I have pointed this out before, but I still find it absolutely freaking mystifying.
| Vs. the Braves, career | GS | W-L | ERA | WHIP | K/BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roy Halladay | 10 | 4-3 | 4.21 | 1.23 | 3.56 |
| Kyle Kendrick | 13 | 7-1 | 2.86 | 1.26 | 1.26 |
I will never understand this.
I apologize for the non-recap of Friday night’s game, but it was not worth dwelling on anyway. The Braves are 5.5 games back in the division with 10 games to play, and their wild card magic number is 3. Barring the not-exactly-unthinkable-but-you-know-what-I-mean, the Braves are going to be the home wild card team. (Home field in the play-in game is apparently determined by the head-to-head record for the two teams. The Cardinals are 2.5 games up in the wild card, and the Braves are 5-1 against them this season. We’re 3-3 against the Dodgers and Brewers, but we have a much better regular season record, which I assume is the tiebreaker.)
Of course, we’d be in a better position if Fredi had followed my advice and skipped Tommy’s turn in the rotation. Right now, according to DOB, Fredi’s planning on swapping Medlen and Maholm’s next turns in the rotation to put Medlen in line to start the play-in game. Still, I’m taking the chance to say I told you so.
There were only two players who recorded a hit in both Friday and Saturday’s games. One was Martin Prado, because of course he did — he’s playing shortstop and batting second and hitting .300 and when Peter Moylan tweeted that Prado should be in consideration for the MVP I found it hard to disagree. The second, however, perhaps encouragingly, was Michael Bourn. When Bourn and Prado are hitting at the top of the lineup, this is a very dangerous ballclub.
Our offensive sputters track pretty well with Bourn’s slump, as you might imagine. For example, Bourn’s slump began before this, but the last day of the season that he was hitting .300 was July 24. Through July 24, the Braves were averaging 4.6 runs per game with a .728 team OPS (including pitchers). Since then, we’re averaging 4.1 runs per game with a .690 team OPS.
It’s worth taking a second to point out how freaking good Mike Minor has been of late, especially because I absolutely hated him earlier in the year.
| GS | W-L | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | K/BB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kris Medlen, Sept. 2012 | 4 | 3-0 | 30 | 0.90 | 0.73 | 10.2 | 8.5 |
| Mike Minor, Sept. 2012 | 4 | 3-0 | 24 2/3 | 1.09 | 0.77 | 8.76 | 2.67 |
| Sandy Koufax, Sep 1966 | 7 | 5-1 | 57 | 1.42 | 0.91 | 7.11 | 3.0 |
That’ll do, Mikie. That’ll do.
So you’re saying Medlen and Minor will both retire suddenly at the end of the season? That’s awful!
Some writer thinks Chipper’s replacement at third base next year could be not Francisco or Prado, but DAVID WRIGHT, of all people.
Post Chipper Jones Era: Is David the Wright Solution?
I would welcome David Wright to the Atlanta hot corner with open arms. But I really doubt it’s a possibility.
“If the Braves can somehow land David Wright, all Braves fan will rejoice.”
Yeah… I think that guy is going on wishful thinking more than inside information.
Sunday lineup, folks:
Johnson cf
Prado 3b
Heyward rf
Freeman 1b
Uggla 2b
Baker lf
Ross c
Simmons ss
Hudson p
Getting Simmons back on a lovely Sunday afternoon? I’ll take it.
Is the home field really determined by head to head record? So a team could finish 6 games ahead but not get home field because of head to head records?
Mike, I may have gotten that reversed. It may be that the team that has more wins will be the home team, and head-to-head is a tiebreaker if they have the same number of wins.
Seeing Koufax, September 1966 reminded me of one of the first games I ever attended, a game that helped cement in my mind why baseball might be the greatest game ever invented. That was 46 years ago and I’m not sure I’ve changed my mind. Eddie Mathews homer off Sandy Koufax in the bottom of the 9th. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B08090ATL1966.htm
First wild card (Braves) gets home field advantage in the one-game playoff. Then the wild card winner plays two home games vs. the division winner with the best record, before playing the final three in the best-of-five away.
Thanks, AAR.
Yesterday was a great sports day in the Coop: Braves won, big Dawgs ate and Mac’s Tide rolled. Too bad justhank’s wildcats couldn’t whup Florida and Bethany’s tigers fell half a biscuit short; but if the Braves win today, it will have been a great weekend.
Justhank,
I’d have to say that UGA is better than last year. For one, we can actually run the ball. Don’t miss Crowell at all because Gurley and Marshall are special talents. Our O-Line is much approved (yeah, yeah it was just Vandy but still.) Defense is finally going to be at full strength against Tennessee with 2 of our 3 best players coming back from suspension.
By the way, so much for those saying the SEC West is far superior to the East. Bama may have the easiest schedule in the conference.
@11- Don’t forget about us Techies! We were able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a team scoring 36 unanswered points and still losing.
Will the Braves end up banning headfirst slides at all bases because of all the injuries?
Prado, Simmons, and now Bourn, and all three hurt during critical times.
This is an old story, but deserves a mention: http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/braves-told-not-to-slide-head-first-plenty-still-d/nQsYh/
David!
David “Sunday lineup” Ross!
Well, Baker can catch a routine fly ball at least.
Fly ball, Freddie.
Bad, Freddie.
Nicely done, Dan.
Uggla damn near cranked that.
Bases loaded, no outs yields one run. It could have been worse, but not much.
We are so f’n bad with the bases loaded. Good lord. We loaded them up, and proceded to strike out, fly out, and ground out on a total of 12 pitches.
AAR, the frightening thing is that this actually constitutes improvement for this team from most of September.
Huddy’s hanging in there today. I’d like a few more runs though.
Caray in a nutshell: Phillies at four games out with ten to play are doomed; Braves at 5.5 game out in the division still have a decent shot.
Boy, John Mayberry is not having a good day in center field. He kicked one ball, and that’s the second ball that has fallen out of his reach after he’s dived for it.
26- To be fair, the Phillies do have two other teams to pass to make things harder. But why should I be fair? It’s Chip!
To be fair, Dan, the Phillies have to pass three teams. And that is hereby the last time will ever be fair to Chip. Every time he mentions what will happen if a player gets a hit in a particular situation I want to scream, though every time he says “our game” I do scream. There. I feel better.
We really don’t do the small ball thing well.
I think that Chip Caray’s shortcomings boil down to three things:
1) He isn’t very observant, and so the few things that he sees he really latches onto. Ball hit hard => RAISE VOICE UNTIL it’s caught or it’s actually a HOME RUN!
2) He isn’t very smart, and so he draws analytically poor conclusions that he draws from the things that he inaccurately observes.
3) He isn’t self-aware, and so he appears to have no recognition of the fact that all of his broadcasting boils down to obnoxiously loud, inane and often inaccurate drivel.
Ready the pen, Fredi, just in case. Score some runs, Braves.
Episode?
We really need to stop throwing the ball away on pickoff throws to first.
Heyward will do.
No drama, please.
Hudson has only thrown 83 pitches. Man, he’s efficient.
The heart of the order coming up in a one run game is dramatic on it’s face, no?
Magnificent outing, Mr. Hudson.
Yes, Spike. No additional drama, please.
@31: Way too fair, AAR. Way too fair.
Terrific outing from Eric O’Flaherty, as per usual. I stand by my statement that he’s the most underrated reliever in baseball.
Way to go, EOF. Unchain the Kraken…
Re: UGA/Vandy
Hard to play better than the Dawgs did last night. Yeah, they got some help–Vandy had about 427 penalties in the 1st quarter. You kinda knew that when we got that bogus roughing-the-kicker call on the 2nd drive, this game could turn into a bloodbath.
Didn’t matter, of course. That one looked like a line-of-scrimmage mismatch dialed up from the Matt Robinson-Herschel Era. And Murray was as sharp as I’ve ever seen him.
So, if I know anything about UGA football history (& pay some homage to Vince Dooley’s poormouth), next week’s Tennessee game will have some kind of letdown. Easy to imagine that there will be some points, but I’m more curious to see if the Dawgs can put together two consecutive stellar efforts.
If that game was only about let’s-punish-uppity-lil-Vandy, that’s not a good sign. They shouldn’t need that kinda incentive. It appears that this team might be onto something big. Next week will give us a better clue about this group’s focus.
Lyle Overbay is batting .067 as a Brave. That’s still better than Tommy Hanson, but he sure isn’t making a case for the playoff roster.
Is Fredi running an audition for the post saason or resting the regulars?
Maybe a bit of both. Of the regulars who are sitting, Bourn apparently jammed his thumb; Brian played last night, so it’s common for him to get the day off for a day game that immediately follows a night game; and Chipper has to be given a lot of rest.
I wish Baker were making a better case for inclusion on the playoff roster, but honestly I haven’t seen much from either him or Overbay. Johnson has been decent, though.
Great game. Take care of the Marlins next week, and prepare for the play-in.
Bases juiced for the Brewers in top 7 with 1 out and they’ve already score to take the lead. Could be 4.5 after today!
Another run, still only 1 out!
Subs on playoff roster, Francison, Ross, Johnson, Contanza and Pastornicky? Who else when we drop a starter, Boscan, relief pitcher or?
Recapped.