5/21 Braves vs Dodgers

So, its been what 10 days and we have finally cleared enough time to focus on the very necessary yet very difficult reporting on LAST Thursdays, (not this past Thursday but two Thursdays ago) game between the Dodgers and The Braves. A game expected to be competitive, yet turning into .....

A Massacre at Hook Park

Braves pitchers wild in the strike zone,

Dodgers capitalize with 11-0 Victory

It's never a good sign when you arrive late to a game to find players from the team headed toward the parking lot, heads down, not saying much of anything. It's really bad when these same players, stars of the team appear to have just put on their uniform, no grass stains, no rips no blood, (I think they still had that spring fresh smell to them.)

But such was the case last Thursday as the Braves fell hard to the Dodgers in yet another bame which featured the Dodgers big three all hitting big flys. For Saxon Andross, it was his third of the season, gave him four RBI on the day and proved to provide the runs necessary to show mercy to a Braves squad which was shut out for only the second time all season. Eric Turner started the Party with a two run shot in the first, his fourth round tripper this season and one of his three hits on the day. Turner would finish the day with 3 RBI as well. The hottest Dodger of late however dare I say turned "white hot", with a three for four day at the plate that included his fourth homerun of the season and three more RBI's. 10 RBI's from three guys is never a good thing, although 8 from one player (as Braves fans know) is even worse.

Equally as impressive was the performance of the pitching staff for Tye Andross' Dodgers.

Reggie Lawson simply over matched the Braves bats, allowing one hit and two walks over 5 innings. Lucky as the Braves have been this season, winning 9-0 the Dodgers decided to bring in Andross for an inning of work. Andross Worked a scoreless 6th to seal the shutout for the Dodgers. Reports indicated that both Lawson and Andross were throwing hard enough to break in a catchers mitt made out of steel

The Report is very aware of this being the Braves page, very aware that in most cases this page favors the Braves squad, however this particular game featured very few highlights to speak of for Ken Woods Squad. Johnny Huizar lasted 3.1 innings, but allowed 8 earned runs on six hits, two walks and a hit batter. Josh Marquez finished up the game allowing another 3 runs on five hits and a walk over 1.2 innings. Marquez may have been the one positive in the field for the Braves (Other than a couple of nice plays in center by Rick Rivera). Marquez by no means shut down the Dodgers, but numerous reports indicate Josh was throwing his hardest all season Thursday. A positive to build on in the demoralizing defeat.

At the plate, more of the same. Two hits....in six innings. The first a double off the bat of Bryant Valenzuela and the second, a lead off single off Andross by Rivera in the sixth. Braves hitters also only drew three walks. One of those three was an intentional one to Jose Martinez in the first inning. All and all its a game all Braves need to just forget and move on to Saturdays contest against the Padres. Yes the Padres.....again!

In searching for some positive to build on for the Braves Coaching staff, THE REPORTS statistical department compiled some very interesting information. If it is fair to say that the hardest throwing pitchers in the league are Bates, Lawson, Andross, Turner and Anderson (not necessarly in that order guys, calm down) than it would be fair to see how each teams top players faired against them. We pulled the numbers for a handful of the regular players on each team vs these pitchers, the rest of the league and overall. In calculating the success rate we discovered something far more interesting. At Bats vs the flame throwing arms of Ribbons were amazing. On average, Braves hitters have seen serious Ribbons heat some three times as many as any Padre or Dodger bats. While Dodgers and Padres faced these hard throwing righties, an

average of 4 plate appearances. None of the big three arms on the Dodgers ever faced Saxon Reggie or ET, because they are them. Solomon may have roped Kaleyl and vice versa but they never faced each other either. But Jose Martinez had 13 at bats against those five arms. The Braves saw one of those arms in all 19 innings against the Dodgers and in the three games vs the Padres so far..... Bates pitched the entire first game, and Bates and Kaleyl combined on the mound in two and three. The Braves starting 9 on average encountered this dominance on the hill, in Braves batters faced theses same pitchers an average of 13 times during the same season. This is not an excuse for Ken and his team, just a reminder that the Braves are one shut down arm like Reggie or Solomon away from . With a little luck, the Braves Report may have some proce tags more.we could have some six pitchers still returning

5/16 Braves vs Padres

Somedays you wake up and the birds and chirping, the sun is shinning, and basically for a second you believe you could be having a zipidy doo daa day. For Vision Pluma this probably wasn't one of those days. Getting to the park to find out your making your first start of the season on the mound, against the best team in the league probably didn't help matters any. But with an idea that at first appeared to be completely out in left field, coach Ken nearly pulled off the greatest managerial move in the history of Ribbons baseball.

Coaches Vision Comes up Just Short

Woods decision to spot start Pluma works,

Braves fall 9-3 to Padres.

Arriving just before game time, THE REPORTS senior writer was slightly more concerned with his son's whereabouts than he was with the starting lineups or back story to the final game of the afternoon. Scanning the field he noticed his son wasn't at shortstop, he wasn't in center, he wasn't at first nor did he have the gear on. Where else could he be?

A move intended to slow the Padres bats down almost succeeded Saturday night. Vision Pluma made his fourth appearance and first start on the mound of the year. After a shakey 2 run first inning, Vision pitched a shut out second inning and followed it up by pitching out of a tight Jam in the third. After allowing Solomon to single to right on a change up and Kaleyl to double, Vision got focused and proceeded to get Justin Maley to pop out, struch out Davante Hamilton on a good change up and worked a ground ball to first out of Jesse Farias. After three innings, the Braves led 3-2 and seemed to be headed for the win. That's when things turned ugly for Vision and the Braves.

Pluma gave up a lead off single to Seth Escamilla followed by another single to Richard Mora bringing the top of the lineup to the plate again. Kade McIntosh Lined hard to Right field but was silenced with a nice grab by Aaron Hawkinson. The next batter, Joey Leclair popped up to third base and it appeared, (if only briefly) that Pluma may dodge yet another bullet. That didn't happen. An intentional walk was issued to Solomon and that brought to the plate, Brave killer, Kaleyl Anderson. Anderson lined a hard single just past the outstretched glove of Brett Woods at Shortstop. As the ball skipped past the left fielder all three runs proceeded to score, giving the Padres a 5 to 3 lead. Maley then walked and Hamilton singled in Anderson for the Padres 6th run. Anthony Aponte would then strike out to end the inning and the night on the hill for Pluma.

The bottom of the fourth saw a second single of the game for Javier Solorio wasted as three strikeouts would follow. In the Fifth, a two out walk would prove costly as Kade McIntosh would eventually score utilizing some speed on the bases to move the contest to 7-3. In the bottom of the fifth, Bates gave way to Kaleyl Anderson who would give up singles to Jose Martinez and Brett Woods while also getting Johnny Huizar to pop back to him and then striking out Evan Fatino for the third out.

Solomon Bates led off the top of the 6th with a liner over the right field fence. Bates' third homerun of the season. This was followed by a similar blast by Kaleyl Anderson which came up just short of the fence bouncing over for the ground ruled double. Maley would follow with his own double plating Anderson.

That would be the end of the scoring, for either team. As the Braves went quietly in the bottom of the 6th 1-2-3, thus losing their 4th game of the season 9-3.

As for the offense of the Braves a three run second preserved the avoidance of the shut out as Javier Solorio continued to shine finishing the day 2 for three after being robbd of a hit by an amazing Hamilton grab in right center.

Vision then reached on an infield single on which Solorio would come around and score. Rick Rivera would then deliver a big two out triple to right center, and score on an error hit off Bryant Valenzuelas bat. Unfortunately, that was basically all she wrote. The Braves managed only 8 hits all but one of which were singles. However there could be something to coach Woods "Vision" as this was the Braves first time not falling prey to the mercy rule. Something to build on after focusing on Thursdays game against the Dodgers.

5/14 Braves vs Yankees

On a night that found this staff writer knocked out on the couch, The Braves bats went to work, especially those wanting to show they were back.

Thursday Braves "Left" their struggles behind

Three Left Handed bats combine for

7 of Braves 12 hits in 16-8 Victory over Yankees.

It's always good seeing your teammates do well, but there comes a point when you begin to believe you are simply the worst hitter known to man. Vision Pluma may have been nearly to that point entering Thursdays game, Evan Fatino was getting there. Bryant Valenzuela? He never seems to worry about his hitting. Neither would I if I could hit like him.

Regardless of their collective state of mind, the three ended Thursday on a high note, combining to go seven for twelve with a double, 7 RBI, 7 runs scored and one long ball.

Long Ball? Yes like in describing the homerun Evan Fatino hit into the twilight in the fourth inning of Thursdays game. This three run shot followed up an RBI double he had in his last at bat. Add in another run and starting a 9-3 double play on a flyball which Evan caught and then threw on to first and you have the makings of quite a special day. Bryant Valenzuela also put his stamp on the game, with two singles and a run scored while also pitching two innings and striking out three to earn the victory. Then there was Vision Pluma, who added three singles an RBI and three runs scored to help himself and the team out. Additionally, players not hitting fared well also Thursday. Jose Martinez had a double and scored a run, Johnny Huizar added two singles an RBI and three runs and Brett Woods missed hitting one out by simply fractions of an inch on the bat, crushing one to right center for an RBI double off the fence, Brett later added an RBI single to his day, finishing 2-4 with 2 RBI. Had he had another bowl of cereal we'd be talking about the captains first round tripper. That's alright though, the fans want to see him hit it at home anyway. Martinez closed it out, pitching 2.2 solid innings in relief allowing 0 runs while striking out 5 and facing just 8 batters in the last 2 and two thirds innings.

Lucky for THE REPORT, we "LEFT" our fact gathering in good hands. Thank you Jeanine awesome job on your report.

Braves @ Padres 5/7

Control issues costly in Braves 18-8 Defeat
Braves produce off Padres Bates,
Unable to keep opposition off
the Base Paths

As a coach, nothing is more exciting than being locked in a back and fourth game against the best pitcher in the league, for a shot at first place. And as a coach, nothing is more frustrating than watching the defense stand helpless as batter after batter reaches base via the walk.

Both the high and low described above was the reality Thursday as the Braves led twice and trailed by one entering the bottom of the third before the walk reared its ugly head and stuck around, in favor of the Padres.

Braves Ace Johnny Huizar suffered through his toughest outing of the season lasting only one and two third innings. Over this span, Huizar was taken deep by Kaleyl Anderson for two runs in the first and then proceeded to labor through the second, walking four, hitting one and allowing three singles before being lifted for Jose Martinez.
Martinez fared little better lasting through the third allowing three runs on three hits and two walks. Martinez recorded all four outs via the strikeout but was replaced in the fourth by Josh Marquez.
Marquez walked three and struck out three in the fourth surrendering two runs. But the fifth proved to get much worse as Marquez walked five of the six batters he faced, four of which would eventually score. With one out and runners at first and second Vision Pluma became the fourth Braves Pitcher. Pluma got Joey Leclair to pop up and with the runner straying off second, it looked to be a double play, but seeing the runner off the bag, secondbaseman Bryant Valenzuela took his eye off the ball for a split second, allowing it to drop behind him. However, Valenzuela was able to recover in time to get the out at second and with two outs, Solomon Bates proceeded to walk, loading the bags for the man of the night, Kaleyl Anderson.
Anderson wasted little time, (his theme these days) lining a ball up the middle and into center field. Two runs would score and as the ball bounced around behind home plate, Solomon Bates advanced home with what would prove to be the game ending run.
At the plate, the Braves looked much better than in their first meeting with the Padres. Rick Rivera was 2 for 3, Bryant Valenzuela made good contact, reaching base three times on the night. Martinez and Huizar each had hits, Brett Woods added an RBI single, Josh Marquez doubled and scored as well. Javier Solorio continued to shine, coming off the bench with a two RBI double and Vision Pluma continued to fight his way out of a slump with a 38 foot infield single. 8 hits and 14 baserunners for the Braves off the leagues top arm, Solomon Bates. An amazing improvement from the 2 Braves hits in their previous meeting. Braves players seem to definitely overcome any fear of Bates, now they need to overcome the walks and they'll be primed for victory.

Braves vs Rockies 5/2

5th Inning Rally Lifts Braves to 7-3 Victory

Woods best outing to date results in No Decision for the Hard throwing Ten year old

Baseball makes little to no sense sometimes. One day you face a dominating pitcher and you somehow bang out three doubles, the next day you see some nice slow cheese and you "K" four times. Such is the game, and it doesn't discriminate in the oddities it provides. Take the Braves and Padres for instance. Three games back, the Padres came from behind to defeat the Yankees 6-5. The Braves would beat the Yankees 18 -1 last Thursday. On that same night, the Padres put 20 runs on the board against the Rockies, yet today it would be the Braves scratching out a late inning win against a team they had beaten in their first meeting 17 to 9.

And that's just baseball. Saturday evening, good baseball was played in the nightcap between these two teams. It looked to be headed for another blowout early as Ricky Rivera lined a single to center in the first then scored on a double into the Right Center field Gap by Johnny Huizar. Huizar would score on a Rockie error off the bat of Brett Woods, but the bleeding would stop after that run in the first. In the third inning the combination of Rivera and Huizar would again hook up for another run. Rivera topped a pitch toward third which drew no throw from the Rockie Third baseman, Two batters later, Huizar would again come through with an RBI single, making it a 3-0 lead.

On the mound through the first three innings, Brett Woods appeared to be at his best yet this season. Mixing locations and speeds, Woods left after three to allow himself to be eligible at catcher , should something happen to backstop Jose Martinez.

Woods gave way to Huizar who appeared to labor through the final three innings, never seeming to find a comfortable landing spot off the hill.

In the fourth, Johnny gave up a one out infield single then walked three of the next four batters. With two outs and a chance to get out of the inning having given up only 1 run, the number 8 hitter in the Rockies lineup bounced a high chopper to Brett Woods at 1b. Woods however was playing deep and got a late break on the ball. Woods attempted to smother it on the short hop, but the ball shot past him then past second baseman Rivera and into right field scoring two more and tying it up. These would be the only runs the Rockies would score as Johnny pitched the final three innings, struggling with control at times, but battling as needed.

In his three inning, Woods faced one batter over the minimum gave up two hits and struck out four. For the final three innings, Huizar gave up only one hit, but walked 8 Rockies offsetting the impressive 8 strikeouts over the same period.

Braves bats were held in check in the fourth inning, but the fifth inning would be a different story. Bryant Valenzuela led off with a walk and promptly took second and third on wild pitches. At third with Rivera in the batters box, Valenzuela scored on Rivera's third hit in three trips. The RBI single was Rivera's 6th hit in as many at bats dating back to the 3 f0r 3 game Thursday in which he also walked. Jose Martinez came to the plate next with two uncharacteristic strikeouts on the day. Prior to the third at bat, a coach on the Braves staff remedied the strikeout curse with a super secret handshake. The result; Martinez lined a single up the middle scoring Rivera. Martinez advanced to second and three batters later Josh Marquez split the outfielders with a long RBI double. Marquez then manufactured a fourth run, displaying the jets to take third on a wild pitch and then score as the catchers throw sailed down the third base line making the score 7-4.

Huizar took the mound in the sixth with the obvious intention of giving the home crowd some excitement. Johnny struck out the first batter he faced, walked the next, struck out the next and walked two more to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs. Judging by the pattern above what is the logical answer to Johnny's confrontation with the Rockies nine hole hitter and two outs in the 6th? Yes exactly, strikeout. Just another exciting finish, courtesy of the entertainment specialist, Johnny Huizar.