230s without much in the way of secondary skills to show off, and Melky Cabrera looks to have gotten really old, really fast.Eric Hinske might be useful in a Matt Stairs-esque role, where he provides some big-bodied thump off the bench, but the ineffectiveness of McLouth, Diaz and Cabrera have led to him seeing more ABs than he probably should.The above paragraph, in brief: their lineup for Game 1 is going to look something like this replica Omega 2894.52.91 watch Infante - Heyward - McCann - Lee - Conrad - Gonzalez - McLouth - Ankiel - Pitcher.After the top three, that is simply not a playoff-caliber lineup.To make matters worse, the Braves are also pretty bad afield; their team UZR puts them at a tidy 27th, and that's not really accounting for the defensive value lost when Prado and Jones got hurt.
Brooks Conrad, as we've seen from his play of late, is not a reliable defender, and with the exception of Heyward, Lee and Gonzalez, the Braves simply do not have reliable glove men.Plus, neither Jair Jurrjens nor Brandon Beachy are likely to inspire a lot of hope in the fanbase if they have to go as the number four starter in either this series or the NLCS; it really is kind of odd that the team with the best FIP in baseball would have replica Omega 95 1358.60 watch two or three question marks in their playoff rotation.So, yeah, apparently I am to the Braves as a Pitchfork reviewer is to the newest Nickelback album.Hey, speaking of Pitchfork….I learned in Deadspin's Hater's Guide to the MLB Postseason that the Giants have a mascot named Crazy Crab whom they spawned in 1984 as a satire of other teams using mascots.
Yes, that means that, somehow, out of all the cities in America, it's?San Francisco who has a hipster mascot.Wild, right?If anyone has suggestions about what verb to use for a team starting to use a mascot, I'm all ears.They all sound really creepy.&8216;Created?' &8216;Gave birth to?' &8216;Spawned?' &8216;Gave rise to out of the fiery replica Omega 3210.51 watch hellfire below through ritualistic sacrifice of those deemed unholy by the all-seeing eye?' I don't know if there's really a good option.The Good: Can I copy-paste the Braves' good here and change the names? Because these teams are very similar in that they will go only as far as their pitching will take them.The Giants rank 3rd in team FIP, and boast MLB's highest strikeout rate per 9, coming in at nearly a K per inning.
