I would just like to take this time to condemn all the Reds boosters who attempt to usurp the Braves’ rightful place as the oldest franchise in American professional sports by insinuating that the Reds are descended from the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. That team folded, and if any club has a right — or Wright — to claim descent from them, it is the Braves.
Also, last night I dreamt that Andruw Jones hosted Saturday Night Live. I may be insane. Discuss.
1914 Update:
NY Giants 41-27
Chicago Cubs 40-33
St. Louis Cardinals 38-36
Cincinnati Reds 36-36
Philadelphia Phillies 32-35
Pittsburgh Pirates 32-36
Brooklyn Robins 31-36
Boston Braves 29-40
Today: Braves win in Chicago, 7-4.
Also: The Cincinnati Reds release oufielder Johnny Bates, and have a representative shopping for replacements with the International League’s Baltimore Orioles. On instructions from the front office, he buys the contracts of OF George Twombly and IF Claude Derrick. He is offered a left-handed pitcher named George Herman Ruth, but passes.
For the guy who was asking me, people are claiming that the 84.235.100.2 proxy (port 8080) was working today. I think that’s the one I gave you before, I’m not sure why it didn’t work. Maybe it was a little different.
Mets lost the first game of their doubleheader to the Marlins 3-2, but are winning the second game 9-3. Marlins starter Ricky Nolsaco did his best HoRam imitation (6 H, 9 ER in 1 2/3 innings) in game two.
George Twombly is a MUCH better name than Ricky Nolasco.
As to the SNL dream, Mac, I’m not ready to say you’re crazy, but I certainly am curious. Did he join the Roxbury twins, or the Wild and Crazy Guys? Who was the musical guest?
If it was Flock of Seagulls, you are certifiably insane.
Cincinnati
R. Freel 3b
A. Dunn lf
K. Griffey Jr. cf
A. Kearns rf
S. Hatteberg 1b
F. Lopez ss
B. Phillips 2b
J. LaRue c
A. Harang p
Atlanta
M. Giles 2b
E. Renteria ss
C. Jones 3b
A. Jones cf
B. McCann c
J. Francoeur rf
A. LaRoche 1b
R. Langerhans lf
J. Smoltz p
All I remember is that he did the monologue, and I usually don’t pay any attention to the monologue.
I’d figure Sosa for SNL before Andruw. After all, his pitching is a joke.
Oh, snap!
Mets 16, Marlins 3 after 5. Sorry, guys. You can’t win the first game by scoring a pile of runs in the second game.
Chip said Smoltz’ strike three to Freel was 97 mph. I’m impressed.
Struck out the side. Nice.
strike him out throw him out….*sigh*
When is Bobby going to STOP TRYING TO RUN HIT-AND-RUN PLAYS?!?
WHAT? AGAIN!?
For Christ’s sake, how many times has that happened over the past ten games? Stop with the base stealing attempts already. I’m sick of these free outs.
Crap, the game started already? I thought it started at 7:30. Off to the TV.
Smoltz looks good so far…4Ks
Aww..That would have been great if that was fair…tough to play in his situation.
Good play..Chipper.
Hey ya’ll! So far, kinda good. Let’s hope that they strand their runners at 1st and 2nd.
Alright Marcus.
Go Shorty!!
Rip him a new one Bobby..He was safe.
BULLSH**
Y’know, I don’t go crazy about missed calls too often, but how does a Major League umpire miss a play that badly? That call was a joke. Cost us the inning, basically.
Andruw continues to suck with RISP and two outs.
That was a rally killer. Freaking ump……
It’s so frustrating when we get something started and a freaking ump cost us runs for Smoltz.
Yes….good throw BMAC
WTF was that Freel..HaHaHa
Let’s go get the lead, I don’t wanna lose this one. Especially since it’s Thomson vs. Arroyo tomorrow.
With all of these deep flyballs by the Braves I kind of wish we were in Cincy…
It could be 3-1 after that inning.
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20060707&content_id=1544488&vkey=pr_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
Fun with closed captioning: ‘HIT IT WHERE ITS PIMPED’.
Seriously, though, I hate it when Reds’ fans claim that bogus junk about the Red Stockings.
Aaron Harang has the laziest swing EVER!!!
Dammit, Andruw, when you hiit the ball, RUN!
Lack of hustle is bitch.
Andruw did it again!!! Why does he not run?
I don’t know but has anyone else noticed more and more balls getting over his head.
Jeff, if you are clutch, this would be a good time to show it.
In center I mean.
Frenchy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FRENCHY, YOU ARE MUY CLUTCH!
Brian J. You called it!!!!!!!!
He didn’t pull it …wow!!
Merci, Monsieur!
So how many times does Frenchy have to prove it before you people wake up and realize he is 10x the player Huckleberry is????
Yess!!!!!!!!!!! Adam
Now that’s just weird. I’ve seen the ball drop between three guys before, but not when they’re that far apart.
That was real cool. 🙂
Bobby said “hit a homer”.
John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let’s hear it for Smoltz, ladies and gentlemen!
Smoltz for player of the game. Doen it all tonight baby!
I beleive this performance deserves a Standing O.
SMOLTZ!!! That was cool, too.
This crowd is amazing.
“Coffey’s been getting creamed.” Argh. Pound for pound, lame puns are your best entertainment value.
“Coffee has been getting creamed”
Oh man, can’t believe he went there. ahahahah
If you are watching TBS then you just heard how loud it got.
I just saw a sign that said “Memphis loves the Braves.” That was pretty awesome to see, considering the way 99% of this city adores the friggin’ Cardinals. Heck yeah.
P.S. Smoltz is the baddest.
“Now that’s just weird. I’ve seen the ball drop between three guys before, but not when they’re that far apart.”
It was pretty obvious they all lost it.
I remember when we had more hitters striking out than strikeouts by our pitcher. Thank you Mr. Smoltz.
It’s been a while since we had a game like this. This is the Braves that won 14 division championships.
Smoltz is a freaking beast tonight. Take that, Reds!
Holy cow, does Smoltz look good tonight!
I said a few games ago that I wouldn’t mind seeing him as a closer again starting next season, but forget that! Smoltz is ‘friggin on fire right now. This is why he’s bigger in Atlanta than Michael Vick and why he needs to remain a Brave for the rest of his career.
His offspeed stuff tonight is just plain nasty.. similar situation as wednesday. Do you let him finish? The way he is throwing I say yes but for god sake keep Ray available.
Oh, and LEAVE HIM IN!
He’s got a week to rest and probably wants the win more so than anyone in the ball park. A complete game from John right now in a game of this fashion would do wonders for the team.
Not with this pitch count, even with the All-Star break coming up. Put Ray in.
He’s at 120.
You gotta leave him in to finish the game. It would be a huge morale booster for the team.
Chipper!!! A triple
Pitch count doesn’t mean squat when you are pitching as well as Smoltz is right now.
10 straight games with an extra basehit and a 12 game hit streak… Amazing.
Oh man, it looked like Dunn just stole the homer from Chipper. I thought that he had knocked it back in from going over. Great hit for Chipper nonetheless.
Oh, and LET SMOLTZ FINISH!
Holy shit is Andruw sucking with RISP. Wow.
I don’t think so, Lando. This team’s already on a winning run- this will be nine out of 15- and a 130+ pitch count is likely to impact Smoltz’ future starts.
I don’t think so Brian. He has a week+ to recover so it’s highly unlikely to impact his next start.
I think Bobby will do the same thing that he did with Huddy.. Let him go out there and try to finish but if he gets into trouble the you bring in Ray.( NOT SOSA THIS TIME!!!)
MCCANN!!!!!
I really love that kid. 😀
Wow, Brian just absolutely killed that ball.
McCann has so much heart. I hope he stays with the Braves his entire career.
He’s been killing it all day… he has already just missed 2 HRs.
If I were a Reds fan, I’d be pissed that they’re leaving Harang in.
McCan’s a hell of a hitter. If he ever gets that ankle healthy and can run properly, his power will be even more apparent- he just turned a triple into a double, and has had several doubles turned into singles.
Oh crap, it looked like John said he didn’t want to go right before it went to commercial
When he does get that ankle healed I really think that there is a good shot that two catchers could win the batting title. It would be a great thing to happen since the last time that happened was in the 60s or something.
Yep, I was right. John sat it out for Ray.
Well I was wrong he is Ray.
here*
From my experience, Ray had better hurry and finish the inning. That rolled ankle will hurt more later than it does now.
Yea his left leg looks a little shaky when he follows through. But he gets a strikeout.
Well, that’s a good way to hurry it up.
two down one to go…
One more and Smoltz gets his 6th win. He definately deserves it.
Actually, Jay, only two catchers have ever won the batting title in the NL- Bubbles Hargrave in 1926 and Ernie Lombardi in 1938 and 1942- and no AL catcher ever has.
Yea he should have at least 11 or 12. 6 blown saves for him.
O thanks for correcting me.. I knew it was 60 something but I couldn’t remember if the last time it happened was in 1960 or if it happened 60 years ago.
Thompson back tommorow….. Uhg.
Well, that worked out just fine—with heroes all over the place.
Tomorrow is not a good pitching matchup for us, but let’s get one somehow & we’ll be on a modest roll.
Yes.. good win tonight.
Hells Yeah. That’s as good and solid of a win as they come.
Well done by Ray. Smoltz gets a win he deserves many times over, and Frenchy showed us all that he can be clutch. Another win, Braves style.
YEAH!! That was awesome!
Does Ray have a cheering section and if not he needs one. He has been a “Ray of sunlight” through this bullpen.
I didn’t realize this until I looked at the Braves Yahoo! website, but Villareal is still the teams wins leader.
I know it’s corny but it is true.
Wow, I just come in right in time to see the final score…
Sweet!
True enough. But should his fan section cheer on a Ray of Light or a Death Ray?
Seriously, we’ve now got Ray, Barry, Villareal, Paronto, Yates, and McBride in the pen who are at least average. If we can just lose Sosa and get Stockman back, this’ll be a bullpen worthy of trust.
Great game! Maybe we’ll win tomorrow to (if we trade for someone else to take Thomson’s place before then). Andruw was disappointing again, but no complaints anywhere else!
I agree, the bullpen is looking up. Besides the meltdown by Sosa the pen has been outstanding.
We have some great set-up men, Brian J. If we get a reliable closer, our bullpen will instantly go from shaky to above average.
As much as I don’t like Madonna, “Ray of Light” would be kinda cool for his song.
That’s the point that I was trying to make yesterday. We have so many blown saves up to this point…if we just had a reliable closer, things would be much better.
The bullpen is looking up…and with a decent guy shutting down games, it would be much much better than what it was (with Reitsma or Sosa)
Who does everybody think we have the best chance of getting before the deadline. Obvioulsy we don’t currently have the shut down guy on our staff?