Whatever we're doing, let's keep doing it. Baseball Musing had a great headline about the outing by the Giants' starter, Ryan Sadowski, that read, "Sad Night for Sadowski." How true. The Braves seem to be doing everything right the last few days. Tonight, 6 of the Braves 8 runs came with two outs -- 4 by Brian McCann, who chased Sadowski with a 3-run jack to straight-away center field in the fourth inning.
Derek Lowe kept his run of good starts going with a quality start in which he had his sinker working -- 11 groundouts to 3 flyouts. He wasn't lights out, but he pitched a very Derek Lowe-esque game by managing the trouble and holding the opposition to mostly singles.
The bullpen got some good work in and finished out the win for Atlanta. I could go on, but it was just a good overall game. Hitting from everywhere in the order, and once we got even a 4-run lead I felt we had the game won with the way the Giants offense is. After it was 8-to-1 it was a cakewalk. Let's hope we can keep the momentum rolling against one of the best pitchers in baseball tomorrow.
0 recs | 47 comments
Still following the Cubs/Phillies game
into the 12th, now. Every Cubs fan just breathed a sigh of relief after Aaron Heilman survives the bottom of the 11th.
Bronn - July 21, 2009
I’m watching with you
Gage23 - July 21, 2009
We have 3 Web Gem nominees, 1) Yunel’s DP throw 2) Yunel’s barehanded catch and throw to first 3) Kotchman’s diving catch
Gage23 - July 21, 2009
Saw as well
Glad BBTN didn’t glaze over them, actually showed each of them.
Bronn - July 21, 2009
Someone promise me the Phillies can’t keep this streak going for much longer.
NCChopper - July 21, 2009
Hamels vs. Zambrano tomorrow. Probably can win that.
Then 1 game vs. SD. Probably going to win that (Kevin Correia I think is pitching for the Padres?)
Then 3 against STL. If nothing else, Pujols wins one of those by himself.
Bronn - July 21, 2009
Weird formatting problem, there.
Bronn - July 21, 2009
Were going to win the Wild Card, so don’t worry about Philly, except when we play them.
MatM - July 22, 2009
I said earlier on the game thread:
I say … we do it again tomorrow night.
Lincy can bite me and his "I don’t look old enough to drive" ERA or Win/Loss record.
NCChopper - July 21, 2009
Ballgame
3 run shot by Werth off Samardzija ends it in the 13th
Bronn - July 21, 2009
Walks kill.
Gage23 - July 21, 2009
2 walks and a Werth Homerun in the bottom of 13th sealed the deal.
Damn. Just damn.
NCChopper - July 21, 2009
Seriously – what’s our only hope… voodoo dolls?
NCChopper - July 21, 2009
Playing them we have owned them this year.
That a boy - July 21, 2009
Braves just need to reel off a winning streak-the problem is that our schedule is a little bit harder than theirs over the next 3 weeks.
Bronn - July 21, 2009
Good thing we play better against good teams than we do against bad ones!
HEYJUDE - July 21, 2009
It’s up to us to stop the Phils….
dum dum DUM
Chief Noc-A-Homa - July 21, 2009
Good news!
Arizona leading the Rockies 6-5 going into the 9th.
Braves could be 3 games out of the wildcard tomorrow.
Bronn - July 21, 2009
Final
D-backs beat the Rockies, and the Braves are in a 4 way tie, 3 games out of the wild card.
Bronn - July 22, 2009
Now we need to win tomorrow
The Cubs need to beat the Phillies, and the DBacks gotta beat the Rox. It is Jon Garland tomorrow tho…
Scott Coleman - July 22, 2009
Moyer v. Zambrano
esadb - July 22, 2009
How is Jamie Moyer still in baseball? especially in that joke of a ballpark?
Scott Coleman - July 22, 2009
Would be really nice if a few teams could lose tomorrow
It’s not that we’re definitely going to lose to Tim Lincecum tomorrow with Jurrjens on the mound, but if we do manage to win, we deserve to gain ground on a lot of people.
Bronn - July 22, 2009
Were are playing incredibly and i really disagree trading Escobar… come on he is the best batter and the best defensively he is playing like an all star!!
JoeyBraves - July 22, 2009
Are people still wanting to trade Escobar?
get swoll yunel - July 22, 2009
Who cares what “people” want. All that matters is Wren isn’t stupid enough to trade Yunel. He is cheap, and a hitting machine. He may not get along with Bobby, but Bobby needs to suck it up, and just except Esco for what he is.
That a boy - July 22, 2009
Bobby doesnt need to “suck it up”, Yunel needs to change his ways. Yeah, hes a good hitter, and we should keep him, but still, he needs to start thinking more. Though he has been better lately…
esadb - July 22, 2009
I think that Bobby likes Yunel just fine, so “sucking it up” isn’t necessary. Just because the lower points in Yunel’s antics have met with disapproval does not mean that Bobby has ever had Yunel in his doghouse (I was amazed at all the “Bobby hates Yunel” comments that I saw for no good reason). Esco has channeled his enthusiasm all for good in the past couple of games and I think that the drama is probably behind us. I loved Prado’s comments tonight about Esco being a great teammate and making sure everybody always practices and plays hard.
Sir Stealth - July 22, 2009
No, Yunel doesnt need to change who he is, the way he plays and his energy brings excitement to the game, and is a spark to this team.
That a boy - July 22, 2009
Yeah, thats part is fine, but the times when it seems like he doesn't care are not fine.
But as I said, He’s been better about it lately.
esadb - July 22, 2009
Needless to say
I pretty much love the guy…
But anybody wanting to trade him for his “lack of professionalism” or whatever the reason is needs to sit back and realize that he has tremendous value to us, not just because of the numbers that he puts up, but because we have no viable replacement for him whatsoever at any level in our system.
Frosted tips and all, the guy has gotta stay no matter what until we have other options.
get swoll yunel - July 22, 2009
i think so
JoeyBraves - July 22, 2009
We should be 5-6 games better off
Is it any wonder that the offense is going great guns now that Bobby can not put KJ or Frenchy on the lineup card? I can’t believe he continued to put KJ in there day after freakin day. I like KJ, but don’t give a rat’s ass how he’s doing at AAA. He’s had ONE good month in these last 2 years [Sept. ’08] and should have been gone long ago, and Prado put at 2nd.
Frenchy should have been benched also, or sent to AAA. So he didn’t like being sent down last year. TOUGH TURKEY! If he would have produced he would not have to worry about it.
I’m not a Bobby basher, but he did the same thing with Andruw. Left him at cleanup when he was hitting below the Mendoza Line! Anyway, I hope they don’t bring KJ back up. Then Bobby will again be tempted to start him and sit Prado. Maybe since he’s raking at AAA, another team may want to give the Braves a bag of balls for him.
Braves fan since 1966 - July 22, 2009
This is ridiculous
KJ has been a thoroughly above average 2B for us pretty much since he’s started playing the position, and he was a victim of a very unlucky BABIP in the early part of this year (much like Garrett Anderson). He’s been raking at AAA because he’s a good hitter, not because it’s a fluke.
I like Prado, too, but you gotta realize that he’s been performing above his true ability as of late (as has Mr. Garrett Anderson) and that KJ is going to be a valuable asset to this club when he comes back.
No way we should lump him in with Failcouer.
get swoll yunel - July 22, 2009
Prado is NOT performing above his true ability. He hasn’t even tapped into his “true ability” yet. He’s never been given the opportunity to play regularly play, and he is STILL batting above .300. A crapload of people around here seen to look down on Prado, for whatever reason, but he’s the man.
Chief Noc-A-Homa - July 22, 2009
A .346 BABIP isn’t really sustainable…
get swoll yunel - July 22, 2009
OK, this may strike some people as unnecessary criticism, but there is one aspect of our starting pitching that is still really annoying me. A lot has been made of our bullpen being overworked and what has apparently been generally overlooked as the cause of this is our starting pitching’s inability to go deep into games. Yesterday’s game was a perfect example of where our pitcher should be going 7 at least, if not 8 or 9. Now I know that our pitching is the reason we still have a chance to make the playoffs, but I would like to see them add some more efficiency to their dominance so that our bullpen can get more extended breaks.
(sorry this has been a bit rambling, but basically its a trend i’ve seen the last few years that we seem to manage 1 or 2 complete games a season and thats it. The reality is that thats not really good enough IMO)
FromTheBellyOfWickman - July 22, 2009
I’d rather have Derek Lowe rested in October than Peter Moylan.
kalesi - July 22, 2009
Great Game
The Phils will eventually lose, we need to be johnny on the spot with a win. All we can do is take care of our business. With 9 games left against Philly and less than 9 games out, we are in fine position.
kalesi - July 22, 2009
I'm still not happy with the contract we gave Lowe
but he looked filthy last night. The sinker was an A pitch and so was his changeup. That’s the best I’ve seen him throw all year.
nathan rothschild - July 22, 2009
He’s been hanging with Tom hanson, Javy Vazquez, JJ, etc. Our guys are dyNOmite.
Chief Noc-A-Homa - July 22, 2009
Let’s hope we just keep swinging it like we’ve done.
…only three games out of the wild card.
kalesi - July 22, 2009
This was a nice recap on the Braves site:
We have our work cut out for us tonight.
Never good when your team’s best hitter calls the upcoming pitcher “The Freak”.
I’d just love it if we could hand the kid his 3rd loss.
NCChopper - July 22, 2009
Lincecum's 2 losses so far this year:
4/12 Padres 6-1 (for the series sweep)
6/17 Angels 4-3 (for the series sweep)
What can we learn from these games and apply tonight?
NCChopper - July 22, 2009
Step 1: Relocate team to California
Step 2:
Step 3: Profit
bravesguy311 - July 22, 2009
Underpants Gnomes!
MatM - July 22, 2009
Winner
bravesguy311 - July 23, 2009
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