Hey, whatever works.
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Hey, whatever works.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
I’m heading to Cleveland now fellas…
I hope I see a good one. Enjoy the game.
Carlyle has earned a spot in this rotation, if you ask me. If we could somehow find a #3, and if Smoltz gets/stays healthy, a rotation of Smoltz/Hudson/#3/James/Carlyle would be just fine with me.
I love Escobar, by the way. He’s better—at least offensively—than I’d realized.
Stu, I just said the same thing about Carlyle on the other thread. I hoep he stays around over Davies if we get another starter. Hopefully, Smoltz wont have any lingering issues out there today and we cant get another good outing out of our starters. Hudson and Carlyle did their job. Even though Wick blew the save Thursday, I think everyone here wouldve been satisfied splitting the games between Santana and Sabathia. Good job last night
I cannot imagine that whenever Renteria’s contract is up, Escobar will be the shortstop. Not with Lillibridge and Andrus.
Escobar isn’t that great defensively. He has a cannon for an arm but he has made his fair share of errors. If we have to trade Salty for SP maybe he could play 1st???
I knew Woodward was going to have a huge game! 1RBI is huge for him,right?
I predict a pitching duel today…
Excobar doesn’t have a bad defensive rep that I know of, so I’m willing to chalk up the recent spate of errors as a fluke thing for now. Batting-wise, all I can say is it’s nice to have Betemit back.
I dont’ really think pitching dual. I think we can handle Paul Byrd today. I’d suspect that Thorman will be in due to the facts he’s a righty…
I don’t think Escobar’s defense will be a problem. As sansho said, he didn’t have a bad defensive rep, so I chalk it up to being called-up to a new level and playing mostly out of position. It’s probably tough for him to get going. Plus, as far as that throw in the ninth inning two nights ago goes, that should have been caught by McCann. It wasn’t a perfect throw, but that wasn’t Escobar’s error; McCann’s gotta make that catch.
I also don’t fault Escobar playing off the line in the ninth that game too. He’s not a third baseman, and it’s the dugout’s job to take care of defensive positioning.
Going back a few threads, I think that last night’s game furnished us with grounds for optimism. Buddy Carlyle has demonstrated that at least for the short term he can be a credible number 5. Not to take away from anybody else (Salty, Diaz, Wickman, etc.), but Carlyle made that win possible by keeping the Braves in the game. A small thing seemingly–but well beyond Redman, Cormier, Lerew (for the most part) and often Davies.
We have only just solidified our starting pitchers (obviously it would be nice to get another starter), missed Chipper, lost Hampton and Gonzo and we are still in the thick of it. Things could be so much worse….
One of my biggest concerns is McCann’s defense. Its almost becoming a liability. He’s trying to backhand to many balls in the dirt and he has dropped a few throws that he should have caught. He needs to get better back there, it may be because he’s not healthy. I have doubts however
Bobby Cox said he wasn’t going to do a first base platoon. If Thorman is in there, I guess that means he lied?
When is Chipper going to play third again? That DH rule is nothing but a crutch. It needs to go.
I agree about Carlyle. And I like Stu’s projected post-trade rotation.
Is Davies’ lack of development an indictment of McDowell? Or is he just a late bloomer? Or a rockhead? How do you evaluate the merits of a pitching coach?
My tv listing on digital cable says the SF vs. Boston game will be on at 3:55 pm. Everywhere else I’ve looked has both games listed at the same time and both on FOX. How is this possible?
Dan, Cox never said that he wasn’t going to do a platoon but he never said he was going to do one either. I’d be very suprised if Thorman wasn’t in there today. Keep in mind tomorrow is a 1 o’clock game and Salty will catch tomorrow…
Leah, depends where you live…
csg, McCann’s ankle is an annoyance behind the plate. It is not affecting his swing anymore but it does bother him defensively.
K. Johnson 2B
W. Harris LF
E. Renteria SS
C. Jones DH
A. Jones CF
B. McCann C
J. Francoeur RF
S. Thorman 1B
Y. Escobar 3B
Fisticuffs between the Cubs and the Padres. Shockingly, David Wells was upset when Soriano showed him up on a home run yesterday. Today, Chris Young hit Derek Lee. They started swinging at each other. Good times.
[sarcasm]
Soriano showing up someone after a homerun??
That’s unheard off.
[/sarcasm]
Soriano is such a b*tch.
Another reason for encouragement: with yesterday’s win, we’ve matched our win total from all of last June with 6.
Go Braves.
I’m happy that Hudson planted a fastball on him.
He needs to get more of those
Yanks have taken a 6-5 lead in their game with the Mets…
Perhaps Soriano will learn to stop showing pitchers up. This seems to be becoming a trend. I like it.
I’m normally against the unwritten rule of beaning hitters, but I would put a baseball into Soriano’s ear-hole ever chance I had if I was a pitcher.
McCann traded to Royals!
every*
Brad McCann that is…
man, i gonna miss smoltz after he hangs up his cleats. what a treat to watch.
Im also not an advocate of throwing at hitters, unless they are just asking for it, as Soriano appears to do. If a guy beats you, then so be it, you need to do better. However, if someone beats you, and then shows you up, they deserve to get drilled.
Andruw & Francoeur: Dumb and Dumber.
Time to fire Pendleton.
I’m not watching, but listening to teh game. Did Byrd K Andruw and Francouer with junk breaking stuff of the plate?
They are both really easy to pitch to of late, especially AJ. I notice dthe other day he ws missing/popping up hittable fastballs in teh MN series. I still think his mechanics are a mess.
andruw and frenchy continue their lust for the low and outside pitch… if only they could hit it
What does that make McCann, Jeremy? He’s hitting .230 since coming off the disabled list.
@37
injured
then he should be on the disabled list. He’s not helping the team with his average defense and his .230 hitting.
Anybody having trouble accessing MLBTV? These damn Fox games black out people even outside of the area.
Good swing Thor!
Yunel!
Rob, yup. It’s pissing me off. Why am I paying for games that I can’t watch?
Damn, Kelly’s hurt.
Shit.
I upgraded to MLB Premium and the connection flickers more. Anyone have THAT problem too?
He’s staying in though, fouled the first pitch off his right knee. It looks to be still bothering him.
KELLY! Still my hero!
There we go.
Both MLBTV and Extra Innings black out the Saturday Fox games. Doesn’t matter where you live.
MLB really cares about their fans, don’t they?
Oh well, I like hearing it on the radio sometimes. It’s sorta old fashioned…even if its on my iMac.
Gotta love getting some production from the bottom of the order.
EDGAR!
I have mlb premium also. No flickering here though.
It’s time for Chipper to launch one.
Keep it up, boys.
Yanks still spanking the Mets (10-5) after 7 innings. Glavine getting strafed today.
Damn it Chipper.
heh poor Glavine. Can’t pick up that next win.
The rare terrible AB from Chipper.
We’ve got the professional terrible AB’er coming up now.
Andruw is taking some horrible swings.
Andruw is about useless at the plate right now. Time for a drop in the order gain?
Damn it Andruw!!! At least we’re running Byrd’s pitch count up, and with the way Smoltz is throwing today, we might have enough.
Ugh.
andruw and chipper are both on my fantasy team, and they are KILLLING ME!!!!
Do you guys remember when Andruw Jones was good at baseball? It seems so long ago. I say we offer 5 years/$10 million.
Boy Andruw sucks so bad I say bench him! At least for a day so he has time to think about his approach.
wow Andruw… way to earn yourself that 6 year $100M contract that Boras is trying to get you
Bronx Update: Kyle Farnsworth still sucks.
3 batters, 3 line drives. Luckily, one of ’em got caught. 10-6 now.
c’mon smoltzy givem the ol’ peppa!
I jsut saw the Cubs – Pads fight. It was funny seeing 5’8″ Giles running between Young who is 6′ 10″ and Lee who’s like 6’7″.
The Cubs should jsut take the filed with boxing gloves instead of baseball gloves.
Oh yeah, Alfonso Soriano is a jerk.
nice double play boys!
I love John Smoltz, but he always throws one too many sidearm pitches.
Shoulda went over the top.
he’s been throwing more from the side since his shoulder started acting up.
He used to do it every once in a while in the late 90’s, seemed he’d throw a couple, then the next one was always hit.
Nice start McCann!
Byrd is definitely hittable, time for another rally. Young should have hit Soriano, not lee. I like it though
Francoeur = useless
What a crap inning!
Does Smoltz look really bad?
No, our hitting did.
KELLY!!!!!!!!!!
just need a hit willie
What did Young say to Derek Lee? It looked like “sorry” to me.
WILLIE!!!!!!
He’s so fast.
way 2 b
Nice hit, Willie, but don’t slide into first! Jeez.
I hate our guys sliding into 1st
No reason to slide into first.
@ 82
That “sorry” was followed by “your team sucks so bad.”
In a perfect world, Dustin.
EDGAR!!!!!!
Either my audio is on a slight delay or Dustin is a baseball prophet.
lol, I’m prolly the only one watching on Fox.
Way to keep it goin Chipper!
Druw, do something, quit being useless. Ill still take Byrd as a 4th starter
Druw, you useless hack.
give that man a hat
bench Andruw
see Andruw thats what you do, its called make contact. Thanks for the error by the way
Terry Pendleton and Roger McDowell need a talking to.
You can’t blame Andruw on Pendleton.
What’s the BIG HERO hitting now? Like .211?
Hey guys, we should be careful. Scott Boras might come onto Braves Journal and LIE to us to death.
should be below the Mendoza by the break. I wouldnt give this man $10mil per year right now
We keep hearing about Pendleton working with Andruw, but fair enough, Stu.
csg…if he keeps this up, not even the Yankees or Red Sox would even be dumb enough to give this hack $10 mill.
There is one reason to dive into first (to avoid a tag) but I doubt that’s what Willie was doing?
Assuming Andruw continues to falter throughout the year, EVEN if we can get him cheap, do we sign him?
yes
Fox keeps showing Bonds’ at bats in Boston.
That’s the gayest thng…ever.
I’m starting to think he’s past his prime (as opposed to just a bad season). He used to look so graceful offensively and defensively. Now everything looks abrupt and painful.
Mets lose 11-8, we dont resign him at this pace for more than $8-10 for 4 years
If Fox doesn’t want to show the Braves-Indians game, why are they pretending to?
I blame Pendleton. The inconsistency of almost our entire lineup has got to be blamed on someone.
Hopefully to piss off all the Astros fans down here.
Is Smoltz looking any more comfortable?
Just to annoy Alex, I’ll note that Tiger Woods is now in a tie for the lead at the Open.
ouch!
I though that one was out, I feel bad for Thor.
looks like thor should’ve used the 3 wood
Mac…start a separate Golf thread if you feel the need to talk about it. But if a Golf discussion breaks out in here, I won’t stick around for that. I am here, happily to talk Braves/Indians.
As for Druw, not worth the $ and Pendleton should not be hitting coach in 2008.
New poll.
Glad I’m not the minority there.
16 out of 16 gir. amazing.
We keep hearing about Pendleton working with Andruw, but fair enough, Stu.
No, we keep hearing how frustrated Pendleton is that Andruw won’t listen to anything he tells him. Pendleton may not be a very good hitting coach (I tend to think of him as mediocre—nothing special, but nothing detrimental), but the Andruw debacle is on Andruw.
And I love Tiger Woods. One of my all-time favorite sports figures. Kinda for the same reason I loved A-Rod before discovering that he’s a bit of a butt-munch—I just enjoy watching people utterly dominate their competition. I admire the transcendental athlete.
looks like there should have been an all of the above choice
david15–what does 16 out of 16 gir. mean?
Greens in regulation, Tiger has hit every green today
thought that was hit harder also, wind must be blowing in
Mac,
This is your fault. I now see more threads about Golf and it’s my least favorite thing–ever. I hate Golf. I am on BravesJournal to talk Braves. I don’t care about Tiger Woods or anyone who plays Golf. I respect that other people may like it, but to me, it’s like watching paint dry. It’s awful.
Mac, start a separate thread…PLEASE.
Also, Smoltz is quite obviously hurt. Lots of grimacing, lots of dropping the arm slot. Consider me very concerned about the rest of his season.
csg- I had a feeling that had to do with Golf. (I was hoping I was wrong).Please focus on the Braves game.
I am asking nicely.
Tell you what, anyone who wants to talk golf, use the nearly-empty recap thread from this morning.
haha, sorry Alex. My gir comment was about 90% to bait you.
Kali is up in the pen
Besides focusing on Braves discussion, we should focus on the fact that we are hopefully getting into position to actually win a road series from a good team for the first time since the last Mets series.
Alex,
Relax. Just scroll down, right on past, like I do when people talk about Virginia Tech or Auburn or Alabama.
What do we do if we lose Smoltz?
I’ll repeat my previous question: On the basis of what information can I judge the performance of a position coach? Is Davies’ career stall on McDowell, or Davies? If Andruw Jones’ hackathon is on Pendleton, isn’t Kelly Johnson’s plate discipline then to TP’s credit?
I’m officially worried too.
Smoltz you’re the man, 3 straight good starts. I think the last two against this offense are incredible, Davies better keep it going tomorrow
It is hard to say, which is why I retracted my blaming Pendleton for Andruw.
Golf is off limits? That’s ridiculous. This isn’t like politics or religion, subjects people frequently don’t talk about in polite company.
How is golf any different than Alex bringing up HIS SPURS or HIS DAWGS when those topics are relevant?
They’re your rules, Mac, and I’ll abide by them, but I want to point out how absurd it is.
Stu,
Mac has offered up the previous thread. That’s where to discuss your little white ball sport.
Also, Smoltz has been this team’s real MVP for how many years now?
I blame Andruw for Andruw, I blame Davies for Davies. This is their profession and they suck at it right now, only themselves to blame. I think Smoltz is done for the day and hopefully that shoulder will feel good tomorrow
guys relax, the Mets lost and we have a real good chance to hold on and win this one. All is good, except for Andruw
Stu-
I make one comment about my Spurs or Dawgs when I talk about them and that’s it. I am talking about a continuing thread of back n forth on Golf.
Fine Stu, I thought we were getting along, Mac has offered a separate thread, but go ahead and talk about Golf. I won’t be back until the damn US Open is over then.
EDGAR!!! 4 for 4!!!!!
Chuck G,
I wish I could answer. My vote went to Snitker because I can point to instances where he didn’t do his job well. I’m not saying our coaches aren’t bad, but I honestly don’t kow how to attribute anything, good or bad, to them.
Geez.
Why are we quibbling when we’re winning? And not 16 games out?
I don’t get the point of having a hitting coach. It seems like a waste of resources in this medium-sized white ball sport.
Now get ready for the golden sombrero.
Come on Andruw.
david15,
We could have another Woodward or Sturtze if we didn’t have to pay Pendleton.
I know this may sound bad, but I’m almost pulling for Andruw to strike out again. He needs to move from this 4 hole again
let’s go andruw .. make it 4 for 4! jackass.
csg… he’s in the 5 spot
unbelievable, value and avg keep falling and falling. Can Andruw’s salary actually go down from year to year. I thought the players union wouldnt allow it
Andruw , you suck!
But at least he didn’t strikeout.
even his popups look disgusting. blech!
I don’t know how much affect a hitting coach can have on a professional athlete. I think a good hitting coach should know the mechanics of the swing. I don’t think they can entirely change a hitters’ approach at the plate. Look at Andruw — he has gone through a plethora of highly regarded hitting coaches over his career, and he still will not lay off/not try to pull low and away pitches.
good point, however, he needs to be batting 8th, right before Frenchy
Very nice, productive AB, Andruw. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
cmon Yates
You’re right, Stu. Or the megascreen could have had a few extra square feet added. Either way the Braves would be getting more bang for the buck.
he should be hitting after McCann or Salty. McCann’s ugliest swing is better than Andruw’s moronic hacking.
nice play Yunel
Yunel’s got a mighty strong arm, doesn’t he..
nice Kali
Nice inning by Yates.
how is Beltran leading the OF All star votes
Nl – Soriano, Beltran, Griffey, Jones
AL – Ramirez, Ordonez, Suzuki, Guerrero
which team would you rather have?
Nice job Yates
Kali has been a godsend.
Andruw making the all-star team will just fuel Jayson Stark to reiterate his comments.
I’m not watching the game, so what’s the plan for the last two innings? Surely Wickman’s arm will fall off if we run him out there again. We miss Gonzalez on a day like today…
soriano is pitching the 8th and he just walked a runner
Funny, how quickly fortunes can turn in this goofy NL East.
I can’t watch the game (I’m listening to WGST on MLB.com—I’m getting Bonds vs Bosox, of course), so I can’t see Smoltz, but I hope he’s OK. If he came out after 6 IP & 86 pitches, he’s probably not very close to 100%. Fingers crossed there.
And all I can say about Andruw anymore is: let him catch the ball in CF, drop him to 6th in the lineup & hope he approaches his lifetime numbers the rest of the season. He’s in the twilight zone.
FWIW, Bonds just got chopped up by Okajima.
batter, whatever
What’s the official stance on Bonds here? I’ve never heard him discussed with this crowd.
Like most places, Bonds is about as popular as cholera.
Rob,
I can’t imagine anyone here in BravesJournal is rooting for Bonds to break Aaron’s record. I hope Bonds goes on the DL the rest of the year.
And forget about Aaron being a Brave, he’s a guy who did things the right way and wasn’t a loathsome human like Bonds.
I lived in CA until recently so the stance on Bonds was always a point of contention.
Why isn’t this guy in the rotation? Sheesh.
I try to do to Bonds and all the surrounding hype the same thing I’ll be doing to whatever career numbers he ends up with—ignore.
And if I were pitching it would be very hard for me to avoid taking shots at Bonds’ knees.
Maybe in Northern California, but in Southerna Calif., he’s about as popular as he is anywhere else.
There’s also of course the racial division on Bonds, but that shouldn’t be an issue…I would hate Bonds and like Aaron no matter what their backgrounds were.
It’s really interesting to see how amped everyone was with Maguire and Sosa going for 61 and how uninterested everyone (except ESPN and apparently FOX) is about Bonds.
They should make room for him by trading Byrd to us, Mac.
Agreed Alex. The race argument for Bonds is really absurd when you look at who he’s about to pass. It demeans the struggles Aaron went through when he was close to passing Ruth.
RENTY!!!!!!!!!!
nice!
Man, I miss Andy Marte.
WOW!!!
Uh oh, baseball prophet.
I’ve said some things about his defense… but how is Renteria not the all-star shortstop?
I miss Andy Marte as much as I miss Chris Reitsma.
Have a day, Edgar.
I’d rather have Edgar rest. The All-Star game becomes less and less appealing to me every year.
NYC + stolen bases, I believe, Mac.
Has anyone else noticed the Chunky Asian Batboy who is constantly staring over Bobby’s shoulder? Is this a Cleveland thing?
Cuz he doesn’t play in New York…
cuz he’s not
sorry…
I meant to say cuz he’s not “THE MOST EXCITING PLAYER IN THE MLB OMG!!!”
Reyes is as exciting to me as watching paperwork get filed.
I’d rather be in the tax office than watch any Met play.
I disagree, David. Reyes is a lot of fun to watch on the bases (against other teams of course). I don’t think we have anyone capable of stealing third like he can.
that’s a ball game.
good win, lets hope Davies can keep us going tomorrow
Renty HR in the top of the 9th = No Wickman = No near heart attacks for me
Last time I checked, the fans voted for the all-star team & the vast majority of them don’t live in New York.
And, as much as I detest the Mets, I gotta say that Reyes is having a terrific season.
Yeah, Reyes is just as deserving as Edgar. It’s a wash offensively. It’s not a wash defensively.
And Hanley Ramirez isn’t half bad either.
Ballgame! That whole Andruw situation still ruined my day, however. If we could only get him back on track.