Rays 5, Braves 2
Atlanta Braves vs. Tampa Bay Rays — May 19, 2012 — ESPN.
Randall Delgado is having an up-and-down rookie year, like much of the Braves’ pitching staff. Through his first four starts, he had a 6.30 ERA and 12 walks in 20 innings; then, in his next three starts, he had a 1.33 ERA and just 6 walks in 20 1/3 innings. When Randall’s control is on, the 22-year old is already a good major league pitcher. Last night, he didn’t have it.
He only gave up three hits in four innings — but he walked five men and one of those hits was a grand slam. And that’s all the Rays needed. The Braves scratched two early runs off Alex Cobb, a well-regarded prospect who was recalled from the minors just before the game, by stringing together three straight hits in the second inning. But then their bats went to sleep. They got just two hits and one walk over the last seven innings of the game.
The Rays are obviously a good team; there’s no dishonor in losing to them. But that plate approach was vintage 2011. There had better not be any cap-tipping today.
I wrote this one.
May 20th, 2012 at 10:15 amAlex: Great writeups. I hope Mac is ok. Question, though…shouldn’t you file them in “Recaps 2012″ rather than “Game Threads 2012″? Thanks!
May 20th, 2012 at 10:20 amOh, crap. I’ll go do that. Mac emailed me and asked me to do these. He’s getting some treatment Monday.
May 20th, 2012 at 10:41 amAAR, thank you for these recaps and/or threads.
From the guy who boldly predicted a 78 win season, I am very pleased with this team. However, I am wondering what we’d look like with a shortstop.
Mac, the prayers never stop. It cannot be said enough that cancer sucks.
May 20th, 2012 at 10:53 amBourn
May 20th, 2012 at 11:12 amPrado
Freeman
Uggla
Heyward
Diaz
Francisco
Ross
Wilson
Every bench player except Hinske is in the starting lineup:
Bourn CF
May 20th, 2012 at 11:13 amPrado LF
Freeman 1B
Uggla 2B
Heyward RF
Diaz DH
Francisco 3B
Ross C
Wilson SS
That’s not a terrible lineup, even if we have a pitcher hitting 9th.
May 20th, 2012 at 11:17 amKeep up the great work, Alex!
I really hope Simmons can become a passable hitter so we can bring him up.
May 20th, 2012 at 12:05 pmUmm.. ball game?
May 20th, 2012 at 12:47 pmI love these Heyward at-bats.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:00 pmYeah he’s been making guys work A LOT lately.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:01 pmDan Uggla got a terrific jump and he was still out by a country mile. Was that a missed hit and run?
May 20th, 2012 at 1:04 pmThat’s just plump stupid
May 20th, 2012 at 1:04 pmPretty awful Uggla steal attempt there.
Anyone have any idea why the Sam Fuld Wikipedia page is so…thorough?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Fuld
Jason Heyward is five times the player Fuld is and his page is a fifth as long.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:04 pm@10: It’s why I’m confident he’ll end up with a much better batting average than he currently has. Eventually the balls will start dropping and he’ll capitalize better on mistakes.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:05 pmPlumb stupid, rather
May 20th, 2012 at 1:05 pm#12: To my eyes, he looked like he slowed up right out of the blocks, Alex.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:06 pm@14- his agent, perhaps?
May 20th, 2012 at 1:08 pmHe went on first movement, and got such a good jump that he thought he.must be about to get picked off, so he stopped, stutter stepped, wasted that great jump and got beat by a MILE by a pretty bad throw.
This is because he is an experienced base stealer who should probably just be chained to first base.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:10 pmInexperienced… God damn phone
May 20th, 2012 at 1:11 pmBall sounds *heavy* coming off the Rays’ bats.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:13 pmROSS!
May 20th, 2012 at 1:18 pmNOT A NO-HITTER, NOT A NO-HITTER!!
NOT A SHUT-OUT, NOT A SHUT-OUT!!
May 20th, 2012 at 1:18 pmWooo!
May 20th, 2012 at 1:18 pmROSS!
May 20th, 2012 at 1:18 pmRoss is boss
May 20th, 2012 at 1:19 pmHuddy is lookin good
May 20th, 2012 at 1:26 pmHuddy is ON tonight!
May 20th, 2012 at 1:28 pmGreat at bats by Uggla
May 20th, 2012 at 1:33 pmSalty with a 3-run HR against the Phillies.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:38 pmFrancisco is all the frustrating at bats of Javy Lopez, Andruw Jones, and Alex Gonzalez rolled up in one overweight package.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:39 pmYes, but the difference is that everyone knows he sucks; he’s a bench player who always hits in the bottom of the order, and so any time he ever does anything good, it’s a pleasant surprise.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:44 pmRoss is doing it all today.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:45 pmHudson has come so far from that terrible, frustrating 2006 season, when he basically looked like Derek Lowe. He’s so solid.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:49 pm@32: yup that’s why I still like him, and why I didn’t stoop to comparing him to Melky.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:52 pmBack to Francisco in the previous inning, that was 4 straight quick outs we gave a pitcher with a high pitch count…
We ALWAYS do that in the 5th or 6th.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:55 pmNow existing for third baseman Juan Francisco, third baseman Juan Rodriguez.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:57 pmHuddy with 61 pitches through 5. Talk about efficiency.
May 20th, 2012 at 1:59 pmThis team has surprised me so pleasantly so far that I am trying hard to not slap my head too hard over Chip’s inanities.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:01 pmDammit, Prado. Ah well…
May 20th, 2012 at 2:01 pmBoo.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:02 pmActually, he reached the bag safely, but tag was applied when his hand pulled off the base.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:02 pmBaaah, I thought he was safe.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:03 pmIt was still stupid to try it.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:04 pmWe have gotten screwed way too often by tags at second. There is no doubt in my mind that the ump called him out based on the first tag, which was not in time.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:05 pmActually that last replay suggests the ump did base it on the second tag.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:06 pmNice!
May 20th, 2012 at 2:09 pmI hope we get to watch Jason knock Freddie in for the next decade or so.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:09 pmYes!!!!
May 20th, 2012 at 2:09 pmGreat single, Jason, but stop sliding headfirst into second base.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:09 pmSam Fuld is in the Rays broadcast booth, explaining “Sabermetrics 101″. They started with OPS, then worked their way to UZR, WAR, and FIP. Nothing new for us here obviously, but it was interesting to hear WAR and FIP discussed on TV, and especially by a current player.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:14 pmDid anyone see Hudson take his cap off and rub the rosin bag all over his scalp? I’ve never seen such a thing!
May 20th, 2012 at 2:20 pmOh boy. Episode.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:23 pmThe Scout function on GameDay claimed that Hudson had “plenty left in the tank” and was “running out of gas” two pitches apart.
And Tim, you can start throwing strikes again whenever you want.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:24 pmexhale…
May 20th, 2012 at 2:24 pmThank God.
The Scout on Gameday is really, really, really stupid.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:25 pmWhew.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:25 pmBig D, I agree. That was an interesting discussion.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:27 pmKent Mercker??? WTF, Chip?
May 20th, 2012 at 2:29 pmChrist, Chip Caray just guessed Kent Merker was the last Brave to strike out 200 guys.
How can he be that wrong? It’s his job!!
May 20th, 2012 at 2:30 pmHaha, looks like the Mikes M & N were equally appalled!
May 20th, 2012 at 2:31 pm@51
Yeah, though it was funny to hear them talk about the existence/nonexistence of clutch. There was no way they were letting go of that one.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:34 pmHuddy is incredible. He feasts on impatient hitters.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:41 pmOnly 90 pitches he could easily go the distance if the eighth goes smoothly.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:42 pmHeyward hustling there. I like it.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:46 pmI probably wouldve let Huddy finish the inning.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:53 pmI agree with you, csg.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:54 pmIt’s their best hitter up, and he’s a lefty. I get the move even though I think Huddy could have gotten him out.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:55 pmI don’t mind the hook here at all. Huddy looked mighty shaky back in the 6th, when he walked the bases loaded and only got out of it when Pena just missed a grand slam.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:56 pm#68 i agree with you also.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:56 pmI miss the 2011 Venters
May 20th, 2012 at 2:57 pmOh, God have mercy.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:58 pmShould have left Hudson in.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:59 pmYou have got to be kidding me.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:59 pmAgain, Venters just isn’t right.
May 20th, 2012 at 2:59 pmLucky.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:01 pmDang…thanks
May 20th, 2012 at 3:01 pmLady Luck!
May 20th, 2012 at 3:02 pmUggla would have had it.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:02 pmLOL…helluva job, Jonny.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:02 pmAnd the baseball gods smile upon us.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:02 pm“Uggla would have had it.”
It’s Uggla, one doesn’t know that.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:03 pmWell, it’s not everyday you see 2 hit batsmen then the 3rd batter hit a baserunner with a batted ball.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:03 pmWow, I don’t think I’ve seen that happen before in a clutch situation.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:03 pmAnybody here seen this end an inning before? I haven’t.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:03 pm@82 Dan, so true. Better like that.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:04 pmWha ‘appen?
May 20th, 2012 at 3:04 pmSo that’s what all the mound-meeting was about… Trying to work out the old “hit-two-batsmen, strike-out-the-third-but-drop-strike-three, then-get-him-to-hit-the-baserunner-to-end-the-inning trick.”
May 20th, 2012 at 3:04 pmAll of the online gametrackers are stuck and don’t know what to put.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:05 pmjjschiller: That comment at 88 is why I love this site. Hilarious.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:07 pmMLB finally unstuck, calling it a single on a ground ball. The out is credited to Freddie.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:09 pmDon Sutton said you pencil it in as a single and a 3U.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:11 pmIt’s officially a single and a putout to the closest fielder. I’m sure they got out the tape measure to see if Freddie or Uggla was closer…heh.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:15 pmSo, whaddaya say we steal the professor’s time machine, go back and replace Charlie Leibrandt and Mark Wohlers with Craig Kimbrel clones, and win a few more World Series?
May 20th, 2012 at 3:15 pmAnd thank you, Craig, for ending things in a much more organized fashion.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:16 pmWell, to be fair, Wohlers was a Craig Kimbrel clone that one year, and most of ’96 (just not Game 4, unfortunately). But yes, I get the point. Perhaps replacing Jeff Reardon with Kimbrel would be in order, too.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:17 pmSeries win at the Trop. Gotta be happy with that.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:27 pmI understand why its credited as a single, but Im not sure it should be.
May 20th, 2012 at 3:49 pmHudson was on point today. Is tomorrow Minor’s last chance?
May 20th, 2012 at 3:54 pmwell if Minor spits the bit tomorrow, the choices are:
Start Minor again anyway (most probable, IMHO)
May 20th, 2012 at 4:09 pmStart Medlin (least likely)
Bring Teheran up from AAA (second most probable)
Bring Jurrjens back (second least likely)
Sign/trade for someone else (always possible, but Braves are too cheap to sign someone good, and their best trade chips are damaged at the moment)
There is one guy in the bullpen who has 474 career major league starts, good for third on the active players list — he might be an option.
May 20th, 2012 at 4:23 pmThey could move Livan to the rotation and call up Gearrin until Moylan is ready to return. Id rather see Minor start pitching like he’s capable again.
May 20th, 2012 at 4:30 pmWouldn’t that stat be an argument against rather than for? Of course you are correct that it’s an option though. One I don’t think I like, or that Fredi should be reminded of, but an option.
May 20th, 2012 at 4:30 pmI’m a firm believer in “the simplest solution is best.” So I think we should trade Delgado and Teheran for Tim Lincecum, flip Lincecum to Toronto for Lawrie. Convert Jurrjens to a shortstop, slot him in at Gwinnett and trade Simmons for some minor league pitching depth. With Lawrie backing up Chipper, Francisco becomes redundant, but, we can keep him on as team chef or menu-advisor, because, look at him, he knows how to eat. Send Mike Minor back to Vanderbilt to be a bat boy and convenient scapegoat for their next point-shaving / drug smuggling scandal
Then we sign Oswalt for a pro-rated share of 9 million, and let Moylan pitch every fifth day.
May 20th, 2012 at 4:43 pmGood luck, Mac.
May 20th, 2012 at 5:21 pmDavid Price said in an interview before the game that he was a big Braves fan growing up. This is probably a long shot, but is there any chance that the Braves could land him?
May 20th, 2012 at 5:30 pmThere is considerable consternation that the Braves will have to choose between signing our current starting CF or C. It would require a good bit more payroll to add Price and that would not appear to be in the cards.
May 20th, 2012 at 5:54 pmDrew Sutton was traded to the Pirates for cash considerations. Looking at their SS situation, he might get a good chance to win the spot.
May 20th, 2012 at 6:03 pmFew more Ex Braves, now Pirates notes: McLouth is 0 for his last 18 and Gorkys Hernandez was called up. I’m fairly certain the Pirates are the new Royals.
May 20th, 2012 at 6:14 pmStick a fork in McLouth.
May 20th, 2012 at 7:21 pmIt really is hard to put a good swing on a pitch with a giant piece of silverware sticking out of your back.
May 20th, 2012 at 7:45 pmTrading Sutton could be a case of doing right by a decent player. You want to attract decent journeymen to accept your spring invites, it does you good to show them you’ll find them a clearer path if they end up scratched from your plans.
May 20th, 2012 at 7:50 pm@111: well that giant piece of silverware’s been there for about three years now.
May 20th, 2012 at 7:59 pm- The Rays have lost 6 games at home all season (2 of them to the Braves).
- The Dodgers have lost 4 games at home all season (2 of them to the Braves).
May 20th, 2012 at 8:11 pmFirst place & 10 games over .500—so far, so good.
May 20th, 2012 at 8:34 pmStanding pat (mostly) during the off season is looking pretty good for the front office right about now. Who knew two new hitting coaches could make such a difference? Kudos, Birdman.
May 20th, 2012 at 8:37 pmOh boy, Minor and his NL-leading 37 earned runs given up starting tomorrow in Great American Ball Park. Should be fun.
May 20th, 2012 at 8:47 pmAnd don’t forget that we’re 0-6 on Mondays, Dan!
May 20th, 2012 at 8:56 pm@114, it would be nice if we could perform as well at home.
May 20th, 2012 at 9:11 pm118 – Yikes, Minor on a Monday? We might lose by 20.
May 20th, 2012 at 9:13 pm@120 Let’s all have this mindset watching tomorrow’s game and I am sure we will all be surprised…and the Reds have moved Chapman to the closer role.
May 20th, 2012 at 9:19 pmHe’s going to make everyone here look stupid when he only gives up seven runs in four innings of work.
May 20th, 2012 at 9:41 pm@122 I think Fredi will pull him by the time he gives up the fifth run…
May 21st, 2012 at 12:47 am#123–You are an optimist….
May 21st, 2012 at 1:30 amRecapped.
May 21st, 2012 at 2:29 am