Is Eastern Michigan really that bad?

Ball State hosts Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 1pm. BSU, a team that has lost to 1-AA Liberty and just lost by 29 points as a 5 point favorite at home to Western Michigan, is a 14-point favorite against EMU.

Sure, EMU hasn't won a game since November 2008 and has lost 18 straight games since that day, and they are 3-27 over the last three years. But, is Ball State really that much better? Central Michigan is the only common opponent so far this year. BSU played their game of the year in a 31-17 win at the Chippewas. EMU lost to CMU at home 52-14. The Cardinals won't play as well as they did against CMU, but will not play as bad at last week's game against WMU. They will play somewhere in the middle, which may be good enough to beat EMU, but not by 14 points.

Another season ends.....

The Braves lost to the Giants last night 3-2, ending the NLDS. Brian McCann had both RBIs in the game and was the only starter to hit above .230 in the series. The team batted .175 in the 4 games and the fielding was just as bad. Atlanta's defense committed 7 errors that allowed 3 unearned runs. Take away the unearned runs and the last two games could have been won by the Braves.

The pitching was great, as it has been for the last half of the season. The starters had a 2.78 ERA, which is good, but the relievers only gave up one earned run in 14-1/3 innings for a 0.63 ERA. All of the pitchers, with the exception of the retiring Billy Wagner and free agent Kyle Farnsworth should be back next year.

The offense has some spots to fill and I will go over those in future posts. The team will also have to deal with a new manager as Bobby Cox will no longer be the skipper for Atlanta. Those two issues will be the big questions to answer for GM Frank Wren in the offseason.

Good pitching plus clutch hitting plus poor fielding equals loss

The Braves stole a game in San Fran on Friday night, but could not hold serve on Sunday, losing to the Giants 3-2. Tim Hudson threw a great game for Atlanta, giving up 1 unearned run in 7 innings. Eric Hinske hit a pinch-hit two-run homer in the bottom of the 8th to give the Braves a 2-1 lead.

Without closer Billy Wagner, Bobby Cox called on 22-year-old Craig Kimbrel to save the victory. Kimbrel got two outs sandwiched around a walk. He then gave up a single to Freddy Sanchez. At this point, Cox should have had confidence in Kimbrel and gave him a shot at closing out the game in a pressure situation. Instead, he called on left-hander Mike Dunn to face left-handed batting Aubrey Huff. Huff batted just under .300 against left-handers this year, so the platoon advantage did not exist. Yet, Cox went to the bullpen anyway. Of course, Huff singled in the tying run to tie the game at 2.

Peter Moylan relieved Dunn and got a ground ball that should have ended the inning, but Brooks Conrad's third error of the game allowed the go-ahead run to score. This time, Cox didn't make a change when he should have. He had Diory Hernandez on the bench, who has been a great fielder over the past two years. But, instead he leaves the poor fielding Conrad in the game and also puts Nate McLouth and Melky Cabrera in the game. McLouth and Cabrera have been two of the worst fielders on the team according to Total Zone Rating.

Has the game passed Bobby Cox. Is it a good thing that he is retiring? Some of the poor play can be attributed to all of the injuries, but you have to know what players you have and how to use them in critical situations. So far this series, Cox has not done that.

Game four is tonight at 730p. Derek Lowe will pitch for the Braves on short rest. Youngster Madison Bumgarner will pitch for the Giants.