Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros – Box Score – April 10, 2012 – ESPN.
It would have been unprecedented for the Braves to not win any games, and indeed they finally won one, though it was more of a struggle than it should have been.
Chipper Jones was back, hitting sixth for some reason. He led off the second with a single, and was erased on a forceout; the Braves left two men on in each of the first two innings. The Astros took the lead in the bottom of the inning, 1-0 before leaving two on in scoring position.
With two out in the third, the Braves finally rallied. Brian McCann singled, then scored from first on a Dan Uggla double. Chipper then homered to make it 3-1. Tyler Pastornicky led off the fourth with a homer, making it 4-1.
Jordan Schafer stole two bases (Tommy Hanson still doesn’t have that under control, I see) then scored on a single in the fifth to make it 4-2. Kris Medlen relieved Hanson in the sixth, and got the Astros 1-2-3. Michael Bourn then manufactured a run in the seventh, walking, stealing second, and advancing to third and scoring on groundouts.
Medlen, unfortunately, didn’t quite have it in the bottom of the inning, allowing three singles, producing a run, and getting just one out before giving way to Eric O’Flaherty. O’Flaherty allowed one of Medlen’s runs to score, cutting the lead to 5-4, before getting out of the inning.
Jason Heyward singled and later scored on a pinch-hit single by Eric Hinske in the eighth. Jonny Venters struck out three around one single in the eighth. Craig Kimbrel wasn’t as sharp, allowing a hit and a walk, but got a double play to get out of serious jeopardy.
I’m getting JC’ed on a daily basis….
From previous thread:
It occurred to me yesterday that I’d forgotten to re-follow DOB once the season began. I haven’t missed it. Sounds like he’s flaking out anyway.
I don’t get why he cares about AJC reader comments, unless he’s received a directive to spend a certain amount of time there. Maybe he has. Either way, I’ll miss the quotes column. Heaven forbid we should hear the team’s interpretations of the game they just played….
Im not a fan of DOB, but I do follow his twitter updates. If you had to deal with the people on his blog you probably wouldnt want to give them any info either. AJC blog has turned to complete crap.
Small thing but I think Schafer had 3SB’s last night.
OK, if we win tonight and go 2-4, I’ll let Fredi’s kidnapped dog live.
Astros aren’t turrible, are they?
@4
A win tonight would be a nice rebound, but a lefty going could cause problems. I wonder if Fredi sits Heyward for Diaz again.
David O’Brien
April 11th, 2012
11:58 am
DOB 10:08
So DOB is no longer going to do post-game qoutes. I miss them night before last and always look for them. Not doing them stinks. Guess DOB is tired of the silly things his good buddy FREDI says after the loseing games. We will miss the qoutes. — George
No, I’m not tired of the things he or others in clubhouse said. They say what they want to say. What I’m tired of is the silly responses from people on this blog who get indignant at players and the manager for not saying what these readers want them to say, and then some even rip at Carroll and I for asking questions and transcribing the direct quotes to give you the answers. Not worth the time it takes to do something you won’t find elsewhere. As far as I know, not a single other beat writer around the country transcribes all the quotes nightly like we’ve done the past year
Somebody get the man a medal.
@7, I have to agree. DOB is just too thin-skinned.
What do people think about Tommy Hanson’s chances of developing into a workhorse-type ace?
We may be seeing some early signs that he’s learning how to extract himself from jams and pitch without his best stuff, which bodes well for more improvement. But do ya’ll think he’ll learn to pitch deeper into games too? I think the stolen-bases thing may be a lost cause.
Dude’s turning 26 this year.
#8 – Maddux never cared about runners stealing on him either. Hanson has the chance to be a ace pitcher for a long time. Seeing his velocity down is a little worrisome, but the only thing that will get in his way is either that shoulder or an elbow injury due to his mechanics.
Tommy Hanson is no Greg Maddux.
No, I’m not tired of the things he or others in clubhouse said. They say what they want to say. What I’m tired of is the silly responses from people on this blog who get indignant at players and the manager for not saying what these readers want them to say.
That might be the dumbest statement I ever read from a beat writer. Every single person with a brain knows that payers/managers do NOT say what they want to say. They say whatever is politically correct.
Ozzie, who might be the one exception, just got suspended for saying what he wanted to say.
Didnt say he was, I just dont think great pitchers care about runners as much.
@12 I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be provocative, but I would say that great pitchers don’t care about baserunners because they are great pitchers. And I’m not sure Tommy is a great pitcher.
No problem, but 470IP 403H 154BB 443K 3.27ERA 1.18WHIP 2.30BAA 120 ERA+ isnt too shaby.
Very true. I just personally find it frustrating to see people steal at will on him. But that’s probably compounded by the fact that we can’t steal a base to save our lives.
Bourn had a big SB last night.
Yeah. I watched the condensed game this morning, and Schafer was clearly having the better night of the two CFs up until that last rally where Bourne basically got a run with his feet (including a really nice slide around a bad through from Carlos Lee on a play at the plate). Frankly, I thought he might have been safe on his CS, too, but maybe that’s because I saw the play immediately following Schafer’s similarly close attempt get called safe. (Granted, McCann’s throw was a lot worse.)
It gets harder and harder to remember the days when I liked DOB and found his contributions valuable.
It’s funny but my reading DOB dovetails nicely with my finding Braves Journal. Once I found this site I hardly ever went back to AJC.
I have a family member who writes for ESPN.com, and he gets quite a number of dumb comments on his articles/blogs. I’ve always gotten the impression from him that those in the sports media don’t even bother reading the comments and if they do, it is strictly for entertainment purposes. Surprised DOB even reads them at all. If you put yourself out there at one of the biggest papers in the country, some people are not going to like what you write. Seems a little petulant to stop providing what must have been considered informative at one point since they were doing it at all.
@18, no kidding. When he first started, we had a nice email exchange about the value of OBP. About a year later, it seemed he’d forgotten the meaning of the acronym. The weirdest thing, as sansho noted, is his engagement in pissing contests on his blog. He’s just become a cranky, peevish purveyor of the banal. And the thing is nobody really cares if he’s a company man – I get that that’s what it takes to get and keep that gig. But getting your back up every time you get called on it doesn’t change anyone’s mind and you look like a dope when you respond.
Anyone interested in buying any tickets for the Mets series April 16-18.
These are my season tickets in section 217 row 3 seats 1 and 2 on the aisle.
I have them for sale on ebay. User id mailman93635. I would like $40.00 a game for both tickets.
Back to Tommy Hanson though, the velocity drop is a bummer but he could be just as effective without it. I wrote a piece today on it and mentioned the movement of his curveball. If he learns to control the breaking pitches a bit more (control issues so far are probably because of the new delivery)and mix his pitches he could still be a dominant pitcher. Apparently he’s trying to use a sinker this year too.
@21,
Give my best to John Stockton.
We’ve always been a single newspaper town, which is the reason blogs like this one thrive. I’d rather have it this way. Nobody that’s paid to cover a team in this town and that interacts with the manager and players on a daily basis is ever going to ruffle too many feathers. You wouldn’t either if you had his gig. We all watch the same games, probably some of us watch as many or more innings as DOB. I’d rather talk baseball with you guys, and let the AJC tell us about roster moves and injuries and the occasional quotes from players/managers/front-office. If you are waiting for DOB to write an article about how stupid Fredi is, or how much player xyz sucks, then I think your expectations might be a little off.
I’ve been wondering lately if the lack of enthusiasm from local fans, and its manifestation in dropping attendance, has any correlation to the Braves culture of waaaaah whenever anyone publishes criticism of them, and concurrently, the sycophantic media that covers them.
Maybe if the writers, the announcers, and the local radio personalities didn’t kiss their ass all the time, and criticized them from time to time, maybe people would feel more a part of the team…
The gamethread is up.