The Bravos are in town for a first three game set, the first meeting with our hated rivals of the new season. They've got a new weapon in their lineup you may have heard of, heir apparent to Jeff Francoeur's position in the field, lineup, and Braves fans' hearts. My advanced scouts report that they have a severe weakness against Ubaldo Jiminez, so hopefully Omar is on the phone with Colorado right now. The Mets could leapfrog Atlanta and the Nats with a good series:
Lineups
So begins Jose Reyes batting third. Who cares? As long as Jerry makes the lineups, it will be stupid in some way. If anyone actually does care here's the lineup I would use: Castillo-Wright-Reyes-Bay-Francoeur-Davis-Pagan-Barajas-P. I'd also be tempted to try: Reyes-Wright-Davis-Bay-Francoeur-Pagan-Barajas-P-Castillo. The point is, the third spot is the least important of the first four and putting your best hitter fifth is always dumb.
- Angel Pagan-CF
- Luis Castillo-"2B"
- Jose Reyes-SS
- Jay Bay Bay-LF
- David Wright-3B
- Ike Davis-1B
- Jeff Francoeur-RF
- Rod Barajas-C
- John Maine-"P"
Melky Cabrera. lol.
- Nate McLouth-CF
- Nitram Odarp-2B
- Larry Jones-3B
- Brian McCann-C
- Jason Heyward-RF
- Eric Hinske-1B
- Melky Cabrera-LF
- Omar Infante-SS
- Kenshin Kawakami-P
Probable Pitchers
Scouting Report: Is there anything positive to take away from Maine's disastrous start to the season? He's striking out hitters at a decent clip. His BABIP and LOB% are both way out-of-whack, so there'll be some regression there. All that means, though, is that his ERA will come down from 10 to maybe 7. His once impressive fastball is a shell of its former self, both in velocity and movement. John's control has been awful. He's getting hit around, and not even Citi Field is going to contain the homers that will come with his ballooned flyball%. Maine is going to need to regain his velocity or learn command in a hurry. A wild pitcher who falls in love with his mediocre off-speed stuff every start is not the formula for a major-league starter. Oh, Rick Peterson, where art thou?
From the somewhat racist scouting report on his above-linked SBNation page:
Like a lot of Asian hurlers, he relies heavily on deception and changing speeds to get batters out consistently.
From Patrick Newman, who actually follows NPB:
And his windup isn't deceptive, like many Japanese pitchers. Kawakami gets by purely on quality stuff.
The quality of Kawakami's stuff is interesting. He throws a cut-fastball, a shuuto (changeup), a forkball and a slow, looping curveball. His fastball isn't anything special, it tops out about where John Maine does these days (around 90). It does, however, provide a nice contrast for the curveball and forkball, which are definitely his best pitches, when he spots them. He misses enough bats to be successful and generates an above-average number of groundballs. Most Braves fans seem to dislike Kawakami and I can't really understand why; he's probably the best fifth starter in the division.
Personal Concessions Predictions
I'll be at this game, and since quality of the food really is out-pacing the team these days...
- Jason Heyward first inning grand slam--Double Shack Burger
- John Maine pulled in the second inning--Pulled pork from Blue Smoke
- 5th inning Jeff Francoeur solo homerun to cut the deficit 10-1--Ten Francoeur jerseys
- Chipper Jones delivers a baby son and names him Citi during the 7th inning stretch--Large fries from Box Frites
- Billy Wagner strikes out the side in the ninth--15 cannoli
Holler if you're going to be at the game, and as always: