Nieve in again. Gotta love how Jerry will overuse any reliever who is at all effective until he isn't any more. In any event, he's obviously not taking Maine's spot in the rotation. Edit: Maine claims that he will be able to make his next start. Not sure if that's something to be happy about.
Great fucking play by Reyes there. Full extension. Good job, Jose, make me eat my words from last week.:up:
The weakness of the team coming into the season was never going to be offense. With a fully healthy, producing team our offense can be dangerious. It was managerial/GM decision making and the pitching staff that was a question mark. What pitchers did we have behind Santana? If we get our 2,3,4, and 5 starters to give us quality starts on a regular basis, this team will be able to go far.
And that's why the front office is the worst in baseball. They went into this season with a 50/50 bet on their entire staff behind Santana and this week they look like geniuses. They'll claim they're getting exactly what they envisioned, but based on performance evaluation on the season's eve - how can they possibly say that with a straight face? Oh right - it's Omar. He'll shake your hand with one hand while the other's pushing a dagger in your back without a wrinkle in his smile.
Blanco is catching tonight. Regular lineup otherwise. Chipper Jones will miss a few games after he hurt his hip yesterday. edit: whoops, that's what I saw earlier, but I checked for an update and found this: Chipper Jones: (Hip) Will Play Sunday Night - 4/25/2010 4:03:05 PM Update: Jones (hip) felt okay during indoor batting practice and will be in Sunday's starting lineup, reports Mark Bowman. Recommendation: According to the report, Jones mainly feels pain only when swinging from the right side. With Atlanta facing Mets right-hander Mike Pelfrey on Sunday night, Jones's first three at-bats should be from the left side and allow him to avoid extra strain on the hip. It's surprising to see a 39-year-old come back so quickly from just about any type of injury, so temper your expectations.
Pelfrey has to throw 31 pitches just to get through the first. Not what we needed after Maine getting hurt before going 5.
61 pitches through 2 innings. ...28 balls, I'm still holding out a sliver of hope he can pull it together and pitch 5 innings.
Braves are getting a lot of baserunners but not driving them in. Still, it means Pelfrey won't be going deep into this one. Baserunning has been key. First Reyes active on the basepaths and now Castillo stole second, and a poor throw from McCann allowed him to get to third.
Pelfrey's throwing a lot of pitches, but he's still getting outs. I really surprised the Braves haven't scored yet. Pelfrey's having a great start to the season.
Pelfrey with 24 straight scoreless innings, although he hasn't been sharp tonight. Halfway through, it's 1-0.
