Poll: Should Braves start Lowe in playoffs (if they make it)?
Derek Lowe wasn't awful Wednesday. Would you want to see him in playoffs?
When the Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez went to the bullpen at Florida Wednesday night, play-by-play announcer Chip Caray said, “Pitching change for Atlanta. Derek Lowe did not pitch poorly.”
Interesting choice of words. Then again, it seems this qualifies as news.
After allowing 15 earned runs and 26 hits in 13.1 innings over his last three starts, Lowe didn’t stink against the Marlins. He allowed three runs and six hits in 6.1 innings. It wasn’t Cy Young, but it wasn’t bad Vaudeville, either.
Loading ...So here’s the thing. Last season, I made the mistake of writing off Lowe — for which he never let me forget — and he ended up becoming the Braves’ best pitcher down the stretch and in the postseason. This year, he has been a mess. But minus Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens, the team needs a third starter for the playoffs, assuming they make the playoffs, and, yes, I realize that’s a dangerous assumption. (The Braves lost to the Marlins 4-0, St. Louis defeated the Mets 6-5 and suddenly the wild card lead is down to 1½ games.)
Bit if they make it, here’s the question: Do the Braves start Lowe?
For the sake of this argument, let’s assume Jurrjens will not be available for the wild card round (safe assumption) and Hanson will still be rehabilitating from a shoulder injury (50-50). That leaves Tim Hudson and Brandon Beachy as the logical Nos. 1 and 2 starters.
Your choices for the No. 3 starter: Lowe (9-16, 4.92), Mike Minor (5-2, 4.27), Randall Delgado (1-1, 2.70) or Julio Teheran (1-1, 5.40). The debate is whether you go with the veteran with postseason experience in the hope that he comes through, or one of the young pitchers in the hope that he doesn’t implode.
I’m going to play Switzerland on this subject. At least for another week.
But you may now vote, and fire away . . .
By Jeff Schultz
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519 comments Add your comment
KME
September 22nd, 2011
10:24 am
…and hey, Robert? Did you watch the game? Chipper’s son had a sinus infection…and he did right going to see his son. Bailing out…suppose it was your son…whilst you were at work or whatever you were doing. You would ignore his situation…wouldn’t you, huh? Bailout?! Unreal on that thread of your’s…
And “The Joker”…you think Bonds has enough “steroids” to help him through the lineup…doubtful…NOT.
KME
September 22nd, 2011
10:24 am
…and hey, Robert? Did you watch the game? Chipper’s son had a sinus infection…and he did right going to see his son. Bailing out…suppose it was your son…whilst you were at work or whatever you were doing. You would ignore his situation…wouldn’t you, huh? Bailout?! Unreal on that thread of your’s…
And “The Joker”…you think Bonds has enough “steroids” to help him through the lineup…doubtful…NOT.
CEmoryC
September 22nd, 2011
10:24 am
An astute manager, with his finger on the “pulse” of his team, would have recognized long before now that a veteran player’s apparent problems off the field are possibly contributing to his woes on the field, Go with the “kids” and end on an exciting if not winning note!!!
Derek Lowe Jr.
September 22nd, 2011
10:25 am
leave my daddy alone, ya’ll. He is an Atlanta Brave pitcher….don’t believe me? Ask the Atlanta Police…he told them so. At least he drives a nice car and all. Can’t wait till I get the Austin Martin…I luvs Atlanta!
PMC
September 22nd, 2011
10:29 am
Start Lowe? Not no, HELL NO. They have already wasted 15 million dollars on the guy for this season, don’t compound that by making a stupid decision to let him hurt the team further.
rico carty
September 22nd, 2011
10:31 am
Postseason? What Postseason?
jaknoz
September 22nd, 2011
10:31 am
The Braves are America’s most “shovel-ready” project!
Bobbymahlon
September 22nd, 2011
10:33 am
The first time the Braves win and the Cards lose it will be over and it is about time for that to happen. You can see I’m a diehard Braves fan and maybe a dreamer. I really think the Braves are going to make post season but will not stay around long.
Mike
September 22nd, 2011
10:34 am
Who cares? You assume they will make the playoffs but right now they’re just hanging around. Besides, it’s football season. Who wants to watch baseball which has gotten to be too slow & is played by a bunch of overpaid mercernaries.
COOPER
September 22nd, 2011
10:37 am
The popular thing to do is to let Lowe pitch the 3rd game if we make the playoff. I pitched until I was 21 and if Lowe doesn’t have it by now he want all of a sudden be a dominate pitcher this year. Gonzalez better allow for at least 4 or 5 runs in 5 innings if he does pitch Lowe. That’s what Lowe is averaging this year and that’s what he he finish the year with.
The rotation should be: Hudson, Beachy, Delgado, and if needed the fourth starter should be Hanson and or Jurrgens depending on which looked the best. You could bring Hudson back for the fifth game but he would not be available to pitch the first game against the Philly’s so that would be on Gonzalez but he would have a lot more options if we could get to a 7 game series.
jeff
September 22nd, 2011
10:38 am
The Braves will not win another game this year, thus this question is pointless, or should I say run-less which is what the Braves usually are. I said it before the season, you have to play your best players all season long, and you have to have 3 or 4 good outfielders on your team for the whole year. Freddi is like Bobby… worthless!
Playoffs? Did I Say Playoffs?
September 22nd, 2011
10:38 am
Normally I subscribe to the “Dance with the one that brought ya” theory. However, in baseball, the one that brought ya sometimes loses it and you gotta give the hot guy the playing time.
Cox’s lineups were always “the one that brought ya” regardless thus our poor playoff records. Fredi, however, in trying to spread the wealth took out guys who were hot and tried resting those guys & the hitting suffered.
This constant jumble is more like spring training than building strength for the playoff race.
kindergarten math
September 22nd, 2011
10:39 am
Shades of Jim Mora, Sr. : “‘Playoffs ? Playoffs ?”……(You know the rest.)
Butch Cassidy
September 22nd, 2011
10:41 am
Laugh folks and we’ll win.
Sundance (any SP) – You never could hit.
Butch (Chipper) – You call that pitching. My grandmother would make a better starter.
Whine like a Phillies loser of 1964 and you’ll be one.
Laugh and Chipper, Freddie or Brian will come through.
Robert
September 22nd, 2011
10:42 am
“and hey, Robert? Did you watch the game? Chipper’s son had a sinus infection…and he did right going to see his son. Bailing out…suppose it was your son…whilst you were at work or whatever you were doing. You would ignore his situation…wouldn’t you, huh? Bailout?! ”
If I were being paid $14 million and was looked to to be the leader of my team, I wouldnt be away from the job at a time of crisis at the workplace to be with family for an elective surgery
grandpa
September 22nd, 2011
10:44 am
Yeah I want Derek on the bench…….if they hold on……but the bench is on a sidewalk in Santa Monica. He can sit next Kawakami unless he has escaped from Mississippi and is back in Japan!
Tony La Russa
September 22nd, 2011
10:44 am
Hey, saw on the TV last night the Braves are selling playoff tickets (for our games at St Louis). We have no problem going up to Philly and beating them the other day (unlike some teams). This makes the 5th year in a row my team has won 86 games. Heck we might just beat out the Brewers to start the playoffs at our place. Did you see the fans at our game last night. They are really into it unlike some teams fans!
Wait a sec…. We just scored another run.
Butch Cassidy
September 22nd, 2011
10:45 am
We’re going to win out.
Stop your crying.
LoweBlows
September 22nd, 2011
10:47 am
I have been the biggest Lowe basher around, but now the proof is in the pudding. There is really no dilemma here. We have blown the season already. Why ask the stupid question Jeff? I hope Lowe and Fredi read this blog. But its like the scene from Gone With The Wind; “Frankly, my dear; they don’t give a damn.”
Butch Cassidy
September 22nd, 2011
10:47 am
Folks
We are not the 64 Phillies or the choking Mets of the last few years.
We are still winning games.
A choking team has a huge losing streak.
The ship gets righted soon.
Butch Cassidy
September 22nd, 2011
10:48 am
The season is not over.
Why whine before then?
DawgDad
September 22nd, 2011
10:49 am
As bad as the Braves have played I don’t think it’s for lack of trying. I’m seeing effort, but they just aren’t getting it done. We’re seeing them now for what they are without the Grade-A starting pitching carrying them on a nightly basis: a sub-.500 team. Prado, Uggla, McCann, Chipper, and Gonzalez – when you look at thier season stats these guys, the core veterans, have not lived up to expectations. Freeman has been good and Heyward has struggled, but the root of the problem lies with the veteran core. Sure, a guy gets hot for a week or two, but on balance none of those guys has had a plus year offensively, relative to expectations.
Joseph F. McNulty
September 22nd, 2011
10:49 am
What is the problem? The Braves are not going to BE in the playoffs anyway. They have always had trouble against the Nationals, and they will lose at least one — and perhaps two — of those games. Then, they play the Phillies. Anyone think they will sweep that series, even if the Phillies rest some starters, based on their consistent inability to hit against the Phillies? Looking forward to facing Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay? Unless the Cards fall on their face and allow the Braves to back in, the Braves will not be in the post-season. So what is the problem with Lowe? He will have plenty of time to think about his collapse — and the Braves — over the winter.
crimson1795
September 22nd, 2011
10:50 am
Hate to say it but it is time for Lowe to sit. He’s just not clutch anymore.
BaseballBuff
September 22nd, 2011
10:52 am
If Lowe was just 11-14 instead of 9-16, the Braves would be in better shape now, wouldn’t they? If, and I mean if the Braves back into the playoffs, is this a team that is going to get it done? Sorry, but I just don’t see Turner Field being jammed to capacity.
BL
September 22nd, 2011
10:52 am
Guys come on, just follow the Braves motto from every other year…”You just have to tip your cap to the other team. We’ll get ‘em tomorrow!”
Vino Fino
September 22nd, 2011
10:53 am
Refuse to vote Jeff, because there is absolutely no chance of this team making it into the playoffs. There is blood in the water and we are done!!! I can barely stand to watch at this point, this thing is so ugly. Granted the Monday loss was just an absolute freak occurence (but bound to happen when you constantly live on the edge), but we have managed two wins in the last 6 games against also-rans. I predicted this over the weekend, and it’s actually been worse than I suspected. I would be shocked if we win more than one game the rest of the way. We can’t put away the Nats and Philly will rout us as they get out of their post-clinch funk and start to tune up for the post season. I thought that we would lose badly in a play-in game in St. Louis, but at this point that won’t be necessary. Brutal!!!!!
BaseballBuff
September 22nd, 2011
10:53 am
Give Lowe his walking papers now. If not for his big contract, the decision would have been made earlier.
Jim KLOSCAK
September 22nd, 2011
10:54 am
The braves have really disappointed me this year. Losing to the Mets 2 out of 3 at home and then the Marlins 2 out of 3 in Fla. There is no excuse. I don’t think they can hold back the cardinals at this point. The cardinals are playing great baseball and the Braves stink right now.All year they have been terrible with RISP, especially this month. I think they are hitting around .170 with risp in sept.They are done!!!!
Stephen
September 22nd, 2011
10:55 am
Jim Mora’s rant is the perfect response to this poll:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3-eavMSBnk&feature=related
Lonnie
September 22nd, 2011
10:55 am
Maybe they could platoon Minor & Delgaro for a few innings each for the 3rd starter and use the usual suspects to close it out.
CCH
September 22nd, 2011
10:56 am
Bring back TP as hitting coach!
Dontavius Supremo
September 22nd, 2011
10:56 am
What a pathetic exhibition we have seen from this team in the last month. While the players are responsible for thie poor play in the field, I believe the manager is responsible for allowing this nonsense to continue. Lowe should have been parked weeks ago; he has shown nothing. Have they held a team meeting since April?
Dirty Dawg
September 22nd, 2011
10:58 am
Don’t know if we’ll have a choice…we either won’t make it, or we won’t have enough starting pitching not to use him, at least somewhere, sometime – and that assumes we don’t lose three straight in the first round.
The fact is, and others may have made the point earlier, ‘it’s the bats, stupid’. That ‘zero’ next the Braves meant that Lowe could have pitched a no-hitter and we still couldn’t have won. Recall a couple of comments that seem to apply – in spades…’The Braves, officially, couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat (and that assumes it’s not sitting on a trailer in the driveway), and ‘If you lose in September, you’re sure to lose in October (again, assuming you make it to October in the first place), so avoid the expensive disappointment later and fail now’.
Being able to watch the Braves in a ‘pennant race’ has been, for the most part, an enjoyment this season…but unfortunately the ‘un-enjoyable’ is gaining on the good stuff.
LoweBlows
September 22nd, 2011
10:58 am
I just wish it was any team except the cards. Last time they went to the playoffs they put big billboards all around St Louis. All making fun of the Braves. I know this because I saw them. Hopefully they will get their butts kicked by somebody, anybody. As for Chumpie Jones being with his child for the surgery, maybe he has seen the writing on the wall. Let that idiot Fredi juggle the line up some more. Like he is fond of saying, “there is always tomorrow.”
OneRyder
September 22nd, 2011
10:58 am
Really doesn’t matter, does it? The Braves will go no further than the Phillies will allow.
BaseballBuff
September 22nd, 2011
10:59 am
There’s nothing a fan has more contempt for than a team peeing in its pants during crunch time.
Sonny Clusters
September 22nd, 2011
11:00 am
The deer hunting has already begun. Doesn’t matter who pitches if they don’t score runs. The team knew Lowe wouldn’t shut down the Marlins. This team didn’t play to win the division, they played for the wild card. They will lose the wild card lead this weekend. The whole organization is built to be almost good enough. For years. Somebody should be brought in who has won it all. Let some new culture take over. The culture of this team is in a petri dish. We was sure they were going to make the playoffs and now we’re sure they won’t. That last at bat Heyward had told everything . . . runners on, weak grounder to second base. No discipline, lacking fundamentals, listening to Chipper. Somebody smart needs to come in here and shake things up.
Lonnie
September 22nd, 2011
11:01 am
At this point, I suspect that the team hits the field behing a Lowe start with the mindset “We are probably going to lose again with Derek on the mound”, and then of course they do. Baseball, like so many other sports, is a head game.
Tony La Russa
September 22nd, 2011
11:01 am
My Cardinals are 12-2 in its last 14 games. All we have to do is go 4-3 in our last 7. Braves at best go 2-4. (Braves vs Phil record 6-9 and that about the same record vs Wash).
Our record vs Braves we won this season series 5-1. I know what I’m doing as a MANAGER!
Early Vacation
September 22nd, 2011
11:01 am
It doesn’t matter. The Braves are not going to be in the playoffs…unfortunately. And, don’t say it’s just the injuries to the pitching staff. It’s the same story again. The Braves are not scoring runs. They have the hitters to do it, but it has now become a “mental” obstacle.
Sid
September 22nd, 2011
11:01 am
“IF”
Richard Dawson
September 22nd, 2011
11:01 am
PLAYOFFS? You wanna talk about PLAYOFFS???
PLAYOFFS??
grandpa
September 22nd, 2011
11:02 am
Said it before and say it again…..Derek on a bench in Santa Monica sitting beside Kawakami….unless he escaped with Braves money from Mississippi to Japan.
chief pitchanono
September 22nd, 2011
11:02 am
No if we get in there is no way I start him in the series unless we happen to win the first two games. Delgado has done a great job for a rookie so I think he deserves the honor. Put Lowe in the bullpen and hope for the best. Most likely Delgado will only give you around 5 innings so at that point I would try to put Lowe in for a couple and hope he can be effective. Maybe he can bridge the gap and get you to the Nasy Boys 2.0. That would be my game plan anyway. Its certainly not cenventional, but its the playoffs and that gives us the best chance to win. Go Braves!!!
Richard Dawson
September 22nd, 2011
11:04 am
Chip Caray is almost worse than his snarky father.
Fols
September 22nd, 2011
11:05 am
Pitch Lowe, why not? If we’re going to score 0 runs in the game does it matter?
It’s laughable that we’re putting all this thought into a pitching performance when you can’t muster up enough strength to score a single run.
This offense is pathetic…..if anything Lowe gives us a slight upgrade when he’s in because he handles the bat a touch better.
Offence? HELLO? You there? I don’t give a crap who’s pitching……..score a bunch of runs and it wouldn’t matter so much!
Vino Fino
September 22nd, 2011
11:05 am
Oh, and since we know Fredi is not going anywhere, Roger McDowell or Larry Parrish one better be fired at the end of the season to make a statement. Roger and Fredi should both go for complete and total mismanagement of the bullpen. They have not only ruined this season, but they are jeopardizing the careers of three very promising young arms. I know injuries to TH and JJ have created trickle down issues, but this abuse was going on long before they went down. LP must be fired for the complete failure of his charges to execute an effective offensive game plan. His free-swinging, hack at anything close (he would call it “aggressive”) philosophy has killed more rallies than Rivera and Hoffman have combined in their entire careers. I’ve never seen a team fail to score with RISP and less than 2 outs more than this inept offense. The sac fly seems to be something this team (possible exception Chipper) is completely allergic to. There is no patience and no ability to hit situationally. When they should be putting pressure on a staggering pitcher with more selectivity, they are choking- and it has become a widespread epidemic!
Doug
September 22nd, 2011
11:05 am
Your kidding, correct? I will say this is one sure way to get your column read.
I hope we somehow make it, maybe a miracle and everyone goes on a hitting spree for 6 games….. stop laughing folks.
After this season ends for certain a good house cleaning is in order for this team. I’d rather see our beloved Braves play so so ball with the young pitching and some young position players than veterans who are so erratic.
I remember how both Smoltz and Glavine had growing paings their first season or 2 in Atlanta and both are certain HOF’ers.
I hope the Braves limp into the playoffs but I would not bet any money on it.
Train Wreck Bystander
September 22nd, 2011
11:05 am
I believe you go with the hot hand, and Lowe does not have the hot hand right now.
Out of the provided choices, I like Delgado.
Aren’t there 25 men on the playoff roster? If so, that turns me against a hybrid Minor/Delgado #3.