I love this team!
Well, Brandon Beachy is back and let’s just say he threw a lot of strikes.
Beachy went three and two-thirds, gave up seven runs on eight hits walking one and striking out five. In reality, he would have been better off putting the ball on a tee and running back to field his position. You can see why the Braves wanted him to get one more rehab start before coming up. Let’s hope he can  get a few kinks worked out by his next start.
In the third, down five nothing, the Braves sent 11 batters to the plate scoring six runs and bailing Beachy out. However, as noted above, Beachy looked more like Smitty on the mound and the Rockies took the lead back faster than Fredi can flash the bunt sign.
In the bottom of the fifth the Braves pulled ahead on a Joey Terdoslavich  single. It appeared that would be all the Braves would need as both teams went into hibernation mode.
In the ninth Jordan Walden came on for the save, but he wasn’t up to the task. He gave up a walk to Dexter Fowler who latter came around on a Carlos González hit. Eventually the Rockies would load the bases and Fredi went to the newest Brave Scott Downs, who got to the game sometime around the first pitch. Downs managed to get Todd Helton to wiggle out of the jam.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 10th, Dan Uggla does what Dan Uggla does best. Walks. That was followed by Andrelton Simmons‘s walk off triple.
As we have said before, never give up on this team. They can score a bunch of runs in a hurry.
The lead is now up to nine and I like to imagine the Nats watching the game in a basement of the Capitol wondering what they have to do to catch a break.
Even though it is only one start, Beachy’s performance was not confidence inspiring. With the trade deadline looming in a few days, I have to think Frank Wren is going to be calling a lot of teams inquiring on a middle of the rotation pitcher.
do you mean calling about a middle of the rotation pitcher” better than Paul Maholm? He should be back in about 10 days.
Well recapped, Smitty.
Wacky weird games always make me think of Mac. I’m glad this place is here.
@2, me too.
Game ball goes to David Carpenter, 2.1 scoreless IP on a night when Beachy had nothing. He has just been tremendous this year.
“Beachy looked …like Smitty….” Does Bethany know? Does Mrs. Smitty?
‘Falcons 9 Broncos 8’ – love it Smitty. Very Mac like header.
Great win last night. I’m just glad the Braves didn’t let some schmo pitcher beat them after getting down by 5 runs.
The Braves had the ever-elusive organizational sweep last night as A-AAA all won their games. Jose Peraza might be our most exciting hitting prospect in the organization. As a 19
Year old, he collected his 47th SB of the season last night for Rome and seems to hover around a .350 OBP clip year to year. As of now, he has no power to speak of but he’s 6ft and at only 165 lb, has potential to add some power. He’ll be a fun prospect to watch and, just maybe, a replacement for Uggla and a serious leadoff threat.
Todd Cunningham promoted and Reed Johnson DL’d with achilles tendinitis.
Thank you, Smitty.
I too love this team when I’m not hating them. I bailed when the roof caved in but returned in time to see the whole BIG INNING and watched the rest of the way. Great but overly tense inning for Walden and Downs.
Go get those Rockies, Braves.
One note that I forgot to mention…Bethancourt is hitting really well right now and has resurrected his abysmal OPS to a respectable .745.
I thought Beachy looked fine. His command within the strike zone was off, especially with two strikes, but he was pounding the zone and had good stuff.
Chris Johnson, man. What a story.
I just looked at Todd Cunningham’s #s in AAA. Switch hitter, little power, decent speed and OBP skills.
.279 Avg, .357 OBP, .709 OPS. 18 SB to 6 CS.
‘Chris Johnson, man. What a story.’
At least he has been worth Delgado and Prado.
Probably another 7-10 days for BJ and Schafer too. Better hope Simba/Johnson can keep it up. Been a tough year on the OF.
It helps that J-Terds has been hitting.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/trade-deadline-updates-deals-rumors-072913
Rosenthal’s reporting the Rangers are interested in BMac. Should Wren do it? What could we get?
Interesting comment from Beachy about being perfect. Think he might have been trying to be a little too perfect last night.
Best news is he says he felt fine afterwards. (Of course, that could just be adrenaline – we’ll see.)
Good may be the enemy of great, but so is perfect. Great Brandon is quite good enough.
============
Vandy Basketball deserves better luck.
@15
Unless they are sending back Yu Darvish and cash, no.
16—It’s hilariously pitiful, all that’s happening right now. Not sure Stallings is going to survive it, even though there’s a pretty strong argument that not much of this multi-dumpster explosion is his fault.
@18
I agree, letting Stallings go is a mistake.
The good thing about basketball is, you can recover from somthing like this in one recruting class.
Stallings may not have that much time.
He’ll have this year (if we wants it), easily. Think they’ll need a really good recruiting class, though, for him to stay. And honestly, with as many open scholarships as there now are, they should be able to land a really good class.
@20
He is such a good coach that he may show up with roster he has and make some noise.
He is like the anti-Cuonzo Martin. Stalling could take the Vols roster to the elite 8. Cuonzo will be lucky to make the tournament.
So Terdo and Cunningham already?
It’s kinda funny, because our outfield sucked year after year, so I started kinda following those guys in the minors, hoping they’d turn in to something.
And then the Uptons happened and it was like, I guess those guys are gonna be blocked, huh?
And suddenly they’re here sooner than I had imagined they’d be.
Last six weeks or so has just been open season on our outfielders, huh?
@22 Has the game slowed down for Joey T?
21—We have six good players left — and I’m using “good” loosely to mean “worthy of double-digit minutes” — and three other scholarship players beyond that. Only three of those nine are guards. We’ll pull a few surprises, I’m sure, but the upside is severely limited by lack of bodies.
Joey Terds has had a nice start to his big league career, but it sure seems like he’s had a lot of bleeders, gorks, and duck farts — also, his BABIP is .409. (Chris Johnson’s is .424, FWIW.)
Still! He’s basically our new Constanza. All of them hits count, and he sure has had some good timing.
I really hope Cunningham can make a mark. He’s a speed-but-no-power fourth outfielder, and those guys generally have to get lucky in order to get a chance. Gregor Blanco has had a lovely big league career, but Charles Thomas and Josh Anderson and and so forth had a rougher time of it.
Heh. I turned the game off last night (watching it late on replay) after Beachy gave up runs 3 and 4. Watched the condensed this morning and was pleasantly surprised! Shame Walden didn’t have it, but hey, new guy did okay and frickin Simba was again the MVP. That double play he started in (I think?) the 8th wasn’t quite as good as Sunday’s but it was still damn impressive. Not to mention clutch. He’s SOOOOO good.
@25 – I agree about Terdo.
But I’d much rather it happen that way than the opposite; for him to be hitting screaming line drives in to outs, and batting .118 and ruining his confidence.
I’ve thought about this alot, with regard to young players, specifically Pastornicky.
If you come to the big leagues and struggle, there could be ALL KINDS of reasons why, and maybe the least likely of them is ‘You’re just bad at baseball.’ But if you do struggle, and start that downward spiral, you’ll get sent down, and that struggle is what will be remembered when you’re considered for another callup.
It can take some guys 2 or 3 callups before they establish themselves. But it’s easy to get trapped in the middle, play for a good team, and be good enough that a team considers you valuable depth, but struggle in your first one or two callups. So you’re on a team that can’t afford to wait while you adjust, but won’t trade you to a team that can. And then you might not get that third callup until you’re 27, and now no one else wants you.
So I love to see a guy come up and have success, even if it’s lucky success. It’s good for his mind, and probably better for his future, too.
@25
He did have one rip last night.
I know Johnson is doing what he’s doing against both righties and lefties, but it’s interesting to compare Chris Johnson’s 28 year old season to Matt Diaz’z 28 and 29 year old season. If he keeps this up along with the seemingly improved defense, he’s going to have a very special season.
Chris Johnson – Plate appearances – BA/ OBP/ SLG/ OPS
329 0.338 / 0.377 / 0.468 / 0.844
Matt Diaz – Plate appearances – BA/ OBP/ SLG/ OPS
323 0.327 / 0.364 / 0.475 / 0.839
384 0.338 / 0.368 / 0.497 / 0.865
@29
It seems like the more he plays, the better he gets in the field.
@22 – Yeah I paid particular interest in the organization OF’ers too since outside of Heyward the team seemed inept at making one. Terdoslavich and Cunningham may turn out not to be anything at all but what bad luck to start having minor league success after the Braves get the Uptons.
@31, well prospects are definitely the new black. I’m sure we can trade them for something good if they start to pan out at the high minors.
Chris Sale anyone?
Yes, please.
Are you referring to the pride of FGCU?
Why, I went to that school!
Gosh, I feel like I know the guy.
#6 and 9-
I like Peraza and I agree that the K/BB ratios and OBP are promising, but that slugging looks woeful, even for a young 19 year old, and I have a hard time getting excited over stolen bases.
Bethancourt’s season is shaping up to be the most exciting development of the year, IMO. He’s lifted his OPS by 180 points this season over last, with most of that slugging. His BB rate is still pathetic (and hence his low OBP) but he has managed to slug at a much higher rate without any increase at all in his K rate, and in July he has a 6/5 K/BB rate. Bottom line is there are not many prospects more valuable than 21 year old catchers sporting .750 OPSs at AA, with plenty of offensive upside, AND MLB-ready (and potentially elite) defense. With Alex Wood in the majors and Graham injured Bethancourt has to be our top prospect again. Lucas Sims is a not too distant second. I had Peraza 7th at the start of the season but with Gilmartin’s implosion and graduations he is top five now for sure.
Rosenthal says Sale is not for sale.
I am fascinated by Tommy (Stella) La Stella. Dude has hit at every level. I think the only reason he is still at AA is he was injured a year.
Am I the only one trying to talk myself into believing that this is just a blip in BJ Uptons’s career and not an early Andruw slide?
And I’m scared that Justin is what he has been for us. Maddeningly inconsistent. Before you throw rocks, I know he is only 25, has upside, blah blah blah.
Peraza’s greatest value will definitely be if he can stick at shortstop. He’s very very young, so there shouldn’t be any question of him moving positions to suit the major league roster — Andrelton Simmons is the best in the business, but ML-ready shortstops who play defense are a major commodity. They can get you Zack Greinke or Trevor Bauer, for instance. So it’s in our interest to leave him at short as long as possible.
#38- Despite my preseason reservations (Sickels had him at #9, I had him at #18), I have to admit that Tommy Stella is looking like a legit prospect. He’s managed the jump to AA far better than I would have guessed. His 1:1 K/BB rate is in line with previous seasons and his OBP perhaps reflects a bit of BABIP luck, but that skillset is real. He’s also posting a .982 fielding percentage and a 5+ RF/G. That is much better defense than advertised. On the other hand, he has had a couple minor injuries again this year, and how high can the ceiling be for a 24 year old at AA with very little power? But I’d definitely have to find a spot for him in the top 10.
My guess is that Peraza makes it to the bigs as a CF and leadoff hitter, but yeah, you leave him at SS for at least the next two years.
BJ’s had horrible seasons in the past and he’s typically bounced back well. I’m not nearly as concerned about next year as I am about he and his brother (who managed to be called out on strikes three times on a night where Atlanta scored 9 runs) for the rest of this season.
Bud Norris has been scratched from his start.
#43
Jake Peavy, too, apparently.
Slightly miraculous that such info got thru radioland here, where it’s all-A-Rod, all the time…
ARod is dead, long live the best fielding SS in baseball.
I used to joke with my Yankee friends that, with his crazy contract, A-Rod’s going to end up being the YES Network’s most-expensive on-air talent.
That’s obviously never happening at this point, but (depending on how much money he ends up keeping) reality-TV may beckon. He’d be perfect.
I love that Ruben Amaro is demanding that any potential suitor pay Cliff Lee’s entire contract and deal 3-4 top prospects. It’s not clear if the man understands how economics works. Actually, it’s pretty clear he doesn’t.
Given Beachy’s “performance” last night, I could get behind a Bud Norris acquisition…
@21-
“Stalling could take the Vols roster to the elite 8”
No, Stallings would lead the VandyVols to a, oh, 4-5 seed, when they’d be upset by North Whocares State in the first round of the NCAAs.
@47, “Well ‘I’ was willing to pay that much for the guy – you should be too!”
Fun fact: by weighted average age, the Braves have the youngest offense in the NL at 26.9 (league average is 28.5) and second youngest pitching staff at 27.3 (league average 28.3), trailing only the Marlins. I feel that this bodes very well for the Braves’ long-term success; young players are cheaper, more durable and on the right side of the aging curve.
Unsurprisingly, the Yankees have far and away the oldest offense and pitching staff in the AL. The Dodgers have the oldest offense in the NL, and the Giants have the oldest pitching staff.
On Bethancourt: good to see that he’s figuring out how to produce in-game power in AA. With luck, he could be the catching equivalent of Simmons in a few years.
@50 – “Look, the only accurate, TRULY accurate, assessment we have for a guy’s value is to look at what others have paid for him in the past! If you look at it that way, his value is pretty firmly established. No?”
“Alright, I’ll tell you what. You just give me, what I’ve already got in to him, and we’ll call it even. No??”
There’s a lot of anecdotal stuff around that talks about how it takes about 18 months to regain MLB-level command of your pitches. Not sure how long it’ll take Beachy, but we probably can’t wait 6 months. I’ll be surprised if we let him go through this recovery process at the MLB level. Maybe as long as we have a 9 game lead it doesn’t matter.
I’m not worried about Beachy. He had a rough night on his first one back, but he wast still striking guys out. He just doesn’t have consistency yet, and luckily, the Braves have got plenty of time to let him work it out.
And yeah, this team is phenomenally young. Part of that is injuries, but part of that is also economic reality. They just can’t afford too many veterans.
Nice job, Smitty!
Add to the Simba highlights!
http://mlbfancave.mlb.com/fancave/video.jsp?content_id=29243295&topic_id=19224580&c_id=mlb&
When he’s not hitting, he’s a marvel to watch defensively. When he’s hitting well though? Man….
Maybe that’s what we should call him when he homers. MANDRELTON!
Andrelton could be an MVP if he could produce a .300 BA, a little power, and a lot of walks.
Gosh, a team with an amazing fielding shortstop and catcher (Bethancourt), young pitching, and Kimbrel, Gattis, Freeman, and Heyward? Wow, what a core.
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I thought Simmons dp he turned late in the game last night was one of the most impressive I’ve seen – even from him. Most SS’s would have to dive for that ball if they were positioned where Simmons’ was. Simmons not only got to it standing up, but his footwork to turn the dp was perfect. I know it wasn’t a highlight reel dive, but I still don’t know many SS’s who can make that play.
I’m not worried about Beachy long term. I’m worried about having 3/5’s of the starting rotation going into the stretch run be 4 inning squint-and-hope deals. Right now I’m not confident that any of Medlen, Beachy or Wood will turn in 5 solid innings on a given night, and that’s not good.
RE: Beachy’s strikeouts, I’m not terribly impressed with 5 K’s over 3 innings when you give up 8 hits and a walk around them. K per 9 is a flawed metric. You’re far better off looking at K’s as a percentage of batters faced, and 5 Ks over 20 batters isn’t terribly impressive. He’ll get better. He’s not on the downward track (like Doc Halladay was in April, when his K/9 was off the charts but completely wrong about his effectiveness.) He’s in recovery. But the Braves need performance NOW, not performance next April.
inconsitent RF – age 23
uhhhhh, a CF? – age 28
potentially great LF – age 25
good for now 3b – age 28
an amazing defensive SS – age 23
Uggla – 33
good 1b – age 23
All Star catcher – age 29
catcher in waiting – age 26
and a lot of good young pitching.
A nice young core of position players, a decent farm system that seems to be producing MLB ready talent at a decent pace. A solid front office. We are lucky fans.
Simba hasn’t struck out since before the All-Star Break
#63 – Thats impressive.
So this is what you need to know about Todd Cunningham:
@61, it means at least he can consistently throw the ball over the plate. I’ll take that for the first time back. He wasn’t falling behind hitters and having to groove one, he was just wild in the strike zone. Once he starts getting movement on his pitches he’ll be fine.
@61, especially given that 2 of the K’s were against the pitcher.
I’m not down on him – this is par for the course with respect to the comeback process. The question for this year is can he and Wood eat enough innings to keep our pen from being overtaxed, and can we win enough of their starts to make winning the division a non-issue. If the answer is “not sure” then I think you have to make a deal for a starter.
jjschiller,
I might be moving down to Naples. Any advice on the housing market?
Eek, I don’t know alot about Naples, honestly. I worked there for awhile, but I’ve never lived there. Do you know where you’re going to be working?
68—Good luck. Hope you like old people!
Yeah, there’s plenty of old folks in Naples. Driving slow. Turning right from the center lane.
@61- a 25% K-rate is just fine, thank you very much. Actually, that’s probably close to (better than?) what he was doing prior to his injury. And a 5% walk rate is okay. I’m not saying I was impressed. Just that I’m not particularly worried about him going forward.
@59- I completely agree. I mentioned it earlier. How quickly (and accurately!) he got the ball to 2B blew my mind.
You can spin it however you like, but giving up 9 base runners and 5 earned runs over 3 innings is a shit start. I don’t care if you K the side and end with 9 strikeouts. 9 base runners and 5 earned in 3 measly innings is crap.
Why yes, personally, I think Beachy’s first start went just swimmingly!
Here’s you twitter update for those who don’t.. twit?
1. Heyward CF 2. J Upton RF 3. Freeman 1B 4. Gattis LF 5. McCann C 6. C. Johnson 3B 7. Uggla 2B 8. Simmons SS 9. Wood P
BJ to begin rehab tomorrow, play at least three games. Schafer expected to begin rehab on Saturday.
More proof Evan Gattis is the world’s most interesting man.
“I don’t always start. But, when I do, I bat cleanup.”
I have no faith in Alex Wood as a starter.
Maybe not yet, but I do think Wood’s long-term future is as a starter.
==========
Btw, has anyone seen Jeremy Schaap and Anthony Weiner in the same room?
The problem with Wood as a long-term future starter is the same problem as Brandon Beachy in six months. It doesn’t help win a WS in 2013.
The question is can we get one league average and one slightly above league average starter out of Beachy, Wood, and Maholm for the rest of the season. I’m leaning towards no at this point. If that’s the case, we really need to make a trade!
#78
Anthony Weiner: Same schlong & dance…
(With apologies to schlongs.)
Ya know maybe I’m just a ball-breaker, but, Simmons didn’t hit a triple last night. That was a double, taking third on the throw. If you watch the replay, the short stop has the ball when he’s about 30 feet from 3rd. If that weren’t the winning run, he’d have been dead-to-rights at third.
65 — LOL
I can’t even keep up with MLBTR today. Whew.
@79 And Bud Norris does? I’d take Beachy if there were a bet between the two over who performs best rest of season.
Functional league average production out of the 3-5 spots is something the Braves could use down the stretch, yes. (No, Norris doesn’t really give you the playoff-impact arm that would help you improve your odds at a WS, but the only guy out there that would is Cliff Lee.)
Yeah I don’t see Bud Norris helping us, although I think @80 is a bit off-base, too.
“The question is can we get one league average and one slightly above league average starter out of Beachy, Wood, and Maholm for the rest of the season.”
First, if you’re counting Maholm in the possibilities, you have to count Maholm’s spot as open. That means we need 2 out of the 3.
And besides, that would be the question if you knew how each of them was going to throw on a given day, and you could go with that guy. Or, if you could like, have all three of them pitch, and go with the game you liked best. But you can’t. You can’t combine the guys and average them. You need them to pitch well in the games they pitch. How good the backup is doesn’t matter, when the backup isn’t the one who pitched.
If you are unsatisfied with Maholm, as I am, you need two pitchers to go out and pitch well.
We can’t carry even one drag on this rotation. As good as our bullpen has been, rate stat wise, it’s only been that good because of the strength of the rotation reducing their exposure. If any of our 5 pitch worse than Maholm has so far, you could see things unravel down there quickly.
@86 I just don’t understand the logic of including Medlen in your complaint about unreliable pitchers, and then suggesting as a solution a guy who has performed worse (albeit marginally) year to date, much less comes anywhere near his potential (or even established) ceiling.
Honestly, I feel like Teheran has been what we thought Medlen would be, and Medlen has been what we thought Teheran would be. I think that luck has been a wash.
We’re fine 1-3. And Maholm might be better following 2 weeks of rest.
I’d like one more sure thing, because we still have two months of regular season ball left, and all our depth is in the big leagues now. Give me one guy to push Maholm to the 5, and let Wood develop and Beachy round in to form in Gwinnett. If Beachy becomes Beachy, Maholm can have a mystery injury.
But if we’re going to give any prospects in a move, I’d love for that move to be for a player we intend to use in October. I want a guy to slot in front of, or behind Minor.
Sam says that’s only Lee. I think I’d include Peavy, too. I pasted his rate numbers a few threads back, and they are almsot EXACTLY his career averages. He’s not Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. But he’s Jake Peavy.
Bud Norris for free would be fine. But I’m not paying what we paid for Maholm.
At this point, I would like to find a good number three starter.
I feel like Teheran has been what we thought Medlen would be, and Medlen has been what we thought Teheran would be.
Agreed.
Might need another nine-run night.
We don’t have the bullpen to keep doing this.
neither do the Rockies
That’s Tim McClellan back there isn’t it. I hate when he’s behind the plate.
I feel like Teheran has been what we thought Medlen would be, and Medlen has been what we thought Teheran would be.
I agree, and this would be perfectly cromulent except for the fact that the Mets killed Tim Hudson. If the conversation is “what we expected out of Teheran” in the #4 slot, it’s more academic. In the #3 slot that’s a much bigger deal, because it means you have to lean heavily on your duct-tape-and-chicken-wire bullpen 3 out of every five starts, and it means that if you get to the playoffs, you’re running one of Maholm or Medlen out there to start do or die games for you.
Aight, Freddie!
Oh,yeah! Freddie!
That helps.
For those not listening to the TV broadcast, Freddie Freeman is now 5 for 7 against Nicasio, with 3 HR, 1 2B and 1 3B.
FF is unable to hit a single
Yep, we’re gonna need lots of runs. Again.
Alright, I give in. Bring on Bud Norris.
Going to need a lot of Freeman at-bats tonight.
That looked like a pretty good pitch. Didn’t Arenado homer on a ball inside last night too? Might want to try the outside corner next time guys…
Free Bud!
Yeah, maybe the Braves need to acquire a starter after all.
Maybe Colorado can hit a little bit.
If Alex Wood can’t throw 30 pitches without bleeding profusely from his fingers, maybe we should give him a break.
Tim McClellan drives me crazy.
Pirates beat the Cardinals, knocking them into second in the Central. Hope they stay there and enjoy the wild-card game.
@111 – I hope the Reds pass them and drop them in to 3rd.
Also, those guys are playing a double header today.
Jim Powell had a pretty cool monologue about Andrelton’s low BABIP just now. Straight up BABIP is pretty uninformative, but I’m calculating his expected BABIP at .306 (vs .249 actual). That takes the seemingly endless supply of IFFBs into account, so there’s good reason to believe that he’s outperformed his outcomes so far. Even a .270-hitting Andrelton would be a ridiculous player. So happy to have him.
Justin! Please stay good this time.
Justin? JUSTIN!!
Alright, maybe that’ll get Justin going. He was early on one for once.
Put it in the air, Evan.
Jesus. As much grief as we give umpires… You gotta be a tough son of a bitch to take blows like that for 30 years.
Evan swings at everything.
Three run dinger, right here.
Drats.
Oso hasn’t looked right since coming back from the DL.
Maybe that or the constantly having to switch and learn LF is getting to him.
This Wood kid is starting to look like a pitcher.
One thing you can say about Alex Wood, kid is a quick learner.
Seems like Gattis is just trying to pull everything. Inevitable that he might get carried away with the legend of himself. He’ll be all right, just an ugly stretch lately. We need him to hit though, because the Uptons aren’t helping at all.
Wood did better in that spot than most of our guys do.
Now lets tie it in some kind of embarrassing fashion, like a passed ball.
Okay Jason!
Nice, Jason. I didn’t expect it, but you did well.
125- Nah, we’ll have to settle for Heyward showing some of that potential we love. Sorry to disappoint.
Suddenly, their guy has thrown way more pitches than our guy.
Gah, just had to bounce over the wall.
Doubles machine.
I think Evan probably picked something up in that 7 pitch AB last time up. I like him here.
I like him HERE!
Not for nothing, but Don Sutton sounds great on play-by-play tonight.
A couple fortunate hits, but it all counts.
Edit: That was not a lucky bounce though.
We’re going streaking, boys!
I was an inning early on that 3-run homer..
MCCANN!! I like this scoring tons of runs thing. I vote that we continued.
BMac!
Touchdown!
When did the Ted turn into Coors Field?
Regression Machine with another hit.
Again, ladies and gentlemen, your league’s leading hitter.
Time for Woody to get his first big league W.
(No doubt Bobby would be saying “Let’s go Woody!”)
@143 – Good call. You know he would.
@134 – He did fine until that Helton single. In order, I thought Gattis caught it, then that it was a double, and finally we heard that it was just a single. Telling us the result of the play is job #1, but Sutton makes you wait a while to find out what happened quite frequently.
How ’bout that Dawg.
Strasburg just gave up a salami. Gnats trail 5-1.
Alex Wood has looked like a completely different pitcher after the 2nd. (After the trainers fixed the bleeding fingernail thing.)
@145 – I’m not listening to the radio, but I can hear Don’s call based on your description.
He get’s ahead of himself. He doesn’t have that knack that Powell has for using the audio-only-advantage of letting it play out, and still describing it like it’s in real time.
@149 – Yep. And it seems to mainly be on balls hit to the outfield, which is weird since you’d think they would afford him more time to assess the situation. Maybe he can just run on instinct when he doesn’t have time to think about it.
Wait, never mind, it just took Sutton 10 seconds or more to tell us that Heyward reached 1st on the strikeout/wild pitch. Good grief.
Edit: I don’t mean to sound so negative about him. I think having him available for color commentary is well worth the price of his godawful play-by-play. It just really is terrible though.
Justin’s swinging good tonight.
Great AB by Justin.
I’m greedy. I wanna knock Francis out quickly, and get back in to their actual bullpen. Keep them tired for tomorrow.
Our second six-run inning in as many nights, matching our season high. Why in the world would you mess this up by returning Li’l Melvin to the lineup?
Zach Wheeler is 8 outs away from a no-no.
@154. Offhand, I believe we had a 7-run inning against Arizona last month.
When I was driving home from the game last night, I was listening to the post-game show. They replayed Simmons’ triple and Don said it was “in the corner.”
Wow. We’re gonna get 7 innings out of Wood tonight. Unreal.
Kid’s rolling now. Who’da thunk it?
@156
You may be right; my info is based on Chip having told us last night that the 6-run inning then matched a season high.
Also: Wheeler’s no-no is no-mo. I mean no more.
EDIT: regardless of our season high in runs in an inning, my salient question stands. Why would any sane person bring BJ back and ruin this lineup?
And now Wheeler is not.
Johnson is just unconscious.
I’d pay money for a compilation post featuring all the wise thread comments from within the last month telling us that our biggest need at the trading deadline is a third baseman.
Regression! defies the laws of probability.
Wow, I’m starting to genuinely believe that he could win that batting title
@163
I’ll cop to it, although I’m pretty sure my last comment to that effect was longer ago than a month. After a while one just realizes the future has already arrived.
@163 – I’d wait until the season’s over for that one. There’s two months left.
It’s been said before, but CJ’s swing is uncannily like that of Edgar Martinez. I seem to recall the latter winning two batting titles. Coincidence?
It may be time to put “Regression” in the glossary as CJ’s nickname.
HOLY CRAP
Holy shit Andrelton.
Andrelton’s got a pretty good arm.
I can’t even comprehend that.
Amazing.
Ok, I think we can give Simba the Gold Glove already.
I’m not even sure I saw that.
Nice game, Alex.
Good job after the rough start, Alex.
How in the heck did he do that? Wow.
Quality start after an unpromising start.
Note to self: run down Alex Wood more often.
Did Brian field that throw on a short hop, or did he really put that ball 6 inches off the ground?
How long does it take the general sports-fan world to recognize Andrelton for his talent? Two more seasons? Three? Maybe he just has to play like he normally does on the playoff stage.
@182 Short hop, I think.
Now let’s have Varvaro pitch the last 2 innings and call it a night.
Good for Todd!
Nice, kid.
Cunningham found his thrill. Way to go, kid.
I love it when young kids get it out of the way early like that. Now he can take it one at bat at a time.
I really enjoy when they show the reactions of the parents when their kid gets his first hit, inning pitched, etc. Sometimes, people don’t realize the amount of sacrifice that a parent makes to raise an elite athlete.
As a fellow Jax St. alum, I’m proud of Todd Cunningham.
@190: I even cheer for the opponents first timers to have a good start for that very reason (but then not to win versus us).
Nice 0-2 pitch.
Yeah, throwing really hard and really straight isn’t always good enough.
Freddie! Always a free man.
Alrighty then. Whack it, Freddie.
@190 – No doubt.
The Rockies appear to be done with this game.
Another ho-hum play by THE shortstop.
182 — Looking at the replay on Gameday, I don’t think it actually hit the ground after all.
Replay
The once and future Shortstop.
Hello April Braves, long time no see. Why don’t you stay a while.
Regression got robbed there, really good play.
@200 – It bounced right inside Brian’s glove, you could call it a trap, I guess.
Still, as on the money as it gets.
I tell you, if this team shows up in the playoffs, I like their chances. The second (yes, second) place Gnats are about to be 10 games out.
LOLMarlins: https://vine.co/v/hqbJtnWrAZO
Let’s hope Heyward doesn’t experience the same fate as Rusty Greer from the constant diving for balls and sacrificing his body on plays.
@207 – That’s why I want him back in RF asap.
@206 – that’s amazing.
#167,
We’re just a couple of weeks removed from you saying Andrelton’s glove isn’t worth keeping his bat in the lineup. I’m confident my stance here will stand up better in the long run.
206- Now that’s funny!
LolMarlins, IWOTM, Philly Phunnies… we might have been worried for a reason this season if we were in a division with other major league teams in it.
Baltimore caught sleeping
I can really get used to these 6-run innings.
@210 – I said he should be losing AB’s, it’s not like I said we should release him.
And I stand by that. When you go .225/.268/.267 for a calendar month (June), you shouldn’t lead the team in plate appearances for that month.
And I’ve got 3 reasons why:
1.) You’re hurting the team.
2.) A good deal of his struggles due to a poor approach, and just as success and hard work should both be rewarded, so should going brain-dead and ignoring what your coaches are showing you be punished.
3.) And not least of all, because periodic physical rest aswell as a mental break, might have helped him hit better when he was out there.
And if Ramiro Pena hadn’t gone down for the season during that same month, leaving our only alternatives Janish and Pastornicky, I would bet you he would have lost ABs.
LolMarlins, IWOTM, Philly Phunnies… we might have been worried for a reason this season if we were in a division with other major league teams in it.
Split W L RS RA WP
PIT 4 3 26 23 .571
STL 3 0 11 3 1.000
CIN 4 3 35 30 .571
LAD 5 2 27 17 .714
ARI 4 2 33 15 .667
Have all mlb.com Gameday, At Bat, and scoreboards gone dead for everyone else? All of my devices say we’re still in the 8th, and that the Pirates are up 1-0 in the 3rd. I happen to know our game is over, and I’m pretty certain the Pirates are up 3-0 in the 4th. But on my phone, both computers and xBox the scoreboards seem to be frozen.
Happened during the 7th inning of our game. ESPN’s scoreboard appears to be up to date (it’s 4-0 Pirates in the 7th).
Laird has kidney stones.
I blame A-Rod.
If the season ended today, the Cardinals would have the second-best record in the National League and the league’s best run differential. They would have to play in the stupid wild card game. The Braves would scoot along to the NLDS automatically.
In related news, I wish the season ended today.
I think we did critical damage to the Cardinals.
Pirates up 6-0 end of the 7th. That game was stuck for the longest time in the 4th inning on my Gameday too.
Jake Peavy is headed to Boston, apparently.
For Jose Iglesias.
So that’s the going rate for an all-glove, no hit shortstop?
We like Wood.
Another update says it’s a three team deal with Detroit involved. Iglesias might be headed to the Tigers as they could be out a shortstop soon.
So the Cards were swept in 3 by us, and if they lose tonight, they’ll have lost the first 3 of a 5 game series with the team that HAD been chasing them.
I hope they lose the next two, also.
With Washington and Philly fading, the Cards have become my secondary game, my “Hate Watch.”
@226 – It’s so nice of MLB to give them advanced warning so they could do something about it.
Talking about Andrelton Simmons losing at-bats might be the silliest possible thing we could do here.
Edit: And now I will watch the replay of that relay throw five or six more times.
Recapping has occurred.
Another awesome game. 🙂
Why is it that every night for like the past week, it seems like Simmons has made a PHENOMENAL play? Not just his run-of-the-mill really good making-a-tough-play-look-routine thing, but show-stopping PHENOMENAL play? God. I can’t get enough. Even if he wasn’t hitting well now…. It’s just jaw-dropping.