Baseball is an interesting game sometimes, when the execution of one play in a completely separate inning can end up costing you a game an inning later. In my opinion, that is what happened in last night's rubber match between the Braves and Marlins. Flash to the 6th inning of a 5-5 game. After pitching 2 consecutive scoreless innings after struggling with his command, Brandon Beachy seemed to have righted the ship (including his 1st 1-2-3 inning of the night). The 6th inning started with a harmless grounder to 3rd base, which Chipper Jones booted at 3rd and allowed John Buck to reach. This brought up the pitcher to sacrifice, and then a Chris Coghlan intentional walk, which in turn, led Fredi Gonzalez to come get the ball from Beachy and give it to ground ball machine Peter Moylan. Moylan has three right handers to face and puts in good work, striking out 2 and allowing the other one a 30 foot squibber of an infield single, which there was absolutely nothing he could do about. Disaster averted.
However, this led to Eric O'Flaherty coming on for the 7th to pitch a full inning. In this situation, I am all for O'Flaherty pitching a full inning, as Moylan had already been deployed and guys like Linebrink and Sherrill haven't inspired a lot of confidence thus far. However, after retiring the 1st batter (left hander Logan Morrison), O'Flaherty gave up 3 straight hard hit singles all to right handed batters, plating the game winning run.
Now let's back track and find out what might have happened had Chipper Jones not booted that ground ball. First off, there is one out. Secondly, the pitcher's spot is due up next (a probable out, despite Ricky Nolasco being a decent hitting pitcher). That leaves Beachy with 2 outs and no one on to face Chris Coghlan and Omar Infante after him. I would have liked his chances to get one of those 2 out. Thus, that leaves Moylan out of the equation for the time being, leaving him available for a situation just like the one the Braves encountered in the 7th, with runners on base and right handed hitters at the plate. Moylan is the number one option before the 8th and 9th inning in a situation like that, and you hope there is only one situation like that in a game. Instead, there were two last night because of Chipper's error, and the situation where Moylan couldn't pitch may have cost the Braves a victory and a series win.
Despite that, the Braves were somewhat unlucky not to win. There were a few hard hit balls that found gloves instead of grass, while pretty much the opposite happened for the Marlins. Marlins batters struck out 15 times last night out of 27 outs, and also recorded 13 hits, 12 of them on balls in play. Meanwhile, McLouth hit a bullet right at Gaby Sanchez with a runner on first and no one out, leading to a double play that could not be avoided, Brooks Conrad hit a ball hard to right center field with the bases loaded that Coghlan had to lay out to catch, and Freddie Freeman hit a rocket in the 9th with too much top spin on it, causing him to miss out on a possible game winning home run. Stuff like that will happen in one game, but in the long run, some of those hits the Marlins had will find Braves gloves while some bleeders the Braves hit will avoid their opponents gloves. Unfortunately, it happens. Let's recap the series stars.
Tommy Hanson- Tommy was a stud on Tuesday night, going 7 strong innings of no run baseball, striking out 5 and walking 2. His fastball command was so much better the other night, and all of his other pitches played off of that. A good start for him, definitely one he can build on for this weekend.
Brian McCann- Mac had gone without an extra base hit through the 1st ten games, but he put any concerns about his power (I don't think there were many) to bed, belting 2 home runs in the series and driving in 4 runs. His OPS now stands at .848, which is right in line with his .849 career OPS.
Goats:
Brandon Beachy- There were some positives to take from his start, like his 8 strikeouts, but if he can't locate he will probably get hit. He didn't know where anything was going in the 1st couple of innings, and the Fish tagged him for 5 runs. As a guy with a reputation for good command, he won't be happy with how he threw the ball last night.
Chipper Jones- Already covered.
Eric O'Flaherty- He got touched up a bit last night, allowing 3 hard hit balls and only getting one out. He's better than that, and his velocity looks fine, but we do need to watch whether he strikes guys out anytime soon. He has nary a K this year, something to keep an eye on. The Braves need an effective O'Flaherty to round out their bullpen, and he was not that guy last night.
What to Watch For:
The New York Mets come to town this weekend, and they have really been struggling, losing 8 of their last 9. The Mets really don't have much in terms of starting pitching right now, so this could be a good time for the Braves offense to get healthy. The bats have been struggling, but its tough when you have to face the likes of Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, Josh Johnson, and Ricky Nolasco in the span of 6 days. D.J. Carrasco, Mike Pelfrey, and Chris Young (maybe) await this weekend instead. Watch how the Braves do in containing the leadoff man this weekend, as Chris Coghlan and Shane Victorino have combined to go 16 of 25 over the last 6 games batting in the lead off spot. Those same kind of numbers from Jose Reyes will spell trouble for the Braves this weekend
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