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Talking Chop

Open Thread #137: Braves at Pirates

People used to snicker and dismiss me, whenever I said that I dreaded the Marlins more than any other team in baseball.  We're currently 8-6 against the Fish for the year, but the losses to them are almost always of the demoralizing, frustrating variety; whether we simply get blown out, or like yesterday, make a gallant comeback, only to have the dreaded error-bug strike in extras, and lose on a bonehead play.  Nobody plays the Braves tougher and harder than the Florida Marlins do.  Every team has that one team that does that to them.  And watch, now that Logan Morrison was pretty much killed by Emilio Bonifacio's foul ball, it makes the squad that much more depleted when they take on the Phillies for four, not to mention the outcome of all the appealed suspensions that'll probably remove Gaby Sanchez from the equation too.

But anyway, enough about what others are doing, because the only thing that truly matters is that we've got three games with the Pittsburgh Pirates, in beautiful PNC Park.  If you don't happen to be aware, PNC has a generous right field wall that is a little friendly to lefty pull hitters.  Most of the lefties on the squad have had some good success at PNC, and I love seeing really small sample sizes sometimes, because Jason Heyward has a ridiculous 1.676 OPS in  his eleven plate appearances at the 'Burgh.  But the Bucs will be sending two lefties our way this series, with Burres and Duke, so we probably won't see as much of Hinske (1.079 OPS), Ankiel (1.007 OPS), and maybe even McLouth (.820 OPS), in favor of Melky Cabrera, probably.


Tommy Hanson

#48 / Pitcher / Atlanta Braves

6-6

220

R

R

Aug 28, 1986



Brian Burres

#71 / Pitcher / Pittsburgh Pirates

6-2

190

L

L

Apr 08, 1981



Patience is the key with dealing with Burres, for the hitters, because he's not going to overpower anyone, and will give up a good share of walks.  As for Tommy's concerns, he should really be careful with the top two guys, Andrew McCutchen, and rookie Jose Tabuta; I'm pretty sure if those two can be kept off the base, the games will a lot less stressful for Cyborg.

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Comments

I hate day games at work.

I have to resort to the radio. Bleh. I also hate working on a National Holliday, but what are you gonna do.
Go Braves!!!!

I'm feeling..

an offensive show case today.

this is a MUST win today, with Philly having a double header against Florida.

Lineup according to AJC

1. Infante
2. Heyward
3. Prado
4. Lee
5. Diaz
6. Gonzalez
7. Ross
8. McLouth
9. Hanson

Looks good. Let's go Nate!
We could use a good day out of Lee
Besides that double yesterday

he’s been looking horrible at the plate.

had a double the day before also.

i doubt

either one was on a FB.

I really think we should just give up on the Lee experiment.

FREE FREDDIE!!!

Mclouth really looked like a new player yersterday... please don't be a fluke
I love his swing.

He would of had an amazing day if it wasnt for those spectacular plays.

I assumed a 7 PM game

just posted NAHWAL

slacker

you speak like that’s a novelty

stupid Marlins

oh well gotta concentrate on the Pirates. O needs to show up and i think Tommy will have a good game today

so funny, of course mclouth's luck...

first amazing hit in like months, and its a GS robbed… thats just how it goes sometimes i guess. Poor nasty nate

The Marlins will not have their suspensions ruled upon until AFTER the Phillies series. Jim Powell said it on the radio yesterday.

excellent news
So

what happened to the game/series recap of the FLA series?

Crap. I thought the game was tonight. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to watch.

FLA vs. PHI game 1

Adalberto Mendez vs. Vance Worley

WHO vs WHO???

lol

basically it’s going to be a slugging matchup. Hopefully Morrison is in the lineup for it.

Winner of this one will def get some Cy Young Votes

Nuh uh! The Marlins deserve every award for everything!

/dipshit Marlins announcers

Would you guys rather have:

Ankiel and McLouth
Ankiel and Melky
Ankiel and Diaz
McLouth and Melky
McLouth and Diaz
Melky and Diaz

in CF and LF?

Melky/Diaz vs. lefties, Melky, Ankiel vs. righties

Marlins strike first…1-0….probably a lot more scoring for both teams coming

1st to 10 wins?
Hey and Happy Labor Day to all.....

Now, let’s play some good baseball.
Go Braves!

Labor Day...

the day that you don’t even know why, but you get work off.

Some of us do.

Wahoooo! It’s Labor Day!
Wait….what’s Labor Day for again?

Mine is for more labor. Our office is practically deserted today. Except this cubicle.

Go Braves!

Go Marlins (x2)!

That’s odd to say since we just played them

Hello there.

And you are…?

Bond. James Bond.

I thought you’d be taller

Ah, yes. I remember you from Monaco.

has someone watched the last night web gems from ESPN?
I hate Fish

Why? It’s delicous

we are very unlucky yesterday

top 3 plays from Marlins and two of them were with Mclouth hitting

Remember when we swept the state of pennsylvania

That was GREAT

remember when bobby boucher showed up at halftime

and the mud dogs won the bourbon bowl

2-0 Marlins…HR Chad Tracy

Vance Worley is good

alright offense….lets start with a crooked number

Well Omar didn't get on... hell froze over then
whew

lucky there

Can't get the radio working at work

Fuck me.

Working on Labor Day?

Unfortunately

Last day of lifeguarding at the pool I work at in the summer.

Ah. I’m working too, but I at least I got to work from home on this occasion.

Sucks to be us, I guess.

Let's be honest... Heyward strikes out way too much
And here we go...
that was a very uninspiring start

4 minutes later….

that was an exciting start
Let's get 'em Tommy
let's keep mccutchen off the bases plz
Those aren't strikes?
Left handed domination (ON)

second round will be better. they need time to make adjustment

Yay for lead off walks!

great start tommy

Let’s not walk Pirates, mkay?

and McCutchen will be on second in 3...2....

He didn’t stay there long.

yeap thats about right

Wow, there couldn’t be more fail on that play.

wow....already?
We are the worst defensive team I have ever seen
Well let's hope we got that daily error out of the way now...
Are you fucking serious Braves?

To the Pirates? Already? I give up. Pull your heads out of your ass. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a team in Philadelphia that’s going to pass you up if you keep this up.

And we will deserve to get passed, playing as ugly as we have

ahem

I’m going to inspire the team all year as the blogger/manager in 2011

we're either just setting up to pad our come from behind win total

or this is going to be a very frustrating day

It's Hanson's fault

He can’t pitch out of the stretch.

Hence all of these “Hanson triples”

WTF

trailing against pirates?
how many steals has allowed tommy?

pretty sure he leads the NL
he should fix that slow motion to hp
has tommy allowed

(i know you’re trying to learn)

sorry, sometimes i write like i do with spanish
i understood it fine

just figured you’d want to know

wow…where was that pitch?

Burres has an ERA over 6

If we don’t score a lot of runs today, then I don’t know what i’ll do

I won’t be watching tomorrow, that’s for sure

I mostly tend to keep up with baseball in general, so I’m impressed that the Fish-Phils matchup has two starters of whom I’ve never heard.

Well it’s a doubleheader and both guys are career AAA guys, so yeah.

whats crazy

is that Ross has been making more errant throws than McCann it seems

It’s not even his or BMac’s fault when Tommy is on the mound. The guys are already 70% towards 2nd by the time the catcher gets the ball.

it's Hanson...always

he doesn’t go to the stretch. Runners get a HUGE lead. That forces a bad throw.

And we have to put Ross out there when he pitches because he has a stronger arm.

side note- good to see logan morrison playing for the fish today

that was a scary sight yesterday

and he’s already been on base twice…very nice to see him

and gaby?
he's playing

apparently they aren’t ruling on the Marlins’ appeals until after the Philly series, so they should have everyone available

well, at least tommy is getting a no-hitter through 1 inning

Happy birthday Derrek!

Lee, that fastball is 88. Don’t whiff on it. Really.

I’m so excited for Freeman next year. The way he turned on that inside fastball in Florida…oh baby

yeah, i noticed that, as well

he'll have plenty of power imo

I don’t think there’s any doubt. He’s already big, and now he doesn’t really have to worry about anything else than staying in shape and working out

Fisted on his birthday...

happy indeed Chip.

wait

did he just hit a FB???

i was watching mclouth´s spray chart

and i notice that mclouth this is pulling everything, all of their hits and outs is pulling
meanwhile he played in PNC he had a lot of hit to the left field

where do you see a spray chart?...

link please. I was looking for one on Colby Rasmus earlier but didn’t know where to go.

on mlb.com

but only show by ballpark

Let's go Diaz

I’ll take a walk

against a lefty?

he never walks, but will hit.

That's right!

take one for the team!

No mound charge Gonz?
HBP

bases loaded, no one out….. typically a situation in which we fail

or...

some stupid CF makes us fail…

Time for David Boss.

The Pittsburgh announcers

are easily the most boring guys on television.

Fits the team, I guess.

they have to watch the pirates…all year long

besides McCutchen

what do they have to get excited about?

Alvarez and Jones are both solid you guys…but yeah i know what you mean

and they are pushing hard...

to sign big time young flame throwers.

To be fair, Alvarez and Walker aren’t too bad. Garrett Jones has a lot of pop, and Doumit was a promising catcher at some point that might one day live up to potential (but probably won’t.)

But hey, at least they have Alvarez and Walker.

would u get excited about this team?

alright ross…make up for that shit throw

singles or doubles

no outs

So does anyone know a website with batted ball charts?
sac fly for the boss

tied up

Good job David! C’mon Nate!

Thank you.

Now a McLouth vidr…HR!

FAIL (kidding)

he only drove in one with his sac fly

FYI

The Phillies have a losing record against the Pirates. So those of you who think the Braves “deserve to get passed” if they “trail for one inning” against the Pirates are being irrational.

I missed yesterdays game…so Nates “good game” hasnt happened….kind of like that Melky HR in Pittsburgh early in the year that no one saw

NATE...!!!

try to picture you with a pirates uniform….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Patented Nate tomahawk swing at a ball in the dirt.

yikes

the Pirates announcers just said “What a disaster of a season Nate has had”

pretty accurate lol

that’s being kind

wow

slider in the dirt what a suprise

Ugly swing by nate there
i like having mlb.tv

i can change the broadcast audio from Pittsburgh to ATL

MCLOUTH

back to MCLOUSY

LOL

looks like we’ll just be getting one run here.

do u think we get a cf

in FA or trade?
i can only dream?

I’d go nuts for Rasmus or Kemp, but I’d prefer we sign Werth in LF and then just put a solid defensive, light-hitting guy in CF

You'd rather Werth than Rasmus or Kemp?

I disagree big time (cost control)

it only costs money to get werth though

Rasmus and Kemp cost money and legit prospects

Rasmus and Kemp would probably cost us any of our young pitchers not named Hanson or Teheran, plus more.

It’s pretty even, and you know about my man-crush problems on Werth.

NATE!

is back to normal

Kind of a big nate fail there
RBI

RBI
RBI

GO Hanson

if Tommy gets one here

he should flip off the dugout on his trot to first

Its like he never left

Nate

with the flail at a slider. Big surprise.

What I really want for Nate to do is to completely dissemble his swing and start over from scratch. His current swing allows him to drive balls that are belt-high and middle-in, but everything else will either result in a pop-up, or he’ll fail to make contact because his swing is slanty.

Inconsistent strike zone

at least longitudinally

Well

at least we tied it.

more broken bats
well

we got 1 run so thats good

more bases loaded futility

at least we got 1…. I guess….

this is braaaaaaavessssssss countryyyyyyyyyyyy

bases loaded...

one run….

should have gotten more from that Bases Loaded, No Outs situation
I would say that is a disappointment

with bases loaded and none out, you gotta score more than one run.

Box Score

ATL 1H 1R 1E
PIT 0H 1R 1E

with that said

could Tommy possibly throw a No Hitter and give up a run lol

Haha

I would love to see it happen.

I guess 1 run with Ross, McOut and Hanson isn't horrible

it could’ve been worse.

I've seen worse with better hitters at the plate from us this year

Like Heyward rolling over a 3-0 fastball down the middle yesterday with runners on 1st and 2nd? UGH.

i dont know what are we complaining...

there’s a lefty, we’re on the road…. do the math….

But the Pirates

are suppose to offset that

Except

its the Pirates and its Brian Burres

Tommy's fastball

seems slower than usual

Yep, I notice that too

he’s hitting 93. thats where he typically is

How is that not a strike?

Another terrible strike zone.

I was thinkin bout her, think bout me, thinkin bout us, what we gonna be, open my eyes yeah, it was only just a dreeeeeeeeeam

Alvarez really hit that to the wrong part of the yard.

o jesus…good thing this isnt philly

2 innings in a row...

Marlins had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out and they didn’t score.

they spent all weekend watching the Braves

it’s contagious

They remembered

they weren’t facing the Braves

sounds familiar....

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia…

Marlins are making the Philly starter work, but are leaving guys on bases as they fail to come through. The Fish starter is manhandling the Philly lineup, meanwhile. 2-0 Florida, heading to the bottom of the 4th.

So in other words

the Marlins are copying us.

Doumit always hits the ball hard against us
anybody worried about hanson?

as noted here, velocity a little off, Ks have vanished for the past month…. maybe its the innings, but counting AAA, he threw like 180 last year.

he throws so many sliders, i wouldn’t be shocked if he had an arm problem.

what?

he’s hitting 93 like he always has.

he throws so many sliders, i wouldn’t be shocked if he had an arm problem.

Well he does have one of the better sliders in baseball…

Hed have about 3 Ks today

If the ump was competent

News from Philly:

Marlins up 2-0 in the 4th

90 mph

im starting to get worried

Yeah

He was consistently 93-94 earlier this year. Even touching 96 at times. Now he is sitting at 90-91.

LOL

that’s a triple past Melky in CF.

But we’d get to see a patented Cabrera bellyflop.

The run would have scored regardless of whether or not he was on 2nd or 3rd on the walkoff hit yesterday.

Well yeah, but it’s not like that’s the first time Melky’s slow ass didn’t get to a ball in the gap.

yesterday just looked like a blooper reel for MVP though

so many balls in the gap or down the line he couldn’t get to… most not his fault he couldn’t get to them, but it felt like we had Manny Ramirez playing left

McLouth

with some Ballet in CF lol

Nate looks like

he misses Pittsburgh

we should trade him back for McCutchen

My thoughts exactly
I think the Braves should consider

taking a few good bat boys in the deal

I'll give him back to them in the offseason
Some really hard hit balls that inning

nice skiip out there nate

Our top 3 should hit like our top 3 coming up
They seem to have cooled
OT: The Droid

do they have a new phone come out every week or what? It seems like Verizon has a commercial for a new phone every week.

I just got the Droid x. It's really cool

its an open source platform so there is a new phone out that frequently because essentially every phone hardware maker is using it as their platform except RIM and Apple

I see...

well they look like nice phones, but I’m with at&t and that means an iPhone or BreakBerry

not really

The Galaxy S phones by Samsung are really good. I forgot which one is on AT&T.

I’m not sure what that is, but Samsung makes some great products

Let’s jump on them right here. Big inning

Fish up 2-0 going to the 5th
Omars going to have to step it up to stay on pace with Car Go
Gwinnet is up 7-0...

http://gwinnett.braves.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t431&t=g_box&gid=2010_09_06_gwiaaa_chraaa_1

their last day

so kimbrel and martinez will be up tomorrow?

possibly Marek as well?

I think Kimbrel and Martinez are a definite.

Marek maybe

Maybe, but I’m thinking they might just wait two days until we get back in Atlanta.

why?

a flight from Charlotte to Pitt ain’t that much. They can be here by tonight considering it’s a day game (that is if Kimbrel and Martinez didn’t leave already).

Oh, I was thinking they were still in Gwinnett. Might as well get them there tomorrow then.

Nope, they've been on the road...

and being the last day of the year, Gwinnett could have easily get by using other guys letting them go ahead and fly out today.

well KImbrel is on to close it

so he’s there

that's what they said

Marek has earned it.

anyone watch the video of the G Braves bullpen and the ops crew

and their end of the year water war? Marek celebrating at the end of the video reminds me of Kent Dorfman from Animal House

Good

They played horrible yesterday.

Warning Track power. Reminding me of last year lol

Call it...

warm the truck up

Hey all… went out for lunch. How we looking?

Tired

but tied

Ugh

we need a wakeup call. any ideas?

I jumped in my pool this morning and ate a big breakfast. Gets rid of the hangover/sleepiness in a heartbeat

I guess

that’s a hit

Lucky break for Heyward
he feared Heyward's POWAH
Lucky Jason

Really should have turned on that

Nitram hasn't hit a HR in a while.

:(

Hey, I’m not complaining about luck. Good deal

Philly has 1 hit going to bot 6.

You had to say it?!

I bet they score in the 5th.

bottom of the 5th actually
Can Lee catch up to an 88 mph fastball?

nope, neither can glaus

Pretty sure Glaus could.

And I know Freeman can.

Has anybody notice that as the season goes on, the more of a homer Chip is becoming. Plus he uses “fisted” less. (Mental note: watching way too many Braves game)

I was expecting a "fisted" call

on the Heyward hit

no such thing as watching too many braves game, only thing that exists is not enough
Didn't we buy Lee for POWAH?
Yep

Same reason we got Ankiel, Gonzalez, and McLouth.

Braves are where power hitters go to die.

im getting fed up with lee

thoughts? :(

eh

could be worse, we could lose our #3 hitter for the rest of the year…

Hes not great but it could definitely be worse. I would like to see him splitting time at first though with Glaus, and Freeman coming in when we are up/down big.

let's hope tommy can settle in

now that we are past the 2nd inning

88 and 89 mph fastballs there from Hanson

92 mph fastball for the out

hopefully not

but i think something is going on with him, hopefully just fatigue… but wouldn’t mind skipping his turn to give him a breather

Denny Neagle
I was thinking that too

question?

Last player to make an all star team as both a pirate and brave

Last Brave & Pirate all-star.

Last player to be selected to ASG both as a Brave and as a Pirate.
When did Francoeur go to Texas?
august 31

while we were playing the mets

So that actually happened?

I heard rumors of it, then all of a sudden FOOTBAW started and I paid less attention.

If Tommy Hanson had a sidekick/right hand man who would it be?

The Lumberjack and The Lesbian

how funny would it be if medlen grew a huge beard

and used just for men to color it red

unfortunately, medlen probably won’t even get peach fuzz for another 3 years

I doubt he can :)

yeah, that’s part of what would make it so absurd

So then Hanson would have to become the Lesbian?
Random thought

Braves had 3 different 1B yesterday get hits in a game. When was the last time that’s happened?

Wow….it’s been a long time.

I’ll be happy in a couple of years of we have two opening day 1B-men in a row with the same name.

continuity is overrated....

Yeah, that 14-yr playoff run is so old school.

Oklahoma has a solid sign

for Lumberjack

it seems that the braves talent always come in pair.

BMac – Frenchy
Hanson – Meds
Heyward – Freeman

who will be the next?

Teheran-Delgado
Venters- Krimbel
Vizzy- DD
etc…

i am not sure you can use conflu as a verb like that
Pittsburgh

is a nice looking city from the air

i have bad association with that city

but it does look nice from the air

Nice Falcons plug there lol
Cy Burres

There seem to be a lot of Cy quality lefties this season….

thats my point...

you only need to be a lefty and have an ERA over 5 and you magically become a cy young pitcher….

Come on David Boss, jack one here.

We have 1 run against Brian Burres

oh my god.

I miss Chipper Jones
what a terribly boring Labor Day game
good thing im watching at work
We've allowed Burres to drop his ERA under 6!!!!!!!

There was that time we allowed someone (I think Kendrick) to lower his ERA by 10 runs in 1 start

this braves looks like a dropper ERA mchine
Good pitch at 93 with movement there

and the kid throwing a shutout in philly pulls his quad running out his first major league hit

Yeah...looked painful. Yuck.
great

we have to rely on the marlins pen

Can Leo Nunez

be less Leo Nunez today?

doubtful

but we’ll have to hope so

hanson not fooling pedro
Good to see the Marlins being useful for once.

too bad Nunez sucks…no lead is safe

we know 6 runs isnt enough
nope

he’s out with neck or back issues

DL'd

for lamesness

C’mon Tommy — get an out here.

Okay

let’s score.

POINTS POINTS POINTS POINTS POINTS
C'mon O

put more runs on the board.

We need touchdowns, not field goals!
Time to get nasty

yeap…pretty gross

I really thought that’d work

I see MVP taught Nate the Choppah
WHY

do people make great plays against us???

because we bring out the best in other teams

because we are one of the best

Well I think we saw Nate get his monthly good game at the plate out of the way yesterday
Why?

I mean seriously.

great

grate
greoot

AUTOsingle not engaging today
Yunel Escobar

just jacked one in Toronto lol

no pressure and meaningless games

must be doing wonders for him

BRIAN BURRES

FOR CY YOUNG, MVP, AND HALL OF FAME!!!!

nice job hanley…dick

against us.. its a 3 run homer….

These past 24 hours as a braves fan have been tough
another 1st and 2nd, 1 out fail from the Marlins

at least we aren’t feeding the LOBster like the fish today

8 in a row set down...

By a dude who probably shouldn’t be on a Major League roster.

Guys, our pitching is good, but it’s not THAT good. It will not get us to the postseason all by itself.

It is certainly not Pirates or Marlins good.

Oh wait…that only happens when they play us.

yeah and seriously if I was the other team I’d just throw every Lefty in my roster against the Braves

You just looking for us to agree with you or are you under the impression there is something we can do about it?

"Guys" was addressed to the lineup.
Man

I really would love to see McCutchen in a Braves uniform.

Heck I’d trade Freeman and Vizcaino for him

That’s too much

Colby Rasmus might be available

He’s probably cheaper, and he’s pretty damn good.

Guys

I know it’s too much for him and it wouldn’t be a smart deal. Just saying how much I want him on our team.

Good inning Tommy.

Good inning indeed

for Tommy

But he didn't leg out that infield hit

And since we apparently can’t get any hits out of the rest of the lineup, he probably doomed our chances.

My proud hometown moment...

The Harrisburg Senators (AA affiliate of the Nationals) just made the Eastern League playoffs!

Braves last HR

McCann off Santana?

now find out

how many warning track shots we have hit

the true sign of our POWAH

I definitely was not expecting a 1-1 game going into the 6th inning today

how do you take that?

well that was not a good AB
Umm

that wasn’t so good there Jason.

come on Heyward

thats not what we need right now

Wow Heyward

Swing the bat

Really Heyward????

Look at the SAME EXACT PITCH THREE TIMES IN A ROW???

Burres' stuff is just that good

hahahahaha

we’re gonna lose

Jason

is WAY too patient

are we not seeing the 89 mph fastball?!
damn...... foul
my goodness

Lee just showed some POWAH

Now just keep it in play please

Too bad it was Prado...
oh wait

forgot Prado was hitting behind Heyward.

my bad lol

The Pirates radio guys are absolutely giddy right now.

It’s kinda cute.

why?

I guess because they are seeing a good Pirates outing.

It’s like you can tell they never get to see pitching duels.

So why is it cute?

Just hearing them root for the Braves hits to go foul and stuff...

They sound like a couple of grandfathers proud of their Tee Ball playing grandkids.

Maybe I am just an idiot. I don’t know.

Haha. It does sound cute

Because they get to watch

CY BURRES!

what will happen....

when we see… Lee, sabathia, hamels….

the good thing

is they only pitch one game

we do ok against good pitchers

its the random soft tossing lefties that kill us

That's what kills me about this team

It’s so weird.

Let's hope we at least get to see them

At this rate…

this month

i will grow hair.. just to lose it again….

Nah the Braves are just giving other teams with lefties

a false sense of security. The Braves are doing this on purpose
/slaps self in face

Why must we suck against these sorry lefties!

how do you go from the farthest ball hit to left field to a weak grounder to 3rd?

10 in a row

wow….Left handed pitchers…..need to be ban from baseball.

Marlins

Would be pissed

i call strikeout....

Did Derrek hurt himself there?

yea, looked very uncomfortable

and still does on 1st

Looked like he did, at least it’s not his back.

lee has this bloop hit down lately
he played in the NL Central

he got to see how the Astros do it 18 times a year

D Lee with a hit!
Do any playoff teams have soft tossing lefties? if yes... then we're screwed
does Petettie count?
I feel like any AAA scrub could do this to us

That’s been the pattern, anyway.

do the reds still have that guy that's like 5'3"

and throws soft slow breaking crap? He should be a jockey for racing horses, not a MLB pitcher

i call strikeout...
time for

the patented matty D oppo HR

well…he’s up to 100 pitches…silver lining?

do they have another crappy lefty in the bullpen…??

Oh God, when we can get BRIAN BURRES out of the game?

When you’re asking that question, it’s probably too late.

Can't believe

the game plan has turned into “Get Burres out of the game”

Oregon City, Oregon?

Yes...

horrible name for a city

I suppose. There are also Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Mexico City, Mexico, among others.
not to mention NYC
Oh, right. *facepalm*
understandable you would forget that one

it’s so small

COME ON GONZ!!!!!!
this just seems like one of those games where we suck until we see their bullpen

and then we;ll score 8 runs…probably when tommy comes out of the game

C’mon Alex. Let’s try for a hit that isn’t a blooper.

a nice RBI double down the right field line

i want that..

Sounds good to me.

i call strikeout....
Matt D with another hit
Uggla lead-off double in the 8th
Gabby just swung at strike 3 that was 4 feet off the plate.
they'll strand him

pull a Braves

Nice

They better get him around. I’d be comfortable with 3 runs in that game.

Not looking good

they are pulling a Braves right now…

i hope this is one of those situations...

“how you feelin?”
“i can get him”
POW… gone
call to pen

he didn't listen to me
It's Gonzalez...

can’t expect too much.

frack.............

again….

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

only the Braves can make the Pirates look like the Yankees

Phillies

are 2-4 against them

HERE WE GO BRAVES HERE WE GO CLAP CALP
Dang, we struggle to beat even the Pirates on the road. I guess it doesn't matter who our road opponent is, if we win it won't come easy.

Stanton!!!!

2 run bomb!

4-0 Fish

This is ridiculous, really Atlanta??? Brian Burres is dominating you

are you really surprised

MARLINS HR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wooooooooooooo 2 run HR stanton

4-0 Marlins

Stanton just hit a 2run HR!!
That big right-handed bat we failed to acquire at the deadline

Now looms large.

Why didn't we get Ludwick

instead of Ankiel?

My impression was that the Cards didn't shop him around

Another way of saying it is that our FO was asleep at the switch.

umm...

Lee…..?? ohh i see your point….

Leeeeetle right-handed bat

Not quite the same thing.

fate could be a mean sonofabiatch...

if we would had gotten Ramirez, Lee would be raking right now….

It would be UNACCEPTABLE to watch the marlins beat the phillies

and NOT pick up a game in the standings

when we’re playing the Pirates…against Brian Burres…with Hanson on the mound.

Goooooo BRAVESSSSSS
noooooooooooooooo
What. The. Fuck.
LOSING TO THE PIRATES
Are you kidding?

Fuck this.

ross set up on the inside corner

tommy threw it down the middle

Amazing what happens

when you swing at pitches right down the middle

and yet those of us who said this team was not good enough at this point

to make it to the playoffs were told to leave lol

Its ok guys!

MCLOUTH COMING UP NEXT INNING!

This is symbolic of everything that's wrong with this season.
This is symbolic of everything that’s wrong with this season past few weeks
are we more excited about Marlins game than our game?

and who is pitching for Pirates? Cy Burres or nolan burres?

it’s tough when we counter with Tommy Kawakami

Hey now

Tommy just made one mistake (granted a bad one)… but other than that this game is on the offense

At least that rhymes.
Tommy has pitched fine

The offense needs to get its pulse checked.

Plaxico Burress would be beating us right now.

as would Pat Burrell

The only thing to say here is....

You can’t win games by scoring 1 run off the fucking Pirates.

So we need to stop doing that, NOW.

"Wouldn't it be nice to take advantage of these losses" -Joe

No shit

If we can't even beat the Pirates on the road we have no hope in the postseason, unless we get homefield throughout.
Basically impossible at this point

Unless everything magically fixes itself all at once, Cinci has homefield advantage no problem.

Probably Philly will have homefield against us, too. If we make it that far.

I hate to say this, but right now I think the Reds are the best team in the NL.
No doubt.

I would say I hope we don’t have to face them, but I also hope we don’t have to face Philly.

which we won’t on our current pace

the marlins

will overtake the wild card….!!!!!!!!!!

OT: REMINDER

the TC Fantasy Football draft is tonight at 8:30. So if you’re in the league, yeah.

the fact that we can’t even hit the pirates’ lefties shows how glaring that weakness is

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa this is ugly..........

FLAVA FLAV! On the hype tip.

I’m your hype drink, so take a big sip.

Typical Braves game—-get down by runs so we can show off “clutch” hitting……..I hope it actually turns out that way.

The Phillies are still getting 1-hit, so we have that going for us, which is nice.

yea

but against the pirates, it is unacceptable to not take advantage of that

don't worry

i still feel like we’ll come back and win it

Chipper

needs to light a fire under these guys

Lets go Marlins!

Sweep the doubleheader!!

Perhaps we should also win a game as well.

That's pretty unconventional

For the Braves to WIN, when the Phillies LOSE? I’m just not sure we want to start down that road.

load the bases for Conrad plz

BMac. He’s been better.

CHRIS RESOP IS IN THE GAME.

cue the 1 2 3 inning

most important

he is a RH

pinch hit BMac, Freeman and Conrad any second here…

so...

another Cy young pitcher for the pirates…..

Chris Resop

Is going to show Atlanta what’s up

lets pound runs off of him
Our offensive ineptitude on the road is offensive.

This is hard to watch. Can our hitters be reminded we are facing the pirates? And lie and say it’s a home game.

SCORE OFF F'ING RESOP
HITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITS
looks like "shit" repeatedly
which would be applicable here
And Ross

promptly swingsthrough one right down the middle

i'm just curious

why not pinch hit mccann here

he said a bad word

RoSS... walk walk walk

surprised he didn’t call that…this strike zone has been pretty big today

not very Boss like
The Braves are by FAR the worst road team out of any division leader in baseball. Does that concern anyone ?
Concerns about everyone here
I mean, great teams should play at least decent on the road right ?
Thats usually the idea yea

But the Braves figured they don’t lose at home so they should make up for it on the road

yes

considering cincy’s a pretty good team

Cincy is about 10 games better than us on the road. I would be very worried about playing the Reds in the playoffs.
more concerned about vs. LHP woes compared to road record

The home/road split is kinda fluky.

yay.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!

for the ERA lowering machine……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why wasn't Mac in the game there????
not in a leadoff the inning situation
o cool...

farnsworth is up in the bullpen…and mclouth is at bat…great news

so you're saying we're waving the white flag?

apparently we r in backwards land where mclouth gets hits

today must be opposite day
Strikezone suddenly getting wider
We cannot afford to not capitalize on a potential phillys loss, again.

stress the word potential….2 men on in the 8th

Lets go Freeman!
New RUNS thread?

maybe?

Nate deserved something after yesterday.
Good hit there

Good time for FF to get his first big fly

How about that first HR Freddie.

Mobile fail.

Or swing at the first pitch.
That was terrrrrible

HR.. come on tie the game

auto-single

for j-hey

tough for JHey to get a hit when Infante is batting
...

i meant, he singles, sets it up for heyward

ah

missed that one…. sure, I’ll have what you’re serving pu

he meant

auto single
than j-hey

get an auto single

for jhey to come up and at least tie it?

he can do it..

but anyways, i was interpreting it as infante is auto-single, so he gets a single to set up heyward

at least it wasn't a GIDP
I feel like this is one of the most aggravating games of the year...
Most of our losses feel like that

In the big picture—- you win some you lose some

Oh I get that

Just the F’in Pirates…

Freddie- the anti Heyward

One can’t get the bat off his shoulders, the other can’t wait to swing

I’m down for a steal than a RBI hit.

Than… Then.

Part 1

complete.

well

first half came true

Check that.

Steal, BB, 3-run HR.

BB plz?
Only if Heyward can come through in the clutch
UGH

Im tired of us getting owned by no-name leftys…

C’mon Jason!!

Jason auto-HR

Hasn't been that way the last few times we've needed it

do they not have a lefty to bring in here?

doesn't appear so

Come on JHey… basehit

Please Jason

Just a solid hit, get something going…

Plz Heyward don't hack at the first pitch

begging over here.

CMON J-HEY

Make up for that last AB!

I'll take a heyward smashed-ball double
Top 9, 4-0 Marlins

what is the thing on the pitching coach’s face

are they saying

let’s go pirates? or lets go braves?

callin a jhey walkoff,
he hits a homer so far that people just keep staring at it 12 o’clock tonight

WOW

what a late call

heyward!

stop watching fastballs!

Nothing you can do with that pitch

LOL same pitch…idk whats a strike

C’mon Jason, hit it to that dog swimming in the river.

that wasn't a strike

but the last one was?

Guessing ball that time...
same pitch....
it seems like the book on j-hey lately is try to go low and outside

and pray you get an ump with a wider zone out there

is is just me, or does resop work really really slow

ONE SPOT HEYWARD

If it aint there, don’t swing

that was meat

doh

wow…thats the pitch

AHHH

Good pitch to hit there…

Wow...Loagn Morrisson is playing after being nailed in the face.

I was surprised to see him playing too.

That was ugly. What a trooper.
Just got backk

Hows McLouth doing?

single today and SB

has a hit and a SB
how is that the person you'd like to know about?
keep battling kido
Stop wearing out their legs

… Let them trott…

hes gonna get walked/turn on 1 eventually right?

please don't get screwed on a curveball
"He can't get to it" - Pirates announcer

throw Jason Heyward another fat fastball.

Another foul ball

Its just a matter of time before Heyward Tee’s off!

loaded for prado
Jason walks

how many walks does he have?

70 or 71

i believe

Let’s go Martin!!

Its not an out…but man I wanted him to have a chance to swing

and then tension continues...
These are the times

a great team takes advantage of a bad team. Let’s do it Prado.

Great AB right there

THAT is why he is a special player (one of many reasons)

we need clutch-martin

to show up here

I CAN HAZ RUNZ PLZ!?!?!
Be patient Prado
Prado batting .250 in september... :/
awwww

that was FAT

bases loaded walk anyone?
0 here would be devastating.

Please, odarp.

the fish are raking btw

Devastated.

You were right.

Devastated.

a walk would be nice

Heyward just late on some of these
GOD DAMN IT

he fell

what the HELL was that??????

gotta be fucking kidding me

That was some BULL
GOD DAMMIT
I'm out for lunch

Braves better turn this shit around before I get back

If he just hadn’t tripped :(

some more bad luck there…we still got 6 more outs

Game over.
This

Is why I rarely post her anymore! Way too much of this crap!

Jesus Christ

if you’re going to swing that bat, fucking swing that bat.

Only to the Braves on the road.

“GOD FUCKING DAMN IT. MOTHER FUCKER!” Is what I just yelled at the top of my lungs.

I heard.

Bright side 6-0 Marlins

With men on 3rd and 2nd with 1 out

make that 2 outs

on sanchez 3rd strikeout today

cool

but i wanna take advantage…we r playing the pirates!

honestly though… Who really cares at this point

yep sounds about right
do you guys remember when..

infante, heyward and prado used to hit…..

Mets series last week
how i feel

You and me both, David.

Alright guys and gals,

I’m growing sick of, “At least the Phillies are losing” or “At least the ___________ are beating the Phillies for us.”

Who cares? If we don’t start finding ways to beat the shitty teams in the league, we have no chance, even if we do make the playoffs.

plus if we took advantage of these games when the Phillies lose, we wouldn’t be sweating the late part of the season

agreed… I’m done scoreboard watching… we are playing like crap, unless our pitcher goes nuts we can not win

at least

we could get back to october to give bobby one last tease and fall short.

It's just hitting

We need to find ways to hit the damn ball.

HITS

That’s our problem. Has been for about 3 years now. No consistent hitting.

TOO MANY HOLES IN THE LINEUP.

The end.

Phillies

have a losing record against the pirates…

Rooting for the Phillies to lose, and rooting for the Braves to win are not mutually exclusive.

well the cardinals couldn't beat "shitty teams"

and still managed to win the WS in 06 even though they were like the worst team in the NL. so, i think the fact that somehow we are still in first despite a bad spell is a good silver lining. i get what you’re saying, but it is at least a bright side

Nice. I like your style.
Reasoning about a first place team???

/banned

I like you too. I’m following the scoreboard and all that until we’re done 100%

I agree

and if the Phillies were winning 6-0 right now, I’d probably be slamming my head against my wall.

I’m just saying that when someone uses the excuse “at least the Phillies are losing”, it sounds like a bunch of BS.

I’ll agree with you on that. I think we should scoreboard watch, but not use it as an excuse

yeah, i understand

and i’m as frustrated as the rest of us – the phillies losing isn’t an excuse for us not to win, but i do feel a bit better about a loss when they lose as well (although it eats me up that we can’t gain ground)

wow....

against the pirates really….!!!!!!!

We need a clean inning from Farnsworth

his past 2 outings have been solid havent they?

Kyle “Forfeit” Farnsworth. I think I’ll go mow the yard…

Just for you

for Throw strikes, Kyle

Hey Miami, save some runs for game #2

Actually, if they really pour it on it could ruin the Philly bullpen for days/weeks. So that’s fine with me.

OK...I like that as well.
I will say this... Farns looks a lot better lately
Thanks, Jinxy-cat
Dear Prado

Don’t worry about whether or not he can make the play just put your head down and run

In Prado’s defense, he slipped.

Yes but after he slipped he still looked back
Can leftist play third?

Damn iPhone. Lefties

For a minute there I thought we had Commies on the team.
Is it just me?

Or has Farnsworth looked better lately?

only 1 baserunner in his last 4 appearances now

Yes, he is no longer mortifying on the mound.

Farnsy has looked pretty solid lately

just saying

THata boy Farnsy

this is the guy we traded for.

it took him 4 weeks of therapy after having to go back to Houston

he’s good now

everyone can hit....!!!!!!!!!!!!!

except the braves………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay………..

Okay

Derrek led off the 2nd with a hit and eventually scored. Let’s try that again — with a few more across this time.

So you want a

Leedoff hit?

RUNZ POINTS RUNZ POINTS RUNZ POINTS

And now the rain fade has killed my TV. Crappy.

Brian Burres is the new member of these groups

“Braves will help us to low the ERA”.
“Lefty that the Braves cant hit”
“Everybody can hit us except the braves”

We need a Facebook Photoshop for this.

With some lefties that dominate us "Like"ing it.

Now that the Pirates have finally run out a guy who can pitch

it’s time for us to score

Lee

Cant catch up to Meek. Hope for a walk.

Sad thing is

Prado probably would have walked as well had he not swung at that pitch…

Ugh...Phils have the rally caps on. 7-1. 0 outs.
Please Marlins.

No.

Who is the pirates closer?
They just said Chan Ho Park and Ledezma were warming up.
Bloops and check swing hits. This isn't small ball, it's mini-ball.
Nate being Nate
how many chances does he get?

Play Melky in center please.

Marlins win officially.
if we don't beat the sub .500 teams

how do we expect to hold off the Phillies

Roy Oswalt losing to the Marlins?
Got quiet in here.

maybe because there was a 2nd thread…

so much for that sweep

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