Mike Minor was mightily major, and still the Braves lost
One picture of Johnny Venters, worth several thousand words. (AJC photo by Hyosub Shin)
Before Tuesday’s game, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez noted that Kris Medlen, sent to Class AAA to “stretch out” his arm in case he’s needed in the rotation, was scheduled to throw 95 pitches in his next Gwinnett start. Meaning: Any more wobbles from Mike Minor could mean his last name becomes his next destination.
If that weren’t enough, Minor’s mound opponent this night was the heavyweight (word used advisedly) CC Sabathia. The massive Yankee — “He’s a moose,” Gonzalez said of Sabathia — had won seven games to Minor’s three, had compiled an ERA of 3.69 to Minor’s 6.57. Were this, er, a heavyweight bout, they’d have stopped it before it started. But this was baseball, and in baseball there’s no such thing as a sure thing.
To wit: The underwhelming Minor worked his best start since the second Saturday of the season, and he did exactly what Gonzalez had, speaking before the game, said he wanted: “I want him to go deep in the ballgame, past the fifth. I don’t think very many clubs are built to have four innings of relief.”
Over his past six starts Minor had worked six innings only once, that on a night in Cincinnati when he left with his team down 4-1. He had won only once since April 19, that on a night in Miami when he needed 103 pitches through five. He had become the weakest link in an underperforming rotation, and there have been times when it seemed his status with the big-league club was, to invoke the sporting prognosis, day to day.
But on a night when Yankee fans — and maybe one or two of those who back the Braves — arrived expecting a walkover, Minor gave his team and his career a lift. He threw 7 1/3 innings against the Bronx Bombers, limiting them to five hits and one earned run. This was the Minor who, on April 14, had held the brawny Milwaukee Brewers to two hits in 7 2/3 innings, only this was better because it was against the Bronx Bombers and their burly ace.
The night began with Derek Jeter, who in a pregame briefing had lavished praise on the retiring Chipper Jones, singling up the middle. (Right here you thought, “Uh, oh.”) After retiring Curtis Granderson, Minor walked Mark Teixeira. (And here you thought, “Told you so.”) But Minor induced a foul pop from the famous Alex Rodriguez and a groundout from the stellar Robinson Cano, and the half-inning was done.
When next Minor threw a pitch, he had a three-run lead. Michael Bourn singled leading off the home half. Brian McCann, who had made 850 feet of screaming outs in Monday’s game, hoisted a ground-rule double. Dan Uggla walked to load the bases. Matt Diaz doubled to right, thereby unloading them.
We pause to note: At 3:40 p.m., the aforementioned Chipper was heard to exclaim in the Braves’ clubhouse, “My professional career is over! I’m hitting behind Matty Diaz.” Chipper was kidding, but still: It was noteworthy to see the future Hall of Famer batting sixth to Diaz’s fifth, and it was likewise intriguing that Gonzalez had benched Jason Heyward to make room for Diaz. “I told Jason, ‘This is not a platoon thing,’ ” Gonzalez said.
Nope. Just good managing. The right-handed Diaz got the key hit off the fearsome lefty Sabathia, and Minor took it from there. He didn’t look like a big-league team’s fifth starter; he looked, not for the first time but for the first time in a while, like a big-league pitcher.
In his most recent start Minor had needed 103 pitches to record 15 outs. This time his 100th pitch saw him working to Jeter with one out in the eighth and the Braves leading 4-nil. That pitch was Minor’s last — Jeter, who has hit everybody for the past 16 years — singled to right, and Gonzalez made a change. The manager had gotten what he’d wanted and more, and Mike Minor left to a rousing ovation.
He did not, however, go home as the winning pitcher. Jonny Venters faced four Yankees and retired none of the above. With the bases loaded, A-Rod drilled a 3-2 Venters serve over the left-field fence for the most deflating home run hit in this city by a Bomber since that rat Jim Leyritz.
Mike Minor had spent 2 1/2 hours giving his team a major lift, and with one swing the lead was gone. Then Cory Gearrin was greeted by a Nick Swisher two-run shot, and the Yankees were ahead. The weakest link had held up, but the acclaimed bullpen let him down.
And for those of you who are wondering: No, the Braves were not crushed by this stunning defeat. Dazed, but not crushed. “You’ve just got to flush it,” Chipper Jones said. “We play 162 of these. You can’t dwell on one or two of them. You’ve got to be professional.”
Gonzalez said his plan was to pull Minor after the first baserunner in the eighth, which is what happened, and it’s hard to fault that move. Minor had gotten the Braves far enough that Venters, whose province is the eighth inning, could be summoned. Trouble is, this was the bad Venters we’ve seen on occasion. He tried to throw A-Rod a sinker. It didn’t sink until it dipped into the seats in left.
Said Venters: “I threw a pitch right down the middle to one of the best players in the game … I made a bad pitch and he crushed it.”
The grand slam was A-Rod’s 23rd, tying him with the immortal Yankee Lou Gehrig, so it’s not as if the Braves didn’t have a part in history being made. But most of the postgame talk concerned Minor, of whom Jones said: “This was by far his best start in the major leagues. He was dominant.”
Minor: “I have had a lot of bad starts this year, but [management has] also seen me pitch well. They know what I can do.”
Gonzalez: “Minor was outstanding. We pushed him as hard as we could. He did a terrific job.”
(As to why the just-up-from Gwinnett Gearrin was deployed in a tie game with one out in the eighth, Gonzalez said Eric O’Flaherty wasn’t available Tuesday. Seems he awoke the other day with a twinge in his elbow.)
Asked if he would give his players a pick-me-up talk after this egregious reversal, Gonzalez said: “Maybe tomorrow when we stretch.” And that, too, sounded about right. No sense smashing furniture after a game like this.
Said Chipper, who could actually smile after this one (as opposed to the Leyritz game, when nobody smiled for a month): “We did our job for eight-ninths of the game.”
Yes, losing hurt. But there was good to be taken from this loss, and that, pardon the pun, is no minor thing.
By Mark Bradley
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241 comments Add your comment
Doofus(Goober and Gomer's Smart Brother)
June 13th, 2012
12:04 pm
“J-Man”, there’s a reason for that. They are afraid they will lose their Braves “benefits and privileges”. They have to be “YES MEN” just like the two sitting in the broadcast booth. Joe Simpson was the only one who came close to speaking out, and he was mild with it. I imagine the only one who has already been booted out of the Braves’ locker room is Jeff Schulz, due to his critical article last week. He spoke his mind, and nailed it.
coach k
June 13th, 2012
12:04 pm
some bs i had to sit through with cox….. Sometimes the SAVE IS IN THE FREAKING 8TH INNING ……HELLO it is ok to bring your closer in the 8th this was a game we needed and should have had, Freddie is just a baby sitter not a manager. These are the games that matter at the end.
If Chipper smiled it is because.....
June 13th, 2012
12:06 pm
Gimper Jones is nothing but a has been washed up disable veteran who if he had any character about him would walk away and realize he is a has been….and would do the team more good if he was gone for good……
Shelfish Chipper need 2 retrie now!
June 13th, 2012
12:11 pm
Just how stop-id R the Braves?
Fist they hire a loosing managar
Next they resigh Chiper who is alwyas hurt.
Then the loosing managar makes dum dicesions which caused them the game.
J-MAN
June 13th, 2012
12:13 pm
Well Bradley can call out Larry Drew but he wont do it for Fredi Gonzalez and Gonzalez has done less with more talent………This is a FACT
Nick
June 13th, 2012
12:13 pm
Hahahaha. You Fredi haters are so incredibly predictable. I knew you’d be back after the next 3 game losing streak. I bet if Fredi would have left Minor in and he blew the lead, you guys would be killing Fredi for not pulling him. 1 game out of 162, fellas. Calm down.
Trojan
June 13th, 2012
12:16 pm
Medlin is now needed in the bullpen. Cancel that stretching out thing and get him ready for 1 inning at a time.
Venters needs to be taken out of high pressure situations until he proves capable again.
Nick
June 13th, 2012
12:18 pm
@Venters is done, and so is Chipper, How can you say Chipper’s hits have been meaningless? Wow, some of you fans are blind or just plain dumb. I think I remember him hitting a game winning home run against Philly a few weeks ago, but I guess that was meaningless.
Buzz
June 13th, 2012
12:19 pm
Is there any hope of a managerial change this year? Fredi is just plainly overmatched. With him at the helm, the Braves will never be a “good” team.
Joe Tess Fish House
June 13th, 2012
12:19 pm
Venters need 2 be part of the grounds crew B 4 he picthes again! LLOLOLO!!!!
J-MAN
June 13th, 2012
12:26 pm
Joe Simpson would make a better manager than Fredi Gonzalez
Delbert D.
June 13th, 2012
12:27 pm
Send Fredi Gonzalez to AAA to stretch out his prefrontal cortex. The man is as predictable as melting ice.
roterhals
June 13th, 2012
12:29 pm
Unfortunately, it’s not just Fredi but all this new-era managing crap, with the pitch counts and lazy philosophies like “if my pitcher gets to this and this inning, I’m gonna put in so and so”. That’s how it happens that a pitcher (Minor) can have a four hitter going into the eighth, gives up a seeing-eye single, and gets yanked after 100 some odd pitches. Absolutely ridiculous.
Billy (not Martin)
June 13th, 2012
12:32 pm
You definately should have broght in Kimbrel to pitch to Arod.
I’m sick of this crap where closers can’t pich but one inning.
So now you saved his arm for another day for what? another big fat loss.
I hope Fredi’s happy that Kinbrel’s arm is good and rested.
Go with your best and if you get beat, you got beat with your best and move on.
We did not get beat with our best last night.
Charles
June 13th, 2012
12:32 pm
FG SUCKS…….
DawgDad
June 13th, 2012
12:33 pm
“Medlin is now needed in the bullpen. Cancel that stretching out thing and get him ready for 1 inning at a time.”
Sending Medlen down was a mistake, plain and simple. That’s not hind-sight, I said it at the time. There have been plenty of opportunities to stretch him out at the ML level, and his absense has left a huge hole in the bullpen and cost the team at least two games. If they let Hernandez go (in lieu of Medlen) they likely can’t get him back. Holding on to Hernandez is costing this team.
The “one inning at a time” bullpen mentality drives me nuts. Need to manage more to the game situation.
Veritas
June 13th, 2012
12:34 pm
This particular Braves team, through the course of the season, will compile a 7-1 record during a stretch, and then flounder around by cobbling a 1-7 record soon after the winning streak.
This is a .500 ballclub. Call it fate; call it Fredi’s fault; blame any player you wish, but the loss last night was earned by a total team effort. They are what we thought they were after the offseason.
There is nothing new under this particular sun; nor, under this pathetic ownership and management.
Mike
June 13th, 2012
12:35 pm
WAIVE LIVAN!!!!!!!!
Delbert D.
June 13th, 2012
12:37 pm
Carlos Tosca is one of them most intelligent men in baseball. Turn the reins over to him for the rest of the season.
roterhals
June 13th, 2012
12:38 pm
typical modern day, lazy managing…..”If my guy gets to this or that inning, I’m gonna put in so and so”. That’s how a pitcher gets yanked after taking a 4 hitter into the 8th inning and giving up a seeing-eye single. Absolutely ridiculous.
Delbert D.
June 13th, 2012
12:38 pm
Make that “the most”. Shoot. Grrr.
the truth....
June 13th, 2012
12:46 pm
@ TuffShhhtuff
You are right on with the observation on Heyward pinch hitting for Diaz late in the game….same Lefty on the mound….
At the time I was out of sync with the game having some distractions at the house, and walked in the room with Jason at bat. I thought he must be pinch hitting for someone, then realized what Fredi had done……….
So if you want to bring him in for defensive reasons fine….but pinch hit him over Diaz to do so?
So Fredi must not only think the closer Kimbrel can ONLY pitch in the 9th, but that to make a defensive change he MUST pinch hit the new player??????????????
That garbage last night is still tough to take Fredi…………..
COOPER
June 13th, 2012
12:47 pm
I am not so sure Fredi Gonzalez is going to make it as a winning Major League manager.Two losses in a week because Fredi decides to pull the starter too soon. The lost last night was all on Gonzalez. As a former pitcher while you are warming up you know if you have control of your bread and butter pitch and I can guarantee that Venters knew he was going to turn into a batting practice pitcher last night. Last nights lost was one of the top 5 losses a manager was responsible for in the last 5 years. Very poor coaching.
Kyle T
June 13th, 2012
12:55 pm
The only reason I will go to another game this year is to see Chipper play a final time or two. Besides that I agree that I wont go back until Freddy is fired or learns how to coach baseball.
Bobby Cox
June 13th, 2012
12:57 pm
Fredi is like a son to me. I taught him everything I know about the game. He uses Venters like I used Reitsma.
Gotta love him !
Skeezix
June 13th, 2012
1:05 pm
I was late getting home and when I turned the TV on Fredi was going to the mound to pull Minor. Needless to say I was thrilled to see Minor had pitched into the 8th against the Yankees and had a 4-0 lead— and Venters coming it to get us two outs. What an awful turn of events! I hope the Braves can get over this loss. I hope it motivates them and doesn’t lead them to despair.
KL
June 13th, 2012
1:06 pm
I’d like to see how many of you would’ve been outraged if Kimbrel had been brought in instead of Venters. “Why on earth would you bring the closer in the 8th inning with a 4 run lead??”
Rogie
June 13th, 2012
1:08 pm
My real beef with Fredi is that he had nobody up in the bullpen prior to ARod’s at bat. Sometimes relievers just don’t have it that night and you have to be ready. Venters faced 2 batters too many only because there wasn’t a reliever ready. And, yes, sometimes you use your closer to put out a fire in the 8th…he hadn’t pitched in several days. It might be the difference between a win and a loss.
Bill
June 13th, 2012
1:08 pm
Agree DA total BS….
Skeezix
June 13th, 2012
1:10 pm
I still don’t get the decision to put Medlen in Gwinnett to “stretch out” his arm. I haven’t heard an explanation that past the logic test. That decision has definitely put a crimp on Fredi’s bullpen options and may very well be costing us games.
Bill
June 13th, 2012
1:12 pm
KL to win the damn game stupid..you didn’t have anybody else worth a crap..where does it say the closer can’t get 5 outs. Even Sutton, Joe and crew agree.
Bobby Cox
June 13th, 2012
1:30 pm
I would have brought in Reitsma or Danny Kolb.
Big Yank
June 13th, 2012
1:30 pm
Is not Bobby Cox a Hall of Fame manager? And what did he do against the Yankees? And some think all the Braves have to do to beat the Yankees is to hire some great manager. Dream on.
LOL at the Braves
June 13th, 2012
1:39 pm
LOL!
Fredie stinks
June 13th, 2012
1:40 pm
I more than agree with all the FG bashers. The man is a waste of time and money. I have never seen anyone as inept as he is in his job, and still have a job. What is the Braves management thinking? A penny saved is not a penny earned. Why would people pay hard earned money to see this clown pull the Braves to the cellar? What a joke we are.
J.K.
June 13th, 2012
1:42 pm
When will Fredi become accountable? He is to blame for the loss last night. What manager is their right mind leaves in a closer who can’t find the strike zone, with bases loaded, and A-Rod up to bat?
TechRon
June 13th, 2012
1:50 pm
BTR is right. Fredi must go. I dont blame Venters. I blame the idiot that cannot see that he just does not have it. In that situation, you bring in a guy and tell him “you are here to get THIS guy” and if you don’t I am going to go to the next guy.” Then, you have two guys up throwing. You don’t sit there and do nothing while he throws it all over the place. Fredi did this last year in September was the same. He and everyone alive could see that Lowe had nothing and he kept throwing him out there and he kept right on getting pounded. We lost by ONE game and Fredi gave away about 8 of them in that month alone.
We have a pretty good team, it is just being mismanaged. Fredi must go, now. Please don’t wait.
Fredie stinks
June 13th, 2012
2:04 pm
If the Braves management wont give FG his walking papers, why doesn’t he resign and save all of us embarrassment? Anyone that watches a game can see the players have no respect for him and neither do the fans. Cut our losses, Fredi, and I bet there are a lot of people that will help you pack.
AlanFalcon
June 13th, 2012
2:08 pm
We’ve got one of two ways to go here, get rid of McDowell or scratch the entire pitching staff and come up with a new one, if not we are going to continues to see the same old thing !!!!!!!!!!!
Mark Bradley
June 13th, 2012
2:09 pm
Heyward did not pinch-hit for Diaz. Heyward entered the game in the top of the seventh as a defensive replacement. Check the play by play.
Lucas Sanders
June 13th, 2012
2:14 pm
Gonzalez does nothin to win games. He is a coach not a manager. He and Mr. GM need some accountablity for what they are doin. Im afraid there is just more of this to come. I understand budget restriction. Why is Livan on the roster? This is a no brainer. I will say again, unless some roster moves are made and a real manager is out into to place ther is more of this to come. I dont even really want the manager removed from the team but he needs to be in a different job with the team. Tuesday was a bad beat but letting Livan do waht he did sunday is unexcusable not by the player but the person who has him on the roster and the person who put him in.
Big Yank
June 13th, 2012
2:21 pm
Bobby Cox, Hall of Fame, vs the Yankees -1996/2010- from Baseball Almanac:
Regular season—10-12
World Series——–2–8
Total——————12-20 %37.5 wins And he had 3 Hall of Fame starters for many years
Record vs everyone else: 658-476 58% wins
Why the difference? Vs superior talent, same as now, except Fredi has much less.
David S
June 13th, 2012
2:29 pm
THE MANAGER STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fredie stinks
June 13th, 2012
2:31 pm
David S….THE MANAGER STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and thats about his only good point
David S
June 13th, 2012
2:32 pm
we as BRAVES FANS are in deep DOO DOO!!!!!! with this manager………. please fire the pitching coach… he’s sucks too!!!!!!!!!!! at least the boys r hitting better than they did last year………… worst managing of any regular season game I’ve ever attended in person in my 38 years of lard!!!!!!!! FIRED THE MANAGER FRED FAT BUTT GONZALES
David S
June 13th, 2012
2:34 pm
MEANT TO SAY FIRE THE MANAGER FRED THE FAT BUTT GONZALES…. Im tired from the ride home to south ga after that horse crap coaching…. GO BRAVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lucas Sanders
June 13th, 2012
2:45 pm
Chipper could player manage the rest of the season. He is the life blood of a pretty good squad that has a chance to win alot of games and with hanson beachy hudson actually has a chance not only to make the playoffs but win playoff games. How does a manger have a september like last year and still have his job? What happened to the red sox manager from last years team who even has won a world series ring?
that was horrible
June 13th, 2012
2:45 pm
Gonzalez butchered the 8th inning. I don’t have a problem with him taking Minor out and putting Venters in but I have a huge problem with him leaving Venters out there when he obviously didn’t have it. On top of that he brings in that kid in that big situation, let’s him lose the game, and then keeps him out there after it’s obvious that he can’t throw strikes which almost resulted in yet another run (the runner was left at third after a wild pitch).
Pete
June 13th, 2012
2:47 pm
Whenever the Yankees play the Braves the Braves exhibit just how “bush league” they appear in comparison.
The contrast is huge !!
ESims
June 13th, 2012
2:48 pm
I don’t know what’s worse – the pathetic managing or the Atlanta media (including the broadcasters) being afraid to criticize it.