Just to be clear, the game was closer than the score indicates. Brandon Beachy got his first win in a game that was a shutout until the sixth, when Prado hit a solo homer. The Braves made it 2-0 with a Freeman homer in the seventh, but Linebrink tried to destroy that. He gave up three hits while getting only one out in the seventh to make it 2-1, with one out and two on.
For all the grief that Fredi’s gotten over the past few games, let the record show that he made the right call. Rather than asking O’Flaherty, Sherrill, or The Lisp to get out of it, because it was only the seventh, he went with Venters. Venters struck out the first man he faced, walked the bases loaded, then got out of it with a groundout. Problem solved.
After Venters threw a perfect eighth, the Braves exploded for eight runs in the ninth inning to make it look like a completely different game. Conrad earlier in the game had finally gotten the Braves’ first pinch-hit, and Hinske‘s two-run homer gave them their first pinch-homer. Uggla hit a three-run homer later in the inning, and Hinske came around again and singled, and I don’t know if that counts as a pinch-hit or not.
Martinez pitched the ninth, not Kimbrel, so Fredi’s got that going for him too. The Braves even walked eight times. This is how this is supposed to work.
Listened to Monday night’s game for a little while in the car, and the Dodgers feed was on XM Radio. Even my wife, who could not care less, commented on how good Vin Scully was.
Good win last night for the Bravos.
Was that Martinez’d first Brave Save, or has term been retired. He looked good or had LA given up?
Less pressure on McLouth is good for him.
bulging disc for Moylan. He’ll probably be out awhile. Marek please…
http://atmlb.com/hLO2VX
jumped to 11th in ops and 1st in era. Great day to be a Braves’ fan.
@3, I second that. Saw him in the spring and he looked pretty good.
If anybody cares, when you get two PA as a pinch-hitter in an inning like Hinske did last night, the first PA counts as a pinch hit PA, the second does not.
So, Fredi used his best reliever in a high leverage, game on the line situation? I want Bobby back.
Along with getting Venters in there, Chippers diving stop that inning saved this ballgame.
Both hits should count as PH, and I believe it used to be the case. In what capacity was he batting the second time around, if not as a PH?
yeah, Scully is amazing. Skip was no vin scully, but watching it on mlb network last night made me long for the days when our team had an iconic voice that’s been with the team for decades.
Here was his take on Uggla: “you’d think that he learned to hit as a response to people making fun of his name. But take a look at the guy: would you make fun of his name?”
@8
While I agree that Chipper’s stop saved the game, most 3-baggers don’t have to dive for that ball. As we all know, Chipper’s not very “rangey”.
sansho, I agree with you, it should be two pinch hit PAs, but the official rules reads : “If a player acts as a pinch hitter and his team bats around in the inning, he may come to the plate a second time. The second (and subsequent) times he bats in the inning are not considered pinch-hitting appearances. “
B-R lists it as “Other”… I mean, what if a guy enters the game as a pinch-runner and gets a hit later in the inning? Would you say he got a hit as a pinch-runner?
@12 I wonder how it will show up in his splits. An entirely new category? The Pinchinske? (Edit: answered by Mac. “Other” is wholly unsatisfactory.)
@11 Bill James once said about another 3B (Carney Lansford?) that his lateral range consisted of how far he could fall to either side. Chipper reminds me of that sometimes. But hey, nice play.
Seriously, why is Brandon Hicks on this team?
Also, Matt Young’s presence on the roster makes me feel stupid. I pushed for him for 2 years and now he just seems like wasted space. Oh well…
Someone has to back up shortstop. BTW, Diory is hitting .279/.311/.442.
Great great games for Prado McLouth, and Freeman. Also, a really nice move by Fredi to bring Venters in to finish off the 7th.
The 8 walks and outburst of hits leads me to hope that the plate discipline and batting average on balls in play are going to improve. When they do, the offense will come.
In the meantime, I feel like it’s pretty important to get a win against Garland tonight. Kershaw is waiting in the wings…
What are the odds Bobby would have used Kimbrel in the 9th?
Five words: “He was already warming up.”
Also forgot to mention: I’m loving Beachy’s k/9 right now. If he can keep the ball in the ballpark, then he’s gonna be really, really good as the team’s #5 starter.
Hicks had an OPS of .692 and .613 over the last 2 years in AA and AAA. Diory’s OPS was .821/.758 over the last two years in AAA only. Hicks also committed 20 errors in just over 70 games last year.
Diory may never be anything more than a AAAA player, but I would much rather take my chances with him than Hicks. Hicks has never had a season that could pass for even average above A ball. Diory’s MLB sample size is still pretty small and his minor league track record is at least passable.
@21
I think the concern with Diory is that he seems to have to play every day to establish any level of effectiveness. Outside of his physical tools, Hicks hasn’t been effective in awhile, but if he swings hard he might hit it far. Diory doesn’t really have that going for him either.
What I’m interested in who the Braves replace AAG with when he goes down with his annual 2-3 week injury. I think Diory is in play there. Lucas has been terrible so far in Gwinnett.
@22 good point. Diory needs to play every day to be ready when/if
needed. Same with Minor. @20 Beachy seems beter than a 5.
Eh, I’m not so sure Fredi got this right. I’ll even give him a pass for sending Linebrink out there to begin with, but after he did he stuck with him for way too long.
Im wondering what the Braves plans with Beachy are now. At first, many thought this would be the Braves showcasing him until Minor got his secondary pitches a little sharper. However, he’s making it far more difficult to trade him while he’s this effective and getting paid league minimum. It doesnt appear that this is a fluke either. He’s got good command of 4 pitches and doesnt get rattled out there. Seems legit.
John Sickels did a career profile of Andruw Jones. I made several of the obvious comments.
Enough with the stuff about #5 or #4 or whatever–all members of the rotation will (except for injuries) get about the same number of starts.
27 – Sure, but that’s not really the point. Not all pitching staffs have five solid pitchers. So by labeling a pitcher the #4 or #5 starter, you’re not really making a point about him, per se; you’re making a point about the strength of the team’s rotation.
Personally, I like Beachy a lot, and think that he’s probably going to end up with better numbers than a couple other guys on the staff. I’m not denigrating him by lauding his effectiveness as a #5 starter. I’m lauding the depth of the Braves’ rotation. They have 5 good to very good starting pitchers right now.
Beachy has a better fastball than I thought he did. He throws hard His breaking stuff is kind of average. He seems to have a bit of Hanson in him in the sense that he seems to struggle to put guys away at times.
His delivery seems to be very repeatable. He has a a thick frame, and I like that. He should not have any arm issues. He has got a chance to be a good pitcher.
With Minor, Tehran in AAA, Delgado at AA, and Vizcanio in A ball, the braves are stocked with pitchers. The braves can phase the older guys out at the ML level in the next couple of years and save some money to use in other areas of need.
The future is very bright.
Best-case scenario for 2012: Derek Lowe pitches well enough to become tradeable and we trade him for Curtis Granderson.
ryan – any reason we can’t do that now?
———————-
On the other hand, I’m beginning to see why McLouth was the Pirates’ All-Star (which is different than, say, a Rangers’ All-Star).
McLouth’s speed and aggressiveness once on-base is a real asset and contributed to the Dodgers’ relievers undoing. Hope he can continue getting on.
I’m allowing myself to be impressed with our current center-fielder.
@ 26: I helped Abner lay out his first diamond, and Andruw Jones was the best defensive centerfielder, nay, outfielder, I have ever seen.
Apparently, a robot threw out the first ball in Philadelphia today.
Yes, it was booed.
@33
Funny.
I’m embarassed for these guys.
http://singularityhub.com/2011/04/20/robot-to-throw-out-first-pitch-today-at-phillies-game/
Can someone help me understand why we need to build robots to throw pitches? What’s wrong with pitching machines? /Grumpy old man
Gee, thanks, Philadelphia. Why not just hand the future of humanity over to the chrome-plated hordes on a silver platter? They will stop at nothing to destroy us. We know this.
Beachy is a good looking dude.
I found this picture amusing. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it looks like Hinske is trying to give the Dodgers catcher a high 5 and he’s not happy about it.
http://sbn.to/eIjzDJ
and sdp, i hope you’re getting laid. you sound like you need it.
@36 Exactly what I was going to say.
A machine that can throw baseballs? How novel! oh wait…
SDP is right – I’d say Beachy is our best looking starter. I’d rank them Beachy, Jurrjens, Lowe, Hudson, then Hanson. I’m a huge Hanson fan, but even the fact that Hudson reminds me of Lord Voldemort (post-reincarnation) from certain angles wouldn’t put him behind Hanson in the aesthetic rotation. Hanson is a true #5 starter.
I like beards on men, so Hanson’s ruggedness pushes him ahead of at least Lowe and his Yunel-like tips, in my book.
Kawakami on the DL with a “sore shoulder” (i.e. he and the Braves are passively-aggressively dueling).
Does Minor count? If so I’d put him ahead of Beachy.
I’ve always thought that Jurrjens had an unusually attractive face for a guy. Like if had had the right procedures done, he could probably make a decent looking chick. Though Beachy has strong features and is more traditionally handsome.
I’d probably have Lowe at the back end of my vanity rotation. He’s not a bad looking dude by any means, but he loses major points for the blonde highlights. Being in denial of his impending baldness doesn’t help matters either. Time to tighten up the lettuce before he starts looking like Gallagher.
I’ve clearly stumbled onto a bizarro Braves Journal …
We are playing San Francisco this weekend.. So, yeah.
Can we stop that please? Jennifer Aniston is sexy, or Megan Fox. And Sasha Grey, who was a topic on this very blog in the offseason, if I’m not mistaken. But not Beachy, not Lowe, not Jurrjens and definitely not Hanson.
Edit: 47, LOL.
Minor is right up there with Hamels in the “looks like a girl” category.
Or maybe that’s where you were going.
Well, as a female, and realist that most professional athletes are only attractive because of their status, I would still say Beachy is the most attractive of not just our pitching rotation but entire roster. Uniform aside, the guy is very good looking!
None of our five have anything on Cole Hamels.
So Wickman is probably up there in the rankings…
@50
http://bit.ly/ecHmWD
Hamels says thanks.
Mac may remember John Barth’s famous “girth v. length” debate …
I’m I the only one who thinks Hanson often resembles a young Axl Rose?
#47 – 🙂
Mark DeRosa – best looking Brave of the last 10 years? Suuuuuuuppperrrr Hot wife too.
What is this… prison?
I’ve always thought Beachy looked like this guy.
I always thought he looked kind of goofy, but I’ll readily admit my lack of expertise in the area.
Last 10 years? My sisters always commented on Javy when they watched a game.
#56 – LOL!
#58 – yeah yeah yeah, your sisters….. 🙂
The best-looking Brave is, pretty obviously, Mark Kotsay’s wife.
Javy was the main reason my wife — then, girlfriend — was first willing to become interested in baseball.
Oh look, there are a lot more comments now than a couple hours ago. Must be an interesting discus….Gah!!
I didn’t realize Brandon Wood was DFA’d. He never has put it together in the Majors but I’d still be interested. Not really sure if he can play Short though, my guess is no but we could use the IF depth.
#45 – I’ve always thought that Jurrjens had an unusually attractive face for a guy. Like if had had the right procedures done, he could probably make a decent looking chick… – John
LOL – what??
The only problem with picking him up is that he is to stay on the 25 man roster for the remainder of the season, right?
I guess you could replace Hicks with Wood, but you’d just be trading one no-hit SS for a no-hit 3B who might be able to play SS and 2B.
I think my wife is scarred for life by Zane Smith.
Where’s bethany to weigh in and settle this debate when you need her?
Beachy looks exactly like Koufax. If only he would pitch like him.
#66
Zane Smith had nothing on Don Mossi, who was described (by Bill James, I think) as “5-tool ugly.”
This has been brought up before, but those “America’s Team” Braves were essentially Murph and the Homelies. Camp, Oberkfell, Horner, Harper, Mahler…yikes.
Bitch.
Yes, we should absolutely take a flyer on Brandon Wood, when the alternate is Brandon Hicks.
Right now, I think Bill Hicks is a better hitter than Brandon Hicks.
Weird Al Yankovic was the first concert I ever saw. He was also the second concert I ever saw. I have every album he ever recorded through Running With Scissors. Some day maybe I’ll pick up Poodle Hat or Straight Outta Lynwood or this new one, just to maintain the matched set, but I have pretty much everything he ever did up to then, including an (extremely out of print) VHS of The Compleat Al and an (extremely out of print) tape of Peter and the Wolf/Carnival of the Animals.
Mac, one thing I love about Braves Journal is that not only are you a nerd, and not only are you a nerd in many of the same approximate ways that I am, but so are many of the commenters here. This is a good thing.
@74, “Poodle Hat” is very very good. The Avril Lavigne cover might be his smartest parody to date. There’s another track called “Hardware Store” (an original) which is brilliantly put together. “Lynwood” is okay.
Gaga is a doofus.
Apparently someone attacked the Auburn Tree Poisoner after his hearing today.
Someone slashed his tires a week ago at a supermarket also.
This is a bit more serious. He’s in the hospital, getting head surgery.
@68 Best looking pitcher? Minor, obviously, and he has the brains to go along with it. He’s got some growing up to do, though, still a baby face.
But my love is Martin and it will always remain that way.
Breaking: MLB to take over the Dodgers’ financial operations | HardballTalk.
FYI on the BS Report Buster Olney mentioned “Derek Lowe” and “Hall of Fame” in the same sentence.
I used to routinely mention to my girlfriend what a nice butt Prado has, but during the doubleheader Saturday, I did a bit of monocular work and noticed that his rump was enhanced by a batting glove in the left pocket and a can of dip in the right. Still ridiculous, but that took a bit of the shine off for me.
Happy to see that Bethany did not send tree killer to hospital.
79- Martin. Marvelous in so many ways…
@83 I have an air-tight alibi.
The Ents did it.
Seriously, is there any reason why Tim McCarver won’t pronounce Prado’s name “Marteen”? The other night the commentator alongside Tim brought up “Marteen” Prado and Tim, not 5 seconds after that, Tim says “Mar-tin”.
Tim McCarver, official douchebag of the MLB.
Next year’s VU hoops team to be the first team in history to lose to a 16-seed.
c. shorter @52 said,”So Wickman is probably up there in the rankings…”
You know, I haven’t thought about “Big Lots” in over a year now . . . so, thanks for that.
Game thread.