We know from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., a turn of the century southpaw with a wicked spitball, that you can’t shout ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater. Last night, the Braves, courtesy of Sam Freeman et al. showed that shouting ‘Fire’ in a crowded bullpen is just as bad.
Brandon McCarthy started for the Braves, and went 5 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs. Although, to be fair, he probably was lucky his matches were wet, as he could have been tagged for a lot more than 2. He started off his evening by surrendering a two run shot to Jose Pirela in the first. Then he wriggled off the hook in the second when he loaded the bases with nobody out. But he struck out Clayton Richard, the Padres pitcher, and got a double play from Travis Jankowski.
Atlanta tied it up in the second, with a one out rally helped by a Padres error. Kurt Suzuki and Charlie Culberson singled, and Ender Inciarte hit a grounder to second that Pirela made a bad throw on, pulling Freddy Galvis off the bag. Johan Camargo drove in two with a single.
In the 4th, Amanda’s Husband allowed the first two hitters, Galvis, who only went 5-5, and Manuel Margot, fresh off his star turn in Superman, to single, but managed to escape further damage.
Freddie Freeman gave the Braves the lead in the 5th, homering to put the local nine up 3-2. Nick Markakis follwed with an infield single, but Richard buckled down and stranded Neck.
Snit pulled McCarthy in the 6th, after a two out Galvis double. Shane Carle came in to walk Lois Lane Margot, but struck out Raffy Lopez.
In the fateful seventh, Freeman came on, and immediately loaded the bases. Single to Franmil Reyes, walk to Jankowski, and a Baltimore Chop off the plate by Eric Hosmer, and things were looking bad. We got a ray of light, when Pirela hit a comebacker for the 1-2-3 double play, but it wasn’t the dawn of another escape, it was the 9:45 Express to Newnan barrelling right over us. Hunter Renfroe singled on an 0-2 hanging slider. Peter Moylan came in to get the right handed hitting Charlie Villanueva, and walked him, and Galvis torched him for a three run shot. 7-3 Padres.
Luis Gohara pitched a completely dramaless 8th and 9th, surrendering two ‘earned’ runs that shouldn’t have scored since the Braves were again screwed by the Replay Bozos in New York when Dansby Swanson‘s neat double play was not called correctly.
Anyway, Sean Newcomb tonight for the Braves, looking for a repeat of last week’s six shutout innings he tossed in Petco. Bring your fire extinguishers.
I finally saw the replay of Dansby’s double play and couldn’t believe they missed that. I guess replay’s latest victim is the athletic toe-tap. Another case of calling it correctly the first time and getting it wrong on a second look. A lot of the best fielders of all time made their bones on phantom toe-taps and foot drags across second base in very athletic fashion.
Replay affects both teams. I really feel like replay angst is overblown. Their shortstop has to touch the bag too.
Akeel Morris was called up by Anaheim.
@2: Replay angst is not overblown. And when you get me agreeing with Chip and Joe, there’s a clear problem. The real problem is that they haven’t explained what they’re doing, and how they changed.
In the first phase, they tried to get the call right. That led to all sorts of complaints that they were slowing up the game and that things available on slo-mo replay which weren’t available to the naked eye oughtn’t count. I largely agreed with that critique.
Now, however, in the second iteration, they have gone the other way. they aren’t trying to get the call right any more. What they’re trying to do (I think) is to reverse calls that are obviously wrong, ie every call by CB Bucknor and a smattering of others.. That’s the basis (I think) on which the Swanson call wasn’t reversed. You could see the bag, or at least the dirt on it, move, so it’s clear he touched it. But it would be easy for an ump to miss that, so, since the call was that he had missed it, that call stands.
The problem, though, is that it still takes entirely too long and you can now *see* that he touched the bag and it isn’t getting reversed which just gets people mad. Why are you bothering to review in a case where there couldn’t be an egregious mistake, just a regular old mistake?
The answer to *that* is that it’s because you’re still allowing protests. That’s what needs to stop. You need a guy onsite who is wired to one ump (no headphones and marching over to the side) who stops play, looks at the call, and either reverses or not, within 15 seconds. And his job isn’t to make the “right” call, just to correct egregious mistakes. Oh, and you’ll need two of these guys when Bucknor is umpiring… one of them just shadows CB and reverses all his calls.
@4
If they’re going to all get together on the field and have a meeting about whether or not a call on the field was right, they should just go to replay themselves rather than overruling the original call and then going to replay. Especially late in the game, when they’re allowed to do that, anyway. The biggest issue last night was that, as it would’ve been upheld as an out had they just done that. Instead, somebody who didn’t have a great view of the play overturned the call before the review, changing the entire dynamic of the review. Just review it.
It’s also clear that people from the league office should be reviewing these in New Jersey, not full blown umpires, but we already knew that. As it is, though, the umpires themselves never initiate a review. They always just wait for one of the teams to review it for them. If you’re getting together on the field to talk it over, that should automatically initiate a review.
EDIT: Unless the play, by rule, is not subject to video review, obviously.
@2 Are you not keeping up with the # of challenges having gone against the Braves this year? I looked a couple of weeks ago, and they were tied for most challenges going against them. So, no, I don’t think replay angst is overblown…
Furthermore, a call overturned on the field shouldn’t require overwhelming evidence to, itself, be overturned by replay. That’s stupid.
Of course, that (wherever it was I saw the stat) is likely bolstered by the fact the Braves have issued the most challenges.
Coincidentally, FanGraphs published this piece yesterday: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/replay-is-fine-everyone/
With a ~35% success rate, one would think the Braves would back off on challenges.
Newk’s holding it together so far. But our hitters are making Lyles look good.
Go get ’em, Charlie!!! Is it my imagination or is Charlie not the 25th man on the roster any more?
There’s your run, Duke.
You got that right, Roger, my money is on Bourjos and Luke Jackson/whatever BP arm they bring up from Gwinnett.
It took a lot of time for fake Dansby to be productive, but it was worth it, I guess.
Rain delay will probably knock Duke out.
Was that along enough delay to give him the hook? Lyles pitched.
Looks like Minkler is back on track.
Vizzy is not the closer we need, but the closer we deserve.
Winkler is the only one of this crap lot who would be among the Padres’ top five relievers.
Newk was at 84 pitches. I can see why they pulled him.
Dang that Viz. Looked good for 5 pitches then ugh. But praise the Lord and pass the ammunition that he got it done.
Excellent homestand so far. Doing what they are supposed to do against bad teams.
recapped…and as we won no tantrums please
recapped…
We are now of course 2 1/2 games up on the Nats.
And Phil just called, wants his old caddie back.
two recaps for the price of one