Braves 5, Twins 1: David Festa Deals, but Bullpen and Bats Fold Again

13 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Festa hasn't been asked to throw a pitch in even the 6th inning ALL YEAR, yet Rocco sends him out for the SEVENTH immediately after tieing  the game

There is no path to victory for Rocco Baldelli, eh? I mean give it a rest Chief. Look at it this way, he still didn't break 90 pitches, forget about the innings or time through the lineup and nothing was different. Or just look at it anyway you want and come back to the same damn conclusion, everytime.

Bullpen cooked.... this could get ugly

31 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

I expect Lee and Varland will be the 27th-28th callups on Sunday.

I hope you are right.

Minor point ... how does the official scorer hand a double to Williams on the ball that Margot clanked. Watching the play numerous times, it is pretty clear that Margot simply misjudged, got twisted, ran over his feet, and then butchered the ball at the last second. It was actually a fairly routine catch. Players make mistakes but there is not any reason to punish Alcala by relieving Margot of his error. I'm not down on Margot, but an error is an error.

The Twins will likely bring back Lee in September. He looked tired in his last two games. Has he hit a wall? Each of his plate appearances were weak. The walk last night came on four noncompetitive pitches.  

There is still a run in this team but Correa and Buxton are needed to shore up the defense. Bat them 7th and 9th to reduce their running. I appreciate the difficulty of injuries but what a pile of missed games for those two.

Toronto still has a good team and the Twins will need to forget about the past week when they begin their series with the Blue Jays.

Margot running into the out at home is on him not Watkins this time.Jeffers single was right in front of him and he went back to second to tag up.He had to see that it wasn't going to be caught and needed to run.Yes Watkins has been a bad 3rd base coach,but the runner should be able to read the ball right in front of him.

What I see is a team that is going back to the homerun or strike out mentality.Every time Lewis steps into the box all everyone wants including Lewis is a homerun.With bases loaded and no outs Miranda and Castro strike out and Vasquez hits a ball to short.This looked like the 2023 team.

33 minutes ago, David Maro said:

Margot running into the out at home is on him not Watkins this time.Jeffers single was right in front of him and he went back to second to tag up.He had to see that it wasn't going to be caught and needed to run.Yes Watkins has been a bad 3rd base coach,but the runner should be able to read the ball right in front of him.

What I see is a team that is going back to the homerun or strike out mentality.Every time Lewis steps into the box all everyone wants including Lewis is a homerun.With bases loaded and no outs Miranda and Castro strike out and Vasquez hits a ball to short.This looked like the 2023 team.

Arguably a mistake for both.  Yes, it was in front of Margot but as a runner you are taught to trust your 3rd base coach.  I pretty much never defend Margot, but the primary blame goes to Watkins here.  Margot can't know for certain that the outfielder didn't bobble the ball, or have something else go wrong as he is supposed to be sprinting at full speed after determining the ball will land, looking ahead at Watkins (who sent him).  At this point I fear Watkins pretty much has PTSD from the mistakes of the past two days and should be replaced in-season.  Keep him on the staff in some kind of role and pull somebody else from the coaching staff for 3B duties.  I really don't know how a replacement could do worse.

And as a resident Margot critic... yes, that's an error every time on his CF drop.

I really can't imagine that Margot gets signed to anything more than a spring training invite next year...

5 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I get that it's a minor point but in my opinion it's a major point in my mind that I just have accepted because it always happens. 

I never look at error stats because the stat has no value when Margot doesn't get an error on that play. 

I would give out a lot of errors because I have higher expectations of a major league player.

I think Martin should have gotten an error on the Ozuna double in extras the night before. Tough Catch I know but a catch that a major league CF should make. He got to that ball. But then again... I'd be tougher on the errors if I was the judge of them. That way the error stat could possibly be close to meaning something. 

I wouldn't be opposed to Julien getting an error for throwing the ball home with very little chance of getting the runner but I admit that would be pretty harsh in the opposite direction.  

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Since the manager of an amateur team is effectively the scorer I was more strict and applied the routine expected play angle. However, MLB players are totally amazing at their craft and make plays not seen below their level. The reason I mentioned the Margot play as opposed to either the Martin or Julien play, both of which could have been made, is that last night's miss was pretty much a routine play made seemingly difficult by numerous mental and physical mistakes. 

I see Delmon's name recently and we have someone below Delmon in Gabriel Gonzalez. GG will have to hit a ton to make it to The Show. Miami traded for another total iron glove when they gave away Puk. That guy can really hit but I doubt he makes it.

The scorer should be more cognizant of the effect on fair statistics for the pitcher and apply the routine play expectation on balls in play. For example, Julien should make a good throw home but we cannot assume an out and it needed to be in a narrow region for the tag. I was a little disgusted but don't write down E4 in that case. If a relay throw is wild to first when the runner would have easily been out on the back side of a double play, i give an error every time if it is a routine throw. MLB never gives an error unless the runner advances.

FWIW, MLB has changed their scoring rather dramatically over the years which largely accounts for the reduction of errors in today's game. But it's all small stuff and nothing to get worked up over.

1 hour ago, D.C Twins said:

Bullpen cooked.... this could get ugly

Yeah, they way they lost last night is like a blueprint for this ugliness.

But we soldier on...

It's amazing how one pitcher can face 21 batters, throw 88 pitches, and give up 2 hits....only to have the next guy entirely reverse that in 10 pitches.  
 

3 hours ago, USAFChief said:

There is no path to defeat for Rocco Baldelli, eh?

I rarely express an opinion on Rocco Baldelli. I do speak up when blaming him for everything threatens to dominate every discussion probably because it just annoys me. Nothing personal. 

Not that it matters, I don't like many decisions made by Rocco, the 3rd base coach lol, the front office and or ownership.

Too funny.....this happened way back, but the story goes, some SF Giants fan actually shot up this TV after the Giants blew a game.