Braves Report

It seems like just yesterday I was writing “Game 1″ and all of a sudden, 162 games later and it’s a wrap on the season. Where did the time go?

Like in most games where we face a pitcher we haven’t seen before, we struggled. Only this time, it was costly for individual accomplishments. Chipper lost out in the batting race and Escobar slipped below .330 meaning we didn’t end the season with 4 players above .330. But, even so, .337 is a career high for Chipper, hopefully there is a gold glove in his future and .326 is better than anyone could have imagined for Escobar. Renty also had a career high batting at .332. Frenchy grew and matured as a hitter improving over 30 points from last year. Huddy finally pitched like he was capable of and Smoltz had what he called his best season ever.

Carlyle was called start on to start the final game. He wasn’t on the top of his game, but he didn’t pitch to badly either. He went 4 innings allowing 5 hits and 3 runs, walking none. The forgotten man in the pen, Villarreal, pitched the next inning. He allowed a hit and a walk, but none scored. Devine pitched to 2 batters, one hit. Hopefully his time in Atlanta this season has been positive and he will be ready to take on a prominent role next year. Ring pitched the remainder of that inning, not allowing a hit. The game ended with Mahay and Ascanio each pitching a perfect inning.

Not much going on behind the plate, with only 4 hits. Only Sammons had more than one hit and he was the only one with a hit to go for extra bases. I could spend some time going over who let the team down with their bat, but with it being the end of the season.

Feel free to leave a comment or join the discussion in the Forum and check back to see our off-season blogs.

Well, it looks like we have about reached the end of the season and Bobby has decided that some of the overworked Braves are done. No more McCann this season, no more Andruw, either. Those two really do deserve a break, for entirely different reasons. There is still a chance we will see one of them, but not very likely. Frenchy, on the other hand, is determined to play every game, again. Anyway, today was everybody plays day. If you are a position player and don’t see a lot of time, you got in today. And as one might expect, we didn’t hit real well.

Bennett gave us another strong outing today, it’s really a shame he got the loss. He deserved better. He had a little trouble in the first, giving up 2, then settled right down. He went six innings today, giving up only 3 runs. He allowed 6 hits and 5 K’s. I wonder what we will do with him next year? I think we may keep him around, maybe (if possible) in the minors, just as a Hampton insurance policy. The pen had another good outing. Mahay went .2 innings, allowing only one hit. Moylan finished that inning. His ERA is 1.80, wow, just wow. Acosta pitched the ninth perfectly, 1 K.

With so many different people playing today none of the bats really had the opportunity to distinguish themselves. Well, no one except Frenchy. He had 2 hits, one a double and scored both times. Chipper slipped to second in the batting title hunt. He still is hitting an amazing .339.

Tomorrow’s game, the last of the season, the last Braves broadcast on TBS, 2:05 PM.

Feel free to leave a comment or join the discussion in the Forum.

Some may say these games don’t matter. We’ve been eliminated from the playoff, we have the B lineup in, we don’t even have a chance to play “spoiler.” But, I gotta say, winning is always better than losing. If we win the last 2 games, I will be happy.

Jo-Jo may have earned himself a longer look for a starting job next year with the way he has pitched these last few games. Our starting five is somewhat uncertain, so it never hurts to go out on a high note. Jo-Jo had a solid outing today, keeping the ball in the park and walks to a minimum. Both are things he has struggled with this season. He went 6.2 innings, only allowing 2 earned runs. Along the way, he allowed 7 hits. In the seventh, he got into a little 2-out trouble and Devine had to try to get him out of it. Devine did walk one, something that must be a bit of a worry, but got the out he needed without allowing the runner at third to score. Yates pitched the 8th perfectly with 1 K. Dotel was the closer of the day, he was also perfect with 1 K.

With our being eliminated from the playoffs, Bobby took the opportunity to rest some of the players who really deserved to be rested. So, we didn’t exactly expect to score a lot of runs. Regardless, we scored more than enough. Escobar, batting seventh, had 2 hits, both doubles, and scored every time he was on base. Woodward, an unlikely source, logged 2 hits of his own, one a double, scoring once. The big run producers of the night were Frenchy with a home run, 3 RBI and Brandon (not Andruw) Jones with 3 RBI of his own.

Tomorrow’s game, 7:05 PM, not nationally televised.

Feel free to leave a comment or join the discussion in the Forum.

Tonight the Braves are officially, mathematically eliminated from the playoff hunt. I guess that mean we’ll be seeing season recaps, what when wrong and all the like. Well, I don’t really want to go down that road, but I will say, while we didn’t make the playoffs, the team was markedly improved from last year. Which is really all you can ask for.

Smoltz both didn’t have it and had bad luck. The Braves committed 3 errors behind him, without those errors we would have probably won this game, but we will never know. He only managed 4 innings, don’t know why, he seemed to have settled down at that point. In those 4, he allowed 6 runs (5 ERs), 7 hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks and 2 long balls. That won’t go down as one of his best. The pen was outstanding today. It took 5 pitchers to finish the game, none gave up a run. Mahay pitched an inning, perfectly striking out all three he faced. Can’t get much better. Devine had some control problems, walking 2, but a 1 out double play ended the inning. Acosta came next, no hits, no walks, 1 strikeout, amazing. Ring did his job as a specialist, retiring the only batter he faced. Moylan had the most trouble, he gave up 2 hits, but none scored.

It took some time, but we did eventually score some runs. Diaz, how did ANY team ever let him go, had 3 hits lifting his average to .340. Frenchy had 2 hits, one a home run. The other 2 big his of the night were Chipper and Tex, back-to-back home runs. Chipper needs to finish strong if he wants the batting title.

We close out the season at Houston. Tomorrow’s game, 8:05 PM, not nationally televised.

Feel free to leave a comment or join the discussion in the Forum.

I really don’t understand the way this team bats sometimes. Some days, we seem to bat intelligently, the batters go up there with a plan, wait for the right pitch, then hit it. We generally do pretty well those games. Then there are games like this one, where it seems like we are in a rush to get back to the dugout. It’s just walk to the plate, swing at the first pitch, make an out, walk back, repeat. I could understand, if a pitcher has a reputation for being in the zone or going after strike one, but by the time you hit the 5th or 6th inning, you need to realize it’s not working and take a different approach. We never seem to make the adjustment.

Huddy really didn’t have his best stuff, he battled, but the defense let him down. Huddy went 6 innings giving up 5 runs, but only 3 were earned. He allowed eight hits, striking out 5. Ring pitched to one batter in the 7th and got him out. Moylan pitched the remainder of the inning, allowing one walk. Dotel pitched a perfect 8th.

The bats really let us down tonight. No one was patient, no one tried to work the count, no one even walked. OK, Escobar had 1 at bat and walked, no one else did. Tex had a 2-run home run. I really have nothing more to say about the hitting tonight. I hope they are roundly embarrassed.

Tomorrow’s game, 7:05 PM, not nationally televised.

Feel free to leave a comment or join the discussion in the Forum.