Braves Find a New Way to Lose: in 6 Innings

It's a Final, folks: 1-0. The Weather Gods have spoken, and they have no kind words for the Braves' offense (or defense). Apparently they couldn't sit through another inning of the Braves' futility in all non-pitching phases of the game. And really, who could blame them?

Once again, the Braves had no trouble getting runners on base against a Mets starter--this time 10 baserunners off Mike Pelfrey--but once again, they struggled mightily to actually get any of those runners in. You have to wonder if maybe the Braves' hitters are letting their slumps get in their heads a bit. Some credit, though, has to go to Pelfrey, who did a good job of making out pitches when he needed them. His final line was 5 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 5 BB, 3 K, and a 0.284 WPA.

The futility really was a team effort. Jason Heyward hit a weak pop-up to short with 2 outs and the bases loaded in the first (a portent of things to come). J-Hey would later hit into a rally-killing double play to end the 3rd. Troy Glaus reached base twice but in his 3rd at-bat, grounded into another inning-ending double play. Even Martin Prado struck out with 2 on to end an inning. 

(More recap--if you can bear it--and Awards after the jump...)

Tommy Hanson pitched great, though he struggled again with his pitch counts. The lone run off of him was unearned, and it was a doozy. With Jose Reyes on 2nd and 2 outs in the first, Jason Bay hit a grounder down the line that Chipper Jones snared (with some difficulty). It didn't look like he had much of a chance to get Bay at 1st, but he threw it anyway. And of course his throw missed 1st base by 10 feet. When Troy Glaus was unable to immediately corral the errant throw, Reyes raced home with the game's only run.

The error would be extremely costly; if Chipper just puts that ball in his pocket, this game is suspended 0-0 and resumed at a later date. Instead, it's yet another hard-luck loss for a Braves pitcher. Hanson's final line was 5 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 5 H, 2 BB, 8 K, and a 0.117 WPA. (In case you are wondering, that's not quite a Javier Vazquez Loss--he didn't go the necessary 6 innings, not that he had a choice.)

Chipper played tonight even though earlier today, he had said he would miss a few games (which made me look like a dope for writing the open thread intro so far in advance). When I heard he was playing, I had a premonition that he would do something to hurt the team's chances of winning. I know he thinks that we need his bat in the lineup, but his bat (and glove) don't help us if he's not playing at or near 100%. Doesn't he remember the foot injury that he tried to play through a few years ago that caused him to hit .200 for an extended stretch before he finally went on the DL? This is why we have bench players, Chipper. Don't try to prove Brian Jordan wrong. Just do what's best for the team and sit out if you aren't at your best. I'd rather have Omar Infante than "Crippled" Jones.

Awards

MVP: The rain... At the time of the delay, the Mets' chances of winning were 67%. I'm giving the rain credit for the last 33%.

LVPs: Chipper-- 0/2, BB, K, -0.075 WPA, and the deciding error; Heyward-- 0/2, GIDP, -0.174 WPA (I think this will cost him the league WPA lead...)

MVPILEs (MVPs in a losing effort): Hanson and Brian McCann-- 1/1, 2 BB, 0.095 WPA

UnClutch Play (there were no clutch plays)-- Chipper's error (there's no WPA assigned to the error specifically, but it'd be around -0.050)