Another series, another series win. I think this team is starting to spoil us. The Braves have now won exactly 2/3 in each of their last 5 series, and have a 14-1-3 record in their past 18 series. That is some serious consistency. They enter the All-Star break 4 games ahead of the Mets (and 4.5 ahead of the Phillies). The Braves are also a game ahead of the Padres for the best record in the NL.
Who would have thought any of those statements would be possible after the 9-game losing streak? It's been a remarkable turnaround. Just look at the two series the Braves have played at Citi Field. In the first, they were swept in a series in which everything seemed to go wrong (including rain at unfortunate times). In the second, they came within a Johan Santana of sweeping the Mets. This is just a different team than the one we watched in late April, despite very few actual personnel changes.
The last series of the first half was a low-scoring one, which makes sense given that it was a matchup of two teams with good pitching and several key injuries to hitters. Only 13 runs were scored in the entire series, and the last two games were shutouts. Despite this, there were a couple fantastic offensive performances in the series, led by Omar Infante's 9 hits and Angel Pagan's 8 hits. Here are the links to the Talking Chop recaps and FanGraphs pages for each game, in case you missed them:
Game 1: Braves win 4-2 (TC Recap / FanGraphs Page)
Game 2: Braves win 4-0 (TC Recap / FanGraphs Page)
Game 3: Mets win 3-0 (TC Recap / FanGraphs Page)
Despite not getting the sweep, Braves fans have to be happy with a series win on the road against a division rival. It was a good way to end the first half of the season. Hopefully, the second half of the season goes as well as the past two months have gone.
Series Awards after the jump.
Braves' Pitching MVP
Tim Hudson-- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 12/20 ground balls (60%), and a 0.315 WPA
Braves' Hitting MVPs
Omar Infante-- 9/14, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, CS, K, 0.300 WPA
Melky Cabrera-- 4/13, BB, HR, 2B, 2 R, RBI, SB, K, 0.123 WPA
Matt Diaz-- 4/8, 2B, 0.000 WPA (Yes, exactly 0.)
Braves' Clutch Play
Melky Cabrera hitting a go-ahead solo homer in game 1 (0.226 WPA)
Mets' Pitching MVP
Johan Santana-- 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 14/20 fly balls (70%), and a 0.428 WPA
Mets' Hitting MVPs
Angel Pagan-- 8/14, 2B, 3B, R, 3 SB, 3 K, 0.220 WPA (I can't believe he only scored 1 run... He was always on base.)
R.A. Dickey-- 2/2, 2 R, 0.098 WPA (I know, it was just 2 at-bats... but no other Met scored twice!)
Ike Davis-- 3/10, 2 BB, HR, 2B, R, RBI, 3 K, GIDP, 0.010 WPA
Mets' Clutch Play
Jose Reyes doubling to tie game 1 (0.163 WPA)
Braves' Pitching LVP
Nobody. Tommy Hanson had the only negative WPA for the series, and it was -0.014. Plus, he actually pitched pretty well. It's funny, it seems like whenever I cover a series, the Braves never have any good pitching LVP candidates... That's a sign of how well we've been pitching lately.
Braves' Hitting LVP
Martin Prado-- 0/12, 2 BB, 4 K, GIDP, -0.397 WPA (That is seriously ugly... but everyone has a bad series now and then.)
Braves' Unclutch Play
Martin Prado grounding into a bases-loaded 1-2-3 double play in game 2 (-0.184 WPA)
Mets' Pitching LVP
Mike Pelfrey-- 4 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 2 K, -0.165 WPA
Mets' Hitting LVPs
Jeff Francoeur-- 1/11, 2B, 2 K, -0.233 WPA
Rod Barajas-- 1/7, sac bunt, GIDP, -0.178 WPA
Jason Bay-- 0/6, BB, HBP, 2 K, GIDP, -0.156 WPA
Alex Cora-- 1/9, RBI, GIDP, -0.137 WPA
Ruben Tejada-- 1/6, BB, SB, -0.069 WPA
Mets' Unclutch Play
No terrible plays, but Rod Barajas grounding into a double play in game 3 (-0.090 WPA) was probably the worst.
0 recs | 32 comments
Winning 2/3
over the rest of the season would be about a 101- 61 record. I’ll take that.
DawgB - July 12, 2010
I think you mean 1 game better than the Padres not Phillies
bravesforever16 - July 12, 2010
I sure do, thanks. Fixed.
Jacob Peterson - July 12, 2010
I am going to go crazy with no baseball on today.
/resists urge to scream.
Also, Jason Heyward invaded my dreams last night.
MBL1 - July 12, 2010
You can watch the Steroid Derby tonight! I can’t wait to hear Berman say “back back back, gone!” 4876438764378436 times in an hour span.
BullManUGA - July 12, 2010
I liked the old school Home Run Derby better
Mr. Sanchez - July 12, 2010
Ugh.....
That’s almost as bad as the White Soxs’ broadcasters.
dragonhawk26 - July 12, 2010
“you can put it on the boooooooard, yes!”
MBL1 - July 12, 2010 via mobile
As long as we can give LVP to Frenchy every series, I’m happy.
BullManUGA - July 12, 2010
For some reason I'm worried about Prado.
He looked horrible throughout the series (at the plate, not in the field). Can some please call me stupid and explain to me why I’m crazy?
bravesforever16 - July 12, 2010
Just a phase
Most palyers go through the mini-slumps during the course of a season. Maybe a litlle R & R, even though he is going to the All Star game, will help.
DawgB - July 12, 2010
You are stupid and crazy because Prado is fine.
MBL1 - July 12, 2010
You are stupid and crazy b/c Prado only has one other stretch of three games without a hit all season (May 6-8) and he’s had exactly one day off (if I read baseball-reference game logs correctly) without the team all season. I like this ‘you are stupid and crazy game’ :)
The one thing that might be looming out there on him is the .354 BABIP, which might be due for a retraction.
CharlotteChop - July 12, 2010
He looked worn out, and that shin-burger surely didn't help things out...
I think the knuckleballer kind of messed with his swing a bit…there is obviously no way that he will keep his 1st half pace up, and it is a little disconcerting to see that he only saw 9 pitches in 4 AB’s yesterday, but he was tired and ready to get an off day.
Even if his average goes down, he will continue to have lines like Friday night, when he went 0-3, but had 2 BB’s and saw 24 pitches in 5 plate appearances. Along with a healthy Heyward, Prado will to continue to grind pitchers into a nub, as their pitch counts continuously elevate along with the heat and humidity at Turner Field.
Fred Pen - July 12, 2010
Sorry, that was referring to Saturday afternoon's game...on Friday night
he saw 21 pitches in 5 plate appearances…
Fred Pen - July 12, 2010
Hopefully Saito comes back without his recent Kawakami vibe. been getting lit up.
Chief Noc-A-Homa - July 12, 2010
Just stop it.
justincredubil02 - July 13, 2010
Something tells me Heyward will be a monster in the second half
Remember before he got injured and he was on pace for like 42 HR and 140 RBI?
I think he will get that kind of hotness going again if fully healthy in the second half. No more rookie jitters. Plenty of rest. I think Heyward may initiate BEAST MODE in the second half and be the real legit power hitter we need.
Would seriously not be surprised to see a line of 28 – 100 by years end.
ATLandUNC - July 12, 2010
FRENCHY
Call me whatever , but I was hoping FRENCHY would Hit his head on the concrete yesterday !!!
ggotch - July 12, 2010
That's dumb
Every day that Frenchy plays in right field for the Mets helps the Braves for as long as the Mets are in contention.
Bronn - July 12, 2010
Unless he's in right when
Snitker gives the green light to Heap rounding second.
vooodooo - July 12, 2010
Great first half. My favorite moment of the first half was Brooksy’s Grand Slam, though Wagner’s 400th save is close behind. Heyward’s Opening Day homer would come in third, but overall, a great first half.
MBL1 - July 12, 2010
That day game vs the Reds was nuts. I had taken the day off, and it looked like we were going to lose the game from very early on. People were giving me crap because I took the day off to watch it, etc, and………the best way to describe it is, I had the strangest feeling throughout the game that we would come back…….and then, it got ridiculous. And right there, during that game, whatever doubts I had were gone. Because that was nuts, and that game will be (should be) airing as a Classic Game in the not-so-distant future.
Unbelievable, yet believable.
Chief Noc-A-Homa - July 12, 2010
I was with my friend, celebrating her birthday, and I was getting text-message updates from my family. tHey told me the Reds rocked Hanson for 8 runs in the 2nd inning. Later, i was in the car on the way home and heard about the comeback on the radio. I was shocked. It was awesome.
MBL1 - July 12, 2010 via mobile
I just got chills thinking about it…
Gage23 - July 12, 2010
Oh yes!
I was listening to the Brooks Conrad game on the radio in between grocery shopping and a doctor’s appointment, and I caught the entire 8th and 9th innings on the way home… What a fantastic game!! We pulled up in our driveway right after Jim Powell made the Grand Slam call, and I started hollering… I loved giving grief to my friends and family who stopped watching too… I cherished the Memorial Day game too—at the final out, all of us in our section at Turner Field started cheering, “First Place! First Place! First Place!” But for me personally, the Braves Diamond Gala was one of the best nights of my life…
Cheryl96sc - July 13, 2010
What is WPA?
geapsquash - July 12, 2010
A stat which attempts to measure a players contribution to a win by figuring the factor by which each specific play made by that player has altered the outcome of a game. It is the difference between the win probability when the player came to bat & the in probability when the play ends. (per Wikipedia). Check out Fangraphs. Click on the glossary tab for more info & links.
adc62 - July 12, 2010
Good explanation.
If you are wondering about the values of the numbers, geapsquash, positive is good and negative is bad. A WPA of 0.050 means that a player helped his team’s chance of winning by 5%, and a WPA of -0.050 means that he hurt his team’s chances by 5%.
Jacob Peterson - July 12, 2010
But how do they figure that? The probability, I maen/
DawgB - July 13, 2010
Again, per Wikipedia
The Win Probability for a specific situation in baseball (including the inning, number of outs, men on base, and score) is obtained by first finding all the teams that have encountered this situation. Then the winning percentage of these teams in these situations is found.
adc62 - July 13, 2010
Curious
Anyone want to predict whether the Anti-Christ will still be batting lead-off (or anywhere) for the Mets on Thursday??
Cheryl96sc - July 13, 2010
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