AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > May > 14
Monday, May 14, 2007
Time to start another streak?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Coming to you from our nation’s capital, where the new ballpark being built might just be the only thing to ever come in under budget in this town. It’s supposed to be open next season, and looks like it will be ready.
After that debacle Sunday at Pittstown, Braves should have a very good chance of getting back on a winning streak with Smoltz and Hudson going in the first two games of the series vs. the Nationals.
Do you guys realize how great a run that old man Smoltz is on? (He joins us 40-somethings tomorrow, his birthday, so we can call him old now.) Since late last summer, there hasn’t been a more reliable starter, at least not one I can find.
He’s 9-1 with a 2.42 ERA in 12 starts since Sept. 16. And going back to July 1, Smoltz is 17-5 with a 3.26 ERA in 26 starts, and 161 strikeouts in 173-2/3 innings. The team is 20-6 in those games. The man’s a freak.
And if you think Smoltz has been a frequent victim of bad run support, consider the plight of his opponent tonight, Jason Bergmann.
This is unbelievable. Really. Bergmann still hasn’t won in 14 career starts (0-4), but lately he’s done just about everything possible from his end.
He was bad in his first start this season, giving up four runs in 3-2/3 innings vs. Arizona. But in six starts since then, Bergmann has a 2.41 ERA and miniscule .159 opponents’ average, with 31 strikeouts and 14 walks in 37-1/3 innings.
And he’s 0-2 in those six games. I’ll repeat: 2.41 ERA, .159 opponents’ average, 0-2 record.
In four of those six games, he pitched six or more innings and allowed one or no runs. And he won none of them!. Included was an April 12 game vs. Smoltz in Atlanta, when Bergmann allowed one stinkin’ hit in six scoreless innings … and got no decision in the 2-0 Nationals win.
As the insufferable Stuart Scott would say, “I ain’t gonna say nothing, but that ain’t right.” (Why am I quoting Stuart Scott? Surely this is an even more troubling sign that all the extreme weather going on across the nation.)
Not a betting man…. But if I were, I’d probably consider plunking down a dollar or two tomorrow night, when Hudson faces Jerome Williams. Hudson is 4-1 with a 1.83 ERA, including a 1.57 ERA in three road starts. He’s got a 1.30 ERA in five career starts vs. Washington/Montreal, including four games in which he’s pitched seven or more innings while allowing one or no runs.
Williams? He’s 0-4 with a 6.11 ERA and more walks (17) than strikeouts (15) in 28 innings. However, it is worth noting that after going 0-4 with a 7.77 ERA in his first four starts, he threw six scoreless innings of one-hit ball vs. the Mets on April 28, his most recent start.
Then again, that was before the Mets shaved their heads (but seriously, Mets fans, I remember when our high school football team shaved their heads. The operative words there being “high school.”)
Who is disguised as Frenchy? The transformation of Jeff Francoeur isn’t just indicated by his dramatic increase in walks, but also his improvement vs. right-handers and hitting on the road.
Last season Francoeur hit .217 on the road, fourth-worst among NL regulars. This year? I know it’s early, but he’s hitting .357 (25-for-70) away from home, sixth-best in the NL behind D. Lee, Fla’s Willingham and Cabrera, Jose Reyes and Todd Helton. Eighth on the list is Hoss (.349), who isn’t playing again tonight, by the way (this addendum to blog was added late, at 5:30 p.m. — Chipper’s thumbs are still sore. And doesn’t that injury sound strange? I’d just say left or right, even if it’s both, just go with one. OK, now back to the blog already in progress….)
Last season, Francoeur hit .248 (120-for-483) with 103 strikeouts and a .278 OBP vs. right-handers. This year, he’s hitting .297 (27-for-91) with 22 strikeouts and a .343 OBP. Again, I know it’s early. Very early. But still….
He’s really raking vs. lefties, of course. Hitting .333 (18-for-54) with four homers, a .400 OBP and .993 OPS against them this season, after hitting .292 (49-for-168) with nine homers, a .335 OBP and an .853 OPS last season. (Braves have seen a whole lot more lefties this season than they faced last season.)
Oh, and Francoeur also has the NL’s eighth-best avg. with men on base (.381).
Leadoff dropoff: He’s still got the third-highest leadoff OBP (.414) in the NL, one percentage point behind Jose Reyes. But Kelly Johnson’s in the third cycle of a season that’s seen him go through three distinct periods: cold, sizzling, and cool.
After hitting .150 through April 16, then blazing at a .478 clip (22-for-46) with three homers, 10 RBIs and a .607 OBP in 13 games over the final two weeks of April, Johnson is now batting .204 (10-for-49) with no homers, six RBIs and a .278 OBP in his first 12 gamers in May after the weekend series at Pittsburgh.
He hasn’t had a multi-hit game since April 29, and has 10 strikeouts with one walk in his past eight games. This after drawing 10 walks with four strikeouts in the previous eight games.
Willie C.’s the name, hitting (apparently) is the game: And at one point do I, and many of you, start to believe Willie C. Harris might actually be quite good? Right now, I’m wondering how in hades this guy hit .238 with a .306 OBP in 369 career major league games (899 at-bats) before this season.
I mean, he’s hitting .471 with five doubles and a .550 OBP in 13 games since the Braves brought him up to replace Ryan Langerhans. Granted, it’s only 34 at-bats. But he just keeps getting two hits a game, or more. And he made a very nice throw in Pittsburgh to cut down a runner at the plate.
Don’t really know what to make of his success, to be honest. Good guy, though. Very happy to see him doing so well. You know there’s a street named for him in his hometown in Cairo, Ga.? Really, I’m not making that up.
They named and dedicated it _ Willie C. Harris Drive, I think it is _ after he scored the winning run for the White Sox in their World Series clinching win over Houston.
Oh, and speaking of that new Nationals ballpark … Stan Kasten, Nats boss and once the most powerful man in Atlanta sports not named Ted, was able to get in one good, long-lasting jab at the media by making the pressbox even higher than the top-of-the-park pressbox at Pittsburgh.
But that’s another story, and I know no one cares about the inconveniences faced by hacks (I don’t blame you; if I were you I wouldn’t, either. But trust me, we’re more sympathetic figures than Kasten _ love ya, Stan, but seriously, what’s with sticking it to the press by sticking us in the clouds? Your team better get better, and in a hurry).
”AMANDA” by Bob McDill (and sung best by Waylon Jennings)
I’ve held it all inward God knows I’ve tried
But it’s an awful awakening in a country boy’s life
To look in the mirror in total surprise
At the hair on my shoulders and the age in my eyes.
Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman’s wife.
Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman’s wife.
It’s a measure of people who don’t understand,
the pleasures of life in a hillbilly band.
I got my first guitar when I was fourteen,
and I finally made forty: still wearing jeans.
Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman’s wife.
Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman’s wife.
