Game 123: Nationals 4, Braves 1
August 21, 2012 at 10:30 pm by David Lee under Atlanta Braves
Source: FanGraphs
Game MVP: Stephen Strasburg, 69 game score
Least Valuable National: Danny Espinosa, -.057
Most Valuable Brave: Freddie Freeman .085
Least Valuable Brave: Dan Uggla, -.155
Big plays:
2nd – (WAS) Ian Desmond solo homer for a 1-0 Nationals lead, .124
5th – (WAS) Jesus Flores three-run homer for a 4-0 Nationals lead, .136
Same thing, different day.
Loading ...
My proposal for the starting lineup for the rest of the season.
Bourn-CF, Prado-2B, Heyward-RF, Chipper/Francisco-3B, Reed Johnson-LF, Janish/Simmons-SS, Freeman-1B, McCann/Ross-C
I am tired of watching Dan Uggla strike out or pop-up 95% of the time!
Thank you Phillip, I have been thinking the exact same thing for the last week. I haven’t researched the stats but I agree completely with the team you propose (no comment on the batting order). And McCann/Ross needs to be at least 50/50 if not more Ross. I don’t really care whose feelings are hurt, Fredi needs to put the team with the best chance of winning out there not the one with the highest payroll down the stretch, it’s crunch time.
Agreed. If I get time today, I’m going to go back through the old posts and see how many times Uggla is the LVP and repost it here. I have a feeling it is easliy going to be above 25% of the games played. His only saving grace is his hot first half.
Teams “matching-up” well shouldn’t matter this much in baseball, especially considering the turnaround of these two franchises. Surprised Kimbrel didn’t pitch tonight to get some work in.
I am not he got up to warm up like 3 or 4 times last night.
The Braves have been unable to beat the better teams which doesn’t bode well for the playoffs. And as regards Dan Uggla, has an age-related decline begun? In 2010, his OPS+ was 131, last year it was 107, so far this year it’s 94. That’s looking like a trend.
trends can always reverse with the latest PED
He justs need a fake website now. How about Jukt Micronics?
Heyooooo. I get the reference!
Is it me or do the Nationals players seem to hit 100 points better against Atlanta? Flores hits like an all-star, and Desmond seems to always kill us. Braves somehow made the baseball gods made once upon a time and the baseball gods created the expos who turned into the Nats…
So, how did Maholm pitch tonight? I missed the game, so I didn’t get to see how he did. I see he gave up 4 runs on 2 home runs, but he also went 7 innings with only 1 Walk and 6 Strikeouts. Did he just make a couple bad pitches that happened to get hammered?
His only mistake was pitching against the Nationals. I hate this team, and I have for the last 5 years. We can never beat them when it matters.
Ugh
Watching Uggla’s last AB i couldnt help but think that if it were two years ago and we’re playing the marlins, theres no doubt he goes upper deck LF and ties the game. guys a jerk.
Had runners on the corners with less than 2 outs twice! Once in the 9th with no outs and got jack sh!t for runs! That sums it up! Gonna have to score some runs for our starting pitchers from time to time! It was brutal watching Uggla and Mccan pop out in the ninth!!
Well, I guess we’re relegated to the Wild Card now. 7 games has been done before, but I don’t think it can be done this year considering how the Nats have owned us so far.
Not only that, but just that the Nats aren’t going to lose.
Has anyone else noticed that the only runs Maholm has given up since joining the Braves have come on #mammos?
Braves just need to play and stop putting so much pressure on themselves. I just hope they don’t start to tighten up like they did last year.
Im pretty sure they already have.
Is Fredi gone if we don’t make the postseason?
With the talent he’s had on both teams and with two late season collapses, he better be! I hate to put it all on him because he can’t make Uggla and McCann not suck, but he can also stop putting them in the line up.
Gotta be,
This little run reeks of 2011′s finish. When was the last time we beat a .500 or better team in a series? (Not being a smarta**, just can’t put my finger on it)
If they blow it two years in a row, heads should roll.
Not all of last year was on Gonzalez. The injuries to Hanson and Jurrjens meant that Lowe was starting games when he had no business being in the rotation. But this year, I don’t think there
s any excuse to miss the playoffs. Beachy was hurt months ago, and the Braves have had plenty of time to compensate for that.
Poll: rank these signings in order of progressively more egregious resource allocation:
Kawakami, Lowe, Uggla
(P.S. I am not anti-Wren, I think he’s overall done a great job with what he has.)
I think I would leave them in that order.
Is there a market for Uggla? Surely someone like the Dodgers would take him, considering the Braves eat some contract for at least one year. It’s getting to be extremely frustrating to watch him at the plate. It’s like his goal is to watch strikes and swing at balls. At this point, even if he does get hot like last year, it’s too little too late. The reason the Braves can’t come up with that timely hit is because of the holes Uggla and McCann have been this season, especially recently. Hard to get anything going when you have easy outs like those in your lineup. I could see it coming with Dan, but McCann has got to get going.
Who do you put at second if you move him? Prado is playing third.
The Dan Uggla situation wouldn’t be so irritating if he wasn’t making $13M to strike out/pop up/kill rallies. I’m beginning to wonder if the Bravos could make a 2B out of Pastornicky – a guy whose ABs may not be stellar but at least he puts up a fight.
I’ve heard Bourn is projected to be a $16M-$18M contract next season, so why couldn’t we just use some of the money freed up by Chipper leaving and (ideally) an Uggla trade to resign Bourn? That Boris agent doesn’t work well with the Braves but I’m sick of seeing Uggla hurting the team so much.
Freddie 1B, Pastornicky 2B, Andrelton SS, Prado 3B, Heyward RF, Bourn CF, Johnson/Costanza LF looks good to me.
So, here’s Brian McCann’s salary listing on Baseball-Reference:
2013 29 Atlanta Braves *$12,000,000 $12M Team Option, $500k Buyout
That $11.5 million would surely help lock up Michael Bourn, right?
Someone convinced me yesterday that letting McCann walk would be in the team’s best interest. I’m inclined to agree.
Can Ross be an everyday catcher while we’re waiting on Bethancourt to be ready?
I’m really not sure there needs to be any convincing done. For as great an offensive presence that McCann has been, he is getting up there in “catcher” years and spending big money to lock him up when we’re likely to be outbid by AL teams is not really productive. I fully expect the Braves to move him at some point in the future, unless negotiations start well before FA and he agrees to a team-friendly deal.
I agree as well. How much significance does McCann play in developing the young pitchers? Do you think Ross could perform as well as McCann does in that area?
I agree it is time to change. Uggla and Mac are hard to watch. why not put Dan on waivers and see what happens. have we put anyone on waivers? i am not sold on Borne. in the last 30 games while we have played well; he has hit .241 and stuck out 1/3 of the time. not great numbers for someone who wants $12m or more/year. He will get slower with age. i would pass if he is 10m+/year.
Bourn also played like shit down the stretch last year.
No, Ross’s stats as a starter aren’t very impressive and at his age starting 130 games is probably a reach. I would sign a 1yr deal for a Kurt Suzuki type or something similar. It will be hard to let McCann go as he is the face of this franchise but he will walk if he is expecting more than molinas contract.
Jason Heyward is now the face of the franchise.
And in the last few years, Frank Wren has shown he has no issue with being cutthroat about money (Smoltz, Glavine).
David Ross won’t have to be every day, he’ll just have to share more of the weight while Bethancourt figures out what’s what.
Being “cutthroat” with 40 year old starting pitchers is a lot different than with your 28 year old star catcher who is an Atlanta native.
ross should be starting behind the dish. end of story. mccann is the opposite of productive this year.