Chipper has a big night getting 3 hits on his first 3 at bats and driving in 2 runs.  Also raking some RBI’s was Jeff Francoeur who topped the 100rbi total on the season with a 3 rbi night.  And Andruw Jones’s 25th home run of the season in the 5th brought his total to 91.  This gives the Braves 3 players with 90 at least 90 rbi.

McCann is on the doorstep of joining that club as he sits at 89.  Also last night’s game tied a career high in games played for Brian McCann with 130.  In comparison to last season McCann’s lines are:

2006 130GP .333avg 442AB 61R 147H 342b 24HR 93RBI 41BB 54SO 2SB .388obp .572slg

2007 130GP .271avg 472AB 51R 128H 382b 18HR 89RBI 33BB 71SO 0SB .322obp

On the pitching side of the stat sheet John Smoltz picks up his 14th win of the season and lowers his era to 2.97.  In back to back days the Hudson/Smoltz combo has given up 1 run in 15IP.

Sunday, September 16, 2007 brings us a new leader in the NL batting race.  Chipper Jones leaps out in front of the dog race with a 2 for 4 day in Washington against the Nationals.  Right on his heals is a healthy Edgar Renteria.

Jones, C. .335
Renteria, E. .334
Utley, C. .334
Ramirez, H. .333
Holliday, M. .330

Those 0 for 4 days have to be behind each one of these guys because each one of them holds the ability to bat .350 for the remainder of the season and out the rest.

Tim Hudson took his 6-0 and 1.78 era since the all-star break into Cincinnati. You got to love being spotted 5 runs before throwing your first pitch of the game. All he has to do is toe the rubber for 6 strong innings and he walks away with yet another win.

He just gave up one in the first before stricking out Adam Dunn on a pitch that almost hit the thigh of his back leg. Dunn’s rep must have proceeded him.

Other notes: In “ARROYO CALLS OUT PIRATES” a March 08, 2007 post I made, Bronson Arroyo (6-13 4.58 of the Reds called out division rivals the Pirates. Bronson stated that he would try hard to keep the Reds out of second to last place and far away from the Pirates. Since this is the second time in what feels like a few weeks I’ll update Mr. Arroyo with the current outcome. The Reds are indeed in 5Th, ahead of the last place Pirates with a 54-69 record. The Pirates only have one more lose than the Reds. I also noticed that I wrote about Mark Bellhorn looking out of place in a Reds uniform. Mark, just called up has 7 AB in 8 games.

Teixiera just made it 8-1 with a 3 run home run in the second. This kid is some kind of monster with the wood since coming to the Braves. 8HR 22 RBI in 65 Ab as a Brave. The ran in coming down hard now. Frenchy adds on another hit to the parade….

…bottom of the second, the Reds have tomorrow night’s starting pitcher in the On Deck Circle. What are these Reds up to? They won a tough series against us last time. Bellhorn draws a walk.

Jo Jo Reyes needs a good outing tomorrow.

A Few Stranded Man On Base

By Luke Veinot

August 18, 2007

How many times do you think a stat like RISP is talked about daily? It comes up during each broadcasted game, contract negotiation, and MVP debate.  It’s a number that doesn’t carry much weight over a career but year to year and month to month fans, writers and broadcasters will use this number to deconstruct a struggling ball club.  Point blank, if you’re not batting well with runners in scoring position you’re not going to win many games.  At the end of any none specific inning you’ll find runners left on base.  We all know this as a disappointment but what of those guys who work the counts, get those bleeders through the infield or a ball lined deep in the gap?  What about the credit we give to those who steal a base on a two out count only to be left at second. Hits and bases are awarded even if you don’t score.  Regardless of the outcome, many players rack up great numbers on losing clubs.  So what of these men left behind?  Are they the scrappy folks getting their first cup in the bigs or all stars?

With stats taken from games up to August 17, here’s a “mafia style” roster of the league leaders in hits without scoring (HWS).

 

POS	NAME	TEAM	HWS
C	MOLINA, B	GIANTS	79
C	RODRIGUEZ, I.	TIGERS	70
1B	YOUNG, D.	NATIONALS	91
2B	SANCHEZ, F.	PIRATES	78
3B	LOWELL , M.	RED SOX	84
SS	YOUNG, M.	RANGERS	88
CI	CABRERA, M.	MARLINS	72
MI	JETER, D.	YANKEES	83
OF	SUZUKI, I.	MARINERS	87
OF	FRANCOEUR, J.	BRAVES	84
OF	HOLLIDAY, M.	ROCKIES	79
OF	WINN, R.	GIANTS	77
OF	CRAWFORD, C.	D-RAYS	73
UTIL	VIDRO, J.	MARINERS	80

When mark Teixeira was acquired from the Rangers on the trade deadline not only was John Schuerholz sending a message about how he felt in regards to Brian McCann but he was also making a statement about a young Cuba named Yunel Escobar.  With the slew of rookies we’ve seen over the last three seasons there’s one who stands out in the crowd without saying a word.  Yunel’s a soft spoken hardly heard, hard working kid who’s done nothing thundering but fit into the club house comfortably and Braves line up all summer.  So much so that GM John Schuerholz dealt the clubs top rated middle infield in their minor league system.  Elvis Andres was being compared to Derrick Jeter around the all star break by scouts outside of the organization and was heralded as Edgar Renteria’s replacement in 2009.

As it goes, Andres was traded, Mark Teixeira became the second coming of Fred McGriff and in the eclipse Edgar Renteria injures his ankle.  Out since August 3^rd, his replacement who was platooning at second base, Yunel Escobar stepped into a starting roll with the Braves in the heat of a play off race.

Escobar is hitting .315, 17/54 in 15 games, 6r, 3 2b, 0hr, 8 rbi, 2bb, 15so, 1sb.

Nothing special but he’s consistent, and hasn’t created a void after losing your starting SS due to injury and your top prospect in a trade.

Updated

Thursday, August 16, 2007

AL

Roy Halladay, Sabathia and Erik Bedard all had the kind of starts you expected from these characters.  Halladay pitched a complete game against the Angels on Tuesday giving up one earned run and one walk.  The alarming stat from his line was the two strikes.  Only two from a pitcher who’s posted a 8.44 K/9.  Don’t worry about this cause he’s done this before.  On April 13^th against Detroit Roy struck out 2 in 10 innings.

The most unexpected effort of the week came yesterday from Fausto Carmona.  His line W, 8.0IP, 1ER, 2 BB, 10K against the Tigers.  The outing is so unlike what we’ve come to expect from the young Indians arm.  In April Carmona pitched 26.3 innings and struck out only 9 batters.  The 10 against the Tigers was a season high coming in a string of 6 great starts out of his last 7.  The only blip out of that run was his previous game against the Yankees on August 10^th.

I’ll glace over the Matsuzaka start against the Rays. Evan Dickens said all that needs to be said about the poor outing.  Was I the only one who scratched their head when Evan implied that the Red Sox had a pair of rookies who were out performing Matsuzaka?  I didn’t come up with Hideki Okajima right away.  It was Okajima right?

NL

Out of the 11 starts that were added to the roto stats for NL pitchers only 3 of them were quality starts.  If you’re in an NL only weekly or head to head league and started Zambrano and Lilly this week you might as well look towards next week’s games.  Both gave up 6 earned runs and Zambrano couldn’t find a weak bat in the Reds lineup.  Coincidently, Lilly faced the Reds the next night, lasted 5 innings and giving up 2 HR.  On the other side of the diamond Harang picked up the win but gave up 5er in 7IP and gave up 3 HR.

On the flip side Chris Young bounced back from his bad start after returning from the DL.  He pitched 6 strong shutout innings against the

Rockies

but the Padres failed to score until he left the game.

My fingers are crossed for Cole Hamels who just took the mound in

Washington

.  Cole has given up 25 home runs, only second to Woody Williams in the majors.  With the league batting about the same against him as last year his control is much better, posting 1.19 BB/9 and 0.11 WHIP less than his rookie season for the Phillies.  Cutting down on the long ball could fetch Hamels the runner up award to Jake Peavy’s Cy Young season.

As for Peavy, who beat those pesky Reds in

Cincinnati

on Sunday, the Cy Young is his to lose.

Luke Veinot

In

Nova Scotia

 

The only Family You’ll Ever Need…