There was a lot of talk about how the 2013 team’s hot start emulated 1994 and 1982. How right that talk was.
After game 14, the 1982 team was 13-1.
After game 14, the 1994 team was 13-1.
And this season, before the ump called “Play Ball!” to ring in game 14, the 2013 team was poised to equal that mark. (As it happened, we lost 1-0 to the Royals and dropped to 12-2, but you get my point.)
But now, flash forward four games and you can take your pick of cliches: “How quickly things change” or “How often cycles repeat themselves.” Either one will do.
After game 18, the 1982 team was 13-5.
After game 18, the 1994 team was 13-5.
And now, after 18 games, our 2013 team is 13-5.
Let’s look back once more. (And only once more, it’s all I can take.) In 1982 and 1994, after scintillating hot starts both Braves teams slipped into hibernation mode. They wound up righting themselves, though to mixed results. The 1982 team finished with 89 wins and took a lot of excitement into the NLCS, only to be banished quickly by the Cardinals three games to none. The 1994 team finished the season 22 games over .500, but that was the year everyone involved in MLB stamped their tickets to hell by shutting the game down and flushing the World Series with it.
(And that’s the year the future Natspos would have put us down, anyway. I’m sorry, but I’m not gonna talk up “13 Straight Divisional Titles*” bravado, because I find it impossible to pronounce an asterisk.)
Let’s hope the 2013 team takes our current 13-5 and peels off a five-game winning streak to keep the enthusiasm up and the bad aftertaste of the last five games down. Tonight, presumably, Freddie Freeman will return from his precautionary (and controversial) stint on the DL. That means he’s back at first, allowing the hot hand Chris Johnson to presumably garner more time at third. So that’s a good thing. And Brian McCann is getting a crack at live at bats in extended spring training this week, so his return to the team is becoming more than just a theoretical topic of discussion.
But the Rockies are hot (hey, they have the same record we do), and Denver is cold (lows in the 20s and possible snow). So we have our work cut out for us. There’s still a bunch of fans out there that remember 1982 and 1994 who have yet to fully buy into the 2013 team because of previous experience.
I’m not one of them.
…yet.
14 straight.
And no need to worry about pronouncing asterisks, as there is none. For all that we can say about what *might* have happened in 1994 or the odds of this or that, the only fact relevant, regarding what *actually* happened, is that no division title was awarded for the year because 30% of the season was not played.
And with the look of the snow coming down earlier, I’d be surprised if they get this one.
The game has been banged.
I still think we could have have won in 1982 but for the unfortunate rainout in the first game with the Braves leading 1-0 and three outs from an official game, which burned Niekro until short rest in the second game, who again had a lead until he ran out of gas in the 7th, only to have Gene Garber give up the game in relief.
I had tickets to the ’82 World Series. Games 1,2,6,7 were to be in Atlanta. $40 for all four. I considered keeping them as collectibles, but $40 to a teenager was just too big a sacrifice.
Remy (from last thread):
Here’s the link:
https://teespring.com/elosoblanco
Four times since 2004, the Braves have come to Colorado for a series that began in April. Three times games have been snowed out. I’m long past over the novelty of wearing a parka to watch my team play on its annual visits here. I choose to blame this on Selig, because, well, everything’s ultimately his fault.
Huh. So my schedule tomorrow seems to go:
7-11 AM: Deliver online training to offshore resources in Bucharest and Mumbai
11:30-1PM: Lunch, and/or nap
2PM-end: Baseball
Maybe I’ll get the recaps written on time this week.
Thanks, Coop!
A baseball team in CO was a bad idea.
My MLB app is saying the game is postponed. I heard it was going to be cold… Is it snowing up there or something?
*Edit* upon reading the above comments I see that it is snowing.
http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_23081631/rockies-vs-braves-postponed-colorado-snow-doubleheader-tuesday
@ Overlords,
I’ll be at the nightcap tomorrow. Hit me up if you wanna grab a beer or whatever.
They should move the stadium to the secret underground Freemason Illuminati alien dome occult workshop under the Denver Airport imo.
Games called on account of lizard people invading from inter-dimensional portal? I’d take it.
The Rockies should not host any series against the east division teams until the summer. It’s just common sense.
@14 Yeah, I was thinking about that today. Why on earth did we have to go to Pittsburg and Colorado in April when it’s absolutely gorgeous in Atlanta? We had almost no home games this month.
Either the Natspos are overrated or Shelby Miller can flat out pitch. Probably both.
He throws almost nothing but fastballs (mid 90s with movement). It will be interesting to see how JUpton and company do against him.
The Cardinals won, and I’m glad. Does that make me a bad person, or is the enemy of my enemy my friend?
5—Got mine today, too. Wearing it right now, actually. Love it!
@13- So, it’s under the Denver Airport.
Alex Wood pitched six more shutout innings tonight: 4 hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks, 84 pitches, 51 strikes. Not as efficient as Graham was last night, but given that he skipped high A his start to the season is almost ridiculous. He’s going to start shooting up the prospect rankings. We were so lucky to get him in the second round.
And Graham was one absolute hell of a fourth rounder.
No doubt Graham was an incredibly fortuitous pick. With Wood I meant rather that we are lucky he was still available, as if I remember correctly some people had him projected going in the supplemental round.
Why we can’t have the same luck on the hitting side of things?
So, this happened:
@25: Well, now he’s out for 4-6 weeks. Looks like we’ll have to wait and see if he can hit this year.
May as well get that out of the way now rather than later in the season.
Yeah, I don’t think “wait and see” is a viable option for appendicitis. According to the AJC, 2-3 weeks is the typical recovery time. Still sucks, though.
Chris Johnson is out-hitting Martin. Amazing.
@27 I don’t think you can wait to have that done
I guess we will be seeing Gattis play some LF soon.
Wow…that’s out of the blue. Not the headline I expected to see this morning.
@29 – At this point Chris Johnson is outhitting Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez and everyone else in both the American and National league. That is even more amazing.
Yeah, if your appendix is inflamed, it needs to come out as soon as possible or it could rupture, and then you’re in some trouble.
Haven’t people come back from an appendectomy in like 2 or 3 days or something?
If I am Wren I am tempted call up Terdoslavich. After a slow start he’s absolutely raking right now (.931 OPS).
@36 I’d love to see that, actually.
Fat Holliday came back from an appendectomy after nine games.
http://www.baseballnation.com/2011/4/1/2085301/matt-holliday-appendectomy-st-louis-cardinals
Unfortunately, I don’t think Terdo’s on the 40-man.
I doubt Holliday was hitting .120 at the time. I suspect we’ll know soon enough, but there is not much reason not to put Heyward on the DL.
Yeah, I had my appendix taken out in 9th grade, and that was before the labroscopic surgery. So they cut me open and I couldn’t even go to school for 2 weeks and couldn’t do anything physical for about a month.
Sure sucks for Heyward but the way he’s been hitting, we won’t miss him short term. Of course he will come around and we will need him to play but right now, the team won’t be worse without him. Hopefully Heyward will be back after a 15-day DL stint. We need him to start going.
Heyward should be back in the lineup no later than Friday. For god’s sake, he has to learn to play through injuries. Just ask Chipper Jones. In the old days, they wouldn’t even have had surgery; they would have just had the trainer cut him open in the clubhouse,take the appendix out, sew him back up and send him out. These athletes nowdays are so coddled.
@28 and @30: Please read my comment again. I was referring to having to wait and see if Heyward could hit after a 4-6 week post-op recovery (that’s my guess, anyway). Did you guys just see the words “wait and see” and think I was talking about delaying the surgery?
We may not miss him at the plate with the way he’s been hitting, but we will definitely miss his arm in RF. How is Justin Upton’s arm?
This’ll hurt our outfield defense, let’s put it that way.
Adam Dunn only missed 5 days back in 2011 for an emergency appendectomy, though I agree it seems wise to DL him. Anyone know the timetable on McCann’s return?
Freeman returns today. McCann is still in extended spring training (hasn’t even started rehab yet), right?
Upton-Upton-Johnson/Success in the OF?
Upton/RF/Upton/Freeman/Gattis/etc in the lineup? You might shift Simmons up to the 2-hole for this long of a time missing Heyward.
Bethany, KC Johnson on Selena Roberts and her loony history
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-orin-selena-show.html
@ 47 Both Reed and Success will likely start. Success may be needed for defense in the thin air and wide open range outfield the Rockies play in.
@48 Thanks Paul!
How on earth are they going to play any games today, much less two?
https://twitter.com/mlbbowman/status/326704738240430082/photo/1
I agree. I find a game being played to hard to believe.
This seems to be a yearly problem there. You think they would have a better way to get the snow off the field.
That dopey place should have a retractable dome. Complete nonsense that games are snowed out on a yearly basis.
Yeah – Minneapolis should have a retractable roof too. I remember going to a Brewers-Cubs game in Milwaukee some years ago when the temperature was 24 degrees. I was deeply thankful for the retractable roof. It was around 60 degrees inside.
The OF is going to be a sheet of ice. The high is 34 today.
I’m getting irrationally angry about all of this. If they can even get a game in, the conditions are going to be ridiculous and our players are going to risk injury.
Even putting 8’x12′ tarps down would be stupid but better than current mess.
@50
It is a sad state of affairs. English Premier League teams are subject to penalties up to and including being docked points for not maintaining a field in playable conditions. Perhaps MLB would consider something like that if it weren’t a run entirely for the benefit of the team owners.
Is Success the best option for a frozen tundra outfield or can we sign the Eli’s hockey team?
I wonder how long JH had been under the weather with the infection.
New thread.