132 thoughts on “Out at home game thread: July 5, Braves at Nats”

  3. Lineup…no Jeffy

    1. Nate McLouth CF
    2. Martin Prado 2B
    3. Chipper Jones 3B
    4. Brian McCann C
    5. Yunel Escobar SS
    6. Garret Anderson LF
    7. Matt Diaz RF
    8. Casey Kotchman 1B
    9. Derek Lowe P

  4. Washington:
    Morgan – 8
    Johnson – 3
    Zimmerman – 5
    Dunn – 7
    Willingham – 9
    Guzman – 6
    Bard – 2
    Belliard – 4
    Olsen – 1

  5. Francoeur’s career line against Olsen: 7 for 28 with 2 HR, 1 3B, and 3 2B. 1 BB, 6 K. .250/.276/.643

    I hope this means something is afoot.

  7. haha i thought i was reading about tim Tebow for a second then it basically was saying how Jeffy sucks & i laughed again..God is good. lets win the series today!

  9. Love “Life of Brian.” Very smart, very dark, and always walking that fine line of good taste and bad. It definitely had a big impact on my sense of humor growing up.

    How long did we have to watch Salty sitting on the bench while the details of the Teixeira trade were being sorted out? A while if I remember right….hopefully that’s what Frenchy is doing right now. And hopefully the wait won’t be long.

  11. In Catholic high school, we were “advised” not to see “The Life of Brian.” Of course, we saw it the night it opened & laughed our asses off.

  14. Haha, ububba & Mac, that’s funny. I would imagine the Catholic School teachers weren’t too fond of that “Every Sperm Is Sacred” song.

  16. So Josh Hamilton is a starter with a whopping 125 at bats and a .240 BA with 6 home runs.

  18. Frankly, the only thing I’d like to see are longer outings. Instead of Moylan/Gonzo/Soriano (in whatever order), why not go Moylan for 1.2 and, when a lefty comes up mid-way through the 8th, bring in Gonzo for the last 4-5 outs? Or something to that effect, anyways. Maybe have a LOOGY (not Gonzo) come in to pitch to the leadoff lefty in the 8th inning and back him up with Soriano to finish the game? When Sori is out there getting 6-pitch innings, why not let him go for two innings some times and end up with 80-85 IP on 70 appearances?

    And finally, no reason to complain about ‘pen over-use. This is the first game they’ve lost us in a good long while. It was only getting 3 vs. Lannan that sunk us yesterday. Luckily, I have faith that they’ll score well more than that today.

  19. Anybody know what is up with MLB Gameday? It has only been about a week since I clicked into it from the Braves official site. And, in the past, I have linked it from ESPN Scoreboard. There are no links now (makes me think it is now a pay service?).

  21. Nitram strikes again, again.

    Cliff, not sure what you mean, Gameday works just as usual for me (apart from the highlights which they moved to a premium version).

  27. I had a brain fart on that one… forgot about the shift and couldn’t understand how Escobar went to Chipper on the DP

    Chances are Beltran will drop and another OF will be added (Dunn?)

  28. I was kind of hoping Soriano or Vazquez might be a Final Vote candidate, but there are already 13 pitchers on the roster.

    So now I’m hoping that Adam Dunn is a Final Vote candidate, because that man in the Home Run Derby would be awesome.

  30. It seems like the Braves should have two all-stars. But Chipper isn’t playing that well by his standard, Yunel hasn’t played enough and is crazy, and nobody else among the regulars is worth a look. So it would have had to be a pitcher, Soriano, Jurrjens, or Vazquez.

  33. Pretty surprised they took 3 backup first basemen. Kind of overkill, don’t you think? I was thinking 2 backup third basemen, with Mark Reynolds making it. Somewhat low batting average with an enormous amount of strikeouts, but still has 23 home runs with a good OPS.

  35. It’s 70 degrees here in DC in July. SO Lowe should be able to go a long way, if he can keep the ball down.

  45. I added him too! Second base was pretty awful for me on that team, hopefully he finally gives me a consistently good second baseman.

  50. Lowe’s pitches are up, up, up. Not good at all. Near 50 pitches in the 3rd inning. Even the outs are getting smoked.

  52. Nah Lowe’s going to be fine. So the sinker is staying up, and the slider’s a little flat. He’ll just have to start getting outs with the…

    Oh.

  55. Come on, quick inning here Lowe. Get our guys back up making outs again. If we can’t win, we can at least lose more quickly.

  62. Well, Fielder and Gonzalez clearly belong. (As, of course, does the starter, Pujols.) The problem is Howard, probably the most overrated player in baseball today. Among qualifying NL batters, he is 33rd in Offensive Winning Percentage, behind not only the three real All-Stars at the position, but also Todd Helton, Derrek Lee, Nick the Plumber, and Adam LaRoche(!).

  63. Since his manager is managing the All-Star game, I can see why Howard is going. Although I don’t think he belongs this year either.

  64. Sandoval has caught two games all year.

    Me 3 days ago:

    “Both Vasquez and Jurrjens should be on the team. However, we’ll probably get Jason Marquis and Randy Johnson.”

    If I’d replaced Marquis with Johan, would’ve nailed it

    Scott Olsen isnt this good

  65. The players picked the reserves, not the manager, right? Howard’s on the team because he’s hit 20 homers, but then, Jay Bruce has hit 18 and he’s on the verge of Louisville.

  67. Here comes the best shot we’re likely to get: Prado, Chip and Mac. I say that because we aren’t going to get much of a shot at that sketchy bullpen unless we draw some pitches out of Olsen.

  70. And I will rant on about Howard, but I feel very strongly about this for some reason — I just don’t understand why people don’t realize that all he does is hit homers, and that he’s simply not a very good player, much less a great one.

  71. Why exactly did Pittsburgh have Morgan in left and McLouth in center?

    Pathetic.

  72. It amazes me how I can swing from optimistic to totally hopeless about this team’s chances in less than 48 hours. This is not the first time it’s happened this year.

  75. Wow…a leadoff walk, with the heart of the order coming up and get nothing.

    I would rather have Ryan Howard than Casey Kotchman.

  77. This game is very, very important. Losing 2/3 to the Nats negates all of the good work against the Phillies

  79. Lowe should have been run for in the 5th.

    @71

    McLouth started last year with Jason Bay and Xavier Nady on his sides. He went on to win a golden glove.

    Taking him out of his golden glove position would be a slap in the face regardless of the decision’s merits.

  80. He was awarded the Gold Glove after the year was over and the other guys were already gone.

  83. My point is he was given a gold glove for CF prior to Nyger being a full-time player…

  84. I’m pretty sure that Morgan was starting last year after Bay and Nady were traded.

  87. Daniel,
    Why is that point relevant? They save more runs by putting Morgan in Center and McLouth at a corner. So why wouldn’t they do it? Even if he won a gold glove.

  90. I said regardless of the merits of the decision, it is a slap in the face. Just ask Texas and the Young/Andrus situation in the offseason.

    Not everything in baseball makes baseball sense…

  91. @87, PHWjort,

    Because managing is really about managing the sensibilities of the players and if a better lineup or defensive arrangement BY THE NUMBERS might upset them, then a good manager shouldn’t do that.

  93. Lets place bets on what kind of DP he hits here. I’m going 5-4-3.

    Or a foul out to RF.

  94. 89 MPH fastball right down the middle, and he is late and fouls out on the first base side. Horrendous.

  99. If you’re making a decision that results in a sub-optimal arrangement based on not wanting to “upset” your players you’re running your organization very badly.

  100. Nats broadcaster Carpenter has given no respect to any Braves hitter besides Chipper. Sort of funny actually.

  102. I wasn’t saying it was optimal, I was just giving an explanation.

    —

    MASN just televised the seventh inning stretch as someone sang “God Bless America.” Her ability paralleled that of the Nationals.

  103. Ok, then the Pirates were running McLouth out in center because they knew they were going to trade him and his value would be much higher as a center fielder than a left fielder.

    The Braves are killing me.

  104. 103,
    There’s a rational explanation. Though I’m not convinced they were planning on moving him. I feel like that was a spur of the moment deal.

    I would pay 5$ for a video of Tommy Hanson chasing Tim Hudson with a remote-control Helicopter.

  105. @Daniel

    LOL…I tried to listen to the little girl sing, but it was too painful. Had to change the channel.

  108. That was dumb play by Prado.

    How quickly that Phillies series will be forgotten.

    Marlins win and Phillies are winning….

  109. Shown up by Olsen…

    Wow… looks like we are going to give the Nats their first complete game win…

  113. Morgan looks like an idiot with his mouth full of tobacco. Someone should remind him that it’s 2009.

    Well let’s go get the Cubs at Wrigley, and the Rockies in Denver.

  119. I probably would have hit Conrad for Kotchman and Ross for the pitcher…but I’m sure it wouldn’t matter much.

  121. This is so typical Braves. Put a few on the board in the 9th and fall short.

  132. This team disgusts me. They are losers, I’m sorry to say. There is nothing to like about this team. These guys do nothing but talk about how good they are or should be.

    The lack of heart on this team is especially apparent after watching Federer and Roddick leave it all on the court.

    As for Lowe, that’s a lot of money for a number 5.

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