Desperate Times: Melky Cabrera hitting 5th.
Marlins laugh at Melky hitting 5th for Atlanta.
When Martin Prado left last night’s game against the Florida Marlins, anyone who follows the Atlanta Braves knew that our lineup would be a lot weaker without him hitting in it. Bobby Cox suggested that Brooks Conrad would be the fill-in for Prado probably indefinitely. The Braves obviously do not feel that Troy Glaus is an adequate fill-in at third base. They have released their lineup for tonight and it is one that will give Anibal Sanchez and the Florida Marlins’ pitchers confidence.
1. Infante – 2B, 2. Heyward – RF, 3. McCann – C, 4. Lee – 1B, 5. Melky Cabrera – LF, 6. Alex Gonzalez – SS, 7. Brooks Conrad – 3B, 8. Rick Ankiel – CF, 9. Tim Hudson – P
Melky Cabrera batting 5th is NOT a typo. It is NOT a cruel joke. He brings a .229 average with 1 homer, 16 RBIs, .296 OBP and .333 slugging percentage over the last 49 games into tonight’s game.
I know that the Braves do not have an abundance of options right now, but come on. Melky Cabrera batting 5th? That is the best-case scenario?
The Braves better hope that Tim Hudson throws a shut-out. But that may not even be enough.
Untimely injuries for the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves’ current third baseman,Martin Prado, left last night’s 12 inning game against the Florida Marlins with a hip pointer. The initial diagnosis is not promising. Initial reports are that he could miss the remainder of the regular season with the injury. He hurt his hip when he made a great defensive play in the forth inning and re-aggravated in in the fifth inning. Losing Prado would be a big loss to the already struggling offense. He has been the most consistent hitter for the Braves all year.
The rotation has it’s problems too. Game 2 of tonight’s series against the Florida Marlins will feature Tim Hudson on 3 days rest. Tomorrow will have Lowe going on 3 days rest as well. This is because Jair Jurrjens is still not able to pitch. He will miss his third consecutive start for the Braves with a sore knee. He was given a shot of anti-inflammatory medicine to help reduce swelling and hopefully kill the pain. The hope is that he will be able to pitch on Friday night to start the series against Philadelphia.
The Braves are going to ride their ace Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe to a hopeful playoff birth. Hudson has not been good in September. He is 1-4 with a 6.10 ERA in September. Lowe, however, is 4-0 with a 1.08 ERA over his last four starts.
In Hudson’s career, he is 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA on short rest in the regular season. Lowe, meanwhile, is 2-1 with a 5.09 ERA in four career starts on short rest.
The Braves are hoping for two solid pitching performances to help them continue their drive for the postseason. They now hold a 1/2 game lead over the San Diego Padres with 5 games left to play. The Padres have 6 games left.
One thing is certain, the injuries to Jurrjens and Prado could not have happened at a worse time.
Nemesis Marlins and Phillies on tap for final stretch.
If the Atlanta Braves have ever needed to come home to the friendly confines of Turner Field it is now. They have six games left against the pesky Florida Marlins and their arch-rival Philadelphia Phillies.
These six games are of the most importance for the Braves. They trail the San Diego Padres by 1/2 game. San Diego have 7 games left to wrap up the wild card. The Padres have 4 games at home against the Chicago Cubs and 3 games on the road against the San Francisco Giants.
All of that is pointless if the Braves cannot take care of business at home. The mental mistakes and errors have been snowballing for the Braves. It culminated yesterday with the walks that hurt the Braves by giving the Nationals four runs. That combined with the fact that the Braves cannot hit with runners in scoring position is a lethal combination culminating in losses for the Braves.
So, here the Braves are playing against the Marlins and Phillies with a season record of 15-15 against them. A 3-3 homestand would quite possibly prevent them from playing in October. The Padres do not have an easy trek either, playing the revitalized Chicago Cubs and the Giants on the road. Luckily for them they will not have to face Tim Lincecum.
Regardless, the Braves can only do one thing to ensure they play beyond this weekend – win. If they lose, they will not play in the postseason in Bobby Cox’s final season.
Here is what’s on tap for the Marlins series:
Game 1: Alex Sanabia (5-3, 3.99) vs. Tommy Hanson (10-11, 3.51) – Sanabia is 2-1 over his last three starts with a 2.60 ERA since September 5 when he gave up 5 runs against the Braves in a 7-6 win. Against the Braves he has made two starts and has a 5.79 ERA against the Braves with two no decisions. The Marlins have won both of his starts against Atlanta. Hanson continued his solid pitching against the Phillies allowing two hits and no runs in six innings of a 1-0 loss last Wednesday. Hanson is 2-5 with a 2.61 ERA over his last 13 starts. Ironically, he has been given 2.61 runs of support in his last 13 starts as well. That is an improvement over his average of 2.31 runs per game in support for the season.
Game 2 – Anibal Sanchez (12-11, 3.60) vs. To be announced – Sanchez is 1-3 with a 6.95 ERA over his last four starts. He is 4-6 with a 4.50 ERA against the Braves in his career. This season he is 1-1 with a 3.92 ERA against the Braves. The Braves are hoping that Jair Jurrjens will be available to pitch game 2 of this series. A decision is supposed to be made today as to whether he will be able to pitch on his sore knee.
Game 3 – Andrew Miller (1-4, 8.19) vs. TBA – Miller shut down the hapless Braves in his last start giving up one run in 5 innings of a 6-1 Marlins win on September 3. He is 3-0 in his career against the Braves with a 3.04 ERA. He has been shelled in his last four starts, however, going 0-4 with a 12.89 ERA. He has given up 21 runs in 14 and 2/3 innings during that time.
In the event that Jurrjens cannot pitch tomorrow, the Braves likely will turn to Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe on three days rest to pitch against the Marlins. This is not ideal, but it may be the best option for the Braves since rookie Mike Minor has been terrible over his last four starts, going 0-2 with a 9.37 ERA. Kenshin Kawakami is not an option any longer since he blew his chance when he was called up earlier.
Playoff hopes slipping through their fingers for Braves.
The Atlanta Braves have lost 4 of 6 games to the Washington Nationals over the last two weeks. They lost 2 of 3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. That is 6 of 9 games to the two worst teams in the National League and all of baseball. Each loss pushes them closer and closer to missing the playoffs when just a few weeks they were considered shoe-ins.
They can’t blame Brandon Beachy. He has pitched two solid games in the midst of this tense pennant race to keep the Braves alive and their chance to make it still a reality. Today he battled some control problems early, but breezed through 5 innings by striking out 9 Washington Nationals’ hitters.
The kryptonite today was walks. All four of the Braves’ runs that they gave up came due to walks to Nationals’ hitters. Beachy gave up two runs due to walks and Kyle Farnsworth continued to show his ineptitude by walking two hitters in the decisive 7th inning with two outs, before Jonny Venters finished the deal with another walk and two-run single.
It wasn’t all walks that were to blame. The Braves’ bats are non-existent. Bobby Cox is insistent upon bad luck as part of the problem. Brian McCann hit a hard liner to first with runners at 1st and 3rd for a double play. Melky Cabrera lined out to left field on a nice play by Bernadina with runners at 2nd and 3rd.
What makes matters worse is the times surrounding these that it was poor at bats that killed the Braves. In the fourth inning when McCann and Freeman were at 2nd and 3rd with one out, Alex Gonzalez could not hit a fly ball to drive in a run. He popped up. Melky had a solid hit, but the Nats had him played well.
In the 6th inning the Braves had runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs. Freeman hit a fly ball out and Gonzalez hit into an inning-ending double play.
After Rick Ankiel drove in his 2nd run of the day on an RBI double, the Braves sent three hitters to the plate with the hope to drive him in from 2nd base. Matt Diaz and Omar Infante could not make contact and struck out. Jason Heyward grounded out weakly.
The Nats would score the runs in the bottom of that inning.
Pitching that is giving up mistakes and hitters that cannot get a hit to drive in runs adds up to a slump at the worse time possible.
The only reconcilable thing that has happened right now is that the Padres have played poorly as well. They have a little easier trek to the playoffs than Atlanta, as long as they win.
Regardless, every day makes it seem more likely that Atlanta will be on the outside looking in again.
Lowe stops Braves’ 4 game slide. Need rookies to pitch better.
Derek Lowe has been outstanding since missing a start with a sore elbow. Since he missed a start, he is 4-0 with a 1.08 ERA. The Braves have needed him more over the last two weeks than they could have imagined. Hudson has struggled. Jair Jurrjens missed his last start and will miss tomorrow’s start due to a knee injury. Tommy Hanson has been solid, but has gotten no run support. Mike Minor has been…pitching like a first year pro pitcher that has pitched more than he has ever pitched and has no gas left in the tank.
Now, the Braves close out their final road series of the year against the Nationals and Livan Hernandez. They will send Brandon Beachy to the mound to make his 2nd career start. They are trailing the Padres by 1/2 game in the wild card with only 7 games left. They have at a minimum 2 games left to be started by rookies. Beachy tomorrow and Mike Minor on Monday.
Beachy looked good in his first start. He pitched in front of the sold-out Philadelpia ballpark. He gave up only 1 earned run, but his defense let him down as the Braves lost 3-1. He is hoping to pitch more like he feels he is capable. He was disappointed in his last start, although he received many praises and compliments for his performance.
The Braves’ postseason chances may very well ride on Beachy and Minor’s capability of giving them a chance of winning.
