Thoughts on the Game 4/21

[Edgy MD]

Ronnie and Keith are right about Curtis. He may have gotten off to a similar start, batting average wise, as last year, but they're very different. Last year he looked clueless at the plate, but this year he's taking his walks and getting good swings, but the hits just haven't been dropping in. 'Til now.

With Granderson on his way into the .200s, he'll leave only Murphy, Nieuwenhuis, and Recker on the interstate. The last two have zero hits between them.

Maybe overstating it, but �lex Torres delivering against Freeman felt huge. Something of a psychic burden is lifted when a guy goes down and the replacement performs well in his first game out. It was true when Campbell came through in his first game and it was true again tonight with Plawecki and Torres.

I think in tight game, Flores doesn't go on that eighth-inning sacrifice fly. But he and Tuff were all "might as well keep the pressure on," and he took off. And yes, he looked like he had ankle weights on. And yes, a good throw would have had him. But instead of an out and a runner left in scoring position on his ledger, Laggy gets an RBI.

Between that play and the Granderson pop double that fell in front of Gomes, it seems to me that the excellent defensive outfield the Braves have had for the last few years is very much a thing of naught. Teufel take note.

I love to see the Mets get deep into the other team's bullpen in Game One of a series. The Atlanta bullpen threw 74 pitches, compared to Met pen throwing 34.

Terry letting Moondog swing away in a bunting situation... him and Teufel both � has everybody suddenly just loosened up?

The booth played, "Let's Try and Remember Guys Who Used to Wear 22 for the Mets" somewhere in the late innings. Incredibly, nobody mentioned Ray Knight.

[Lefty Specialist]

I think Gary said something like, "you guys played with a 22, too" so he wasn't named directly.

This team does have a loosey-goosey feel to it right now, like they're playing with house money after all the injuries. Whatever it is, guys, keep doing it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Muffy, though. Has come through a few times but otherwise looks terrible in the field and at the plate.

[Frayed Knot]

Torres (Version: A) vs Freeman WAS huge. In the category of: You're never as good as you look when you're going right and you're never ...', our pen has employed the timely trick of being near-perfect in most of the opening week games where everything was close and then "saving" their bad outings for the games when they had a cushion. The result was some tense moments but no losses. FFF (Fucking Freddie Freeman acc to ZVon) had the ability to put the Braves right back in the game yesterday but essentially ended it instead.

Yes Granderson is looking better -- the lack of Ks alone is a vast improvement and he's been as unfortunate so far as Cuddyer has been fortunate. You wonder though whether the cost of all this will be the lack of ANY power.
One of my pre-season questions would be whether CG would lead the team in HRs (just a fleeting thought in my head at the time). Right now I might instead make that question into an Over/Under with 10 as the figure. This from a guy who recently went 40+ in back to back seasons (I know - YSIII)

I was all for Tuefel sending Flores on that shortish fly to LF. As an OF Gomes is a DH. And, yeah, having the lead helped.
As far as the Braves overall OF, the late ST trade for Maybin was essentially a necessity as they were ready to go with Eric Young Jr in Center. EY's a nice spare part but is ideally neither an everyday player nor a CF

[Centerfield]

MY ONLY THOUGHT ON THIS GAME IS THAT WE ARE FUCKING AWESOME.