Atlanta Braves June Aftermath: MVPs and LVPs
by Scott Coleman on Jul 9, 2010 9:00 AM EDT
in Series Previews & Recaps
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PrintLike we did in April and May, Talking Chop will be bringing you the hitting and pitching MVPs and LVPs for each month. June has been a murderous month for the Braves in recent history, but this year's Braves team is special and didn't fall into the trap. They went 17-11 against very some very tough opponents, and faced the Dodgers, DBacks and White Sox on a 10-game road trip.
More importantly, the Braves entered June with a 1/2 game lead in the NL East. They ended June with a 3 game lead.
Hitting MVP:
Martin Prado was an animal in June, and the award wasn't even close to being close. The NL's starting 2nd baseman in the Mid-Summer classic put up a stellar .353/.386/.552 line in the month and basically carried the team offensively. In a month when Jason Heyward had a busted thumb and Troy Glaus battled nag ging injuries, Marteeen continued to be a force in our lineup. Besides Prado, Gregor Blanco had a very solid month in limited action and Omar Infante continued to be the best utility man in the business. All-in-all though, Martin Prado is the hitting MVP for June.
Hitting LVP:
Don't freak out. I never thought I'd pick Jason Heyward for an LVP "award" either, but it's true. Jason showed a ton of heart by trying to play through his thumb injury, but he really hindered the lineup when he was out there. Heyward injured his thumb on a head-first slide in late May and hasn't been the same since then. After being the MVP of May, Heyward put up a dismal line of .181/.287/.245 in the month of June. Hopefully J-Hey will be back to his normal out-of-this-world self once he returns from his injury. Our lineup isn't the same without him.
Pitching MVP:
This one is really close. It'll be Tim Hudson (May's MVP) vs. Billy Wagner. Hudson was one again great as our ace in the month of June and went 3-2 with a 2.57ERA. He shouldn't have lost two games, but the offense failed to score for him multiple times. He also out-dualed Stephen Strasburg, in one of the more enjoyable games in the past few seasons. Billy Wagner was just a little bit better though, in my opinion. Wags pitched in 12 games and was a perfect 9/9 in save opportunites. Opponents "hit" .157 against him in the month and Billy's WHIP was below 1.00. 17 strikeouts in only 11.2 innings is ridiculous, especially with only 5 walks. Billy Wagner is the pitching MVP of June, with Huddy being an honorable mention.
Pitching LVP:
This is so dang awesome. For the 2nd month in a row, there's really no LVP for the Braves pitchers. In May, Jesse Chavez was the LVP, but he barely pitched. This month's LVP was injured for a few weeks, but still wasn't horrible. Takashi Saito had an ERA of 6.75, despite being one of our best relievers this season. He only worked 5.1 innings, but somehow allowed 4 earned runs in those innings. He also gave up 2 HRs to opponents in the month of June, including an 0-2 fastball down the middle to Paul Konerko that lost us the game in Chicago. Despite the struggles, Saito still wasn't horrible though. He's our pitching LVP for the month of June.
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Heart?
It’s ridiculous to say that playing injured for a month and putting up a slash line of .181/.287/.245 shows heart. I’m not really sure who to blame for this one. It was reported pretty early that he hurt his thumb in a game in May and he was clearly a completely different player than we saw in April. Someone should have spoken up sooner. Honestly, that probably should have been a coach or trainer who said they needed to give him some time to rest, but I also don’t think there should be a stigma from a player telling people he’s really hurt and can’t go. That “tough guy” mentality hurts the team.
get down off your soap box
he did what everybody who ever played a sport at any level has done. he hurt himself and figured that he could play through it. its not like our backup options (melky, blanco, etc) are exactly world beaters. if he had sat as soon as he injured it youd probably be bitching that he wasnt a true team player right?
It's like Hank, the rightfielder, is passing the ball on to the next rightfielder, and saying, 'Here it is, kid. Catch it.'"
Actually, I wouldn’t be bitching. Seems that players are just dishonest about injuries. Great, you can play through it, but you’re playing poorly! There should be nothing wrong with saying, “My thumb doesn’t feel right and I think it’s affecting my performance.”
It’s early in the season. The options (Melky, Blanco) aren’t great but they’re adequate for a 15-day DL trip so the future of this team gets a break to heal.
I'll talk to you in the post season when we need to call in Hudson to close a game to win the WS, and he has to pitch through pain.
He’s testing his limits, and we are still winning series. Next time, he can make the “i’m hurt” call sooner.
God typed "iddqd" before creating Jason Heyward.
Not a Brave, but...
Anyone remember Schilling and the bloody sock?
My friend Chris Boggs from ODU got spiked while covering an out at first this year, getting a cut on his leg in the process. They bandaged it up, but that didn’t hold, so I got some epic shots of his manliness:
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
To be fair, Jason’s slump started before he got hurt.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Jul 9, 2010 9:59 AM EDT reply actions
FWIW
The road trip was 11 games and it was Dodgers/Dbacks/Twins.
"Jason Heyward was a Greek philosopher reincarnated as a baseball player." - Don Sutton
Anyone remember Jake Peavy?
I’m glad that never worked out.
Good call on Saito. That guy scares me when he takes the mound. Although the stats don’t show how scary he really has been. You could have gone with KK or Saito, but I like your pick there. As for Heyward, I think that is crazy. When you have Nate McLouth, who practically started every game before his injury, in your lineup, you have to have him as the LVP. Heyward has just had too many clutch hits. Also, I’d swap Hudson and Wagner. Huddy has been the ace of a great pitching staff and his consistency has given me confidence in every start he’s made this season.
Fail
This post contains a lot of it.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Jul 9, 2010 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions
at first i thought he was being tongue-in-cheek
but sadly, he was not im afraid. the only thing nate did to deserve LVP in june was get run over by a freight train named jason heyward
It's like Hank, the rightfielder, is passing the ball on to the next rightfielder, and saying, 'Here it is, kid. Catch it.'"
Although it could be worse……
"Jason Heyward was a Greek philosopher reincarnated as a baseball player." - Don Sutton
Crap
I just realized that this was for the month of June. Sorry, didn’t read the title clearly. Mia culpa, thought it was for the first half.
A few points...
1. Read
2. The first half is not over
3. It is mea culpa (do not use terms you do not really know)
4. Forget it this is going to be too long
by otisnixon'sparty on Jul 9, 2010 7:23 PM EDT reply actions
Funny, the Rangers just turned Tex into Lee…
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Jul 10, 2010 1:04 AM EDT reply actions
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