Atlanta Braves 2015 — Baseball in a Jugular Vein

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Madhk1.jpg

brillant

@mlbbowman
With Melvin Upton Jr. sidelined, the highest-paid member of the #Braves payroll on the field today will be Nationals 2B Dan Uggla

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 9m9 minutes ago
MLB announces that #Braves RHP Arodys Vizcaino has been suspended 80 games after testing positive for Stanozolol, a PED. @JeffPassan 1st.

Wandy Rodriguez released

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/padres-do-it-again--acquire-craig-kimbrel--melvin-upton-from-braves-223427462.html

Weird deal for both clubs. It looks like the Padres are going Marlin style all in.

Knowing full well how surprisingly replaceable closers are, and also how mercurial (but not Kimbrel thus far), I still find this shocking. I'd mentally separated Kimbrel from all other closers, even Chapman; he stood alone with Rivera in my mind, albeit with a long way to go.

This makes my OP joke fall on its face, otherwise I'm ok with it. Kimbrel was going to get a lot fewer save opportunities the next couple of years anyway.

beark up the barves

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCHTgEVWMAAeTWB.png

mmhmm

Rogers Center must be smaller than Philly, the way the ball was flying out. Andrelton doesn't seem to be coming out of his shoes every time he swings the bat, which is nice.

Andrelton went in so hard and so late at third, he knocked Yunel Escobar's hand off (almost).

Straight outta Dirty Harry -- the Braves paid Dan Uggla to beat the shit out of them.

there's the grilli i remember

NEVER FORGET

BBBB E. Chavez J. Grilli Walk
BBBB J. Payton J. Grilli Walk; Chavez to 2B
BBBB N. Swisher J. Grilli Walk; Chavez to 3B; Payton to 2B

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET200610140.shtml

*tugs bill of hat*

Great game by Miller. CG SO, 99 pitches.

Nice start by Todd Cunningham -- 8 for 11.

@mlbbowman
Tonight will mark the first time Tim Hudson has pitched against the #Braves since 6/10/03. He opposed Greg Maddux that night in Oakland.

Simba's a pretty bloodthirsty slider into 2nd base.

I suspect Alex Wood's meltdown today was all about not being able to deal with the pressure of having to plunk Gerrit Cole, or wondering whether he should plunk him. Instead of beaning Cole, he fell apart, walked the pitcher and gave up 3.

yeah when cuniff later threw behind mccutchen, the pirates booth was all 'wtf they had two shots at cole himself'

Worst bullpen ever.

One of the (weak-ass) justifications I kept hearing in previous years about the homer-or-strikeout offenses was that at least they wouldn't ground into as many double plays. Now with the put-the-ball-in-play philosophy, they're at 49 in 59 games and that doesn't seem like a crazy high number to me. I wonder where last year's team was in GIDP after 59 games.

Anyway, they're more fun to watch now. Fourteen hits tonight, all singles.

MARKAKIS LOB 9

http://www.talkingchop.com/2015/6/13/8775153/nick-markakis-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-game

The worst was, of course, in both statistical and figurative senses, Grilli's allowance of a homer to Dan Uggla. WPA doesn't take into account how much money the Braves are paying an opposing team's player when he makes them lose a game, but maybe it should.

Barves send Bethancourt down to Gwinett to learn how to play baseball, call up Crash Davis Ryan Lavarnway.

so lavarnaway finds a way back to fenway park again

aaaaawkward lol

pretty nice debut for banny manuelos

Yeah, too bad about the cramping. I can't believe they didn't give Maybin an error in the 7th.

Oh nice, Maybin makes up for it.

braves lineup right now w/o freeman looks like tampa bay

Gaaahh, I don't care if he is left-handed, Luis Avilan shouldn't be employed in the baseball industry.

I predict 97 or 98 losses.

Aug. 19, 1982 - Scheduled to pitch against the Expos in a home game, Braves rookie Pascual Perez misses the start of the game when he can't find his way to the ballpark. Perez circles on the interstate several times but gets lost. He will be given a Braves jacket with the new number I-85 on it. Phil Niekro takes the mound and wins, 5 - 4, to run his record to 11-3.

uh oh, time for Judge Gomes to start dishing out some dugout justice to these young punks who don't know how to play the game the right way

lol, its a mystery to me how gomes didn't end up on like the dbacks, given his proclivities

I predict 97 or 98 losses.

― rack of lamb of god (WilliamC), Saturday, August 1, 2015 9:12 PM (3 weeks ago)

I briefly thought that was too pessimistic, but extending their post-ASG winning percentage the rest of the way, they'd end at 64-98.

presumably the majority of their remaining schedule is against the NL east, which should help

fan who fell from upper deck at game has died :(

Every story has been very circumspect about it until the one I saw from nj.com —

A fan, who didn't want to be named, in section 401, told NJ Advance Media the victim was apparently drunk and was screaming at the Yankees when A-Rod came to bat. The fan said the victim flew over her and her two sisters from a row behind her and barely touched them as he went.

The man was in the second row of section 401. It was almost as if he jumped, she said.

She said the victim had been acting belligerently drunk all game. There was still a large wet stain on the railing in section 401 from what she said was his drink. The fans in the area soon left their seats with security, and several rows from the section were cleared out.

I had just happened to turn the tv on a minute earlier and the booing for A-Rod and the FS1 guy saying "oh my goodness, a fan has fallen from the upper deck" started about the same time. For a second I thought the booing was at the umps because the game hadn't been stopped because of the fall, then I realized who was coming up to bat.

thx for this shit tonight, barves.

jeeesus (I was watching Shaft and missed tonight's whuppin)

damn, Harper without an official bat, 4 walks!

Zero swings.

...and four runs.

I know Fredi got a contract extension just a couple of months ago through 2016, but I wouldn't be surprised if HartCop/Schuerholz/McGuirk dumped him just to make it look like they're busy sciencing the shit out of this. Will he be fired
a. any minute now
b. at the end of 2015 season
c. during 2016 season
d. after 2016 season
?

@BenBadler
I love what the Braves are doing. MLB incentivizes losing. Collapsing for the No. 1 draft pick is the optimal strategy for them to rebuild.

might as well keep fredi until he has something to ruin, i suppose

Coppollela was in the barves booth the other night and Caray made a point of mentioning that the front office told Fredi that he and his staff are safe through 2016. I still think Fredi will be swept out before spring training 2017, but beyond that, dunno.

They are a much more entertaining team this way.

@ESPNStatsInfo
Shelby Miller: winless in 21 consecutive starts; 2nd longest single-season streak since 1920. Matt Keough had 23 in 1979 (via @EliasSports)

Miller's ERA is roughly half that of the 13-4 Drew Hutchison. WINS!

But does this shut the mouth of Joe Simpson, Advanced Metrics Hater? NOOOOOOOO

@based_ball
longest winless streaks this year

1. Shelby Miller, 23 starts
2. three players tied, 10 starts

shelby in wins: 5-0, 1.29
shelby in losses: 0-15, 4.30

he's been shelled in september, so the splits were once even more absurd. interstingly, his strikeout rate his significantly higher in losses

He's chewing gum right now, but I noticed last night and earlier tonight that Cameron Maybin fell off the no-tobacco wagon. It's tough.

Freeman's left the game, looks like the wrist again. Between his obliques and his wrists, I'm beginning to think he just won't be able to withstand the torque of his own swing.

Anybody who's ever driven the 285 loop knows this stadium has the potential to be one of the biggest fuckups in the history of sports venues.
http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/10/30/braves-stadium-relocation-shaping-up-to-be-a-disaster/

fuck the braves and fuck cobb county but it kind of seems like $9m should cover a pedestrian footbridge? so it goes #freedom

IANAEconomist but isn't the theoretical justification for taxpayer-funded stadiums that they stimulate the local economy? who is supposed to benefit from a stadium in the middle of suburbia besides the team itself? a nearby olive garden??

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTEmhufUcAArx-P.jpg

commemorative patch celebrating the demise of a 20-year-old building