Atlanta Braves Morning Chop for SAT 9/6

[Danville] Braves try to mount late rally, fall to Cards 4-2 in championship

MATTHEW JOHNSON / DANVILLE BRAVES

Grosser gives up three in a short outing as the Braves fall 4-2 to the Cards in the deciding game of the Appy League Championship

DANVILLE, VA – The Johnson City Cardinals defeated the Danville Braves to win the Appalachian League Championship by the score of 4-2 Friday night. The D-Braves close out a great season with a tough series loss to Johnson City 1-2 and miss out on the team’s third Appy League title since moving to Danville in 1993.

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Johnson City came out of the gate swinging on D-Braves’ starter

, as the right handed ground ball pitcher gave up three runs in the second inning.

led off the inning with his second double of the postseason. A

walk and

hit by pitch loaded the bases for the Cards, and with two out a

walk put the first run on the board for Johnson City.

stepped to the plate next, and swatted a single to center scoring Lacy and Lankford to make it a 3-0 game.

…

In a “piggy-back” scenario for the D-Braves, starting pitcher Andry Ubiera made his first appearance of the postseason and first relief appearance all season long. Ubiera relieved Grosser and threw 3.0 innings, surrendering no runs, no hits, three walks, and struck out seven Cardinals.

…

Danville attempted a late, ninth inning comeback, however to no avail. Jose Morel doubled home Tanner Krietemeier after his leadoff double, making the score 4-2 with no outs in the top of the ninth. Fernelys Sanchez would strike out in the next at bat, bringing up Mike Dodig. Dodig slapped a grounder to second, moving Morel to third with two outs. Johnson City’s reliable closer Ismael Brito would then shut the book on the D-Braves 2014 season, striking out Wigberto Nevarez with Morel stranded on third to end the game.

The Danville Braves (38-30) have now concluded their 2014 campaign. This was Danville’s first playoff appearance since 2012, and the D-Braves had an opportunity to win their first Appy League Championship since 2009. Johnson City has now won their third Appalachian League Title since 2010, after going back to back in 2010 and 2011.

Yes, We Have Another Curaçao SS Coming

Ozhaino Albies.  Ozzy.  File this name away for future reference.

Ozhaino Albies (uncredited photo) – from his Danville player profile site at http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t429&player_id=645277

Ozzy is seventeen years old… he won’t be 18 until January.  5’9″ (if that), 150 lbs.  When signed as an international free agent last year, he was listed at 5’7″/133.   That by itself doesn’t sound like much, but he’s a switch-hitting SS from the same island that has produced Andruw Jones, Randall Simon, Jair Jurrjens, Andrelton Simmons (all who play/played for Atlanta), plus Roger Bernandina, Jurickson Profar, Jonathan Schoop, Kenley Jansen, and a small handful of others (Didi Gregorius lives there, but was born in the Netherlands; Xander Bogaerts was born in Aruba).

But never mind that pedigree:  what has my attention is his performance so far in America minor league baseball:

GCL Braves:  19 games, 63 AB.  .381/.481/.429/.909 OPS.  More steals (7) and walks (11) than strikeouts (6).

Danville Braves:  38 games, 135 AB.  .356/.429/.452/.881 OPS.  Okay, he struck out some… 17 times.  Also had 17 BB, 15 steals, 3 triples… and a homer (I checked – it doesn’t appear to have been an inside-the-park job, either).

minorleagueball.com suggests that his arm strength projects to a future at second base, but the speed is legit… and apparently his hitting may be as well.

Okay, I’ve put this off long enough

The Atlanta Braves could not muster anything significant off of Jarred Cosart last night.  Yes, he was ultimately charged with all three of the Braves runs in the 11-3 Marlins victory, but the contest had been decided well in advance of that point.  Cosart scattered 5 hits and struck out 7 while walking only 1.

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homered for the first run, but that has a rare sight this year as the Marlins have handled him quite successfully.  Likewise, the Braves have kept

in check, but that was broken up a bit last night as he went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs driven in.

Aaron Harang just did not have much as he fell to 10-10 on the year.  Six earned and done before the end of the 4th inning.  It was his shortest outing of the year, though in looking at his recent game logs, you have to wonder if the 36-1/3-year-old Harang is merely pitching to the level of his career… or if he’s just running out of gas.  Either way, there was not nearly enough run support (heard that one before?).

In the Wild Card races…

• Milwaukee retakes the second WC slot from Atlanta by beating the Cardinals
• The Giants solidify their hold on the #1 slot, beat Detroit
• The Pirates/Cubs game was suspended by rain, with the score 3-3 in the 7th inning
• The Phillies are at least an equal-opportunity spoiler:  they beat the Nationals in 11 innings (Nats’ bullpen risk warning!)
• The Reds were clobbered by the Mets.  Why do I even have them in this list?
• San Diego… right after I suggested they might have a shot… lost their 2nd in a row (third overall).  Never mind.

Here’s the numbers: