Florida Marlins vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – September 14, 2011 – ESPN.
So of course Alex Gonzalez saved the day. Everything is backwards this month anyway.
For six innings the Braves were two-hit by Ricky Nolasco — yes, the Ricky Nolasco — and it looked like the one real mistake Randall Delgado made, a homer by Greg Dobbs in the second, would hold up.
And then came the seventh, which started like most Braves innings, with a flyout (by Freddie Freeman this time). But Dan Uggla walked, and Brian McCann singled to make it first and third. Martin Prado bunted, and this time not only did the tying run score but he also reached base.
Jason Heyward flew out, but then AAG stepped to the plate. On an 0-2 pitch, he homered to left field. 4-1 Braves. Jonnny Venters got three groundouts in the eighth, and Craig Kimbrel two strikeouts and a flyout in the ninth, so hopefully those two are back to normal. Mr. Reliable, Eric O’Flaherty, got the win for a perfect, two-strikeout seventh.
From previous thread:
If we can just go 6-6, the Cards would have to go 11-2 to tie and 12-1 to win the wildcard. Oh, and they’re heading to Philly for 4 games starting Friday.
Damn day games. I didn’t even realize this wasn’t a night game until this post showed up in my feed reader.
I’m make up for it this weekend as I’m going to the Braves game Friday night, the Tech game early Saturday afternoon and hopefully the Braves game late Saturday afternoon.
In any case I’d rather miss a win that watch a loss.
Now if we could only play the Mets and the Marlins in the postseason.
Averaging 15Ks per 9 and has notched 44 saves. He probably won’t get ROY but I think Kimbrel sure as hell deserves it.
All the talk I hear about Kimbrel is that he’s a shoo-in for ROY. Of course, it could be Hideo Nomo all over again…
In 25 games, Kimbrel has either preserved a tie that resulted in a 1-run win, or he’s gotten a save in a 1-run win.
Of all the nicknames that we have come up with, O’Failurety is definitely not one that has applied this year to O’Flaherty. He has possibly surpassed Venters as the best reliever (non-closer) in baseball.
I wonder if anyone deserves credit for improving O’Flaherty? Pitching coach?
AGon is red hot in September 900+OPS. A little rest did him good.
Did Nolasco trip on Prado’s bunt or was he hoping it would go foul?
Not sure if it’s been noted anywhere but Uggla just hit his 34th home run, which is a career high for him.
I don’t know what McDowell’s affect has been on O’Flaherty, but it’s hard to find much to criticize in McDowell from a coaching standpoint. The guy has taken a lot of talented young guys and his influence has been impressive.
Look at the improvement in O’Flaherty, Kimbrel, Martinez, and Venters (especially over his minor league numbers) and the guy has to be doing something right. Add some very talented, but nevertheless improved young starters and you’ve got to tip your cap to Roger. The old guys in the bullpen and rotation are the guys who have not lived up to expectations, and at this point in their careers, I can’t imagine any pitching coach who would have much of an influence on those guys.
Correction – the old guys have lived up to expectations – most of them just weren’t very high in the first place.
9—It looked like he was just late going after it, and then he just spazzed when he got to it. The radio guys said he probably assumed the catcher would get it, and that’s the way it looked on video.
The Braves really only score much when they hit home runs. Other than that, they are pretty pathetic. They have a lot of power up and down the lineup but it often doesn’t show up. It they start hitting home runs, they are dangerous team.
14: Less dangerous than they would be if they were walking more – both because they’d have more baserunners to drive in and also because they’d be pushing more starters out and getting to face the lousy end of bullpens.
But apparently the real strategy is to be aggressive!
Roger McDowell and Larry Parrish are really opposites in just about every way.
Roger McDowell: Occasionally a good reliever.
Larry Parrish: Mediocre everyday third baseman.
Roger McDowell: Extremely good pitching coach.
Larry Parrish: Extremely bad hitting coach.
Roger McDowell: Made nearly career-ending homophobic comments.
Larry Parrish: Has not. But I hate him anyway.
Alex @16
McDowell: Made great cameo on Seinfeld
Parrish: Watches Seinfeld
Roger McDowell: Coaches pitchers to not throw balls.
Larry Parrish: Coaches hitters to swing at balls.
For what it is worth, B-R says that McDowell was worth 10.1 WAR in his career, Parrish 13.9.
18: You remind me of one of the ironies that has always bugged me about the “aggressive” approach to offense. I have always – always – heard the old baseball dogma about leadoff walks. “You walk a guy to lead off an inning, it will always come back to haunt you.” Growing up, I granted a mystique to the walk that I didn’t to, say, a clean single. But whatever.
The point is you can’t have it both ways it seems to me. If walks to the opposing teams are so horrible a concept that you shun the pitchers that give them up, then the converse is that hitters that work bases on balls would be doing a good job and employing an effective scoring strategy.
How hard is it to have a hitting strategy that’s all about knowing your strike zone, not swinging at balls, recognizing the balls that you can drill and swinging at those, but also letting a pitcher hang himself if he’s throwing wild? It seems like a basic, common sense approach.
Off topic, but I just finished reading Moneyball for the first time. I’ve started to get pretty interested in sabermetrics and I wanted to read it before the movie came out. Long story short, it was awesome. It’s a book that will truly make you rethink all the preconceived notions that we’ve been told for years and years about baseball.
Of course most of you probably know this already as the book’s been out for 8 years and this is the smartest group of baseball enthusiasts in the world. But I just thought I’d share that. Go Braves!
Roger McDowell: Has balls. (two)
Larry Parrish: Has balls. (two)
@21
LOL, that is how I felt after I read it.
Roger McDowell: Hates to see the players he coaches involved in a walk.
Larry Parrish: Hates to see the players he coaches involved in a walk.
See, different as can be…oh.
I think Parrish sucks, but McCann and Uggla have put up career highs in home runs
http://euqubud.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/scat2.jpg
from
http://playfulutopia.com/2011/06/20/more-unimportant-facts-about-hitting-coaches/
Parrish: career 7.1% BB against a league average of 8.5%
The last word in that first link made me fairly nervous about clicking it.
26,
Facts:
The Braves’ BB rate sat at 10.1% last year, third in the league behind the Rays and Yankees.
The league leaders in BB rate were, in order, the Rays, Yankees, Braves, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Red Sox, Twins, and Phillies. All of these offenses were above-average to great.
It has been shown time and time again that a high walk rate for the offense correlates with more scoring.
Parrish inherited basically the same team as last year, with the only major addition being Uggla (10.5% walk rate, including this season’s 8.8%). Some players were becoming better, some a little worse; but, all in all, the core had not changed.
The team’s walk rate declined by 3.0% this year. If you believe the media reports, it’s because Parrish has been instructing players to be more aggressive earlier in the count. If you don’t believe the reports, then go and re-watch today’s game.
This, of course, will lead to a weaker offense. The one thing holding back this team this year has been its offense.
If I can make these logical connections, I don’t see why JS and company can’t. It’s really disheartening and disappointing at the same time.
Slay-y-y-y-y-er!
John R. for hitting coach.
The Braves were a walking, patient OBP team just last season.
Are we to believe all the players suddenly forgot how to work the count? Or was there an ill-advised change in philosophy that came with the new coaching staff?
This team could win it all. Sure they could.
Why couldn’t they win a bunch of games like last night, where the offense finds some way to score and the relievers kill the opposition?
WS 2011, coming up next month!
Go Braves!
@32
From your mouth to God’s ear.
@32
Hey, why not us?
The problem I have with “media reports” is they are often not true. We don’t know what the hell is going on in the clubhouse, at the batting cage, or wherever. Maybe last year was the fluke. The Braves have had a ton of hitting coaches over the years and the offense has generally not been great. So, maybe it’s the hitters, not the hitting coach. What you need to look at is whose walk rates and OBPs have gone down? This isn’t the exact same team as last year; having AGon for the full season hasn’t helped. I’m not saying Parrish isn’t at fault, just that I don’t know. People were basically saying the same thing about Terry Pendleton until last year. It seems to me that, if this is a problem, it’s a problem with organizational philosophy. If the FO doesn’t consider this important, then they aren’t going to look for players that emphasize OBP. And, assuming that the stories about Parrish are true, then it’s clearly an FO problem because they hired, or allowed him to be hired. Generally, I don’t think they have an organizational philosophy about hitting; it has always seemed more catch-as-can.
@35
There is some truth to that, but every organization has a philosophy on hitting, pitching, drafting, base running, fielding, so on.
I think in the last few years we have been in a transition from swinging at the first strike you see to working the count.
Plus, guys grew up doing different things. The way Chipper grew up hitting and the way Prado grew up hitting were two different styles.
On top of that, you can be too patient at the plate. There are times when Heyward was taking too many pitches. There are situations in every game where a player should be more aggressive and expand the zone some, but not to a Frenchy level, but you get the point. Sometimes a hit is more important than a walk.
I don’t have a problem with how we have been hitting all season. I do have some issues with how some players have approached some pitchers. That is probably the hitting coach or the scouts fault.
The past week or so some guys, McCann and Prado, have really been pressing and haven’t played too well.
However, we all know that in October, it is all about pitching.
@28 is at least a pretty good campaign platform for Parrish as official Whipping Boy.
Statement from Chipper that supports desert’s argument…
On batting 2nd: “I understand why [Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez] is doing what he is doing with the lineup right now,” Jones said. “He’s trying to get the best on-base percentage guys at the top. But once guys who ordinarily hit at the top of the lineup start hitting again … The bottom line is I’m not a table-setter. I’m not a guy who is going to go up and see six or seven pitches.”
He’s always been a guy that sees lots of pitches. His OBP is 30 points lower than it was last year even though his batting average is 20 points higher. Why the change in tone?
anyone see this?
http://www.newson6.com/story/15456573/apparent-florida-state-fan-sends-offensive-tweets-to-ou-player
FSU is reportedly kicking this student out of school, and rightfully so.
Since the SEC week starts tonight with State and LSU I think its time to start praising the many attributes of Vandy’s team for Mac.
Defensive End Tim Fugger is leading the SEC with 3 sacks and Vandy has the most sacks as a unit in the SEC with 7.
Rob Lohr is leading the SEC in tackles for a loss with 4.
As a team they are second in the SEC with 5 interceptions and Casey Hayward is tied for the individual lead with 2.
And they lead the SEC in turnover margin at +4.
You really have to hold your nose, but I still hope FSU destroys OU.
Read a good story about FSU’s quarterback (I think it was in ESPN Magazine). Makes it much easier to be a Noles fan tonight.
Looks like the fix for Alex Gonzalez was Jack Wilson.
I wouldn’t mind going into next year with those two as our SS and backup.
Other than left field, it’s going to be hard to improve over what we’ve got. Sure wish Matt Diaz could hit like Manny Ramirez in his prime.
And what is this crap about Oklahoma preferring the academic profile of the Pac-12 over the SEC?
You’re Oklahoma. You know, Bootlegger’s Boy U. An AK in every jock’s room.
I’ll not argue that, as a whole, the Pac-12 institutions may be more highly regarded academically than the SEC (with the exception of the Vandy Valedictorians – and have you tried to get into UGA lately?), but for the Sooners to put on airs is a little much.
40—Looking forward to Saturday. Can we make it five of seven?
@44 Even Stanford has set up some classes to hide jocks in.
http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/stanford-athletes-had-access-list-easy-classes-9098
Picks & open thread are up.