Braves Fall In Game Two To Phillies 5-3
by BenDuronio on Sep 21, 2010 11:56 PM EDT
in Braves Game Recaps
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PrintMike Minor did not deliver against Roy Halladay in the Phillies, which resulted in him lasting just 2.1 innings. Minor looked fatigued and seriously off of his game, so I would not expect him to get another start down the stretch. The Braves needed this game if they wanted to win the division. It's going to be extremely difficult to make up five games over the remained of the season.
The rest of the Braves pitchers pitched well, aside from Michael Dunn, who gave up his first set of earned runs this season. The Braves held the Phillies enough to stay in the game, but couldn't capitalize against Ryan Madson or Brad Lidge in the final two innings of the game.
Freddie Freeman blasted his first career home run, which is about the only positive to take away from this game. Derrek Lee went 2-3 with an RBI single. The rest of the Braves lineup was relatively quiet with at most one hit a piece.
The Braves really need to come back in game three. Tommy Hanson is on the mound against Roy Oswalt, which is a matchup that still favors the Phillies. If Hanson is on though, he can be dominant. Hopefully that Hanson shows up to the field tomorrow night.
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At least one more positive...
Bullpen
Go USA, Braves, BU Terriers, Irish, Caps, Colts, Hoyas, NU Cats, Wizards, DC United, Washington Freedom
BU Hockey: National Champions 1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009
This has gone about like it should on paper.
I hope our playing rope a dope and saving the top part of the rotation for the Nats series pays off. The division is 95% out of reach. It probably was when we ate it against the NAts and Pirates. We need to clean up this weekend and just try to hold on.
The Dodgers and their mail-it-in act aren’t helping.
I said this in the gameday thread since this wasn't up yet
This loss was disappointing to me tonight as well however, on the bright side of it say the Phillies win the NL East and we win the Wild Card. If we make it to the NLCS we will have completely different games simply because of who’s pitching. This series we are catching the 1st 3 pitchers in their rotation however they are only catching one of our top 3 guys and thats Hanson tomorrow. These games would have been much different had it been Hudson vs. Halladay, Hanson vs. Hamels, and Lowe/Jurrjens vs. Oswalt.
I think all we proved tonight was that we can hit Halladay and yesterday we proved that our pitching can silence their lineup. In a championship game there is no way we see Dunn in there it would have instead been O’Flaherty or something.
All I’m saying is that I still believe we are the better team and we would have won had we matched up with their starters. However, no one seemed to agree with me when i mentioned skipping Minor and pitching Hanson and Hudson on 4 days rest.
I agree, at least partly
A ball going off of Hey’s glove and Prado missing a monster 2 run shot by inches in game 1… we played right with them against their hottest pitcher with a rook making his major league debut, and lost the game by inches.
I didn’t get to see or listen to last night’s game, but only 2.1 out of our SP, doesn’t sound like I missed much (except for being annoyed)… nice to read that our bullpen stayed pretty solid to keep us in the game. We’ve hung with 2 of the Phillies top 3 so far, throwing 2 rooks against them, though unfortunately the results have not been in our favor in either game.
I don’t, however, agree that we should have changed our pitching order around for this series. A win is a win, no matter who it comes against, and the sweep in NY is keeping us in the wild card hunt. If we do make the playoffs, and end up seeing the Phillies in the NLCS, we’ll have seen their top 3 pitchers twice already in the preceding few weeks, which could definitely help our hitters against them. And I still love our pitching, and think our top 3-4 pitchers match up well against their top 3. If we can make their starters work a bit more and can get to their pen a little earlier, I like our chances against them.
So, here’s to hoping for some good baseball from the Braves over these last 2 weeks and holding onto the wild card… cause we’re a better team than how we’ve played recently, and if a few bats get hot, we can be dangerous in the playoffs
PM from DOB on Twitter
Asked him if there was an official explanation for the rotation not being moved around:
“Been asked several times. Cox didn’t want to move anybody up, wanted them to stay in order and get the rest”
Go USA, Braves, BU Terriers, Irish, Caps, Colts, Hoyas, NU Cats, Wizards, DC United, Washington Freedom
BU Hockey: National Champions 1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009
For once
He has the right idea. No need to roll the dice this early. If we can just play decently down the stretch, we should be okay.
Has anybody projected the rotation out for the rest of the season?
by Sam Jethroe on Sep 22, 2010 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions
Livan Hernandez on Saturday
FML.
'Terrible preview...pretty weak, didn't learn anything new. pretty sad." - mastermike
by Scott Coleman on Sep 22, 2010 12:34 AM EDT up reply actions
you know
Derrick Lee should have a great game then since he can’t hit a 90+ MPH fastball.
by drumzalicious on Sep 22, 2010 12:38 AM EDT up reply actions
lol
when i saw on Gamecast that he hit his grand slam on a 94mph fastball, i almost needed a new pair of pants.
'Terrible preview...pretty weak, didn't learn anything new. pretty sad." - mastermike
by Scott Coleman on Sep 22, 2010 12:43 AM EDT up reply actions
really?
wow. I’m quite surprised. It’s just a shame that he took a month to start hitting. Hopefully that means he is on fire in the post season. He and Heyward 3-4 would be dope
by drumzalicious on Sep 22, 2010 12:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Like Bobby would ever do that...
he’ll just keep on throwing Martin in that 3-hole, injuries and all. The guy hasn’t hit for two weeks now.
'Terrible preview...pretty weak, didn't learn anything new. pretty sad." - mastermike
by Scott Coleman on Sep 22, 2010 12:47 AM EDT up reply actions
He could use tomorrow off.
With the off day, two sweet days straight would do him nothing but good.
I’ve been pressing for McCann to bat behind DLee, but Derrek’s recent emergence has made that moot. Whichever guy is 4, the other one is fine at #5.
by Sam Jethroe on Sep 22, 2010 12:56 AM EDT up reply actions
i agree
he should be off and Heyward hitting 3rd.
by drumzalicious on Sep 22, 2010 1:03 AM EDT up reply actions
With Jair's injury, it goes into a top hat....
Hanson tonight
day off
(@ Was) Hudson
(@ Was) Lowe
(@ Was) could be Jair, could be Beachy, could be Minor
(home vs. FLA) could be any of the above 3, or Hanson
the next games are below, but it really depends on when Jair is healthy, and if Bobby wants Beachy or Minor (or both) to take their turns one more time
(Fla) Hanson?
(Fla) Hudson?
day off
(home vs. Phily) Lowe?
(Phily) JJ?
(Phily) Hanson or one of the rookies?
you know
This to me screams that the FO and Bobby had already conceded the NL East and were just shooting for the Wild Card.
One side of this is that he is right. It keeps our guys on normal rest which will be great going into October for guys that were originally supposed to be under innings limits this year anyway (Hudson, Minor, and Hanson somewhat). Making our rotation a little more rested for the Post Season. If this is the case I would love for the Braves to lock up the wild card before we even play Philly and that way we can use guys like Beachy and Kawakami to start in that series and give the main guys in our rotation some rest going into the post season.
However the downside of this is it somewhat kills the confidence and the morale of your team and your fanbase to go and possibly get swept by a team they will have to face in the post-season if they win the wildcard and Philly doesn’t collapse with a 10 game losing streak. The fans also look at it as they should give up on reaching the World Series because they can’t beat Philly. No casual fan will really pay attention to the fact that we just threw two rookie starters out there against some of the top guys in the NL and still had really close games. All that matters to them is that they turned on the TV and the Braves couldn’t beat the Phillies. Rookie or not a loss is a loss and it stings no matter who’s pitching.
It also doesn’t help to see our guys playing like a little league team out there. Missing signs, terrible base running, some bad defense, just all around amateurish. It just screams “not on Philly’s level”
Either way we won’t know until October how much the decision to not skip Minor in this series and go JJ vs Hamels, Hanson vs Halladay, and Hudson vs Oswalt will be.
by drumzalicious on Sep 22, 2010 12:38 AM EDT up reply actions
We really need that game tomorrow
You hear me Tommy, neeeeed
Giants win, Padres win, Rockies lose.
Giants beat the Cubs 1-0. Padres beat the Dodgers 6-0. Rockies lost to the D’Backs 3-1. Here’s how it all shakes out to finish September 21 and 10 games remaining on the Braves schedule:
NL West
Giants 85 66 —
Padres 84 66 0.5
Rockies 82 68 2.5
NL Wild Card
Braves 86 66 —
Padres 84 66 1.0
Rockies 82 68 3.0
Despite the two losses to the Phillies, it’s still favorable to make it thanks to the 3-game sweep of the Mets.
If the Braves just go 5-5 in their last 10 games, the Padres would have to go 8-4 in their final 12 to finish ahead of Atlanta. The Rockies would have to go 10-2 in their last 12. In case anyone bumps the Giants out of first in the NL West, the Giants would have to go 7-4 in their final 11 games to finish better.
The Padres and Rockies began a stretch of games today that will carry them through the rest of the season. No more off-days for them. The Braves still have two off-days left. The Giants still have one off-day left.
A lot of those West teams still have some games against each other, so there will be a let-them-beat-each-other-up effect to the standings. The Padres and Giants play their last 3 games against each other in San Francisco. The Giants still have a 3-game series in Colorado left to play. The Padres also still have games remaining against the Reds, but the Reds may be in coast mode for those games since there’s a good chance they’ll have clinched the NL Central by then.
10 games left. Just hold on to the Wild Card please.
by AnEternalEnigma on Sep 22, 2010 12:45 AM EDT reply actions 6 recs
Green
I love some perspective and sanity.
by Sam Jethroe on Sep 22, 2010 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions
Thanks so much for this. Makes me feel much better!
by tomahawklove on Sep 22, 2010 2:18 AM EDT up reply actions
Win the series against the Nats and then again with the Marlins,...
and then I’d like to see where we’re at. But we need to do those two things.
yes, PLEASE hold on to the Wild Card
and have the Phillies rest their players the last 3 games
If you have a 360, you gotta go get Halo:Reach
I usually don’t even like the Halo games, but this one is pretty great.
'Terrible preview...pretty weak, didn't learn anything new. pretty sad." - mastermike
I have my 360 (the new one) and my roommate as a PS3
and there’s really no comparison in the games. The PS3 has the blu-ray, but that doesn’t make up for the crappy titles. If it wasn’t for MLB: The Show, I would never play it.
'Terrible preview...pretty weak, didn't learn anything new. pretty sad." - mastermike
by Scott Coleman on Sep 22, 2010 2:03 AM EDT up reply actions
specs favor the ps3
brother-in-law was looking up on it and (recalling from memory here) and I believe he said the PS3 had 6 microprocessors while the xbox only had 4 (or maybe the other way around?). However, the point is, the PS3 had more microprocessors dedicated to running the game whereas the xbox had more dedicated to running the OS.
If Halo is the only reason for buying the xbox, it ain’t worth it. PS3 plays blue-ray and the controller is much more comfortable.
If I have to explain my username to you, you're obviously a Philly fan.
"Kill my boss?! Do I dare live out the American dream?" - Homer Simpson
I have both
And the PS3 is collecting dust. You don’t buy a video game console based on its hardware, you buy them because you want to have fun. The reason more people have xboxes is mostly due to the fact that people didn’t want to pay $500-600 for a console when they could have a game console for $300 (all, at the time) that had a much larger library of games that looked comparably good on a HDTV.
FWIW, Halo alone could carry the xbox, so very, very many people disagree with your assessment that one game makes a console worth it. And I don’t even like the series, but it’s very true. God of War is an epic series, but doesn’t come close to the rabid dedicated fanbase that Halo has on the other side.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Depends on the games you enjoy...
is Madden that much better on XBox than ps3? I got ps3 (birthday gift earlier this month), and like it fine. Madden is great, and the bluray part keeps wifey happy.
That's the thing
Most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the on-screen product, so hardware is kind of irrelevant to me. It’s not like you’re comparing an Atari 2600 to a Sega Dreamcast. Video games are for fun and competition, not who’s got the best hardware.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
lol
What, you don’t want to remember when E.T., Empire Strikes Back, A-Team and Indiana Jones were all essentially the same game? Either you were ET’s head, Mr. T’s head, Indy’s head, or a tiny Millenium Falcon, floating around on a pea-green screen, dodging tiny circles meant to be bullets, while trying to fire tiny circles back at them?
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Both consoles has it's pros/cons
I have them both, so it doesn’t really matter what comes out on what. I tend to lean towards Xbox on a game that is released on both consoles. For a few reasons that I won’t get into.
But the PS3 does have some good exclusive games. Uncharted 1 & 2, God of War, Metal Gear Solid. Of course the Xbox has got Halo, Mass Effect, Gears of War.
by dunnytwogloves on Sep 22, 2010 10:00 AM EDT up reply actions
Think of it like this.
If the Braves win tomorrow, they’re still 4-2 on the road trip heading into Washington. That pretty much assures a winning road trip. I know they seem to freeze sometimes in Washington, but they usually just lose 2 out of 3 and never get swept. With Lowe and Hudson going in that series, it would take a major alignment of crap to be swept by them.
by AnEternalEnigma on Sep 22, 2010 1:23 AM EDT reply actions
426
If I remember right
Go USA, Braves, BU Terriers, Irish, Caps, Colts, Hoyas, NU Cats, Wizards, DC United, Washington Freedom
BU Hockey: National Champions 1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009
how about that
freddie freeman? i loved watching him get his first shot off of halladay
Over on TGP
they called him thorn-in-our-side-for-the-rest-of-the-decade Freddie Freeman. That’s got a good ring to it.
by -InsertWittyNameHere- on Sep 22, 2010 2:24 AM EDT up reply actions
it appears they forgot Heyward
with this dynamic duo we will win the world series before it’s over
Mathew 19:26 "With God, all things are possible"
With Heyward and Freeman
the Braves will win the World Series before it’s even played. By themselves.
"Jason Heyward was a Greek philosopher reincarnated as a baseball player." - Don Sutton
Roy Oswalt
Charlie Manuel meddled with his starting rotation to make sure Roy Oswalt pitched this game against the Braves instead of Kyle Kendrick. But Oswalt’s career numbers against Atlanta aren’t for the faint of heart.
In 7 regular-season career starts against the Braves, Oswalt is 0-3 with a 7.58 ERA. The Braves did not face Oswalt when the Astros visited Turner Field earlier in the season from April 30-May 2.
by AnEternalEnigma on Sep 22, 2010 2:58 AM EDT reply actions
But in starts that really mattered
In three playoff matchups, Oswalt is 2-0 vs. Atlanta, with a 3-something ERA. Either way, I’m not a big fan of career numbers sometimes, because like in Oswalt’s case, most of the players he went 0-3 against aren’t even on the Braves anymore. Off the top of my head, the only Brave he’s faced playing today is probably Brian McCann, and maybe guys like McLouth, Ankiel and Lee if you count their tenures with their old clubs. No more Andruw, no more Chipper, LaRoche, or anyone else with good power who gave him fits that led to that 0-3 record. As far as I’m concerned, his past is irrelevant in this case.
He’s a creative and deceptive pitcher, and I do question anyone who doesn’t think he doesn’t have the advantage going into tonight’s game.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Also minimal errors
I’d say “no errors” but that’s been kind of an impossibility since ASB. I’ll take errors that don’t have dire consequence.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
"Our focus is on winning (Wednesday) night," Braves manager Bobby Cox said.
What? He didn’t care winning the first two games?
Pitchers
Anybody can say what they want to about the Braves but Frank Wren did not have to go Rent a couple of high dollar rent a pitchers like the Phillies did? These Braves might still make the playoffs?
I don't think you know what "rent" means
They have Oswalt for at least another year and Halladay for at least another two or three. And given that they Phils just beat us two in a row, I’d say, yeah, he did have to rent a couple of pitchers, and he failed to do so.
The pitching
is not the problem. Never was.
"Jason Heyward was a Greek philosopher reincarnated as a baseball player." - Don Sutton
think prado gets a day off here?
he would probably benefit from 2 days rest
Its games like this....
that make me miss Chip more than ever
I thought hurricane season was over........
Melky + Conrad >>>>>>>>> Hinske + McOut
Instead of batting Hinske and McOut in the 8th and 9th, why not just forfeit? It would be less painful, lol, because you already know it’s coming.
Has Hinske ever NOT swung at a pitch?
Stick with it TP. Stick with it, baby.
"It looks like The Hound of the Baskervilles out there." - Steve Stone
"...I'm reminded of Wuthering Heights." - Harry Caray
~
Swing and a drive...Belted right! Welcome to the Show!!!
by Chief Noc-A-Homa on Sep 22, 2010 8:38 AM EDT reply actions
SRSLY?
You’re advocating for Melky over anyone? I’d rather have a dead goldfish up at the plate than Melky (and I’m not joking).
If I have to explain my username to you, you're obviously a Philly fan.
"Kill my boss?! Do I dare live out the American dream?" - Homer Simpson
I mean, at this point, does it matter?
It’s choosing who’s going to not get a hit. Does it matter? It’s still an out. The cows are out of the barn at this point, kids. No point in shutting the door.
what the fuck are you smoking?
The PuertoRican Kid
by Kobe:The Legend on Sep 22, 2010 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. I am missing a much-needed dose of positivity and optimism in my life.
"Jason Heyward was a Greek philosopher reincarnated as a baseball player." - Don Sutton
Also,
are you any relation to Special K? How about Fat Albert? Did Special K and Fat Albert have a kid named you? And what would the love child of an animated human and a box of cereal look like?
Yeah, I have way too much time on my hands. And I don’t know what to do with myself.
"Jason Heyward was a Greek philosopher reincarnated as a baseball player." - Don Sutton
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