SI.com – Braves (ss) 4, Netherlands 0
Andruw was DHing and had a cold, grounded out twice. This is not a recap.
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SI.com – Braves (ss) 4, Netherlands 0
Andruw was DHing and had a cold, grounded out twice. This is not a recap.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
I hope we’ll see Smoltzie’s knuckler this season again! It’s been a long couple years since the last time he unleashed it.
Quote from the article:
With some fans yelling “Get him, Smoltzie!” and others yelling “Get him, Andruw,” Smoltz then threw a fastball for a strike.
“Right down the middle,” Smoltz said. “I can’t believe he took it.”
Said Jones: “I had to take one pitch. I’m trying to work on something.”
I’m kinda interested to know what he was working on. It’s why you can’t read too much into spring training stats, but if Andruw is working on better pitch selection and reading pitches as a whole that can only be a good thing.
Doesn’t Smoltz using a knuckler make anyone worry that his arm is messed up?
No, because he threw it against Andruw. I think it was all in fun. I would love, though, to see Smoltz be able to throw one when he needs to, so he can mess hitters all up.
In other news, Chipper hit a homer against the Giants today.
Random thoughts:
If Smoltz actually sticks to his word and takes an extra day of rest or skips a start when the schedule allows it, I wonder how long it will take for somebody to say his shoulder’s hurting again and is about to fall off. I predict it won’t take very long?
Wasn’t Renteria supposed to play in the WBC? I never saw anything that said he dropped out?
Also, any other word on Marcus? A week ago the Braves mlb website said he flew home because his wife was having a baby (and he accidently took Tim Hudson’s cell phone with him), but no one else will say where he is, only it’s a sensitive issue. I know a couple of threads ago someone mentioned his baby was having problems, so I was wondering if anyone knows anything else.
His daughter was born five weeks premature, and Marcus is with her and his wife.
I wonder if ‘roids may have mess with “his boys,” if you know what I mean, and maybe that had something to do with his bad luck with children being born.
Just wondering. I hope everything turns out ok for him. I don’t think he was ever a roid users, but you have to wonder, I doubt it, but ya never know.
Smitty, that’s ridiculous. Steroids could cause fertility problems but they don’t (as far as I’ve known) mess with your genes. If there’s a physical problem it’s his wife’s, or it’s just bad luck.
Hasn’t this happened to Marcus and his wife before? Seems like I remember them having a premature birth a couple of years ago, but maybe I’m wrong. Anyway, what a difficult thing to have to go through, even once.
En equipo jugaria renteria si Colombia no esta participando en el WBC? No se de que locura hablas
Marcus lost a daughter who was born very prematurely (10 or 12 weeks if I recall). Five weeks is early but shouldn’t be too serious (I hope!); my daugher was born eight weeks early and is now a normal-sized 8-month-old who likes toys, her jumping chair, and peek-a-bo.
And I thought the automatic conclusion that every good player is juicing was ridiculous. Now if a player’s CHILD has problems, it’s steroids? Yikes. Sometimes the mother has trouble carrying pregnancies to term, and sometimes stuff just happens. Steroids? Please.
Yes, sansho, Marcus went through this four years ago, but the baby was born far earlier (26 weeks, I think) and unfortunately died. But as far as I remember, there were absolutely no problems with the second child. I hope this situation turns out well for all involved. I can’t believe they have to go through this again.
The following is from an article on AJC:
“Davies, who was 7-6 with a 4.93 ERA in 21 games (14 starts) as a rookie, could be next in line if there’s an injury or trade within the projected five-man rotation of Tim Hudson, Smoltz, Horacio Ramirez, Jorge Sosa and John Thomson.
There are indications that Texas is interested in reaquiring Thomson, who was 13-14 for the Rangers in 2003 before signing with the Braves. He’s making $4.75 million this season in the option year on his contract.
The Rangers have extra first basemen, including veteran Phil Nevin, who homered twice in the Rangers’ first two spring games. He makes $10 million this season and the Rangers would likely have to cover part of his salary to trade him.”
If the Braves are trading Thomson, I sure hope the Braves will get more in return than just Phil Nevin…on the other hand, Nevin is a very good bat in the middle of a lineup if he is healthy.
Quick question: what do people think the chances are that Anthony Lerew closes this year?
Given Bobby’s tendency in preference of experience, I would say the chance of Boyer or Devine being the closer is much greater than Lerew.
Yo quisiera decir que los bravos este ano tienen un excelente chance de ganar la division otra vez. Y tambien quisiera felicitar a Crash por ganar la mejor pelicula del ano y al anfitrion Jon Stewart por ser magnifico. Tambien quisiera decir que David Letterman en verdad fue excelente. Gracias y suerte a todos.
Who wouldn’t be interested in acquiring Thomson? Why do the Braves seem to have no love for him? He’s been one of Schuerholz’s best free agent acquisitions.
Nevin’s PrOPS Predicted 2006 OPS: .702
To put that in perspective,
Mondesi’s PrOPS Predicted 2006 OPS: .691
Given how underpaid and overpaid Thomson and Nevin are, the Rangers would pretty much have to pay all of Nevin’s salary to make this work. So, let’s hope that kills the deal.
I think Andruw was kidding about working on something. Taking fastballs down the middle doesn’t seem like a very propitious hitting approach.
From SI.com on the WBC:
SI.com: Give me the name of one player who has bought into this tournament with everything he has.
Buck Martinez: Chipper Jones. Our first conversation was, “Buck, I’ve been waiting my whole life to do this, play for my country.” I said, “You know, so-and-so is going to be a tough team.” And he goes, “We’ll light them up like a Christmas tree.”
Well we should light everyone up. I hope he says this about the Mets.
bienvenido el colombiano misterio!
tambien, pienso que los bravos van a ganar la division. sin dudas, el equipo de NY es un grupo de boludos! ojala que smoltz este saludable esta ano. si es, el va a ganar viente.
Yeah Argentina Brave,
the Mets are good, but not really studs. I also think the Braves will win this year and a lot of that depends on Smoltz.
(4 semesters of Spanish paying off!)
graciea smitty. me entendiste casi perfectamente.
porque vivo en argentina, tengo que usar espanol cada dia pero me pone sentir como ‘tarzan’ cuando estoy hablando en otra idioma. :-))))
i can’t wait for the season to start, although i’ll be watching it through my little computer screen again.
Uh… Donde es la biblioteca?
My question is, why weren’t every single one of those Mets posts deleted? Or, if this is one of us trying to play that “I’m Dan Kolb, I’m stupid and I’m a Mets fan” card, it’s not amusing. The horse is dead.
Yeah I feel the same way when I have to talk in Spanish.
Es perfecto estare aqui toda la temporada hablandoles en espanol. Suerte amigos! y saludos a Argentina. Bravo.
so, its a bilingual blog. i got to get more educated.
I really hate the donde esta series of questions. Like if you have memorize this stuff you can actually follow directions in a foreign language? Yeah, right.
I got tired of the deletions and I figured he’d toned it down a little.
Sr. La Argentina,
No hablo espa?ol, sino que debido a un sitio de Internet maravilloso para las traducciones, puedo comunicar esta manera.
?El a?o pasado, goc? de una visita maravillosa a su pa?s — gran nightlife! ?El alimento en Buenos Aires (especialmente el lomo) era grande, pero el cambio era mejor!
Nadie discuti? b?isbol, sin embargo; era todo el f?tbol. Mientras que estaba en BA, Newells gan? a liga. Sistema de pesos americano. 9 de Julio estaban locos.
Recepci?n a bordo.
Hey,
I am a relocated Braves fan and have an MLB.tv question for everyone. I have tried the sample video and it runs well- but is the only option this little box of video streaming at 350k? I was hoping for something that would look decent full screen. If there are more options, what kind of bandwidth do I need to run the top quality? Also, as I am now in the bay and the Braves are here for the Giants’ opener- is it ok to go to an opposing team’s opening day? I have never been to a rival Baseball stadium before so I am a little worried. Thanks!
Matthew
Go for it, dude. It’s a beautiful park.
Well, Marcus is apparently in camp now, so let us all hope we never have to hear about this again.
Matt, I have MLB.TV and I was a little confused by it as well. Last year, they had a tab you could click on to get full screen viewing. You could also choose between Real and Windows Media Player. Now it’s only Windows. They’re supposedly trying out a new free player this year which might do that, but I haven’t been able to get it to go full screen for some time. I’m assuming this will get fixed, because it used to work fine.
As for foreign languages, all you need to know is how to say “I don’t speak [name of language], do you speak [name of language you know]?”
Yeah, I hear it is one of the best parks in baseball. Plus this is America and you can go to any park for any game you want. Just report back here and tell us how it was.
ububba…sounds like you had a great time in BA. it’s a cool city, lots to do. best beef in the world. good wine too. the women ain’t bad lookin’ either.
as for the folks that apparently don’t like spanish posts, i was just trying to welcome our colombian friend to the boards…
Spanish posts are fine. I trust the people who actually read Spanish (I understand about one word in three on a good day and know only one Spanish expletive) to keep it clean.
In reference to mlbtv- When you say you clicked a tab for full-screen viewing was this just a stretched version of the same quality or was there an option to change to a higher quality? As in is 350k the only vidstream available? Thanks 🙂 I am really looking forward to going to a game at the Giants’ stadium just a little nervous about being there on opening day and bummed the Braves only make it out here for one series.
Es-que je peux parler en francais?
I was just kidding about those spanish posts, all in good fun and they didn’t contain any expletive. Thanks for the welcome btw argentina.
Smoltz throw a knuckleball? It’s interesting!!! He reminds me of Tim Wakefield.Who knows!