Series Recap: Braves @ Orioles
June 15th, 2009 | by joelucia |June 12-14
Orioles win series 2 games to 1
June 12: Braves 7, Orioles 2
June 13: Orioles 8, Braves 4
June 14: Orioles 11, Braves 2
THE GOOD
Catching. Brian McCann and David Ross continue to be the best catching platoon in baseball, going 7/11 with 3 extra base hits, 3 runs & 4 RBI. The team as a whole had 25 hits over the series, and the 2 catchers had 38% of them. I know they’re good, but wow. They’re also 1-2 on the team in OPS…yeah, what now Chipper?
Manny Acosta. Yeah, I said it. 3 innings over the last 2 games of the series after the damage was already done…he allowed 4 baserunners, but stranded them all. Its going to catch up with him pretty soon, but in all honesty, I feel a lot more at ease seeing him come out of the bullpen than I do with Moylan.
THE MEH
Starting pitching. So Tommy Hanson pitched…I dunno, “decently”? He got hit around the park and walked a ton of guys, but worked his way out of trouble (somehow), and only allowed 2 runs to get his first major league win. Kawakami was fine on Saturday, but the bullpen took a giant steaming turd on his effort (thanks Peter Moylan, I guess Bobby Cox didn’t read my article about how Moylan was not a good 7th inning option). Derek Lowe on the other hand, was a complete disaster, and I have no idea why. Sitting at Camden Yards watching this game was real frustrating, and I stopped caring by the 4th inning and just focused on having fun with my friends.
THE DIRE
Bullpen management. There was no reason whatsoever to use Soriano on Friday with a 5 run lead, especially Soriano who has been worked to the bone this week and looked like hell on Thursday. I could see wanting to get Gonzalez some work, though. Saturday was a mess, with O’Flaherty getting knocked around like a pinata, and Bobby letting it continue for 5 batters (3 of whom eventually scored). Then Moylan came in (who also has been getting worked pretty hard this week….so much for that elbow surgery, huh?) and threw some more gas on the fire before the aforementioned Manny Acosta came in with a helicopter full of water. Unfortunately, the damage was done…mostly because of…
The offense.
Aside from the catchers I talked about before, only Martin Prado and…the right fielder?! had more than 2 hits over the course of the series. They made Brian Bergesen look like Greg Maddux with all the hacking they were doing, and what did that get the team? 7 baserunners in 9 innings against a rookie with an 89 mph fastball. Fantastic.
Reds series preview will be up later tonight.
Tags: Brian McCann, David Ross, Derek Lowe, Eric O'Flaherty, Jeff Francoeur, Kenshin Kawakami, Manny Acosta, Martin Prado, Peter Moylan, Rafael Soriano, Tommy Hanson
By WeinerDog on Jun 16, 2009
Absolutely cracks me up how you refer to the right fielder as the right fielder. Can’t remember, what does the OPS need to be before you call him by name?
Keep up the good work, bigjoe.
By The Accountant on Jun 16, 2009
Right Fielder started to hit a little bit this weekend. Surprised me too, but I’m glad to see it. Did you see the 2 RBI hit he had on Friday, I think, he swung himself into an 0-2 count, then kept swinging at every pitch in the at-bat until he got that hit? So, it was good to get the hit, but he used absolutely no pitch recognition to get himself to that point.
Also glad to see credit given to McCross. I hadn’t thought about the duo they have become this year. So long Corky Miller, and I don’t miss Sammons being called up like I thought I would. I keep telling people what a privilege it is to have such a great hitting catcher who is at least average defensively. Not many teams have a catcher hitting in the cleanup position and doing very well.
Any other thoughts on the team as you saw them live? Were you around for BP?
By joelucia on Jun 16, 2009
Honestly can’t remember a whole lot about Saturday…Sunday we went to the park right after the gates opened and saw almost all of BP. Everyone seemed to be real loose and having a good time. Chipper was taking some extra infield, which he probably needs. Escobar was launching some BOMBS into left field, some of them probably made the second deck. I have a bunch of pics that I’ve yet to upload, but once I do, I’ll throw a link up
By joelucia on Jun 16, 2009
@WeinerDog: The RF’s OPS…I’d like to see either his OBP at .300 or his SLG at like…430. Then we can start calling him by his given last name…and if things get better, maybe he can get a nickname back.
Also, we’re dangerously close to getting THE SECOND BASEMAN as well.
By WeinerDog on Jun 17, 2009
LMAO
By The Accountant on Jun 17, 2009
It would be nice to see some pics.
You bring up something that concerns me with Escobar: Do you think he’s going to get the Home Run itch the same way Andruw Jones did several years back when HRs were all the rage and this team seemed to need someone besides C. Jones to hit them deep? Yunel sure seems to be a prime candidate. Of course, I would be concerned that in a year or so, all he would be doing is swinging out of his shorts and missing out on chances to drive in runs just so he could watch an occasional 450 ft bomb.
You backed up what I hoped was true about this team in that they do seem to stay loose with each other, and seem to have a good time playing together. If only that could translate to winning. More often than the alternative, I think it does.