Game 30: Cubs 5, Braves 1
May 7, 2012 at 10:58 pm by David Lee under Atlanta Braves
Source: FanGraphs
Game MVP: Jeff Samardzija, .315
Least Valuable Cub: Darwin Barney, -.117
Most Valuable Brave: Michael Bourn, .183
Least Valuable Brave: Brian McCann, -.188
Big swing: Bryan LaHair’s solo home run in the fourth tied the game at 1, .141.
Ian Stewart went deep behind LaHair for back-to-back shots, giving the Cubs a 2-1 lead, .133.
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Missed the game. What the hell happened? Why the hell was Durbin pitching?
I didn’t get to see the ejection, but what happened that caused Fredi to get ejected?
he came out to discuss the umpire warning both teams after o’flaherty plunked a guy. was pretty surprised, he wasn’t very animated
If you were allowed to cuss on here, my comments would simply be “F’ing Durbin”
The word Durbin has become a cuss word itself.. Durbin’d…
Toss it in the Durbin boys!
As bad as Durbin sucks, tonight it wasn’t Fredi who put him in… also when the first two batters of the inning were walked and then moved to 3rd and 2nd with the game within two runs and We don’t get one single run in…that’s pathetic. Dan and Mc left their bats in Denver along with the rest of the team….This wasn’t doesn’t fall on Fredi or Durbin for once…It was a total team effort or lack there of
Durbin had a FEW good outings, but in almost every other outing, he’s given up a homer and multiple runs. Has an ERA over 8. How much longer will Wren try to put up with this pitiful excuse of an experiment. Time to can this ragarm and let one of the young dudes come up and try. Gearrin would be my pick.
Can’t believe Fredi put him in in such a high leverage situation either.
Fredi was ejected by them…we’re you not watching?
Wasn’t really high leverage at all looking at the leverage index.
Does he suck… yes. He’s the second highest paid reliever though, he’s become a sunk cost to the team.
Leverage index per baseball reference was .14. Very low leverage situation. Even with the two runs allowed, Durbin’s WPA was -0.043 for the game.
In all reality, Fredi was ejected way before Durbin ever came into the game. Either he made the call from the clubhouse or someone else Durbin’d us tonight.
Fredi forgot to take his flowchart with him to the showers.
When your 2-3-4-5 hitters go 0-14 wtith 6 Ks don’t expect to win too often.
2-5 hitters go 0/14 with a couple walks while the two guys in the lineup with the highest OPS and OBP (behind Bourn) are batting 6 & 7. I know saying something about Heward’s spot in the lineup has long become exhausting and redundant, but what about Chip? Right now, I see no reason for Chip to be batting as low as he is.
He is, no question, our best hitter besides Freeman right now. I agree he should near the top of the lineup. I don’t mind as much about JHey hitting 7th. A fast runner (who steals bases) in front of a singles hitter isn’t a terrible idea. Of course Prado still has decent speed and they could be switched.
It’d be nice if McCann and Uggla could produce something worthwhile for more than 1 AB every 6 games. Terrible defense + terrible offense isn’t gonna get it done.
I just can’t hate on Durbin. Sure, he ought not be a ML pitcher, but he is, and I’m sure he tries his best. I reserve my hate for Fredi, who should know by now ot only use him in 5+ run blowouts either way.
I won’t say Fredi is the worst manager in MLB, but he’s top 5.
Gattis alert, After 7 games in AA now leads Mississippi Braves in Hrs with 4. Batting .316, 2 doubles, 4 HRs and 9 RBIs in AA
Might be time to start teaching him how to play LF.
I believe that he is playing the outfield already. (converted catcher)
He has been playing LF lately, so this brings another potential offensive prospect to the mix. We do still need to see him keep the pace for a bit longer before his advancement to AAA which should be this season if he keeps the pace up.
Yeah, just read the DOB update on Gattis. Glad to see he’s already made the transition to the outfield.
In related news, I’m annoyed that DOB takes such a defensive tone against “those who write about prospects and minor leaguers” when discussing EG’s age … guy can be such a hypersensitive little shit sometimes.
DOBouchebag is just so much cooler than us nerds. He rides motorcycles, owns a leather jacket, smokes cigars, listens to all the best music, and doesn’t care about stats that aren’t put on the scoreboard.
West Jorja,
You stole my post, man! lol Gattis, in 7 games, is already leading the club in HRs. The man, in a slump, has seen his season average drop to .364.
I know I shouldn’t get too excited. He’s still old for AA. However, if they promote him and he’s still hitting like this at AAA at 24… I’d say that he’s officially a prospect. Again, gonna try to remain pessimistic.
Funny, Gattis is exciting. Here are 2 more interesting stats. The entire Mississippi Braves team have hit 10 HRs.for the season so far .. That is 6 if you don’t count his 4. For the year he has 38 RBIs, next olayer in the entire braves farm has 23.
I don’t care by how much the Braves are winning or losing, the fact that, 30 games into the season, Chad Durbin leads the bullpen in appearances makes me sick.
B/c of his ALI of .68, this should logically tell you the Braves have been in many low leverage situations during the late innings. Durbin has 6 ABs to his credit in high leverage situations (which to almost anyone is 6 ABs too many). The low ALI and # of appearances should tell you something about the type of games the Braves have been involved in more than the concrete nature of number of apperances.
And he shouldn’t be on the team at all. You can easily find random relievers of higher quality than Durbin. He got his chance and has proved he does not belong on a major league roster.
Any chance the one of the bloggers can update the Frediot flowchart that was a gem last year to the 2012 version? At least then any new readers can know exactly what Fredi will do in each game – namely the opposite of logical reasoning. Got to say though I don’t think it would have made any difference last night as we were not at the races at all. Hopefully better times await tonight.
There already is one: http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1038991/eQN3m.jpg
We should take all of this bitching about Durbin and at least make it a productive conversation. Let’s ask some serious questions.
How much of an asset is a “veteran arm” in the bullpen? Does a “veteran arm” bring any tangible benefit to the team? The W/L column?
I understand that Durbin hasn’t been pitching in the highest leverage situations (although there have been a couple), but would it be better to be give a younger arm some innings and experience? If Durbin is going to extend the opponent’s lead in half of his appearances, could we not be allowing a younger guy to get some experience? At least I could take the runs that Cory Gearrin (doesn’t have to necessarily be him) gives up and say that it was a learning experience. When Durbin gives up a shot, I just get pissed. There is no value in a Durbin-blast.
The Durbin experiment is becoming an interesting one to say the least. Using just the SSS of the 2012 season, it’s amazing the stark contrast in his performance in different leverage situations.
Hi/Med Leverage: 0/18 3BB/ 2K with a tOPS+ of -62 and sOPS+ of -52
Low Leverage: 17/35 10R 5HR 4BB/ 6K with a tOPS+/sOPS+ of 181 and 315
With all of the suckage produced in low leverage situations, b/c of the high and medium leverage success Durbin’s WPA is higher than Livan and EOF and only .07 behind Venters. I also noticed that with the high leverage work in Colorado he is no longer the lowest leverage reliever, which now goes to Livan then CM(.688 ALI Durbin to .682 CM to .52 Livan).
Most of me tells me he is lucky or trying harder in the high/medium leverage situations and just gassing grapefruits in low leverage. Overall his wiffle ball stats in low leverage should improve (BABIP is .500) but his Rolaids Relief Man numbers in high/medium should start to fall (BABIP is .000 with only 2 Ks). What scares me is that he is gaining in ALI and eventually his high leverage luck will fail and then it will really be a disaster having him pitch b/c he will more and more affect the outcome of the game, which he is rarely doing now.