6/24/08 Brewers (Bush) at Braves (Morton): 6:00 PM CDT

[wOOgiE22]

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BravesBeat.com

BEAT THE BRAVES!!!

[ELCABALLO45]

Nice job getting this up right away Woogster, Lets go Bush, pretend like its the Blue Jays

[craigharmann]

After completely missing the game last night, I'm looking forward to watching this one and seeing how Bushie follows up his last game. Hopefully this is the start of things clicking for Bush and he becoming the solid pitcher we all want him to be.

[palmettoscott]

After looking at this, 4 of Bush's last five starts would qualify for quality starts, even though only two of them were wins by the team. The other problem is that all four of them were at MP.

[sheethead]

I have to admit my Brewer Fever has gotten much worse this past week. I'm afraid it may be a full-blown case if the Crew can take care of this rookie tonight. Good thing I have next week off just in case this gets any worse.

[Oldcity]

Return of The Branyan.

[And That]

Not once in my life have I heard the name Charlie Morton. Go get... him?

[Brian the Automator]

Not once in my life have I heard the name Charlie Morton. Go get... him?

Honestly, I'm taking him with a grain of salt.

 

[And That]

Honestly, I'm taking him with a grain of salt.

Is that joke kosher?

 

[datrain711]

I just have this weird feeling that if Bush gets it done tonight, this could be the springboard we need for a real good road trip. As excited as I was last night, a victory tonight would really get my hopes up for a good road trip.

I'm going to predict a 5-3 Brewers win. Bush dodges some bullets, while the Brewers hit some bullets out of Turner.

Go crew

[Glennron]

Well last time against Atlanta Bush gave up those two solo HR's early and then cruised through the next few innings, I wouldn't mind that again. Does anyone know if Chipper will be in the lineup tonight?

[palmettoscott]

according to the ajc chipper will not be in the lineup this series, and will probably only be able for maybe a ph apperence this series and the next vs. the Blue Jays.

[Menotti80]

one of the main reasons why i felt last night's game was so important is because bush is pitching tonight.

 

just looking at his last 1 starts... every third game he seems to blow up and give up 5 or 6 ER. and the brewers havent won a game he has started on the road yest this year.

 

but hopefully, things are turning around for everyone, including bushie and our batters performances against rookie pitchers. i really hope we win tonight, but sadly, i doubt it

[GormanHarvey]

2B Rickie Weeks

SS J.J. Hardy

LF Ryan Braun

1B Prince Fielder

RF Corey Hart

3B Russell Branyan

CF Mike Cameron

C Jason Kendall

RHP Dave Bush

[berniebrewer4life]

Well, chipper being out is a plus, but i think that's negated because bush is pitching on the road. Prove me wrong david, i REALLY want you to. Luckily for me, i'll be at work, so no listening tonight. However i will be checking the score every 10 mins.

[naivin]

I see another busy night for the Braves' bullpen. Hopefully Bush can pitch a decent game.

[mikevan1818]

I'm feeling Bush pitching decent tonight (3-4 ER through 6), but he's going to come up big with the bat against the rookie.

[crewcrazy]

I'm really terrified of the negative consequences of having Bush pitch into the 8th inning in his last start. Reminds me of last year when Claudio Vargas was great in 8 innings in St. Louis and then got lit up the rest of the year. I'm not disagreeing with Ned keeping Bush out there in his last start (he had a freaking no-hitter going and was cruising along fairly easily), but I am afraid of Bush's arm still being a bit fatigued. When you add in his road struggles, it might get really ugly.

 

Prove me wrong, Dave. Please. Taking the first two games in Atlanta would be incredible.

[Bring Back the Stein]

On the plus side, a bad outing, or any outing, by Bush will allow me to actually see the game before I get home from work. I knew that little sucker Sheets would have a short game last night, but sheesh. (Also, I hope to see that leftie in Zambrano's slot get lit up. C'mon O's.)

[dlk9s]

Here's a scouting report on Morton from February written by a guy on the Braves board (I added the bold):

 

Charlie Morton who hails from Flemington, New Jersey was drafted straight out of high school in the 3rd round (95th overall) of the Braves fruitful 2002 Amateur Draft. A draft in which included Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, and Chuck James. Charlie Morton recently had his contract purchased by the Braves on November 20th to include him on the 40-man roster and to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. As always let's delve into his minor league track record.

 

Let me preface this by saying that Charlie Morton's minor league statistics are not outstanding by any means. But sometimes when dealing with statistics, you have to pay attention and dig a little deeper. I've been following Morton on a side level for a little while and keeping up with his game logs. But I'll go through the statistics level to level so you know the whole story.

 

Morton began his professional career for the Gulf Coast League Braves in 2002 at the age of 18 starting five games, appearing in 11 total. He was 1-7 with a 4.54 ERA with a 1.69 WHIP and allowing an astounding 6.81 BB/9 but also posted a 7.26 K/9 ratio. Nonetheless he moved up to Danville in 2003 where it was pretty much the same story. Appearing in 14 games, starting 13 he posted a 2-5 record with an 4.67 ERA. His BB/9 came down to 4.17 and his K/9 went up to 7.67. But you can't walk that many batters per nine or you're going to get the hook early.

 

With these early struggles Morton spent 2004-2005 in Rome (Low-A). In the first year, same story, (7-9, 4.82 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, 5.20 BB/9, 7.80 K/9). In the second year he brought his BB/9 down 4.48 and WHIP down to 1.49. At this point he seemed destined to be a minor league lifer at best.

 

Told you it wasn't pretty, but I digress. In 2006 Morton started in Myrtle Beach and all of his numbers went up again to 4.86 BB/9 and 6.75 K/9 and a 1.70 WHIP. But he bumped up to AA-Mississippi in 2007.

 

Now here is where it gets interesting and the higher ups began to take notice. This is where paying close attention to statistics pays off. In April Morton compiled a 1.92 WHIP, July it was 1.56, and in August it came down to 1.31. To put that last number in perspective, Smoltz usually hovers around a 1.20 WHIP consistently. I'm not comparing Morton to Smoltz, just giving a fair comparison to those who may not pay attention to WHIP (Walks/Hits per Inning).

 

So, obviously something was clicking for Morton and he went to the Arizona Fall League alongside Jordan Schafer playing for the Peoria Javelinas and he started five games and was 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA, basically got nasty. Morton attributed his second half surge to confidence in his repertoire and began pitching with more conviction. His AFL performance also caught the eye of Bobby Cox who thought he excelled immensely in the AFL. What do you know Morton was added to the 40-man roster within the week.

 

Morton's repertoire is this: Fastball that touches 96-97 and a "nasty" curve according to some scouts along with an average to above-average slider and change.

 

Morton has the chance to make the club out of Spring Training as well, but I'm in the belief that he'll start the year in Richmond and to see if his second-half 2007 surge was no fluke. But as you can tell I like many others in the Braves' organization really like this kid.

[razzzorsharp]

Sloppy Start for the Braves. Make them pay.

[davemakovec]

Three errors already in the first - yeesh!

 

It's nice to see the Brewers putting runs on the board early. Hopefully Bush can have a (rare) solid outing on the road.

 

FYI - Gameday has Morton's fastball at 91-92. Far cry from the 96-97 some Braves fan is heralding http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/embarassed.gif

[FidoMcCokefiend]

That is a bizarre line there for the top of the 1st. 3 hits, 3 errors, only 2 runs. Feels like they could have had a huge inning there, but 2 since I'm not greedy, 2 runs is a nice start. Hoping the Toronto game Bush shows up here

[trwi7]

FYI - Gameday has Morton's fastball at 91-92. Far cry from the 96-97 some Braves fan is heralding http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/embarassed.gif

He hit 94 a couple times and 93 a few as well. I don't know what Braves fan you're talking about but he may be able to dial it up to 96-97 once or twice.

[jhart05]

Maybe he's like Sheets. Needs a couple of innings to get it going.