Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Home Field is Advantageous, Cookin'

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Jul 9, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies fans attempt to stay dry in the stands at Coors Field druing the end of the fifth inning against the Atlanta Braves. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

In case you actually had to get a decent night’s rest last night, please allow me to summarize the first game of the Rockies’ series:

5 minutes of game play
2 hours of rain delay, accompanied by a poor display of tarp wrangling
pitching changes on both sides
Jake Brigham learning all about lack of pitch movement in Denver
Jace Peterson being Jace Peterson
4 innings of frustration

After starting like the score would end up 15-9, neither team scored after the fifth inning and the Rockies held on to their slim (park-adjusted) 2-run lead, winning 5-3.

We heard many ‘stats’ last night about just how many times the Rockies’ grounds crew have had to deploy their tarp for rain delays this year – I believe they are now up to 24 hours of such delays in total, not even counting 4 postponed games.

You’d think by now they would have figured out exactly what to do and how to do it most efficiently when called upon.

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You’d be wrong.

So between the wet field, the fact that no one seemed to be able to communicate the coming storm to the umpiring crew, and the normal Coors Field issues… the altitude… the Braves ended up being compelled to use a pitcher who had zero experience in the thin air (and hardly any major league experience, period) on a sloppy track.

Remarkably, the visitors didn’t commit any errors in the field, but you could tell that the outfielders were perhaps a step slowed by trying to insure their footing. Unfortunately, they had to run a lot as Brigham (summoned after Alex Wood was forced out after 2 – count ’em: two – pitches) was throwing everything straight into the barrels of bats, giving up 10 hits and 4 earned runs over a heroic 4 innings.

Michael Foltynewicz didn’t fare a lot better: 3 hits and 1 more run. But hey, that’s what you get in Denver. But your offense has to help out, and the Braves – despite 10 hits – were unable to put it together, save for the 5th inning in which they plated 3.

For the Rockies, our friend David Hale was knocked out with a groin pull… he will likely be shut down until at least after the All-Star break.

I want a rule in baseball that allows you to bring anyone to the plate you want if the bases are loaded. When that happens, I want Jace Peterson there… every time. Last night it was another double. It’s pretty uncanny:

With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting .306
With runners on base at all, he’s hitting .319
In both situations, he has 36 RBI.
But with the bases jammed? before last night, it was .636/.583/1.182/1.765 (yes, that’s a 1.765 OPS!)

The Braves’ pitching sequence is all squiggled up now; there will undoubtedly be some shuffling. Expect Alex Wood to come back and try again at some point this weekend; some AAA shuffling will likely be done as well. While some good ideas about how this will be done have been proposed from various sources, I’ll hold off until we see the actually transactions announced.

Here’s your box…

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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Home Field is Advantageous, Cookin’

By Alan Carpenter | Jul 10, 2015

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