Atlanta Braves: A Flawed Lineup Card
Braves center fielder Cameron Maybin (25). The Braves defeated the Nationals 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Last night’s opener for the Braves at Camden Yards could have hinged on a single plate appearance in which a Braves hitter failed to do the fundamental thing. And the fault for that failure should be split between Fredi Gonzalez and Cameron Maybin.
It was the first inning. After working the count full… and then some… Nick Markakis dumped a double down the left field line to lead off the game. Exactly the kind of thing you want a lead-off man to do.
Trouble was, the second place hitter wasn’t a prototypical #2 guy. It was Maybin, whose thinking doesn’t seem to be in the frame of giving himself up to move a runner over. Instead, he was trying to drive Markakis in by himself.
First pitch. Sharp grounder to short. First out. Nick hustles back to second base…. where he stayed.
But… Others?
The next batter was Freddie Freeman, who also made an out, but that was a flyout to left field – deep enough to have scored any runner on third base.
Sure – Freeman could have gotten a hit (but he’s now just 1-for-10 after returning). DH A.J. Pierzynski could have gotten a hit. But hits can be tough to get. Productive fly outs? Much easier, and an extra option.
As they say, it’s a lot easier to get a runner home from third base than second. And Maybin should have tried to move the runner over first.
The Card
All that said, Maybin isn’t really the right guy to put in that slot anyway: Jace Peterson is, though last night he had been dropped to the latter half of the order as he’d been struggling lately. While I agree with the intent, I disagree with the new positioning. Maybin is the leader in RBI on the team… which suggests a lower position in the lineup. He wasn’t thinking like a #2 hitter.
This season, Maybin has been hitting 2nd more often than not: 228 plate appearances. So this isn’t news, but here is some: it’s about his production from the 2 hole: 92 OPS+. He’s been better elsewhere in the lineup.
I also can’t truly fault Maybin for going after the first pitch (he uncharacteristically saw just 11 pitches in 5 AB last night). Of those in the starting 9, Maybin typically sees more pitches per plate appearance (3.99) than anyone but Markakis (4.15) and Peterson (4.00).
So here’s hoping for a bit of a rethink on that lineup card. Put Jace in the 2-hole and Maybin in the 5. That seems better from a run-production standpoint. It also helps Jace be productive… even when he isn’t getting hits.
Meanwhile… the Pitching
Alex Wood was on fire. 3 hits allowed all night into the 8th inning; 2 walks, 7 strikeouts. No runs. Unfortunately, that’s the support he received as well. Sure, Adonis Garcia got the homer again (don’t rely on that too much – he only had 3 at AAA), but Kevin Gausman managed to mange the damage, scattering 6 hits and a walk against the punchless Braves bats.
It was indeed a disappointing finish in 11 innings, as Jim Johnson blew the save in the 9th, and Avilan served up the one to Matt Wieters.
Frankly, we should not have to be looking at these things with microscopes… if the hitters were all picking up the slack, then these moments in time would not loom so large. But right now, it is what it is:
Another outstanding pitching performance. Another anemic performance on the offensive side. A 2-1 loss.