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I loved the 2:00 AM (CDT) report on UVerse 634 (FOX or ESPN?). They loved the Card start. So did I.
Leadoff hitter walked. Get him to second.
Sacrifice by Wong. The worst that is likely to happen is that Wong bunts it in the air. He’s a better bunter than that has bunted before. You get a runner to second, might luck out and Wong gets on too.That frees up Goldy to be able to swing away, no DP possibilities likely. He pulls it to the SS who makes a diving stop, but has trouble getting it out of his glove (had the same problem on the DP attempt that the second baseman dropped.
First and third, Ozuna does exactly what I have been wanting people to do. Don’t try to pull that outside low pitch. Drive it to right. We get the lead because he is smart enough to listen to whoever told people how to approach this pitcher this time (after he ate us alive when we tried to kill it).
Molina hits a DP ball that Ozuna jumps over, distracting Freeman. who gets an error. Never saw it.
Carp walks. Yes. Force this guy to come to you. 2-0
Edman pulls it down the line for a double. As he should, pull it to right. He runs well enough that it will score a run, probably no DP.
Walk DeJong. But, they also walk Flaherty, 5-0, and he hasn’t pitched yet.
Double down the line by Fowler.
Double to left by Wong, 9-0. Wong’s sacrifice is the only out, and it began this entire debacle.
Wong scores when Ozuna hustles to first. Wong scored the winning run in game four because Ozuna hustled to first to beat out a DP. Baserunning is important.
We played smart. We played small ball.
As the announcers made the point that the Braves had tried to do that earlier, and they couldn’t get a bunt down. Learn to advance runners. Resulted in a popup after a leadoff double. Runner didn’t score because they couldn’t get him over.
Baseball is still about who plays smart ball.
Now that you have a ten-run lead, you can swing away.
I would say it is a tossup. I still remember the 1954 Giants sweeping the Feller, Garcia, Lemon–led Indians. Seven games? Who wants it most?
I wonder if the post-season success won’t be a factor in Ozuna’s decisions on whether to leave via free agency, or an opportunity to grow with a team where, for the first time, he has won something?
Interesting thought. There are actually four players that need to be considered in the discussion.
Age 28 Wong: Brought up as a hitter. Is probably the best defensive player of the group. Has shown some power, excellent speed on the basepaths (almost doubles the nearest Card in steals). Probably ready to be a consistent 280-300 hitter. Still too many Ks.
Age 25 DeJong: has become a very good SS. Great power for a SS. Ks on the rise, but OBP remaining level. Average falling. Decent speed, not highly productive aspect of his game. Fielding and power potential are positives. Rising Ks and falling BA is becoming a concern. Still young.
Age 24 Edman: Good hitter. Better at third than Carpenter, lot better hitter. Has shown more power in majors than in minors. Improving base running skills. Good speed. {Probably will be a 280-310 hitter with 15-20 HR power. Seems good wherever he plays. Haven’t seen him at one position enough to see if he is really good at it. Needs to have a position assignment, develop skills at one position.
Age 19 Gorman: Probably the third baseman of the future. Seems to have excellent power potential. Hits well at his age. Fielding demonstrated some improvement in second year, but not major league yet. 920-940 FA. Has more HR in two years than Edman did in four. Thirty doubles and six tripls this year. Too many Ks, but is 19, one of the youngest in his league. Probably AA, some AAA in 2020. May touch majors in 2021, certainly by 2022.
Have one too many. Do you put Edman in CF? Does he have that kind of speed and talent. Looked good in right. Do you give up on Bader at 25? He is really good in the OF, has dropped off in hitting in the past two years, especially this year. It seems that the more they see of him, they have found a way to get him to strike out. Killing him. Needs to learn to hit old school. Probably better power than Edman, but has to get to the 260 mark to play. With his defense, he’s my starter at 260 if he can hold Ks to 100. Learn to hit ground balls and run.
Coincidences: We won games 1 and 4.
Mikolas started game 1 and relieved game 4.
Wong drove in the winning runs in game one with a double, and scored the winning run after a double in game 4.
I agree with bicyclemike on some observations.
1. The walk to McCann was a bad call. He hadn’t been hurting us, except once. Swanson was killing us consistently/ I suspect that if we had pitched to McCann, we would have won 1-0. Dumb to look at box scores from ten years ago.. What have they done the past couple of days. That SS was killing us.
2. Runners on first and second, nobody out? You bet that we should have had DeJong bunting. I was more afraid of a K than a fly to right, but he has been in a horrible slump, and isn”t likely to move runners over. Put runners on second and third and let J. Martinez have a shot at getting someone home.
We are trying to pull his stuff. Lots of ground balls. Hit it the other way or up the middle. We have swung a couple of times at ball four. Ground outs both times. Put pressure on him by meeting his junk.
Carlos as 24 saves and only 3 blown saves. The only Blown save since the all-star break, he lost 2-1 to the Dodgers. While we were making our run, he had no other blown saves.
The good, the bad, and the ugly. We did win,after all.
The bad: Mikolas has the reputation as the best control starter. The first inning was the worst of his career according to the announcers, at least according to number of pitches. So, Miko walks the first two hitters before he settled down. Yes, Wong committed an error, which would have made no difference if there hadn’t been a runner on third due to two walks (first was thrown out stealing). The error that Wong made was partially due to inaction, partially due to the fact that it was a rushed play that required clean fielding to get anyone. It had bounced past Miko, was on the SS side of second (slightly) and so slowly hit that they would have been fortunate to get either the runner at second or first. Don’t walk leadoff hitters, especially in the playoffs.
Then, we hit into two third to first DPs that killed innings.
Miko does well. Then, his replacement hits a batter to lead off an inning. No hit by pitchers as leadoffs either. Then, we had a double and an intentional walk. Good way to start an inning. So, they get out of it with two runs off of an error? On a throw? They gave the hitter an infield hit. Got out of it with a couple of fly balls. Throw strikes to leadoff hitters, and we don’t allow a run.
Even in the ninth, it was once again a leadoff walk that started the problem. Walk, HR. Then, we get a 3-1 count and another HR. Throw strikes with a four-run lead. He did finish well, and there is nobody else. I’m a C Martinez fan. His stuff is hard to hit.
Bader showed why you really want him around. Yes, he hits the occasional HR. But, this winter, just teach him to get on first any way he can. SH, steals third. Is there anyone who steals third so easily as he? Scores on a grounder to second. Good baseball. Only Bader makes that work, maybe Wong. Bader is 12 of 15 (80%) on SB. Wong is 24 of 28 (85.7%).
After Goldy’s HR in the eighth, Ozuna and Molina went down. Two outs, nobody on. DeJong and Wong singled. Carp comeds in an singles to drive home the tying run. Wong doesn’t make it to take the lead. But, three good two-out hits got the tie.
Then, the ninth. Ozuna’s double with the bases loaded hit fair, went past third, hit foul. About half the time, they call that foul, based on whether it went past third fair or foul. Then, we had exactly the same situation at first base as Wong’s double hit fair, apparently crossed fair, and landed foul. I’ve seen that called foul on Wong all year. Both are bases-loaded doubles. We got the calls.
So many people did good things. Miko went five, despite the start. We had some close plays on defense that we made: Edman and Wong late. The worst of the night was Molina who did nothing on offense, but kept the staff together and threw out a runner. He did get an intentional walk ahead of Wong’s double. If it had been anyone other than Molina, might have scored from first with where that was hit.
Good start. I kind of like it that we have Flaherty , Wainwright, and Hudson coming up. The Braves have a problem.
Every time Atlanta scored, it was after a leadoff walk (once two, back to back), a hit batter, or leadoff walk. You can’t win in playoffs with that, except that we did.
We almost had to try to make it happen with Wong. We have not forced them into errors, and they have three runs due to errors that they forced on us. The best we were able to do was to get Bader’s speed to work for us.
Worst AB thus far, Goldy on second, Ozuna on first, Molina tries to pull an outside pitch, right on the outside corner. That is usually a ground out. This time, it was a DP inning killer. Molina usually hits that to the opposite field, which would have worked.
Milwaukee and the Rockies tied 3-3 in the 11th.
At all-star break, I didn’t think we had a chance of this. After losing four straight this week, I wasn’t so sure entering today.
It is remarkable that the people who stepped up today were those who hadn’t stepped up in weeks. Any more, it is always Edman or Bader, maybe Molina, who makes it happen. They did nothing today. Flaherty is good.
Pull Jack. Five is enough. Surely, we can hold a nine-run lead with our relievers—as long as we don’t see Miller.
Brewers get another HR, lead 3-0.
Irony.
Fowler 1 for 2 with a two-run home run
Goldy 2 for 2—–Now 3 for 3 with two singies and a home run 2 runs, 2 RBIs
Ozuna 2 for 2 with two singles an RBI and a run scored
Carp 1 for 2 with a HR and 3 RBIs.The guys I was furious with have generated all 8 of the RBIs
I’m just glad Maddon is there. He left Holland in. That’s almost a gift horse.
I love this. Goldy singles again. Then, Ozuna singles to score him. No DP. We have a 5-0 lead, and a chance to extend. Molina walks. Would you want Carp to sacrifice?
Too bad. Thanks for two innings of Holland.
Carp HR?!?! 8-0
Get more runs. Should we pull Jack now? Is the bullpen safe with an eight=run lead?
Flaherty single, Fowler HR? Didn’t expect that. What are they trying to do—-let Jack hit so he’ll tire himself out running bases? 4-0 after two. Goldy comes up with a big single, and Fowler a big HR. After four days of famine, I’ll take it.
Double plays sure hurt a good rally. Last night, Goldy. Today, Ozuna. But, we have a lead for Flaherty, 2-0. Brewers up 2-0 after one.
Got Happ out. Seemed like a problem last night.
OK. That is the way to start: two walks and a single. Get the lead and go.
I don’t think Bader is going anywhere. He may or may not become a hitter. If he were to hit 250, he would be the best hitting outfielder on our team that is starting. He is the only outfielder capable of playing defense. He isn’t even arbitration eligible for another year or so. With Ozuna and Fowler hitting in the 230-245 range and lazy in the field, you want to bench Bader for 210 with 12 HRs? Strikes out too much, which makes him a perfect fit with Fowler and Ozuna.
Arozarena has shown me enough. He can hit more consistently than Fowler and can field better. He goes in for Fowler. We have two more years of $16.5 million of Fowler. Nobody will want him in a trade. I guess we have a very expensive bench warmer. Hopefully, we learned from this one. Just because they signed one of ours—–
Ozuna hasn’t been worth it. He won’t be. He is a defensive liability, sometimes an embarrassment. I can’t believe the pop flies that he can’t reach. Doesn’t judge balls well, in the field or at the plate. All about his RBIs. Not helpful in moving runners along. Let someone else have him. Isn’t there someone in the league or minors that can hit 265 with 15 HRs and a few doubles, without the Ks.? We can live with Carp in left better than Ozuna for a year.
We keep Edman at third and Wong at second. Defense is important. Edman is better than Carp at third. Wong and Bader are our two best defenders.
We have DeJong until 2024. Rather expensive. I would feel a lot better if he would strike out fewer than 125 times in a year and get a few more RBIs. We may have fallen too much in love with his power. He can disappear in the lineup for a week at a time. Fairly decent fielder. We should settle for him for now and let him grow up. He is only three years into a career, and only 25. He may become a hitter we can count on. Let’s hire a pitching coach who hates Ks as much as I do.
I would love to see a hitting coach come in and teach some guys to use the entire field. If you can be victimized by a shift, you need too learn to hit. Good hitters hit more than HRs, and they hit them to all fields. Used to love to watch Musial hit it wherever, or Cepeda kill it to right center. You knew he was in a groove when he hit it to right center.
I would like to retain Wieters because we need a replacement for Molina. He isn’t 25 any more. He can’t continue to catch every game forever. We don’t have anyone else ready.
If someone wants Jose Martinez, O’Neil, Munoz, or Sosa, I would trade any of them for an 18-year old with promise. I don’t see any of them becoming a full-time starter. I don’t want Munoz or Sosa in the field at any position. I think more of Martinez as a fielder than I do of Munoz or Sosa.
If Gorman can learn to field, he may be here by 2021.
Pitching. Leave it alone. Don’t get excited. We have enough. I don’t know of anyone I want who is worth the price. I would like to find a home for Miller. Who likes older relievers?
How close is Carlson?
Has Flaherty had enough rest? That is my only concern with starting him. We really can’t afford to waste him if he won’t be at his best.
We should have an advantage with Derek Holland starting. Of course, we haven’t been hitting anyone well. We really need to move runners over and play well. It would be a shame to ruin a good season by losing our last five.
We really need to jump start this. A little spirit wouldn’t hurt. Go out and get two runs quickly. Don’t stop. Hate to waste another scoreless start by a starter on a bad bullpen performance. Flaherty and Hudson should have victories to finish the season.
Get singles. Not everything has to be a home run. I would like to see fewer than nine Ks.
