Colorado Rockies vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – September 5, 2012
As bad as the offense has been of late, that is how good Mike Minor was tonight. In fact, Minor may have pitched the best game of his young career by taking a no-no into the seventh. I wasn’t watching when Jordan Pacheco led off the seventh with a hit, but I am sure Chip jinxed it somehow.
The Braves got on the board in the fourth when Chipper Jones singled and advanced to second on a Freddie Freeman walk. Brian McCann tried to hit into a double play, but Josh Rutledge threw the ball away and Chipper scored. Our new philosophy to score runs is; Get ‘em on, Get ‘em over, Get ’em to make an error.
It should be noted that Fredi brought Craig Kimbrel in with two outs in the eight with the winning run on base. We are hard on Fredi when he screws up, but he made the right call here. Kimbrel struck out four of the five batters he faced.
The Bucs and Nats won and the Cards lost, so this was a big win.
Good job Smitty!
Nice zinger there about Chip. Well done.
I have to say that Fredi’s overall game management has been exponentially better than last year and better at least than what I believed Bobby Cox’s game management to me. Imo, one of Cox’s strengths was keep the players even keeled so they didn’t get too high after victories or too low after crushing defeats. So far I wouldn’t say this is one of Fredi’s strengths, to say the least.
Thanks for the write-up, Smitty. Nice to see the good guys win and the right teams lose, though it sure would be nice to have more consistent offense.
Maybin just took away a 2 run go ahead HR from Matt Kemp in the 7th
Well done, Smitty.
Also, the comments in the game thread were awesome. Several lol’s.
My fave might have been the one about Fredi potentially having to give back hard-earned IQ points.
Now, if the Braves’ offense can raise their game to the level of the rest of you guys, we might be in business.
When Kimbrel came in, I literally shouted, “Fredi!” This was the first time I’ve ever exclaimed “Fredi!” in a positive way.
Note: I’ve exclaimed “Freddie!” before positively, and while it sounds the same, I know they’re different in my head. 🙂
I really think Minor’s figured it out this season. Hopefully he can keep pitching well so management won’t make the wrong decision between him and Hanson about who should be pitching games in October.
What do you guys think they will do with Medlen? He’s got 5 regular season starts left and if the below is true, we won’t have him more than maybe one playoff game?
Peanut said “The 26-year-old has combined to throw 117 1/3 innings with Atlanta and Triple-A Gwinnett this season. He could throw approximately 40 more innings before nearing the target the Braves set before the season began.”
@9
I think the Braves would let him go if we are in the playoffs.
Thanks, Smitty, for the great recap.
“Get ‘em on, Get ‘em over, Get ’em to make an error”: too true, alas.
Let’s win one today at lunch, Braves.
Go Dawgs, and Roll Tide.
FYI, great photo on Rowland’s Office today.
Not to commit heresy, but is it possible that Fredi deserves some credit for keeping the team afloat in the face of Uggla’s ineptitude, McCann’s injuries, and Hanson’s general suckiness?
It’s pretty easy to win when all the parts are functioning like the Nats’ have been. It’s not so easy when you have a collective black hole at the bottom of the batting order.
Maybe Fredi is, despite the general consensus, capable of learning? Bringing in Kimbrel in the 8th suggests that he is.
Of course, I reserve the right to take this back if he begins playing Costanza in place of Heyward.
Marc, I think that you may be right. The most important thing is that the players in the clubhouse respect him, and judging by the fact that the clubhouse has not blown up into backbiting and recriminations despite the epic meltdown last year and the various losing streaks throughout the season, it seems that Fredi has done a pretty good job of maintaining their respect and holding them together.
That is literally the most important thing that a manager can do, and while it’s basically impossible to measure when the manager does it well, it’s awfully easy to tell when he doesn’t.
See: Valentine, Bobby.
Amazing, Fredi breaking his own rule book by bringing in Kimbrel early. He is definitely showing improvement.
Mike Minor…man, is it really happening?
Zero chance they shut down Medlen in the playoffs. Chipper would punch Frank Wren in the face.
@12
When Pete was young he looked like an old Martin Landau.
@16 – I’d pay to watch that.
———————
Oh so grudgingly, I must admit Fredi seems to have learned from last year where he seemed to be paralyzed by the swirls of collapse.
———————-
Who says speed is overrated? McCann busting it down the line got us our only run.
Medlen will not be shut down.
@9 I would guess that behavior like leaving Medlen in to finish with a 5 run lead means the Braves are ignoring the innings limit from here on out.
As streaky as this team has been this season, may in the next few weeks we catch fire and win int all.
I’d love to have partied with those guys.
(ok, mostly Skip.)
If I could have dinner with any 3 people from history, it would be Skip Caray, Frank Deford, and a deaf mute on a diet.
The Old Righthander will ever be my favorite, but Pete and Skip were great also.
#18
Freeman helped a lot, too, by taking out the SS with a tough slide.
#22
Skip looks like a Leisure Suit Larry there, perhaps on his way to the Limelight.
The good – Simmons could be back by Saturday
The bad – Chipper has 10 more Turner Field games outside of the playoffs.
Great recap, Smitty, thank you.
Also tip of the cap… to Fredi for keeping Minor in the rotation after early to mid season struggles.
@14 – Yes. Throw in the way he has handled Uggla. He has history with Dan and told him flat out that the team comes first.
Bourn cf
Prado lf
Heyward rf
Freeman 1b
Francisco 3b
Uggla 2b
McCann c
Janish ss
Hudson p
Make that 9 games for Chipper
You could make a case for Hudson batting 6th in this lineup.
Nice, Freddie.
Infinite offensive suck.
Good baserunning is out of style.
I don’t understand how anyone could’ve thought breaking for third on that play was an even remotely good idea. Usain Bolt couldn’t have beaten that play out.
Let’s see. Good baserunning is out of style, good fielding is out of style (as we saw last night), and good hitting is out of style. That leaves pitching, when not done by Hanson. Right?
The Rockies…are not good defensively.
Opposite field double by Uggla is kind of a good sign…don’t want to get too excited but it’s a start.
Don’t know why they didn’t let Huddy swing away there. Was he bunting for a hit?
I will say this about the Braves offense, though- compared to the last couple of years, when it seemed like pitchers routinely entered the sixth or seventh inning with only 60 pitches thrown, this 2012 team, even through its struggles, has made opposing pitchers work.
For those who didn’t see it, we scored that run because the Rockies pitcher failed to catch the throw back to him after a pitch.
The Rockies’ offense is almost as bad as ours in this contest of futility.
#38 – Who knows maybe the hitting coaches have been preaching to him all along and the only way to get him to listen is to bench him for 3 games. Couldnt hurt, but Ill take it.
Well, even a double paly might score a run here
Bases loaded – no outs
Fransisco
Uggla
Bmac
lets see how this one ends
I’d rather have Juan hitting here than Uggla, BMac or Janish.
Freeman’s approach has gotten noticeably better as the season has progressed. I’d love to see what he does through an entire season with the approach he has taken since the beginning of July.
But I was wrong.
Really need to win this one today. Picking up 1.5 games over these past two days on both STL and LAD would be big.
Id take a walk here
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2012 Atlanta Braves at their offensive finest.
This is the biggest bunch of chokers I’ve ever seen.
Chip thinks it’s unbelievable. I would argue that it’s completely and utterly believable.
It’s hard to score with four automatic outs in the lineup.
This team thinks you have to hit HR’s with RISP. Shouldve PH Chipper for Juan there.
Get ‘em on, Get ‘em over, Get ’em to make an error.
We needed to force an error
Braves offense in all it’s frustrating glory…
Now 6 for 48 this month with RISP. 4 of those came on Sept 2nd
On the other hand, Janish is a solid defensive shortstop that even Mr. Lardner could not disparage.
Before that inning we were 0 for our last 24 with RISP. How bad is it now?
And there’s the hit we needed in the 2nd.
Prado couldn’t score on Uggla’s fly to center? All I have is the yahoo play-by-play; what happened there?
I’m predicting the Braves get at least 1 hit with RISP this inning. It’s gotta happen some time, right?
61 — It was a pop fly to very shallow center.
Here we go.
Hudson should have tried to score- it’s not like we’re getting another hit.
Jason and Freddie against a fresh lefty: what are the odds we score at least one this inning?
A hit w RISP.
But not a run…
And I was right in my prediction! Still, no runs yet. C’mon JHey….
Bringing in a LOOGY here must have been the easiest decision a manager has ever made.
Of course.
*sigh*
Horrible.
This is amazing.
This team is gripping so hard right now.
Is this some kind of performance art I don’t understand?
You know how Satchel Paige used to walk the bases loaded, then strike out the side? I really think that strategy might work against the Braves.
This has got to be in their heads now. They can’t even force the error any more.
Stop failing!
Two players that hit lefties that poorly really should not be back-to-back in the line-up.
Do we have players that hit lefties well?
Come on guys. We’ve got a run. As long as Hudson shuts them out for 8 innings and Kimbrel strikes out the side in the 9th, we’re home free. The offense has already done it’s part. )-:
@79, You mean Freeman and Heyward or Freeman and Francisco?
Two players that hit lefties that poorly really should not be back-to-back in the line-up.
But everyone in there does.
Is it possible we can win on back to back days without actually scoring on something other than an error?
@80
Tim Hudson
@82
Or Francisco and Uggla. Or Uggla and McCann. Or McCann and Janish.
Last inning for Huddy?
As noted @ 85, let Huddy hit first.
With that plate appearance, Janish now has had more PAs than Pastornicky (182 to 181), with Simmons at 125.
Getthe pen ready, Fredi. We may never score again.
Get the pen ready, Fredi. We may never score again.
Maybe the reason that Dan Uggla has been benched so often recently is that he’s taken a second job as the Braves’ hitting coach.
@82 – Good point. I keep forgetting that Juan bats lefty. Probably because he plays 3rd base.
“Taken a second job?” We pay this schlub $13 million a year to suck and he still needs more? How many bones are the mobsters planning to break?
So, Venters? Moylan? O’Flaherty again?
Good outing, Timmy.
Timmayyyyyy.
@91
Post of the day
Aussie! Aussie! Oy! Oy! Oy!
Good out, Eric.
Our offense is bad enough even without getting robbed by the umps.
Okay, Craig. Do Kimbrell things.
McCann was my only fantasy catcher playing today, and I seriously considered not starting anyone. Now, I wish I had listened to my gut.
An out that wasn’t a strikeout! He’s slipping!
I swear I remember Braves announcers sometime back in the late 90’s pointing out that a 2nd baseman (Lemke?) would always scoot over to be behind the pitcher for the catcher’s throw back whenever there was a runner on base, juuuust in case the throw should go awry. Might have happened to the guy in the minors or something. Anyway, it was one of those “Pay attention to this kids at home, because one day…”
100- Those were Kimbrel things, alright!
We’re fine as long as we never allow another run.
Ho-hum. Win, win, win.
4-2 September so far
Is Craig Kimbrel our MVP?
Wow. For the recap, Smitty, copy&paste from last night.
Two Chipisms from the ninth:
The Braves have won two back-to-back victories
Craig Kimbrel on for two back-to-back save opportunities in as many days (paraphrased).
If I asked Craig Kimbrel to marry me, would that be too forward?
Nice to win two games where our offense was nonexistant.
So – 30+ innings without scoring an earned run?
Who would guess that stat would span a 3-1 W-L record?
@103 Yes, Middle infielders are supposed to slide over and be prepared to cutoff an errant throw before it can make it to center field, though I’m not sure they can be much use when the pitcher slows it down significantly as was the case here. It’s too far for them to run in that much on each pitch.
110 – Depends on which state you live in.
I wonder if this has ever happened. Winning back to back games 1-0 with unearned runs?
Well, the mid-Sixties Dodgers won a lot of games like this.
Sorry, that’s all I got.
STATS LLC @STATS_MLB
#Braves take 2nd straight 1-0 win over #Rockies; last time back-to-back 1-0 wins with both runs being unearned?: 7/28-29/84, LAD-CIN. #MLB
Retweeted by Mark Bowman
I can’t find any other occurrences of a team winning two 1-0 in a row with no RBI recorded on B-R (goes back to 1918). It did seem like something that might have been a first, but you never know with so many games.
Second verse, same as the first.
Sooo, do we have any catching prospects of note down on the farm?
Whatever the reason, the Braves currently have an average (at best) defensive catcher who is hitting about as well as Paul Janish.
His backup is beginning to show some age and is clearly hurting.
Wonder if the Rockies would trade that Pacheco kid?
117 — Ah, cool. Baseball-Reference’s streak finder only has runs, not specific earned runs. The Braves might have set the other record then.
We’ve given up 2ER in a 4 game series and didnt sweep.
Hudson – 7IP 6H 0ER 2BB 2K
Minor – 7IP 1H 0ER 4BB 7K
Hanson – 5.2IP 5H 2ER 2BB 8K
Medlen – 9IP 5H 0ER 0BB 12K
Both of the Dodgers wins featured RBI’s, a sac fly and a single.
Good job recapping today’s game before it even started.
@122… clearly Hanson sucks. How dares he giving up any earned runs!
csg
True but we also have scored 0ER in the last 3 games and won 2 of 3 so there is that.
Take that Rockies. What a beatdown this series was. We’re building momentum. I think we’re almost ready for the Astros now.
So, is pitching now the Braves strength?
It has happened 8 times before, but not since 1967.
There are 1134 games in major league history in which the final score was 1-0 and there were no earned runs in the game. (As with all such Retrosheet Game Log stats, this does not include this year.)
Here are the dates, teams and winning teams when it has happened for a team on two consecutive games:
19180704 CHN SLN CHN
19180704 CHN SLN CHN (doubleheader!)
19250703 PHA NYA NYA
19250704 PHA NYA NYA (first game of doubleheader)
19320731 PHA CLE PHA
19320801 PHA CLE PHA
19330611 SLA CLE CLE
19330613 CLE DET CLE (off day in between)
19330702 SLN NY1 NY1
19330702 SLN NY1 NY1 (another doubleheader)
19370629 BRO BSN BSN
19370630 BRO BSN BSN (1st game of dh)
19400619 NYA CHA CHA
19400620 NYA CHA CHA
19670512 CAL CHA CHA
19670513 CAL CHA CHA
@117: Apologies… I missed the game in 1984 tweeted above because there was another such game with a different set of teams on the same day and my sorted list missed the same winner two days in a row. What are the odds of that?
If I was recapping today’s game, I would just post – “Ditto.”
Or: “Same shit, different day.”
@123: Nice! Once you require no RBIs in either game you lower the number of times it has happened to 217, and it has never happened on two consecutive games. Uniqueness!
Medlin was outpitched in all four games of the series, once by Rockies and twice by Braves.
EDIT
Medlin was outpitched in the other 3 games of the series, once by Rockies and twice by Braves.
@133,
Yep. Just looked through your list to confirm.
This team just knows how to win.
Somehow, we didnt actually score a run over two ballgames and we picked up 1.5 games over both Stl and LAD. Thats big
Recapped by ububba.