Well, we had prayed for 5 innings from him…and we nearly got it…Bartolo had it back tonight, we feared it had gone for good, his control…he gave Scherzer all he could handle and some and he opened the fifth ahead 3-0 by virtue of a 2 run homer early from Rio Ruiz and a solo shot from Matt Kemp in the 4th (Matt Kemp – hands up all you naysayers who couldn’t have been more wrong about him if you tried.) Matt BTW contributes a full half of our 50 pound weight loss this year – see below for the other.
A defensive miscue blew 2 from our lead with only one out. Snit had to warm Kroll up in a hurry and brought him in to face Harper and Zimmerman. Pop Up/K (Chief!). Great Stuff, Harper squealed in loud frustration, all 35,000 must have heard him.
So, Bartolo, we salute you. Here’s a song custom made for your performance today, describing an activity you perfected as we watched in amazement.
Who are these guys? Bart will know, he was only about 28 when this cut was made. Ain’t Mick pretty.
To resume. It then became very important we strike out etc SAP with our one run lead in the bottom of the fifth with thundercloud, rain and reputed ice on the way. We did just that, the game is official, so now we pray for lightning which is clearly dangerous.. As of now -8.05 EST as i write – that is still the case and we are watching the Smoltz and Glavine AARP review for the fourteenth time. Somebody, please.
O Dear. Players have reemerged at 8.08, mea culpa. The Weather Gods have shunned us. Later.
top 6Â Â Motte pitching..Murphy pop up, walked Rendon, Wieters, great catch by Jace bouncing off the net in foul territory like a fat tuna trying to escape the catch. Taylor popped up also for third out , good job Motte, will Snit risk him in the 7th? Our 3 musketeers were perfect last night.
bottom 6…Trienen pitching…we get first and third, 1 out, Dansby lashes a perfect DP grounder to short, Murphy bobbles the relay, we score a 4th run.Ruiz makes the final out with a deep drive to the wall in left center, impressive. Leave him there. But i’ll miss Camargo’s throws. 4-2 Braves
Top 7…it’s Ramirez…3 up, 3 down…again…fabulous bare handed play by BP to get Turner.
Bottom 7…Boner shocked us all with a beautifully lashed line drive to Right Center, robbed by a terrific diving catch from Taylor. BP singled with 2 out. Nick s/o.
Top 8.. Vizcaino..we seem to be deja vuing last night…but we were lucky, he had velocity but nothing like the control of last night…1,2,3 of the big 3 but Zimmerman hit his first pitch to the base of the CF wall.
Bottom 8…Dansby walks after another Flowers homer. What about our catchers!! We are outplaying all 29 teams by a mile. Braves 5 -2. Almost there. JJ, our man.
Top 9Â Â 9.30…BRAVES WIN!! 6 back of the Nats, at this rate we should be leading the division this time next week.
And now for the Hart chat during the rain delay. John Hart said ‘you know’ sixty one times during his pitch – to Joe only- telling us about Matt Adams for Juan Yepez. And this is where our second 25 pound saving comes from. Part of the deal was the Cardinals had to produce the original WeightWatchers certificate confirming he had lost 25 lbs last winter. As far as i’m concerned it’s a great deal. Just remember, NEVER in the outfield. Matt will have fun in the Chop House, somewhere he already visited in April. But allow him no eating privileges . Or maybe 2 for one – one meal for every 2 homers deposited there… assign him to the other Matt.
Great win, guys. We’re hurting the Nats for pete’s sakes. Who woulda thunk it.
Bartolo. Paint it Black.
We edged closer to the division lead…picked up a whole game on the Notionals and kept our one game edge on the Mets. This division race stuff is fun.
“Paint it Black.” Nice choice of theme.
blazon writes well. Thank you, sir. Sometimes Goliath falls. It’s fun when the Braves chunk the rock that fells him.
Decker was DFA’d
I’m enjoying this team. Color me surprised.
Once we get the pitching paired with the no-defense slow hitters, we’ll have something interesting on our hands.
Who’s Decker?
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to enjoy this team for all 10 weeks of Freddie’s absence, but today was a fun day. Here’s to at least a few more before August. Great recap
I think Decker is Recker with auto-correct? Last I saw he was in the Gwinnett lineup so is that old news?
Oh, and Kris Medlen in his Fire Frogs debut: 6 IP, 1 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 0 R.
Yeah, Anthony Recker was DFA’ed to make room for Adams. I would think they’d want him to remain at Gwinnett. That move suggests Ruiz will be demoted.
And through all of this, Bonifacio is gainfully employed.
Does Danny Santana have options? He is 0 for 16.
If Santana or Bonisucko are not the ones gone, someone is wrong
Us getting Matt Adams tells me that we are trying to win this year, which is contrary to what some have said here. I’m not predicting that we’ll make the playoffs, but our division after the Nationals is incredibly weak. I say go for it. We have now made transactions for Adam Walker (now released), Lane Adams, and Matt Adams. I’m probably the only one, but it has been confusing to me.
With all the stop/start and comings and goings yesterday I forgot to mention the highlight camera shot of the game…
Freddie’s pure delight, jumping up and down, as the kid’s first homer cleared the wall. Baseball as a game. What a leader.
We didn’t need the Weather Gods after all. We did it ourselves. Stiffen the sinews, Hart, me et al.
Us getting Matt Adams tells me that we are trying to win this year, which is contrary to what some have said here.
We’re trying to avoid humiliation, attendance/viewership collapse, and a payroll death spiral in the first season with a new stadium. Enjoy the ride!
Yep, but those aren’t bad things to try to avoid. Not that Matt Adams is good or anything, but it’s better than watching Loney or Jace play 1B everyday.
Yeah, I wouldn’t read anything into the Matt Adams/Loney/Ruiz at all outside of we’re scrambling to do something/anything to cover for the lack of organizational depth at first base. You simply can’t have Jace Peterson out there at first for more than one game.
@14
That was a great sight, blazon. He’s a leader.
@9, he was hitting 92 also…what a wildcard that would be, if he can make it back.
Matt Adams hitting fifth. The Matt Adams Era is upon us. #mattadams
@13 I certainly wouldn’t call trading for Matt Adams an indication that the Braves are pushing their chips in on competing this year. We traded away a guy who didn’t even make the Braves’ top 25-30 prospects and got back a dude who will hopefully act as a competent 1B placeholder for another 9-ish weeks.
I see all the shoutouts that I’ve been getting and in the immortal words of Roger Stone, it’s better to be infamous than nothing at all.
Puke.
@22
Agreed. We didn’t give much, but didn’t get much. And we don’t know how much cash we sent. But it’s certainly an improvement, puts Jace in a utility role he’s better suited for, and with Camargo sent down, that keeps Ruiz playing 3B.
Seriously, WTF? This is way past Lockhart territory. I don’t think he has pictures; he has videos.
Yes, sorry Decker was meant to be Recker. If we are trying to win, which apparently we are, then we should cut Bonifacio and Santana. Leave Ruiz up and bring back Adams.
At least they didn’t send out Ruiz after his big night.
Adams can be a competent fill in for a couple of months–and no one else in the organization could be. But the first base position will be much stronger if they can find a competent right handed hitter to play first against lefties. Not sure who that might be, but whoever it is would be a better bench bat than Bonifacio. As per @25, literally anyone would be better than bonifacio.
Where are the Prados and Infantes of yesteryear?
Not videos, he must own a bunch of stock
I’m thinking he’s got a three-dimensional holographic imaging system.
Hell, I’m starting to think he might have hostages.
Strasburg has his best stuff today.
This is Garcia’s best start of the season.
@32 – There is nobody I love enough to keep Bonifacio on the roster.
Well hello, Jaime.
Lt Dan’s best AB of his life
LOL .. can we still call Loney up ??? Not an ideal start for Matt Adams .. going to get a shot at the hat trick next inning …. 3 k’s …
Dang, 1 game against Strasburg and Tad is ready to give up on Adams.
If we dont givem 2 runs early we sweep em …
I think Markakis is more comfortable in the 5 hole …..
@39 … LOL … we will see if he can redded himself in this 9th inning
That was the best game I’ve seen a Braves starter throw this year.
That was the first good game I’ve seen Garcia pitch and Strasburg looked really good. We hung in there and had a shot at the end. More positives than negatives for this game imo.
I think it was Bobby who said you’ll lose 60 games a year. The day Stephen Strasburg is dealing and Nick Markakis, of all people, drops a key fly ball is one of those 60 losses.
Good for Garcia. He dealt too.
Kevin McAlpin
@KevinMcAlpin
Markakis: “shows you one play makes a difference in the game. I should have caught that ball. There’s no excuses for that” #Braves
Bonifacio must have some deep dirt on Coppy.
Recapped.