ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Blue Jays at Braves
Miserable Braves Loss Type 4.3(b): “Starting Pitcher Falls Behind, Team Rallies, Only For Starter To Let Air Out of Rally By Immediately Allowing More Runs.”
Hudson had five shutout innings, but in the third he allowed four runs after walking the bases loaded then three straight singles. The Braves finally got something going in the fifth, Marcus doubling home McCann (after McCann stole second!) and in the sixth, Francoeur (who is looking a little better) singling home Chipper, then McCann bringing home Andruw with a sac fly.
But in the bottom of the seventh, Hudson allowed a homer to Wells to let all the air out. McBride and Paronto upheld the finest traditions of the bullpen by allowing a run in the eighth. The Braves got two on with two out in the bottom of the inning but McCann struck out against the LOOGY, and Marcus hit a GIDP to end the ninth.
More group therapy tomorrow. Does it work? Kind of. It’s depressing still but kind of amusing.
Meditate. Pray. Contemplate. Drink. Remember how this feels.
I’m having flashbacks to the mid 80s…and I don’t like it!!!!
Here’s what I hope. I hope that if the Braves ever do win another home game, that the remaining fans (all 500 of them — I swear, I heard a Blue Jays chant tonight) give them the full sarcastic standing ovation.
It’s all Brian McCann’s fault. How could he strike out in that key situation? He has been nothing but a drag on this team all year. We should dump him. What a waste of space.
Nice win, tonight!
We didn’t get slaughtered or humiliated. This is one of our biggest victories of the season. Sure, it would have been nice to have the higher score, but hey, this is the new braves, so I am taking delight in this victory. I think we are on a roll now. With any luck, and some effective pitching, I really think we can take an early lead tomorrow and not lose it until the 8th. Things are really looking good.
Any questions you guys want me to ask Skip Caray when I visit my old friend a week from Friday?
Nominees already:
“Hey, did you hear about JS’s new book? (insert funny statement here)”
“Can you wear a paper bag for one of the upcoming broadcasts?”
“What happens to ‘The John Smoltz Report’ if he gets traded?”
“How come we didn’t get anything out of the Tom Paciorek-to-Nationals trade?”
You could always torture Skip with his least favorite question ever: “How do you compute slugging percentage?”
As for bags, any way to get Don Sutton and Jeff Torborg to put plastic bags over their heads?
How did Harry deal with watching awful Cubs teams for so long? Have you talked with other announcers for pathetic teams (Kansas City, Tampa Bay)?
As for Built to Self-Aggrandize, er, Win- how about a book-burning in front of Turner Field?
“Do you still calculate slugging percentage the same way you used to?”
“I’m a new baseball fan. What is a balk?”
and finally,
“Have you resumed drinking yet?”
ask him if he’d like to “Skip” the rest of the season.
Ask him if you think the Mets have a chance this year.
I will have to say that my appreciation for the difficulty of being an announcer on a pathetic ballclub has grown over the last several days. It has to be incredibly tempting to throw in a bit of sarcasm at key points. I was full of one-liners tonight regarding the Braves’ level of ineptitude. Ask Skip how he keeps from being sarcastic, although he may have given into temptation a few times tonight.
I listened to some of it on radio tonight – “Well look at that. One of our relievers gave up a run. That’s terribly unsurprising.”
It’s clear that one of our announcers is going to reach ‘Bob Uecker in Major League’ status at some point this season. The question – and this may be one of the few big questions left for the Braves this year – is who will it be? Sounds like Skip is leading the way, but you never know.
Oh, I know: ask him when his other son will do games with him and Chip. Then ask him how his family compares with the Kennedys.
Ask him if he would be willing to suit up for middle relief. Or, if he could play 1st base and take at least 3 pitches.
Ask him if he would be willing to become our Gm…you know, with JS being so busy these days signing books and all…
I do not understand this logic: How can you people say that John Schuerholz isn’t doing anything besides his books?! Just because he hasn’t made a trade yet?! Big f***ing deal!!!!
People that think like that make me sick.
It will be interesting to see what JS does in the next 10 days. I don’t know if he’s ever been in this position before – as a potentially desperate seller. I don’t believe that Schuerholz will give in to a deal just because he feels like he has to do something. I have a feeling that he’ll make a pretty good deal w/o sacrificng the future, but I’m afraid it will be too little, too late.
See, I agree with that, but what pisses me off is people believing that Schuerholz is thinking of dollar signs from his book sales while the Braves are losing 19 of 22. You know there are some that do, and I believe that some frequent this blog!!
Ask him to explain the Infield Fly Rule. Mention that Braves fansprobably have a hard time comprehending it because there has to be somone on base in order for it to apply.
Did anyone think the guy that extricated Marcus from the seats after he fell in looked like Dan Kolb?
/random
td, the record from his last years at Kansas Citty isn’t real encouraging in this regard. I looked at the year after winning the WS to see what moves KC made.
October 1985- Kansas City wins World Series
11/27/85- Resigns Jamie Quirk as FA. Age 31, Quirk had two stints with the Royals (1975-76, 1978-82). Quirk is backup C in 1986, regular in 1987-88. Replacement level hitter, good fielder.
12/2/85- Signs Lynn Jones as FA. Age 32, utility player, goes 6-47 to end career.
12/8/85. Resigns Hal McRae. Age 40, OF-turned-DH with KC since 1973. Useless in 1986, resigned for 1987, useless again, released again.
12/10/85- Loses P Jose Dejesus in Rule 5 Draft. Returned before start of 1986 season. Won’t make majors until cup of coffee in 1988.
4/1/86- Trades Tony Ferreira to Mets for Angel Salazar. Ferreira will never play in majors again; age 24, SS Salazar is below replacement at the plate but good with the glove for two years.
4/4/86- Signs OF Rudy Law. Age 29, Law is an okay 4th OF getting over 300 AB. End of career.
5/15/86 (Royals 16-16, 1.5 GB). Royals sign SS Onix Concepcion, age 29. Spends rest of season in minors, plays one ML game with Pitts (his last) in 1987.
5/21/86 (Royals 17-21, 3.5 GB). Trades RP Mark Huismann to Seattle for C Terry Bell. Huismann, 28, has good season in Mariners pen. Bell, 23, gets 5 PA in KC (and one in Atlanta in 1987 to end his ML career).
9/23/86 (Royals 69-82, 19 GB, eliminated). Trades OF Darryl Motley to Atlanta for P Steve Shields. Shields, 27, pitches in 3 games and leaves KC after the season. Motley, 26, plays in 11 games for Atlanta in 1986-87 (end of career).
10/2/86 (Royals 74-85, 17 GB, eliminated). Claims OF Jim Eisenreich, 27, on waivers from Minn. Good snag- will play for KC for six years, starting in June 1987.
That’s it. According to Retrosheet, those are all the transactions involving major leaguers that KC conducted in 1985-86. Only three players get significant playing time in KC in 1986, and none are major contributors. While the team crashed in 1986 to a 76-86 finish, Schuerholz did nothing. None of his trades came back to bite him, but none were real rewarding either.
If you’re expecting Schuerholz to react, you’re expecting him to buck his own history.
Skip did have a good line about Chipper’s Chips (or whatever that group calls itself). He said, “Some of them aren’t wearing chips; they’re wearing bags on their head.”
Wryn,
I have nothing to ask Skip, other than to tell him that we really appreciate him & his humor. (I hope his health is holding up. I know he’s had some issues over the years.) Been a listener since he was doing the Hawks & telling stories of dumping manure on Jiggs MacDonald’s lawn.
You know, I think I have a higher regard for Skip than I do for most of the Braves. Probably due to his longevity and the fact that he has never sucked. One of the things I miss the most about being over here is not seeing/hearing Skip or Pete. I miss Ernie Johnson, too.
Sam, I take it you’re new around here…
Good stuff, Brian. Looks like the main problems for the ’86 Royals were injuries to Brett and Saberhagen (who was brilliant in ’85, but overextended at age 21), along with a predictable decline from a fluke season by Balboni. Their OF/DHs were punchless, but they had been in ’85 as well. That’s where an upgrade would have helped the most. Hindsight would indicate that making a deal wouldn’t have helped quite so much as giving Kevin Seitzer (24) a chance. He got about 100 PAs, then had a huge ’87.
I think it is time to bring in the Chief – too bad this is 2006, and we would get politically corrected to death, but it would be hilarious to have him out in left again for old times sake.
Dont know if anyone heard this last night or if anyone posted it. During the Bobby Cox show, Bobby mentioned that in the next few days we will see fresh faces. He mentioned the names James, Barry, and Franklin as being possibilities. If I’m late w/ this sorry.
I’m sure we can make Burnett look like a stud tonight! Over/Under So’s is 12. I’ll take over
On the bright side, my work with Ken Ray seems to be paying off as he turned in a great inning with 2 strikeouts. Keep it up, Kenny! Also the entire bullpen only allowed 1 insurance run which is a tremendous improvement over recent games.
Ask Skip to stop embarassing himself by saying Barry Bonds (and others) didn’t use steroids until they fail a drug test.
Yeah great improvement from the bullpen… only 1 run in 2 innings…why that’s only a 4.5 era…What a stud bullpen!!! Sorry if I’m so cynical right now.
As an aside, does TBS even show Braves games anymore? These don’t sound much like the kinda games I wanna watch, but they beat not watching the Nats either. Living in DC isn’t easy for baseball fans.
I think TBS sold all of their games off to Bob “The Yawn” Ratherburn.
What if we don’t win again? Who will be the number one pick next year?
Greg Oden…Oh wait I know nothing about baseball propects…Sorry
I can’t believe we’re even asking that question Smitty. This blows!!!
I’m kind of glad TBS doesn’t show games anymore. Now I don’t have to witness the Bad News Braves.
even though we lost, i think bobby is finally going in the right direction with some decisions.
positive notes: 1. bobby finally realized that he can keep mccann in against lefties, so hopefully he will start 4 out of 5 games.
2. laroche was benched. i hope to see much more of thorman at 1st this next week. i dont care if he hits .100 during his first month in the bigs, i pray that bobby gives him a chance to prove himself as an everyday 1st baseman.
3. sosa finally moved to the pen
4. james finally moved to the rotation
5. somebody from our horrible pen will have to be moved to make room for james (my guess is yates). so, by process of elimination, that is a positive.
6. smoltz is going nowhere.
7. francoeur seems to be practicing patience and he’s looking pretty spectacular at the plate of late.
subtle changes are being made within the organization. that is a step in the right direction.
COme on Ryan! I want to see Paranto go! Jihad on Paranto!
Wow Sam…it was just a sarcastic joke..like most of the posts here.
Didn;t mean to make annyone sick. I guess I’m just going to stop posting here. damn…
bobby seems to have more faith in paronto. that’s why i guessed yates will be gone. obviously, my wishes mean nothing to bobby (as they shouldnt).
Bobby has always been a fan a pitchers that walk guys then get a fluke double play because the batter is swinging for the fences and accidently gets on top of the ball.
Here is something I found on about TBS
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49766
Braves are actually on WTBS tonight.
you know what i would like to see (and smitty you seemed to be the type of person that can run this campaign), a checklist of things that need to happen in the organization and see how long it takes for each to come to pass. I will submit my checklist:
1.giles out of the leadoff
2.trade for a pitcher (closer, starter, i dont care)
3.laroche benched/traded
4.chipper/betemit/thorman as the everyday first baseman
5.thomson to the pen
6. reitsma dfa’d
7. jordan dfa’d
8. paronto GONE
you get the point
Ok, a check list it will be. Submitt email me five things you want done and I will put a list together of the best five.
My e-mail is BSmith9215@yahoo.com
I will repsot this again later, so more people will see it.
What if we don’t win again? Who will be the number one pick next year?
My money’s on a kid from Georgia with a good face. Or something like that…
@ Davey
Well, I was angry. And it’s hard to recognize sarcasm in text, you know?
At least hard for me anyway.
if you cant type anything nice, dont type anything at all.
I actually had a hard time detecting Davey’s sarcasm too 🙂
Regardless of the invalidity of the ‘JS is too busy signing books to work on the team’s needs’ complaint, it’s still really bad PR.
Everybody be nice to each other and focus our venom on the people who deserve it. You know who they are — they all have girls’ names now.
depth chart on home page has sosa down as closer. anyone vouch for this, or is it just speculation? i was under the assumption that sosa would be the 7th-8th inning man.
I think it’s really time to try LaRoche in the bullpen. Not even remotely joking.
Skip kept saying on radio last night that Sosa was the closer. He was serious. He said on the Bobby didn’t say he was the closer because he would never come out and say it. I’m guessing that after the interview on the Bobby Cox show, Bobby told Skip that Sosa was the closer.
doc, are you trying to give me more reason to hate laroche?
Don’t you need a lead to utilize your closer? I suppose until we go into the 9th with a lead, we won’t know for sure if Sosa is the closer or not. So that means we’ll have to wait until after the All-Star break to find out if Sosa is closing?
I like sosa as a closer. He’s usually ok for a few innings before giving up runs. He throws hard, so it might work.
On the other hand, his runs come in bunches and Bobby has a LOOONG leash with him, so who knows.
Meanwhile, the American soccer team doesn’t seem to realize that just because you can’t put your hands on the ball doesn’t mean you have to spend the entire game with them around your neck.
ryan, not really.. I mean, we don’t need him at first, and could he be any worse than who’s in the bullpen already?
Don’t worry Sam… My BS usually make people sick..
But I’m going to stop. Most people here post insightfull stuff…or stuff with some value but I don’t..
So I’m going to stop posting sarcastic crap and save you all the agony… and I’ll post again when I have something of meaning to say..
Sorry for the trouble..
The AJC says they are going to do closer by committee which sounds about right considering that no one reliever is pitching effectively enough to nail down the job by himself. So expect to see Ray and Sosa close and maybe even Macbride if the other team has a bunch of tough lefties up in the ninth. Or for that matter Remlinger (gag) because nobody on the team looks at the splits.
Here’s my checklist:
1. Giles and Renteria flipflopped.
2. Todd Pratt sent to keep Jordan company on the inability to play at all effectively list and Brayan Pena called back up. McCann should catch 4/5 games regardless of whether the opposing pitcher is lefthanded.
3. James in the rotation. Sosa in the bullpen or traded. (Check.)
4. Mike Remlinger traded to some idiotic team that thinks it needs a veteran lefthander to make the postseason.
5. John Thomson traded for whatever we can get. I’m sure we can rob teams like the Yankees for him.
6. Any reliever who gives up a leadoff walk the inning after the Braves score is immediately released or sent down.
7. Diaz everyday leftfielder as long as he keeps producing.
8. Renteria and/or Giles traded and Betemit given an everyday job.
9. Pendleton fired and a new hitting coach who preaches recognizing pitches, not swinging at breaking balls 3 feet out of the strike zone, making contact, getting on base, and situational hitting hired.
10. Tim Hudson traded for 2-3 quality pitching prospects. Use the money saved to get somebody better (Zito? Schmidt?) in free agency in the offseason.
Ron, you’re advocating trading Renteria and Hudson?
I can somewhat see Hudson, but his career record is still awesome and he’s fairly young.
But Renteria’s been consistent all year. At times, he’s seemed like the only one out there who cares at all.
I’m doing something with Chipper (older, slower, more expensive) before Renteria.
My checklist really has one key item on it: any move that indicates that we’re sellers, not buyers. It could be Chipper traded to the AL, it could be one of the oh-so-outlandish Smoltz rumors. Whatever.
I don’t think we even have to sell that much to shore up the team, but we are certainly not contending this season. Any future-mortgaging moves at this point would melt my brain.
If I had to list:
1. Aforementioned ‘we are sellers’ move.
2. Someone Not Giles leading off.
3. Frenchy batting 7th or lower, possibly behind the pitcher.
4. Diaz everyday at LF… let’s not be afraid to try and ride a streak?
5. Getting rid of the Chop.
maybe we should make the relievers do something embarrassing when they give up a walk…..when I play golf with my friends, if we dont hit our drive past the ladies tees, we play the hole with our pants down…..(underwear still up)…..
I’m not a big fan of making a “we are sellers” move just to say we’re sellers, but I’ve got my own checklist.
1. I know I’m in the minority here, but I’m still looking to trade Francoeur if someone makes a juicy offer, because of his very visible power and less visible wretched OBP. If he stays, he bats 7th.
2. Move McCann up in the order, to 4th or even 3rd.
3. Waive Todd Pratt, Tyler Yates, and Chris Reitsma. I’m not going to pretend any have trade value. Ditto Brian Jordan when he gets off the DL.
4. Try to trade Pete Orr- we got Jorge Sosa for the very similar Nick Green- and Cormier and/or Villareal. They should bring some squid scrap we can use.
5. Try to trade Chipper, even if it means eating some of his contract. He’s not going to be part of the next great Braves team.
6. Bring up Will Startup.
I’m sorry but I just don’t understand the trade French stuff. He is 22 fricken years old, right? Frankly he probably should still be developing in Richmond but he is here to stay. If he is still at the same point development wise in 3 or 4 years, then maybe we can talk about moving him.
My list (I’m sure I’ll ammend this once I post it)
In no particular order:
-Move Chipper to first…It’s for the team…This would allow us to play
Betemit at 3rd and stick LaRoche on the bench right where he should
be.
-Give Diaz more time in Left…Let’s find out if he can produce
consistently.
-My Linup would be: Betemit
Giles
Renteria
A Jones
McCann
C Jones
Frenchy
Diaz
-Dfa or forget on the next Plane trip: Yates, Paronto, Reitsma
-Make trade for competent reliever or two (I like the idea of Sosa in
the bullpen). Use Thomson as trade bait.
-Lets see what C James can do in the rotation.
I don’t want to see us dump someone like Hudson or Renteria just yet. If we are going to reload with prospects, then lets do that in the offseason. We are not out of the WildCard no matter how dreadful things may look right now.
OK, I’ll play
1. Renteria to leadoff.
2. Trade Marcus for a quality reliever and a AA pitcher with good K rate.
3. Betemit to 2nd, batting 2nd.
4. DFA Pratt, call up Pena.
5. Completely overhaul the bullpen.
6. Diaz and Thorman: full time starters. LaRoche: quality pinch hitting option.
7. Explore trading Thomson, HoRam, Remlinger for anything remotely interesting.
8. Keep Smotlz, Hudson, Chipper, Andruw. They are the core and not readily replaceable. If the team is struggling next year at this time, THEN we trade them.
I heard the Bobby Cox show and he stated that Jorge is pitching well and will be used in the 8th and 9th inning. Brian J, I move #5 up in your list. Thanks for what you’ve done, but your lack of power and extended time on the bench doesn’t help. Move to 1st or its time to cut the tie. 120 Games, .290 avg, 20 hrs, and 20 E’s doesn’t carry the weight.
Brian: trading Chipper is exactly the kind of ‘we are sellers’ move I meant 🙂
It’s not that I think the Braves need to make a statement to the league, it’s that I’d personally feel better KNOWING that we’re sellers.
guys, chipper’s not going anywhere, smoltz is not going anywhere, druw’s not going anywhere, hudson is not going anywhere. its useless to even discuss, but if it makes you feel better….
I don’t really see why it’s such a slam-dunk that they are ALL staying. Seems to me that no player is safe on a team as utterly bad as our own, and trading old and/or expensive players is often what happens.
None of us can say that all these guys don’t have a chance of being moved. It was only a couple years ago that we were “close” to moving Andruw to the White Sox. If this team continues to plummet, then I’m sure JS will look at all his options.
I’m glad I don’t care at all about soccer, or I’d be pretty depressed. Oh, well. At least we can beat the world in baseball and basketball.
My lineup
1. Renteria – Best OBP/Dencent Speed /SS
2. Diaz – Best contact hitter /LF
3. McCann – Best Hitter /C
4. Andruw – Best Power Hitter/RBI Man /CF
5. Chipper Is no longer a #3 hitter /3B
6. Betamit – Good contact hitter with some power /2B
7. Franchy – Always a chance for a HR /RF
8. Thorman/LaRoche – We have to have a 1B /1B
The point of trading Renteria or Giles is to open a spot for Betemit who would give us about the same defense and more than enough offense plus picking up valuable minor leaguers that could be a part of the puzzle for next year or 2008.
As for Hudson, he is pretty good but not dominant. We aren’t winning a championship with him as our #2. He’s not Maddux or even Glavine. Get some star prospects for him this season and spend some money in free agency for a better #2 or even a new #1 in the offseason.
Chipper’s not going anywhere because he’s a 10-and-5 guy. If the long range outlook for the Braves was “mid 80s Braves”, he might agree to a trade.
But the fact is, this team still has a very promising future. There’s no need to blow the whole thing up. Any moves that are made will be with 2007 in mind, not 08 or 09. So Chipper’s not going to agree to a trade. Deal with it.
He’s also not moving to 1B, especially in the middle of the season.
Renteria could be traded. I would like to see that – sell high. He’s not really this good. And his defense is not good at all, especially in conjunction with Chipper at 3B. Giles should also be available, even if you’re selling low, as should Langerhans and LaRoche. Langerhans, in particular, should not be dumped, though. He’s cheap.
Pratt and Jordan should be jettisoned, because we need to find out if Pena and Jurries and Thorman can play at the MLB level, or if those are spots we need to fill in the offseason. And the whole bullpen needs replaced, with the exception of Ray.
“So Chipper’s not going to agree to a trade. Deal with it.
He’s also not moving to 1B, especially in the middle of the season.”
This seems more like assumed knowledge of what’s in Chipper’s head than anything else. I don’t think it’s LIKELY that he is traded, but I certainly understand that it may be possible.
Barring injury, next year’s top pick should be Vanderbilt’s David Price.
I love how people think we should just dump Hudson because they think we can replace his production & salary with some free agent pitcher in the offseason. Because potential aces are on the market all the time. Hey – with Hudson’s money maybe we can make a play for Kenny Rodgers or Estaban Loazia.
This seems more like assumed knowledge of what’s in Chipper’s head than anything else.
Well, of course it is. I’m not a personal friend of Chipper Jones. (I think you have to be a Hooters waitress to get that status.) But…
Chipper lives in Atlanta. He grew up in north Florida. And players never ask to be traded away from Atlanta. In fact, they tend to react angrily when they are traded (Jordan, Estrada).
As for moving to 1B, Chipper’s expressed an unwillingness to move from 3B in multiple interviews. I suppose it’s possible he’s not serious, but I doubt it. And midseason position changes aren’t often very successful. The only way I see Chipper moving to 1B midseason is if he has a knee injury that severely limits his ability to play 3B, but he can handle 1B.
If we want to contend next year, or plan to, then trading Hudson would be ridiculous. He’s a top of the rotation guy, we dont pay him THAT much.
However, if we arent planning to contend next year….deal him
DOn’t say bad things about CHipper, his agent reads this.
I can’t see trading Hudson. I might ask Smoltz to take a trade, but only if the right package was offered. He’s still got enough left to be a good middle of the rotation (#2 or 3) guy next season, and $8 million is not a lot of money for that.
Again, bad as this stretch is, the Braves are not a cellar-dwelling team. They’re a very young team, so you can’t count on performance from a lot of the team. But they’re not a bunch of 35 year olds on the downside of their careers. When Chipper and Andruw are the “old men”….
JLeeds: agreed.. I was just thinking it was more of the ‘no discussion of Chipper/Smoltz/Hudson/etc leaving the Braves shall be tolerated’ stuff. In any case, it is clear that our next stop is in fact Hooters.
Lance: You’re right in that all comes back to whether or not we write off 2007 NOW in the hopes that our returns for doing so give us the missing pieces we need for another decade of success. Chipper will likely be worth a lot less to another team by the end of 2007. Smoltz could be in the same boat. It’s not a decision I think that can be easily made.
JLeeds: not a cellar dwelling team? We are officially in the cellar. The only question is if the door’s locked or not. How many more games do we give the team before we answer that question?
Hey I bet these countries like Ghana, Greece, Mexico, England, and Spain don’t want to play the US in REAL football, not this stupid soccer shit.
Couldn’t you see it…
“Brady back to pass, he has all the time in the world. The Itallian pass rush can’t get past the American line. Brady throws down field…he’s got Harrison wide open…TOUCHDOWN USA! That brings the score to 82-3!”
Also the Canadians would keep punting on third down.
I think we need to write off 2006, but not 2007. We’ve already done most of the rebuilding, last season. The problems this season have been:
1) Bullpen implosion, due in part to injuries sustained by some youngsters being counted on (Boyer, Devine, Foster)
2) Starting pitching inconsistency, which has exacerbated issue 1
3) Giles failing to hit
4) LaRoche failing to improve at all
5) Defensive shortcomings in the infield (particlularly on the left side), adding to issues 1 and 2
6) Francoeur slipping back to what you’d expect from a 22 year old
6) Langerhans proving that he’s a fourth outfielder
None of those problems are insurmountable. Moving James and Barry into the rotation may solve that issue. The bullpen wouldn’t have been such a glaring problem if we were consistently getting seven innings from starters, as opposed to the five or so we seem to be averaging. (I’m too lazy to look up real numbers there.) 1B and LF are relatively easy positions to address, and we may have solutions in house for those.
So, punt 2006. Use the rest of the summer to determine what the real needs are for 2007. Contend again next year.
We all knew that the run would end eventually. The only part that’s at all surprising to me is that it ended with such a thud.
By “cellar dwelling team”, I’m referring to the good old days, when we would have been thrilled to be within 15 games of the lead this late in the season. We may finish last this season (I doubt it), but it’s not going to be a permanent home like it was in the 70s and 80s.
Braves fan since 1977!
J Leeds (oi!)
JLeeds: in a way it’s good that it’s ending so horrifically, because it doesn’t (or won’t, assuming that things continue the way they’re going for the next 10 games or so) leave any real hope for this season, which might result in trading future help for immediate help/1-year rentals.
I am actually trying to smile while typing this.
drzachary, I agree completely. Of course, last year seemed like the perfect opportunity to trade away the future for a shot at the playoffs, and the front office resisted. I’m glad they won’t have the chance to be tempted again.
I said it last year, and I’ll say it again. I’d rather the string end while we’re playing the youngsters, than end with a bunch of over-the-hill veterans on the field. At least this way we have hope for next year.
Frenchy has looked good at the plate the past couple of days, Marcus is hitting .300 the past week also. I also really like Thorman at the plate, only 1k in 12 ab’s. Laroche needs to be a pich hitter from here on out. Smoltz is the most logical trade choice, teams will want him and he’s only got 1 or 2 more good years.
Braves fan since 77! Nice. I first became conscious of baseball when I was 5, after the infamous Braves-Padres brawl at AFCS. My dad was a security guard for that game (and for years after), and there’s a great photo of him clubbing a fan that made the newspaper’s front page the next day.
Another earliest memory is of meeting Dale Murphy in the tunnels, getting introduced to him by my dad, and telling him “I know you because of that big mole on your face!” Ah, the naivety of youth.
Hm, lastly, I remembered that the Gatorade in the coolers was always peach-flavored.
my list
? Try Diaz @ lead-off, seems about as fast as giles
Move chipper to 5 hole
McCann to his 3 spot at least when righties start
Frenchy has looked good because I have been motivating him. If the rest of you (guys with pitchers) would take your new “Daughters” and have a heart to heart with them. You have to nurture them and make them feel good. For Frenchy, I take him around Atlanta, usually by GA Tech and introduce him to some of the you laddies over there who really like the way he looks. Then we pick a few out and we go over to Andruw’s house. Andruw has been nice enough to let Frenchy use his “Guest/Champaign Room.”
This seems to work. He always seems happy and says, “Wow, that WAS more fun than beating Brain (McCann) at NCAA 2005!”
Your boy has a girlfriend, Smitty. I think you’ve been spending time with an imposter.
Stu,
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Damn! Don’t break guy code here!
Wait, you’re introducing Francouer to GEORGIA TECH ladies? Yikes.
Well, we don’t have time to drive to Athens. Trust me, we only take the pick of the litter
Perhaps Jeff likes the Asian and Indian ladies? Can’t say as I’d blame him.
Fair enough.. GaTech does have some nice ladies (just … not so many), and the average Gatech guy is basically Urkel.
Whatever you’re doing, it’s working!
The Braves’ are too depressing for me to watch right now. Tonight’s game will be the first one where I don’t try to watch/ check the score. Its bringing me down too much. 🙁
If part of Guy Code entails encouraging people to cheat on their mates–or even acting jokingly like that’s an acceptable practice–I’m happy to break it.
As a Tech alumni I’ll say that the average guy isn’t urkel, he’s worse. He’s urkel with a chip on his shoulder and unchecked sarcasm.
Beware Tech chicks. Many have a sense of entitlement.
To the person who said “at least we can beat the world in baseball and basketball” (AAR?), uh, last I checked, the US men’s basketball team hasn’t won a gold medal in ages and our WBC team got beat by Mexico. So, no, actually, we can’t.
dr.zachary,
I was also at that Braves/Padres brawl game. Good/bad times, man.
Charles, a little while ago, I changed windows to the box score from last night’s game (had it open in my browser still) and I instinctively refreshed it to see if the score changed. It didn’t.
I am spending this week in Vegas and my time here has taught me what went wrong with the Braves this year.
Bobby & JS are Blackjack players. Over the last 15 years they have sat down, played high-stakes, and won. Over the last 5 years they have had increasingly long losing streaks, gotten nervous and felt sick, and kept reaching for the wallet, kept doubling down, and somehow made it back on top. Every time they bounced back they were emboldened to the point of feeling invulnerable. As we all know, if you gamble long enough you will lose. This year they mocked at the thought of just having Reitsma, and as things got worse they just kept betting and laughing and betting. By the time they realized this was different, that they couldn’t get their way through this, it was too late.
nenny, i think he was being sarcastic, hence the defeat in the WBC and the terribly poor new olympic “Dream Teams”. dang jenny, i even got that one.
sorry, that meant to say “jenny”, not “nenny”. that would be just plain silly
Stu,
If Frenchy is hitting, then it is ok.
Ok here is the low on Jeff’s girl.
She rolls up at his house the other day with some dude named Keith . She asked if they could borrow some money so they could go out and party some more. He said, “Well, if I can have a kiss.” She said, “Umm, I don’t think KL would like that.”
I thought about it, “Keith? KL?” Then I went out side and sitting in her Landrover (that Jeff bought) was the one the only Keith Lockhart!
See Stu, it’s ok!
Horacio’s career numbers at Turner Field: pretty amazing
32 Starts
14W 4L 215IP 190H 80ER 22HR 82BB 105K 2CG
of course the walk #’s need to go down
J Leeds (Oi)
Thanks for the thoughtful take on the season. (I’d only add that Chipper needed to be better offensively this year, too.)
Can we end the Kerry Wood discussion now?
sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2495121
Also, here’s Mark Bradley’s take on the sad state of affairs:
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/sportscolumns/entries/2006/06/21/braves_season_l.html
Yeah, jenny, clearly a joke. I liked it, too, by the way, AAR.
Oops. OK. My bad. Sorry, AAR.
It would appear we have really good golfers, even though we never win the Ryder Cup. Um, tennis? The Williams sisters are off designing clothes now, right? Is Pete Sampras still playing?
🙂
I must have accidentally smoked crack earlier today, but I’ll predict that we will go on a 2 game winning streak starting tonight!
“Dang it! Who put this crack pipe in my mouth? And how did I not notice the fumes as I breathed?”
Hey it can happen. That crack is steaky stuff!
It is so simple to fix. Walks are unacceptable. Doesn’t get any simpler than that.
Stu, did it happen to you too!
Tech isnt so bad, thats going to be my place of residence in a couple of months. Those smart girls there will make some money for ya.
I didn’t inhale though
A note about the Bradley article:
I second the opinion that we should not try to strike lightning with some verteran ball player. We should not sacrifice the future for a CHANCE…a very slim CHANCE that this team could make a legitimate run. We are just to many players away from being a WS contender to waste a Salty or some other high level prospect for 06.
In the meantime, I hope we make some moves with guys who are not a vital part of an 07 or 08 plan. Guys like Giles, LaRoche, Thomson etc could bring some immediate help to a struggling 06 team.
Mike, it’s not as bad as it was ten-ish years ago. It’s much more student-friendly these days. A lot of the vicious primadonna ‘weed-out’ profs are gone. Are you starting there as a student, or did you mean something else?
If we win tonight will Skip bust out, “BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN!”
Yea im gonna be a freshman in the fall.
Mike, awesome. Hope you enjoy it! Gonna be a great hoops season, btw.
Mike,
Ouch- I gotta warn you , Tech sucks really bad. I graduated last year in EE and now work in CA, its a rough ride. I know you won’t believe me, I didn’t either when I started.
Hit me up at my email- matthewregister@gmail.com – if you have questions or need advice. I can type pages of things you need to know to survive and give you tips on which faculty to avoid.
Your most important decision at Tech is going to be major selection. Make sure you find something you think you will really enjoy and make sure you look at it from a “Where do I want to work” -standpoint. IF you don’t like your classes, you need to switch. Everyone at Tech will tell you, “These are your weed-out classes- etc…” but in reality those classes are representative of your future in the field. If you don’t like them you will not like your career. If you don’t like what you’re doing you won’t excel.
The only type of people who enjoy their experience at Tech are those that are really passionate about what they are studying- about 5% of the student body. Try to find where you can fit in.
Oh and live on West Campus. East Campus sucks.
Charles, one of the things I really disliked about Tech back when I was there (didn’t graduate.. escaped with my sanity) was that they threw you to the dogs in your major your first semester, and if you didn’t like your choice, you basically got to start over. There wasn’t any kind of exploratory period.
Zach,
That is one of the things I disliked the most as well. I’m actually working w/ some faculty to try and change that to where students don’t even get to pick their major for the first year. There is a lot of room for improvement in that area. (By the time I found out I hated EE it was too late to change)
I grew up in Richmond and was a R-Braves fan before I was an A-Braves fan. I remember being a kid in the late 80’s early 90’s going to the Diamond and seeing guys like Smoltz, Justice, Gant, and Avery.
Little did I know at the time that these guys were going to be a big reason the big Braves have had such a great run. Hell, evan guys like Klesko, Greene,Mercker, and Hunter came out of our system and made some good contributions. I just hope we have a group of guys in the system like we did 15-20 years ago,because that is what started this run and that is what will start the next one.
Things I’d like to ask Skip Caray!!!!
1. How many times did you go to the bathroom in the July 4th Rick Camp game?
2. Which Brave was worse? Pepe Frias,Rod Gilbreath, or SugarBear Blanks.
3. Which of the above three would make this year’s team?
4. Could Phil Niekro make this year’s rotation? Not the Niekro of 1982 the Niekro of 2004!!
5. Which is the worst moment in Braves history? A) The game Ted Turner managed. B) Jim Leyritz’ Homerun C) The Eric Gregg/Marlins playoff game D) The next game the Braves bring in a reliever.
6. Will they allow him to say, You have our permission to walk the dog?
7. Am I dreaming this or did John Sterling once work Braves games on TBS?
8. What was a better TBS? A) Braves followed by Andy Griffith? B) Braves followed by Sex and the City? C) Seinfeld followed by Seinfeld?
or D) (and my favorite) Braves followed by Tush?
9. Did Ted and Jane really fall asleep in extra innings of the 1991 World Series?
10. Why did the Braves replace Chief-Nok-A-Homa with that obnoxious guy wearing the Friars suit?
Long Time Enquiring Brave Fan