Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets – Box Score – April 24, 2010 – ESPN.
I honestly don’t know what to say. Obviously, this is a low point, and you’re going to have some low points. But the play of certain Braves — not just newcomers like first baseman/oscillating fan Troy Glaus and the indescribably terrible Melky Cabrera, but established players like Yunel Escobar, who apparently spent the offseason ramming his head into a brick wall — is monumentally depressing, unless you root for the Phillies or Mets.
Jair Jurrjens kept the Mets off the board for five innings. Sheer incompetence kept the Braves off the board for five innings, highlighted by the time when Troy Glaus flew out to right-center with one out, and Yunel, at third base, took off rather than tag up while Martin Prado at second base did tag up only to arrive at third base to find Yunel standing there and wound up being tagged out trying to get back to second. Yunel is dumb.
Finally, the Braves got a run in the sixth when Ross singled in Melky to make it 1-0. Melky immediately gave the lead back, letting Jason Bay hit the ball over his head for an RBI double in the bottom of the inning. And in the seventh, Francoeur, of all people, doubled in a run and went to third on the pointless throw and scored on a sac fly by Henry Blanco, of all people. And Manny Acosta, of all people, picked up a win with 1 2/3 innings of hitless baseball.
I honestly don’t know what the Yankee fans saw in Melky Cabrera. He has no discernable baseball skills. He can’t run, he can’t hit, he can’t field. He’s the perfect no-tools player. Glaus at least has the excuse of injuries and age.
adding to the no skills of melky is the fact that he’s being used in a ridiculous manner. after 2 horrible plays out of him in center, there’s no f’n way bobby should ever let that assclown back out there. he has nothing to offer this braves team: 1. he’s no better than diaz against rhp 2. he’s no better than mclouth against lhp or rhp 3. he looks like he ate a few boston butts this offseason
Would you do:
Freeman, Medlen, plus two of Vizcaino, Delgado, and Teheran
for
Adrian Gonzalez
I’m not sure if I would. It’s just a tough call….
Would it help if we threw in Melky?
@2 no
no, sounds like another Teixiera deal
If we were the Mets, TP would have been fired a long time ago.
I’m hoping Mondesi Day comes early this year.
Can we move Chipper to first and get the man a really hot pilates coach?
is that a whopping total of 4 runs scored in the last 6 games?
Yunel got his ass chewed by Cox.
@10, Speculation or did you see that somewhere? Because holy shit he deserves it.
DOB tweeted it, should have linked.
http://www.twitter.com/ajcbraves
Thanks for making me laugh with your recap, Mac. I remember you saying once that a hitting coach really has little bearing on how an offense performs (That is if I recall correctly. Sorry if I’m misquoting), but firing Pendleton would really serve to make me feel better right now.
Good thing we spent a zillion dollars on 40 year old relievers instead of shoring up the offense!
Not that he’s good or anything, but Yankee fans probably saw his 102 wRC+ in his age 24 season or his +7.0 UZR/150 in center field.
@14 I would consider that $$$ well spent if they continue to perform the way they have so far this season. You really have to go back one off-season to discover where the real payroll black hole was born.
What a disastrous series this has been.
I created a new Facebook group, “Melky Cabrera Still Sucks“. Yankees fans already had “Melky Cabrera Sucks”.
Melky is one of those guys the Yankees have had a lot of over the last 10-15 years. They play well there, but can’t duplicate it anywhere else when they move on.
He’ll wind up back there eventually and suddenly rediscover how to play the game.
I still don’t see how you hate him more than Francoeur. At least Melky doesn’t talk.
And has only sucked for 3 weeks, not 3 years.
The sheer volume and quality of his suckage over those three weeks puts Francoeur to shame; in comparison, Jeffy looks like Musial. Remember, my rule is that I won’t be unfair to players who don’t violate the Lockhart Line. Everything I’ve said about Melky is true.
I heard that Brian Jordon called Chipper out in the post-game show. Can anyone shed some light on what was said?
Yunel should be put into a little room & made to watch his bonehead baserunning move over and over. That was the most egregious head-up-your-own-ass play I’ve seen in ages.
In a 0-0 game, he not only cost us a run, but also valuable out, perhaps leading to another run. He’s pulled some real head-scratchers in this time, but that was the all-timer. A Major Leaguer has to be better than that. I honestly don’t know if he’ll ever get it.
BTW, no CF was catching that Bay ball. Dunno what it looked like on TV, but no chance.
Beautiful day for a game, though.
Rob,
Will give you a heads-up if I decide to go tomorrow night. Depends on the weather, of course…
I’ve been a longtime Braves fan and have kept my hopes up the past couple of years. We got off to a decent early start this year but the past two series has me thinking we are pretenders and not contenders. Our offensive play has just been miserable, to put it bluntly. Hope we can get this ironed out soon or else the Phils will run away from us in no time.
Jordan may be right about Chipper, but he’s said what he wanted to say and now needs to avoid becoming more obnoxious than he can already be.
Bobby needs to start getting his head out of his ass before the season is over. Time to start Hinske and Infante more often. Since Chipper is out for a couple days, Infante should play 2b. Once Chipper is back, have Infante in Center against lefties with Diaz in left. Against righties he should have McClouth in Center and Infante in left. For now he should at the very least platoon Hinske and Glaus. Screw Melky. This guy is just awful. He should be out of the lineup every day now.
Against rhp the lineup should be:
Prado
Heyward
Chipper
McCann
Escobar
Hinske
Infante
McClouth
Pitcher
Against LHP the lineup should be:
Prado
Heyward
Chipper
McCann
Escobar
Glaus
Diaz
Infante
If Glaus and Diaz continue to suck even playing part time, them maybe we start Hinske full time. Basically Bobby needs to start playing the hot hand.
Meanwhile, Kelly Johnson has 17 hits so far, 13 of which have been for extra bases.
24- what did he say?
I’m just referring to what he said on the radio the other day. I don’t know what, if anything, he said today.
this is hard to watch. how long does Wren have before he has to get a bat? another week? i’m almost ready to bring J Dye in and see if he has any pop left…
@24m i agree with everything you posted, including the weather…i made the drive from DC last night to Atlantic City, gambled til 3am, got up at 9 and made the drive to Queens to watch that abysmal performance…just got back to DC about 45min ago.
We had seats in the Delta Club, about 15 rows up from the on deck circle, or in other words, in a perfect line to see Jeffy catch the liner, and Yunel standing there, bewildered, 2/3 down the baseline. I literally stood there, mouth open, stunned, until the bottom of the inning started, when one of the folks in my row turned to me and said “since when did the braves start playing like the mets?”
that summed up the day for me…
also, this was my first trip to citi field, and i was very impressed. had a great time, except for the actual game, of course.
28 — Maybe KJ needed a change of scenery to break out.
@33 — or maybe Terry Pendleton sucks.
KJ just hit his sixth homer of the year. He’s on pace to hit over 25 homers.
Remember what infuriated us about KJ: he’s incredibly streaky. It’s foolish for us to make conclusions about his first couple weeks. After all, if he was in a cold streak, we would be saying that it was great we let him go. It goes both ways, and both are equally likely.
As for Melky, give him some time. He is transitioning to a new league. Some guys struggle.
But… but… Rob, it’s the “easier league”!
Let’s just say that the Hawks did not help and leave it at that. The Falcons gearing up for another season with Jamaal Anderson, also not helping.
I don’t know what scouts were thinking calling Melky Cabrera a toolsy player. Hit? His hit tool is probably his second best one, and he’s not even a .280 hitter. Run? He’s kind of pudgy and he looks like a waddling duck running around (has he gained weight recently?), 40 runner at best. Hit for power? Not at all. Field? He looks like Magellan on those routes. His arm is his only above average tool. Stick a crappy approach with below average patience in there and you’ve got a just plain sucky player.
dont know what to say about Yunel, but I also dont know what to say about McLouth, Glaus, Melky, or Diaz either. This team cant score runs and they only have one good hitter, Prado. Heyward has his moments, but will struggle. Chipper is too injury prone to count on him for anything.
Brian Jordan is a clown for calling anyone out, he still sucks also.
So much for this team sending Bobby out on a high note. Hell, they may make him quit before the all star break
Maybe it’s time for Cox to deliver his “lollygaggers” tirade.
Let’s start calling Melky, “Blanco.”
New Melky nickname:
Francoeur 2: Electric Boogaloo
In honor of his suck, can we finsh the 64 worst braves tournament of champions?
Holy damn. I just noticed that the Orioles are 2-16. Christ!
@ 41
that’s #$%#ing classic. classic. I’m game with calling him that.
@ 42
it really sucks when you have Roberts and Suckingrighnowkakis and Matusz on your fantasy team.
BUT, Matusz is a stud and he’s got the only 2 wins for that team. Gonna be a LONG summer in Baltimore.
4 games ago the Braves were 8-5 and in first place. Now they’re 8-9. So on the one hand it’s just a slump. On the other hand, why does Bobby keep starting Cabrera and Glaus? Or really why is Cabrera still on the roster? It may be unfair this early in the season but I’ve already seen enough of him.
The hitting slumps happen and we will get through it, the mental errors are deplorable though.
What do you say about Yunel Escobar? Is he really that dumb? too bad he is our only IF that can play because I would trade him in a second to wake everyone up.
I would also remove TP from hitting coach ASAP, just to juggle things a bit.
Put him at 3B or something.
The last few years just shows how overrated managers are. Bobby is no different now than he was in 1998–he just doesn’t have the quality of players he had then. This isn’t a knock at Bobby but would another manager with the same team not have won all those division titles?
Changing the lineup isn’t going to make much difference if the key players don’t hit and the star player is hurt more often than it rains in Seattle. I think Jordan is right–it’s unfathomably how someone could be injured as much as Chipper, especially the same kinds of injuries. Not that he is the same player he was anyway.
As for Escobar, as much talent as he has, I suspect he is playing his way out of Atlanta, althought it might not happen until after the season. It’s not being dumb, it’s not being focused on his JOB. I wonder if Bobby would consider suspending or at least benching him?
jordan is an idiot, but what he said about chipper is completely true. chipper has no flexibility.
Streaky or not, I still maintain Kelly Johnson is the superior player between him and Martin Prado.
and marc, i agree with you. changing the lineup is probably not going to help matters much. the braves are just going to have to get through this period.
@47 Dan, where were you the past two years? We all watch Kelly playing every freaking day. He was our everyday second baseman and he played himself out of his job.
No matter how well Frenchy and KJ are playing for the other team, we made the right decision. Their performances for the past two seasons were just disgusting.
…and I think it’s really time for Chipper to think about retirement.
@50, Couldn’t agree more. I liked KJ and his attitude, but besides base stealing (MAYBE), I can’t think of one think KJ did better than Prado 2009-10.
I’d love for Chipper to be considered for hitting coach after he retires.
From the NY Times Mag article on the band The National:
“When the full band took on “Lemonworld,” the song traveled through iterations ranging from spooky to toe-tappy to hand-clappy. Through December and January, every Friday night the twins drove home from Bridgeport to Brooklyn, feeling glum about the song. Every Saturday they woke up and spent the weekend working in the studio that their older sister Jessica’s architect husband had converted for them out of Aaron’s garage… at the end of January, on a day when Matt was not in Bridgeport, Aaron admitted, “ ‘Lemonworld’ is on the border of getting left behind.”
“It’s the runt,” Bryce agreed.
“It’s Melky Cabrera,” Aaron revised, referring to a former Yankees outfielder who never quite found his role and eventually was traded.
“It’s at least weird,” Bryce offered.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/magazine/25national-t.html?pagewanted=2&ref=magazine
its time to get Nate back in the leadoff role and put Heyward back in the 7 spot. Screw changing with the lineups everyday. Melky sucks and should only be used in PH duties early in the games. I have more faith in Conrad than I do Melky.
Nate
Prado
Chip
Mac
Glaus
Yunel
Heyward
Diaz
If Nate needs a night off then let Infante play CF and leadoff, if we are facing a righty and Diaz needs a night off then play Hinske in LF. I knew these position problems would hurt Bobby more than help him. Keep the lineup the same and let at least one or two of these guys get out of their slump
were you the past two years?
Johnson was pretty damn good in 2008 from my recollection.
Beginning of the season slumps happen. When it happens to 5 guys at once its hard to win games. Bobby is being Bobby by playing Smelky so much, remember Jordan and Mondesi? or for that matter that sumbitch Frenchy. If anything I’d try to get Hinske some more at bats.
Brian Jordan is a dumbass. A guy as fragile as a piece of Waterford during his playing career calling Chipper out. None of us know anything about Chipper’s conditioning program but I am pretty sure that one of the Buck Commanders isn’t doing Pilates or yoga.
On KJ he was pretty good in 2007 and 2008. Should put up some good numbers with half his games in that hitters park. He is going to have a bad streak if the pattern holds out but for now he is on fire.
Now Suppan to the ‘pen. How long until Medlen and Lowe switch roles?
If only Joe Morgan were the GM of a baseball team. He’d see Lowe’s 3-1 record and say, “That guy knows how to win” and trade for him gladly.
57,
Medlen’s career high in IP is 120 and 1/3 and he only pitched 105 and 1/3 innings last year. If the Braves threw him in a starting role right now, he’d probably break down mid season.
For now I like what they’re doing, using him for 2 innings at a time, stretching him out a bit. Eventually when one of the starters goes down he’ll make it to the rotation, but I don’t think his arm could handle a full season yet. And maybe not ever, considering his small frame.
The game thread’s up.