ugh

lucky to not lose any ground in the Wild Card, but on the flip side we really needed to gain ground when both the Rockies and Giants lose and we are playing the Washington F Nationals. Honestly, this is getting so tilting. We are going to have to beat the Phillies up to just win the Wild Card at this rate. Infuriating.

BTW 12:10 start tomorrow. Debating on going, if even by myself since all my friends have real jobs/in grad school. We'll see what time I wake up.

lol I was actually considering going by myself as well, but figured no way I wake up by 1030 or whatever to get down there in time.

haha yeah tbh I'll be lucky to be awake for first pitch

looking at the current standings, who should we root for tomorrow b/w padres/rocks. I'm going with pads, because they are in 1st and we don't really care who wins that division, just want to beat out the 2nd place, team so it's most important for 2nd place to lose, than 3rd place, then 1st...agree?

and to expand. with tomorrow's games of pads/rocks and giants/dodgers, if i was given a choice that any game could go my way, i would choose dodgers winning. you guys down with that? or are they all a bunch of ****ing freerolls so who cares

When will Bobby realize that the lineup is not working? Yeah I know, we lose Chipper so we move Prado to 3rd base, fine whatever, but he needs to be leadoff again! He does not thrive in the 3 hole. Here is my ideal lineup and why:

1) Prado 2B: thrives here, team was riding high when he batted leadoff. He feels more comfortable and not as much pressure. Don't have the numbers but seems like he has a lot more K's in the 3 hole not to mention less HR's. 2B because he was a beast defensively at 2B.
2) Heyward RF: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. He's hot right now so I like him here.
3/4) Infante SS/McCann C: Sounds weird I know but let's just try it and see. Infante is almost a guaranteed single, so if Heyward/Prado get on base(and we know they both have tons of doubles/walks) he can probably drive them in just on that. McCann is good for a HR so that gives the opportunity for a multi RBI shot.
4/5) McCann C/Glaus 3B: BRING BACK THE GLAUSOSAUR! Look, I know Wren doesn't want to foot the bill once he reaches the next plate appearance point/raise point, but Lee is WORTHLESS. How do you hit into a DP with the bases loaded??? It's called a sac fly! Try it sometime! In general so far he flails at everything and isn't patient when he needs to be. Glaus is well rested now obviously, and I'd like to see him at 3B where he used to be. Glaus could be like McLouth getting hot again and we'll never know unless we put him in regularly.
6) McLouth CF: He's like Hansel, so hot right now! But seriously, doing a great job and deserves this spot.
7) Diaz/Melky LF: Diaz has the speed and can swing a hot bat. Melky could be played when his numbers are good against that pitcher or something along those lines.
8) Hinske 1B: No huge thought process here.
9) Pitcher

It's late so I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense/sound like a good argument but post your thoughts and I will try to explain better/banter with you

Meh, I think a lot of your frustration with the offense is misdirected. The crux of it all, in my opinion, is that we have gotten almost no production from the LF or CF spot in the last month or so. That's a huge issue to have as those are primarily key offensive positions.

Derrek Lee has been fine, and a huge improvement over Glaus. I think everyone is quick to forget Glaus was hitting like .160 after the ASB and was as un-'clutch' as they get. I think everyone hating on D.Lee is hating on his inability to get a 'clutch' hit. A lot of that is just negative variance, and I think he's really hitting the ball hard in a lot of his at bats. He'll start to get the ball in the air at some point, and his balls on the ground will find holes. Defensively he's probably already saved 6-8 runs that would have scored had Glaus been in the field.

A. Gonz has been productive especially considering it's production coming from the 6 or 7 hole. His defense has been excellent as of late, and his glove has saved a bunch of runs. I don't think Infante starting everyday at SS would be a good thing for this team.

The Melky/Diaz platoon has been atrocious the past month. That's all I will say about that.

Arguing over whether or not Prado should bat leadoff or in the 3 hole and vice versa for Infante is kind of pointless. I don't think it matters that much, to be honest. Prado is slumping slightly, but he's still been very productive from the 3 hole. Infante has been a great leadoff hitter, and he has more speed than Prado. As far as what position they should play, I think it's pretty obvious that at 2B Infante = Prado and at 3B Prado > Infante, otherwise there'd be no reason to move Prado to 3B after Chipper went down. This is something that probably isn't obvious to us fans, but as a manager, having seen both all Spring Training and season, I think Bobby and Co. have a good idea who is stronger defensively at each position.

Agree don't touch Heyward. He's been unreal, and honestly the past month he's reminded me more and more of Bonds in the early 90s (obv slightly less power).

I am also actually not a fan of swapping B. Mac and Lee depending on if it's a RHP or LHP. I don't see that much logic behind this, and I'd much rather have B. Mac in the 4 hole and Lee in the 5th spot. Makes sense you'd want B. Mac up with runners on more often (no shift, handles the bat well, etc).

So I guess my lineup from here on out would look like this:

2B O. Infante
RF J. Heyward
3B M. Prado
C B. McCann
1B D. Lee
SS A. Gon
LF M. Diaz/R. Ankiel/M. Cabrera/E. Hinske/Anyone that can produce FFS
CF N. McClouth (keep playing the hot hand, he's much better suited in the 8th spot than the 6th tho IMO)

Another reason why as a team we are definitely slumping is that the starting pitching has been terrible. If I see an opposing pitcher knock in another run I am going to lose it. Have some pride out there and make a good pitch to the opposing pitcher ffs.

Honestly I think we've just been dcking around way too much the past month. Feels like we lost some of that fire that we had earlier in the season. We went after it for 9 innings no questions asked, and now when the games seemingly matter a lot more we seem to just tap out once we get behind by a few runs.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Phils won all 6 from us and knocked us out of the Wild Card. On the flip side, it wouldn't surprise me at all if we swept the Phils both series and won the division. This team is strange, but very good. There is no reason we can't end this run on an absolute tear.

I think this is just looking at the situation in a results oriented fashion. The Bravos ran super hot for a lot of the season in late inning/last AB situations. This is just the flip side of that, and I don't think its because of lack of fire or effort or whatever. It's just variance.

Hopefully they can turn it around, win today and take 2 of 3 from NY. At that point the division can be tightened, or lost, with the first PHI series. I really think that is the goal, being able to control the outcome of the division with the last series of the year, where winning 2/3 from PHI wins it.

I hope you're wrong about the fire loss but I agree that we don't seem to have our mojo lately.

We have had a lot of lop-sided games lately, and earlier in the season it seemed like every game was close so maybe we just haven't had as many opportunities to bring the fire.

IDK what's going on with us, this team has me on the emotional roller-coaster for sure though.

If you guys want to know what we should do with our lineup and everything else down the stretch, then read capitol avenue club blog. Google it. It's the Braves blog featured by ESPN. That guy knows way more than any of us do about baseball in general and the Braves specifically.

PS Is pradogirl really a girl?

Dont know. But if she is pics?

good start today. man we don't even have to win a ton to win the WC, this is miserable

so glad i didnt know they were playing a day game today. woulda put $ on them to win, under the "one team cares the other doesn't" theorem... doh

If we hold them to 4 runs we will win this game.

skdfjlsakdjflakjewfawjlk why bunt there why why why why why

That was bunting for a hit, and it was an excellent one. Zimmerman just made an amazing play, best defensive 3rd baseman in MLB.

you really think that bunt wasn't called by Bobby?

dfsatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttikgiprfmgmoergmfv bmdfkl;vbdfm;bmlfbdmkl;. 12 baserunners to 5. Of course we are losing 4-2.

No way. Give the man a little credit.

yikes

Man **** this ****.

did we really just lose 2 outta 3 to the nats at home?

honestly it doesn't surprise me at all.

Oops, didn't know it was a day game. Oh well I didn't miss anything.

Still too early to panic, even though **** the Nats!

Got to start hitting again. Here's hoping TP goes with BC after this season.