Sorry for the late recap!
So here’s what happened last night: Jason Heyward came back and got two hits and a walk, both Paul Maholm and Eric O’Flaherty gave up a homer to Scott Van Slyke, and Justin Upton did this when the bases were juiced:
According to hittrackeronline.com, it went 454 feet.
Maholm is an okay pitcher who has pitched quite well in a Braves uniform. He’s fine as a #3/#4 starter; he usually tends to keep his teams in a position to win, which is what happened last night. Eric O’Flaherty has been worked awfully hard, and we’ll just have to hope that he isn’t broken like Jonny Venters is. Fortunately, Avilan was good and Craig Kimbrel was his nasty self. (For what it’s worth, according to Brooksbaseball.net, his four-seamer averaged 98 mph last night.)
Heyward’s 2-4 night raised his average to .145, while B.J. Upton’s 0-4 night lowered his average to .141. It’s going to be a long slog for Upton. We just have to hope it won’t be as long as it was for Carl Crawford, who suffered through two awful injury-plagued years in Boston before finally finding rejuvenation in a new city after his old team managed to dump his contract. But the only way that Upton will get out of this is by playing. We’ve heard that he’s working hard and has been seeking out the help of the coaches, so he’s approaching this with the right attitude. But he may have to stay in the 8th hole for a while.
However, Heyward’s night was great to see. He saw 24 pitches in five plate appearances, reaching base three times with a double, a single, and a walk. He had a nice, quick stroke on the double, and played his usual beautiful defense. A healthy Heyward makes this club so much better.
Beating the Dodgers is one of the great joys in life. Let’s go do it again.
Last night’s game will be a fun one to relive for a while. I even didn’t hate Chip’s grand slam call. Good times!
Speaking of good times, I found this link to a game from 1993, featuring an impossibly trim and young-looking Chipper Jones, and a hilariously epic home run swing from Ryan Klesko. A highlight game of that season to be sure. No further spoilers for anyone whose memory was as vague as mine. I sure wish our access to history like this wasn’t restricted to shaky homemade videos off YouTube.
The moment Upton hit the HR I jumped up and yelled “500 feet!” My wife thought I was going insane.
So that video made me go look at Klesko’s stats. Anyone know where the 46 SB with only 11 caught stealing in 2000 and 2001 came from? He only had 45 SB in the other 14 years of his career.
I loved the play Heyward made on the shallow fly that Uggla totally lost. I really thought it was gonna land and then out of nowhere Heyward comes in splitting Freeman and Uggla to make a great saving catch. It’s good to have him back.
I was at the game last night and it made me a bit sad that B.J. was getting so many boos during his at-bats. I really wish he could pull himself out of whatever funk he is in.
I have watched that Upton grand slam no less than 10 times. I’m not done.
Atlanta fans typically don’t boo. It’s pretty bad when they’ve had enough.
@145 from last thread — there are lots of blogs that are fair to the Mets. Mets blogs, for instance. We do Braves fan service here in many forms, including, but not limited to, ridiculing the Mets just because.
That video refreshed some fun memories. The way Klesko reacted with that swing would make you think he just won Game 7 in October, instead of a 2-run HR to get within 2 runs in April.
@7, for example, the fact they are paying 10.4M to the killer B’s Bay and Beltran to be good somewhere else and Bonilla not to play, and 20M to Santana (137M total for 109 starts) makes BJ’s contract seem like a bargain.
Don’t forget the Mets will still be paying Bobby Bonilla in 2037.
EOF to the 15-day DL. Cory Rasmus up from Gwinnett.
Yeah, that can’t be a surprise at this point. So to recap: Venters, EOF, Walden, and C-Mart out of commission. The bullpen is now officially a concern.
Well, here’s hoping that Varvaro, Avilan, and Gearrin are actually as good as they’ve occasionally suggested they’re capable of being.
Wow, bullpen’s in bad shape. Good thing we have a shut-down closer and depth.
So much for trading a reliever at the deadline…
Why did EOF pitch last night?
Simmons ss, Heyward rf, JUpton lf, Freeman 1b, CJohnson 3b, McCann c, Uggla “2b”, BUpkis cf, Medlen p.
EOF needs Tommy John, per DOB. I guess that means Medlen is next.
So much for the stellar bullpen. This sucks
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Isn’t JR Graham shut down with possibly needing shoulder surgery? Who can be called up that would help?
Anyone think Reed or Schafer could bring a bullpen arm?
17-Meant to say Kimbrel is next.
But I suspect this means we will see Alex Wood sooner rather than later.
Ugh, that blows.
20- Not one that’s anywhere near major-league ready.
Wow. Our bullpen management is coming home to roost.
@8, That game was in September when we were locked in the death duel with the Giants. It was a big win.
I know there is no one single game that causes this, but games like the one a week ago is a good example. Your best relievers don’t pitch in 10-1 blowouts. Another reason relievers shouldn’t get long term contracts.
Bad news about EOF, but it doesn’t feel all that surprising. He hasn’t looked right for a while now.
1 — There’s so much fantastic about that video, but I think Klesko’s majestic mullet and bat flip takes the cake.
Wow….EOF.
My vision started wobbling when I read the he tore his UCL. That came out of nowhere.
This sucks. O’Flaherty is the glue. And did you realize he’s third in seniority on the team?
Seems more likely now that Beachy’s spot when he comes back will be in the bullpen…
The basics on EOF:
13-7, W-L
1.99, ERA
249.1, IP
1.155, WHIP
7.2, K/9
2.46, K/BB
11, HR
Interestingly, no saves during the five years of his Braves career.
I would like to point out that those statistics from yesterday are completely misinterpreted. You’ve got the statistics from each position and from them you extrapolate individual player performance.
So, for CF, you say that there are players out there worse than BJ upton. That doesn’t follow, because schafer has (somehow) improved the CF stats to that point.
For 1st, you say freeman is middle of the pack. Half of the 1st base stats aren’t even from him.
And for LF, the stats Upton has put up have been diluted by the many starts he made in right.
Just felt like this lazy analysis needed to be addressed.
Beachy is the team’s first or second best starter. He wouldn’t belong in the bullpen even if he were lefthanded, which he’s not.
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It sucks, it’s unfortunate, but given his work this year — pitch speed down, K rate down, fly-ball percentage up, HR rate way up and WHIP/ERA only held in place by very good BABIP luck — it comes as absolutely no surprise and explains a lot. Get well, EOF.
Sometimes you really do have to tip your cap, or your helmet.
Damn.
@36: Jason’s a class act.
What’s the track record for starting pitchers immediately after returning from TJ? If there’s reason to expect a ramping up period for Beachy, the bullpen seems like an okay way to do that. At the moment, I’m not sure whose place Beachy would take. Hudson is pitching the worst, but unless they DL him or he completely flames out, he’s not going anywhere. His and Maholm’s repertoires aren’t a good fit for single-inning work, anyway. Minor and Medlen are obviously safe. And Teheran is improving with regular work.
@39: First of all, good chance he’ll be replacing Gilmartin by the time he gets back.
Second, if it does come to replacing one of our current five, I think it’ll be Teheran. He’s coming along nicely, but there’s still work to be done on the changeup, and they’ll want to stash him at AAA to keep him stretched out in case of an injury.
Chip leading into the bottom half of the first inning: “Kris Medlen got the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the top half of the first. Now it’s the Braves turn!”
Really nice hit by Johnson. Sometimes those bloops happen on purpose.
So you can put your foot outside the batter’s box toward home plate and take a HBP now? There’s a strategy that B.J. Upton ought to mimic.
Can always trade Hudson/Maholm for a good reliever and insert Beachy in their spot.
Wait, when did the Dodgers hire Snitker?
Isn’t Hudson a 10/5 guy?
43 — With how they call *everything* a HBP you could probably just step onto home plate and get hit and you’d get a free base.
Trading proven starters for relievers is almost always a bad idea. Plus, Hudson has 10/5 veto power.
How did Simmons not beat that out? I thought he was supposed to be fast.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble.
Justin. No, Justin. No…
Worldbeater at the plate, eggbeater in the field.
Wow, Braves getting shut down by Crapuano again?
I hate him. Capuano, I mean.
Dan can’t even slam his bat down on the ground competently.
The Braves at-bats sure fly by on Gameday. It’ll be “Medlen batting, 1-0 count.” Then within the next one minute, Medlen/Simmons/Heyward have all made outs and the inning is over.
Fine work by Medlen; now it’s time for the offense to develop a pulse.
Great game, Meds. Runs, please.
The most annoying is that when they face a pitcher they absolutely cannot seem to figure out, like Capuano, most of the time they don’t work the count even the least either. He’s at friggin’ 75 pitches into the 7th.
Someone needs to sit on one of those changeups and take him yard.
Is Gattis still on the roster?
A. Simmons SS 0-3
J. Heyward RF 0-3
J. Upton LF 0-3
F. Freeman 1B 0-3
C. Johnson 3B 3-3
B. McCann C 0-3
D. Uggla 2B 0-2
B.J. Upton CF 0-2
K. Medlen P 1-2
So Medlen has more hits than every non-Johnson regular combined?
Not looking good. Maybe Uggla or BJ can do something. Hard to win with 4 autmoatic outs in the lineup.
Joe Beimel signed and sent to AAA, saith the broadcast. Eleven years as a failed starter turned decent reliever, last (and first) with Pittsburgh.
And BJ does something! And Fredi remembers Gattis’ existence. And El Oso Blanco scares off Capuano with his mighty roar (okay, that last one’s artistic license).
Heeeeeeeeeeere’s Gattis!
YES~!!!!!!!
VIVA EL OSO BLANCO!!
Yeah, don’t leave the fastball there…
Who was that masked man?
AND SIMMONS TOO!
OSO BLANCO!
ANDRELTON!!!!
I love every hair on your 27 acre body.
Wow. To both of those. That’s into mental scarring territory there.
Wow, I’m delayed on my Roku/mlb.TV. Hooray!
Just a beautiful at-bat from Gattis in every way. And a shame Medlen can’t get the win, but at least he won’t get a loss he never deserved.
OH MY GOD GATTIS AND SIMMONS
I just got back from seeing 42 with my boss and he turned the radio to the game and I listened to a few pitches before darting inside. I knew Evan was going to make it happen.
I was “watching” on MLB.com and thinking it was tempting fate to throw Gattis the same pitch 8 times.
Well, Jason hit that ball hard. I’ll take that from him.
Kenly ain’t exactly fooling anyone
Gattis is a MLB player, y’all.
True that.
Get that guy some playing time.
Kimbrel looks like his old self since BMac came back.
That slider to Ether was absolutely disgusting.
TV guys pointed out that Kimbrel basically was able to take the Arizona series off, and that certainly seems to have helped.
Ball game. Whew!
WOOO! Well hot damn.
At least we’ve still got Kimbrel. And for now, that’s enough.
Considering Medlen gave up just 2 hits through 7 innings, that would have been a real tough loss, but all’s well that ends well.
I don’t know if Medlen is finally settling in with his command, but boy he was good today.
Anybody still think Simmons won’t get 10HR?
@93 I have been proven wrong. I didn’t think he’d do it.
I thought he’d get around 10, but I think he might surpass that even now.
I’ve making more of a point to watch the Braves Live postgame now because DOBs quotes are behind a paywall.
Any idea when Luis Ayala will be less anxious?
@97 I was anxious tonight, you weren’t?
Pads jump in front of Washington in the bottom of the 8th.
I haven’t heard any updates on the Lisp or Ayala.
@99 Don’t worry, the Pads are going to roll over as most teams do for the Nats.
LOL, that was some Fredi-esque management there.
Strikeout-caught stealing DP by the Nationals. I thought we had that patented or something.
And our lead’s a game and a half as Desmond pops out.
Padres beat the Nats 2-1 — that’s a 2.0 game lead.
Huston Street apparently sucks, but gets bailed out and the Pads win.
Tip o the cap to Mattingly for pulling Capuano after only throwing about 80 pitches and totally dealing all over us.
Nah, Capuano had thrown 91 pitches, and Gattis kills lefties. It made some sense.
Anyone else not impressed with Mattingly?
When you give up a single to BJ, it’s time for you to come out.
Don’t know if anyone noticed, but after tonight’s results Heyward is once more lagging behind BJ in batting average. This is gonna be one hell of a dogfight!
@109
To be fair, though, it’s hardly Heyward’s fault. He should’ve had a homer and a single today.
Whoops, just a 1.5 game lead.
Tough news, but a great win.
Just back from Citi Field & I feel filthy.
Recap posted.