’t be a 6 man rotation.
Might not be a bad idea to skip Minor’s turns at Citizens Bank Park, Great American Ball Park and Coors Field until he solves his gopher-ball problem.
Given that the team with the majors’ best record plays at GABP, that’s not a good sign for Minor’s postseason hopes.
I’m glad Reed Johson is a Brave.
I will not speak ill of Mike Minor. Someone please do it for me.
Mike Minor, the only lefty Ryan Howard can hit.
Thank you, Bethany. Get some runs, Braves.
No problem. Mike looks like the odd man out in this rotation.
I can see what Fredlot wants to do with the six-man rotation, by giving all six of our possible starters a chance to show what they can do. However, Minor’s clearly been the weakest of the six in most statistical measures. (Maybe he should take Avilan’s spot as long reliever.)
Awesome news, Mark. Best wishes for continuing health.
Chipper got a hit, right? Good thing. That might be all tonight.
Mike Minor the worst.
The good news is that Minor escaped giving up the leadoff double to Eric Kratz.
The bad news is that he gave up a leadoff double to something named Eric Kratz.
Run, Brian, run. See Brian run … slowly.
Runs, please.
Six-pitch inning, which we needed like, um, a Mike Minor start.
Mikey did okay after the first inning episode. I hope the Braves can take him off the hook, but Hamels looks good.
Positive for me: Minor has had a number of chances to disintegrate in an inning and he hasn’t.
Yes, 3 runs in Philly isn’t bad, it’s a shame the offense can’t back him up.
Yet another game where I read the comments, look at the score, and wonder what some of you are on.
And yet, here we are at the Tipping Point.
“Well, I got my guy.”
Oy.
Tpmorrow we’ll kick butt and take names.
Five baserunners, and we had three of them erased (on double plays and McCann being thrown out at second). Minor did alright, but an offensive performance like this is beyond help.
Is Aly Raisman old enough for me to gawk at that booty?
It’s a good thing Fredi sat Uggla tonight, or else we would have been in real trouble out there. Heck, we might have gotten shut out if Uggla would have been in the lineup. Oh, wait.
#108 – She’s 18, so I guess so
Every once in a while the $24 million pitchers pitch like they’re supposed to. Go get ’em tomorrow.
I was there tonight. It was depressing. Never felt like we had a shot. Though I will say that Juan Francisco hit bombs in BP. That was the highlight lol
Tough loss. It happens. Coal Hammels is a True Ace.
😉
Rough game. Looked like Minor might have pitched better than Sheets did the night before, but when you give up three extra-base hits in the first inning, you can’t expect very good results. >_<
It’d be great if someone with better Bbref Fu than I’ve got could test that…how often does the starting pitcher win if he gives up 3 XBHs in the first inning? Is Braves Journal right to consign itself to utter misery until the next starting pitcher toes the rubber at that point?
Make that “how often does the starting pitcher’S TEAM win…”
I think the Astros are the worst team I’ve ever seen in MLB. The bunt play looked like something my daughter’s high school softball team would have done. It’s a shame people have to pay major league prices to watch this.
I don’t know if they’re the worst in memory. In recent history, it’s really hard to beat this
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/2003-pitching.shtml
The offense wasn’t very good, either, but, man, promoting an entire pitching staff from AAA would probably have done a better job than that.
The current TB closer with a 0.70 ERA in 51 innings had a 6.07 ERA at age 26 with that team. Their pitching coach must have accidentally run over the infant son of a gypsy or something.
Yeah and somehow we lost two games to them.
Bethany – more money, better bennies, lower cost of living. The trifecta. Its not like Columbia is a hole.
Clarke – I’ve always wondered if fellow Carolinians think we Charlestonians are uppity. We aren’t but just wondering.
I can’t believe that I have watched so much of the Olympics.
@121 The situation actually became much more complicated over the evening, as a place here in Framingham has made a late, strong push and pays even better than the place in Columbia and I wouldn’t have to move but the place in Columbia wants to know by lunch time and wow. It’s not a bad situation, but it’s still stressful.
Huh, looking at that Detroit staff led me to Adam Bernero’s page. I remember him being on the Braves but I thought it was for like 4 games. Turns out he rocked a 6.51 ERA for 47 innings for us in 2005.
Brief recap is up.