Game 91: Braves 3, Giants 2
July 19, 2012 at 3:12 pm by David Lee under Atlanta Braves
Source: FanGraphs
Game MVP: Madison Bumgarner, 69 game score
Least Valuable Giant: Angel Pagan, -.187
Most Valuable Brave: Tim Hudson, 55 game score
Least Valuable Brave: Martin Prado, -.081
Big plays:
2nd – (ATL) Freddie Freeman solo homer for a 1-1 tie, .127
3rd – (ATL) Michael Bourn RBI triple for a 2-1 Braves lead, .158
4th – (ATL) David Ross solo homer for a 3-1 Braves lead, .118
8th – (SF) Melky Cabrera triple led to sac fly run, .118
Pablo Sandoval doubled with one out in eighth, but Angel Pagan struck out and Justin Christian flew out to preserve 3-2 Braves lead.
Bumgarner and Hudson both pitched very well in their own ways, with Bumgarner recording eight strikeouts over seven innings and Hudson inducing 14 ground balls. It came down to preserving the lead in the eighth with Eric O’Flaherty on the mound, and despite two extra base hits and a run, he did the job.
The Braves did not record one single in the game. They had a triple and two home runs as their three hits.
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I’d like to request a change in “Most Valuable Brave” – Obviously Huddy did a good job pitching. And if this were a “normal” game, he’d be MVBrave. However, this wasn’t a normal game as Melky had been Melky the previous nights and needed to be taught a lesson. Thus, Huddy failed as a man today by not hitting Melky and should not be awarded MVBrave for the day. We had all the ingredients for a bench clearing brawl today and all Huddy had to do was light the fuse.
Just sayin.
I’d rather Huddy keep that title considering he went 7+ strong and gave the team a chance to win, as opposed to being ejected in some pissing contest. You can have your opinion of him failing “as a man” today, but I’ll take him being the winning pitcher without being ejected eight days a week.
Why do it today. We needed a win and a long outing from Hudson to save the bullpen. We play them 4 times next month. Do it when Jair can nail him a couple times and get ejected. Have Delgado up so he can go after Jair is gone and we re prepared for it. Plus if Jair gets suspended I don’t care. It also let’s him know that we wont forget and have a long memory.
I laughed.
Durbin the Destroyer should carry out his namesake destiny
Finally someone has found the man a purpose!
I wouldn’t necessarily be against the Braves acquiring Kyle Farnsworth from the Rays for a sleeve of balls leading up to the Giants’ series just to serve as the bullpen’s goon and get Melky in line.
Yes!!! no one fucks with farnsworth
Hudson is still plenty manly, but I’d have liked to see Melky pegged. He damn sure earned it. I’ve I’d been pitching, I would have beaned Melky in the gut with my 58-mph heater . . .
Ok, I giggled at 58 mph heater. Bravo.
The only mistake was not subbing in Hinske to pitch and bean Melky. That’s a fight I would’ve liked to have seen.
I can’t tell if the previous comment about Huddy not being a man today is serious or a joke, but obviously, after burning the bullpen last night, it wouldn’t have been real smart for Huddy to get ejected early today right before four games in three days against the Nats. Melky will get what’s coming to him sooner or later. Glad Huddy stayed in the game today and led us to the win, which is more important than hitting Melky.
I would say that it’s serious, but in a light-hearted way. Cunny is a smart fan and I’m sure he knows the value of having Huddy going deep in the game today. But, with that said, Huddy still could have plunked him in the 7th and it actually may have saved us a run and Huddy still goes the same distance…
His time will come, when we up by 5-6 and an ejection or two won’t hurt
This game goes to show that even some of the best rating systems in the game are still flawed. Bumgarner was the MVP of the game (and yes, he did pitch great), but he lost….
A prerequisite for being an MVP of a single game should be that your team actually wins the game, otherwise, you’re basically the MVP for the opposite team. Just one of those quirky things that don’t come up that often, I know.
I don’t know about that. If you’re the best person in the game, and your team’s win/loss depends not only on you but on 8 other guys around you, your performance can mean the most in the game but not essentially affect the outcome on the game.
Team games are quirky like that.
well, a pitcher could go 9 perfect innings and get a no decision and his team wins in the tenth on an error a stolen base , a bunt and a sac fly, who’s the MVP then?
Or, a guy can go 7 give up one run and his team fails to score and he takes the loss, but the opposing pitcher goes 5 due to a high pitch count and gets a no decision…
LOL I’m not arguing that he wasn’t necessarily the best player in the game today, but I don’t know that he was the most valuable because he did, inevitably, cause the loss by giving up the runs. Last time I checked, giving up runs isn’t something of “value”
Again, just saying that it can be a quirky system
He gave up 2 earned on 3 hits, with Janish scoring an unearned run on Bourn’s triple. Add in the 7 K’s and it does indeed make sense that he was exceptionally valuable, when in contrast every good thing a batter does his next AB can undo(hit a homer, strike out the next 3 AB’s…get a hit, hit into a double play…fail to drive runners in with RISP a time or 2 in the game, etc).
Just the way things work. Great pitching doesn’t always equal a win, just as great offense doesn’t. Bumgardner is 3rd(I think, don’t feel like looking it up again) in the NL in run support, so his 11-6 record is in spite of his offense moreso than because of it.
Sorry, 8 K’s not 7.**
On an unrelated note to today’s game, anyone read over the WAR article on ESPN and consequently read the user comments? Man it’s insane that people are so blatantly clueless and subsequently moronic when it comes to stats and how they attempt to define a player’s stature.
On a related note, although the pitching was very solid today(and yesterday for that matter until Varvarro/Durbin happened, and moreso the latter than the former), it would be very nice to see more hits leading to run production than relying on longballs. Especially in the case of Bourn standing on 3rd with 1 out and neither Prado nor Heyward could put a ball in play to get him home. Had a ball been put in play in a very similar situation last night, we wouldn’t have had extras…or Durbin with the ball.
ESPN comments are the dried gum on your old shoes. Not worth your time, except for comic relief.
We need Moylan.
Yeah I hope his sessions for Rome go well tonight and tomorrow against Savannah, and it gets him moving in the Atlanta bound direction a bit quicker.
I agree it’s annoying, but that’s just baseball. Sometimes the hits (or in this case, long fly balls) bunch when you need them to, sometimes they don’t. Prado and Heyward put a lot of balls in play and get a lot of hits, and I’m convinced that our lineup as currently constructed (well, subtract Diaz and add Chipper) gives us a good chance to win every game.
I’ve come to the conclusion that most people disagree with WAR based on two reasons. 1) they don’t understand it’s value/ how important defense and running are(and defense is more than just errors committed) 2) it doesn’t support how good their fav players are( lots of yankee and tiger fans complaining that Jeter and fielder are great players
On the game does anyone else get extra angry at fredi every time Ross hits a bomb or extra base hit
Oh I’ve got zero issue with the current lineup, just seemed over the series we should have won 2 fairly easily had anyone had a timely hit, or put a ball in play even.
You’re right, but that describes practically every game that’s 1-1 after 9 innings. Giants had their chances in regulation too and missed them.
I was posting on that page shortly after this CAC post came up. I was going to ask for some help over on the ESPN boards but I figured a lot of those idiots just weren’t worth my time. I think they have a hard time understanding value over tools. They’ll say, “How can Josh Reddick be better than Justin Upton, Upton is way better!” They just don’t get it because they’re too lazy or stupid to want to take the time to learn advanced metrics.
Its less with the lazy and more with the stupid. Its not that they won’t understand them, its that they can’t. That’s why people like RBI’s so much, its just counting…
This whole “beaning and bench clearing” thing got me interested. Who would be the best MLB team in a fight?
I haven’t put serious thought into it but I think the Braves would show up pretty well. Heyward would be fierce, Hinske would go straight Zangief on someone, and the country boy toughness runs strong on our team. Uggla’s reach would probably prevent him from making contact, but if he did he’d leave a mark.
Espn sweetspot just released an interesting look at how chipper has been rated as the third best defensive third basemen.
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/27087/surprise-why-chipper-jones-rates-well-on-d
Manpitt, I was also pretty amazed by that article. This statement got me to thinking:
“Jones rates highest (plus-3 “bases” in the plus-minus system) on ground balls hit to the right of where third basemen play. Thinking about that intuitively, that’s telling me that he’s saved a few more doubles than other players. ”
Has Chipper only been able to do that because of his positioning? When you think about it, he’s played almost all of his career with an above average defensive shortstop, especially in the years of his decline defensively. (Escobar, Gonzalez, Wilson, Simmons) That probably gives him the room to play over towards the line a little more, and save a ball hit to his right that may go for a double, which would inflate his DRS. I think Chipper may have a lot of shortstops to thank for rating at least average defensively…
Uggla would probably fare quite well in H2H. I’ve said this for a while, but when he retires from baseball he’ll have a solid 5-6 years of “prime” left in him for MMA. He’s got the right build for it, and with any grappling/ground understanding could be quite formidable in lower ranks of the sport. Only teams I can think of that might give Atlanta a run for their money in that department are the Angels(Trumbo and Trout are both beastly, and Albert) and maybe Detroit(2 heavyweights in Cabrera and Prince and they have a pretty beefy pitching staff).
Man, we need a MLB MMA league now -.- haha
I LOL’d… nice!
We should have brought back Kyle Farnsworth just for yesterdays game
Scroll up a bit. Resop would be cheaper.
Well this game is going well.. not even 2 complete innings and were down 3-0, Hanson isn’t going to make it past 6 innings… Again, couldn’t even advance a leadoff double to 3rd let alone get him home, and were likely to see Durbin…
Why is this team continually such a goddamn joke against the Nats?
On a positive note, Uggla actually hit something! Oh, and we’ve held the Nats to 9 runs (so far) just like we did with the Giants!
I think we’re exhausted from the winning streak and have contracted cap tipping fever.
Wow… just, wow. Baseball is a funny game…
maybe the greatest Braves comeback ,considering circumstances involved, in all of my years of watching em (and that’s around 35).
wow
ESPN dropped their front page coverage very quickly once the game ended.
That was pretty amazing, though I had to go in the next room while Durbin pitched.
I agree.
2.5 back versus 4.5 back.
Nice! Important games.
First 9+ run comeback since ’87. I was born in 88 this was awesome the way they celebrate afterwards I love that emotion.
Definitely a great game. Let’s just hope Sheets and Delgado can make it deep in their games tomorrow. If not, could get fugly.
What’s crazy to me…ok we know ESPN has never been an Atlanta fan, but they made zero mention of Chipper’s single pushing him to the all-time lead for RBI among those who’ve manned the hot corner. Seems like a very bad ommission, regardless of their bias against Atlanta(they’ve been quite pro-Chipper this year in his swan song).
Just read on bravesjournal.com that Fredi has said O’Flaherty and Kimbrel are unavailable tomorrow. Going to need some innings and runs.