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Thursday, April 3, 2008
Braves’ clever strategy fails to pay off
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What the …? If you turned the game off after nine innings last night, you missed one of the greatest things about baseball: You don’t ever know what you’re going to see.
In the top of the 10th, Chris Resop walked Nyjer Morgan, who was then sacrificed to second. Jason Bay walked, and Morgan went to third on a passed ball. Enter Bobby Cox.
Bobby brought in Royce Ring AND SENT RESOP TO LEFT FIELD TO REPLACE MATT DIAZ.
Bobby had vowed to give Peter Moylan the night off, and if he was going to keep that promise, Ring was the last pitcher available. To avoid burning the lefty Ring and having to bring in the righty Moylan, he stowed Resop in left, used Ring to strike out the left-hander Adam LaRoche, then sent Gregor Blanco into left and brought Resop back in to pitch to right-hander Xavier Nady.
As clever as that strategy was, it didn’t work. Nady singled in the winning run, his seventh RBI of this series. But you’ve got to hand it to Bobby for trying.
Actually, you may have to hand it to Roger McDowell. In 1986, Mets manager Davey Johnson alternated the right-handed McDowell with the left-handed Jesse Orosco, sending one to left or right field and bringing the other in to pitch, depending on the hitter. Guess Bobby listens to his pitching coach after all!
This move was a mild distraction from the huge disappointment of Mike Hampton’s scratched start, and came at the end of a valiant effort by an exhausted bullpen (particularly by Jeff Bennett).
What did you think of the strategy? There’s talk of Chuck James and Jo-Jo Reyes, but what do you think the Braves should do now that Hampton’s going on the DL and they’ll need another starter? What should they do about opening a roster spot for John Smoltz? Can the bullpen handle much more over the next few days? What about the fact that the Braves head into this weekend’s series against the Mets having lost three tough one-run games, two of them in extras?
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Braves’ big win is more like it
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I think we can all agree: That was how we drew it up.
Jair Jurrjens went a solid five-plus innings in his Braves debut, the offense busted out, the defense was flawless, and the bullpen did exactly what it was supposed to do (with the bonus that Manny Acosta threw a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh).
We were also reminded of something very important. If you get on in front of Chipper Jones, more often than not, he’ll drive you in. Good thing Martin Prado hadn’t forgotten that — he played the role of table-setter perfectly, finding ways to get on base. If Mark Texiera had had anything going early, last night’s game would have been blown open much sooner.
The scary thing is that Tex may have gotten it going with that blast in the eighth, which means there could be plenty of games that aren’t close.
The only minor blemish on last night’s game for me — and I do mean minor — is that there was yet another three-pitcher inning in the eighth. It’s like Bobby Cox isn’t satisfied until someone blows it; he’ll just keep going through guys until he finds the one who doesn’t have it. When is Mike Gonzalez due back again to solve the set-up situation and save some of these arms for September? (Rhetorical question: I know it’s not until June.) You can’t use six relievers every night and not wear them out.
I understand Bobby’s playing the percentages, but if you look at Peter Moylan’s and Royce Ring’s career numbers, you’ll see they’re equally effective against righties and lefties.
Bobby is going to into the Hall of Fame and I most certainly am not, so I’ll stop second-guessing him and just enjoy the win. (I can’t promise not to revisit this topic, though.)
So does this big victory put things in perspective for you? Will Kelly Johnson’s knee injury give Martin Prado the opportunity to win the starting job? How would you rate Jurrjens’ debut?
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