Morning Chop: Atlanta Braves News 4/11/14
Tomahawk Take
Good Morning Braves’ Fans!
Check out the boxscore from last night’s disappointing loss (and series loss) to the New York Mets. After playing absolutely spectacular in game 2 of the series, with great pitching and hitting, the Braves fell flat for the most part in game 3 to lose the series. The see-saw act has got to stop in Atlanta, or the bleeding won’t!
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS | Pit | Str | A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Heyward RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .171 | .636 | 20 | 10 | 0 | SB |
| B.J. Upton CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .152 | .394 | 16 | 11 | 0 | 3B |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .419 | 1.191 | 17 | 12 | 2 | |
| Chris Johnson 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .229 | .643 | 18 | 15 | 1 | |
| Justin Upton LF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .265 | .766 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2·HR |
| Dan Uggla 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .176 | .430 | 17 | 10 | 1 | |
| Ryan Doumit C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .167 | .397 | 14 | 8 | 0 | |
| Ramiro Pena SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 | .400 | 9 | 7 | 3 | |
| David Hale P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| Anthony Varvaro P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Jordan Schafer PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 2 | 2 | GDP | |
| Luis Avilan P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Gus Schlosser P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Ian Thomas P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Evan Gattis PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 | .600 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Team Totals | 33 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 11 | .212 | .752 | 135 | 94 | 9 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Hale | 4.1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2.89 | 23 | 90 | 51 | 28 | 8 | 15 | 6 | 10 | 5 |
| Anthony Varvaro | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 | 5 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Luis Avilan, L (1-1) | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Gus Schlosser | 1.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.20 | 7 | 25 | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Ian Thomas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.38 | 3 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 5.00 | 42 | 164 | 100 | 57 | 17 | 26 | 10 | 17 | 9 |
Justin Upton hit a homer so far the opposing pitcher threw his glove in disgust (Video)
Justin Upton hadn’t homered coming into Thursday’s Atlanta Braves game. But when he finally got the ball flying out of the yard, he did it in style. Upton hit two homers against the New York Mets, the second of which was a massive blast to left field.
The ball traveled 477 feet, according to ESPN’s Home Run Tracker, the second longest homer of the season, seven fewer feet than Giancarlo Stanton‘s big blast over the weekend. And while Upton’s homer was impressive, it’s not the only reason to watch the highlight above. Come for the huge homer, stay for Mets starterJenrry Mejía’s reaction when he saw his pitch crushed.
Recap: Atlanta vs. NY Mets
Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) – Eric Young Jr. and Daniel Murphy each had three hits and New York’s bullpen tossed four scoreless innings in relief of Jenrry Mejia to carry the Mets to a 6-4 win over the Atlanta Braves in the rubber match of a three-game series from Turner Field.
Young did it all for the Mets, stealing three bags and scoring four times while Murphy finished with three runs batted in. David Wright, Ike Davis and Juan Lagares also drove in a run apiece to help New York win its fourth game in the last six following an 0-3 start to the season.
“It was huge, especially winning the series against the defending N.L. East champs,” said Young.
Mejia struck out seven but allowed four runs on six hits and four walks over five frames. Three New York relievers held Atlanta to just a hit over the final four innings. Carlos Torres (2-0) struck out three in two innings, Kyle Farnsworth tossed a perfect eighth and Jose Valverde worked the ninth for his second save of the season.
Justin Upton finished 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs for Atlanta, which got just 4 1/3 innings from starter David Hale. The righty yielded four runs — three earned — on five hits and five walks. Luis Avilan (1-1) took the loss after allowing Lagares’ RBI single in the seventh, which proved to be the difference.
“Just one of those days,” said Hale. “I didn’t have command of the fastball at all. I had to battle the whole time. It’s tough to do that the entire game.”
Tommy John surgery now ‘an epidemic’
It would be easy to assemble an All-Star staff of pitchers who have excelled after Tommy John surgery, aces such as Adam Wainwright, Francisco Liriano and Stephen Strasburg, who returned from elbow reconstruction as good as ever and earned tens of millions of dollars thanks to their new ulnar collateral ligaments.
Yet the once-revolutionary surgery has become so commonplace — and so successful — that finding an answer for a rash of pitchers having the procedure proves elusive.
MORE: Tommy John surgeries decimating rosters
Pitchers are throwing harder than ever —and on a year-round basis at a younger age — both of which can add stress to a very delicate ligament.
And oddly, the allure of the cure — and some of the myths it has engendered — might be partly to blame for the spike in the surgery’s incidence.
“It seems like every year I’m doing more and more, so from my standpoint it’s an epidemic,” said James Andrews, the noted orthopedic surgeon who has become the go-to doctor for major leaguers with elbow problems.
Justin Upton’s Big Night Is Great News For Atlanta Braves
Ladies and gentlemen, Justin Upton has arrived for the Atlanta Braves. After getting off to a slow start to begin the season, Upton delivered a monster performance with his bat against the New York Mets to officially declare an end to his struggles. Unfortunately, his great effort at the plate wasn’t enough to put the Braves over the top as the Mets ended up winning by a final score of 6-4.
Despite not coming out with a win, Atlanta fans have to be excited about Upton going forward. His huge night could possibly mean that the young outfielder is ready to turn the corner and forget about his rough beginning to the season, which is great news for the whole organization. Entering this contest, he had not managed to record a single home run or RBI, but that changed with two swings of the bat. Upton crushed two home runs over the wall and recorded his first three RBIs to finish a promising outing.