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Thursday, May 10, 2007
Sunshine, Huddy vs. Boomer, and in-game bloggin’!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Absolutely beautiful day at the ‘yard here, folks. San Diego is in town, but you’d think we were in their town, it’s so perfect _ sunny, 82 degrees, low humidity … come on.
Actually, it’s better than San Diego, because the marine layer of fog would just be burning off at noon out there, and it’d be too cool to sit in the stands in shorts and T-shirts like so many early arrivers are here at Turner Field.
(And some are in less than T-shirts, if you know what I mean. What a way to make a living _ I just wish I was sitting out in the stands, instead of here in the pressbox.)
But anyway, to the game. Braves have a very good chance for a 3-games-to-1 win in this series with Tim Hudson facing big ol’ Boomer, David Wells, this afternoon in the finale.
Can you believe this: A win would give the Braves their first three-game winning streak since April 11, when they beat Washington to move to 7-1.
Since then, the Braves are 14-11 and have won back-to-back games three times, and that’s it. Then again, they haven’t lost back-to-back games since April 12-13, which is pretty impressive when you consider what they’ve gotten most nights from the back end of the rotation.
It can’t be overstated how important the bullpen has been lately, specifically Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez. It’s the work of the ‘pen that’s allowed the Braves to keep games close and give the lineup time to stage its improbable rallies and string together all those two-out hits.
I’ll repeat, the Braves can’t expect to keep getting all these two-out hits and staging all these late-innings rallies. I mean, they’re 7-9 when trailing after six innings (not 7-10, as the Braves’ own notes indicated; Elias confirmed it’s actually 7-9). That just doesn’t happen.
And the two-out hitting? The Braves are hitting .295 with two outs, 12 points better than the majors’ next-best (Mets, .283), before today. The Braves are hitting a whopping .303 with runners in scoring position and two outs, a full 20 points better than the majors’ next-best (Yankees).
But while the two-out hits almost certainly can’t continue at this pace, the Braves’ bullpen can continue to dominate. In fact, they’re just doing now what the team expected when they made the trades for Soriano and Gonzalez in the offseason.
I mean, they made those moves to have a bullpen that could shorten most games to six or seven innings, and that’s exactly what they’re doing lately. Which has been even more important, given the early exits by some of their back-end starters.
Check this out: Soriano in his last 10 appearances has allowed just two hits and three walks with 12 strikeouts in 10 scoreless innings. Utter domination. He’s 3-for-3 in save opps in the past eight days.
I told you this spring this dude is the real deal as far as attitude _ fierce, no-nonsense, great scowl, rarely seen smiling. That works just fine when you’re this good. (If you stink, you look silly trying to be hard. He doesn’t stink. He doesn’t look silly. I still don’t like to make eye contact with him.)
Gonzalez? He’s nice as can be in the clubhouse, but a live wire who looks ready to come to the plate and beat someone for making him throw a bad pitch. Early on his command issues and sore elbow sent up some red flags around Braves Nation, but not anymore. He’s rounding into the kind of form he demonstrated for most of his 24-for-24 save season with the Pirates in 2006.
He’s got a 1.17 ERA for the season, and in his past 13 appearances Gonzalez has allowed nine hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts in 12-1/3 scoreless innings. In his past eight games, it’s six hits, zero walks and eight strikeouts in eight innings. Great stuff.
Wickman threw a bullpen session yesterday without pain in his back, and Bobby Cox said today that the big man should be ready to come off the DL on Tuesday, the day he’s eligible, without benefit of a minor league rehab assignment.
So the Braves’ bullpen should be at full strength for the Boston series next weekend, if not sooner.
Alright, gonna stop here for now, because, yes, today’s is in-game blog day. Wheeee! But seriously, let’s make this worthwhile. Tons of posts today, folks. Tons of freakin’ posts.
Let it rip, and tell your boss to haul a@& if he doesn’t like the fact that you’re on the computer. The Braves are on. Tell him or her to chill. The sun’s shining, Huddy’s facing Boomer, and baseball is good for the soul.
Speaking of good for the soul, George Jones is playing at some fairgrounds about an hour north of Atlanta on Saturday. And Son Volt on Friday at Variety Playhouse. Good series for me to miss, in Washington this weekend.
I’ll be catching up with the boys in Washington and Boston. Might have to see the Possum in the interim.
Alright, blog away, denizens of the Braves/Man in Black. Let’s bring this thing to its knees. Circuit overload is our mission.
SECOND INNING For those who missed update on last blog, Renteria’s out of the lineup again with lingering flu symptoms. Doing better today than yesterday, but still sick. He played Tuesday with the flu, had the big double and triple, and looked like he might pass out when he got to third on the triple and was bent over trying to gather himself.
How ‘bout Boomer? David Wells is my age, much richer, but not in nearly as good a condition. Andruw stayed with that lollipop curveball Wells threw him in the first and pulled it to left field for an RBI single. Then Frenchy doubled to drive in another.
Braves let him off the hook, though, leaving two in scoring position in the first, when McCann struck out and Woodward popped out. We’ll see if that haunts them.
Did I mention it’s gorgeous out here, and some folks are sunning themselves? Well, worth mentioning again.
SECOND INNING (pt. II) Well, I was just about to say how impressive it was that the Braves were making Boomer throw strikes, got those two-out walks by Kelly J and Diaz (who’s batting second today in Renteria’s place). Then Chipper pops out to the catcher and they leave two stranded for the second innning in a row.
Gotta love when they crank Led Zep “Rock n’ Roll” on the PA system, like they’re doing now between innings.
END OF THIRD INNING OK, nothing happened in that inning, other than Boomer getting a hit. He’s my age (43) and not in nearly as good a condition as me, but Wells is rich and can still get a hit off Tim Hudson. And he lives on the beach in San Diego. So I’ll stop being critical.
Who am I kidding, we’d all love to be David Wells.
Anybody got an update on the Boulder High School situation? When I left the house, they were in lockdown mode. Nobody here had an update and my Safari and Firefox servers are occupied with you all and the game tracker.
FOURTH INNING Ok, Mike Cameron’s bat just flew into the stands, and the fan who caught it was wearing a pink shirt and capri pants. The fan was a guy. What up?
FOURTH INNING But you know what, he looked like he had enough money to have purchased them in Capri, where he probably has a summer home. So I’ll shut up.
Meanwhile, things aren’t going well now for Huddy. Back-to-back doubs by Cameron and Kouzmanoff and it’s 2-2 now. Huddy’s pitched well lately, but you know how long it’s been since he won? April 20.
He’s pitched eight strong in each of his last three starts, with no wins.
FIFTH INNING It didn’t go out, but Andruw Jones really got a lot of that ball to end the fifth inning. He skied that thing to the warning track. Between that and his five hits in three days (so far), might be reason to believe the noted pull hitter could be about to go on a tear. Perhaps this trip? The Green Monster next weekend?
SIXTH INNING After that Huddy scare in the top of the inning (liner off his glove and part of glove hand), Braves are doing some hitting in the bottom of the frame (like saying “frame,” jargon we can’t, thankfully, get in the paper. But it works here. Toe the slab, bottom of the frame, can of corn _ no, I’ll draw the line at that. Hate ‘can of corn.’ Hate it.)
McCann single, Woodward double … OK, and there goes Wilson. Striking out. BossLady, you’re right. He ain’t looking good.
Pinch-hitting for Huddy, who’s thrown 80 pitches. Don’t know if the hand’s sore or if Bobby just doesn’t want to pass up this scoring opp. Willie Harris at the plate…. walks.
Loaded for Kelly Johnson, who’s not hitting like he was a week ago, but still has come up with big hits in critical situations, like last night. Let’s see.
SIXTH INNING I swear, I typed that last line, hit the save button, and the next pitch he hit to right field to clear the bases. Wow. Another big hit. He keeps doing it.
And Wells is gone now. Braves up 5-2, the bullpen getting ready.
SEVENTH INNING Paronto walking on the edge a bit there, but they can live with one run in. Double-play ball, that’s why he’s here.
Gotta like your chances now, though I see Yates warming up and not Gonzo. I’m sure because Gonzo’s been used the past two days. Too bad, with lefty Adrian Gonzalez due up. He’s a stud.
MIDDLE OF EIGHTH INNING Fine inning by Yates. When he’s on, he’s outstanding.
Can’t believe it: Kings of Leon playing on the P.A. system while they scan the crowd for the video board! Great stuff. The in-game entertainment person is really on his or her game today. Keep it up, please. All season.
Someone just held up a good sign: “We Rillie Like Willie”
NINTH INNING Gotta love Soriano’s entrance. Just a deliberate walk to the mound, head down the whole time. Fires a few hard warmuup tosses. Does the sign of the cross behind the mound, then gets to work.
Helluva catch by Frenchy running back at the warning track for the second out. Folks are on their feet now, pretty good day-game crowd out here, everyone standing as Soriano faces Termel Sledge.
Gas inside at the legs, nearly hits him. Then more gas and a swing, no contact, 1-1. Another swing-and-miss, 1-2, everyone making noise now. Pop up to McCann.
Game over. Three saves in three perfect ninth innings in three days for Soriano.
To the clubhouse. Later. Nice spending the day with the denizens of Braves/Man in Black.
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