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Discussing The All-Star Break
Written by Akshay on July 14, 2008 – 1:05 pmBack to the regular sized blog post.
So, we haven’t posted in a while, but this would be a good time to discuss the break and such. Chipper, McCann and trainer Jeff Porter are in New York as I write this enjoying the sites, including Yankee stadium, as well as enjoying their four days off. Chipper and McCann have been THE most consistent presences in this line-up, everyone knows that. While they do deserve these four days off, I doubt either would trade in a trip to Yankee stadium to play the final All-Star game their for those days off.
The Braves played San Diego and the Dodgers last week, coming away with their first .500 road trip of any length since WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY back last season when they went 1-2 against the Mets and 2-1 against the Nats from September 10-16, seriously. But going into the break with a road trip like that, even if it is against the worst team in the league in San Diego, is still something to build on.
Looking more into those six games, the Braves pitched out of their mind amazing, they gave up eight runs to LA in three games and eight runs to the Padres in three games. Against San Diego, only seven of those runs were earned and against LA only seven of those runs were earned as well, bringing the team ERA for those six games down to a ridiculous 2.33, yet we only went 3-3, sad.
The two teams we played, from before the season even started, were supposed to be slightly offensively challenged, yet the Braves looked like the team that needed a bat or three or four. In the first five games in the series, the Braves went 1-54 (0.019) in the first four innings, THEY HAD ONE HIT IN FIVE GAMES IN THE FIRST FOUR INNINGS! Throwing in the final game doesn’t make it that much better either, the Braves had three hits in the first four innings Sunday, bringing the grand total up to 4-67 (0.059). That’s just pathetic offensively.
With the Mets heating up and Florida not going away any time soon (they just got Josh Johnson back for the homestretch), this won’t be easy. Philly’s ball park isn’t miraculously going to get bigger and allow them to hit less home runs, and the Mets and Marlins aren’t going to stop hitting either. This team needs some sort of a wake up call and they need it fast, whether it is waving the white flag to trade guys away and tell them, “we’re not invincible,” or get a new guy in the clubhouse and infuse new energy. Heck Mike Hampton pitching might put enough energy into this team to give them some new life. Who knows?
Looking ahead to past the break, the Braves have a sweepable series against the Nats. The pitching matchups have already been set. Aces duel in the first game when Tim Hudson (9-7) takes on Tim Redding (7-3), Jair Jurrjens (9-4) gets the ball in game two against John Lannan (5-9) and Jojo Reyes (3-8) will face off against Odalis Perez (2-7) in the final game of the series.
Btw, was it just me or was taking Reyes out of his Friday start against the Padres after four innings because we had guys in scoring position a serious desparation move by the Braves? Buddy Carlyle came in and did a good job finishing it up, but seriously. For whatever reason, Reyes always seems to have a shorter leash than any of the other guys out there.
- Akshay
Tags: All-Star Break, Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, Jair Jurrjens, Jeff Porter, Jo-Jo Reyes, Mike Hampton, Tim Hudson
Posted in General | 8 Comments »
By Josh on Jul 14, 2008 | Reply
Lets go after Xavier Nady !!!!
By Akshay on Jul 15, 2008 | Reply
Change of schedule, Jair Jurrjens will pitch Friday night and Tim Hudson will pitch Saturday. Just looking over their stats, both Lannan (3.41) and Perez (3.70) have sub 4.00 ERA despite horrible records, that tells you a lot about their offense, these three games could very well be 1-0 games. Seriously, all three of them, that’s how few runs they score.
By Bud on Jul 16, 2008 | Reply
Akshay:
I like the fact the Braves have Jurrjens and Huddy going in the first two games after the break. The offense has to get going at some point if the Braves are going to stay in this thing, and this weekend is a perfect time to do just that. I know both Redding and Lannan have good ERAs, but the Braves have their two hosses toeing the slab, and a good offensive showing in these first two games following the break could set the tone for this very critical stretch of nine games (three with the Nats, then three at Florida and three at Philly in their little bandbox).
It’s now or never, I believe. The Braves never seem to play well in Florida or Philly. Gotta build some momentum heading into that trip, and a sweep would be just the ticket.
I dunno why Jo-Jo gets such a quick hook sometimes. Maybe Bobby and Roger see he’s not spotting his fastball — Reyes’ big key to success — and don’t feel comfy enough letting him try to grind though it on nights when his control isn’t sharp. He’s definitely proved in the past two months he can be very, very good. Braves need him to be good Sunday, as (hopefully) they’ll be trying to finish off a sweep at Turner Field.
Bud.
http://braves.today.com
By PapaGLP on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
My big hope at this point is that we can shake off the lack of offense we saw in some of the games of the pre-break roadtrip. Our offense seems much more bipolar than most teams
By Akshay on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Change of schedule, Jair Jurrjens will pitch Friday night and Tim Hudson will pitch Saturday. Just looking over their stats, both Lannan (3.41) and Perez (3.70) have sub 4.00 ERA despite horrible records, that tells you a lot about their offense, these three games could very well be 1-0 games. Seriously, all three of them, that's how few runs they score.
By Bud on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Akshay:
I like the fact the Braves have Jurrjens and Huddy going in the first two games after the break. The offense has to get going at some point if the Braves are going to stay in this thing, and this weekend is a perfect time to do just that. I know both Redding and Lannan have good ERAs, but the Braves have their two hosses toeing the slab, and a good offensive showing in these first two games following the break could set the tone for this very critical stretch of nine games (three with the Nats, then three at Florida and three at Philly in their little bandbox).
It's now or never, I believe. The Braves never seem to play well in Florida or Philly. Gotta build some momentum heading into that trip, and a sweep would be just the ticket.
I dunno why Jo-Jo gets such a quick hook sometimes. Maybe Bobby and Roger see he's not spotting his fastball — Reyes' big key to success — and don't feel comfy enough letting him try to grind though it on nights when his control isn't sharp. He's definitely proved in the past two months he can be very, very good. Braves need him to be good Sunday, as (hopefully) they'll be trying to finish off a sweep at Turner Field.
Bud.
http://braves.today.com
By colin_ake60861 on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
That's the truth – the offense is either horrible or bang-up good.
By Andrew on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
To be fair, the three games we lost, we were going against Hiroki Kuroda pitching out of his mind, Derek Lowe pitching almost better than a career game from Kuroda, and Jake Peavy. I watched Kuroda and Lowe's games and I cannot blame the Braves' O. When you're getting strike 1 consistently and keeping the ball at the knees and on the black EVERY TIME, you're going to win the game. Kuroda was throwing 94 with ridiculous movement and Lowe had that nasty slider going perfectly. God was laughing at the Braves heartily those days.
Also, Jo-Jo Reyes looks absolutely terrible everytime I see him pitch. Obviously the Braves staff are seeing something that I'm not, but my God. The guy has a good breaking pitch and a fastball with some movement, but he can't locate for shit. How often do you see Reyes get ahead of a hitter? How often does he pitch at the knees? I don't see it. I see his slider in the dirt and his fastball at the letters every time. Reyes has a long way to go.