The Padres beat the Braves 3 – 2 in 12 innings. Yes, that’s what….5 in a row? Ervin Santana took the mound against Ian Kennedy tonite.
In the first, after a BJ walk, Freddie Freeman doubled to right scoring BJ. I thought it was going to be a good night as Kennedy was not exactly sharp.
Ervin pitched 6, gave up 6 hits, 6 KOs, 4 BBs and allowed two runs in the seventh, albeit one scored on a Jordan Walden wild pitch. Ian Kennedy was about the same. He went 5, gave up only 2 hits, but 5 BBs and one earned run…that single, lousy run in the first. We had 11 hits, so there were opportunities all over the place, but we just could not get across the plate.
Similarly, the Padres had one or more men on base in the 2nd and the 4th and the 6th so it’s not exactly like the they took advantage of their opportunities either. Ian Kennedy got several key strikeouts when he needed them….the Braves were 3-16 with runners in scoring position…#%$^%$()(!@#!
The Padres scored 2 runs in the 7th. The Braves tied it up in the 8th when JHey singled, took second on a wild pitch and scored after a CJ single. Gattis who walked is now on 3rd. This was a great time to win it, but Simmons bunted into a fielder’s choice, so Gattis was out at the plate and then Ryan Doumit grounded out to first base.
With the game tied at 2, the Braves rallied in the 12th with a Freeman single, J. Upton double, JHey intentionally walked. We have bases loaded, nobody out. Alas….Gattis grounded into a double play and Chris Johnson grounded out to first.
In the bottom of the 12th, Kimbrel walked Solarte, Gyorko and Nelson. All it took was a stinkin single by Venable over Jason’s head to score Solarte.
After getting spanked by the Dodgers, I felt this series would be different. Lots of talk about Pete, lots of memories, lots of special moments.
BJ delenda est.
I think the word is out that Kimbrel is having difficulties throwing strikes.
‘wasteful, weak propitiatory flowers’
Larkin?
Anybody know what time we lose today?
4:10 pm Eastern.
Minor’s collapse is the final nail in the coffin. What Braves need is an owner who’ll spend money. Otherwise, you’re scrambling to make the playoffs so you can get knocked out (and likely humiliated) in round one. One hundred mil budgets can’t compete with two hundred mil budgets. Way it is. Sorry. See you folks next season.
I’m sure it’ll probably take a few hours to lose, so that time should be around 7PM.
You all have my personal permission to ignore this team for a few days. Watching them play like this just makes me feel worse.
I’m just gonna check in at the end of the homestand, see how far back they are, then cancel my remaining MLB.tv subscription. I’ve been saying since they got swept by the Phillies that this team isn’t good enough to reach the postseason and, well… they aren’t.
So last night was rock bottom…right? Probably the worst game Gattis has ever played for us. Simmons doing inexplicable things. The voice of the Braves (for me at least) passing away. Things will get better. They have to.
We now have the majority of the starting 8 on long term contracts. This will be the team for the near future. This team is capable of doing great things – the problem as I see it is Gonzalez. The team appears to have no fire whatsoever, and I believe Minor is a reflection of that “between the ears” problem they have. That is leadership from the manager, not more technical play….
BJ Upton, leading the attack again today!
BUpton 8, La Stella 4, Freeman 3, JUpton 7, Heyward 9, Gattis 2, Johnson 5, Pena 6, Harang 1
Everyday is a good day to lose.
Reasons to stick with the Braves for the rest of the season:
1) I for one am morbidly interested in how the Bonifacio/BJ sitchyation plays out.
2) I still get a kick out of Alex Wood’s delivery.
3) Aaron Harang stubbornly persists despite his stuff/age/facial features, so really, who are we to back out now?
4) Maybe…just MAYBE…Jason Heyward will carry this team the rest of the way to the first-round playoff loss that the almighty intended for us.
5) Via titan of baseball thought Carson Cistulli, I’ve become fascinated with the words and works of Romanian philosopher Emile Cioran, who says things like “To hope is to contradict the future” and “I am displeased with everything. If they made me God, I would immediately resign.”
Which is to say, this team really fits my mood right now.
Twins claimed Schafer.
Looks like Simmons got himself benched for a day, too.
Didn’t he pull that maverick bunting business in the Outfield Fly game, too?
Good grief..what does it take to get BJ benched?
Putter, be a realist. That’s not how it works. It’s not like we have three better outfielders on the 25-man.
Answer me a question … why sign C Johnson to an extention when we could have gotten Prado back at a lesser contract and have better player .. a better teammate etc … and folks get used to it .. BJ Upton is a bust and Wren is responsible ..what in the world did he see in him to give him that kind of contract .. now its Freddies responsibility .. Justin will probably be gone in free agency and we stuck with BJ .. I say hit him 8th or 9th in lineup to minimize his at bats .. stupid to bat him leadoff .. and Bonafacio a bteer hitter than hald our lineup …
What the heck?
I generally lay no blame on coaches and managers and get called a sympathizer in here, but I have to say it at this point. Fredi is an idiot!!!
Give Bonifacio a freaking chance at the top of the order!!!
Put Simmons in the 2-hole where we have gotten more out of him this season than anywhere else. (I know this will get some negative remarks but no one in here can deny that Simmons did well there this year.)
The 3-6 can stay the same as he has it today.
7 is La Stella all the way who just rakes at that spot in the lineup.
8 Johnson because if Fredi truly wants an aggressive guy 8th then hes the guy.
It might not be the best thing ever, but it is a change. I would even be happy with tossing J. Upton or Heyward in the 2-hole.
Oh, another thing rubbing me the wrong way today.
Really, you bench Simmons after you take the blame for the stupid bunt attempt last night. Yes, it was obvious that that was probably Simmons’ decision to do that, but you have to take the blame in a more genuine manner than you did Fredi. Then, you do not bench the guy. Simmons bat may suck, but it is still 10 times better than having Pena in there to provide the same or worse offense with way worse defense.
I have not missed Bobby Cox this bad in a long time.
I don’t care for memes, but this gem from Fredi inspired me to make my first quazi-meme.
Fredi Quote
I think he got benched because he did something stupid in a big spot and then wouldn’t face the media, leaving his manager to answer for it.
That doesn’t explain Fredi’s half-assed attempt to “protect” him. I get being mad that he did it, and mad that he left you to explain it. But Fredi could have spoken frankly without throwing him under the bus, or he could have straight-faced covered for him, and kept it in-house. Shaking his head, shrugging and saying “lets just say its my fault,” is throwing him under the bus, while trying to avoid responsibility for throwing him under the bus.
Benching him would make more sense if he really had covered for him. Eat it, say you thought you might surprise the other guys, and then go say “You have to answer for yourself. Everytime I have to do that for you, you sit one game.”
This may be an unreasonable expectation, but play ball, boys.
BJ!
Same $#!^, different day …
We are very Cub like right now, which probably makes Chip very happy
And nobody covers third. Forgot there wasn’t a man on 1st.
We dodged that bullet. Will the Braves score today?
Down on 8 pitches in the first, down on 9 pitches in the second. Tyson Ross is going to shut us out for 14 innings.
@28 Feels like a shutout to me today. Like someone mentioned yesterday, Fredi may have lost the team. If that is indeed the case, the one thing that he does get praise for would now be a moot point.
Perhaps not. The Upton-Heyward-Gattis set looked pretty lost in that rack.
Aaron Harang is Mike Minor without the homers.
Benching Simmons is horsespit. He hasn’t done that for anyone the whole year, and there’s not been a shortage of boneheaded plays. There’s not been a shortage of loafing either. And each game that BJ doesn’t hit 8th (I’m resigned to the fact that Wren is going to play him) is an affront to everyone’s sensibilities.
An RBI single to the pitcher.
Ballgame.
Lol
Real talk. If the Braves miss the playoffs, how safe is Fredi’s job?
I don’t think it’s a given that Fredi survives the road trip.
Harang with 50 pitches through 2 innings, and a worn down bullpen.
@39- Yeah, I was about to say, we aren’t winning 3-2 today. We don’t have enough pitching. We’re gonna have to hit, or lose.
Another reason to keep watching this year is that you feel like you might get to see a no hitter.
One thing we didn’t talk about much, presumably because everyone had turned the game off, was Hale’s dismissive insubordination when Fredi and Porter went out to check on him. I feel like that kind of thing is a result of the players having no respect for management, and talking about it amongst themselves all the time.
Well, Big Handsome’s doing hia job.
@4
Coop…yes, well spotted, marvelous line!
BREAKING OUT OF MY 5 TIMES 2 AM SLUMP
it’s like getting out of jail…if they lose this afternoon i still won’t have to be kicking the dog in those post midnight hours as another chance is wasted, another f/up perpetrated…
never done this before, 5 nights in a row, every pitch, a form of masochism that might break new ground in the latest DSM, #5, appropriately…
stunned apathy struck early on in most of the games…deja vu wouldn’t do it justice…you just knew, it was just how or when…
there is no joy in Mudville, they are a miserable looking lot…but i’ll get my sleep tonight.
Well BJ didn’t create any suspense over a strikeout there.
Amen.
…and of course our prototypical leadoff hitter with yet another one pitch at bat.
@38 I hope you are right. Something needs to get the big shake up and since the hitting coach is apparently off limits, lets dump Fredi and let Pendleton give it a shot with a 2 month tryout for the long term job
I know I’m not covering new ground here but… For real. How long can the BJ Upton experiment go on?
No charity accepted today. Four outs are not enough.
@47 I am guessing as long as the Fredi experiment goes on
Fredi’s job should be on the line, but so should Wren’s. As a general rule of professional sports, the one unpardonable sin of middle management is wasting ownership’s money. But I wonder if upper management/ownership is so preoccupied with fleeing for the Perimeter that they are distracted and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
I’m ready for TP; but were he wise, he wouldn’t take the job.
I don’t get the impression that our ownership are even baseball fans.
If they really operate under the rule that they need clear evidence, then there’s no way they could overturn that. There’s not clear evidence. They’re working on best guess. Which, fine, if that’s the rule. But they say this stuff about “clear evidence” to placate the umpires, to give their calls on the field some sort of weight… But they don’t operate that way.
Not that any further runs make a difference anyway…1 will most likely be enough
@53 No, nothing clear in the replays except for Pena’s reaction, which would be a weird thing to go off of to overturn the call. However, replay seems to be making things up as they go along this year, so I’m not sure how much the “rules” actually apply.
Maybe we should trade for Ross and make him our leadoff hitter
Walk the pitcher to load the bases with one out.
Jason’s throw needed to be to third there. That was the catcher on 2nd.
Two-zip should do it, but Jason saved a run or two.
Jason is our only ballplayer right now.
I think one thing has become evident. This team would be in the gutter for sure without player like Jason Heyward. It is truly joyful to watch him play the game. I wish we had a few more of him on this team.
Behave, Evan.
Frittering away yet another chance.
Medium to deep fly ball, CJ. Medium to deep fly ball. For the love of a deity, someone give us a sacrifice fly.
Another stellar job by Regression to swing at multiple balls in the dirt with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs…this team is pathetic
Fucking Chris Johnson.
I think our best chance to score there was Heyward stealing home on the first pitch of the intentional walk. Hopefully the Harangatang can pick everyone up here.
Let Aaron bat, Fredi. Please let Aaron bat.
You had to let Harang swing given who was on deck.
Thank you, Fredi. God knows we don’t want to run the score up.
Edit: 69 -I forgot who was hitting leadoff.
New guy should be able to pitch an inning. Jaime can pitch one. Not sure how Carp and Walden are feeling. I’m sure Hale is buried 5 stories below the doghouse so he won’t pitch. Kimbrel probably won’t pitch. Might be Harang or bust.
Over/under 2 on the amount of pitches BJ sees in this at bat?
I say 2
Well done, Handsome. Get us started, BJ (heh, heh).
Really …. Harang only going 1 more inning anyway with pitch count so high and he doesnt pinch hit for Harang … Gonzalex is stupid … how in the hell did he ever become Mgr ? He is terrible … Bonafacio better hitter than half our lineup and he is sitting over there warming bench … Im done ,,,,, football time !!! YEA
Walden only threw 1/3 last night, he’s available. Craig is obviously unavailable. Hale might have an inning in him if necessary, but only if we’re losing.
You’re right, Tad. Gonzalex really is stupid.
BJ is defeated when he gets in box .. you can see it in his eyes … he is in more 0-2 counts than any player in history
Well look at that….6 whole pitches
That’s the first ball BJ has driven in 3 weeks.
If we get the lead I wouldn’t be shocked to see Kimbrel pitch given he’s had the whole road trip off and we have an off day tomorrow…but yeah it’s unlikely at best.
The game could go 30 innings, and you won’t see Craig Kimbrel in there.
Ummmm? He pitched last night, 1.1 innings, and lost.
He threw 40 pitches last night.
Freeman needs a day off … he is walking around like an old man …. slow ..
I would love to see this go 30 innings.
The Braves claim that Simmons is not being benched, just given a day off. Believe that or don’t as you see fit, but they didn’t have a problem announcing it when Chris Johnson was benched earlier this year. Also, Simmons eventually did take the blame for it, though it might have been this morning when he actually did.
Also, there is zero chance that Fredi gets axed before the end of the season. There’s a much greater chance that happens with the hitting coaches than with Fredi, and it’s not happening with the hitting coaches, either.
I really don’t think Fredi’s job is in any type of jeopardy this season, anyway, no matter what happens. He’ll be back next season.
They didn’t admit Chris was benched until a week later. Mark Bowman and David O’Brien even toed the company line on that one, even though they, ya know, don’t work for the Braves. Mark Bowman admitted 10 days later that it was known to the media that he was benched, even though they opted not to report it.
If we’re 10+ games out by September then someone is getting fired. Most likely the hitting coaches.
I was being facetious when I said “Fredi might not survive the roadtrip,” I’m aware the Braves won’t fire him unless something serious happens (Like a fight with a player type of serious.)
I do not, however, think he’ll be back next year, unless the team actually starts clicking. I think .500 ball from here on out, and he’s gone, and Frank’s on to the hot seat.
I’m aware that our owners don’t care about baseball. But Terry McGuirk and John Scheurholz expect to win.
Simmons was benched 100% – the giveaway was that the TV crew went out of their way to praise his defense last night and talk about how he just needs a day off.
The benching is defendable, no doubt. I’m just not liking Fredi’s behavior in the post game interviews last night.
LOL…Freddie just flat-out stole that from a fan!
He didn’t get benched for the bunt. He got benched for dodging the media and leaving Fredi out to dry. But if Fredi wants to bench him for forcing him to cover for him, then Fredi should have actually covered for him.
Our one-man team has a chance if he can get a couple more ABs today.
Okay, Jason’s good. Let’s keep him.
Fly ball, please Evan. Even better, Bear.
Jason, you are the lighthouse in the storm.
Between winning the division last year, making the playoffs the year before, and all the injuries this year, the Braves could lose the rest of their games this season and Fredi would not get fired. JMO.
Holy shit!!!! What the hell just happened???
That’s far enough Bear.
We’ve got a pulse. Let’s get Big Handsome a win here.
Jason is so good.
It’s getting hard not to pull for Aaron Harang.
Ramiro Pena should not bat next.
Are you fucking serious, Evan?
That’s not far enough Bear.
Folks we just saw a guy not score from 2nd on a double.
Yeah, Evan, you didn’t read that one very well.
what the crap ..Gattis fall asleep or what ??
Is Gattis high? He just doesn’t seem with it at all lately.
Bases loaded. No outs. They’ve got us just where they want us.
He must have figured, ‘if it’s not out of here, it’s gonna be caught, so I should be tagging, because if it’s out I’ll be jogging.’ But he forgot one important prospective outcome, there…
I would like to see Fredi give Simmons a chance for redemption. But new guy needs some pressure ABs too.
Boner-Face should be used against lefties whenever possible. He’s not a great option with a righty on the mound.
Also, where was that call the 60+ times Harang needed it?
Gonna find a way to not get a 3rd run here.
BJ’s about to strike out.
Look…BJ is behind in the count. That’s odd…
Go away, B.J.
And the baseball gods will make you pay for inattentiveness on the basepaths. If you’re willing to bench Simmons, you should be willing to bench Gattis for that. Inexcusable.
This fucking team.
I wish he’d struck out.
Lol
I knew we wouldnt score there …… Gattis fell asleep and we paid for it
Send Bonifacio out to CF, pull BJ. It’s done. Show’s over for BJ.
Yeah, blame BJ as if that’s not 100 percent Gattis’s fault.
Bonifacio hitting for Harang was the right move if you’re wiling to let Doumit hit for BJ. BJ didn’t appear to be busting it down the line either.
BJ’s 3 for 25 on the trip. You need a reason to pull him?
I’m pretty surprised they turned a 5-2-3 on BJ. Was he running hard out of the box?
Not 100% Gattis. We were at 2nd and 3rd with no outs, then bases loaded no outs, still couldn’t even get a fly ball.
They should have had BJ going for a sac fly to get the go ahead run.
Having him swing for a hit is a bad idea.
A triple, 2 doubles, 2 walks = 2 runs.
I don’t think there’s a ‘sac-fly’ sign. There’s just hitters who know the situation and take the right approach, or don’t. The Braves rarely have the right approach.
If guys could hit sac-flies on demand then we’d see guys hitting .450 … it’s not that easy.
Overshadowed somewhat by our play lately, but Varvaro has been awesome.
The kid sending his phone number out to America and the broadcast reporting on all the calls and texts he got is more entertaining than the Atlanta Braves. Good move, Fox. Give the people what they want.
@csg
Doumit has a .538 OPS. He shouldn’t even be on the roster anymore, much less hitting for BJ or any position player.
There’s an approach to hitting a sacrifice fly, and it starts with forgetting about getting a hit. You open up your stance a little, you’re not trying to pull the ball, you’re trying to use the middle of the field.
If you’re grounding sharply to 3rd, it’s unlikely you approached the at-bat with a sac-fly in mind.
It isn’t automatic, but if the Braves were approaching those situations with a sac-fly in mind, they wouldn’t be as terrible at it as they are. They’d hit SOME sac-flies.
When your offense is a total dumpster fire it’s only natural to try to do too much when you do come up with runners on. You’d think that the law of averages would eventually take over and we’d accidentally score a few runs with bases-loaded none out.
Bad approaches is a sign of everyone pressing … trying to be a hero … trying to jump start a lifeless team with a big hit and getting high fives all around.
I have no idea what they’re gonna call here. I also have no idea why they called that safe on the field.
For the record, the Braves are last in baseball in Sac-flies. They have 21. The league leader, the Tigers, have 47.
Why are we reviewing this?
Amarista keeps dropping them because he’s not going in to get the ball, he’s tossing it from glove to bare hand. Fredi must be arguing some technicality along those lines.
Stupid.
We’ve also had the fewest chances with runner on 3rd and less than 2 out. There’s not any one big outlier for why we’re a bad offense. We’re bad all the way around. Bad in getting runners on, bad at advancing them.
This slump isn’t gonna end until we score five in the first three innings during a start by Teheran.
There is all forms of stupid on display today.
Honest question: How many baserunner outs have we made during this road trip?
The Bench is still handicapped as there’s no competent LHB off the bench and Bonifacio has to be used outside his strength.
Kill this team. Kill it with fire.
Medica/Victornio
Amazing futility.
Jesus H. I’m taking a Braves break for several weeks.
You’re one fucking batter too late, Fredo.
Lol. Guess we shouldn’t have tried to squeeze an extra inning out of Varvaro – especially since he pitched last night. One might ask why Juan Jaime is on the roster. Ah well. Here we are again, searching for that ever elusive 3rd run.
There is no bottom. The team just keeps sinking.
Time for a shakeup. A firing. A lineup change. A benching — not for one day, but for longer. Anything. Maybe all of the above. This can’t go on. Aside from Minor, the rotation has delivered in its last turn. Four great starts from Wood, Teheran, Erv and Harang. And the bats, baserunners and bullpen have shat all over themselves.
Jason is sooo good.
Jason can play on my team. Come on, Bear.
The one-man show isn’t laying down. Ok here we go again. Get him over and in. Nothin’ to it.
Let’s get a passed ball, here.
lolwut
Jason is so good. I love him.
Bad baseball, Padres.
One man show. He won’t give up..
Can we pretty please with sugar on top get another run here??? Please???
Now that their catcher broke his elbow, let’s steal second.
Goose Gosselin, chortle.
fwiw, I was kidding about this game going 30 innings. I don’t really want to see Andrelton have to pitch. Ok maybe I do.
Let’s put them away right here. Their closer just barved the whole inning up and he’s probably not thinking clearly. One more run…
Jason is now “The Offense.”
“The Game.” He’s everywhere.
CJ + Pena + bench detritus = Tie game, blown in the ninth.
No reason to ever throw Chris Johnson a strike. Or a fastball at all, for that matter.
So we have to hold them until Jason can bat again…
As it turns out, no reason to throw Laird a fastball, either.
You gotta put Jason back at the top of the order. He can’t be in there with no hitters after him, only hoping to drive in Freeman, Upton and Gattis. Jason is the one who can make things happen on the bases. They need to be driving HIM in.
Bonifacio, Heyward, Jupton, Freeman, Gattis, La Stella, Johnson, Simmons, Pitcher.
Your lips to Fredi’s lineup card, jjschiller.
Let’s get some outs without the contact, Jaime. Punch a couple guys out here.
That’s just as good. Punch this guy out.
Where was that pitch? C’mon blue.
All three of those pitches to Smith were strikes. This is crazy.
Walk Medica, please.
Thank you. Now throw strikes.
That whole at-bat was just baffling. Two of those were heart-of-the-plate strikes, and two were on the black. Didn’t get a single strike called.
That curveball to Smith was not just a strike, it was a fucking amazing pitch. Only possible reason not to call it a strike is Laird going to a damn knee to catch it- sort of a reverse framing thing. It shouldn’t matter but it does, and I think Laird cost us that pitch. As for the rest of them I think the home plate ump has just decided he wants the game to end here.
Ump has him rattled. He doesn’t know what he has to do.
Well, walking 3 straight to walk in the winning run would be a fitting end to this series and (wishful thinking) Fredi’s managerial tenure
Laird’s framing is horrid. Jaime won’t get the benefit of any doubts though. Just throw center cut 97 mph fastballs and hope he can’t hit them…
This. Team. Blows.
Let’s hear it for internal options, huh? Who’s the next minor leaguer who’s just bound to out-perform a big leaguer?
And…exhale.
Amazing escape, Juan. How many more at bats for BJ must we endure yet today?
You can’t even blink before there’s 2 strikes on BJ.
So Fredi’s double-switch moved the pitcher’s spot UP, in to Gattis’s spot.
Does Fredi know how double-switches are supposed to work?
Way to go, BJ. Toss him, blue.
Terrible call. Squeezes the shit out of Harang and then Jaime, rings up Upton and Bonifacio on bad calls.
I put a Braves sticker on our vacuum cleaner. Now it sucks more than ever.
I wish B.J. would test positive for HGH.
Another broken bat ducksnort in just the right place. We’re so snakebit right now.
Yeah it’s unreal. Absolutely nothing has gone right in a week.
He wanted to give you an out, you asshole.
I hearby dub David Hale as “White Flag”.
Wow, something worked out for us!
That went our way.
How wide is the plate tonight?
The Padres color man is a former major league pitcher, and he doesn’t know that you can’t call an infield fly on a bunt.
How do you think his former managers would like that he didn’t know he could drop a bunt and turn two?
I’m sure I could look it up, but someone here probably knows already. Is BJ the worst everyday player in MLB? He has to be, right? And we have him at leadoff, seemingly never with a day off. I’ve never seen anyone with more 0-2 counts. He makes Andruw Jones look like Ted Williams.
I think it was Anon21 who posted yesterday or the day before that he was, at that time, only the 7th worst.
We have Laird and Doumit why?
We still suck better than most teams.
I’d like to see Roger come talk to Hale. Something is wrong mechanically, everything is sailing to his hand side.
EDIT: Too late now.
So how about them ‘internal options’ huh? Those minor league numbers are translating great to the bigs.
So much going wrong.
But above all, this is on Evan Gattis having no freaking clue how to judge a line drive to the gap, and B.J. being himself.
@202, it depends on what you use to measure it. BBRef’s WAR has him at 6th worst coming into today, and I think today’s game didn’t help him much. He’s 6th or 7th worst overall. 4th worst if you just measure offense.
I would add that it’s unlikely that any of the players worse than BJ are batting leadoff.
Braves gotta play .640 ball the rest of the way for 90 wins….
@206 To whom are you referring about Minor League Numbers?
I called this San Diego series a must-sweep. I should’ve been a lot more specific.
I’m poking at you for your continued assertions that a, b or c minor leaguer will just HAVE to be better than x, y or z big leaguer. Most recently your claim that the team got worse acquiring Russell and sending down Shreve.
With Jaime and Hale, and for that matter, Shreve, you see that it’s different in the big leagues, and guys who have been through it before are probably more reliable than just forecasting a minor leaguer’s numbers and docking him a certain arbitrary percentage of effectiveness.
Phil Gosselin’s .182/.182/.182 line so far might serve as another data point.
I’ve seen the replays of the CJ double about 5 times now. I’m not sure Gattis would’ve scored even if he’d gone halfway. They got the ball in really really fast.
Still, there’s zero reason to tag up on a screaming line drive over the LF’ers head. You have to be at least half way to 3rd there, if not closer.
Yeah you’re supposed to be balancing ability to score vs. ability to get back safely, not ability to advance if it falls vs ability to advance if it’s caught. Advancing if it’s caught shouldn’t be on your mind. Getting back safely if it’s caught should be. He should have been 10 feet from third.
Hale wasn’t that good in the minors was he? Jaime has potential imo. Electric stuff, just needs polish. Might as well give them experience. No sense in finishing 14 games back if you can’t use it to figure out what you’ve got.
Yeah it’s fine to have them on the team, but when you’re 4 games back, which is what we actually are, not 14, you want to have big leaguers who keep them out of those particular spots.
On another note, with the bullpen in the shape it is, you gotta send Hale down for a fresh arm, don’t you? I guess there’s an offday, but still.
I think it’s worked pretty well for us for several years. The bullpen pixie dust might be washing off just a little in 2014, but we’ve overall been pretty good. Again, every game seems to be a late inning high-leverage situation. We hardly ever play 8-2 types of games. The pen is probably going to pitch to league-avg ERAs if given enough innings. That means it’s going to give up a run or two every now and then.
Other than batting Heyward twice in the same lineup, I’m not sure what to do about the offense.
Recap up
jj, your constant antagonizing of numerous bloggers here should be brought to light, so now it is. As for the guys I’ve pushed for….
Hale, he’s been very good as a starter.
Jaime, I never pushed for because his walks have been high.
Shae Simmons- pushed for him and he’s done well
Phil Gosselin- was hesitant because of his BABIP and lack of results that matched with his ’14 numbers but pushed for him over Pastornicky and only time will tell if that’s the right call.
So, I’ll ask? What the hell is your grand point?