Afternoon Chop: Atlanta Braves News 5/8/14
Apr 10, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher
David Hale(right) talks with catcher
Ryan Doumit(left) against the New York Mets during the 1st inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports
The Braves have struggled lately, and that comes as no news to any fans. After their latest loss on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, they are now in 2nd place in the NL East, a half game back of both the Washington Nationals, and the Miami Marlins. As we’ve seemingly said for too long a time now, we’ll hope the Braves can get back on track tomorrow as they begin a new series against the Chicago Cubs. Check out the boxscores from last night’s loss, courtesy of Baseball Reference.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS | Pit | Str | PO | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Heyward RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .209 | .605 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Justin Upton LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .303 | .974 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0 |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .307 | .910 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
| Evan Gattis C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .255 | .789 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 0 |
| Chris Johnson 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .246 | .596 | 15 | 11 | 0 | 3 |
| B.J. Upton CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .212 | .624 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Andrelton Simmons SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .273 | .736 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Mike Minor P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .500 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| David Hale P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Jordan Schafer PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .488 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Anthony Varvaro P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Luis Avilan P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Ryan Doumit PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .176 | .376 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Ramiro Pena 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .229 | .747 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 3 |
| Team Totals | 34 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 7 | .206 | .582 | 113 | 80 | 27 | 9 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Minor, L (0-2) | 4.1 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 6.97 | 25 | 91 | 60 | 35 | 3 | 22 | 5 | 12 | 11 |
| David Hale | 2.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.76 | 8 | 24 | 17 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Anthony Varvaro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.31 | 3 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Luis Avilan | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6.10 | 5 | 23 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 7.00 | 41 | 154 | 104 | 66 | 10 | 28 | 11 | 19 | 17 |
MLBPipeline.com’s Bernie Pleskoff takes a look at David Hale, and talks about how he has made a big difference to the Braves’ rotation this year. With Mike Minor‘s hiccups, and lingering questions about Gavin Floyd, I’ve wondered myself if it wasn’t a mistake to relegate Hale to the bullpen so quickly. Perhaps only time will tell, but Bernie Pleskoff takes a closer look…
Braves’ Hale has ability to start or pitch out of ‘pen
"Some teams might wilt under the weight of losing multiple starting pitchers in the early days of a new season. To their credit, the Atlanta Braves moved swiftly to find solutions to their rotation issues this year.The team had to proceed without Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy, both of whom underwent Tommy John surgery. Mike Minor has dealt with shoulder tendinitis but is back pitching for the club, and Gavin Floyd just returned after rehabbing from his own Tommy John procedure last season.The Braves acted quickly to add free-agent pitchers Ervin Santana and Aaron Harang to the rotation. For a third starting pitcher, Atlanta looked internally and selected right-hander David Haleto assume the role."
The Cards took it to the Braves, and despite great hopes for Mike Minor’s 2nd outing in 2014, his performance was somewhat of a let down. BND picked up the recap by Rick Hummel, of the St. Louis Dispatch.
Bourjos and Wainwright lead Cardinals past Braves
"ATLANTA — Adam Wainwright batted .211 last year, which probably is a little higher than he’s supposed to hit. He’s a pitcher.Peter Bourjos was batting .154 before the Cardinals got to Turner Field this week. He’s an outfielder and that is not a good average, one that Wainwright might even disdain.Together, that twosome batted .625 on Wednesday night as the Cardinals snatched the decisive game of a three-game series from the Atlanta Braves, 7-1.Bourjos, who had eight hits for the Cardinals in the first five weeks of the season, had five in two starts this week against the Braves."
Todd Salem, columnist for Bleacher Report, shares with us 6 Early-Season stats that may help explain the difficulties the Atlanta Braves’ are having lately Take a look at Todd’s article…
Braves Baseball: 6 Early-Season Braves Stats That Tell You All You Need to Know
"After losing Wednesday night to the St. Louis Cardinals, theAtlanta Braves find themselves at 18-15, good for third place in the National League East.Just half a game behind Washington and Miami for first place, the Braves are on a bit of a slide, losing eight of their past 10 ballgames. Their run differential is also down to a mediocre plus-three."
David Schultz of the Atlanta Journal Constitution takes a look at three issues the Atlanta Braves are having, and shares his votes about what might be done, starting, he says, with the problem of Dan Uggla. Read more…
Braves: 3 issues, my votes (starting with Uggla)
"Despite ending a seven-game losing streak Tuesday night, the Braves affirmed their 2-1 win over St. Louis actually didn’t change much in the big picture. They lost the following to the Cardinals 7-1, dropping their third straight series (and falling to 1-5 on this homestand).As I wrote in a column Tuesday night, the Braves’ biggest concern isn’t that they’re running out of time. It’s only May. The problem is that their major issues now are pretty much the same as they were a year ago: an unproductive offense (they rank 29th in runs scored), punctuated by a lack of clutch hitting (.220 and ranked 27th with runners on base; .201 and ranked 28th with runners in scoring position)."