Sorry kids. It’s been a day today.
Last night Kris Medlen was pretty damned good again. Regression hit a deep fly-ball that scraped over the top of the fence for the deciding 2-run homer. Chase Utley got like, 12 hits in 3 at bats which means it’s totally okay to still hate that guy. David Carpenter and Craig Kimbrel shut the door in the 8th and 9th. Fredi did that thing where he let his starter bat and then pulled him as soon as a runner got on in the next inning, sending the chorus into another ruckus. So all told, everyone was happy at the end.
Phils again tonight. Same bat time. Same bat channel.
I just wanted to address @114 from the last thread, about the Royals getting Bonifacio. A few people around here have been wanting Bonifacio for a little while now. However, please remember this: Emilio Bonifacio sucks. He is not a good baseball player. He is hitting .218/.258/.321, a .579 OPS — and if that OPS looks familiar, it is, because B.J. Upton has an OPS two points higher. But Bonifacio’s career OPS is .659: he has always sucked at hitting.
He isn’t good at fielding, either. Bonifacio has 3 career fWAR in seven seasons, and that’s almost entirely due to the “positional replacement” value he derives from playing a bunch of positions — but he plays them badly. His career UZR is -14.9.
I’m sure he’s very gritty. And it does not surprise me that Dayton Moore wants him: Emilio Bonifacio is fast and terrible at getting on base, which fits his two major criteria. But we should not want him. He is bad.
Speaking of the Royals:
http://deadspin.com/kauffman-stadium-scoreboard-promotes-tweet-from-musta-1137613047
Alex, I agree. Guess my sarcasm didn’t come thru very well. Just trying to stir up that conversation again.
@3, good. I was worried — we certainly could use an infield bench bat, but Emilio Bonifacio is not the answer. He is not even an answer, unless the question is, “What is the name of a bad baseball player whose name begins with Emilio B.?”
we welcomed to the world our family’s newest Braves fan last night. He and mom are doing well. Big brother and sister are excited.
Nice to welcome him with a W.
If we had Chase Utley, we would win the World Series
@5,
Congrats!
Congrats, c. shorter!
I don’t think Pastornicky is better than Uggla. He couldn’t slug
.400 at Gwinnett.
@5, congratulations!!
3 attaboys for c. shorter!
I don’t see any possible upgrades over Uggla/Pastornicky that might be available via waivers. Slim pickins…
We’ve all been preoccupied with the Pirates in the race for home field, but I submit that it’s the Dodgers we need to be concerned about. They are only 1 game behind PIT and 3.5 behind ATL, and of course they never lose.
There’s also the matter of the remaining schedule. Of the teams in the NL playoffs right now only ATL has an easier schedule than LA. Here are the Opp W% and Home/Road breakdown of the contenders (and the East teams).
ATL .461 23/19
WAS .473 18/26
NYM .489 24/20
PHI .491 25/18
PIT .497 20/24
STL .509 24/20
CIN .494 23/20
LAD .473 19/23
ARI .497 20/24
If the Dodgers play at an .800 level for the rest of the season like they did for the last 50 games I will be surprised.
Either 1) the Dodgers will come back to earth, or 2) it’s meant to be and the sports gods want them to win.
@13 DOOOOOOOMED
@5: Congratulations!
And here are the latest Official JonathanF Rankings: (apologies for still not being to understand Tableizer) The Braves have risen to 2nd. The Dodgers are now an interesting case. A Braves-Dodgers game at Chavez Ravine is now a 50-50 tossup (well, 51.1% Dodgers) but a game in Atlanta is 59% Braves even though the Dodgers have the best road ranking in baseball.
Team Method 1 Method 2 Method3Home Method3Road
Boston|100.0 (1)|100.0 (1)|89.4 (3)|67.2 (2)
Atlanta|92.4 (2)|93.5 (2)|100.0 (1)|56.6 (9)
Detroit|92.2 (3)|93.3 (3)|89.3 (4)|57.7 (7)
Pittsburgh|91.0 (4)|91.2 (4)|92.7 (2)|53.5 (11)
Tampa Bay|87.5 (5)|87.6 (5)|80.4 (5)|57.2 (8)
Dodgers|86.4 (6)|86.6 (6)|59.2 (13)|70.5 (1)
St. Louis|85.1 (8)|86.1 (8)|72.8 (8)|62.7 (4)
Texas|85.8 (7)|86.4 (7)|62.9 (12)|65.5 (3)
Baltimore|84.4 (9)|84.6 (9)|71.0 (9)|61.2 (6)
Oakland|82.8 (10)|83.5 (10)|79.8 (6)|53.0 (12)
Yankees|76.5 (13)|76.5 (13)|65.8 (11)|55.6 (10)
Cincinnati|80.6 (11)|81.8 (11)|79.6 (7)|48.5 (18)
Kansas City|74.7 (14)|74.6 (14)|53.7 (16)|61.5 (5)
Cleveland|77.8 (12)|77.3 (12)|69.3 (10)|49.7 (16)
Arizona|69.1 (15)|68.8 (15)|52.7 (17)|52.7 (13)
Washington|62.7 (16)|62.0 (16)|58.0 (14)|40.1 (21)
Toronto|61.2 (17)|60.8 (17)|44.4 (23)|50.4 (15)
Seattle|56.5 (18)|55.7 (18)|44.7 (22)|42.8 (19)
Colorado|54.3 (19)|53.9 (20)|55.8 (15)|29.3 (28)
Minnesota|53.6 (20)|54.1 (19)|41.9 (25)|42.6 (20)
Angels|53.6 (21)|53.0 (22)|45.7 (21)|36.9 (22)
San Diego|52.8 (22)|53.0 (23)|51.3 (18)|31.5 (26)
Mets|52.7 (23)|53.3 (21)|34.2 (28)|49.2 (17)
Philadelphia|52.0 (24)|52.6 (24)|48.3 (19)|34.3 (24)
San Francisco|51.6 (25)|51.1 (25)|46.0 (20)|33.4 (25)
Cubs|49.9 (26)|50.2 (26)|28.8 (29)|52.2 (14)
Milwaukee|49.3 (27)|49.6 (27)|39.7 (26)|36.3 (23)
White Sox|41.7 (28)|41.7 (28)|44.4 (24)|21.8 (30)
Miami|40.0 (29)|40.2 (29)|37.4 (27)|27.2 (29)
Houston|33.5 (30)|32.9 (30)|21.3 (30)|29.7 (27)
Well, it took me way too long to find the site again; nice to be reading the recaps and comments again 🙂
Don’t feel bad Carl, I kept going here: http://bravesjournal.blogspot.com/ since that’s where Mac used to post whenever bravesjournal.com was down.
@5
a baby brave is de riguer
regardless of a him or her
a Win completes your day
the Phils in disarray
an outcome he will soon prefer.
cheers!
Thanks, guys!
and a tip of the cap to blazon for the limerick. much appreciated.
new game thread, no rush!