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Talking Chop

Game Thread and NAHWAL: Stupid Schedule Edition

Sorry about the late post guys. I was under the impression the game would be starting later. Lucky for everyone I got off work early today! I'll be doing a catch-up post tonight for the minor league stuff. I don't know when I can do the NAHWAL update because I don't have a functioning copy of Excel at the moment and the Google program bollux's the spreadsheet up. Anyways post your picks!


Next Game

Atlanta Braves
@ Washington Nationals

Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008, 4:35 PM EDT
Nationals Park

Jair Jurrjens vs Shawn Hill

Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 60.

 

Complete Coverage >



Anyone else find it ironic that is, in a sense, the end of a month long 3 game series with the Nats?

 

*Addendum: The Braves have heard my plea and will start Jo-Jo Reyes on Saturday. Any predictions on how he will do? He did give up two runs in his short start last night which tripled his runs allowed for the year. I have strong faith.

0 recs  |  207 comments

Comments

Picks

1. 25,324
2. Chipper
3. Yunel steals a base

Picks

1. 21, 765
2. Chipper
3. Jurrjens gets the W and goes 6

picks.

1. 23,235
2. Teixeira
3. Matt Diaz goes 3-4 with a walk.

Picks

1. 20,102
2. Chipper
3. Jurrjens goes 6+, picks up the win, allows fewer than 3 runs, and walks fewer than 3.

picks

1. 19,452
2. Tex
3. Jurrjens goes 8 and Ks 9

Picks

1. 22,086
2. Chipper
3. Texiera gets game winning hit

Picks.

1. 22,331
2. Surgeon
3. KJ and Yunel combined to get on base at least 5 times.

picks

1) 23,417
2) 8 or more hits for the Braves
3) We win by more than 2 runs

Hmm...

...interesting pick to click.

i’ve got a feeling we’re gonna be pissed tonight, especially with our best starter on the mound.

...i totally just realized i did 2 AAB picks and no pick to click. not that it matters, because both are gonna be horribly wrong.

Which is why I found it interesting.

picks

1. 19200
2. Kotsay
3. Frenchy throws out someone at second

is anyone else depressed? If the answer is “No”, you have not yet read the news. Our pitching blows. Who would have thought Jurrjens would be our ace?

we actually have the second best starters era in baseball.

Indeed...

...our numbers as a team look very, very good. I would bring up our X W-L record again, but don’t feel like hearing from idiots in the peanut gallery.

Just a quick run down actually.
3rd in Starter ERA
10th in bullpen ERA
3rd in OPS
2nd in BA
5th in Runs scored

127 runs for/104 runs against = we should have a winning record and we are 2…... TWO, 2, DEUX, Ni games under 500.

Let me ask you this. If I told you that John Smotlz (twice), Tom Glavine, Rafael Soriano, Peter Moylan and Mike Hampton all would have gone on the DL in April before the season started and then said that we would only be 3 games behind the Marlins for first place (who have the worst starters ERA in the league btw) would you have laughed at me? Cause I would have laughed at you.

heh heh heh

thanks for the recap.

I’m thankful that we are only 2 games back.

I’m pissed, we’re playing better than this.

NAHWAL...sigh...

1. 18482
2. Frenchy
3. Chipper has at least one hit, Scooter steals at least one

Omit that second part

of #3…Scooter’s been scratched from the lineup.

NAHWAL

1. 17,452
2. Chipper
3. Bobby gets ejected

pik

1.22,500
2. chipper
3. jurrjens k’s 6

picks

1. 19,899
2. Mac
3. Jurrjens pitches 7 shutout innings

picks

I’ll try to be optimistic…

1-18,789
2-JJ
3- Our bullpen blows a 3 run lead…

So much for optimism.

1. 24,123
2. Jurrjens
3. Teixeira homers

Picks

1. 16,931
2. Chipper
3. 2 Braves homer and Matty comes off the bench to drive in 2, once again proving to Bobby that he should be in there every freaking day.

oh well

1. 16,666
2. Let’s say Kotsay
3. We win our first 1 run game.

picks

1. 21,477
2. Chipper
3. Chipper slugs #9 in the late innings, wraps up a much needed victory.

Man, I'm glad we got JJ.

Maybe he’ll even settle in as a nice 3 starter for the long term, that would be a good return. Plus it’s nice to have young pitching that is performing well in the bigs.

AHHHHH.

Has that squeeze worked at all this year?

hey why dont the braves play small again...?

...oh yeah thats right

SCORE SOME GOD DAMN RUNS

Thank god Jair is so so so good. Otherwise I’d be on one of my late night rampages right now.

so.....

do I get credit for my picks in my FanPost? Just now getting home?

Also

WTF, can anybody score or hit the ball?

No.

No is the answer to that very trenchant question.

Well that was a surprising way to score.

Now we need JJ to go 9.

WE GOT A RUN~!!!!

wasnt the hardest hit ball...

but ill take it

Unfortunately Chipper

couldn’t clear the wall on that one.

Please don't let them score JJ.

Could you please?

God damn!

Same story, different players.

We still don't know how to work the count

Hill: 6.1 IP, 67 pitches

Yeah

and that’s without Diaz, the swing king.

geez

if i have to hear one more time how great shawn hill’s fastball is, im gonna lose my mind

Smoltz has made up his mind.

He’s going back to the pen, at least for a bit (which I imagine will encompass the rest of his career). Story on MLB.com. So does that help us at all, obviously losing the starter Smoltz of last year is a blow, but having him as a closer could be something that makes a big difference. I’d rather he pitches than doesn’t and if this is what it takes, so be it.

Ah christ.

Don’t bunt Kotsay over to then take JJ out with a pinch hitter. Why?! WHY!!!!?

And then bring in Diaz.

2 pitch at bat, at best.

Wow

You called that right on

It saddens me too.

If that run doesn’t come in, what a waste to pull our pitcher who was shutting the other team down. I mean JJ could have bunted Kotsay over without getting pulled. Oh well. P.S. Diaz swings at everything, higher swing percentage than anyone in baseball this year.

Here comes the Swing King
God damn it, Bobby.

Why take out Jurrjens? 84 PITCHES!

Because

manager’s code dictates it.

Yunel.

Please save Bobby’s bacon. If you don’t knock the run in, this game will end in tears.

Damn Damn Damn!

So, which of our gas cans is going to fuel the fire tonight??

This team blows.
That's why sometimes

I don’t understand Bobby’s managerial choices. Diaz’ at bat was essentially a bunt, something you can do with your pitcher! So know we’ve wasted a bat, forced us to run out our suspect bullpen, and taken out our starter who was way under 100 pitches and cruising. This kind of thing costs teams dearly.

I couldn't have said it better...

... when we lose this game, blame it on Bobby for taking out Jurrjens for no good damn reason.

GAME OVER

Boyer.

You beat me to posting it
You can't walk

Willy Mo! C’mon!

Oops

I gave him credit for too many ‘l’s

you can’t walk him, BUT YOU CAN LET HIM REACH ON YOUR OWN ERROR! maybe he did that because he knows he can’t be charged for an earned run.

Undoubtedly. The big jerk. And to think I used to like Blaine Boyer.

Stop the presses!

Heap threw someone out! Did Wily fall over or something?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

WILY MO RUNNING WITH 2 OUTS!!!!! manny acta is retarded

He just has too much respect

for Bobby and doesn’t want Bobby’s choices to look the dumbest today.

if i were bobby, i’d shoot each one of my players in the foot with a BB gun when they swung on the first pitch and made an out when we NEED A FUCKING HIT

So who hits the walk off for the Nats?

Zimmerman again?

not this inning at least.

Phew.

hopefully Ring comes in, he’s firmly league average.

Bobby playing the matchups again...

... what a fucking idiot manager. Go grab a lefty every time one comes to the plate. Bullshit strategy. It just burns up more arms and isn’t a damn bit effective.

yeah well at least it'll probably end the game here.

So, whatever.

If these

guys can’t throw a strike instead of hitting somebody, it doesn’t matter, but lefty vs. lefty is a solid pro-pitcher matchup – isn’t that why you have ring on the team?

thats also why we have ohman on the team. and bobby’s got three catchers on the team because “corky calls a great game”, even though he can’t hit half his weight.

...speechless. fucking speechless.

Now see,

he has a bloody nose cuz you said those mean things….

Bennet, is cool.

He’s not the problem, look at his spot starts. It the bullpen use that is troubling.

10 bucks says the game ends on his next pitch

well, the non-free game ended…

Thank god, it didn't.

Given they way things have gone though, I figured you were right.

One good thing of all this.

We’ll never play a 22 inning game. We’d have to make Chipper pitch at that point.

what I like to see.
Wow, DP.

That’s terrible baserunning.

Can ANYTHING go right at this point??

oh for the love of christ.

Combine player mistakes

with coaching mistakes and bad things happen.

Well

at least they have to work for their baserunners.

Ah, I bet I can guess what happens...

...Braves lose another by 1.

Hey

that never happens

Walk off walk

for Lopez. I’ll call it now.

yes. attaboy Manny.

I’m sorry, but this shit is getting old.

i really shouldn’t be handling a pair of scissors right now…

woah.

nice job. I’m impressed.

!?!?!?!?!?

how in the name of all that is holy did THAT happen?

who saw that coming?

Not me.
Please let that be the turning point.

Oh please let it be...

I was going to predict walk-off HBP…but this works too

Houdini Act

Totally unecessary, Manny.

C'mon chipper.

This is where you need to be hitting most of all.

vomit. i think the average is below .400 now

Ah crap.

Zimmerman again.

Heart lept into throat

when Pete said flyball.

Stop with the walks.

Christ, it’s no wonder we don’t win 1 run games.

there we go.

nice pitch to the backstop.

Timely strikeout.

That was needed.

Now Tex

Can save us. Right?

if there is a god...

...tex will hit one 450 on the first pitch

I'll take it

on any pitch.

extra inning games make me drink.

I'm going to switch my pick to click from

Chipper to Tex from now on. He’s found it again.

so when this game inevitably goes to more extras, we won’t have our best power threat in the lineup. slick.

betcha frenchy does something not productive on the first pitch

Yeah

Again, if you are just hoping to move the runner over, why replace Tex with a runner. Cuz he can’t get home from third?

Frenchy

He’s our man. If he can’t do it, it’s because he struck out on a bad pitch.

or weakly grounds out on a ball out of the strike zone.

they should come up with a stat for that.

+1

wait a minute

i don’t think you can +1 your own comments!!

it didnt look like anyone was gonna do it for me, so i had to take some initiative there.

YES! MRS KOTSAY IS PUTTIN OUT TONIGHT!

I'll do it...

+1

Who is this Kotsay fellow?

And who will close this game?

if its resop…oh god.

WHAT?!?!?!?

acosta HITTING FOR HIMSELF!?

If the Braves don't score another run.

They will lose, it is fated.

Sure

Let Acosta bat for himself, but pull JJ.

this is a fucking joke.

Well, to be fair.

The JJ move was dumb dumb dumb, but we don’t have a much better option than Acosta left, if at all. So it’s better to leave him in than count on Lillibridge to knock a run in. That earlier move still pisses me off though.

i don’t see how its better to let a guy that doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing bat than to let a position player bat, and at the same time, let a pitcher who’s already thrown 2 innings stay in the game.

if we blow this game, i’m gonna fucking lose it.

Yeah, that's fair.

If only Smoltz were already closing. We’d have won already.

Yeah

I usually give Bobby alot of slack, but I’m perplexed by this one too.

does the braves site cause anyone else’s browsers to crash? every damn time i go, i have to spend less than 5 seconds on the main page, firefox crashes. real irritating.

I use to have all sorts of crashing problems with

Firefox, usually ad-related.

You need to platoon

bring in IE for MLB sites

all

MLB sites have been causing problems for my firefox.

Oh Manny.

Why you throw so many balls?

And this is why

Pulling Tex was bad.

overmanaging 101

Seriously

That 1-2-3 DP notwithstanding, we cannot catch a single break/bounce. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen.

acosta is CLEARLY out of gas

Please, Bobby...

...don’t throw in The Towel

Maybe he'll screw up this bunt.

Maybe?

You were talkin' about who?

thank god theres an offday tomorrow. don’t expect acosta to go friday either after this debacle today.

Ah Christ.

This is terrible.

just saw the update on ESPNews…acosta has FIVE walks?! dear god

Take out Tex.

Then leave in Acosta. What a great pair of moves that was.

wtf.

wtf.

again, this sort of shit is getting old.

start the chant with me: TER-RY PEN-DLE-TON! :clap clap clap clap clap:

I feel like Indiana Jones with the big rock rolling at me, only I can’t move.

yunel

triple play.

Does belliard

have a rat under his helmet?

Yeah

I think so. I can see it’s tail.

Acosta

even odds that he walks in the winning run?

possibly odds in favor of it.

At least let them hit the run in.

Please.

nope

same old bullshit. how long until football season.

Blurg

Fuck this pen.

ah, buddy.

carlyle our savior…

...

if he walks a run in, i’m gonna fucking flip.

Our knight in shining armor.

Buddy Carlyle!

i’m legit shaking with anger right now.

have a drink.

I need a double.

i am. labatt light. its totally going against my diet, but fuck it, i’m irate right now.

Mets...

...got pounded today, if that takes the edge off at all.

When Bobby retires after this year.

It might just save the future of the franchise. He’s killing us with these moves.

well.

at least buddy let them pound the shit out of the ball to win it.

Sick.

Man we’re terrible right now.

f-ing disgraceful. It is not getting any better. Nothing is changing. Something has to give. This bullshit ain’t going to cut it.

0-9

in 1 run games

0 AND 9! 0 AND 9! 0 AND 9!

product of a terrible bullpen. Remind me why we traded Devine?

hey, don’t tell me about that. i was the only one pissed when we traded joey. by the way,

9 1/3 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 9 K

They couldn’t have given up, like someone that SUCKED for Kotsay?

Meh.

Whatever, bullpen arms are a dime a dozen, look at who we’ve gotten our production from. Pete Moylan? Ken Ray? The managing is killing us right now. Bobby made at least 3 or 4 terrible choices tonight, most of which negatively impacted the game.

Can't blame that on luck

Not even a little. Bad moves, terrible hitting, worse pitching at the end.

SON OF A FUCKING COCKSUCKING BITCH
+1

One of the funniest replies I’ve seen so far this year.

we have 2 “dependable relievers” that have more walks than strikeouts.

uh, WHAT!?

So did they say why Cox left in Acosta to bat? I had it muted so I didn’t have to listen to the terrible Nats announcers.

Mark Teixeira will leave...

... and it probably won’t be because of the money now. He’s probably damn tired of Bobby taking him out after every double he hits.

Team meeting.

Call a friggin’ seminar or conference or whatever the hell you want to call it. We have to do something differently. Otherwise, we’re back the the 1988 Braves (54-106).

damn

Im just gonna have to quit watching this terrible team for awhile. This team reminds me of the 2007 Braves. This team is so much better than this, when I repeat WHEN will we win a ONE run game?

Hammer

8================D
8===================================================================================================O

mine’s bigger.

whoah

who is that woman?

She is the Hammer

Also she is Mark Kotsay’s wife. Jamie Kotsay.

That, my friend...

...is Mrs. Kotsay. I am Mr. Kotsay.

have we had a jamie sighting at turner yet? someone needs to stalk the wives section.

DAMN!!!

That lucky bastard. lol

She's a gold digger...

... because Mark looks like a alcoholic ex-con from Tennessee.

or...

he just swings a big bat…?

So...

...I come back home from losing two softball games, 15-11 and 27-2, and see that Acosta walked FIVE FUCKING PEOPLE.

/headinoven

LOL @ “headinoven”

Well..

...I know it sucks a big one because we could have picked up a game on the 3 teams ahead of us in the division, but at least the Mets, Phils, and Marlins all lost too!

That's how

I consoled myself a good portion of last summer. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do that again this year…

Results

Attendance for the game was 29,473. With a guess of 25,324, yondaime4 gets the point.

The picks to click were Jurrjens with the gem and Kotsay with the bat. One point each to:

Smoltz’s Beard
traphicg
WienerDog
sdp
sddbaker

AAB picks, one point to yondaime4.

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