Oh crap. I think Tuesdays were my day, and I once again wasn’t paying attention. Sorry. Something called a “Brock Holt” hit for the cycle against us. Julio Teheran looked Teheribble again, from what I can tell. The takeaway being that parents who name their child “Brock” should have those children taken away. Seriously? “Brock Holt?” Name your child a normal name, dammit.
The real entertainment last night was in Baltimore, anyway. Where the Phillies went to Jeff Francoeur and, because the bullpen literally took the phone off the hook, had him throw FORTY-EIGHT PITCHES! Hilarity.
This team is terrible. Don’t let them hanging around within 3-4 games of a bad division confuse you.
I am ashamed by how much I like the adjective “Teheribble.”
JCed from last thread:
Martin Gandy keeps an updated list of Braves signed draftees on http://www.gondeee.com/.
Again, thank you, ralphdibny, for finding Les Moore for me. I’ve been listening to Silver Spoons all day and wishing I were as good a person as Little Freddie.
And thanks, AAR [AND SAM], for picking up my slack.
@JoeCraigMcMurtry
How is it “blindingly obvious” that Calcaterra was right? Fredi called out two players about their work ethic that are now essentially out of baseball. Calcaterra’s point was “on time is on time”, but I’d imagine most of us know that’s not true, especially when you’re trying to be an elite athlete.
@Smitty
Let’s see how the rest of the season plays out from here. If this team ends up .500, whoever the manager is will have done a great job. Remember, this team sucks and was largely dismantled one short offseason ago.
@Alex
I definitely agree that if Fredi continues to call out players (or maybe just keeps up the frequency) that it’ll start having a negative effect on the clubhouse. I’d imagine he’s self-aware enough or someone like Bobby or Hart can help him to avoid doing that. It’ll be interesting to see if players begin to get frustrated publicly as the season wears on. This is anecdotal, but I’d imagine watching the bullpen blow leads as often as they are could be the single most frustrating thing for a team to endure. Maybe injuries.
I’d go with the lead-blowing bullpen, Rob.
And here is the Frenchy video:
http://m.phillies.mlb.com/news/article/131144364/phillies-jeff-francoeur-lends-bullpen-a-hand-with-2-innings
Adding to the hilarity of the Phailies game, Jerome Williams (why is he still starting in the majors?) gave up 2 runs on a single wild pitch… and then left the game after covering the plate with a hamstring injury.
said Scylla, Charybdis my dear
these Braves, are they all they appear?
entitlement whores
low ceilings/high floors
tart up with a vapid veneer.
Whoever recaps tonight’s game: please use “Entitlement Whores” in the headline.
@7
You’re in ’til you’re out they all said
Improve ’til you know you are dead.
Our pitiful pen
A morass; a fen
When fixed, Oct games at the Ted.
Though some Barves may have somewhat impressed us,
Now the spirit of DOOOOOOOM has possessed us.
Option A: Can Gonzalez.
(Option A uber alles!)
Option B: Send our prayers to Hephaestus.
I am not confused, and I don’t think we’re terrible. We’re a mediocre –not terrible — team in a weak division. The crowned WS Champion Nationals are not the juggernaut they are supposed to be, primarily because the back of their pitching staff has come completely unglued, 2 of their vaunted sluggers, Zim and Werth, suck, and they play stupid.
I’m baffled by people wanting to throw in the towel in June when 88 wins probably wins the division. Worse teams than us have snuck in the playoffs, and worse teams than us have gotten hot and been to the WS. Do I think we are a lock? Of course not. Do I think we could win the division? Who knows?
@9
a positive spin you construct
while many are feeling quite f*****
your word i adore –
a ‘fen’ – is there more?
so bullpen,so serially sucked.
And can I just say that the three hour ESPN commercial for Aruba on Monday, with a baseball game in the background, was the most offensive packaged sports broadcast I have ever seen. They actually missed showing pitches so we could watch Xander Boegarts comment on watching a video on screen of his mother watching him hit a home run in another game. Unbelievable.
@11 – I am not suggesting they throw in the towel. I am simply suggesting that the proper fan stance for this team is “you gets what you gets, just don’t trade anything useful for a ‘stretch run.'” If they can find some bullpen help for cheap, fine. But this team is still playing for 2017-20, not this year.
You don’t lose the clubhouse if the other 24 guys agree with you. If a critical mass don’t agree with you, then yeah, it’s a problem. But calling people out is not automatically viewed as a negative.
I have no sense of the feeling in the clubhouse in the Teheran case, although it makes me generally uneasy. I agree though that none of us know what has been tried in private.
But we’ve probably all been in an organization where someone needed calling out, and people were pretty happy about it.
We just had this conversation a week ago. It’s not so simple as “we suck” or “we’re terrible”, although, I do find myself grumbling that to my wife sometimes who nods in agreement usually.
We have average starting pitching and above average offense. That would be enough to contend for a wild card if we had an average bullpen. But we have the worst bullpen in the MLB and the worst Braves bullpen since Boever’s Boys toed the rubber in ATL-FC in 1990.
It’s frustrating to be out of contention because the one element of the team that’s supposed to be easiest to construct is a tire fire.
P.S.: None of that says we should trade anything for anything
There once was a team from Atlanta
Whose meltdowns required Mylanta
Just watching them lose
Takes barrels of booze
And markedly worsens the banta.
A FEN blazon likes: shout hooray!
My rhyming finds favor today.
A little more luck
Overcomes Fredi’s suck
As we exit the fen of Fenway.
@17 pure gold.
It was only the Bards
@17: nice
I’ll try and add one more word to blazon’s already prodigious vocabulary:
Don’t be a gonfalon snob
The script A induces heart’s throb.
We cheer, win or lose
It’s the Braves that we choose
The Ring is for games played in Cobb
Alex, may that poem be used in outside venues? Brilliant.
Blessed be those who rhyme and scan.
Be there nary a limping line amongst ye.
Kudos, all.
If a team has to have Dana Eveland
I’d rather it be one from Cleveland
His common results
Resemble a Stults
And his games make me bereveland.
There once was a pitcher named Veal.
No there wasn’t.
We have a lot of prickly veterans on this squad, so if frustration gets the best of them, and if they turn against Fredi, then it’s going to be a long hot summer — possibly very entertaining, but not in a good way.
There once was a Braves Journal board
Who felt they should write poetry.
They were wrong.
Terribly, terribly wrong.
@20 yes! @25 poem of the week!
a sabermetrician? hello!
numerically challenged? let go!
his I and his Q
exposed to plain view
he’s smarter, how come we don’t know?
I’ll do my part to steer us away from the poetry path. Can we just get back to what we do best – name-calling, snark, and personal attacks? We’re winning 72 games at best. Chew on that.
let’s play it again, Sam…
a catcher who’s too often caught
a Christian who’s solace has sought
Gwinettian glades
he frets about trades
and wonders what Fredi has wrought.
******
he’d come to her often, that night
the bullpen had folded, despite
six alternate arms
her manifold charms
quite wasted, they can’t get it right.
There once was a team called the Braves
That traded off everyone’s faves
Despite the grim forecast
We’d finish almost last
They promised we’d still make waves
That the board is reduced to limericks tells you all you need to know about this team.
Yes — it tells you that it isn’t SEC football season yet.
if empty space is so preferred
to workings of the written word
then hail vacuity
it wouldn’t do for me
suggesting Mac finds that absurd.
Werner von Braun would have been so proud
The pen’s ERA soars to the clouds
When will it come down
not my problem says Herr v. Braun
And Tom Lehrer sues for royalties.
OK, so that last line needs some work.
@34, I don’t mind people writing them one bit – this team can only inspire the lowest forms of humor or poetry. It’s an opera bouffe after all, not a tragedy.
He’s a poet, and wasn’t aware of it.
According to Carroll Rogers, Folty optioned to AAA…I did not see that one coming. This season was made for letting our young guys take their lumps in the majors.
Who’s going to take his spot in the rotation?
Let’s give a shot to another of those young guys who’s maybe a little more capable of helping us win, while Basil gets himself right. No problem with this move if it’s real.
I’m hoping it’s ManBan.
The report notes that Matt Wisler’s pitching rotation is the most likely match to Folty’s next scheduled start, but doesn’t rule out ManBan.
Braves call up INF Daniel Castro, per Carroll Rogers.
We have some off days coming up and may not need a fifth starter?
Maybe something else is up?
I like this move as a balance of keeping the long-term perspective (giving another prospect a shot at starting in the bigs, and giving Folty some less pressure innings in AAA) and trying to win some games this year. I think Folty’s going to be a really good pitcher, but I think he’s probably best spending some time at AAA.
@42 With Simmons not in the lineup again today, Castro would be depth until that rotation spot comes up again, I’m sure.
Then perhaps we could send Pedro down and keep Fidel.
Maybe we’re trading for Jon Lester.
We had been carrying 13 pitchers for the AL-rules games. (That’s not even a Williams Perez joke.) Castro isn’t any more depth than we’ve usually got.
Edit: So my guess is we’re keeping extra arms in the bullpen so we can continue to see what sticks for a couple days. We’ll send one down the next time Folty’s turn comes up. Then it’ll be Wisler, probably.
Well, Castro will be extra infield depth if Simmons can’t go (we’d be overloaded with infielders otherwise, although I guess KJ can play either), but he does bring us back to the normal number of bench players.
Dana Eveland should not be part of that mix. Good gosh, what a terrible pitcher. If Fredi continues to use him, then he is indeed the Frediot.
Can we get by with a bullpen of Grilli, Johnson, Avilan, and Aardsma used in high-leverage, Masset used in middle relief, and Cunniff/Marimon used in mop up? Eveland and Veal should never be in a Braves uni again. I’d love to also have Cody Martin replace Cunniff/Marimon after some light work in AAA for a couple months.
There’s got to be a better way than this madness.
@49
FREE ANOTHER DAVID CARPENTER!
Wisler appears to have been pulled from his start and may go on Friday.
I have seen Sugar Ray Marimon pitch quite a few times, and I can’t say he’s ever looked like a major league pitcher. I think he’s runs waiting to happen.
Marimon has been about as effective as Veal. Nothing suggests to me that he should be on the team. The same is true for half of the bullpen so I guess giving him a few more shots to see if he can actually pitch in the major leagues won’t hurt us too much.
Bad idea Jace
Dumb, Jace.
Well that’s what you get for challenging the first one buddy.
Well, there’s a good example of a shortfall in the current review process. Betts was safe by quite a bit, but Farrell had already burned his challenge.
We still accept all charity gratefully, even though that might have been an inning ending GIDP. Thank you, Blue.
Pedro Ciriaco has three straight hits. I’d have lost that bet.
Man, the constant extolling of the grit in the Atlanta Dellavadovas on radio is getting tiresome
Coming into this season, if I had guessed which of Atlanta’s last three right fielders would have the most RBIs this year in mid-June, Francoeur, Markakis, then Heyward would probably have been the last order I would have guessed.
What IS it with Wood and opposing pitchers? They’re killing him this year.
We imagine more ways to fail.
Jeez, Jace…
Joe Kelly also “getting well” against the Braves? He’s been hammered this year
Considering it’s only the 4th inning and Jace is 1-for-1 with a walk, he has sure had a tough game. Thrown out at third in the 1st, nearly picked off first in the 3rd, unable to throw an AL pitcher out on a grounder to second…
Carioca, Ciriaco.
Ciriaco is a cyborg programmed to produce base hits
Caribbean Singles.
Caribbean swing
Now we’re sharing the same dream?
I feel more comfortable with Wood on the mound than I do with any other pitcher other than Shelby Miller.
71- I’m still a bit more partial to those Perez guys.
That wasn’t even close. Uribe can pick it at third.
Who’s a better athlete: Juan Uribe or Chris Johnson?
Uribe. He’s in worse shape but clearly more athletic. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen CJ and athletic in the same sentence
Well, Juan is a better fielder, and he’s also a better hitter. I have no idea which would win in a head-to-head decathlon.
Quality start for Alex that’s just a big L unless the vaunted Braves offense awakens.
Or Pedroia helps. BootSox. Take advantage, Braves.
Ciriaco has 5 straight hits. Impressive
Now let’s get Alex the lead
All about one base, bout one base, no doubles.
Andrelton who?
Pedro! Thank you. Now our bullpen has only a 75% chance of losing this one.
Ciriaco is a beast!
No acorn to be found tonight, alas; but Alex is off the hook.
@82, you are generous to our bullpen
Gomes vs. a righty. Way to go, Fredi.
Freddie out of the game cannot be good.
So Freeman is out of the game? What happened to him?
Freeman never comes out of the game, especially in the 7th inning of a tie game. Something has to be wrong.
Nick! Down to 50%!
Baseball, played well, is BEAUTIFUL.
90- And even when played by the Braves, it has its moments.
once bryce Harper went to China…
He sustained a groin injury
If the Braves can score 8 more runs here, this game MIGHT be bullpen-proof.
That is not Fredi out there defending his players.
Not really advocating for Chris Johnson to be in the game right now, but if he were to be at third, we’d have a line of Johnsons across the infield, which would look like the name of a lawyer firm.
I think we just might win this one, John.
Jonny Gomes hurt his leg, or so we hope.
@80 – Thanks for that.
@96, I’ll agree when Grilli is pumping his fist in celebration
Except the Atlanta Johnson, Johnson & Johnson wouldn’t be able to guarantee no tears.
There is no such thing as a childproof bottlecap, there is no such thing as an idiot-proof power tool, and there is no such thing as a bullpen-proof Braves game.
Ok I believe!
99- There we go! We need a few more like that.
Rusty, we’re bringing pitching back. It’s been defective, and that’s a fact.
So what’s wrong with Freddie?
I’m-a make a deal with the bullpen so the bullpen don’t bite no more.
Freddie has a right wrist sprain.
Freddie is day-to-day, as are we all.
Justin upton. When he is good he is very, very good and when he is bad he is horrid.
Recap posted.