After watching Vavaro implode in the 8th last night It’s obvious the Bravos need bullpen reinforcements, and quickly. Jordan Walden should be back this week, so that’ll help. When Brandon Beachy, currently on a rehab assignment, is ready I suspect you’ll see him pitch in relief, where he could emerge as real weapon down the stretch.

But can the Braves afford to wait that long?

Might not be bad idea to call Seattle, which has three lefties in the ‘pen and is desperate for a bat.

Charlie Furbush was outstanding in 2012, striking out 53 in 46 IP with a WHIP under 1.00. The ex-Tiger has struggled with his command this season, walking 10 in 18-1/3, but he also has 27 K’s. Furbush is still two years away from arbitration, so I assume the M’s would be reluctant to deal him.

Oliver Perez, yes, that Oliver Perez, will be a free agent at season’s end, so he’s the more realistic option. After spending two years out of the majors, Perez resurfaced late last year as a reliever, and in 51 games with the M’s he’s averaging better than a strikeout per inning with a 1.93 ERA. This year he’s held left-handed batters to four singles in 29 AB’s, striking out 12. Right-handers haven’t fared much better against Perez.

Not that he’ll admit it when he’s off. For instance, he continues to insist Evan Gattis is nothing more than Corky Miller with pop.

From his Thursday ESPN.com chat:

Q: Has Gattis done enough to be the full time starting catcher next year if the Braves let McCann walk in free agency?

Law: Seems like they’re planning that, but I wouldn’t. Play him every day and his inability to get on base gets exposed.

Q: Is Evan Gattis = John Buck (in terms of a career path) a fair statement, Keith? And that’s not an insult as some might take it… I mean Buck’s going to have a decently long career when all is said and done and has shown bursts of power.

Law: I don’t think that’s a crazy projection, although I’d still bet the under on that.

He’s using a small sample size to judge Gattis’ “inability to get on base.” In 74 games last year, Evan posted a .389 OBP, and in 832 minor league ABs his OBP was .374.

Law was previously way off about Mike Minor. Granted, he wasn’t alone, but Klaw treated him as if he was a poor man’s Mark Redman. Minor didn’t even place in Law’s ranking of the 60 best potential picks prior to the ’09 draft.

A back-end starter at best, he said about the Braves’ ace, who has followed up last season’s 1.154 WHIP with one south of 1.000.

Law was not as cold on Freddie Freeman, but has consistently rated him below Brandon Belt, who has a .760 OPS in 741 big league AB’s.  The gap with Freddie (.786) isn’t as wide as I assumed, and this year they are separated by .001 point. But that’s with Freddie hitting only 2 homers, a number sure to rise.

I doubt you’d find a big league GM who’d trade Freddie for Belt.

Look, talent evaluators are often wrong. But I’ll take the Braves’ track record over Keith Law’s.

Barves RT @richardjustice Braves have developed more of the players on 2013 All-Star Game ballot than any other organization.

— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) May 24, 2013

Consider that the Mets are 0-13 in games started by Jeremy Hefner, tonight’s starter, and Shaun Marcum, Sunday night’s hurler. So it could be that the law of averages catches up and even the shitty Mets win sooner or later with one of those guys on the hill.

Otherwise, things look promising. Consider the Mets are 7-18 in their past 25 games. They are 17-27 overall, but just 10-24 in games not started by Matt Harvey, and Matt Harvey ain’t pitching in this series. By way of perspective, 10-24 is a .294 winning percentage, which over a season would come to roughly 48-114. New York’s NL entrant is hitting .227 as a team with a .297 OBP. By comparison, the Braves are at .245/.322.

Hefner is from Moore, Okla., so we have sympathy for him but still don’t want him to win tonight. His ERA is 5, and that’s the lowest among the three starters the Braves will face. Should be a ripe chance for BJ Upton to continue his (we hope) upturn. Upton upturn has a nice ring.

On a meaningless note, has anyone else noticed that when Braves return to the dugout after scoring or doing something else productive, a teammate will sometimes pull up the back of their jersey? Anyone have any idea what that’s about?

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone. To quote the great James McMurtry, “Let’s remember our fallen heroes, y’all be sure and drive slow.”

Shifting attention to today’s tilt, it concludes a home stand that has gone perfectly, except for losing our second-best reliever for the season. For now, the pen is down to Kimbrel and a bunch of guys you figured would rarely pitch the 7th or 8th innings of close games. But so far, so mixed. I suspect it’ll work out.

Back to the finale of a perfect home stand. It’s almost a game you don’t mind losing. The pen is gassed, so Maholm will likely be out there a while, no matter how he’s pitching. The lineups aren’t posted — it’s 9:08 a.m. — but Fredi said he’s going to play the “B squad,” which makes sense. The B squad has mostly put in A-level performances, anyway. So we should see Johnson, Schafer, Gattis — when’s the last time a guy hit 3 pinch homers in the first two months? — Pena, maybe Reed Johnson. I would play BJ today. He got two hits last night, so maybe he’s ready to finally produce.

———————————————

UPDATE:

Schafer LF

Pena SS

Heyward RF

Freeman 1B

Gattis C

C. Johnson 3B

Uggla 2B (He’s hit Worley well)

BJ CF

MaholmP

———————————————————————————-

Bravo batsmen will confront the begoggled — like bespectacled only with goggles — former Philly Vance Worley. What a bunch of National League retreads the Twins have in their rotation: Correia, Pelfrey, and now Worley. Vance has been pantsed in most of his starts this season, as he comes in sporting a six-plus ERA. But he was OK last time out.

Sit back, listen at your desk and enjoy. Enjoy even more if you can get away and go to the yard. Meanwhile, the Nats keep bumbling out west, especially after Harper dumb assedly ran face first into a wall when he had no chance to catch the ball.

According to advanced metrics Dan Uggla has been an above average offensive 2B since he has been with the Braves. He is overpaid, but he still needs to start every day.

Crasnick responded appropriately:

CJ, Feel free to cite advanced metrics, but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch Dan Uggla bat .180 while trying to hit a home run in every plate appearance.

At least CJ conceded Fan was overpaid. Last December, the folks at Capitol Avenue Club wrote that “Uggla has indeed outperformed what he has been paid the first two seasons.”

And don’t give me this, “he draws a lot of walks” nonsense. Fan’s OBP since he joined the Braves is a below-average .324.

Because games 6 and 7 were so classic the Braves’ wins sometimes get overlooked when discussing that series.

Down 2 games, the Braves had to win Game 3, and, up 4-2 in the 8th, it looked like they were on their way. Brian Harper reached on an uncharacteristic error by TP.  Bobby then pulled Avery, bringing in closer Alejandro Pena with six outs to get — not at all uncommon.

Big Al promptly gave up a 2-run homer to Chili Davis, then held the Twins in check until the 10th. Two more scoreless innings by Mike Stanton followed. The Braves made some noise in the 10th but were retired in order by Mark Guthrie in the 11th.

Then it got interesting.

With speedy Dan Gladden on 1st and one out, the Lemmer booted a grounder by Knoblauch, putting runners on the corners. On deck: Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett. Enter Kent Mercker, replacing Mark Wohlers.

Mercker needed just four pitches to strike out Hrbek, and with 2 outs and a base open there was no question you’d walk Puckett — thanks to Twins manager Tom Kelly, who used to late bench player, Al Newman, to pinch hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the top of the 11th. So with the bases loaded pitcher Rick Aguilera stepped in to face Jim Clancy. Aguilera actually gave it a ride to deep center but not deep enough. For that Clancy would record the win.

You’ll recall Lemke redeemed himself in the bottom of the 12th, singling in Justice, but nearly as big was DJ’s steal of second with two outs.

Back to the present. The Twins come in struggling but Fredi’s decided to give them every opportunity to win. Check out this hideous line-up:

Braves lineup; 1. Simmons SS 2. Heyward RF 3. J Upton LF 4. Freeman 1B 5. Laird C 6. Uggla 2B 7. Francisco 3B 8. B. Upton CF 9. Teheran P

I know — Laird has caught Teheran all season, and he did contribute a huge hit yesterday, but batting him 5th, at the expense of Gattis, is dumb. So I guess we’re only going to see Gattis start once every five games, with B-Mac starting the other three behind the plate. (And by the way, Braves pitchers have a 2.98 ERA when Gattis is behind the plate — tops among NL catchers).

Not smart.

Neither is pairing Fan Uggla and Juan Fancisco. Since winning Game 1 of the Giants series May 9 the two are a combined 1-for-37 with 20 K’s. Meanwhile, Chris Johnson has 9 hits in his last 14 AB’s with two K’s.

Strangely, despite having faced the Twins less than any other team since interleague play began, the Braves are familiar with each of Minnesota’s scheduled pitchers this week.

Only tonight’s hurler, Kevin Correia, has had much luck vs. the local nine. Correia has won 3 of his last 4 starts against the Braves, with a 2.35 ERA. He’s struggled recently after a strong April, but Fredi’s line-up may be just what he needs to get back on track.

He also had a .500 slugging percentage every year until age 40 — with the exception of his rookie season and again in 1968, when he finished at .498.

Houston’s closer, Jose Veras, is 32 and will be a FA after the season. He’s converted all 6 of his save opportunities but his command remains erratic. While he’s averaged more than a strikeout per inning over his career his BB/9 is an unsightly 4.9.

Miami offers a couple of possibilities, both of whom will be arbitration-eligible in 2014.

Steve Cishek, who supplanted Heath Bell as the Marlins closer last year, has struggled this year but his splits are decent. Perhaps the Fish could be tempted — my guess is Tyler Pastornicky will be elsewhere within the next month or two.

Former Brave Mike Dunn had struggled since going to Miami in the Uggla trade but is off to a solid start in ’14. The Braves need a second southpaw in the ‘pen and Dunn — who’s fared well against lefties and righties so far this year — could be a decent replacement.

There’s one other possibility — a former All-Star gone bad owed $10 million this year. But who’d want Carlos Marmol?

I’d take him only if the Cubs would take Uggla — who has 1 hit in 23 AB this year with runners in scoring position.

If it goes on without a long delay, the chances are good for a home-team sweep. The Bravos’ best, Minor, faces a Dodgers rookie, subbbing for Josh Beckett. Matt Magill has been dreadful his last couple of appearances. His most recent outing was nine days ago, and he actually wasn’t dreadful, but did allow 3 earned runs in 5 innings with 4 walks, which certainly ain’t good. With rookie pitchers, though, who the hell knows.

Rain delays, however, could delete Minor and allow us a glimpse of Cory Rasmus and the Dodgers’ equivalent. One thing’s certain, Cory Gearrin and Luis Avilan are now important. Sucks about O’Flaherty. It’d make sense for Wren to acquire a decent set-up guy. He’s probably working the phones as we speak. Now that’s the sort of insight you can only get here.

On another note, retired rassler Jake “the Snake” Roberts sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame Friday night atop the dugout. Do rasslers retire? I wonder if WCW had a pension or 401k? Anyway, did anyone sing last night? Is that just going to be a Friday night thing? I have to say I think rasslers and rassling are almost always funny. (Am I right, Real Big Cat?) Is Abdullah the Butcher still living? Does he still have his barbecue/Chinese restaurant in Ben Hill? The place had great wrestling pics and a huge oil portrait of the proprietor in a gold suit. Tommy Wildfire Rich available to croon? Ric Flair? Maniac Mark Lewin?

The bench coach and I — haha, that’s my wife — saw The Great Gatsby last night, so I missed the game. Great win, obviously. Do the Braves have the best bench in baseball? I don’t know, but it’s pretty damn good. As for the movie, it was not great. Entertaining, but totally over the top, at least that was the view from our front-row seats. Some of the flying camera effects almost made me sick like a Six Flags ride. A great gaspy, maybe. We arrived a couple minutes late, and had to sit practically under the screen.