So, halfway through Sonny Stitt blowing some serious smoke on WABE’s jazz classics and half a glass of Buffalo Trace, it occurred to me I had the recap tonight. In a lot of ways I enjoyed the game in the same way.
When things started finally happening I was so enjoying the moment that really all that’s left behind is the feeling of pleasure rather than an actual recollection of the notes that I heard. Anyway I do recall we were being shut down through six, and Ryan Howard had homered to plate two so I was more bummed about hearing Sutton’s History Of Douglas, GA instead of explaining what Freddy Galvis was doing to kill our little rally.
After that we scored a bunch of runs, Jim Johnson managed to not give them back, and Jason Grilli looked good. Simba homered in there somewhere too. Anyway, this whiskey is good, and the radio is featuring Slam Stewart, so that should get you there.
Jazz Classics is just about the only radio program better than the Sutton-Powell Variety Hours. Shame they haven’t syndicated it out into the northeast part of the state.
If you’re ever in Philly on a weeknight try to find your way to WRTI for Bob Perkins with the Good Music, another fine jazz show.
Bad: Not being able to score on David Buchanan, the fact that Jim Johnson can’t get anybody out.
Good: Five whole runs! You kidding me?
A century from now, the Braves will be in a pennant race with the Phillies. The Phillies, needing more “pop” will exhume the corpse of Ryan Howard, which will promptly start homering against the Braves.
Not to start an argument, but I wonder if the team would be better or worse, right now, 15 or whatever games in, if we had Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, Evan Gattis and Craig Kimbrel instead of Jonny Gomes, Nick Markakis, AJ Pierzynski and Jason Grilli.
Upton is mashing, .303/.347/.606. Heyward isn’t: .214/.236/.371. Gattis has been abysmal: .136/.177/.220. Craig’s been fine, but strikeouts are down, hits and ERA are up, but still in the realm of awesome: 9.8 K/9, 2.45 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 1.364 WHIP.
Gomes has been as good as he’s ever been: .250/.375/.500. Markakis, a singles machine:.362/.456/.397. Pierzynski’s been a monster: .382/.432/.706. And while Kimbrel has been just “a top line closer,” so far, Grilli’s been Craig Kimbrel: 14.1 K/9, 1.29 ERA, 0.76 FIP, and 0.571 WHIP.
And that’s before you account for Shelby Miller’s presence on the team. I guess we could have resigned Aaron Harang and we’d be getting something good from that spot in the rotation, but we’d still have two holes at the back of the rotation.
So as bad as the offense has been, we’d have been worse through 15 with last year’s roster.
Who would have thought it would be the setup men we traded, David Carpenter and Jordan Walden, that would make the most immediate impact on our ability to compete?
That sort of assumes the quality of opponent and park has been equal, and I’m not sure about that.
You can more or less assume that Jupton will destroy the ball in April. That’s just what he does. But yeah, like @5 said.
I’ve never bothered to see what seasonal attendance figures have been for Braves games. But if we’re going to armchair, might as well do it right.
Yeah, I think it’s fair to assume quality of opponent and park effects playing in to the success of Gomes and Pierzynski, probably Nick Markakis too. But I don’t think you can blame the opponent or the ballpark when you’re hitting .214/.236/.371 or .136/.177/.220. I don’t think you can have an OBP of .236 or .177 in 70 or so PA’s unless you’re genuinely struggling.
Woooo Braves seeing-eye groundballs!
Okay, Cahill, at-’em groundballs for everyone.
Glad there was no challenge on the Gomes play.
Gomes is doing surprisingly good defensive work, particularly this series.
EDIT: Uggggghhhhh.
I will not be sad when Ryan Howard retires.
You gotta be kidding me.
Hope is fleeting, nay, gone. Woe.
What was that one post here, just before Cahill’s first start this year, saying they were excited for this reclamation project?
Talk about famous last words.
@3: +1
I swear, I think half of Howard’s 49 career home runs against the Braves came against Tim Hudson in 2006.
With the cleanup hitters today being Jeff Francoeur and Kelly Johnson, I feel like I’m back in college.
Okay, let’s get the lead back.
Without looking at how many home games the Astros have played, I can’t imagine Gattis has not benefitted from Minute Maid Park’s dimensions.
I like @5’s summary, especially as I was thinking about how it really doesn’t seem like we’re missing Kimbrel at all.
But sheesh, we need a 5th starter and setup relief in the worst way.
Andrelton Simmons is a beautiful man.
I’d much rather watch Folty or Wisler learn on the job than sufferror through another 20 Cahill starts.
How is Jerome Williams still around?
I’m sure five or six of those remaining twenty 2015 Cahill starts will be…tolerable.
@15 – That was me. And last start’s 4th inning, and this start’s 1st inning not withstanding, he looks like he’s figuring it out.
Edit: Although the 5th here is shaping up to look alot like the 1st.
Enough.
Time to go do something else.
@22 I couldn’t agree more. Tough to see McDowell working any miracles with Cahill
Break their hearts, Braves, not ours. Score runs NOW!
Cue the Nelson Muntz “Ha, ha!” on that Howard lineout.
That’s how you’re supposed to do it, Cahill. Runs, please.
Big overhand curveball, I like this kid.
@28 When the deal was made, they thought they would be terrible. They just needed to fill the budget, so they bought a lottery ticket
Heyward left the game with an injury as well.
Also, errors suck.
Freddie Freeman needs to be a designated hitter. What a terrible play.
Fair to wonder about Freddie’s attentiveness in the field during a season that will be spent out of the postseason race.
Callapso killed that 9th inning rally before it could even get started.
How surprising, Heyward can’t stay healthy.
Scherzer is bringing a great attitude to the table. Let someone less important get hurt. He’ll fit in great with a team that shelfed their best starter in the middle of a pennant race.
Whoever made the comment about Wainwright’s injury leading to a massive, obviously-coordinated push to bring the DH to the NL was absolutely correct.
Poor Jason. I wish him well but am glad we have Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins.
Honestly, I’m tired of seeing pitchers hit. Tradition is the enemy of progress. Let’s get the DH in here.
Sorry, but that’s not progress. It remains a gimmick.
@42
Just think, if the DH didn’t exist, then you wouldn’t have to still be watching David Ortiz waste 35 seconds between every pitch complaining about a called strike that bisected the exact center of the strike zone. Now think about that and honestly tell me that you still want the DH.
You tired of seeing fat players run the bases too? Maybe we should have designated runners, and fielders. Maybe you’re tired of seeing certain players hit when they’re down 0-2.
I feel like soon I’m going to need someone to be my designated baseball fan.
If they are on the field, they should have to hit. Period.
Also put me in favor of a minimum number of batters a pitcher has to pitch to. Or limit the number of pitchers a team can have on the 25 man roster.
If Sherzer didn’t want to have to stand at the plate he shouldn’t have taken the hundreds of millions from the Nats.
Why should Andrelton Simmons or Christian Bethancourt hit for themselves, either? I’d like to see teams be able to DH for all 9 positions if needed. Then we’d get to see acrobatic defense at every position and 9 sluggers hitting screamers at them.
Carlos Gomez could be the designated run-around-the-bases guy whenever the Brewers hit a home run.
@38, 41
Heyward is day-to-day with a groin pull. It’s not a big deal. I’d like to see him get his bat going, though.
If you like the DH, I would like to direct you to a league called “The American League.”
I think Cahill should get 2-3 more starts.
That’s how I feel about Cahill, too.
The “it’s inevitable” argument bugs me more than anything about DH in the National League.
Recapped.
Baseball should just go full out football mode—expand the rosters to 30 or 35 players and have designated offensive and defensive players. Your hitters would then not have to worry about working on fielding, and your defenders won’t have to put the time into refining their swings. That way, when someone gets hurt, at least he gets hurt doing what he does best.
The day Andrelton Simmons hits the bag funny rounding first and we lose his defense for three weeks because he sprained his ankle will be the day I go into full-out campaign mode for this idea.