So they've taken four out of the last five. This is something they really need to build on. Not to sound like a broken record but finding someone to start besides JoJo 'guaranteed loss' Reyes is a good way to keep the momentum rolling.
Big series win in Philly, now it's time to repay the Mets in our first visit to Citi Field. Awesome pitching match up tomorrow...Lowe vs. Santana, who's been unbelievable for the Mets this season.
Gonna be tough tonight. The Braves usually do ok against Santana, but he has been unhittable lately. I haven't heard anything else on Chipper, but I assume Prado will probably get the start at 3rd.
I know that Bobby is the kind of manager who gives the players time and all but come on. Reyes hasn't won or pitched particularly well since last summer. I think the team has lost the last nine or ten he has started and Reyes hasn't registered a win in ages. Enough is enough. It's just not happening.
yeah, the Jo Jo experiment is about over, i'd say. not a bad performance from Kawakimi yesterday. and Garrett Anderson is happily proving me wrong since his return and contributing. would be great to hand Johan a big, ERA damaging "L" tonite. go D-Lowe!
looks like glavines gonna be awhile. But if we start rolling he might show up right when we need him..... carlyle blows.......
good win tonite, Lowe outdueled Santana! i love that. maybe i am overreacting, but i thought it was kinda bush league for Santana to complain as much as he did about Kotchman "swinging" at the pitch that hit him. replay clearly showed he didn't go around, and it was obvious fullspeed.
Kotchman got plunked. pitch was way inside and up, and he wasn't all over the plate. he check swung and alligator armed so the ball hit him on the wrist. he reacted like he was injured, trainers and Bobby came out and he ended up staying in and shaking it off. but as soon as the ump called dead ball Santana was off the mound loudly protesting that it should be a strike because he swung. it took a full two minutes for them to check Kotchman over thoroughly, and after Santana said his piece, Jerry Manuel trooted out to argue in his oh-so-trendy metrosexual glasses.
Huge win. Great effort by Lowe and the bats showed up when it mattered most. Jurrjens vs. Pelfrey tomorrow night.
I think the risp has gotten better but, I still think they leave to many people on base. I think its a matter of them giving themselves tons of opportunities which is why I think its balancing out. Thanks for the info charleston.
Santana took the loss and actually lowered his ERA. Amazing. Nice to see us get that many hits without Chipper or Anderson in the lineup. Kotch is still on fire, and I was happy to see Diaz play well. Also, did you guys notice we scored 7 runs from the 7th inning on? That's how you win games. The bullpen has been lights out lately also.
only negative i took from that game, and the announcers were on top of it too, was Francouer chasing the first pitch almost every at bat. Santana had him figured out. time to take game two tonite! Go Braves!
Gonzalez should have probably done a better job of holding Beltran on at 2nd. But McCann made a absolutely perfect throw to get him at 3rd and the ump missed the call. Now its tied up going into the 10th. Regardless of the outcome its good to see Jair pitch another good game.
Bobby left Jurrjens in one batter too long tonight and then Gonzalez blew the save in the 9th. Ashame.
And then K-Rod intentionally walked McCann. Pretty surprising move with the hot Kotchman coming up, but it worked.
What a terrible loss. Blew a 3-0 lead in the 8th. The bullpen has been awesome but they let it get away tonight. Jeff Francoeur is really slumping right now. Lets see if he sticks with his new approach that worked in April or if he returns to old form. The past couple of games have been a little of both. He needs to stay with the new approach, he'll get back on track if he does.
Francoeur's OBP is under .290 now. Maybe he should try yet another new approach because nothing is working with him. And he's getting closer to playing for the Long Island Ducks soon.
Schaffer has struck out 43 times and is hitting .217 but still has a higher OBP and OPS than Francoeur.
Yeah both guys should really be in the minors right now. Schafer obviously has talent but I think he was rushed up this year. Francoeur just needs to go down there and put the bat on his shoulder and see what a strike zone is.
He's having good at bats though. He's definitely much better with his pitch selection and laying off the junk. I've watched almost every single game this year and he's clearly better in that regard. He's just slumping, but if he doesn't improve then something needs to be done. He was hitting over .300 just over a few weeks ago.
Sorry but I don't care how good his at bats are, he has an OBP of .287 and that's beyond terrible. In his past 794 at bats his OBP is .291, it would be .286 without 5 intentional BB (stats from Keith Law tonight). He just shouldn't be playing right now as he's doing more harm than good. The Braves should either send him down to the minors for more than 2 days or bench him.
they need to give Francouer the first pitch take sign, every at bat. some bum luck in addition to the Jeff Bennett collapse; McCann's double hitting the metal fence in left field resulting in a ground rule double and cost the Braves a run, even lazy *** Garrett Anderson would've scored otherwise. also, McCann nailed the runner stealing third in the ninth. great throw. ump missed that call. period. game should've never went to extra innings, or "free baseball" as Skip Carey used to say. that ball in the 8th that Garrett Anderson couldn't bother to get dirty and either dive or slide, and catch... they flashed to Bobby Cox right after that play and the look on his face said it all. Cox pushed to bring him in, and he regrets it. Garrett Anderson just plain loafs in the field. he made no attempt whatsoever to even get into position to make a throw to the plate in the 9th on the sac fly that tied the game. Jeff Bennett... geez. he caught that ball no deeper than the one Schafer caught the ball he pegged David Wright at the plate for a double play earlier. plus Garrett had time to position himself for a throw. plus Schafer had to throw back across his body and still made the play.
Tough loss fellas, no bones about it. As I said earlier, Jurrjens should have never stayed in to face Reyes. It was clear he was done and I would've gone to Moylan right there. We got zero breaks, and yes, Beltran was nailed at third base. The home team gets those calls in the 9th inning more times than not it seems.
Bobby finally pinch hit for Schafer in a key situation and Kelly Johnson came through with an RBI double. Only problem is we just lost a great defensive CF for the rest of the game...
didnt get to see or listen to a pitch today... sounds like an entertaining day though. is Jojo out of options??? this is doing nothing for his confidence. why ruin the guy permanently? not to mention make him worthless as trade bait.
You're right beltran was out at 3rd last night. Ill take the gift after we got hosed the other night vs philly. Santana is one of two pitchers to lose a game this year without giving up and earned run. It happened to him vs florida and josh johnson as well about a month ago. Good entertaining series.
He was done by the 4th, I don't know about you but I don't think thats close to good. Oh after giving up 2 runs in the first... What seemed to have saved our *** was the bats coming up and our bull pen stepping up when it needed to.
Amazing series. We shoulda had the sweep but we'll take 2 of 3. It didn't feel like a playoff series (impossible in May) but it sure had the look of one.
