It was one they had to scratch for. They fell behind 2-0 in the first, with sloppy defense and sloppy pitching pretty much equal contributors — Teixeira made an error allowing the leadoff man to reach, and Kotsay pulled a two-base Prado bringing in two runs, but Joseph Reyes certainly wasn’t sharp. The Braves got a run on a Teixeira single in the bottom of the inning, but were shut out for the next three by Fredo Ledezma, a pitcher whom Braves fans were so happy to get rid of last year that we offered to buy him a ticket to San Diego if it would get him out of town faster. The Braves did load the bases on walks in the third, but Francoeur struck out to end the inning.
Meanwhile, Reyes had to leave in the third when a blister on his pitching hand popped. Buddy Carlyle relieved him and did a pretty good job, but Teixeira pulled a two-base Prado of his own in the fifth (seriously, he dove the wrong way on a hard grounder, and the announcers never pointed this out) and then got hurt in a collision with a hitter on the first base-line. Campillo had to relieve him, and he screwed up, allowing a runner to score on an infield single, then allowing a double to score his own man to make it 4-1. By the way, both Carlyle and Campillo had to lead off the inning after their emergency relief appearances, but Carlyle drew a walk.
The Braves did rally in the sixth, getting two runs on a bases-loaded pinch single from new folk hero Greg Norton. In the seventh, it looked like Escobar would be stranded after getting to second on a leadoff error (I thought it should have been scored hit/error, but I think I’ve said enough about the official scoring in this series already), but a two-out wild pitch (which Smitty called for) scored him and tied the game.
Finally, in the ninth, Bud Black went with Joe Thatcher, the lefty reliever who had looked awful for the Padres last night, and did again today. Escobar led off with a bunt single. Chipper, hitless to that point, followed with a single. Teixeira hit a chopper to advance the runners. And Black, who just wants to get fired at this point, walked Francoeur, who over the last few days has looked completely lost at the plate, to face another righthanded batter, Matt Diaz, who is hitting over .400 against lefties. Diaz worked the count, lined a single to left, and the Braves finally had a one run victory.
Glad to see that someone figured out how to get out of hibernation mode there.
Tim Hudson had an Episode in the second inning, losing his control and balking in a run (Bobby got ejected complaining about it) but was able to limit the damage to one run thanks to a GIDP from the pitcher and settled down from there. The Braves took the lead in the bottom of the inning, a run scoring on a bases-loade GIDP from Diaz and Kotsay following with an RBI single.
But then the Braves couldn’t get anything done. A lot of the blame has to go on Jeff Francoeur’s shoulders. With the bases loaded and one out in the third, he grounded into a double play. With Chipper on and one out in the sixth, he hit into another one. Escobar grounded into one in the fifth, so the Braves hit into double plays in four out of five innings, which is appalling. Then some iffy defense helped lead to a Padre run in the sixth to tie the game, though another GIDP (this was a GIDP-fest) kept things under control.
The Braves loaded the bases with none out again in the seventh, and this time Greg Norton (off a lefty, despite my complaints) had a pinch-single to score McCann, and KJ followed with a sac fly to score Diaz. Escobar singled to bring in Kotsay to make it 5-2. Boyer (now second in the league in appearances) pitched the eighth with no problems, and Ohman and Acosta combined in the ninth. That should not be a save under the rule as I know it, but the box score reports it as a save. I am assuming that ESPN has made a mistake and that MLB has not changed the definition of a save without telling anyone.
Chipper was 2-4. Ho-hum. Everybody reached base at least once.
With the news that Soriano is getting an MRI and that Gonzalez had a “minor setback”, we actually need Smoltz in the pen. The closer role is cursed, I tell you — cursed!
Huh. So Kotsay pretty much beat the heck out of his old team tonight. In the second inning, he singled home Francoeur, then scored from first on a double when the left fielder Pradoed the ball to the wall instead of cutting it off. (If you missed it: Prado, v, “To commit a Prado”. Prado, n. “an egregious misplay that is not scored an error for some reason.” KJ, in tribute to the fallen Prado, had two of them tonight.) In the third, Chipper hit a two-run homer, after which the Padres decided they’d just walk him every time, and in the fourth Kotsay hit a solo homer. He also had a great play in center, taking a double away running back and towards left field, which probably saved at least one run (there was a runner at first and none out, and the Padres got a hit later in the inning).
Jair Jurrjens didn’t need a whole lot of help — other than, you know, catching the ball when it’s hit right at you, Kelly — after giving up a run in the first. He went six, struck out eight, and walked only one. Kid’s pitching well. Will Ohman, used to pitch a whole inning rather than as a specialist, gave up two runs in the seventh to cut it to 5-3. One of the runs really should have been scored unearned, because KJ made an obvious error to allow the leadoff man to reach. I guess the official scorer misses Prado, too.
Meanwhile, the Braves went into Hibernation Mode again against Glendon Rusch, shutdown long reliever, and couldn’t do anything. Boyer had no problems in the eighth other than the tiny voice in his head that questioned if he really should be pitching in every game coming off of a major shoulder injury. Manny Acosta, however, gave up two hits and got only one out. Ring came in to get a lefty, and Bennett got the final out for the save. This means that he is now a Proven Closer™ and is now worth a five year contract averaging $8.2 million a season. Or maybe not. I never did figure out how that works.
We sure have had a lot of off days recently. I think that rather than monkeys, the schedule was designed by lemurs or some other prosimians. Speaking of:
I answered the questions a week ago, though Geoff and I did a little editing since then. So the facts are probably not 100 percent accurate anymore, but they are essentially true.
As a rule, if you are bringing in a 35-year-old third baseman to take the place of your utility infielder, you’re doing something wrong. Norton isn’t a bad player, or wasn’t — he may be done — but he is a bad fit for a roster that already has Ruben Gotay and Brayan Pena and doesn’t have a backup shortstop. Norton is a good fill-in type player in a corner spot; his career batting average is just .253, but he’ll walk (.337 OBP) and has some power (.427 SLG).
Norton came up with the White Sox in 1996. Since the Sox had Robin Ventura, he wasn’t going to play a whole lot. He played mostly first base in 1998 — not well — and finally got a full-time job after Ventura left, in 1999. He was slightly below average, and basically lost his job to Herbert Perry, and has spent the rest of his career as a part-time player; the 132 games he played in 1999 are a career high, by 15. The Sox non-tendered him after 2000 and he spent three years in Colorado, backing up all four corner spots. He spent a terrible year in Detroit, then in 2006 had the best year of his career in Tampa. He didn’t play well in 2007 and the Rays cut him loose after the season; he landed in Seattle, where he went 7-16 with two doubles but got designated for assignment anyway.
Norton has played third base, first base, and both outfield corners; he played six games at shortstop in 1996, which I think we can safely ignore. He’s merely an okay third baseman. He’s nominally a switch-hitter, but has been terrible against lefties (.226 .309 .338). He is fundamentally similar to Gotay, albeit ten years older and not a second baseman. On the plus side, he has more power. Ideally, you probably don’t want two infielders on your bench with the same weaknesses, especially when neither of them can play shortstop. Had I mentioned that? Has been caught stealing more times than he’s been successful (15 of 33 in his career).
He replaces Prado, who went on the DL with a thumb sprain; his hand is in a cast. I have no idea why the Braves can’t figure out that you need a backup shortstop. I guess I’ll write Norton up at some point, but I am concerned with the roster construction. They probably aren’t giving up anything of note, a player to be named or cash considerations — I’m guessing the latter.
Moylan went to the 60-day DL to make room for Norton. This can pretty much serve as confirmation that he will have Tommy John surgery.
“We’ve been talking with Seattle off and on since the middle of spring training about Greg,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said. “We tried to acquire him at the end of spring, but they still had plans for him.”
I think Frank needs help. I also think DOB is being sly:
“He can hit,” Wren said of Norton, who has a .253 average with 82 home runs and and 300 RBIs in the majors, including 17 homers for Tampa Bay in a career-best 2006 season. He also has 544 strikeouts in 2,163 at-bats.
