On the one hand, it was an ugly game. The Braves gave Jair an early 3-run lead which he pissed away. He’s obviously starting to wear down a bit. (And seriously, what does he have against Josh Willingham who he hit twice?) We kept trying to crawl back in, but the Marlins were answering. It looked like a hopeless case in the bottom of the 9th. Yet, with the help of a couple of walks and some clutch hitting, we managed to overcome a 9-6 lead in the bottom of the 9th.

I can’t help but think what the rest of the season would have been like if we’d played with this kind of drive.

Kotsay Watch

We at Section 435 have been watching the various Kotsay rumors closely throughout the the last month. There’s been dueling strains of “He’ll be gone in a week” and “We’ll bring him back next year since Jordan Schafer won’t be ready.” But now it looks like the former is more accurate. With J.D. “Mike Hampton” Drew going on the DL for the Red Sox, they need an outfielder. And, well, Kotsay is an outfielder.

A month of Mark Kotsay won’t get us much. At best a minor league pitcher (no, not Clay Bucholz), at worst Curt Schilling’s sock.

• Yes, Francoeur has 7 hits in his last 14 ABs over the last three games (including another far 0-fer on Friday), but only two of those are for extra bases, so it’s a step in the right direction but it doesn’t mean Francoeur’s back.
• Mike Hampton, however, continues to have a huge season at the plate. His RBI on Saturday put him at 4 in 9 ABs. That’s one more than the catcher formerly known as Corky Miller had all season.

Cubs fans, on the other hand, are just nasty people. The way they go about cheering for their team is tasteless. It’s as much about goading the other team as it is about supporting their own team.

And in Atlanta tonight, they decided that they owned the place as much as they own Wrigley field, chanting “Let’s go Cubbies,” something about “I fucked your mom,” and unfurling big blue W banners when the game was over. Folks, coming into our home and cheering for your team is just fine. As a city with a short sports history, booming only recently due to suburban diaspora, we’re used to that. But when you do, remember that you are guests in our home.

(The Cardinals, with their notoriously loyal fans, just recently came through town during another series in which visiting fans rivaled the home fans. And yet, we got none of this from them. They were positive supporters of their teams. Good sports both when they won and lost.)

Part of the reason, I think, that Braves fans get a bad rap for being fair weather fans is that is we’re just not like these people.

What was truly abhorrent though, was when the Cubs fans decided that the tribute they played to Skip Caray before the game was really a Cubs tribute to Harry Caray and blew up every time Skip’s dad appeared in photos on the screen. That was our moment, our solemn farewell.

Cubs fans, you are an embarrasment to yourselves and to baseball. I for one will be cheering loudly when the Phillies once again crush your dreams this October.

Rich Harden Pitches 5 Crappy 2-Hit Innings

On to the game… I don’t know how a guy can pitch a game in which he walks approximately 432 batters and gets pulled after 5 innings because he’s already thrown over 90 pitches and yet give up 0 runs and only two hits. But Rich Harden pulled it off tonight. Good job.

Jorge Campillo, on the other hand, must have walked under a ladder on the way to the game. The Cubs managed to put 4 on the board in the first inning without getting a single hard hit ball. They were helped on the way by a terrible throw home from Casey Kotchman that cost us a run and out. Campillo would allow one more in 5 total innings of work, though it was one of those “he pitched better than his line” games.

The first run would be all they needed, but they collected 3 more in the 9th when Mike Gonzales decided that if walking pretty much every batter you face is good enough for Rich Harden then it’s damn well good enough for Mike Gonzales.

The public masturbation from the Cubs fans in attendance became unbearable after that.

Breaking News: Kotchman Unimpressive So Far

I want to catch Kotchmania, I really do. I’m trying. I wish it was the most virulent disease to hit Atlanta since the Teixeira Fever epidemic of August ‘07. Yet, Kotchman has been unimpressive so far. We all knew going into this relationship that he didn’t swing quite a weighty bat as his predecessor, but we heard that he was still solid and a clutch performer for the Angels this year. We also heard that his defense was at least as good as Teixeira’s, in not better. (Though, anyone who said better obviously wasn’t watching Tex this year.)

So far, though, Kotchmania has barely rivaled Thormania. (And Thorman’s a freaking Olympian right now. Like in Beijing. For real.) As a Brave, he slipped under .200 tonight and has only 3 extra base hits and 5 RBIs in 14 games. Tonight, he grounded softly to first twice with 2 out and runners in scoring position. His defense hasn’t been spectacular either. Maybe some of that can be attributed to adjusting to a new park, new league, and new team. If that’s the case, let’s hope he gets pretty well adjusted before next season.

The downside of releasing Corky is that we only have Chucky James and Jeff Francoeur left to boo. And with Francoeur on a lukewarm streak over the last week or so, it’s truly fortunate for the boobirds that Chucky has returned. They (we?) will be booing his performance against the Brewers for weeks to come.

Folks, I’ve seen some bad games pitched in my life. I’ve seen pitchers give up more hits and more runs in fewer innnings than Chucky gave up last night. But I have not seen many performances that were just that convincingly bad. Besides a Prince Fielder popup, pretty much every batter he faced was a walk or a hard hit ball. The Brewers doubled Corky Miller’s yearly offensive production in 2.2 innings.

So we lost two out of three to the team with the worst record in baseball going into the series. This was not a good team that we lost to. And this was not even a bad team at its best. Dmitri Young, Nick Johnson, and Ryan Zimmerman are all riding the DL train right now. They used Paul Lo Duca at first for this series for goodness sakes. Ryan Langerhans, whose bat last year makes this year’s Francoeur look like Ted Fucking Williams, bashed our pitchers around like it was beer-league softball.

Going into the second half, Braves fans were holding out hope that the bats would turn around and start performing as well as our pitching staff has. Instead, our pitching has been abysmal. 15 is the most runs we’ve given up since September of 2006.

Jo-Jo Reyes is reverting back to his old ways. In 10 games from May 3 to June 18 his K/BB was 22/50. In 5 games since, it’s 12/10. That’s what it boils down to for Jo-Jo: control. No control, no Jo-Jo mojo. I still think he’ll get that sorted out and will be a quality major league starter. But he’s shown us once again that he’s got a little ways to go.

• John Lannan is apparently only a competent pitcher against the Braves. Against the Braves, he excels.
• Ryan Langerhans had more hits tonight than his entire 2007 tour with the Braves.
• Francoeur was still Francoeur, 2008 vintage. There were some folks in our section tonight with an M-Braves bag. I thought they might be there to bring him back.
• Jair Jurrjens didn’t have it tonight. Neither did Buddy Carlyle or Royce Ring.
• Julian Tavarez had it. I guess that’s a positive.

So, who’s still on the bandwagon?

Here’s a list of Atlanta Braves castoffs on the Nationals’ roster right now:

• Ryan Langerhans
• Pete Orr
• Odalis Perez
• Johnny Estrada
• Willie “Caught Stealing” Harris, the second best player ever out of Cairo, GA

The plus side to the game was that the bats were not only hot but efficient. 7 runs on 8 hits, 5 left on base. None of the double-digit LOB that we’ve been seeing a lot of in the first half.

The down side of the game was … well, it was ugly.

• Tim Hudson didn’t pitch well. He made short work of the Nats early, but only because their hard-hit balls were hard hit right at folks. They started finding holes later on and put 5 on the board against Huddy. Of course, he deserved to get a win on a bad outing after getting stuck with Ls and NDs on some pretty good outings.
• The outfield looked a little rusty. Kotsay misplayed a ball on a Kory Casto double over his head, probably costing him second base. Francoeur stood there and watched a Ryan Langerhans triple down the first base line, presumably thinking it was foul, not really taking off towards the ball until the umpire signaled it fair. That definitely cost third base. Honestly, if I were calling the shots from the dugout, I would have sat Francoeur’s lazy ass right then and there.
• Mike Gonzales had a rough outing, giving up a run, though he still managed to pick up the save. I think Gonzo’s due some patience, though. Let us not forget that he’s a month back from Tommy John surgery. That he is pitching as well as he is right now should be cause for celebration, not concern.

Atlanta 7, Houston 6 (17 fucking innings). Of the official crowd of 24,000 this afternoon, maybe two thirds waited out the two hour rain delay before this game started. Plenty of people left after Kyle Davies Charlie Morton gave up a grand slam that gave the Astros a 5-1 lead. And as each inning of free baseball ticked by, the crowd shed hundreds more souls, so that by the time Gregor Blanco led off the bottom of the 17th for the Braves, even the lower level was sparsely populated. But you couldn’t tell by the noise when Mark Teixeira hit a bases-loaded single to end the longest game in Turner Field history with a win.

I know there will be the temptation to view this as a turning point, a game changer for a thus far disappointing season. Coming back from a four-run deficit, winning a marathon one-run game in extra innings. Doing what we’ve seemingly been unable to do all season. But we’re still a long way out, and I for one intend to just enjoy the moment for what it was rather than to try to imbue it with some deep meaning. It was grueling and mentally exhausting, but I’m truly priveleged to have been able to witness this game from start to finish.

What Was Ugly

Kyle Davies Charlie Morton gave up 6 runs in 6 innings, including a grand slam. I’ve found the kid unimpressive so far and I hope his trouncings over the last couple of games don’t contribute to the kind of mental blocks that have so obviously hurt a number of young pitchers that we’ve rushed to the majors. He’s obviously not ready to be here yet. Nonetheless, Morton’s forgettable performance was forgotten by the end of the game.

What Was Amazing

After Morton came out, we got 11 innings from the bullpen. Over those 11 innings, the Astros were unable to score another run. Everyone in the bullpen was fantastic. Extra special props go to Buddy Carlyle. he seems to have found himself in the bullpen this year and is quietly having a great season. He went 3 scoreless, striking out 4, and dropping his ERA to 1.38. Mike Gonzales was also outstanding in his two innings, striking out 4, and looking untouchable.

What Was Fascinating

• Brian McCann and Mark Kotsay both got the day off and both ended up playing almost full games worth of innings. Jason Perry didn’t get the start, but played 15 innings after coming into the game early for an injured Omar Infante.
• Manny Acosta pitched 3 innings and had two plate appearance, trying to bunt a runner over both times. Acosta turned out to be the worst bunter ever, striking out the first time by fouling a third strike bunt on an eye-level pitch. The second time, he bunted it straight back to the pitcher who made the out at second. Acosta hustled to beat out the double play but injured himself stretching for the bag and had to come out of the game.
• Jeff Bennett was the only reliever who didn’t pitch. He was in the dugout the whole game. [Ed. - DLed]
• In the bottom of the 17th, with the bases loaded, nobody out, and Mark Teixeira at the plate, the Astros brought their left fielder into the infield, playing with three five infielders. Perhaps this is the baseball equivalent of pulling the goalie. It didn’t matter though, as Tex drove a base hit to deep center for the win.

On Francoeur

I salute Bobby Cox and Frank Wren for their decision to send Francoeur down in spite of whatever bad blood it might cause. Francoeur’s reaction was incredibly childish, so let’s hope it was just a reaction and he sees the wisdom of the move. (Seems like he might be coming around to that.)

Frankly, it’s incredibly selfish of him if he thinks the Braves owe him the opportunity to sort out his struggles with the big club. If the Braves weren’t 5 games under .500 and 7 games back – all but out of contention for the second half – it would be one thing. If Francoeur’s struggles weren’t a big contributing factor to the team’s underachievement this season, he might have a case. Even a handful more clutch hits from Francoeur would have been enough to keep us in the hunt.

And up to this point, Francoeur is a superstar in marketing only. He’s a very good player who has yet to live up to his full potential. Does he have it in him to be great? Absolutely. But he’s not there yet. And until he is, he should get the deference his performance – not his hype – affords him.

On High Notes

Fourth of July: Atlanta 6, Houston 2. After a crushing sweep at the hands of the Phillies, it was great to see some excitement again at the Ted. The first sellout of the season watched the Braves win one the right way. Tim Hudson pitched a gem. Jason Perry, up from Richmond to fill in for Francoeur, hit a triple in his first major league at bat. Kotsay had a single, an RBI, and a defensive gem. And KJ went deep. What was particularly satisfying about this one was the 6 runs on 8 hits. We haven’t seen that kind of efficiency in a while.

On Low Notes

Thursday Night: Philadelphia 4, Atlanta 1. I was going to write a post on Thursday about how we can’t give up the season yet. About how the 1991 Braves were 9.5 games back on July 7 and came back to win the division. But then the Phillies completed their sweep, and took my remaining optimism with them. Now, the 1991 Braves reeled off wins in 9 of their next 11 games to bring them back within 2.5, and we’ll need the same kind of streak. And we’ll need Frenchy to come back from Mississippi with his head on straight to drive in some runs for us.

In the past, I’ve contended that the Phillies’ putrid starting rotation is going to sink them before the season is up. But damn, those guys can hit. We’ll need some help from the Phillies, too, if we’re to make a run in the second half.

Some notes on the ugly:

• Mark Kotsay has thrown up an 0-fer since rejoining the grown-up squad. Doesn’t look like anything to be concerned about, yet, and he looked spry bounding out into center starting the game this evening.
• Our reinvigorated, re-healthy lineup has had a hard time with the Phillies starting pitching which has been putrid for most of the season.
• The Braves were 0-3 on Wednesday night with the bases loaded. Jeff Francoeur got our only bases-loaded RBI by grounding into a double play.
• Ryan Howard has more hits than RBIs this season. He has 71 RBIs. He has 70 hits (all of them home runs). Of course, when Campillo pitched around Chase Utley to get to Howard, Howard made him pay with a 3-run bomb.
• Chipper is definitely not 100%. He barely even made an effort to run to first when he hit into a routine groundout. Frankly, we can lose 8-3 without Chipper. I’d rather see him take a few more days to completely heal.