Gamethread: Braves @ Mets Aug. 18th (119/162) LOSS

[4maddux_cy's]

Braves start the game with the first two guys being retired. Currently a full count to Chipper.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Infante 2B
Prado 1B
Chipper 3B
McCann C
Escobar SS
Anderson LF
Diaz RF
Church CF
Lowe P

[4maddux_cy's]

lol thx for posting the lineup. i was too lazy to.

[chicagobrave]

Prado is out of the game now LaRoche is playing first. I am wondering if Prado is getting migraines. If so I hope they can get them under control soon.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Prado experienced more dizziness after his first at-bat and has been replaced by Adam LaRoche.

Prado popped out to the first baseman, and after looking up to find the ball, he grimaced and walked gingerly back to the dugout. His recent CT scan was negative, which supposedly would rule out serious causes such as a tumor or an aneurysm.

Hopefully we don't have a Nick Esasky situation on our hands.

[4maddux_cy's]

after a single by castillo sheff grounds into a d.p. to the 2nd we go!

[-Dr. Brave-]

Pagan with a nice catch to rob McCann of a hit.

[-Dr. Brave-]

I didn't realize Garret Anderson has 11 homers already.

[Lauren T.]

I still think Frenchy looks good in blue & orange. :)

[-Dr. Brave-]

Thanks MattE!

3-0 Braves!

[4maddux_cy's]

lol me too lauren. me too.

[Lauren T.]

3-run homer for MattE! 3-0 Braves, top 2nd, 1 out.

[chicagobrave]

Migraines can cause dizziness and they can be stubborn and last for days. If this is what is happening with Prado he may need to be put on an IV with medication or get some medicine via shots. I hope I am wrong I hate to see people suffer like that. Prado is a good player and I really hope they can get things straightened out soon.

[4maddux_cy's]

damn! my mlb.tv hasnt shown it yet.

[-Dr. Brave-]

I still think Frenchy looks good in blue & orange. :)

Papa Smurf with a dreamsicle.

[chicagobrave]

Way to go Matty. Nice to see the Braves get some runs early tonight.

[-Dr. Brave-]

I see Jeff Francoeur is still swinging at the first pitch.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Francoeur picked off second base to end the second inning. Replay suggests he was safe, but we'll take it.

EDIT: A better angle shows he was out.

[-Dr. Brave-]

LaRoche's solo homer makes it 4-0.

[4maddux_cy's]

Fun game to watch so far. Lots of exciting moments, imo.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Apparently Lowe has been dealing with a blister issue on his right thumb, and it may be flaring up on him.

[-Dr. Brave-]

AFLAC trivia question:

Chipper Jones is one of three active players with 30 or more career homers against the New York Mets. Who are the other two?

[-Dr. Brave-]

MattE hustles his way to an infield hit.

[4maddux_cy's]

going to guess sheffield and rolen.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Lowe takes a come-backer on the back of his left pinky, but he'll stay in the game.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Sheffield's two-run double cuts the lead in half.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Two more hits and we're tied.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Two more hits and the Mets lead. Get Lowe out of there before he hurts himself again.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Oliver Pairez can't bunt the runners over and is rewarded with a base hit, the eighth of the inning.

For reasons only God knows, Lowe will stay in the game.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Infante has zero range at second base. That's two this inning he should have had.

8-4 Mets, and Cox mercifully pulls the plug on Lowe.

[Chris_Moderato]

Wow...embarrassing, Derek...very embarrassing.

[4maddux_cy's]

Pretty poor managing tonight by Bobby. Gotta yank Lowe sooner than that.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Kris Medlen in to pitch, and Gary Sheffield hits his second double of the inning.

Let LaRoche pitch.

[Lauren T.]

Lowe's hand was a gross greyish-purple and was shaking uncontrollably. There's no reason he should have been left in after the score was 4-4.

[wordslayer©]

I haven't been watching the game, but I log back in here to see what's up after we take a four run lead....and I have a question.....

How in the hell, when you are fighting to win a playoff spot, do you give up 8 fukcing runs in one inning?

I just hate Lowe.

[-Dr. Brave-]

The Mets with 8 runs and 10 hits... in the inning. :no:

[wordslayer©]

Lowe's hand was a gross greyish-purple and was shaking uncontrollably.

When I saw the box score, I was a gross greyish-purple and was shaking uncontrollably.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Lowe's hand was a gross greyish-purple and was shaking uncontrollably. There's no reason he should have been left in after the score was 4-4.

His whole hand was purple.

Lowe clearly wasn't himself after the comebacker. He should have been pulled about 40 pitches sooner.

Joe Simpson with the quote of the day: "You have to wonder if the callus and the line drive might have contributed to that inning."

Ya think??

[-Dr. Brave-]

AFLAC trivia question:

Chipper Jones is one of three active players with 30 or more career homers against the New York Mets. Who are the other two?

Pat Burrell
Gary Sheffield

[4maddux_cy's]

did they ever answer the trivia question?

[-Dr. Brave-]

did they ever answer the trivia question?

They had to change the question after one of the players retired during the last inning.

[CharlotteBrave]

Lowe's hand was a gross greyish-purple and was shaking uncontrollably. There's no reason he should have been left in after the score was 4-4.

I was shocked that he stayed in, I was really hoping Bobby was going to take him out when the score was 4-3. That was really bad to watch. Bad pitching, bad fielding, and bad luck.

Really bad half inning

[4maddux_cy's]

what? are you serious? lol i missed that completely. who retired?

[-Dr. Brave-]

what? are you serious? lol i missed that completely. who retired?

I wish I had. Nobody actually.

Pat Burrell and Gary Sheffield.

[4maddux_cy's]

lol ok. burrell actually surprises me for some reason.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Francoeur looks a little thinner in his Mets uniform.

Even his head looks thinner.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Oliver Pairez out of the game, partly because he hurt his leg covering first base earlier in the game.

Elmer Dessens in for the Mets. Hopefully he sucks as bad for the Mets as he did for the Braves.

[Lauren T.]

Francoeur looks a little thinner in his Mets uniform.

Even his head looks thinner.
His teeth look the same to me! :D

[-Dr. Brave-]

The Braves are sending Martin Prado for further tests.

[Lauren T.]

Joe Simpson said Martin Prado was just sent back to Atlanta for more tests for his dizziness. Hopefully he can figure things out soon.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Maybe they should test him for swine flu.

[-Dr. Brave-]

His teeth look the same to me! :D

Bugs with his third hit of the night.

[-Dr. Brave-]

The Braves pitchers aren't fooling anyone tonight.

[-Dr. Brave-]

The slaughter rule is invoked and the game ends 9-4.

[Lauren T.]

Frenchy looked thrilled. Enjoy it while you can, Guy Smiley. :D

[Dreamscape]

...wow.

We lost to a bad team despite being up 4-0? God, I'm glad I went the date route tonight.

[Freddy_Ballgame]

I was shocked that he stayed in, I was really hoping Bobby was going to take him out when the score was 4-3. That was really bad to watch. Bad pitching, bad fielding, and bad luck.

Really bad half inning


You left out bad managing. Or do you kind of take that for granted, too? After leaving Lowe in to "maybe get a groundball to start a double play" as an announcer suggested, why pull him? You're scrapping for a long shot playoff berth....Lowe had nothing, Bobby.....you may as well leave him out there to "see if he can ever retire another triple A type hitter." Is that the air I hear hissing out of the Braves balloon? Or is it what's left of the wind blowing out of the faithfuls' sails. Maybe next year.....
What kind of market will there be for Lowe? Have the Pirates got any talent left?

[sdp]

Time to open up a criminal investigation on Kelly Johnson--what did he do to Prado?

[Andy G.]

Is that the air I hear hissing out of the Braves balloon? Or is it what's left of the wind blowing out of the faithfuls' sails. Maybe next year.....
Huh? Not a chance. We're just as good as we were yesterday. It's only one game.

[Dreamscape]

Time to open up a criminal investigation on Kelly Johnson--what did he do to Prado?
Kelly Johnson wouldn't do something dirty.

He has Matt Diaz for that. Oh, and you thought Diaz was a nice guy? He is...until you cross the Keller.

[Freddy_Ballgame]

The real question is will Cox actually play KJ?! Dude has been swinging it pretty well lately and Cox hasn't done much to get him ABS. I believe Cox should be looking to get KJ, LaRoche and even Ross some more ABs. Screw the matchups, just get the hot bats in the lineup on a regular basis. Cox still doesn't seem to understand that KJ can hit lefites....at this stage in the game a hot bat would have to play his way out of the lineup.

[Chris_Moderato]

Huh? Not a chance. We're just as good as we were yesterday. It's only one game.

To take your point a step further, it was only one inning, really. One really bad inning.

[quick]

His whole hand was purple.

Lowe clearly wasn't himself after the comebacker. He should have been pulled about 40 pitches sooner.

Joe Simpson with the quote of the day: "You have to wonder if the callus and the line drive might have contributed to that inning."

Ya think??

There you go.

Bobby wanted to leave Lowe in because the pitcher was leading off the next inning, but Lowe was dying out there, blisters on his throwing hand and a badly whacked glove hand, and he should have been pulled at 4-3.

We simply cannot allow big innings now, even if it means running a starter out there as a reliever. This IS the playoffs for the Braves....

[sdp]

Huh? Not a chance. We're just as good as we were yesterday. It's only one game.

Right, but we're approaching the end of this thing. It's easy to say "it's only one game" in May. Time is running out.

[Andy G.]

Right, but we're approaching the end of this thing. It's easy to say "it's only one game" in May. Time is running out.
You don't go from thinking we have a shot at the playoffs to deciding that our season is over because of one loss on August 18th(and as Chris said, one bad inning, really). I know you didn't say it, but that's a fairly ridiculous thing to say.

[4maddux_cy's]

Guys, we arent going to sweep every series from now to the end of the season. As long as we keep winning series, that's what matters. Now if we suddenly get swept in NY that's when I'll be ready to toss in the towel.

[-Dr. Brave-]

Guys, we arent going to sweep every series from now to the end of the season. As long as we keep winning series, that's what matters. Now if we suddenly get swept in NY that's when I'll be ready to toss in the towel.

What matters is that we're not winning games we should be winning.

[4maddux_cy's]

What matters is that we're not winning games we should be winning.

Not sure about that assertion to be honest. Since the All Star Break we are 19-11 (in completed series so Im not counting last night until the series is completed). That is hardly a poor a performance. In addition in terms of "winning each series" we are 6-3 (I didnt count the Az. ro make up as a series in this case).

Arizona 1-0 (rainout make up game single game series)
Philly 1-2
Washington 2-0 sweep
LA 3-1
SD 2-1
LA 1-2
Florida 1-2
Milwaukee 2-1
SF 3-1
NY 3-1

I'll go even further and extend this back a bit to the beginning of July:

Colorado 2-2
Chicago 2-1
Washington 2-1
Philly 3-0

Since the last day of June (I counted that since their was a series that started June 30th thru July 2nd) we are 28-15. That is a .682 winning rate which I will take.

At this point the division is likely out of reach as we sit 6.5 games back, though crazy things can still happen. I would shift my focus on to the wild card which we are only 4 games out. That is well within reach since we can easily control our own fate against Florida and the Rockies/Giants will play each other along with probable losses to LA mixed in.

[sdp]

You don't go from thinking we have a shot at the playoffs to deciding that our season is over because of one loss on August 18th(and as Chris said, one bad inning, really). I know you didn't say it, but that's a fairly ridiculous thing to say.
No, I'm not saying one game decided our season. What I'm saying is, these games have more weight now that we're in the thick of a very tight NL Wild Card race and it's more difficult to say "it's only one game."