The All-Star break meant no Wednesday game to recap last week, which consequently left me with a lingering feeling all week that I had forgotten to do something. For the past few days I kept having to reassure myself that it was not Wednesday yet and that I did not have a recap to write. It’s nice to have a recap to do again; it’s even nicer to have a victory to report.
The Braves jumped out to five runs in the first two innings off of Nathan Eovaldi, and then Eovaldi sat down 10 Braves in a row. I don’t know if Eovaldi suddenly got a lot more effective or if the Braves just wanted to turn this game into a nutshell of their season, but both the Good Offense and the Bad Offense made an appearance tonight. They recorded six hits over the first 1 2/3 innings, capped by Freddie Freeman’s three-run home run, and then managed only two additional hits for the rest of the game, both of which came in the bottom of the 8th.
Fortunately, the Good Offense scored enough runs before disappearing and Ervin Santana pitched a great game, a combination that was enough to get the Braves back in the win column. Santana went 7.1 innings and gave up 1 run on six hits while recording 10 strikeouts. He left with two men on in the 8th inning, but Jordan Walden came on and struck out Giancarlo Stanton and Casey McGehee to end the threat.
In the bottom of the 8th, Jason Heyward singled, stole second and made it to third when the throw sailed into centerfield. He broke immediately for home when Regression hit a grounder to short, but Adeiny Hechavarria threw home and Jason looked like toast. However, he amazingly managed to avoid the tag and made it safely back to third. Mike Redmond got ejected after arguing Jason was out of the baseline, but replays showed he wasn’t. His athleticism led to the final Braves run when Gerald Laird singled him home.
Chasen Shreve pitched the 9th. He looked a little shaky and allowed a couple of base runners but managed to end the game unscathed with a strikeout of Reed Johnson.
The Defense and The Other Defense combined for a nifty play in the third inning to get Hechavarria out at second after his base hit took a funny hop in right field (Jason was charged with an error, but that will surely get reversed since the ball took a bad bounce before it got to him).
We have the chance to split the series tomorrow night before the San Diego Former Braves come into town.
Natspo(s) delenda est.
We were linked to Tony Sipp today. Would be a good pickup and is arb-eligible again next year.
From previous thread,
Coop,
My daughter is a rising sophomore at Barnard and loves the city (as do her parents). This summer she is working at Bellevue Hospital and living in an NYU dorm (Bellevue is affiliated with NYU) on third avenue and having a great time, especially not having to study.
NYC certainly has its dangers but a little common sense-which, of course, is not always in great supply in teenagers-goes a long way.
Went down there tonight and saw a pretty good Braves performance. Santana was dealing. The Holeman and Finch burger makes the trip worth it. Good times. Let’s get the split tomorrow.
Couple days late getting to this, but apparently Casey McGahee’s clubhouse nickname in Miami is “Hits McGahee,” which is the funniest true fact I’ve ever heard Chip Caray relay to us. You stay classy, Miami.
We need a bench bat bad. Probably two of them.
Uggla went 1-4 last night in Fresno.
Thanks, Marc and ububba. How did she get to be 18 so quick? She’s all grown up. I guess it’s my turn now.
Great recap, ‘rissa. You rock. Get the split tonight, boys.
Santana looked really sharp. Except for those times he gave up a bunch of two-strike hits. Which was weird. But other than that, super sharp!
coop – i just moved out of the Upper West Side and back to Long Island. (We have 3 kids and it’s just too damn expensive) The city is much safer and cleaner than it used to be and the excitement is truly captivating. I’m sure she’ll love her time in living and studying there.
Sending the oldest progeny off to UNC-Asheville in two weeks. Going to be weird not having him around.
538 did an article about Billy Bean. They included a cool graph of how teams have done since 2000 relative to what we would expect given their payroll. The A’s were of course well ahead of the pack, but Atlanta was also exceptional, coming in behind only the Cardinals and Athletics. These three teams plus the Angles represent the only teams (by my eyeballing) to demonstrate better-than-average performance to a sufficient degree that I think they’re actually doing something right.
Now, I’ll grant that the 2000 endpoint is arbitrary (Well, sort of. It’s an article about Billy Bean, so it probably has to do with that.), and if you’d started in, say, 2008, the Rays would almost certainly be up there. But the bottom line is, we’ve enjoyed one of the best-run teams in the majors over the past 15 years, recent “better-than-average-but-not-great”ness not withstanding.
@10- My sister went to school there! She had an absolute blast. Loved the school, loved the area, met her husband there….
Plus, not a bad place to visit. The views are great, there’s tons of microbreweries, and from my few visits, the food’s not bad, either.
-Matt
@11, what I don’t understand about that article is the performance of the Angels. Other than the 2002 World Championship and their strong play over the last couple of months, for the past decade they’ve mostly been an expensive mediocrity.
EDIT: Well, no, that isn’t fair. They were very good from 2002 to 2009. But they’ve been pretty crappy since then, which is when the payrolls really started to balloon, as exemplified by the Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and C.J. Wilson contracts, and the assumption of the Vernon Wells contract. I just don’t quite get it.
The Angels of the 2000s were really good at putting together cheap pitching staffs, especially relievers, and competing. But they peaked in 2002 and a lot of fans started to feel they were simply too cheap to invest in “the big free agent that puts us over the top for good.” That, combined with the explicit rebrand from “Anaheim” to “of Los Angeles” and the desire to compete locally for TV money against the Dodgers pushed them into the free agent frenzy of the 2010s.
Yeah, they found a lot of Brendan Donnellys and Scot Shieldses, and they had a bunch of guys who hit for a high average, from Garret Anderson who never walked to Chone Figgins who walked a lot. They hung around for a while after the World Series. But then they just started spending and spending and going nowhere. Until this year — and we’ll see if they last.
John Sickels has some nice things to say about Cody Martin:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/7/22/5885665/prospect-note-cody-martin-rhp-atlanta-braves
@10 – I have two graduated from college and two(twins)to go.
I love Asheville. Downtown is cool. Ate at a couple of great restaurants there. And of course did the tourist thing and went to the Biltmore.
They also signed the Rally Monkey to a VERY team-friendly deal. Moneyball.
#10/12
In the past few years, I’ve become a big fan of Asheville as well. It’s kinda like Athens in the mountains (but with fewer hotels).
#9
DWonder,
Where on LI?
#15
The middle of that order looks pretty imposing.
UNC-A is very small for a UNC System school (UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State frex – about 30K, ECU and AppState about 15. UNC-A has about 4k), so it has a private school vibe going on the times we’ve visited. I suspect I’ll have four years of downtown Asheville restauranting to look forward to, especially since his Mom will want to see him quite a bit and it’s a three hour drive from Greensboro to there. Two and a half driving back downhill. 😉
Mariners acquire Kendrys Morales for RHP Stephen Pryor.
@19- I think Athens is a good comp. Though to my knowledge, Ashville has way more local brews.
If going to Asheville, Wicked Weed Brewery is a must! Ridiculously good beer.
No Andrelton.
@19 – ububba, we’re all the way out in Port Jefferson. i still work in Tribeca so my commute is a bear. where are you?
#25
I’m assuming you’ve gotten to know the LIRR pretty well by now.
I live in LIC, but work in Port Washington — home of gorgeous boats, bratty kids & the North Shore Animal League.
Of course, it’s otherwise known as East Egg, Fitzgerald’s fictional “Gold Coast” town.
Whatever CJ is drinking, I hope he shares.
Stop trying to steal bases for a few days, guys.
@26 i work in Federal law enforcement and unfortunately we’re supposed to have our cars with us in case of emergency, so i have to drive into Manhattan most days. except for summer fridays, when i am more than happy to relax on the LIRR and avoid eastbound beach traffic!
The Gold Coast is very nice…we like to think of our part of the north shore as Gold Coast East.
#29
Then you’ve gotten to know the LIE (or Northern State) probably better than you ever wanted to.
And yeah, that Hamptons traffic is outrageous. I do the reverse-commute, so I just see it accumulate on the other side of the LIE.
BTW, Aaron Harang.
I know it’s hof weekend but my goodness, radio team
dang missed dp
As soon as I think Harang is going to the left of the slash on the pixie-dust gauge, he coaxes a DP.
What ridiculously, stupid base running by Upton. If the ball bounces, you aren’t going to beat him anyway.
Damn, Handsome
Just good enough to lose.
Well, this stinks.
Losing a 4-game series really hurts.
Cishek = game over.
This is ridiculous
Our Braves are not always easy to watch.
This will be a shitty way to lose.
Other than Regression’s home run we’ve been shutout tonight.
Cishek owns us.
Gross.
How have we played three more games than the Nationals? I feel like that’s a big gap.
Losing stinks.
I will watch, but I will no longer hope. We’re done, doomed, toast.
Wait til next year.
Two things: Andrelton’s playing, he turns the DP in the 5th and Marlins don’t score. And Craig Kimbrel has sucked hard this year when brought in non-save situations.
And the bench sucks.
And the lineup sucks.
So it was 4 things.
Does Chip Carey know anything about baseball? At one point, with two outs and a 3-2 count on the hitter, he speculated that the runner would “probably” be running. Huh? Maybe he’s watching porn in the booth rather than paying attention to the game.
At another point, he said something like, “people might be surprised to learn that the Marlins have outscored the Braves this year.” Why would they be surprised; apparently, Chip was surprised.
As bad as Bob Carpenter’s homerism is on Nats games, I would still rather listen to him than to Chip. At least he is a competent announcer, even if irritating as hell. Chip is just worthless-and I don’t even hear him too often. It just shows that talent is not necessarily inherited.
The Braves scored 14 runs in the series. Hard to win like that unless you have Clayton Kershaw. Expecting Aaron Harang to win with two runs is simply unfair.
Edwin Jackson, Chris Coghlan, Emilio Bonifacio and Wesley Wright for BJ Upton, Mike Minor, and Tyler Pastornicky. Who hangs up?
Someone please coherently explain why a batter should be able to try to go to first on a strikeout and ball in the dirt. I’ve known the rule since little league but always thought it was stupid. Why should a batter get rewarded for swinging at a terrible pitch and striking out?
Recap is up.