Braves Report

I lay this loss squarely at the feet off Bobby. Those of you who visit the Forum know well that I am one of Bobby’s staunchest defenders, but in this case, I am at a loss. How in the world could Acosta been left in that long? It was a bad idea on so many different levels, four walks in 2 innings, we need our closer not to be exhausted, he had already throw too many pitches. It was just a horrible decision. But, I guess the choice was someone else from the pen and that is not good either. Oh, and we cannot forget, this is ANOTHER one run loss.

The bats were disappointing, again. I am becoming very tired of this team’s pathetic efforts behind the plate. This team needs to realize that runs can be scored without hitting the ball over the fence. It’s like we have a team of Andruws this year. In the 12th, Frenchy took two GIANT swings, then suddenly was facing an 0 - 2 count. He had to “swing defensively” which led to an easy ground out. It’s really only Chipper who doesn’t swing for the fences every at bat, and he’s hitting .410 and leads the team in home runs. Escobar raised his average back above .300 with a two hit game. Tex chipped in with two of his own. The offensive “hero” of the day was Kotsay, with three hits. He also drove in what should have been the winning run.

The pitching, right up till the end, was outstanding. Jurrjens gave us the best outing of his career. He was brilliant, seven innings, two hits, 1 run. All that in only 84 pitches. Boyer was next, he was effective, 1.2 innings, only one hit. Ring, faced one batter and hit him. Not so good. Bennett faced one batter to get the Braves out of a jam. I have already covered Acosta, but he went two innings, gave up five walks, two hits, and two runs. Carlyle threw one pitch and ended the game.

EDIT: **No game tomorrow, Friday’s game (if anyone still cares), 7:35 PM. Not nationally televised.

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