I feel about Julio Teheran about how I imagine I’d feel if I had a high school-age daughter: inordinately proud of all of his accomplishments, and at the same time desperately afraid that something might happen to him.
After the Braves bumbled their way through a four-game home-and-home sweep against the Red Sox, Julio Teheran took the ball in his hand, limited the Marlins to five hits and two runs in 7 1/3 innings while collecting two hits and a run scored on the other side of the ball. He isn’t just our stopper, he isn’t just our ace, he is quietly building a dark horse Cy Young campaign.
The Marlins’ two runs came on a first-inning 450-foot Giancarlo Stanton homer. It remained 2-0 for a really long time. Then, in the sixth inning, Regression got an RBI single, and in the seventh, the Braves scored the tying and go-ahead runs on a Teheran double, a Jason Heyward triple, and a B.J. Upton sac fly. Luis Avilan and David Carpenter relieved Teheran shortly after he gave up an infield single and crossed the 100-pitch count, each retiring the one batter he faced, and the Kraken induced three flyball outs to seal the victory.
Heyward was 2-5 and Bupton was 1-2 with a walk and a sac fly, which is really good to see, especially since Freddie is in one of his mini-slumps, going 0-4 tonight.
Freddie Freeman is a really good hitter, though, and one of the proofs is the fact that he can remain productive even when the hits are falling. Over his last 11 games, he’s hitting .216/.370/.378 with 9 walks and 11 strikeouts — so, even when he isn’t getting singles to fall, he’s hitting with decent power and getting on base. And today, David Schoenfield of ESPN speculated that Freeman might be a better franchise player to build a team around than Bryce Harper, and that Teheran was a better young pitcher to build around than Stephen Strasburg.
Well, duh.
Been rooting for Shae for a while now and wrote this up on
him in April. I also got to interview him which will be up soon!
http://tomahawktake.com/2014/04/15/shae-simmons-atlanta-brave-mississippi/
Heyward had an RBI double. Took third on the LF’s error.
It was changed to a triple.
Someone will have to be removed from the 40-man.
I confess, I didn’t actually watch the game.
I know, to paraphrase a great one, that a perceived injustice in my head is like a pen in Shakespeare’s hand, but I always feel like Schoenfield is just trying to light a fire under the Nationals.
@ajcbraves: #Braves lineup: Heyward 9, BUpton 8, Freeman 3, JUpton 7, Johnson 5, Simmons 6, La Stella 4, Laird 2, Santana 1
@6, that doesn’t really make any sense at all. He’s a huge Mariners fan.
That said, I think he’s basically the best baseball writer at ESPN right now, with the exception of Jonah Keri and Rany Jazayerli at Grantland and Nate Silver at 538.
I really hate the days Gattis sits.
In his professional career, Shae Simmons has never served up a home run. About a hundred innings of work, 62 hits, 45 walks, 148 Ks. I’ll have some of that, please.
Wirfin Obispo DFA’d. I’m sure we’ll all miss him very much.
@10 That’s incredible!
The first paragraph of the recap had me laughing heartily. Hilarious analogy, Alex.
I’m a dreamer, and I’m dreaming Shae Simmons is the next great bullpen arm, Walden gets back this month, and Jonny Venters gets back in July or August for the stretch run.
Man, we were spoiled with O’Ventbrel. We were even more spoiled in ’02 when we had Smoltz, Remlinger, Hammond, and Holmes. I wonder if Smoltz/Remlinger/Hammond produced better than O’Ventbrel.
I wish we could have somehow paired the pitching of the 2002 club with the hitting of the 2003 club. They would have won 115 games and a World Series.
We have some serious gas coming out of the pen these days. The comparisons to Kimbrel will be inevitable, but even if he’s not Kimbrel he’s still likely to be very very good.
If we can ever figure out how to score more than 3 runs we’ll be pretty dangerous.
@8 I don’t think he’s a Nationals fan as much as he wants them to prove him right.
I bet Freeman could play a decent 3b
17 — Surprised they didn’t try it when he was in the minor leagues.
@13–My gut tells me that O’Ventbrel at their best were the greatest bullpen trio of all time, and I seem to remember someone writing an article to that effect, but damned if I could find it now.
Listening to the Marlins feed, our old buddy CJ Nitkowski is the co-commentator. Pretty good guy to listen to.
Forever a Free Man!!
@19 I recall a piece of that nature as well.
3 runs in 1 inning?
@20: Pretty amazing BRef page on CJ Nitkowski. From October 2001-October 2006 he was on nine different teams and never traded. Over this period he was outright released eight times and granted free agency without release twice. Never traded… just released the last decade of his career… and he made more than $3.7 million. What a great country.
J-Hey!
@24 Wow, that is truly amazing. He does sound like a good guy. Mentioned a couple of times already that his stint with the Braves was the most special from a pitching environment perspective.
Until earlier this week, I felt pretty good about a Santana 5-1 lead.
Welcome to the 700 (OPS) Club, JHey.
I don’t care what his pitch count is, Santana needs the hook.
Yeah, don’t let him do what he did last time he was staked to a big lead…
Fredi, what are you waiting for?!
Not a bad day at the office for Santana against a surprisingly potent Marlins lineup. Step in the right direction after his last three disasters. I really want to see him succeed for the Braves; apart from the obvious reasons, he seems like a really great dude.
The loss of effectiveness after four innings is becoming a problem; maybe he needs to be a long reliever.
Carpenter spit the bit, again.
Bullpen = dumpster fire.
Kimbrel now.
Edit: OK, Kimbrel Junior now. Welcome to the bigs, kid!
Simmons here? Wow!
Is this really the best moment for someone to make their big league debut?
Reminds me of Wohler’s debut.
What do we know?
Fredi Jr. making up for the failings of Fredi Sr.
Hey, speaking of dumpster fires…
BJ lets Ramos (and the umpire, if GameDay is accurate) do his job for him.
Does Simmons come back out?
Doumit pinch-hit for him.
Can we get David Hale some work?
Didn’t Doumit pinch hit for LaStella and Pena for Simmons? Or did I miss a double switch?
You missed the double switch
Yeah, there was a double switch in the 7th. (Varvaro for La Stella, Pena for Santana)
46- Careful what you ask for…
Gotcha. I thought it was odd.
Third to second drills after the game tonight. And tomorrow morning.
Chris Johnson has got to stop with the KY in between innings. Stuff gets all over the ball.
Game over.
As Skip would have said, “Never in serious doubt.” Kimbrel ties Smoltz for most career saves by a Brave.
commentator on espn radio said that he couldn’t believe he was watching the 1st and 2nd place teams in the NL East considering how sloppy they both were today.
as long as the Braves win…
Tomorrow the bullpen will be shorthanded as I imagine that Kimbrel, Carpenter, and Avilan will all be unavailable. They have all pitched 3 days in a row.
Anyone have any idea how many days in a row for Simmons?
If I recall correctly, Shae has never pitched more than 2 days in a row in his minor league career.
Looks Like Shae last pitched on Tuesday. He should be fresh as a daisy…
Before yesterday, Simmons had had three days’ rest. I suppose this is what Alex Wood is for, at least for right now, as well.
Fredi had better not field a Sunday lineup today. We need to make sure the Marlins don’t get their hopes up. They have pieces to deal that could lead to immediate on-field improvement.
Whereas with the Braves, Wren would need to get creative. I guess we could find a platoon partner for Regressed, as a start.
Thanks all.
I suppose we’ll have Gattis today at least, since Laird caught yesterday.
However much sense it might make, I doubt we’ll be actively looking to put a guy we just extended on the short end of a platoon.
Doumit in for Justin in LF. Otherwise it’s our best lineup.
Heyward, BJ, Freeman, Gattis, Doumit, Johnson, La Stella, Simmons, Harang
I think we need to upgrade our bench. We need a 4th outfielder and another infielder
Recapped.