Actually, he’s a few months older, but we’re both 41. Bring back Herzog.
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Actually, he’s a few months older, but we’re both 41. Bring back Herzog.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Tina, in her prime, was something else.
It would be nice to beat St Louis even if LaRussa’s gone.
Uggla is quickly becoming my least-favorite Brave.
And I’ve only five years younger, and that’s just wrong. Managers should be, well, as old as Bobby Cox was when I first started rooting for the Braves. A hundred thousand or so.
And I’ve only five years younger, and that’s just wrong. Managers should be, well, as old as Bobby Cox was when I first started rooting for the Braves. A hundred thousand or so.
PTV is back on Dish and it’s a total glitchfest for me so far. I’ll take the run though.
Been a while since I’ve seen two runs on passed balls in one inning- the 2000 NLCS game by Ankiel, maybe?
I think Yadier Molina might be hung over.
And another one!
What is wrong with Peachtree TV? I have pay cable, and it’s worse than having DirecTV during a downpour!
I like runs.
Would have been nice to get just one hit with the bases loaded, but I’ll take the two passed balls.
Jon Jay can really hit.
VU guy vs. guy who hangs out at VU quite a bit in the offseason — VU guy wins.
Nice pitch, Minor. Looks like he is on tonight.
Fletcher coaching 1st?
Mac looks lost at the plate, but he has caught the ball so far.
@7 those were surely wild pitches.
Minor’s get the mojo working tonight.
Thanks for embarrassing me there, Mike.
Starting to not like Minor so much with all of the homerun balls
Don’t get rattled here.
But he is throwing the ball well tonight
Nice.
Two of the six came in Coors. I wouldn’t give up on him just yet.
This umpire is kind of horrible, but it’s worked to Minor’s advantage, so far, so I’m not too upset…
!!!!! Way to go McCann!!!!
McCann needed that.
Well done, Chipper! Love to see you still hustling.
And Chipper!!!!
I love to see the Cardinals fail.
Garcia’s got a weakness for doubles.
Why would you pitch to Pastornicky in that situation?
Bahahahahahaha
I prefer a rule-book vertical strike zone.
Good at bat, BMac.
Always good to score runs in the inning and not give any back.
Nice work Mikey.
Solo home runs won’t kill Minor tonight.
Rocking the Millwood — Ks and solo homers.
Coop- Minor’s trying real hard to find the LD50.
Good grief. Now that it’s only two of the eight that were in Coors, maybe it’s time to worry.
Well, they might.
So much for Minor throwing the ball well…unless we are talking about batting practice that is
Freaking hell, Minor. Get ti together.
Freaking hell, Minor. Get it together.
Again, don’t get rattled here.
Mikey’s now leading the NL in HR allowed. Troubling.
He may be doing it to spite you people who keep misspelling his name.
Wouldn’t signing Beltran have been awesome?
What? Mikey ain’t kosher anymore?
At the letters. That’s what I’m talking about.
He spells it weirdly. “Mikie.”
Although I don’t think he actually wants to be anything other than “Mike,” now. I’ve been trying to adjust.
I do not wanna see Holliday in this inning.
Well, crap.
Seems to not be fooling the good hitters now
Ah, cool, fair enough.
Ugh. Mike.
I’m guessing John Tudor on the Cards home ERA question.
How close are we to seeing Minor shipped to AAA and Jurrjens recalled?
F U Minor
Miner, we’re not going to spell your name correctly until you stop sucking.
Well, shit.
54—I dunno if it’s a problem with “fooling.” He just seems to be leaving everything up.
I’m freaking done with Minor. You’ve got to be kidding me.
He needs some re-seasoning at the level of his surname.
Braves cough up another big lead to the Cardinals.
Barf.
I know there are no easy outs in this line-up, but why the heck were they even pitching to Beltran with a base empty?
Fredi didn’t even pat him on the ass.
Count me as someone concerned about the Braves pitching.
Minor will be on the waiver wire tomorrow in my fantasy league.
@67, no kidding.
It’s all good, everyone. Durbin is in. Because, you know, the three long relievers in the bullpen are apparently dead.
Durbin?
Dirtbin better be in there for one freaking out.
Now you guys are a fan of the intentional walk?
@67 Thought the same thing
75—Believe it or not, Carlos Beltran calls for slightly different strategic treatment than John McDonald.
Durbin poison!
And for some reason Medlen isn’t good enough to start
Obviously we need Medlen to pitch from the bullpen in these games, where the less qualified starters have given up 4 run leads. We couldn’t do that if he started!
Minor’s last 3 starts: 16 IP, 21 ER.
Was there any doubt that Minor was going to blow that lead?
Bourne looks like his legs are bothering him.
And for some reason, Fredi does not use Diaz against LHP even when he has a 1.158 OPS against them.
@83 He ran into that wall very hard.
Nearly every pitcher could have a bad stretch over three starts and probably will. It’s especially unsurprising that Minor got hit hard by the Rockies and Cardinals.
So far, he’s not stranding many runners and has had bad luck on balls in play — but on the skills side, clearly he needs to work on limiting homers.
Why complain about Durbin? He isn’t the problem.
85—Twice. But it looked like he was running weirdly before either collision, I thought.
@87 Really? Man, I hope he’s not hurt.
Jason has made some nice running catches tonight.
Ugh..if Bourn is hurt we may get the return of Georgie Boy
DAN!!
Wow Uggs
Oh, Dan, you always bring me back.
Holy crap, Dan, you don’t have to hit it THAT hard.
I’d really like to see Medlen start striking people out.
It might be Gwinning time for Minor. Not looking good.
Chip Caray has no idea where any fly ball is going.
Dan is dangerous when he swings at strikes. He is dangerous to the Braves when he up there fishing.
Minor’s stuff is fine, but he cannot locate right now. He is also having a bit of tough luck schedule wise. It ain’t easy to follow up a start at Coors with a start at Busch.
I just hope some of the misfortune doesn’t make him gun shy.
Hey now, that’s what I’m talking about!
97 – just like his grandpa.
Y U MAD THO.
What a crappy call…that was a foot outside. The return of Eric Gregg
That’s some bull right there.
Fredi has to get out there quicker. That was a terrible call.
That was crappy.
Bobby would have been arrested.
Come on Martin.
I don’t think even Bobby could’ve saved Hinske on that one.
Great AB! You can do it Freddie!
Bobby would have been tossed 4 innings earlier
I’ve been watching a couple innings, and honestly have no idea where the strike zone is. It’s possible that the camera angle in this stadium is funny, but it’s also possible that the home plate umpire is bad at his job.
Good at bat by Freeman…made him throw strikes (whatever those are tonight)
YES!!!!!!
FINISH THEM DAN!
I would give up everyday Jonny for first pitch Jonny.
I’m tired of this Beltran guy.
Wow.
Beltran is Braves kryptonite. Must be what the Mets feel like.
What bizarro universe is this?
Wasn’t Beltran practically begging for a job a year or two ago?
I just hate the Cardinals
Balls.
Beltran…he’s so hot hot right now. Beltran…
O’Ventbrel fails to inspire very much confidence now.
That ball wasn’t even close.
Hard to swing at a pitch that would be called a ball by any respectable umpire.
This clown behind the plate is just awful….
I don’t have any hope for this game.
@128 Not at all
Hamilton has two more home runs.
Man, imagine .. what if Josh Hamilton got to face Mike Minor….
Good thing we didn’t use Diaz against the lefty, earlier, so that we now have him against the righty.
Fredi really knows his stuff. Diaz hits against a RH that he’s 0 for 6 against and Francisco hits against a LH.
This already feels like a loss.
With Livan warming up? Yeah, Ryan, but at least it won’t last much longer.
Everybody ready for Livan Time?
This felt like a loss back when we were winning.
Chip Caray is just stupid.
I was wondering earlier why Medlen and Martinez went only an inning each, now I know it’s because… actually, I still don’t really know why.
How many batters will Livan face before the game ends? More than one?
Beltran.
I’ve already conceded this game. Tipped the ol’ cap so to speak.
Of course.
Of course Livan can’t lose this one quickly. No, he must prolong the agony. Why the… did we sign this waste of protoplasm?
halfway right.
I’m just glad the Braves didn’t go after Beltran. In hindsight, that was just a great move .
You guys, I’m starting to think we might lose this one.
Fredi sticking to his flowchart, the imbecile.
Fredi is in rare form tonight.
Start tipping that cap now, Fredi.
149—Not that rare, unfortunately.
No, you’d never want your best reliever pitching to their best hitter in a tie game.
I hate losing to the Cardinals. Even without LaRussa managing them.
Wow. We didn’t lose. I’m almost disappointed.
Oh my goodness.
OH MY! HOOOOOOOOOOOPE!
Holy crap.
We got it in the bag, fellas.
What a game… The air is thick with stupid
Livan on the edge, Livan on a prayer, Livan to fight another day.
just teasing now.
Livan let die.
Great PA, Martin.
The Cardinals have quite the collection of facial hair in their pen.
Is there anything more annoying than Joe Simpson laughing at something that’s not remotely funny?
165—Chip Caray doing anything. Fredi Gonzalez doing anything.
@165- Maybe Chip saying stuff like “And how fitting that on the night the Cardinals retire number 10 we head to the 10th inning”?
Chip talking is the most annoying thing ever but that goes without saying.
166- Chip Caray responding to Fredi doing anything. And here I’d been feeling more charitable toward Fredi in the last few days.
Oh, and Livan Hernandez’ continued existence.
I actually kind of like Livan. It feels icky, but there it is.
Prediction: Furcal will be on third shortly, after he steals second and McCann throws it into center.
Livan’s getting hosed!
Plunk him and work to Craig, pls.
Just the matchup we wanted.
is he going to win it by getting the cycle?
What was wrong with that pitch?
Gameday makes Muchlinski look like a complete moron.
Muchlinski makes Muchlinski look like a complete moron.
SON OF A BITCH! WHERE WAS THAT?
Livan has thrown five strikes to Beltran, per Gameday.
I think Beltran just walked on the 1 and 4 pitch.
I honestly don’t know where the strike zone is. Nobody does.
“Downstairs” – Chip, on a ball that was above the belt
Terrible, terrible umpire.
strike 6 was borderline but I think it backed up over the plate too
Whereas the 1-1 pitch to Craig was, unlike the last three balls to Beltran, a foot from the zone.
Well there ya go…
Yep. Strike 2 to Craig was much more off the plate than several of the balls to Beltran.
And Craig swings at a pitch that was a strike to him and a ball to Beltran and pops it up to prolong our agony.
And Muchlinski is nearing the coveted “Jerry Meals” level of incompetence.
It’s so obvious, y’all. It’s the repentant ghost of Eric Gregg. Let’s not be surprised at anything.
Craig Kimbrel’s the only relief pitcher still available. Y’see, a clever manager always saves his best pitcher for the 12th inning or later.
JASON!!!!
J-Hey!!
JHEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heyward!
Kimbral time!
How about that?
Holy crap.
JHEY
“Release the Kimbrel!”
Hopefully Kimbrel isn’t tired from throwing in the pen for four innings.
Please don’t blow this, Craig.
Jack Wilson is a better hitter than Livan?
Let’s win this thing.
Didn’t Kimbrel blow three saves against the Cardinals last year?
“And he shall be Levon, and he shall be a good man”! Ok I know the spelling is wrong but maybe Elton John knew something!
We win. Let us never speak of this again.
Took this much effort to overcome Beltran…my goodness…I hate him more than I hate Livan now.
Sweet! Kimbrel gets a little retribution eight months later. I’ll certainly take it!
Yeah!
I could get used to scoring 9 runs all the time.
Kimbrel has 23 k’s in 13ip. That’s really good.
I bet Livan’s reading the above comments about him with a Livan-sized smirk on his face. He laughs in our foolish faces.
If you wanna see something discouraging, go look at MLBTR’s 2013 free agent SS. There is absolutely no one to pick up at the deadline.
It’s okay. The solution resides in our organization.
I actually agree with Stu: God help me, I’m actually developing a small affinity for Livan. I’m pretty sure I’d rather have him pitching in those situations than some AAA guy. Dare I say that might have been a good pickup?
So the AJC is now linking directly to Bleccchh-er Report from its homepage. Today’s article — Jurrjens must be traded immediately. Or, as he writes at the very end after eulogizing JJ’s Braves tenure, put back in the rotation.
Bold prediction #2: By the end of the season, Roy Oswalt is in our rotation.
Saw that. A whole lot of unsupported innuendo, retarded speculation and an almost sociopathic lack of empathy – then I looked at the author’s bio.
“My name is Kevin and I am born and raised in New Jersey. I have loved sports ever since I was a kid and have not stopped watching since. I am a 21-year-old college student majoring in journalism.”
friends don’t let friends read bleacherreport
Adam, I think it is possible.
Spike, you sir are correct.
So has Minor gone from one of our top 2 to the last in the rotation? 7HR’s in his last 16 innings. Most of those arent cheap ones either. I like Minor and think he’ll get it figured out, but another rough start and he may find his way back in Gwinnett with JJ. Livan and Medlen would certainly be an upgrade.
JJ pitched 7 innings again last night.
7IP 8H 2ER 1BB 2K
Where are the K’s?
Bryce being Bryce.
http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=320511117
LOL, he threw a tantrum in the tunnel last night and cut his face open with his own bat.
@224. You are correct. I don’t think JJ is ready To be back yet…
Josh Hamilton, last 5 games – 10 for 21 8HR 14RBI
This guy is going to make a fortune this offseason. For the season – 17HR 40RBI .407/.463/.873
The braves are starting to play Gattis in left field. I assume he will be our starting leftfielder next season with Prado being back at third.
It’ll take a full season of performance from Gattis for that to happen – with the glove as well as the bat. Maybe they can trade for Pence if the Phillies become sellers after all.
Getting Pence would be awesome. I think if Minor has two more starts, and if he struggles, then I’ll be really worried.
Where would Pence play for us? He’s not replacing Heyward or Prado. Only way that happens is if Chipper is lost for the season. Only upgrade I could see would be at SS.
We are officially in Hell when an established newspaper is citing Bleacher Report as a credible source. I’m pretty sure Emma writes for them.
—————————
Idiot Wren – Beltran went for $12 million for two years and he couldn’t get it done.
How good would Beltran look in LF so we could stop trying to convince ourselves that Prado is an All-Star instead of the serviceable utility guy that he is.
Lucky Wren – Livan being Good Livan (at least for now).
Smart Wren – bringing Livan on to induce heart failure in Fat Fredi as a way out of the Idiot Wren move of hiring him.
@225, For the kid’s own good, the Nationals need to do something to take the pressure off him. They’ve all but said they need him in order to keep contending, but it’s up in the air as to whether he’s capable of helping the team at this point.
Full disclosure: I’m rooting for him. The random softball league he played in in DC is my league too, and I know the people who got him to take some swings that day. This is basically something I heard from someone who knows someone who knows him, which means you might as well add “purple monkey dishwasher” at the end of it, but: He’s definitely very aware of both the positive and negative public perception of him. And while he’s consciously trying to carry himself professionally, he also feels a ton of pressure to succeed for the team right away.
Perhaps it’s better sooner than later that he confronts failure for the first time. For him and for the Braves.
@232
This is what the internet has wrought — too many good writers sitting at home not writing about baseball, and too many bad writers sitting at home writing about baseball. All present and august company excluded.
Prado and Heyward are both better than Pence. This isn’t 2011. You might as well continue salivating over Colby Rasmus.
Jurrjens had bad peripherals when he was going well in MLB too. At this point, I’m perfectly fine letting the powers that be decide who from the Minor/Teheran/Jurrjens pick’ em lottery they want as their #5. Brandon Beachy has made that a much less painful decision.
Prado – .280/.363/.424 (116 OPS+)
Pence – .256/.297/.481 (108 OPS+)
Not sure why we want to trade 65 points of OBP for 60 points of SLG. Adam is right. This is not 2011.
Even if Pence is on the block, would the Phillies trade a guy who is team-controlled through 2013 within the division?
@232, Beltran is getting paid $13 mil a year for two years. We could’ve dumped Prado and Jurrjens and still not have been able to afford Beltran. Where was the money supposed to come from, Wren’s own pockets?
For what we pay Prado, I’m quite happy with what he’s done. He’s not an all-star, but he’s no utility guy either. He belongs.
Again, this isn’t 2011. We seem like we need a little pitching help right now.
@238, And would we want to pay the price? Teheran in a Phillies uniform, sign me up!
Even if Pence is on the block, why would the Braves want to give the Phillies something useful? Especially when the Braves dont even have a spot to play him.
Positions the Braves could conceivably upgrade in 2012 and improve this team:
SS, middle relief, #5 starter
Hunter Pence doesn’t make this a better team in 2012. (And no one’s picking up that Jimmy Rollins contract, especially not the Liberty Braves.)
Positions the braves could conceivably upgrade in 2013 and beyond:
SS, LF, CF
I have more faith in Gattis than many – he looks like a real deal, top shelf prospect with a distorted timeline to me – so shifting Prado to 3B (or eventually Terdoslavich or Salcedo) and slotting him in LF makes sense to me. That leaves finding a replacement for Michael Bourne the primary question for next winter, so far.
Do you guys think there’s any chance we resign Bourn? I also think Gattis can be the real deal.
@243
I think we will try, but I could see him going to Texas or back to Houston.
I think there’s no chance we see Bourn in Atlanta next year.
I think we either resign McCann or Bourne, but not both. I’d put 5-1 odds on McCann being extended and the team taking another spin around the wheel of marginal center-fielders.
Braves game is the free one on mlb.com tonight.
Also, with Trout in the Majors, the Braves should go for Bourjos, both as a 4th Outfielder this season and future CF from 2013 going forward. Angels need relief help which the Braves can provide.
I have a feeling the Angels aren’t going to be any of their young guys this year.
@247, That’s not a bad idea.
If I knew how to do an AAR-style spreadsheet on here, I’d make one for Braves 2013 salaries.
I’m confused as to why we can’t afford, well, lots of things. I’m probably missing something.
I advise that you try to trade for Minor today in fantasy leagues. Also, the more I go back and read Wren’s comments on Oswalt, the more intrigued I am.
Recapped, finally. I awoke with a cough and took something and…
I welcome corrections, as I’m doing a lot of guessing. It is beyond unnerving to not see Chipper in here:
McCann 12000
Freeman ~700
Uggla 13000
Pastornicky (assuming he sticks) ~495
Prado ~6850
Francisco ~495
Constanza ~485
Heyward ~700
Hudson 9000 (with a 1000 buyout)
Beachy ~565
Hanson ~3750
Minor ~495
Delgado ~495
Teheran ~485
Kimbrel ~700
Venters ~700
O’Flaherty ~3300
Medlen ~565
Vizcaino ~483
Martinez ~533
Varvaro ~485
I left off Jurrjens because let’s be serious. I also left out Ross, Hinske, Diaz although they are probably strong candidates to be resigned.
But still, that’s only 56 mil.
Well, that’s the mother of all JC’s.