Jason Heyward continues his torrid streak, going 3-4 with a 2 run homer, and having a hand in all 5 of Atlanta’s runs. He drove in three, and scored the other two runs himself. I’m sure as I type this he’s out skimming the bugs out of the pool in right field, sweeping up the trash from the stands, and rescuing kittens stranded in cacti all across the Greater Phoenix area.
Julio Teheran wasn’t especially sharp, but he did what you want your ace to do after getting swept – he kept the Braves in the game and pitched just well enough to win. Julio went 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk, while striking out 7. He won his 6th game of the year, with Craig Kimbrel collecting the save to pass John Smoltz for the lead on the Atlanta Braves’ career saves list with his 155th save.
Didi Gregorius launched a lead-off homer to right in the bottom of the 1st to start the scoring. Chip, in his usual inimitable style, declared it an opposite field shot. That should be enough to tell you that Gregorius was batting left-handed, but I digress. The Braves Heywards got on the board in the top of the 5th, launching a 2 run homer after Jordan Schafer has
doubled to lead off the inning. Success! had a great game, going 3-4 and being driven in by Heyward twice, starting in place of BJ Upton, who was late arriving after the birth of his daughter.
Arizona tied it up in the bottom of the 5th, when Teheran gave up a lead-off double to David Peralta, then got the next two batters, only to give up the 2 out RBI single to Brandon McCarthy, the D-backs’ starter.
In the 7th, JHey walked with one out, and The Defense (AKA Andrelton Simmons) doubled him home from first. Hey, if Freeman is The Offense, then Simmons should be The Defense.
Fredi played musical relievers in the bottom of the 8th, with Alex Wood getting the first out before issuing a walk to Gerardo Parra, followed by Shae Simmons working up a sweat to get Paul Goldschmidt to fly out to center on the first pitch, then immediately giving way to The Kraken, who struck out Martin Prado to end the Arizona 8th.
The Braves blew it open in their half of the 9th. (Well, for the Braves, adding two runs counts as blowing it open, doesn’t it?). Schafer singled to start it off, stole second, went to third on Ramiro Pena’s ground out,
inducing Chip and Joe to slobber all over the ‘productive out.’ That Man drove him in, then came around to score on consecutive singles by The Offense and Justin Upton. Justin bravely shouldered the Upton K Duty tonight, whiffing three times so BJ wouldn’t feel that the team was left out.
All the Braves’ starting position players had at least one hit, with Tommy La Stella collecting two more singles.
Heyward is now hitting .263/.347/.386 with a 10 game hitting streak. La Stella’s at .423/.464/.423 (Small Sample Size Theater to be sure.) The Marlins lost in 13 to the Cubs, so we’re back in first place all by our lonesome. Ervin Santana goes tomorrow against Wade Miley.
Truly enjoyable recap. Thanks, Alex.
Really like the lineup we employed last night. Would love to see more of it.
Here begins a series of questions about topics that I think might be of interest to the people of this community. I swear I’m not trying to be a troll. Sorry if it comes off that way.
(continued)
Zimmerman is probably done as a 3B. I sure wouldn’t mind having him as the right-handed backup to Freddie at 1B. Probably not something the Braves can do (or the Nats would do).
Vandy looks like the best team still standing in the Tournament to me. Do they have the pitching this year?
Has BJ shown enough improvement to warrant some interest from some unsuspecting AL Club yet?
What the hell is wrong with Manny Machado?
For that matter, what the hell is wrong with the O’s pitching staff and Showalter to TWICE allow his pitcher to throw at the head of a guy who just made a baseball play (clearly without malice)?
And what the hell is the matter with the umpires that would allow this to continue?
If you’re Don Mattingly, what do you do with your talented but often dysfunctional outfield?
Kitten visual is really making me laugh.
I’ve heard talk of wanting La Stella in the 2-hole. It might not be popular but there’s a case to put La Stella in the leadoff role and move Heyward to #2. Tommy will put the ball in play or walk, but often his contact will be weak rollers to 1st/2nd setting up the dreaded double play. With Heyward’s ability to hit for extra bases, he’s best suited behind La Stella. I’m sure the Braves won’t do it, but it makes sense.
@4
Who would we play in center?
Success and/or Heyward.
……………..
@2
No way that Zimmerman would be available for a price that the Braves would pay just to start twice a month when Freeman gets a day off. I suspect that LaRoche is on his last legs as the natspos starting 1B, and that Zimmerman will be full time there next year.
OR, the natspos could trade him to an AL team where he could be the full time DH if his throwing ability is so shot he can’t even handle first.
@4
I don’t think that BJ is in the Uggla Zone just yet. There’s enough signs recently to think he *MIGHT* be coming around, and trading him right now would definitely be selling low.
Plus, Schafer is OK as a CF once a week. More than that though, and his erratic routes would start to really annoy our flyball pitchers (Yes, I’m looking at YOU Mike Minor).
@10.
I think you’re right about this. Would be nice, though (and I sure would love to get him out of DC).
Has Zimmerman ever played any LF?
Wanna watch all of Kimbrels 155 saves?
http://m.mlb.com/atl/video/topic/8879214/v33506677/relive-kimbrels-journey-as-the-braves-saves-leader/?c_id=atl
I will never, under any circumstance, root for a Dykstra.
Bases loaded. Two outs. We’re trailing the Dodgers by one run in the bottom of the ninth. Whoever wins goes to the World Series.
We’re playing them on Jerry Royster night.
Tommy LaSorda and Steve Garvey are coaching 1st and 3rd, respectively.
Dale Murphy’s entire family has just been attacked by hoodlums in the Chavez Ravine parking lot.
Oh, and did I mention that Donald Stirling has just purchased the Dodgers?
Little Dykstra (just called up from Gwinnett) heads to the plate.
Whatcha got now, Sam?
Whoa!!
Dansby Swanson.
Remember that name.
……………..
@15
I don’t think you could have framed that up any better. Well done.
Couldn’t*
@15 – Seems obvious that you’d want some sort of career-ending HBP that forces in the tying run. Whoever hits next can win it after Dykstra is wheeled off.
@15, What the hell is Dale Murphy’s entire family doing in the Dodger Stadium parking lot on a Dodgers off night?
Donnie and Marie reunion concert
Three outs, four pitches. What’s the rush, guys?
Let’s not make Miley work or anything. A four pitch inning? Geesh.
I’m consistently awed by the fact that mlb.com somehow manages to make every new version of Gameday more shitty than the previous.
Because we wouldn’t want La Stella to learn how to hit against LHP, would we?
Uggla and BJ in the same lineup. The classic lineup, how I’ve missed it…
Waste of a roster spot. Even Constanza would bring more to the table than Uggla.
Santana just looks disturbed tonight. Seems pissed about everything. His location has been pretty piss poor so far.
Wasn’t missing Uggla.
A comedy of errors there. You don’t see Andrelton not know where the ball is too often. Santana’s not fooling anyone, but he should be through two without having allowed any runs.
28 — He’s probably disturbed about pitching terribly the last month.
Joe no doubt has a mess in his pants after that hit.
Simmons!
Ok, there’s no arguing that that was a huge hustle play.
About 1.33 more years of Uggla, till October 2015. A little longer if the Braves go deep into the playoffs next year.
Maybe Andrelton should have stayed at second. On third with no out leads to too much false hope.
EDIT: Saved by a “Take the out, stupid” moment.
braves14, you act like it’s over-the-top to admire athleticism when a player turns a normal single into a hustle “triple”. That’s huge.
@36 Not just the hustle, but on a hit to the opposite field, no less! It did fairly hit on all the Joe cliches.
It was the hit the other way that I was referring to.
Uggla has 2 errors and it’s just the 3rd inning.
Uggla is wasting no time getting firmly back on the shit list, just in case anyone felt bad for him for some reason.
Fredi, Frank:
Stop. Uggla’s already dead. Please DFA him.
Jim: they’re working Grigorius like he’s Rickey Henderson
Don: But he runs like Florence Henderson
(Grigorius steals base)
Uggla’s going to need some more playing time to warm up that glove.
5 first pitch outs already
Wow, that was crushed. What a stupid ballpark
That ball was smoked. Agreed on the stupid park.
I think Chris Johnson is trying too hard to hit the ball to right. He doesn’t ever pull the ball.
FFS, just stand there with the bat on your shoulder, Dan. It’s your only hope.
Uggla’s going to need some more playing time to get that RISP average up.
I absolutely despise the decision to start Uggla tonight. When does it end?
Uggla just needs a few more starts in a row to get warmed up again.
Wren said Uggla would stay on the team as long as he remained “productive” in his current role. Production has apparently been redefined.
Follow Sandberg’s advice Danny. HBP is still on base.
Maybe they’re sending Uggla out there to make a run at history, to try and compile the worst season-long total WAR? Uggla would be a negative in WAICR (“Wins Above Inanimate Carbon Rod”).
Dan “Sunk Cost” Uggla.
Gah… listening to Joe berate Chip is mind-numbing
Guys, I’m beginning to think Chip is a little slow.
Also, Santana is incredibly lucky to have only given up 1 run so far.
Amazing this game is still tied. Santana has been flirting with danger all night.
I’m blissfully unaware of what’s happening on TV, but if y’all want to clue me in on the nature of the discussion please do!
Sometimes, Santana is downright painful to watch. Escaped again!
Time to score some runs.
BJ back to being BJ. His last 11 games, his OPS is less than .600.
With an upcoming series at 5,280 feet, this is a fortuitous time for Oso to roar.
A trade proposal I received in our fantasy league the other day. I give Evan Gattis, I receive…Chris Tillman. The Chris Tillman with a 5.20 ERA.
If Uggla had simply not swung tonight, he would have walked twice.
Think we might want to get Simmons out of there, he is looking gimpy after that pickoff. Weird slide into 2nd, looked like he twisted his ankle, and he stumbled some when trying to back up Johnson on that ground ball.
Shae Simmons may not be ready for this high-leverage work, but what better choice do we have? (Well, besides giving Kimbrel the entire eighth and taking our chances with the bottom of the order in the ninth, but it’s enough of a miracle that Fredi has used him for the occasional extra out in the eighth.)
Simmons has done pretty well in this high-leverage work so far. The situation we put him in down in Florida was downright absurd, and he passed with flying colors. As far as I’m concerned, he’s our setup guy…at least until Walden gets back.
Well, crap. I’m choosing to blame Uggla’s error in the second.
Huzzah for Heyward!
J-Hey!
Carpenter must be unavailable.
Varvaro for the save? Either give up 0 runs or 2, please—west coast extra inning games are miserable.
To me, Varvaro just looks easy to hit.
I think that’s the reason I don’t buy his success.
Damn it all. What a horrible pitch.
@74- Montero agrees.
Sigh.
Carpenter must be hurting. This is where it would have been nice if Walden could manage to not get hurt every three weeks, since Kimbrel and Simmons had both already been used. I miss our good bullpens.
Fredi La Russa going all out tonight.
Um, Fredi does realize we’re in extra innings, right? Using three relievers in one inning doesn’t seem like the best idea, but I guess Hale or Wood could go multiple innings if that becomes necessary.
There goes that Carpenter is unavailable theory. Why the hell didn’t he start the inning?
Cody Ross has entered the game. This game is as good as over.
So good, J-Up, until you swung at his worst pitch.
Wow, Dan, that was actually really impressive.
The organist playing the Ramones “I’m Against it” during the challenge is top-notch.
That’ll buy Uggla another month.
Nice play, Dan, but it doesn’t cancel out the error that helped make extra innings possible.
Meanwhile, Carpenter’s WHIP since May 14 is at 2.19 and rising.
Cody Ross, Braves’ killer, scores the winning run. Called it.
Beaten by the D-bags. That’s embarrassing.
God Cody Ross is a douche. He has a shaved head except on the back, he’s got really short hair cut into the shape of a hand, like someone is slapping the back of his head. I wish that person was me, repeatedly and strenuously.
Gonzalez has to be the worst late inning mgr there is … he lest Vavaro pitch to a LH ..when we had Avilan ready in bullpen … he is a moron ..
#85
Wow, missed that. Relatively obscure Ramones song, too.
After last night, I’d be willing to bet David Carpenter has pitched himself out of high leverage innings for a month or so.
Yesterday, DOB was asked if he thought the Braves will be active in trade talks. He said he thinks they’ll trade a starter. It’d obviously be one of Harang, Floyd, Hale, or maybe even Santana. Who would you not mind seeing gone?
Carpenter is terrible. He had his one season and now he has returned to what he truly is, a bad pitcher.
Thank goodness for the NL East.
I don’t know what we do to try to improve the offense. Scoring 2 or 3 runs every game is going to result in a below .500 finish.
The Braves should go get Jason Kubel now! Nevermind…yikes! He’s been ultra-bad.
I’m pretty confident in predicting that, with the team currently constituted, the rest of the NL East will propel us into the playoffs, and the superiority of the team we’ll face in the NLDS will propel us right back out.
How long before the Braves fire Greg Walker? Because you have to fire someone, right? It can’t be the players; it has to be the coach. The Braves need to hire their 3,456th hitting coach.
I think the Braves need to send a message to the players, and the organization as a whole, and getting rid of Uggla may do that.
People get too comfortable and meed to realize that a total lack of production will cost you, whether its a player, coach or GM.
@95 The spot to improve th offense was to upgrade 3rd base. Now that won’t happen because Wren gave Johnson that awful extension. Still don’t understand that one. Guy has no power and won’t take a walk. Not good production for a corner infielder with average defense.
@100, totally agree. All we can do is hope that the current lineup hits better. There’s nobody left to replace.
As for the division and playoffs I’d say that we are in a bad spot because Washington has stayed close to us while half their offense has been injured. They are going to get better over the summer.
Published. Sorry for the delay!