I was totally right about this game being all offense and no pitching... okay, I was totally off, and what a great game by Jo-Jo Reyes. If he could pitch that way every game we wouldn't need to make fun of him -- I mean, one walk and seven strikeouts!
How about the rockin' Gonzo striking out the heart of the Cards order in the ninth. The pitching was clicking tonight.
The hitting was aided by three walks in the eighth and a wimpy but effective two-run single by Matt Diaz. The Cards did not want to pitch to Chipper Jones tonight, so they walked him four times. Unfortunately, they seemed to figure out how to get Casey Kotchman out, after yesterday's three-hit performance he went 0-for-4 with seven men left on base.
I'm pretty sure Jeff Francoeur broke another bat or two tonight, though there is no picture eveidence, otherwise I would post it.
The rubber game is tomorrow. I think a good goal for this team is to win series, and a win tomorrow would give us two series wins in a row.
0 recs | 34 comments
MATT DIAZ IS ABAP!!!
nick9314 - April 28, 2009
he’s a computer language?
sddbaker - April 29, 2009
Tip of the cap to Jo-Jo...
… NOW BUILD ON IT, STAYPUFT.
sdp - April 28, 2009
We only won this game because Green’s horrible defense bailed out Diaz’s horrible hitting.
Still, this somehow felt like the sort of win that could turn things around for the team.
Lennox - April 28, 2009
Bingo. Diaz swung at ball 4, and I threw a fit only to watch that seeing eye single somehow find the outfield grass.
Smoltz's Beard - April 29, 2009
Not only did he swing at ball four, he attempted to pull it, even though it was a foot off the plate. Lucky lucky lucky. But this does help even out some of those hard line drives we were hitting at people earlier in the season.
10-4 - April 29, 2009
the more i see jo-jo pitching this well the more i dislike the idea of him as trade bait
Bravely going forward - April 29, 2009
this
drumzalicious - April 29, 2009
Soccer score wins are better than giving up a 7-run lead in the late innings. Still. . . big ups to the Braves for finding new ways to make EVERY GAME feel like a colo-rectal exam. Whatever, I’ll take it if it means October baseball. And a clean bill of health.
Meatloafin' - April 29, 2009
nice!
gondeee - April 29, 2009
very nice and yeah we have had to deal with a lot of crap
BeantownVol - April 29, 2009
Gonzo
Seems to be back to form. Hit 95 consistently and was working the rubber as Joe and Chip pointed out. I think Gonzalez’s 9th inning work was the most impressive performance of the game.
jug - April 29, 2009
this
Swo12bv - April 29, 2009
When he came out to the mound he had that “refuse to lose” look on his face. The guy was fantastic striking out the side (Pujols being the icing on the cake). Moylan had a solid inning also. Jo-Jo goes w/out saying. Great pitching performance all around. Now about the bats, sheeze. RISP all night long & all you’ve got to show for it is 2 runs squeaked out in the 8th due to poor pitching (all breaking balls to Diaz) and bad defense @ short. The Braves are going give me a heart attack before the seasons up.
adc62 - April 29, 2009
Seven men LOB for Kotchman…I noticed this stat during the game…..I really don’t understand his hitting….great with nobody on base but he is god awful if anyone is out there…..good thing he plays fantastic defense
MTSU11 - April 29, 2009
But...
Chipper will have like a .700 OBP by the time McCann gets back thanks to Kotchman.
DMac142005 - April 29, 2009
Refuse to lose
Gonzo had that refuse to look mentality the moment he took the mound. Fantastic performance striking out the side, especially the big guy Pujols. Pitching was great throughout the game. We need some bats coming to life. I’m going to have a heart attck before the seasons up w/these late innings, come from behind, one run games.
adc62 - April 29, 2009
If I have to watch Escobar make another baserunning blunder, im going to personally fly down to ATL and shave those blonde tips off his Cuban melon. This guy is a great player and has lots of enthusiasm, but how long will it take before he learns? Or before the FO gets sick of it. I cant imagine Bobby being to happy about it, picked off on 1st Mon, turned a DP on himself overunning 3rd last night. this boy is killin me.
bravesguy311 - April 29, 2009
I’m all for you shaving them off regardless of what he does!
Lizziebeth - April 29, 2009
No way!
Even during the worst of games, a mere glimpse of those Panama City curls can get me to belly laugh. Dude looks like he totally just fucking LOVES eating at Chili’s.
But yeah, our base running’s been sucking all around.
Meatloafin' - April 29, 2009
Relax, we're only talking about the blonde tips...
The curls are fine as long as they’re not blonde! I love Yuni, but the 1986 highlights have got to go. :)
Lizziebeth - April 29, 2009
Old Francoeur
Would have whiffed on those outside pitches that he was given. I think he deserves a lot of credit for keeping the inning alive by nursing that walks kill, and despite it not amounting to anything, he got a great jump on the Diaz hit and went from 1st-to-3rd on a very crappy Khalil Greene-assisted single subsequently.
I’m not going to lie, seeing Mike Gonzalez make Albert Pujols look silly was possibly the greatest moment of the season for me, thus far. If the heart of the order in the 9th inning is the adrenaline that Gonzo needs to be this damn filthy, I would love to see him in October.
A fantastic win for the home team last night!
royhobbs - April 29, 2009
What i thought was funny was that Gonzo would get to rocking facing Pujols, and you would think “ok, he’s throwing this time, well, this time, ok this time.” Pujols stepped out of the box a couple times; it seemed to bother him. I was afraid he was angering the Machine. But it worked out, and Gonzo was unbelieveable.
10-4 - April 29, 2009
The funniest part...
was that Gonzo would just keep rocking when the batters would step out, instead of stopping and starting again when they stepped back in.
sddbaker - April 29, 2009
+1 for FYF
Smoltz's Beard - April 29, 2009
Great two games
Even Monday’s game against the Cards was a whopper. Great pitching going on. I really hope we win the rubber match but I hope even more it’s the same kind of game as the first two. These one-run games are fun as long as we win at least a few of them.
SunDolphin - April 29, 2009
Gonzo…so money he doesn’t even know it.
Smoltz's Beard - April 29, 2009
royhobbs - April 29, 2009
green
Smoltz's Beard - April 29, 2009
Hahaha! Good job.
Lizziebeth - April 29, 2009
I’m excited about how our pitching staff has taken shape so far this year. If we can just get KK worked out, we should at least be in every game. Now, it would help if our offense could get more than 2 runs in a game a little more consistently!
dunnytwogloves - April 29, 2009
Mike Gonzalez was straight up filthy last night. Great to see his velocity back up.
Sparhawk - April 29, 2009
+1 to all the upbeat comments here!
Lizziebeth - April 29, 2009
Amen! +1 from me as well.
NCChopper - April 29, 2009
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