The Braves managed to land on a double word score in this battle of Scrabble fans favorite pitchers, and Mike Foltynewicz (31 points) won his Atlanta debut over Cincinnati’s Anthony DeSclafani (16 points), 4-3.
Folty started over with a shaky top of the first, surrendering 2 runs on a Brandon Phillips (15 points) single, 3 steals, and a near three run homer that died at the wall. However, he managed to hold it there until the 4th, when DeSclafani’s sac fly plated an unearned run due to a passed ball by A.J. Pierzynski (28 points).
In the bottom of the inning, Folty decided that this lack of offense was not going to stand, and he doubled in Kelly Johnson (17 points) and Eric Young, Jr. (9 points).
The Braves took the lead in the bottom of the 5th when Kelly homered, driving in Freddie Freeman (12 points).
The bullpen took over in the 6th, with Cody Martin (8 points), Luis Avilan (9 points), Jim Johnson (17 points), and Jason Grilli (7 points) pitching four innings of two hit relief work.
Folty needs to work on holding the runner, as he wound up giving up 5 steals in his five innings of work, and he was not especially efficient, needing 94 pitches (63 strikes though) to get through the five innings. Plus, he only had two strikeouts against three walks. But, a win is a win, and after that first inning, he did a good job grinding out enough to get the win.
Clever recap! This is a great roster for a Scrabble game.
Might Folty be a pitcher that just “knows how to win”? We need one of those this year.
Folty has a baseball nickname (the first syllable with a “Y” on the end) and knows how to win. You have to tip your cap to those things.
I had no idea Jason Marquis was still in baseball, but he’s pitching for the Reds tomorrow.
Clever, very clever.
You people are really stepping up the recaps. Thank you.
Going to the game tonight. I want to buy a jersey for my wife and have “Anonymous” sewn on the back.
How about “To be Determined”
He gave up lots of hits on 0-2 counts. Some pitchers who have a lot of success at lower levels struggle in the majors because, though they can throw a lot of strikes, they can’t finish off ML hitters too well. Not saying that’s the case with Basil Folty, but it’s something to watch. At the least, it’s probably a good sign that he was getting ahead of so many dudes.
Great to see a Braves win!
@6, 7
or “to be named later”
Elsewhere in baseball…. http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/a-rod-ties-willie-mays-with-660th-home-run-1701651454
Jersey number 2.
Name – ‘Benamedlater.”
@6,7,9,11 “Future DFA”
Also Foltynewicz to Pierzynski is quite a battery combination. And don’t forget Saltalamacchia is now available.
He definitely seemed to get better as the game went on, and got more confidence in his fastball. The big problem for Teheran this year is that he doesn’t appear to be confident enough in his fastball to be able to throw it in the zone for strikes without it getting crushed. As long as Folty can reliably command his fastball, he’ll have a chance to stick as a major league starter.
I enjoyed hearing John Hart talk about him last night. Smitty, he pretty much said Williams Perez will be the next one coming up.
Both of them, Edward.
…count it.
Saltalamacchia could place first, so a 1-2-3 double play would be Foltynewicz to Pierzynski to Saltalamacchia. Game, set, Cope.
Ciracio was called up. So no Perez or Cunningham yet, sadly.
#10
Despite the fact that the Pinstripes have played well so far, A-Rod have been the main attraction/drama in YankeeLand this year.
I’ve been to 4 games so far, and his ABs have easily been the can’t-miss moments. I wanted to see #660 last week in-person, just to see how the Yanks officially ignore it. It really could’ve been one of the more absurd moments in sports, if he’d done it at home. (Here’s to hitting 661 in The Bronx.)
The Yanks are chintzing out on the $6M they owe him because they “can’t market the achievement,” and A-Rod is telling every interviewer how much Willie Mays (who quit playing before A-Rod was born) means to him because, with crocodile tears welling, The Say Hey Kid is his hero & was his the favorite of his father (who abandoned him when he was 9, and didn’t contact him again until he was the No. 1 draft pick by Seattle).
But, as one of my Met-fan friends says, by now A-Rod & the Yanks really deserve each other. One’s suddenly cheap/petty & the other is eternally full of shit. The baseball’s best reality show continues.
With Folty’s next start presumably coming on my next scheduled recap night, I’m really thankful for the copy/paste function. It’s good to see Andrelton can feel the pain of all writers and recappers everywhere [this was a tweet he sent out last night]:
@Andrelton: Congrats to foltynzwighvdumfkn$&? on his firs @Braves W
Well, at least Ciriaco has crappy Major and Minor League experience, right?
Foltynewicz definitely has some swagger out there. Presence, sideburns, mustache, cute girlfriend (shows confidence, right Brad Pitt?). He could be the years-to-come guy that we’ve hoped to get out of all these trades.
I do like his personality. He thought he gave up a 3 run homer to Byrd and asked for a new ball from the umpire.
I know we’re losers, but these guys are becoming our losers. Even the guys with negative reputations are endearing.
Eric the Ace is looking good.
The strike zone is pretty big tonight.
That’s the way I used to play them, Kelly.
Wow, I’m so used to Andrelton making that play, I don’t know how to feel that he didn’t.
What an annoying inning. There has only been one hard hit ball. Reds are small ballin’ tonight.
Those are EARNED runs. There is no justice since David retired.
Ugly words, ‘Rissa.
A hit! A Braves hit! Progress!
Now two hits. And two runs. More progress!
At least tomorrow we get to see Cueto. Good night.
And with Matt Wisler’s crowd-pleasing 1.70 WHIP at Gwinnett, it looks like we’re stuck wheeling Stults out there every fifth day.
Might’ve been a bit too clever there.
I hope Stultz goes two more innings. Ugh
Ouch.
Veal chopped.
Coming into this season, I knew this team was going to be bad. But, is it really as bad as it’s been for the last three weeks? It can’t be, can it?
I think Gordon Bombay said it best: “This is a fire-in-a-barrel.”
Kevin Gregg doing his best Brendan Donnelly impression out there.
And Maybin showing off the gold chain after the big RBI to bring us within 4 runs on our final out!
Well, we’re still up on the overall scoring in the series, 67 to 29.
How many points is “Pythagorean?”
Re: comment 20 and 21 from the last thread – I heard on the radio about Simmons putting the deke on Zach Cozart. I looked for video on MLB and ESPN, couldn’t find anything on it, would love to see the play. Anybody know where I can track it down (w/o having to buy MLB.tv for the season, to watch a replay)?
Pythagorus thinks we’re right where we should be.
We are on pace, as of today, for 75 wins this season. And of course, if we had won yesterday to bring us to .500, we would have been on pace for 81 wins. I would definitely be ok with .500 this year.
Well I predicted 75 wins before the season started but I based that prediction on great pitching. I’d say at this point our pitching needs to get a lot better or we won’t see 70 wins.
The team on the field last night won’t win 75 games. 70 should definitely be considered success.
Recapped.