Morning Chop: Atlanta Braves News 4/12/14
Tomahawk Take
Good Morning Braves Fans!
Wow! What a game! As the visiting Washington Nationals came to Atlanta last night for the start of a 3-game series, no one guessed the game would be that tight, almost throughout. It was a game full of intrigue, mistakes, rants and raves from fans, good pitching, bad pitching, and a whole host of other things that made game 1 quite the affair. The Braves came away with the win, but just barely, so check out the boxscores below for both batting and pitching, and enjoy the morning’s Braves related news!
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS | Pit | Str | A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Heyward RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .154 | .590 | 16 | 9 | 0 | |
| B.J. Upton CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .135 | .374 | 20 | 11 | 0 | CS,GDP |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .400 | 1.157 | 20 | 12 | 2 | 2B,HBP,GDP |
| Chris Johnson 3B | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .275 | .736 | 20 | 14 | 1 | 2B |
| Jordan Schafer PR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | ||||
| Justin Upton LF | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .324 | .972 | 25 | 14 | 0 | HR,HBP |
| Dan Uggla 2B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .162 | .416 | 18 | 10 | 4 | HBP,GDP |
| Evan Gattis C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .208 | .583 | 20 | 12 | 1 | |
| Ramiro Pena SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .222 | .778 | 20 | 14 | 3 | HR |
| Julio Teheran P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .286 | .571 | 10 | 7 | 1 | |
| Tyler Pastornicky PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 5 | 4 | ||
| Jordan Walden P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| David Carpenter P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Craig Kimbrel P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Ryan Doumit PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .154 | .368 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Luis Avilan P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Team Totals | 35 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 7 | .257 | .852 | 177 | 110 | 12 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julio Teheran | 6 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.84 | 28 | 84 | 53 | 34 | 2 | 17 | 11 | 15 | 6 |
| Jordan Walden | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6.00 | 4 | 22 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| David Carpenter | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 6 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Craig Kimbrel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1.93 | 3 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Luis Avilan, W (2-1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 | 5 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 10 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 2.70 | 46 | 159 | 97 | 56 | 14 | 27 | 15 | 19 | 9 |
3 thoughts as the Braves again swat the Nats
Three quick thoughts — quick because I have to be in Athens for G-Day on Saturday — after watching the Atlanta Braves beat Washington 7-6 in a game that ended at 11:28 p.m.
1. The Washington Nationals, not for the first time, are wondering how they lost this one. They outhit the Braves 14-9, scored three unearned runs after a Dan Uggla throwing error and overrode a 4-0 deficit to take a 6-5 lead in the eighth. They lost anyway. (Justin Upton tied it with a homer off Tyler Clippard in the eighth and won it with a bloop single off Jerry Blevins in the 10th.) As the Nats’ Adam LaRoche said before the game: “Regardless of what we do, I always think it’s going to be a one-run game against those guys.” And the Braves, who were 13-6 against the Nationals last season, are 3-1 in 2014. Sure enough, two of those victories have been one-run games decided in the final at-bat. Had Washington won, it would have led the Braves by three games not two weeks into the season. By losing, the margin is one.
Instant analysis: Braves 7, Nats 6 (10)
AME IN A NUTSHELL: Not even Tolstoy would have enough ink to cram every detail of this ballgame into one leather-bound book, but we’ll try to present the Cliff Notes’ version…
Tanner Roark was beaten around for four early runs, putting the Nationals in another early hole. Ryan Zimmerman’s bomb off Julio Teheran in the top of the fifth tied the game back up. Zimmerman was involved in a bunch of wacky plays in the field, a couple of them prompting Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez to storm out of the dugout and chat with second base umpire Angel Hernandez for several minutes … before being told by his coaches not to formally challenge the calls.
Adam LaRoche tried to score on a wild pitch — from SECOND BASE — and was called out, with Matt Williams challenging that call, which still stood after a long delay. Bryce Harper ignited an eighth-inning rally by beating out a bunt. He later scored the go-ahead run on Denard Span’s RBI single up the middle, which ended with Span on the ground in pain after colliding with Dan Uggla.
Atlanta Braves’ Dan Uggla Needs To Either Step Up Or Take A Seat
I have defended Dan Uggla probably more than anyone over the last few years during his time with the Atlanta Braves, but after tonight even I might be done with his antics. It’s time for him to either step up and produce for this team or take a seat on the bench. Right now, Uggla is doing the opposing teams more favors than his own, and quite frankly I’m getting tired of it. For a player who is paid around $12 million dollars a year, he’s not nearly producing at the level Atlanta is paying him.
It’s not just his offense that has been abysmal for the last few seasons either, whenever he’s out there playing at second base he’s a defensive liability, too. Tonight’s game against the Washington Nationals provided the perfect example of both his struggles as well. In the bottom of the third inning, Uggla had the perfect chance to deliver for the Braves in order to open the game wide open and he completely failed.
Braves News: Andrelton Simmons receives Gold, Platinum Gloves for 2013
n a well-deserved piece of Braves news for defensive wizard Andrelton Simmons and his amazing ability at the shortstop position, Rawlings Glove Company presented the young middle infielder with a Gold Glove and a Platinum Glove award for his work during the 2013 MLB season.
Check out this picture of Simmons accepting the award, courtesy of David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
According to Baseball Reference.com, by way of Mark Simon of ESPN.com’s Sweet Spot Blog, Simmons produced a Wins Above Replacement of 5.4 for his defensive work alone in 2013, finishing 0.8 ahead of his closest competition.
Simmons has turned into a human highlight real for the Atlanta Braves at shortstop, drawing comparisons to Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel for the absolute magic he can produce when on the field.