| Reliever | Appearances | Innings Pitched |
| Jeff Bennett | 3 | 6.0 |
| Blaine Boyer | 2 | 4.0 |
| Manny Acosta | 3 | 3.0 |
| Will Ohman | 4 | 2.1 |
| Peter Moylan | 3 | 2.0 |
| Chris Resop | 5 | 2.0 |
| Rafael Soriano | 2 | 2.0 |
| Royce Ring | 3 | 1.0 |
| Total |
25 |
22.1 |
We've played four games, and our bullpen has made 25 appearances! Including the oddity of Chris Resop who has 5 appearances in only four games after appearing twice in last night's game while playing left field for one batter. None of this is a good sign for a part of our team that is supposed to be a strength. Keep in mind that while some of these appearances are for one batter, they still have to warm up in the bullpen, then again on the mound -- that's a lot of back to back wear and tear this early in the season.
Add to all this the fact that we are carrying eight relievers (instead of the usual seven), and tonight we'll likely have nine relievers in the bullpen and the numbers above sort of boggle the mind. For comparison, the Atlanta starters have made three appearances (I'm not counting Bennett as a starter, even though he made a start) totaling 17.1 innings. It hurts that two out of the four games we've played are for extra innings, but that just further underscores the importance of the starters going deep into games this weekend (and the offense scoring plenty of early runs to put us ahead and keep us ahead).
Admirably, Royce Ring earns the "perfect award" for having appeared in three games to face one batter in each game and having struck out all three batters he's faced -- that's a good LOOGY.
0 recs | 7 comments
Your wish may be granted...
The weather service in Atlanta just put up a Tornado watch for the area until 10pm ET.
OntheGo - April 4, 2008
Rick Roll the Mets
Off topic, but I find it funny. Just type the above phrase into Google.
godawgs - April 4, 2008
Bobby is probably regretting ...
Going nuts during the Jurrjens game with the 'pen now. There's no reason to warm up three guys to pitch one inning. If he saves Moylan there, we don't have to pull that stunt last night and Moylan might not have given up the game-winner. That kind of crap catches up to Bobby every time and now we're compromised for the Mets series.
SomeYahoo - April 4, 2008
Yeah, I haven't been really fond of Bobby's handling of the bullpen so far. I mean, I get wanting the matchups, let's not burn through three guys in an inning just to get them.
On the other hand, putting Resop into left field for one out on Thursday made the whole game worthwhile.
6stringbeliever - April 4, 2008
seems like every year we rebuild the bullpen, but the same results continue year after year. i'm ready for the day when the braves won't be a team-on-a-budget anymore, and we can go out and spend some money on some quality pitchers. then we must hope they don't figure out a way to injure every possible part of their bodies over and over again.
skipcaray - April 4, 2008
You may..
...be waiting for a very long time when the Braves wont be a team on a budget. So I wouldn't go holding your breath.
RainDelay - April 5, 2008
Stockman
Can't understand why this guy is not up with Braves. I know he had arm problems, but had a very good spring and has never failed on the mound in Atlanta. Sometimes Bobby just doesn't care for certain guys, and sticks with others for too long. I hope he is the first one up if someone in the pen goes down to injury.
bravos - April 4, 2008
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Talking Chop to post a comment.