IGT, 7/15, Galvine vs. Smoltz

[Guest KC]

Good game, but kinda crappy.

I know you all appreciate my poignant analysis.

[Guest Spacemans Bong]

sigh, .500

This team isn't very good. Piazza is not good (and will never be good again). Reyes is not good (although he's young enough to eventually be pretty good). Glavine is cooked. They have no first baseman, and a bad offense that doesn't walk (the worst kind of bad offense). They ground into a ton of DP's. Beltran is mediocre (if hurt). Willie sucks.

This team has the potential to be good, but not this year. Sell teh team!

[Guest Edgy DC]

I prefer KC's analysis.

[Guest Spacemans Bong]

Edgy DC wrote: I prefer KC's analysis.

We all know I speak the truth..

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, well, the perspective cooler is available to everyone.

See you tomorrow.

[Frayed Knot]

Frickin' Braves defense was in the exact right spot all frickin' night just like it's been for years. I don't know how they frickin' do it.

Piazza had two hard smacks toward the middle tonight. First one was slightly toward the 1st base side and there was Giles waiting for it. Now this 9th inning DP deflects off the mound and slightly on the 3rd base side and Furball is the one playing up the middle this time.
Earlier, the difference in the game may have been that Francoeur in RF was able to cut off the ball before it got inot the corner and kept Reyes at 2nd (sure Sac Fly followed). And when Reyes singled to LF Kelly Johnson was playing him that way and kept him to a single (GiDP followed).
Yeah, I know, the always play to the opposite field so it's not luck, it's by design. Except of course when Offerman pulled one over the 1st base bag ... and right to Old man Franco.

Drives me frickin' nuts!

[metirish]

Daubach sent down, Doug Mink back up.
Padilla called up and Ring sent down.

[Guest KC]

>>>We all know I speak the truth.<<<

Well, it's not like anyone here is banging any drums contrary.

You left NOW!!! off the sell the team thing. We have our traditions, ya know.

[Guest Edgy DC]

But he kept the "teh" tradition alive and blazing.

[Guest KC]

Slow night on the CPF when the typo police shows up.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Not at all.

[Willets Point]

"teh" is a sacred internet tradition.

This loss tempers the excitement of my soccer team's commandin 5-0 win.

[metirish]

Did I just hear correctly from Gary Cohen on the Mets post-game report,David Wright has hit 28 home runs in the majors, nine have come against the Braves, do we have our Braves killer?

[Guest Spacemans Bong]

It's all about teh teh.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Zachry!

[Willets Point]

Teh

[Frayed Knot]

Hey, it could be worse.

Nats & Brewers tied in bottom 10 in Milwaukee, 1st & 3rd, new acquisition Mike Stanton in to pitch. Stanton throws over to 1st and has the runner trapped BUT .... he BALKED! Runner trots in from 3rd, game OVAH!
Yes, it's the infamous 'Walk-off Balk'.

Kinda tough to lose a game without throwing a pitch, but Stanton managed (not that it was his loss specifically)

The worm is turning for the Nats. That's 6 losses in their last 7 games ... all by 1 run or 2. Pythagorous can be a cruel bitch.





On the other hand, Raffy Palmiero just got hit #3,000 - 2B into LF corner.

[Elster88]

That's a ballsy umpire.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Game Experience by Johnny "53" Dickshot.

I was meeting some work people there. Got free foldable plastic binoculars at the turnstyle and on the way to the elevators was bombarded by a bunch of Korean guys giving me more stuff: They gave me blue & orange inflatable thunder stixx, ginseng candy, a bag of snack food, cup-o-noodles, etc. I said to one guy "where is this from?" thinking it might have come from that grocery store I like down the street, but he just said: "Korea!" Well, thanks! It was Korean Heritage Night.

On the elevators up to the Upper Deck I inflated the thunder stixx by inserting the straw into one end and blowing. Cleverly, they sealed up automatically when you remove the straw. They said "Let's Go Mets" on one side and "KIMCHI: Korean Fermented Food" on the other.

The binoculars they gave out were far superior to the "Box-noculars" distributed by Duncan Donuts a few years ago as a Shea giveaway and which I recall didn't work for shit. I used the these to watch the Braves take batting practice and noted that Francoeur and Johnson were both hitting bombs.

I encountered a guy who must have already been drunk sitting behind me. He noticed the thunderstixx and asked where I got them., I said the Korean guys gave them away. He'd thrown his away, thinking they were a juice drink, and now was cracking wise about his unusual snack food: "They smell like Some Young Girl!" I moved to the shade for the rest of BP. Pre-game entertainment featured a martial-arts demonstration, a Korean drumming ensemble and a quartet of Koreans dressed like chefs who did a Stomp-esque show with knives on cutting boards. They were great.

Well the good news is we could have lost this game by more than 2-1, the bad news is we don't hit well enough.

The Braves played pretty well in all phases. Even during the middle innings when they weren't scoring they were hitting it pretty hard. Francoeur looked as good as he did in BP, killed everything, and made a nice play beneath us in right to cut off Reyes' shot and keep it a double. Cameron's failure to do the very same things -- tho he did hit it hard a few times -- was one contrast that looked pretty large by the end. They were in position to make all the plays but for Giles error, and Smoltz seemed to get the K whenever he needed it, and Reitsma seemed to come with a nasty change when he needed one.

Beltran I believe swung and missed at every first pitch he saw. Glavine was somewhat lucky given the hard-hit balls he surrendered, but the Johnson K -- finally -- was huge and ended a good night for him. Really, I think we just saw two poor-hitting teams trying hard to to win tonight.

The burning question I had as we made our way out was -- Why Didn't Reyes Steal Second With Cameron Batting In the 8th?!? If I recall, he had a few pitches to go before the Mo-killing DP. Was there word on that?

My second question is: What number is Juan Padilla Flotilla?

[Frayed Knot]

I was looking for a Reyes steal there too.
Predictably, the talk radio world was killing Willie for not Sac-Bunting there, something that would have caused screaming from my corner of the world.


Anybody think Reyes could/should have tried legging that 2B into a 3B? My reaction at the time that he would have been thrown out -- although it's sometimes tough to tell just from the split TV angles.