The 1st place Atlanta Braves travel to Coors Field to face the Rockies, who are fighting everyday for their playoff chances. The Rockies currently sit 11 games behind the Padres and 7 behind the Phillies in the NL Wild Card, so they have a ton of work to do. The Bravos certainly can't take them lightly though. We've all seen what Colorado can do in a pennant race and they could catch fire at any moment.
Here's a look at the offense:
Runs: 566 (5th)
BA: .261 (4th)
OBP: .334 (5th)
SLG: .417 (4th)
HR: 127 (4th)
SB: 73 (6th)
BB/K: 0.46 (6th)
As you can see, they're an above average club offensively. Carlos Gonzalez is having a huge season for the Rockies, and he has arguably the best numbers at home of any hitter in the league. Troy Tulowitzki is having another fine season, but went down for a while with an injury. Eric Young and Dexter Fowler bring a ton of speed to the top of their lineup and guys like Ian Stewart and Seth Smith are having solid seasons. It's sad to see as he's a personal favorite, but Todd Helton is having a bad season and has a miserable OPS of .669.
Starting Pitching:
ERA: 4.24 (12th)
FIP: 3.83 (6th)
xFIP: 4.04 (5th)
BAA: .256 (6th)
K/BB: 2.08 (11th)
WHIP: 1.35 (10th)
As every Braves fan now knows, the Rockies staff is anchored by Cy Young candidate Ubaldo Jimenez. Fortunately for us, we'll miss Ubaldo during the series. Jason Hammel will pitch in game 1 for the Rox and he's been a solid #3 starter for Colorado this season. Jorge De La Rosa has also been solid, but missed nearly half of the season with a shoulder injury. Esmil Rogers will start on Wednesday, and he's been decent in limited playing time. All-in-all, the Braves don't have to face any dominant starters and face two righties.
More after the jump...
Relief Pitching:
ERA: 3.70 (7th)
FIP: 3.64 (4th)
xFIP: 4.00 (4th)
BAA: .248 (7th)
K/BB: 2.76 (2nd)
WHIP: 1.26 (3rd)
Houston Street is now the Rockies closer after returning from injury and he's been decent in the 9th inning. Joe Beimel is putting together yet another fine season and continues to dominate lefties. Manny Corpas and Rafael Betancourt serve as the middle relievers and both have been average. Matt Reynolds has been good in very limited playing time and Matt Belisle is having a solid season as well. Similar to the hitting and starting pitching, the Rockies bullpen is a solid bunch.
Pitching Match-ups:
Monday, 8:40EST.
Tuesday, 8:40EST.
Wednesday, 3:10EST:
0 recs | 99 comments
Series win!
I see us struggling against the lefty like usual plus Derek “can’t keep the ball” Lowe is pitching and probably gives up a couple of long ones.
aceiii222 - August 23, 2010
Thank you, sir.
For coining the name Derek “can’t keep the ball” Lowe.
It made me snorkle. };0)
Chopaholic - August 23, 2010
i find
the best snorkling is in the Cayman Islands
ChitownBravos - August 23, 2010
it’s not bad in Borneo either…
forgotten_glory - August 23, 2010
BEAT THE LEFTY!!!
SuperNewb - August 23, 2010
Seeing Huddy start first made me smile lol
Albert K - August 23, 2010
The Braves have beaten de la Rosa up quite a bit when he’s faced them, so I don’t think beating him will be too difficult.
TonyAlmeyda - August 23, 2010
That's handism.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
UMDBHIK - August 23, 2010
ha
fandave - August 23, 2010
Damn lefty-guy, gettin all political-like....
EricGreggWasPaidOff - August 23, 2010
Phillies have 4 at home vs the Astros, we better bring some game with us this week.
bighop - August 23, 2010
Should be a sweep
except we have a tendancy to make 4th and 5th starters look like aces. Still, easy series win at the least.
king of games - August 23, 2010
Prediction: Jason Heyward will have an awesome series
MBL1 - August 23, 2010 via mobile
I would LOVE it
SuperHeyward - August 23, 2010
hes getting hot at the right time. Just before we travel to Coors Field. How many HRs does he hit?
Braves Biceps - August 23, 2010
20 (in this series, because he can)
MBL1 - August 23, 2010 via mobile
Big Series
Phillies play the Astros, so Braves need to be going for the sweep in this one.
Bronn - August 23, 2010
in a perfect scenario
the braves need to always be going for the sweep…
forgotten_glory - August 23, 2010
Sure....but things never turn out perfect.
I’m happy with winning every series.
EricGreggWasPaidOff - August 23, 2010
rockies always seem to pull out a W in spectacular fashion
against us. i have been to 2 walkoff bomb wins at coors field. and then earlier this season that no-no ubaldo pitched. stupid rockies.
i live in denver and cant wait for tonight. first braves games of the year for me.
nfierstos10 - August 23, 2010
How is it the first game of the year for you
but you went to the Ubaldo no-no?
BravesDawg16 - August 23, 2010
i didn’t go to the no no. that was in atlanta. haven’t made it back this year. those two walkoff HR wins for the rockies were in the past few years. one of them i remember was a bob wickman failure. the other may or may not have been manny acosta.
nfierstos10 - August 23, 2010
Bob Wickman and Manny Acosta blowing a game?
Thats a safe bet!
BravesDawg16 - August 23, 2010
I will stand firm.
We take 2 of 3. Sweeps are very difficult on the road, and, as stated above, Colorado is good for at least one comeback W against us…As for the Phils, they won’t sweep the Stros (I wish that Oswalt could pitch in this series!). Why? Because they won’t. Four game sweeps are really, really tough…Thus, if we take 2/3, then the Phils will only gain .5 games on us (assuming the Phils take 3/4).
Hopefully, our offense will show up early and often against the starters, as waiting until the end of the game will not work as well against this team and their offense/decent pen.
And I agree, this series just screams J-hey dominance.
Jman781 - August 23, 2010
^J-Hey
Goodness. A J-Hey fail is the worst possible fail. I just got a call from my office’s receptionist. J-Hey’s waiting in the lobby to kick me in the shins for my transgression. And afterward, I will thank him.
Jman781 - August 23, 2010
CarGon
is going to be a HANDFUL for a long long time. The kid’s got some serious game.
apoxonbothyourhouses - August 23, 2010
I heard...
he’s not 100% right now.
sddbaker - August 23, 2010
Collided with the wall...
Bruised his knee, but he should be back full-strength for the series. He was in their starting lineup yesterday.
-C
cthabeerman - August 23, 2010
damn
that would’ve been a nice break…
forgotten_glory - August 23, 2010
Whenever I see Ethier or Gonzalez go off, I have a hearty laugh at Billy Beane’s expense.
Yakker - August 23, 2010
The key
to this series will be keeping the ball down in the zone. Having Hudson and Lowe pitch here will be a boon for us, I think. Lots of ground balls. Jurrjens should be fine, as he relies less on breaking pitches, which don’t break nearly so much at this altitude. His FB% could be a bit worrisome, tho.
I’ve been calling J-Hey wreaking havoc at Coors for the past week now, and I’ll stick to that. I see D-Lee also having a good series now that he’s away from last week’s drama.
I have tickets in the second deck in RF for tonight’s game, 3 rows back for about $10 apiece. Considering that’s where a couple of Heyward’s hits should land, you can’t beat that with a stick. Thinking about getting the same for tomorrow’s game, but I want to see how good the seats are first.
I have a bet w/ my CEO for my pick of any available seat I can find in the park for Wed’s day game (have to beat him at Madden, tho). Hopefully, I’m a WINNAR.
-C
cthabeerman - August 23, 2010
Just curious.
And if you are a LUZZAR?
-Also C
Chopaholic - August 23, 2010
If I am LUZZAR, I have to come in two hours extra every Friday for a month and call customers to thank them for ordering products from us. I think there’s also something else I have to do, but can’t remember at the moment…
-C
cthabeerman - August 23, 2010
Lowe...
Will his sinking pitches sink out there? That’s what concerns me…
Jman781 - August 23, 2010
Jason Marquis was on the Rockies last season and pitched as well at Coors as he did elsewhere, so I don’t think it has a huge negative effect on the movement of his sinker. Beyond that, I haven’t looked into it that much.
-C
cthabeerman - August 23, 2010
There was some kind of study done about the effect of the high altitude on breaking pitches. It did decrease movement a non-trivial amount. Unfortunately, I don’t have a link to it.
EricGreggWasPaidOff - August 23, 2010
But now I have...
Interestingly enough, there was an analysis done on Lowe specifically at Coors Field versus other ballparks.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/what-to-pack-for-denver/
The conclusion on the sinker, summed up nicely, is this: “You can throw sinkers at Coors and be effective, but just because you throw sinkers at Coors doesn’t mean you are going to be effective.”
Overall: "Although it will never easy to pitch at altitude, some pitches are affected worse than others. Although sinkers can be an effective pitch, they aren’t the complete answer to the problem. Pitchers should be warned that all of their pitches will tend to stay up in the zone at Coors, and the pitchers should “aim low” when they’re on the mound. They can take advantage of the thin air by throwing more high fastballs and changeups, but they should avoid curves and sliders in general. "
Basically, the study says this: Sinkers can work, curves and sliders don’t. Fastballs are faster and straight as an arrow, and changeups are the best offspeed pitch to throw.
-C
cthabeerman - August 23, 2010
Aha...
I posted about something similar to this above. I guess I should’ve kept reading. Thanks for the information.
EricGreggWasPaidOff - August 23, 2010
Another grouping
of athletic contests in which the Braves should fare successfully.
UMDBHIK - August 23, 2010
Im just glad
Hanson isnt pitching this series. They would be running all over him
drumzalicious - August 23, 2010
Still a 9.
No need to go higher or lower than that right now.
UMDBHIK - August 23, 2010
Oops.
Wrong thread.
/hits self repeatedly with Tomahawk
UMDBHIK - August 23, 2010
Derreck Lee
Will he help us agaisn’t a lefty? He typically mashes lefties right? I guess we’ll see after the 2nd game.
Braves Biceps - August 23, 2010
derrek
MikeTrain - August 23, 2010
can he help us
period?
He gets a pass on the Cubs series but this series we need him to pick it up.
drumzalicious - August 23, 2010
agreed
golfballs03 - August 23, 2010
heyward
I know, I know. we’ve all heard it. but I took a look at his fangraphs page today, been a while. amazing that he’s been a 3 win player (so far! maybe he can get up to 4?), and is sitting at a 130 wRC+, all in his age-20 season.
here’s hoping he hits a few out in the thin colorado air.
kswissreject - August 23, 2010
Of course, yesterday he was at like 2.4 WAR
He had a really awesome game yesterday.
Bronn - August 23, 2010
Definately have a pitching advantage
But then again, we usually have this year. It’s just a question of scoring some runs, and playing at a park like coors I don’t think we should have a problem with that. Our bats are hot right now, so lets hope Hudson can throw another gem tonight, and continue to take it one game at a time.
KJDH2154 - August 23, 2010
The Rockies staff is actually pretty meh behind Ubaldo. He inflates alot of those numbers.
Zeus12888 - August 23, 2010
I like our matchups.
Even Lowe-De La Rosa despite the fact he’s a lefty.
golfballs03 - August 23, 2010
and especially since we miss Ubaldo
golfballs03 - August 23, 2010
Yeah, I got excited last night when I saw we missed him.
Scott Coleman - August 23, 2010
Johnny Damon claimed by unknown team
This is a guy I wouldn’t mind having, .270/.355/.409
He only has 1.8M remaining this year on his salary. So i can see a team behind us having claimed him to block him from us. But who knows, I guess we’ll find out.
KJDH2154 - August 23, 2010
Red Sox claimed him
There goes that possibility
KJDH2154 - August 23, 2010
This is the series where you want to see BP practice
Braves should have tape of BP (specifically Heyward) and show it 30 minutes before the game broadcast. Talk about baseballs being launch for moonshots.
romone_braves91 - August 23, 2010
Before you go to BP practice you'd better stop off at the ATM machine.
Bronn - August 23, 2010
ATM Machine?
Is that made by the same people who make hot water heaters and use cash money to pay for it all?
aceiii222 - August 23, 2010
lol
Bronn - August 23, 2010
Funny part about this
Is that there will be people that are thinking, “what are these idiots talking about? Of course you have to go to an ATM machine to get cash money out. And who the hell knows if the ATM machine is made by the same people that make hot water heaters. Who the heck cares anyway!”
aceiii222 - August 23, 2010
You mean ATM. You’re saying “Automated Teller Machine Machine.”
MBL1 - August 23, 2010 via mobile
I hope this goes green.
Bronn - August 23, 2010
Jimmy Two Times...who got that nickname because he said everything twice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD3y43cyddI
Tim Goad - August 23, 2010
Of there was also "Batting Practice Practice" above as wel!
Acronym fail.
carpengui - August 24, 2010
is there some way
to know which days the braves will take BP? would head down early to see it.
nfierstos10 - August 23, 2010
The take BP...
pretty much every game, unless the weather is not so great.
sddbaker - August 23, 2010
Our man Imhotep is finally getting a bit of respect:
BravesDawg16 - August 23, 2010
Whoops, forgot the link
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/4947/nobodys-laughing-at-omar-infante
BravesDawg16 - August 23, 2010
from ESPN? No way!
Now I want an apology from Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, who wrote that stupid article about Omar being the “Worst all-star ever.”
MBL1 - August 23, 2010 via mobile
Well...
It’s about time!
aceiii222 - August 23, 2010
Does anyone have a good picture of Imhotep?
aceiii222 - August 23, 2010
bravesrgonnawinitall - August 23, 2010
Forget the Cold-Train
It’s time for the Hey-Train to rake at Coors
CaptainRockSxD - August 23, 2010
Purple Row...
series preview
-— already whining about losing a game at the Ted because of a blown call. Time to build a bridge, guys, and get over it.sddbaker - August 23, 2010
Tonight could be good
The Astros have the advantage in pitching (Myers vs. Blanton) and we have Huddy. I’d really like to be 3.5 games up instead of 2.5.
Scott Coleman - August 23, 2010 via mobile
That would be nice, seems like we’ve been stuck at 2.5 for a while, lets change that tonight!
KJDH2154 - August 23, 2010
Lol…can’t believe Myers has an advantage over anybody…what a weird year.
bpk228480 - August 23, 2010
Tonight is one of the better night's to pick up a game
I like Hudson’s matchup moundwise, and I think the Astros can pound Blanton whilst the former-Philly Myers has had a very nice season with Houston.
jpx7 - August 23, 2010
For the record, Philles' probables:
Brett Myers (3.11 ERA) @ Joe Blanton (5.54 ERA)
Bud Norris (5.23 ERA) @ Cole Hamels (3.51 ERA)
J.A. Happ (4.62 ERA) @ Roy Halladay (2.16 ERA)
Wandy Rodriguez (4.00 ERA) @ Kyle Kendrick (4.58 ERA)
Bronn - August 23, 2010
I’d take anyone over Blanton and Rodriguez over Kendrick; Hamels can’t seem to catch a break. Halladay looks like the closest thing to a guaranteed win in that series for the Phillies.
If the Phillies only manage a split, I’ll be happy. I’d like them to lose at least 3 of the 4, though.
TonyAlmeyda - August 23, 2010
Blanton beat Matt Cain last time out.
And I doubt that Myers pitches well in his return to Philly. Also, the Astros’ offense is still not very good despite its improvement lately. I think the Phillies win 3/4. I hope they lose the series, but it’s just not reasonable to expect that at this point.
Jacob Peterson - August 23, 2010
I realize Blanton beat Cain; Cain was just off in that game: it was only the sixth time this season he’d allowed more than three runs in a start.
Myers has a 2.26 ERA in his last nine starts. Blanton? 4.76. I’ll take my chances with Myers.
TonyAlmeyda - August 23, 2010
Looks like a split to me
Yakker - August 23, 2010
raining in denver
looking like crap here
nfierstos10 - August 23, 2010
All those Rockies stats are meaningless without home/road context.
Their park, even with the humidor, still favors hitters ridiculously, especially gap hitters (like Carlos Gonzalez). Here are his home/road splits: .370 / .412 / .720 (home), .267 / .286 / .411 (away). His SLG at home is higher than his OPS on the road. His K:BB ratio on the road is 73:7. That’s just crazy.
Overall as a team, they’re hitting .298 / .369 / .490 at home and .228 / .302 / .353 on the road. Their BABIP is .338 at home and .280 on the road, so they’ve probably hit into some bad luck away from home and some good luck at Coors (though Coors does legitimately inflate BABIP for everyone by 10-20 points).
Pitching-wise, their starters in this series are all better at home than on the road, hard as that is to believe. Hammel doesn’t have much of a home/road split this year, but Rogers’ FIP is almost 2 runs higher on the road and de la Rosa’s is over 4 runs higher on the road.
In other words, this is going to be a really, really tough series. If we win 2/3, it’ll be a great outcome. Losing 2/3 is no big deal, either. These guys are excellent at home.
Jacob Peterson - August 23, 2010
With the Braves missing Ubaldo Jimenez, I think the Braves have an excellent chance to win this series. I just hope the Astros break out against the Phillies.
In other news, the Giants claimed Cody Ross off waivers, giving them SEVEN outfielders (Burrell, Schierholtz, Guillen, Torres, Huff, Rowand).
TonyAlmeyda - August 23, 2010
Huff’s really a 1B, and Rowand probably goes on the DL to clear room for Ross, but yeah, that’s pretty insane. Maybe they’re going to bring back the “rover” defense.
Yakker - August 23, 2010
Terrible Preview
Pretty weak, didn’t learn anything new…That is sad.
mastermike - August 23, 2010
I could just ban you if you’d like. I know you’ve been warned before.
Scott Coleman - August 23, 2010 via mobile
And warned again
GoBravesNY - August 23, 2010
I got your warning
I think it was unjustified, but okay. So much for freedom of speech, I guess if you offend one sensitive wannabe writer on this site they light you up with warnings or tell you that you will be banned. It’s all good man, won’t do it again…
mastermike - August 23, 2010
This coming from the same guy who said we should bench Heyward
Your opinion is worth about as much as the shit I took this morning
KJDH2154 - August 23, 2010
If you read my fan post
You would realize I have been asking for JHey to be moved to the 6 hole, not benched. I only suggested he be benched if he continud to struggle after a move down the lineup.
mastermike - August 23, 2010
You backed off after earlier statements, where you called Heyward a “BUM,” compared him to Francoeur and McLouth, wondered why anyone cared about his return from the DL, called him a liability, and essentially laughed at anyone who “still had their hopes” concerning him. Those are crazy statements, and it’s hard to reconcile them with the stance that you “only wanted him moved down the line-up.” You’ve backed off to appear more reasonable after looking completely crazy at first.
After saying all kinds of idiotic things, now you’re complaining about the content on this site. You’re not making a ton of friends around these parts.
Bronn - August 23, 2010
I couldn’t have said it better myself
KJDH2154 - August 23, 2010
I am not here to make fans
I am here to be real and state the things you are all to scared to say because you don’t want to get your feelings hurt or you don’t want to hurt these bloggers feelings. I mean did you read this garbage preview? I mean seriously, it was a pile of crap.
Man, you need to stop being so sensitive man. I am taking this off the site so I don’t hurt your feelings but go back and read your preview. I wasn’t lying, it was terrible and lazy.
“The Rockies currently sit 11 games behind the Padres and 7 behind the Phillies in the NL Wild Card, so they have a ton of work to do.”
Come on even in writing high school English they tell you to write out single numbers such as 7 (seven), if you don’t you are just being lazy. And then you really think you need to add a comma and state “so they have a ton of work to do”…like that isn’t king obvious to anybody who is a baseball fan. You should have just stopped with your one easy to access fact (that doesn’t really say much because everyone knows that comma sense that looks at a standings page).
It was just funny that you felt the need to expand on the the “so they have a ton of work to do” but later you state and assume we all know this fact: “As every Braves fan now knows, the Rockies staff is anchored by Cy Young candidate Ubaldo Jimenez.” So you assume we don’t know a 7 game lead is a lot, but we all know who Ubaldo Jimenez is? You were just too lazy to expand on what Jimenez has done this year so you just wanted us to ass-u-me there.
And then all you have to say is Jason Hammel will start game 1 he has been decent…blah blah blah…Really that is the best you got? How about throw out the fact that current Braves are hitting .462 against him in their career? That seems like a big-jump-out stat that should have been mentioned — but you really wanted to wing that preview I see. The Braves have 8 hitters hitting .333+ of this guy, 6 of which are regulars. How does that go unmentioned in a preview? If you arent even going to say anything about the guy other than he is decent save us all time and not even mention his name.
Terrible man! You are better than that.
mastermike - August 23, 2010
Looks like someone just volunteered to write the next series preview
Yakker - August 23, 2010
He’s banned, and had this to say:
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Scott Coleman - August 24, 2010
LOL
Then I see this:
Can you say “hypocrite”?
Also, those players you’re referring to had no more than THREE at-bats against Hammel, so the batting averages against him really didn’t merit any inclusion in the preview.
Keep failing.
TonyAlmeyda - August 24, 2010
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