Fire Fredi? No, but the Braves did some major mismanaging
Esteemed colleague Mike Luckovich offers this extremely flattering bit of imagery.
Midnight had come and gone, and Frank Wren stood in Bill Acree’s office just off the main clubhouse. (Acree is the Braves’ director of travel, and earlier he’d been triangulating the hoped-for trip to St. Louis and then to Milwaukee or Phoenix. Moot point now.) The general manager was staring at a TV above the door. Boston had just lost. Tampa Bay had just won.
“Coming into September,” Wren said, disbelief in his voice, “we [meaning the Red Sox and the Braves] had two of the four best records in baseball.”
Neither will be part of the sport’s eight-team tournament, and today the Braves’ one source of consolation is that the Sox choked even harder than they did. (Unbelievable that two of the three biggest September flops in the game’s century-long annals were concluded within moments of each other. The third happened in 1964 to the Pholdin’ Phils.) There were similarities in these contemporary collapses — starting pitchers got hurt and everything unraveled — but we’ll let long-suffering New Englanders suffer long with theirs.
As for the local nine: Wren did his job. He built a good-looking team. He landed Michael Bourn in July and fleshed out his roster with Matt Diaz and Jack Wilson in August. (And what did the glove man Wilson do? Became the new Brooks Conrad by erring on a double-play grounder that became Philadelphia’s second run Wednesday night.) This should have been a playoff team, and for 5 1/2 months it was playoff-bound. Then it derailed itself.
Blame should attach itself to Fredi Gonzalez, but not the sort that has been tossed around. Jose Constanza would not have saved the season. (He’s a journeyman. Come on.) Starting Derek Lowe in Game No. 161 was a justifiable choice. (You’d start the rookie Julio Teheran instead? Come on.) This wasn’t so much about managing situations — every manager, even the learned La Russa, whiffs on a nightly basis — as in managing people.
I’m not a big fan of team meetings, but sometimes they’re necessary. Gonzalez had one after the Braves lost seven of nine early in the month, which might have been a day too late, and another after they lost Game No. 161 to fall into a tie with St. Louis. What Fredi said Tuesday night was appropriate — “I wouldn’t pick any other guys over you to go out and win a game” — but by then the panic was full-blown. Panic is why this season ended after 162 games.
Ninth inning, Game No. 162: The kid closer Craig Kimbrel is on to do as he has done 46 times in 53 tries — slam the door. He yields a leadoff single to Placido Polanco, strikes out Carlos Ruiz, walks the part-timer Ben Francisco. It’s clear the kid closer, who’s 23, is trying to hurl the ball through the backstop. (”I was overthrowing,” Kimbrel admitted.) Brian McCann walks to the mound.
Roger McDowell sits in the dugout.
Only after Kimbrel walks Jimmy Rollins to load the bases does the pitching coach emerge to speak to his kid pitcher. (Something similar happened in Monday’s game, when McDowell watched as the Phillies mustered four base runners and one run in the fourth inning before going to the mound to counsel the rookie Randall Delgado.) It’s entirely possible that a coaching visitation would have had no effect on Kimbrel, but why not try? Why didn’t Gonzalez say, “Roger, get out there,” one batter sooner?
I asked. This was Fredi’s response: “That’s here or there.”
But it isn’t. There are certain things managers can do to manage a game, and dispatching a pitching coach is one. The Braves’ dugout seemed to be a beat slow in this final series, this whole final month. Again, it might have made no difference. Again, why not try?
And then the hitting, or the lack thereof. Once the Phillies tied it, nearly every Brave wanted to be Kirk Gibson. Guys were overswinging as badly as Kimbrel had overthrown. The Phils were deploying pitchers who won’t work a postseason inning, and the Braves’ flailing made Justin DeFratus and David Herndon look like Mariano Rivera.
“We’ve been swinging really, really hard for a while,” said Chipper Jones, who had the best late-game swing — the deep drive that Michael Martinez hauled down in the 10th — of any Brave. And that, sad to say, was this team’s signature: Swing really hard in case it hit something.
Under hitting coach Terry Pendleton, the 2010 Braves led the National League in on-base percentage. Under Larry Parrish, the 2011 Braves were 14th of 16 teams. Parrish was hired as hitting coach despite never having been a big-league hitting coach. Maybe the Braves would have hit .193 in September with runners in scoring position with Ty Cobb as their tutor. Then again, maybe they wouldn’t.
Yes, players ultimately must bear the blame for plays unmade, but this fine team was, in the end, both too laid-back in its oversight and too tightly wrapped in its playing. I don’t think Fredi Gonzalez needs to be fired — he did, after all, lose his two best starting pitchers — but I do think he needs to be more assertive. He absolutely needs a new hitting coach, but …
No such luck. Fredi announced Thursday the coaching staff would return intact. Which makes you wonder about Fredi.
By Mark Bradley
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585 comments Add your comment
DogTheMan
September 29th, 2011
4:43 pm
Get rid of Gonzalez, AND LIBERTY MEDIA. We need players who are not reclamation projects. AND WE NEED A HOTTING COACH!!!! What more proof is needed that abscentee ownership does not work. Ted Turner woud have never let this happen.. BRAVES GO TO OZ AND SEE THE WIZARD FOR BRAINS AND HEART!!!!!
Florida Guy
September 29th, 2011
4:43 pm
WAS ANYONE FROM “LIBERTY MEDIA” EVEN AT THIS GAME!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!! they had a shareholder’s meeting to attend, or a tee time to make, or some other non-baseball, non-Atlanta matter to take care of. This is ridiculous. I am livid that the only Atlanta team to win a championship is owned by a bunch of out-of-town corporate idiots who wouldn’t know a baseball bat from a golf club. THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~Sigh~
September 29th, 2011
4:44 pm
Mark,
In the spirit of anger that is warranted after staying up late to see failure after failure from my beloved braves:
First off, you’re a better writer than Schultz. I gag every time I see his articles quoted in the national press.
Second, you’re complicit in the “Culture of Acceptance”. Write an article that headlines: “Fredi Gonzalez Must Go”. You know very well that hiring Fredi, and then the corresponding hiring of Larry Parrish was a failure. Let me outline the reasons why.
1) Bobby Cox was our Hall of Fame regular season manager. But let’s be honest, we had players viewing him as grand-dad. 14 division titles will forever be treasured by Braves fans, but only 1 WS leads one to wonder. Bobby’s loyal, laid-back approach worked for Bobby, at least in the regular season. Fredi was hired as Bobby’s protege. But Fredi is not Bobby, period. Braves need a change of culture, not more of the same.
2) Fredi’s post-162nd game interview: “We just played a good club over there” WTF? It’s the hated Phillies, for crying out loud! I honestly think post-game interviews provide a true picture of whether the coach/manager has what it takes to win a championship. Reference #1: Mike Woodson, after being blown out by the Magic: “We really didn’t compete, and I don’t know why” Reference #2: “I don’t know what that means,” Mularkey said when asked if the offense could be more aggressive. “When they’ve got guys down there and they are taking away the deep ball; you throw it underneath.”
3) Martin Prado and Jason Heyward. Both these 2010 All-Stars hit more than 40 points below this year. It’s pretty clear that once these guys struggled, the Braves were done, no matter what Uggla, Freeman, or the new addition of Bourn did. I don’t know if it’s Fredi’s fault or Larry Parrish’s, but somebody has to take responsibility, in addition to the players themselves. Especially since they both were terrible with RISP, killing so many rallies.
4) Bullpen mismanagemnet. People were talking back in May about the possible over-use of Venters and Kimbrel. I heard on ESPN Radio that the most ever appearances by Mariano Rivera in his career is 74, most ever by Trevor Hoffman is only 70. Venters/Kimbrel? 80+ this year. Fredi didn’t need to use these guys every single time we had a save situation of 3 runs. But he did. I even recall Venters coming in one game with a 4 run lead. Fredi didn’t trust guys like C-Mart, Ascencio, Abreu, though it would have been ok to give them reps during the year even with 3 run leads. Fredi should have known this, but he clearly didn’t think ahead.
5) Joe Maddon. The Rays lose their best players in free agency, start a bunch of rookies, come back from 7-0 down in the 8th inning to make the playoffs. Why? Their manager is awesome. They fight, claw, have fun. Can you honestly say the same about Fredi?
That is all. My anger has turned to sadness.
~Sigh~
Tumbledown
September 29th, 2011
4:45 pm
I think it is important to realize that any type of new ownership is not going to happen soon. The Braves have some nice pieces that enable them to compete right now. The Braves have great young starting and relief pitchers. They have a productive lead off batter and some good hitters mixed in the lineup. With the right additions and subtractions, there is every reason to believe that the Braves can be in the same position for the next couple of Septembers.
We just need new and fresh leadership on the field and in the coaching ranks so that the Braves can proceed deep into October. Chipper has been a great player and is certainly a hall of famer. But, all he knows (with the exception of his rookie year in 1995) is disappointment at the end of the season. I also cannot recall one clutch hit my him in the playoffs to win important games. Change is needed now so that the Braves can take advantage of their young and talented squad before the limited corporate payroll dictates that these players must go elsewhere.
Michael Marr
September 29th, 2011
4:48 pm
I guess the Braves and Red Sox just wanted the offseason more. Time to helicopter off to the yacht for some deep sea fishing in the Pacific.
mark lemke is macho
September 29th, 2011
4:50 pm
A tale of two franchises-Terry Francona seemed dejected after the loss…Fredi seemed almost buoyant. A seemingly very nice man(hey he rides a harley for fun
) but doesn’t someone have to answer for this failure?
Surely it hurt having hanson and jurjjens go down but really as we all know pitching wasn’t the problem-they were beaten 4-0, 4-1, 3-0, 4-2, and finally 4-3 in the last week alone. Hanson and Jurjjens would have lost those games as surely as beachy/minor/lowe- the problem is the team cannot hit when it count. The braves largely have a team of veterans(freeman had a fine rookie year and heyward is regressing-just as he was last year)…and those veterans collapsed-no mental toughness. Old joke-how do you neutralize the leading base stealer in the national league? Send him to the Braves.
It’s tough to hear that the braves were ‘battling’ and ‘giving it their all’-because if they were it makes it that much worse. I mean maybe they are telling the truth and everyone was trying as hard as they could…and ‘battling’-if they were then one does wonder why keep anyone involved.
Some would say firing the manager is reactionary…what is truly reactionary is firing the hitting coach. As if the braves season came down to larry parrish in the batting cage…this is a largely veteran team(is alex gonzalez listening to larry…does chipper or martin have long sitdowns with larry talking about swings-one has doubts). Why not blame the bench coach? All of these are silly cosmetic notions-Fredi really has to go.
Not because he isn’t a nice man and maybe he even does know a thing or two about baseball but his firing would at the very least shake off some of the complacency of the braves players. Teams that are truly ‘battling’ don’t lose 5 games in a row-and let’s be very clear on this…the phillies were giving that game away last nite-Schimer has a 5.02 era after he worked 2 scoreless innings against the braves
. Teams that are ‘battling’ come back and win games they shouldn’t have-see here st louis repeatedly.
Fredi has to go-if just to shake off the feel good(’hey did a lot of great things’-fredi’s quotes post game were that of a man either utterly ignorant of or in denial of the situation) rah rah nonsense that permeates the braves organization and the atlanta media-i guess one positive that can be gleaned from all of this-dave obrien(fidddling while rome burns indeed) can stop writing his columns about hanson and jurjjens coming back to help the braves in the postseason.
Bill Donohoo
September 29th, 2011
4:52 pm
It is unbelievable that Parrish is coming back. 25+ years of the same “corporate” mentality. I agree with all the blogs regarding “heart” It is lacking, leadership is lacking. The last player to speak and deliver was David Justice and look what it got him, a World Series then a ticket out of town.
Even the AA and AA pitchers knew to just throw low and outside and we would whiff.Uggla had one 30 game season, before and after that he was pretty useless. McCann just disappeared.
Fredi you are nuts to bring Parris back! How about thinking aabout a decision before making it-where is Wren and why would he let Fredi make such a decision. If I was Wren I would tell Fredi its Parrish and you or just Parrish, make your choice.
The Braves have many holes to fill, SS, 3rdB, LF, RF, long relief, bench help, maybe even 2nd B.
Going to be a long winter.
pigskin philosophy
September 29th, 2011
4:58 pm
I’ve never heard a bigger bunch of sorehead losers and poor sports like the commenters on this blog. We’ll get ‘em next year.
The only good fan is a cheering fan. (So stfu, bad fans).
J-Man
September 29th, 2011
4:59 pm
We need to hire Kenny Powers as Manager
mark
September 29th, 2011
4:59 pm
I don’t think there is a true Braves fan that did not see this comming last night. Going into the month is the problem, yes you loose two pitchers but 10-20 are for teams like Baltimore or KC not the Braves. They have a 90 million dollar payroll, but still could not beat the mets, nationals or marlins? Fredi’s first year shows what Fl already new, he is not very good. But just like every other sports team in this town he was hired because he would not make any waves. Bobby Cox light, which means the collapse and bad play will begin much earlier than post season. I guess the bright side is saving the embarasment of lossing in the national spot light. Hard right now to stay postive given the way sports in this town is going, you are next Arthur. Get off the F****** sidelines you egotistical F***. Looserville has returned with great vengence!
MR
September 29th, 2011
5:01 pm
The Braves have built a team for the past 6-7 years around an aging, brittle Chipper Jones, and a catcher. Either one not good for late season heroics by either. Chipper needs to retire or become a bench player, move Prado to third every day and look for a real bat in the outfield, not some 80 RBI Francour, or JD Drew, or Heyward, but a true run producer. Hey, we could have taken Pence and Bourn. Thanks Frank, loser.
Strange Murphy
September 29th, 2011
5:02 pm
And Fredi has been a success where? Fire is non-managing ass!
hoho
September 29th, 2011
5:03 pm
Where are people reading that the Braves entire coaching staff will be retained?
Rickster
September 29th, 2011
5:03 pm
Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said MB reminded me of Kevin Bacon’s ROTC character in Animal House screaming “ALL IS WELL” amid the bedlam…. just before the crowd trampled him?
It’s now “Crowd 2 : Kevin Bacon 0″
Rowsdower
September 29th, 2011
5:06 pm
Yeah, I can’t believe you guys have the sack to come onto a blog and bich about a team that played .300 ball in September and blew a 3 game lead with 5 games to play. Or should I say 5 games to lose?
Get a job pigskin. A good fan is someone with the heart to speak his mind in good times and bad times. This is as bad as it gets…
TampaRays/Bravesfan
September 29th, 2011
5:06 pm
Henry D said it perfectly. Homerun or nothing!! That is not SMART BASEBALL!! Look and learn from top teams like the Yanks and Phils (and even Bosox) and you’ll see the hitters trained to work the pitchers. It’s one of the reasons the Yanks and Bosox games take so long but it works. I love Brian but he tried to pull every outside pitch and swuang at a ball in the dirt with the bases loaded and in a key situation vs. the Nats in a game that was lost by one run. Joe Simpson even said that in a situation like that, with the pitcher on the ropes you swing at YOUR pitch. Of course, the next pitch he hit a long fly ball to cf…..majestic, but an out!! Same thing with the bases loaded on Sunday with no outs. Bourn on a 3-1 count swung at a bad pitch popping to third, Martin reached for an outside pitch (after swinging at a ball) and popped to right and Chipper (of course) swung at the very first pitch which was a ball to ground out. Again, NOT SMART BASEBALL and that’s the reason for the collapse. I’m not in favor of firing anyone but Parrish’s Earl Weaver 3 run homer approach does not work.
wild'n
September 29th, 2011
5:07 pm
Throughout the yeah, hitting was atrocious. Because no one had hardly a semblance of a consistent approach at the plate. But we’re going to keep Parrish? Just asking for more of the same…
Also, where in the heck was this team’s fire last night. They were noting on ESPN how the braves in the late innings in the dugout seemed passionless. IF you can’t get pumped up and excited when your opportunity to reach the playoffs is on the line, you don’t have a pulse. And this braves season no longer does.
Rowsdower
September 29th, 2011
5:07 pm
@hoho – From the Twitter feed:
Millions of Larry Parrish fans exult! RT @ajcbraves: #Braves will bring back their entire coaching staff, manager Fredi Gonzalez said. 3 hours ago
wild'n
September 29th, 2011
5:09 pm
Though throughout the year hitting was atrocious and no one seemed to have a consistent approach at the plate, we’re keeping Larry Parrish? Just asking for more of the same…
On ESPN they were noting how the guys in the braves dugout were not upbeat and were just appearing bored even throughout the extra frames. If you can’t get pumped up and excited when your playoff lives hangs in the balance, you don’t have a pulse. And the braves season, once seemingly destined for greatness, no longer does.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
September 29th, 2011
5:10 pm
Mark, please turn in your resignation letter to the AJC.
Tumbledown
September 29th, 2011
5:21 pm
If it is true that Fredi and his coaching staff are back, then I simply cannot invest any more time or money into the Braves. The same losing-when-it matters-most culture will persist. Nobody is being held accountable. The players will never play with a sense of urgency, and they surely will lack confidence at the most important times. Next year, the Braves will find some new way to break down and choke. I know it and most Braves’ fans, I suspect, know it in their hearts. This is terrible.
mortimer
September 29th, 2011
5:23 pm
Stupid GM is to blame. He could of assured a title is have the brains to trade a couple of prospects for Hunter Pense, who is now the Phillies best player.
hoho
September 29th, 2011
5:23 pm
If Fredi really is bringing Parrish back immediately following the complete offensive meltdown that was Braves baseball in September, then I have less respect for him than before (which I did not think was possible). Wren, you need to step in before this idiot destroys the team!
rally
September 29th, 2011
5:26 pm
and so did Philadelphia lose two pitchers Bradley.. Thats a stretch and a excuse. Go back to the drawing board. On this one. Chipper had injuries and played hurt as hell and game 162 Gonzalez sits for hamstring injury. Bradley what are you smoking? Get back to the real world….
Rowsdower
September 29th, 2011
5:29 pm
mortimer
September 29th, 2011
5:23 pm
Stupid GM is to blame. He could of assured a title is have the brains to trade a couple of prospects for Hunter Pense, who is now the Phillies best player.
We didn’t need Hunter Pence to blow a 10.5 game lead to the Cardinals. We could’ve done that with Hunter S. Thompson.
I would argue the contrary. Where would this team have been if Wren had given up Minor or Delgado or BOTH for Pence? Oh yeah, same place we are today. Biching about a historic collapse.
Bro
September 29th, 2011
5:30 pm
Roy Orbison said it best–”It’s Overrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”. Trade some of these arms that no one trusted in the end and get some hitters. Frank Wren, don’t continue to be a John S. Make the necessary changes to get past the just good team. Make it a really good team. Trade for what you need. Yankees have got by on average pitching for the past 10 years (except for last night). Lots of runs will offset average pitching. You only need 2 really good pitchers, 2 good pitchers and one average pitcher to go to the world series. But if you can’t score, YOU WILL NOT WIN.
Tony
September 29th, 2011
5:31 pm
Seriously. Don’t fire FG. You’re kidding right? A rock has more heart than that idiot. D. Lowe admits his mechanics are off the entire month of September and what does the brilliant FG do? Start him anyway. He’s no different than he was with the Marlins. Even THEY fired him.
coloradobulldog
September 29th, 2011
5:33 pm
I am die-hard Braves. I was a Braves fan through years of Dave Bristol, Chuck Tanner and Russ Nixon. Pathetic teams on par with this year’s Astros and Royals. I have seen them throw out a pitching staff of Niekro and bunch of bums with a line-up that was always average save a few bangers in a small ballpark. Last night hurts. It stinks to be a Braves fan today. They choked. But after a while I will look back and realize that these Braves gave us a chance of being a playoff team with a mid-level payroll, a bunch of young pitchers and no threat in their line-up on par with Pujols or Howard. And they are in a division with a loaded Phillies team. That’s considerably more than they ever gave in 70’s and 80’s (apart from one or two years under Torre.)
Rowsdower
September 29th, 2011
5:34 pm
@rally – It’s a little easier to overcome injuries when your payroll is $200M.
This collapse wasn’t caused by JJ and Tommy going down. Look at what the Braves did in August with Tommy on the shelf and JJ sucking out loud. They opened up a 10 game lead in the Wild Card.
No, this collapse was caused by the offense. The pitchers were fine with the exception of bLowe. It would’ve been nice to have them go deeper into games, but we averaged 3 runs per game, where’s the margin for error?
Jim from Roswell
September 29th, 2011
5:41 pm
I guess we all know why the Marlins let Fredi go now. He can’t manage a major league baseball team. But then again we don’t have ownership that wants to win so who cares?
silas
September 29th, 2011
5:47 pm
the Braves need a new leader. Chipper is loafing out there, again and again. He doesn’t even run to 1st after hitting a ball until he sees it may be close. Very embarrasing. I’ve seen him get thrown out many times when a strong run would’ve beat the throw. Such a great player, but his mind is no longer in the game. Complacency is contagious.
Joe
September 29th, 2011
5:47 pm
The screw up was pitching Lowe in game two they should have pitched Tim Hudson in that game.
CreakyDawg
September 29th, 2011
5:48 pm
Job # 1, Derrick Lowe has got go. How many times did that guy put the team in a hole by giving up a homer or two early?
Linebrinks Security
September 29th, 2011
5:54 pm
“I asked. This was Fredi’s response: “That’s here or there.”
uh …………. what does that even mean Dr. Seuss?
Rowsdower
September 29th, 2011
6:01 pm
silas
September 29th, 2011
5:47 pm
the Braves need a new leader. Chipper is loafing out there, again and again. He doesn’t even run to 1st after hitting a ball until he sees it may be close. Very embarrasing. I’ve seen him get thrown out many times when a strong run would’ve beat the throw. Such a great player, but his mind is no longer in the game. Complacency is contagious.
You try running with a bone bruise. Chipper played hurt the last month and almost won us the game last night if not for a great play by their CF. Don’t hang this on Chipper. At least he mounted up unlike Seabass.
Braves One
September 29th, 2011
6:21 pm
The Braves are in the Playoffs!
Ex-Braves that is. Andrew Jones, Raphael Furcal et al, enjoy the post season.
dawg4u
September 29th, 2011
6:25 pm
Fredi says “We battled them.” Man you guys won nine games the whole month of September. The French army probably would have gotten a chuckle out of that. The fact that Fredi and the entire coaching staff are being retained is no surprise here in Atlanta. He’s lucky he’s not managing in New York or Boston or a half dozen other “winning” cities. My question is what has this “ownership group” at Liberty Media seen in this manager or coaches that would yield anything but the same results next year. We obviously don’t have the finances to go out and get top tier pitchers and everyday players. The bottom line is that Liberty Media ownership of this team is a huge problem and they are basically absentee and apathetic to the problems faced by the franchise. Their attitude is stay on budget and don’t do anything earth shattering. It makes me yearn for the days when Ted Turner owned this team and started it on the worst to first journey that led us to respectability and relevancy. If I was Fredi Gonzalez I would be saying – “My team won nine games the whole month of September and looked absolutely awful and unmotivated the last two weeks and me and the whole coaching staff are being retained. Wow if I had made the playoffs I might have received the keys to the city of Atlanta.” Let’s just keep things the way they are and just “hope” things change next year. So sad for the fans of this great city! Wait till next year – AGAIN!
Dawgdad (The Original)
September 29th, 2011
6:29 pm
Sonny Clusters is on target once again.
Regarding Constanza, yes, he is a journeyman, but his promotion brought to the Braves something they never had before, the ability to manufacture runs. Michael Bourn was added and things were working, the games were EXCITING for once, and… the future won out. Had to get Wayward back in there someone, Fredi?, Wren? decided. The Braves were never the same. Would the collapse have happened otherwise, we will never know, but check the percentage record when Georgy started and when JayWay started.
Two games were the difference in being in the playoffs and losers. I think we can pretty well assume a good manager would have been worth two games. Getting rid of Linebrink when they dumped Proctor might have been the difference.
Batcork
September 29th, 2011
6:34 pm
This team baffles me. Just can’t put my finger on whether the team is less than the sum of the parts, or the parts are really not as good as advertised in the first place. Freeman, Uggla, McCann, Prado are great when they’re at their best, but they aren’t at their best often enough. If we can get more consistency out of them, get an answer in RF (JHey bounceback or another body), I actually feel OK about our offense next year with a full year of Bourn. If 2012 goes by with no improvement in those guys’ consistency, then the answer is the parts really aren’t as good as advertised and serious personnel changes will need to happen.
Pitching, we had a bad combination of (a) starters that didn’t eat enough innings, and (b) lack of middle relief talent. Combined with the lack of run production, this led to too many tight games where the O’Ventbrel triplets all had to trot out for 7/8/9. Can’t count on a Lowe bounceback to eat innings like he once did. We need a new horse starter and at least one solid middle reliever.
I would give Fredi one more year. Parrish not. Sorry to hear he’s being retained.
Lowell
September 29th, 2011
6:44 pm
I have watched Baseball since Durocher Fred has no pizzaz in the clutch. Lowe should not have pitched. Durocher would have used his bullpen as starters in that game. He would have used Constanza in the 13th in yesterday’s game to replace the runner to steal and avoid a double play. He would have had Kimble out of there after the first walk (considering his flameout recently). He would have had McCann replaced by a great backup. Fredi is to blame for the loss of about 4 games down the stretch. He seemed scared and not on top of things. Defending the boys of autumn was not his job but benching those not hitting was. This is a terrible loss for the Southeast fans.
Poorbrave
September 29th, 2011
6:51 pm
Fredi and staff won 9 games in Sept..real winner!
Red Sox lost and manager said heads would roll!
Braves Fredi said all staff coming back we played hard…hard at what? 9 wins in Sept. what a fi*#ing joke..
FIRE FREDI AND WREN..Both need to go.
Boyz From N. Ave.
September 29th, 2011
6:53 pm
This is baseball, nopt softball, right?…..why does every sorry arse Brave for the last 19 years try to hit it out? Just hit it….the runs will come….DAMN.
UGAKev
September 29th, 2011
6:58 pm
fire the hitting coach,he stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UGAKev
September 29th, 2011
6:59 pm
freddie fire the hiting coach or in the long run you will be fired!!!!!!!
"Mouthy, Know-it-all" Mark Bradley
September 29th, 2011
7:18 pm
WHAT do YOU know about managing Baseball instead of Fredi G???????
SURE it is GREAT to manage a game AFTER the fact… as YOU do!!
That is WHY you are just a “blogger” instead of making “big bucks” as a Manager of a Baseball Team!!
Kisser of the Company Bottom
September 29th, 2011
7:21 pm
So Bradley was this column your way of rapping the management knuckles without saying TOO much?
Pretty gutless column. They stunk it up and should wear the mantra of chokers who need to make some changes. Fredi needs to go and his move to keep Parrish should seal his fate!
Delbert D.
September 29th, 2011
7:25 pm
Why are there no player-coaches anymore? Assign the hitting coach responsibility to Chipper Jones.
Rilo
September 29th, 2011
7:30 pm
Let’s hope Lowe will retire and since KK and McLoser now come off the board maybe we can spend a little more for quality hitters. However, the uninspiring effort might make the front office reluctant to go after what we really need. Hitters.
iTiSi
September 29th, 2011
7:31 pm
MB would make an excellent ballerina dancer. If this article isn’t the epitome of “tippy-toeing” I don’t know what is.
Delbert D.
September 29th, 2011
7:35 pm
Replace Parrish with Dave Kingman. He’s not busy right now.