Oh crap. It’s Wednesday. And Tuesday games is Sam-day in Recapperville. Which means I should have watched the game last night. Poop.
Uh, we lost to the Mets. I guess I could go dredge up some details of that. But at the end of the day, doesn’t “we lost to the Mets” sum up the pathetic well enough? I mean, Mets. Lost to. Didn’t beat. The Mets.
We got one run off of Carlos Torres, a starting pitcher I’ve never heard of. That’s equal to the run Carlos Torres, a starting pitcher I’ve never heard of, drove in.
We got beat by a three run rally that featured a key double from Ike Davis, who I honestly thought had been drawn and quartered earlier this year. And someone named Juan Lagares, which is how I think the Mets spell of Charles Thomas. Kris Medlen was once again pedestrian, failing to get through six innings for the fourth straight start.
It wasn’t good. Nay, it was even, dare I say, bad.
(When asking yourself “why would they want to replace Medlen in the rotation” keep in mind that he’s been weakening noticeably in the second half.)
STL beat PHL. PIT beat WAS. So the lead remains 7 and 8 games, respectively. Of interest, the Phils and Nats are a half game further back in the WC standings than they are in the NL East…
It was a really frustrating game. Simmons HRed to lead off, and the Braves spent the next 5 innings getting loads of guys on and no one in. Medlen was fantastic through 5 then got lit, and since the offense never bothered to show, it was a wrap.
Ugg.
Reposting the link that Dusty gave at @84 in the previous thread, John Sickels’s analysis of his pre-season list of the Braves’ top prospects: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2013/7/24/4550430/atlanta-braves-top-20-2013-pre-season-prospects-in-review
All in all, it’s been a good year for these guys. Some injuries, including the one to J.R. Graham, but the guys who stayed healthy have either made major progress (like Lucas Sims) or at least modest progress (like Christian Bethancourt). Nice to see.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/11/kris-medlen-does-not-want-to-go-to-the-bullpen/
Well, Medlen doesn’t want to go to the bullpen. I can’t believe he is the same pitcher who, about 10 months ago, set the major league record for starts in which his team won. He just doesn’t have it this year.
Don’t worry, Sam. You didn’t miss anything. I’m sure you figured that out on your own.
@2 thanks for the link. Home grown talent rules!
Couple of comments about items from the previous thread. Nice trip down memory lane, courtesy of Douglass. Especially enjoyed the reminder about the Resop/poser threads & comments from previous days (including one “wun”, who was Resop’s biggest apologist & the comments speculating about his/her possible identity). Good times…
Also, re: Jonathan F’s comment about taking his 6 year old grandson to the game – I have a five year old, and find that the biggest thing to keep him engaged is food & snacks. Lots of them. And caffeine (Coke in particular being a favorite, as he is not allowed regularly allowed to have coke, just at “special” occasions like Braves games). 🙂 He won’t go to sleep until midnight, but he will have fun and sure beats a cranky kid whining about being bored. Peanuts, especially ones in the shell, are excellent, as he has to work at getting them out of the shell and that keeps him occupied for a while longer than if he was just shoveling everything into his mouth at once. Cotton candy is good (and fun) too, but as everyone knows makes a pretty sticky mess on fingers.
Of course, YMMV…but have fun! And of course, not to say that he won’t still want to go and wander & play etc (mine always wants to go up to the top of Turner Field, where they have the 2 bases set up for kids, and they can wait in line for their turn to run the bases (or is it just “run the base”? since they really just go from one to the other)), but I’d be surprised (impressed, actually) if you were able to successfully engage him in keeping score. I still love doing that (still need to order one of Bethany’s eephus league books), but the practice has been severely curtailed since I have been taking him to games w/ me.
PS – thanks again to whoever did the great work with the ‘edit’ function – am using it liberally, and love it!!
How is that I have never heard of that La Stella kid until now? I look forward to our post-Uggla lives of screaming “STELLA!” when he does something good. I hereby nickname him “Streetcar”.
The other frustrating thing about the game last night is the Braves were crushing the ball all night and they were either right at someone or just foul. Gattis in particular had one at bat where he smoked one down the right field line just foul and then hit another scorcher just down the left field line. And was it Heyward who hit one almost out of the park but foul. I know you don’t get credit for any of that but it just seemed an unlucky night. Medlen looked great until he didn’t. The first run he gave up was the definition of cheap with a bleeder double down the line, SF and a hit by the pitcher against a drawn in infield.
Some nights you are hit unlucky, certainly. Of course, Monday night they were nearly no-hit, for the second time this season, by Dillon Gee. So it’s not like they’re killing the ball or anything.
On Medlen, the “he looked great until he didn’t” thing seems apropos, and another reason to think that he’s tiring significantly.
Two Braves plays on this list:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=21286#commentMessage
Nice link thanks mavery. Interesting that Puig didn’t make the cut. Other than Machado’s play which I agree should be #1, shouldn’t they all just be Andrelton plays? Well Heyward’s was well deserved too.
Jonathan F,
If all else fails, there’s a mini-Wiffleball field for kids behind Citi Field’s big centerfield scoreboard…
Pardon me, just testing something…
http://www2.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/American_Needle_Inc_v_Natl_Football_League_130_S_Ct_2201_176_L_Ed
So what gives with the Beachy, Medlen, Maholm, and Wood scenario? Two guys have to end up in the rotation. Maholm probably has zero value if put in the pen. I don’t know why Wood would be getting stretched out just to turn around 30 days later and make him a reliever again.
@ajcbraves: #Braves will get a LH reliever before the trade deadline, I’m fairly certain. Unclear if they’ll get anything else done in next week.
A LH reliever seems to preclude both Wood and Maholm being in the ‘pen. I don’t expect Wood to move until the off-season (if ever). Maybe this means the rotation will stand pat and Beaches returns to Atlanta as a reliever.
I bet Maholm is traded – won’t be for much value probably.
If Beachy is healthy, he will be in the rotation. I guess I dont understand the point of stretching out Wood. He was an effective piece in the bullpen and now we are lookin at adding another lefty arm to replace him. I would leave Medlen in the rotation, Wood in the pen, and then add another RH arm to compliment Carpenter, Walden, and Kimbrel. Don’t think Maholm has much value at this time.
Long term, I think Wood is a starter.
A little late to stretch him out to start now (for this year).
Heyward got thrown out at home on a hard single and CJ doubled with a runner on first, but it bounced over the wall.
2 doubles, 2 singles, 2 walks & a homerun in the first 3 innings = 1 run.
We were hit unlucky and run unlucky.
@7
Sam..
my prediction, the first time for this Journal a prospect has been nicknamed for the ages by someone who’d only heard of him five minutes earlier…
it’s perfect…
@19 A little late to stretch him out to start now (for this year).
He’s starting in Maholm’s place Thursday, so not sure how you reach that conclusion. He began the year as a starter, spent some time in the pen, and is back to starting for now. It doesn’t take that long for a guy only temporarily away from starting to get “stretched out” again.
My guess is they move Medlen to the pen to limit his innings when Beachy is ready, and want Wood available for depth in case someone else goes down.
Hope it works. I remember it was a big deal when there was talk of moving him back to the rotation.
I assume Medlen will get one more start as the Braves don’t have an off day and Beachy is scheduled to go tonight. No reason for Beachy to take Medlen’s spot on three days rest coming off of injury.
Yep, Medlen will start Sunday. But frankly, decisions based on the results of one or a handful of games seems like a poor idea – or at least, akin to a guess for how the rest of the year will play out. If you want to limit Medlen’s innings and shore up the pen, put him in the pen; if you think he will outperform Beachy the rest of the way, leave him in the rotation. Just don’t base the decision on a couple recent starts. What a pitcher does in July has almost no correlation with what he does in August or September.
They should just move Maholm to the bullpen when he comes off the DL instead of trading something of value for a LOOGY.
Sounds like they want to make a trade for the sake of making a trade. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from trading Gregor Blanco and Tim Collins for Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth a couple of years ago. Two players of superior value/skill for lesser players…but they had VETERAN “PRESENTS.”
The Medlen thing seems to me like it’s completely based on limiting his innings. Otherwise, it makes little sense to move an above average starter to the bullpen for a guy who may or may not be an above average starter.
Maholm is allowing LHB to hit .203/.254/.271 with 6 BB and 28 K. Makes perfect sense to just make him the LOOGY.
David O’Brien @ajcbraves 20m
#Braves Fredi G said they’re not considering moving Maholm to the bullpen.
I don’t get it.
The “stretching out Wood” thing could be to increase his immediate value as a trade piece, too.
If not, potential nicknames include:
Dog
Holly
Brent
Norwegian
Pecker
Woke Up With
(Man, it’s super-hard to come up with ones that aren’t phallic references…)
At some point you have to increase the amount of innings on these arms. Medlen needs to stay in the rotation. Stretching out Wood to then go out and find another lefty reliever doesn’t make much sense either. Maholm in the rotation or pen seems like a poor idea right now too.
This list of real bizarre baseball injuries is hilarious. Smoltz trying to iron his clothes with them on him did not make it, though. I can’t remember if he missed any time for that…
http://mentalfloss.com/article/29000/24-most-bizarre-injuries-baseball-history
32- I’m pretty sure that was during spring training, so he wouldn’t have missed time.
Unless they trade Wood for an impact player it would make little sense to trade 6 years of team control away especially when Hudson and Maholm are free agents.
#34 – Agree. Where do you put an impact player on this team? You arent trading Alex Wood for spare parts either. There’s no chance the braves are going to give the 6 man rotation a try again is there?
There is no way that Heyward just hit a ground ball to 2b right?
Jason’s just really streaky.
Like an old pair of underwear…
Ka-boom!
EL OSO BLANCO!!
I’ve missed seeing Gattis do that.
EL OSO!!!!!!!
I think he got just about every last bit of that one.
That ball was Gatted.
That was launched. Try to get more than one of those runs things today, guys.
@harpergordek
NLeast fact: In the last 40 games the Braves have gone 19-21 and EXPANDED their division lead.
Freddie hit that ball well.
@45—ouch. That’s really hard to believe. Preseason predictions about the NL East look really funny now.
Oh wow, that must have scared the crap out of Wright.
David Wright hit himself in the back of the neck when his bat broke. That is just so Mets.
That old strikeout artist Huddy’s blowing the Mets away with his 88 mph stuff.
YES!!!!!!
Uggs! Runs!
Three runs in one inning? Uggla!
DAN! McCann and Gattis are slow, but they don’t need to run now!
Uggnutz
Dan Uggla is terrible and has no value.
SIMMONS!!!!!!!
Homerun derby
Andrelton Simmons, you rock!
Where were these last night? Other than Simmons’, I mean.
@ajcbraves: #Braves Simmons has more homers (11) than Freeman (10), Heyward (7) and B.J. Upton (8), and is gaining on JUpton (16)
Good thing the Mets didn’t use that guy in the first game or the Braves would have been down 2 in the series.
Huddy is dealing. It’s nice to see him return to form.
IWOTM
What’s up with the Mets uniforms? They misspelled “Lol.”
@65: Polite applause.
Don’t let this get dramatic, Fredi.
Ugh…
Oh no no no.
That looked really really bad. Like career-ending bad. Shit.
Oh, Huddy.
That looks like an out for the season injury on the replay.
🙁
Holy shit. Well, I guess that answers the rotation question, unfortunately. That looks brutal. Looks like something is broken.
Ok, so would it be unfair to throw at Eric Young’s head on his next at bat?
Damn. Damn. Damn. All of a sudden, we’re in the market for another starter.
I can’t even watch the replay. This is terrible.
That looks like a football injury.
@67 I’m assuming this isn’t the sort of drama you meant.
Crap.
Eventually, baseball will begin using two first bases like they do in slow-pitch softball. That play was unnecessary. Young was out, and Tim’s ankle would be fine if there had been another first base to the right of the one Hudson was on.
man that sucks.
@75
It was an accident, and Young clearly feels like shit about it.
Eric Young made a fan out of me tonight. God speed, Tim.
Oh no, I missed it…. What happened?
That was just an unfortunate play, nothing else can be said. There clearly wasn’t any intent and Young is very upset.
@83, me too.
Young was actually crying.
That just f***ing sucks.
Well, if the Mets can’t beat us or win the division, they are at least going to do what they can to hurt our playoff run. I’m sorry, but I’m pissed, and Eric Young and the rest of the Mets can go f themselves. There’s no lovefest from me tonight because he took out one of our best pitchers.
If Huddy is out for the season, could tonight have been the last time we see him pitch in an Atlanta uniform? Please, no. Not like this.
84 — Tim was covering first on a grounder and when Eric Young crossed first base he stepped on Tim’s ankle, which bended in an ugly direction.
Tim stepped on the bag and looked like he was trying to find it again. Young caught him mid stride and Huddy’s ankle rolled/broke.
The Mets are very hard to hate these days. Good people…
@90 Oh no! Thank you for the recap. Ugh. Poor Tim.
89- Or maybe any uniform.
That double Grybo hurts worse than most.
To add insult to injury (literally), both of Hudson’s runs score. Seriously?
More than likely this was Tim’s last start for Atlanta and maybe his career.
Edit: no you don’t throw at Young. Accidents happen. Tht guy was in tears on the field.
Ok, so we have gone from hating the Mets and making fun of them at every turn to showing them love because the guy who took out Huddy (possibly career ending) was upset about it? Give me a freaking break.
Dude, chill out.
Beachy will be on regular rest for Hudson’s spot since he started tonight.
98: Dude, don’t even.
100 — It was clearly unintentional, dude. Shit happens.
It was an accident. He had no where else to go. Huddy’s foot went to the middle of the bag while EY was in the air reaching for the bag. Nobody here likes the Mets, but that was far from a dirty play…
Hopefully it looks a ton worse than the final diagnosis, but man that was brutal. Ouch.
Not that it seems to matter much tonight, but Pirates 4 NationaLOLs 2 bottom 9. Phillies losing again too.
Well, enjoy your moral indignation then. There was no intent, it was bad luck, and the guy feels terrible. But if hating him makes you feel better, have at it.
Beachy, for those interested, has a 26-18 k-bb ratio in Gwinnett.
So by not throwing at the guys head is showing them love? Your being a tool.
Missed the telecast. Have no interest in watching a replay. I sure hope it’s not as bad an injury as it may appear.
It was a baseball play. EY was as likely to break his own ankle with that leap as he was Hudson’s. The guy was playing to win.
If you’re going to suggest that because he’s losing 6-0 he figured he might at least hurt somebody says more about you than it does him.
Who cares if it was dirty? Good grief, I need Ty Cobb around, I guess.
You need a teddy bear, man.
Tough thread for DG.
Grow up dude.
Nats lose again (on a DP resulting from a bad call), so there’s another game for our lead. For what that’s worth now.
Hey, I have people responding to me now. What a circle jerk I’ve created. Otherwise it’s freaking crickets for the most part. Feels great to be part of the board now, but excuse me if I’m upset that our playoff run may be over before it starts.
Hudson’s foot was occupying the entire bag. Going full speed, there wasn’t really much else for Young to do. It’s just horrific and unfortunate, but nothing to get indignant in a tribal way about.
I just hope it’s a clean break. Seems about the best we can wish for given that replay.
That’s stupid. Why get guys thrown out at the plate when you’re up 6?
Maybe the Braves should stop running on Legares.
113- Because Snitker has to stay in practice.
Good for Justin. It had been a while.
DG, we are all upset about the possibility of losing Huddy. He’s a huge part of this team. It’s just ridiculous that anyone could think that was an intentional action from Young.
111 — I hate it for Tim, but it’s hardly the end of our playoff run. We have lots of good starting pitching.
Is there anyone who can score from 2nd on a single?
We’re going to have an 8 game lead in a few hours. As much as I’ve bitched and moaned about being a .500 team for three months – we’re really close to the point where .500 from here on out will clinch the division.
Who knows, maybe this will be a blessing in disguise – maybe giving Beachy or Wood a playoff start is what we need.
Look, I don’t think it was intentional. The lizard brain in me wants to avenge it. Irrational? Hell yeah. That’s why I’m going to try to cool down.
We haven’t clinched anything yet and play the Phils and Nats 15 games out of 18 in August. Let’s win some more games before we hoist the flag.
Now let’s find out about Huddy.
Now the waiting starts. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t as ugly as it looked. Slim hope, I know, but I’ll cling to it for now.
SSS, but Beachy has walked over 5 per 9 IP at Gwinnett.
Hell, let’s win 7 out of 10 too. After all the streaks early on, this team has settled into absolute, consistent meh.
But an 8 game lead is pretty cool, if the Cards hold on.
Looks like Young might have spiked Hudson’s Achilles tendon in addition to rolling his ankle.
I apologize to all, sincerely, for my irrational outburst. Can’t say it won’t happen again in the future, as I get too involved in these games.
I’m wondering if we’re hitting the cancel button on any trade involving Maholm right about now.
128- I hope none were ever seriously considered; if there’s anything we should have taken away from last season, where we started with a seeming excess of pitching and ended signing a street free agent in Ben Sheets, it’s that you never, ever have enough starting pitching.
Why can’t we just cut the ankle off Maholm and stick it on to Huddy?
#127 – It’s cool. You have the right to be pissed.
#128 – I doubt it. Maholm isn’t throwing well and all of our other options are better at this point.
Fingers crossed, but this could very well be our last memory of Huddy starting in Atlanta.
That was almost Joe Theismann bad. Can only hope it’s not as bad as it looked.
I doubt we were ever going to trade a starting pitcher, certainly aren’t going to now.
I guess we may not be able to ease off Teheran in the second half. Ladies and Gentlemen, our 2014 rotation has arrived early.
@131 The function of Maholm will be to take innings away from Teheran in the second half so the kid will be available in October. With this lead, I don’t think we need to push Teheran too hard in the second half.
It’s entirely possible and perhaps even likely Maholm will be a competent starter once he gets healed up.
About the only bright spot for Huddy is that his win tonight brought him to 8-7 on the season, meaning his streak of winning seasons is still alive. A perfect 15 for 15 for his career.
Yeah that looked screws-in-your-bones bad. That looked 12-month-rehab bad.
Huddy might not throw a pitch until September of next season.
After the team-friendly deal he signed his last time around, it’s hard to imagine parting ways with him at all. Cutting him loose after this.. that would just feel stone cold.
I’d re-sign him for $1m base pay with incentives, maybe a vesting option or something. I’d just like to see the guy retire in a Braves uni, and NOT like that.
Might as well concede the Uggla wager. But surely the fact that he actually just NEEDED GLASSES should result in some kind of asterisk.
On the other hand, barring injury I’d say my much ridiculed prediction that Simmons would hit 15+ homers is going to pan out.
We should be able to cut Braun’s ankles off and give them to Huddy. That would only be fair.
Just got back from watching Beachy pitch against the Bulls. 6 IP, 2 R (1 ER, I believe), 4 BB, 3 K. Fastball hit 91 with regularity, but it felt like he was pitching tentatively without much feel for location.
Pastornicky botched the front end of a DP to set up the unearned run. A weak grounder was fielded in the basepath and instead of running the runner back to first and getting the sure out, he push-flipped the ball to the 3B side of 2B, past the SS and out into short left field.
When your top hitters are Ernest Meija and Pastornicky, that’s not much of a lineup; no wonder Gwinnett is 20 games back.
#137 I agree. Huddy is too good to the Braves to leave like this.
All of this talk of cutting/reattaching ankles talk reminds me of this episode of Tales From the Crypt: http://tviv.org/Tales_from_the_Crypt/The_Switch
Ankle is fractured and will require surgery when swelling reduces. That sucks
@143 It could have been worse.
If fractured is the worst of it, then he’s still relatively lucky.
Just back from the game. quite a shock from watching 7 Ks caught looking to being carted off the field.
I’m happy to take your concession, JCM, premature though I think it is. Asterisk granted.
@144
He’s done for the year, but he should be able to return for the start of next year if he wants to, I would think. It definitely could’ve been worse if the Achilles was ruptured or something like that. I’m guessing we give him a one-year, incentive-laden contract and he’s back next year.
I wonder if we now look for a starting pitcher on the trade market.
I hope we offer him a 1 year deal. He’s a guy that deserves to choose when he’s done with this game and he should be able to walk off the field as a Brave.
I think we should look at Peavy, but hes owed a lot next year i think. Adding him and a reliever would go a long ways.
It’s funny, when we were playing the White Sox last week I was watching Peavy pitch and thinking about how we tried to get him from San Diego once upon a time. Funny how things turn.
And totally agree on the one-year deal for Huddy. Gotta do that.
our biggest need right now is simply a ‘reversion to the mean’ for about 1/2 our hitters.
I’d guess most of you are old enough guys rubbing Greg Olson’s cast in 1992. This has some eerie similarities.
There’s no reason to panic and go get a SP with Wood and Beachy both capable of being just as good as 2013 Jake Peavy.
I would rather see two more bullpen arms.
Well, that might be the most depressing win I’ve ever seen.
Good luck, Huddy. Nothing but love in your direction.
Recapped.
I know I said at the beginning of the year that Hudson was the one guy that we couldn’t afford to lose. On reflection, that was a stupid statement, but I think his importance to this team has been underestimated. Even considering his mini slump in late May and his winless streak when he pitched well in June, he has been a very valuable member of this team. He was predictably becoming our most reliable starter and will be greatly missed.
I won’t throw out the “we’re doooomed” mantra, but we definitely need someone to step up. We definitely need the 2012 Medlen to return to the rotation!