Braves Beat- Like team mate Tommy Hanson the Braves ace Tim Hudson has also struggled in the early innings of games this year but, unlike Hanson, more often than not Hudson has steadied the ship and produced highly effective and even brilliant outings. Unfortunately for Huddy his stretch of survival ended late last night (well actually I was waking up when Jonathon Broxton was trying to give up a second Dodger game in a row, one of the bi-products of following baseball in England). Hudson did last 6 innings, continuing his streak in 2011 of lasting 6 in all of his starts, but gave up four runs on six hits and two walks. This is the second start in a row Hudson has given up more than four runs, something he did only once last year. There was widespread acceptance that Hudson would regress this year given that his FIP and xFIP were both nearly a run higher than his ERA, this means that several starts like this shouldn’t come as a surprise or of concern to Braves fans.
Reassuringly for those Braves fans was the two hit performance of Dan Uggla last night who went 2-for-4 with a double, stolen base and a run scored. This raised the Braves new slugger’s batting average to a monstrous .197. All joking aside this could be a huge breakthrough for Dan who only had one multi-hit game previous to last night and his only previous stolen base attempt saw him bounce off the bag and be tagged out. Hopefully a couple of hits for Dan last night will get him on the kind of role a successful Braves team needs. The other big note from last night’s line-up was Fredi sticking with Jason Heyward hitting second in the order even with Nate McLouth in the order. Heyward didn’t have the kind of explosion his supporters were hoping for but hopefully the order with Martin hitting lead off, Heyward second and McLouth eighth will be will get the sputtering offence into the rhythm it has so far lacked.
Peter Moylan landed on the 15-Day DL with what has been discovered to be a bulging disc in his back, a similar problem to the one he experienced in 2001 and 2003 although Moylan feels this time it is less serious to the previous pains that resulted in surgery in ’03. The Braves medical staff will reassess the right-hander in two weeks and see how his back is then; until he is able to be revaluated the Braves are unsure as what Moylan will be able to do. Peter’s 4.15 ERA belied his importance in the early part of the season to the Braves bullpen but anyone who saw his two strikeouts on Thursday night against the Marlins should appreciate the role the Aussie plays.
Ball Four
1. The battles of the West were both somewhat less competitive than I and the rest of the baseball watching world were hoping for them to be but they produced two very different types of pitching performances that were equally effective. In the launching pad of Coors Field the Giants ace Tim Lincecum dominated one of the hottest line-ups in baseball in a performance to match ‘The Freak’s’ best. In 7.2 innings Lincecum gave up three hits and one run after carrying a no-hitter into the seventh while striking out 10 Rockies. With all the talk of the Phillies Fab Four people seemed to somehow forget the brilliance of the Giants Championship winning rotation that Lincecum fronts and led his team to an 8-1 victory. While Lincecum was spinning a mile high masterpiece CJ Wilson was pitching a similarly effective game while missing far fewer bats. Wilson lasted seven innings against the hot Angels and gave up ten hits somehow allowing only one run. The 9 strikeouts Wilson piled up helped him survive what could have been a rough outing while the Angels going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The 7-1 win the Rangers produced against the Angels broke LA’s five game winning streak and gets the Rangers back to winning ways after losing their series in New York.
2. The AL East produced two outstanding pitching performances yesterday that reminded me why I had both the Rays and Red Sox winning more than 90 games. Those lucky enough to live in LA, San Francisco or anywhere West of the Rocky mountains were about to enjoy some Patriots Day baseball with breakfast while 11 Eastern Time is the most accessible time I have ever experienced watching a game here. It appears that Daisuke Matsuzaka also enjoys an early matinee as he produced his best performance of the year, maybe even longer. Dice-K went 7 innings against the Blue Jays giving up only 1 hit and no runs while throwing only 89 pitches, a sharp comparison to his two earlier starts when he took 96 pitches to get through 5 innings in his first start and 47 to get through 2 in his second. The performance of the Japanese righty combined with the offensive surge of Jed Lowrie has moved the Sox back to 5-10 and saw them win consecutive games for the first time this year. In Tampa David Price was even better than his Bostonian counterpart. Price pitched 8 innings against the Chicago White Sox allowing only six base runners on four hits and two walks while striking out nine Sox. Price has been quietly improving since his rocky beginning to the season and with last night’s performance levelled his record at 2-2 and lowered his ERA to an impressive 2.83 mark. The difference between these two performances to me is that this should be an admired one-off by Dice-K and something closer to Price’s true level of performance.
3. Tonight sees the return to the mound of Ubaldo Jimenez who, thanks to a cut cuticle has not pitched since giving up six runs in six innings on Opening Day. Whilst 2011 has begun significantly led impressively for Ubaldo than 2010 when he went 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA in his first five starts he is re-joining a team that currently shares the best record in the early stages of the season. Jimenez will face the San Francisco Giants who he has tangled with intermittently at important stages of his career. He currently sports a 5-5 record against the defending World Series champions with an impressive 3.13 ERA. He hooks up tonight with Jonathon Sanchez who, like Ubaldo, also has a no-hitter in his not so distant past.
4. One of the best stories coming out of Spring Training was Rule 5 draft pick Brad Emaus winning the second base job for the New York Mets. After 14 games and 37 At-Bats the feel good story seems to be over. Today the Mets announced they were designating Emaus for assignment after he hit .162 in the two weeks he lasted in the New York line-up before seemingly being replaced by Daniel Murphy. Thanks to the complexities of some of baseballs inner workings Emaus shouldn’t go investing in any real estate anywhere any time soon. The Mets must first pass him through Rule 5 waivers before offering him back to Toronto for half the amount they paid for him, if they wish to keep him they must work out a trade with Jays although that seems unlikely. I was personally really happy to see a guy like Emaus getting a shot at the big leagues and I will be a little sad to see him go wherever he goes and hopefully he can build a Major League career for himself.
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