Having three consecutive nights off in April would have been really boring, so fortunately Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, and David Hale remembered there was a game tonight and showed up to play. Unfortunately, the rest of the team hasn’t really caught on yet that the Braves are in Miami to play baseball, so tonight’s performance was not very inspiring.
Our starting pitching logjam might work itself out, as these problems are wont to do. We all knew that the Braves magical start could not last all season, but I don’t think anyone anticipated that those ridiculous pitching numbers the starting staff posted over the first month would equal out in just a couple of games.
Aaron Harang came in with an MLB-best 0.85 ERA and left in the 4th with it at 2.97. Before he recorded an out in the second he had allowed a single, double, single, opposite field home run, and walk. A Roger visit settled him down, but the damage had been done. The Marlins were up 4-0 and never looked back.
Harang gave up 9 runs in 4 2/3 innings, which makes his first five starts seem even more incredible. He gave the Braves so much more than they could have ever expected during a month the team should have been really hurting for starting pitching. He did exactly what we needed him to do.
Heyward went 2-for-4 to raise his batting average to above .200 again. Our entire lineup currently sits above the Mendoza Line. Everyone enjoy this moment while it lasts.
Hale was pretty impressive in relief, a role he’ll probably officially be in for awhile after Mike Minor returns on Friday. If he keeps pitching how he has this season, though, he’ll get more opportunities to start. To make the score slightly more respectable, Justin Upton homered in the 9th after his brother had doubled earlier in the inning. Andrelton Simmons had scored in the 6th on a Hale sac fly.
We finished April ranked first in the NL East with a 17-9 record, up two games on the Mets and 2 1/2 on the Nats. I’ll take that monthly result any day. Let’s try to take some momentum from that final Upton April homer into tomorrow’s game and not get swept by the Fish.
Natspo(s) delenda est.
For Justin’s sake, let’s just pretend tomorrow is April 31.
csg, thinking of you and your family.
CSG, Praying for a speedy recovery for your Dad. these types of surgeries are not only life saving, but life restoring too. Hopefully his energy will return and you’ll have many more years together.
Well said, Kruger! Csg, giving ya dad a shoutout before bed tonight.
Thanks for recapping this awful game, ‘Rissa. Good thing we built up enough of a cushion to be able to lose a couple of laughers like this. Now, maybe we can get back to winning one again.
@4 Thanks—I nearly did not do a real recap, but then I realized it was the last day of the month and that the great April we had deserved some homage. It is a little sad, though, that our extraordinarily great month finished with a couple of extraordinarily awful games.
Let’s hope we got these laughers out of our system before our tough May schedule starts. Of course, the Braves often play better against good teams when bad teams give us problems, so maybe we’ll get through May in good shape.
They’re gonna have to start hitting. Let’s hope it starts immediately.
A bad finish to a great month. Turn the page & find that hitting stroke.
Best wishes to csg & father.
Agreed on csg’s Dad. Hopes and prayers for fast recovery.
I’d rather have a bad finish to a good month than a good finish to a bad month.
csg – good luck to your dad.
Good luck CSG.
I went and saw Kershaw’s rehab start last night. He struck out nine in five innings.
Fare thee well, excellent run differential.
Prayers are with you, csg.
I’m surprised we scored. Give ’em heck in May, Braves.
Ughla since his 2HR game: .182/.250/.205 1 double, 3 walks in 12 games. Smell a move coming on?
@13–I smell something
What you smell is Fredi after an egg salad sandwich and several Fiber One brownies for lunch.
@13
I would imagine a move would come closer to the trade deadline. We have to find someone to take him and pay at least part of his salary.
He might find his way to the bench before then, but I doubt it.
16: Not going to happen. They’re either going to stubbornly insist on running him out there as he continues to be the worst regular in the league or they will admit defeat and bench or release him. No one is paying a red cent above the league minimum for what Dan is offering these days.
I wish that smell was Rougned Odor.
So, Henderson Alvarez tonight. He has been pretty, pretty good lately. Can’t afford another one of those blowouts. I’m counting on Santana being the post-Hudson stopper for the Braves.
@13 – Ryan, if by move you mean Uggla hits the bench, I am thinking he gets two more weeks. Give a guy 6 to 8 full weeks to turn it around. Seems like that’s what they have done in the past. If move to you is the Braves parting ways with Uggla, then end of May? I know it doesn’t make sense with Pastornicky and Pena on the team and LaStella lurking in AAA but I think they’ll keep him around and pinch hit him or give him some garbage time to see if he can build any kind of trade value at all. But at some point in the near future its best for the team to cut ties with him and eat sunk costs.
@16 – I respectfully disagree. I think that if the Braves decide to part ways with Uggla they’ll simply release him. If it is possible, Dan has probably lowered his trade value this past month.
edit: Personally I’d like for the Braves to give LaStella a shot. If all he does is get on base and hit singles he is more valuable than Uggla assuming the same level of defense.
I think they give Uggla until the 40 game mark. Is also feasible they could go all the way to the end of May. But after that I think that he will be gone if he continues to not hit.
I’m wondering if they might try to trade Floyd.
LaStella or LaStruggla?
I’ll guess we get to June before an unproductive Uggnutz gets benched or platooned (although he’s never really been a lefty masher).
@22 As crazy as it might sound, the Braves could make good use of Floyd. As of now they’ve got 1) Santana, 2) Minor, 3) Teheran, 4) Wood, 5) Harang, and 6) Hale. Hale’s already headed to the bullpen, and Harang is not a long-term solution for a contending team. That leaves four legit starters – one of which (Wood) whose 2014 innings will need to be managed somewhat carefully. I’m sure the Braves are/would be happy to have Floyd take starts instead of Harang and/or Hale for the remainder of the season.
Apropos of nothing, really, just thought this was interesting — we’ve only faced 3 southpaw starting pitchers so far this year. There are only five currently active LHP full-time starters in the NL East — Niese, Gio, Lee, Hamels, and Wood. The six teams in the NL Central combine for only four — Cingrani, Liriano, Wandy, Travis Wood. The NL West has as many as the other two divisions combined — Bumgarner, De La Rosa, Morales, Anderson, Ryu, Kershaw, Erlin, Stults, and Miley.
Game thread is up.