4/27/2007

Braves 9, Rockies 7

ESPN.com - MLB - Box Score - Braves at Rockies

Did something happen to the humidor?

It was actually a shutout through three innings because the Braves stranded a bunch of baserunners and hit into two double plays, letting seven hits and an intentional walk go to waste. With two out in the fourth, they finally broke through, KJ singling home Diaz and going to second on the throw, then Renteria doing the same for KJ. The Rockies homered off of Chuck James to lead off the bottom of the inning, but it stayed 2-1 to the sixth.

Wilson homered to lead off that inning. With two out and runners second and third, Andruw -- whom they had walked intentionally with a runner on second and two out in the first -- lined a homer to left to make it 6-1. But the Rockies game back with five singles in six ABs, most of them up the middle while Renteria looked on helplessly. Kali gave up the last two singles but then got out of the inning with the score 6-4.

The Braves then made it 9-4 with Renteria singling in Wilson and Chipper doubling home Johnson and Renteria. Gonzalez pitched a one-hit seventh, Soriano walked a guy but got a double play in the eighth. Wickman came on and after getting the first out walked a man, got a grounder which Renteria couldn't get two on, then another grounder which Renteria couldn't get anyone on, then walked the bases loaded, followed by a double to make it 9-7.

Bobby then brought in Colyer, who predictably walked Helton. Moylan and the Vulture were the only men left, and Bobby went with the Australian to face Matt Holliday. He allowed a long drive to the right field corner, but Francoeur made a running catch to preserve the win.

Renteria had four hits, which may make up for the four hits a normal shortstop would have taken away. Wilson had three. KJ walked twice and singled twice, and Chipper, Francoeur, and Diaz had two hits apiece. Glove Boy had a pinch "hit" appearance where he failed miserably as usual. What are the odds?

28 Comments:

At 11:36 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mac, I love the way you keep highlighting Edgar's defensive inadequacy.

 
At 12:35 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

Man, I just watched Baseball Tonight on ESPN and they were running down a list of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. They ran off Ichiro, Sizemore, and Damon from the American league - then they said there are 3 good ones from the National league (all in the East) - Reyes, Ramirez, and Rollins. Not one mention of one Kelly Johnson (.320 BA, .457 OBP), who in my opinion is now doing better than all but one of them at this point. Is ESPN clueless or what?

 
At 12:58 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

David O'Brien on Ryan Langerhans:

"But when asked about Langerhans a few days ago, about what he’s going to do with him, Cox said, keep watching him run down balls in the gaps. Something along those lines."

 
At 3:30 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

followed by a double to make it 9-4.


That of course wants to say 9-7.

Mac, I love the way you keep highlighting Edgar's defensive inadequacy.

Edgar's is hitting .344/.410/.500 and yet nine out of ten posts about him will be negative. I guess people just like to complain. I hope the comment about his four hits cancelling out the four he allowed on defense is a joke because it sure is laughable.

Robert

 
At 3:55 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, Robert, Edgar's defense at short is as laughable as Langarhans's offense.

I love everything about Edgar's offense, and I love everything about Langy's defense. However, fact is fact, Edgar's defense sucks.

 
At 4:22 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you mean to imply that that ball in the hole in the 9th should have been converted in to an out, I seriously have to question your sanity.

That's just complaining for the sake of complaining.

The possible double-play ball, okay. He could have gotten the lead runner. I believe it was hit too slowly to be a double-play, but if he'd just gotten the ball to second cleanly, I guess we would have found out.

And KC.. Sucks?... I'll give you 'over-rated,' but Edgar's defense at short does not suck. Some describe him as being in the top 5 starting shortstops. For that reason I say he's over-rated. I'd rate him more along top 15 (which is to say he's merely in the upper half.)

Looks like fact, in this case, is whatever you want to see.

 
At 4:55 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Haven't you seen enough in the past year plus to convince you on Edgar's obvious lack of range at short? I don't think you need to watch the last two games to reach such conclusion.

However, if you add his offense to consideration, he is still very good shortstop as a whole. There is no doubt about that.

 
At 6:11 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

A shortstop's range is the most important defensive characteristic of any player on the diamond. And Edgar gets to fewer balls than any shortstop in the major leagues, and only a couple of others are even close.

This isn't something I'm choosing to see -- it's just true. The real subjectivity here is in what you're choosing NOT to see -- if there's a ground ball up the middle and no shortstop enters the picture, you might not think anything of it, but that's the problem right there.

Edgar is hitting the ball great, no doubt. He needs to hit this well to have much value as a shortstop.

 
At 6:31 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy. Ready to move on!
Smoltz will take his turn in the Coors barrel tonight. One person who must be very happy with John's new contract is his golfing buddy, Tiger Woods.
"He's my ATM," Tiger said.

 
At 8:01 AM , Blogger oldtimer said...

I know we must have discussed this, but would Edgar be a servicable LF when Lillibridge is ready for short next year? IF ER could hit about 300. with 15-20 HR's he may be a good solution for a couple years. It appears Lillibridge has good range, KJ's range is surprising the heck out of me, that would make us tough up the middle again.
On another note, Our LF and 1B did hit last night, man is that a good sign, I do not want to trade Salty for either of those positions, but damn we do need pitching, and there is none out there to be had.

 
At 8:45 AM , Blogger Jay said...

I'm just a little curious, but what makes anyone think that Renty can play left? He's never played left before, according to thebaseballcube he's only played SS since he was 17.

Oh, and it's almost draft time! :)

 
At 9:03 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know Bobby likes to bring Langerhans in to play the late innings for defensive purposes when he is not in the game. Why can he not start doing the same thing with Woodward at SS. His range cannot be any worse that Edgars.


Craig

 
At 9:46 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

This isn't something I'm choosing to see -- it's just true. The real subjectivity here is in what you're choosing NOT to see -- if there's a ground ball up the middle and no shortstop enters the picture, you might not think anything of it, but that's the problem right there.

So you not only see enough of Edgar, but also the other 29 shortstops in the Bigs to make this assessment? Please. That's beyond ridiculous. The advanced metrics say he's below average on defense which we all believe, but his bat still makes him a big net plus to this team.

Looks like fact, in this case, is whatever you want to see.

JJ right on the money with this.

Robert

 
At 10:10 AM , Blogger Mac said...

Evidence... There are problems with range factor, but it's the best simple tool we have. Renteria's range factor is 3.18. The league RF for shortstops is 4.13. Adjusted for nine innings, Renteria's RF is 3.29. The league RF/9 is 4.35.

In summary, Renteria is making about three-quarters of the plays of an average shortstop, or about one less per game.

 
At 10:12 AM , Blogger JoshQ said...

Come one Mac..I know as well as the rest of us that Renty has no range, but I have to say that you can't count the ball in the hole in the 9th. Even with a good throw, I don't think anyone gets Taveras running. That said you did a great job of ramming home the point that you don't care for Renty at short.
If Lillibridge is ready for 08,
we would trade Renty before we move him to lf. I would really like it if both Lillibridge and Salty were ready to contribute in 08. That would allow us to trade Renty for outfield help or pitching. Of course he would have to be packaged with prospects for someone good.

 
At 10:21 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

Perhaps Renteria isn't what he should be on defense, but I think he deserves more respect for what he brings to the team. Like someone said, most posts on this board are about his bad defense, and that's just not right. He's not that bad.

 
At 10:23 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let's not forget, between Renteria and Lillibridge, the Braves have Escobar. Behind Lillibridge, the Braves have King Elvis. The Braves are loaded at shortstop. I guess we can all agree on that!!!

 
At 10:34 AM , Blogger samthebravesfan said...

Seems like Edgar is the whipping boy for one reason or another. The reason is that he's criticized so much is solely because of his defense.

Edgar is the reverse of a common shortstop: his bat is the majority of his value. There is no denying that if he doesn't get the angle or the ball is hit right at him, he has the range of a tree stump. The only way to get rid of that is to get rid of him. That would be foolish.

 
At 10:49 AM , Blogger Jay said...

10 minutes away... :)

 
At 10:56 AM , Blogger samthebravesfan said...

Moments away from Russell or Johnson wearing a Raiders cap.

 
At 10:58 AM , Blogger Jay said...

Early reports are that it's going to be Russell...they've already contacted Russell re-assuring him that he's there guy.

 
At 11:29 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

So is Edgar in the top 15 of the NL or are you talking about the entire MLB? Just wondering... Seriously, Edgar is great offensively. He's going to hit .305 or so, knock in some key runs, more when we get an 8 place hitter who, well, hits, and will score a ton of runs in front of the Jones Bros, McCann the man, and Frenchy. Defensively, he's no Jeff Blauser (enough said).
-Jeff M.

 
At 11:56 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

I'd rather have Renteria than, let's say, Adam Everett of the Astros who is supposedly a defensive wiz, but hits worse than most pitchers. So I think this discussion is pointless - I'm sure we'd only pick one or two other shortstops in the league that we would rather have on our team right now (and all of them appear to be in our division).

 
At 11:56 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mac, you cannot give me this years RF and say it's indicative of his overall performance. We've seen 20 games. Now you're using statistics to reflect the reality you choose to see.

Unless you really think Francoeur is going to hit .294 with .365 obp and 176 knocked in.

Last year Edgar's range factor was exactly the league average, .400. His fielding percentage was 6 points higher than league average, which might aswell have been exactly league average.

For his career, his range factor is 26 points above league average.

Sounds a whole lot like he's a middle-third shortstop, rather than a bottom-third.

 
At 12:04 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Edgar is pretty bad but at least not as bad as Sonny Jackson was. For my money, Sonny was the worst shortstop EVER (or at least that I have seen). And Edgar can at least hit,which Jackson couldn't. But, I have no doubt, the Braves are going to give up a lot of runs having Edgar and Chipper on the left side of the infield. This is a team where ground ball pitcher come to die (or, maybe to murder their infielders).

 
At 2:06 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mac, you cannot give me this years RF and say it's indicative of his overall performance.

Wow. As if using Range Factor weren't a big enough stretch, he tries to use a Range Factor based on 22 games and draw meaningful conclusions for it. That's hilarious. There are no words.

Well here's some anyway: Last season, Renteria was exactly league average in Range Factor in 146 games. So which sample is better, 146 games or 22 games? Setting aside of course that range factor is almost worthless as a statistic.

The old saying is that it's a sign of a bad organization that they only focus on what a player can't do. That applies to fans to.

Robert

 
At 2:56 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Robert,
Yes 146 is more telling than 22. But, let's face it, Edgar's a year older and he's not likely to improve there. That doesn't mean Edgar's a problem here. As long as he hits like he has, he probably is one of the better shortstops out there. But, the second he stops being able to hit .300 plus (or thereabouts) he would become a liability. For my part, I like him, especially when he's up to bat, but I harbor no illusions about his defensive prowess. (And it's also a troubled organization and fan base that doesn't know its own warts). In closing, go BRAVES!
-Jeff M.

 
At 4:41 PM , Blogger Mac said...

Not to mention the fact that his range factor/9 was far below average last year. His overall stat is good because when he played he usually played the entire game.

 

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