Toronto Blue Jays vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – May 29, 2013 – ESPN
Featured in this, the first game in the past six weeks I was able to sit down and really watch:
• Kris Medlen being ineffective;
• Kris Medlen getting injured (line drive off the back of his knee) and the shorthanded bullpen having to throw seven innings;
• Melky Cabrera getting multiple hits and RBIs;
• Six Atlanta baserunners;
• An inning beginning with Braves on first and third with no one out and resulting in zero (0) runs, thanks to strikeouts by two guys who are each hitting under .200 and to whom the organization will be paying a combined $114.25 million through 2017;
• Justin Upton striking out even more often than his brother did;
• The Braves somehow knocking the Toronto starter out of the game in the fourth inning without scoring any runs;
• “. . . a Ric Flair to left . . .â€
• Evan Gattis not playing;
• Freddie Freeman turning in maybe the worst play I’ve ever seen from a first baseman; and (cruelest of all)
• Chip Caray speaking.
Um.
And seven innings of shutout ball from the bullpen, including the return of Jordan Walden, completely wasted. The worst games have good aspects completely ruined by the surrounding crap.
Positives: BJ hit a ball all the way to the outfield. Freeman is swinging it pretty good right now. The rest of the NL East is ass so all we have to do is beat the Mets and Marlins a bunch and we’ll be fine.
Time to replace the outfield. The bench can hit, these guys are automatic outs. Second and third aren’t really better. Better players on the bench. BJ and Jason need to see AAA for a while. I don’t
see any hope when they are batting.
Sorry, don’t get the Chip Caray reference. Really miss his dad but he’s okay for me.
Jordan Schafer deserves more PT. JUpton is in quite a funk right now. Is this typical?
Schafer should be starting every night Gattis should be starting most nights as should Chris Johnson. How do you leave these bats out of the lineup in a four hit blitz by the Braves?
Freeman and Medlin should sue for lack of support. First, shortstop, and catcher can’t carry this team.
Top three worst from that list:
• Melky Cabrera getting multiple hits and RBIs
• Melky Cabrera getting multiple hits and RBIs
• Melky Cabrera getting multiple hits and RBIs
I refuse to admit that this game happened. Just moving on…
I will say it was one of the most pleasant evenings weather wise I’ve ever spent at Turner.
I’m not sure how you would hunt down this statistic, so I’ll just throw it out there:
Since 1991, which Braves team was shut out the most (and for how many games)? I feel like this 2013 team puts up a lot of zeros.
What did Freddie do?
I went to baseball-reference and clicked through each year’s schedule and results page to get this answer: 14 shutouts in 2008. (This was our seventh blanking this year.)
@10, presumably the poor throw trying to turn a DP.
We’re saved…?
Glad I listened instead of watched—but it sounded awful.
@13 Surprised because Wren said he didn’t want to do that, but I believe it is the right move.
Surprised Braves fans at Turner Field were booing Melky Cabrera all night. Thought he was mostly only disliked by Braves fans on this site, like with Francoeur.
Well, Frenchy at least always tried hard and looked like he cared, which matters more when you’re at the game. If I’ve gone to the hassle and expense of going to the ballpark, I’d rather see that than someone who seemed like they just threw on a uniform in between cheeseburgers.
12—No, it was much later in the game. There was an extremely slow grounder right around the bag that he just sort of whiffed on.
@ 11 – Thanks. I think we can eclipse that mark.
True, Stu, but the Commodore will right the ship today hopefully.
Alex Wood called up and Id like to add that I called this when Venters got injured. Excited to see what he can do!
Who’s being sent down?
@16 Well, I think some of that ire may be based on how much of an asshat he was when he came back to Turner Field last summer leading the league in hitting and trying to antagonize the fans.
@5– in what way is the Shortstop helping to carry this team? His OPS+ is 77.
@20
The Commodore should be his nickname. All in favor?
@24 Aye
Based on this comment, Melvin’s nickname should be the ‘Lemon.’
Amazing stat of the day: 65% of Melvin’s plate appearances end in a pop up or strikeout. I hope he can be fixed.
How in the world do you loose a game 3-0 and your 2 hottest hitters C Johnson and Gattis ( who hit 2 homers in Toronto) not even get an at bat ??? Can we say Gonzalez is a goof !!!!
The same way you wind up in first place with 3 of the worst hitters in the league as starters. Can we say Gonzalez might deserve some credit for this???
I expect tonight’s roster to be either roadrunner-less or Reed-less.
in Xanadu
did Gattis Khan
a stately pleasure dome foresee
where Ted and every other fan
watched homers measureless to man
confound the powers that be.
I don’t see the Braves just sending Reed or Francisco packing without getting a bag of baseballs in return. If no trade or DL stint is in place, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Carpenter sent down until someone can be DL’d or a deal can be made.
@30
Depends of if they can trade one of them. I see a mythical DL trip for BJ, Reed or fat Juan.
Kudos blazon, you were unjustly ignored in your previous efforts.
What we need-
CF Schafer
2B Pena
RF J Upton
1B Freeman
LF Gattis
C McCann
3B C Johnson
SS Simmons
P
Have Melvin, Heyward and Uggla work with Chipper until they figure it out
Alex Wood? Go Dogs!
#31
There was a teen moment when I thought Coleridge was pretty cool. Then, of course, Rush got in on the act…
I’ll start the petition for Chipper as hitting coach. The current dynamic-duo is having zero positive effect on the team – paralysis by analysis maybe.
@37
I’ve thought that as well. Not that I think Chipper is a solution but the part about over-analyzation turning players into insecure hitters.
@37
A few guys aren’t hitting, so we clean house? What about Gattis, McCann, Freeman, Simmons, CJ, Jup, Schafer and even Laird.
We have a 4.5 game lead. I’m not sure this is the time to panic.
I do think it’s bizarre that the last two free agents we signed went from being above average players to being the worst in baseball at their positions.
I’m not blaming the hitting coaches, just an observation. It seems like Walker has helped a lot of guys.
@40 Are you counting BJ, Uggla (trade big contract) and Lowe?
Nate McLouth. No contract involved, but still.
This seems to happen ALOT.
@41 Uggla and BJ are who I’m thinking of. I don’t usually count Lowe as a huge mistake because basically everyone available at that time ending up busting.
Plus, I don’t think Lowe was a total bust. He had some decent moments early on.
Lowe had a great September 2010 that probably got the Braves the Wild Card over the Padres.
@34, cheers,i’m such a slut…
shall i seduce thee with a pitch away
thou art so trusting, so intemperate
rough winds, we bid to say goodbye to May
fine April’s lease had all too short a date.
sometime too cold the bat of Uggla flails
and often are his mighty muscles trimmed
we now behold the better Upton fails
how strangely soon that mighty lamp be dimmed.
but our eternal summer soldiers on
as hope, despair, their daily battle wage
we surely will not feel so put upon
if brain and bat might happily engage.
so long as Gattis lives then hope their be
a thousand kisses for our MVP.
You should do a recap like that, blazon.
@43 – Well, CC Sabathia was available at that time. I know the Braves were never in the running to outbid the Yankees, but really makes you wish they had an owner who would pony up.
Medlen to the ‘pen, Beachy to the rotation.
Or Hudson to long relief, Beachy to the rotation.
Maholm to primary lefty in the ‘pen and Beachy to the rotation…
Yeah, not sure what to make of the hitter struggles, I was thinking about the same thing with Uggla and now Upton struggling so much, not to mention how awful Nate and Melky were (I’m sure there are others).
At the same time some people come here and outperform expectations like JUpton, Ross, Chris Johnson even Bourn to some extent.
Not sure what to do with that but what’s frustrating is the lows tend to be REALLY low.
What about starting Beachy in the pen? He is coming back to ATL on June 18, the exact date Medlen came back to ATL after TJ surgery last year. Medlen made 16 relief appearances and then returned to the starting rotation on July 31 and we know what happened after that. Otherwise, I’d hope Hudson would volunteer himself to the pen and, if not, Medlen to the pen as he’s the most comfortable of the starters making everyday appearances.
I agree with Stu. That may be what happens if Wood struggles.
DOB is hinting that someone may go on the DL
Hopefully Wood will dominate and become the new EOF. I’ve been pleading for his call-up for a while now so he better not disappoint.
53 – What are you talking about? Medlen broke camp with the team last year and made 38 appearances out of the bullpen before his first start on July 31.
I’ve said it numerous times, but insofar as this team has an ace, Beachy is it. It makes no sense to put put your best starting pitcher in the bullpen. And there is no innings-related reason to put him there either. He will have thrown fewer than fifty innings, including rehab starts, by mid-July.
As I said when you said that, he was our ace. We have no idea what he is now.
I think Teheran goes to the pen before Medlen does.
If I had my druthers, which I don’t, I’d rather Hudson try to resolve his issues as the long man. He’s been the worst of our starters of late.
@58
I can’t understand that at all…He’s our best candidate not named Beachy to be a legitimate staff ace down the line, and he’s essentially been pitching like one for the past month. Why jerk him around now…
57-Right, so rather than find out if he is still an ace, we should stick him in the bullpen. Makes a lot of sense.
I wonder if Medlen will go on the DL when Wood arrives. His injury may or may not affect his next start, but it’s a good excuse to give him some rest and it buys us some time.
If I had to bet on who goes to the pen, I’d bet on Medlen.
@61
That’s really not what I said, though sticking him in the bullpen for a couple weeks does seem to me to be a perfectly reasonable way to figure out what he can give us for the remainder of the season without torpedoing somebody from the rotation unnecessarily. I was not suggesting he be banished to the bullpen for the rest of the year. Given what they said about bringing him back on the day of that doubleheader, though, it appears obvious that he’ll start one of those games.
As far as Teheran goes, it appears obvious that he got absolutely nothing from being in the minors last year, and I really don’t think his stuff would translate very well to the bullpen, so I don’t see any way he doesn’t remain in the rotation. Trading Maholm or sending Medlen to the bullpen are the obvious choices. If Medlen were pitching that much better than Hudson right now, maybe you’d force something with Hudson, but he’s not. It would be perfectly reasonable to force Medlen to the bullpen if he doesn’t improve in his next couple starts, especially since we have a need in that area and he’s proven valuable at that job before.
EDIT: @62, First of all, that wouldn’t buy us any time at all, since Beachy isn’t coming back ’til mid-June. All it would do is force us to use a spot starter twice, and it’s pretty clear Wood is coming up to slot into the bullpen, not the rotation. Going ahead and dumping whichever bench player we’re dumping would make way more sense than that.
Some Minor League numbers:
Josh Elander- .969 OPS with 8HR and 17 doubles
Joey T- .912 OPS with 8HR and 22 doubles
Salcedo- .844 OPS with 7HR and 11 doubles
La Stella- .977 OPS
Probably Quad-A players but…
Hefflinger- .929 OPS 14HR 11 doubles
Meija- .913 OPS 14HR
No Bupton, Heyward, or Uggla. Fredi sending a message?
Interestingly, people on the other sites are whinging loudly about calling Alex Wood up, as if learning how to get Major League hitters out could possibly be a bad thing, and as if this will preclude him from ever being a starter again…and as if the only thing that matters is Alex Wood, and what the Braves need is immaterial. I suspect most of these people are Georgia fans.
EDIT: @68, Works for me.
Holy crap! Juan DFA’d!
WOOO JUAN GONE
Makes sense, with Terdoslavich about ready should we need another 3B.
I find that quite surprising and disappointing, but I know I’m in the minority.
Interestingly, people on the other sites are whinging loudly about calling Alex Wood up, as if learning how to get Major League hitters out could possibly be a bad thing, and as if this will preclude him from ever being a starter again…and as if the only thing that matters is Alex Wood, and what the Braves need is immaterial. I suspect most of these people are Georgia fans.
A lot of prospect fans forget that prospects are there to be used by the ML team, not to be bright and shiny.
Terdoslavich was a complete and utter nuclear level disaster at third. He’s now an outfielder/first baseman. I suppose we could try him at third again now that he’s hitting better, but I’m not sure if we would. He was really bad there last year.
I liked the Big Franc, but this move really makes sense. He was showing growth, but the presence of better hitters with more defensive value on the bench made him totally expendable.
Juan, may you go to the AL and really learn to hit. You have tremendous potential and one of the most powerful swings in the game. You have value as a DH if you continue to apply yourself.
@71 – I agree.
So long Large John. I kinda liked you, even though you sucked.
@71
Well, he could always make it through waivers, I suppose. Though admittedly, I doubt it.
@75, me too.
You can still trade someone once they’ve been DFA’d right? How does that work do you wait until someone claims them and work a trade with them or let them have him? Isn’t there a window where you can trade with anyone before claims are made?
10 days
Who in the AL has LH relievers to move?
Yeah, you have 10 days before you have to put him on waivers, I think. You can work out a trade with anybody during that time. Once he goes on waivers, you can’t pull him back, obviously, so there’s no reason for the claiming team to work out a trade at that point.
The Astros have Wesley Matthews…
Wow, our wish granted- BJ, Heyward and Uggla benched tonight. Our best hitters supporting our ace starter-
1. Schafer CF 2. Simmons SS 3. J Upton RF 4. Freeman 1B 5. Gattis LF 6. McCann C 7. C Johnson 3B 8. Pena 2B 9. Minor P.
We wouldn’t have called Alex Wood up if we were trading for a LH reliever.
I’m headed to tonight’s game! Gattis starting, Minor pitching, Freddie Freeman bobblehead night… things are looking excellent so far.
@85
I doubt we’d get a Major League player in a trade for a guy we don’t want on our Major League roster. We could trade for an LHP to stick in Gwinnett that might provide depth for the back of the bullpen at some point.
while Dan rests…
does anyone have a number for the times he has taken called strike three with runners on base lately?
simplistically, can a manager leave a standing ‘order’ with a hitter that he must swing in that situation?
I like the image of a bear swatting butterflies.
Re Juan, I thought his defense was okay this year. Not stellar, but not Ugglaesque. And when he connected, admittedly infrequently, the ball would go a long, long way.
I too am disappointed Juan is gone. I predict he ends up having a really good season, chiefly because he goes back to the shoulder turn he was using in winter league and spring training. Walker didn’t like it, for reasons I think are bunk. It was just a timing mechanism, and it was working.
On that subject, I think that Walker’s job security depends entirely on what happens with Jason and BJ, and to a lesser extent Simmons. He can hardly be blamed for Uggla getting old. But he likewise doesn’t deserve much credit for Gattis, McCann, Freeman or JUpton. He hasn’t made major changes for the first three, and JUpton has simply gone back to his old swing. He does deserve huge props for Schafer, while the other bench guys are all outperforming expectations.
87-The Astros and Marlins have a dozen Major League players that I suspect they would happily trade for Juan. Whether they could offer anyone that we would want back is a different question.
There is a new game thread up.
@91
Yeah, but Miami would be the first one up when it comes to claiming him, so we’re not gonna get much from them unless we convince them that he’s not gonna make it to the waiver wire.
Giving away another serviceable player. i don’t like it.
Pena plays better 3B and has been hitting RH well.