The Atlanta Braves (thread 1)

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#7,477
#7,477
I may be speaking to early I know its only the 3rd inning, but Vazquez just does everything right. He just put down a great sacrifice (that got us a run in), he has been pitching as well as anyone in the NL almost all season, this guy is just doing everything right.
 
#7,479
#7,479
Garrett F. Anderson turned that ball over to Escobar in shallow left field!!! It's a damn good thing that didn't go very very bad! Escobar threw out Manny at the plate but damn Anderson, that is your play to make.
 
#7,481
#7,481
Since the day about a month ago when he missed a sign and I posted that Escobar had no brain he has played like an absolute all-star! I am impressed. Maybe Bobby got to him or that just woke him up.
 
#7,483
#7,483
CardassianVol said:
Since the day about a month ago when he missed a sign and I posted that Escobar had no brain he has played like an absolute all-star! I am impressed. Maybe Bobby got to him or that just woke him up.
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You must have missed his matador play on that stolen base the other night. I thought Dave Ross was going to charge out there and take a swing at him.
 
#7,484
#7,484
crazyguy said:
well, 2 of 3 from the padres and 3 of 4 from the dodgers....it's a pretty good start.
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And one bad Soriano appearance away from a sweep of LA. I'm pretty happy with the way things went.

Okay, so 3.5 games back in the WC is doable. If we assume that the magic number to get to is still 88 wins -- and right now it looks like it's still 88 or 89 -- then the Braves have to go 30-20 the rest of the way. So they still have to take two out of every series from here on out. If they lose a series, they have to sweep another one to make up for it. Tough, but doable.

Remaining series: Washington (2 g), Phillies, Arizona, at Mets, Florida, Padres, at Phillies, at Florida (4 g), Cincinnati, at Houston, at St. Louis, Mets, Phillies, at Mets, at Washington, Florida, Washington (4 g).

Let's see: three series against the Phillies and one against St. Louis, but those are the only really good teams. And that's counterbalanced by 10 games against the Nats -- but only if you pound them like they deserve. I'm going to go out on a limb right now and say that the Braves have to win 8 or 9 out of those 10 games against the Nats to have a realistic chance at the WC.
 
#7,485
#7,485
Wren will need to make a decision to promote Heyward or not. Putting his bat into the lineup could push into the wildcard spot.
 
#7,486
#7,486
Awesome series win!

I didn't see it mentioned, but the guy McCann threw out on that call/no-call was ***al, probably one of the fastest players in baseball. It would have been a real career highlight throw, if not for the called strike that was somehow a ball.
 
#7,487
#7,487
The Dude said:
Awesome series win!

I didn't see it mentioned, but the guy McCann threw out on that call/no-call was ***al, probably one of the fastest players in baseball. It would have been a real career highlight throw, if not for the called strike that was somehow a ball.
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I'd still love to know what that umpire told Bobby Cox. There was just no plausible explanation.
 
#7,488
#7,488
VOLNBAMA said:
Wren will need to make a decision to promote Heyward or not. Putting his bat into the lineup could push into the wildcard spot.
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Or it could waste a full year of Heyward just as he's coming into his power prime at age 25. Expecting a 20 year old to come in, kill major league pitching after only a month in AA, and carry you into the playoffs is a desperation move. No matter how good a prospect he looks like.

I'm not necessarily saying that Wren shouldn't do it, just that he has to be right -- both about how likely Heyward is to be an immediate upgrade over Matt Diaz, and how likely that upgrade is to affect the Braves' playoff chances. If you bring him up and he doesn't hit, then you screwed up. If you bring him up and he murders the ball but you don't make the playoffs, then you still screwed up. You don't give away a year of a player like we all think Heyward is going to be unless it's a last resort.
 
#7,489
#7,489
GAVol said:
I'd still love to know what that umpire told Bobby Cox. There was just no plausible explanation.
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Supposedly he said that he called it a ball at the plate and that his arm motion was "to let the second base umpire know that there was an attempted steal" or something, not to indicate a strike. He claimed that he never changed his call; that it was a ball all the way; and that both the batter and catcher knew it was a ball all the way.

McCann said he thought the pitch had been caught a strike.

The ump really ought to lose his job over that, or at least go into some sort of strict do-not-screw-up-or-you're-gone probation. I don't get too angry at them just for missing calls, but that was an unforgivable error for an umpire to make.
 
#7,490
#7,490
Vercingetorix said:
Or it could waste a full year of Heyward just as he's coming into his power prime at age 25. Expecting a 20 year old to come in, kill major league pitching after only a month in AA, and carry you into the playoffs is a desperation move. No matter how good a prospect he looks like.
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I agree. It would be different if one of the outfield spots was an offensive black hole the way it was earlier in the season with Francoeur and Schaeffer. Diaz/McLouth/Church/Anderson don't exactly strike fear, but they are all serviceable at the plate. I can't imagine that Heyward would be enough of an upgrade to make a difference at this point in his career.

. . . although, I thought the same think in 1996 right before the Braves called up Andruw Jones.
 
#7,491
#7,491
And Andruw only hit .217 in 1996 after they brought him up. I mean, even a guy whom you remember as having making the jump and having an immediate impact like Andruw didn't actually hit as well as any of the Braves' current outfielders. And those Braves had Klesko, Grissom, and Dye in the outfield, so it's not like they brought Andruw up and expected him to carry the team. They mostly just used him as an extra outfielder to let the other guys have the day off, to platoon with Klesko, etc.
 
#7,492
#7,492
I guess what I remember is the skinny kid hitting HRs in the World Series. The young version of Andruw Jones had an insanely quick bat.
 
#7,493
#7,493
Those HRs are sort of what doomed him, though, in the sense that he was never going to live up to hitting two HRs in Yankee Stadium in the World Series as a 19-year-old. In his first two at-bats. That's when he moved into "the next Willie Mays" territory, and he was never going to hit consistently enough to live up to that. He just never could hit a curve ball well enough. He had a really nice career, and he was by far the best outfielder I've ever seen, but there are still a lot of people who think of him mostly as a disappointment.
 
#7,494
#7,494
Having an off day at this point in the season is pretty lame, at least from a fan's point of view. I'm sitting here stuck watching Houston vs. the Marlins, and grudgingly rooting for the Asstros. Whee.
 
#7,495
#7,495
Vercingetorix said:
Having an off day at this point in the season is pretty lame, at least from a fan's point of view. I'm sitting here stuck watching Houston vs. the Marlins, and grudgingly rooting for the Asstros. Whee.
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Rooting against the marlins is the way I roll down here.
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#7,496
#7,496
Vercingetorix said:
Those HRs are sort of what doomed him, though, in the sense that he was never going to live up to hitting two HRs in Yankee Stadium in the World Series as a 19-year-old. In his first two at-bats. That's when he moved into "the next Willie Mays" territory, and he was never going to hit consistently enough to live up to that. He just never could hit a curve ball well enough. He had a really nice career, and he was by far the best outfielder I've ever seen, but there are still a lot of people who think of him mostly as a disappointment.
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I was at Spring Training the year they were trying to morph him into being a Bobby Bonds type leadoff hitter (1998 maybe?). It was clear then that he was just incapable of making adjustments at the plate. He probably had as much natural talent as anyone, but he just never progressed past being a raw "see the ball, hit the ball" type hitter.
 
#7,497
#7,497
Vercingetorix said:
Having an off day at this point in the season is pretty lame, at least from a fan's point of view. I'm sitting here stuck watching Houston vs. the Marlins, and grudgingly rooting for the Asstros. Whee.
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I can understand the off-day today after the trip from L.A. But the off day after a two-game series at home is a little ridiculous.
 
#7,499
#7,499
I had not realized this, but I just read somewhere that the Braves are only one game farther out of the division lead than they are the wild card. And sure enough, it's true.

With three series left against the Phillies, and none against Colorado, San Francisco, or Houston, maybe it's time to quit following the WC race so closely and start thinking about the division again.
 
#7,500
#7,500
Vercingetorix said:
I had not realized this, but I just read somewhere that the Braves are only one game farther out of the division lead than they are the wild card. And sure enough, it's true.

With three series left against the Phillies, and none against Colorado, San Francisco, or Houston, maybe it's time to quit following the WC race so closely and start thinking about the division again.
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True, but were going to need some help from someone other than florida.
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