I have no idea whether you’re mocking me or being serious, Smitty…
I wouldn’t say I’m panicking, but if Smoltz goes down for an extended period of time, I don’t like our chances. As I’ve mentioned, I’m also very concerned that we’ve started out so slowly in what was supposed to be one of the easiest portions of our schedule. No, we’re not that far out of it, but the Mets and Phillies haven’t been losing most of their games to the Pirates, Nats, and Marlins, either. Seems like it’ll be tough to catch up when those teams are going through the easy patches in their respective schedules.
If you guys hurry over to the stadium, you might be able to start against Cincy this weekend. It’s not like we have actual pitchers left in the rotation.
The reason for the two off days actually isn’t crazy. Tonight’s game was not an off day in the original schedule – tonight’s game was Opening Night.
They lopped this game off of this trip to make the one-game series for Opening Night. Thursday was always a scheduled off day, but tonight was supposed to be the first of a 3-game series in Washington, until about Jan. 15 when tonight’s game was moved to March 30. FYI.
If we lose Smoltz for any length of time, we better hope that JoJo’s rejuvenation in AAA is for real. To be honest, I’m not hopeful, but he’s definitely improved.
IMO, the last two games are the only ones where injuries have had a significant negative impact. Our bullpen has been pretty good since the loss of Moylan and Soriano, and Bennett has subbed for Glavine fairly well. This is encouraging on both counts, but I don’t expect it to hold up if Moylan and Soriano stay out for a while and Smoltz/ Hudson/ or Glavine are out for a little while also.
do they think that Barry Zito will actually be better out of the pen?? who would you rather have come in with the bases loaded 2 outs and your up by 1, Ohman or Zito? at least Ohman doesnt cost you $18 mil or whatever
Pretty shocking. I mean, all the Hawks do is shoot jumpers & score in transition, almost no game down low.
They don’t play great defense & some of their shot selection is ridiculous. But everything went in tonight.
It’s been a long, long time since they had any playoff glory, but good for them. I went to a lot of playoff games in the ’80s & I went to Game 6 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semis, Hawks/Celtics.
Similar circumstances. Hawks got killed the first 2 games in Boston, won the next 2 at The Omni, somehow shocked the Celts in Game 5 at the Garden—ironically, Doc Rivers was out of his mind that night.
Of course, they lost by 2 in Game 6—if I ever run into Mike Fratello I’m going to ask him why Cliff Levingston was in the game for that last possession—and then lost again by 2 when Bird & Dominique had that memorable Game 7 shootout.
ububba, the anointing of Game 7 in 1988 as an official Classic Game (deservedly so) has obscured the fact that Game 6 was almost as good. The Levingston brick is seared into my memory.
This is the first time since those days when I was this excited about the Hawks. Sure, they were good during the Mookie/Smitty/Mutombo years, but the presence of Jordan tended to dampen one’s spirits.
I don’t even need to say that this team minus Marvin Williams plus Chris Paul would be contending for the Finals. But I will.
Good that the Braves have an off-day because tonight belongs to the Hawks.
Yeah, they didn’t play a good game at all. Only 16 assists and 17 turnovers while Josh Smith missed all six of his attempts in three pointers when he should not even try one…but the Hawks were 29-33 at the free throw line vs 10-18 for the Celtics. That’s the game right there…19 pts differences…
…sorry, this should be a Braves blog, but it’s too unbelievable not to talk about it…
sansho1, the way I think about it is…this team will not have Horford if they drafted Paul or Williams…Horford is a pretty special kid…of course, Paul and Williams are two of the best point guards in the league right now…
kc, you’re right. Paul would have elevated them immediately. Still, it galls me to give Billy Knight any credit — while I like this team (a playmaking point guard would help), as an organization we’ve completely backed into this rather surprising success….
I loved the Hubie Brown Hawks of the late ’70s (John Drew, Eddie Johnson, Dan Roundfield, Armond Hill, Tree Rollins), but even then I knew they could never get to the Finals. Too many battle-tested teams in the East—Bullets, Sixers, later the Celtics.
And the Dominique Era was great fun, but that was also the Magic/Bird/Pistons Era. Ultimately, that bunch was one of the great also-ran teams because, once Detroit traded Kelly Tripuka, the Pistons became scary & we had no chance with them.
The one year I actually thought the Hawks had a chance to win the title was ’94, when Jordan had “retired,” but I should’ve known better.
They were, after all, the Hawks. And only the Hawks trade their greatest player in history in the middle of the year. I still grumble whenever I see Danny Manning.
Braves left-hander Tom Glavine returns Tuesday to the exact same mound where he injured his hamstring on April 13. Glavine expressed concern over how well he’ll pitch against the Nationals after an extensive time off.
Anyone going to the game tonight, Marc, Alex, Cary, other DC-ites? Some of you have my email address, and those who don’t, I’m happy to give it out if you’re gonna be there.
An update to the list I posted yesterday of the best rotations of the nineties:
Reading your “All Time Best Whatever” article… Would the 1995 Braves rank as the best staff of the nineties if the season was prorated to 162 games?
Asked by: Mac Thomason
Answered: April 28, 2008
They would project as (essentially) the equal of the 1997 team, which was the best of the decade, but not better than them. The 1997 team had 92 Win Shares from five starting pitchers, the most in the decade. The 1995 team had 82, which would project to 92.25. Since Win Shares are stated in integers, that would make it a tie.
As insane as the US hockey victory over the USSR was—if we’re talking one game/event—I’ll take Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson for biggest upset.
Knowing what we know now about Tyson’s meltdown & the lack of prep he had for the fight, it doesn’t seem like as big a deal. But at the time, it seemed downright impossible. The odds were 42-1.
Despite the disparity of talent—the entire Soviet team could’ve played in the NHL, the US had maybe 5 guys—the US got 2 big breaks: home ice, of course, and the fact that Tikhonov, the Soviet coach, replaced Tretiak, his best goaltender, a colossal mistake.
And now that I understand the game better than I did when I was 16—I hardly knew icing from offsides—that’s an even more fascinating game to watch.
What an unbelievable game. All the TNT guys were marveling at how loud and crazy Philips was last night – I wish I had scrounged tickets. If anyone here in the Atlanta area has any they’d like to unload for game 6, I’m your guy.
From the Bradley article, on the Garnett-Pachulia face-to-face encounter:
Yes, one of the world’s best players got into it with one of the worst, thereby illustrating how frazzled this No. 1 seed has become.
Pachulia’s had an underwhelming last couple of seasons, but I don’t think he’s one of the worst players in the NBA, much less the world, as Bradley (almost certainly unintentionally) indicates here!
Wow, sorry to hear about your friend, Lando. Sounds like he had a good life going. Doesn’t seem fair that somebody like that has to go so young.
As far as upsets go, I was too young to really appreciate the US Hockey victory. I’ll take App (my alma mater) over Michigan. I still can’t believe that really happened.
I also can’t believe I turned down the offer to go to the game with my best friend because my wife’s cousin was getting married that day.
Schreiber isn’t “out the door”..they had to take him off the 40 man to put Lilly on.. He has three full days to clear waivers and should be back on Wed…
We’ll see I guess. The fact that the team was willing to expose him like this makes me think he’s hurt or something. Normally I wouldn’t get too worked up about losing a 26 year old “relief prospect” if it were for a legitimate roster crunch issue. Of course here it appears Frank is just being dumb again.
I’m not sure if exposing Schreiber is dumb or not. But if it is, I think it’s more than Frank being dumb. It looks like the Braves managers and scouts have either determined that he won’t make it in the majors or he’ll clear waivers.
Btw, does anyone know if Lillibridge will go back to the minors with Glavine coming off the DL. For his sake, I hope so.
What’s been so stunning to me is how easily the Celtics have lost their composure in this series? We were allowing them to bully us around for the first two games, and then when we finally decided we needed to stand up to them in Game 3, it was like nobody had ever done that to them before. The best team in the league should not be allowing the worst playoff team in the league (recordwise, anyway) to pull them into situations where they could get fined/suspended. Paul Pierce threatening Al Horford with a gang symbol (Oh, excuse me…I, of course, meant a symbol for Blood, Sweat and Tears) for which he was fined? KG nearly starting a brawl by elbowing Pachulia for no apparent reason for which he may yet be suspended? It’s just incredible how easy the Hawks (and the crowd, which was incredible…I was there for Game 3) were able to get under the Celtics’ skin.
I still don’t think we’ll be able to win a game in Boston, but now the Celtics will have a ton of pressure on them, as they will almost assuredly be lambasted by the local media all day today and tomorrow, and the Hawks will have added confidence. And that game pretty much becomes a must-win for the Celtics now, because if they don’t, Philips will be absolutely nutty for Game 6, and I’m really not sure the Celtics will be able to handle that environment. After all, they haven’t yet.
it would, but Bobby said Escobar still couldnt even hold a bat on Sunday. They said it would even take longer for him to be able to throw. I dont see him playing tonight and possibly at all in this two game series. If he can, the of course, Lillibridge needs to be sent back down
If schreiber is picked up, the team that takes him would have to put him in the show… Jo Jo will go up for smoltz (most likely)( wink* wink*)) and they’ll probably do something with a bullpen pitcher in that case. They won’t risk putting Esco back in too quicky..
timoreg, no not really. Espn and Fox Sports both have quotes of him telling friends that he’ll probably need time on the DL. Here is one of those from ESPN
Smoltz (shoulder) is likely to miss his next start and has reportedly told friends he may need to go on the DL, the team’s official web site reports. He flew back to Atlanta on Monday to be examined by team doctors on Tuesday.
Spin: Smoltz moved up his timetable to be examined by team doctors, which could be a sign the injury didn’t improve overnight.
So wrong, Mac.
I saw the song title, and, well…
Stu,
Are we in trouble, is it time to panic?
I know some people on here started panicing in November, but I choose to panic when Stu does.
I have no idea whether you’re mocking me or being serious, Smitty…
I wouldn’t say I’m panicking, but if Smoltz goes down for an extended period of time, I don’t like our chances. As I’ve mentioned, I’m also very concerned that we’ve started out so slowly in what was supposed to be one of the easiest portions of our schedule. No, we’re not that far out of it, but the Mets and Phillies haven’t been losing most of their games to the Pirates, Nats, and Marlins, either. Seems like it’ll be tough to catch up when those teams are going through the easy patches in their respective schedules.
Smoltz missing next start and meeting with team doctors tomorrow, lets hope for the best
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080428&content_id=2604903&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
I don’t go crazy about the schedule, but I do share the Smoltz concern. We’re not the same without him.
If you guys hurry over to the stadium, you might be able to start against Cincy this weekend. It’s not like we have actual pitchers left in the rotation.
Mac-
The reason for the two off days actually isn’t crazy. Tonight’s game was not an off day in the original schedule – tonight’s game was Opening Night.
They lopped this game off of this trip to make the one-game series for Opening Night. Thursday was always a scheduled off day, but tonight was supposed to be the first of a 3-game series in Washington, until about Jan. 15 when tonight’s game was moved to March 30. FYI.
If we lose Smoltz for any length of time, we better hope that JoJo’s rejuvenation in AAA is for real. To be honest, I’m not hopeful, but he’s definitely improved.
IMO, the last two games are the only ones where injuries have had a significant negative impact. Our bullpen has been pretty good since the loss of Moylan and Soriano, and Bennett has subbed for Glavine fairly well. This is encouraging on both counts, but I don’t expect it to hold up if Moylan and Soriano stay out for a while and Smoltz/ Hudson/ or Glavine are out for a little while also.
Somewhere today, Paul Lo Duca is a jealous man….
Not only does she like meth, she can’t sing very well.
I prefer the spoof by Chipper Jones’s good friend and 94.9 The Bull DJ Cletus T. Judd—yes, they are good friends.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dIqPSovwZeY
At least Roger Clemens is interesting… I guess?
Good try, Ben.
do they think that Barry Zito will actually be better out of the pen?? who would you rather have come in with the bases loaded 2 outs and your up by 1, Ohman or Zito? at least Ohman doesnt cost you $18 mil or whatever
We all know the Hawks have no chance, but you have got to like the effort they are putting into this series to make themselves look respectable.
Man, can you believe the Hawks?
No ububba, I can’t believe it…and let’s keep it that way because I like what I am seeing.
Unbelievable, for sure.
I just bought tickets for Game 6 – my first ever NBA game..
That’s miracle.
With our rotation imploding, we need all the off time we can get.
Pretty shocking. I mean, all the Hawks do is shoot jumpers & score in transition, almost no game down low.
They don’t play great defense & some of their shot selection is ridiculous. But everything went in tonight.
It’s been a long, long time since they had any playoff glory, but good for them. I went to a lot of playoff games in the ’80s & I went to Game 6 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semis, Hawks/Celtics.
Similar circumstances. Hawks got killed the first 2 games in Boston, won the next 2 at The Omni, somehow shocked the Celts in Game 5 at the Garden—ironically, Doc Rivers was out of his mind that night.
Of course, they lost by 2 in Game 6—if I ever run into Mike Fratello I’m going to ask him why Cliff Levingston was in the game for that last possession—and then lost again by 2 when Bird & Dominique had that memorable Game 7 shootout.
Hey, go Hawks…
The Celtics couldn’t hit anything in the 4th. That won’t last.
Fortunately, I hit refresh because ububba said everything I was going to say and more. Johnson was definitely out of his mind tonight.
Fly on you crazy birds…
ububba, the anointing of Game 7 in 1988 as an official Classic Game (deservedly so) has obscured the fact that Game 6 was almost as good. The Levingston brick is seared into my memory.
This is the first time since those days when I was this excited about the Hawks. Sure, they were good during the Mookie/Smitty/Mutombo years, but the presence of Jordan tended to dampen one’s spirits.
I don’t even need to say that this team minus Marvin Williams plus Chris Paul would be contending for the Finals. But I will.
Good that the Braves have an off-day because tonight belongs to the Hawks.
Yeah, they didn’t play a good game at all. Only 16 assists and 17 turnovers while Josh Smith missed all six of his attempts in three pointers when he should not even try one…but the Hawks were 29-33 at the free throw line vs 10-18 for the Celtics. That’s the game right there…19 pts differences…
…sorry, this should be a Braves blog, but it’s too unbelievable not to talk about it…
sansho1, the way I think about it is…this team will not have Horford if they drafted Paul or Williams…Horford is a pretty special kid…of course, Paul and Williams are two of the best point guards in the league right now…
kc, you’re right. Paul would have elevated them immediately. Still, it galls me to give Billy Knight any credit — while I like this team (a playmaking point guard would help), as an organization we’ve completely backed into this rather surprising success….
I loved the Hubie Brown Hawks of the late ’70s (John Drew, Eddie Johnson, Dan Roundfield, Armond Hill, Tree Rollins), but even then I knew they could never get to the Finals. Too many battle-tested teams in the East—Bullets, Sixers, later the Celtics.
And the Dominique Era was great fun, but that was also the Magic/Bird/Pistons Era. Ultimately, that bunch was one of the great also-ran teams because, once Detroit traded Kelly Tripuka, the Pistons became scary & we had no chance with them.
The one year I actually thought the Hawks had a chance to win the title was ’94, when Jordan had “retired,” but I should’ve known better.
They were, after all, the Hawks. And only the Hawks trade their greatest player in history in the middle of the year. I still grumble whenever I see Danny Manning.
Well if that doesn’t make you very confident…:
Braves left-hander Tom Glavine returns Tuesday to the exact same mound where he injured his hamstring on April 13. Glavine expressed concern over how well he’ll pitch against the Nationals after an extensive time off.
Wait a second, when did the Braves sign Scott Williamson? He is pitching for R-Braves right now…
kc,
You missed it over the weekend. “To add depth at AAA with Schreiber going out the door (for some, strange, as yet unknown, reason)”.
John Smoltz – once and future closer.
Anyone going to the game tonight, Marc, Alex, Cary, other DC-ites? Some of you have my email address, and those who don’t, I’m happy to give it out if you’re gonna be there.
An update to the list I posted yesterday of the best rotations of the nineties:
If they Hawks pull it out, is it the biggest upset ins sports history, or just NBA?
Just NBA, IMO.
1980 in Lake Placid is, for me, almost unbeatable.
If anyone cares to include them in their prayers, my best friend Hans Lipke, died from cancer complications yesterday morning.
He is survived by his wife Angel, sisters Elizabeth and Naomi, and his parents.
Sorry for your loss Landogarner.
Smitty,
Can your barber get us Oswalt?
That would be the biggest NBA upset, I think.
As insane as the US hockey victory over the USSR was—if we’re talking one game/event—I’ll take Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson for biggest upset.
Knowing what we know now about Tyson’s meltdown & the lack of prep he had for the fight, it doesn’t seem like as big a deal. But at the time, it seemed downright impossible. The odds were 42-1.
Despite the disparity of talent—the entire Soviet team could’ve played in the NHL, the US had maybe 5 guys—the US got 2 big breaks: home ice, of course, and the fact that Tikhonov, the Soviet coach, replaced Tretiak, his best goaltender, a colossal mistake.
And now that I understand the game better than I did when I was 16—I hardly knew icing from offsides—that’s an even more fascinating game to watch.
Thoughts are with you, Lando.
I will pray for you and Mr. Lipke’s family right now, Lando.
Count me as a Mark Bradley fan, especially when he writes about hoops, but I think he’s a little giddy with this column:
http://tinyurl.com/6pkrnb
What an unbelievable game. All the TNT guys were marveling at how loud and crazy Philips was last night – I wish I had scrounged tickets. If anyone here in the Atlanta area has any they’d like to unload for game 6, I’m your guy.
I’ll be keeping you and the Lipke family in my thoughts, Lando.
From the Bradley article, on the Garnett-Pachulia face-to-face encounter:
Pachulia’s had an underwhelming last couple of seasons, but I don’t think he’s one of the worst players in the NBA, much less the world, as Bradley (almost certainly unintentionally) indicates here!
Hyperbole, that’s all.
I appreciate the sentiment guys.
He was only 28 years old. Completed his dream of graduating from Harvard January, 06 and got married last summer. A little bitter sweet.
We weren’t expecting him to leave us this quickly. We thought he had months yet to live.
Wow, sorry to hear about your friend, Lando. Sounds like he had a good life going. Doesn’t seem fair that somebody like that has to go so young.
As far as upsets go, I was too young to really appreciate the US Hockey victory. I’ll take App (my alma mater) over Michigan. I still can’t believe that really happened.
I also can’t believe I turned down the offer to go to the game with my best friend because my wife’s cousin was getting married that day.
Schreiber isn’t “out the door”..they had to take him off the 40 man to put Lilly on.. He has three full days to clear waivers and should be back on Wed…
He’ll clear waivers? Seems like other teams would jump at the chance to sign take him off our hands.
We’ll see I guess. The fact that the team was willing to expose him like this makes me think he’s hurt or something. Normally I wouldn’t get too worked up about losing a 26 year old “relief prospect” if it were for a legitimate roster crunch issue. Of course here it appears Frank is just being dumb again.
I’m not sure if exposing Schreiber is dumb or not. But if it is, I think it’s more than Frank being dumb. It looks like the Braves managers and scouts have either determined that he won’t make it in the majors or he’ll clear waivers.
Btw, does anyone know if Lillibridge will go back to the minors with Glavine coming off the DL. For his sake, I hope so.
probably not if they decide to put Smoltz on the DL which Im sure will happen
I never thought Jurrjens would become so valuable so quickly.
What’s been so stunning to me is how easily the Celtics have lost their composure in this series? We were allowing them to bully us around for the first two games, and then when we finally decided we needed to stand up to them in Game 3, it was like nobody had ever done that to them before. The best team in the league should not be allowing the worst playoff team in the league (recordwise, anyway) to pull them into situations where they could get fined/suspended. Paul Pierce threatening Al Horford with a gang symbol (Oh, excuse me…I, of course, meant a symbol for Blood, Sweat and Tears) for which he was fined? KG nearly starting a brawl by elbowing Pachulia for no apparent reason for which he may yet be suspended? It’s just incredible how easy the Hawks (and the crowd, which was incredible…I was there for Game 3) were able to get under the Celtics’ skin.
I still don’t think we’ll be able to win a game in Boston, but now the Celtics will have a ton of pressure on them, as they will almost assuredly be lambasted by the local media all day today and tomorrow, and the Hawks will have added confidence. And that game pretty much becomes a must-win for the Celtics now, because if they don’t, Philips will be absolutely nutty for Game 6, and I’m really not sure the Celtics will be able to handle that environment. After all, they haven’t yet.
If Smoltz goes on the DL and Chipper and Esco are okay, wouldn’t it make more sense to free Phil Stockman again?
it would, but Bobby said Escobar still couldnt even hold a bat on Sunday. They said it would even take longer for him to be able to throw. I dont see him playing tonight and possibly at all in this two game series. If he can, the of course, Lillibridge needs to be sent back down
#55 csg, Do you have any more information on this?
If schreiber is picked up, the team that takes him would have to put him in the show… Jo Jo will go up for smoltz (most likely)( wink* wink*)) and they’ll probably do something with a bullpen pitcher in that case. They won’t risk putting Esco back in too quicky..
timoreg, no not really. Espn and Fox Sports both have quotes of him telling friends that he’ll probably need time on the DL. Here is one of those from ESPN
Smoltz (shoulder) is likely to miss his next start and has reportedly told friends he may need to go on the DL, the team’s official web site reports. He flew back to Atlanta on Monday to be examined by team doctors on Tuesday.
Spin: Smoltz moved up his timetable to be examined by team doctors, which could be a sign the injury didn’t improve overnight.