Braves Report

As the old adage goes, you can never have too much pitching. That is the philosphpy the Braves took into the draft on Tuesday. Holding the 7th overall pick, the highest since the team took Roberto Kelly second overall in 1991, the Braves hoped to select local product Zach Wheeler but he was snatched away by the Giants with the pick before. The Braves selected Vanderbilt lefty Mike Minor with the pick.
Minor profiles as a guy with little upside. He currently projects as a number 4 starter. Minor’s stuff is average, he gets by with pitch ability. His fastball sits anywhere from 86 MPH to 89 MPH. His best pitch is a plus change up.  He has  solid curve and uses a slider for his primary breaking ball. The slider does have good depth on it. His pick off move is probably the best in this year’s draft.  Minor is a low risk, low reward guy. What you see is basically what you get.  The Braves in my opinion would have been better suited  taking a high upside guy here rather than selecting Minor.
The only other pick the Braves had today was the 87th pick. With that pick they turned their attention to the Ivy League and selected Princeton’s David Hale. Hale projects as a power reliever in the pros.  His fastball routinely sits at 92-93 but he can dial it up a notch to 95-96 when he needs to and has topped out at 97. He has flashed a plus slider at times and has shown some feel for a change up. He played two ways at Princeton so having him focus on pitching should help him progress more.
The Braves hold the 7th pick in each round the rest of the way. I expect the Braves to return more towards their roots and start to pick more high school kids with high upsides. A few names to keep an eye on for Wedsnday’s rounds: Austin Adams, Luke Bailey, Colton Cain, Brody Colvin, Matt Grahm, David Nick, Jonathan Singleton, and Zach Von Rosenburg. I will have a write up on the draft when it is complete.

Well, well, well. I guess I have some explaining to do about the lack of updates on this blog. As I’ve mentioned before, life is busy. I’ve been going through some major changes in my life recently, and honestly, I haven’t had the time or energy to write anything. So, for that, I apologize. I promise, however, that I’ll try to be better about it in the future. This means recaps for the following games, and maybe old recaps for the ones I missed. It really depends how my schedule works out. Bear with me, though, I promise you no long hiatuses like this anymore.

Now, enough of that, onto the game. The Braves played the Cubs on Wednesday night after coming off a huge walk-off win the day before. Unfortunately, they couldn’t replicate their success once again. This extra-inning loss lowered their record to 26-26, further continuing the .500 trend.

Derek Lowe started the game and had a decent outing: 7 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Unfortunately for him, the offense didn’t provide him with much run support, so he couldn’t earn a win when he left the game.

[Image: Yahoo! Sports]

Moylan followed him, giving up a hit and striking out 2 in his inning of work. Gonzalez pitched the next scoreless inning, allowing a hit and a walk. Bennett would be charged with the go-ahead run in the 11th inning, who scored after O’Flaherty gave up a single. Overall, not really a horrid night for the pitching staff, but apparently only perfection would have sufficed.

The offense, alas, wasn’t nearly quite up to the same speed. Leading the offensive charge on the night was McCann and Chipper, who each plated a run. Chipper had a pinch-hit double, scoring the Braves’ second and final run of the night in the 7th inning. Other notables were Kelly Johnson, who had a double and a single. Escobar, Prado, and Francoeur also each had singles. That was about it for the offense. As I’ve said many times before, just not enough.

Braves lose in 11, 3 - 2.

The final game of the series (today) got rained out and was postponed until the 22nd.

Next game: Friday vs. Brewers.

7:30 PM EST. Gallardo vs. Jurrjens.

Finally, a win. The last game the Braves had won was last Friday, but it had just been mediocre performance since then. Well, they rebounded last night, not because the pitching staff was great, but, surprise, the offense found its way to the ballpark.

Derek Lowe started the game and didn’t quite give the performance that we’ve become accustomed to. Not a great outing, but enough for the win: 5 innings, 7 hits, 6 earned runs, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts.

[Image: Yahoo! Sports]

It didn’t really matter, though, because the offense was good, and so was the rest of the bullpen. Buddy would follow him and would finagle himself out of a runners-on-the-corners jam that he put himself into. He gave up 2 hits and had a strikeout on the night. Moylan would come into the game into the 7th, pitching perfectly. Soriano pitched the 8th, giving up a hit while recording two strikeouts. Gonzalez came in for his 4th save, which he converted successfully, while also striking out two. Overall, a great night for the bullpen, not too great for Lowe.

The offense, after seemingly being gone for the past week, finally showed up again. Oddly enough, our “cleanup hitter” was leading the charge. This person was Garret Anderson, who was only 1-for-4 on the night, but managed to drive in 3 runs. These came in the form of a 2-RBI single and a ground out. Chipper Jones, rebounding from yesterday, had 2 hits, a double and a single, and drove in a pair of runs. Omar Infante also had 2 hits and drove in 2 runs. Finally, Yunel Escobar singled in a run in the 2nd inning. Other notables were Jeff Francoeur, who had 2 hits, raising his average to .287. David Ross also had a hit in the game. On the whole, a great night for the offense. 8 runs on 9 hits. That’s usually unheard of for this team.

Braves win, 8 - 6.

Next game: Thursday @ Marlins.

12:10 PM EST. Jurrjens vs. Sanchez.

As I mentioned for yesterday’s game, writing about a team that always loses gets tiresome. Fortunately in tonight’s game, even though they lost, they did provide some excitement at the end. It wasn’t enough to win, but it’s a good reminder of why I’m in this for the long hall.

Kenshin Kawakami, or ‘Kiwi,’ started this game and from early on it was apparent that it was going to be a weird start. For one thing, he was throwing a ton of pitches in only a few innings. He was also striking out a lot of guys. He did end up getting pulled early because of his pitch count, though: 5 innings, 8 hits, 2 ER, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts.

[Image: Yahoo! Sports]

A ton of hits, but he pretty much kept the game within reach. O’Flaherty would pitch the next 2 innings, only allowing a hit. Soriano followed, with an inning of his own, striking out 1. Gonzalez would pitch the 9th, not recording a single out, and allowing 2 hits and a walk. After an error by Chipper, 2 runs would score (1 earned). This would prove to be the difference in the game. Buddy would come in afterward to pour some water on the flames, which he did very effectively. Unfortunately, 4 runs would score over the course of the night, which was just one too many for the offense.

The offense didn’t really do too much in this game until the end. They scored their first run in the 7th inning off of a Martin Prado pinch-hit double. Then, nothing really happened until the 9th. That’s where things got interesting. With two outs, it looked like the game would end on an Omar Infante pop-up to Delgado. Well, Delgado dropped it, and a run scored. Immediately after that, Escobar would single in a run, putting the tying run on third for Chipper. However, he would fly out to right to end the game. An exciting end, but just not the right result.

Other offensive notables were Escobar, who had 3 hits in the game. David Ross continued his good hitting, with a double. It’s going to be interesting seeing him get replaced by McCann, probably on Friday. Kotchman continued his good hitting, with two hits tonight, one a double. Infante and Francoeur also each had a hit.

I guess Chipper could be considered the goat in this game, seeing as he gave up an error which led to the go-ahead run scoring. He also made the last out of the game. Additionally, he lined out into a double play with the bases loaded earlier in the game. Not the greatest night he’s ever had, but I’m sure he’ll acknowledge this tomorrow. Oh well, can’t win them all (or most of them).

Braves drop another series, 4 - 3.

Next game: Wednesday @ Florida.

7:10 PM EST. Lowe vs. Taylor. End this streak already.

You know, these recaps aren’t much fun to write when the Braves are losing. They lost their third game in a row last night, and now have a 11-14 record. What’s worse, I know how I mentioned that Bobby pitches to pretty much every hitter, no matter how much they’ve beat up on the Braves in the past. I named Carlos Beltran as one of those players, and he’s beginning to make me question Bobby’s decision making. Beltran knocked the Braves around last night, but I’ll get to that in a second. Let’s start with the pitching.

Javier Vazquez was having a good night yesterday until the 6th inning. Then things unraveled pretty quickly. Carlos Beltran and then David Wright each hit 2-run homers, giving the Mets the lead. In the next inning, Beltran would do it again. O’Flaherty would relieve Vazquez and end the inning without incident. Vazquez’s night was okay until that point, where his line was: 6 and 2/3rds innings, 7 hits, 6 runs, 3 walks, and 8 strikeouts. Of the 110 pitches he threw, 73 were strikes. Had he not allowed those homers, he would be looking at a pretty stellar night. Unfortunately, this isn’t a fairy tale. Moylan and Bennett would pitch the next two innings, without incident.

The offense probably should’ve done more than it did, but it didn’t. They scored 4 runs on 5 hits, even though Maine walked 6 people.

[Image: Yahoo! Sports]

Almost sadly, the first two runs of the game came from a Javier Vazquez ground out, which actually scored 2 due a throwing error. After that, Escobar would single in a run. Chipper, continuing his tradition of beating up on the Mets, had a solo shot in the 9th. Other than that, Kotchman, Francoeur, and Brandon Jones had singles. Kelly Johnson went 0-4, lowering his average close to the Mendoza line, at .208. Maybe he shouldn’t be batting lead off? Also, this team needs a real power hitter.

Braves lose 3 in a row, 6 - 4.

Next game: Tuesday vs. Mets.

7:00 PM EST. Kawakami vs. Hernandez. Time to turn this streak around.