Game 110: Phillies 3, Braves 0
August 7, 2012 at 9:51 pm by David Lee under Atlanta Braves
Source: FanGraphs
Game MVP: Cole Hamels, 83 game score
Least Valuable Phillie: Chase Utley, -.061
Most Valuable Brave: Mike Minor, 54 game score
Least Valuable Brave: Brian McCann, -.083
Big plays:
1st – (PHI) Domonic Brown RBI double for a 1-0 Phillies lead, .101
1st – (PHI) Ryan Howard two-run homer for a 3-0 Phillies lead, .144
Mike Minor gave up three first-inning runs on two big hits and defensive miscues, therefore, the world began to panic. However, Minor settled in and pitched well after the first, allowing four more hits and finishing strong with a perfect seventh. He walked just two while striking out five, inducing 11 whiffs. No, Minor’s command was not very sharp, but he did well with what he had tonight, and that’s a big difference from his first half. If this is bad Minor now, I’ll take it.
On the other hand, Minor could have pitched perfectly and it wouldn’t have mattered. Cole Hamels pitched a complete-game five-hitter with no walks and six strikeouts. No Braves hitter managed an extra base hit. Hamels is a very good pitcher capable of doing this from time to time, so you accept it and move on.
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Yeah this was on of those games that Hamels won, not so much Minor losing it.
Agreed. If this is “Bad” Minor, he’s one of the best pitchers we have.
I agree that you accept that Hamels was great and move on, but it sure seemed like we swung at a lot of ball fours from Hamels – I remember Bourn and McCann both doing that on separate occasions. Also, Hamels lollipopped that underhand toss to Howard, which Howard proceeded to bobble, but Howard managed to step on the bag just before Freeman got there – right before McCann hit what should have been a double and got thrown out when the ball bounced perfectly to Brown? in left field. It was that kind of night.
If Chipper gets a glove on Rollins’s ball in the first inning and throws Rollins out, I’m not sure Minor gives up a run tonight. That leadoff double kind of made the whole inning spiral out of control. I’m still not sure how Howard’s home run went out – when it left the bat, I thought it was a routine pop-up off the end of the bat. Oh well.
I was only following via MLB At-Bat (iPad app) and it seemed Hamels was getting a ton of generous calls. It was like he was playing a video game on Easy mode so the strikezone was magically 3″ bigger on all sides. Anything close to catching the plate was a strike. Again, that’s just from watching MLB At-Bat.
That’s why they pay Hamels the big bucks. Sometimes, he is just going to go out there and completely shut down even a great lineup. He, Halladay, and Lee are what continue to separate the Phillies from garden-variety lousy teams.
And it’s a lot easier for a great pitcher like Hamels to shut somebody down when he’s staked to a three-run lead before he ever sets foot on the mound. Then one mistake doesn’t hurt him. That first inning was killer for so many reasons. I still think we lost the game on the first play of the game, although even if Chipper makes that play and Minor gets out the first unscathed, the teams might still be playing right now.
Braves winning 7 games from the Phillies against losing 1? I can live with that. Hopefully the Asstros can pull out a win so the Braves don’t lose ground.
That’s one thing you can almost never co
*count on.
And the Astros pull out another game against the Astros in extra innings when Bernadina robs Brett Wallace at the wall.
Can’t believe how those last two Nats/Astros games ended. Not quite as bad as Chipper losing a ground ball in the lights in Florida last year, but it starts to make me think it’s not our year (again).
It will come down to Washington and Atlanta for the NL East.
You are blessed with the power of foresight
Understatement of the millennium…
Really?!? You don’t think that Miami is going to sneak back in this thing?
Solid start by Minor, no doubt. But for the love of God, please stop throwing Ryan Howard any pitch that doesn’t break. He cannot hit a pitch that moves more than an inch vertically. It has been scientifically proven. If you HAVE to throw a fastball or straight-change, please locate it at least 2 feet from the plate in any direction – he may swing at that too.
Didn’t get to watch this game last night, but from the sound of it, it wouldn’t have been much fun to watch as a Braves fan. Glad to see that Minor settled after getting rattled a bit the first inning.. has to be a sign of maturity. Hopefully the bats move on and give Huddy some support for a series win tonight!
I’ll be very cautious in saying this, but what if Fredi was doing the right thing when he left Minor in all those games to be smacked around? I think I remember him saying, towards the end of the first half of the season, “You leave him in and let him get through that stuff.” Maybe it’s starting to pay off. While I think a managers job should be to win the game currently being played and not to develop players, maybe it was good for Minor to get it out of his system. Hopefully the Braves will be putting it together when other teams are wearing down and put together some winning streaks.
Yeah I’m scared to give Fredi too much credit for such a thing, but it is possible. Look at the Astros for example. There were two occasions where their pitching was getting shelled by the Braves and the manager came out, but did not pull the pitcher. As Tom said, they’ve got to figure out how to get themselves out of jams and the only way to do that is by leaving them out there.
If this is the case with Minor, let’s hope that was the final corner he needed to turn. His start last night was very Huddy and Glavine-esque in that he got hit hard then settled in to shut them down the rest of the way.
It’ll be tough for Atlanta to win the division with the gods on Washington’s side. It’s starting to become funny the way they’re winning games. Anyways, the Braves are looking good, and all we can try to do is win our own games. Starting to LOVE what I’m seeing from Minor lately. The whole staff, for that matter. I always love seeing Huddy pitch after a loss. I think he gives us a good chance to keep things from snowballing and start up another win streak. Hopefully he gets us back on track tonight and we can get some bats on some balls against Kendrick.
The bounce that Brown got when he threw out McCann at 2nd was ridiculous. It looked like it caught the one spot in the wall (that small depression in the middle of it) where the ball would shoot right back to you, instead of floating in the air for a few more seconds.
It also doesn’t help that Mccann runs like a 65 year old woman coming off a torn acl.
Saw Marlins-Nats on Sunday. Carlos Lee has to be about the worst looking baserunner in baseball. Watching him “leg out” a double and then score from second would have been hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.
Hey CAC, how about posting starting pitchers game scores regardless of whether they were most or least valuable? Or, if not, where does one find this information? Thanks.
OMFG… this is f’ing hilarious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttZNc0Nfxg
Fredi popping in with “Tweet” and Dan Uggla…….
I have just spat up my diet coke all over the laptop, that is absolute quality! They should get them to air this before the game tonite.