7/4 Game Thread: Your New Francoeurless Braves
Well, Jeff Francoeur has been sent down. He really should have been sent down in 2006, when he was one of the worst position players in the major leagues, but now is better than never. Getting Chipper Jones back should have been a lift for the team. Seeing the back of Francoeur probably will not be. But it does make the team better. It is almost impossible to quantify how much he’s killed the team this year. Jason Perry has never played a day in the majors, but he’s hitting well in AAA, and it’s almost inconceivable that he could be worse than Frenchy. Brandon Jones didn’t do too terribly in his cup of coffee, and he’ll be back.
And now we get the Astros, who have the exact same record that we do, in a much worse division. It’s very likely that they’re worse than we are. We’ll be facing Brian Mohler, who’s apparently only 36 — I would have guessed 47. He’s been around forever. Also, he’s not good. He’s given up 10 homers in only 63 2/3 innings; hopefully we’ll be able to take advantage of that. We’ll counter with Tim Hudson, who’s been dynamite at home: a 2.24 ERA in 56 1/3 innings. He’s also an Astro-killer, as he has a Gibsonian 1.12 ERA against them in 3 starts.
On paper, I like our chances. Hopefully the new-look Braves will get off to a good start and make the front office look smart for sending Frenchy down, where he has belonged for some time now. If we’re really lucky, maybe he’ll relearn how to hit. First things first: let’s snap our five-game losing streak.
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19 Responses to “7/4 Game Thread: Your New Francoeurless Braves”
July 4th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I see the Frenchy move as nothing short of a chance to salvage his young career. There’s nothing but positives in this move to me. He can humble up a bit, take his slump seriously and maybe come back with a vengance down the stretch.
The second half isn’t quite here yet so let’s get the junk dealt with now rather than later. The Astros, if they’re worse then us like you say, would be a great team to sweep and get back on track with.
Huddy’s on the mound. It’s the fourth. We’re at home. Yesterday’s gone.
~JB
July 4th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Frenchy skipped AAA as I recall. Maybe some work in the minors really will fix his swing. He has a lot of potential, lets just hope he comes back and shows all of the potential we know he has.
July 4th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
The Astry record is worse, but I guarantee you that if you give Berkman the chance he will carry that team. If I were betting, I would bet against my team until they prove me wrong.
So, I’m not pinning my hopes on more than 1 win from the series. Our team is in a tailspin right now. I will look for individual bright spots. Go Braves.
July 4th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Berkman’s great, but Chipper’s a better hitter. Ultimately, it won’t come down to any one player. Right now, the Braves are killing themselves by seeming to give up for three, four, or five innings at a time, occasionally showing life late or early but showing no ability to keep grinding away every at-bat of every game. Or in-game inconsistency mirrors our in-season inconsistency, and undoubtedly contributes to it. We’re going to have to find a way to win without waiting for Chipper to hit a seven-run home run, or we simply won’t win at all.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Nice first at-bat by Perry! Not only did he fight off pitch after pitch but then he landed a stand-up triple!
July 4th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Talk about a totally brave new world without Francoeur whom the Braves sent to the minor leagues, that is the price you pay for not hitting and being totally impatient at the plate and that is what happened to Scott Thorman during spring training.Speaking of othe Braves I think you can call it a season now that the Braves are 7 games out of 1st place hey the Braves don’t have enough pitching and now won’t even be a point to trade for pitching at the July 31, deadline because the Braves are not contenders after 86 games into the season.The braves will have to wait until the offseason to make moves for pitching or to acquire pitching.Looks like more farmhands will be arriving in the rotation alongside Reyes, Morton, and Jurrjens.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Great job Perry!!!
July 4th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I feel for Frenchy, but this move is for the best !!!
July 4th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I don’t think Francoeur has gone through anything like this before. Hopefully his time at Mississippi will help get his swing back. Then he can play like the player he think he can be.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
a Walk for Frenchy in his first AB
July 4th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Erod, I think you owe us something.
July 4th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
hey, a lead off batter who walks, scores a run!
July 4th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
We won a game!!!
July 4th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Let us celebrate the small things in life. Cherish them. They may not come again tomorrow
July 4th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
LoL Edo River!!! Not a great deal of people are commenting on this site anymore. WHATS GOING ON???
July 5th, 2008 at 12:32 am
worst position player in the majors, hmmmmmm ya right
July 5th, 2008 at 3:38 am
That article on Jeff Francoeur Terrence Moore wrote, was probably his best in years. The man usually writes nothing but ignorant and negative articles, but this frenchy one was pretty good.
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/moore/entries/2008/07/04/some_tough_love_for_a_favorite.html
July 5th, 2008 at 5:20 am
I will be very happy, no matter what the score if Lance Berkman is kept away from 3 RBIs and a couple of base hits during the series.
I will be very happy if our lead off hitter, whomever is successful in getting on base .350-.400? of the time.
I will be very happy if Boyer gets his ERA down below 3.00 for his appearances in this series.
I will be very happy if Chipper goes above .400 at the end of this series.
Any more suggestions for happiness ??
July 5th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
The Braves had to snap their losing streak of 5 straight games to have any hopes of a 500. season or better, we are still 7 games out of 1st place and 7 and a half out of the wild-card spot with about 6 teams to overtake, that is going to be too uphill with the kind of season this young Braves team is having, especially without enough pitching.
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