With corner fences of about 325 ft, not many 1 – 0 games are played in the Great American Ball Park. This was one of those few…
Ervin Santana (i love this guy) on the mound tonite against the Reds Mike Leake. Both looked great in a pitching duel that ended with only a single run. Santana allowed only 4 hits, the first of which was a single in the 3rd. The Reds would not
get another hit until the 6th when…of all things…Leake doubled to left. More on that later….
As good as Ervin was tonite, Mike Leake was better. He allowed only 2 hits. In fact, Leake was incredible… he threw darts all night, pitching 6 2/3 innings, 2 hits, 6 strikeouts.
Emilio Bonifacio started off the game with a single to right, but the Braves could only muster 3 hits, 3 BB in 29 at bats. 10 Braves KOs and there’s not much more to it. As Ervin said in the post game, “…in a game like this, almost anything can happen…”. Little did we know it would be Mike Leake who doubled and scored on a Brandon Phillips single in the 6th.
In the 7th Andrelton lead off with a double and finally….something good was going to happen. But… Andrelton was stranded at third after Freddie and Jupton KO’d. CJ and Gattis then walked and for a brief moment, we thought we had a chance. But alas, Tommy the Stellar was stellar no more and he ended the threat with a groundout.
With 2 outs in the 8th, Emilio doubled, but was stranded again as Andrelton struck out swinging.
Aroldis Chapman came on in the 9th and struck out the side with his 147 mph fastball. Rumor has it that Chapman was a journeyman pitcher bouncing around the Cuban league trying to work out a knuckleball when he decided he’d finally found an edge. He purchased a humanoid robot kit on Ebay for $39.99. Ultimately he decided to chew off his pitching arm and rebuilt it at his kitchen table with the help of his cousin Armenio, a budding physicist.
Tomorrow we go against the Reds again with the Harangatang up to lead us on to victory. We are 7 back of the Nats, but only 1 back of the Giants for the second wildcard spot. All games are really big at this point in the season.
We had a great chance in the 7th and LaStella had a good AB with the bases loaded. Hard hit ball, but right at the SS.
We could’ve had a chance in the 8th but Fredi let BJ hit for himself and then went with Doumit. Of course, we gave them two easy outs. Probably would’ve been smart to have Heyward come for BJ and then let Goose hit instead of Doumit. We could’ve gotten to Broxton.
One of those damned cap-tipping nights. I hate those.
@DOBrienAJC: #Braves lineup: Heyward 9, Gosselin 6, Freeman 3, JUpton 7, Johnson 5, Gattis 2, La Stella 4, BUpton 8, Harang 1
So Bonifacio gets 2 of our teams 3 hits last night. Today we get blessed with BJ playing and him sitting. #ourmanagerisamoron
The saddest stat of the year was just shown in my opinion.
The Braves have 91 quality starts on the season to lead the entire league.
91 quality starts and only 68 wins thus far.
This stat alone lets you know how bad our offense has been on the season.
Since AllStar break, BJ 178/.290/.280. Emilio .306/.330/.400
I’d really like to get Tommy La Stella going again
I think I overheard the stat correctly from the Reds announcers, but Aaron Harang is second in the NL in quality starts.
Felix Hernandez and Johnny Cueto lead the league with 23 Quality Starts.
Aaron Harang and Julio Tehran are tied with 2 others for second most Qulity Starts with 21 a piece.
So, it is almost September 1st. I wonder who our September call ups are going to be. I am sure we will be seeing Peraza. Also, Terdoslavich is on a tear right now. Other than that, I am sure we will be seeing mostly pitchers and players we have already seen this season.
Being shut out in consecutive games at Great American Ballpark would be a signature accomplishment for this offense.
And it would fit this team to lose 1-0 because its pitcher was too lazy to bother leaving the mound.
Peraza and Bethancourt are still on the DL, correct? I bet Bethancourt gets called up again, but I doubt we see Peraza.
Two great plays by Freddie and Heyward in a row. Lucky to be just 1-0.
Well…the bat of Brayan just changed the score.
Or 2-0. Or however many runs they get. Way to nullify great defense, Big Sleepy.
Ballgame
This is all because Harang couldn’t bother to haul his fat ass over and cover first.
Does a call up start the arb clock? If so, we wont be seeing Peraza.
Current Braves on 40-man roster but not the current 25-man roster:
Pitchers –
Ryan Buchter
Juan Jaime
Aaron Northcraft
Carlos Perez
Gus Schlosser
Chasen Shreve
Ian Thomas
Catchers –
Christian Bethancourt
Infielders –
Tyler Pastornicky
Elmer Reyes
Outfielders –
Jose Constanza
Todd Cunningham
Joey Terdoslavich
They never call up all 15 that they could, but that’s the general group that you’re looking at. Also, there’s currently 39, so they can add one that’s not on there, as well.
Not that I think it would help, but I’m all for leaving Walker and Fletcher on the airport tarmac if this team goes 18 innings without a run in a park that is about the size of a backyard swimming pool.
I just read an article about Sidd Finch, New York’s former prospect. That guy really didn’t pan out, did he?
Shae Simmons is also technically not on the active roster BTW, as he’s on the 15-day DL.
We lose because of our inept offense and poor fundamentals. Fire the whole lot. TP, Eddie P, and Roger can stay.
Well, we’re not gonna get shut out, so that’s something…
You’re not Andrelton, Cozart.
Here’s where we lose 5-4 with the tying run stranded at second, making it obvious that the epic fail in the eighth inning cost us the game…well, that and Harang not covering first.
Also, not that it’s going to matter after this weekend’s series are over, but could someone please inform Chip in the pregame meeting that the Braves are fighting for the wild card and not the division at this point?
EDIT: Just STFU, B.J.!
Okay,
I’ve been watching the Detroit Tigers vs Minnesota Twins game so far today.
Where the heck did this version of Jordan Schafer come from? He looks outstanding in the field and at the plate.
Well, I was wrong. We lost 5-3.
If there was ever a more predictable thing than the Braves coming back from 5-0, loading the bases in the 9th and losing 5-3, it would be the Braves doing the exact same thing but losing 5-4.
On the plus side (despite what Chip thinks), the Nats scored six in the sixth to come back and take an 8-6 lead on the Giants. That holds, we’re still just a game back.
B.J. has started every game but 4 this month. He is 7 of 56 this month. He has a BA of .125 with an OPS of .525
There is no valid reason for him to ever touch the field as a starter at this point with as important as every game is the rest of the season. If Fredi is starting him because he thinks he will turn it around, he is an idiot. If Fredi is starting him because he is being forced to by people above him, he should say something so that he doesn’t look like an idiot. It might cost him his job, but at least, he might have future job prospects due to people knowing it wasn’t his idea to march B.J. out there every night.
We’re only a little over one month away from being rid of Fredi.
I would think openly and vocally countermanding a GM’s directives would harm Fredi’s future employment possibilities (stipulating that that’s why BJ keeps playing). Another GM won’t go polling the fans of a manager’s former team, he’ll ask that team’s GM what Fredi was like to work with.
@31
Bingo!
I love how (pretty much) everybody says that they understand that tactical decisions by a manager really don’t make that much difference, but then proceeds to make it perfectly clear through every argument they make that they don’t, in fact, understand that.
A little help here. J.C. did an article a while back about the effect Leo Mazzone had on pitchers appropriately called “The Mazzone Effect”. The conclusion was that pitchers under Mazzone, overall, had an ERA .5 runs lower than they did prior to their stint with Leo and after. There was also an article very similar that documented McDowell’s success with pitchers, of which I thought it was called the McDowell Effect. The conclusion was that Roger was good, but not as good as Mazzone, only cutting the pitchers’ ERAs down 0.3 when factoring in before and after stints with other teams.
My question is this: Does anyone know where I can find the 2nd article? I’ve located the original piece, but can’t locate the 2nd piece. Thanks in advance.
I was at Yankee Stadium this afternoon, scoreboard watching to keep up with the Braves. I saw bases loaded, two outs in the 9th and thought, “could they seriously come back and win this?” I then saw the F flash next to the score, just moments before McCann hit a walk off homer in the 10th. Typically I’d enjoy watching Prado jumping with joy onto McCann’s back, but the timing of everything certainly dampened my first (and most likely only) Yankee Stadium experience.
Recap up