As Mr. Cub Ernie Banks used to say, “Its a great day…let’s play two.”
In fact, it was a great day for Atlanta to play two, winning three times in two days only made it better.
Most people (these days) see the division rivalry being the Nationals and the Braves, but for those of us who go back a little farther, it was the Phillies that we were always concerned about.
Howard, Rollins and Utley are all past their prime, but a Phillies beatdown still feels good, especially since they just swept us at home.
Game I: Braves 10, Phillies 3
Hats off to Ryan Howard, a traditional Braves killer, for booting two consecutive groundballs in the 4th to put the Braves on the board and tie the score 2-2.
Justin continued his hot streak and crushed a 3-1 pitch to score Andrelton and Freddie, making it 4 – 2 in the 6th.
In the 8th, with Bastardo pitching in relief of Hernandez, two walks and a bases clearing triple by Tommy La Stella break the game wide open. La Stella scored on a first pitch, wild pitch by Luis Garcia in to try to stop the damage.
Ervin got his first win since May 31, getting 4 runs of support which is equal to the last 4 games he’s pitched. He was typically Ervin, 7 hits, 2 BB, a good fastball, good curveball. He kept the ball down, got a lot of strikes. He looked a little rough in the 1st, but got into a groove after the 2nd inning and stayed in control until the 7th. His gamescore (GSC) is
56… with 100 being a perfect (or nearly perfect) game, anything above 50 is considered a quality start. He is now 6 and 5 on the season. Would like to see Ervin get back into April form and pull off about 5 victories in a row.
7 hits for the boys overall, Chris Johnson 2 – 5, 2 RBI, Justin Upton 2 – 5, 3 RBI, Tommy The Stellar 1 – 5, 3 RBI, Freddie 0 -2, 3 BB and 4 runs, JHey 0 – 3, 2 BB, RBI, Andrelton 1
– 4, 1BB, 2 runs.
Game II: Braves 5, Phillies 1
Even better with 13 hits on a day that David Hale took the mound and beat the Phillies Sean O’Sullivan to get his 3rd win of the season, going 5 innings, 4 hits and only 1 ER.
The Braves scored in the 1st with Jordan Schafer in for BJ. He reaches on an infield single,
steals 2nd, advances to 3rd on a Freeman groundout and crosses the plate after Justin singled.
In the 6th, with 2 outs, Justin again singles, Doumit singles, CJ singles and Justin scores.
La Stella comes up again with a double to deep left, scoring Doumit and CJ. (Way to go Tommy!!)
Doumit homered in the 8th to seal the deal and our boys complete the sweep.
Varvarro pitched 2 innings giving up 2 hits and 0 runs. Jorden Walden was lights out and newly Gus Schlosser closed out the bottom of the 9th.
Freddie, Justin, Ryan and Tommy each had 2 hits, CJ had 3. Christian Bethancourt up from Gwinnett also got a hit in his 2014 opener.
The Braves are now back in 1st place.
Lovely recap, ChasT.
But–the standings haven’t changed since yesterday. Nats played and won two too.
Hyrce Barper hit three jacks in AAA last night. Somebody gonna have to satisfy all those woodies that were popped last night in DC and at MLB Network.
Thanks, ChasT. Score early and often today, my Braves.
1. B Upton CF
2. Pena 3B
3. Freeman 1B
4. J Upton LF
5. Heyward RF
6. Simmons SS
7. La Stella 2B
8. Laird C
9. Harang P
Nick Ahmed got called up today. If some don’t recall, he was part of the Upton trade. It’s quite interesting that he’s getting called up now considering the D’backs have Prado, Owings, Hill, and Goldschmidt in their infield with Gregorious as their super-utility guy. I smell a trade…hopefully to us!
Edit: Nevermind. Apparently Owings is going to the 15-day DL and Chavez to the 60-day (seems extreme for a sprained knee). I was hoping Chavez was available as a bench bat. Oh well…
4 — What an awful lineup other than #3-5.
So chris johnson went 5-9 and we rest him?
My god, we have 4 straight sub .210 hitters in this lineup going 8, 9, 1, 2
Hope freddie and Justin have some solo shots in their bats today
Not many Auburn folks left here, but this is just terrible news –
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/06/29/3177530/breaking-former-auburn-tight-end.html
Generally starting the first inning with 2 auto outs makes it difficult to score. Maybe Jason can salvage it
Ugh that’s awful. Nothing good happens on the roads after 2 am
That’s about as perfect a throw to second as you can get. Good job Laird.
Poor Mexico. I feel a strange kinship towards them.
BJ?
Bj’s actually been quite useful the last few days.
Way to go BJ!
Aaron Harang, speed incarnate.
Back to back hits by Harang and BJ? That’s about as likely as Tommy Hanson hitting a homer and pitching a shutout tomorrow.
TLS, power hitter; and how ’bout Gerald Laird?
We should start cutting off fingers for bad bunts.
Who is this team that has a left fielder who is making incredible plays and an offense that scores multiple runs over multiple innings? I like them; let’s keep them around.
Okay, Byrd, that’s enough. Evidently, Aaron’s throwing bp this inning.
Just make Andrelton go away.
Please don’t. Let’s just endure his growing process and marvel at his glove.
Have they just given up on Harang trying to bunt?
Braves broadcasts are infinitely better if you turn off the sound and play the new Mastodon album instead.
Feel bad for CONCACAF. Never feel bad for Mexico.
Enough with the walks, Aaron.
It’s like Harang is afraid to throw a strike.
I have missed getting to watch the last few games. Can anyone tell me how Bethancourt looked playing? I know he went 1 for 4 yesterday, but did he look comfortable playing all around? Also, what is the timetable on Gattis?
That was a tailor-made triple play ball.
Well done. Now how about scoring a few more runs.
@29, Bethancourt looked fine receiving. He took pretty giant swings the two AB’s I saw – looks like he’s from the Andrelton Simmons school of hitting.
Aaron harangs the Phillies for 90 pitches today. 6 of his last 7 starts have been perfectly cromulent, and 13 of 17 all year.
Why are we giving the Phillies lineup a 4th shot at Harang here? Why can’t we ever just quit while we’re ahead?
Harang should not be pitching this late in the game to this set of hitters.
But of course…double play. Go Braves!
I am sick of Fredi leaving his starters in too long.
7th inning is like Aaron Harang kryptonite. The dude should be pulled after 6th inning every time.
Harang in the seventh: never again, please.
ugh i had no idea they would run him back out
Wow.
Glad Andrelton stayed around.
thanks big guy!
Well, I guess the Braves even get lucky every once in a while.
Trying to get one too many innings out of Harang is one thing, but how in the world do you not take him out after Utley singles.
… Ok, double play. I still hate it.
No way Fredi sends him out for the 8th, right? Right?
Premonition: Harang will be our starter for the play-in game :)
@45, If Harang bats in the top of the 8th, that’s a clear sign we’ll see a reliever.
Asking a position player to bunt when there’s already a man in scoring position. There should be capital punishment for that.
@48
Agreed, bunting La Stella only makes sense there if we were tied in the bottom of the 9th, and we were trying to set up a sac fly situation. Even then, it is questionable. This is especially true when you look at how La Stella has handled the bat since moving back to the 7-hole. We had a better shot letting him get some swings in there.
Yes, of course. His performance in the 7th hole just seals it!
Shae Simmons is good at baseball.
A little insurance wouldn’t hurt.
I think that Fredi Gonzalez is a better manager than Ryne Sandberg.
@26, that sounds like excellent advice. Can’t wait to hear the new album.
A lot more melodic than their last couple. Has some bits that had me checking to see if it was an Ozzy era Sabbath record.
53 — I personally find Fredi a pretty average manager by MLB standards, and as much as I like to complain about his decisions, thinking that someone like a Ned Yost could have taken over after Cox calms me down again afterwards.
Nice. I love Remission, but I also like how they’ve evolved.
Kimbrel is not good for my heart, but he is good at his job.
And…… exhale. It doesn’t get much worse than having Utley up there.
Doing the standard end-of-month “what’s coming out soon” scan of the next couple of months:
July 15 – The Reigning Sound – Shattered (Merge); ‘interesting’
July 22 – Joyce Manor – Never Hungover Again (Epitaph); ‘yes’
Aug 19 – Bishop Allen – Lights Out (Dead Oceans); ‘almost certainly’
Aug 19 – Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore); ‘maybe’
Aug 26 – Opeth – Pale Communication (Roadrunner); ‘almost certainly’
Aug 26 – The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers (Matador); ‘maybe’
Aug 26 – The Rentals – Lost In Alphaville (Polyvinyl); ‘wait, HOLY SHIT, there’s a new Rentals record?!’
Sep 02, Code Orange (formerly Code Orange Kids) – I AM KING (Deathwish); ‘oh hells yeah’
Who can figure this team? What a streaky bunch. Now let’s whip the Mets.
Condolences to the Auburn family. Very tough news.
And cheers to my Dutch pals. Memorable stuff.
FWIW, fave records this year: Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires: “De-Reconstructed” & Basement Jaxx: “Junto”
Hard to believe but I think the Braves ended up with a winning June.
@61
The team needs a win Monday. 14-13 after today’s result.
You’re right. I thought the Braves were off tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Nationals were strangely off today. Any idea why that was?
“The Nationals get a rare, well-deserved Sunday day off because of Chicago’s Pride Parade.”
Huh.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_06_28_wasmlb_chnmlb_2&mode=wrap#gid=2014_06_28_wasmlb_chnmlb_2&mode=recap&c_id=was
Rare, certainly. Well-deserved, I don’t see why.
Really weird. Never seen a Sunday off-day before. It’s almost always Mondays and Thursdays.
Recap will be up tomorrow, Internet issue here at Ft Smith
There was going to be a lot of traffic in the area so the teams had agreed to play the doubleheader on Saturday and have a day off on Sunday. When the Chargers and Padres shares a stadium, I recall that, if both were home, the Padres would sometime have Saturday off if the Chargers had a pre-season game scheduled at home.
Meanwhile, after the Braves’ first 4-game sweep in Philadelphia since 1964, Ryan Howard said “it didn’t go our way. The ball didn’t bounce our way. It just wasn’t mean to be for us in this series.”
Well, he’s right, the ball did not bounce the Fightins’ way when it went to Ryan Howard because he missed every ball hit to him. And, of course, it was written in the stars that the Phillies would lose all four games. Talk about overpaid and overrated. Enjoy last place, Phillies.
@65 Wow, has that happened before?
Hopefully the pitching will start stabilizing with Wood back in it and we will go onto a run like we had at the start of the season. Nobody could have imagined Harang will stay effective for this long. I can imagine Atlanta will become another popular place besides San Diego as a destination for pitchers wanting to save their careers.
Boom, Ryan C. Boom!
I really hope Gattis doesn’t choose to participate in the HR Derby if they ask him, too. That competition is always seems to affect its participants negatively in the second half of the season. Plus, he has this spasm issue going on now.
Do we work on the fundamentals at all? How come no one (but Laird!) can freaking bunt?
Is Avilan our only left-hander in the the bullpen? Really missing O’Flaherty and Venters. What happened to Ian Smith?
Am I remembering correctly that Kimbrel faced NOTHING but left-handers?
You may be having a bad day, but probably not as bad as Larry Drew.
Any chance that Fredi considers moving Heyward or J. Upton to the 2-hole once Gattis gets back? I guess we might as well leave B.J. at leadoff considering he has actually given us some production up there. It is not ideal, but I guess we can see how it goes over an extended period. Like Fredi said, “what other option do we have?”
Mike Stanton gonna TANK after the derby.
There might be hope in Danville for some offensive talent in the pipeline. Those guys have score 82 runs in 11 games! They have 10 guys with an OPS over .800. And new best name in the organization…Wigberto.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&cid=429&stn=true&sid=t429
I have learned my lessons. I am not trusting any stats coming from levels below AA.
B.J. in the leadoff spot since 6/24: .231/.259/.462 with 1 walk, 1 double, 1 triple, 1HR and 1 sb.
It’s too late to hope, right? The AVG and OBP are atrocious and not what we’d obviously want out of the leadoff hitter, but that .462 slugging sure looks nice. Also, his Ks are down (5 in 27 PA). Oh…who am I kidding. He’ll go 0-5 with 3 strikeouts tonight and completely ruin the whole operation.
I’m not even sure if you can find arbitrary end points that show that BJ has been any good this season. At some point Fredi will have to decide if his glove is good enough to carry and certainly stop giving him 5 PAs per game.
@72
SABR disagrees.
http://sabr.org/research/home-run-derby-curse-fact-or-fiction
Besides, Gattis’ natural swing seems tailor-made for the derby. I don’t think participating would have a negative impact on him.
Recap up.
Who is this Matt Kimbrel at Danville? Can’t put my finger on it, but something about him says “dominant reliever”