San Diego Padres vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – May 30, 2011 – ESPN.
Such a bad offense. The Padres, if anything, are even worse, but at least they managed one more run. They took the lead in the first in a Padres Rally — a single, a stolen base, an error, and a groundout. The Braves tied it up in the bottom of the inning on a Brian McCann double. In the bottom of the second, the Braves had first and second, one out, but Alex Gonzalez was picked off second. The Padres put together three singles, the first by the pitcher, in the third to make it 2-1, but the Braves tied it up in the bottom of the inning on a Martin Prado double and a McCann single.
We then entered the long dark afternoon of the bad offenses, as both teams flailed around miserably. Tim Hudson and Aaron Harang both left after six. McCann led off the sixth with a double, and stayed there. The Braves got a couple of runners on in the seventh, but they also stayed there. The Padres loaded the bases in the ninth off of Jonny Venters, but he got a GIDP. Finally, in the tenth, George Sherrill allowed a solo homer to a lefthanded hitting backup catcher who entered the game hitting .138 and slugging .172. Ballgame.
lets be fair…. the Padres pen is damn good… we have played really well this month and have stayed in the wild card race… and Brooke Schafer is mindboggingly hot
Stop it. Just stop it.
We’ve won 4 out of the last 6……
I already predicted a restraining order a few threads ago.
Watch out Molina brothers, the Phillips brothers are comin’ for ya.
that last sentence was hilarious
I am stunned by the lack of offense, they could do no worse if i suited up and played.
They scored 8 just two days ago…. Gonzo is actually hitting, Prado and McCann are hot as hell right now, Hinske is cold, Schafer is a spark plug, Uggla before today looked like he was getting good swings. we’ll be fine.
HInske needs to be put back in the garage until he transforms back into a magic carriage. He’s drifted into pumpkin stage.
I’m not scared yet… You have to hope the pitching is for real and that Uggla will not be the worst 2B in the majors for the entire year. McCann is finally catching fire, and Schafer is doing well. Freeman is progressing.
Normally, I’d say women belong in the kitchen and shouldn’t be commenting on anything sports-related, especially the internet, but you actually made semi-sense… Hopefully, it’s not a fluke
Alan Greenspan said “Irrational Exuberance” thats how i feel anytime they do anything even remotley well. Like Schafer is hitting 260 and im thrilled! Irrational Exuberance!
Schafer is also walking a bunch, but by all means batting avg is the end all and be all statistic. Let’s just ignore his .400 OBP
Oh good lord. I took a couple days off hoping some things would run their course, and I don’t mean the offense.
Bethany knows more than the stalking sexists pigs who comment here.
Hey Mac, can I call your attention to #9?
ILoveemmastoneandjordanschafer’slittlesisiterandcan’tgetachickinreallife,
Bethany’s baseball IQ is far superior than 95% of the population. Dude or chick.
Okay. I hope so. I have just found that a lot of times, they aren’t. I was complimenting her.
“I was complimenting her.”
ILoveEmmaStone, you are an idiot.
Braves now 3-5 when the other team scores 3 runs. We’ve scored 2 runs or less in 20 of our games. It’s a miracle we aren’t 10 games back.
Still have time to get things going, but Heyward simply has to come back and be productive. Gotta be the worst outfield in the majors without him (and still pretty bad with him).
Umm… I’m pretty sure I know what I’m saying… but it’s really not just women that generally do not know baseball… it’s most fans in general….
I got in an argument with someone on twitter about how awful Proctor has been and how he has been lucky considering what his FIP and xFIP is….. And he spits back at me that he has no losses…. huh?
if the fish lose today we are still just a game and a half back in the WC
“Normally, I’d say women belong in the kitchen and shouldn’t be commenting on anything sports-related”
“I’m pretty sure I know what I’m saying… but it’s really not just women that generally do not know baseball… it’s most fans in general….”
Ok, see: your first point contradicts your second point. You may not see that, but it’s pretty clear to the rest of us.
In fact, it’s pretty clear that you’re just a sexist asshole. And not just any sexist asshole; you’re actually more sexist than most sexists living today. You’re a caricature of the 50s, the type of person who watches Mad Men and thinks it’s celebrating patriarchy. There’s no place for that here. We have put up with your weird stalker-like comments, but there’s no place for that here.
You’re probably right. And I am in a kind of a bad mood. But I am no sexist. I apologize to Beth.
@22,
Good move.
ILoveEmmaStone’s interpersonal relationships with women are clearly his strong suit.
I think he should take a page out of Schafer’s playbook and go have some f***ing success somewhere else…
Thanks 23, and Rob Cope, I am not going to go elsewhere… I can only apologize for what was said out of frustration and trying to be funny when clearly it wasn’t.
Let’s change the subject.
What line does Schafer have to hold to make him the better option for CF over Nate?
Good move, Bethany.
I think that if he can keep his OBP over .350, Schafer is the better option than McLouth.
I agree…. and even if he can’t, isn’t it a lot better to find out whether or not Schafer is the answer going forward than using McLouth, who we know isn’t going to be a part of the organization in 2012.
the problem is that nobody knows what Fredi is thinking or if he’s even paying attention to the game, so for all we know he hasn’t seen a Schafer AB yet?
League average OBP (.320) and decent defense. Let’s not get greedy, Nate’s salary is 6.5 in 2011 and 10.6 in 2012.
Classy move, Bethany.
@27, I don’t think it needs to be that high. Nate’s OBP is around .330, last year it was .298, and for the few years before that it was .350. The last two years, McLouth has had no power.
All things being equal, Schafer looks hella better in center. If he keeps an OBP around .320, it will be hard to claim McLouth is more valuable in that spot.
I miss Coach and gadfly.
I was a little surprised by how confident the ESPN crew was that Schafer is here to stay. Injury or no, his numbers have been consistently bad since 2009.
I don’t think it was the whole crew. I think Bobby Valentine was the one saying that. I think Hershiser even brought up later that Valentine seemed oddly confident that Schafer was up for keeps.
So???? They aren’t bad now….. why do we keep looking back at his past, MINOR LEAGUE, numbers
…okay, there’s no way you’re a real person.
DOB had a good piece on Prado today. Now that he’s an outfielder (for the time being), there’s a Brave from the past who he reminds me of — Gary Matthews. Not that they are identical players. They have very similar slash lines, but different ways of getting there — Prado (.303/.351/.451) hits a lot more doubles and a few more singles, while Matthews (.281/.361/.439) hit a few more HRs and drew a lot more walks.
Both have/had the capacity to be the best player on a good team for significant stretches, but usually settle in as the second- or third-best. There’s always somebody around with more natural talent (Murph, Horner, Chipper, Heyward), but the results achieved by Matthews and Prado are as much a product of conspicuous effort as of natural talent. Not to say those others don’t also put in the requisite training and effort (well, except Horner), but they all make hitting LOOK a lot easier than Matthews or Martin.
It’s that conspicuous effort that raises their profile among their peers, and gives them extra cachet in the clubhouse. Matthews as a Brave was still developing the persona that earned him the nickname Sarge later in his career, and Prado is charting a similar path — in a couple more years, he’ll also be one of the guys teammates will have to answer to. He’s the best.
I am most definitely a real person. I don’t see why Schafer is playing well and nobody can accept that… Instead they remain skeptical as hell
You’re asking why people are skeptical that someone who was bad in the minors can succeed in the majors? Most analysts agree that the majors are harder than the minors.
Venters was pretty bad in the minors… Schafer is solid… taking good at bats…. he’s our CF of the future so why not let him play???
Sigh… Mama taught me to never get into a farting contest with skunks.
15 of the first 40 posts on this thread are by Schafer’s sister’s stalker, and like 13 of them are complete nonsense. I’m not sure if I should be amused or annoyed.
I’m not a stalker… Tell me how it’s nonsense to expect a former top prospect to start performing like one with a healed wrist and confidence?
find another baseball player that has been as bad in the minors as Schafer and found success in the majors. It’s ok to be skeptical and one should be. Why in the world would intelligent baseball followers dismiss over 2 years of mediocrity in the minors because Jordan’s been successful in the majors for one frickin’ week?
Now find someone who was bad in the minors, gets called up to the majors, finds success for a short period of time, only to fall back to mediocrity after pitchers make adjustments. A dime a dozen…
right now, Schafer is showing extremely solid plate discipline… I’ll take that
What the heck is going on here.
@32 – I forgot all about gadfly. The Ghosts of Braves Journal Past.
@44 – You don’t get points or anything for the number of posts you make.
@41-The novelty is starting to wear off.
Uggla’s turning into a real concern. Even if you assume he rebounds to some extent, the ship is about to sail (if it hasn’t already) on this being anything other than the worst full year of his career. That’s a very bad thing in the first year of his deal, and it’s all on Wren.
Nate has been terrible, ACHE was terrible, Glavine 2.0 was terrible, Kawakami (as far as production for the money) has been bad, Kotchman was awful, (and the Teixeira draft pick turned into Mike Trout), Lowe hasn’t been terrible, but he hasn’t been a bargain.
Wren’s done some good things: Vasquez two times(even w/Melky), Infante, Jurrjens, LaRoche, dumping Jeffy, but if Uggla’s contract turns out to be an anchor, it’ll make me wonder if he’s a lot closer to Dayton Moore than I’m comfortable with.
Well, I don’t think Wren thinks JoJo Reyes, Brayan Pena, Francoeur, etc are good ideas… we’ll be fine
We can look at Schafer’s big league numbers too. Those aren’t so hot.
@48 yes, but he was hurt so those numbers don’t matter. That’s what his argument will be, at least.
Don’t tell Coach or Gadfly or Chief!!!
Schafer’s numbers when healthy in the bigs have been great. But yeah, let’s just selectively ignore them
Does Dale Murphy post here in the offseason?
http://murphtalks.blogspot.com/
Weirdly, he’d fit right in.
Gotta agree w/Ryan @ 43. I’m more than willing to let him ride this streak out, but the Schafer thing smells a lot like the Jeffy defense. Eventually, pitchers are going to adjust and we’ll see how he responds.
umm… Jeffy was easy to figure out… he swings at everything… Schafer has shown patience since he got called up
So we should only take schafer’s high school numbers into consideration?
So, what would it take to pry JJ away in a trade? What offer at the deadline would make you guys think twice?
@56
Jose Bautista or Ryan Braun
54-Not the point. For his minor league career, Schafer has averaged 146 K per 162 games. Eventually, he’s going to be challenged in the majors and his minor league track record doesn’t indicate he’ll make enough contact to survive a BABIP slump, much less a regression due to the improved competition.
Thus far Schafer has struck out twice in 6 games… he’s shown he can make contact… let’s see if he struggles and THEN think about sending him down when McLouth comes back. If Schafer continues playing like this then he’s our CF for hte long future
If he starts sucking, will you agree to never post here again?
58- Exactly. Just as pitchers figured out that Frenchy swings at low-hanging clouds, they’ll discern that Schafer really can’t hurt them if they keep the ball in the strike zone.
Mind you, I’d probably still keep Schafer over McLouth if he keeps his OBP over .330 or so, and keep him on the roster unless he really stinks up the joint. I like the idea of having *someone* on this team who can run.
Thus far Schafer has struck out twice in 6 games… he’s shown he can make contact
No one’s that stupid. Go away.
About adjusting — to listen to Schafer, he has said he’s bringing an adjusted approach to this opportunity. Sure enough, his swinging strike % has dropped from 28% in 2009 to 13% and his ball in play percentage has increased from 22% to 34%. Small sample size, but it speaks to an approach that this team would find useful, if he can keep it up.
Yes, but what happens when pitchers realize he’s not going to swing any anything and if they just ram strikes down the middle he’s going to weakly ground out?
I guess we’ll see. I doubt anyone is pitching scared of him to this point — the adjustment he claims to be making, if real, is greater than most pitchers will bother to make to him. He’s no special case (but don’t tell him that).
I mentioned yesterday that Schafer’s minor league strikeout and walk rates have looked okay, and that if he can bring those numbers to the majors, he can be useful. It’s not like McLouth has been tearing it up out there or like there’s a lot of competition on the bench for the 5th OF role.
But it’s important to be realistic about what he can achieve out there. If he can get on base at a .340 clip with a bit of power (he still hasn’t shown much in his brief stint), he’ll be useful.
HE’LL START…. That’s more than being useful… the days of McLouth being the starting CF are over forever
Nate wont lose his job due to an injury. He’ll be starting as soon as he’s off the DL. I’m not saying its the right thing either.
Hey, everybody’s got their favorite players, however irrational the choice is.
Not unrelatedly, KJ with a double, a triple, and two HR tonight 🙂
@56
A top 20 hitting prospect and a couple of lottery tickets wouldn’t be a bad place to start discussions.
Man I really wish there was an ignore button on here.
@69, I just peaked in on that game, and I was surprised to see that Micah Owings is still a pitcher. After the last couple of years he’s had, I really would have thought he’d be a full-time DH on an AL club by now.
Speaking of irrationally liking players, as I have advocated on here many times before, I would love to see somebody give Micah a shot to hit, or try him in a Brooks Kieschnick role. The DBacks said they were going to give him some at bats at first base this spring, but nothing really came of it. He’s 28 now, so I doubt it’s ever going to happen, but I’m fascinated by him as a player, he’s got a lifetime .843 MLB OPS (202 PA) and a .828 MILB OPS (88 PA.)
Maybe I just enjoy the Micah Owings bobblehead that I got at a DBacks game in ’07.
I think Schafer’s OBP is going to struggle to be above .310-.320 before long, but as long as it’s above that, he’s got to be in there in front of Nate.
Bethany, he’d still have value as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner that Mather and Conrad would not have. We need someone on this plodding team that has a little speed and fire in the belly.
Okay, NL all-star:
1B) Votto – over Fielder — 48 walks!
2B) Weeks
SS) Reyes – sure, Tulo has gobs of HR, but he’s hitting .250 playing half his games at Coors
3B) Chipper – I love that Chipper at 97 years old is actually the best 3B in the league this year. Doubles machine!
C) This really shouldn’t be close this year.
OF) Berkman, Kemp, Braun – Berkman is having a silly year, and Kemp is still the scariest hitter in the league. I went with Braun over Holliday because, you know, whatever.
So two Braves. Both legit, thanks to a shallow 3B NL field.
I’m glad Jeter is in his decline. I’m a shortstop away from having nothing but AL East players on the other half of the ballot. Geez.
That Arizona offense makes me salivate… I mean, of we score more than three runs it feels like a fluke, and they just dropped 15 on a decent staff.
Proctor looked good today. I didn’t know he threw so hard (94).
Why the hell would Nate get his job back if Schafer plays like this?
As ububba has written before, there is an “Ignore” key on your keyboard — it’s spelled “PgDn.”
Otherwise, please do not feed the trolls.
Braves vs. Padres: unwatchable.
Black Eyed Peas halftime show: unlistenable.
James Joyce: unreadable.
This thread: unbearable.
Someone’s gotta go. I bet there’s a nice little place where Gadfly, Wun, Coach and all the other trolls are.
Wow, I am way too good at NCAA Football ’10 for PS3. The online rankings have me at #13 in the world…I need to get a life lol.
Jo-Jo Reyes won a game for the first time in 29 starts. Pitched a complete game against the Indians. He’s actually been a decent back of the rotation starter for Toronto with a 4.15 ERA.
Nate McLouth will personally send Jordan’s Hayfer back to Myrtle Beach. Has Jordan ever made an All-Star Game? I didn’t think so.
Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are quite readable, and very good. I’ve never yet tried to tackle Ulysses, or heaven help me Finnegans Wake, but Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist are just good.
The legnths people will go to impress someone’s sister…
I’ve never had to go past 10 inches.
@85 Have you ever been to Dublin, Alex? It’s a great city, with surprisingly good food.
Finnegans Wake is the best book I’ve ever read. There are no words to describe it. It’s like a major life experience to dive in and figure it out. It’s something everyone should do.
I went to Dublin as part of a high school trip when I was 16 or 17. It was fun and all, but on the other hand, strictly enforced sobriety isn’t the way I’d ideally want to experience the city. I’d love to go back and dive in with fuller gusto.
This is all my fault. I was doing cartwheels when we signed Uggla and I’ve kept holding on to the “he’s a late starter like Texeira” line, but I gotta admit he’s just rancid right now.
A total bust.
We can bash Wren and Fredi all we want (and I’d still like to get a do-over on those two), but Uggla and Heyward are killing this team with their offensive ineptitude. Everyone else is sorta close to where we expected. Thank God we’re in the Deadball Era and have stockpiled good pitching.
If nothing else, Schaefer (sp?) has injected some speed and piss and vinegar into a totally lifeless dugout. (Can’t wait to see what you wordsmiths will do with that.)
This is like watching Tubby Smith basketball – relatively competent, boring as hell.
The Biblical analogy is that of the servant burying the talent.
@90 Their entire way of life in focused around getting totally wasted. Shops open late and close early to maximize pub time.
I think it was one of my favorite Irishmen, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, that reportedly said “If whiskey had not been invented, the Irish would rule the world.”
Whiskey is the reason we should voluntarily allow the Irish to rule the world.
87—They say that on the internet, all women are men and all children are cops—I’m guessing 10 inches is 4 inches.
Very funny, though.
Favorite old joke: why can’t women parallel park? They have been told 5 inches is really ten their entire lives.
And the reason there are relatively few female engineers is that for centuries men have been telling them that
——————————————————
is eight inches.
#88
I’ll assume you’ve never tried the “traditional Irish breakfast.”
Their notion of bacon is rather different.
Justhank, it’s not your fault. You’re just going through the normal steps of grieving, starting with guilt.
The thing about Guinness is it’s awfully hard to get purely wasted on it; it’s only about 4 percent alcohol or so. As Shane MacGowan once sang, “When the world is too dark and I need the light inside of me, I’ll walk into a bar and drink fifteen pints of beer.”
“I am going, I am going, where streams of whiskey are flowing”
Btw, bye-bye Thrashers.
Damn I love this blog.
@97 I stayed away from that. “Traditional Irish” anything is asking for trouble.
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol
Come trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats
And the railway bulls are blind
There’s a lake of stew, and of whiskey too
You can paddle all around it in a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
That sounds great, but I’m a bit wary. I heard if you fall asleep in the Big Rock Candy Mountains, you wake up without a kidney.
I’ve got Dubliners and Ulysses on my Kindle (got both for a dollar apiece) but I haven’t gotten up the nerve yet to try them.
Dubliners is a book of short stories. The stories are pretty easy reads, and, aside from the last one, they’re short enough to knock off if you’re a few minutes early to a meeting.
The last one’s probably the best, though I like the one with the mother and the tenant sleeping with her daughter. I like that one a lot, actually.
I was talking about Ulysses of course. Two friends of mine celebrate bloomsday every year, but even they haven’t read the book in its entirety.
Dublin is a great city. Trinity college, wow. The Jedi Archives are a 1:1 reconstruction of their Long Room.
http://www.schildheuer.de/reisen/irland06/irland1.htm
And the Irish obsession with whiskey (NOT “whisky”, mind you) has no limits. Once I came across a funeral where every mourner (including women) recieved a wee drum right at the grave.
@106 Indeed, from getting to see the Book of Kells and that library room, it was an amazing experience.
Ulysses is a beast, for sure. I found reading it out loud helped quite a bit when I took a stab at it back in the late 80’s. Although I never actually finished it, it totally opened another door of perception about language for me.
Game thread is up.