Braves lose 5-0. Here’s how:
Top 1: Braves go meekly, three up, three down. Freddie Freeman strikes out looking on a slow curve one pitch after blasting one long but foul.
Bottom 1: Odubel Herrera splits the gap in left center for a stand up double. Flyball to deep center moves him to second. Casey Kelly’s fooling no one early. Maikel Franco flies to Ender Inciarte in short left, Herrera holding at third. Tommy Joseph lines to Nick Markakis in right. Leadoff double comes to naught, but every Phillies batter hit the ball in the air.
Top 2: Braves seem to be in a hurry to leave Philly. Six in a row set down on only 20 pitches. What is the lowest number of pitches ever thrown in a perfect game?
Bottom 2: Cameron Rupp lines first pitch into the right field bleachers, barely but sufficiently clearing the fence near the foul pole. Freddy Galvis grounds to Freeman, Kelly covering. Tyler Goeddel triples to left center, and Kelly keeps the overthrow at third out of the dugout. The pitcher grounds out, but Peter Bourjos singles in the Phils’ second run. Herrera walks. Cesar Hernandez grounds out pitcher to first to end the inning, but two runs score. Ball game?
Top 3: Woo-hoo! Daniel Castro bloop ends perfect game and no hitter. Can we score? Kelly can bunt. Jury’s still out on whether he can pitch. Mallex Smith pops to center: two outs. It’s up to Inciarte. His pop to right ends the threat.
Bottom 3: For what it’s worth, Castro plays a decent shortstop, making the routine plays and making accurate throws. Hey, in dark days you appreciate small proficiencies. Good inning for Kelly. Get him some runs, boys.
Top 4: With one out, Freeman singles. Markakis, the cleanup hitter du jour, ends all hope by grounding into a double play.
Bottom 4: Galvis lines a triple into the right field corner to start the fourth. Kelly plunks Goeddel with a slow curve to the top of the helmet. So far, this is not Kelly’s dream start. Jerad Eickhoff’s grounder high over the mound plates Galvis and moves Goeddel to second. Bourjos fans for the second out, and Kelly drills Herrera in the rump to put Phils on first and second. Franco ends the inning by grounding to Freeman unassisted, and only the one run scores. Leadoff triples are hard to pitch around, and Kelly cannot.
Top 5: Three up, three down on a hand full of pitches. Eickhoff is odds on to win the NL Cy Young.
Bottom 5: Franco doubles. Kelly’s start is inauspicious so far. With one out, Cameron almost decapitates Kelly with a liner up the middle. Fortunately, Franco has to hold up in case the Braves made a play, and can only move to third; and Kelly channels his inner Houdini to escape further damage. Tough inning, but Philadelphia does not score.
Top 6: Braves trail 3-0 with 15 12 outs remaining. Now is the time, gentlemen, if you mean to compete in this game. Somehow the Braves mount a challenge, bringing Freeman up with two outs as the potential tying run. Freddie’s line drive to first ends the threat. Phils 3, Braves suck.
Bottom 6: With Eric O’Flaherty pitching, the Phils put runners on the corners with two outs, ending EOF’s day. Alexi Ogando — everyday Alex — gives up a two run bloop single to end the inning. Unusual. Phillies pad lead to 5-0.
Top 7: Moribund Braves offense is still dead; but A.J. Pierzynski breaks his bat for a two out single, and Castro singles him to third with his second hit of the day. Kelly Johnson ends all hope with a broken bat dribbler to first.
Bottom 7: AJP stretches his streak of caught pop fouls to four. Eickhoff ends his day with seven shutout innings, and Ian Krol keeps Philadelphia off the board. Still 5-zip, Phils.
Top 8: Six outs remain. Will they suffice? Nope. Hector Neris gives up a single to Ender with one out, but Chase d’Arnaud and Freddie fail. It looks as if the Braves have a flight to catch.
Bottom 8: Krol avoids decapitation into a double play. Bloodshed averted. No deaths, no runs and three outs to score five to tie. Good luck.
Top 9: Braves go meekly, then home. I’d say they need tomorrow’s off day, but they were off today. Come on, Super Two deadline. I’m sick of losing with the same tired cast.
Top 6: 12 not 15 outs remain. Remedial math is needed.
Fixed!
I don’t have a clue as to the potential of Kelly after 1 game. From my standpoint, his stuff looked about average but he kept putting it high and over the middle of the plate. If he can work the corners and keeps the ball down he looked like he could be a decent 4th or 5th starter. I think he’s done this in the minors but didn’t have it today and was lucky to get out with only 3 runs.
In the last thread someone asked why O’Flaherty is still on the team. I still don’t understand this. O’Flaherty seemed to be the victim of bad luck and the usual double Grybo (2 inherited runners scoring) from Ogando.
I did not see anything from Kelly that makes me think that he will be a successful major league starter. There we so many balls hit hard in the first innings. And his supposedly great hook did not look special to me either. Pass.
coop…
up all night? then i remembered it was a day game…still, monk like devotion to the written word…gracias.
Simian, certainly: monkey see, monkey report.
I watched the Phillies version of the game. When Galvis hit the triple Mike Schmidt commented that the right fielder (Markakis) didn’t appear to make much effort to cut the ball off before reaching the fence. I also thought he appeared to be moving slowly in the outfield. Might he may have an injury of some sort?
@7
Maybe, but there have been rumors he is not giving his all.
@8
rumors? not another haircut, surely?
I think there could be some smoke to some different events with Markakis: he was rumored to not be giving his all, he appears to not be giving his all, he’s been arguing with umpires more frequently (and is otherwise mild-mannered), he’s not performing well, and he’s rumored to be dealt. If I was Markakis, I would hate this team.
I hate the team for acquiring Markakis in the first place.
You needed to have some stability is the rebuild, and Markakis is about as steady-as-she-goes. You had to spend money on somebody, so why not him?
I can’t fathom having a .350 OBP and still be playing at replacement level. Something is very wrong.
I was wondering why Mike Soroka’s stock has seemingly gone up so much since the start of the season, now I know.
“The 6-foot-4 right-hander brings an exciting mixture of stuff and feel for pitching to the table, with the work he put in with former big leaguer and Team Canada pitching coach Chris Reitsma really paying off.”
Neither Markakis nor Olivera ever fit in with a full-rebuild timeline. Just put in some AAAA players for league minimum and lose lots of games. Instead we’re paying full-prices to lose lots of games.
Granted, I shoudn’t have to care about our budget…but since it seems to matter, it doesn’t fit the rebuild at all.
@14 Haha
I’m interested to see where the experts put our new prospect rankings. When do those usually come out? I’d imagine some will be completely off the list, and Brandon Barker should find himself somewhere on there.
Alex Wood has 43 strikeouts in his last 5 outings. But hey, only a matter of time til his arm falls off amiright!
Alex Wood
is coming round, we knew he could
his arm is no longer overmatched
but rumor has it, from time to time comes unattached.
Nick Markakis
we hear this morning what the latest take is
a tendency to not perform
I’m a Brave, his quick riposte, so that’s to the manner born.
Does anyone have any info on Allard? When he is expected to pitch? I assume he is in some sort of rehab, but is there a plan to get him going?
I see that Minter is pitching in relief, with some success.
There’s been zero official news on Allard. We know he was scheduled to do extended spring training and join Danville late June. I can’t find anything recent to either confirm or contradict that.