GAME POSTPONED FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG, SEVERAL MONTHS AT LEAST, IT’S ALL FRANCOEUR’S FAULT OR POSSIBLY ANDRUW’S.

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Atlanta Braves - Box Score - May 16, 2009 - ESPN

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Atlanta Braves - Box Score - May 15, 2009 - ESPN

Sure, the D-Backs have a bad record, but the Braves have a .500 record, and as established, the Braves are never getting over .500.

Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets - Box Score - May 13, 2009 - ESPN

This video is dedicated to the streaker!

Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets - Box Score - May 12, 2009 - ESPN

Continuing on yesterday’s topic… Obviously, players can thrive with lots of strikeouts. It just makes it more difficult. Two names that were mentioned in this topic were Ryan Howard and Adam Dunn. Howard has a good walk rate and hit enough line drives that when he did hit the ball he had a good chance of getting a hit, especially a homer (last year, 78 of his 153 hits were for extra bases). But Howard also illustrates the limits of this approach. Because he doesn’t walk a ton, he can’t hit in the .250s and put up a good OBP; last year, it was .339. He’s arrested some of his batting average decline this season, but has lost power. He really isn’t a star-quality player anymore.

Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets - Box Score - May 11, 2009 - ESPN

Things I was wrong about, I: Batter strikeouts. There are a number of comments by me, in posts and in the comments section, to the effect that batter strikeouts don’t matter, that “an out is an out” and “at least he isn’t grounding into double plays.” This is probably incorrect — well, not the part about double plays, but the rest. What I didn’t recognize when I was saying things like that is that the connection between putting the ball in play and batting average is as strong as it is. A lot of players can strike out and maintain a good batting average, but it makes it harder. In the long term, batting average on balls in play tends to even out (not entirely, but somewhat) so one of the biggest controlling factors in batting average is strikeout rate.

Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies - Box Score - May 10, 2009 - ESPN

I don’t have any idea when I’ll be able to recap this game — probably some time tonight. Talk amongst yourselves.

Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies - Box Score - May 09, 2009 - ESPN

Atlanta Braves players with more home runs in a season than Joe Simpson hit in his entire career (9), from the season he started broadcasting the team’s games (1992). At some point, Joe has told every one of these players to try to hit a single to the opposite field, and most of them to try to bunt a runner from first.

Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies - Box Score - May 08, 2009 - ESPN

Weren’t we just here?

Hibernation Mode, illustrated… I don’t know if that’s a normal distribution or not. I would guess not. The Braves are worse in high-leverage situations than in medium-leverage, which probably is normal, since the best pitchers pitch more in high-leverage situations. But I’m guessing that it’s not normal to be worse, far worse, in low-leverage situations (when the Klinger Parrs of the world pitch) than in high-leverage situations. Last year, they were basically the same in all three situations, a little better in low-leverage.

Atlanta Braves vs. Florida Marlins - Box Score - May 07, 2009 - ESPN

Finally, a win. The last game the Braves had won was last Friday, but it had just been mediocre performance since then. Well, they rebounded last night, not because the pitching staff was great, but, surprise, the offense found its way to the ballpark.

Atlanta Braves vs. Florida Marlins - Box Score - May 06, 2009 - ESPN

Video suggested by AAR. Not really my kind of thing, but this ballclub…

As I mentioned for yesterday’s game, writing about a team that always loses gets tiresome. Fortunately in tonight’s game, even though they lost, they did provide some excitement at the end. It wasn’t enough to win, but it’s a good reminder of why I’m in this for the long hall.

New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves - Box Score - May 05, 2009 - ESPN

You know, these recaps aren’t much fun to write when the Braves are losing. They lost their third game in a row last night, and now have a 11-14 record. What’s worse, I know how I mentioned that Bobby pitches to pretty much every hitter, no matter how much they’ve beat up on the Braves in the past. I named Carlos Beltran as one of those players, and he’s beginning to make me question Bobby’s decision making. Beltran knocked the Braves around last night, but I’ll get to that in a second. Let’s start with the pitching.

I wanted Jo-Jo Reyes to have a solid second come-back start. Apparently, it wasn’t meant to be. Once again, the Braves lose a series to a sub-.500 team and have lost their second series in a low. Let’s get on with this.

New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves - Box Score - May 04, 2009 - ESPN

Houston Astros vs. Atlanta Braves - Box Score - May 03, 2009 - ESPN