VirginiaBrave
Well-known member
I hope to God we clinch early, but I would love to do it with a win over them.
When its August and your below .500 there really is no reason to discuss the division. They are barely in the wild card race much less the division right now.
Nah, most days, I like Gattis/Heyward/JUp. I know Gattis had a rough week, but he needs the AB's. He's gonna be the everyday catcher next year...
Yeah, Beachy did very good work after a tough start. I really didn't mind him starting the 7th at all. He was rolling and was under 100 pitches. If he had gotten Mayberry out, he probably would have finished the inning. Where I got lost was the decision to bring Ayala in and then the decision to pitch to Rollins.
Fredi said after the game they were trying not to use Avilan today, so that's why he didn't come in in the 7th. But when the game went extra innings they had to change their plans and use Avilan.
There were still other options. I thought they wouldn't use Carpenter because of his heavy workload recently and wound up using him anyway. Regardless, if they had gone with a better reliever, they could have won the game in nine without using up nearly the entire group.
Anyways, we won the game. Hopefully Wood can go deep into the game tomorrow.
Carpenter and Walden may be unavailable.
Walden could pitch but it's his third in a row, same with Kimbrel.
Downs, Avilan, Varvaro, Ayala are for sure available.
Carpenter is probably unavailable.
We could use Walden and or Kimbrel if it comes down to it.
The book on Ayala is that he's OK to pitch a clean inning. But if you pitch him with runners on base you're asking for trouble. That's what Fredi did and it was a really stupid move. He was overmanaging playing with fire, not only did it not save Avilan it almost cost us the game (and made us have to use almost the entire bullpen). The move to pinch run for CJ with Constanza was just as bad, if not worse. If not for Philly choking and walking Janish we'd be talking more about that too.
That said, thankfully the Braves won despite bad managing (including Fredi batting Uggla and BJ back-to-back).
If they were trying to give Avilan an off day and then still ended up using him I would put him on the unavailable list.
The pinch running decision with Constanza over Johnson I would agree with, especially since Constanza did not steal a base. The NL's leading hitter has to stay in the game there. But hey, what are we really griping about, the Braves have won 9 straight.
He was off on Friday.
He could probably pitch if it comes down to it. But I'd rest him, Walden and Kimbrel tommorow.