Braves At Mets Series Recap: Beaten In The Big Apple
by SCrebel10 on Jun 6, 2011 10:00 AM EDT
in Series Previews & Recaps
Email
Print
The Braves struggled against San Diego during the week, and struggled again this past weekend as they lost two of three to the Mets. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good:
Freddie Freeman:
The rookie kept up his hot hitting, going 5-13 with 3 doubles and 2 RBI's.
Chipper Jones on Friday:
This is all about the home run. Chipper always performs well in New York, and his monster home run into the club level seats was evidence of that.
Eric Hinske:
Hinske's ninth inning homer on Friday night gave the Braves a 4-3 lead as they went on to win 6-3.
Diory Hernandez:
Yes, a rare Diory Hernandez mention. Hernandez was used as a pinch hitter twice in the series, and went 2-2 including a three-run homer in the ninth inning of Sunday's game.
The bad and the ugly after the jump.
The Bad:
Alex Gonzalez:
Used in the two spot of the lineup on Saturday and Sunday, Gonzalez went 1-8 in that span and also committed a key error in game two of the series that cost the Braves.
Tim Hudson:
Hudson struggled mightily in the third game of the series, lasting only four innings and giving up seven hits along with five runs (all earned).
Daniel Murphy:
Murphy quietly was a thorn in the Braves side throughout the series, going 6-11 with an RBI.
Dan Uggla:
Uggla's struggles continued in this series, as he went 1-9 at the plate and was even double switched out of game three of the series for Brooks Conrad.
The Ugly:
Jose Reyes:
Reyes has been hot at the plate all season long, and he killed the Braves all weekend. For the series, he went 5-12 with 4 RBI's, two triples, and a double.
Jordan Schafer's injury:
This was scary to watch. Schafer squared to bunt in game one of the series, and the ball deflected off the bat into Schafer's face. He immediately fell to the ground in pain. He was diagnosed with a fractured sinus and missed Saturday's game. It was good to see him return for the series finale.
Scott Proctor:
Proctor was brought into game two of the series to face Jose Reyes with the bases loaded and one out. Proctor gave up a bases clearing triple to Reyes, and also allowed a sacrifice fly to score a fourth run off of him.
Fredi Gonzalez:
I'm not one to criticize the manager from my couch unless it's necessary, and I find it to be necessary in this instance. Gonzalez made some questionable decisions throughout the series, including hitting Alex Gonzalez and his now .300 on-base average in the two spot of the lineup, deciding to attempt to hit and run with Alex Gonzalez at the plate, and bringing in Scott Proctor in to face Reyes. Proctor is the worst reliever in the bullpen, and bringing him in in a high leverage situation with Eric O' Flaherty and Jonny Venters still in the bullpen makes absolutely no sense. Manager's take a lot of unfair criticism these days, but Gonzalez deserves it after these decisions.
Up Next:
The Braves are off today as the travel to Florida to face the Marlins starting Tuesday.
31 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I hate that
Last night was one of the few times I get to watch the Braves on TV and they suck like they did.
Diory 2011 = Conrad 2010... Just sayin'
I put my thoughts in the recap thread earlier. I think we’re fine in the long-run. Let’s keep supporting our team and they will meet our expectations soon enough. Well… as Braves fans, I doubt they’ll ever meet our expectations but they should make us happier. :-) I believe and if I do, y’all should… I’m gunna go sell it to a liberal now. :-)
Don’t worry about older women until you turn 22. It’s called the Saltalamacchia.
by bwellnjonesco on May 19, 2011 4:13 PM PDT
The problem
Is not that we’re losing, it’s how we’re losing.
One would think, by sheer probability alone, Dan Uggla would have a “good” game. Same can be said for the offense. It’s amazing how futile the offense has been this entire season. Even crappy teams put up crooked numbers every now and then.
Yes, we came back on Friday night, but when was the last time we led a game 6-0 like the Mets did? It defies logic.
I’m all for patience, but isn’t two months enough time to begin thinking something’s wrong? Maybe this isn’t a slump. Maybe we have a poorly constructed offense.
Hopefully, Heyward comes back healthy and rights the ship. (Uggla…oof…I don’t know how much longer we have to put up with his horrid swing…)
Signed,
Frustrated in Atlanta
"Insert witty and/or funny quote here" ~ The Person Who Spoketh Said Quote.
And
we can’t seem to do anything against starting pitchers. Even when we score it seems to always be off the bullpen.
This is a huge problem.
Having to count on a huge comeback every game takes it’s toll, especially on our starters. Part of me wonders if Huddy was trying to be too perfect knowing Dickey was going to shut us down.
Until we start scoring early consistently, each starter must assume he needs to be perfect each and every start. It’s simply not possible.
Man, it’s unbelievable we’re still within 3.5 games of the Phillies…
"Insert witty and/or funny quote here" ~ The Person Who Spoketh Said Quote.
I don't know what's worse...
Dan’s continued slump or the fact his slump only warranted a “Bad” instead of an “Ugly.” What’s worse than Dan right now? Nothing.
"Insert witty and/or funny quote here" ~ The Person Who Spoketh Said Quote.
E Coli in Germany and the rest of Europe?!?
When can i get my cucumbers back!? :(
Don’t worry about older women until you turn 22. It’s called the Saltalamacchia.
by bwellnjonesco on May 19, 2011 4:13 PM PDT
by Klemson Krash on Jun 6, 2011 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions
That's pretty bad.
I should have qualified my statement.
Other than natural disasters, disease outbreaks, social injustice, Justin Bieber, anything Snooki, all “real” housewives, and major injuries, nothing is worse than Uggla right now.
"Insert witty and/or funny quote here" ~ The Person Who Spoketh Said Quote.
“Other than natural disasters, disease outbreaks, social injustice, Justin Bieber, anything Snooki, all "real" housewives, and major injuries, nothing is worse than Uggla right now.”
How about Jose Reyes smirky grin while he owns us on the field.
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby
Question -
I was watching last night, and was wondering a few things -
1. Are all ESPN commentators so New York biased that they don’t even deign to comment on non New York teams that are playing on the field? I mean – we had the Jose Reyes love-in, but nothing on any of the Braves players or even a comment about Schafer’s injury status, unless I missed the sound byte early?
2. In the latter innings, Prado is up, and slaps what looks like a foul ball down the line. They didn’t even bother to watch the play again on instant replay, and what was the deal with the call? It looked like it was fielded behind the bag in foul territory, wouldn’t that be a foul ball?
"You just got lesson number one: Don't think; It can only hurt the ball club."
Bobby Valentine
Called the game, so I would say he would definitely be biased. Schafer played so i think that speaks on his status and they did show a replay of the injury and talked about it. They had a lot of good things to say about our bullpen and also talked about Brian McCann and how he’s an underrated hitter. I’m pretty sure those are all good things, you just weren’t paying attention I guess. And right now theres not much good to be said about our offense while the Mets are on fire, so I don’t blame them for talking about it.
Agreed...
What was there to talk about?
Until the end of the game, the Mets were up on the Braves over the last two games 11-0…Sure, the Braves scored the baseball equivalent of a meaningless TD as time expired, but we were flat out dominated for all but 3 innings the entire series—3…of 27.
"Insert witty and/or funny quote here" ~ The Person Who Spoketh Said Quote.
I was at the game. The ball was definetly foul but the umpire took his sweet time calling the ball fair otherwise prado would have been safe
by My gf loves heyward on Jun 6, 2011 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions
Uggh
“2. In the latter innings, Prado is up, and slaps what looks like a foul ball down the line. They didn’t even bother to watch the play again on instant replay, and what was the deal with the call? It looked like it was fielded behind the bag in foul territory, wouldn’t that be a foul ball?”
This. I want to see the re-play and I was pissed when they didn’t even bother to show it again, as if “who cares if the umpires screwed up a call on Martin Prado?”.
by crimsonqueen9 on Jun 6, 2011 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions
We ALL know Reyes only had 1 triple.
His stupid smiling mug was OUT at 3rd base.
.
"In the happy moments, praise God. In the difficult moments, seek God. In the quiet moments, trust God. In every moment, thank God." - Robert A. Wood
Fredi Gonzalez:
I’m not one to criticize the manager from my couch unless it’s necessary, and I find it to be necessary in this instance. Gonzalez made some questionable decisions throughout the series, including hitting Alex Gonzalez and his now .300 on-base average in the two spot of the lineup, deciding to attempt to hit and run with Alex Gonzalez at the plate, and bringing in Scott Proctor in to face Reyes. Proctor is the worst reliever in the bullpen, and bringing him in in a high leverage situation with Eric O’ Flaherty and Jonny Venters still in the bullpen makes absolutely no sense. Manager’s take a lot of unfair criticism these days, but Gonzalez deserves it after these decisions.
EOF and Venters were not our only options either. Last night, Gearrin came in and promptly got ground ball outs.
One of those would have been fantastic on Saturday instead of Proctor’s gift of runs allowed.
"In the happy moments, praise God. In the difficult moments, seek God. In the quiet moments, trust God. In every moment, thank God." - Robert A. Wood
I honestly wouldn’t have trusted Gearrin in that situation (yet). I definitely wouldn’t have trusted Proctor. That was a closer-like situation, and Eric or Jonny would have fit the bill better.
I trust Gearrin a lot more than I trust Proctor. Using Gearrin means we don’t have to burn Venters to get a ground ball out.
Twitter: @TAlmeyda
Agree
Seriously I am getting tired of losing to these sub par teams (Padres and now Mets). I know we are much better than tis, and if we don’ turn it around soon It may be too late. As Carlos Zambrano said so elegantly, I am embarrassed with how we are playing
The secret bad thing about this series is that now that Diory has pinch-hits in like 6 consecutive at-bats, Fredi is probably going to start inserting him into the lineup. Yay, career hitter .140 Diory.
Actually he may be about as bad as Uggla, with better defense (maybe).
Give Diory a chance
He’s always hit well in the Minors, his MLB numbers are off of very few at bats. Think about it, how often does a backup SS/2B play in Atlanta?
"Bunting's my favorite." Fredi G
I just have to think that things have to change eventually. Uggla has to (right?) break out of his slump sometime? Even if he only hits .250 the rest of the way, with 20 homers, that’s still better than what we’re getting now. Hell, I don’t care about the homers, just stick the bat out and make contact sometimes with two strikes and runners on…something good is bound to happen eventually. You don’t have to swing from your heels all the time!
And Alex Gonzalez plays excellent defense and he seems like a great teammate, but when is he going to get lucky at the plate like he did in Toronto? I mean I would have thought he would have run into a few more home runs by now…and please for the love of baseball stop swinging at the fastball at your shoulders. YOU CAN’T HIT IT!!!!
Good to see Schafer back on the field…I think it might take him a game or two to get the jitters out before he starts hitting again…I just hope he does start to hit again. Hurry up and get healthy Heyward, we need you back bad!
Time to face it
The Braves just aren’t a good team. Starting pitching and bullpen is good yea, but that means nothing with no offense. Just hope Chipper does the Braves a favor and retires after this season.
In order for me to accept it as fact, I’d need to understand WHY they aren’t a good team when on paper they are flush with talent. Right now the best explanation is that what we have seen thus far is anomaly (combined with a trend towards less offense.) I’m unwilling to give up on this season when the question “why aren’t they good” cannot be sufficiently answered.
Aren't a good team?
Some posts above express amazement that we are only 3.5 games down from the Phillies. I would say that qualifies as evidence that we are a good team. Offense exists, it is just too spotty for us to be in first place. We are currently 11th in BA in the NL. Our 1st place position in pitching accounts for where we at in the standings. We are having what amounts to bad luck in making a trade for Uggla, and getting a lemon. It appears our new batting coach is a serious dud. We do need to get better offensive production from whoever plays CF. Schafer could be that person. Gonzales, well, what can I say? Sometimes he actually has a few good games. More than I can say for Uggla. I think he has had two hits in a game maybe two or three times this season. I think if we had been able to figure out how to play Mather consistently, he might surprise us. Hinske looks good. Freeman is a treat to see, after not expecting too much from a rookie.
I believe Chipper may indeed retire after this season, however, he is certainly producing at a reasonable level for us this season.
by BravesFaninAZ on Jun 7, 2011 12:59 AM EDT up reply actions
Uggla
did help us beat the Phillies on May 15th, so that counts for something!
by BravesFaninAZ on Jun 7, 2011 2:21 AM EDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Talking Chop
Related FanShots on Talking Chop
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Roy Oswalt doesn’t need to save the Rangers, he only needs to provide insurance and depth
- James Loney: Umpires should call pitches from behind mound — and be robots with replay
- Magglio Ordonez set to retire after 15 seasons
- Barry Bonds thinks it will be ‘very sad’ if he doesn’t get into the Hall on his first try
- Chris Johnson’s glove webbing had a Spidey sense at Coors Field — for one play, at least
