Game 52: Braves 10, Cardinals 7
May 31, 2012 at 1:27 am by David Lee under Atlanta Braves
Source: FanGraphs
Game MVP: Brian McCann, .309
Least Valuable Brave: Jonny Venters, -.121
Most Valuable Cardinal: Daniel Descalso, .236
Least Valuable Cardinal: Marc Rzepczysnki, -.349
Big plays:
1st – (ATL) McCann two-run homer for a 2-0 Braves lead, .193
6th – (STL) Tyler Greene two-run single to bring Cardinals back to within 5-4 deficit, .161
6th – (STL) Descalso RBI single to tie the game at 5, .184
6th – (ATL) Jack Wilson RBI double for a 6-5 Braves lead, .147
6th – (ATL) McCann two-run single for an 8-5 Braves lead, .153
8th – (STL) Carlos Beltran RBI single to bring Cardinals back to within 8-7 deficit, .099.
McCann and Freddie Freeman combined for two home runs and seven RBIs, with Freeman hitting a homer and driving in three in his return to the lineup – glasses and all.
The 2-5 hitters in the Braves lineup combined for nine hits and eight RBIs.
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The Braves won yesterday. They won tonight. That’s 2. A win on Friday and that’s a winning streak!
It has happened before
I love the two wins, but venters this entire year has looked a little off. I really hope they get him back to form I could careless if his nickname is everyday jonny. Ill take old reliable Jonny Anyday of the year.
Took 5 out of 6 from St. Louis. They are one of the best teams in the NL.
Say what you want about Constanza (besides that he’s, well… he’s certainly capable… of… something?), but you can’t argue with 4 hits in 2 games from a LF who’s name doesn’t end in “-Prado”. Just pretend he’s… uh, Matt Diaz? …moving on…
Very excited about Andrelton Simmons. I was a big Pastornicky supporter, but he needs a lot more fine tuning (and maybe a move to 2B). May Simmons be Elvis Andrus part deux.
Keep on winning
A pleasing victory, however there is now no doubt that Constanza will be here for the long haul. If he was to carry on like last night then great but that is not going to happen in any shape or form. Just scanned through the upcoming schedule and holy crap! it sucks! The Braves are going to have to play very well and have some serious good fortune to come out of the next month in good shape. Looking forward to seeing Simmons on Friday, hope the kid does well and settles in to help the rhino and the elephant in the infield. Glad to see the goggles arrived and caused much amusement in the dugout.
Haha which one is the elephant? Chipper or Freddie?
Anyone have any theories as to why Heyward seems to have forgotten how to hit again? Jeez, his ABs are painful to watch. And no, I’m not a Jason hater…he’s my favorite player on the team, but good grief.
I wish I did! Hopefully just a temporary issue.
I wonder if anyone in the MLB has ever played 41 consecutive games against teams with winning records during the regular season? Incredible. 10-11 so far. It’s amazing to me that if these records hold over the course of June, the Braves will play a consecutive 1/4 of their season against winning records.
Definitely a rough stretch. Taking a look at a couple of other teams, I found two 30+ consecutive games facing teams with winning records (Jays/Yankees). Right now 11 out of 30 teams having losing records, it may not be that uncommon to see teams facing a stretch of winning clubs. Over the last 5 years, the number of losing clubs at the end of the year are 16,14,14, 13, and 14 so the second half will bear a different story. However, ff the east continues its >.500 trend though, the second half will not be much easier than the first. Right now, that has us playing only 5 series out of 24 versus teams with losing records.
It continues to be “close your eyes and pray” each game the starting pitcher can’t get through 7 innings with a > 1 run lead. Frightening to see Venters as the 6th inning lefty and it looks like based on this series, EOF is now the later inning lefty, which is backed up by EOF’s now higher ALI. Venters can’t hit spots, and is relying on gassing 2-0 count 92 MPH fastballs down the middle and hoping to get an out. He’s getting hit by more comebackers than he is striking people out. His mechanics are terrible and it is showing.
In a testament to the unreliable nature of the bullpen, the top 3 relievers by WPA standards are now: 1) Kimbrel, 2) yes, Durbin and 3) EOF. They are also the only 3 with positive WPA. Durbin is now 4th in ALI and still leads the pen in appearances, scary but true. Based on all trends, the team is losing (has lost?) confidence in Venters and right now they are trending Durbin as the leverage replacement.
If you had wrote those words 6 weeks ago you would have been laughed out of town and probably banned from the site! As it is I am finding it hard to disagree. I really hope they can sort out Jonny and whatever is causing his awful results at the moment as if they can get him back to anything like last year even with the likely regression from his stats, it will be a big bonus. The guy is suffering and his confidence is very low..
I don’t think I realized until recently quite what a good year Uggla is having. Don’t know if he can keep up a 15% walk rate, but man it would be awesome if he did.
The title to the recap video on ESPN.com is “Braves Win Second Straight”…Oh what an eight game losing streak can do to others perception of your team
ESPN is the epitome of bad reporting. They will ride whatever the latest bandwagon jumping event there is outside of New York and Boston. If the Braves go on a winning streak again, they’ll be the best team in the NL again. If they lose a couple, suddenly they won’t make the playoffs.
It’s like a more bedazzled version of the AJC blog.
So I’m guessing we keep Jack Wilson until the break, to see if Simmons doesn’t completely shit the Schafer bed with his offensive performance in Atlanta.. but.. if he absolutely can’t hit at this level yet I’m assuming we would trade for his replacement or sign some old scrub who is still available. We keep a defensive replacement SS who isn’t as good defensively as our starter, isn’t fast, and has zero value as a pinch hitter.
(His eyes also kinda look like Arnold in Total Recall when he falls onto the surface of Mars.. maybe that’s too mean)
Does Venters go down for a bit if Moylan (His Twitter feed indicates he is close) is ready and he is still on this rough streak just so he can work out his control issues in a less stressful environment a bit?