Of course, these particular Pirates haven’t been cool since 1992.
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Of course, these particular Pirates haven’t been cool since 1992.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Anyone having issues with MLB.TV? I can’t get any pictures, and I’m wondering if it’s my end or what….
I got the local blackout message on both the home and away stations for the first two Marlins’ games. I guess i should be happy about that.
New Yankee Stadium plays like a bandbox. The ball is flying out of that park.
From the previous thread re Marlin player development:
The other thing to remember is that the Marlins have absolutely no pressure. No one expects them to win so they can play much more relaxed than other teams. The Braves, on the other hand, are still carrying the ghosts of the 14 straight division championships even though they don’t have the talent of those teams. It has seemed to me over the last few years that the Braves always play not to lose and I wonder if that’s because the younger players in particular feel pressure to live up to the past teams.
Another point in the Marlins’ favor, although it wasn’t an issue in this series of course, is that Dolphins’ Stadium is a very difficult place for visitors, from the odd (now) configuration of the field to the almost empty stands; I think the Marlins have a bizaare home field advantage.
Harkening back to player development and procurement with the Marlins (and as compared to the Braves) from the previous thread, I may have missed somebody else linking it, but The Hardball Times rated minor league organization talent based on “value” (estimated ML win shares) over expected arb costs and the Braves were #2.
First was the A’s, 3rd was the Rangers.
Stephen A. Smith is leaving ESPN!!!
This is fantastic news. In my opinion, Smith is all style and no substance, and the style is such contrived, sub-Stu Scott pap that it’s basically unreadable for me. I don’t know why he’s going, but I’m glad he’ll be gone.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT NEWS! HAVE SOME CHEEZ DOODLES!!
So I’m thinking 10-12 games under .500 for the ’09 Braves. Any takers?
How does a player play not to lose?
Mac,
You follow Bama Baseball at all? Headed over to Hawkins Field this evening to watch our squads square off. Beautiful day up here in Nashville.
How to play not to lose:
See, Michigan Football 1995-2008
#8 – I wont take that. this team is better than that
Johnson
Infante
Diaz
McCann
Francoeur
Prado
Kotchman
Schafer
Jurrjens
Between this and Maholm’s 1.32 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP, I’m guessing one run through seven innings for the Braves.
Need a big game from Jair. (So does my fantasy team.)
I usually only catch up with the college baseball team when it gets late in the season. Of course, right now, everyone here is A-Day crazy.
It’s time.
I swear. I really can’t stand Larry Jones and all of his injuries sometimes. Such a delicate athlete. I don’t understand.
sheesh
That was more than a little disapointing
Bases loaded and nobody out…
zero runs.
Here we go again.
those outside strikes on Maholm’s breaking ball are beastly. I feel sorry for left handers, and we are loaded with them.
It’s sad but after Kotchman flied out I was almost certain we would not score…
Braves must be leading the majors in triples surrendered…
so much bunting
@17: I know this might sound funny, but Chipper’s really not that delicate. Sure, he’s gonna miss his short stretches here and there, and maybe spend a month on the DL sometimes, but he’s never missed more than 53 games in a season, and that came after 9 straight years where he basically started every game.
He’s no Ripken, but its not like we’re talking about Mike Hampton or Reds-era Ken Griffey Jr. here.
Who is the announcer that’s calling the game for radio with Don Sutton? I like him.
If it is a horrible hitter, I could at least understand the rationale behind bunting, but Kelly has probably been the best hitter on the team this year.
Why would you have HIM bunt?
I’ll never understanding having a professional hitter who is capable of drilling a baseball 400+ feet plop a bunt two feet out in front of home plate. After that happened, I knew there would be no scoring.
WTF. “Rocky Top” is playing over the Pirates PA system. Are they trying to give me a reason to not like them?
I’ve got to go. I will probably wind up recapping this latest atrocity in the morning.
Frenchy now batting .342 on the season. Almost entirely singles, but still…beats .242
Um, Kelly Johnson had Tommy John surgery. That’s probably something the home announcers should know.
I haven’t heard Joe Simpson on a broadcast for a few years (got mlb.tv this month), but is his fixation on hitters “ambushing” pitchers something new this year? Anyone else notice this? Its driving me nuts. Arrrr….
Uhh….what in the world did Maholm just do? That’s like a backyard baseball quick pitch move
It’s a balk.
It’s one of the more odd balks I’ve ever seen.
Will they black that game out tomorrow or is it before the cutoff time?
My new punk band is called The Odd Balks.
JJ deserves better than this.
JJ closing in on 120 pitches. Yikes.
@32
Unfortunately, no. One his more frequent uses of that phrase is when he frequently presents his plan to move Kelly Johnson towards the lower part of the lineup so he can “wait in the weeds” and “ambush the opposing team”. My opinion of Joe Simpson declines ever further.
Zero runs against the Pirates. Wow.
I have a classmate from Pittsburgh who has a shirt that proudly states: “Pittsburgh Pirates: Rebuilding Since 1992”
Do something GOOD Prado.
Fail.
I don’t know if I can cope with a Pirates shutout. I might need to take tomorrow off.
Francoeur to date: 40 PA, 1 BB
Wasn’t the walk in the first game?
He’s too busy hitting .350 to take walks.
If this were a save situation Gonzalez would have totally not given up that run.
Can we have a redo on the LaRoche/Gonzalez trade?
well, we’re being out hit, out pitched, and out fielded . . . other than that, things aren’t so bad.
Fire Pendleton.
{Drastic overreaction}
18 LOB
Joe just called Maholm, Duke and Snell top-notch pitchers.
Both the Braves and my fantasy team—thanks to Brad Penny—needed about 15 shutout innings from Jair tonight. He really let me down.
48–if only we could. Not only has it turned out badly but it set the stage for the bad trade for Texeira.
I’ve only been saying to COMPLETELY blow this crappy team up for years. Keep McCain, Jurrjens, Escobar, Hanson and START OVER.
Chief Negahoma, always endearing.
But accurate. If you all are waiting on THIS team to win anything of substance you will be waiting forever.
If we don’t ask Chipper if he will accept a trade at the break we are HUGE fools.
Went to the new Yankee Stadium today. For local fans, it couldn’t have ended any better—Jeter’s winning homer in the bottom of the 8th, Rivera’s Metallica entrance in the 9th. Lotsa folks taking a 3-day weekend. Perfect weather.
The place is spectacular. It’s massive, but accessible. Of course, it’s like a high-end Yankee baseball mall, with scads of opportunities to drop tons of cash. Hard to expect any different. Lotsa bathrooms, easy to get in and out of the place. Personally, I love the elevators. We went from the top of the stadium to River Avenue in about 3 minutes.
Expensive, yes. Last year’s $9.50 Beck’s 16 oz. beer is now $11. (What is this? Ibiza?) Hamburger went from $6 to $7.50. I didn’t drive to the game, but I was told that parking went from $17 to $20.
The sightlines are mostly good, but there are definitely a few places that aren’t so good. My seats—upstairs down the rightfield line—are fine. You can see the entire field. I’m close to a men’s room & an imported beer stand. I’m in the very middle of a row with my 2 pals, which kinda sucks, but what do you want for $20 a game?
The most noticeable part of the game was the huge number of empty seats behind home plate, between the bases, first and second level. We’re talking seats that cost between $300 & $2,500. Maybe 20% full, packed every place else. Helluva time to open a new, overpriced stadium, huh?
I was doing a walk around to all levels, taking it in as the game began. I sidled up to the back of the field level seats to watch a half-inning & began talking to a cop, who was working the game.
“Wow, can you believe the empty seats? I guess this team finally outpriced itself.” And he said, “Yeah, I know—the Yankees are not happy about it.”
And I said, “Neither are we.”
So when you’re peeking in on Yanks games this year, check out the masses of empties behind home. It’s kinda amazing.
Thanks for the info ububba. It’s nice to have an unbiased baseball fans take on the place.
If the Braves are forced to juggling roster spots and re-tooling the lineup just 10 games in, well then this is going to be a long, painful summer.
And is it me or did Wren simply gloss over the bullpen needs in the offseason? Reminds me of when the brass thought Reitsma was the answer.
Chief,
You are always saying “blow this team up.” That’s an utterly meaningless statement. How many teams actually do that other than the Marlins? You act as if all Wren has to do is post a flyer for all the other teams’ best prospects and they will come running to take Blaine Boyer off their hands. All you do is come on this site to bait people that disagree with you.
@9,
The way a team plays not to lose is to be so afraid of making mistakes that they don’t make positive plays.
Obvious observation for the day:
We cannot operate offensively without Chipper @ 100%.
Pathetic.
BTW, Francoeur’s success is completely related to his batting average.
.350/366/550
Marc,
That’s funny that you’re talking about “playing not to lose”. We’re playing this school in Atlanta tonight, and I had just had a big hit at the plate the previous inning. So I’m standing in left field, riding high thinking about the hit, and, literally without thinking, a ball gets roped in the gap, I make a diving catch legitimately robbing a guy of a double. I realized after the play that I really wasn’t processing all that was going on. Instincts from taking fungo after fungo kicked in.
Normally, and this may be why I’m mentally inadequate to play at a big school, but I tend to “play not to lose”. I’m worried I’m not gonna make a strong throw, or I’m going to misjudge a fly ball, or boot a grounder, and instead of just playing and making a positive play like I did tonight, I’m worried about that crap.
Now, I think that even your worst major league player is more mentally prepared to play baseball than I am, but I wonder if MLB players are thinking about that crap the way I do sometimes.
Just a thought…
Someone’s going to have to come up with a nickname for our Angels’ rejects.
I fail to see how a .200 isolated power is tied up in his batting average. Frenchy’s raking right now, and a .200 isolated power is nothing to sneeze at. Now, his OBP is tied up almost totally in his batting average, but as long as he’s hitting .350 and rocking a .910 OPS, I couldn’t care less how many times he walks. Of course, when his BABIP inevitably dips a bit, then I won’t be saying the same thing.
That value is almost completely in those 2 triples he hit. One of them was a fluke.
Well, duh, braves14. He’s had 37 ABs, and he’s had one double, two triples, and a homer. Yep, that’s about right. Now, he’s probably not going to keep up the pace of 20 something triples, but I’m pretty sure he’s also going to up his pace of 16 homers either. The fact of the matter is that he’s raking right now, and if we’re a fan, we should be cheering on a Braves player who’s performing well right now.
Sometimes it seems like people don’t want Francoeur to succeed, which is pretty ridiculous.
One-game winning streak, please…
im with you chief…
blow up the silly team…
lowe, however, is a solid innings eater and javy v i like simply because he’s got filthy stuff when he’s on
keep all those mentioned and schafer and our young ones…
we’ll be competitive in 2011-2018
Boyer DFA’d
#71 – stupid move
#63 – Frenchy is the least of our worries right now. There arent too many Braves doing there jobs at the moment, lets turn our focus towards one of them
Recap up.