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It's never good having a ## (infinity) ERA instead of having an actual number. An infinity ERA is perhaps the grossest thing in all of baseball as it means a pitcher has given up at least a run without ever retiring a batter in that respective season.For the Atlanta Braves, you know something went terribly wrong when two guys in the bullpen have infinity (###) ERAs after yesterday's game against the Phillies.
| Atlanta Braves | |||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | PC-ST | ERA |
| J Vazquez | 6.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 102-61 | 4.50 |
| E O'Flaherty | 0.1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17-11 | 10.80 |
| P Moylan | 0.0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16-7 | ### |
| B Boyer (L, 0-1) | 0.0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9-1 | ### |
| J Campillo (B, 1) | 0.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 21-9 | 13.50 |
| J Bennett | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14-10 | 0.00 |
| Totals | 8.0 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 179-99 | |
So what the hell went wrong? Well, the Braves bullpen squandered a 7 run lead in the most excruciating way possible: by walking in four runs. Yes, in the seventh inning alone the Braves bullpen walked six batters. Talk about ugly.
Just take a look at this play-by-play from ESPN.com:
| M Stairs walked, J Werth scored, R Ibanez to third, P Feliz to second. | 10 | 6 |
| B Boyer relieved P Moylan. | 10 | 6 |
| C Coste hit for C Condrey. | 10 | 6 |
| C Coste walked, R Ibanez scored, P Feliz to third, M Stairs to second. | 10 | 7 |
| J Rollins walked, P Feliz scored, M Stairs to third, C Coste to second. | 10 | 8 |
| J Campillo relieved B Boyer. | 10 | 8 |
| S Victorino singled to right, M Stairs scored, C Coste to third, J Rollins to second. | 10 | 9 |
| C Utley walked, C Coste scored, J Rollins to third, S Victorino to second. | 10 | 10 |
Four runs on walks. Incredible. If you're a Braves fan and you watched this game in its entirety...I apologize.
I think Bobby Cox summed it up best:
"I've never seen anything like it," Braves manager Bobby Cox said of the bullpen's meltdown. "I've seen a couple walk-ins, but never like that."And as you know by now, the Braves eventually lost the game, 12-11 because of their bullpen meltdown. What a tremendous and fun win for the Phillies and an agonizing and pathetic loss for the Braves.
After 3 games, the Braves bullpen looks very shaky and uneven right now, especially if Mike Gonzalez struggles as the Braves closer. This has got to be a major concern for Bobby Cox and Frank Wren right now.
Can Derek Lowe pitch out of the bullpen and start?
6 comments:
It was excruciatingly painful. I watched the game on MLB.TV and was so happy going into that inning. A three-game sweep to start the year against the reigning champs! Doh! The freakin' (you should have heard me yesterday) bullpen just blew it. That being said, it was one game, and Moylan and Boyer will be much more effective after this.
Don't worry, Farnsworth should be available by the All-Star game.
Unless Hillman turns him into a starter, which is very possible.
Well, according to all the math classes I took in high school and college, there are degrees of infinity (ie, the set of all counting numbers {1,2,3,4,5,...} is twice as infinite as the set of all even numbers {0,2,4,6,8,...}), so things can be worse.
Moylan could've given up 8 runs in 0 innings instead of just 4 or Boyer could've given up 5 runs instead of 2... so at least they have *that* going for themselves...
(hey, it's something positive, at least)
lar,
hands down, the best thing I've read all day. Kudos.
think of it this way: Moylan and Boyer can't get much worse...I hope.
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