ESPN – Cubs vs. Braves Box Score, June 7 2007 – MLB
Ugh. Why bother? Chuck James pitched well after giving up single runs in the first and second, but winds up with a loss because right now the Braves couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag with multiple holes in it. James went seven, struck out four, allowed six hits and three walks. He’s now 5-5, but with a 3.66 ERA.
It is, of course, all Andruw’s fault, though his solo homer in the fourth was the Braves’ only run and he had one of their other two hits. He ground out to third on the first pitch to end the game, though. The only other hit was by Diaz in the seventh. KJ drew the team’s only walk. There’s nothing more to add.
If we fall behind we are dead, dead, dead.
We suck.
We just seem not to care about winning without Chipper in the lineup
Where’d McCann’s power go? He hasn’t seemed right since he got hit on the finger on that idiotic bunt attempt.
Not that it really matters if we keep losing but the Phillies lead the Mets 6-3 in the 10th.
Frustrating.
Matt Murton is Richie Cunningham. That’s all I learned today. And Hopefully the Mets keep stumbling, and according to Jeremy, they are.
Am I back?
(From last thread)
No problem Tom…
I think I read on the Fanhouse that the Ranger’s GM took Texiera off the trading block sometime last week. But I doubt he’d refuse a good offer.
Even if we could get him, I think I would rather stick with hopes at Salty at first…Texiera is going to be a free agent either after this season or the next…and he’s going to cost a lot…so It would probably be another rental.
You should be.
Ugh.
That game was…ugh….
call up Heyward! we need an offensive spark
Jayson “Overrated” Stark reported in his latest column that the Teixeira trade talk is real. He also says that teams that have called the Braves about Salty have been essentially told to piss off.
Jeremy,
Thanks for that news..the “piss off”…man that cheers up my day…now if Bobby would but him in the damn lineup!
ok…projected lineup tomorrow:
kj
willie
renteria
chipper
mccann
andruw
francoeur
diaz
salty
who cares where they play? salty, with his cannon arm will pitch, and chipper with his splints will have 3 hrs. mccann and frenchy will both hit their first hr in 500 games. it’s going to be great and i cant wait. this is what happens when the braves drive you completely INSAAAAAAAAAANE!
While we all “sit” around here and lament our Braves, I know what happened. It’s all a part of gigantic plot perpetrated by the evil Mets. Tyler Yates and Chris Woodward are but small potatoes to larger, more insidious plots.
Here’s the biggest plot of all: on or around 3rd of September, 2003, while in New York, agents of the Mets took a DNA sample of Chipper Jones and began the process of cloning him. Originally, the idea was to produce their own version of Chipper who would then destroy the Braves in MVP fashion–they knew that unlike Tom Glavine, Chipper would never leave Dodge, er Atlanta. But as these things go, the copy was not altogether successful (the Mets agents took their sample from Jones’ left knee). The copy had more facial hair, though certainly not enough for a full beard, or even a nice goatee (sp?). Plus, it was more brittle than the original, often pulling muscles, sustaining bone bruises, and having an inordinate number of hangnails (Many officials deny the hangnails, but there are detailed records). The cloning had failed.
Undeterred by this failure, Mets agents, in league with Lucifer as always, came up with a more dastardly plan.
On or about the 12th of April, 2004, they kidnapped the real Chipper Jones outside of Shea stadium and replaced him with “brittle” copy 2A–“Chipper Jones.” Since then, the copy, though fantastic when healthy, has played for the Braves. Though as loyal fans have noted, he hasn’t played as much as the original used to. The plot did not end there. Where there are Mets, there is true evil after all (they are only out done in evil by the Yankees–might evil really be a New York thing? The Mets, the Yankees, Salsa from New York City all provide ample evidence.).
At this same time, the real, or original, Chipper Jones was taken to an undisclosed location, near Dick Cheney’s bunker, brainwashed and transplanted with a new face. He reemerged on July 21st of that same year, still playing 3b. Since then, while the copy has been suiting up and playing a fair amount of time (just enough not to arouse too much suspicion), the original debuted in a Mets Uniform under the pseudonym David Wright.
There’s more to this, but I’ve no more time to type. Mets agents are everywhere, transported from place to place by the Devil himself. I’ll only be safe if I keep moving.
Ok, I’m doing a post, recapping today’s draft…can anyone find information on our third round draft choice, Frederick Freeman? Any help would be much appreciated.
Agent N,
I agree.
The Braves official site made it sound like it will be another week for Chipper even though he comes off the DL tomorrow.
Its possible, but it said most likely he will try to be back on the road trip 12th-17th.
I’m going to Cleveland for the game on the 16th, so I hope I get to see him in the lineup, especially after missing him the last two years. I also went to Pittsburgh on the 12th, the day after the collison heard ’round the world.
The last thing I’ll add, which is more of an open question: What happened to Salty behind the plate last night? We talk about the “Salty Cannon,” but the Marlins ran wild. Boone stole a base? How does this happen?
Baseball Tonight said Chipper won’t be ready to come off the DL tomorrow.
Just to keep everything in perspective, the Braves are currently on pace to win about 88 games. Which will put us in playoff contention easily. Now, with Chipper coming back and Andruw (presumably) sucking less for the rest of the year (not to mention no more starts by Redman), I say we’ll be better than those 88.
And honestly, with our top 2, I like our chances in a short series, so it’s not unrealistic to say that the Braves have a decent shot at reaching the NLCS.
Of course their recent struggles are frustrating. But we’re hardly 1/3 of the way into this season, and for a while there, things were looking REALLY good. We don’t have a dominant team, but the Braves are certainly a good one. And frankly, if you get super-concerned about a two or three week stretch of frustrating losses, baseball is not your sport. 😉
I’m still guessing 60 day DL.
I’m starting to think that McCann should move to first and just let Salty play catcher.
But then THAT means (I’d guess) that B.Pena would have to back up Salty.
I was leary of having so many left handed batters in tonight’s lineup. Untested or not, a better shot with Salty at first than Thor.
Lets hope things stabilize and soon…this losing thing is no fun!
Well, maybe by the end of next week, the Mets will have lost one more game than the Braves. At least I got to see the end of the Mets game in a Mets bar with a bunch of moaning Mets fans. Very small pleasure.
I’m off to DC for the weekend on business–of course, the Nats aren’t in town. I’ve still not been to that ballpark. The O’s are in town, but I’m not sure if I’m up for a Rockies-O’s tilt. I may go to the Spy Museum instead.
All this reminds me of 2006, where we went, what, 6-22 in June? Right now we’re on pace to do it again.
Agent N, that was awesome.
This team isn’t winning 88 games. Take away that 7-1 start and they’ve been playing .500 or less. Barring some blockbuster deals, they’ll be fortunate to win 82-85 and finish higher than 3rd in the division.
Excellent work Agent N. We eagerly await your future reports and expect you to deal with all Mets fans with ‘extreme prejudice.’
As unpleasant as it sounds, maybe we need to really begin to look for a thirdbaseman for the rest of the season, is the Escobar and the three headed monster of Woodpradorr going to be enough? doubtful….could we package salty/escobar/and someone else for a #3 and 3rd bagger?
Agent N, I think your theory is very good but when I read your description of Chipper’s clone, the words that came to my mind were “Chris Woodward”
Don’t you think that the Muts tried to mix Chipper’s DNA with some guy, unfortunately it ended in the atrocious Chris Woodward experience?
Did anyone mention yesterday the fact that Heyward is african-american probably means Jesse Jackson won’t bother us ever again?
I say we trade Andruw now and see what we can get for him. The Phillies are about to pass us.
Cormier’s 18.00 ERA should get the Braves back on track.
Jay10–here is what I have got on Freeman from Shanks:
“The Braves love this power-hitting infielder who spent most of his high school career at third base but will play first base as a pro. Freeman can also pitch, but the Braves feel he has great power potential as a corner infielder. Like Heyward, Freeman is only 17 and doesn’t turn 18 until September 12th. The six-foot-five, 215-pounder has a solid swing from the left side of the plate. He hit .453 this season with 5 home runs and 20 RBI in 75 at bats. Freeman will join Heyward in the Gulf Coast League this summer in Florida.”
Heward is a great pick, Gilmore a good one and Freeman promising.
After that it looks like a really weak draft for the Braves. Fields has the chance to be a dominating relief pitcher–but what a waste of a high pick. He is also represented by Boras. I cannot believe that Gearrin could not be obtained after the 5th round. Hicks has the chance to be another Lillibride–so not much upside there. Finally, saving the best for last the Braves threw away a 5th round pick on Dennis Dixion–who has not played baseball in several years. Even better, he turns 23 in January; if we are lucky he could be an older version of George Lombard.
I fear that this draft means the Braves no longer have the money to invest in their minor league plsyers–I just hope that we can sign Heyward, Gilmore and Freeman….
With some luck it will approximate the 2002 draft which gave the Braves Meyer, Frenchy and McCann and then almost nothing else–except the Braves were smart enough to take Chuck James in the 20th round and sign him over the winter….
Notes….KJ is proven almost too streaky to be in the leadoff spot. Francouer and McCann lack of power is really killing this lineup. Thor’s collapse is epic. And Andruw…well right now I can’t see this club finishing above .500.
This is starting to feel exactly like last year. Is Terry Pendleton the problem? What is going on? But then again, the only proven hitters over time the are Chipper, Andruw and Edgar. Maybe this is the best it gets for these guys. Francouer, Escobar and Salty are the only 3 who were highly touted prospects.
Someone suggested trading Escobar and some other players??? Why would you want to trade our futuer third basemen? He’s been looking great so far….
i think if we got jack bauer as 3b coach the season would turn around fast…if only he wasn’t so busy saving the world, he could save our season.
Lando, I completely agree. Keep Escobar at 3rd. Move Chipper to 1st when and if…, platoon Salty between 1st and home, and try and get Willy or Diaz hot in LF.
The grand irony here is that our pitching has held up fairly well the last week with Chuck and Kyle maybe now rating as a 4 and 4a. We really should get rid of Paronto though, use the spot for Devine or some other kid from the farm. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? All Paronto is good for is making marginal deficits large.
Need to get that Offense cooking again and all will be fine. At least the Mets aren’t running away, and if you’re worried about the phils, well then you don’t really have much hope for the postseason anyways, do you?
Escobar is not a long term solution at 3B. I say we try to move him while he’s hot, some teams may believe he’s still a viable SS option. His best use to the Braves going forward is as a utility player.
speaking of 3B of the future, anyone know what’s wrong with Eric Cambell? It looks like he’s hurt, but I havent heard anything about it.
Also, whats the chances Kaaihue ever makes it to the big club. Even if its at age 30, I can already hear the asshats on ESPN usig the “Aloha means goodbye” line about 25-30 times a year.
I only advocated trading Escobar in a package if it netted us some pitching and a power bat, he’s a fantastic stop gap for the time being, but does anyone here really think he’s a long term at 3b? I dont, he doesnt have the power, he’s hit (correct me if i’m wrong, and I’m sure someone will) 10 total minor league homers. Thats not the power you want from the hot corner. We need power, and we need pitching, we are supposedly stocked at middle infield, so why not trade from our strengths?
My Mets buddy doesn’t want to hear about Salty. They are still afraid.
Did someone just suggest that Kelly Johnson wasn’t good enough to lead off? 8-0 I’ve never been too impressed with Pendleton; maybe it would be worthwhile to consider dumping him this off-season.
Are we seriously talking about making Yunel Escobar a full-time player after just 4 or 5 games at the ML level? This time last year, he was a write-off, Tony Pena with a worse glove. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got high hopes for the kid. But the way the opinions on this board shift with the wind is mind boggling….
People say “well, if you take away this one good streak at the beginning of the year, blah blah blah”. Well, if you take away the 10-game streak against the Phils, Nats, and Pirates, the Braves are on pace to win like 100! For chrissake, they ALL COUNT THE SAME, and if you want to get down on the team because they’re not on a hot streak at the moment… again, Baseball is not the sport for you. Go watch football, where losing 3 of 4 really does matter a lot in the long run. Yeesh.
Hey, I’ve got an idea! Let’s focus on the positive: Smoltz has an ERA under 3.00, Hudson’s is just barely over 3.00, and Chucky’s is well under 4.00. That’s a VERY good top 3, folks. If we can get a decent 4th (ERA under 4.50) and a not-disasterous 5th (ERA under 5.50) out of Cormier, Davies, and Carlyle, our rotation will be set, and even without Gonzalez, we’ve still got a better-than-average bullpen. I’d say that would give us the best pitching in the NL East, actually. Then Chipper comes back, Andruw doesn’t hit .220 the whole year, and BLAMMO! the team is hitting again. I mean, who do we honestly see regressing on the offense? KJ, maybe a bit. But Chipper? Na, not a lot. Thor? Certainly not! BMac or Frenchy? Na, both will have better power numbers at the end of the year than they do now.
So where’s the downside of this team? We’re like 3.5 back, which is by not a large margin at all.
And incidentally, getting swept by the Phils doesn’t look quite so bad now that the Mets have suffered the exact same fate. 😉
So let’s try to take a look at the long haul: the Braves are currently 3rd in the NL in runs scored, behind Philly and the Marlins (say WHAT?), and ahead of the Mets (5th place). Despite the “power outage”, we’re 4th in HRs in the league, again behind the Marlins (What the heck??) and ahead of the Mets. Our ERA is more troublesome, being only middle-of-the-pack. But most of that’s attributable to our horrid 4 and 5 guys, and it’s worth noting that even to this day, Redman’s numbers inflate that a bit.
So when you look at the season numbers to date, the hitting appears to be just fine; it’s the back-end starters we’ve got to worry about. Either we’re going to have to make a deal or have some guys emerge. But we’re still in a pretty good position to make the post-season.
Okay. I’m done.
Has anyone ever done an analysis of “run distribution”, ie, how consistent a team is in scoring runs. It seems to me that “total runs scored” could be misleading. What I mean is, if you score 12 runs in game one of series and than 3 runs the next two games, you have still scored 15 runs overall and average 5 per game. Would it make sense to do some sort of standard deviation analysis (that’s about the extent of my statistical knowledge, by the way)as to how consistent a team is in scoring runs; ie, a higher standard deviation would mean the team is more up and down. The reason I say this is that the last couple of years the Braves have ranked pretty high in runs scored, but my anecdotal impression is that they are a very inconsistent offensive team. Maybe I’m wrong or maybe this kind of analysis doesn’t make sense, but it seems to me that the Braves have a lot of high-run games and a lot of low-run games (and right now are obviously having a lot of low-run games).
Thanks mraver, nice to hear (or read) a voice of reason around here….
Mraver…I believe I said Kelly is starting to be a little bit inconsistent to bat leadoff…it’s not like he has blazing speed. If you don’t have the speed, then you must be like a Wade Boggs to be a good leadoff man.
Also Mraver, we are just worried about who we are losing to and where. We’ve lost the Marlins at home, can’t beat the Nationals and we still have Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota and Boston again. McCann and Francouer will have power numbers at the end of the year…well can they get started? McCann is definitely hurting…
From Jayyyyyyyyson Stark:
Clubs that have asked the Braves about Jarrod Saltalamacchia report they’ve been turned down flat. But by July, the Braves expect to have a better read on whether Scott Thorman is the answer at first and/or whether Saltalamacchia can be an alternative first base option. And those answers will determine whether Saltalamacchia becomes their No. 1 trading chip at the deadline — but only for a major player whom they’d control for multiple years.
Yea read that yesterday Donovanis
Please lord, dont let it be Felix Pie. Wonder if AZ would part with lil’ Upton for Salty. They have a very young, prospect-filled, outfield with, well, Young and Quentin. That could be a sweet deal for the Bravos. Otherwise, lets get that 1B mitt with Salty stitched in it.
Dont we have a Felix Pie clone in the minors named Blanco?
Thanks mraver.
top-end speed at leadoff is overrated. OBP is the most important stat for leadoff in my opinion, and KJ has been solid there for the most part.
mraver,
Well said.
KJ is not the problem…In fact I’m not worried about the offense in the slightest. It’ll be fine. Pitching is where it is at.
We should package Escobar (I don’t think he’s gonna be a superstar or anything) and prospects for a pitcher.
I also think McCann must be injured. He hasn’t seemed himself in a while. If he is, I wish they would just put him on the 15 day DL and let him rest.
so that’s saying that we are going to stick with thor until july, then if he is not panning out we will explore other options? the braves blind faith in players drives me nuts, but it is also one of the reasons the club has been so successful (look at laroche last year). talk about a double-edge sword.
I think our budget constraints require that we give young cheap talent all the chances in the world before moving on to another solution.
But if that doesn’t work out, this jumped out at me from Jayson Stark’s article:
“An official of one team that inquired about Griffey says Griffey has informed the Reds he won’t oppose a trade ‘in the right scenario.’ But outside of the Braves, a club he has told friends for years he’d go to, it’s tough to say what he’d consider ‘the right scenario.'”
We could move Matt Diaz to a 1B platoon with Salty, keeping Salty as our backup catcher, and put Griffey in left field. That would be fun. Do you think the Reds would trade him to us if we changed Chad Paronto’s name to “Gary Majewski”?
lol @ 56
I love Griffey Jr. and would support any trade for the kid.
I’d love to have him too, especially if he WANTS to play in Atlanta…if it doesnt cost us an arm and a leg, we should pursue it…..
I love Griffey Jr. and would support any trade for the kid.
I wouldn’t support any trade for sim (such as the arm-and-leg deal referenced by Donovan), but I’d certainly love to have him on the team.
There have been at least a half-dozen times over the last decade when such a deal has been rumored, though, so I won’t hold my breath.
And by “sim,” I mean “him.”
Griffey would not cost us an arm, but probably a leg since he hasn’t had two good ones since 2001.
Damnit CJ. You beat me to that joke.
two words A-Rod. discuss
JoshQ- I agree that McCann could do with a few days off. In fact, if he’s not going on the DL, at least give him like 4 days off in a row, basically letting him spell Salty on occasion. Do this until the ankle/wrist are feeling near 100% (assuming this is possible….). Having a productive and healthy McCann is very important to Atlanta’s success this year.
Also, if we can get someone to think that Escobar is a ML SS, we might be able to get a decent starter for him. But otherwise, I wouldn’t mind holding on to him and having him play the role Willy Aybar was supposed to play. Heck, it would mean fewer ABs for the Woodwards and Orrs of the world, and that’s definitely a positive.
I’d go for Junior if we could get him without giving up too much, and would consider a deal including Saltalamacchia if there were a pitcher coming from Cincy as well. But since Junior is out a third of the time and Chipper is out a third of the time, that means that about a sixth of the time the team’s two top players will both be out.
Stephen,
Thanks a lot man…I’ll make sure to pay your proper respects in the post..
And they were talking about this last night…during the game, about moving Chipper to first…Sciambi said Bobby would never ask a player to move in the middle of the season and he wouldn’t ask Chipper to move…I love the way Escobar has played, but I still think the best move would be to trade him for pitching help, I think the Giants and Cubs could really use a middle infielder that can hit and play defense…Noah Lowry or something to that effect?
Mac, that may be too much math for me to comprehend on a Friday afternoon.
Salty, Davies, and prospect (Reyes maybe)for Harang and Griffey. We would probably have to ask for some agreement to get the Reds to pay a little salary,
Oh, and in the Giants case, not a 158 years old.
Noah Lowry for Escobar? I don’t think that is likely.
Yeah lets waste a future star on an aging Griffey Jr.
No thanks!
That Griffey trade may have had legs about 5 years ago. (pun intended)
I wouldn’t consider giving up Salty unless we got pitching to make it worth our while.
I’d take Hill for Salty 😀
I’d say Harang qualifies as “pitching” that would make it worth our while.
RE the Griffey thing, I just don’t see it. The Braves appear to be following the model of other mid and small market franchises, whereby they develop their own playes who they will have control of, rather than get aging has beens with big salaries. Look at the mess the Yankees are now. They have a a bunch of expensive dead weight and still can’t win. I see the Braves continuing to develop players like McCann, Francouer, Johnson, Salty, James, Escobar, Davies, etc. and holding them as long as possible, while trying to sign a free agent here or there at a reasonable price. Anyway, back to the Griffey thing….he is certainly a shell of his former self, and could blow his hammies out anytime. Besides, LF has actually been decent, and it’s 1B and starting pitching that are the problems. Also, Can Diaz play 1B? What would the salary implications be with getting Griffey?