They Braves could clinch this weekend. While you are waiting on us to sweep the Padres and the Nats to get spanked by the Phillies, here is what is going to happen in the SEC:
(Home teams in Bold)
Arkansas 24 So Miss 18
Auburn 28Â Miss St 20
LSU 50 Kent St 10
Ole Miss 24 Texas 26
Kentucky 10 Louisville 40
South Carolina 28 Vandy 14
Tennessee 17 Oregon 48
Bama 24 A&M 21
Pray for the Vols.
JC’ed.
In reference to blazon’s link to a Grantland piece by Jonathan Kerl:
@18, Yeah, a perspective built on sneering sanctimony, and the conspicuous absence of relevant commentary from the Marlins’ manager, broadcasters, and teammates – a true disservice to his readers.
There is a middle ground here. Fernandez is worthy of much respect, not just for his background but also the year he’s had, which is amazing. Further, he’s worthy of respect for the unmitigated mea culpa he delivered after the game. There is such a thing as being a dicklick in baseball, and to his credit, Fernandez doesn’t want that to be his persona. When McCann took him aside and put him in his place, he did what all good big brothers do when the younguns are acting a fool.
Kerl talks about Fernandez saving his mother’s life, but acting like an obnoxious twerp in front of his teammates and fans doesn’t do his mother any good. My mother would have been embarrassed if that had been me.
I don’t think Keri was interested in presenting all sides of the issue — just his side. And, yeah, it’s perfectly understandable why a 21-year old kid coming off one of the greatest rookie seasons in history would want to enjoy himself after hitting his first career home run, and it’s perfectly understandable why a non-Braves fan would look at Brian McCann giving Fernandez an earful and say something like, “Oh, please, give the kid a break.” Which is what Jonah did.
Mike Redmond decided that it was a hell of a teachable moment, and it was, and clearly Jose Fernandez learned his lesson, which I’m sure everyone in the Marlins organization was greatly gratified by. Because Hanley Ramirez, their last superstar, was never nearly as amenable.
Anyway, it’s over. He seems like a good kid. He got yelled at, and it was probably good for him.
@2, The second half of your comment is what’s most relevant, I think. From the sound of the piece, Keri just caught the highlights and didn’t see the whole game and its controversies as they unfolded. Not mentioning the post-game drama makes whatever point he’s trying to make rather pointless. Yeah, we know Fernandez is having a fantastic year. Yeah, we know he’s got a great bio. But if you’re going to draw larger conclusions about the events of a particular game for your readers, you kinda have to talk in detail about the events of the particular game.
His takeaway boils down to, “If you save your mother’s life, you’re allowed to act disgracefully in public. Join me in hating the Braves.”
You’re right. It is over. He does seem like a good kid. He did get yelled at, most significantly by his own manager who didn’t mince any words, and it was probably good for him. Kerl wants to reopen the discussion under different terms than that. Lame.
DOB Tweeted this:
“Gattis is 11-for-35 (.314) w/ 4 doubles, 4 homers, 10 RBIs and a .711 slugging% in 10 games since returning from Triple-A stint.”
I’m not gonna say “Gattis is back!” but it sure is nice to see him hitting the ball again.
@3-
My takeaway was: “Fernandez is awesome” and “the incident was kinda funny.” Which: Yes, and yes.
Kentucky loses by 4+ touchdowns at home in a rivalry game? Granted, I thought the opening spread (+~7) was low and it’s already double that, but 30?
I need to talk to Smitty’s barber.
I think Kentucky and Tennessee are going to be crushed this weekend.
Grantland going Braves today..
now a hagiographic piece on Simmons…
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/74452/atlanta-braves-shortstop-andrelton-simmons-will-challenge-your-metaphysical-beliefs
‘metaphysical… most exciting player in the league…’, metrics to match…
finally he’s getting his due, or starting to..FW is on a short leash here to extend him to 2024..to pick a number that’s about right…
Tonight’s lineup vs. SD (7:35, FSS/680AM/BRN): Schafer 8 JUpton 9 Freeman 3 Gattis 7 McCann 2 CJohnson 5 Simmons 6 EJohnson 4 Hale 1
Bowman said Heyward is taking BP and should be ready for instructional games net week if there are no setbacks. He also mentions that CF will be his when he returns. Pretty good defensive subs in BJ and Schafer on the bench.
@9
Hale to the Chief on the mound
happiness surely profound
September debut
an inning or two?
rather a chance to astound.
@10, Good news!
@11, I know Hale is probably gonna suck but I love seeing Braves in their major league debut, especially starting pitchers. For a moment, all glory is possible!
@12
Exactly, the Romance of it…anything is possible…the cynical, for once, set aside..
Is Todd Cunningham still with the team?
Todd Cunningham came up when there were 3 or 4 injured outfielder.
Strasburg scratched with forearm soreness.
@16 Is it contagious? Will he be shut down and miss October again?
Ha, he’s missing October either way.
Did Dpn Sutton just refer to the Braves’ pitcher as “Nathan Hale”? If so, that doesn’t bode well for Mr. Hale’s MLB debut!
Lets see how the kid can pitch around a couple el cheapo hits.
Well, he did all right!
The pics of his mom in the stand are priceless. She’s on the edge of her seat.
19- Fortunately, not too many hanging curves. But keep a careful pitch count on him, because he has but one pitching arm to give for our team.
That will do, David Hale. That will do.
I’m liking this Hale kid
Chip, heading into the bottom of the second it’s a little to early to describe the game as a “scoreless tilt”.
Did someone say Hale was not a strike out pitcher?
He’s got good speed and movement.
Nice hitting, Justin! And you too, McCann!!
That went way farther than I thought! Way to break out the lumber, Bravos!
Keep David on a short leash, Fredi. He’s done too well to spoil it.
Eagerly awaiting blazon’s poetic recap of Hale’s performance!
Chip just pronounced Gyorko’s last name Jerko. Whatever Hungarians in the Braves fan base are either offended or laughing their ass off.
Hale’s only regret is …………
32- I think that is more or less how it’s pronounced.
BMac almost killed Kennedy.
@34, that first “o” is pronounced in Hungarian just like it is in English, like an “o”. Something like Jorko would be a perfectly acceptable Americanized pronunciation, and also not sound ridiculous.
Please don’t lose this game, Braves bullpen.
36- If you say so. I Googled him quickly and got pronunciations from MiLB.com, the San Diego papers, baseball-reference, and several other sites. They all say it’s pronounced JURR-ko.
Simmons, man.
Wow, Andrelton. But cripes, bullpen, get somebody out, will you?
You have got to be kidding me. What has happened to our bullpen?
So, we yank the kid who is totally dominating after 5, then our “stud” relievers immediately give it all back.
Well, that was unfortunate.
But you know what would have been even worse? Letting the kid lose it. Yeah, that would have been tragic.
Bleh, bullpen.
@36, He’s from Wild West Virginia, so maybe that is how they’ve come to pronounce it! If he wants to go by “jerk-o”, that’s his choice. I don’t want to sound like some foreign language pronunciation pedant, because I really hate it when people slip out of their normal accent to pronounce words in some exotic tongue. But both those Os are really pronounced o in Hungarian. (The “Gy” is pronounced like the word “due”, and the “r” is heavily rolled, so it is a legitimate tongue twister.)
Okay, bullpen. You’re allowed to have a bad game every now and then. But you better get back to your mid-summer self by October, and stay there the whole month.
@44, I think he could have, and should have, gone another inning, but pulling him wasn’t indefensible, especially since he was pinch hit for.
@47 I would have let him go out for the 6th, which obviously doesn’t change what’s happened since, but still.
He was pinch hit for with Georgie, so, I’d say that’s pretty indefensible!
They scored in the 7th, not the 8th.
We still have time to blow this. I will not be comfortable until the magic number is zero
And here comes Loe to remove all doubt.
Wow, Loe pitched a productive inning for us.
Amazing. Unfortunately, this will compel Fredi to use Loe again at some high-leverage point, when he will be predictably shelled.
Crappy game at bat for Evan. Bah!
@50 No. No, no no. I, too, will not be comfortable until we have clinched, but don’t even THINK the first part of that post.
Well, I have mixed emotions about that game.
@42
Well, no. Luis Ayala isn’t a stud reliever.
Truly fucking pathetic to lose 4 games out of 4 to the San Diego “They have a baseball team in San Diego?” Padres.
recapped…