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‘ Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing? ‘
(As You Like It)
                                        Â
Sounds almost contemporary those words, right? But that’s the exact quote with its message for us tonight. We should not be greedy…we’re home and dry…but it’s the Padres…and there’s still HFA…and we have a local boy debuting on the mound, and he’s an Ivy Leaguer.. he must be smart, right? This is not Cuban prisons we’re talking here…still, he’s not at 99 far as I know, which counts most?
GAME TIME
1
First Pitch – Princeton vs Princeton?? Hard to believe, but true…K…he’s off and running..Hit.. Hit..1st and 3rd, 1 out…unlucky, how will he handle it? Headley up..K’s..another K !! strikes out the side..in retrospect better than a 1,2,3 for him – got the confidence now of being in a mess and pitching out of it. Low to mid nineties, good command, great start.
Schafer walk, steals 2nd..1 out..Freddie K, Gattis flies out
2
1,2,3 for David…Gattis nice catch 3rd out..
Mac, 1 for last 15, K’s.. 1,2,3…both Princeton guys pitching well
3
First time through their order Hale has struck out 5… we have a change up! 2 out double down the line..K for 3rd out.. why am I getting quite irresponsible thoughts of this guy in the post season? anyone else? he’s looking the part..
Hale, first at bat, 1 out, ground out..
4
Walk..first chat, Mac out…Headley steals..K, 1 out..ground out..K for strike 3, runner stranded after lead off walk and steal.. David around 70 pitches, 8 strike outs!
we still have no hits..Justin!! lead off homer…first rbi in 19 games…Mac, 1 out 2 run homer!                                                  BRAVES 3-0
5 Â
9 strike outs…Alice in Wonderland time? he’s going to win this… IOTP? yes, so? they’re sitting him, what a debut, Braves record for strike outs…Hug from Freddie!!  Glavine says no way was he this polished on his debut.. 87 pitches, 4 hits, 1 walk, 9 k’s…wow
1,2,3..
6
Ayala pitching..memories of Stanton K.. 1,2,3..
Kennedy makes marvelous, and necessary, grab on screamer right back at him from Mac…first and 2nd, no outs, wasted..
7
2 0n, no outs, c’mon…bases loaded, no outs…all so-so singles…JuP bobble goes unpunished…Avilan in..infield hit, Simmons saves run, one scores..force out at plate, 1 out, still loaded, Carpenter in…  sac fly, 2 out.. Carpenter throwing 97… phew, ground out, 3 out, we need to score more for Hale..                                        BRAVES 3-2
Vincent pitching for Kennedy… undistinguished 1,2, 3..
8
Walden pitching.. Headley homers off first pitch, bummer for Hale…Downs in, Forsyth drives in 2 out go ahead run, both charged to Walden..       PADRES 4-3
Gregerson pitching, hot stuff…Joey T strikes out, he is not helping his cause lately, not impressed..Schafer 2 strike outs, 2 walks..  Upton flies out..
9
Loe on, dear dear…great play by EJ, 2 out…1,2,3Â Â my apologies to Mr Loe…
Street pitching, here we go…Freddie grounds out, Gattis K’s..Mac grounds out, we get Kimbrelled … Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â FINALÂ Â PADRES 4Â BRAVES 3
Finally our bullpen blows a solid lead and our anemic hitting can’t add on…not to be wise after the event but the pen has been creaking at the seams lately, showing signs – walks, jams, deep counts,base hits, escapes…we can’t expect that to last forever and tonight was the night – such a shame it had to happen on Hale’s debut…but if you had to choose between a loss with a great outing by him or a win with a mediocre start it wouldn’t have been difficult would it? One twenty times more important than the other in the longer term…
we will again take consolation from the Master..
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Haven’t had too many of these types of games this season, especially in the 2nd half. Shake it off & hang on, SF Giants…
A bit amazing that the Braves and Dodgers have had the exact same result (win/loss/off-day) for 12 consecutive days now …
It’s strange to see teams fighting for a playoff spot playing interleague games at this point in the season.
It’s quite amazing seeing the Natspos charging toward the Reds. We better wrap this thing up ASAP. Six more wins, get it done.
Greetings from Amsterdam – sorry about the game but happy to have missed the etiquette rehash. Need to keep St. Louis in the rear view mirror.
Some lulz from MLBTR:
“Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers is interested in acquiring a ‘prototypical, corner bat’ in the coming offseason, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic recently reported. Towers says he is looking for a third baseman or corner outfielder to provide pop in the middle of the lineup alongside young star Paul Goldschmidt.”
I seem to recall that Towers had what he’s currently looking for in the not too distant past…
@6 BJ is available
Towers should check in with Milwaukee and see if Fat Juan is available.
Kentucky loses by 14. I think we could have won that and consider the game a moral victory.
So, Manziel might be good at this whole football thing.
So, Nick Saban might be good at this whole football thing.
Looks like they’re both good at this whole football thing.
BJ is going to have a big night! I can feel it in my hammy loins.
That was a heck of a game! It’s a shame that Manziel made that terrible throw in the end zone in the first half of the game, it was the turning point.
Boy, you’d be hard-pressed to find another college-football game with more big plays.
Spike,
If you’re near Rembrandtplein, here’s a great Italian restaurant:
Ristorante d’Antiqua (Reguliersdwarsstraat 82)
Great food, great atmosphere, a 2-minute walk west from Rembrandt Sq.
Hopefully BJ gets tossed…. He makes it so difficult to like him
Freddie Freeman is amazing.
Regression! Way to not waste that opportunity.
Regressed!
Gameday is broken. It says Elliot Johnson is our leadoff hitter. Then it said he just singled and stole a base.
Oy gevalt, did he ever get Snitkered.
Oh Freddie, how we love you.
@21 – worth a shot with 2 out, but yeah. Oy.
I wonder if Freddie is going to generate any MVP talk in the national media. He’s either in the top 10 or hovering right outside it in every offensive category, and will probably end up top 5 in RBI at least. And given the rest of the lineup’s injuries and inconsistencies, it’s hard to argue against him as the team’s most valuable player. ( I mean yeah, it’s really probably Andrelton, but yadda yadda defensive stats.)
@24 He might end the season with a higher BA than Regression.
blind drunk as a bat but following on mlb.com have to go to work in 5 hours and destroying my download limit – go Braves!
Cuddyer’s probably going to beat him in every category, and maybe lead 2-3 of the sexy ones, but then you get into the whole conversation about how much “value” a guy brings to a losing team with no postseason chances. Plus, the value of a proper hug cannot be denied.
@26, cheers to that!
Way to go, Medlen!
@24 They mention him in the MVP conversation quite a bit on MLB Network.
Meds had a good night. I love watching him when he’s on. I’m so glad he’s back to him dominating self.
Kris Medlen, Mike Minor, and Julio Teheran is a perfectly cromulent playoff rotation.
Giants 5, LAD 1 in second.
Phils 5, GNATS 4 in top of 8
What has happened to our bullpen in this series?
… I hate literally every baseball player named Chase.
Good thing we had a two-run lead…
The Kimbrel is angry.
Love shaving a number off of that magic number. Go Phils (tonight). Let’s get this over with already.
Also, now that Kimbrel has gotten that run out of his system, I don’t see that there’s any need for him to give up any more in 2013.
Giants 7, LA 1 in second
Seattle 4, Cards 1 in 9th
Yadi is regressing down to .313
Clearly, Papelbonbon will blow it.
I hate Papelbon even when I need him to close out a game.
32- That rotation would embiggen our playoff chances, I agree.
Papelbon and the Phillies hold on; magic number 4.
But he doesn’t…
… Magic no. further shrinks.
A good night & hang on, SF Giants.
With Alex Wood, our playoff rotation is in good shape.
Is Hale eligible for postseason roster?
I still really hate the second wild card. There is no reason the media should currently be talking about the Nationals, but they are because they’re “only” 5.5 games out. If the second wild card slot did not exist, they’d be eight out and no one would care about them.
Selig’s idea of “excitement” seems to be as many teams as possible, as late into the season as possible, deluding themselves that they are “contenders.” The Nationals, or the Brewers/Dodgers/Phillies in 2012, are nothing but posers. There is nothing exciting about a team five games under .500 in late August saying “we’re only four out of that second wild card!”
I’m trying to determine if the early part of this particular season was just a rough patch for Medlen, or if he’ll struggle with his command to begin every season, eventually putting it together in a big way down the home stretch.
@47 – from Wikipedia:
To be eligible for a team’s postseason roster, a player must be on any of the following: (a) the active 25-man roster (b) the disabled list, (c) the bereavement list, or (d) the suspended list as of August 31 at midnight ET.[1] The only exception is that a player who is on the disabled list at the end of the regular season may be replaced on the postseason roster by any other player who was in the organization on August 31, with the approval of the commissioner of baseball.[2] A postseason roster is a fully expanded roster and can have an unlimited amount of players. Any player who has appeared in or played at least one game in the majors for that team regardless of spending a brief amount of time in the minors will be called up from the minors to be on the postseason roster. All players on the final roster of the team’s season will be eligible to receive a World Series ring after the team wins the World Series.
So it looks like Hale would only be eligible as an injury replacement, if I’m interpreting this correctly.
@50 We have injured pitchers. We can create more if needed. Hale may get a chance to pitch some more regular season games.
recapped.
@ajcbraves: #Braves lineup: 1. Schafer RF 2. J Upton LF 3 Freeman 1B 4. Gattis C’5. C.Johnson 3B 6. Simmons SS 7. EJohnson 2B 8. B Upton CF 9. Teheran p