Well, THAT sucked. I watched most of the game and wish I hadn’t. It was unbearably long. The two teams threw 350 pitches between them, and the 9-inning game lasted three hours and 46 minutes without a rain delay, which meant that the West Coast game ended around 2 am. And with Big Handsome against the 34-year old version of Josh Beckett, nothing about this game was going to win a beauty contest.
It started out well enough. Beckett simply didn’t have it: he threw 105 pitches in 4 1/3 innings, only 60 of them strikes, walking four men and giving up nine hits and four runs. But then the Dodgers brought in the immortal Jamey Wright — he may literally be immortal, because I don’t know what else could possibly explain the fact that he’s still in baseball — and he lulled the bats into a permanent nap. Harang let the Dodgers tie the game after six innings of his usual high-wire act, and then Anthony Varvaro brought his gasoline can, and Matt Kemp hit the second of two two-run homers to put the game out of reach.
Hating the Dodgers is natural and proper.
Last thread @190: Perfect phrasing.
Thanks, AAR.
Shamelessly stolen from Mac, of course.
I always told my folks to steal only from the best. Well done.
Somebody tell us some good news right now, please. Pull the trigger, Frank.
I think we should walk Puig everytime and see if he will make stupid base running errors. It is better than the current plan.
Puig appalls – he is that good…what on earth are you supposed to do about him in that vein?
also…
hard to recall just over a year ago they came to us and were swept, embarrassed themselves and Mattingly’s job was up for open discussion.
Mattingly’s job should still be up for open discussion, and so should Colletti’s. They’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars and have the best pitcher in the game. They should be running away with the league.
Alex,
Hypothetical, given all the flak that Fredi Gonzalez gets, would you trade him for Mattingly? (I think I know the answer.)
Dear me, no!
For all Fredi’s faults at in-game managing, he does seem to help the clubhouse remain calm and (mostly) drama free. I think he definitely models himself after Bobby Cox’s managerial style.
@8
Yeah, I think Fredi is a better overall manager than Don Mattingly, from what I’ve seen. Even if he’s not, it’s even at worst, so I’ll keep my guy, thanks.
Just made myself mad by going over to Cot’s Contracts. Braves can’t take on any money, according to people. We are paying Dan Uggla and BJ Upton a combined $27.25 million this year, and $28.25 million next year.
AHSDFAHNSDGLIJASDGLANSDGLKASDGKLNASGKHHLKKLKLKLKL!
I kind of want us to be in on Lackey, he’s on a minimum salary for 2015 and the Braves will have some holes to fill.
What is the rotation next year? Teheran, Minor, Wood…..Hale? Am I forgetting someone?
Now wait a damn minute – the Mets are trying to work a trade with the Rockies involving Tulo and Carlos Gonzalez?
Are the Rockies shutting down the franchise?
Yeah, I think that Fredi is a better manager than Mattingly.
9th inning rally by the Marlins fell short and Nats held on. We’ll head into tonight’s game 2 back in the loss column and one back overall.
@13
Wholeheartedly agree. Given the fact that he’ll be on a Major League minimum contract next season, I think he’d be perfect for us. He wouldn’t be the ace everybody wants, but he’d immediately become one of our top three starters, and that opens up a variety of options. We could trade Minor if we wanted (perhaps even to the Red Sox in the deal to get Lackey), we could stop relying on Harang to such a large extent, we could conserve some innings for Wood….
It also solves a bunch of problems for next year, because next year will be a problem if you assume that neither Medlen nor Beachy are coming back. I think you have to assume that at least one of them won’t be back, and the prospects for a guy coming off his second Tommy John surgery are iffy at best. If you assume that neither Santana nor Harang come back next year, our rotation suddenly looks kind of thin, even with David Hale in the mix.
Right now I’d say that we would be crazy not to try to sign Santana. Of course it takes two to tango, and we’re tangoing with a limited budget so who knows what’s even possible…but…he’s pitched pretty decently for us so far.
I think he may get a QO and after last time I think he would take it.
You have to assume that neither Medlen nor Beachy will ever be a major league starting pitcher again and if it ever happens again, then it’s a miracle and we’ll all be profoundly happy.
The list of guys who have come back from two Tommy Johns to be effective starters is about one name long: Chris Capuano.
The best list of which I am aware of TJ surgeries is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApDc5PGsBzgVdFpGbk84WnhNZlZ4VlFEY3pDVkFzNnc&usp=sharing#gid=6
It’s referenced in this Hardball Times post: http://www.hardballtimes.com/a-primer-on-tommy-john-surgery-part-one/
20-That’s a good list and I agree it would be silly to expect anything out of either guy, however it doesn’t seem many of those guys were ever effective starters in the first place. The ones who were or could’ve been effective starters other than Capuano either just had the 2nd surgery recently (Johnson, Drabek) or were too old after the second one to be particularly effective (Wolf).
On a retreat with my teaching staff at Sugarboo Farms. There’s no reception here and the only communication I have to the outside world is an incredibly spotty wifi connection. I thought, for sure, that there would have been a significant trade to go down over the last 24 hours. Apparently not.
I thought I read somewhere that Lackey will threaten to retire rather than play for the league minimum, so that he can position himself for a market-value extension.
Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try for him.
You definitely offer Santana a QO a d hope like hell the market for him is such that he takes it
As far as Medlen and Beachy goes, I am with all of y’all that I seriously doubt we get both guys back. I say we look at going into next season with Tehran, Minor, Wood, and Hale as people we have on the roster now. There is the possibility of having someone ready in the farm system, but I always feel more comfortable with a seasoned veteran in at least one spot in the rotation. I figure we will be signing someone for that.
As far as Medlen or Beachy returning, my money is on Medlen but not as a starter. If I remember correctly, Medlen was a pretty effective reliever before rejoining the rotation in 2012 and could be a long reliever option if Hale joins the rotations. He could do this next season like Smoltz filled the closer rotation after coming back from TJ surgery. To be honest, it is wishful thinking as two TJ surgeries being one of those territories where there is no true plan to recovery. You just take it as it comes.
On another note, I just saw the lineup for tonight. Sadly, Heyward is still absent from it.
Apropos of nothing, and I’m sure yet another conversation-killer from me, but Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space is one hell of a record. Continue on…
I like Songs in A & E better, for what it’s worth.
The Giants are apparently going to release Dan Uggla already.
Such a great leadoff hitter.
Just when you start to accept BJ as a semi-competent — or at least not grossly incompetent — leadoff man, you see what a real leadoff hitter looks like.
Evan Gattis has about as much of a chance of throwing Dee Gordon out as a one-legged man has in an ass-kicking contest.
Good job, Dawg.
So, what if J. Upton had a whole season of a hot streak? He puts up decent numbers with only performing at a high level about half the season. I really wonder what the guy could do if he ever put it all together for a full season. I’m sure it would be MVP numbers in every category.
Thanks, Dodgers! We’ll take that.
So, the Giants just released Tyler Colvin. While he is not a tremendous talent, he would be a cheap left handed bat off the bench that has better numbers than Schafer. He can play all the OF spots. He has a career .733 OPS. It is just something to think about.
Gentlemen, in this sport, there is no rule stipulating that you must immediately surrender a lead.
The Giants also released Uggla.
@31
I think Gattis heard you and decided to prove you wrong, LOL.
Also, you might never want to challenge that one-legged man to an ass-kicking contest now.
Joe “Get Off My Lawn” Simpson
Sometimes the Bear gets you.
@35
His career OPS is only that high because he had a massive Coors Field bump in ’12: 1.032 at home, .687 on the road. But he’d be an improvement on Doumit; at least he wouldn’t be a defensive disaster.
The thing that’s going to be so frustrating when this team makes no moves before the deadline, is the fact that virtually any move they might make would be guaranteed to improve the team. You could grab any player who’s floating around on waivers, and he’d be virtually* guaranteed to be better than one, possibly two, of the guys we currently employ. (I say ‘virtually’ only because Dan Uggla is available again.)
Uggla has not been released. Seems a SF writer got bad info.
Oh, word. Well then literally any player on waivers would improve us.
Uh oh.
http://ajc.com/news/sports/baseball/2-braves-minor-leaguers-slapped-with-full-season-d/ngrQy/
We’re about to lose.
Guessing Uggla will be released, and the writer just jumped the gun, as it’s not official yet.
Why wasn’t Andrelton telling La Stella to drop that? Puig never left the batters box on an obvious fair ball.
Wood did some nice work getting out of that mess.
@48
If he would have done that, I would not have cared about the result of the game because that would have been the highlight of the decade. Can you even imagine Puig’s and Mattingly’s reaction on such a play?
Peraza needs to find a new position if he wants in the pros with the Braves anytime soon. La Stella has claimed 2nd base for quite some time in my opinion.
Ugly, Evan. I expect better from you.
Normally I cringe at Andrelton’s occasional blind whirl and throw to first base… but in the case of this Dodger team, I like it. They have about 4 different players who tend to get senselessly aggressive and demonstrative (Hanley, Kemp, Uribe and Puig) and he might just catch one of them.
Nice game, Alex. Hope you’re done for the night.
Real nice game. That curveball is one heck of a pitch.
Okay, I’m about ready to give up on Success.
Yeah Schafer’s proven he’s not a major league player. There are guys at AAA who never get a chance, who could outplay him running away.
C’mon, guys, get Alex what he deserves.
Well, Fredi’s 2-for-2 this series getting a scoreless inning when letting his starter pitch an inning too long.
I didn’t think Alex would go back out for the seventh, but that was maybe his best inning.
What feared slugger will come off our deep bench to hit for Wood now?
“Okay, I’m about ready to give up on Success.
July 31st, 2014 at 12:17 am”
Nope, this thread is current, and not something I accidentally clicked on from 2011.
I’m ready to give up on BJ Upton.
Seven K’s in two nights, six in a row for BJ.
Next time the Powerball gets up over $400 million, I’ll play. And if I win the entire jackpot, I’m giving Liberty Media $48,150,000 of it on the condition that it’s used to pay off the last three years of B.J.’s contract so I never have to watch him in a Braves uniform again.
I was over BJ before it was cool to hate him. Please just make it stop. I can’t root for this team while he’s getting the most ABs.
Can the Dodgers not order a helmet that fits Ramirez? Every time he swings and misses, his helmet flies off. It’s absurd!
If the Giants do release Uggla, we can pick him up really cheap.
Why do I have the feeling that I’m staying up to be massively frustrated?
Edit: now I know why
This feels like the first game of the Cubs series again for Walden. But beyond Kimbrel, what other choices do we have here?
Damn it to hell. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Of course, it’s Uribe.
Did that seriously just fucking happen?
God I hate the Dodgers.
I hate the Dodgers.
I hate LA, but bless Vin’s heart, he’s talking about the batters coming up in the top of the ninth inning as though something will actually happen.
I’m ready for the big one to drop LA into the ocean.
This loss (foregone conclusion) rests with our inability to hit the damn ball.
Hell yes
Oh, wow.
Justin!
Ha ha!!! How about that!!!
Holy wow.
I had my recap all finished. Thanks Justin for ruining that.
Take it back, coop
When Justin gets ahold of one, he leaves nothing to the imagination.
We all hate Justin.
If only it didn’t merely delay the inevitable.
Rooting for a west coast game to go into extra innings seems a little counterproductive.
We currently have two reliable relievers, and one of them is somewhat on the shaky side as reliable goes.
The defensive shifts the last couple innings haven’t worked. Either Walden and Hale have missed their spots or the scouting reports have been pretty bad.
If Simmons is hurt, I’m going to…well, I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I know it won’t be pretty.
I’ll take one of Freddie’s patented 3-6-3’s here.
EDIT: Not as exciting, but a 4-6-3 works fine, too.
Peraza…
Walk, Jordan, walk.
Edit: Talk about an exercise in futility! Bunting Shafer to second for BJ.
Edit the edit: Never mind. I forgot nothing succeeds like Success.
I wouldn’t be opposed to having Teheran pinch-hit for B.J. in this spot.
Jordan, you moron.
DFA him now.
Just release him.
Cut Schafer. Right now. Don’t even wait until the game ends.
That was just so stupid. GORDON NEVER LEFT THE BAG. He was bird-dogging him, and he NEVER WENT BACK TO HIS POSITION. That wasn’t even a daylight play. He just stood 4 feet from the bag, and then took two steps.
Thank you, Jordan, for ensuring that Freddie will not bat with a chance to drive in the go-ahead run.
That Giants writer got EVERYTHING wrong earlier. Colvin wasn’t released, either. He was optioned to triple-a.
What the hell are we doing with the damn shifts?
Ours is the only game still going on. I wish I was slightly less obsessed and slightly more disciplined to be in bed asleep right now. On the other hand, what fun is that?
Edit: That would have been a lot more fun, clearly.
I dunno.. do you consider this fun?
I need to stop watching West Coast games.
I need to stop watching the Braves.
It’s a team with no margin for error. A team that can’t do the little things wrong — which it does, frequently — and have a chance of beating anyone decent.
Silver lining: at this rate, we won’t need to worry about the Dodgers breaking our hearts in the playoffs.
The Braves should release Schafer in the post game press conference. That is the second time this season I have seen him get picked off in a big situation. The guy does not belong on a big league or minor league team.
I cannot express how much I hate the Dodgers. I really do wish MLB had a dang price cap. I think it would be so much better.
Recap is up and I wish I wasn’t, to sort of paraphrase Skip there.