The first seven batters faced by Paul Maholm were a disaster. He ended up giving up two runs in the first, and it would’ve been more if he hadn’t picked a guy off. But for the next 5 innings, he was actually pretty okay. No more runs, not a whole lot more baserunners, and even a few strikeouts. Which would’ve meant the Braves were in pretty good shape, except for the offense forgot to show up. Well, most of it did. Evan Gattis made he presence known. In his 3 ABs, he hit (1) the longest HR in the majors this year (Joe’s call: “Wowie wowie.”), (2) a long flyout to deep CF that might’ve gone out if the wind hadn’t been blowing in, and (3) another towering homer, this time to left. Unfortunately for the Braves, these were the only hits they got in THE ENTIRE GAME. I mean, they were going against Cole Hamels, so it’s sorta understandable. But common. 8 no-hit innings outside of two ABs against Gattis….
So that means that between the 2 runs in the first and a rare run surrendered in the 8th by David Carpenter, the Braves were done. If only Oso Blanco had gotten a 4th AB, they might still be playing….
It’s like folks were trying to tell us at the all star break – the Braves are a .500 team except for when they aren’t.
Nothing good has happened since Olbermann’s facial hair came around these parts.
@1
The Braves are actually .000 team except for when they win.
But on the other hand, they’re playing 1.000 when they don’t lose.
They are winless in games where they are the last to bat when they are on the road. Look it up.
The Braves are winless since Fredi put a B-team lineup in for the last game of a series the team had “already won.”
And not to comment on the strategy one way or the other, but the “strict platoon” Wren promised to the season ticket holders seems to be interpreted to mean “strictly Upton”.
MLB revised the distance for Gattis at 486. The longest HR in the derby was 483 from Prince Fielder.
@8 Plus the wind. Man.
Gattis may not be anywhere near rookie of the year, what with Puig, Fernandez, and others, but you can bet that every team in baseball knows who he is.
@7, To be fair, I think they would love to stick with that plan, but Schafer has been “day to day” a couple times now. He still is, apparently. I guess they could be starting Terdo more. I don’t see Georgie as a decent solution.
It may make sense to save SUCCESS! for the playoffs. He is ineffective if he cannot run well.
We need JH too.
Wake me up when September ends.
I went back to see how the Phillies announcers reacted to Gattis’ homeruns, and my favorite was the “Oh man…this is ridiculous” after the second one.
After five innings, the Mobile Bay Bears lead the Mississippi Braves by a score of 13-0. Salcedo and Bethancourt were not in the lineup.
If Jason can return in time for the playoff, I would start Gattis, Heyward, and Justin in the outfield.
The Braves are sleep walking. BJ and Uggla are bad baseball players.
we were more than half way to an ultimate baseball fantasy…
Braves 4 Phillies 3
all 4 Braves runs by Gattis homers, the only hits
we are missing only his second AB having to battle the wind…and his fourth in a hypothetical tenth…
as an aside…Hamels has joined my Respect club…classy, saw the absurdity of it all.
Maybe Hamels was hoping Gattis would hit the ball so far that it would plunk Bryce Harper for him yet again.
four eighty
it’s weighty
2/3
anti c.
As if there’s not already enough catchers on the team, the braves will call up Bethancourt today. No word on LaStella.
@22
I have no problem with that.
DOB says Bethancourt is last callup. 😕👎
@ 24
the final call, the last hurrah
perhaps this time they’ve gone too far
and left behind, we’ve reckoned,
a man who can play second
AND hit the ball, ain’t that bizarre.
I assume that Uggla will continue to play 2B through the post-season, but what about next year (and the year after)? Do the Braves throw him in with a trade and eat his salary?
@26
They may look to move him in the winter, but I don’t know what they could get for him. They would have to pay a huge portion (if not all) of his salary.
It may be best to see if he figures it out.
So this is essentially the start of the competition for the 2014 starting catcher gig. Interesting.
Normally, Smitty, I’d agree with you about taking a wait-and-see approach with Uggla, but he’s been with the team for three seasons now and shows no signs of improvement. He will never learn to hit to the opposite field. Think of all the BP sessions he’s participated in, the conferences with coaches, etc., during that time. I hate to say it, but he’s done.
Right now, he’s probably more valuable to the team as a pinch runner.
I know nothing about Lasik surgery, but do you have to grow into your new eyesight? I would think a sudden, stunning return to clarity would provide instant results, but what do I know? Could anything be worse than the “big white blur” he described he was seeing since Spring Training?
I feel like a jerk for having forgotten about Uggla’s Lasik surgery, but he still hasn’t changed his approach at the plate. Same uppercut swing, trying to pull everything to the left side of the field.
I take a weekend off and you guys let them get swept in Philly? FFS, people!
I blame Francoeur. It’s his fault, somehow. Maybe the Shade of Victorino was involved as well….
@14, thx for the suggestion:
All Star Game come and passed.
Cubs chances have gone real fast
Wake me up, When September ends.
Like the collapse two years ago,
Coasting fails with every foe.
Wake me up, When September ends.
Here comes BJ again,
Whiffing right and left;
Watching Dan squint at home again,
We are all bereft.
As the playoffs loom ahead,
Home advantage evaporates.
Wake me up, When September ends.
@34, well done…*tips cap in your direction*
With football dominating the weekends and the Braves on auto-pilot I haven’t really been watching many innings lately. Sounds like I haven’t missed anything.
McCann looks like he’s on track for another bad finish (his Sept/Oct career numbers are generally not awesome). Dude needs some rest. Laird and Gattis need to catch every game for like a week.
@35, Totally agree on McCann. It’s hard to not start him with how crappy our lineup has been hitting, but I do think with Laird and Gattis (and now Bethancourt), you have to give your catcher some off time down the stretch.
Can we please sit BJ and Uggla also?
@33 – Blaming Francoeur is fine, but you also shouldn’t forget to give Bud Selig his share of the blame. Blaming Selig for anything that goes wrong in the MLB is never a bad idea.
No Anthony Schreiber piece at Yahoo would be incomplete without moronic headlines, overheated analysis, and sloppy, borderline incoherent writing, but to be fair, it’s hard to argue with the BJ-bashing this No Talent Ass Clown has filed here.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/atlanta-braves-surprise-surprise-b-j-upton-blame-145100470–mlb.html
One thing I actually learned here that was new information is that apparently Schafer isn’t playing as a matter of choice by Fredi. Hmmm…
I see no evidence that BJ will be productive at any time the rest of this season and post-season. He’s now 0-for-14 with 1 walk and 8 Ks since he finally reached the Mendoza Line for the first time this year, and we all let ourselves be seduced into thinking that THIS two-game spurt was a sign he was turning the corner. Basic human decency demands I feel for the guy, but I don’t know how it can be argued that this season is an irreparable disaster.
We have arguably the two worst position players in either league in our every day lineup. If we lose in the playoffs and neither guy does anything positive, then I think you’ll hear a lot of (justifiable) criticism directed at Fredi and Wren.
You can make a decent case that the time to rehabilitate both those guys should start in spring training 2014, not in October 2013.
I think Fredi has shown he will sit both guys. He has also given them every chance to get out of it.
I you have to give them until October to figure it out. Then I think he sits them if they don’t
Did it occur to anyone that Fredi is letting BJ prove (or disprove) his case for playoff playing time?
Other things that seem to have skipped that Yahoo! writer’s mind: Jordan Schafer can’t hit LHP. Like Cliff Lee. And Cole Hamels.
I strongly suspect that CF will be a platoon of Schafer and Upton in the playoffs, unless Fredi wants to get Gattis a start in LF and plays Jason Heyward in CF.
Yet he started BJ against the rightie Kendrick, while Schafer was apparently available.
He’ll need to get BJ’s platoon mate some playing time if that’s really going to be the October plan. It makes no sense for BJ to suck it up for all of September while getting all the playing time, and *then* sit him right before the playoffs. His replacement won’t be getting enough ABs to stay game ready.
@42
I agree. I think with his ability, you hope he can figure it out. If he does, he could carry us.
He isn’t going to figure it out on the bench.
Yes, because 1) no marginal player trying to prove his case for more playing time has ever claimed to be more healthy and ready to play than he actually is, and 2) no manager has ever had a standing “if they say they’re ready, sit them one more day” philosophy with nagging late season nicks and bruises, and 3) it’s perfectly useless to give Upton a few at bats against RHP to see if his bad day against Cliff Lee was just a bad day against Cliff Lee, or something more.
None of those things are relevant at all. What is relevant is DOOOOOMMMMM and seething hatred of BJ Upton.
I have decided to be possitive about BJ Upton.
I’m positive BJ Upton’s suckitude is going to kill my Dad before the season is out. and then Uggla is going to come after me….
Is it just me, or does it seem BJ really pulls his head off the ball when he swings? Every time I watch him swing I swear it seems his head is looking in the stands before the bat is half way to the ball. Any time he makes contact it has to be mostly coincidence or the pitcher doesn’t have any late movement on the ball. I feel like I haven’t heard any of the usual suspects (Joe Simpson, et al) talking about that part of his swing so I am honestly asking if maybe I am seeing things or wish casting that this is the problem. Contrast with Justin who almost always has his head pointing right at the bat when it contacts the ball.
My God, yes. That’s the Braves’ problem. The fanbase has seething hatred for BJ Upton. I have been persuaded!
I’m really looking forward to two more years of Upton/Uggla talk.
I’m really looking forward to three more weeks of everybody bitching about every tiny little thing that goes wrong as if it’s a potential death trap.
@49 – if BJ Upton’s play kills your dad, he was clearly evolutionarily weak.
I’m really looking forward to our first division title since 2005.
@55 DOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDD!
I’m glad Braves management haven’t ceased discussion about how awful Uggla and BJ have been, for neither are in the lineup tonight:
1. Schafer CF
2. J Upton RF
3. Freeman 1B
4. Gattis LF
5. McCann C
6. C Johnson 3B
7. Simmons SS
8 E. Johnson 2B
9. Medlen P
I think Fredi should get creative and try Terdo at 3b and CJ at 2nd after we clinch.
I’m really hoping that is the postseason lineup, with Heyward substituting for Schafer.
Or maybe JUpton.
Has anyone else seen the Phantom Cam in use during Marlins telecasts? Super slo mo video that captures at bats to the point where you can see the bat quiver when it comes in contact with the ball. It’s amazing, but I’ve only ever seen it on Fox Sports Marlins broadcasts.
It is cool. The mentos in the cola and sticking the water balloon during the pre-game show were quite a show.
Gattis, man.
El Oso is back. By the way, how did Upton not score on Freeman’s double?
I am glad FF could score from second on a double.
61 – The phantom cam has been going around the different Fox channels I think. It was in Atlanta earlier on and I’ve seen it a couple of times in AL parks too.
64 – Upton held up between second and third waiting to see if the ball dropped.
@64 The ball had a lot of float to it, had to make sure it wasn’t caught.
Patented CJ hit. Love it!
It would be neat if they did a Phantom Cam documentary at the end of the year, pulling together the best footage from the season.
Braves have Johnson & Johnson on the basepaths. Hairy situation for the Marlins.
Nice hitting, NASCAR.
Marlins TV just showed that only once in the last 5 games has a starter gotten out of the fifth inning, 4.1, 4, 7, 3, 4 innings I think it was. Bullpen must be a little gassed.
@66,67 Just joking
That inning was certainly fun to watch after this weekend.
72 — The answers were to the post above you. Looking at something like Gameday it probably looks a little weird that Upton didn’t get around to score, it wasn’t a dig 🙂
I saw no one was bashing JUpton.
When was last time Medlen had a 5 run lead?
Playoff lineups:
Against LHP: Heyward, JUpton, Freeman, Gattis, McCann, Johnson, Simmons, Johnson, P
I might consider Success! against RHP, but he’d be a PR against lefties. BJ would be the first defensive OF in the case of a late inning lead.
At this point, Elliot Johnson’s defense and base running make him more valuable than Dan Uggla.
Yeah, it’s sad but Elliot Johnson is a nice upgrade over Uggla.
Yep my playoff lineup is same as @57 (and hoping Heyward can be rushed back to fit in somewhere).
Off topic: LOLRedskins. That gimmicky college offense is gonna give the NoFunLeague fits this season. Pretty funny to watch so far.
As soon as his defense is complimented, he sails one over Freddie’s head.
One sort of hoped the 5 run inning wouldn’t be the only inning they got a hit.
@81 I sort of hoped the same thing.
Kimbrel looks thick about the waist.
When things are going wrong, head to Miami.
This may possibly be our playoff starting lineup we are looking at tonight.
Freeman’s photobomb of the “ab contest” has to be the highlight of the day.
Mets and Phils now officially toast. nice to see that big E next to them in the standings, now the Nats
Delgado is giving up the long ball in LA.
What do folks expect out of Medlen next year? Is he always going to struggle to find his fastball command until the end of the season?
@89 He has gotten better as season goes on.
Did some really expect Medlen to be as good as he was last year? Medlen has been solid for most of the season with the exception of a few shaky outings. My expectations for him would be a 15 game winner wih a low 3 ERA, solid whip and k:bb ratio. Throw in 200 innings and you have a valuable commodity.