5/21/15 Brewers @ Braves

sturg33 said:
At the same time, the Astros are killing it while leading the league in striekouts. They also lead the league in Homers.

The problem with the Braves last year was we didn't hit any homers
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Turner field is not a place you should design your team to hit homers IMO.

Astros have gotten tremendous bullpen pitching. Once Correa comes up they should be even better. I'm glad its working for them and Gattis hasn't even found a groove yet.
 
striker42 said:
There's a difference between using and abusing. The agreement is so universal that it's okay to use the stuff to get a grip on the ball that there's a good argument for legalizing it for that. The problem becomes policing it. How do you prevent a wave of Gaylord Perrys? If baseball can figure out how to make the use of a grip substance equivalent to the use of a rosin bag then there's no reason to not legalize it.

That being said, Smith deserved what he got for sheer stupidity alone. The chorus you keep hearing is "everyone does it." If everyone does it then it must be pretty easy to get away with so you have to almost try to get caught. If you're doing it as obviously as Smith was last night, you don't have room to complain. The dude had it on the outside of his arm and he kept going to it for all the world to see.

If a notorious mobster's body shows up floating in the bay, maybe the police don't go the extraordinary lengths in the investigation. If a hit man kills the same mobster in a police station parking lot and then stands there shouting "I did it!" then you have to arrest the guy.
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I was wondering where you've been. Nice to see you.

If there's a Hall of Fame for cheating, here's my nomination:

[video=youtube;TXLmh1dG5fY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXLmh1dG5fY[/video]
 
sturg33 said:
Does anyone know what our mode is for run scoring? I understand we're averaging more, but we've had some big outputs. Curious what we're consistently scoring.

It's getting to the point where I'm thinking about starting to eat some crow. You can only deny results for so long and clearly the offense is doing much better than I expected. Having said all that, it's not because we got rid of Heyward/Upton/Gattis but moreso that we got rid of BJ/Uggla/bad CJ.

Still - can't argue with the results.
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Well, OBP is up at 5 of the 8 positions over last year. One of the 5 that is down is Freeman, who at .363 is still pretty good. The only position where we have a significant OBP drop off from last year is LF.
 
sturg33 said:
At the same time, the Astros are killing it while leading the league in striekouts. They also lead the league in Homers.

The problem with the Braves last year was we didn't hit any homers
Click to expand...

They also have a ridiculous bullpen but provided they dont fall off, we'll see if that works in the playoffs when scoring is low.

We still need a couple power bats but the team looks ready to compete sooner than many thought.
 
DirkPiggler said:
Well, OBP is up at 5 of the 8 positions over last year. One of the 5 that is down is Freeman, who at .363 is still pretty good. The only position where we have a significant OBP drop off from last year is LF.
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Think we could contend for a playoff spot if we kept Justin but that trade could really pay off if Peterson keeps progressing, Mallex is legit, and Fried recovers well.
 
sturg33 said:
At the same time, the Astros are killing it while leading the league in striekouts. They also lead the league in Homers.

The problem with the Braves last year was we didn't hit any homers
Click to expand...

It's that added to the fact that guys like Chris Johnson didn't really hit at all and if you're a player with contact issues, you simply have to make your contact "count." Same went for Uggla (who is making contact this year, which I credit to a change in approach as much as recovery from his concussion issues). It's risk/reward. I don't mind J. Upton or Freeman striking out because the other side of the equation more than balances any propensity for striking out. it's when Chris Johnson and Melvin Upton, Jr., were being human industrial fans (with limited interest in walking as well) that problems start to show up. It was the overall team construction that did in the Braves last season. Hitting more HRs would have helped, but it would have only disguised some issues at the foundation.
 
50PoundHead said:
It's that added to the fact that guys like Chris Johnson didn't really hit at all and if you're a player with contact issues, you simply have to make your contact "count." Same went for Uggla (who is making contact this year, which I credit to a change in approach as much as recovery from his concussion issues). It's risk/reward. I don't mind J. Upton or Freeman striking out because the other side of the equation more than balances any propensity for striking out. it's when Chris Johnson and Melvin Upton, Jr., were being human industrial fans (with limited interest in walking as well) that problems start to show up. It was the overall team construction that did in the Braves last season. Hitting more HRs would have helped, but it would have only disguised some issues at the foundation.
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Well said. Everyone in the lineup has to contribute SOMETHING, whether it be power or OBP. Last year we had Gattis, Freeman, Good Upton, and Heyward contributing, and four black holes who gave nothing to the offense. This year, even though the good players aren't as good for the most part, most of the black holes have been filled with flawed players who can at least do something right.
 
Added to what 50pound said (great post btw), the whole "strikeouts are cool" thing is fine I suppose, but I think when you face really good pitchers every day in the playoffs, the whiffs will really, really hurt, and your offense may go ice cold (like ours did in 2013). There were multiple reasons we lost vs. LA that post-season, but I had little confidence we could do the little things offensively to win. I think a team built like this year's is will be better able to do those little things to win a playoff series.
 
yeezus said:
Added to what 50pound said (great post btw), the whole "strikeouts are cool" thing is fine I suppose, but I think when you face really good pitchers every day in the playoffs, the whiffs will really, really hurt, and your offense may go ice cold (like ours did in 2013). There were multiple reasons we lost vs. LA that post-season, but I had little confidence we could do the little things offensively to win. I think a team built like this year's is will be better able to do those little things to win a playoff series.
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I absolutely believe that a team like the Braves this year would score more consistently against better pitching. Not a doubt in my mind.

Eff it...Lets call up Peraza and add to the pen.
 
50PoundHead said:
It's that added to the fact that guys like Chris Johnson didn't really hit at all and if you're a player with contact issues, you simply have to make your contact "count." Same went for Uggla (who is making contact this year, which I credit to a change in approach as much as recovery from his concussion issues). It's risk/reward. I don't mind J. Upton or Freeman striking out because the other side of the equation more than balances any propensity for striking out. it's when Chris Johnson and Melvin Upton, Jr., were being human industrial fans (with limited interest in walking as well) that problems start to show up. It was the overall team construction that did in the Braves last season. Hitting more HRs would have helped, but it would have only disguised some issues at the foundation.
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The bottom line is we had three black holes in the line-up last year, four earlier if you count Uggla's time with us before being released. This year we have a more balanced line-up without all the black holes, though a lot less power. Plus former black hole Simmons is now contributing more on offense to go along with his great defense. While CJ hasn't started as much when healthy and is now on the DL. So we've gotten more on offense and defense at third this year. Upton of course is gone and his replacement Maybin is contributing on offense too. I also like our bench a lot more.

If we still had a great bullpen we'd probably be a playoff team with good managing.
 
I don't really buy into this idea that pitchers need to have sun tan lotion and rosin mixed together to make pitch. I'm trying to remember back in the day when I made pitch and I can't ever think of a time that the ball was so slippery that I could not make pitch. And I never ever had Rosin. Just dirt. Now, I'm not comparing myself to a MLB pitcher, but a baseball is a baseball. Rosin should be more than enough to keep pitchers from hitting guys. To me the reason they want it is so that they can make better pitch, not so that they can just make pitch without beaning every batter.
 
Gotta comment here about the off-season threads where those who dared show any optimism were painted as completely ridiculous for even suggesting that this team might score any runs at all.

I really enjoy watching this team. With a runner in scoring position I actually have some confidence that they will find a way to get him home.

The rebuild is on track, and potentially even ahead of schedule.
 
I hope Maybin is the real deal but looking back at his previous season stats he was worse than I thought. He has never hit double digit homers in any season, he has never hit more than 45 RBI, and has never finished a season with an OBP over .323. Gonna need more than 100 at bats to believe it.
 
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