Sorry, no video today for a very good reason: I forgot. So here is a picture of some ducks.
UPDATE: Gonzalez to the DL with an “elbow sprain”, which is awfully vague. McBride called up to be the LOOGY, presumably. I’d expect Soriano to set up Wickman, with Kali continuing in the seventh-inning role. Gonzalez has a touchy arm, always has.
Ducks on the pond
A portent of good things? Or not?
Well, either the ducks are left on the pond or they go home. 😉
How many more games do we have with the Nats, like 43?
Sadly, only 11.
However, it should be noted that we’re merely 4-3 against them.
Gonzo to the DL? It’s being reported on talkingchop.com, but I haven’t seen it anywhere else. Apparently it’s for a left elbow sprain.
McBride has supposedly been called up in Gonzo’s place.
The Braves just get Wickman back and now this. Well, at least Wickman is back. Yates, Soriano and Wickman should be fine.
I guess the Braves know what they’re doing, but I feel if they could find nothing wrong they should have given him another chance before DLing him. Hopefully Gonzalez will be fine and back to pitching great in 15 days.
Braves.net has confirmed we beat the Phillies 4-3
Here’s what I like to hear….
If the Braves chose to keep Saltalamacchia in Atlanta, they would likely only do so if they planned to use him in a platoon role at first base with Scott Thorman. If they did that, they’d likely have to eat the remainder of Craig Wilson’s $2 million salary.
Wilson is hitting just .172 (10-for-58) with one homer and two RBIs.
Saltalamacchia didn’t appear to have any trouble while taking grounders at first base before Tuesday night’s game.
Its time for Thorman in LF w/ Diaz, Harris taking either Woodward or Orr’s spot, trading Wilson to anyone and keeping Salty to play 1st!
Here is who we need
http://members.aol.com/chrisco57/wohlers.html
I love the Mark Wholers post on talkingchop.
Yup, Gonzo on 15-day DL.
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070516&content_id=1968173&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
“Dead arm” has always been one of my favorite baseball terms. Very underrated.
I’d have to say my favorite term is “Merkle’s Boner.”
Boner.
Ha-ha.
It is nice get Wickman back considering Gonzalez’s recent elbow issues. Hopefully Kali does not revert back to his usual form. He’s been looking pretty good thus far. Let’s hope he keeps it up.
How was McBride doing down in Richmond?
“Merkle’s Boner” trumps “Homer in the Gloamin'” every time.
Why McBride anyways? Is it that lefty-righty match-up Bobby Cox obsesses over?
I wonder how Boyer and Stockman are doing.
Smitty, that Wohlers page is awesome.
Dunno if this was posted previously, but it’s about the MLB meeting/vote on Liberty Media, which includes a stipulation to maintain an “$80 Million floor on salary.”
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2007/05/16/0517bravessale.html
Well, we do need at least one lefty in the bullpen. You don’t need one for every right-hander so that you can use five pitchers in one inning, Tony LaRussa-style, but we need at least one lefty in the bullpen. That’s why McBride is back up.
FYI — I think the Mets are going to get rained out tonight. It just rained like mad here, power outages, the whole 9.
David O’Brien says that Smoltz will start Saturday and Chipper Jones is back….if the Braves don’t get rained out today.
“The other good news for the Braves: Chipper is back in the lineup, after a four-game absence.”
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/braves/
Lineups:
Braves
K. Johnson 2b
E. Renteria ss
C. Jones 3b
A. Jones cf
B. McCann c
J. Francoeur rf
S. Thorman 1b
W. Harris lf
K. Davies p
Gnats
C. Guzman ss
R. Belliard 2b
R. Zimmerman 3b
R. Church lf
A. Kearns rf
B. Schneider c
R. Fick 1b
R. Langerhans cf
L. Speigner p
Weather.com is reporting a light rain, with an 80 percent chance of rain through the night in Washington. A total of a quarter inch of rain is expected.
Anyone in the area? Will there be ball tonight?
Nice ducks, they look a lot like my Rouens.
Glad Chipper is back. It’ll be interesting to see how Willie does moving back to the 8 spot.
Found this interesting tidbit from AJC about the Braves sale. We already know about the stipulation to not decrease the current payroll, but check this out:
Whether to increase the payroll beyond that would be up to McGuirk. At some level of increase, approval of a Liberty-controlled board apparently would be required.
Wonder just exactly what that means…
You know it’s a pretty formidable lineup when Andruw is the momentary weak link & your 8th hitter is standing at 419/490/535.
Found this interesting tidbit from AJC about the sale. We already know about the stipulation to not decrease the current payroll, but check this out:
Whether to increase the payroll beyond that would be up to McGuirk. At some level of increase, approval of a Liberty-controlled board apparently would be required.
Wonder just exactly what that means…
Found this interesting tidbit from AJC about the sale. We already know about the stipulation to not decrease the current payroll, but check this out:
Whether to increase the payroll beyond that would be up to McGuirk. At some level of increase, approval of a Liberty-controlled board apparently would be required.
Wonder just exactly what that means…
It means that it’s a number we’re not allowed to know.
well the announcers just said the deal has been completed. I guess the owners just have to vote on it.
Interesting match-up tonight…Rich Hill vs the Mets
Did Joe Simpson just take a shot at Andruw with that “I wish some of the veterans would take notice” comment about Renty? Can’t think of any other “veteran” who would need a good example at this present time.
Man ah missed the Chipster.
Welcome back, Chipper.
On radio, Pete said Speigner apparently will only go 70-75 pitches.
FYI—McGuirk will be on the radio post-game show tonight.
Was out and about this evening and listening to the Braves radio pregame show. Bobby Cox said in his interview with Skip Caray that Gonzalez felt no pain while he was pitching, but then later when he was combing his hair, his pitching elbow started spasming. So they decided to send him back here for an MRI.
Still, Bobby didn’t sound particularly downcast about it. I really don’t think the team thinks that it’s a major elbow injury or anything. What exactly they do think it is, though, I have no idea.
Finally, Andruw with runners in scoring position.
Whatever happened to Nick Johnson?
Is he still with the Nats?
Nice going Andruw!
Nick Johnson’s just been transferred to the 60-day DL, recovering from a broken leg.
Welcome back, Chipper.
On radio, Pete said Speigner will only go 70-75 pitches.
FYI—McGuirk will be on the radio post-game show tonight. Maybe he’ll enlighten us on a few things.
Yeah, Kyle. I think he’s injured. He was in the dugout the other night.
Come on, man! You gotta dive for that!
Just like last year. No lead is safe from Davies.
Davies makes me nervous.
Thanks for the Nick Johnson updates as well guys. I figured something had to be wrong for Fick to be getting playing time.
Would a two-run lead really be safe, anyway?
Well, at least Davies didn’t walk anybody.
Washington’s play-by-play guy is the hands down the worst I’ve heard in a long time.
It’s the 3rd night in a row and I really can’t take anymore.
It’s still Bob Carpenter, right?
Nice play by Rentster…..
Yes. Don Sutton is the color guy. I like him better than Bozo the Simpson. Wish we would’ve kept him instead.
Yeah, Don always struck me as kind of pompous, but with Joe ratcheting his level of pomposity up a notch this season beyond even what Don did, for some reason, Don’s starting to look not so bad.
At least Don has a reason to be pompous. Joe had a career .606 OPS.
Two notes… First, it really bugs me when players don’t think triple out of the box. Renteria could have made third if he’d run all the way.
Second, no hi-def on this game? One game a week there’s a hi-def channel, and I don’t get this one.
Edgar’s angling for the natural cycle, Mac. 😀
Nice work, Kyle.
3 IP, 3 K, 33 pitches
Thor!
The ears on Austin Kearns though….
That guy can hear what’s happening in the Florida-Pittsburgh game..
Willie comes through again
LaRoche may be turning it around. On Sunday he had two walks and a hit, sat out Monday, had two hits and two walks on Tuesday and homered to deep center in his first and so-far only at-bat today against Scott Olsen of the Marlins.
I’m rooting for LaRoche.
Have I mentioned that I love Big Willie?
Big Willie Stylin’
THORman is a hitting machine.
By the way, on Saturday I sat about ten rows back from the Braves dugout in Pittsburgh. It was the night THORman hit two home runs, and the three other times he batted, whenever he got out, he wailed off the most creative string of expletives I’ve ever heard.
It was scary and funny at the same time.
Odd at bat for Kyle
Not a bad time to steal here.
i have a feeling that Smoltz and Chipper wouldnt be so primed to come back if we were playing in KC this weekend. These guys want to compete against the best.
Gonzo is a long term (heir apparent) investment they will be treating like a fine wine. Get accustomed to this handling. Lidge and Gagne are examples of closers who have fallen off due to possbily playing hurt.
Renty is steady and reliable through this season, anyway.
Here comes another one of those can-he-handle-prosperity? innings for Davies.
Heart of the lineup due and Davies just got a cushion
Gulp.
Guess not.
Zimmerman or David Wright
Who has the better career?
Yeah. I miss ole’ LaRoche too. Not as much as Furcal, though. He may have been my favorite Braves player since the Murph. Who is your favorite Brave that got away?
Davies is doing well against batters whose name doesn’t start with Z.
Jeremy,
At this point, I don’t know how you wouldn’t pick Wright.
Prolly Fook; he was a lot of fun to watch. Maddux, too.
Van Wieren noted before the game Thorman has zero (0) errors this season in 29 games played. Not bad production.
Favorite Brave who got away? I’d probably go with Maddux.
By the way, so cute ducks.. Recently, I’ve found the existence of black swan.-_-; Though my personal story, I plan to take lovely pictures like ducks from this July(maybe winter, there) on weekends.
ububba,
I’m not sure it’s that cut and dry. Zimmerman is the far superior defender and is two years younger. Wright’s rapidly declining power has to be a concern.
LaRoche with another hit, this time an RBI single. His batting average is slowly creeping towards that mendonza line, it’s currently at .192.
Plus Wright has already signed a long-term contract. If he starts sucking, the Mets are stuck.
But I would probably take Wright.
What’s that? 6 straight changeups?
Well, when Adam gets hot, he is hot for about two months before disappearing again. That’s the typical Adam we know.
Come on Kyle, attack the strikezone please.
Roachy is a slow starter? Some people hates him but I like him very much.
oh come on Kelly…
*sighs*
WHO CARES IF DAVIES IS THE PITCHER OF RECORD IF HE LOSES THE GAME?!?!?!?!?
This sucks.
Kelly has been great but that was a killer.
Oh, but all the runs from here on are “unearned”.
Good one, Bobby.
*&*(&$%*&%$*#%*()#%!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t pull him Bobby. You got to toughen this kid up.
Another victim of the “win” stat. If they weren’t trying to get five innings for Davies he would have been out two batters ago.
4-1 game now 6-4. I’m going to be sick if the Braves lose this one. Sick.
A LITTLE LATE BOBBY.
ooooohhhh, fuuddgggge!
Davies has the arm and the stuff but he doesn’t have a clue how to pitch. Gets ahead with his two gorgeous fastballs and proceeds to spin a curve right down the pipe.
I don’t want to say this, but… Paronto looks hurt too.
Flores, Zimmerman walk difference in game – both scored. Agree with outrage over getting cutesy with the decision to make Davies eligible for win.
When we miss the playoffs by 1 game are we going to care whether Davies has 8 versus 9 victories.
Nightmare inning ends.
HMMM..Davies creates a stir. “I can pitch only 4.2IP.”
I just know KJ is going to get fried for that inning, but the ranks of responsibility are:
1. Davies
2. Bobby
3. Johnson
Davies allows six runs and his ERA goes down because all the runs in that inning (in which he walked two and allowed two hits, including a double) are “unearned”.
Let me guess… Woodhead is on deck.
Will somebody get on base?
Woodward=awful
You suck, Chris.
The former braves on the Nats is a Who’s/Who of guys i grew to despise.
Most Disliked
Ray King
Robert Fick
Ryan Landerhans
Maybe we can trade Woodhead there. BTW, Ray King should be pissed — they yanked him to bring in a righthander to face a guy with a .238 BA and .298 SLG.
Bobby Cox: still the only one who believes in Oscar Villarreal.
That’s not true, Dan. I still believe in him.
As for the Wright vs. Zimmerman question, it doesn’t really matter—regardless of who’s actually better, Wright will be promoted as better because he’s the one in New York.
Well, Oscar looks good so far. And he’s the least of the problems on this team’s fringe. There are at least three worse players (Wilson, Woodward, Davies) on the team.
How bad was KJ’s error? I missed it.
To comment on an earlier board discussion, I would definitely take Wright over Zimmerman.
Be careful complaining about the team’s performance, though, everyone, or Sam will come in here and tell you how sick of that attitude he is. Once again.
You’re forgetting Orr, Mac. Woodward’s more valuable than Orr, IMO, now that we have Willie Harris.
Time for Kelly to make up for that big fat E.
What about Orr, Mac. Or is he so irrelevant that he doesn’t count?
Davies is just so maddening to watch.
How long can the Willie Harris thing actually last?
You mean his playing at an All-Star level? Not long at all, I’d guess. But I think it’s a safe bet he’ll continue playing as well or better than Orr.
When is the RFK experiment being replaced by the new Marion Berry Stadium?
Next year, I believe.
Well that was a waste of a leadoff single.
Ahhhh…the big hero, Andruw freaking Jones.
Boy is Andruw Jones getting on my nerves.
I’m with you two on the frustration. The “Andruw will end up with the same numbers as usual and he’s always been a pull hitter, anyway” arguments sure don’t ease the pain of all these rallies he’s killed in the first couple months of the season.
Can’t Bobby Cox move Andruw Jones? Maybe the #7 hole?
One positive about this: Chad Cordero doesn’t scare me (or the Braves) at all.
I guess Colome’s their closer, now. That’s ok—there’s a not-insignificant chance that he’ll walk the ballpark when he comes in.
“I’m not going to pitch naked.”
-John Smoltz, 05/15/2007
The team seems to be ready to pack up for the hotel…
How high was that pitch Francoeur struck out on?
Why does the Braves always have trouble playing against the Natspos?
Here’s something to cheer people up…
2007 Salary Analysis
Woodward $850k
Wilson $2MM
Orr $400k
Redman $750k
————
Total $4MM
KJ $380
French $427k
Mccann $440k *
Soriano $1.2MM
Yates $412K
Chuck James $397k
————–
Total $3.256 MM
What is wrong with this picture? I am sure within the team there is dissention among the underpaid/overperforming guys.
Does not account for bonus from new contract.*
Thanks Mac! The game has been a depressing one since KJ’s error!!!
Bobzilla is back.
Seems like our old Wick is back healthy.
stir series:
Bob Wickman creates a stir. “David Wells is my brother.”
Welcome back a wick man. Oops!!!@.@
Huh??? – 2007 Salary Analysis
Woodward $850k, Wilson $2MM, Orr $400k, Redman $750k [ Total $4MM]
KJ $380, French $427k, Mccann $440k * , Soriano $1.2MM, Yates $412K, Chuck James $397k [Total $3.256 MM]
What is wrong with this picture? I am sure within the team there is dissention among the underpaid/overperforming guys.
Does not account for bonus from new contract.*
Good to have the Good Wickman back again.
Am I the only one that is not all that excited about MLB mandating the $80M base salary figure? That’s decent money right now but we’ve just seen a huge salary inflation due to the new TV contract. Maybe $80M is bottom half two or three years from now.
That’s a salary floor, not a ceiling. Liberty (or whoever they sell the team to in 3-5 years) could raise it.
Well, at least the owners care enough to minimize the damage Liberty Media could have done.
Well this game completely sucked. The Braves looked like they didn’t try.
Right. But if Selig of all people felt like he had to institute something like this to keep these guys from coming in and cleaning house, that doesn’t say very good things to me.
Yuck.
Stupid game.
God this sucked. How the hell did we lose to the damned Nats, AGAIN?
Well, not after the fourth inning, anyway. This isn’t how I wanted to approach the good teams. At least we still have a share of first.
Not that it really matters, but the official site’s story lists the payroll floor at $87.3 million.
Alex, I thought you were going to the game tonight?!
God ******* awful. If you’re not going to beat this guy, who are you going to beat? This was a game a team with playoff aspirations has to win.
We thought it was going to rain and bagged it. Seeing the result, glad I did. I really hate losing multiple times to an awful team. Just completely inexcusable and I am beyond sick of Andruw at this.
Drop him to the hole already. God I would like to see someone slap that dispicable smirk off his face already.
Yes, Alex, it’s all the fault of the guy who went 2-4 with two RBI. I’m sorry, but if you’re going to slam anyone it has to be the #5 hitter.
Well, the error costed us the game. Andruw will come around. I thought we are all used to watching the inconsistent/consistently bad Andruw by now.
Hopefully Chuckie James continues to pitch like he did against the Pirates. Tough game to watch. I’d like to see Andruw get hot tomorrow and against the Red Sox. He is about due for a classic Andruw hot streak.
What a fool. Andruw’s attitude is a huge part of why is so good. There is no point in being mad when things aren’t working out. He just needs to keep his head up and it will turn for him. It’s nice to see a guy that is having fun out there too.
Well, the error costed us the game.
No, our pitcher hanging a curveball on 0-2 with the bases loaded cost us the game. Errors only hurt when you sandwich hits and walks around them.
Well, the difference is, Davies isn’t that good and we don’t expect much.
But we do expect Andruw and his pig agent Boras to come sniffing our the Braves for $20 mill. a year while he scuffles with his smirk and pot belly and fleet of 8o sports cars whiole hitting .230?
No thanks.
Wow, the error didn’t cost us the game? You have gotta kidding me. Let’s just agree to disagree.