Padres pound Braves 17-2...Ouch.

I can’t stomach games like that. Wednesday cannot get here soon enough. It really isn’t the pitching of this club that scares me – it’s the offense (or lack thereof). We’re supposed to be a revamped offensive club yet we look an awful lot like the Braves team of the first half of last year. JJ will be better, but we may be in trouble offensively.

Making my first post. Braves fan since ’81. Been an avid reader of talking chop for two years. Always look forward to your insight and comments. First place I go to get the nightly recap. I respect the banter here. Most other sights have a bunch of idiots on caps lock saying your team sucks.

That Reyes will likely be on his way to Gwinnett when either Proctor or Kimbrel are ready. Hell I don’t even think Wickman would of given up that many runs.

you get over it quicker than losing by one or two runs.

I take everygame too seriously the first couple weeks.

first two games of the season has now hit reality. This team looks very similar to the team we saw last year.
- We need another outfielder. Diaz and Melky aren’t gonna cut it all year. McLouth looks real bad.
- BUT it is still early and if we take the next two we’ll gain a little of that excitement back.

that we get to sit on this “whoopin” through an off day tomorrow. Maybe the Braves will sit and think about how pitiful they looked getting beat 17-2 by the PADRES. Maybe it will light a fire under their ass and get some offense going. This is Bobby’s last season. Don’t embarass him like that again, please.

that this only counts for one loss.

It’s gonna screw (skew) up our pythagorean winning % though… the horror!

It can’t last. Pitching will hold up. I’m confident of that. Just sucks coming out of the gate like this. While the phils first 100 games are against the mats

But if a change needs to be done it needs to be a shake up of the lineup. I am not hating on Cabrera or McLouth at all, as I think they are both very solid players and bring a great deal of defensive value (McLouth looks alot better on healthy legs) but we need to bunch up the guys who are hitting. Something like this would work right now.

1. Prado 2B
2. Heyward RF
3. Chipper 3B
4. Glaus 1B
5. McCann C
6. Escobar SS
7. McLouth/Diaz/Cabrera LF/RF
8. McLouth/Diaz/Cabrera LF/RF

That would put the guys who are getting on base the most consistantly in front of the guys who should be able to drive them in the most consistantly. The last two spots would allow Bobby to rotate guys in based on machups and who is hot and allowing him to keep the top and middle set from game to game.

that is the word of the day. All of these slumps—the RISP numbers, the Glaus, Cabrera, McLouth, and Escobar numbers, all of them—are unsustainable. Thus, things will get better. Maybe not better enough for the team to make the playoffs, but better for sure. Much better.

Actually, one number might just be sustainable—Jo-Jo’s ERA. (kidding)

does Jo Jo have a spot on this team? he must have dirty pictures of Bobby’s wife. (gross)

I’m guessing as soon as Proctor is ready or Dunn proves himself, Jo Jo will be gone. We have Meds for long relief, why is he even up here?

I’m so sick of Jojo Reyes it’s not even funny.

Mama said there’d be days like these.

but his stuff wasn’t even that good. His changeup was up and all over the place. His fastball was around 88 with not much movement untill he got the bases loaded and then he started throwing 93-94 but missing.

Could be the worst start I’ve ever seen from JJ.

I’m not saying anyone is to blame specifically, but it’s always surprising to me that TP keeps his job year after year. The way we’re hitiing right now, or not hitting right now, it’s just really sad.

McLouth used to be a threat, imo…….no more.
Troy G was tearing it up in ST……….no more.
Melky looked decent during ST……….no more.
Yunel is hitting into nothing but double plays.

Too early to sound any alarms, but we need to win 3 or 4 in a row, starting Now.

Now I know how the Cubs felt after that first off day: Like complete shit.

By taking the next two games. Sure they might have blown us out, but in the end, it’s much more painful for them if we take the rest of the series. Suddenly, nobody cares about one win when followed by two losses.

Yesterday was an aberration. It probably won’t happen again this season, and feasibly might not occur again in the next two years. But every now and then, lopsided games like this happen, to just about everyone. The Rangers hang 30 on the O’s. Then one day last year, the O’s hang 13 on the Braves. This year, the Braves hang 16 on the Cubs, but then the Padres hang 17 on us. It happens. Some time this year, some team might hang 14 on the Padres, and the Yankees will hang 18 on the Indians.

Yes, it sucked, but it does happen from time to time, and yesterday was just our time. But better for these demoralizing losses to happen early, rather than later in the season.

JoJo deserves a pat on the back, at the very least, for going out there and taking it on the chin to save the rest of the arms.

Melky definitely needs to removed from the leadoff spot, and pronto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHdZFppSZss

I’m honestly seeing this as a good thing. It’s early in the season, and hopefully the Braves will start addressing the “weak” spots in the lineup and make the necessary changes.

I don’t have the answers, and the lineup looks pretty good on paper. I think some hitters have gone away from patience that helped us play really well in Spring Training, which is why strikeouts have soared for this team. Heyward is getting his patient approach back and I’m sure other players will follow.

It certainly sucks when you have a lot of players that are struggling offensively right now, but it won’t last.

The Good:

1. Jason Heyward’s plate discipline – After going through the first “slump” of his short career, Jay Hey has come back with a bang. Sure, he was 0-2 tonight with 2BBs, but his plate discipline and recognition improves by the day. In his two walks, Jason laid off tough pitches both in and out of the zone. That’s what gives a player true discipline at the plate: Sure, it’s important to lay off the pitches out of the zone, but if you’re swinging at pitches in the zone that you won’t be able to do anything with, you aren’t helping yourself at the plate

The Ugly (here we go):

4. Melky Cabrera – Now with a sexy .103AVG out of the leadoff spot, Melky isn’t doing anything for this team offensively. And it’s a shame, because Cabrera isn’t a bad player.

So, plate discipline on an 0-for by Heyward is a good thing, but for Melky it is bad?

Jason is seeing 4.39 pitches per PA and Melky is seeing 4.36. I get that Jason is hitting the ball too, but he has 10 Ks to Melky’s 4…that’s right – Melky only has 4 Ks. Melky also has 4 BBs – the same number as Jason. So, Melky has a 1:1 K:BB and Jason has a 2.5 BB:K.

Melky also has a .120 BABIP…let me say that again – a .120 BABIP!!!

Compare that to Heyward’s .308 and you can easily see that Melky is having just as good, actually better, ABs than Heyward, just with different results. The key to this is that all of this data is only after 7 games.

Heyward has 9 ground balls, 5 fly balls and 2 line drives. Melky has 15 GBs, 7 FBs and 3 LDs.

When you look at all of this data together, one can only deduce that Melky is just hitting the ball at people. That will change. Let’s just be patient.

I’m glad we have a day to help find and remove the imposters on the field wearing our Braves unis.

And, glad we had THIS kind of game in April rather than Sept.

Looking forward to Wednesday night.

Success isn’t determined by how few times you fall down. It is determined by how many times you get back up.

…or something like that.

upset at how JoJo was used? He was warmed up quickly like a regular reliever then thrown out there for 80+ pitches.

It’s time for Bobby to insert Heyward into all 9 spots in the batting order and when he gets on base, we’ll use ghost runners.
 
If we’re facing a lefty, Diaz can take up 3 or 4 of the 9 available spots.
 
;)