Braves Journal

Braves 5, Phailies 2

2007-04-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

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

Walkoff homers are so fun. Andruw had this one, a three-run shot with one out in the ninth while Joe Simpson was busy in the booth trashing him for looking awkward at the plate. (Joe's seen Andruw even more than I and should know that Andruw often looks awkward at the plate while simultaneously hitting colossal homers. I was surprised Joe didn't criticize him for not singling to right instead.)

Tim Hudson went eight and allowed just four hits, all singles, and one walk. Unfortunately, three of the hits came in one inning, the sixth, punctuated by a stolen base, and the Phillies got two runs out of it, overcoming the Braves one-run lead on a Hudson groundout. Chipper came back and tied it with a homer in the bottom of the inning.

After blowing a chance to take the lead in the eighth, in which Hudson was hit for (he had thrown 94 pitches), Gonzalez came in. If you hadn't heard, Bob Wickman was placed on the DL with the unlikely-sounding condition of "upper back tendinitis" and Chad Paronto was called up. Gonzalez and Soriano will share closer duties; Mike did his part tonight by blowing away Utley, Howard, and Burrell.

He picked up the win on Andruw's homer. KJ had led off the inning with a single. (He'd walked three times earlier in the game.) Renteria botched the bunt and the Phillies got KJ at second. Chipper was walked. (Joe claimed this was semi-intentional, but only a lunatic would walk the winning run into scoring position. Of course, this is Charlie Manuel.) Andruw followed, game over.

Willie Harris played left and went 1-3. All the Braves' starters had hits, including Hudson; Andruw and Francoeur had two.

(Crossposted on the new Bravesjournal. I'm afraid comments from here probably won't make it there. This place is going to stay up but tomorrow's game thread will be in the new place.)

Game Thread: April 30, Phailies at Braves

2007-04-30T12:44:00.000-05:00

Philadelphia is actually playing pretty well now, and has caught Florida in the standings. Luckily, we miss Moyer, who's been their best pitcher.

Langerhans era over at last

2007-04-29T18:35:00.000-05:00

Wish you were here ... and be nice! | Braves

In the immortal words of Lenny Dykstra... "Great trade! Who'd we get?"

From DO'B:

LANGERHANS TRADED TO OAKLAND.

For cash or a player to be named. Braves are bringing up Willie Harris, who’s batting .362 with a homer and seven RBIs in 17 games at Richmond, and .412 vs. right-handed pitchers.

Bobby says doesn’t know how he’ll use him when I asked if it’d be platoon. But I think it will be.

Harris is playing well but is still Willie Harris, a 29-year-old career .238 .306 .294 hitter. But he can't possibly be worse than Langerhans. Things in Oakland must be worse than I thought. Looking it up, they're hitting .229 .309 .344 as a team and the only outfielder hitting at all is Travis Buck. Still, Langerhans could make it worse.

UPDATE: Full story... Langerhans traded to A's | ajc.com

Rockies 9, Braves 7 (10 innings)

2007-04-29T17:57:00.000-05:00

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

Sheesh. Well, I guess that in a game in which you walk 13 men and have an unassisted triple play turned against you, you're probably lucky to get to the tenth inning. I guess.

Davies sucked out of the gate, somehow got past the first, then allowed four runs in the second (blowing a lead from a solo homer by Thorman). Thorman then cut it to 4-2 in the fourth by singling home Andruw (who had doubled) but the Vulture gave the run back with a homer.

Thorman drove in two more runs with a single in the sixth. Langerhans (who had earlier in the game had his first hit since ~~the Great Depression~~ April 11) hit a sac fly to make it 6-5. In the eighth, Pena drove in a run on an "error" against the drawn-in infield (in my opinion, it's not an error when you put the second baseman in a position where a normal play can't be made, but I don't make the rules).

Wickman's apparent collapse, however, continued. He walked three men, two of whom scored, and allowed an infield "hit" that was a routine forceout at second for any shortstop with complete use of his arms and legs. He got a soft groundout to score the tying run, then hit the next batter. The surgent (he's not resurgent, he's never surged before) Kali came in to get the last batter, which he only did because Francoeur made an outstanding catch in right.

Thorman doubled to lead off the tenth, but was erased when he fell down trying to scramble back on a lineout. Then Colyer came in, walked the second guy (Helton, who walked five times today) and gave up a homer to end it. Meanwhile, Mike Gonzalez was playing Sudoku in the bullpen or something. I don't know.

The Braves had twice as many hits as the Rockies, 16-8, but oh, those bases on balls. Everyone in the regular lineup (including Pena for McCann) had a hit and only Chipper and Langerhans (.068) had less than two.

Game Thread: April 29, Braves at Rockies

2007-04-29T01:06:00.000-05:00

I would have a game thread video here but all I can think of is John Denver, and I'm not going there.

Braves 6, Rockies 2

2007-04-28T21:45:00.000-05:00

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

John Smoltz got off to a really shaky start. He walked the leadoff batter, then allowed a home run. The next two hitters hit long fly outs, then he allowed a double, before getting out of it with a groundout. Then he settled down. He didn't walk anyone else, and he struck out eight; while he allowed seven more hits he scattered them over six innings, and you're going to allow a few hits in this dump.

The Braves' offense also got off to a slow start, the first seven men producing only one walk. But Langerhans hit a routine grounder which the shortstop dropped (the nitwits in the booth pretended there was some question but it was an obvious error). Smoltz bunted him to second. KJ and Renteria walked to load the bases and Chipper singled home two. Andruw followed with a sac fly to give the Braves the lead.

Francoeur homered leading off the fourth, and with two out KJ tripled home Langerhans (who had walked -- of course he was 0-3, he's always 0-3 or 0-4, and now hitting .049) to make it 5-2. It stayed there for a long time. Smoltz left after seven. Gonzalez allowed a leadoff double in the eighth but got out of it with a popup, strikeout, and groundout.

Renteria hit a homer with two out in the ninth. Soriano got the first two in the bottom of the inning, then Renteria dropped the third out, but Soriano got the next guy easily.

The Braves had only six hits, but walked five times. Nobody had more than one hit; McCann (who's fighting it a little, but did hit a long drive that almost made the wall for a double) and Thorman both went 0-4.

Game Thread: April 28, Braves at Rockies

2007-04-28T10:19:00.001-05:00

Today's Game Thread Video is dedicated to Mel Kiper Jr.!

Braves 9, Rockies 7

2007-04-27T23:25:00.000-05:00

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?

Game Thread: April 27, Braves at Rockies

2007-04-27T15:49:00.000-05:00

New site soon, I promise. So, has anyone heard if the humidor is still working?

Good news, bad news

2007-04-26T19:14:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Braves, Smoltz agree on contract extension

No confirmation yet from the official site or AJC, but ESPN says that it is a contract for $14 million next season with an option for 2009 that kicks in if he pitches 200 innings, then a team option for 2010. You would assume that would take him to the end of his career.

Cormier has soreness in throwing arm | ajc.com

Well, that's not good. After the Hampton Experience, any time a pitcher has mysterious muscle soreness I worry about his elbow.

UPDATE: Smoltz confirmation from the official site, though no press release yet.

UPDATE UPDATE: Press release, which is essentially the same as Peanut's article.

Open day thread

2007-04-26T12:55:00.000-05:00

I think we're probably going to have one more game on Blogger but things should be ready on Saturday. Maybe not. Who knows? Anyway, everything's in motion.

Today's video is dedicated to Cody Ross! You'll see why 4:56 in.

Marlins 4, Braves 3

2007-04-25T20:34:00.000-05:00

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

You have got to be kidding me.

You know I'm a great admirer of Bobby's, but a younger manager, one not hung up on the outdated notions of complete games, probably wins this game. The Braves led 3-0 basically the entire game, and Tim Hudson looked bulletproof, striking out 12 in the first eight innings. But Bobby sent him out to start the ninth at over 100 pitches. Okay, that's reasonable, I guess, especially after getting only three innings out of your starter the day before, even with an off day tomorrow.

But Hudson allowed consecutive singles to lead off the ninth. You just can't get yourself into a situation where he's facing the tying run now. He was clearly spent. But after a discussion with Roger Dodger, he stayed in the game and allowed another single. Bobby finally went to Wickman, but he allowed a double to score two runs. Then they walked Joe "Florida's Langerhans" Borchard to intentionally load the bases, suggesting that they didn't actually see last night's game. Wickman got the next guy on strikes, but allowed a pathetic little flare single to tie the game, then threw a wild pitch to lose it. Hudson deserved much better, but at least he doesn't have to pitch in Colorado.

All three Braves runs came on solo homers, by KJ leading off the game, Chipper two batters later, and Diaz in the second. But Andruw had an awful day, striking out three times including with the bases loaded and two out. The Braves could have blown the game open then.

I probably would have had Gonzalez pitch the ninth.

Game Thread: April 25, Braves at Marlins

2007-04-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned I'm in an APBA keeper league. It's pretty deep, 20 teams, 40-man rosters. Anyway, I usually lose so in last year's draft I decided that I'd just take Braves because if I'm going to lose I might as well lose with players I'm rooting for. I took McCann with the ninth pick in the first round and also took KJ and McBride.

So it actually worked out pretty well and my team is suddenly a contender, so I went back to my "when in doubt, pick a Brave" strategy this year. Only this time I wound up with Paronto and Kali. Hm.

Langernote: In case you didn't know, Baseball-Reference is updating during the season now. Here's the Braves page. Note that Langerhans has an OPS+ of negative thirty. Sweet Jesus.

No video today, slow connection.

Braves 11, Marlins 6

2007-04-24T21:26:00.000-05:00

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

So, here's what we know: Mark Redman is done; Ryan Langerhans is awful; and Fredi Gonzalez is really, really stupid.

Fredi did make a nice call in the second inning. The Braves had scored four in the first off of Rick Vanden Hurk, whatever that is, but Redman gave it all back in the bottom of the inning. RVH then walked the bases loaded, including Redman as the leadoff hitter, and Fredi pulled the plug. He almost got out of it when Chipper and Andruw popped out, but McCann walked to score one and Francoeur singled to score another to make it 6-4.

Redman actually got through the second, but gave the lead back in the third, allowing two runs, and Bobby had seen enough as well and went to Moylan to start the fourth. Moylan was great (mostly, I have to point out, against a primarily righthanded-hitting lineup assembled against the lefty starter) and went three, striking out three and allowing just one hit and one walk. McCann's sac fly in the sixth gave the Braves a 7-6 lead.

Kali came on in the seventh and was as good as I've ever seen him, needing only nine pitches for the 1-2-3 inning, including a strikeout. The Soriano of the first two weeks put in an appearance in the eighth, striking out two of the three Marlins he faced.

Then Fredi's brainlock. Andruw and McCann went down to start the ninth. Francoeur singled. Thorman singled and took second when the Marlins idiotically tried to get Francoeur at third. Langerhans was due up, and I was hoping against hope Bobby would pinch-hit when Fredi called for an intentional walk. Intentionally walking a man who was at that point rapidly closing in on an .050 batting average -- he's now 2-38 on the season -- is suicidal insanity.

Orr pinch-hit, worked the count to 3-2, then lined a single past first to score two. KJ and Renteria added RBI singles and it was 11-6. Wickman was already ready, since once again it was a one-run game with two out in the top of the ninth, and allowed one hit in the bottom of the inning.

Every Brave regular except, of course, Langerhans, had at least one hit. Francoeur and Thorman had three apiece and each had two RBI. KJ had only the single, but walked three times and scored off of each. The Braves scored 11 runs with no homers. I'd give the MVP to Moylan, who got the win.

Game Thread: April 24, Braves at Marlins

2007-04-24T14:03:00.000-05:00

No news on the new site front. I'm hoping to have something in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, if you just hate Blogger, I can set up a new auxiliary backup at WordPress.com, which would at least have the familiar settings.

Today's Game Thread Video is dedicated to Ryan Langerhans' extra base hit total, because it doesn't exist either! Sorry, I'm on a slow connection here.

Marlins 8, Braves 7

2007-04-23T21:00:00.000-05:00

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

Well, that could have gone better. Kyle Davies was super wild, walking six and throwing more balls than strikes. He allowed two in the first, then got through the next three innings, but allowed three in the fifth without getting an out. Villarreal came in to try to hold it, but this time the Vulture Magic wasn't there this time, and he allowed three runs of his own to make it 8-2.

It's a pity, because the Braves rallied. Francoeur hit a solo homer to make it 8-3, and the Braves got the tying run to the plate in the seventh, getting two runs in to make it 8-5. With two out in the ninth, Chipper homered and Andruw and Francoeur had back-to-back doubles to cut it to one. Bobby came with McCann -- sitting out to rest his bruised finger -- to pinch-hit, but he struck out swinging 3-2.

Moylan pitched a scoreless seventh, and Gonzalez pitched the eighth in his return to action, walking one but otherwise effective. Francoeur had four hits and four RBI. Chipper missed the cycle by the double. But the Braves yet again got nothing from the first base and left field spots, held this time by Wilson and Diaz, who were collective 0-8. And for some reason Johnson sat for Woodward, who was 1-5.

Game Thread: April 23, Braves at Marlins

2007-04-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

I'd like to thank everyone who made a contribution, I am really humbled by this. Again, the hope is that in the future I can make this thing self-sustaining with advertising (not as much as on the last version of the site) and maybe buy a sandwich.

Today's game thread video is dedicated to whoever had the bright idea to put a baseball team in an open-air stadium in South Florida!

Oh, and Langerhans must be destroyed! Speaking of, Bledsoe points out that Langerhans is "masculine. I think." Therefore, the tagline should really be Langerhans delendus est. I've decided, however, that "delenda est" is more or less integrated with the language. Plus he's hitting like a girl anyway. (I don't mean this to denigrate any of the fine girl hitters out there.)

UPDATE: Remember this? I think I'm going to bring it back.

This is very bad

2007-04-23T08:37:00.000-05:00

Family, Angels star Guerrero try to contact Aybar | ajc.com

Erick Aybar says that he and his family have been trying to contact Willy for days. Apparently, he's with another brother in Boston but won't talk to anyone. Erick, I guess, got Vlad Guerrero to try to talk to Willy but Vlad had no luck either.

Braves 9, Mets 6

2007-04-22T15:42:00.000-05:00

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

What an odd game this was. First-pitch leadoff homer, to pitchers' duel, to slugfest, all the while with the managers and players griping. Bobby, of course, got himself thrown out. He passes Leo Durocher for second on the all-time list and is just seven behind McGraw. he can do it this year, if he gives a real effort.

Kelly Johnson, meanwhile, continues to be a very odd player. He had something like two strikeouts in 55 PA entering yesterday's game only to earn the Platinum Sombrero with four of them. Then he hits a homer off of Glavine on the first pitch of today's game, later singles, then hits a three-run homer in the eighth to provide the winning margin. After the bad start, he's now hitting .297/.423/.547, .417/.533/.500 on the week; I'd guess he's a player of the week candidate.

Smoltz cruised through the first three innings, got in some trouble in the fourth, and allowed a homer to Shawn Green (Shawn Green : Braves pitching :: Oliver Perez : Braves hitting) in the fifth to tie it. The Braves got the lead back on a two-run single from Francoeur in the sixth, but Smoltz didn't get out of the sixth, allowing five runs to seemingly give the Mets control at 6-3.

But with two out in the seventh, Renteria hit a long opposite-field drive with Thorman and KJ aboard to make it 6-6. In the eighth, KJ hit a three-run two-out homer of his own to make it 9-6. Soriano had some trouble in the eighth but got through it, Wickman walked a guy but that was all in the ninth, striking out Beltran in an at-bat that lasted approximately 345 pitches.

I thought I'd link to the new version of my political/personal site. I'm thinking of using a version of the template I'm using there, but if anyone's in love with the old Braves Journal template I could stick with that.

Oh, and here is a great example of Mets fan maturity... Langerhans must be destroyed.

Game Thread: April 22, Braves at steM

2007-04-22T00:41:00.000-05:00

You may notice the Amazon tip jar posted to in the sidebar. In case you didn't, here it is again:

I feel a little awkward asking for money, but the move to the new host is going to cost a little bit of cash (I'm not sure how much, not too much) and I'm pretty much hand-to-mouth. I am hoping to start putting up my own ads soon, which will hopefully make the site self-supporting, but I'm looking for a little startup money.

I don't want to guilt-trip anyone; I'm just looking for a little money, and if it's not doable, that's fine.

Also, I know there are a few of you who have your own blogs; I am looking for a Blogads sponsor, because I think that will probably be better than going with Google.

Today's Game Thread Video is dedicated to -- you guessed it -- Ryan Langerhans! He must be destroyed!

Mets 7, Braves 2

2007-04-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

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

This Oliver Perez thing is getting inexplicable. Against everyone else, he's basically useless, against us he's Johan Santana. The Braves got nine hits and two runs in 6 2/3 against him today, and that's the best we've done by far.

The big difference today was homers. The Mets hit three, one a two-run shot to make it 4-0, then two in the sixth, chasing Chuck James in one of his worst starts. Kali came in and gave up a walk and triple to make it 7-1 at the time and pretty much end the game.

The Braves did have ten hits, including two apiece by Renteria, Chipper, and Andruw. It's fairly rare that you have three guys have two hits (and a walk by Chipper) each in a row and only score two runs. McCann also had two hits, but Francoeur and KJ both had 0-fors; KJ had a walk, but struck out four times.

Moylan made his bid for the Kali job, going two scoreless innings in a lost cause to lower his ERA all the way to 9.00. Rubber match tomorrow afternoon.

Game Thread: April 21, Braves at steM

2007-04-20T23:01:00.000-05:00

Today's game thread video is also dedicated to Ryan Langerhans! Who must be destroyed!

Braves 7, Mets 3

2007-04-20T21:20:00.000-05:00

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

Wow, is Tim Hudson on right now. He lowered his ERA to 0.62 with eight innings of shutout baseball, allowing five hits and two walks, striking out three, and getting lots and lots of ground balls. He took a perfect game to two out in the fourth and a no-hitter to the fifth.

Offensively, Chipper gave the Braves an early lead with a bomb off the scoreboard to score KJ. McCann hit a ground rule double to score Chipper in the third; Andruw would have scored if the ball stayed in the park, but came home anyway on a wild pitch. In the seventh, Francoeur walked with the bases loaded again, then Wilson pinch-hit for Thorman and did the same, and then Andruw scored on a wild pitch for the second time tonight.

Because nothing comes easy, Soriano gave up three runs in the ninth, including a two-run homer, the first multi-run homer that the Braves have allowed. He needed to work, but it was really a Kali situation.

All the Braves regulars had hits except for Thorman and Langerhans, who else, but even Langerhans had a walk that is only somewhat cheapened by it coming with runners second and third and Hudson on deck. I mean, Hudson had a hit tonight and is hitting .200, which is 135 points higher than Langerhans.

Day game tomorrow on, I think, the former Turner South. I have no idea why. Of course, it isn't on Fox because they're covering the Greatest Rivalry In All Time And Space.

Game Thread: April 20, Braves at steM

2007-04-20T10:38:00.000-05:00

Today's game thread video is dedicated to Ryan Langerhans, who must be destroyed!

Okay, here's what I think is going to happen. I have no contact information at Braves.net anymore; the guy currently in charge has never contacted me. I'm going to be moving the site to a new service ASAP; I have a couple of possibilities. At any rate, it will be on WordPress still and I have everything archived through a week ago today. I probably won't be able to save anything after that except the posts. Everyone may or may not have to re-register; I've never done this before.

Anyway, we're going to be on Blogspot for the next few days.

Cubs 3, Braves 0

2007-04-19T23:22:00.000-05:00

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

Ugh. The Braves got four-hit by some kid and his neverending diet of curveballs. As it was, it spoiled the good Redman start. I say "the", because I have no confidence in it repeating. Redman allowed solo homers in the fourth and the sixth but little else until he was over 100 pitches, and got into the eighth, very necessary considering the stress on the bullpen. It maybe would have been better to pull him after seven, but it really didn't matter, as the Braves were hopeless at the plate.

KJ had another good night, going 2-3 with a walk and the team's only extra-base hit, a double off the wall. Francoeur and Pena had the other hits, and Andruw and Wilson had walks. That was it. For a good portion of the game, the team seemed mostly interested in getting on the plane to New York.

Sorry for the late recap, my internet was down. It never rains but...

Oh, and he didn't play, but Langerhans must be destroyed.

Game Thread in Exile: April 19, Cubs at Braves

2007-04-19T11:51:00.001-05:00

Today's Game Thread video is dedicated to Rafael Soriano's awful, awful beard!

Emergency backup

2007-04-19T08:09:00.000-05:00

Everyone can comment here for now. I'll see if I can fix this.

UPDATE: My guess is that we're going to be here for the next few days. I hope not. I can tell you this: there are going to be some changes around here.

Bravesjournal.blogspot.com

2007-04-02T12:51:00.000-05:00

This is the emergency backup for Bravesjournal.

Maybe this will work

2006-06-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

I'll try.

Braves Journal

2006-05-23T13:06:00.000-05:00

Braves Journal

Here's the permanent link to the site. Just use the bravesjournal.com URL which will take you to whereever I am most currently posting.

Braves 2, D-Backs 1

2006-05-21T18:47:00.000-05:00

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

Tim Hudson came up with a valiant pitching performance, the Braves managed two runs on only three hits, and they actually won one of these games, little thanks to Chris Reitsma.

Hudson allowed six hits and walked three, but struck out five and kept the ball in the park. He needed a lot of pitches -- 122, 69 for strikes -- to get through eight innings, or he probably would have started the ninth. As it was, Chris Reitsma came out to save it -- for the last time?

Reitsma got the first guy, but then allowed a walk. After a grounder (advancing the runner -- LaRoche and Reitsma just nipped the hitter) he then allowed a double to score the run and get the tying run to second. Exit Chris Reitsma, finally, as Bobby apparently at last figured out that he's just not any good. I figured Remlinger would get first crack, but Bobby went with McBride instead. He walked the first guy (on a 3-2 pitch) but struck out Luis Gonzalez to end the game. I figure closer will be a combination of Ray (who was warming up) and McBride for the moment.

The Braves got their runs in the sixth. Hudson led off with a walk, Marcus bunted him to second, then Renteria doubled Hudson home. He went to third on a wild pitch, and after Chipper was walked Andruw drove him home with a groundout. The only two other hits were by Francoeur (who later actually drew a walk) and by Andruw (a double leading off the ninth, but they stranded him at third).

Brayan Pena is up, taking the place of Travis Smith, who was DFAd. If McCann is ready by then I assume Pena will go back down when Horacio comes up... On to San Diego.

Game Thread in Exile: May 21, Braves at D-Backs

2006-05-21T12:21:00.000-05:00

Boy, it's hot. Guess I'll stay indoors.

DBacks 13, Braves 0

2006-05-20T23:28:00.000-05:00

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

So, when you lose 13-0 and you're relieved. An odd game.

On the first run of the game, in the fourth, Eric Byrnes -- who is an idiot, "clean play" or not -- rolled over Brian McCann's leg. McCann had to be helped off the field and into the clubhouse, and things looked grim. But late in the game, word came down that it was an ankle sprain and McCann was day-to-day. It's a first diagnosis, and sometimes things turn out differently in the morning, but hopefully he'll be okay.

So, after that nobody much cared that the Braves were getting beaten savagely about the head and neck. Travis Smith wasn't atrocious through three, but gave up two in the fourth, thanks largely to poor defense (McCann was charged with an error on the play at the plate, which is just mean) and didn't get out of the fifth. After that, they were down 4-0, but really didn't seem to have much of a chance.

They had none at all after Lance Cormier pitched. He was really bad. Six runs on three hits and five walks over 1 2/3. His fellow ex-Diamondback Oscar Villareal helped out by giving up three more. The D-Back fans really enjoyed it, I could tell.

The Braves had only four hits, two by Chipper. They really never seriously threatened, but then Brandon Webb is an awfully good pitcher. Tomorrow, Hudson versus Juan Cruz, just to add to the whole incestuous feel of this series.

Game Thread in Exile: May 20, Braves at D-Backs

2006-05-20T17:31:00.000-05:00

Let's see... Travis "The Human Pitching Machine" Smith, versus Brandon Webb, looking to go 7-0. Sounds unpleasant.

Diamondbacks 10, Braves 9

2006-05-20T00:08:00.000-05:00

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

I'm really starting to hate Chris Reitsma.

The Braves took a 5-0 lead in the first, the big blow a LaRoche grand slam. I'm guessing if you factored out extreme blowouts, and maybe even then, you're a lot more likely to lose a game in which you score five or more runs in the first than five or more runs in any other inning. You relax. The Braves sure seemed to. John Thomson couldn't hold it. He left the game with two out in the sixth having given up a three-run homer to make it 7-5.

But the Braves woke up. They cut it to 7-6, then when McBride gave up a run (he really shouldn't have, and I thought it should have been scored unearned) Chipper hit a two-out single in the eighth to tie it. In the ninth, McCann hit a leadoff double, was pinch-run for (I think that was a bad call, taking out your best hitter in a game like this) with Orr, who went to third on a Francoeur flyout and came home on a LaRoche single. The Braves had a shot to score more but couldn't.

Enter Spazman. Reitsma immediately gave up a double in the gap. He actually got the next guy, but then followed that with another double. (Ken Ray was up, but Bobby didn't go to him. This was a mistake.) Reitsma intentionally walked the next guy -- Johnny Estrada! -- then hit a pinch-hitter with an 0-2 pitch. He followed that with the inevitable hit to end it.

Tomorrow, Travis Smith. I am not optimistic.

Game thread in exile: May 19, Braves at D-Backs

2006-05-19T14:46:00.000-05:00

I don't know if this will work!

Temporary solution only.

2002-10-18T18:33:00.000-05:00

War Liberal

I've moved my other weblog over to the Movable Type publishing system, away from Blogger. There are several advantages of MT, and eventually I'll be moving this one over as well. One of the biggest is that we won't have to worry about YACCS and the occasional outages that make the comments unavailable.

2002-10-17T10:59:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com: MLB - Ex-Brewer Yost candidate for Milwaukee post

Ned Yost interviewed for the Milwaukee manager's job yesterday. I'm not a big fan of his, and it's not much of a job.

2002-10-16T16:40:00.000-05:00

Is Cox the greatest manager ever?

The Guru, Bill James, says even nicer things about Bobby than I did. (Thanks, Andrew.) I don't know that I'd say he's the best manager ever, but I do think Bobby has been wildly underrated. In many ways the manager he most resembles is Joe McCarthy, derided as the "push-button manager" but successful not only in New York but with the Cubs and Red Sox as well. And anyone who thinks this Braves team underachieved needs to try to figure out how a team with no credible MVP candidate and Keith Lockhart, Vinny Castilla, and Javy Lopez (backed by Henry Blanco) in the starting lineup won 101 games.

2002-10-15T11:03:00.000-05:00

ajc.com | Braves | Initial offer fails to excite Glavine

I don't expect Tom Glavine to get that big of a contract, but if the Braves really offered a one-year deal at the same rate as last year, they couldn't expect him to accept it. It borders on an insult. Yes, $8 million, but for God's sake you gave two years to Vinny Flipping Castilla and Javy Lopez got $8 million with a player option. And Tom Glavine has to work on a one-year basis?

Given the choice between Maddux and Glavine, I don't see that one has to be made. It's Maddux all the way. I'm sorry, but Maddux has been a far better pitcher pretty much every year since he joined the club, and most of the data indicates that he also has a better future. Yes, he's had injuries, but not to his arm, and both his ERA and his peripheral numbers were better last year. And the year before, and the year before... These aren't two pitchers of similar stature; Glavine is a Hall of Famer, but Maddux is one of the ten greatest pitchers of all time.

2002-10-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Cardinals at Giants - 10/14/2002

Well, congratulations to the Giants. I was rooting for them.

2002-10-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

ajc.com | Braves | Mazzone not ruling out job change

Not that job change, though. He'd be interested in the right (i.e., not Tampa Bay) managing job.

2002-10-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

Blast From The Past Department

Kevin McGlinchy refused assignment to the minor leagues and became a free agent. That's the thing about young pitcher, guys. They get hurt, and then one day they can't even make the Devil Rays.

2002-10-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Alex and JR may be getting their wish. Craig informs me that the Braves have a press conference schedules for 2 or 3 PM today. No word on what... but there's been a rumor circulating that Bobby will retire and Leo Mazzone will take over as manager. The record of pitching coaches turned manager is not good...

2002-10-08T12:34:00.000-05:00

Top Ten Good Things About Last Night's Loss

10. I won't wind up spending hundreds of dollars and several vacation days on an attempt to get into a World Series game.

9. It's entirely possible we'll never have to see Keith Lockhart in a major league uniform ever again.

8. Alex Ramati free to spend less time obsessing about Bobby Cox and more time sticking pins into his Steve Spurrier voodoo doll.

7. Kevin Millwood's next start will be made on 144 days' rest.

6. Media can stop attacking Barry Bonds for not delivering in postseason and start attacking Gary Sheffield for not delivering in postseason.

5. Fans of remaining teams are concentrated on the West Coast, so when the games finally end it will be a decent hour for them.

4. Another week in which to hate Kenny Lofton.

3. Another week in which to hate Reggie Sanders.

2. Bobby gets five whole months to figure out even more creative reasons to not play Marcus Giles.

1. We can feel free to not watch the postseason now, in which case we don't have to hear Tim McCarver again for about eight months.

2002-10-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Giants at Braves - 10/07/2002

Nothing much to say, really. The Giants got some big hits, the Braves didn't, and the season's over. Barry Bonds singled and scored, and later homered, and maybe the vultures will finally leave him alone. Well, for a few days. Kevin Millwood pitched well, but it was in vain.

While the blame will rest on the Braves' offense, let the record show that they averaged over five runs a game in the series (and outscored the Giants), and collected seven hits and five walks in the deciding game. When you have fourteen baserunners (two others reached on errors) you'll usually get more than one run. And while Gary Sheffield will get a lot of blame, in particular for striking out in the ninth inning, he again had three walks and at least got on base.

It just didn't happen. While the media will no doubt see this as some sort of mortal failure, the simple fact is that somebody has to lose every game, and that in baseball every single play results in someone failing to accomplish his goal. That is the nature of the game.

Chipper Jones' hard grounder with two out and the bases loaded went right to the shortstop, who was shifted over near second. Rafael Furcal's line drive with the tying run on second and two out hung up in the air where Lofton could get to it. If the Braves had been luckier, maybe those balls find holes and they win. They didn't, but that doesn't mean that Chipper and Rafael "failed". They hit the ball hard, which is all you can hope for. It just so happens that the balls didn't find holes.

Good luck to the Giants, now beat those damned Cardinals. As for me, I'll have some sort of postmortem on the Braves' season soon, then on to the offseason. I'll keep track of the Braves' transactions, say what I think of them, and maybe I'll have some other things to tell you about.

2002-10-07T14:57:00.000-05:00

The Bullpen: Alex's Corner
By Alex Ramati
Bobby Must Retire

As expected, Alex takes exception to my Braves.net column. (And JR did too, in the comments.) Alex actually says he didn't read the column, so he could just let go with his emotions. He should have, because I address many of his points there. (He's actually pretty familiar with my arguments, since we've argued about them before.) To summarize: Leibrandt was the best choice in 1991, since the Braves had no experienced relievers of any quality left; Jeff Reardon pitched quite well for the Braves in the regular season, and his playoff collapse could not have been anticipated; when he went to his closer in the eighth inning of Game Four in 1996, it backfired and he got a lot of abuse, but it's exactly the same strategy Joe Torre has used and Mike Sciocia was praised for adopting after not doing in the Angels' first game against the Yankees.

Where Alex sees rigidity, I see patience; patience is Bobby Cox's greatest asset as a manager. And the thing is that in the long term the patient man will win out. Would any other manager have stuck with Kevin Millwood for so long if he had the number of options Bobby did? I thought that Kevin should move to the bullpen, and I know Alex agreed with me. But look what happened -- because Bobby gave him a chance to straighten himself out. It's not the best example because now he's with the Dodgers, but Bobby was extraordinarily patient with Odalis Perez as well. I never thought Odalis would make it as a starter.

To address the further point that Bobby doesn't give chances to young players, this is foolish and ignores the evidence. When Bobby has a young player with obvious talent, he'll find a job for him. I compliled a long list of major leaguers who broke in under Bobby last season; it's a very impressive list as well, and contains several players who will eventually make it into the Hall of Fame as well many all-stars.

However, Bobby will not risk using a young player he doesn't think can handle a job; for instance, I think he's certain Marcus Giles won't be able to play second base in the major leagues. And I can't say for certain that he's wrong. And Bobby will prefer to go with a "proven veteran" who may be a bad player, but at least a bad player who will make routine plays, over the youngster who might be good or might screw up. I don't agree with this decision, but on the other hand it's the decision that almost every major league manager will make. I don't think you can criticize Bobby for following the book.

2002-10-07T10:54:00.000-05:00

Braves.Net - Bobby Cox

This is the long piece I mentioned last night, my first column for Braves.net. It's sure to enrage JR and Alex.

2002-10-06T22:16:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Giants - 10/06/2002

Well, the Braves couldn't surmount the Giants' insurmountable lead. Big surprise, and the final score was 8-3. If there were any assurance he'd ever pitch for the Braves again, I'd be worried about Glavine. As it is, the Braves will have to win tomorrow behind Kevin Millwood just to keep the season alive. And if the rumors that the Braves will only re-sign one of Maddux and Glavine are true, they have to be leaning Maddux right now.

If you can explain why Julio Franco has started every game of this series, even with three righthanders starting for the Giants, I'm all ears. Bobby gave most of the starts against righties to Matt for three or four months, and now he changes his mind? Franco was 0-5 today and hasn't done anything in the series. Vinny Castilla, amazingly, has been the Braves' best player, and had two hits and a walk, scoring one run and driving in another. Go figure.

At least Bobby didn't have to use up his precious bullpen. Only Gryboski, Moss, and Ligtenberg pitched. And they did well, giving up only one run (off Moss) over 6 1/3. If he'd made the move sooner we might have had a game.

Tomorrow's game is supposed to start at 8:20. It's anyone's guess when it really will.

2002-10-06T21:13:00.000-05:00

And just to show you that the Braves still had a shot if Bobby had pulled the trigger... It's now 8-3 Giants. If he'd made the move earlier, it might be something like 5-3.

2002-10-06T20:42:00.000-05:00

I just wrote a long piece (more about that later) praising Bobby Cox. But he's made some major mistakes tonight that perhaps cost the team any chance of winning. With the score 4-0, Tom Glavine led off the third inning. He should have been pinch-hit for. That's an obvious move, to me anyway; he was pitching very poorly, it's the playoffs, and you have a seven-man bullpen, complete with a fourth starter (Damian Moss) you don't intend to use until Game Four of the NLCS -- if you even get there.

But Bobby let him hit. I can only assume he was saving his pen for the fifth game that will now almost certainly take place tomorrow night in Atlanta. The first problem is that Bobby basically waived the towel in the third inning with that move -- he admitted the game was already lost! Second, this decision -- leaving in the starter who is getting pasted to save the bullpen for a later day -- is a loser strategy. Not only does it concede the game, it rarely even accomplishes its goal of saving the bullpen, because most of the time the starter will continue to be pasted until you have to pull him.

As happened in the bottom of the third when Tommy gave up a three-run homer to Rich Aurilia, and Kevin Gryboski relieved him. Bobby had to go to the pen anyway, and the small chance of winning the game is now microscopic. Now the Braves will have to play an elimination game, with a pen that's seen heavy use, with Kevin Millwood on short rest against the Giants' ace on regular rest. The only advantage would be that the game is scheduled for Atlanta.

UPDATE: I should have checked instead of believing the computer. Glavine made the last out of the second, not the first of the third. With the based loaded, yet. I would have seriously considered hitting for him then, already down 2-0 and looking bad, but that's too much to ask for. But he should have been lifted when he got in trouble in the third.

2002-10-06T19:48:00.000-05:00

Sickening. Glavine walks Bonds intentionally, then walks Benito Flipping Santiago to force in the fourth run of the game, all of them scored by the Giants. The Braves don't have a hit yet.

2002-10-06T19:14:00.000-05:00

CBS.SportsLine.com - GameCenter

I don't believe this! Glavine just gave up two singles, then walked Kent to load the bases for Bonds. We're doomed.

2002-10-06T15:28:00.000-05:00

The Bullpen

I've set up a new page for baseball things that didn't fit on this one. It's the Bullpen, and starts off with a little essay about the two recently concluded Division Series. No comments yet; I'll set those up eventually.

The idea here is that I'll have some longer pieces, maybe about the Braves and maybe not, and it can also be a place for guest articles and the like if anyone wants to contribute. Game recaps and links will remain here on the main page. I may eventually come up with a third page that would be a more traditional weblog. I haven't decided yet.

2002-10-05T19:18:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Giants - 10/05/2002

You don't want to count on him, but Keith Lockhart was huge today, hitting a three-run homer and later putting the icing on a 10-2 victory with an RBI single. The only Brave position player to not get a hit was Gary Sheffield, and he had three walks. Andruw had a hit, two walks, a run scored, and two RBI, and Vinny had a two-RBI hit to give the Braves a lead. The game was 1-1 through five when Vinny and Lockhart did their thing to break it open. They piled on for four more runs to put it out of reach in the ninth.

How exactly is a pitcher with a 3.23 ERA in postseason play some sort of failure? Yet that's what people seem to think if Greg Maddux, because he hasn't gotten run support. (Obviously, today he did.) He didn't really pitch much better than in most of his postseason appearances today, but most of his postseason appearances have been good. He went six, struck out three, gave up five hits, a walk, and two runs. And needed 67 pitches to do it. Then the Hammond-Remlinger team took an inning apiece, and with the big lead Kevin Gryboski finished it in the Albie role.

The Braves really made Jason Schmidt work, and it paid off big-time. When he left with one out in the sixth, he'd already thrown 104 pitches. He wasn't exceptionally wild, either. They just made him make great pitches to get outs (Maddux, for one, had a great at-bat against him in the fifth), and he was out of gas. He loaded the bases and the Castilla/Lockhart heroics were set up, though Schmidt was no longer around to see it.

It looks like an afternoon game tomorrow, with Glavine against our old friend Livan Hernandez. Unfortunately for Livan, Eric Gregg won't be there to help him.

2002-10-05T18:34:00.000-05:00

I'd just like to thank FX for showing me that fine picture of Vinny Castilla picking his nose. Really, guys, super job.

2002-10-05T17:42:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com: Chris Hammond

Well, I guess he is available, since he's pitching right now. All right.

2002-10-05T17:29:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Game Update

So I go away for a little while, come back and it's 6-1 Braves. And I find out that Keith Lockhart hit a three-run homer? And Vinny singled in two runs? Wow. Now 6-2 Braves after a Bonds homer, it looks like Maddux is going to leave after six fine innings. I don't know about that with Hammond unavailable.

2002-10-03T22:45:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Giants at Braves - 10/03/2002

Braves 7, Giants 3 (Thanks, Ed), series tied at one. A couple months after I did, the AP has announced Kevin Millwood back. He only went six innings (Bobby said after the game that he was just so fired up he was worn out), giving up only a pair of solo homers. Mike Remlinger allowed a couple of baserunners in the seventh, but got out of it with a strikeout. Darren Holmes allowed a baserunner but got two outs in the eighth. John Smoltz finished it, allowing a solo homer to Barry Bonds.

The Braves got their runs mostly from the bottom of the order. Chipper drove in Julio Franco for the first run of the game, but the rest of it runs were scored by the bottom of the lineup. Mark DeRosa was 2-3 with a double and a triple before Bobby pulled him for Lockhart [roll eyes], Vinny had a homer and a walk, Javy a homer and a single, and both scored in front of DeRosa's triple. Mark scored the last run of the game on a passed ball; he also came home on a Furcal single.

The geniuses at MLB have decided that the appropriate time for the Braves-Giants Game Four on Saturday would be 3 PM CT. Opposite the Georgia/Alabama game. Really nice work guys.

2002-10-03T20:46:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Game Update

Looking good so far, with the Braves leading 7-1 in the fifth. Heroes so far are the bottom of the lineup; back-to-back homers by Javy and Vinny; two runs scored and two RBI from DeRosa, who has a double and a triple thus far. And Millwood looks sharp, but I'm still a little worried about him hitting the wall.

I don't know if the postgame recap will be up tonight; depends on when the game ends, I guess.

2002-10-02T19:08:00.000-05:00

As has been pointed out in the comments, I should apologize to Julio Franco, who did not pop out. I can only say that the play-by-play I saw (remember, no TV) made it sound like a popout. Sorry.

2002-10-02T15:44:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Giants at Braves - 10/02/2002

I can't stand it. Tom Glavine had nothing and gave up six runs in five innings. And Chris Hammond gave up two of his own, after pitching basically shutout ball for two months. And he had to leave the game with a sprained neck, and might be out for awhile. Unbelievable, and it's 8-2 only because Tom had driven in two.

The Braves came back with three runs in the eighth, and it was 8-5, and those two runs off Hammond loomed pretty large. Then the first two runners got on in the ninth. But Julio Franco -- inexplicably starting at first base, especially with a lefty pitching tomorrow -- popped out, and Gary Sheffield, who had homered earlier, grounded into a double play. Argh.

Good game for Andruw, who scored two runs and stole a homer from Bonds. Matt Franco, the third-best hitter on the team in the regular season, never got to swing the bat, being lifted after coming in to pinch-hit when the Giants changed relievers. In the end, the Braves got ten hits; if Millwood and Maddux are effective and the Braves hit like that, they'll be okay... Night game tomorrow, Millwood versus Kirk Rueter. Here's hoping it's just the Marlins who have Kevin's number.

2002-10-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

I think it's 3-2 Giants after two innings. It's hard to tell, because the guy doing ESPN Gamecast is even worse than usual. At any rate, JT Snow doubled home two runs then came home himself on a single, and I think Tom Glavine singled home two with two out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning... Checking other sites, that's what happened. Day baseball, you can keep it... Tom's gotten the first two in the third, now facing Bonds.

2002-10-02T12:14:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Game Update

Yep, sure enough, there are the Glove Brothers hitting seventh and eighth, and Julio playing first base:

Furcal SS
J Franco 1B
Sheffield RF
C Jones LF
A Jones CF
Lopez C
Vortex 3B
Flockhart 2B
Glavine P

Easy first inning for Tom. Let's get some runs.

One more note: Greg Maddux has been pushed back to Game Three in SF, with Kevin Millwood to pitch Game Two, because Greg has a blister on his pitching hand. Actually, I think that's a pretty good idea. While Pac Bell is a good pitchers' park, Kevin might have trouble with the porch in right field. When he has problems, it's usually with the longball to right.

2002-10-01T17:37:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com: MLB - Breaking down the four Division Series

Rob Neyer not only hasn't written about the Braves all year, he apparently hasn't even seen them play:

And he ain't the only one. Across the diamond at first base, you've got either Julio Franco or Wes Helms. Franco's got a powerful .382 slugging percentage, while Helms sports a sprightly .283 on-base percentage.

In case you came in late, like Rob, Matt Franco has been playing first base most of the time against righthanders most of this season, and the Braves are a lot better off at first base than the Giants, who are married to JT Snow, he of the .704 OPS -- lower than either Franco's, more than 200 points lower than Matt's.

UPDATE: Rob, very promptly, responded to my email. He says (1) that he's sure he's written about the Braves this year (I can't find a column, though, since January and the Sheffield trade) (2) that he simply forgot Matt Franco ("my bad") and (3) that he still feels first base is a problem, even if the Giants and Cards have the same one. Well, maybe. I think the Braves' first basemen are middle-of-the-pack. They aren't really pushing the team forward, but they don't pull it back either. Unlike Lockie and the Sucking Vinny of Doom.

UPDATE ON UPDATES: Rob has edited his column to include Matt Franco: "M. Franco's been great this year, but before you get too excited, it's worth remembering that he's Matt Franco." I can't really disagree with that.

2002-10-01T15:59:00.000-05:00

CNNSI.com - Baseball - Mets fire manager Valentine - Tuesday October 01, 2002 04:03 PM

Loser.

2002-10-01T14:13:00.000-05:00

Alex's Corner previews the Division Series with the Giants. I thought about doing one myself, but I didn't feel like it.

2002-09-30T17:35:00.000-05:00

Kasten: Braves, Hawks and Thrashers sale 'looms in future' - 2002-09-30 - Atlanta Business Chronicle

It could be terrible news. AOL would probably try to sign a below-market deal (or extend the current below-market deal) with the new owners, making the Braves play for years with little return on broadcasting rights. And make no mistake, it's TV money that makes the Braves a "large market" team. Worst-case scenario: Every player of consequence except Chipper would be dealt off, and Atlanta becomes Pittsburgh South.

On the other hand, maybe the new owners will get a TV package with an honest accounting of what the team is really worth to TBS and Turner South. (Or bolt to Fox if AOL won't pay up. I think that's unlikely, because the games are worth far more to a national cable network than to a regional one, and Turner South doesn't even exist without the Braves.) That will put a stop to the constant poor-mouthing of Kasten and others who claim that the team is losing millions of dollars. It's a paper loss, one that would not be doable if the Braves and TBS were truly separate entities.

I doubt the team will be sold any time soon. But the suits might want to cut costs to make the bottom line look better. I don't think that cutting costs actually does that, but keep an eye out for yet more cuts in the farm system. That's usually the first place they go.

2002-09-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Mets - 09/29/2002

Well, the Mets feel better, having beaten the Braves 6-1. I'm sure the Braves are all broken up about it. The Braves used eight pitchers. Mike Remlinger pitched one inning, gave up one run, and got the loss. But Damian Moss had the worst outing, giving up four runs. The assumption has been that he'd be the fourth starter in postseason, but that can't have helped his cause. Joey Dawley pitched the last third of the ninth, his major league debut. Pretty much everyone got in the game on the offensive side, including Jung Bong as a pinch hitter.

It looks like the lineup in postseason will be the worst one Bobby can devise. At any rate, the starting lineup today was:

Furcal
M. Franco
Sheffield
Chipper
Andruw
Lockhart
Vinny
Blanco

With Javy for Blanco, that's probably what we'll get. Ugh. I'll rant about the playoff roster when I see it.

2002-09-28T22:35:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Mets - 09/28/2002

You know, the Mets are a really bad team. I'm planning to taunt them at length sometime soon, but I just wanted to point that out.

The Braves beat them 5-2. Tom Glavine started but was held to only two innings, in which he gave up one run. Trey Hodges pitched 3 2/3, and got his second win; callup Andy Pratt also got into the game, his first career action, and John Smoltz got his 55th save.

As you might expect, the Braves had almost a spring training type situation, with a bunch of players seeing action. Chipper got his 100th RBI then left the game. Gary Sheffield, who had been used sparingly, also only played a half game, and so did Andruw; at the end of the game the outfield was Wes Helms, Darren Bragg, and Matt Franco. And Vinny Castilla had another home run. You can see this as evidence he's going to recover his mediocrity, or maybe the general exhibition game nature of recent games means they're not really trying to get him out. But I bet Bobby thinks he's recovered.

Season ends tomorrow, then we'll see the Giants on Wednesday. With Arizona and SF clinching the division and wildcard respectively, the makeup game isn't needed.

2002-09-28T12:16:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Mets - 09/27/2002

Braves 7, Mets 4. The Braves got their 100th win, and the Mets clinched last place. Good day all around. Kevin Millwood got his 18th win and pitched well, going seven innings and giving up two runs. The back of the bullpen (Ligtenberg and Gryboski) gave up a run apiece and I wonder who's in Bobby's postseason plans.

Chipper had a two-run homer to go to 99 RBI; three batters later Darren Bragg added a two-run shot of his own. But the biggest blow was a three-run job by Javy in the sixth that put the game out of reach. Wes Helms played right field, his first start since coming off of the DL. He was 0-4 but the Braves seem determined to get him on the postseason roster anyway. I'm sure I don't know why.

Night game tonight, Glavine versus Leiter. Then Sunday Albie gets a start!

2002-09-27T19:18:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Mets - 09/27/2002

Braves 3, Mets 1. John Smoltz got his 54th save, setting a new NL save record. He even pitched an inning and a third, coming in with the tying run at the plate, so it was moderately difficult. I'm not a big fan of the save statistic, but he's having a good year and has been great the second half of the season. Chris Hammond has pitched even better, adding another shutout inning today to lower his ERA to .95. Greg Maddux is pretty good in his own right and pitched five innings, giving up one run, to get his 16th win.

Offensively, Vinny Castilla, of all people, had two RBI, one coming on a solo homer. He was the only Brave hitter with more than one hit. Chipper had his 97th RBI and still has a shot at 100... The Braves need only one more win, with three or four games to go, to reach 100. They could get it tonight; the game should start in about 20 minutes.

2002-09-27T08:19:00.000-05:00

ajc.com | Braves | Platoon solid at second base for Braves

"Solid"? Only in comparison to third base.

2002-09-27T08:12:00.000-05:00

ajc.com | Braves | Braves notebook

The Braves' game in Philadelphia yesterday was rained out and (obviously at this late stage of the season) won't be rescheduled. They're playing a double-header today if the rain lets up long enough. Maddux will start, and he's set to start the Division Series opener Wednesday.

2002-09-26T09:33:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Phillies - 09/25/2002

The Braves won 7-1, and the Good Andruw is putting in an appearance. If he can stick around for the next few weeks, we can win this thing. Andruw hit three homers last night, the first time he's done that in his career. He now has 35 for the season. He tied the game with a solo shot in the second, had another in the fourth, and a two-run job in the eighth. Of course, with Andruw it's all about the contact. He draws walks, he hit homers, but he's still only hitting .262. The big thing standing between him and real stardom is that; if he were hitting .300 he'd have an OPS in the .950 range and be an MVP candidate.

The Good Damian also showed up; Moss went 6 2/3, allowing five hits and two walks, one earned run, and striking out five. Who knows with him, anyway? Chris Hammond pitched an inning and lowered his ERA to .96. Wow.

One more game with the Phillies, then on to New York to finish the season. Maybe. The Giants close to clinching the playoffs, but now they're only two games out for the division and the D-Backs are reeling. I don't know what they'll do if SF is a half game back after Sunday. Would you rather play a hot Giants team or a reeling Arizona team without Luis Gonzales -- but with Schilling and Johnson -- in the first round? With one Braves win, or losses by the Cardinals and Diamondbacks, the Braves will clinch the best record in the NL. The Braves need two wins in four or five games to win 100 on the season.

2002-09-25T08:22:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Phillies - 09/24/2002

Bleah. Vicente Padilla gets pulled after pitching to four players, and the Braves wind up only getting two runs (plus one off of Padilla) off the vaunted Phillie bullpen. Meanwhile, the Phillies got five runs off of Tom Glavine. Glavine threw 124 pitches, only 66 of which were strikes, in 5 2/3 innings, and Bobby really should have gotten him out of there after the fifth trailing 3-2. Tom gave up two runs in the sixth, but the bullpen did pretty well. I'm not sure if this will be his last start or not. On normal rotation, he'd be due up Sunday. If he's going to start Game Three of the Division Series, he'd probably start then. Or he could start Game Two after pitching a little Saturday on three day's rest. If he's going to pitch the opener, I don't know what they'll do.

Andruw had three hits, and Rafael Furcal hit his eighth homer of the season to lead off the game and later drove in another run with a double. Vinny had two hits and probably has an insurmountable lead over Keith Lockhart for second-most-awful Brave hitter.

2002-09-22T14:48:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Marlins at Braves - 09/22/2002

A landmark day. Greg Maddux got his 15th win of the season, the 15th season in a row he's won 15 or more. Only Cy Young has done that before. And John Smoltz got his 53rd save, tying the NL record. He'll probably hold it on his own at the end of the season, but with only two series left (plus a possible makeup game) I don't see how he'll get the major league record. Still, it's pretty impressive.

The Braves won 4-1, getting al ltheir runs in the sixth. Lockhart, of all people, drove in two runs; he was 2-2 with a walk. He's now hitting .218, and Vinny is at .227, so he's still got a shot to be only the second-worst-hitting regular on the team. As bad as Lockhart is, I'd far rather have him at the plate than Vinny, at least against a righthander. Chipper had an RBI and a run scored on two hits. He needs four more RBI to reach 100 for the seventh consecutive year. He only has 87 runs so he probably won't get 100 of those; he's done that the last six years as well. Has anyone ever done both seven times in a row?

The Braves have a day off and then travel to Philadelphia. The Phillies are a game out of second and a game below .500, and might have some reason to want the wins... The Braves are currently three up on Arizona for the best record in the NL; the Diamondbacks' game is just starting.

2002-09-21T22:41:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Marlins at Braves - 09/21/2002

Pretty sorry game I missed. The Braves scored a run in each of the first three innings and Millwood looked strong, though he'd thrown a few too many pitches. And in the sixth he fell apart, giving up five runs. That's three of the last for games, I believe, he's hit the wall early, a bothersome sign given his history. Each team scored one more run, leading to a 6-4 Marlins victory.

As JR mentioned in the comments, the Braves started probably their best lineup, Giles at third, Furcal at short, DeRosa at second. But Lockhart later double-switched into the game at third in place of Giles. Argh. At least it wasn't Vinny; maybe Bobby's at last losing faith in him.

2002-09-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Marlins at Braves - 09/20/2002

Damian Moss' control finally came back to haunt him. He only walked four, but two of those were in the third, the second with two out. By the time the third out was recorded, five runs had scored and Albie Lopez was in the game. In other words, "We surrender!" My opinion is that when a pitcher, particularly a young pitcher, is walking people, it's less the walks that are the problem than what will happen when he starts trying to not walk them. In this case, single, single, double, single, five runs. The bullpen was pretty good, giving up only one (unearned, I think) run by Trey Hodges in the sixth.

Unfortunately, the Braves only scored two runs, so the bullpen's work went unrewarded. Amazing rotating infield update: DeRosa (who homered) played second base, Furcal shortstop, Castilla third, and Giles and Lockhart pinch-hit -- actually, Giles hit for Lockhart when a lefty reliever came in.

Day game today on Fox, unfortunately I'm working and won't get to see it.

2002-09-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Phillies at Braves - 09/19/2002

And the day after singlehandedly losing a game for the 1400th time, Bobby Cox was dragged by his players to his 1800th career win. (Note: I am being sarcastic. Two different people at FanHome did not realize that the other day, so I'm just making sure.) The Braves won 6-0 with Tom Glavine pitching like he did early in the season and the offense having one of its good games. Days like this, you think that the Braves have a great shot. That's usually followed by them playing a 2-1 game and getting three hits against some guy coming in with a 4.79 ERA.

Glavine went only six innings, throwing 74 pitches; he allowed only four hits and one walk, striking out three. Really a superior performance, and no reason to ask him to go any longer at this stage. Chris Hammond pitched a perfect inning to lower his ERA to a perfect 1.00. Actually, it's a shade lower than that; he's allowed eight earned in 72.1 IP, which works out to about 0.9954, but they round up. Kevin Gryboski allowed a walk and Mike Remliger two hits in an inning apiece, but the Phillies couldn't score. I'm still a little worried about Remlinger.

Chipper was the hitting star, with three hits, one a three-run homer. Andruw had three hits as well. Who knows with him, anyway? I've reached the stage where I pretty much accept that he's going to be completely unpredictable. Vinny offers no such problem; he was 0-4. Marcus Giles finally got a shot at second base; he was 0-3 but did draw a walk... The Braves now host the Marlins in a three game series, the last scheduled regular-season series in Turner Field this season. They might still have to play the makeup with the Giants on Monday the 30th. The lead over the Diamondbacks (who could clinch today) is 2 1/2, three in the loss column... The Braves only need four wins with nine or ten games left to play to win 100 games.

2002-09-19T13:49:00.000-05:00

CNNSI.com -- Baseball -- Atlanta Braves Roster Page

Somebody seems to have hacked CNN/SI's baseball roster pages and added a few names to the lists. For instance, Bruce Sutter and Greg McMichael are listed for the Braves. George Lombard too, and a few less familiar names. None of them look as out of place as Vinny, though.

(Via Baseball Primer.)

2002-09-19T13:45:00.000-05:00

New poll on the left: Choose the MVP. Only space for 10 candidates or I would have added a Franco or two.

2002-09-19T08:20:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Phillies at Braves - 09/18/2002

Bobby really doesn't trust Jason Marquis. Jason was leading 4-2 in the fourth, two outs, but got in trouble and loaded the bases. Any other pitcher probably would have had a chance to pitch out of it -- especially since the game doesn't much matter -- but Bobby brought in Kerry Ligtenberg, who got the next hitter to keep any runs from scoring.

That's fine. I don't mind a quick hook. Unfortunately, Kerry came out the next inning and gave up a three-run homer to put the Braves behind 5-4. Final score, 6-5 Phillies, with the game ending with the tying run on second.

Yesterday's infield alignment was M. Franco/Lockhart/DeRosa/Giles. Today: who knows? Bobby is experimenting. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize that some things no longer need experimenting with. Marcus had a hit and a walk, drove one run in and scored another. Lockhart was 0-5. Who's more likely to be in the lineup tonight when the game starts tonight at 7:35 ET? Who was hitting second in the order? Not the player with actual talent, but the one who is now hitting .211.

2002-09-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Phillies at Braves - 09/17/2002

Maybe Greg Maddux should start on three days' rest more often. (Keep it in mind for postseason.) After a disaster against the Marlins, he came back against the Phillies to throw seven innings of four-hit ball, allowing one run, and getting his 14th win of the season, the 271st of his career. He's one win away from winning 15 in 15 consecutive seasons, something only Cy Young has done before him.

The Braves only scored two runs of their own, on a Sheffield infield single and a Blanco sac fly. But they had ten hits and four walks, and that's a good offensive output. Do that every night and you'll score runs. Vinny Castilla had three hits! In only four AB! That will not happen every night. Or most nights. Or ever again.

52nd save for John Smoltz, one short of the NL record. And career win 1,799 for Bobby Cox. If he manages next year, and I expect he will, a good year could put him into as high as ninth on the all-time list. For you Bobby-bashers, he's also one loss away from 1400. And all 1400 are obviously his fault, while all 1800 wins are entirely due to the players. Right?

2002-09-17T09:39:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Marlins - 09/16/2002

Kevin Millwood isn't going to win 20 games. He lost last night, 5-1; it seemed as if he came out strong but tired quickly, a worrisome sign given his history. He could have had better success with better defensive support, but he really wasn't sharp and couldn't win without good offense.

Which the Braves didn't provide. They got a run in the first then had two on, one out, and Matt Franco at the plate. With the count 3-2, Bobby sent the runners, Matt took a called third strike, and Sheffield was thrown out at third. And that was it for the offense.

Furcal and Andruw were back in the lineup; Chipper took the day off and Bragg played left field, hitting eighth. Why anyone would hit behind Vinny at this stage is beyond me. Despite statements by John Scheurholz that Marcus Giles would have a chance to win the starting second base job back, Mark Derosa played second base. Arizona was idle, so the Braves are 2 1/2 up for the best record in the league.

2002-09-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Marlins - 09/15/2002

Javy Lopez found his Cheerios somewhere and all of the sudden catcher may not be a source of concern. Javy hit a grand slam homer as a pinch-hitter today; he's homered in every game of the series. This one turned the game around, as grand slams often do, turning a 2-2 tie into a 6-2 lead. The Braves held on from there to win 6-4. Maybe Javy isn't all the way back, but it's certainly a promising sign. He got hot late last year only to get hurt headed to postseason; if he can stay both hot and healthy it will be a big boost.

John Smoltz got his ~~52nd~~ 51st save. The major league record still looks unlikely, since he needs six to tie Bobby Thigpen, but the NL record shared by Randy Myers and Trevor Hoffman is only ~~one~~ two away, and whoever wins the save race between him and Eric Gagne (who is now ~~four~~ three behind him) should wind up with the NL record. [Fixed because I'm a screwup -- MT] Damian Moss had a good start, giving up only two runs and four hits but only going five innings. Atypically, he only walked one batter and threw 55 strikes in 86 pitches.

The latest Bobby lineup still had Mark Derosa at shortstop and Darren Bragg in center. But Matt Franco played right field for Gary Sheffield (who had a pinch-hit single later in the game) with Julio at first, and Marcus Giles actually got the start at third. Andruw and Furcal both have the flu. I suppose if they're going to have the flu this is the time for it. Usually when someone has "flu-like symptoms" that means they're hungover, but that shouldn't last two days so I guess they're actually sick.

2002-09-15T00:40:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Marlins - 09/14/2002

Braves came back to win, 10-5. Tom Glavine won for the first time in six starts, but he really didn't pitch any better than he had been. It's just that the Braves scored five runs while he was out there and he only gave up four. His ERA went up a tenth of a run despite the win, though he certainly pitched better than Maddux the game before. The bullpen wasn't brilliant, with Spooneybarger allowing a couple of inherited runs and Remlinger a solo shot, while Holmes and Ligtenberg each gave up two hits but pitched around them. All pitched a single inning. It was a typical September/playing out the string game, really; the Marlins used seven pitchers.

Gary Sheffield had a solo homer and three walks, Javy Lopez the biggest hit, a three-run homer that put the game out of reach in the eighth, plus another RBI hit. Mark DeRosa led off and played shortstop, and had three hits. Even Vinny was 2-5, and all eight starting position players had at least one hit. Andruw took the night off, with Bragg playing center, while Julio Franco played first against a righty as Bobby's indecipherable usage pattern continued. It doesn't really matter. Arizona also won, and the Braves are still three up for the best record in the NL. The D-Backs' magic number is nine, so they should play hard for at least the next week and a half or so.

Day game tomorrow, night game Monday, then back to Atlanta. Is it me, or do we play a lot of wraparound series in Florida?

2002-09-14T12:34:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Braves at Marlins - 09/13/2002

Greg Maddux gave up six runs in the first, another in the second, and that was it for the night. It's not something you expect; his ERA, which led the league coming in but does no longer, rose about a third of a run. I'm going to guess it's a fluke unless it happens again. The Braves lost 13-3 in the end. Trey Hodges relieved Greg and didn't pitch any better, giving up five runs in his two innings.

Since it was a lost cause Vinny felt free to hit his first home run in three months. Javy hit one as well. The Braves had only one other hit, by Chipper. You can't be beaten much more badly than they were last night. Bobby took the opportunity to clear the bench and get pretty much everybody some playing time.

Posts will be short for the duration simply because these games aren't very important. The Braves are three games up on the Diamondbacks for the best record in the NL.

2002-09-12T09:08:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Mets at Braves - 09/11/2002

Al Leiter pitched a complete-game shutout, the Braves had only six hits, and the final was 5-0 Mets. Jason Marquis had a terrific first inning, with his pitches fast and moving, and then fell apart. I still think he's off physically, and he hasn't been in rhythm for months. He allowed all five runs, then four relievers (including Albie!) pitched shutout ball the rest of the way.

Mark DeRosa played third base and had a hit; Jesse Garcia played second (against a lefty) and had one as well. Julio Franco played first and had two hits... Rafael Furcal is slumping at the plate, and he also committed two errors. He has a day off to get over it. The Braves will then travel to Florida for four. I'll guarantee at least one ridiculously long rain delay.

2002-09-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Mets at Braves - 09/11/2002

A happy note on a somber day... The Braves won the opener of a twi-night double header, 8-5. Kevin Millwood didn't pitch especially well. He gave up only one run, but allowed ten baserunners (seven on hits) in 5 2/3 innings and had to be bailed out in the sixth by the Amazing Chris Hammond, whose ERA after a perfect inning and a third is now 1.02. It was Kevin's 17th win, and his eighth in a row. He should have three starts remaining.

For the second straight game, the Braves had a player homer twice, this time Chipper Jones. Mark DeRosa, playing second, homered for the second game in a row, had two other hits, and scored four runs. The Braves led 8-2 entering the ninth, but Kevin Gryboski didn't have it and gave up three runs. John Smoltz pitched a third of an inning to save it; he probably won't get the major league save record, but did post his 50th of the season and should get the NL record if Eric Gagne doesn't.

The night game could be interesting. The players who can safely be called regulars (the outfielders, Vinny, and Furcal, plus Blanco) all played. With Javy on the shelf (though he did pinch-hit today), Steve Torrealba will probably have another chance to demonstrate the skills that got him to the major leagues. I'll let you know if I see any sign of them. Darren Bragg will probably play, and I guess Julio will play Matt in the rotating Francos arrangement. And I suppose Lockhart will as well. If Marcus is still hurt that could keep Vinny (who was 1-4 and raised his average to .226) in the lineup, but I hear Wes Helms has been activated and I think he might play instead.

2002-09-11T09:35:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Mets at Braves - 09/10/2002

The Braves own the Mets. Last night, Damian Moss spotted them five runs in the first two innings (the only innings he pitched) and headed into the bottom of the second the game looked like a blowout. It was... for the Braves. They scored three in the bottom of the inning, three more in the fourth to tie it at six, and six in the fifth to make it 12-6. That was the final score. Just to make the celebration complete, Scott Strickland, a Braves' whipping boy all season, gave up the last couple of runs.

The hitting star was Andruw Jones, who had home runs in his first two at-bats. He homered in four straight ABs going back to Saturday night (he didn't play Sunday) with a HBP in the middle. He didn't get thrown at Tuesday, but Gary Sheffield was, and Pedro Astacio was ejected for it. Andruw also had a two-run single, the hit that put the Braves on top. Mark DeRosa and Henry Blanco also had solo shots.

Trey Hodges came on in relief of Moss and pitched three innings to get a win in his first career appearance. He gave up five hits and one run, but he struck out two and didn't walk anyone. You aren't going to be very successful giving up 15 hits per 9 IP, but if he can keep the hits allowed down he could be good. Spooneybarger, Holmes, Gryboski, and Ligtenberg finished it.

Skip and Joe spent a lot of time last night talking about a statement of Stan Kasten's saying that the Braves will cut payroll. I don't know if that's true -- he's said it before -- but the statement by a financial guy that the Braves lose money is an untruth. The Braves make a ton of money, but most of it is made for TBS, Turner South, and a number of other AOL/TW-owned businesses. They then turn around and claim a paper loss to help MLB in its wars with the players. If the Braves are going to cut expenses, they won't be able to keep both Maddux and Glavine. They will pay $15 million next season to Vinny and Javy, which would be more than enough to keep one of those pitchers.

2002-09-10T15:43:00.000-05:00

CNNSI.com - SI Online - Tom Verducci - Inside Baseball - SI's Tom Verducci: How the Mets became a mess - Tuesday September 10, 2002 01:22 PM

Verducci, the world's worst baseball writer, attempts to figure out how the media's precious Mets flopped like a flounder on hot cement. You want to know what went wrong? The Braves have the best record in baseball. That's pretty much it. The Mets are about as good as they were last year, but it doesn't matter because the Braves are 20 games better. It wouldn't have mattered if the Mets' additions had been superb, instead of having bad years each and every one (as was more or less predictable in all cases) and the Mets had improved by ten games.

Oh, Bobby Valentine thinks the Mets can stand pat and win the division next year. Which I suppose is possible, if the Braves lose Maddux and Glavine. And Kevin Millwood tears up his arm. And Gary Sheffield decides to join a monastery. And Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell drive off a cliff. Mo Vaughn will be five years removed from his last good season, a year older and fifteen pounds heavier. Mike Piazza isn't going to get healthier in his thirties. If the Mets stand pat they'll lose 100 games.

2002-09-10T13:43:00.000-05:00

What about the makeup game?

This started as a reply in the comments section to Colin speculating about the lineup Bobby would play against the Giants in a possible makeup game the day after the regular season. (The Braves and Giants played to a tie in their last meeting in Atlanta; the game was called for rain in the tenth inning after the Braves tied it in the bottom of the ninth.) I decided it warranted its own entry.

The lineup I came up with was:

CF Bo Porter
RF Darren Bragg
1B Julio Franco
3B Wes Helms (if he's healthy)
2B Marcus Giles
LF Mark DeRosa
SS Jesse Garcia
C Steve Torrealba
SP Trey Hodges

It's not the most impressive group, God knows. But every one of them except Porter has been a starter at some stage this year. None of them would be a starter in postseason except Julio and Marcus/Mark as RH platoon players.

What if the Giants won/lost that game, which moved them into a tie for the wildcard. They'd have to play another game, on the other side of the country, on Tuesday! And if they won that, they'd have to fly all the way back across the country to play the Braves again!

Actually, come to think of it, the Braves would have a pretty large stake in that game. If the Giants were a half game ahead, we'd certainly want to win and send them back to play the Dodgers. And if they're a half game back... we'd kinda want to lose. I mean, it wouldn't matter to us. But the NL Wildcard will almost certainly be either the Giants or Dodgers, and neither team would play the Diamondbacks in the first round. So the Braves (barring a total collapse that pushed them behind the Cardinals) will play the wildcard team in the first round. Making them play for their playoff lives twice, on opposite coasts, in 48 hours would seemingly take a lot out of them.

It probably won't happen. But they're tied right now.

2002-09-10T09:42:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com: MLB - Idle hands don't keep Braves from NL East title

I guess all those people who thought that the Mets were going to win the division were right. They just didn't realize that they were going to win it for the Braves. The Braves are now an unreal 21 games up on the second-place Phillies, who only have 19 games left. Are we still allowed to rant about Bobby playing Vinny every game now that the division has been clinched?

Now, the first seed in the playoffs. The Braves are 3 1/2 up on the Diamondbacks, but five up in the loss column because Arizona has played three more games. Go figure. The Braves will only play 161 games this year, I think, because of a rainout. They're nine games up, ten in the loss column, on the Cardinals for first-round home field advantage.

2002-09-09T13:47:00.000-05:00

September 9, 2002 - The Daily Prospectus: A Look at the Pitching Numbers

Michael Wolverton thinks that Damian Moss should be the top pitcher in the Rookie of the Year balloting in the NL. I think he'll probably finish fourth, and second among pitchers to Jason Jennings, but Wolverton makes a strong case that he's been far superior to Jennings.

2002-09-09T00:11:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Expos at Braves - 09/08/2002

The Expos may have fallen out of the playoff hunt, but you can't blame their trade for Bartolo Colon. Colon beat the Braves for the third time, and really it just keeps getting worse. Yesterday he pitched a seven shutout innings to beat the Braves 7-0. The Phillies lost, so the Braves clinched a tie in the division. The Phillies play today but the Braves don't; with a Phillies loss the Braves can clinch the division while eating lunch.

Neither Chipper nor Andruw Jones played. Chipper's neck is still stiff, and Andruw had puffiness around his eye after being hit in the helmet Saturday. I assume they'll be available Tuesday. Mark DeRosa played left field. If you can explain how the Braves have only four outfielders after roster expansion feel free, because I can't. And Marcus Giles still didn't get a start, though he did pinch hit.

Tom Glavine gave up four of the runs, in six innings. He didn't pitch well, but it wasn't like he was shelled. Albie managed to do that, giving up three runs in two innings. I suppose it didn't matter, but he's really awful. Kevin Gryboski pitched an inning, giving up a hit and two walks, but no runs... The Mets are next. It would be nice to clinch against them, though they're actually playing well now.

2002-09-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Expos at Braves - 09/07/2002

The Braves beat the Expos 4-0, and with a win tomorrow and a Phillies loss can clinch the division. Andruw Jones had two two-run homers, then left the game after being beaned by Tomo Ohka. If Ohka isn't suspended it will be a farce, but Andruw should be okay. Greg Maddux wasn't sharp (seven hits and three walks allowed), but didn't give up any runs in five innings, and four relievers pitched an inning apiece, with Remlinger allowing the only baserunner on a walk. (Chris Hammond also pitched to one batter, whom he hit in retaliation for Andruw getting beaned.)

Chipper didn't play due to a stiff neck. Speaking of stiffs, Vinny Castilla was 0-4 and is now hitting .227. As I expected, Marcus Giles, who has two homers, two doubles, five RBI and three runs scored in the last two games, did not play today because the last thing Bobby wants is for Marcus to get hot and be impossible to take out of the lineup.

Tom Glavine pitches tomorrow in what possibly will be the clincher. If not, the Braves should finish the division off during a three-game set with the last-place Mets... Maddux's win gives him 13; with three starts probably left for Greg he's got a reasonable shot at keeping his string of 15-win seasons intact. John Smoltz's chance at the all-time saves record seems pretty meager at the moment, with the Braves simply not needing to pitch him even if they get save opportunities.

2002-09-06T22:04:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Expos at Braves - 09/06/2002

Is Kevin Millwood the best pitcher in baseball? Right now, I mean. Over the course of the season, it's probably been Randy Johnson, and he or Curt Schilling will win the Cy Young. But for the last couple of months, Millwood has been awfully good, and he had his best game of the season tonight, giving up only three hits and no runs, and going the distance, to beat the Expos 5-0. He even was the top RBI man, driving in two with a second-inning double. His season ERA is now 3.06, and since the All-Star Break he is 10-1 with a 2.07 ERA. I think he's only going to get four more starts, ~~so with 15 wins he won't win 20. But 19 is doable, which would be a career high.~~ (Oops, he actually has 16 wins, so if he wins all the rest of his starts he'd get 20. Still tough, but a career high seems very doable.)

Offensively, the Braves got all five runs in the first two innings. Gary Sheffield was back in the lineup at last, and had a hit and a walk. Marcus Giles actually got a start at second base and had two doubles, scoring the game's first run on a Sheffield single in the first and driving in the last in the person of Millwood. Since he had only two doubles instead of two homers, he's obviously in a slump and must be benched in favor of Lockhart for at least two weeks. The only Brave not to get a hit, or even reach base, was Furcal, who was 0-5. If he'd had a couple of hits it would have been a blowout, but 5-0 is good enough.

The Braves have already won more games than they did all last year, 89. With 23 games to go, they only need to play .500 to win 100 games. The magic number is now four.

2002-09-05T08:46:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Pirates at Braves - 09/04/2002

The Braves won 6-0 to close out the series. Marcus Giles hit two homers, including a three-run shot in the sixth that turned a 1-0 lead to 4-0. But he made an error (oh no!) in the first, so you probably won't see him for a week. Because that error, which obviously didn't lead to any runs, is far more important than the two homers and four RBI. We have to get Vinny back in there!

Damian Moss pitched well, going seven innings and giving up only four hits. He did have his usual problems with walks, issuing five against five strikeouts. He's a very odd pitcher, isn't he? Hammond and Remlinger finished it off. Hammond was efficient, using sixteen pitches to retire the side in order. His ERA is now 1.04; he would need to go two and two-thirds innings without giving up an earned run to lower it to 1.00. He hasn't pitched that well -- he's given up seven unearned runs -- but he's been awfully good. Remlinger seems a little shaky still and gave up a hit and a walk.

Every Braves starter reached base. Early on, they had the DP problem that haunted them on Tuesday, with three in the first five innings. But they stopped after that. All six runs came on homers, and I'd prefer to score some runs in other ways. But I'll take it. The Phillies lost and fell to 19 back. The Expos, whom the Braves face next, are 19 and a half out. The Braves still have six games on the homestand and a chance of clinching the division at Turner Field, but I still think it will happen in Florida in the following series.

2002-09-04T13:06:00.000-05:00

Braves Report notes that Travis Wilson was designated for assignment. Which is really odd, in that the Braves were so high on him as recently as Spring Training, and each of the last two seasons had considered promoting him to the majors. Merv the Perv, you'll recall, thought Travis was the best hitting prospect in the organization after Wilson Betemit, though of course Merv is stupid.

Anyway, Travis isn't really a baseball player and hasn't made much progress towards being one since the Braves signed him. In the right organization, he might flourish. Heck, Glenn Williams, whom Wilson resembles -- Wilson is from New Zealand, Williams from Australia, and neither did anything in the Braves organization -- is on the verge of the majors with Detroit, I think. Maybe Travis will follow in his footsteps.

The Braves have called up four players, as you probably know already. Jesse Garcia, Kevin Gryboski, and Steve Torrealba you already know. Garcia is the only player of any utility and that's just pinch-running and late-inning defense. The most interesting of the four is the one who hasn't been up, Trey Hodges. Hodges is a finesse-style starting pitcher out of LSU who had a tremendous season for Richmond, but struggled down the stretch, losing his last four decisions, though in two of them he pitched well enough to win. His overall numbers (15-9, 3.16 ERA, 116 K/56 BB in 172.1 IP) are pretty impressive anyway. He probably needs to rest, that's got to be the most innings he's thrown in his career.

Nepotism Update

Also from Braves Report:

Jon Schuerholz was promoted to Macon on Friday. The Braves' 8th-round draft choice hit just .237 in his 66 games with Danville, but he did lead the team in walks (38 in 245 ABs) and went 11-for-15 in steals. He was a full-time SS and made 29 errors.

I mean, you have to reward a performance like that. A college graduate who hits .237 in low-A ball and holds that error total below the all-important one every two games level? Why, I'm sure this has nothing to do with his father running the organization!