So, it’s just a bit outside my arbitrarily-defined time frame, but this did happen not quite 18 years ago…
And if you were reading closely, you’d note that my odds of various miserable things occurring didn’t fully add up to 100%…
The oddsmakers I bought this ticket from at the Wynn Casino in Vegas a couple weeks ago offered me 7:1, a 14% chance. I put the odds more on 10%, but I’ll pay the vig; what fun is being a fan if you don’t?
I’ll be out at the Ted tonight hoping we can steal one off Kershaw and reverse all this playoff-lottery bad luck. You should come too.  I mean, what are our chances? One out of ten? One out of a hundred? One out of a million?
Chances of the 2013 Braves doing this: So you’re telling me there’s a chance!ÂÂ
Freeman gets on, Gattis connects for a 2-run HR, Medlen only gives up 1, and the Kraken closes it out. This would make me very happy.
JC’d:
I just tried to go to Ticketmaster’s website, and the page is just a white screen that says “Forbidden: You do not have permission to access on this server.”
Any technology-savvy Braves Journalists who can help with this?
@2, go to StubHub, the prices there are better anyway.
mavery at 85, last thread,
Continuing on “why are we so stupid as to think Braves can win?”
I know the Dodgers were awful early and were without Kemp (still without), Puig, H. Ramirez (hasn’t played two games in a row in a while). But still, their run differential compared to Braves says that “for the season” they are fundamentally not as good of a team as the Braves.
So, then you say “what was better or worse, fundamentally, about each team as the year ended?” (and obviously we don’t REALLY know what is fundamentally different, because of small sample size, but my take follows).
Braves better: lineup optimization, Heyward offense, Simmons offense, 2B defense, Medlen back on, Teheran maturing before our eyes, Wood getting it done, outfield offense subbing Gattis for BJ
Braves worse: Walden sketchy, Hudson out, catcher offense down (Gattis cooled, McCann banged up and cooled off, Laird hotter start not holding), bench not having Pena and Schaffer tailing off, outfield defense (using Gattis / Heyward / J Upton)
Dodgers better: Brian Wilson adds a decent experienced late innings arm, Puig was not in first 60 or so games
Dodgers worse: No Kemp is worse than a 1 / 2 Kemp, Ethier overplayed his fundamentals and now he may be out completely,
A big issue on the Dodgers is which Hanley Ramirez is in this. If he really is too banged up to go or to be effective, I think Braves have the better team. If 1000 ops Hanley with decent (by his standards) defense is available, then it will be tough.
Looks like there are at least 10,000 tix left for the game tonight.
If there’s a lesson in this series of posts, it’s that who the better team is tends to be a mostly irrelevant factor. We’re up all night to get lucky.
It’s guys like Nick Punto and Mark Ellis you have to worry about. They’re pesky. They’re the ones who get a rally going.
On the “built for the postseason” argument,
I do believe that in postseason that the top 2 starters and the top 3 relievers impact a series more than a 162 game season. I also believe that 6th and 7th starters impact the 162 a lot (well, 1 to 2 games most years), but because they will be no more than a low leverage reliever, they do not influence the postseason much at all.
I am not sure I believe that the strikeout thing is so big, but what is big is that teams don’t press and try to force the issue but are willing to take walks if they don’t get their pitch.
So, the Braves may not be quite as well built for the postseason as the Dodgers. I think we could take Dodgers over 162 as these rosters are constituted 70% of the time. Postseason, not so confident.
@7
I agree. Keep those guys off base.
The Braves should forfeit. Kershaw is unbeatable. That’s why the Dodgers have only lost fourteen games in which he started in 2013.
@5
I’m not sure where you’re getting that number, but it is what I was afraid of. It’s late, people think we’re going to lose, and the pathetic baseball fans in our city can’t be bothered with it.
The Braves are ready for this game. They’ve been building toward it for the last two seasons. They’ll be ready for Kershaw and whomever else the Dodgers throw at them.
Go, Braves!
A win tonight and I say Braves in 4
You guys make me feel better. 🙂
Can’t wait for this game to start tonight!!!!!
@11
It was a bit sarcastic but there are seriously a ton of tix left.
@15
Well, as I said, there’d better be a hell of a walk-up.
@15
Turner Field is 10K seats too large.
I’m doing my part tonight. I’m going and busting out my Smotlz jersey.
@15
For what it’s worth, there were supposedly around 7000-9000 tickets available for the NFC Championship game, but the Georgia Dome was pretty obviously sold out at kickoff. Although Ticketmaster isn’t working on my computer right now, I do recall that the last time I checked, there were basically just a few small patches of seats scattered here and there deep in the upper deck. I think there’ll be at least 46,000 in attendance tonight. So I’m really not sure where you’re getting that perception from.
And right after the time frame for editing one’s post expires, I see that Ticketmaster is magically working again. But now I got a message that says “Lots of fans are trying to buy tickets right now–you have a much better shot if we select the best available seats for you.”
@19
That story that came out about tickets being available for the NFC Championship Game was nothing but complete hogwash, because all of those tickets were available on StubHub, not through Ticketmaster on the main site. So all of the seats had been sold, but somebody saw that there were thousands available on StubHub and wrote some cutesy BS implying there would be 10,000 empty seats at the Georgia Dome as if those seats hadn’t already been sold.
This is a little different, because these are available directly via Ticketmaster and haven’t been sold yet. Though it seems like a lot of people are getting the word that there are tickets left since the site is jammed right now, so maybe through last-minute sales this afternoon and the walk-up, it won’t be so bad. One can hope, anyway.
The Tokyo Rose media has probably depressed ticket sales.
“Surrender now Braves, you have no chance. Dodgers are unbeatable.”
@22
Maybe, but telling us not to even bother voting for Freddie Freeman for the All-Star Final Vote had the opposite effect. Of course, that didn’t require venturing inside the Perimeter with the chance that you wouldn’t get home until after midnight. That is to say, it didn’t actually require any effort in the slightest.
EDIT: Game 3 on Sunday is set for 8:07 p.m. ET BTW.
I think tomorrow will be the bigger crowd, and that “eh, I’ll go on Friday, don’t have to get up for work/school the next day after a late game” may be a drag on tonight’s crowd. StubHub has a similar amount of tickets available for tomorrow but they’re generally priced higher in any given section vs. tonight’s.
Lineup probably what everyone expected
1. Heyward
2. J. Upton
3. Freeman
4. Gattis
5. McCann
6. C. Johnson
7. Simmons
8. E. Johnson
9. Medlen
Does anyone know of anywhere where the game will be streaming by… alternate means? I don’t have cable and am very poor, is why I ask.
Is there any way to stream the games through MLB.tv, or is that out the window for the post season?
Odd to consider that Medlen’s actually older than Kershaw. Kris turns 28 next week, while Kershaw won’t be 26 until just before Spring Training.
BTW, Medlen’s numbers vs. this Dodger lineup are pretty good. Only Hanley (5/9 with 1 HR) seems to hit him pretty well.
And… you don’t really want to see the Braves’ hitters numbers vs. Kershaw. (Freddie has the only HR off him & JUpton’s 3/29.)
Nonetheless, I’m pretty excited about this game. Kershaw might be the best starting pitcher since Pedro, but that doesn’t mean we can’t beat him tonight.
Let’s keep it real. We’re heavy underdogs tonight. Rooting like hell for us to win, but I don’t expect to.
@26, postseason.tv lets you stream the division series and the NLCS for $5 total, which is actually a pretty good deal.
@26 vipboxonline dot eu. Multiple free streams.
@ajcbraves: #Braves Uggla: “Dissappointed, p***ed off… I’m not blind to my numbers. But at same time, I know what I’ve done my whole career.”
Oh and Fredi said Laird could play 3b if needed. It’s really a bad decision to have Constanza on this roster and not Uggla.
31 — Not blind to his numbers. Perfect.
I’m going down there tonight. The playoffs form a bizarre world where the previously unimaginable become possible. In the past those cruel fates have been mostly visited upon us. Maybe we get a little good fortune this time.
@31, there are a whole lot of other things that he is blind to, and they’re white spheres that go about 90 miles an hour.
Uggla says what I myself feel. I’d take him over E. Johnson any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Also, Fredi seems to love Constanza the way Cox did Lockhart.
But whatever at this point. Go Braves.
Go Braves.
Carlos Beltran now has 15 post-season HRs in 153 PAs. Wow.
@ajcbraves: #Braves Uggla: “First inclination is to say, screw this, I’m going home. But I knew that’s not the right thing to do.”
@ajcbraves: #Braves Uggla: “I’ll show up tomorrow with my suit and suitcase, and if they let me on the plane I’ll go.”
@ajcbraves: Uggla last comment sad in response to Fredi G saying he would welcome Uggla traveling with #Braves
Meanwhile, the Cardinals have scored 4 vs. Burnett in the 3rd inning, still no outs, bases loaded.
Sure would have been nice if the Braves had won a single more game in the regular season, we could’ve been facing Burnett tonight instead of The Best Pitcher In Baseball.
Meh, the Braves feel like they do worse against bad pitchers. Forget Kershaw, Capuano was the one to fear.
I give the Braves a 55% chance of winning this series.
7-0 Cardinals going into the top of the 4th inning.
“We waited 21 years for this?!”
It’s game one. They’ve got four more. And these Pirates will keep being good. They’ve got some real talent on the farm, including Taillon and Polanco.
Alen Hanson. They will be good for a while.
I hope to wake up tomorrow with a 1-0 lead
Child 2 hopes that Justin homers off his first pitch – she’s 8, and I hope for the same
I haven’t been this excited/nervous in a long time
I hope
I hope
I believe
btw @ 44. Indeed
46- “I believe. I believe. It’s silly, but I believe.”
@29, do blackout rules apply?
Seven straight playoff series losses. Seven straight game 1 losses. It ends tonight (maybe tomorrow morning).
Let’s go Braves!
Thank you jet lag. Wide awake and counting down… One hour to go.
I don’t know if blackout rules apply to postseason dot tv, but it’s worth pointing out that it’s not an actual broadcast; it gives you a choice of fixed camera shots, along with the audio. No replays, no graphics, etc. That said, you can choose a quad view, giving you four different camera views all at once. It’s more than adequate for following the action, IMO.
Blackout rules do not apply for postseason.tv, because of what it is (as stated in 51 above). If you’re trying to stream the actual TBS broadcast through it, you’re blacked out in the U.S.
when are we going to see a baseball game??
there hasn’t been one all week
will we get one tonight?
whatever, it’s not likely to be as boring.
shame..
turns out Rivera needed one more career out to finish with a career 1.0000 WHIP
if he hadn’t been removed, ceremonially, last thursday he could have got it.
http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/postscript-on-rivera-he-was-almost-the-1-0000-and-only/?ref=sports
Locked and loaded…ready to go. There’s nothing that could happen tonight than would be worse than some of the things we’ve seen in the playoffs over the past 25 years.
And if we win, it would be sooo great. Some cliche about defeats and victories sweeter and all that. But seriously, we’re effing due. And Buster Posey was still OUT.
Let’s go.
@ 26
Shawn…just for you
http://www.vipboxonline.eu/baseball/180475/1/nlds-game-1:-atlanta-braves-vs-los-angeles-dodgers-live-stream-online.html
Nervous, but optimistic
I want to cry.
Seeing lots of empty seats. Ugh.
Well it’s 9 pm on a Thursday in Atl. Looks like a good crowd to me.
Hasn’t Puig been leadoff for his entire call up?
Turner Field is rocking !!
Meds is ON tonight!
I love you Med.
Welcome to Atlanta where the playas play…
Medlen!
You guys are the best ever. I wish I could buy all of you a beer.
Well done, Meds. Now let’s get this Kershaw guy.
Good start, Meds.
Your serve, Mr. Kershaw.
Can’t be better than that.
Home plate umps shouldn’t be allowed to call check swings
Keep battling!!!
How has Beacher Report obtained so much exposure? What a hack of a site.
“Kershaw is so dominant, the crowd roars with every foul tip, because he’s just able to keep the at-bat alive!”
So I guess Medlen must be so lousy that the crowd roars everytime he manages to throw a strike? Or maybe the Dodgers are just so dominant that the crowd roars every time Medlen manages to get one by them?
And that’s not good.
Gotta tighten up, Jason.
Gaaaahh
Well, I guess we are going to lose 1-0 since Kershaw is just totally unhittable and no one can beat him, right?
Wrong base, Jason.
Ugh. I really didn’t want Kershaw to get a run to play with so early.
Yeah, whatever the Braves do is wrong. I am about to turn on mute.
Should’ve thrown him out at third. Pretty bad throw home too.
Gattis in LF just cost us another run.
Shit.
Thought Gattis should have caught that one.
You got to go get’em, Braves!
That inning shut Turner Field up in a hurry.
Oh wow, he just flat out missed that one. Gonna be an uphill climb tonight. I wish we weren’t playing at home. Nothing good happens at the Ted in October.
ballgame
crap defensive shift on puig caused the whole mess.
One more win and we’d be playing the hapless Pirates instead of the Dodgers. Just one more win.
Yeah should’ve caught it. Lots of defensive issues in that inning. Simmons positioning on Puigs hit, not throwing to third by JHey, throw home by JHey, missed play by Gattis.
Be positive guys. We have waited too long to act like this.
Alright well, you needed one anyway. And one wasn’t going to win it, so you might aswell get two.
No kc, this is just what we do. Doooooooommmmmeeeeedddd
I blame BJ for sucking so hard that Gattis had to play outfield.
Let’s be honest. B.J. cost us that run.
@96 and 97 That I do agree.
Bummer of a rally. I blame BJ. If he wasn’t shit, Justin would’ve been in left to make that play.
Oh well. Let’s hope Gattis runs into one here!
A bloop hit is all it takes to get an inning going.
Gattis!!!
#Gattismagic
Gattis is silencing his critics…or maybe not.
Take him yard BMac.
Shit we’re playing 8 against 10.
What the fuck was that? Screw this noise.
Barves.
Giving away outs. Not good.
103- And now they’re loudening again.
Well, the Bear needs to pick up his game a bit.
Umm…
Wtf ?
Gattis, what the heck was that? Why does this team completely lose its head in big games?
What’s wrong with Gattis? He is really showing up as a rookie.
Yunel is back
Well, that happened.
Thank goodness this is not a one-game playoff.
What?
El Oso Farto.
Evan “Brooks” Gattis
Well at least we’re making Kershaw work, right? At 14 pitches per inning, he can probably only go 11, 12 tops.
WTF. That was disappointing.
My feeling of optimism is quickly shifting to a feeling of “here we go again.”
Uggla could’ve done that.
Here we go again, indeed.
It’s a good thing Johnson’s glove is much better than Uggla’s…oh, wait.
Uh, oh. EJ may indeed be our new Brooks Conrad…
Barves playoff checklist:
Bad defense: check
No hitting: check
…
Gotta have that Johnson. Stop sucking braves.
Uggla would have made that play… ok, maybe not.
Brooks Conrad over dan uggla. Baffling
This is so damn familiar. It’s the playoffs so the Braves are going to lose control of their bowels.
And now Elliot Johnson is going Brooks Conrad on us.
We’re already playing like we’re handicapped. What difference would it have made to start a blind man?
Good lord, that was an ugly inning, and now it is carrying over. Uggla could have booted that grounder just as well.
Johnson wears his glove with two fingers in the pinky stall, which gives the glove more height and creates a deeper pocket. The index finger moves one stall to the right. IMO, it’s not a natural way to catch a ball. Medlen also wears his glove that way.
It was extremely unlikely we were going to win this game anyways, but shitting all over the bed is just so aggravating.
It’s natural for some outfielders but definitely not a MI
These guys clearly just do not have the mindset.
Are the Braves shifting like a lot more than normal tonight? Or are the Dodgers just hitting against it a lot more than normal?
#138
Agreed. You need to have a better feel for the ball when playing middle infield.
Good night. I’m not watching this crap anymore.
Well fuck.
All I need to see.
Dadgum.
oh well.
Better show up tomorrow
What the hell is going on with the defensive positioning?
That’s twice Puig has gone right up the middle while Andrelton was deep in the hole. Bad advance work or bad luck?
Ugh. That’s a shame.
Now this is disappointing…ok, now we better start thinking about destroying Kershaw.
Well, this is really pathetic. Even Andrelton looks slow.
Why is Simmons playing so out of position? Fuck it, who cares. Time to find something else to do. We’re not scoring tonight so it doesn’t matter how bad we play.
Why are we playing shifts? Dang
That’s it. Trade the damn farm for an ace starter next year Wren. They will continue to lose in the playoffs until we can match others’s #1’s.
Welp…gotta win tomorrow, boys.
No worries guys—we have Freddy Garcia pitching for us in Game 4!
Well the top of the first inning sure was fun.
EJ should have made that play…
@154, agree 1000%. This is a pitching mismatch of epic proportions. Until we can counter that we won’t be sniffing a World Series. We need the next Smoltz…not soft-tossing changeup artists.
@154 I have been thinking about David Price.
It’s not medlens fault. He’s only had one ball hit hard and EJ’s error made him ace Agon there. That and awful defensive positioning.
This is like a microcosm of every playoff loss we ever have. Horrid defense, no chance to score, and mediocre pitching.
Doomers gonna doom.
156 — Don’t hold your breath that there is a Game 4.
As I said to my son – I’ve been seeing this for the last two decades.
Don’t bunt fredi
If EJ gets on do you bunt with Medlen or PH? Announcers just got it right. Uggla should’ve been up with a chance to drive him home.
I don’t like this group of team from TBS.
@164 I can’t help but be an optimist. Because this Braves team and roster makes it so easy to be (/sarcasm).
Would be nice to get 1 here; Elliot with a weak counterproductive nubber doesn’t help.
Kershaw ain’t exactly shuttin’ the door.
@168—The Braves are making it way to easy for them to follow the “Braves are terrible, Kershaw is unstoppable” script.
Kershaw has lost the strike zone?
The TBS crew is also not on board with the way Uggla was kicked to the curb.
#173
Thrown a couple balls high. Walked a batter. Fell behind on Medlen. Count now full.
Medlen swung at two ball 4’s?
@174 Yes, they are all traditionalists who only look at HRs and RBIs.
And letting Medlen hit there was not a good decision – although we have nobody on the bench worth a damn.
Having Ron Darling announce a post season series with the Braves in it is total BS.
If Kershaw could pull an Ankiel, that would be really nice.
But who would you use as a PH with this roster?
Gotta do like those late 90’s Yankees here and chip away at this lead a bit at a time. Don’t know if we have the personnel though.
Also, did you all see that Chipper picked the Dodgers to win this series? Maybe he’s playing the jinx angle. He picked the Nationals to win the East this year, and that worked out pretty well for us…
Terdo and Uggla would’ve inspired more confidence than Janish/Constanza/Schafer/Reed
@178, agree. Get Medlen out and habe him start game 4.
@183 is there some source to confirm this I know he grew up a Dodger fan .
Ellis is really testing our corner outfielders.
Our #1 starter is throwing 88mph fastballs. That’s all you need to know.
If BJ is in CF, Justin catches the first one and Jason would’ve caught the one in RF
Medlen has like no FB command tonight. His breaking pitches are fine, but he has no idea where his FB is going. Kershaw’s had issues, too, but his stuff is just good enough to not have to care.
Teheran throws 93-95, should he have started?
@191, he would be my #1…but the problem is we just don’t have a guy like Kershaw or Wainwright. It puts too much pressure on us to win a series when we know we’re probably gonna lose to the #1 guy twice.
Waited too long Fredi. Everybody watching can tell Medlen can’t command his fastball.
Get Medlen out.
I can’t recall the last time the Braves threw the ball around so much.
Go home folks
Perhaps everyone was right.
I just HATE Ron Darling.
They’re tight. They’ve looked tight from the first inning when Medlen was humping up on the FB to get the Ks. This is a very young team. They need to relax.
Anybody see where Simmons is right now? We might as well have two 3b
And EJ is playing right by the second base bag. I don’t remember us playing extreme shifts at all the entire season. So let’s do it now?
csg,
Teheran starts only if you value winning in the postseason as a top priority. Medlen is good for the full season, but more like a number 4 starter for a team planning to win the WS. Unless he learns how to live on the corners like Maddux.
What is wrong with Hanley Ramirez’s helmet?
“Evan Gattis” is trending on Twitter right now. Wish it was for a different reason…
#203
Pine tar. He touches his bat and then adjusts his helmet, leaving residue that has built up over the course of the season. The all-time champ was Craig Biggio, who completely obliterated the star on his Astros helmet.
Lol @ everyone who thought it was preferable to play the Dodgers to the Pirates.
@195. I can. It was also in October. Last year.
#206 – Bingo
I’d rather be watching Vanilla Ice Goes Amish.
We brought this upon ourselves when we couldn’t beat the Brewers. And fuck Fredi and Wren for this postseason roster
Good thing Freddi has Mr gritty playing second base.
#207
Yep. I don’t understand why everyone wants to relive their Little League days. I just don’t get it.
@186 I forgot Chipper grew up a Dodgers fan. Surely his career with the Braves would have negated that by now, though. MLB tweeted this picture out earlier (if you don’t have Twitter, the summary is pretty much every celebrity they asked picked the Dodgers). I just looked back and realized they were talking about today and not the whole series, so that makes more sense to me now.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/385885662286585856/photo/1
@213, the entire sporting universe has picked the Dodgers. They are like -160 favorites to win the series. So far it’s kinda hard to say that they are wrong.
@214 I know. It’s just sad to see a Dodgers logo next to Chipper’s picture.
Their is a reason why everyone picked the Dodgers. It’s also the reason why we should’ve taken care of Milwaukee at home and played the Pirates and Aj Burnett today.
When can we complain about not seeing LaStella in Sept? I mean Elliot Johnson is starting. I’m still baffled by it.
Two more base runners and then we can hit a 5-run homer to tie it up! ( cause that is the only way Braves score, you know.)
Never seen so much pine tar in 1 glob; looks like Bondo.
They’re making Kershaw work. Something good will come of that.
Don’t worry, Brian. Those will be out in Yankee stadium.
Regression!
HEY LOOK OUR ROOKIE CAN GO FIRST TO THIRD ON A SINGLE TO CF TOO
Oh my, someone comes through for Atlanta.
He is supposed to be only a throw in.
@222 I know man. Ridiculous.
Lol, surprised that Puig didn’t run all the way to LF and throw out someone at home.
Simmons has a fast, fast bat.
Simmons is gonna win MVP one day if he stays healthy.
…………………..
At least it was a longish inning for Kershaw
Sad that what went through my mind before strike three was, “Maybe we can clear the 8-spot for the bottom of the fifth.”
But not today…that was a small crack in the Kershaw armor there, but we didn’t take advantage.
Why is Med still pitching?
Because Fredi. Maybe Meds can hit for himself next inning and then get pulled.
They would have 5 less hits with normal defensive positioning
This is so Barves.
Fredi he has no control! Hasn’t sine the 2nd inning. Get him out.
Thank you Fredi. Enough is enough. Don’t pull another Bobby.
Merlin just didn’t have it after the 1st.
If I’m down 5-1 in a playoff game in the fifth, I don’t agree to do a dugout interview for TV. And if Bud Selig waves a TV contract in front of me saying I have to, I tell him to screw himself.
The bizarre defensive shifts didn’t help Medlen either.
Well, I’ve done what I can to help us win this game. I’ve had a recap for a Braves loss typed out since the 3rd inning that just needs the final numbers plugged in. If me having to completely rewrite it does not spur them on to victory, I don’t know what will.
I first started using this negative motivation when Ryan Klesko was on the team, because my sister and I felt like he always hit a home run whenever he got angry. So whenever he stepped into the box in a big moment, we would start yelling mean things to the television (at least, things that were “mean” to an 8-year-old like “you’re ugly!”) He homered in an inordinately large number of at-bats in such instances, and I have never been able to shake the feeling that my negativeness can inspire the team. I’m not a superstitious person in real life, but baseball is an entirely different beast.
Fredi seemed more nervous than the players. And they look really nervous
Ayala means white-flag in some dialects.
Ayala sucks.
@242, my wife and I do the same thing – I think we started it with “Bret Boone sucks” chants that would invariably lead to roid-rage homers. Good times. Unfortunately it hasn’t ever worked much in the postseason. I’m trying my best tonight but the poor-mouthing magic doesn’t work in the Ted in October. We need some new juju.
After not throwing to third there, I agree.
Can’t the crowds start chanting Kershaw’s name?
Really need to get this guy and it ends up ok.
Watch Kershaw go deep here.
K zone looks really off for some reason
McCann not getting framing calls tonight.
Watch him walk Kershaw
Great job by Ayala.
252- He’s Ayala, alright!
Well done, Ayala.
Ayala did what needed doing there, regardless of his track record.
Ok here we go. Walk, single, error, homer and we’re back in it.
SCORELESS INNING!!!! Ok, Ayala, I hate you less now.
Man that had double-Grybo written all over it. I feel like we just stole something. Turning point? Maybe.
Need to cut it to 5-3 here somehow
So in our half of the 5th we’ve got terrible-hitter, terrible-pinch-hitter, and groundball-to-second.
Maybe Uggla can get a hold of one here. Oh wait, maybe EJ can single
Edit: No, he will just look completely lost. Probably why he was released earlier this season.
Could Janish be worse?
You can’t get rejected Eliot.
BJ has no clue at the plate.
Hey, BJ struck out! How strange!
Typical BJ at bat.
Boooooooooooooooooo! I hope you can hear that coming all the way from my couch BJ.
BJ Upton tried about as hard in that AB as I would have had I been asked to get a hit off Kershaw.
What a joke.
Old guy in hat shaking head has probably seen a lot of BJ this year.
BJ was 1 for his last 36. Pretty tough spot to be put in there.
The Rays have former Braves Yunel and KJ. We have ex-Rays Elliot and BJ.
That’s the best curve-ball in the majors folks. He’s not even pitching like his usual self tonight and we still look overmatched.
This is the worst possible matchup for us. 5-game series with two against this mf’er. Somehow we gotta find a way.
And like lambs to the slaughter, the Braves take the field…
Gah, what piss poor efforts there
As far as striking out a side goes, not overly impressive.
@273, You mean a tough spot for the Braves? Totally agree!
@275 We are battling. Just couldn’t get the big hit.
@274 I want David Price. We can send them Uggla and BJ.
Pretty sad, but again, Uggla and Terdo should have some of these AB’s
@278, K’ing BJ doesn’t count in the stat book.
Oh, God. We’ve got in Walden? There’s a white flag if I ever saw one.
Andrelton looks sluggish in the field tonight.
Simmons just can’t be positioned right tonight.
The Dodgers are better than the Braves.
Give it back, sigh
Well, we are probably gonna lose this one. I feel decent about our chances to win the next two, so there is that.
And Walden is in to see just how many runs the Dodgers can get.
@286 Tonight, yes.
They are beating the shit out of us. My sympathy to everyone that paid money to see this seal clubbing tonight.
Yes, we desperately need Uggla’s awesomeness.
Walden is Pedro Cerrano’s kind of pitcher: “Straight ball, I hit very much.”
#288 – I’m not sure how you could possibly feel that way after watching this mess and knowing that BJ/Reed/Constanza/Schafer/and Janish make up our bench. I can’t put Laird in that group. He’s useful.
288 — I have no confidence of winning the next 2 after this shit show.
#Sucktober
It’s not that Uggla isn’t terrible…I just don’t get why you’d disrupt the clubhouse, cause turmoil and hurt-feelings and distraction, all for… Constanza? There just wasn’t any reason to do that.
Meanwhile the football game on espn is worth turning to real quick
Yeah, I have no idea what they do with Uggla now. He’s completely untradeable and it’s hard to imagine him being next year’s 2B. I mean, there’s gotta be some bad blood.
It’s not because Uggla is awesome. It’s because he can still run into one. He’s got 22 HR and a higher OBP. If we had a better option I wouldn’t complain. EJ is not a better option.
There’s no way that Uggla and Fredi will be in the same dugout next year. I’m hoping they both are sent packing, but I’m afraid we’re stuck with Fredi. Uggla has played his last game as a Brave.
Freddie did not go there. Unbelievable.
@301 As I said, there has to be something else between Fredi and Uggla on top of the performance issue.
I thought Heyward checked his swing earlier also.
@297—exactly. Freddie and McCann’s comments about it were concerning. It’s one thing to hurt Uggla’s feelings, but it’s another thing to include Constanza and have Uggla’s teammates openly express disappointment.
Edit: Uggla certainly wasn’t hitting well enough to be an asset to this team, but we are talking about Jose-freaking-Constanza being his replacement here.
I get it. His only game is power and he’s slugging .250 since the AS break.
This made me laugh
@ajcbraves: I don’t have a legit answer for that. RT @ToddRoss72: @ajcbraves why exactly was Walden put on the NLDS roster?
Uggla made his bed; now he has to lie in it. That’s it. He failed to make adjustments. He didn’t hit consistently.
Uggla’s not the problem. Medlen couldn’t locate his fastball. Poor defense, partially the result of shifts that have been newly implemented. OFers throwing to the wrong base, allowing runners to advance. Poor baserunning. That’s why the Braves are getting beat, not because Dangerous Dan isn’t in the lineup.
The problem is the guy on the mound for the Dodgers.
Why Wood here? Expecting to go two innings here? Resigned to Garcia for game 4?
@308 Just a poorly played game tonight. However, there is a reason why we won 96 games. Tomorrow is a new game.
@310 Get the nerve out of the system I imagine. We will need Woody if we ever have a lead.
#311
Absolutely. Let the boys get the jitters out of their systems and go get ’em tomorrow.
#306 – Last time I checked everyone started today at .000/.000/.000. Oh yeah and EJ since the break is .207/.262/.284.
Finally an eventless inning we so deserve.
@308, my impression is that Uggla is very well liked in the clubhouse. That shouldn’t mean much, but again the other option is Elliot Johnson who is completely terrible. We didn’t sit Uggla for Chase Utley. We sat him for EJ and then rubbed salt in the open wound by putting Constanza on the roster. There’s literally 10 guys in our low minor leagues I’d rather have on the roster than Constanza. The whole thing is bewildering to me. I would have zero respect for my manager or GM if I was on the Braves.
It’s all about Dan Uggla’s pride. If he would at least bat .200 it would not even be an issue. He can’t control what the management does, he has to perform just like everyone of us at work.
7 more walks and we’re back in this.
KC I agree but how do they explain the BJ, Reed, Walden, and Constanza choices. They sure haven’t performed either.
#316
Conversely, Fredi might lose respect among his players if he didn’t make a change. I mean, Uggla’s been struggling one way or another for the past two seasons. Sure, he’s a good guy, but a manager has to leave personalities out of it. He needed someone in the lineup who could make contact consistently without sacrificing defense, and E. Johnson was that guy. Constanza doesn’t wow me either, but he can make things happen. He puts pressure on the defense. I want to say he had a good series against the Phillies?
That barely got to the plate.
How much is LA paying that ump at 3b?
The thing with Constanza is that earlier in the summer when we had outfielders hurting, we called up Joey T and Todd Cunningham. Constanza wasn’t called up until Gattis was sent down to AAA for some at-bats, just a few days before rosters expanded. If he is so valuable to this team, why wasn’t he called up earlier? Uggla has been with the big league club all season and is a pretty popular player by all accounts. I don’t think the Braves would be winning this game if Uggla was on the roster, but I do strongly question Fredi’s decision. There has to be other factors that we don’t know about here.
@319 I honestly think there is some serious bad blood between the two.
I’m just saying that you don’t rock the boat unless you are making an upgrade. EJ is not an upgrade. Constanza shouldn’t even be on team regardless of Uggla’s status. We don’t need 6 outfielders.
Bright note, maybe Kershaw throwing 120 pitches in a 6-1 game will help later on
Kershaw’s up to 118 pitches. If the Braves can somehow win the next two games, surely LA wouldn’t bring Kershaw back on short rest in Game 4 after this? Or would that be short rest, with the days off?
Just can’t seem to get a break tonight….
Shame, too. Kershaw certainly hasn’t seemed unhittable.
Kershaw will pitch game 5 if needed. They don’t mind extending him tonight.
If Uggla was my friend and teammate — who happens to have Francouer-like delusions about his abilities — what would I say to the press about him? “He sucks and he played his way off the roster.”? I wouldn’t get too concerned about how this thing has created some deep wound in the psyches of McCann and co.
Good night boys and girls. See you for tomorrow’s game. Another tough pitching matchup, but their chances should be a little better against a righty. Minor needs to bring his A game.
Completely overmatched. 0-3 2ks and an error.
@330, you’re probably right. I still don’t see the need for it, but it’s not the reason we’re getting pants’d tonight. We getting chewed up by the best pitcher in either league for the last couple years. Let’s just hope we can win the next 3 and not see him again until next year.
We’ll use every one of our 12 pitchers this series.
Just need to score 6 runs before making 6 outs. It’s been done before. Maybe if I drink enough we’ll have a better chance.
Does Constanza really put pressure on the defense? He really doesn’t hit balls out of the infield often and he’s not a good base stealer from what I can recall.
Wilson is a classic.
See Heyward signal the inside pitch to Freeman there?
Yeah that was cool (not that it helped much).
Y’all help me out with the positives for tonight…
1. As far as we know nobody has fallen out of the upper decks tonight.
2. … ?
We did score a run. That’s probably more than most expected us to do against Kershaw.
Hi Evan, I wish you could have caught that in the second inning.
Bullpen has been good, but now they have seen all of our arms down there
Bmac has had some good Ab’s
#340
Ayala’s performance.
Gattis has hit the ball hard, and he just made a pretty good running catch.
Carpenter and Wood looked good.
OK, maybe we won’t use Kimbrel this series.
You can keep saying the “sound off the bat” but it makes no sense to keep talking about it if he doesn’t make contact.
Good AB by Gattis there.
Bmac should lay down a bunt on this shift.
The Dodgers are pitching rich because they are rich.
When they are giving you a base take it
Yeah… Here comes Elliot Johnson…, sure glad Uggla isn’t here… Ugh…Uggla could have K’d 3 times with at least the threat of some power
You mean this is no infield fly rule call?
I am sure Dan could have hit a six-run homerun right here.
Single…walk…Heyward up as the tying run?
Elliot Johnson, switch-whiffer
Good contact hitter there with EJ. 0-4 3K’s error
Or not. Two more games left in the season. Enjoy them guys.
Hey, Elliot pulling his best Uggla impression there!
I find myself hoping that Elliot Johnson pulls a muscle on his way back to the clubhouse.
15k’s.
@ajcbraves: #Braves have lost 4 consecutive home playoff games and 17 of past 22.
17th home playoff loss in the last 22 games. Enough with the Ted. Burn it. Bulldoze it. Pour holy water in the smoking crater.
Fredi just said we had a nice offensive game plan.
I guess if the plan was to strikeout 15 times and generally look like we didn’t belong on the same field as them…mission accomplished.
@362
I’d suggest the Georgia Dome with a short RF porch, but it’s no better. The Dome, Turner Field … they both need a Hazmat team, an exorcist, or both.
The 2008 Detroit Lions had some nice offensive game plans, too.
Tough match-up with Kershaw. He’s in a league of his own. When you give up 6 runs and Kershaw’s on the mound, you’re probably going to have a bad time.
As for Struggla, I can’t believe we’re still talking about this. Dan Uggla does not “run into a fastball” anymore. And if he still does, he should have demonstrated it over the past two months. Uggla makes ZERO impact on the outcome of this game.
If you’re desperate to “blame” someone for the loss, then blame Medlen. He didn’t bring his Game One Starter Stuff today. You typically don’t win when your starter gets bombed, regardless of who is standing at second base.
I like our odds tomorrow and game three. It’d be nice for the bats to throw a 10 spot on the board tomorrow, wear out their bullpen, and have an advantage the rest of the series. They can’t pitch Kershaw every game.
Both the next two guys for the Dodgers are better than our #1 starter (whoever you think that might be). We have two more games until hot stove talk.
@krussell
Zach Greinke is a complete head case who has not had a remotely worthwhile big game start in his life. But if you’re so sure, you could always just not come back for the rest of the series. I doubt that would bother anyone.
Also, anyone who thinks Dan Uggla would’ve done anything but go 0-for-5 with 4 strikeouts is an idiot.
Nick, be nice.
New thread.