Let’s get off to a good start this time.
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Let’s get off to a good start this time.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Best of luck to Rob’s family, and the Braves tonight.
Go Braves!
To Mac and the regular posters: thanks for getting me through another viciously boring off-season. Go Braves.
Im calling it 7-3 Braves. Things that haunted us last year, pick us up this year. Bullpen, and Frenchy!
sucks I have to work tonight. At least I’ll get an opportunity to test out how well Gameday Audio works on the iphone.
My calls for the Braves tonight:
Derek Lowe: 7.2IP, 2ER
MVP; Chipper Jones: 2H, 1BB, 1HR
LVP; Casey Kotchman: 0H, 0BB
I’m looking forward to another season at Braves Journal. This is my third season here, and it’s great to have a collective group who can celebrate and suffer together.
Cheers.
I can’t wait for this game, now 2009 really means something… How about a new poll, it’s been a while!
Okay, new poll.
Also, let’s not have a 5-22 June. Just covering all the bases…
Oh, we won’t have a 5-22 June. That’s just nuts.
Best Wishes to Rob and his family, and Go Braves. I thought this night would never come.
Rob keep us posted, praying for you and your family. Hoping for the best!
always good to see George Harrison playing guitar and singing while wearing a live bear………Go Braves
I’m jacked for real baseball. Got a good feeling about this season.
Prayers are with your Dad, Rob. And thanks for all the work that you do Mac.
Go Bravos
Looking forward to another great season with the BJ folks! With only 26 games on the schedule, the Braves will not have a 5-22 June unless there’s a makeup game. So at least we have that going for us … which is nice.
Hey guys,
Thanks for the thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement. My dad is at Capital Regional Hospital in Tallahassee, in stable condition in the ICU. It looks like he has severe blockage in several arteries, and he needs open heart surgery. He’s in good spirits, and so am I right now. Once again, thanks for everything.
Go Braves!
Signing on for the new season.
I just plopped myself on the couch and cracked a brew…ready to watch some Braves in glorious high definition.
Though I may not be optimistic about our chances this year, I’m farkin amped for a new year of Braves baseball. I’m also pumped to have something to talk about and photoshop around here again whether it be good or bad. The offseason grab-assery was wearing thin.
LET’S GO BRAVES!
I was actually pretty close, but you’re right, we would never have a 5-22 record in June. It was 6-21. Which is better, I guess.
Good to hear y’all are doing better, Rob.
Rob……….i’m about 40 miles away from there……………anything i can do?
Lineup:
K. Johnson
Y. Escobar
C. Jones
B. McCann
G. Anderson
J. Francoeur
C. Kotchman
J. Schafer
D. Lowe
Did I just hear Joe Morgan make a reference to OPS?!?
Somebody signed the Hampster. Wow
Happy opening day everybody. Glad to be back.
This year’s new drinking game, every time Karl Ravech says ‘hall of famer Dave Winfield,’ take a drink. We get it Karl, he’s in the Hall of Fame, you don’t have to mention it every single time.
Rob, best wishes to your father, you and your family.
Go Braves go. It would make my entire to beat the stupid Phillies tonight. That fan base needs some cold water doused on it.
A thread i’ve been eagerly awaiting… let’s go braves
ooo weee oooo
THE HELL?!?!?
you know…part of the “dont let me down” chorus
opening day fervor
ESPN2 because of Basketball. Sad.
I was going to say… football is one thing, women’s basketball is another. Bud, you’re allowed to complain about this sort of crap.
Football would be understandable, even Mens tournament action.
Anyway, great to see the first game of the year and be on an excellent HD feed.
No surprises in Bobby’s lineup.
Glad to hear things are stable, Rob.
Play Ball!
Go Braves!!!
Why are we wearing our BP uniforms?
(I Know, I Know, i just dislike them)
WOW!
MCCANN
WHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Gosh, I wonder what would happen if we had some power hitters.
Pimpbot16 in mid season form.
Good omen home run – woo hoo!
8)
nice
Hey, look, it’s our offense. Hello offense!
Perhaps we should wrap the pair of them in thick foam whenever they’re not actually on the field.
I thought Utley went yard there, but strangely enough, he didn’t… 😯
Here’s to many more innings like that one!
That’s what I’m talking about….
I still think our offense has been underrated all spring training.
heh, i like frenchy’s new prison bitch look. it really sets the tone.
FRENCHY!
When the outfield proves it can be league average, I’ll become a believer in the offense. Until then, I’m excited for Chipper and McCann’s seasons.
CRITICS SILENCED!
I don’t believe what I just saw.
what the hell is going on here?
Frenchy?!?!?!?
WTF?! Francouer!?!?
Francoeur MVP!
WHOA!!!!!!!
hmm, who’d a thunk?
Holy Schnikeys. Still a first pitch, but hey…I’ll take it for tonight.
Seriously, I’m a little confused. What the f is going on?
Am I drunk or something?
uuuhhhhh…silinzd?
Wow, should I say this early that I’m glad I drafted Jeff Francoeur?
No way…
There you go: that’s all I wanted. There you go.
Rick Reilly is starting the Francoeur redemption column now.
What in the hell?
Paging Gadfly…
If that’s the Frenchy that shows up this year, I think the Braves are going to do very well.
Frenchy!
Hopefully not a total fluke and a sign of non horrible things to come
Jordan!
Why on earth would any pitcher start Francoeur off with a fastball? I’d be shaking that off till my head detached.
Ahaha, best debut possible.
good god
This is fun.
Me likey!!!!!! WOW.
SCHAFER
boom goes the dynamite!
Hell yes.
WOW!
Atta kid Schaefer!
Mac, what are the chances we can do this 161 more times?
I love baseball.
Home Run in 1st Major League At Bat – The Baseball Cube
GO HGH!!!
Seriously, did someone slip some LSD in my drink?
That’s a good rookie. I can’t wait ’til he’s at the head of the lineup.
watching on ESPN360.com……not bad but I think its a little behind the live feed.
Welcome to the big leagues Jordan
For a lineup with no power, I like what I see.
It’s good to have baseball back.
Ummm… I’ll take it?
#87
No kidding?!?!?!
meyers is really throw’n rocks tonight
WHAT?!!?
Is that what “good baseball” looks like?
you’re out of your league, donnie.
I’m glad that Bad Brett Myers showed up.
it’s element brah….element.
Whoo! I’m throwin rocks tonight! Mark it, dude.
From what I can tell, the last player to hit a homer in his first career AB on opening day was Will Clark in 1986.
It’s like Myers skipped last season’s second half and just reverted back to last year’s first half horror-show.
boom. outa here.
Mr. John Gaines, thank you.
he’s got issues man
I hope his wife isn’t home tonight (cringe). Too soon?
I guess you throw sliders to Ryan Howard. Someone might want to remember that so he doesn’t kill our pitchers like he did last season
I could get used to this…
8)
i’m liking the 60 million dollar man
Mac…the last one was actually Kaz Matsui against us five years ago I believe. He was like the first batter of that season…
Lowe mowin em down
Howie Long may not be a complete douche, but he plays one on TV.
Yeah, Matsui hit the first pitch of the season from Ortiz out to CF.
There’s the Ryan Howard I know. Here’s to another 200 Ks while being continuously praised by the talking heads at ESPN!
I thought that one was gone.
can you feel the brotherly love?
I thought it got out?
Man, we are mollestering Myers right now.
Who’s ready for J.A. Happ(enstance)?
I mean, we’re beating up on Myers like he does his wife.
8)
#102
Sady but true – but funny.
blast! I didn’t notice someone else had already taken the waiting “Myers-beats-his-wife” joke.
My apologies. If there’s anything I hate, it’s a mencia.
😳
my memory might be playing tricks on me again, but didn’t Jermaine Dye homer in his first AB for the Braves?
Yes, Dye did. Confirmed at Talking Chop.
Round three:
“but didn’t Jermaine Dye homer in his first AB for the Braves?”
I dunno, but Brett Myers battered in his first home for the Phils.
Hey-oh!
nice communication
Gold glover???
@121
😆
terrible. F-
Of course he then hits a double…
“When you’ve won a championship, you don’t have to talk as much.” – Joe Morgan. Is that what we’ve been missing, an abundance of people who talk a lot?
Other Braves to homer in their first AB:
Johnny Bates (a Beaneater)
Manager extraordinaire Chuck Tanner
Then you have Adam Wainright. Rusty Greer is on there too, he’s a “whatever happened to” guy for me.
How pissed do you think TP is gonna be if Frenchy actually does have a good year and Jaramillo gets all the credit for it ?
The Baseball Cube didn’t have the first guy to do it (also a Beaneater), Joe Harrington. The Beaneaters apparently had a monopoly on that sort of thing for baseball’s earlier years with 2 of the first 3.
Updated list at Wikipedia
So, Elijah Dukes hit a homer in his first AB on Opening Day last year.
Two years ago. Of course, he’s insane, but it still counts.
Lowe is making this look easy.
That really tall first baseman prospect we had hit a home run in his first at bat. It was that same season (possibly same game) where Giles set the franchise record for doubles in a season.
Ryan Howard = the shift at its finest
beer, baseball, and some bash brothers…feels good
It’s so nice to have a pitcher that makes me feel like there will not be blowouts when they pitch. Much less anxiety for the fan.
I’m watching the HD feed and Lowe looks like he’s computer generated on the screen. Like a star wars character or something.
Who’s the closer tonight?
An added bonus of watching DLowe pitch, he’s the anti-Trachsel. Anybody else remember when Sutton used to read recipes inbetween his pitches?
I definitely won’t miss facing Lowe.
Good start so far.
Logan Schafer??
Logan Schafer …….
LOGAN Schafer?
Jon Miller needs to lay off the booze.
Who is Logan Schafer?
that was shifty
That was not a strike.
that was “two thingsism”
Charles Jones at 3B for the Braves…Grady Anderson playing LF…Ben McCann at the plate…Diedre Lowe pitching
And I can’t believe you guys don’t know that “Logan” is the correct Caribbean pronunciation of “Jordan”.
Oh, and ESPN, if we cared, at all, about the women’s basketball game, we would be watching it, so shut the hell up.
LO-GAN SHA-FER! CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP
yeah! suck it ESPN!
Hey, the Phillies got an actual hit.
I don’t think there’s any excuse for a broadcast professional to mess up names like that, especially MORE THAN ONCE.
aghhhhhhh, make them stop
Does anyone care at all about the/a women’s basketball game? And remind me, which Amendment allowed them to play sports?
I don’t even know who is in their Final Four.
Also, ESPN if we cared about soccer scores, we would look them up, take the stupid scroll away. I also don’t need the box score of the last time Mich St played UNC. I’m here to watch the game, not the scroll. End rant.
i’ve got to get an AM radio. i can’t endure this call.
Who else almost had a stroke when they said Steve Phillips was joining them? Hands…okay, so everyone.
I say Lowe goes one more inning then turns it over to Soriano and Gonzo.
turn the sound off and put some music on……….. its the only defense for Joe….i dont have any problem watching a game without someone telling me what i’m seeing.
It’s just too bad that Boone Jordan didn’t make the opening day roster.
I am afraid this game is going to get dangerously close at the end unless we add some runs soon…
#157
Yes – and her name is Christine Brennan of USA Today. “Debbie Downer”, errrrrr, I mean ‘Christine Brennan’ wrote a column trying to make Obama feel guilt for only doing a men’s bracket on ESPN.
Christine, NOBODY DOES A WOMEN’S BRACKET AND NOBODY CARES.
We’ve been in Hibernation Mode since the 2nd inning.
I’d like to see Lowe out pitching in the 7th.
Sends a great message for the season that we now have durable starters who won’t wear out our bullpen.
My mother was like, “The women have a Final Four?” That was priceless.
With tonight’s offensive production from the OF, it has equaled the entire OF production from last year.
That was a quick inning. Maybe he can go one more.
My wife is a pretty strong supporter of women’s issues, and she openly rolls her eyes at the women’s tournament.
ESPN is determined to shove it down our throats.
And by the way, can you imagine the scathing attack column from Brennan in the USA Today tomorrow if they had aired the opening night game on ESPN and the women’s final 4 on ESPN2?
I’ll laugh when the overnight ratings come out tomorrow and the Braves-Phillies on the Deuce still dropkicks the women’s tourney.
Hilarious.
I was almost sure that the Tim Lincecum commercial was for MasterCard, but alas, just more money spent preaching to the choir.
@165
Mark,
I’m with you. This is starting to look all to familiar.
Good to see Erye channeling his inner Mike Fetters tonight.
There is a certain irony to women shoving something down men’s throats. (cringes again)
I was trying to be nice and flip between the womens bball and the baseball, but after a few minutes, my mom was like, “Can we just watch the Braves, please?”
The White Sox snow delay game tomorrow:
When will Bud the genius ever learn not to schedule in cold weather/snow climates the first week or two of April?
#176
Ben, you’ve now made me laugh twice. Thanks!
Also, this game could be over fairly quickly.
there is no f’n way that was a strike
89 pitches. Lowe has to start the eighth.
Good call, braves14.
Complete game for Lowe?
97 pitches. I say let him start the ninth.
VERY excited to see our new #1 starter starting the 8th inning in Game 1. Wow, what a different that gives us all compared to 2008.
It’s just one game but what a different tone Lowe is helping set.
damn, Lowe is sick
97 pitches through 8. Does Bobby let him try for the shutout?
Derek Lowe, you had me at hello.
Is anyone else getting the “Pitcher’s Nightmare” commercial?
The braves haven’t had such a pitching performance in a while…
Tim Hudson was pretty nasty on Opening Day last year, but not quite like this.
Yeah, Alex R. @186, what a way to set the tone for the season. Hope it sticks.
So, is it Gonzo for the 9th?
Gonzo never does well in non-save situations…
lesson learned…think with your dipstick
Can someone explain to me the commercial with the Scottish sounding man, who looks like Jeff Daniels, in the plaid hat who keeps hitting people and saying “dipstick”?
It’s creepy.
I think that the commercials are actually getting worse. I wish the dipstick guy would attack Howie Long and then both of them go after the credit report scumbags.
D.Lowe was great. But, I still have butterflies for our bullpen.
Gonzo with the raging bull motion back.
Not a good start.
ugh…
Oh no.
C’mon Gonzo.
It’s not too late to get it together.
Moron Philly fan alert: holding their red 2008 flag upside on Nat’l TV. A classic.
And there goes Lowe’s shutout and now the game is getting scarier.
u’ve got to be kidding me
Wow. Everyone’s hitting Gonzo hard.
Gonzo has no command right now
He can’t keep the ball down. And overthrowing.
That was a strike.
pull him for god’s sake
No, only you Steve Phillips would think ‘I should have traded for another closer’ during the first game. Moron
And this is why we have the glossary entry on “Braves Save.”
I knew this was gonna happen…
If it gets to Victorino, Soriano will come in.
And you can’t realistically pull him because the other options are righties.
for the first time in forever the name Dan Kolb just entered my mind…
He HAS to get Howard.
Horrible against lefties
Gonzo’s last batter = Howard, no matter what.
…if it was up to me.
c’mun ump
What the hell was wrong with that pitch? shut up, Morgan.
YES!
Big K
Nice pitch Gonzo!
The velocity is there, it just looks like Gonzalez isn’t used to it yet.
sit on it potsie!!
This group of announcers is comically bad…
Oh, Ibanez is a lefty too. Last batter for Gonzo.
thank god they’re swinging!
Let’s pull the string here Gonzo.
BALLGAME
Done.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Braves save indeed.
“Braves save” #1 of 2009, I’ll take it!
I’d take a full year of that, easy.
Thank God.
guess i need to place that order for a pallet of pepto.
nice game for lowe.
nice win for the braves.
Joe Morgan either just loves the Phillies or really does hate the Braves.
Is anyone else listening to this jacka– GUSH about the Phils and NOT talk about the Braves?
Gee…thank you Steve Phillips for acknowledging us.
Whew…..
For once, we have quality pitching!
It’s no different than when the NYY, Mets or Red Sox are playing. Their opponents never get mentioned, win or lose.
Yeah Joe Morgan is so in love with the Phillies start the fire Joe morgan campaign up again. Yeah nice pitching by Lowe can’t believe he is 36
Alex, you may as well turn on the mute function whenever you hear the voice of Joe Morgan.
Wow… that was fun. Felt like a Braves game back in the mid 90s. Lowe was fantastic. Go Braves!
Oh and Joe Morgan is a moron.
Top story on Sportscenter…
Shoot, I had Oklahoma winning it all in my office pool.
But, I did pick Stanford for my pool at the gym. Still alive, there.
Well, another year, and another tragic braves save attempt!
But it was good to see Chipper hit, good defense for the most part, sans the johnson/francouer snafu on the foul pop, and Lowe was lights out!
Gonzo, my good lord!
Right now, we are the best team in baseball, lets enjoy it!
Funny thing about the K-zone is that it showed one pitch in each of those 9th inning at bats were strikes when they were called balls! And then you have Joe Morgan saying Gonzalez has throw few strikes in the inning. Ugh…
Perfect start to the season, sans the last-inning shakiness, and even then you can tell Gonzo is working his way back into it.
You’d have to think that this goes down as one of those “statement of intent” games. Now to see if the boys can follow up on it.
Joe Morgan is too old to learn new technology.
Gonzo will be fine as long as he stays out of non-save games.
Recap is up!
Yeah, dirt.
Seems like you usually see a couple of those pitches just off the plate called strikes. I recall at least 3 strikes on the black or better that weren’t called. Gonzo was definitely getting squeezed, not that he didn’t earn it.