Atlanta Braves

COMMENTARY | The New York Mets are 10 games under .500 and 10 games out of first place. You might say that they’ve already made it into the irrelevant category. Given how poorly they’ve played, the holes on the roster, and what’s ahead, you might be right. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Atlanta Braves News

Some real talent began arriving in 2009, however, and reliable (if largely unspectacular) rotations and deep, hard-throwing bullpens have been more or less the order of the day ever since. McDowell’s job security has seemed only to grow with each passing year. Here’s an annual chart of Braves pitching performance in the McDowell tenure: Year ERA 2006 4.60 2007 4.11 2008 4.46 2009 3.57 2010 3.56 2011 3.48 2012 3.42 2013 3.38 A lower team ERA every year since 2008 is difficult to argue with. Pretty good trend, right? Well, maybe. Here’s the chart with league averages and the Braves’ league rank: Year ERA (NL) Rank 2006 4.60 4.49 10 2007 4.11 4.43 3 2008 4.46 4.29 12 2009 3.57 4.19 3 2010 3.56 4.02 3 2011 3.48 3.81 4 2012 3.42 3.94 4 2013 3.38 3.76 5 OK, so providing some context renders the team’s performance a little less impressive. After the quantum leap in results in 2009, the team ERA has declined 5.6%, but in an overall environment in which the league ERA has declined 11.4%. This context is reflected in the gradual slippage in league rank. Well, so what, you could argue. Our pitchers continue to perform significantly above average, and if we’re in a tightly bunched pack atop the league ranking, the difference between, say second and fifth could just be an exercise in hair-splitting. One last chart, this time with Fangraphs’ pitching WAR added: Year ERA (NL) Rank WAR Rank 2006 4.60 4.49 10 9.4 14 2007 4.11 4.43 3 11.1 10 2008 4.46 4.29 12 9 11 2009 3.57 4.19 3 21.2 2 2010 3.56 4.02 3 19.2 2 2011 3.48 3.81 4 18.6 3 2012 3.42 3.94 4 16.7 6 2013 3.38 3.76 5 3.5 8 Now that’s a little more disturbing. In general, a pitching staff’s line-drive rate will correlate with its batting average on balls in play. The Braves, meanwhile, rank 10th in the NL with a 20.5 LD% but 3rd in BABIP at .277. A lot of this disparity is due to the presence of a rangy (if error-prone) outfield and the stellar Andrelton Simmons (seriously, if you extrapolate his performance in his first 90-some games at shortstop to a full season, it would rank as one of the absolute best SS defensive seasons of all time. Andrelton is up there with Belanger and Ozzie, and you need to know that…it’s an honor to watch him in the field). But some of it is also luck — no NL team in the last ten years has combined a 20+% LD rate with a sub-.280 BABIP, so something’s gotta give. If you buy the premise that the team’s pitching performance is in decline, then the question becomes why. Of course, there’s no simple answer, because any pitching staff’s dynamics are in permanent flux — players are acquired and jettisoned, some guys develop, others get old. Some find an effective new pitch, others lose command of their old reliable pitches. But in the Braves’ case, over the past six years they find themselves dealing with one variable more often than any other major league team — our guys keep tearing their elbow ligaments. To be continued….

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Braves News from around the web. Brandon Beachy had a good first rehab outing at Gwinnett Friday night. Phot0 Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports Gwinnett Edges Toledo, 3-2 Brandon Beachy allows two runs over 4.0 innings in no-decision on rehab start Atlanta Braves’ right-hander Brandon Beachy tossed 4.0 innings of two-run baseball in his first rehab start for Gwinnett, and the Braves (19-30) scored two runs in the seventh to upend the Toledo Mud Hens, 3-2 on Friday night at Coolray Field. Back-to-back doubles by Joe Leonard and Paul Janish ignited the come-from-behind victory. Following Beachy’s outing, Yohan Flande (W, 2-4) was excellent in relief. The lefty picked up the victory, tossing 3.2 innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed two hits and struck out four. Wirfin Obispo and Pat Egan dusted off the Mud Hens for the final four outs. Egan (S, 1) recorded his first save of the season, pitching a scoreless ninth. Salcedo homers but M-Braves fall 6-2 in Mobile A two-run home run for Edward Salcedo in the eighth provided the only Braves runs The Mississippi Braves bats were baffled on Friday night by Diamondbacks prospect Archie Bradley as the Mobile BayBears evened the series at a game apiece with a 6-2 win at Hank Aaron Stadium. Braves-Mets suspended, game to resume Saturday  (AP) The New York Mets have never had a suspended game. Still, manager Terry Collins is certain about how he’s going handle his pitchers for the completion. The Mets rallied in the rain to tie their game with the Braves 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning Friday night after Evan Gattis had a two-run, pinch-hit single in the top half to put Atlanta ahead, but the teams will have to wait a day to finish it because the game was suspended after a 75-minute delay. ”I’m going to start the game with a relief pitcher,” Collins said. ”Otherwise, if the thing’s over in 10 minutes, the guy’s already warmed up, now he has to sit for an hour. That’s not what I want to happen.” Braves-Mets suspended, game to resume Saturday (Fox Sports) Fredi Gonzalez thought his Atlanta Braves would have the advantage going into the bottom of the eighth inning with the rain coming down and a gusty wind blowing. The manager is not so sure now. Evan Gattis had a two-run, pinch-hit single in the top of the eighth, then the Mets rallied to tie it in a downpour in the bottom half before the game between Atlanta and New York was suspended with the score 5-5 Friday night. Braves vs. Mets suspended after eight innings, to resume Saturday (AJC Free side version) Braves center fielder B.J. Upton’s fielding error on Daniel Murphy’s two-out RBI single in the eighth allowed Ruben Tejada to advance to third base, and he scored the tying run on Anthony Varvaro’s wild pitch in the dirt…er, mud. “They were trying to get the game in, to complete that inning,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who said he didn’t have a problem with the umpires continuing play in the bottom of the eighth. “That’s the protocol. Try to get it through, try to keep playing and finish the inning. And give the home team either a chance to come back in the bottom of the inning or us to (record) three outs.. . . Braves 3B coach Snitker out Friday for back exam (AJC Free Side) Braves third-base coach Brian Snitker stayed in Atlanta to have his back examined Friday after experiencing what manager Fredi Gonzalez described as leg numbness or “drop foot” symptoms. . . .drop foot, “is a general term for difficulty lifting the front part of the foot. If you have foot drop, you may drag the front of your foot on the ground when you walk. Foot drop isn’t a disease. Rather, foot drop is a sign of an underlying neurological, muscular or anatomical problem. Sometimes foot drop is temporary. In other cases, foot drop is permanent.”

Derick Hingle-USA Today Sports The Atlanta Braves will have to make a tough roster decision in the upcoming days. The Braves have temporarily gone with a six-man bullpen to keep all of their positional players on the 25-man roster. However, a recent stretch with 20 straight games without an off day will undoubtedly fatigue a six-man bullpen. We’ve seen how overworked arms in Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty have played out with recent season-ending Tommy John surgeries. So, what exactly are the Braves faced with? Let’s start with Evan Gattis, who has nine RBI and three home runs in his last eight at-bats. At one time, it looked like the Braves could eventually send Gattis to Triple-A in preparation to become the full-time catcher in 2014. His continuing success makes him too valuable of an asset to send down at this point, and manager Fredi Gonzalez recently squashed that idea by telling MLB.com’s Mark Bowman that “Before he gets sent down, I’ll get set down.” Utility players Jordan Schafer and Ramiro Pena have offered the most versatility off the bench and couple that with strong play. Seeing as both are out of Minor League options, neither look like a candidate to go. This leaves Juan Francisco, Reed Johnson and Gerald Laird. Francisco has gone through his hot and cold streaks, but still plays the majority of the time against right-handed pitching, so he’s likely out. The best option for the Braves at this point would be trading either Johnson or Laird. Both are veteran players who have value with the Braves, but the Braves simply don’t have room. Both are also expensive in comparison to how much playing time they get. Reed Johnson makes $1.6 million to receive one at-bat in the past week. Meanwhile, Laird makes $1.5 million to make one start a week. Laird could have a slight edge over Johnson as he has served as the regular catcher for young, starter Julio Teheran, who continues to improve each start. However, keeping three catchers could serve problematic, and Laird likely has higher trade value on the market than Johnson. The Braves could choose the cop-out solution by placing someone with an “injury” on the disabled-list to give them some more time. Eventually, somebody will be the odd man out. It looks like Johnson or Laird will be that guy.

I was having a conversation about my friend about baseball data, and how we're in the days where all sorts of things can be analyzed and studied into the ground; namely in the case we were talking about was stuff like PitchFX and HitFX. As interesting things as they are to study and look at, ultimately it doesn't change the fact that in the end, it might be useful in predicting, but it's still not going to be a definitive measure of truly defining a player's worth. The funny thing is that being the low-brow humor kind of guy that I sometimes am, I brought up at how simple human behavior can alter the compilation of data, and mess things up forever. Explanation through example: last week, Aroldis Chapman gave up a walk-off home run to Freddy Galvis. It was discovered later on that Chapman had gorged on Cuban pastries prior to the game; it's not definitive, but let's face it, stuffing your face before any sort of physical activity never sounds like a good idea, but the bottom line is that it was a baseball game, and every pitch, every release point, trajectory, and location was recorded and banked into the vault for eternity. Eventually, some Reds fan is going to be studying Aroldis Chapman pitches for when he nears free agency, or potential trade discussion, and the intel from his May 19 game is going to be included in the grand cauldron of Aroldis Chapman information, and nowhere in it is there going to be an asterisk with "ate too many pastelitos on May 19, 2013" next to some deviating release points and pitch locations. I don't really know what I'm getting at here, but basically I guess what I'm saying is that I like the stats and I can understand and appreciate them; but in the end, it's still impossible to predict the future based on stuff done in the past, and especially when so much of the human element is/can/could be involved. Welcome back to the basement, and have a happy Memorial Day. Cole Hamels silently boils over, shuns media - Phillies Zone After a loss to the Marlins (read: the Marlins), where Hamels struck out ten batters, but the Phillies simply could not score any runs, Cole Hamels decided that he didn't feel like talking to the media. The Philadelphia media, naturally took this as a slight, and refused to give any slack to the one pitcher who has pretty much carried the franchise over the span of the last almost decade now. Chase Utley has a sore ribcage, might need to be DL'd - Beerleaguer During BP, Utley felt some growing discomfort in his side. He was pulled from the lineup subsequently, and is expected to miss more games, and with a possible stint on the disabled list. All things considered, Utley shows how you deal with an injury - Crashburn Alley Report it right away, basically. Utley wasted little time after realizing that something wasn't right. Two weeks on the DL is nothing compared to lingering effects of haphazardly trying to play something that shouldn't be played through, regardless of age or contract situation. Carlos Ruiz to DL with hamstring injury. Also Ryan Howard sucks - Phillies Zone After returning from suspension for illegal use of Adderall, it only took Carlos Ruiz 16 games before his season took another wrong turn, with a hamstring injury that will likely keep him out of action for 3-4 weeks. Also, Ryan Howard is currently day-to-day with a bum knee, but it's also a perfect segue for people to talk about how poorly he's playing despite making $20M this season. What to do with Carlos Ruiz? - Phillies Nation It is a valid question, and just another one to add to the list of hypotheticals as the Phillies go into a pretty transitional period, more so this offseason, with so many of their marquee players hitting free agency. Carlos Ruiz will be 35 going into 2014, and his use of Adderall puts his 2012 numbers and true level of talent in question. Is he worth keeping, or should the Phillies consider renting him out? Reliever Mike Adams also on the DL - Hardball Talk Despit

The Juice returns for season No. 6! It’s almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more. Anibal Sanchez’s bid for his second career no-hitter fell just two outs short on Friday night. After retiring Jamey Carroll on a somewhat questionable strike three call to begin the ninth inning, Minnesota Twins star Joe Mauer laced a 1-1 pitch right back up the middle for a clean single, which keeps Sanchez from joining Justin Verlander, Mark Buehrle and Roy Halladay as the only active pitchers with multiple no-hitters. At least temporarily. The way he’s throwing this season, another bid is probably around the corner. ”It’s not that I go to the mound and want to do something special, it’s just that I want to go nine innings, go deeper, get a good command, get a good game,” Sanchez said. ”When I come to the eighth inning, I think about it. But when I come to the ninth inning, it’s really tough with those guys.” Much like his Friday night start back on April 26 when he struck out 17 Atlanta Braves, Sanchez had everything working against Minnesota. That was especially true during a stretch from the second inning to the seventh inning where he retired 18 straight batters. He ended up going the distance for his fourth career one-hitter , striking out 12. The outing required 130 pitches, which is sure to make a few fans uneasy, but he’s been no worse for the wear after throwing 122 in the April start. As for how Mauer felt about his latest history-breaking hit, which by the way is his third career ninth inning knock to break up a no-no attempt. ”He’s nasty, and he had everything working tonight,” Mauer said. ”Obviously, you know exactly what is happening, and you don’t want to get no-hit. I’m just up there trying to put the bat on the ball. He threw me a really good cutter and I was just able to square it up.” View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Atlanta Braves News

A soggy eighth inning led to the suspension of Friday's contest between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets. Atlanta jumped out to an early lead on Freddie Freeman's two-run homer in the first inning off Jeremy Hefner, but New York would get one of the runs back that same inning on Lucas Duda's pop-fly RBI single with two on against Kris Medlen. John Buck's home run leading off the fourth inning tied the game, and Marlon Byrd gave the Mets the lead with an RBI single in the fifth. After Freeman's homer, Hefner allowed just two hits, both to Brian McCann, in six innings. The first Mets reliever out of the bullpen, LaTroy Hawkins, promptly coughed up a game-tying home run to Dan Uggla in the seventh. Medlen also lasted six innings, giving up seven hits and striking out nine. Starting the eighth, Mets reliever Scott Rice walked Justin Upton and gave up a single to Freeman. New reliever Greg Burke walked Dan Uggla and, with the rain beginning to fall, Evan Gattis did what he has often done so far this year, coming through in the clutch this time with a two-run single to give Atlanta the lead. The rain began to fall more heavily when the bottom of the eighth commenced, and Anthony Varvaro was tasked to drudge through the downpour. John Buck walked to start the inning, Ruben Tejada singled with one out, but Varvaro struck out Jordany Valdespin with a chance to escape the monsoon with the lead intact. Daniel Murphy, though, would spoil that chance with a run-scoring single; a misplay by B.J. Upton allowed Tejada to advance to third, and he would eventually score the tying run on a very wet wild pitch. Once Varvaro struck out Rick Ankiel to end the inning, the tarp was pulled over the field. Play will resume at 6:10 p.m. ET Saturday.

Brandon Beachy returned to the mound, Edward Salcedo homered to extend his hitting streak, and Navery Moore had a nice start. Gwinnett Braves 3, Toledo Mud Hens 2 Todd Cunningham CF 1-4, .241 AVG Brandon Boggs DH 2-3, .221 AVG Joe Leonard 3B 1-3, 2B, RBI, .194 AVG Paul Janish SS 1-2, 2B, RBI, BB, .217 AVG Brandon Beachy 4 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 4.50 ERA Yohan Flande 3.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2), 4.70 ERA Pat Egan 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (1), 2.25 ERA Brandon Beachy made his first appearances since undergoing Tommy John surgery last June, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, while allowing 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3. He threw just 35 of his 70 pitches for strikes and was charged with a wild pitch. Todd Cunningham has gone 5-11 with a double, 2 triples, a RBI, and a walk in his last 3 games. Brandon Boggs has gone 7-15 with a double, a triple, 2 homers, 6 RBI, and 4 walks in his last 5 games. Joe Leonard is 2-6 with 2 doubles and a walk in his last 2 games. Paul Janish is 2-6 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI in his last 2 games. Sean Gilmartin will start for Gwinnett Saturday night against Shawn Hill. Mississippi Braves 2, Mobile Bay Bears 6 Tommy La Stella 2B 1-2, 2B, 2 BB, E (3), .300 AVG Edward Salcedo 3B 1-3, HR (6), 2 RBI, BB, .289 AVG Christian Marrero 1B 2-4, .255 AVG Mike Lee 6 IP, 6 R, 4 ER, 11 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 3.86 ERA Andy Russell 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1.50 ERA Mark Lamm 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 1.24 ERA Mike Lee made his last start with Gwinnett, allowing 3 earned runs in 5 innings, and his return to Mississippi was a rough one, as he allowed 6 runs, 4 earned, in 6 innings of work tonight. Mark Lamm has tossed 11 shutout innings over his last 6 appearances. Edward Salcedo hit his sixth homer of the year and extended his hitting streak to 9 games. He's gone 13-32 with a double, 4 homers, 5 RBI, 2 walks, and 2 steals during the streak. Tommy La Stella reached base 3 times tonight, but he's gone just 3-17 in his last 5 games, though he has collected 4 walks in that span. Alex Wood will look to continue his fine season tomorrow night against David Holmberg and the Bay Bears. Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Potomac Nationals 3 Matt Lipka CF 2-4, 2B, SB (11), .269 AVG Ross Heffley 2B 1-3, RBI, SAC, .222 AVG Robby Hefflinger LF 1-3, .286 AVG Kyle Kubitza 3B 2-4, RBI, .248 AVG Will Skinner RF 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .188 AVG Navery Moore 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K, W (5), 5.43 ERA John Cornely 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 3.86 ERA Navery Moore picked up his league leading fifth win of the year tonight, allowing 1 earned run over 6 innings of work. After some early season inconsistency, he seems to have settled down, posting a 3.00 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in 18 innings over his last 3 starts after allowing a 6.69 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP in 35 innings over his first 7 starts. John Cornely has struck out 6 over without allowing an earned run in 5 innings over his last 4 appearances. Matt Lipka has gone 4-13 with a double and 2 RBI in his last 3 games, and in his last 10 games he's hitting .355 with a .770 OPS, 3 doubles, 5 RBI, and 2 steals. In his last 9 games, Kyle Kubitza has gone 11-30 with a double, a triple, a homer, 7 RBI, and 2 steals. The Hillcats will send Jarrett Miller to the mound on Saturday and the Nationals will counter with Blake Schwartz. Rome Braves 0, Asheville Tourists 6 Levi Hyams 2B 1-3, BB, .316 AVG Trent Moses DH 2-4, .267 AVG Lucas Sims 3.2 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 K, 3.08 ERA Lucas Sims made his first start of the season, striking out a season high 7 while allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, over a season high 2.1 innings of work. In 17 innings over his last 6 appearances, he's allowed 1 earned run on 9 hits and 6 walks, while striking out 21. In his last 10 games, Levi Hyams is hitting .333 with a .828 OPS, 2 doubles, a homer, 8 RBI, and 2 steals. Rafael Briceno will start for the R-Braves tomorrow against Matthew Carasiti for Asheville.

Citi Field, Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets, 5/24/13, bottom of the second