AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2006 > May > 15
Monday, May 15, 2006
Andruw, McCann rally Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They trailed 5-0 before the midway point for the second consecutive game, but this time the Braves refused to go away quietly.
Brian McCann and Andruw Jones drove in nine of 11 runs during a three-inning burst that propelled the Braves to a 11-8 win against Florida in Monday night’s series opener at Turner Field.
McCann had a career-high five RBIs on three hits including a three-run homer, and Jones was 4-for-4 with four RBIs, the last on a single that scored Adam LaRoche for a 9-8 lead in the seventh. All 11 Braves runs came with two outs, including two in the fifth, six in the sixth and three in the third.
“We needed every one of them,” said manager Bobby Cox, whose third-place Braves got their sixth win in eight games to pick up a half-game on idle New York and Philadelphia in the NL East.
They are 5-1/2 games behind the Mets and 4-1/2 behind the surging Phillies, who’ve won 13 of 14. The negative was a groin injury that forced Braves starting pitcher Kyle Davies from the game in the third inning and will put him on the disabled list indefinitely. He allowed five runs including four in the third, when he left without recording an out.
“It popped,” said Davies, who didn’t think the soreness he felt earlier was serious enough for him not to pitch.
“He’s definitely going to be out for a while,” said Cox, who wasn’t pleased to learn that Davies had been sore all day and didn’t tell the manager, pitching coach, or the training staff.
No one was bigger — literally or figuratively — for the Braves than journeyman reliever Chad Paronto. The 260-pounder had a career-high six strikeouts in three scoreless innings after Davies exited.
“Stellar. He kept us in the game,” Cox said of Paronto. “It was amazing how he did so well.”
Cox said the Braves haven’t decided who will take Davies’ spot in the rotation, but said left-hander Horacio Ramirez (hamstring) will need at least one more minor league rehab start Thursday. Journeyman Travis Smith at Class AAA Richmond is a possibility for one start until Ramirez is ready.
McCann’s three-run homer keyed a six-run sixth for an 8-5 lead. It was his fifth home run and second in three games.
“This is the best I’ve felt at the plate probably in my whole life,” said the 22-year-old catcher from Duluth, who is batting .352 overall and .429 with 12 RBIs in his past 20 games.
McCann was among the many Braves offering LaRoche support after he was booed Sunday and again Monday. LaRoche doubled down the left-field line in the seventh, when his hustle was conspicuous.
“When the year is said and done, he will be one of our leaders,” McCann said, “and be the Adam laRoche he’s been the last two years — 20 homers, .280, Gold Glove [-caliber defense].”
McCann and Jones drove in seven of eight Braves runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Jones had an RBI single in the fifth and a two-run single in the sixth to chase reliever Matt Herges. McCann greeted right-hander Randy Messenger with a homer to the Braves’ bullpen. Jeff Francoeur also had one of the five singles in the inning, extending his career-best hitting streak to 13 games.
Florida answered with Mike Jacobs’ three-run homer in the seventh off Oscar Villarreal, giving him six RBIs and three extra-base hits.
Davies exited shortly after Jacobs’ bases-loaded double skipped past first baseman Brian Jordan to extend Florida’s lead to 4-0.
Dan Uggla had led off the third with a home run, the 11th homer allowed by Davies in 37-2/3 innings over his past seven starts.
After Jacobs’ bases-clearing double, Davies went to a 2-2 count against Miguel Olivo before stepping off the mound. He was done.
Permalink | | Categories: Game Night
Lollygagging bites LaRoche
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those Braves fans who may have been away for the weekend or didn’t watch any television, nothing much out of the ordinary the past couple of games.
Well, nothing except Jeff Francoeur’s walkoff grand slam to cap the most dramatic ninth-inning Braves rally in recent memory on Saturday, and Adam LaRoche burying himself alive Sunday with the stupidest/laziest/most regrettable mistake of his young career, which led to more booing at Turner Field than we’re likely to hear until Barry Bonds visits. Notable, of course, since LaRoche plays for the hometown nine, while Bonds does not.
OK, since a lot of you want to know what I think: LaRoche’s fielding blunder was dumb, inexcusable. If I’d been in the crowd instead of the pressbox, I would’ve booed, too.
That said, those who expect me or others to retract our prior defense of LaRoche for not scoring from second base in the division series-deciding loss at Houston (the one where he hit the grand slam earlier in the game), well, keep waiting. He was sick as a dog in that game, and unless you believe Bobby Cox, all the coaches and all his teammates (on and off the record) were merely defending LaRoche by agreeing to tell the same story, then you know the guy was throwing up and dry-heaving at least four times before and during that playoff game at Houston.
And please don’t say he shouldn’t have played — he hit a grand slam, remember. And if Cox didn’t believe he was healthy enough to play, he wouldn’t have played him. And if LaRoche didn’t think he was healthy enough to contribute, he wouldn’t have played that day.
Anyway, that’s not what this is about. It’s about Sunday, when LaRoche’s laid-back style bit him in the arse and cost his team four runs that all but put the game out of reach. It was only 1-0 before his two-out lapse in the fifth inning. It was 5-0 by the time John Thomson got out of the inning. ‘Nuff said.
At 1-0, Braves were even-odds to win, I’d say, against the lowly Nationals. The Braves have come back from larger deficits against better teams than Washington. But at 5-0, it was over.
Anyway, enough’s been written and said by us media members and by LaRoche himself. We can dissect this thing until the cows on ‘Rochy’s Kansas farm come home, but why? I mean, seriously, it wasn’t the seventh game of the World Series. Or the first game of a division series. Or a game in September during a playoff drive. And that’s not to minimize it, because it was colosally stupid and inexcusable. But some perspective is in order. It’s not Bill Buckner here, in terms of long-term impact. Then again, some believed a certain headline posted for an hour or less on a certain blog a month ago was going to do untold damage to Andruw Jones’ reputation. Yeah, that’s happened.
Everyone agrees LaRoche’s mistake was horrid, no excuses. But it’s not like this is a guy who doesn’t care, who has undermined the team repeatedly with his attitude or work habits or whatever. He’s a great dude, all who know him agree. Teammates defended him yesterday, saying he made a big mistake and knew it and would learn from it. But none — NONE — suggested he should be punished and benched.
He will be, of course. At least for tonight. Maybe longer. Bobby Cox knows he has to, or should, send a message to LaRoche and anyone else who might be inclined to non-chalant such a play in the future. Maybe if Bobby hadn’t been ejected after the inning, he would’ve pulled LaRoche Sunday. Don’t know. Bobby didn’t want to talk about the matter further.
Again, let me repeat, so no one here can twist my words: LaRoche was completely in the wrong. Nothing peeves me like a senseless mental error like that. It’s one thing for an aging veteran with health issues not to run out every single routine fly ball and ground ball (I’ll pause a moment — I can hear some of you howling now, but this isn’t Little League, these aren’t teenagers, and a 162-game season is entirely different from a high school or youth league schedule, and they’re being paid millions to perform over a full season, not pull an already tender hammy running out a ground ball in May. So really, what you think about this subject isn’t going to sway my mind; I’ll go with the opinions of those who’ve played and managed in pro ball for decades on this one). It’s another for someone to make a mistake simply by losing track of the situation, a mental mistake more than physical. It wouldn’t have required any more effort to take one step quicker to first.
Anyway, about LaRoche. One of my favorite guys on the team. I do a morning radio thing with him Monday-Friday on road games. Blah blah blah. But it doesn’t matter. I’m able to have an objective opinion on him or anyone else on the team, and the team itself, because I’m not a fan and because it’s what I’m paid to do. He stunk yesterday. And he stunk with that terrible throw in Milwaukee. But otherwise, he’s been pretty damn good defensively this year and the past two years, ranking among the NL leaders in fielding percentage and preventing a lot of errors with good scoops and good double-play starting throws. Anyone who doesn’t see the difference when, say, Brian Jordan is playing defense, isn’t paying attention.
That said, LaRoche has to do better to remain part of the Braves’ future. And it has little if anything to do with yesterday, other than he’s now going to get booed until he does something to stop the boos, and it’s never good for the home atmosphere to have one of your guys getting booed (by that I mean, Braves officials aren’t going to like hearing a lineup regular getting booed. I’m not saying he should or shouldn’t be booed — my opinion isn’t important on that. Boo whomever you want. I’ve got no problem. You pay, you can boo or cheer all you want).
OK, I’ve rambled. Here’s the important thing: LaRoche can get the fans back and get his season back by doing one thing and one thing only (well, besides running hard): Going on a hitting surge. Hitting home runs. Doing what a first baseman is supposed to do offensively. Produce runs. If he hits .300 with 10 homers in the next 25 games, the boos will cease. Mark my words. But that’s a mighty big “if” the way he’s played.
In his last 22 games, LaRoche has hit .183 with more errors (two, both costly) than homers (one), eight RBIs 13 walks and 15 strikeouts in 60 at-bats. Not good. Bad. Very bad.
Last thing: Jurries has missed two weeks recovering from hairline fracture in his knee after taking a line drive off it during batting practice. Before he was hurt, he was hitting .235 with one homer, two RBIs and 16 strikeouts in 51 at-bats for Richmond. In other words, he was less productive in Triple-A than LaRoche has been with the Braves this season.
A better option appears to be the left-hitting Scott Thorman, who was batting .305 with four doubles, two triples, four homers and 15 RBIs in 34 games (131 at-bats) at Richmond, with a .377 OBP and .458 slugging percentage.
Don’t know if Braves are going to do anything, because it’s not like they’re going to send LaRoche down to Triple-A after a boneheaded mistake. It’ll take more slumping. But Thorman seems a legit option if and when they want to do something.
Finally, please don’t make this about ADD. it’s not about that. If LaRoche thought it was, he’d take medication. That’s not why he nonchalanted it to first base yesterday. Not at all. Period.
