Nothing But The Braves

Intemperate Braves And Baseball Thoughts

2010-12-09T14:09:00.006-05:00

It's "catch-all" time. There's a lot to talk about, so let's get to it:

The trade for Dan Uggla, just as a reminder, breaks down like so:

BRAVES GET:
2B Dan Uggla: 674 PA, .287/.369/.508, 33 HR, 105 RBI, 130 OPS+, 3.7 WAR

MARLINS GET:
UT Omar Infante: 506 PA, .321/.359/.416, 8 HR, 47 RBI, 111 OPS+, 2.9 WAR
LRP Mike Dunn: 19 IP, 15 H, 4/4 R/ER, 17 BB, 27 SO, 1.684 WHIP, 0.4 WAR

It's the kind of trade that looks so good on one team's side: the Braves get a power bat they so desperately need in exchange for a utility player who had a career year and a rookie reliever who is wild, but has potential.

Since the trade, Braves GM Frank Wren has tried to work on an extension with Uggla. On the 7th, the talks were said to be encouraging.

"The early discussions we've had -- really introductory discussions -- have been very pleasant," Wren said. "I think there's a mutual desire for us to keep him long term and for him to stay long term. I think that has come through loud and clear -- both from Terry and from Dan. I think we've made it clear that's what we want to happen."
Unfortunately, since that time, outfielder Carl Crawford agreed to a monstrous seven-year, $142 million contract with the Red Sox. Before that, Jayson Werth had signed a huge seven-year, $126 million deal with the Nationals. This might cause some fears that Uggla will demand an extension that's either out of the Braves' budget range or will cripple them down the road when Uggla's skills most likely decline.

I'm really not sure that Uggla will be able to increase his demands that much. After all, the players that got those huge deals are outfielders with speed, stolen-base ability and decent defense. Uggla provides below average to horrible defense with above-average offense and no speed.

At the Winter Meetings, Wren agreed with reliever George Sherrill to a $1.2 million, one-year deal, which includes $200,000 in incentives. The deal won't be official until Sherrill passes a physical. The former closer was downright awful for the Dodgers last season, posting a 1.926 WHIP in 31 1/3 innings. The year seems to be an aberration. If Sherrill makes the team, he'll be the third lefty in the pen, joining Eric O'Flaherty and Jonny Venters.

I do believe that Sherrill will be fine. At worst, he should be a great LOOGY, something that might appeal to new manager Fredi Gonzalez.

Wren is also working to move Kenshin Kawakami. According to MLBTradeRumors, Rob Biertempfel tweets that the Pirates are close to a deal, but the sticking points are how much the Braves will pay of Kawakami's $6.67 million salary and whether or not left-hander Paul Maholm might be included.

Maholm might be an interesting reclamation project if he's included, but it will be a shame to see Kawakami go. I've defended him a lot over the past couple of years and I do believe that he shouldn't have been stuck with the 1-10 record. In fact, that should be a test case on how wins and losses don't mean too much for some pitchers. If Kawakami does move on to Pittsburgh, all I can say is: Sachiare!

Braves Net Lee From Cubs To Shore Up First Base

2010-08-18T17:57:00.005-04:00

BRAVES GET:

1B Derrek Lee (475 PA, .251/.335/.416, 16 HR, 63 R, 56 RBI, 94 OPS+)
Cash

CUBS GET:

RRP Robinson Lopez (A Rome - 92 2/3 IP, 84 H, 51-45 R-ER (4.37 ERA), 43 BB, 70 K, 1.371 WHIP
RRP Tyrelle Harris (A/A+/AA - 49 2/3 IP, 38 H, 17-16 R-ER (2.90 ERA), 22 BB, 60 K, 1.208 WHIP
LRP Jeff Lorick (A/A+ - 52 1/3 IP, 43 H, 25-13 R-ER (2.24 ERA), 21 BB, 43 K, 1.223 WHIP)

With the platoon of Eric Hinske and Troy Glaus not totally cutting it at first base (507 PA, .238/.339/.413, 19 HR, 80 RBI) and with Glaus going on the disabled list, Braves general manager Frank Wren decided to pull out the stops for a waiver claim.

The Braves traded three minor league relievers to the Chicago Cubs for first baseman Derrek Lee and cash. Lee, a 14-year veteran, has battled back problems this season. Still, he has posted a .251/.335/.416 line in 475 PAs with 16 home runs and 56 RBIs, effectively matching the production of Glaus and Hinske.

Old Buddies Become Trade Partners

2010-08-01T00:39:00.001-04:00

BRAVES GET:
CF Rick Ankiel (101 PA, .261/.317/.467, 4 HR, 14 R, 15 RBI, 103 OPS+)
RRP Kyle Farnsworth (44 2/3 IP, 40 H, 13-12 R-ER (2.42 ERA), 12 BB, 36 K, 1.164 WHIP)

ROYALS GET:
RRP Jesse Chavez (36 2/3 IP, 40 H, 24 R-ER (5.89 ERA), 12 BB, 29 K, 1.418 WHIP)
CF Gregor Blanco (66 PA, .310/.394/.362, 0 HR, 9 R, 3 RBI, 107 OPS+)
LRP Tim Collins (AA Mississippi - 8 IP, 4 H, 1 R-ER (1.12 ERA), 3 BB, 14 K, 0.875 WHIP)

The Braves have traded outfielder Gregor Blanco, reliever Jesse Chavez and pitching prospect Tim Collins to the Royals for veteran outfielder Rick Ankiel and reliever Kyle Farnsworth.

I can only imagine the amount of venom some Braves fans have placed into their posted words this afternoon and evening when learning about the trade. Frank Wren traded for the very same Kyle Farnsworth that single-handedly lost the NLDS for the Braves five years ago?! Has he lost his mind?!

Not quite. In fact, on this trading deadline day, Wren has kept his mind quite sane by not giving up any of Atlanta's prized prospects. In the days leading up to the deadline, worries abounded that Wren would trade any of Freddie Freeman (Baseball America's #32 pre-2010 prospect), Arodys Vizcaino (#69), Mike Minor or Randall Delgado to beef up the Braves' outfield production. That is one way to look at the day's work.

Another way is to compare Rick Ankiel directly to the Braves' previous center field producers before this afternoon's game in Cincinnati:

Nate McLouth - 216 PA, .160/.275/.254, 3 HR, 20 R, 14 RBI
Melky Cabrera - 135 PA, .305/.381/.432, 0 HR, 14 R, 11 RBI
Gregor Blanco - 62 PA, .291/.371/.327, 0 HR, 8 R, 3 RBI

Cabrera's line looks strong because he has been the Braves' latest center fielder. But, the rest of his lines, including .242/.289/.325 (128 PA) as a left fielder and .222/.286/.317 (72 PA) as a right fielder, drag his stats down to .265/.328/.366 before today's game.

That doesn't fully prove my case, but the anecdotal evidence of Cabrera committing a bizarre throwing error in today's game might help the idea that the Braves could do better in center field.

Rick Ankiel, who may be the Braves' starting center fielder for the remainder of the season, spent more than a month on the disabled list with a right quad strain. Once again, the Braves have acquired a player with more home runs than the previous player(s) at the position (Ankiel 4, Braves CFs 3). He is better in the small sample size (11 XBH in 101 PAs to Cabrera's 23 in 346 PAs), so he could improve the Braves in that department if he keeps the same rate.

While some Braves fans still haven't forgiven Farnsworth for surrendering a game-tying home run to Brad Ausmus, the likelihood is that he's not going to get the opportunity to screw something like that up. In 37 games with the Royals, Farnsworth was relied upon heavily, pitching 44 2/3 innings. His ERA (2.42) was mostly helped by pitching more than one inning in eleven appearances (1.29 ERA in 21 innings).

However, out of the 99 relievers that have 200 or more appearances since 2006, Farnsworth has the 19th-worst ERA (4.19) and has given up 37 home runs over that span. Fortunately, he has only allowed two this year. and hasn't given up a home run in nearly two months.

In my opinion, I think Ankiel and Farnsworth can improve the Braves in center field and middle relief at the minimal cost to the club's plans (Tim Collins).

Schultz Gets It Right, But How He Defends It Is Lacking

2010-06-21T18:29:00.007-04:00

(First, a little background...)

Kenshin Kawakami's season has taken another ghastly turn.

In two-plus innings Sunday, the Braves' fifth starter gave up three runs on six singles to the Kansas City Royals and left only to see the runners he left on score. With a 5-4 deficit, the Japanese hurler was faced with the prospect of starting the season with ten losses and nary a single win. Fortunately for Kenshin, the Braves pulled out an 8-5 victory over Kansas City, leaving him where he was at the start of the day.

With Braves starter Jair Jurrjens nearing his return from a hamstring injury, the question for fans and pundits is who will be sent to the bullpen to make room for Jurrjens in the rotation? Many, if not all, agree that spot starter Kris Medlen should stay in the rotation and Kawakami should be banished to the pen. AJC sportswriter Jeff Schultz agrees, but how he defends the move is questionable arguing at best.

It's time for the Braves to end the Kawakami experiment

It all starts with the headline. The Braves didn't sign Kawakami just to see if Japanese hurlers succeed in the majors; they thought they had something with him. Kenshin means a lot more than being a Braves starter for a simple fact: he is the first Japanese player to play for them in the major leagues. That alone helped them bring solid set-up man Takashi Saito to Atlanta (1-2, 2.92 ERA, 141 ERA+, 24 2/3 IP, 34 K, .973 WHIP before his injury). It seems that it's easy to lose sight of this fact.

So I stood by Bobby Cox Sunday when he said he didn’t want to talk about any future decisions regarding Kenshin Kawakami, though he added, “He’ll make his next start.” Why? By default. Jair Jurrjens has at least another week of rehab left.

Excellent point to start. If Cox had come out and said that Kawakami was going to be demoted to the bullpen before he made his next start, Kenshin would have that hanging over his head while he's trying to hold off a Tigers team that's in contention in the AL Central.

And then I stood by Kenshin Kawakami as he deflected no criticism (a commendable character trait of his) and said of possibly losing his starting job: “I haven’t thought about that much. But being a starter, I’m not really doing my job right now, so I’m ready for anything that is coming.”

Again, no complaints. Kawakami readily accepts blame for things that go wrong, which is a trait that stems from Japan's corporate business-like culture. It's an honorable trait, but Kawakami's taking blame for his performance doesn't totally shield him from criticism, much like what's next:

Kawakami is baseball’s only $23 million fifth starter.

I'm not sure why Schultz dragged Kawakami's contract into this debate. It just shows the Braves tied up a few bucks into their rotation. Derek Lowe has a $60 million, four-year contract that was criticized from the start. Tim Hudson signed a three-year extension at $9 million per year just a couple of months after returning off Tommy John surgery which was questioned by some at the time. Only three starters (Tommy Hanson, Jurrjens and Medlen) are making less than $1 million this season.

If anything, Schultz should be blasting Lowe with a statement like that; there were times last year and now that Lowe was pitching worse than Kawakami.

He also has the distinction of being 0-9 for a first-place team.

That's not a particularly damning statement, as there are poor starters on first-place teams in general. The first-place Cardinals have had to deal with Kyle Lohse underperforming (9 GS, 1-4, 5.89 ERA, 1.711 WHIP), Texas has to attempt to contend with the inconsistencies of Rich Harden (13 GS, 3-3, 5.68 ERA, 1.677 WHIP) and Scott Feldman (14 GS, 5-6, 5.16 ERA, 1.566 WHIP), and there is Javier Vazquez's second go-round with the Yankees which included a demotion to the bullpen for a brief time (13 G, 6-6, 5.01 ERA, 1.286 WHIP).

Of course, when a pitcher is the only Braves pitcher in history to start the season with nine losses and no wins, he can't get away with much.

Only three other pitchers in the majors have lost as many games: Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez (3-10), Cleveland’s David Huff (2-9) and former Brave, now of Pittsburgh, Charlie Morton (1-9).

The Indians are in last place. The Pirates are in last place. The Astros are one-half game ahead of the Pirates. See where I’m going with this?

Unless you're implying that first-place teams aren't "supposed" to trot out players with nine or ten losses and few wins, I don't see where you're going with that statement. We can be better served by comparing all these pitchers' seasons in more detail:

Rodriguez - 14 GS - 6 QS, 3-10 (4-10 team)
75 1/3 IP
95 H
59 R, 51 ER (8)
34 BB
52 SO
6.09 ERA
1.712 WHIP
11.3 H/9
4.1 BB/9
6.2 SO/9
3.10 R/27

Huff - 13 GS - 4 QS, 2-9 (3-10 team)
70 IP
88 H
53 R, 47 ER (6)
30 BB
34 SO
6.04 ERA
1.686 WHIP
11.3 H/9
3.9 BB/9
4.4 SO/9
3.83 R/27

Morton - 10 GS - 4 QS, 1-9 (1-9 team)
43 1/3 IP
66 H
52 R, 45 ER (7)
16 BB
35 SO
9.35 ERA
1.892 WHIP
13.7 H/9
3.3 BB/9
7.3 SO/9
1.72 R/27

Kawakami - 14 GS - 6 QS, 0-9 (4-10 team)
75 1/3 IP
85 H
47 R, 40 ER (7)
25 BB
51 SO
4.78 ERA
1.460 WHIP
10.2 H/9
3.0 BB/9
6.1 SO/9
3.51 R/27

Now we see some more similarities: a high amount of hits, walks and unearned runs allowed, relatively few strikeouts, high WHIPs and ERAs, poor quality start ratios and extremely low run support. Kawakami is the best of these pitchers and has the highest amount of no-decisions because the Braves are a better team than the Astros, Pirates or Indians. However, that doesn't do much to salvage Kawakami's record.

It would be best to take this route, but Schultz tries to go it a different way:

Yes, Kawakami has received little run support in some starts but that hasn’t really been the case of late. He was handed a 4-0 lead Sunday against Kansas City and promptly doused it with gasoline and lit a match to it. He also committed his third error in his last two starts.

There's no question that start was the worst of Kawakami's major league career. Errors aren't necessarily bad if you can make pitches and limit the damage. At this point, it appears that Kawakami isn't very capable of doing that. That being said...

Further — and this is where all of those, “Oh, stop picking on him, meanie; don’t you know the Braves don’t score for him?” arguments fall apart — Kawakami’s ERA is 4.78.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. There is a glaring counter-example for that statement: Derek Lowe. Lowe's ERA is 4.77, but he's getting 5.79 runs per 27 outs of support. Lowe owes his 9-5 record (10-5 team) partly to that. If Kawakami had Lowe's run support, there's no doubt in my mind he'd have a similar record or one close to .500. The poor run support is a significant culprit.

Once again, because some of his defenders ignore this number: 4.78. That is the worst ERA on the staff among active pitchers, save reliever Jesse Chavez (7.33), who doesn’t really count.

I haven't ignored it, but you seem to be ignoring Lowe, whose ERA is .01 higher than Kawakami's, and he doesn't get this kind of criticism because he has the most wins on the staff combined with a high run support.

Kawakami also is yielding the most hits per nine innings (10.2), has allowed the most home runs (nine) and, it follows, the highest slugging percentage (.478).

See, things like this are where you should have been going all along! Lets compare Derek's stats to Kenshin's and see how they match up:

Lowe - 15 GS - 7 QS, 9-5 (10-5 team)
88 2/3 IP
89 H
49 R, 47 ER
37 BB
51 SO
4.77 ERA
1.421 WHIP
5.79 R/27
9.0 H/9
3.8 BB/9
5.2 SO/9
5.79 R/27

Lowe has a similar resume to Kawakami and has given up just two less home runs (seven), but he has a 9-5 record. Why? Run support, pure and simple.

Stop the madness.

Is it just me or does that statement not have enough feeling to it. It needs an exclamation point. Or two. Like this: Stop the madness!!

If Jurrjens is cleared following his next start at Gwinnett, this should be an easy decision for Cox: Keep Kris Medlen (3-0, 3.67 as a starter) in the rotation and put Kawakami in the bullpen.

Yes, exactly. Let's look at Medlen's starting record too:

Medlen - 8 GS - 5 QS
3-0 (7-1 team)
49 IP
49 H
22 R, 20 ER (2)
9 BB
32 SO
3.67 ERA
1.184 WHIP
9.0 H/9
1.7 BB/9
5.9 SO/9
4.89 R/27

Very impressive so far. I think Kris has the talent to keep that kind of a record going.

Granted, middle relief is not what general manager Frank Wren projected when he gave Kawakami a contract for over $7 million per year.

I don't think it's what anyone thought would happen. I thought that Kawakami would at least be a fourth starter when he came over here to Major League Baseball. I figured he'd have his struggles, and he did have them last year. But this year is just a whole 'nother league in struggling. It's rather unfortunate and kind of sad. You have to feel bad for the guy, even if you're trying to toss him out with the bathwater.

But Kawakami has shown an ability to strike people out. So maybe there’s something to salvage from this.

Think of it as salvaging the rear bumper after a front-end collision.

A car wreck of a season. Not quite a train wreck, but I suppose it'll suffice.

I can pretty much guess which way sentiment is going on this. I’ve got a poll up also. Let me hear ya.

You heard me here, Jeff!

The poll's choices are as follows:

What should the Braves do with Kenshin Kawakami?

Keep him as a starter
Put him in the bullpen
Sit him on the curb with a sign that reads "Owner will pay $7 million for you to haul away"

At 12:08 AM, EST on June 22nd, I voted "Put him in the bullpen".

60% (1,686) who voted said put him in the bullpen. 36% (1,020) said release him and eat the cost. 4% (92) said to keep him as a starter.

I don't agree with eating Kawakami's money and releasing him. With the way the money is being doled out in Atlanta, you can't just throw it away to a guy who isn't playing for you anymore; you have to get something out of him. Kawakami's better than this and he knows it. He can probably regroup in the bullpen and salvage something out of this year.

It is the correct move to put Kawakami in the bullpen because of his struggles. However, we can blame lack of run support as a reason for his struggles, despite the argument that Jeff Schultz provides.

Kawakami Hopes Not To Get Snakebit Again

2010-06-09T16:20:00.006-04:00

Haadorakku is a Japanese word which means precisely what it sounds like: hard luck. Braves pitcher Kenshin Kawakami has had more than enough of that this season.

Expected to improve going into his second season as a major league pitcher, Kawakami has seemed to regress instead, sporting an 0-8 record with a 4.91 ERA (37 runs, 34 earned) and 1.380 WHIP in 62 1/3 innings pitched.

Those statistics, however, don't tell the whole story. An amount of factors caused the Braves' first Japanese pitcher become the first hurler to sport a winless, eight-loss record in 85 years. The Braves pitcher who first did it, spot starter Wilfred "Rosy" Ryan, didn't lose his eighth game until August.

The first, and probably most important factor, is run support. Kawakami's support out of the current Braves' starters is the worst on the team:

Hudson - 12 GS, 6.08 R/27 (6-1)
Lowe - 13 GS, 5.95 R/27 (8-5)
Hanson - 12 GS, 5.72 R/27 (6-3)
Medlen - 6 GS, 4.42 R/27 (3-1)
Kawakami - 11 GS, 3.25 R/27 (0-8)

In parentheses are their won-loss records.

It's not a coincidence that Derek Lowe has eight victories despite having similar statistics to Kawakami.

Lowe - 13 GS, 5.04 ERA, 75 IP, 77 H, 44 R, 42 ER, 32 BB, 44 SO, 80 ERA+, 1.453 WHIP
Kawakami - 11 GS, 4.91 ERA, 62 IP, 68 H, 37 R, 34 ER, 18 BB, 36 SO, 82 ERA+, 1.380 WHIP

Lowe has had four cheap wins (win with four or more earned runs allowed) and one tough loss (loss with quality start). Kawakami has had no cheap wins (naturally) and three tough losses. The Braves are 8-5 when Lowe starts and 3-8 when Kawakami starts.

The hardest Kawakami non-win to take was a start against Cincinnati. Kawakami shut out the Reds on five hits and one walk in six innings despite pitching with a blister and a strained back. However, Takashi Saito coughed up three runs in the eighth and Billy Wagner blew his second save of the year by giving up a pinch-hit solo homer to rookie Chris Heisey. The Braves eventually won in the bottom of the inning.

Kawakami's eighth loss charged to him really wasn't his fault. He gave up two runs in each of the first two innings against the Dodgers, but the Braves tied up the game at four in the top of the seventh, breaking through against Clayton Kershaw and Hong-Chih Kuo. In the bottom of the inning, Kawakami struck out leadoff hitter Matt Kemp. Then, Andre Ethier hit a ground-rule double. After intentionally walking Manny Ramirez, Kawakami was relieved by left-hander Eric O'Flaherty. Eric's first pitch was hit by James Loney for an RBI single. The Dodgers took the game by the 5-4 score from that single. Because it was Kawakami's runner that scored from second base, he was charged with the run and the loss that followed.

Now, entering his twelfth start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Kawakami will hope to avoid uncharted territory in Braves history by getting his first win of the season.

Playing Catch-Up With Box Score Links Whlie Braves Head To Florida (Plus A Commentary On The Miracle On Hank Aaron Drive)

2010-05-20T12:39:00.010-04:00

NEW YORK 3, ATLANTA 2

ATLANTA 3, NEW YORK 2

ATLANTA 5, CINCINNATI 4

ATLANTA 10, CINCINNATI 9

ATLANTA 7, PITTSBURGH 0

ATLANTA 3, PITTSBURGH 2

PITTSBURGH 3, ATLANTA 2, 10 INN.

The Miracle On Hank Aaron Drive, of course, is the Braves' improbable ninth-inning comeback against the Cincinnati Reds last Thursday. I'd like to introduce a stat to some of you readers (any readers at all!) called Win Probability Added. This calculation attempts to track the probability of a player's actions contributing to his team's goal of victory.

At the start of the game, both teams essentially have an equal chance to win, so their WPAs are 50% each. Each play tilts the WPA in favor of the team it benefits.

By the end of the top of the second inning, the Reds had increased their WPA from 50% to 94% thanks to eight runs off of starter Tommy Hanson. The WPA didn't dip much in the Braves' favor throughout the entire game and by the bottom of the ninth inning, the Reds had a WPA of 100%, meaning they were essentially certain to win the game.

Note that it's not an absolute certainty; the statistic is most likely rounded off. But it was logical to believe that the Reds would be winning the game. But as long as there is one out for a team, they can conceivably do anything.

Mike Lincoln pitching for Reds
Play 1 - Troy Glaus singles to left (CIN -0%, 99%; ATL +0%, 1%) <- that's proof the numbers are rounded off.
Play 2 - Eric Hinske singles to right, Glaus to second (CIN -1%, 98%; ATL +1%, 2%)
Play 3 - Yunel Escobar singles to short, Cabrera drops ball, Glaus to third, Hinske to second (CIN -2%, 96%; ATL +2%, 4%)
Play 4 - Nate McLouth singles to right, Glaus scores, Hinske scores, Escobar to third (CIN -6%, 90%; ATL +6%, 10%)
Nick Masset pitching for Reds
Play 5 - David Ross walks, McLouth to second (CIN -8%, 82%; ATL +8%, 18%)
Play 6 - Martin Prado grounds to Miguel Cairo at third, Cairo can't get ball out of his glove, Escobar scores, McLouth to third, Ross to second, Prado to first (CIN -14%, 68%; ATL +14%, 32%)
Arthur Rhodes pitching for Reds
Play 7 - Jason Heyward strikes out swinging (CIN +12%, 80%; ATL -12%, 20%)
Francisco Cordero pitching for Reds
Play 8 - Brooks Conrad hits a grand slam to left (CIN -80%, 0%; ATL +80%, 100%)

We don't need the calculations to tell us that Conrad's slam was the most important play of the game, but when you see what it took to get to that point, it makes the stat interesting. The strikeout of Heyward was significant because it essentially negated the previous error (a -2% swing in two plays for the Reds) and set Cincinnati up for a game-ending double play.

The five most significant plays in the game, according to WPA, were:

1. Brooks Conrad's 9th inning grand slam (80%)
2. Joey Votto's 2nd inning grand slam (24%)
3. Miguel Cairo's 9th inning bases-loaded error (14%)
4. Jason Heyward's 9th inning strikeout (12%)
5. Miguel Cairo's 2nd inning bases-loaded single that gave the Reds their first run (10%)

Braves Sweep Brew Crew To Finish Road Trip; Take Two of Three From Snakes

2010-05-13T19:09:00.012-04:00

Call it lazy if you must, but I need to play a little catch-up.

ATLANTA 8, MILWAUKEE 2

ATLANTA 11, MILWAUKEE 3

ATLANTA 9, MILWAUKEE 2

Each of these games were eerily similar:

Each game featured good starting pitching on both sides.

All three games featured just enough offense to give Atlanta the lead by the time Ken Macha brought in his relievers.

Milwaukee's bullpen was pounded for a bunch of runs in all three games.

ATLANTA 6, ARIZONA 5

The Braves came back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game with a Brian McCann solo homer in the seventh and Nate McLouth's three-run shot in the eighth. Nate's home run prevented Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami from losing his seventh game in seven starts. Arizona took the lead off of Billy Wagner in a non-save situation, but Atlanta won the game with a bases-loaded single by Martin Prado.

ARIZONA 11, ATLANTA 1

Tommy Hanson was smacked around in the fifth inning for four of the face runs he allowed, but he went seven innings. Arizona hung a five-spot on mop-up reliever Jesse Chavez, including a solo home run by Kelly Johnson, his 11th Rodrigo Lopez went eight for the D-Backs, who got to avoid using their terrible bullpen for most of the game.

ATLANTA 13, ARIZONA 1

The Braves delivered their own smackdown on the Diamondbacks by peppering them with four home runs, two by Martin Prado and one each for Eric Hinske and Troy Glaus. The Braves had 14 hits in total, four by Prado and three by Glaus. Tim Hudson pitched eight innings of three-hit ball, allowing just one run.

Braves Fight, But Phillies Have More Fight In Series Win

2010-05-09T14:49:00.007-04:00

PHILADELPHIA 5, ATLANTA 3

Although the Braves gave their much-maligned fifth starter some needed support, Kenshin Kawkami couldn't hold down the power of the Phillies lineup as he was hit for three solo home runs in Atlanta's 5-3 loss.

The Phillies teed off of Kawakami almost immediately. After Omar Infante just missed a leaping catch off of the bat of Placido Polanco, giving him a single, Chase Utley doubled into the right field corner. Bobby Cox chose to intentionally walk Ryan Howard to set up a double play, but Jayson Werth was hit by the second pitch of the at-bat, forcing in a run. Raul Ibanez then followed with a soft liner to right that Melky Cabrera caught. However, he took the ball out of his glove and didn't attempt a throw, allowing Utley to score.

The Phillies added solo home runs in the third and fourth innings, the first a line drive shot over the left field wall by Polanco. The second shot was by Jayson Werth, the 100th of his career. After Raul Ibanez lined a double to the right field wall, Kawakami got the next two batters out to stem the tide.

The Braves finally broke through in the fifth inning off of Phillies starter Cole Hamels. After stranding runners on first and second in the third and fourth innings, Atlanta drove in three for their rare successes on the road. Kawakami led off the inning with a walk and Infante and Martin Prado singled to load the bases. Cabrera, who was just 5-28 with runners in scoring position on the year, hit a hard grounded to second that Utley couldn't control, allowing one run to score. Troy Glaus followed with another single, driving in two runs and close the lead to one run. Brian McCann struck out and Matt Diaz grounded to first, moving the runners up. Brooks Conrad, making his first start of the year, walked to load the bases, but Nate McLouth grounded out to end the inning.

Kawakami stayed in the game and pitched into the seventh inning, giving most of the bullpen a needed rest. Unfortunately, he coughed up a solo home run to Shane Victorino and was relieved after striking out Polanco. Eric O'Flaherty came into the game, got Utley to fly out to right and stayed in the game in the ninth inning, striking out Howard, getting Werth to ground out and Ibanez to pop out behind home plate.

The Braves had been retired 10 straight times after Conrad walked in the fifth inning mostly by relievers Chad Durbin and Jose Contreras. In the top of the ninth, Brad Lidge came on to record his first save of the season. Pinch-hitter Eric Hinske tattooed a dead-red fastball to center field that Victorino was able to grab at the warning track thanks to the win. Omar Infante, who had three hits in the game, followed with a huge drive to left that was also knocked down by the wind, allowing Ibanez to catch. it. Prado ended the game with a comebacker to the pitcher.

It was mentioned during the broadcast that Kawakami is the first Braves pitcher to start 0-6 on the season since Pascual Perez in 1985. Unfortunately, Perez accumulated that record in 11 starts, while Kawakami has extended his franchise record of six losses in his first six starts.

Fill-In Fills Win Colum For Braves; Medlen Spearheads Win

2010-05-09T14:24:00.005-04:00

ATLANTA 4, PHILADELPHIA 1

Making a spot start for the DL'ed Jair Jurrjens, long reliever Kris Medlen pitched 4 1/3 innings of effective work and the bullpen did the rest while the Braves' offense scratched across some rare road runs to carry the team to a 4-1 win over Joe Blanton.

The Phillies scored first with three singles in the second, with Brian Schneider coming around to score on Shane Victorino's two-out single. Medlen, who had allowed two singles in the first inning, but no runs, would allow four more over 2 1/3 innings where he stranded runners on second and third on the fourth inning. After allowing a one-out single to Placido Polanco in the fourth, Cox brought in Eric O'Flaherty to pitch to Ryan Howard. The lefty specialist got the slugger to ground into a 4-5-3 double play, with Chipper Jones playing shortstop in the shift.

Joe Blanton, in the meantime, was cruising. He didn't allow a base hit until Medlen collected his first major league base hit in the fifth, a liner that third baseman Greg Dobbs couldn't spear.

The sixth is where things started to change for Blanton and the Braves. Chipper led off the inning with an infield single to second base. Brian McCann followed with a base hit and Troy Glaus lined out to center field. Eric Hinske, making his first start since the last game of the Cardinals series, got the Braves a tie game with a right field done. Melky Cabrera singled him and McCann home to give the Braves a 3-1 lead. The Braves added a fourth run in the ninth when Glaus singled home Nate McLouth off of Philadelphia reliever Danys Baez.

The Braves bullpen, six pitchers in total, combined for 5 2/3 innings of hitless baseball. No pitcher allowed any hits. Craig Kimbrel, making his second major league appearance walked two batters in the sixth and Peter Moylan bailed him out with a double play. Moylan walked two batters in the seventh himself, but got two outs and Jonny Venters came on to retire Howard.

Takashi Saito pitched a perfect eighth, striking out two batter and Billy Wagner had a 1-2-3 inning, finishing the save with Shane Victorino's liner to left that Matt Diaz was able to grab with a diving catch.

The Old Dude Strikes: Moyer Superb In Phillies Opening Victory

2010-05-07T22:06:00.006-04:00

PHILADELPHIA 7, ATLANTA 0

Showing that older gentlemen can do anything, much like Julio Franco once did, Jamie Moyer pitched a complete game shutout just one day after Phillies legend Robin Roberts passed away. Philadelphia's offfense gave Moyer his usual support en route to a dominating 7-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Derek Lowe, the Braves' starter, kept the Phillies off the board for the first two innings, leaving two men on base both times. However, with one out, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hit consecutive singles; Howard hit one right past Prado, who was in short right according to the shift. Jayson Werth then followed with a bomb to left field, giving the Phillies a 3-0 lead. The team added four in the fifth with four singles, a walk and another single. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard both scored two runs.

Lowe managed to finish the fifth inning so Cox didn't have to burn a reliever. (I wouldn't say Lowe pitched terribly. The Phillies offense is just that good). Derek allowed 11 hits in an outing for the sixth time in his career and 10 or more hits for the 25th time.

The Braves had two firsts occur in the later innings: Brandon Hicks batted for the first time in his career as a pinch-hitter for Lowe in the sixth, but he struck out swinging. Then, Craig Kimbrel, the fire-balling closer prospect whom the Braves called up to replace Jair Jurrjens on the roster, made his major league debut in the seventh inning. He gave up a leadoff double to Werth, but struck out Raul Ibanez and Carlos Ruiz. He got shortstop Wilson Valdez to ground out to second to prevent Werth from scoring.

Kimbrel did exactly what his reputation says: he threw gas (95-97 miles an hour on his fastball) and was very wild (almost threw the ball to the backstop on his first major league pitch and threw a wild pitch during Ruiz's at-bat).

But the man of the hour was Jamie Moyer. He continued the streak of Phillies starters not allowing an earned run against the Braves (32 innings this season). Moyer allowed his first hit to Troy Glaus to lead off the second inning, but he erased him on the next pitch with a double play grounder. Ross then grounded out on the third pitch of the inning, proving once again that it doesn't usually pay to be hyper-aggressive at the plate. Moyer didn't allow another hit until Glaus singled to lead off the eighth, ending a streak of 17 batters retired in a row. Moyer came up in the ninth inning to bat. He was greeted with a standing ovation and chants of his name. He rewarded that with an 11-pitch battle with reliever Jesse Chavez before flying out into foul territory in left.

Moyer got the final three outs in the ninth, completing the game and setting a record for the oldest pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout in MLB history. He was the oldest to pitch a shuout against the Braves since Jerry Koosman, who was 41 years, 198 days old, shut out Atlanta on July 8, 1984. Ironically, Koosman was pitching for the Phillies and the team beat the Braves 7-0.

Rare Road Win Bright Spot In Frustrating Series; Nationals Take Two Of Three

2010-05-04T22:20:00.021-04:00

WASHINGTON 6, ATLANTA 3

Have you ever noticed that when a team goes on a losing streak, then wins a couple, then loses another game, people say "they've lost x of their last y" the next day?

Aside from causing people to break that phrase out again, Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami has become the first Braves pitcher in Atlanta and the first in recorded play-by-play in franchise history, to get a loss in his first five starts of the season as the Braves dropped the first game of their road trip 6-3 to the Washington Nationals.

Braves leadoff hitter Nate McLouth doubled off of The Immortal of Baseball Livan Hernandez and scored on Troy Glaus's sacrifice fly three batters later. Center fielder Nyjer Morgan made an excellent catch on the fly, which could have easily been a double. The Braves had the bases loaded with one out when the fly occurred and after Jason Heyward's two-out walk, Melky Cabrera grounded out to second to end the threat.

The lead was short-lived. Kawakami coughed up a one-out solo home run to Josh Willingham. The Nationals used three straight singles to string together another run before Atlanta was able to stem the tide.

Heyward tied the game with a solo shot to center field off starter Livan Hernandez, his eighth of the season, but that was short-lived as well. Ian Desmond answered with a shot off Kawakami in the fifth to left-center to give the Nationals back the lead. Kenshin got three straight groundouts, but the inning provided to be his last as his spot was up in the top of the sixth. Hernandez continued on into the sixth, recording one out before being lifted for reliever Sean Burnett.

The situation didn't get much better as Eric O'Flaherty gave up a leadoff home run to Adam Dunn in the sixth. The slugger golfed the low and inside pitch into the second deck in right. Jonny Venters came on in the seventh for the Braves and gave up a run with a one-out walk, ground out and single. Jesse Chavez finished the Braves' pitching line with a run allowed on two singles and a leadoff walk.

Burnett and Clippard combined for 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Nationals. Veteran Miguel Batistia gave up an RBI single to Brian McCann in the ninth to make the score 6-3, so Jim Riggleman bought in closer Matt Capps to get the garbage 2/3 inning save. He got it by getting Glaus to ground out into a game-ending double play.

ATLANTA 7, WASHINGTON 6, 10 INN.

Despite some inconsistencies, an early injury that will cause most Braves fans to consider taking Zanax and a few blown leads, the Braves came out on top Wednesday night, defeating the Washington Nationals 7-6 in ten innings, halting their five-game losing streak against the franchise and an eight-game road losing streak.

Washington came out swinging against Tommy Hanson, as Nyjer Morgan led off with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Zimmerman. The Braves were able to take the lead on a two-out, two-run homer in the second inning by Omar Infante. His first of the year off former Braves prospect Luis Atilano put the Braves up 2-1.

Earlier, though, after the first inning, Jason Heyward was

The Nationals quickly struck back as Ian Desmond lined a shot over the left field wall, near where Infante hit his bomb, to tie the game. Roger Bernadina then singled and came around to score on Morgan's second double to give the Nats a one-run lead.

This lead wasn't safe either. Martin Prado smacked a one-out double and Chipper chased him home with a single in the top of the third. Atlanta stretched the lead to two in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Glaus that scored Prado.

That lead was short-lived too! Adam Kennedy led off the fifth with a single, moved to second on an Adam Dunn walk and scored on Ivan Rodriguez's hit-and-run single. Hanson escaped the inning with no further damage.

Deprived of another lead, the Braves decided to take another one and see if that one would hold up. Matt Diaz doiubled to lead off the sixth and Omar Infante walked. Hanson failed to bunt them over, but McLouth doubled home Diaz and Prado scored Infante with a ground out.

Unfortunately, that lead wasn't meant to stay either, to Takashi Saito's chagrin. Ian Desmond reached on a one-out error by Infante in the eighth and moved to third on Roger Bernadina's double. Pinch-hitter Josh Willingham scored both runners with a single to left, blowing the victory for Hanson.

To the Braves' credit, Kris Medlen held off the Nationals in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning to send the game into extras. Eric Hinske, who came into the game in the top of the 10th, singled to lead off the frame, was sacrificed to second by Cabrera and scored on Diaz's single to right. Bernadina was later criticized for not appearing to attempt to throw out Diaz at the plate.

Billy Wagner made the one run hold up with his third save of the year. He allowed a leadoff single to Cristian Guzman, but got Desmond to fly out to right, struck out pinch-hitter Wil Nieves and Willingham to line out to left.

WASHINGTON 3, ATLANTA 2

As if the craziness of the first two games wasn't bad enough, the third game had all kinds of crazy in it. When all was said and done, the Nationals had re-captured the game and the series by a score of 3-2.

The Password is "pitching", because Scott Olsen and Tim Hudson had more than enough to go around. The two pitchers traded zeroes for the first four innings until Ivan Rodriguez scored the game's first run with a long home run to left field, his first of the season. Adam Dunn then led off the seventh inning with a blast to right, giving the Nationals a 2-0 lead. Hudson then struck out two of the next three batters he faced to complete the frame.

Olsen, in the meantime hadn't allowed any hits or any baserunners since he walked Cabrera to start the third inning. Matt Diaz struck out looking for the third time to begin the eighth, but David Ross smacked a high fastball past a diving Desmond into right field for the Braves' first hit. After a standing ovation from the crowd, Olsen pitched to Cabrera. The right fielder hit a bouncer to Zimmerman at third, who threw wildly to first, allowing Cabrera to reach and Chipper to move to third. After walking McLouth, Olsen gave way to Clippard. Heyward, who was sitting out the game with a right groin injury, went up to the plate to pinch-hit. He took a 1-2 outside pitch to left field for a single that scored two runs. Infante hit into a double play to end the inning.

In the top of the ninth, the Braves loaded the bases with one out, but Ross bounced out into a double play to end the threat. The Nationals, on the other hand, got a leadoff walk from Adam Kennedy on a full-count pitch from Eric O'Flaherty, who had pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth. Moylan was brought in to face Zimmerman, but promptly gave up a double that hit off the base of the right field wall. It seemed that Cabrera either misjudged or gave up on the ball. Pinch-hitter Cristian Guzman was intentionally walked to get to pinch-hitter Willie Harris, but the former Brave spoiled that move by lining a single through the drawn-in infield to win the game.

Making Most Of Being Home; Braves Sweep 'Stros

2010-05-01T23:32:00.012-04:00

ATLANTA 4, HOUSTON 2

The Braves had the kind of game they envisioned having a lot this year: just enough offense to win and the starting pitching absolutely dominating the opposition. Tommy Hanson pitched brilliantly for eight innings, got some offense support, and Billy Wagner held off the Astros in the ninth to break Atlanta's nine-game losing streak.

A few notes about the losing streak:

It was the longest road losing streak for the Braves since 1949, when the Boston team lost two straight four-game series against the Phillies and Dodgers.
In nine games, the Braves scored just seventeen runs, one more than the amount they scored on Opening Day.
Four quality starts, two by Tim Hudson, were blown by the Braves. Atlanta also lost four games where they took the lead first.

Hanson threw all that out the window in the 4-2 victory.

The Braves struck instantly when leadoff batter Nate McLouth homered to center on the first pitch from hurler Brett Myers. Martin Prado singled, Chipper Jones walks and Brian McCann hit into a double play, moving Prado to third. Troy Glaus then bounced a grounder to short which rolled up shortstop Tommy Manzella's arm and struck him in the throat. He stayed in the game, but was charged with an error on the play. He committed another error which allowed Jason Heyward to reach base. After Melky Cabrera walked, the Braves were held off the board when Omar Infante lined to second.

After an RBI single by J.R. Towles tied the game at two, Hanson retired 20 of the 21 batters he faced, giving up just a single to Carlos Lee to lead off the fourth inning. Heyward provided all the support Hanson would need when he smacked a two-run homer to right in the third inning. Jason would have had a second home run in the eighth inning off of lefty reliever Tim Byrdak, but Hunter Pence leaped up at the wall in right and snagged the ball just as it was about to disappear behind the yellow line.

Astros starter Brett Myers tossed seven innings, allowing just one other single and walk after Cabrera's two-out single in the third.

When the ninth inning rolled around, Hanson was pulled in favor of closer Billy Wagner, who had just two save opportunities up to that point. The situation mirrored an infamous game from September of last season:

The Braves were up 1-0 on the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Hanson had just pitched eight innings, walked no batters and struck out seven men. Cox lifted him for closer Rafael Soriano. Soriano struck out Michael Bourn, but Kazuo Matsui hit a single to right. Lance Berkman then hit a double on the next pitch. Carlos Lee then was intentionally walked to set up the double play. However, Miguel Tejada spoiled that with a single up the middle, scoring two runs and winning the game for the Astros.

This time, Billy Wagner got Jeff Keppinger to ground to Glaus at first base. He then walked Pedro Feliz on four pitches. Lee ended the game by hitting into a double play, preserving the win for the Braves.

ATLANTA 10, HOUSTON 1

After going down early, the Braves broke out their bats and Houston lost their gloves, leading to a 10-1 Atlanta win.

The Astros struck first off Braves starter Tim Hudson when Michael Bourn singled, stole second, moved to third on Keppinger's single and scored on Berkman's groundout.

It didn't take the Braves long to answer off of Wandy Rodriguez. Hudson led off the third inning with a single and moved to second on Martin Prado's single. The two moved up one base on Chipper's fly ball to center and both scored on Glaus's fly ball double that went over Pence's head in right field.

The Astros didn't mount a serious threat after the third inning while the Braves just kept on scoring. Houston didn't get a runner to second base until the ninth inning, when they were down nine runs. The Braves scored three in the fifth, one in the sixth, and four in the seventh.

Heyward led off the seventh with his seventh home run and Prado had a bases-loaded double. Omar Infante scored three runs and went 3-5. Prado also had three hits scored two runs.

Hudson pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing just one run on five hits and two walks. Peter Moylan finished the seventh inning with a strikeout and Eric O'Flaherty and Jonny Venters finished the game with a scoreless innings each.

ATLANTA 7, HOUSTON 1

Once again, Derek Lowe got more run support. This time, however, he didn't have to work so hard to help the Braves complete their first three-game sweep of the Astros in seven years. Atlanta scored three runs in the fourth and fifth innings off of Astros starter Bud Norris to cement a 7-1 victory.

McCann walked to lead off the second inning and moved to third on Glaus's liner to left that was hit so hard, Troy had to settle for a single. Heyward then launched a ball to right field, but Pence corralled it at the warning track. That scored McCann and gave the Braves the lead.

In fourth, Hewyard doubled home McCann, moving Glaus to third base, and Cabrera singled home both runners. Infante also reached with a single and then Derek Lowe tried to bunt the runners over. Instead, he popped up the ball to the on-rushing first baseman Berkman. Lance then let the ball drop to start a 3-6-5 double play. It would have been possible for him to get a triple play because Lowe wasn't running out of the box, but the attempted sac bunt turned into two outs anyway.

Atlanta loaded the bases in the fifth with one out for Heyward. The rookie hit a bouncer to the left of the mound that Norris was able to cut off with a stumbling roll. He then tried to throw home, but the toss went to the backstop, allowing Chipper to score. However, the ball bounced right back to Towles and he was able to tag out McCann attempting to score. Cabrera then completed the scoring by hitting a ground ball between first and second that rolled all the way to the wall because Pence was positioned in right center. This gave Melky a two-run double and ended Norris's day.

Both the Braves and Astros bullpens pitched scoreless stints. Kris Medlen, Takashi Saito and Wagner pitched four scoreless innings (Medlen had two), while Chris Sampson got one strikeout, Jeff Fulchino pitched two shutout innings and Lyon had a scoreless eighth frame.

Nine Is Not Fine; Cards Complete Sweep of Braves

2010-04-29T22:05:00.006-04:00

ST. LOUIS 6, ATLANTA 0

There really isn't much to tell about this game. Rookie starter Jamie Garcia continued his good work in the early season, limiting Atlanta to just four hits through seven innings. The Braves only managed to get three men in scoring position the entire game. They had the best chance in the eighth inning when Yunel Escobar doubled and Martin Prado singled off of reliever Kyle McClellan, but Chipper Jones flied out and Troy Glaus struck out.

The Cardinals scored five runs (three earned) off of Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami, who is now 0-4 on the year and 1-7 with a 6.28 ERA in April over his brief major league career. He allowed three runs himself, but got charged with an additional two when reliever Jonny Venters let both inherited runners score. Skip Schumaker scored two runs, Colby Rasmus and Albert Pujols both had a double, single and intentional walk and run scored in their bodies of work.

ST. LOUIS 10, ATLANTA 4

The game got ugly quick and continued to get uglier, though not all of it had to do with the Cardinals offense. Both Jair Jurrjens and Yunel Escobar had to leave the game with injuries in the Braves' 10-4 loss that stretched their losing streak to nine games and completed their 0-7 road trip. Jurrjens left with a strained hamstring after finishing the first inning (and coughing up a home run to David Freese, who had six RBIs on the day) and Escobar strained a hip muscle as he was throwing to first base in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Colby Rasmus scored four runs for the Cardinals with two walks and two singles. Freese and Matt Holliday scored two runs each. The Cardinals did most of their scoring off of Braves reliever Jesse Chavez, who gave up five runs in two innings, including four in the fifth after he got the first two batters out.

The small highlight of the day was Jason Heyward's at-bat in the seventh inning. He lined a home run off of El Lanzador Gordo Dennys Reyes (if you saw him and know Spanish, you'd call him that too). It was the first home run the Cardinals bullpen had given up since Todd Wellemeyer, now a Giant, gave up one on October 4th of last year.

Adam Wainwright started for the Cardinals and allowed three earned runs on six hits in six innings, the "big blow" being a two-run single by Eric Hinske.

Same Old Story; Cardinals Come Back, Hold Off Braves

2010-04-28T17:35:00.011-04:00

ST. LOUIS 5, ATLANTA 4

It's almost like I was watching a re-run of last night's game. The Braves jumped out to an early lead, but the starting pitcher (and bullpen) couldn't hold it and the Braves were unable to come from behind. This time, it was by a 5-4 score.

The Braves took a 2-0 lead in the second inning thanks to an RBI groundout by Nate McLouth and a first-pitch RBI single for Derek Lowe. The Cardinals struck back with a one-out solo home run by Ryan Ludwick in the fourth inning. Albert Pujols followed with a single and the Cardinals didn't get another hit until the sixth inning.

Lowe and Cardnials starter Chris Carpenter were matching each other pitch for pitch up to then. Lowe had no walks and two hits allowed through five innings while Carpenter had three walks and one hit allowed.

It wasn't meant to last for Lowe, though. Brendan Ryan led off the inning with a single, and with one out, Ryan Ludwick hit a double to left-center, scoring Ryan to tie the game. Albert Pujols was intentionally walked to get to Matt Holliday and he hit a ground ball to Chipper Jones at third base. Instead of throwing to second to try to start a double play, Chipper thought he could start it, so he forced out Ludwick at third. However, Holliday beat the throw to first.

This proved to be crucial to the inning. Colby Rasmus worked out a walk after being down 0-2 and Yadier Molina lined a single up the middle to give the Cardinals a 4-2 lead. Lowe was removed in favor of Peter Moylan and he coughed up an RBI single to David Freese, making the score 5-2.

The Braves were able to answer in the seventh inning thanks to some sloppy Cardinal fielding. Reliever Blake Hawksworth took over for Carpenter, who went six innings and allowed only two runs on three hits and three walks. He got Nate McLouth to ground out, but Brooks Conrad ripped a double off of him, then Yunel Escobar singled him to third. Martin Prado then hit a comebacker to Hawksworth. He attempted to throw home, but Molina was trying to get Prado's bat out of the way and couldn't grab the throw. The ball went to the backstop and Conrad scored. Chipper Jones then singled to second base, scoring Escobar.

Tony LaRussa then played the LOOGY-ROOGY game he loves to play every so often. The Cardinals manager brought in lefty Dennis Reyes to face Brian McCann. The catcher flied out to deep left next, advancing Prado. Mitchell Boggs was summoned to face Troy Glaus walked, but he walked. Veteran lefty Trever Miller faced lefty Jason Heyward and struck him out looking to end the inning. He stayed on in the eighth and paired with Jason Motte (1 2/3 innings) to hold the Braves off the scoreboard the rest of the game. Kris Medlen and Billy Wagner finished the game for Atlanta.

This Time, Bullpen Blows Lead; Cardinals Work Late-Inning Magic Once More

2010-04-27T16:49:00.005-04:00

ST. LOUIS 4, ATLANTA 3

First it's the leadoff hitters, then it's the RISP hitting, now it's the bullpen's turn to get into the act. St. Louis scored three runs off of Atlanta's bullpen to pull out a 4-3 victory over the slumping Braves.

The game started out well for Atlanta. While they once again failed to bring a runner in from third base with two out in the second inning, the team finally chased in an opportunity in the third. With the bases loaded, cleanup hitter Brian McCann hit a sacrifice fly to left field and Troy Glaus singled up the middle, giving the Braves a 2-0 lead. They added a run in the fourth inning when Nate McLouth doubled in Melky Cabrera from first, but he was stranded as Escobar walked and was caught off first base after Martin Prado hit a liner that was snagged by Cardinals third baseman David Freese.

The Cardinals' Albert Pujols had three hits on the day, but his first hit in the second inning was an odd one. He hit a drive to left field that he thought was a home run, so he trotted to first base. The ball hit the left-field wall on the fly and Cabrera was able to throw out Pujols at second base.

The Cardinals were kept at bay by Braves starter Tim Hudson for most of the game. The veteran didn't allow a baserunner to score until the sixth when Skip Schumaker scored on a ground ball to short after walking and going to third on a single.

The Braves were held hitless after McLouth's double until the ninth inning, which gave the Cardinals the opportunity to make their move. St. Louis, as a team, scores 21.8% of their runs in the seventh through ninth innings (17 of 78 before yesterday's game). This is where that showed.

Colby Rasmus led off the seventh inning with a line drive home run off of Tim Hudson to right field. After Hudson walked Yadier Molina, Cox brought in Peter Moylan, who hadn't pitched in three days. Molina attempted to steal a base after stutter-stepping against Molyan and was successful when McCann's throw was short. Freese flied out to the warning track and Brendan Ryan struck out, but pinch-hitter Brian Anderson hit a flare to left field that dropped in for a hit, scoring Molina. Moylan walked Schumaker, but then got Ryan Ludwick to ground to short.

The Braves couldn't answer in the eighth despite getting two men on with two out. So Cox brought in Takashi Saito to face Pujols and Matt Holliday. Pujols led off the inning with a double ripped down the third-base line. Holliday flew out to Brooks Conrad (who was in the game as a pinch-runner to Troy Glaus and switched positions with Prado) in short right field and Rasmus was intentionally walked to get to Molina, another right-hander. Molina spoiled the strategy by hitting a ground-rule double to left-center, scoring Pujols with the go-ahead run. Freese grounded to Conrad at second who threw out Rasmus at the plate. Ryan struck out looking to end the inning.

Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin allowed a swinging bunt single by pinch-hitter Matt Diaz to lead off the ninth, but got pinch-hitter Eric Hinske to ground into a double play. Yunel Escobar reached first on a ball hit up the middle that Schumaker could only knock down, but Prado grounded to the second baseman to end the game.

Odds 'N Ends: The Braves' leadoff spot has reached undiscovered territories of epic stinkiness. The team's leadoff hitters are a combined .099/.178/.148 in 90 plate appearances. The main ones, Cabrera (7 games), McLouth (6 games) and Diaz (5 games), are a combined 7-72, with Cabrera only having one double and Diaz with the double and triple in the Rockies game. Even the Braves pitchers are batting better than they are (.131/.197/.213 in 73 PAs), including the same amount of hits (eight)!

The Silliness Continues; Mets Take Rain-Shortened Game

2010-04-25T23:04:00.005-04:00

NEW YORK 1, ATLANTA 0

Sunday's Braves-Mets game was a little like getting Whammied on Press Your Luck. Atlanta repeatedly failed to get runners in from second and third base, had an unearned run scored off of them and the skies opened up in the sixth inning, allowing the Mets to sweep the Braves by a 1-0 score.

It was almost like clockwork: the Braves had the bases loaded with two out in the first inning, men on first and second with two out in the second inning, men on first and second with one out in the third inning and men on first and second with one out in the fifth inning. A pop-up to short by Jason Heyward, a strikeout by Martin Prado, a double play grounder to short by Heyward, and a double play grounder to third by Troy Glaus ended each of those threats.

The Mets got their run off Braves starter Tommy Hanson in the first inning when Jose Reyes singled with two out, stole second and scored on an errant throw by Chipper Jones to first base in an attempt to get Jason Bay. It appeared that Chipper could have chosen to go after Reyes to tag him out, but he decided to throw to first anyway. The ball took a funny hop and bounced away from Glaus, allowing the run to score.

Hanson and Mets starter Mike Pelfrey wriggled out of that kind of trouble all game. Whlie striking out eight batters, Hanson was able to strand the other six baserunners he allowed via three singles and two walks. Pelfrey was able to strand every Braves runner, who got on with two doubles, three singles and five walks.

Odds 'N Ends: At least Tommy Hanson didn't have a quality start for the Braves to blow. As I think I mentioned yesterday, the Braves are 3-5 in games where the starter has a quality start.

Troy Glaus has seemed to become the bane of many Braves fans' existences. He leads the team with 10 hitless games where the player has started the game. Glaus has started 15 of the Braves' first 18 games. Calls for Eric Hinske to start more frequently have already begun, and probably won't be realized until about mid-May or so if Glaus continues to hit like he did coming back from shoulder surgery last year.

More Woes And Weirdness Lead To Second Mets Win

2010-04-25T14:55:00.008-04:00

NEW YORK 3, ATLANTA 1

Okay, now it's just getting silly.

Yunel Escobar made a key baserunning gaffe in the fifth inning with a scoreless tie and the Braves wasted another quality start from Jair Jurrjens with poor RISP batting, losing to the Mets 3-1.

The Braves left the bases loaded in the first inning and Chipper Jones, who turned 38 years old yesterday, appeared to hurt himself on his first swing. He tried to go back out in the third inning, but he couldn't extend himself and had to come out of the game. Martin Prado, who was getting the day off, took his place at third base the next inning. Chipper is day-to-day with a hip injury.

Matt Diaz and Melky Cabrera struck out with the bases loaded to end the third. Atlanta left men on second with two out in the second and third innings.

With one out in the fifth, Escobar walked. Prado then hit a double in his first at-bat, sending Escobar to third. Troy Glaus then flied out to right. Seemingly forgetting the situation, Escobar failed to tag up at third, while Martin Prado did tag up at second and ran to third on Francoeur's catch. By the time Escobar realized what was going on, it was too late. Prado tried to get in a rundown, but he was quickly tagged out before Escobar could score.

However, the Braves did take the lead off of of starter Jon Niese in the sixth. Cabrera hit a one-out double, his second of the year, and scored on David Ross's single to give the Braves the lead. The Mets then brought in former Brave Manny Acosta, who shut down his old teammates through 1 2/3 innings.

In the bottom of the sixth, Jose Reyes took a two-out walk and stole second base. He went to third on David Ross's poor throw, which skipped into the outfield. Jason Bay then drove Reyes home with a double.

Rookie first baseman Ike David led off the seventh with a walk. Jeff Francoeur then hit a high fastball (which is pretty much one of the only things he can hit) to the 415 sign in right-center, scoring Davis with a triple. He was brought home by Henry Blanco's sacrifice fly. Jurrjens got pinch-hitter Frank Catalaotto to ground out, but a walk to leadoff hitter Angel Pagan ended his day. Eric O'Flaherty got Alex Cora to ground out to end the inning.

The Braves got another man in scoring position off reliever Pedro Feliciano with Jason Heyward beating out a double play relay and moving to second on a walk to David Ross. Brian McCann then lined a pitch to shortstop that was tailing on Reyes, but he made a great diving catch to save a run.

Kris Medlen held the Mets scoreless in the ninth and Francisco Rodriguez had a much-less shaky ninth inning as he put the Braves away 1-2-3 for his third save of the year.

Jurrjens went 6 2/3 innings and allowed just one earned run on four hits and four walks. Mets starter Jon Niese similarly allowed just one earned run, but on five hits and five wlks in 5 1/3 innings.

Odds 'N Ends: So far in the series at Citi Field, the Braves are 3-17 with RISP, with six walks and 3 RBIs. Those three hits are only singles.

Batting Average With Balls In Play is designed to show how often the defense turns a player's batted ball into an out. Sometimes, it shows that a player is very unlucky and other times it shows that a player is playing at an unsustainable level.

As of this post, the league average is .296. Out of the Braves' nine regular players, only three of them have a BABIP above the league average:

Martin Prado - .473 BABIP (.409 BA)
Jason Heyward - .344 BABIP (.254 BA)
Chipper Jones - .306 BABIP (.283 BA)
The rest of the Braves' starters have significantly lower BABIPs than average:

Matt Diaz - .241 BABIP (.175 BA)
Brian McCann - .238 BABIP (.258 BA)
Yunel Escobar - .218 BABIP (.194 BA)
Troy Glaus - .211 BABIP (.175 BA)
Nate McLouth - .208 BABIP (.150 BA)
Melky Cabrera - .174 BABIP (.143 BA)
McCann is especially unlucky because his average is higher than his BABIP.

The last time the Mets swept a three-game series from the Braves in New York was August 19-21, 2008.

Near Misses, Strange Plays, Offensive Woes Add To Mets Win

2010-04-23T23:08:00.005-04:00

NEW YORK 5, ATLANTA 2

Nate McLouth missing the game-tying home run by about 5-10 feet capped the weirdness of this game as the Mets defeated the Braves 5-2 in the opener of their three game series.

The game started normally, at first: the Braves struck first with Chipper Jones's RBI single off of starter John Maine. New York almost tied the game when former Brave Jeff Francoeur just missed a home run, hitting a ball off of what I would like to call the Black Monster in left field. Francoeur took third base on an ill-advised throw by Cabrera to second base. He then tried to score on Rod Barajas's grounder to third, but Chipper was able to throw him out at the plate.

Maine would leave the game in the middle of the fourth inning as he felt some muscle spasms in his left elbow. "Rookie" reliever Hisanori Takahashi, a 10-year veteran of the Yomiuri Tokyo Giants, went on to strike out seven of the twelve Braves that he faced.

In the meantime, the Mets tied the game with Ike Davis's first major league home run, a bomb to straight right off of Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami that knotted the score at one. New York went ahead in the bottom of the sixth on consecutive triples by Jose Reyes and Jason Bay. David Wright's sacrifice fly to the warning track in center field plated Bay and the Mets went up by two runs.

Kawakami finished the inning and left with his second quality start in three tries, with six hits and three earned runs allowed in six frames. The Braves finally chased Takahashi with a leadoff double by Omar Infante and a two-out single by Martin Prado.

The bottom of the seventh is where things got wacky. With one out and setup man Takashi Saito on the hill, Angel Pagan singled to left. He went to second on Luis Castillo's walk. Jose Reyes then hit a pop fly on the infield and the infield fly rule was called. Here is the rule and its points:

2.00: An INFIELD FLY is a fair fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule.

6.05(e): A batter is out when An Infield Fly is declared.

This rule was made to prevent fielders from intentionally dropping balls to start double or even triple plays. Another key to this rule is that when the ball is dropped, it's still a live ball; any base is fair game if unguarded.

That's exactly what happened: Chipper Jones dropped the ball and picked it up as the Pagan and Castillo advanced a base. McCann then left home plate unguarded as he tried to get an explanation on why he didn't need to throw it to first. The ball was still live, however, because Saito didn't have it and he wasn't on the mound. So Pagan, with a heads-up notice from base coach Chip Hale, bolted for home plate and beat McCann's tag by a full second.

David Wright added on to the free run with a single, so it looked like the Mets would coast to a victory.

Not quite.

Pedro Feliciano and Jonny Venters provided a scoreless eighth inning, so it was up to Frankie Rodriguez to earn the save for the Mets. Melky Cabrera, who was 0-3 in the game, greeted him with a single to right. Infante, who had three hits up to that point, gave the Mets an out with a first-pitch fly ball to center.

However, Rodriguez then lost control against pinch-hitter Yunel Escobar, walking him. That brought up Nate McLouth, who had struck out three times already. He battled with Rodriguez a bit, and at one point absolutely crushed a high fastball that ended up 5-10 feet to the right of the foul pole. Rodriguez got him looking on a change-up on the outside corner then blew away Prado with an 0-2 breaking ball to end the game.

The Old Junkballer Strikes Again; Phils Take Series

2010-04-22T23:27:00.006-04:00

PHILADELPHIA 8, ATLANTA 3

Forty-seven year old Jamie Moyer just keeps chugging along. Two years younger than Julio Franco when he retired in 2008, the crafty left-hander carved up Braves batters. With near immediate support, he helped the Phillies cruise to an 8-3 win.

The Philles struck first off Braves starter Derek Lowe with three singles and a sacrifice fly in the first inning. They added three more in the third aided by an errant throw by second baseman Martin Prado on an attempted double play that sailed high and bounced off of Escobar's glove. Two runs scored on that play and shortstop Juan Castro added a third run with an RBI single. He ended up with three hits on the day. Greg Dobbs and Chase Utley both scored two runs in the two innings.

The Braves got a similar break in the fifth inning. Walks by Melky Cabrera and pinch-hitter Omar Infante put men on first and second with one out. In the next at bat, Matt Diaz grounded a ball to short. Castro's throw bounced off of Chase Utley's glove, allowing Cabrera to score and Infante to move to second. Prado then grounded to Castro at short and Utley threw wildly to first base while trying to avoid Diaz's slide. That allowed Infante to score. Chipper Jones lined to Dobbs at third to end the inning.

Philadelphia tallied a run off of Kris Medlen in the sixth with Shane Victorino's sacrifice fly and became the first team to get to Peter Moylan, scoring two runs off of him in the seventh. Ross Gload and Victorino had consecutive RBI singles off of the sidearmer.

The Braves threatened in the sixth with men on second and third with one out, but Jason Heyward struck out looking and Melky Cabrera popped out to Castro at short. That ended Moyer's day; he finished with only four hits and two walks given up in six innings. The three Phillies starters in the series didn't allow a single earned run.

Brian McCann was able to get a run in with the bases loaded with one out in the seventh with a sacrifice fly, but Troy Glaus struck out swinging to end the Braves' threat. The team had to endure a similar indignity in the final frame. After Diaz turned a leadoff Eric Hinske single into a double play, Prado hit a grounder that Castro couldn't quite corral and Chipper doubled to left. The two got five of the Braves' nine hits on the day. However, McCann flew to the warning track to end the game.

Odd 'N End: I may as well keep a running tally of the Braves' offensive futility as long as they're struggling:

AVG: .229 (T-14th in NL, T-24th in MLB)
OBP: .329 (10th in NL, 15th in MLB)
SLG: .361 (13th in NL, 23rd in MLB)

So, basically, the Braves' NL-leading 72 walks are keeping them from having a totally putrid offense.

No Miracle With Doc On Mound; Phils Shut Out Braves

2010-04-21T22:13:00.007-04:00

PHILADELPHIA 2, ATLANTA 0

Your bullpen blow a game you had in the bag? No problem: just put the majors' leader in complete games over the past decade on the mound, add water, stir, bake and enjoy.

Phillies ace Roy Halladay twirled a few lucky breaks and some great defense into a five-hit shutout as the Phillies took Game 2 against the Braves by a score of 2-0.

Halladay set down the first eleven Braves he faced until Chipper Jones doubled to left-center. This included a drive by Troy Glaus in the second inning that center fielder Shane Victorino snagged just before it went over the wall.

In the second inning, Jayson Werth hit a pitch where he thought he had a home run and he bumped fists with first base coach Davey Lopes as he rounded first. The ball hit off the wall and Werth had to hustle to second for a double. This led to some apparent confusion by Braves radio announcer Don Sutton on whether Werth should have been called out on the play. This is the rule that he was referring to:

Rule 7.09(h): In the judgment of the umpire, the base coach at third base, or first base, by touching or holding the runner, physically assists him in returning to or leaving third base or first base.
Since Lopes wasn't assisting Werth in running the bases while the ball was in play, he wasn't called out. Raul Ibanez drove him in with a ground-rule double to right-center. Juan Castro singled to put men on the corners with none out. However Carlos Ruiz flied out to short right, Halladay struck out and Victorino hit a soft liner to center that McLouth got with a sliding grab.

Ryan Howard led off the sixth inning with a check swing that resulted in a freak single to left field. This proved to be significant because he scored on Werth's double. Raul Ibanez was intentionally walked and Hudson got three straight groundouts to end his day, including Escobar throwing out Werth at home for the first out.

The Braves tried to get rallies going the next two innings, but they were snuffed out both times. Melky Cabrera singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth, but was stranded with four pitches resulting in three outs. In the seventh, Jones and McCann hit back-to-back singles to start it off. Glaus struck out, but Heyward drew a walk to load the bases. After a five-pitch at-bat, Escobar hit a hard liner up the middle that bounced off the mound. Chase Utley was able to corral it and start an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, the Phillies' only one of the day.

Eric Hinske hit a bloop double down the left field line with one out in the eighth. He moved to third on Nate McLouth's groundout, but was stranded at third base when Martin Prado grounded out.

Tim Hudson was able to pitch around trouble after damage was done. The Phillies scored runs in the second and sixth innings. Both times after the scores, they had men on first and third with no one out. Both times, Hudson was able to keep the Phillies off of the board. He pitched six innings, allowing six hits, two runs (both earned), two intentional walks and five strikeouts. Jonny Venters continued his success, pitching two innings in relief, allowing no hits and getting two strikeouts. Takashi Saito finished the game for the Braves.

An Odd 'N End: The Braves are scuffling offensively as a team: they're 15th in the league in batting average (.227, three points above Houston's .224) and 13th in the league in slugging (.360, one of four teams below .400). Their league-leading 69 walks is what puts their on-base percentage tenth in the league (.329).

Miracle on Hank Aaron Drive: Late Long Bombs Lead Atlanta

2010-04-20T23:17:00.006-04:00

ATLANTA 4, PHILADELPHIA 3

The Phillies have now had their Tommy Hanson-Rafael Soriano moment. After a dominating performance by starter Kyle Kendrick, Charlie Manuel turned the 3-0 game over to his closer and could only watch as the Braves went on to win the game 4-3.

Kendrick, who had an ERA of 17.27 in 5 2/3 innings over two starts, simply dominated the Braves with his sinker. The one inning he ran into trouble in was the fourth. Martin Prado singled with one out and Chipper Jones hit a double off the right-field wall to move Martin to third base. Brian McCann was intentionally walked to get to Troy Glaus. Glaus to grounded to Polanco at third to start an inning-ending double play.

The Braves didn't have another base runner until McCann singled in the seventh. A walk to Nate McLouth in the eighth inning provided the Braves with their only other baserunner against Kendrick. The Phillies starter went eight innings and allowed four hits and two walks, striking out two Braves hitters.

Tommy Hanson, on the other hand, had a strange game. He pitched well, but the Phillies lineup made him throw a lot of pitches and got a couple of runs thanks to some funky hits. With one out, Chase Utley checked his swing on a full-count pitch and ended up grounding the ball down the line past third base for a freak double. Ryan Howard then grounded into the overshift, but the ball kicked off of Glaus's glove for a single, allowing Utley to score. In the fifth, Placido Polanco had a similar double to Utley's hit.

Hanson was removed after 4 2/3 innings in favor of Eric O'Flaherty to face the lefty Phillie mashers. Utley foiled that plan by singling up the middle, scoring Polanco and putting the Phillies up 2-0. O'Flaherty got Howard to line out to Glaus to end the inning.

Peter Moylan pitched a scoreless inning and Kris Medlen went two innings. He allowed a run on two singles and a fielder's choice in the seventh, but didn't allow anymore damage. Jesse Chavez pitched a scoreless ninth for the Braves.

In the bottom of the inning, the Phillies brought in Ryan Madson, who was 3-3 in save opportunities this year. Prado, the leadoff batter, grounded out to short to start the inning. Jones then coaxed a walk out of Madson to bring up McCann. The Braves catcher lined out to Raul Ibanez in left for the second out. Glaus then swung and missed at a fastball then watched a pitch in the dirt. The next pitch, a fastball down the middle, was deposited in the left-field seats. Jason Heyward, who was 0-3 on the day, was next. He watched a fastball on the outside corner then got a change-up down the middle of the plate. The ball ended up in the right-field seats and the game was tied.

The Phillies didn't score off of their former closer Billy Wagner in the top of the tenth, so Manuel sent in The Ageless One (as Braves announcer Joe Simpson called him) Jose Contreras to pitch the frame. Braves outfielder Nate McLouth was the first to face him. The struggling center fielder tomahawked a 2-2 pitch to give the Braves an improbable victory. The whole team went into the clubhouse so as McLouth returned to the dugout, there wasn't anyone but a batboy there. The team celebrated in the hallway to the dugout instead.

My Take and Odds 'N Ends: I was prepared to accept defeat, but knowing that Kyle Kendrick was coming out of the game gave the Braves players and their fans (including me) some hope. It paid off immensely.

When I said the Phillies now have their Hanson-Soriano moment, I was referring to a game on September 9th last year where the Braves got eight innings of five-hit shutout ball from Hanson and he had only thrown 98 pitches. Despite that, Cox put in Soriano to close the game, when he had pitched in three of the last four days. Almost like clockwork, the Astros scored two runs with a single, double, intentional walk and another single to win the game. Thankfully, I think Cox is shying away from that type of managing this early on in the season.

All alone, Jason Heyward has driven in 25% of the Braves' runs (16 of 64). Far and away, he's the best player at adding Win Probability percentage points for his team (2.6 total), which is twice the total of Brian McCann's amount (1.3). For what it's worth, the Braves player right now who has the lowest total is Troy Glaus (-1.6).

Heyward Strikes Again; Braves Pull Out Wild Win To Win Series

2010-04-18T18:49:00.008-04:00

ATLANTA 4, COLORADO 3

The game was a hundredth of a second from being over on Troy Glaus's groundout. A walk later, the game was over as Heyward bailed out his team with a two-run single, getting the Braves a 4-3 victory.

Braves starter Jair Jurrjens, who faced cocerns due to his drop in velocity in his terrible start agsinst San Diego, pitched eight strong innings, becoming the first Brave to go past the seventh this season.

However, it was almost all for naught.

The Braves took the lead in the first inning when Matt Diaz led off with the Braves' first hit, a tripe to right-center. This was the Braves first hit since Brooks Conrad's double in the eighth inning of Friday's win. Diaz came home on Martin Prado's liner to left fielder Seth Smith. They would have had a second run in the second inning on Matt Diaz's single to right, but Carlos Gonzalez threw Melky Cabrera at the plate trying to score.

The Rockies answered quickly in the second inning with a double by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and a one-out RBI single by third baseman Ian Stewart. The Braves took the lead again when Jason Heyward walked with the bases loaded and two out. Rockies starter Greg Smith got Cabrera to strike out to prevent anymore runs from scoring.

The next few innings were dominated by Jurrjens and more missed opportunties by the Braves. Matt Diaz doubled with one out in the fourth, but was stranded there. In the seventh, Chipper Jones walked and moved to second base on McCann's flyout, but was picked off by reliever Joe Beimel. Jason Heyward drew a walk from Rafael Betancourt to lead off the eighth, was sacrified to second and moved to third on a wild pitch with Eric Hinske at the plate. But he was stranded as Hinske grounded to first and Diaz flew out to center fielder Dexter Fowler on the first pitch.

By that time, Jurrjens had been victimized by two solo home runs. With one out in the seventh, Ian Stewart yanked a ball down the right field line to tie the game. Carlos Gonzalez then led off the eighth inning by hitting a fastball similar to Stewart down the right field line. That gave the Rockies a 3-2 lead. Jurrjens finished the inning with two strikeouts and a foul fly to Escobar. He allowed just five hits and three walks, striking out nine Rockies, but he was slated to take the loss.

Closer Franklin Morales came in to finish the game for the Rockies. Here's how the inning transpired:

Prado led off with a single.
Prado advances to second base on a balk.
Jones flies out to center field.
McCann walks and is replaced by pinch-runner Nate McLouth.
Troy Glaus bounces to Todd Helton off first, who throws to second to force McLouth. Glaus beats the return throw to Morales at first base. Brooks Conrad replaces Glaus as a pinch-runner.
Yunel Escobar walks.
Heyward grounds a single to left field, Prado and Conrad score.

Frankly, I can't think of anything else to say other than this is a game I'm glad the Braves won.

Ubaldo Makes History At Braves' Expense; No-Hits Atlanta At Turner

2010-04-17T22:15:00.008-04:00

COLORADO 4, ATLANTA 0

A first-inning run by the Rockies off Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami turned out to be all the scoring they needed. Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the first no-hitter in Rockies history, blanking the Atlanta Braves 4-0.

Jimenez needed 128 pitches to complete the feat. His control wasn't the greatest; he had 56 balls compared to 72 strikes, and walked six Braves hitters. But in the sixth inning, he pitched exclusively from the stretch and retired every Braves batter he faced from then on, ending the game by retiring the last 15 Braves batters.

The closest calls to ending the no-hitter came in the seventh inning. With a 3-1 count, Troy Glaus smacked a pitch into left-center. Dexter Fowler, who was shading him a little towards right field, sprinted to his left and caught the ball with a perfectly-timed dive. The next batter, Yunel Escobar, hit a low sinking line drive that Fowler caught about two feet off the ground.

Kawakami went five innings for the Braves and allowed four runs on eight hits. He also got picked off of second base on a perfect throw by catcher Miguel Olivo. Jimenez also hit a two-out single off of him that scored the second run for the Rockies. Carlos Gonzalez, who doubled and scored the game's first run, drove in Jimenez and Ian Stewart with another two-bagger, giving him two on the day.

The Braves bullpen was the only bright spot, featuring the major league debut of left-hander Jonny Venters. He did his job, going three innings, allowing just one hit and one walk, striking out two Rockie hitters. Jesse Chavez pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the pitching for the Braves.

Odds 'N Ends: The last time the Braves were no-hit was, of course, Randy Johnson's perfect game on May 18, 2004. Chipper Jones is the only Brave to participate in the two recent no-hitters.

Martin Prado, whose 14-game hitting streak was snapped, was the only Braves players to walk twice.

Jonny Venters joined four other Atlanta Braves players to pitch three innings in their major league debuts:

Jonny Venters, 4/17/2010 vs. COL - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Kevin Barry, 6/26/2006 vs. NYY - 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
Trey Hodges, 9/10/2002 vs. NYM - 3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, W
Derrin Ebert, 4/6/1999 vs. PHI - 3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, S
Cecil Upshaw, 10/1/1966 vs. CIN - 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO

Kenshin Kawakami has only gotten three runs of support this year from the Braves, continuing a pattern from last season. If Kawakami had qualified last season, he would have had the worst run support in the National League (3.55 R/G).

Braves Back Lowe's Tightrope Act Once More, Beat Rockies

2010-04-17T15:57:00.008-04:00

ATLANTA 9, COLORADO 5

At the end of the day, Braves veteran Derek Lowe became the second National League hurler to win three games, getting the victory in a 9-5 Braves win.

Of course, he got the victory the way he always does: pitching just good enough and getting a lot of offense behind him. The Braves blew the game open in the second inning, chasing Rockies starter Jason Hammel. Seven singles, three walks, a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly led to seven runs in the frame. The Braves added another run in the third off of Manny Corpas when Eric Hinske singled home Nate McLouth, driving in his third run of the game.

Lowe danced around a first-and-third, none out situation in the first inning by striking out Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki. Ryan Spilborghs was caught trying to steal second base by three feet.

In the fourth, after inducing a double play from Helton, Lowe gave up a single to Tulowitzki and a double to Brad Hawpe, breaking the shutout. The situation became a lot more dicey when Ian Stewart reached on an error by Hinske and Lowe walked Clint Barmes. Pinch-hitter Seth Smith launched a fly ball to deep right field. Jason Heyward, who had two singles on the day, attempted to scale the scoreboard wall and catch the ball, but it landed two rows out of his reach, making the score 8-4.

Chipper Jones was able to answer in the bottom of the frame with a two-out solo home run. His blast came after he looked silly flopping over the plate after fouling off a pitch from reliever Joe Beimel.

Lowe walked Hawpe to start the sixth, but got Chris Iannetta to ground back to him. Cox then removed him in favor of lefty Eric O'Flaherty, who worked Thursday. Lowe finished the day with seven hits and three earned runs allowed, with two walks and five strikeouts.

O'Flaherty stayed in the game, finishing the seventh inning. He allowed a run on a walk and a double, but struck out three batters. Kris Medlen finished off the game for the Braves with two very effective innings. His only hit allowed was a single to Spilborghs, and he struck out three batters.

Odds 'N Ends: Cabrera had his first multiple-hit game with the Braves, garnering two singles. The only other game where Cabrera reached base more than twice this year was the 5-4 loss to the Giants where he reached base with a double and two walks.

Martin Prado has a fourteen game hitting streak over two seasons, batting .458/.529/.644 over that span. His 19 hits in 10 games to start the season matches the club record set by Deion Sanders in 1992. Prado needs one hit to tie Neon Deion's record for 11 games and two hits to set a new one.

Double Feature Post: Braves Take Final Two At PETCO To Win Series

2010-04-15T19:59:00.010-04:00

ATLANTA 6, SAN DIEGO 1

Brave starter Tommy Hanson pitched six effective innings and the Braves exacted a bit of revenge for Monday's thrashing, defeating the Padres 6-1.

Hanson and Padres left-hander Clayton Richard, who looked extra-intimidating in the Padres' camouflage jerseys and green cap, traded zeroes for four-and-a-half innings. The Braves
had just three hits in their five half-innings and struck out five times.

San Diego struck first in the fifth. With one out, Hanson nicked Richard on the shin with a breaking ball. After striking out Everth Cabrera, David Eckstein singled and Adrian Gonzalez followed with another single, driving home Cabrera. Hanson got out of the inning by getting Kyle Blanks to ground out to Chipper at third. He finished the day with four hits, four walks and seven strikeouts.

The Braves struck back quickly in the top of the sixth. With one out, Martin Prado hit a double past Gonzalez down the right field line, bringing his consecutive game hit streak to twelve. Chipper Jones walked and Brian McCann smacked a double to right-center to score two and give the Braves the lead again. Troy Glaus singled him to third and he was erased on a fielder's choice to third. Jason Heyward then singled Glaus home. Hanson only allowed a walk in the sixth to finish his day.

Atlanta added three more in the seventh with Troy Glaus's first home run of the season. The 417-foot shot to left that landed in the second deck upped the score to 6-1 and that's where it stayed. Peter Moylan, Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner each pitched a scoreless inning for the Braves; Saito and Wagner struck out two batters each.

My Take: I've sometimes questioned the way Bobby Cox uses his relievers, but it's all right that Moylan, Saito and Wagner pitched in this game; Moylan hadn't been in a game in three days and Saito and Wagner were shelved for four. Wagner did throw in the pen in Lowe's last start. As Joe Simpson and Chip Caray mentioned in the color commentary, it's a question of "rest vs. rust".

At long last, Troy Glaus had his first extra-base hit of the season. This streak (7 games) was the longest that Glaus has started a season without an extra-base hit. His previous high was three games, starting the 2000 season with the Angels. His repaired shoulder may still be a factor for him.

Brian McCann had two doubles in Wednesday's game. That marks the 32nd time he has had two extra-base hits in a game and the 13th time he has had two doubles in a game.

ATLANTA 6, SAN DIEGO 2

Despite Tim Hudson's impression of teammate Derek Lowe, the Braves held off the Padres on Throwback Thursday/Jackie Robinson Day and pulled away in the eighth inning to earn a 6-2 victory.

Both teams sported uniforms from the 1984 season. What was unusual about them is that every player wore #42 as part of an MLB-wide tribute to Robinson, baseball's first black player to break the "unofficial" color line. That was 63 years ago today. Prior to that, the last black player to play a major league game was Moses Fleetwood Walker, a catcher who played 42 games for the American Association's Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884.

The baby-blue clad Braves struck quickly off of Padre starter Mat Latos. Martin Prado hit a long home run to left field that gave the Braves an early 1-0 lead. They tried for more in the second, but Jerry Hairston, Jr., who plays just about every position, made two excellent plays to take hits away from Yunel Escobar and Jason Heyward in the second inning.

The two combined to get the Braves a second run in the fourth. With two out, Escobar singled and stole second base. Heyward then smacked a long double to right-center that scored Escobar. Atlanta added a run in the fifth when Chipper Jones, who reached on a fielder's choice, scored on Brian McCann's double to left-center.

Will Venable, who was 12-35 with four homers and 11 runs scored against the Braves in 8 games plus two at-bats, added a fifth homer that bounced off of the top of the scoreboard in right field. After a great jumping grab by Prado and a bouncer back to Hudson, pinch hitter Matt Stairs doubled to right-center and Cabrera chased him home with a single.

From that moment, the Braves bullpen shut down the Padres for the rest of the game. Kris Medlen, Eric O'Flaherty, Moylan, Saito and Wagner combined four 3 1/3 innings of no-hit, no-run ball with four strikeouts.

To support the effort the Braves added three runs in the eighth inning. Jones walked and stole second. After McCann popped up and Glaus struck out, Escobar singled past a diving Chase Headley at third and the ball was deflected into left field, allowing Chipper to score standing up. Heyward then launched an opposite-field blast that nearly gave him his fourth homer of the year. Instead, the ball bounced off the warning track, giving him a double that scored Escobar. Eric Hinske brought Heyward home with an opposite-field single.

My Take And Odds 'N Ends: While I still believe that having every player wear #42 was tacky, the annoyance subsided as the game wore on. It was a little humorous to see "42" displayed in everyone's number slot graphic on SportsSouth.

I think a more meaningful tribute would be to have one player nominated or elected from each team to wear #42 from now on. Some teams may not have to do that, like the Yankees.

1984 was also the year of an intense game between the Braves and Padres that became a beanball war from the very first pitch. The August 12th game featured three bench-clearing fights, with several Braves players, two Padre pitchers and both managers being ejected. Two Padres coaches serving as managers were also ejected. There were even a few fans who were arrested for joining the fighting. Pascual Perez, the target of the Padres pitchers the entire night for hitting Alan Wiggins with the first pitch, pitched eight innings of five-hit ball, allowing just one run. He got removed for a pinch-runner after he was finally hit by a pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

After walking no one in his first start against the Giants, Tim Hudson was bit by whatever walk bug bit Derek Lowe and he lost control with his pitches. In his Braves career, Hudson has walked five batters seven times; he has a 3-4 record in those games. Even more interesting: in each win, Hudson allowed exactly two earned runs.

Let The Hand-Wringing Commence

2010-04-14T13:34:00.009-04:00

In a recent column by Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, Orlando Hudson claims that black players are being discriminated against in the free agent market. What's worse is that Passan seems to agree with it.

MINNEAPOLIS – As Major League Baseball prepares for its annual Jackie Robinson Day on Thursday, one prominent African-American player questioned teams’ commitment to employing black players past their prime years.
A "commitment" to employ black players "past their prime". Just one sentence into the article, we have a problem. Why should a team take on a player who may not contribute as much as they did in the past with the color of their skin as a factor? That's a classic definition of racism.

“You see guys like Jermaine Dye without a job,” Minnesota Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson said Monday. “Guy with [27 home runs and 81 RBIs] and can’t get a job. Pretty much sums it up right there, no? You’ve got some guys who miss a year who can come back and get $5, $6 million, and a guy like Jermaine Dye can’t get a job. A guy like Gary Sheffield, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, can’t get a job. …

“We both know what it is. You’ll get it right. You’ll figure it out. I’m not gonna say it because then I’ll be in [trouble].”
We know it, huh? Lets see who we're talking about here:

During the off-season Dye turned down a $3 million contract offer from the Cubs, was rumored to be linked with the Nationals during the off-season after Elijah Dukes was released, and talks petered out with the Brewers.

If Dye was looking for more money from some team, he struck out and now he doesn't have a job. It definitely seems as if it's mostly his own fault.

Gary Sheffield, on the other hand, is a 41-year old outfielder who hit well in a part-time role with the Mets, but was brutal in the field. Now, he's one year older and probably still has a glove of iron. No National League team is going to take him and there are only 14 DH spots in the American League.

What Hudson wants to say: He believes there is a racist element to the free-agent market in baseball, and that it’s paralyzing the 36-year-old Dye’s ability to earn what non-blacks with commensurate numbers received in the offseason.

Wow! What a damning statement! I'd sure love to see you back that up while Dye lobbies the Mariners and Sheffield tries to get younger.

“Call it what you want to,” Hudson said. “I ain’t fit to say it. After I retire I’ll say it. I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff to say after I retire.”

So, he's not fit to say it now, but after he retires, he's going to go all Kitty Kelly on us?

Hudson’s comments came on the heels of Dye turning down a one-year contract offer from the Washington Nationals for less than a quarter of his $11.5 million salary with the Chicago White Sox last season. After a first half in which he slugged .567 and hit 20 home runs, Dye spent the second half of 2009 in a deep slump from which he never emerged, batting .179 and slugging .297 while playing subpar defense in right field.

Hudson believed Dye’s credentials – 164 home runs in the last five years and an OPS 21 percent better than the league average – would buy him the benefit of the doubt.

Okay, let me get this straight: Hudson believes that Dye should be paid according to his track record despite the fact that he utterly tanked for three months last season offensively and defensively. If that is the case, then that should work for trades too. The Braves should have been able to get something more for Jeff Francoeur and something, period, for Kelly Johnson because of their positive track records.

Dye hoped to play for a contender, and while he understood he would take a pay cut, he expected a deal in the $4 million-plus range. Hudson said he and Dye spoke on the phone this offseason about his status, though they never broached specifics about why the market never materialized above $3.5 million, a number approached or exceeded by a number of players with inferior credentials.

“We don’t even get into it,” Hudson said. “We both know what it is.”

Translation: Dye wanted to get paid. He didn't get paid what he wanted and now he doesn't have a job. It must be because he's old and black.

And what's this about "players with inferior credentials"? Hm. I probably have to keep reading for that.

The Baltimore Orioles guaranteed $4.5 million to first baseman Garrett Atkins, 30, after he hit .226 and slugged .342 in 354 at-bats last season.

Atkins, a white guy, is also a corner infielder and six years younger than Dye, thus more likely to return to his pre-2009 production. Dye was unlikely to play first base despite expressing interest, so I'm not sure this a particularly good comparison.

Thirty-three-year-old Aubrey Huff’s(notes) on-base percentage was 30 points lower than Dye’s and his slugging percentage 69 points lower, yet the San Francisco Giants gave him $3 million

Another white guy, but three years younger than Dye also a player who had been playing first base and DHing for a few years. He shuffled between DH and the corner infield and outfield spots his entire career. The only times Dye has been in the infield are for one game at first and one at short in 2005 with the White Sox.

The Chicago Cubs paid 31-year-old Xavier Nady $3.3 million after an elbow injury limited him to 28 at-bats last season.

A third white guy, he's also five years younger than Dye and called on to be a utility-type like Huff once was. He's already played in the outfield and first base this year.

Whether teams with first base openings didn’t trust Dye’s ability to convert or others with outfield slots preferred different players, his presence on the open market in mid-April is particularly puzzling when coupled with the fates of other black players.

The elephant in the room behind Curtain #2!

Second baseman Ray Durham, coming off a 2008 in which he got on base at a .380 clip and slugged .432, couldn’t get anything more than a backup sniff as a 37-year-old. Durham’s case, one source said, is among those being looked at by the MLB players’ association in its potential collusion case against MLB.

I'm not sure how they can argue collusion with this. Durham did have a fine season (.289/.380/.432), but it was in a diminished role with two teams (304 PAs with San Francisco, 112 PAs with Milwaukee). Maybe there was concern that he couldn't take a full role any longer.

Also, I'm noticing a trend here: Every black player cited so far is above 35 years of age. As of this blog post, according to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index, there are only 81 baseball players 35 or older. Out of those 81 players, only 14 are outfielders or first basemen. That either means that there are entrenched players at the positions or teams want to go younger at said positions. Dye's real crime may just be getting older.

Outfielder Kenny Lofton(notes) put up an above-average OPS as a 40-year-old in 2007 and hasn’t been seen since.

And Sheffield, 41, remains a free agent after slugging .451 with spacious Citi Field as his home stadium.

I was wondering when we'd get to them. Kenny Lofton somewhere along the line has garnered the reputation for being a "malcontent". In recent years, he hasn't done anything to disprove that. After he left the Yankees, he was rumored to trying to steer C. C. Sabathia away from signing with the Yankees. This came after he agreed with teammate Gary Sheffield's comments in which he said black players were treated differently than whites in the Yankee clubhouse. This essentially branded longtime manager Joe Torre as a racist.

There are other factors, of course. The free-agent market has shifted drastically against older players. The game places a greater emphasis on defense. And in the individual cases, Lofton came with a difficult-to-handle reputation, as did Sheffield, who once alluded to possible racism from his manager with the New York Yankees, Joe Torre – an accusation backed up by Lofton.
Okay, I win. Blog post over.

But wait, there's more...

Never has Dye been lumped among the malcontents, and his case lends credence to a belief among some black baseball players that should frighten MLB: They’re treated differently. True or not, it doesn’t matter. The specter of racism in a game still haunted by its history – and trying to rejuvenate itself among black youth – is a disturbing reality.

First, note the scary adjectives and noun:

should frighten MLB
The specter of racism
a game still haunted by its history
is a disturbing reality

That paragraph could have been so much better, but it's watered down by hyperbole. Whether black players believe there is a racist conspiracy against them is their problem. Major League Baseball shouldn't just sign unemployed black players because blacks and most Hispanics were shut out of the major leagues for 63 years. Not only that, but no one has let them forget about those 63 years for the 63 years since.

There are some things that go on in the game that shouldn’t be going on,” Hudson said. “But it’s part of baseball. It’s part of life. Deal with it.”

Perhaps Hudson’s stake is personal. Two years ago, he entered free agency seeking a multiyear deal. He ended up taking an incentive-loaded $3.4 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. This season, the 32-year-old hoped for multiple years again. He signed with Minnesota for $5 million over one year.

The second-base market is one that has been closed off to most free agents over the past few years. Almost every team has a regular starter at second base, with a few exceptions. Hudson had to sign with the exceptions both times. That doesn't mean baseball is racist.

Hudson’s words spoke enough that Dye and his agent, Bob Bry, declined to comment Monday night. Hudson going public was unique, too, as other players worry it will have a negative effect on the issue.

Right: You're going to get a bunch of dudes on the Internet disagreeing with it.

While some will accuse Hudson of race baiting and paranoia, the reality is quite the opposite: He is taking public a concern that promotes discussion and forces MLB to be honest with itself about the precipitous drop in African-American players over the last two decades.

"Promotes discussion"? If accusations by Sheffield, Lofton, Hudson and many other black players hasn't led to a solution, there are two reasons for it:

MLB isn't going to bother with it.
The problem is so overstated that it isn't significant.

You'd think that with so much racial sensitivity in today's society that Major League Baseball would bend over backwards to make sure black players find employment. Apparently, that's not happening.

As for the drop in black players overall, the main culprits are the NBA and NFL. Basketball and football seem to be much more popular with black Americans and that's why Major League Baseball is stepping up their inner-city programs.

Between the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program and Urban Youth Academies, baseball has tried to resolve that chasm between the sport and black children. The issue: Compared to the football juggernaut and the stranglehold of basketball, baseball finishes a distant third.

... wow, I scare myself sometimes.

While the tremendous influx of black talent in the major leagues in recent years – from Ryan Howard and Carl Crawford to Justin Upton and Jason Heyward – is a positive sign, it doesn’t eliminate the feeling that others have been and continue to be mistreated.
Funny how all of those players have more talent than Orlando Hudson. And who are these "other" black players, by the way? All this article has really proven is that one player is upset that he can't get a secure job and is upset about another who screwed up his shot at getting a job and may not get one this season. If this is all about "promoting discussion", then anyone at all who feels as if they're being discriminated against should speak up and not make it seem like it's an isolated case.

So as players receive their special jerseys this week with the No. 42 on the back and the sport celebrates Robinson breaking the color line, baseball will examine itself again and wonder how it can change a perception that is now six decades old and seems to be going nowhere.
It's a perception that's most likely born of suspicion and paranoia: "Because my ancestors were wronged because of the color of their skin, I may be wronged too." That's not good.

By the way, everyone wearing #42 on Jackie Robinson day is a total and utter farce. I was fine with individual players doing it, but having it be mandatory for everyone is just going too far.

EDIT: Slight grammar fix
SECOND EDIT: Deleted three "(notes)" from quotes

Chargers 17, Falcons 2. Oh, Wait...

2010-04-13T21:18:00.006-04:00

SAN DIEGO 17, ATLANTA 2

Jair Jurrjens didn't have anything. Jo-Jo Reyes didn't have anything either. That pretty much sums it up.

Highlighted by a frantic 10-run fourth inning, the San Diego Padres defeated the Atlanta Braves by a score of 17-2.

Will Venable started his big day in the second inning with a triple to the right field corner. He scored on Nick Hundley's infield single.

This is how the fourth inning transpired:

1. Chase Headley doubles.
2. Will Venable singles, Headley to third.
3. Nick Hundley walks, Venable to second.
4. Tony Gwynn, Jr. walks, Headley scores, Venable to third, Hundley to second.
5. Kevin Correia hits a bloop single to right, Venable and Hundley score, Gwynn, Jr. to third.
6. Everth Cabrera grounds to second base, Omar Infante throws home to Brian McCann, Gwynn scores. Correia to second.
7. David Eckstein flies out to right.
8. Adrian Gonzalez hits a ground-rule double. Correia scores, Cabrera to third.
Jo-Jo Reyes comes in to pitch.
9. Kyle Blanks doubles, Gonzalez and Cabrera score.
10. Headley singles and reaches second base on an error by McCann, Blanks scores.
11. Venable hits a home run to center field, Headley scores.
12. Hundley walks.
13. Gwynn, Jr. strikes out looking.
14. Correia strikes out swinging.

The Padres added more in the fifth inning off of Reyes when Blanks belted a three-run homer, making the score 14-0. The Braves were able to break the shutout the next inning with an RBI single by Troy Glaus and a bases-loaded walk by Jason Heyward. The Padres got back two of those runs and one more in the seventh. with an RBI single by Hundley and a two-run double by Gwynn. Jesse Chavez was able to put out the fire for the Braves by striking out four of the five batters he faced.

Safe to say, that's pretty much the story of the game. Kevin Correia's 5 2/3 inning stint where he allowed just two runs got lost in the barrage of runs. The Padres pen threw 3 1/3 scoreless inning, striking out five batters in total.

My Commentary: The lineup returned to the same one as Opening Day. Of course, it didn't have the same result. Chipper Jones went 0-3 in his return, but didn't appear to have any ill effects from his right oblique injury.

The Padres beat the Braves by fifteen runs. They've won by that amount or larger just four times in franchise history; the most recent drubbing came at the expense of the Florida Marlins on August 23, 2002 (18-2). Their 24 hits tied the club record, last accomplished on April 19, 1982 against the Giants.

Melky Cabrera isn't exactly being a great leadoff hitter so far. In six games positioned in the leadoff spot, he's just 2-26 (30 PA) with one double, four walks and two runs scored. This is a little strange, as he has good career splits as a leadoff hitter:

297 PA, .290/.373/.408, 13 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 36 RBI.

Coincidentally, Cabrera is horrible as the very first batter of the game:

64 PA, .179/.281/.231, 1 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR

So it remains to be seen what he'll do if he remains in the leadoff spot. He'll bat better than .077, surely, but how productive will he be?

EDIT: Added link to box score

The Freak and Kung Fu Panda Vault Giants Ahead of Braves

2010-04-11T23:16:00.009-04:00

SAN FRANCISCO 6, ATLANTA 3

Atlanta was cruising along with good pitching and the lead, and then something bad happens to make them lose the lead and eventually, the game. The same script played out just like Friday's game, except the teams didn't need extra innings to finish the Giants' 6-3 victory.

In the first inning, Brian McCann got the jump on Tim Lincecum with a two-run, two-out homer into the stands in right field. Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami, who earned the nickname "Dragon Slayer" for pitching his best when opposing other teams' aces, made that stand up as he retired the first eleven batters he faced. Pablo Sandoval broke that streak with a triple and scored on Aubrey Huff's single, which beat Atlanta's unusual right infield shift on him.

The Braves couldn't get anything else going against Lincecum in the meantime. After the top of the sixth, they had only mustered four hits since the home run and struck out six times (seven overall). In the bottom of the sixth, the Giants grounded out twice to start the frame. Sandoval then singled and Huff walked to move him to second. Mark DeRosa then singled to right field. Jason Heyward attempted to throw out Sandoval at the plate, but his throw was up the third base line and McCann couldn't block it. The ball struck Sandoval and rolled into foul territory behind the plate. The confusion allowed Huff to come around and score the go-ahead run. Kawkami finished the inning and left the game in the seventh for a pinch-hitter. His day included just one walk and five hits allowed in six innings.

Lincecum struck out the side after getting the 3-2 lead to finish his day with seven innings pitched and ten strikeouts. Kris Medlen answerd in the bottom of the inning by striking out two of the three men he faced.

The Braves were held off the scoreboard in the eighth by set-up man Jeremy Affeldt. Aaron Rowand led off the Giants' half with a single was erased on a fielder's choice by Escobar. Sandoval then smacked Medlen's first offering into the right field seats to increase the Giants' lead to three.

With two out, Huff hit a fly ball to left field. The wind messed with it enough that Diaz had the ball go off his glove. Huff reached third on the error, probably assisted by Diaz dropping the ball as he was trying to pick it up. Bengie Molina drove Huff home with a single.

Heyward somewhat made up for his error with a similar home run to yesterday; an opposite-field shot to left. That closed the gap to 6-3, and that's how the game ended after Matt Diaz struck out.

My Commentary: The Braves blew another quality start, which makes them 1-2 in that department after six games. Atlanta was 64-35 in quality starts last year. It's always frustrating when a quality start is blown, but two in one series almost makes it unbearable.

Heyward now leads the Braves in the young season with three home runs. He may lead the league in strikeouts (9), but the production has been there for the first week.

In an illustrative note about small sample sizes, Jeff Francoeur has a bigger OPS+ (299) in the first week than all the Braves outfielders' OPS+es added together (278):

Melky Cabrera - 11
Matt Diaz - 24
Jason Heyward - 180
Nate McLouth - 63

The problem is likely Diaz and McLouth getting limited action and Cabrera being exposed as Gregor Blanco with power.

Atlanta Halts AT&T Jinx, Heyward Helps Power Comeback and Win

2010-04-11T15:18:00.004-04:00

ATLANTA 7, SAN FRANCISCO 2

Derek Lowe lost control of his pitches yesterday, but made it through his start relatively unscathed. Jason Heyward helped pick him up with a home run and the Braves piled on runs with the aid of Giants miscues to win the game 7-2.

The first three innings featured the Giants and Braves trading goose eggs. Atlanta left three runners on base in the first two innings and the Giants left the bases loaded in the third.

San Francisco struck first when Juan Uribe executed a successful hit-and-run with one out, driving in Aubrey Huff from third base. Uribe was thrown out trying to steal and Eli Whiteside struck out to end the inning.

After leaving seven runners on base through four, the Braves got on the board when Jason Heyward hit a letter-high fastball over the wall in left for his second career home run. That tied the game and Derek Lowe made it hold up despite losing control of his pitches. Sandoval grounded to second to start the inning, but Glaus couldn't handle the throw. Lowe then walked Huff on six pitches. He got Mark DeRosa to ground to Prado to start a 5-4-3 double, but then he lost control again and was forced to walk Uribe to load the bases. On the second pitch to Eli Whiteside, he hit a hard grounder that Escobar slid to corral and he spun and fired to Glaus at first. Whiteside slid headfirst into the base but was out by about a step as Glaus picked the ball out of the dirt.

The Braves opened the floodgates in their next three frames, scoring six runs with the aid of four walks, an error, and four wild pitches. Troy Glaus was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead run and Jason Heyward had an RBI single to bring home the third run. Infante scored on a wild pitch in the eighth and singled home Eric Hinske in the ninth. Hinske had a pinch-hit double, which drove in Heyward, and reached third on a balk, after which he scored.

Peter Moylan and Takashi Saito each pitched a scoreless inning, with Saito striking out two batters. Jesse Chavez came on to pitch with a 7-1 lead and allowed a walk and two singles, which scored a run, but he got a double play to end the ball game.

My Commentary: Lowe set a career-high in walks in a game with seven (two intentional). He became the 33rd Braves pitcher in recorded baseball history to be credited with a victory and have seven or more walks in his stint. The franchise record is 11, set by Jimmy Freeman on a complete-game effort on September 1, 1972 against the Phillies. The Braves won the game 11-5.

It was almost pathetic to see Lowe lose control of his pitches like he did. To his credit, he kept it up and was able to get out of the sixth inning thanks to that amazing Escobar play and Glaus dig. The advanced fielding metrics like Ultimate Zone Rating and Fielding Runs Above Average may not show it, but I do believe that Escobar is an above-average fielding shortstop at best.

Jason Heyward's home run shows exactly what kind of power he has. If he can continue to be consistent, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll win the NL Rookie of the Year, even if Stephen Strasburg comes up in the middle of the season.

Marathon Ends With Some Controversy, Giants Victorious

2010-04-09T20:49:00.006-04:00

SAN FRANCISCO 5, ATLANTA 4, 13 INN.

The Braves went from cruising, to devastated, to excruciated and then disappointed.

The Giants erased the Braves' two-run lead with one out in the ninth and managed to push across a run four innings later, winning by a score of 5-4.

Tim Hudson, the Braves starter, was sharp from the start, allowing just two Giant baserunners through six innings. Jonathan Sanchez was as ineffective by comparison, as he left in the fifth inning trailing 2-0. The score became 3-0 when Matt Diaz singled in a run off Brandon Medders, the new pitcher. In the seventh, the Giants got on the board with two RBI groundouts following a single by Aaron Rowand and a double by Edgar Renteria. The Braves added a run in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk to David Ross, but left the bases loaded at the end of the inning.

Takashi Satio pitched a perfect eighth and the Braves were held off in the ninth. On Billy Wagner's first pitch in the bottom of the frame, Eugenio Velez smacked a double. Rowand struck out, but then Edgar Renteria hit a game-tying home run to send the game into extra innings.

The Braves left runners in scoring position in the 11th, unable to score off Brian Wilson or Sergio Romo. The Giants had a runner on second base with one out in the 11th but were held off by Peter Moylan. Pablo Sandoval reached second base on a bloop double to lead off the 12th against Kris Medlen and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. However, Travis Ishikawa's grounder wasn't deep enough in the infield to score Sandoval and Eli Whiteside struck out.

In the 13th, after Brian McCann went to second base on a throwing error by Affeldt, Kris Medlen was called out on missing a bunt attempt and Bobby Cox was tossed out arguing the call. Melky Cabrera flied out to right, Prado walked and Escobar flied out to right to end the inning.

The Giants' John Bowker flied out to right to start the 13th. Juan Uribe walked and tried to steal second base with two out and Aaron Rowand at the plate. Rowand swung and missed and may have hit McCann with his backswing because McCann threw the ball awkwardly into center field, allowing Uribe to move to third. Rowand then hit a grounder that got past Martin Prado into short left field. Escobar desperately tried to throw out Rowand, but was off the mark as Uribe scored and the Giants pulled out the victory.

My Commentary: The Braves may not miss Chipper Jones in this series, but it seemed as if the situational hitting problems that plagued Atlanta last year were happening again in this game. The Braves left 14 men on base and were 3-17 with runners in scoring position, including 0-3 in the 13th inning alone.

Jason Heyward continued to struggle as he garnered the Braves' second golden sombrero of the year. Since his home run to start his career, Heyward has been two for his last 17 with one walk and nine strikeouts. Only one of those strikeouts was of the looking variety.

Billy Wagner blew Tim Hudson's seven-inning start Friday afternoon. It was the first quality start of the year for the Braves' pitching staff. The team had 15 blown quality starts that ended up as losses last year.

Martin Prado is the sixth Brave since 1953 to get on base six or more times in a game and still have his team lose:

- CF Sonny Jackson, May 22, 1971: 4-4, 2B, BB, 3 R, ROE (New York 8, Atlanta 7, 11 inn.)
- LF Barry Bonnell, October 1st, 1978: 5-6, 2B, BB, 3 R, ROE (Cincinnati 10, Atlanta 8, 14 inn.)
- RF Claudell Washington, July 4th, 1985: 3-8, 3B, 2 BB, ROE (New York 16, Atlanta 13, 19 inn.)
- RF Dale Murphy, May 23, 1987: 1-3, 5 BB, 2 R (Chicago 7, Atlanta 6, 16 inn.)
- 3B Terry Pendleton, September 14, 1996: 5-5, 2B, BB, 3 R (New York 6, Atlanta 5, 12 inn.)
- 3B Martin Prado, April 9, 2010: 3-4, 3 BB, 2 R (San Francisco 5, Atlanta 4, 13 inn.)

Writer's Note: I did not see the entire game because of a previously-scheduled engagement, but I saw from the first to middle of the top of the fifth, then caught the 10th inning forward.

Two Is Enough; Cubs Shut Out Braves

2010-04-08T22:24:00.009-04:00

CHICAGO 2, ATLANTA 0

As much as things went right in the first two games of the series for the Braves, nearly everything went wrong for them Thursday night. Randy Wells and the Cubs bullpen made two solo home runs stand up as Chicago shut out Atlanta 2-0.

Wells pitched six innings and allowed six hits and three walks. Twice he was able to get out of situations with runners in scoring position by getting double play groundouts from Troy Glaus in the third and Yunel Escobar in the sixth. Glaus's double play came after an error by Wells on a dropped throw to second base that loaded the bases.

In the meantime, Tommy Hanson was trying to match Wells, but he fell behind 1-0 in the second inning on a long home run to right by rookie Tyler Colvin. The blast was Colvin's first in his major league career. Marlon Byrd launched a blast to left field in the fourth inning to increase the lead to two runs. That's where pitching and defense took over.

Hanson, who struggled to hit the outside corner all night, managed to allow just five other Cub baserunners in 5 1/3 innings of work. He gave way to Eric O'Flaherty, who pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief, allowing no hits.

When Wells was removed in the sixth inning, Pinella chose his pitchers strictly on lefty-righty batters the rest of the game. Sean Marshall pitched to Jason Heyward and Nate McLouth, then he gave way to Esmilian Cardid, who pitched to pinch-hitter Matt Diaz to finish the sixth inning. Caridad worked into the seventh and left with Martin Prado on first and two out for the left-hander John Grabow to face Brian McCann. McCann walked, so Grabow was removed in favor of closer Carlos Marmol. He got Glaus to ground out, his second such result with a runner in scoring position, to end the inning.

Jesse Chavez, who had a terrible spring training (10 IP, 21 H, 14 ER, 12.60 ERA), pitched two innings of perfect relief in the eighth and ninth for the Braves. In the Braves' half of the ninth, Yunel Escobar lead off with a single. Jason Heyward then swung and missed at three sliders low and inside. After working a full count, Nate McLouth walked and Eric Hinske came on to pinch-hit. On a 2-0 count, he launched a pitch to center field, but it died at the warning track. Escobar moved up to third. The next batter, Melky Cabrera, struck out looking on a 1-2 pitch to end the game.

My Commentary: Hanson looked good early on, but he was having trouble all night trying to locate pitches on the outside corner, mostly to right-handed batters. This caused him to throw a lot of pitches and be taken out in the middle of the sixth inning. He was lucky that he only had those two runs scored off of him. It's great that he struck out seven batters, but he probably needs to throw a lot less pitches doing that.

The Braves bullpen has been perfect so far. Every pitcher has done excellent work; O'Flaherty mowed down the Cubs batters quickly tonight. I wonder how long that scoreless streak (10 2/3 innings) will last.

Troy Glaus had two singles and didn't strike out once and Martin Prado continued to stay hot early, getting three hits.

I know I railed against small sample sizes earlier, but what I'm fearing about Melky Cabrera seems to be coming true. Through the first three games, he's 1-13 with just a single and two walks while the former leadoff hitter Nate McLouth is 2-8 with two singles, three walks and a hit by pitch. Cox said that the Braves may change their lineup for Friday's game against the Giants. The game is against Johnathan Samchez, a left-hander, so Diaz may start in left field and David Ross at catcher while Cabrera and McCann get days off.

Jason Heyward looked every bit like a rookie in the ninth inning with Escobar on first and none out. I hope that he's learned his lesson quickly; the Braves can't afford to have him do that when the team needs him the most.

Chipper Authors Comeback, Braves Win First Series

2010-04-07T22:57:00.006-04:00

ATLANTA 3, CHICAGO 2

Ryan Dempster and Sean Marshall shut the Braves down. John Grabow did not. With one out and Martin Prado on second, Chipper Jones smacked a home run to left-center field to give the Braves the lead and an eventual 3-2 victory.

The road to the final score was paved by pitching. Both starters, the Braves' Jair Jurrjens and the Cubs' Dempster, allowed just three hits and two walks in their stints.

However, the Braves struck first in the second inning.

With Brian McCann on first base and one out, Yunel Escobar swung and missed on a botched hit-and-run. McCann would have been tagged out had shortstop Mike Fontenot not lost control of the baseball. This assisted Jason Heyward, who smacked a double down the right field line, scoring McCann and giving the Braves a 1-0 lead.

Jair Jurrjens allowed just two hits and no runs into the fifth inning. After Byrd walked, Soriano grounded into a fielders choice as he appeared to beat the throw to first. Replays showed he was out by a half-step, but the inning continued.

Mike Fontenot fouled off some pitches before getting a single, moving Soriano to third base. Geovany Soto then was walked as Jurrjens again couldn't find the strike zone. Dempster then hit a ball that handcuffed first baseman Troy Glaus as he tried to backhand it; that error scored a run. Ryan Theriot then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to give the Cubs the lead.

In the meantime, the Braves hadn't gotten a batter on base since the third inning and were held in check as they struggled to hit Dempster's pitches. The Cubs' former closer racked up four straight strikeouts at one point, finishing with nine in six innings. Sean Marshall, who tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings in the series opener, struck out two batters himself.

Long reliever Kris Medlen came on in relief of Jurrjens in the sixth inning after the starter threw 94 pitches. Medlen allowed just two singles in two innings of work. He was helped in the sixth by Glaus spearing a liner hit by Marlon Byrd and doubling up Aramis Ramirez.

In the eighth, after allowing a one-out single to Fukudome a stolen base and a walk to Derrek Lee, Braves reliever Peter Moylan got Ramirez to ground to Escobar for a 6-4-3 double play.

Grabow then came in to pitch for the Cubs. With one out, Martin Prado hit a high fastball to the wall in left-center, just missing a home run. Jones then worked Grabow to a 3-1 count. Grabow then tried a change-up on the outside corner and Chipper belted it into the left-center field stands, giving the lead back to the Braves. Young reliever Esmailin Caridad came on and struck out Troy Glaus, his fourth whiff of the game, to end the frame.

Billy Wagner entered in the ninth and struck out the side, interrupted by an Alfonso Soriano single. It was his first save as a Brave and his first in nearly two years. It also marked the 30th time in Wagner's career that he struck out three batters for a single-inning save.

My Commentary: At least this game showed that this Braves team has the ability to come back in a close game.

Melky Cabrera doesn't seem over-matched, but he's pulling his best post-6-for-6 Willie Harris impersonation in the first two games. Then again, everyone pulled that off against Dempster tonight (at least from the third inning forward).

Martin Prado was eaten up on a hard grounder that took a bounce past him, but he did wonderfully on the double plays. Only Glaus's backhand error was the most obvious flub of the night.

Jurrjens just lost complete command in the fifth inning. He has a tendency to nibble a lot when he's in trouble and that gets his pitch count up very quickly. He had that same problem last season.

Pitching two or three innings in relief at a time is something that Kris Medlen was born to do. I hope Bobby uses him a lot more as a two-inning fireman.

The loss of control was odd for Moylan, but he worked out of the jam.

Lastly, when Billy Wagner's on, forget it.

So Much For Small Sample Sizes

2010-04-06T12:21:00.006-04:00

ATLANTA 16, CHICAGO 5

Highly-touted prospect Jason Heyward started his major league career with a bang. The right fielder hit his first major league home run which gave the Braves a 6-3 lead. That helped open the floodgates, as the Braves won by a score of 16-5.

After Yunel Escobar tied the game with a two-run single, moving Brian McCann to second base, Heyward endured two up-and-in fastballs from Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano. Then, Zambrano tried to throw a fastball over the plate around Heyward's knees. With a short, powerful stroke, Heyward blasted the pitch into the Braves bullpen. That sent most of Turner Field and watching on television into euphoria.

The second inning proved to be Carlos Zambrano's last as he committed a throwing error to third base, allowing a straying Martin Prado to score. The last straw was a solo home run given up to McCann. Zambrano became the fourth pitcher since 1920 to last less than 1 2/3 innings on an Opening Day start, giving up at least 7 earned runs:

- Carlos Zambrano, 4/5/10 @ ATL - 1 1/3 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
- Jose Contreras, 4/2/07 vs. CLE - 1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
- Dave Stewart, 4/6/95 @ TOR - 1 1/3 IP, 5 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO
- Brad Havens, 4/5/83 vs. DET - 1 1/3 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO

Cubs reliever Jeff Samardzija didn't fare much better than Zambrano. The former Notre Dame wide receiver gave up six runs, five earned, after walking the bases loaded to start the frame.

Braves starter Derek Lowe fared better than Zambrano, but he wasn't exactly stellar. The sinkerballer gave up a first-inning, three-run home run to Marlon Byrd, which gave the Cubs an early 3-0 lead. Lowe lasted six innings, giving up five hits, including two-run home run to Aramis Ramirez in the third, which closed the gap to a score of 8-5.

A pivotal play occurred in the sixth inning with none out and Kosuke Fukudome on first. Byrd hit a hard line drive to left-center. Center fielder Nate McLouth dove at the last second and caught the ball. Unfortunately, when he hit he ball, it squirted free. He threw the ball back to the infield on his back.

In the meantime, Byrd was called out. Aramis Ramirez was confused by that and stood on second base while Yunel Escobar collected McLouth's throw. After Escobar tossed the ball to Troy Glaus, the first basemen stepped on the bag and the umpires ruled it a double play. Television replays clearly showed that McLouth lost control of the ball, but it was somehow shielded from the umpire's view. After Lou Pinella argued and the umpires conferred, the play was upheld and the Cubs runners were erased. Lowe struck out Alfonso Soriano to end the inning and a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the inning ended his day.

The Braves bullpen threw three perfect innings. Relievers Peter Moylan, Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner struck out five batters combined. The three pitchers pitched because of Tuesday's off-day and to get in some work.

The Cubs' Sean Marshall and James Russell tossed 4 2/3 scorless innings in relief of Zambrano, while Justin Berg and John Grabow finished the game. Chicago's pitchers combined for eight walks; six of those runners came around to score.

My Commentary: The Braves showed how patience and some power can lead to very good things. I hope they keep that trend up.

McLouth's failed catch-turned-double play in the sixth inning shows that instant replay needs to be implemented for those plays. It could work with some ground rules on where to place the runners after such a play is overturned.

In my last blog post, I listed the Braves hitters' previous numbers against Carlos Zambrano. Escobar got a two-run single despite being 0-6 over two games (one in 2008, one in 2009). Jason Heyward homered in his first at-bat and Melky Cabrera went 0-1 with a walk and a run scored; both of them had no previous experience against him. Brian McCann had a single and a home run against Zambrano, boosting his career line against him to nine hits in 14 at-bats.

Things like that illustrate that batter vs. pitcher stats aren't particularly meaningful. They are fun stats, but they don't prove that McCann has Zambrano's number or that Zambrano owns Escobar. The sample sizes don't increase quickly enough to have significant statistical meaning.

Opening Day Preview: Braves vs. Cubs

2010-04-05T12:07:00.006-04:00

BRAVES' OPENING DAY LINEUP

1. Melky Cabrera, LF (76 PA, .286/.342/.357, 0 HR, 5 RBI)
2. Martin Prado, 2B (73 PA, .383/.479/.500, 2 HR, 9 RBI)
3. Chipper Jones, 3B (55 PA, .310/.418/.452, 1 HR, 10 RBI)
4. Brian McCann, C (52 PA, .500/.577/.929, 4 HR, 16 RBI)
5. Troy Glaus, 1B (63 PA, .385/.492/.481, 0 HR, 11 RBI)
6. Yunel Escobar, SS (57 PA, .283/.333/.453, 1 HR 9 RBI)
7. Jason Heyward, RF (71 PA, .305/.423/.424, 1 HR 5 RBI)
8. Nate McLouth, CF (61 PA, .118/.217/.196, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
9. Derek Lowe, P

The spring batting stats are beside each player. I think those prove how most of the lineup was constructed. Small sample sizes, are fun, aren't they? I'd like to show you the players' number against Carlos Zambrano, Chicago's opening starter, as well.

1. Melky Cabrera, LF (None)
2. Martin Prado, 2B (3 PA, 1-2)
3. Chipper Jones, 3B (29 PA, 6-23, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 1 SO)
4. Brian McCann, C (12 PA, 7-12, 2B, 4 RBI 3 SO)
5. Troy Glaus, 1B (11 PA, 3-10, 2B, 2 HR, 5 BB, 1 BB, 2 SO)
6. Yunel Escobar, SS (7 PA, 0-6, BB, 2 K)
7. Jason Heyward, RF (None)
8. Nate McLouth, CF (32 PA, 5-24, 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, 7 BB, 7 SO)
9. Derek Lowe, P

The sample sizes are, naturally, even smaller. Only Chipper Jones and Nate McLouth have really faced Zambrano. Chipper has been facing him since 2002 (and not at all last year) while McLouth has been in the same division as Carlos for most of his career. Yet, every broadcast of baseball today trots out these numbers like they mean something.

A batter's career numbers against a pitcher don't really mean anything simply because batters don't face particular pitchers all that often. If Escobar gets two hits against Zambrano tonight, does that mean that he has "figured him out" after facing him for just one game apiece in 2008 and 2009?

In any case, good luck tonight, Braves, and may you plump up your small sample size stats against Zambrano. :)

Another Season Upon Us: A Braves Prospectus

2010-04-03T19:04:00.008-04:00

ATLANTA BRAVES
2009 Record: 86-76 (7th in NL)
Pythagorean Record: 91-71 (-5 Luck, 13th in NL)
Batting Average: .263 (T-4th in NL)
On-Base Percentage: .339 (5th in NL)
Slugging Average: .405 (10th in NL)
Earned Run Average: 3.57 (3rd in NL)
WHIP (BB + H / IP): 1.319 (4th in NL)
Runs Scored: 735 (6th in NL)
Runs Allowed: 641 (4th in NL)
Ballpark: Turner Field (14th year)

The Braves weathered a turbulent 2009 season that saw four of their Opening Day starters lose their jobs or get traded:

1B Casey Kotchman - traded to Red Sox with cash for 1B Adam LaRoche
2B Kelly Johnson - lost his starting job to backup INF Martin Prado
CF Jordan Schafer - demoted to Class AAA Gwinnett after a 26-game stretch when he batted .151/.231/.172 with only two doubles and five RBI
RF Jeff Francoeur - traded to Mets after Braves grew frustrated with his futile attempts to break out

Despite the offensive inconsistencies, the Braves were buoyed by their pitching staff. Perhaps the most important contributors were Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens and rookie Tommy Hanson. Vazquez had a career year with the Braves, while Jurrjens showed his promise and Tommy Hanson instantly solidified the rotation when he was called up in June. Derek Lowe, despite being wildly inconsistent, had 15 victories. Tim Hudson returned to the rotation late in the year and the Braves' first Japanese player, Kenshin Kawakami, had a reasonably successful debut with Atlanta. Combined with the solid production of the bullpen (Eric O'Flaherty, Peter Moylan, Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano), the Braves clawed to within two games of the Rockies for the NL Wild Card with six games to go. However, the Braves would lose those six games to have the playoffs fall from their sight.

After some roster turnover, the Braves look to be better equipped to make a consistent run for a playoff spot.

LOSSES:
RP Manny Acosta (waivers, Mets)
LF Garret Anderson (FA, Dodgers)
RP Jorge Campillo (FA, Royals)
RP Buddy Carlyle (FA, Nippon Ham Fighters)
RF Ryan Church (FA, Pirates)
SU Mike Gonzalez (FA, Orioles)
2B Kelly Johnson (FA, Diamondbacks)
1B Adam LaRoche (FA, Diamondbacks)
PH-1B Greg Norton (FA, retired)
CL Rafael Soriano (trade, Rays)
SP Javier Vazquez (trade, Yankees)
RP Boone Logan (trade, Yankees)

ADDITIONS:
OF Melky Cabrera (trade, Yankees)
RP Michael Dunn (trade, Yankees)
SP Arodys Vizcaino (trade, Yankees)
RP Jesse Chavez (trade, Rays)
1B Troy Glaus (FA, Cardinals)
RF Jason Heyward (promotion)
UT Eric Hinske (FA, Yankees)
SU Takashi Saito (FA, Red Sox)
CL Billy Wagner (FA, Red Sox)

The Braves go into Opening Day with just one question mark lineup-wise: will Nate McLouth be able to play? If he isn't, it's likely he'll go on the disabled list and Melky Cabrera will take his slot in center field while Matt Diaz holds down left field. Every other position has been settled.

PLAYER CAPSULES

OF MELKY CABRERA
First year with Braves
2009 Stats w/NYY: 154 G, 540 PA, .274/.336/.416, 13 HR, 68 RBI, 99 OPS+
Career Stats: 569 G, 2148 PA, .269/.311/.385, 36 HR, 228 RBI, 88 OPS+

RP JESSE CHAVEZ
First year with Braves
2009 Stats: 73 G, 1-4 W-L, 0 SV, 4.01 ERA (103 ERA+), 67 1/3 IP, 69 H, 33 R, 30 ER, 22 BB, 47 SO, 1.351 WHIP
Career Stats: 88 G, 1-5 W-L, 0 SV, 4.48 ERA (93 ERA+), 82 1/3 IP, 89 H, 44 R, 41 ER, 31 BB, 63 SO, 1.457 WHIP

INF BROOKS CONRAD
Second year with Braves
2009 Stats: 30 G, 58 PA, .204/.259/.407, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 74 OPS+
Career Stats: 36 G, 77 PA, .192/.234/.356, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 55 OPS+

LF MATT DIAZ
Fifth year with Braves
2009 Stats: 125 G, 425 PA, .313/.390/.488, 13 HR, 58 RBI, 133 OPS+
Career Stats: 475 G, 1402 PA, .310/.358/.459, 36 HR, 161 RBI, 113 OPS+

SS YUNEL ESCOBAR
Fourth year with Braves
2009 Stats: 141 G, 604 PA, .299/.377/.436, 14 HR, 76 RBI, 116 OPS+
Career Stats: 371 G, 1546 PA, .301/.375/.426, 29 HR, 164 RBI, 112 OPS+

1B TROY GLAUS
First year with Braves
2009 Stats w/STL: 14 G, 32 PA, .172/.250/.241, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 32 OPS+
Career Stats: 1409 G, 5872 PA, .255/.359/.497, 304 HR, 879 RBI, 121 OPS+

UT ERIC HINSKE
First year with Braves
2009 Stats w/2 Teams: 93 G, 224 PA, .242/.348/.432, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 107 OPS+
Career Stats: 996 G, 3521 PA, .254/.336/.438, 113 HR, 424 RBI, 100 OPS+

SP TOMMY HANSON
Second year with Braves
Career Stats: 21 G, 21 GS, 11-4 W-L, 2.89 ERA (143 ERA+), 127 2/3 IP, 105 H, 42 R, 41 ER, 46 BB, 116 SO, 1.183 WHIP

RF JASON HEYWARD
First year with Braves
2009 Stats w/3 Teams: 99 G, 422 PA, .323/.408/.555, 17 HR, 63 RBI
Career MiL Stats: 238 G, 1003 PA, .318/.391/.508, 29 HR, 125 RBI

SP TIM HUDSON
Sixth year with the Braves
2009 Stats: 7 G, 7 GS, 2-1 W-L, 3.61 ERA (115 ERA+), 42 1/3 IP, 49 H, 17 R, 17 ER, 13 BB, 30 SO, 1.465 WHIP
Career Stats: 311 G, 310 GS, 148-78 W-L, 3.49 ERA (127 ERA+), 2059 2/3 IP, 1958 H, 874 R, 798 ER, 632 BB, 1402 SO, 1.257 WHIP

UT OMAR INFANTE
Third year with Braves
2009 Stats: 70 G, 229 PA, .305/.361/.389, 2 HR, 27 RBI, 100 OPS+
Career Stats: 660 G, 2309 PA, .264/.310/.391, 37 HR, 221 RBI, 86 OPS+

3B CHIPPER JONES
Seventeenth year with Braves
2009 Stats: 143 G, 596 PA, .264/.388/.430, 18 HR, 71 RBI, 118 OPS+
Career Stats: 2166 G, 9273 PA, .307/.406/.541, 426 HR, 1445 RBI, 143 OPS+

SP JAIR JURRJENS
Third year with the Braves
2009 Stats: 34 G, 34 GS, 14-10 W-L, 2.60 ERA (159 ERA+), 215 IP, 186 H, 71 R, 62 ER, 75 BB, 152 SO, 1.214 WHIP
Career Stats: 72 G, 72 GS, 30-21 W-L, 3.21 ERA (131 ERA+), 434 IP, 398 H, 174 R, 155 ER, 156 BB, 304 SO, 1.276 WHIP

SP KENSHIN KAWAKAMI
Second year with Braves
2009 Stats: 32 G, 25 GS, 7-12 W-L, 3.86 ERA (107 ERA+), 156 1/3 IP, 153 H, 73 R, 67 ER, 57 BB, 105 SO, 1.343 WHIP

SP DEREK LOWE
Second year with Braves
2009 Stats: 34 G, 34 GS, 15-10 W-L, 4.67 ERA (88 ERA+), 194 2/3 IP, 232 H, 109 R, 101 ER, 63 BB, 111 SO, 1.515 WHP
Career Stats: 567 G, 289 GS, 141-117 W-L, 3.84 ERA (118 ERA+), 2135 IP, 2147 H, 1034 R, 910 ER, 609 BB, 1386 SO, 1.291 WHIP

C BRIAN McCANN
Sixth season with Braves
2009 Stats: 138 G, 551 PA, .281/.349/.486, 21 HR, 94 RBI, 120 OPS+
Career Stats: 611 G, 2372 PA, .293/.356/.497, 91 HR, 389 RBI, 121 OPS+

CF NATE McLOUTH
Second year with Braves
2009 Stats w/ATL: 84 G, 396 PA, .257/.354/.419, 11 HR, 36 RBI, 105 OPS+
Career Stats: 565 G, 2075 PA, .260/.342/.454, 71 HR, 230 RBI, 109 OPS+

RP KRIS MEDLEN
Second year with Braves
2009 Stats: 37 G, 4 GS, 3-5 W-L, 0 SV, 4.26 ERA (97 ERA+), 67 2/3 IP, 65 H, 34 R, 32 ER, 30 BB, 72 SO, 1.404 WHIP

RP PETER MOYLAN
Fifth year with Braves
2009 Stats: 87 G, 6-2 W-L, 0 SV, 2.84 ERA (146 ERA+), 73 IP, 65 H, 29 R, 23 ER, 35 BB, 61 SO, 1.370 WHIP
Career Stats: 189 G, 11-6 W-L, 2 SV, 2.45 ERA (175 ERA+), 183 2/3 IP, 153 H, 65 R, 50 ER, 72 BB, 143 SO, 1.225 WHIP

RP ERIC O'FLAHERTY
Second year with Braves
2009 Stats: 78 G, 2-1 W-L, 0 SV, 3.04 ERA (136 ERA+), 56 1/3 IP, 52 H, 23 R, 19 ER, 18 BB, 39 SO, 1.243 WHIP
Career Stats: 156 G, 9-3 W-L, 0 SV, 4.63 ERA (93 ERA+), 126 1/3 IP, 131 H, 73 R, 65 ER, 48 BB, 85 SO, 1.417 WHIP

2B MARTIN PRADO
Fifth year with Braves
2009 Stats: 128 G, 503 PA, .307/.358/.464, 11 HR, 49 RBI, 117 OPS+
Career Stats: 258 G, 868 PA, .307/.360/.451, 14 HR, 93 RBI, 114 OPS+

RP JO-JO REYES
Fourth year with Braves
2009 Stats: 6 G, 5 GS, 0-2 W-L, 7.00 ERA (60 ERA+), 27 IP, 27 H, 25 R, 21 ER, 13 BB, 21 SO, 1.481 WHIP
Career Stats: 40 G, 37 GS, 5-15 W-L, 6.09 ERA (70 ERA+), 190 2/3 IP, 216 H, 141 R, 129 ER, 95 BB, 126 SO, 1.631 WHIP

C DAVID ROSS
Second year with Braves
2009 Stats: 54 G, 151 PA, .273/.380/.508, 7 HR, 20 RBI, 134 OPS+
Career Stats: 485 G, 1458 PA, .228/.317/.442, 67 HR, 174 RBI, 95 OPS+

RP TAKASHI SAITO
First year with the Braves
2009 Stats: 56 G, 3-3 W-L, 2 SV, 2.43 ERA (194 ERA+), 55 2/3 IP, 50 H, 16 R, 15 ER, 25 BB, 52 SO, 1.347 WHIP
Career Stats: 236 G, 15-10 W-L, 83 SV, 2.05 ERA (218 ERA+), 245 1/3 IP, 171 H, 59 R, 56 ER, 77 BB, 297 SO, 1.011 WHIP

CL BILLY WAGNER
First year with the Braves
2009 Stats w/2 Teams: 17 G, 1-1 W-L, 0 SV, 1.72 ERA (279 ERA+), 15 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 8 BB, 26 SO, 1.021 WHIP
Career Stats: 782 G, 40-38 W-L, 385 SV, 2.39 ERA (183 ERA+), 833 2/3 IP, 563 H, 248 R, 211 ER, 278 BB, 1092 SO, 1.009 WHIP

Miscues Doom Braves In Spring Finale

2010-04-03T18:53:00.004-04:00

WHITE SOX 12, BRAVES 4

W - John Danks (2-1)
L - Tim Hudson (3-2)
HR - Brent Clevlen (1)

THE GOOD: The Braves had four scoreless innings out of the pen and Brooks Conrad had two hits, including an RBI triple in the sixth. J. C. Boscan also had two hits. Brent Clevlen had a solo shot in the ninth.

THE BAD: Just about everything else. Tim Hudson was victimized for five runs in four innings, but only one was earned. The next inning, Jo-Jo Reyes gave up seven runs; five of those runs were earned. The Braves committed five errors in the game.

That's it for spring training! The Braves open the 2010 season at 4:00 on Monday as they take on the Chicago Cubs.

Offense Flat Again, White Sox Win

2010-04-02T21:06:00.007-04:00

WHITE SOX 7, BRAVES 2

W - Gavin Floyd (1-0)
L - Tommy Hanson (1-1)

THE GOOD: Tommy Hanson had a great outing, only giving up a first inning run. He allowed just three hits and struck out four batters in four innings. Troy Glaus drove in the Braves' first run and Eric Hinske had two hits.

THE BAD: Nate McLouth was scratched with a hamstring strain; it could be questionable whether he's ready for Opening Day. Kris Medlen coughed up three runs in his two innings of work and Billy Wagner allowed two runs in the ninth. Juan Pierre torched the Braves for three singles and two stolen bases.

UP NEXT: The Braves have another game against the White Sox tomorrow. Tim Hudson will start the game for the Braves.

Jurrjens Sharp, But Braves Offense Flat Against Tigers

2010-04-02T00:20:00.004-04:00

TIGERS 4, BRAVES 1

W - Joel Zumaya (2-0)
L - Jair Jurrjens (2-1)
S - Robbie Weinhardt (4)
HR - Don Kelly (3)

THE GOOD: Jair Jurrjens was in good form, allowing two runs in six innings. He allowed six hits, walked one and struck out four batters. Eric O'Flaherty had a scoreless inning after his last unsuccessful stint.

THE BAD: The Braves only mustered five singles on offense. Jo-Jo Reyes gave up two runs, one earned, in the seventh inning.

UP NEXT: The Braves head home to Turner Field to take on the White Sox in a two-game exhibition series. Tommy Hanson will pitch in the first game.

Braves Pound The Stars Out Of Astros

2010-03-31T17:12:00.007-04:00

BRAVES 10, ASTROS 5

W - Derek Lowe (3-0)
L - Wandy Rodriguez (1-4)
HR - Chris Johnson (6)

THE GOOD: Troy Glaus went 3-3 with two doubles and drove in three runs. Jason Heyward returned to action by getting a single and a walk and scoring two runs. Martin Prado had two hits and scored two runs. Brian McCann drove in three runs and Eric Hinske had a bases-clearing double.

Craig Kimbrel and Peter Moylan had scoreless innings, extending their scoreless springs. Josh Venters and Jesse Chavez had scoreless innings as well.

THE BAD: Derek Lowe had a somewhat sloppy outing, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks. Eric O'Flaherty had has first poor outing of the spring, allowing two runs on four hits. Matt Diaz was the only Brave with three at-bats to not get a hit.

UP NEXT: The Braves play the Tigers in their Florida finale. Jair Jurrjens is scheduled to pitch.

Braves Take Two from Phllies, Yankees

2010-03-30T16:09:00.005-04:00

BRAVES 5, PHILLIES 4

W - Craig Kimbrel (2-0)
L - Ryan Madson (1-1)
S - Vladimir Nunez (1)
HR - Brooks Conrad (2)
Eric Hinske (2)

BRAVES 9, YANKEES 6

W - Takashi Saito (2-0)
L - Zack Segovia (1-1)
S - Billy Wagner (2)
HR - NYY - Nick Swisher (1)
Jorge Posada (1)
ATL - Clint Sammons (1)

THE GOOD: Brooks Conrad hit a game-tying home run against the Phillies and scored two runs in the two games. Eric Hinske hit the game-winner against the Philles. Omar Infante had two doubles.

Kenshin Kawakami allowed five hits and no walks in his inning of work. The lone run came on a solo shot by Nick Swisher. Troy Glaus had two doubles against the Yankees. Matt Diaz had three hits over the two games. Braves relievers pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings total.

THE BAD: Yunel Escobar pulled in an 0-3 day against the Yankees. Scott Proctor continued to struggle in the spring, allowing two runs against the Yankees. Darkhorse bullpen candidate Jonny Venters hurt his chances by allowing three runs in 2/3 inning against the Phillies.

Nationals Pound Braves Relievers

2010-03-28T17:19:00.004-04:00

NATIONALS 9, BRAVES 3

W - Scott Olsen (1-2)
L - Scott Proctor (0-1)
HR - Ryan Zimmerman (6)

THE GOOD: Erik Cordier pitched four innings of two-hit ball. Chipper Jones drove in two runs with a single. Nate McLouth had a single, scored two runs and stole a base. Martin Prado, Matt Diaz and Brent Clevlen had two hits each.

THE BAD: Most of the pitching. Scott Proctor and Jesse Chavez both allowed three runs in their innings of work. Mariano Gomez allowed three runs in two innings. Clint Sammons and Joe Thurston went 0-4 and Eric Hinske went 0-3.

UP NEXT: The Braves play the Phillies in Clearwater. Kris Medlen will start for the Braves

Heyward To Start Season In Right; Braves Celebrate By Beating Tigers and Nationals

2010-03-27T20:36:00.004-04:00

Okay, maybe they didn't celebrate by beating the Nationals this afternoon, but it was still a great performance by the pitching.

BRAVES 5, TIGERS 3

W - Derek Lowe (2-0)
L - Justin Verlander (1-3)
S - Billy Wagner (1)

BRAVES 4, NATIONALS 0

W - Jair Jurrjens (2-0)
L - Jason Marquis (1-2)

THE GOOD: McCann had four hits in the two games and scored two runs. Nate McLouth had two hits against the Tigers, driving in two runs. Omar Infante had three hits, including a double, run and RBI. Matt Diaz had two hits against the Tigers. Derek Lowe pitched six good innings, allowing just one unearned run. Jair Jurrjens followed that with five innings of one-hit ball in the next game. Takashi Saito didn't allow a run in back-to-back days.

THE BAD: Melky Cabrera went 0-8 in the leadoff spot, but drove in a run. Chipper Jones went 0-5 with a walk. Jason Heyward went 0-4 against the Nationals (gasp!). Billy Wagner allowed a run against the Tigers for the only score rung up on the Braves pen in the two games.

UP NEXT: The Braves travel to Lake Vera, Florida to play the Nationals again. Tommy Hanson will start for Atlanta and Scott Proctor is scheduled to pitch.

Just Scores and Links

2010-03-21T23:39:00.005-04:00

BRAVES 4, TIGERS 4

HR - Jeff Larish (1)
Johnny Damon (2)

BLUE JAYS 7, BRAVES 6 (10 INN.)

W - Merkin Valdez (1-0)
L - John Huber (0-1)
HR - Aaron Hill (2)

The Braves-Cardinals spring training game on Sunday was rained out

Braves PItch and Bat Well Against Cards

2010-03-19T00:06:00.004-04:00

BRAVES 5, CARDINALS 3

W - Tim Hudson (2-1)
L - Rich Hill (1-1)
S - Jeff Lyman (1)
HR - ATL - Chipper Jones (1)
STL - Rick Stavinoha (1)

THE GOOD: Chipper Jones hit his first home run of the spring. Melky Cabrera had two hits in the leadoff spot. Omar Infante also had two hits. Tim Hudson pitched five innings, allowing just four hits and one run. He walked none and struck out four.

THE BAD: Nate McLouth is still in his long 0-fer slump. Jo-Jo Reyes and Kris Medlen each allowed a run in their stints.

UP NEXT: The Braves go back to Orlando to play the Tigers. Kenshin Kawakami will attempt to go five innings in that game. Scott Proctor will make his debut and projected bullpen rocks Billy Wagner, Takashi Saito, and Peter Moylan are also scheduled to pitch.

Braves Leave Marlins Out In The Rain

2010-03-17T16:03:00.004-04:00

BRAVES 4, MARLINS 2

W - Tommy Hanson (1-0)
L - Andrew Miller (1-1)
S - Michael Dunn (1)

On a rainy day in Jupiter, the Braves used some good pitching and three Florida errors to help push their way past the Fish by a score of 4-2.

THE GOOD: Tommy Hanson allowed one run on six hits in five innings of work. He walked no one and striking out four batters. Yunel Escobar had two hits.

THE BAD: The Braves only managed five singles and two walks on offense. Nate McLouth continued to struggle with his batting (and possibly his vision), going 0-3 again.

UP NEXT: The Braves play the Cardinals on Thursday. Tim Hudson and Jo-Jo Reyes are scheduled to pitch.

Lotsa, Lotsa Games

2010-03-16T16:38:00.000-04:00

BRAVES (SS) 8, BLUE JAYS 5

W - James Parr (1-0)
L - Jason Frasor (0-1)
S - Stephen Marek (1)
HR - ATL - Joe Thurston (1)
TOR - Randy Ruiz (2)

ASTROS 8, BRAVES (SS) 5

W - Brett Myers (2-0)
L - Kenshin Kawakami (1-1)
S - Wilton Lopez (1)
HR - ATL - Brian McCann 2 (2)
HOU - Hunter Pence (3)
Carlos Lee (1)

BRAVES 5, NATIONALS 2

W - Derek Lowe (1-0)
L - Garret Mock (0-2)
S - Mariano Gomez (1)
HR - Martin Prado (1)
Joe Thurston (2)

BRAVES 6, MARLINS 3

W - Jair Jurrjens (1-0)
L - Josh Johnson (0-1)
S - Craig Kimbrel (1)

THE GOOD: Jason Heyward went 4-8 with two doubles, four runs, three walks and a run batted in. Brian McCann homered twice against the Astros and drove in three runs. Omar Infante went 5-10 with a double. Freddie Freeman had a three-hit, two-RBI game against the Blue Jays. Martin Prado homered and drove in five runs. Joe Thurston hit two home runs.

Derek Lowe pitched four hitless innings against the Nationals, striking out six batters. The Braves relievers pitched a total of twenty scoreless innings over the four games.

THE BAD: Nate McLouth continued his severe spring slump, going 0-6 in two games to lower his batting average to .040. Kenshin Kawakami got pounded by the Astros, allowing six runs (three earned) on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. Jair Jurrjens was roughed up in his first inning of work, allowing three runs on five hits; He kept the Marlins off the board in the other two innings.

UP NEXT: The Braves travel to Jupiter to have a rematch with the Marlins.

Hudson Pecked By Blue Jays, Braves Shut Out

2010-03-13T15:57:00.003-05:00

BLUE JAYS 3, BRAVES 0

W - Ricky Romero (1-1)
L - Tim Hudson (1-1)
S - Reidier Gonzalez (1)

In Friday's rained out game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jair Jurrjens debuted with two innings of shutout ball. The game was called after three innings.

In today's game, Tim Hudson endured a two-run third inning and the Blue Jays rode those three runs to a 3-0 victory. The Braves were held to just five singles.

THE GOOD: The Braves bullpen held the Blue Jays scoreless after Hudson left. Billy Wagner, Peter Moylan, Eric O'Flaherty, Jesse Chavez and Michael Dunn each had an inning of work. Melky Cabrera went 2-2 with a walk.

THE BAD: Hudson was tagged for three runs, two earned in four innings. Hudson committed two errors with a pickoff and throw. Yunel Escobar went 0-3 and Nate McLouth pulled another 0-3 day, striking out twice. His spring average is now .053.

UP NEXT: The Braves play their only split squad games in the spring on Sunday. One squad plays the Jays again while the other faces the Astros.

The Next Big Thing In The A-Town

2010-03-10T20:57:00.000-05:00

JASON HEYWARD
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 240 lbs.
2010 Age: 20

I said the sky is the limit for Brian McCann in the first profile post. The universe is the limit for Jason Heyward.

Okay, I may have exaggerated that a little bit. Still, Jason Heyward is the most talked-about outfield prospect the Braves have had in a while. Unlike Jeff Francoeur, who struggled with plate discipline, or Mike Kelly, the Braves' #2 pick in the 1991 draft who couldn't hit for average in the pros, Heyward appears to be the complete package.

Taken with the 14th pick of the 2007 Draft, Heyward went straight out of Henry County High Schoool in McDonough, Georgia to the pros. As a 17-year old, Heyward batted .302/.354/.488 in 17 games with the GCL Braves and Danville.. The outfielder spent most of the 2008 season with the Low Class A Rome Braves. His .316/.381/.473 season with 27 doubles and 11 homers earned him an early promotion to the High Class A Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

The 2009 season proved to be where Heyward slugged his way onto the organization's fast track. Despite dealing with nagging injuries, Jason batted around in 49 games in Myrtle Beach; he put up a .296/.369/.519 line in 49 games. He did even better in Class AA Mississippi, hitting .352/.446/.611 in 47 games. The Braves organization promoted him to Gwinnett to help the International League club with their playoff push. With a successful seven-game stint, Heyward finished the year with a .323/.408/.555 line with 25 doubles, four triples and 17 home runs (422 PAs).

Last season, all Braves right fielders put up a line of:

.276/.335/.408, 28 2B, 4 3B, 15 HR, 80 RBI, 43/120 BB/K

The three main contributors to those stats were:

Jeff Francoeur: 322 PA, .248/.280/.351, 12 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 35 RBI, 12/46 BB/K
Matt Diaz: 269 PA, .322/.398/.507, 11 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 36 RBI, 19/60 BB/K
Ryan Church: 77 PA, .231/.351/.308, 2 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 12/12 BB/K

Heyward is extremely capable of putting up a Rookie of the Year-type season for the Braves.

STAT PROJECTIONS:

Bill James - 601 PA, .303/.371/.465, 27 2B, 5 3B, 17 HR, 86 R, 78 RBI, 59 BB, 64 K

CHONE - 340 PA, .258/.324/.416, 16 2B, 3 3B, 9 HR, 39 R, 36 RBI, 28 BB, 59 K

PECOTA - 471 PA, .277/.350/.473, 25 2B, 4 3B, 16 HR, 67 R, 54 RBI, 45 BB, 79 K

Rotowire - 142 AB, .275/.356/.451, 5 HR, 23 R, 21 RBI, 18 BB, 23 K

Yahoo! - 446 AB, .278/.339/.439, 15 HR, 67 R, 65 RBI, 42 BB, 80 K

SAM'S PICK - PECOTA - I think that Heyward would get more than 471 PA this season. It's the slash stats that I agree with the most. Although I love what Bill James came up with, I don't think Heyward is going to do that well his first year in the league. Heyward's actual production, if he remains healthy, would be somewhere between PECOTA and Bill James.

EDIT: Updated timestamp

Braves Defeat Mets Despite Two Shaky Innings

2010-03-10T16:56:00.005-05:00

BRAVES 7, METS 6, 10 INN.

W - Craig Kimbrel (1-0)
L - Eric Niesen (0-1)
HR - Chris Carter (3)

After some early offense and trading goose eggs, the Braves prevailed 7-6 in ten innings over the Mets.

THE GOOD: Melky Cabrera and Chipper Jones drove in two runs each while Martin Prado went 2-2 and scored two runs. Pinch-hitter Jesus Sucre provided the game-winning single in the tenth inning. He hit a home run, but he was credited with a single because he only touched first base.

Kris Medlen pitched three shutout innings after the departure of Derek Lowe. Five Braves relievers each pitched an inning of scoreless ball, including closer prospect Craig Kimbrel, who got the win.

THE BAD: Derek Lowe lasted just an inning because of a toe blister and gave up three runs on five hits, including a two-run homer to Chris Carter. Takashi Saito allowed three runs on three hits, two of them for extra bases, in just his second relief inning in the spring.

Nate McLouth walked and scored a run, but he again went 0-3. His spring average is now down to .063. Jason Heyward sat out the game to rest his back, which he tweaked running into the wall in yesterday's game.

UP NEXT: Heyward is expected to play against the Yankees in Tampa, Florida. Jair Jurrjens is expected to make his spring debut tomorrow.

One Bad Inning Dooms Braves In Spring Loss To Phils

2010-03-09T23:25:00.003-05:00

PHILLIES 7, BRAVES 4

W - Danys Baez (1-0)
L - Jose Ortegano (0-1)
S - Drew Carpenter (1)
HR - Jayson Werth (1)

The Phillies jumped all over Class AA Mississippi reliever Jose Ortegano in the sixth inning, erasing a 4-2 deficit. Philadelphia won by a final score of 7-4.

THE GOOD: Troy Glaus continued his tear, going 3-3 with three singles and a run scored. Eric Hinske had a pinch-hit double that gave the Braves a 3-2 lead. Jason Heyward continued his on-base streak with a single and a walk. Brian McCann had a double and a walk.

Kenshin Kawakami did reasonably well; his only mistake was a two-run homer to Jayson Werth. Five Braves relievers had scoreless innings.

THE BAD: Jose Ortegano gave up the rest of the Phillies runs in the sixth inning on six hits and a walk. Nate McLouth drove in a run, but he also went 0-3, dropping his spring average down to .077. Yunel Escobar and Melky Cabrera also pulled in 0-3 days, though Escobar got an RBI and Cabrera scored a run.

UP NEXT: The Braves play the Mets on Wednesday. Derek Lowe will make his next start of the spring.

Braves Maul Tigers For Big Win

2010-03-08T21:22:00.009-05:00

BRAVES 12, TIGERS 4

W - Tim Hudson (1-0)
L - Max Scherzer (0-1)
HR - Jason Heyward (1)
Mitch Jones (1)

Jason Heyward displayed an early spring flourish with his first home run, a towering shot to right field off Detroit starter Max Scherzer, which helped propel the Braves to an easy 12-4 victory over the Tigers.

THE GOOD: Along with his home run, Heyward also turned in a walk. Eric Hinske went 3-4 and scored two runs. David Ross went 2-2 and drove in four runs. Troy Glaus went 2-2 and scored two runs. Brooks Conrad drove in two with a double and Mitch Jones added a solo shot.

Tim Hudson allowed three hits and one run in three innings, while striking out three batters. Jo-Jo Reyes pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three batters. Stephen Marek and Erik Cordier pitched scoreless innings.

THE BAD: Omar Infante went 0-4 in the leadoff spot and Melky Cabrera only got a walk in an 0-3 day.

UP NEXT: Atlanta faces the Phillies back in Orlando. Chipper Jones is expected to return today.

Rematch Goes Braves' Way

2010-03-07T16:48:00.004-05:00

BRAVES 9, ASTROS 4

W - Mariano Gomez (1-0)
L - Gary Majewski (0-1)

Despite Hanson being the first Braves starter to allow any runs this spring, the Braves teed off on Astros pitching, winning 9-4. Jason Heyward and Chipper Jones got the day off.

THE GOOD: The Braves had sixteen hits total. Brian McCann went 3-3 with a double, scored two runs and drove in three. Troy Glaus had a 3-3 day with a double. He scored two runs and drove in another. Brooks Conrad continued his big spring with a 2-4, one RBI day. Matt Young and Yunel Escobar drove in two runs apiece. The Braves staff only walked one batter.

THE BAD: Tommy Hanson allowed three runs (one earned), in his 2 1/3 innings of work. He allowed two doubles to Lance Berkman. Brent Clevlen had an 0-3 day at the plate.

UP NEXT: The Braves go to Lakeland to face the Tigers.

BRAVES PLAYER PROFLIES: He's Caught On

2010-03-06T22:00:00.001-05:00

BRIAN McCANN
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 210 lbs.
2010 Age: 26

The sky's the limit.

In just a few short seasons, Brian McCann has become the top catcher in the National League. He isn't quite in the discussion for best catcher in the majors yet. That distinction belongs to the Twins' Joe Mauer. McCann does belong in the discussion for second best, where his main competition is Boston's Victor Martinez.

The 2009 season nearly became a disaster for the young backstop. After dealing with blurriness in his left eye thanks to complications from his 2007 LASIK surgery, McCann went on the disabled list on April 25th. Trying contact lenses and visiting eye doctors didn't work, as his batting average dipped to .195 leading up to his DL stint.

After playing two games with Class A+ Myrtle Beach and one with Class AAA Gwinnett, McCann returned to action sporting the new lenses. At first, he wore a hockey-style mask with the new glasses, but eventually he switched to wearing a different pair of glasses when going back to his regular catcher's mask.

The glasses helped McCann return his production to his established levels, as he rebounded to finish the season with a .281/.349/.486 line. McCann led the Braves with 21 home runs and 94 RBIs and finished second on the team in slugging percentage. After the season, McCann underwent the LASIK procedure again to correct the problems in his left eye.

McCann was the Braves' cleanup hitter for 114 games last season. However, with Troy Glaus in the lineup, it's likely that McCann will be hitting fifth. Braves manager Bobby Cox, who is entering his final season of managing, prefers to break up consecutive lefty and righty batters.

ALREADY IN GOOD COMPANY: In baseball history, among catchers during their first five years of their career (450 games minimum), McCann is first in doubles (158), third in RBI (389), third in slugging percentage (.497), fourth in home runs (91), sixth in OPS (.853), and seventh in sacrifice flies (22).

THEY REALLY DO MAKE HIM LOOK SMARTER: Before having procedures to fix complications of his LASIK surgery, McCann had slumped to a .195/.333/.415 line in 51 plate appearances. After getting the surgery fixed, McCann returned to action, though he had to wear eyeglasses the rest of the season. He returned to his normal levels of hitting, with a .289/.350/.492 line in 500 plate appearances.

BIGGER (ALL-)STAR: McCann joined Joe Torre (1963-67) and Del Crandall (1953-56) as the third catcher in Braves history to be named to four straight NL All-Star teams. However, McCann has never been named as a starter. Torre was named the NL's starter four times and Crandall five times.

HE CAN RUN TOO!: McCann is tied for the Atlanta club lead with 12 stolen bases by a catcher, on equal footing with Bruce Benedict. In franchise history, McCann is in 13th place, 43 swiped bases behind Boston Braves catcher Hank Gowdy.

PROJECTED STATISTICS

In this section, several projections of each Braves player's statistics will be displayed. The sources include:

- Famed baseball statistician Bill James' projections
- Sean Smith's CHONE Projection system
- Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA projection system
- Rotowire.com
- The Sporting News
- Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball

After each projection is listed, I'll pick which one I believe McCann will meet (or exceed) in the 2010 season.

Bill James - 576 PA, .291/.362/.511, 41 2B, 1 3B, 24 HR, 69 R, 100 RBI, 54 BB, 78 K

CHONE - 550 PA, .291/.358/.502, 37 2B, 1 3B, 22 HR, 62 R, 93 RBI, 47 BB, 74 K

PECOTA - 575 PA, .287/.363/.497, 31 2B, 1 3B, 25 HR, 66 R, 103 RBI, 56 BB, 77 K

Rotowire - 498 AB, .285/.350/.530, 27 HR, 69 R, 99 RBI, 50 BB, 75 K

TSN - 492 AB, .289/.357/.504, 22 HR, 63 R, 91 RBI, 51 BB, 69 K

Yahoo! - 516 AB, .291/.357/.504, 24 HR, 71 R, 88 RBI, 51 BB, 82 K

SAM'S PICK - CHONE. I don't see McCann slugging much more than .502, though he may do it given his talent. Sixty total extra base hits and below fifty walks make sense; McCann usually focuses on hitting and doesn't have to draw a walk. His career isoOBP (OBP minus AVG) is a respectable .063, which CHONE nearly mirrors in the 2010 projection (.067).

Icon SMI photo by Mitch Stringer

EDIT: Updated date and time, added Baseball-Reference.com link

Braves Shut Out In Spring

2010-03-06T16:30:00.004-05:00

ASTROS 3, BRAVES 0

W - Alberto Arias (1-0)
L - Manny Acosta (0-1)
S - Wesley Wright (1)

The Astros spun the first shutout against the Braves, winning 3-0. Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus got the day off for Atlanta.

THE GOOD: Several Braves pitchers didn't allow a run in their stints. Kris Medlen had two scoreless frames to start the game and Eric O'Flaherty, closer prospect Craig Kimbrel and Kyle Cofield each had a scoreless inning. Nate McLouth and Jason Heyward both had a double to their credit. David Ross and Yunel Escobar walked twice.

THE BAD: The Braves went 0-7 with runners in scoring position, stranding 12 runners overall. Eric Hinske and Omar Infante had 0-3 days, while Mitch Jones went 0-4. Chris Resop allowed two runs in his inning of work and Manny Acosta took the loss allowing one unearned run in two innings.

UP NEXT: Atlanta has a rematch with Houston back at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

Braves Prevail In Spring Slugfest

2010-03-05T16:20:00.005-05:00

BRAVES 11, NATIONALS 8

W - Takashi Saito (1-0)
L - Craig Stammen (0-1)
S - Todd Redmond (1)
HR - WAS - Ian Desmond (GS, 1)
ATL - Brooks Conrad (1)

After another perfect starters outing, the Braves' bullpen got pounded. However, the offense held up its end of the bargain in an 11-8 victory.

THE GOOD: Shortstop Yunel Escobar had three doubles, scored two runs and drove two in. Leadoff hitter Martin Prado had two hits and drove in two runs. Melky Cabrera also had two hits and an RBI. Freddie Freeman drove in two runs and would have had more with a home run, but he passed Joe Thurston while rounding first base. Thus, he was only credited with a single.

Jason Heyward also had a single and stole a base. Derek Lowe (2 IP), Michael Dunn (1 1/3 IP) and Todd Redmond (2 IP, SV) all had scoreless stints.

THE BAD: Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito were lit up for three hits and two runs apiece in their first appearances. Jesse Chavez, the next pitcher, allowed a grand slam to Ian Desmond. Chipper Jones went 0-2.

UP NEXT: Atlanta travels to Kissimmee to play the Astros on Saturday.

Braves Train To Beat The Bucs

2010-03-05T16:03:00.006-05:00

BRAVES 4, PIRATES 2

W - Jo-Jo Reyes (1-0)
L - Brian Burres (0-1)
S - Erik Cordier (1)
HR - Andy LaRoche (1)

Kenshin Kawakami continued the streak of Braves starters allowing no runs as Atlanta edged Pittsburgh 4-2.

THE GOOD: Kawakami and James Parr pitched two scoreless innings apiece. Brooks Conrad was the offensive star; he hit two doubles, drove two runners in, walked and stole a base. Brian McCann doubled and walked twice. Designated hitter Eric Hinske went 0-2, but he walked once and scored two runs.

THE BAD: Matt Diaz went 0-3 with two strikeouts and Jason Heyward had his first 0-fer of the spring.

UP NEXT: The Braves are playing the Washington Nationals right now.

EDIT: Moved the icons to the right of the post.

Braves Win First Spring Game (Whoopee)

2010-03-03T23:16:00.005-05:00

BRAVES 9, METS 5

W - Josh Venters (1-0)
L - Josh Stinson (0-1)
HR - Brandon Hicks (1)

Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus had their first action of the spring as the Braves pulled out a late win by a score of 9-5.

THE GOOD: Jason Heyward had another strong day, going 1-2 with a double, RBI, walk and a run scored. Brandon Hicks hit the Braves' first homer of the spring and Brent Clevlen, a minor free agent signing, had a two-hit game. Tim Hudson tossed two scoreless innings while Peter Moylan and Eric O'Flaherty tossed scoreless frames. 2009 draft pick Mike Minor tossed a perfect inning as well.

THE BAD: Mariano Gomez allowed three hits and one run and Stephen Marek, the prospect obtained with Casey Kotchman in the second Mark Teixeira trade, coughed up three runs on four hits and two walks. Glaus went hitless in his spring debut.

UP NEXT: The Braves host the Pirates at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

EDIT: Moved the icons to the right of the post.

Spring Opener Not Good For All Involved; Mets Drop Braves

2010-03-02T17:45:00.007-05:00

METS 4, BRAVES 2

W - Bobby Livingston (1-0)
L - Jesse Chavez (0-1)
S - Ryota Igarashi (1)
HR - Russ Adams (1)

Both teams opened up their Grapefruit League season on a soggy day. The Mets and Braves held off a few of their regular starters for the game. The Mets ended up prevailing 4-2.

THE GOOD: Phenom Jason Heyward had a strong opening game with a single and two walks. He also stole third base. Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen had two scoreless innings apiece. Each hurler allowed one hit; Hanson struck out three batters and Medlen punched out one.

THE BAD: Jesse Chavez coughed up three runs to open up his spring and Nate McLouth and Yunel Escobar had 0-3 days at the plate.

NEXT UP:The Braves play the Mets again on Wednesday.

EDIT: Moved icons to the right of the post.

Outfielders: Promise And Potential, And Hopefully No Duds

2010-01-31T18:39:00.006-05:00

It's the Braves outfielders' turn!

LF Matt Diaz - (425 PA, .313/.390/.488, 18 2B, 4 3B, 13 HR, 58 RBI, 35/90 BB/K, 133 OPS+)
LF Melky Cabrera - (540 PA, .274/.336/.416, 28 2B, 1 3B, 13 HR, 68 RBI, 43/59 BB/K, 99 OPS+)
CF Nate McLouth (total stats PIT and ATL) - (591 PA, .256/.352/.436, 27 2B, 2 3B, 20 HR, 70 RBI, 68/99 BB/K, 109 OPS+)
RF Jason Heyward (total stats with three teams) - (422 PA, .323/.408/.555, 25 2B, 4 3B, 17 HR, 63 RBI, 51/51 BB/K)
CF Jordan Schafer - (195 PA, .204/.313/.287, 8 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 27/63 BB/K)
UT Mitch Jones (2009 AAA Albuquerque) - (434 PA, .297/.364/.651, 26 2B, 3 3B, 35 HR, 103 RBI, 40/102 BB/K)

On the surface, the outfield spots are only half-settled. Realistically, the jobs are mostly set in stone, but a couple of players could force their way onto the Braves with strong springs.

Matt Diaz, picked up by the Braves for minor league pitcher Ricardo Rodriguez just four years ago, has flat out hit ever since he came to Atlanta. His 2009 season made up for a mostly-lost 2008 campaign; his OPS, OPS+, RBIs, homers, and stolen bases were all career-high totals. However, he will most likely remain a platoon partner for a left-handed batter. What supports that is Diaz's career OPS splits:

Career vs. RHP: .722 OPS
Career vs. LHP: .921 OPS

The most-likely platoon partner for Diaz should be the Braves' newest acquisition Melky Cabrera. After being signed to a $3.1 million one-year contract, the former Yankee outfielder is one of the first in line to get an outfield spot on the club.

Some Braves fans may argue that he doesn't deserve a spot with the club because of his weak statistics for an outfielder. For his carer, Cabrera has a .269/.331/.385 line with just 36 home runs (13 coming last year, nine in New Yankee Stadium). He's similar to Martin Prado in that he doesn't walk or strike out much (43/59 BB/K in 540 PA last year). The light slugging could prove to be a problem, but Diaz should be able to balance it out like last year.

Nate McLouth will be manning center field full-time for the Braves in the 2010 season. His splits with Pittsburgh and Atlanta were nearly identical except for slugging (.470 with the Pirates, .419 with the Braves). McLouth was knocked out of action for about a month with a left hamstring injury and felt the effects of it for a while. He should be healthy for the season and be able to return to the form that he had in his breakout 2008 season.

The most important player in the Braves' outfield mix is one who was named MLB.com's top prospect last week. Jason Heyward earned that ranking with a very strong 2009 campaign, spanning three levels. The Braves have made it clear that he'll be given every chance possible to make the Braves out of spring. If so, it's also possible that he could produce right out of the gate and improve the right field position's black hole from last year.

Two wild cards to make the team are Jordan Schafer and Mitch Jones. Schafer, who started the year with the big club and hit two home runs in his major league debut, injured his wrist making a diving catch and wasn't effective since then. There is a possibility that if Cabrera underperforms and Schafer has another strong spring that Melky would be traded to make room for Schafer on the roster.

The last candidate is career minor leaguer Mitch Jones who had a monster season in Class AAA Albuquerque. He could get a utility role because he has experience in the outfield and the infield corners.

The Braves outfield last year started with such promise, went through some turmoil, but eventually stabilized. The outfielders should be able to provide much more stability throughout the 2010 season.

Infielders: Questions To Be Answered Later

2010-01-24T21:47:00.012-05:00

Next up, the infielders of the Braves.

1B Troy Glaus - (32 PA, .172/.250/.241, 2 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 32 OPS+)
2B Martin Prado - (503 PA, .307/.358/.464, 38 2B, 11 HR, 49 RBI, 117 OPS+)
3B Chipper Jones - (596 PA, .264/.388/.430, 23 2B, 2 3B, 18 HR, 71 RBI, 118 OPS+)
SS Yunel Escobar - (604 PA, .299/.377/.436, 26 2B, 3 3B, 14 HR, 76 RBI, 116 OPS+)
UT Omar Infante - (229 PA, .305/.361/.389, 9 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 27 RBI, 100 OPS+)
SS Diory Hernandez - (93 PA, .141/.198/.212, 3 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 9 OPS+)
IF Brooks Conrad - (58 PA, .204/.259/.407, 1 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 74 OPS+)

The Braves have great talent in the infield, but they also have some questions that need to be answered:

Can Chipper Jones rebound from his worst season in five years (2004), despite his obviously advancing age (38 in 2010) and constant health questions?

It's easy to say that Jones, now the longest-tenured Brave on the team, is going to continue to get worse because he's getting older. However, it's not particularly fair or smart to guess such a thing. Jones is only a year removed from leading the National League in batting average and on-base percentage and two years removed form leading in OPS and Adjusted OPS+. The end is near, but I'm not betting on it being this season.

Can Troy Glaus rebound from his lost season and resume putting up quality 120 OPS+ seasons?

If he does, not only will it benefit the Braves, but it will secure their first base position until Freddie Freeman is ready. Glaus signed a one-year incentive-laden contract with Atlanta, which contains an option for the 2011 season. First base would become a problem if Glaus gets hurt, because all the Braves have to fall back on at the position is Eric Hinske, and Freddie Freeman is not quite ready to take over the position. If the production comes mainly from Glaus, the Braves should be fine at the position.

Can Martin Prado continue his .300+/.350+/.450+ production to ease some Braves fans' unrest about the moving of former second baseman Kelly Johnson to Arizona?

Of course, there's no guarantee that Prado will continue to put up those kinds of numbers, but his pro career does show an encouraging trend:

Note: 2003-2007 are his minor league statistics

2003: 251 PA, .286/.358/.350, - BABIP, 2 2B, 6 3B, 0 HR, 23 RBI, 24/30 BB/K
2004: 467 PA, .315/.363/.422, - BABIP, 25 2B, 6 3B, 3 HR, 38 RBI, 30/47 BB/K
2005: 488 PA, .298/.353/.395, .341 BABIP, 20 2B, 4 3B, 5 HR, 45 RBI, 41/65 BB/K
2006: 448 PA, .281/.321/.360, .326 BABIP, 18 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 38 RBI, 26/63 BB/K
2007: 443 PA, .316/.374/.420, .345 BABIP, 23 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR, 41 RBI, 34/41 BB/K
2008: 254 PA, .320/.377/.461, .357 BABIP, 18 2B, 2 HR, 33 RBI, 21/29 BB/K
2009: 503 PA, .307/.358/.464, .320 BABIP, 38 2B, 11 HR, 49 RBI, 36/59 BB/K

I don't have data for the BABIP of Prado's first two full seasons. However, the trends of his career are reasonably consistent.

Prado hasn't batted lower than .280 and it seems as if his OBP norm would be over .350. His slugging might take a dip according to his stats from the minors but there is little indication that his batting average will take a dive because his BABIP doesn't fluctuate much.

Can Yunel Escobar continue to produce as one of the top shortstops in the National League?

I'd say so. He has two and a half seasons of at least 100 OPS+:

2007: 355 PAs, 118 OPS+
2008: 587 PAs, 108 OPS+
2009: 604 PAs, 116 OPS+

Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki are in another league by themselves, but Escobar is as roughly (VERY roughly) as good as Jimmy Rollins, just without the speed and stolen bases.

Can the Braves have another decent bench infielder besides Omar Infnate?

That remains to be seen. Brooks Conrad will get a shot to win a job out of spring training, as will utility infielder Joe Thurston. All I know is that Diory Hernandez, last year's replacement for an injured Yunel Escobar, is not going to cut it with another 9 OPS+.

If all the answers to those questions come up well for the Braves, the team should be well on their way to having a successful 2010 campaign.

Catchers: Braves Best In NL, Among The Best In the Biz

2010-01-15T23:33:00.014-05:00

(Since MLB.com started on Around The Horn on Friday, I figure that it would be a good idea for me to delve into it as well.)

Brian McCann - (551 PA, .281/.349/.486, 35 2B, 21 HR, 94 RBI, 120 OPS+)
David Ross - (151 PA, .273/.380/.508, 9 2B, 7 HR, 20 RBI, 134 OPS+)
Clint Sammons - (12 PA, .182/.250/.182, 0 2B, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 18 OPS+)

In just a few short years, the Braves have developed into one of the best offensive catching teams in all of baseball. Brian McCann, once one of the Baby Braves that helped Atlanta to their final NL East title to date, has developed into the premier offensive catcher in the National League. Last season, despite his vision problems, he led all National League catchers in OPS (.834), doubles (35), home runs (21), RBI (94), and total bases (237). McCann missed time in late April and early May to fix complications from his LASIK eye surgery. When returning to play, McCann had to wear eyeglasses the rest of the season.

His backup, David Ross, raked in his short playing time. While filling in for McCann while the starting catcher was having eye problems, Ross batted a robust .298/.411/.574 in 57 PAs. He provided a good fill-in bat for McCann the rest of the season, even hitting two solo home runs in a game where the Orioles blew out the Braves by an 11-2 score.

Ross has an excellent percentage when it comes to catching baserunners (48%, 19/40). However, the reason for that may be because he calls for a fastball when he suspects a runner is going to steal. This sometimes led to the batter having an easy pitch to hit. That may be the only thing that anyone can criticize Ross.

Clint Sammons simply provides a little depth at the catcher position. If he's starting for any extended period of time, the Braves are in a lot of trouble.

Big Mac Admits How He Stayed "Big"

2010-01-11T20:07:00.006-05:00

Former first baseman and current Cardinals hitting coach Mark McGwire admitted to doing what many baseball fans have suspected and accused him of for a long time. The slugger admitted to using steroids at various points throughout his career. Those points include:

The 1989-90 offseason: in 1989, McGwire batted .231/.339/.467, which represented his worst batting average performance. He only increased his output to .235/.370/.489 the next season.

After he was injured in 1993: if he intended for steroids to help, they may not have worked. He was limited to 172 PAs in 1994 and didn't stay on the field for an extended period of time until 1995 (422 PAs).

"On occasion" throughout the 1990s, including 1998: This period was naturally when McGwire emerged as one of the premier sluggers in all of baseball.

McGwire admitting his steroid use does clear the air and ceases the arguments concerning the validity of his statistics. However, it remains to be seen what kinds of effects the revelation will have on baseball statistics as a whole.

What we do know is that the single-season home run list is now topped with admitted and suspected steroid users:

Barry Bonds - 73
Mark McGwire - 70
Sammy Sosa - 66
Mark McGwire - 65
Sammy Sosa - 63
Sammy Sosa - 62
Roger Maris - 61
Babe Ruth - 60
Babe Ruth - 59
Jimmie Foxx - 58
Hank Greenberg - 58
Ryan Howard - 58
Mark McGwire - 58

I suppose that means that Ryan Howard will soon be accused of using steroids very soon. ;)

When players hit 50 home runs in a season these days, it seems to automatically make them steroid user suspects in people's minds. This can't go on forever, though. At some point, fans must realize that there are factors in most eras in baseball history that skew statistics. It just so happens that this is one of those eras that involve performance enhancers.

AP Photo by V. J. Lovero

Braves Complete Off-Season With Low-Risk, High-Reward Signings

2010-01-09T22:10:00.000-05:00

BRAVES SIGN:
1B Troy Glaus (32 PA, .172/.250/.241, 2 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 3/8 BB/K, 32 OPS+)
CIF/COF Eric Hinske (224 PA, .242/.348/.432, 12 2B, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 27/52 BB/K, 107 OPS+)

Frank Wren essentially completed the off-season for the Braves by signing third baseman Troy Glaus and utility man Eric Hinske to solidify Atlanta's bench.

Glaus, a career third baseman and designated hitter, has six career games at first base. All those games have come within the past two years in St. Louis. However, the potential for him being a 25-30 home run and 100 RBI, as Wren stated, is very high.

With Hinske, the Braves have a bench player who can play both corner infield and corner outfield positions. The former Rookie of the Year fulfilled the bench player role with the Pirates and Yankees last season.

This signing pretty much closes the book on Wren's off-season shopping. Assuming that Hinske, Glaus and Cabrera are to make the team and the Braves will carry 12 pitchers, this means the Braves have one bench spot left:

C - McCann
1B - Glaus
2B - Prado
SS - Escobar
3B - Jones
LF - Diaz
CF - McLouth
RF - Heyward

C - Ross
OF - Cabrera
OF/IF - Hinske
IF/LF - Infante

It's most likely that the last bench spot on the team will be filled by someone who can play shortstop. If Brooks Conrad can learn to play shortstop consistently in the spring, he may get the spot. An earlier signing in the winter, Joe Thurston, is another option because he has experience at shortstop. The third player likely to get that spot is Dioary Hernandez, who filled in for Escobar last season when Yunel was hurt. The only problem is that Hernandez's bat is VERY light (93 PAs of .144/.198/.212 with three doubles, one homer and a 9 OPS+) and he can only play shortstop.

An Early Christmas Present For The Braves And Yankees

2009-12-22T15:48:00.012-05:00

BRAVES GET:
OF Melky Cabrera (.274/.336/.416, 540 PA, 28 2B, 1 3B, 13 HR, 68 RBI, 99 OPS+)
LRP Mike Dunn (0-0, 6.75 ERA, 2.000 WHIP, 4 G, 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5/5 K/BB)
RSP Arodys Vizcaino (2-4, 2.13 ERA, 1.157 WHIP, 10 GS, 42 1/3 IP, 34 H, 18 R, 10 ER, 52/15 K/BB in A-SS Staten Island)

YANKEES GET:
RSP Javier Vazquez (15-10, 2.87 ERA, 1.026 WHIP, 32 GS, 219 1/3 IP, 181 H, 75 R, 70 ER, 238/44 K/BB)
LRP Boone Logan (1-1, 5.19 ERA, 1.731 WHIP, 20 G, 17 1/3 IP, 21 H, 12 R, 10 ER, 10/9 K/BB)

The plan at the Winter Meetings failed, so Frank Wren and the Braves had to settle for Plan B.

With the Braves unable to move Derek Lowe due to salary concerns, the team opted to trade ace starter Javier Vazquez to the Yankees for outfielder Melky Cabrera, reliever Mike Dunn and top starting pitching prospect Arodys Vizcaino. The Braves also sent reliever Boone Logan in the deal. Both Vazquez and Logan came to the Braves in a winter deal with the White Sox last year.

A lot of people have already said and will continue to say that this trade was horrible for the Braves. The common refrain is to boil it down to two players. Thus, it becomes: Atlanta traded the ace of their staff the previous season for an outfielder that isn't even particularly good. Of course, the picture above is not that of Cabrera; it's of Vizcaino. I'll explain why later.

First, there is an important thing to establish:

The trade is not as bad as it looks.

The Braves still have a potentially formidable starting rotation. Tommy Hanson will be entering his first full major league season of starting. Tim Hudson should be healthy, Jair Jurrjens should perform around what he accomplished in 2009, and Kenshin Kawakami will look to improve on his respectable rookie season.

The wild card here may be starting pitcher Derek Lowe. He'll want to improve on some of his worst statistics from last season, including an NL-high 232 hits allowed and a 1.515 WHIP, his worst WHIP since the 2004 season, and a career-worst 88 Adjusted ERA+. Some may see it as a problem that Lowe was unhappy with the idea of being traded because of his contract. However, with Vazquez gone, Lowe's spot in the rotation is secure and he can lose it only by getting hurt or having so many bad starts that Braves manager Bobby Cox moves him to the bullpen and inserts long reliever Kris Medlen in the starting role.

The only player the Braves netted in the trade that has a chance of making the team next season is Melky Cabrera. The outfielder may even be the regular left fielder next season, replacing Garret Anderson. But, the problem is that Cabrera usually provides the production of last year's version of Garret Anderson:

Cabrera, 2009: 540 PA, .274/.336/.416, 28 2B, 13 HR, 68 RBI, 99 OPS+
Anderson, 2009: 534 PA, .268/.303/.401, 27 2B, 13 HR, 61 RBI, 86 OPS+

Essentially, this means that the Braves are back to square one when it comes to their outfield production. The only player that can improve it right now is top prospect Jason Heyward.

The first pitcher obtained in the trade are a young left-handed reliever who wasn't particularly good in limited major-league action last year, but he has a live fastball (98 miles an hour tops) and a hard slider (90 miles an hour). I guess he should be a better left-handed live arm than, say, Jeff Ridgway.

However, the crown jewel in the haul is starting pitcher Arodys Vizcaino. Formerly the top pitching prospect in the Yankees organization and third overall, the soon-to-be 19-year old righthander has a huge heater (98 miles an hour tops that he can consistently throw) and a plus curve and changeup. As mentioned above, he posted a 2.13 ERA in 10 starts with a 52/15 K/BB ratio in 45 1/3 innings. The Braves may very well have found a new Neftali Feliz-type prospect to replace the fireballing reliever they traded to Texas more than two years ago.

***BONUS ENTRY***

While composing this post, which took me the better part of the day, Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution decided that the trade meant the Braves are more concerned about the bottom line than winning baseball games.

The Braves just traded the man who might well have been their Opening Day starting pitcher for an outfielder who might not start on Opening Day. Think about that.
Oh, he'll start on Opening Day. As it stands right now, his only competition is Matt Diaz, since Nate McLouth is in center field and mega-prospect Jason Heyward virtually has the right field job all to himself.

Think also about this: The Braves just traded a man who finished fourth in the National League Cy Young voting because he was making too much money. And here’s how much Javier Vazquez is scheduled to make in 2010 — $11.5 million. That’s not even half what CC Sabathia, his new Yankee teammate, will earn.

The Braves traded Javier Vazquez only because they couldn't find any takers for Derek Lowe. The only other option was Vazquez. Also, I don't particularly see the point in mentioning what Sabathia makes. All that says is the Yankees have big wallets.

And that tells us all we need know about the Braves.

Does it?

They keep making noises about contending for division titles, but it’s just noise. They can’t afford to do real business any longer.

"Real business", huh? Does real business involve, oh, I don't know... utilizing the resources available to you as best as you can? Isn't that what the Braves are doing?

From the day the 2009 season ended they were looking to dump a starting pitcher, ostensibly to add a power hitter, but Melky Cabrera isn’t a power hitter.

No, he's not. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, he's not any more better than Garret Anderson.

He was the eighth-best position player on the Yankees. He might not beat out Nate McLouth in center field here. He might wind up in a platoon. And he’s what the Braves got for the man who was their best pitcher last season.
Cabrera isn't supposed to beat McLouth out for center field. It's natural to believe that Cabrera will be in a platoon with Diaz in left field; in fact, that's what I expect.

The Braves got Cabrera and two pitchers. It's so easy to forget that when you want to focus on the most recognizable names.

“A perfect fit,” Frank Wren called Cabrera, speaking on a teleconference Tuesday, but the only thing perfect about this trade was how completely it detonates the Braves’ claim to being serious players. You don’t trade an ace unless you get a big bopper in return. The Braves got a guy who hit 13 home runs with 68 RBIs last season.

Yeah, you usually trade aces for prospects. I can't even remember the last time that an ace was traded for a slugger. That just doesn't happen in today's baseball world.

Yes, there’s more to the trade than Cabrera. Mike Dunn should help in the bullpen and Arodys Vizcaino is a young power arm, but the cold truth is that the Braves just played what they deemed their trump card — a surplus of starting pitching — without improving their run production one whit.

All Vizcaino is to Bradley is "a young power arm". There's something to be said about that; it tells me he doesn't understand just how good of a prospect he is to the organization. I truly believe Vizcaino partially makes up for trading Neftali Feliz to Texas.

The Braves actually DID improve their run production one whit. Cabrera is an improvement on Garret Anderson when it comes to getting on base. A whit's improvement.

And don’t fool yourselves: That $11.5 million they saved on Vazquez won’t allow them to splurge on Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. Those guys are out of price range, out of sight.

Actually, it'll be around $8.5 million because Cabrera is due to make about $3 million in arbitration. Besides, who says the Braves have to go after an outfielder with that extra money? They could easily sign one of the free-agent first basemen now. Candidates include Troy Glaus, Russell Branyan, Carlos Delgado, or even Adam LaRoche. A full season of better first-base power (Casey Kotchman slugged just .409 mostly during the first half of the year) should help the Braves.

“We’re very fortunate to be able to make a deal like this,” Wren said. Then this: “We’ve been focused on [finding a run producer] all offseason, and we were waiting on the right match. And we’re still waiting.”

Well, obviously that means that he's going to try another trade avenue. If Bay and Holliday are off-limits, that means Wren's going to go back to the trade market.

But Vazquez is gone. Can’t trade him twice. And the Braves can’t trade Derek Lowe because they’re down to five starters. So the best that can be reasonably hoped is that they find a Marlon Byrd or a Xavier Nady or — knowing as we do that the Braves love recycling old favorites — a Mark DeRosa or a Jermaine Dye.
Marlon Byrd - NO. He'll wilt outside of The Ballpark in Arlington.
Xavier Nady - He'll be a cheap first base option because he's coming off surgery, but he wouldn't be that good.
Mark DeRosa - He can't exactly play first base or left field on a regular basis.
Jermaine Dye - I would actually love to see him play first base.

Except none of those players will make them better in the way that losing Vazquez makes them worse.

Losing Vazquez actually doesn't make the team that much worse. The rotation goes from this:

1. Vazquez
2. Jurrjens
3. Hanson
4. Lowe
5. Kawakami

to this

1. Jurrjens
2. Hanson
3. Hudson
4. Kawakami
5. Lowe

It won't necessarily be in that order, but it's still not a drastic step down. Jurrjens or Hanson could very easily step into the vacuum created by Vazquez's absence and Tim Hudson takes the "vacant" spot. Since Lowe and Kawakami should improve from their previous seasons, the mystery player becomes Tim Hudson. That's a good luxury the Braves still have.

As someone who has defended Wren in the past, I have to say I’m stumped. Obviously the Braves’ salary constraints are worse than we’d been led to believe if they had to make this sort of deal so soon — Santa Claus hasn’t yet come and Javier Vazquez has left the building — but even more puzzling is Wren’s contention that this enabled him “to improve our club.” Maybe it improves it in 2012, when Vizcaino is ready to join Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens. But the way the Braves operate those pitchers will have been sold off by then.

Bad joke if you're joking, pure idiocy if you're not, Mr. Bradley. Trading Hanson and Jurrjens in their cheap arbitration years. Please.

Nothing about this offseason suggests that the new Braves are any better than the ones who finished third in the NL East. Is Billy Wagner an upgrade over Rafael Soriano? No. (But he’s cheaper. And also older.) Is Takashi Saito better than Mike Gonzalez? No. (But he’s cheaper. And also older.) Is the new first baseman … oh, wait. They don’t yet have a new first baseman.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Wagner and Saito being "older" than Soriano and Gonzalez. This is simply a symptom of what many baseball organizations see as the proper way to build a baseball team. Closers and set-up men go through teams like a hot potato in some cases.

When it comes to first base, there's this guy that complicates things a little and his name is Freddie Freeman. The Braves have to walk a fine line with their second-best prospect. They don't want to sign someone to a big contract and block him, but they also want someone for "insurance" in case Freeman has a hard time advancing past Mississippi.

For all this motion — Wren is forever in a hurry — the Braves will enter January 2010 a lesser team than in September 2009. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. But that is, sad to say, the way it works here, where $11.5 million for a big-time pitcher is considered too much, where the drive to win is trumped by the need to scrimp.

If the season started in January, I might share your concerns displayed in the first sentence. Also, just because an ace was traded for a couple of prospects and someone who isn't particularly helpful doesn't mean the Braves are "scrimping". This is only part of Wren's gameplan. He knows that the Braves still need a first baseman and/or someone who can actually hit for power. This isn't the end of the off-season, this isn't the time to be declaring the Braves' demise in the 2010 NL East race, and it is certainly not the time to call this trade a symptom of penny-pinching.

Dumping On The Rays: Braves Trade Soriano For Chavez

2009-12-10T22:20:00.007-05:00

RAYS GET:
RCP Rafael Soriano (75 2/3 IP, 53 H, 23 ER, 27 BB, 102 K)

BRAVES GET:
RRP Jesse Chavez (67 1/3 IP, 69 H, 30 ER, 22 BB, 47 K)

The monkey wrench has been pulled out of the works.

According to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times, the Braves agreed to trade former closer Rafael Soriano to the Tampa Bay Rays for relief pitcher Jesse Chavez. The medical records and other things were examined and the trade will be announced Friday.

Soriano pitched in the closer's role for most of the 2009 season. He was 27-31 in save opportunities while garnering a less-than-sparkling 1-6 record. The Dominican, who thrives on his fastball and slider, held opponents last season to a .194 batting average and a career high in strikeouts (12.1 K/9). The most lasting impression of his final year may be a couple of key blown saves:

August 6 at Los Angeles: With the Braves leading 4-2, Soriano allowed an infield single to Juan Pierre, a groundball single to right field to Rafael Furcal and a game-ending home run to Andre Ethier.
September 9 at Houston: Soriano took the hill for Tommy Hanson, who pitched eight innings of shutout ball. Michael Bourn struck out swinging, but then allowed a single to Kazuo Matsui and a double to Lance Berkman. Carlos Lee was intentionally walked, but Miguel Tejada singled up the middle to win the game for the Astros.

Regardless, Soriano stabilizes the Rays' closing situation; he should inherit the role from J. P. Howell.

Jesse Chavez, who has been shuffled through the Rangers and Pirates systems, is known for a live fastball that can reach 95 miles and hour and has a plus curve and change-up. However, he usually has trouble locating the pitches for strikes. Last season, Chavez had his first taste of extended action in the majors. The fact that he proved he can pitch in 73 games seems promising; that means that he can handle a potential heavy workload in a Braves bullpen used by Bobby Cox.

Because of the nature of the situation, this trade amounted to a salary dump. The Braves had to get rid of Soriano because he accepted arbitration. As such, the reliever was due to make about $7 million with a slight raise in arbitration. The Braves needed that money to pursue a first baseman and outfielder. Thus, he couldn't be peddled off for much because the Braves had nearly zero leverage. The fact the Braves were able to get Chavez without having to pay any of his 2010 salary was a small miracle in and of itself.

EDIT: Frankly, when push comes to shove, I could have cared less who the Braves got back from the Rays in this trade. I hope that Sanchez has the talent to continue his career in the Braves system, but the only thing I cared about was getting rid of Soriano. That objective was accomplished. Bring on the rest of the off-season!

SECOND EDIT: Added title

Photo by AP's Gene J. Puskar

Change Of Plans: Soriano Accepts Arbitration

2009-12-08T00:08:00.007-05:00

BRAVES SIGN:
RRP Rafael Soriano (accepts arbitration)

Rafael Soriano unwittingly threw a monkey wrench into the Braves' early off-season plans by accepting arbitration before the midnight deadline at the first day of Major League Baseball's winter meetings.

Soriano is expected to garner about $7-8 million in salary for next season. That's a lucrative deal on the money side for him, but with newcomers Wagner and Saito, along with incumbents Moylan and O'Flaherty, the bullpen just got that much more crowded.

While this forces Braves general manager Frank Wren to look more heavily into trading Derek Lowe or Javier Vazquez, the main objectives of getting a left fielder and first baseman could still be obtained.

EDIT: Photo by Paul Spinelli of Getty Images

Kyuuentoushu Getto!: Braves Sign Saito To Set Up Wagner

2009-12-03T17:25:00.010-05:00

BRAVES SIGN:
RCP Takashi Saito

Just a day after announcing the signing of Billy Wagner, the Braves completed most of their bullpen upheaval by bringing in another veteran fireballer.

Atlanta came to terms with former Dodgers closer and Red Sox set-up man Takashi Saito on a one-year contract worth $3 million.

Two things are interesting about this signing: the Braves have gotten significantly older in their set-up and closer position. Gonzalez and Soriano will be 32 and 30 next season and Wagner and Saito will be 38 and 40 years old.

Another interesting thing is that Atlanta basically completed their bullpen shopping within two days. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before concerning the Braves. The plan seems to be to make sure that Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano decline arbitration and go on to sign with other ballclubs. It makes sense, after all; why should Soriano or Gonzalez stay with Atlanta another season when they could easily get millions more elsewhere to be a full-time closer?

EDIT: Photo by Richard Hartog of the Los Angeles Times

The Ball Is Rolling Now; Billy Wagner Joins The Fold

2009-11-12T14:45:00.009-05:00

Okay, let's get the laziness out of the way first:

BRAVES SIGN:
RSP Tim Hudson (three-year extension)

Done. Now for the recent news:

BRAVES SIGN:
LCP Billy Wagner

Free agent closer Billy Wagner signs a potential multi-year deal with the Atlanta Braves. The deal is worth $7 million for the first year and and includes a club option for the 2011 season worth $6.5 million if Wagner finishes 50 games in the 2010 season.

Wagner spent time with the Mets and Red Sox last season after recovering from Tommy John surgery. The closer pitched 17 games in a relief role (15 2/3 innings) and allowed just three earned runs and eight hits, striking out 26 batters.

With this deal, the Braves have set themselves up to reap the benefits of former closers Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano signing with other teams. Because the two relievers are Type A free agents, the Braves are set to obtain the allotted draft picks of the teams that sign their former closers.

Mark Bradley Gets Into The Act

2009-11-07T16:21:00.005-05:00

The act, of course, is making silly (sometimes stupid) statements about baseball. Sure, there's a lot of them that go around; this is especially true on the Internet. I've made my share of stupid statements on message boards and the like (who hasn't?).

Mark Bradley is another long-time sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Unfortunately, he's prone to writing a lot of bad articles. Some would call them articles that just stir the pudding and nothing more. This one, however, is just a bad idea: With Tim Hudson back in the Braves rotation, the team should move Tommy Hanson to the closer role.

I’m just throwing it out there, OK? So don’t all scream at once. (If you do choose to scream, please take turns.)

When you're just "throwing something out there", that basically means you shouldn't be writing the article in the first place. All us writers struggle with subjects on occasion. I guess when you're paid to write for a living, you have to write things, even if they're no good.

Wow, all that and I haven't even gotten to Bradley's idea.

So here goes:

Thanks for getting the ball rolling again, Mark. :)
With the re-signing of Tim Hudson, the Braves have six starting pitchers under contract for 2010. The baseball truism holds that a team can never have too much pitching, but this one just might.
At the present moment, this is true. While Tim Hudson's contract hasn't been extended yet but will be soon, we can pretty much pencil him in the Braves' 2010 rotation.

The conventional wisdom among Braves fans seems to be that one of Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez or Kenshin Kawakami is going to be traded to eliminate the surplus of starters:

Derek Lowe, the Braves' top free-agent acquisition in the 2008-09 off-season, endured one of the worst seasons in his career. He won 15 of his 34 starts, but he allowed hits by the bushel (232 hits allowed led the National League), allowed 101 earned runs (his most since 2004), and had a Braves rotation worst 1.515 WHIP, his worst showing there also since his 2004 campaign. As if that wasn't bad enough, the contract Lowe signed the previous off-season owes him $15 million a year for the next three seasons. You'll find a lot of happy Braves fans if general manager Frank Wren can find some way to get a team to take Lowe.
Javier Vazquez was the Braves' second big pitching acquisition; he was acquired in a deal that sent four prospects to the White Sox and also brought in lefty reliever Boone Logan. Vazquez went on to have a season to remember with Atlanta, finishing with career lows in WHIP (1.026) and ERA (2.87, 75 runs/ 70 earned runs allowed). Vazquez, though, is a valuable trade piece because he's coming off a career year and he has one year remaining on his current contract that will pay him $11 million next season.
Kenshin Kawakami, the Braves' first Japanese player, had a turbulent year, but finally settled into his role (7-10 in 25 starts, 3.97 ERA, 69 runs / 63 earned runs allowed). He was moved to the bullpen to make room in the rotation for Tim Hudson and accumulated two more losses and the first save of his professional career there. He's speculated to be a trade piece because of his inconsistency.

The obvious solution would be to make Kenshin Kawakami a reliever, except for a couple of things: He makes too much money (around $8 million) to slot into middle relief and he generates too many baserunners to close.

Kawakami is slated to make $8.667 million next season. That's $6.667 million base salary and a $2 million signing bonus that will be paid next year.

I've used that same kind of argument before, in regards to where a player is placed based upon how much money he makes. However, I don't think this would apply to Kawakami if he was shifted to close. In fact, I'd dare to say that if his overall stats hold up, he'd be about as good a closer as Francisco Rodriguez was last year:

Kawakami: 156 1/3 IP, 8.8 H/9, 3.9 BB/9, 6.0 SO/9, 1.343 WHIP
Rodriguez: 68 IP, 6.8 H/9, 5.0 BB/9, 9.7 SO/9, 1.309 WHIP

...

Okay, maybe Kawakami would be a closer in the Dan Kolb mold; he doesn't strike out enough people. Still, the hits and walks together match up reasonably well.

So ... what about this?

Eeeyyeeeesssss?

Tommy Hanson as closer.

*cue thousands of Braves fans from all over the Internet screaming at their computer screens*

I know, I know. Would any organization in its right mind redeploy its best pitching prospect in a generation so soon? And the answer would ordinarily be a resounding “Heck, no!’

You're right! And the article should end right here because it's true!

Wait, he said "ordinarily"...

Except that one organization has done pretty well with a redeployed starter as its closer.

All right, I'll bite. What organization turned their can't-miss starting pitching prospect into a closer?

The organization: The Boston Red Sox. The starter-turned-closer: Jonathan Papelbon.

Papelbon worked in 58 minor-league games, starting 48 of them. But then the Red Sox needed a closer to replace Keith Foulke and he got reassigned. And he has been, in the main, great — 151 saves over four seasons.

Okay, this requires a little perspective:

According to the 2005 Baseball America Prospect Handbook, Papbelon had closed before in college ball, doing so for Mississippi State University. The Red Sox decided to convert him to starting pitching after picking him in the 2003 draft. He started the conversion with Lowell in the New York-Penn League in 2003 and broke out the next year at Sarasota (12-7, 129 2/3 IP, 1.030 WHIP, 153 K). He continued as a starter into the 2005 season, starting his Boston Red Sox career with three starts and then was moved into the bullpen as a middle reliever and setup man. He wasn't inserted into the closer's role until the 2006 season.

Hanson has had some relief experience in the pros, but it consists of five games at Danville in his first pro season (2006) and one game in relief with the Rome Braves the next year.

So Bradley is basically asking for Hanson to convert to being a closer under Bobby Cox, who has accrued a reputation recently for overusing important relievers (some would blame Gonzalez, Moylan and Soriano's recent injuries on him).

Think of it this way: The Braves have roughly $68 million sunk into nine players (the six starting pitchers plus Chipper Jones, Brian McCann and Nate McLouth). Their payroll last season was $96 million. So that leaves $38 million to spend on 16 roster spots, and the Braves at the moment have no first baseman — Adam LaRoche is a free agent — no proven corner outfielder (Jason Heyward looks good but hasn’t yet had a big-league at-bat) and no closer.
Most of the 16 roster spots are going to be spent on small contracts for Yunel Escobar, Martin Prado, Matt Diaz, Jair Jurrjens and others, so the number is going to be a smaller number than $38 million. It still remains to be seen whether or not the payroll is going to increase for 2010 (my guess is that it will stay the same), which makes that number a little more suspect.

I'd wager to say that Matt Diaz is a "proven" corner outfielder, even in a part-time role. Three seasons out of four with the team with an OPS+ above 110 with more than 300 PAs each of those years is proven to me. But I guess Bradley wants full-time players like McLouth to patrol the field. I don't blame him for not trusting Heyward since he hasn't set foot on a field in an Atlanta Braves uniform yet. Like Hanson last season, I think Heyward would quickly prove that he belongs in Atlanta.

The reason the Braves have no closers is that both of their "proven" closers, Mike Gonzalez (10 saves) and Rafael Soriano (27 saves) are free agents.

Rather than spend $5 million to re-up Rafael Soriano or Mike Gonzalez, neither of whom is among the game’s 10 best relievers, or spend even more on someone who is among the 10 best, mightn’t it be prudent, both philosophically and fiscally, to give Hanson a look? He has the stuff to do it, and he has the temperament.
Well, I'd certainly love to re-up Soriano AND Gonzalez for $5 million each; Soriano earned $6.1 million in 2009 and Gonzalez got $3.45 million.

As for Bradley's assertion, there are two problems with it. The first:

A reliever does not have to be one of the "ten best relievers" to be a good closer. I would like to know who these eight or nine pitchers are that Bradley thinks are better than Gonzalez (10.9 K/9 in 74 1/3 IP) or Soriano (12.1 K/9 in 75 2/3 IP) to disqualify them from continued closer-dom with the Braves. In the eleven games combined that Gonzalez and Soriano blew saves, the Braves had a record of 6-5.

The funny thing is, when I look at the list of potential free agent relievers on Cot's Baseball Contracts right now, I think that Gonzalez and Soriano are the best relievers of the bunch.

The next:

It may be prudent fiscally (it sounds more like being cheap to me), but why is it exactly prudent philosophically to plug in a starting pitcher who just turned in the best rookie season by an Atlanta Braves starter (11-4, 1.183 WHIP, 144 ERA+)? Hanson's closest competitor for that title is Craig McMurtry (15-9, 1.300 WHIP, 126 ERA+).

This basically means that Braves fans have seen a performance that's unprecedented in the team's recent history... and Mark Bradley thinks it's a good idea to waste that potential in the bullpen.

OK, OK. I hear you. I’m not saying I’d do it, either. But I’d give it some thought. Because the Braves are going to have to pay big to get the big bat they lacked this summer, and a penny saved is a penny to spend elsewhere. (Get it? Saved? As in relief pitching?)
Har dee har har.

So I've just read an article that explores the possibility of putting Hanson at the closer spot. The article states at two points why it's probably not a good idea, but goes on to say it could be a good idea in the rest of the article.

Yeah.

Proctor Signs And Accepts Invite; Phase One of Off-Season Near Completion

2009-11-04T14:15:00.006-05:00

BRAVES SIGN:
RP Scott Proctor

The first domino of the off-season has fallen for the Braves, and a bigger one will fall soon.

Veteran reliever Scott Proctor agreed to a split contract with the Atlanta Braves, which means that he'll receive an invite to spring training. Proctor, who was last signed by the Florida Marlins, spent the 2009 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Proctor, who last pitched in the majors with the Dodgers, came up in the Yankees organization and has been primarily used as a middle reliever and set-up man. If he returns to form, he could fill a similar role with the Braves. It's a good signing for bullpen death assuming Proctor returns

However, the bigger news is that starting pitcher Tim Hudson passed a physical and a three-year contract extension is to be announced some time after the World Series is concluded. This essentially means that there will be a Braves starting pitcher traded at some point this off-season, whether it be Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez or Kenshin Kawakami.

I Have To Send Off Mr. Bisher Somehow

2009-10-16T15:40:00.012-04:00

Furman Bisher, the poet laureate of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, submitted his last article for his AJC blog on October 14, 2009. A long era has ended for Southern US sports journalism. And what better way to send Mr. Bisher off into a well-deserved retirement than to show him where he's wrong or misleading?

His final AJC-published Braves article of his career: Two bad trades cost the Braves this season.

Well, that's a rather blunt accusation.

If you’re trying to place blame on when the Braves blew their shot at making the playoffs, it wasn’t when Matt Diaz was caught off base trying to score against the Florida Marlins. That would have made the score only 5-5, and the game could still have been won.

That was certainly one of the strangest ways I've ever seen a baseball game end in my life. Diaz must have felt pretty horrible after that ending.

And it wasn’t when Frank Wren was slow to pull the trigger on John Smoltz, leaving him to hook up with the Red Sox.

Ah, yes, the much bally-hooed move that turned out to be a total non-factor for the Braves. Smoltz fell off a cliff statistics wise in the 2009 season, going 3-8 overall with eight starts for the Red Sox and seven starts for the Cardinals. However, if Smoltz had a last hurrah in the playoffs, he did a pretty good one. In Game 3 of the NLDS, John pitched two innings of relief. Despite allowing four hits and a run, he struck out five batters.

Nor when Tom Glavine was turned down, in essence making way for Tommy Hanson in the pitching rotation. Au contraire, a stroke of glowing luck.

I au contraire that last statement: it was a smart move, not a lucky move. The old veteran is busy making rehab starts (4 GS, 16 IP, 17 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO) while a fresh, young pitcher is mowing down International League batters almost at will (11 GS, 66 1/3 IP, 40 H, 11 ER, 17 BB, 90 SO). Who's more likely to do well in the major leagues at that point?

No, it goes way back longer than that. (And with this, I promise never to bring it up again.)

Well, of course you won't bring it up again: you're not going to be making regular blog posts for the AJC anymore. :)

It was when the Braves traded Adam Wainwright — as if he wasn’t enough — and Jason Marquis to the Cardinals for J.D. Drew, the nomadic outfielder. (Eli Marrero, the mysterious Latin also came along, but he created more dilemma than offense.)

Once again, I have to go into defense mode here. If we truly have to blame anyone for this, blame John Schuerholz. It was his bright idea to trade a promising young pitcher who had just completed a fine season in AA Greenville in 2003 (27 GS, 3.37 ERA, 149 2/3 IP, 56 ER, 37 BB, 128 SO) and a pitcher who was pretty much driving Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone crazy at that point to the Cards for Drew. As I've mentioned before in this blog, Marquis had been with the Braves since 2000 and didn't really distinguish himself on the field much. The team shuffled him from the bullpen to the starting rotation constantly, and he only had one season that could even be considered decent (2001, 128 ERA+) with Atlanta.

Drew gave the Braves exactly what they needed (.305/.436/.569, 31 HR, 93 RBI in 645 PAs) for one season, then bolted to the Dodgers for a five-year contract (that he opted out of after two years). Interestingly, Drew hasn't had that many plate appearances in a season before or since.

And what's the deal with calling Marrero a "mysterious Latin"? That almost sounds bigoted. Despite Marrero's poor track record up to that point (only more than 10 home runs in a season, once in his career due to his limited action), he caught lightning in a bottle while platooning with Charles Thomas in left field. Eli gave Atlanta a career best batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage (.320/.374/.520, 128 OPS+) that season.

And, of course, more recently the disastrous deal that robbed the farm system of five high-grade prospects to Texas for Mark Teixeira, the temporary first baseman.

Yes, we know. Lest we forget, Frank Wren attempted to sign Teixeira to an extension, whether you believe it was an "aggressive campaign", or just "one phone call".

Five, mind you

Yes, I know. People tend to have to pay through the nose for good players.

Starting with...

[A] starting pitcher

Matt Harrison, who, in two seasons with the Rangers, has not lived up to any promise yet. In fact, his recent results have been downright putrid. In two years with the Rangers, Harrison has a career record of 13-8 in 26 starts, but his ERA is sky-high (5.76) and he has only struck out 76 batters in 147 innings. Couple that with a horrid 1.599 WHIP and it means that Harrison is going to have to learn how to pitch very soon.

[A] catcher with long-range value

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who, like Harrison, hasn't really distinguished himself in his young major league career. In three seasons, Saltalamacchia has only gotten worse as he has gone along. He hasn't topped 10 home runs since his rookie year (11 total) and his OPS dipped below .700 in 2009 (.661 in 310 PAs). If Jarrod doesn't watch it, he'll be playing second-fiddle to Taylor Teagarden for a long time. Admittedly, Teagarden also stunk last year, but I think at this point he has more long-term potential than Saltalamacchia does at this point.

[A] shortstop now among the finest in the other league, Elvis Andrus

Considering that Andrus debuted at 20 years old, he had a fine season for a shortstop. While he only had 31 extra base hits, he finished the season with an 85 OPS+ in 541 PAs and of the best UZR/150 ratings in the majors (8.3). Also, he stole 33 bases and was only caught six times. It was a good debut for him.

[A]nd maybe best of them all, the relief pitcher named Neftali Feliz.

Feliz did have a sparkling debut as a long reliever for the Rangers this year (31 IP, 13 H, 6 ER, 8 BB, 39 SO). It remains to be seen whether or not Feliz will continue as a starter or reliever next year for Texas.

Moving on, because re-opening these old wounds is leading up to something...

They patched some of the holes, like signing Garret Anderson, the expression-less outfielder

Heh heh, that's true, he was pretty expression-less. I don't think I saw him crack a smile once.

[T]hen had to turn around and undo the deal that sent Adam LaRoche to the Pirates, by way of the Red Sox. LaRoche had been traded away in exchange for Mike Gonzalez, another of those one-inning bullpen wonders.

One-inning "bullpen wonders" are necessary in today's baseball world. Considering that Gonzalez had all that time out with Tommy John surgery, I think he has done his job quite well for the Braves (125 IP, 97 H, 39 ER, 55 BB, 147 K). And getting Brent Lillibridge in that trade essentially helped the Braves get Javier Vazquez. That is, if you want to go that route in logic...

There’s nothing like what-might-have-been.

There sure isn't, and it leads to silly assertions like what is in this blog post.

Some of the best deals in baseball are those that are never made.

But they end up being made, so there isn't a point in saying this.

It is quite likely that after all those 14 seasons of ringing up those banners over the left-field fence, that the Braves brass was beginning to pant for a return to glory. Their scouts had brought in some glistening prospects, only to have them squandered in disastrous trades.

One of those trades actually helped that streak carry on a couple of years. And that's the second time you've said that these trades are disastrous. Once isn't enough; it has to be said over and over and over...

Nothing worse than the one that sent a pitcher developed under their noses here in the state, in Brunswick, also a tough out at-bat — Wainwright, who hits as well as he pitches.

I'm sure they knew that Wainwright was under their noses. After all, they drafted the guy. As for the hitting, it's a luxury if the pitcher can bat well. But that's it.

A 20-game winner for years down the road.

Aren't we exaggerating just a little bit here? Not only that, this pretty much shows that Bisher is part of the old guard: he measures the success of a pitcher by the amount of wins he gets in a season. What he should be focusing on is that he had a sparkling 1.210 WHIP along with his career-best 2.63 ERA (158 ERA+) and 212 strikeouts in 233 innings.

Marquis, winner of 15 games at Denver — after being passed around to the Cubs and Cardinals — wasn’t popular with the brass. But waste a 15-game winner because he’s quirky?

First, there was no guarantee that he was ever going to become a "15-game winner". His SO/9, which was in the 6.0s during his tenure with Atlanta and his first year with St. Louis, has decreased into the 4.0s for the rest of his career. Not only that, his WHIP hasn't gotten lower than 1.300 at any point in his career. The man is an average pitcher. He's lucky to win as much as he does. Second, if a young kid is attempting to run the show and clashes with the coaches, doesn't that mean it's a good idea to trade him?

Under Wren’s care, some good deals were made, and some not so good. He invested heavily in Kenshin Kawakami, the good-natured Japanese, who has since fallen from grace — into the bullpen.

Only in your mind did Kawakami fall out of grace. While he had a 7-10 record as a starter, he also had eight no-decisions. In fact, you could make an argument that Tim Hudson, overall, pitched as well as Kawakmai would have:

Kawakami: 25 GS, 8.77 H/9, 3.34 BB/9, 6.18 SO/9, 0.95 HR/9
Hudson: 7 GS, 10.42 H/9, 2.76 BB/9, 6.38 SO/9, 0.85 HR/9

Derek Lowe cost even more, and true, he found a way to win 15 times, but his earned-run average outweighed his value, by a bunch. The Braves invested $60 million in him over the long haul. Just how much of this they can afford into future seasons is yet to be seen.

The truth is, no one saw this coming. Not the Braves, not Lowe, not anybody. Forget his ERA (4.67 ERA, 89 ERA+); Lowe's WHIP this year (1.515) rose up to levels that he has only seen once in his career (2004, 1.615). He led the NL in hits allowed (232) and also walked more than 60 batters for the first time since his last year with the Red Sox (2004). All that spelled out a recipe for an up-and-down season.

But, you will have to conclude that one major reason Bobby Cox decided to stick around another season is that he must have felt it a shame to leave with a gold-nugget pitching staff on hand. So there.

I guess we're done fretting about the trades. So there.

As for Matt Diaz, he’s a good card to have in your hand. Not only was he the Braves’ leading hitter, but he has never made a move that he didn’t make with the idea that it might win the game. Yep, he does have a kind of unscripted swing, but you can believe this — he’ll be back, and the Braves will win with him.

... okay, so you end this article with praise for Matt Diaz. I suppose it does end it on a good note, and I guess that you ended the article with a paragraph about Diaz because the article started with a few sentences about a blunder by Diaz. Still, I just can't see how this brings all of the "the Braves shouldn't have made these trades" stuff to a conclusion. I'm still confused.

Oh, well. I was usually confused by Mr. Bisher's Braves stuff. I suppose that didn't have to change. Have a nice retirement, Furman; you've earned it. We'll keep the torch of sports writing burning for you.

I'm Running Out Of Good Titles For Bisher's Stuff

2009-06-20T16:35:00.006-04:00

You have to say this about the old man: he can still churn those articles out. It doesn't mean those articles are good, but he can churn them out. His latest foray into the blogdom of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's website: Brace yourselves, but Braves should put Chipper on market.

Wow, a controversial subject. Not bad for a start. Let's see where Mr. Bisher goes with this:

OK, now it’s the Braves’ turn. After all those seasons of shoring up their roster with blockbuster trades in mid-season, at the expense of raiding the farm system, consider this: (Are you sitting down?) Tell the world they’re putting Chipper Jones on the open market. Anybody out there in need of a third baseman, or, on the American League side, a designated hitter?

Actually, I'm not sure what "blockbuster" deals he's talking about that came at the expense of "raiding the farm system" at the trading deadline. Let's take a look at the Braves' past deadline deals (deals made in July) that involved a significant amount of prospects (two or three):

July 31, 1991: Traded Matt Turner (AAA Richmond) and a PTBNL (Earl Sanders, AA Greenville) to the Houston Astros for Jim Clancy
July 18, 1993: Traded Melvin Nieves (AAA Richmond), Donnie Elliott (AAA Richmond) and Vince Moore (A+ Durham) to the Padres for Fred McGriff

July 30, 1998: Traded David Cortes (AAA Richmond) and Mike Porzio (A+ Danville) to the Rockies for Greg Colbrunn

July 31, 1999: Traded Micah Bowie (AAA Richmond), Ruben Quevedo (AAA Richmond) and Joey Nation (A+ Myrtle Beach) to the Cubs for Jose Hernandez and Terry Mulholland

July 12, 2000: Traded Bruce Chen (AAA Richmond + MLB Atlanta) and Jimmy Osting (AA Greenville + AAA Richmond) to the Phillies for Andy Ashby

July 31, 2000: Traded Trenidad Hubbard (MLB Braves), Fernando Lunar (MLB Braves + AAA Richmond) and Luis Rivera (AAA Richmond) to Baltimore for Gabe Molina and B. J. Surhoff

July 31, 2005: Traded Roman Colon (MLB, AA and AAA) and Zach Miner (AA Mississippi) to the Tigers for Kyle Farnsworth

July 31, 2007: Traded Elvis Andrus (A+ Myrtle Beach), Matt Harrison (AA Mississippi), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (AA Mississippi and MLB Braves), Beau Jones (A+ Myrtle Beach) and Neftali Feliz (Rookie) to the Rangers for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay.
There are many other trades that the Braves did using their prospects. Some of them may even be considered "raiding the farm system", like obtaining Denny Neagle from the Pirates in August of 1997 for four prospects, including Jason Schmidt. Also, there's Bisher's much-maligned trade in the 2003-04 off-season, where the Braves sent Adam Wainwright and Jason Marquis, along with Ray King, to St. Louis for J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero. However, according to the parameters that I've set, the list above contains the only trades since 1991 where the Braves traded away two or more prospects when dealing in July. Most of them aren't particularly franchise-shattering, so I guess my ultimate point is that Bisher's painting with a broad brush when it comes to deadline deals.

As for there being teams needing third basemen or designated hitters, I'm not quite sure about that. A more accurate question would be: what contending team would need a third baseman or a designated hitter AND be willing to give up two or three top prospects to take on Chipper's below-market, but very high contract?

I can hear all the gulps, and the screeches, and calls for my scalp.

People have called for your scalp for lesser offenses, like implying that the Braves' farm system is dry because there is no immediate help in Lawrenceville (AAA Gwinnett County Braves), and saying that the Braves need to show more patience with Jeff Francoeur because John Smoltz and Tom Glavine were shown that courtesy (or so he says).

First place, forget where you saw this. This is not my choice at all, but considering the direction the Braves have taken the past four years, the lock is running low on sentimentality.

Considering the fact that you wanted to show patience for Francoeur and seemed to support the idea of giving Smoltz and Glavine as much time as they needed to get back into form, I think you were being quite sentimental then. However, I don't blame you for changing your mind.

Sure, Chipper is the face of the Braves. And the voice. He speaks for the team when anyone is looking for an opinion, or reaction to a news event. All of us seek him out, and he responds in his even baritone voice. He never lets you down. So to offer him for trade, hang him out there like a piece of meat for swap. A dreadful thought.

So why spend all those words describing how great Chipper is to the franchise, then say the Braves need to trade him? Get to the point!

But think again.

I'm already thinking of stopping this blog post right now, but I have an obligation to keep going.

He deserves one more chance at a World Series, or postseason play, and he’s not going to get it here.

No, he's not, and he has been vocal about how he has been frustrated with the Braves' inconsistent offense. He's really echoing most of the Braves' fans. It's more of a "I want this team better" frustration, rather than a "I want to get out of here!" frustration.

Also, I don't deny that it would be good feelings-wise to see Chipper get a shot at a World Series with Contending Team X. However, that's not what matters to me as a Braves fan. What I want, if Chipper Jones is traded, is to get two, maybe even three, prospects that can help the Atlanta Braves immediately or as soon as 2010 without compromising or blocking any of our young prospects (Tommy Hanson, Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, etc.).

He just signed a fresh contract, so that much is done, but the front office was rather slow getting around to that. This front office hasn’t been distinguishing itself, anyway.

A little slow in getting around to a contract extension? I'm sure there are a lot of things to do when it comes to that, and you know it. I could care less if the front office is "rather slow" when it comes to those things. The only thing that matters is getting it done, regardless of when it happens.

From that last sentence, I sense the start of one of one of Bisher's patented diatribes. Get your armor on and shields ready. You might need them.

It has been making trades for Gary Sheffield, Mike Hampton, J. D. Drew and Mark Teixeira and shredding the farm system in the process.

It's hard to believe that this one sentence has so many errors in it, but when looked it in context with the last paragraph's sentence, it does.

The Braves have a different front office than the one who made those trades. John Schuerholz made the decisions to import those players; Frank Wren had nothing to do with any of them. I consider him as a different "front office", even with Schuerholz as the president of the team.

Now, as for the players mentioned, two of them didn't cost the Braves much in terms of prospects, which is what Bisher has been complaining about in the first place. Gary Sheffield was obtained from the Dodgers for Brian Jordan, a young pitcher named Odalis Perez who was, I believe, out of prospectdom at the time, and a prospect named Andrew Brown. Sheffield gave the Braves two superb seasons before leaving to sign with the Yankees. In turn, the Braves traded away a league-average outfielder in Jordan, an inconsistent and oft-injured starter who turned in just two above-average seasons since the trade (Perez), and a pitcher who is now retired from baseball after playing two years with the Oakland A's (Brown). That's not a deal that fits Bisher's template.

Mike Hampton was obtained for a remarkably cheap price: reliever Tim Spooneybarger and minor league pitcher Ryan Baker (who never reached the majors) and the Marlins and Rockies pick up the tab for Hampton's astronomical salary for a few years. Hampton did his job for the Braves in the 2 1/2 years that he pitched for them. Now, everyone remembers him for the 2 1/2 years that he DIDN'T pitch for Atlanta, AND the Braves were on the hook for his salary. I think that's why his name is mentioned here.

The Teixeira deal was the most destructive of all, literally re-stocking the Texas Rangers’ roster. Check the standings of the American League West.

I beg to differ. The Rangers don't owe the majority of their resurgence in the AL West to Saltalamacchia, Harrison or Andrus. In fact, only Andrus is producing as expected (.265/.328/.381, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 87 OPS+). Harrison (currently on the DL, 10 games, 4-4, 5.43 ERA, 82 ERA+, 1.559 WHIP) and Saltalamacchia (.247/.297/.388, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 79 OPS+) have little to do with it. Quite frankly, Jarrod's just lucky that Taylor Teagarden stinks; otherwise, he'd be out of a job.

I'd have to say that Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Nelson Cruz, Hank Blalock and even Andruw Jones have more to do with the Rangers occupying first place in the AL West for now.

By bartering Chipper, what the Braves might be able to do is re-stock its own roster with fresh talent.

And we only base that on his name. Chipper still has an injury history and that makes me question what kind of value the Braves could get for him. The Braves won't get any quality major league players for him, that's for certain. They could get two, or even three quality prospects for him, as I mentioned before. The problem here is that the Braves would take a major PR hit if they traded the face of their franchise. Considering the way the FO has been perceived in treating John Smoltz and Tom Glavine by people who aren't even Braves fans, a Chipper Jones trade could be catastrophic.

True, Chipper is 37 years old, but so is Raul Ibanez, the fresh personality who has brought so much to the Phillies’ lineup.

I'm not sure I'd call his personality "fresh". For what it's worth, Ibanez is riding an extremely flukish year (an ungodly 20.6% HR/FB rate that's pretty much impossible to maintain). I'd like to see what he can bring when he has more "normal" stats. Congrats to Ibanez for being so productive right now, though.

And Chipper is a young 37, keeps himself young hunting and ranching on his acreage in Texas. He was the leading hitter in the National League last season, so the years haven’t been weighing heavily on him.

Yes, he has been able to keep up, but if I'm a team that wants to trade for Chipper, my first question would be about his durability. I know that he wants to stay healthy and be out there to play, but sometimes, he just can't be. For years, Chipper's goal has been to play in 150 games. He hasn't played in that many games in five seasons (153 games in 2003). The good thing is that Jones is on pace to play in at least 150 games (He has played in 58 of 67 games so far, so he can play in 153 games maximum).

I don’t know what his contract arrangement may be, whether it includes a non-trade agreement or not. I doubt that he would stand in the way, with the right deal, with the right team.

The right deal is what the Braves want, and what is the right team? What contender needs a DH or third baseman? At this point, it's all conjecture.

He only has to take a look around at what has happened to some of his old Braves pals. John Smoltz, for instance, tired of hemming and hawing and went his own way.

Smoltz went to the Red Sox, who gave him the chance to earn more money. I still contend that the Braves are better off not taking the chance on him.

And Tom Glavine’s rejection has been heavy on the minds of Braves fans lately.

But Tommy Hanson, with each start, has made the pain of Tom Glavine being "mistreated" go away. It's a wonderful feeling to see Hanson do what we think he's capable of doing. He almost makes me say, "Who's Tom Glavine again?"

A deal for Chipper might go a long way toward re-stocking the roster, but it would have to be more productive than a lot of swaps that have been made lately.

A deal for Chipper would only ease Bisher's mind about the "barren" minor league system. The fact remains that even if the Braves obtain quality prospects, the possibility remains that they won't be able to contend.

And what about those recent swaps?

Except for Jair Jurrjens, and to a degree, Omar Infante, those transactions have not been richly productive, including such as Royce Ring, Josh Anderson, Mark Kotsay, Will Ohman, Jeff Ridgway and Mike Gonzalez, and a lot of them are history. Not a pennant-building haul, you might say.

............

I've had to stare at this paragraph and discuss it with others, but I think I understand what Bisher's trying to say here. He says these are ill-advised trades because, for the most part, they didn't work out, or these players aren't with the team anymore.

What I find very peculiar is the nature of why some of these players are on the list. It's funny how Josh Anderson is mentioned in this list; in an earlier blog post of his, Bisher thought that Anderson was the top leadoff prospect of the Braves due to his penchant for hitting a .300 average . I mentioned in that post that because Anderson can't walk, his production will disappear if he can't hit .300. That's exactly what happened: as of the time I wrote this post, Anderson has a .254/.288/.325 line with just six walks in 133 PAs.

Mark Kotsay was, naturally, part of what some Braves fans called an ill-advised deal that sent Joey Devine and Jamie Richmond to Oakland for the center fielder with back issues. He provided solid production (.289/.340/.418, 6 HR, 47 RBI, 99 OPS+ in 345 PAs), but it certainly wasn't worth giving up Joey Devine for him, even if Devine has been shelved with an elbow injury this year.

While Royce Ring and Jeff Ridgway were part of the parade of LOOGYs until Eric O'Flaherty came along, I question adding Will Ohman and Mike Gonzalez to this list. Those two players have done their jobs with Atlanta. In fact, Will Ohman was one of the Braves' best left-handed relievers since Mike Remlinger. That distinction, though, wasn't hard to obtain; the Braves have had a parade of lefty relievers since Remlinger left.

Mike Gonzalez, though he had to have Tommy John surgery, has performed as expected as Atlanta's closer. Plus, Brent Lillibridge helped net Javier Vazquez, and the 32-year old pitcher could easily be shopped at the trading deadline.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals, Rangers, Rockies and Rays enjoy the fruits of some of the Braves’ misjudgments.

The Rangers may be enjoying the Braves' misjudgements the most, but the Cardinals may not particularly care for the fact that Wainwright is somewhat injury-prone right now (I'm not denying that he's not a good pitcher; he hasn't been able to stay very healthy).

As for the Rockies, I find something wrong with including them. Jason Marquis, as I type this, is leading the National League in wins (9) and has his highest ERA+ in years (123 in 97 IP) at this point in the season. The problem with including him is that the last time Marquis had an ERA this high was in 2001, when he was a 22-year old with Atlanta (128 ERA+ in 129 1/3 innings pitched; also with the benefit of 12 unearned runs). Thus, Bisher seems to imply that to reap the benefits of Marquis' current breakthough, the Braves would have had to hold on to him for eight seasons. There's no telling what would have happened in his career had he stayed here in Atlanta that long.

Plus, what's with mentioning the Rays?... oh, that's right. Willy Aybar, the super-sub that helped the Rays win the 2008 AL pennant. It's wonderful that Aybar was able to get his head on straight and that he was able to be on a pennant-winning ballclub. It's also clear that the Braves sold low on him. The thing is, I'm not at all worried about that trade. Omar Infante was putting up similar OPS numbers to Aybar before his hand was broken (.349/.389/.430 in 97 PAs, to .268/.375/.411 in 152 PAs). Yes, the only difference is batting average, but you can find a quality backup that plays multiple positions if you look hard enough.

Time to make a move while Chipper is still a major commodity.

Why's this sentence even here, given that this follows:

They can’t close the gap left by all those absentees, so skillfully scouted and carefully nurtured. Not that dealing Chipper Jones can come close to making up for them all, but he could wipe out some of the damage, and in the long run, have a good closing run for himself.

That is only if the mystery prospects pan out. The possibility remains that the Braves can trade for the best prospects in the world, and they may not amount to squat.

And again, Chipper having a good closing run for himself is ultimately only good for Chipper Jones. Yes, we will be happy for him if he wins a World Series with another team, but it will be a fleeting happiness; one minute later after we see Chipper celebrating with the new champions of baseball, we'll turn off the TV and stew over how the Braves need to improve themselves so that they will be the ones celebrating on a cold November night.

If the thought of this offends you, let me remind you that this is the team that traded Henry Aaron and Dale Murphy, and allowed Phil Niekro to take a hike, and Smoltz and Glavine to go adrift.

Hank Aaron was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers by his own request. Dale Murphy was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for pennies on the dollar because he told the Braves he wanted to move on. Letting Phil Niekro walk was a true mistake; Pascual Perez fell apart and Craig McMurtry, Ken Dayley and Zane Smith never panned out. Refer to what I said above about Smoltz and Glavine.

There, I’ve said it. And I’m not sorry.

Well, I'm not sorry for what I've said either, Mr. Bisher, so we're even.

Furman Bisher Strikes Yet Again

2009-05-30T20:48:00.011-04:00

Like screaming at a wall, I'm here once again to dissect one of the senior sports writer's articles. This time, the premise is...

*drumroll*

... that the Braves should show more patience with Jeff Francoeur!

*ba dum pish!*

Sorry, that wasn't supposed to be a joke. Before we delve into Mr. Bisher's article, I'd like to point out Jeff Francoeur's current statistics, after finishing a 1-5 day against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He will be compared with the eight regulars in the Braves' starting lineup, who all lead the team in plate appearances at this point.

203 PA (1st of 8)
.250 AVG (6th of 8)
.271 OBP (8th of 8)
.344 SLG (6th of 8)

It's pretty bad when he's that low in production. Only Kelly Johnson (.247) and Jordan Schafer (.210) are worse in batting average. Schafer (.296) and Garret Anderson (.327) dwarf Francoeur in slugging. That also speaks to how bad the Braves outfield is in general.

Now here are Francoeur's regular stats:

49 G (T1st of 8)
192 AB (1st of 8)
24 R (T2nd of 8)
48 H (T1st of 8)
5 2B (8th of 8)
2 3B (T1st of 8)
3 HR (5th of 8)
23 RBI (3rd of 8)
66 TB (T3rd of 8)
5 BB (8th of 8)
30 SO (2nd of 8)

It seems as if he's one of the better regulars, but that is because Francoeur has played in every game this year. Thus, it's not unusual for him to be leading the team in hits or be one behind the lead in RBIs (Casey Kotchman and Yunel Escobar have 24 RBIs each). With that in mind, let's dive into the world that is Furman Bisher's articles:

These are disheartening days for the Braves. For Jeff Francoeur in particular. For those who came to Turner Field to cheer him, but now who jeer him. When Mark Bowman, of MLB.com, wrote that this might be a pertinent time to consider locating another employer for him, oh, did that set off a firestorm! A flurry of conjecture.

Trade Jeff Francoeur? Homegrown hero? Onetime Sports Illustrated cover boy? Where did it all go?

In the dustbin of Braves history, right beside Brad Komminsk and Andres Thomas.

Let me take you back to those Camelot days, when the Braves’ roster was plump with bright young prospects. There was a pod of them, all seeming to ripen at the same time. A sort of an informal Boy Scout troop of them, who went to each other’s weddings, and celebrated their togetherness like club members.

Yeah, funny how winning makes everything seem all hunky-dory and buddy-buddy and Knights of the Round Table-y.

I'm sure they were friends, but that only goes so far in them helping their team win ballgames. The Baby Braves days these same days were ones where the Braves were grasping at straws in order to remain in the playoff hunt. This was the final year they managed to grab some. Their young guys all produced at the same time and the Braves rode that to the NL East championship. The pennant was well-earned, and they didn't deserve to be kicked out the playoffs the way they were (Darn you, Chris Burke and the home run I never saw on TV when it was happening).

Cue the "But..." paragraph...

Remember their names, for some are long gone.

AGH! Not now!

Oh, well. Who were those guys?

Francoeur, Brian McCann, Macay McBride, Kelly Johnson, Ryan Langerhans, and two Canadians, Pete Orr and Scott Thorman.
So we have:

The Braves' current right fielder
The Braves' All-Star catcher
A former reliever that wasn't even that good in his rookie season.
The Braves' current second baseman.
A former outfielder who started out well in a platoon role in his rookie year, but later fizzled out so badly that he was traded twice in a span of a week.
A hustling infielder who was playing over his head and it worked for a while; he still has a pro career.
A slow-swinging first baseman who couldn't hit anything more than a belt-high fastball and that dashed his dreams of becoming another Adam LaRoche.

Two out of six isn't so bad. Yes, I said two. Moving on...

McBride, traded to the Tigers, is recovering from arm surgery at Toledo.
Unfortunate.

Orr and Langerhans are working on the Nationals’ farm team at Syracuse.

As they should be; they're both not that good.

Thorman has sort of disappeared from the screen.
Sort of?? The guy's done.

And we all know where McCann, Johnson and Francoeur, the subject of the moment, are,
Quite.

and of the three, McCann was the only unrated prospect in his early days on the farm. Remember?
Now, why do I feel like I'm being talked down to? Well, whatever the case, the idea that McCann was "unrated" at the time is nonsense. That very year, in 2005, the Baseball America Handbook has McCann rated as the third-best prospect in the Braves organization, ironically behind Francoeur and Andy Marte.

When the Braves offered both McCann and Francoeur long-range contracts last year, McCann took it and is signed through 2012.
And it is money well invested. McCann is well on his way to being a four-time All-Star in his first four full pro seasons and is pretty much the best catcher in the National League.

Francoeur played the odds, and banked on going to the arbitration
table calling his shots. His timing couldn’t have been worse. What followed is the season of remission.
It serves him right, and the Braves were fortunate that he was aiming for more money. Imagine what would have happened if he signed a contract similar to McCann's; Braves fans might have been calling for Jeff's head sooner because he would be getting multiple millions of dollars to suck.

He heard sounds coming from the stands at Turner Field he had never heard before. Boos and taunts, mild at first,

Poor baby.

but for a local favorite who had reaped nothing but adulation through high school at Parkview and two-and-a-half gaudy seasons with the
Braves?
Gaudy??? If you call two seasons where you have 507 and 477 outs, amounts only leadoff hitters should have, "gaudy", then be my guest.

Where had it all gone?

I told you: in the Braves dustbin of history. See? It's right under my desk. I think I need to make a little more room beside Chief Noc-a-homa right there...

Meanwhile, McCann was harvesting a national following for his bat, and for his backstopping. Most of it. You could steal a base on him, and he was no adagio at blocking low pitches. But he could hit, and so could Ernie Lombardi, whose career wasn’t based on backstopping.

McCann isn't exactly a modern Ernie Lombardi; he has improved in his defensive skills since his rookie year. I daresay he may be improved tenfold since then.

...

Wait a minute, I thought this article was supposed to be about Jeff Francoeur. Why aren't you talking about him?

But in the case of Francoeur, you ask where did it all go?

No, I ask "Where was it all in the first place?"

Home runs, RBIs, and yes, strikeouts, as well?

I don' think Francoeur's strikeouts have disappeared completely. If it wasn't for Jordan Scahfer, Francoeur would be the team leader.

Last season it seemed the rest of the league had caught up with Francoeur’s habits, and what developed was a bottom-line .239 batting average and a mere 11 home runs. He didn’t strike out as often, but that was because his patience ran low and he swung at anything early and often.

Francoeur's strikeout percentage has actually decreased steadily over his career. He's making more contact, it's just that his swing and approach are so bad that most of his contact results in weak outs.

While the Braves spent all manners of time waiting for two dear old relics to return to their days of pitching glory, patience ran low with Francoeur.

This doesn't make any sense. You can't compare two forty-year old pitchers coming back from injuries to a struggling young outfielder who is (assumingly) healthy and playing.

Besides, they weren't waiting for John Smoltz; they let him walk to the Red Sox because they'd give him more money to not pitch. Also, please don't get me started on how much of a mistake it is to let the "dear, old relic" that is Tom Glavine get a chance to end his career on a good note for his own ego.

Was it because he had taken off to Texas in hope that Rudy Jaramillo, the Rangers’ hitting guru, might help him return to glory? It was furtively done, and true, he also recommended Andruw Jones try the same “cure.” It has worked out better for Andruw.
No, it is not because Francoeur went to Jaramillo for help. In fact, I would wager a lot of Braves fans applauded that move. The problem is that Francoeur is such a poor batter that he can't implement Rudy's teachings. As for Andruw, his career was literally down the crapper, so he did everything he could to get it back. It has paid off for him so far.

Francoeur now finds himself the subject of trade speculation. From hometown hero to hometown trade bait, perish the thought. I can’t see it. His market value has reached GM level.
There's another equally attractive option: designate him for assignment and release him. Let some other team take on the headache of trying to fix him. Let some other organization try to find the potential that once oozed out his ears.

Is there not enough patience to help him work his way through it? Whoever thought it could come to this for Jeff Francoeur.

The Braves suffered through one season of very sub-par production and it seems to be continuing two months into this season. Why continue to work with him when it's clear that he's getting nowhere fast?

(In closing, let me apologize for referring to John Smoltz and Tom Glavine as “relics.” But it takes one to know one.)
At least you know what you are, Mr. Bisher. :)

Furman Bisher Strikes Again

2009-05-02T17:34:00.007-04:00

For those of you who don't know, Furman Bisher is the senior waxing poetic journalist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He's 90 years old. While I respect that Mr. Bisher has written much more than I have, and probably ever will, I can still call him out when he's wrong. This is just my way of doing it.

This is an article that Bisher posted on the AJC Blogs Saturday afternoon.

Once upon a time, as fairy tales usually begin, the Braves were a baseball team that was home-bred, carefully incubated in the farm system, and nurtured all the way up to the major league level. There they won championships and pennants and played in the World Series, one of which they won. And they left their names scrolled on the walls of the ball park where they played, and in team and league record books.

I see that we're playing the "generalization game" here. Fine, let's do that.

Many significant Braves players were drafted, brought up through the farm system and contributed to the club's run of 14 straight division titles, five pennants and one wonderful World Series title. We're good here.

Then something began to change after the season of 2005, and the once-flourishing franchise has been groping ever since.

Ah, the cut-off point. The last year the Braves won the NL East title.

Like I said before, many significant Braves players have been drafted, farmed and turned into contributing members of the Atlanta Braves. I think it would be a good idea to list a few:

Tom Glavine
Ron Gant
David Justice
Jeff Blauser
Mark Lemke
Tom Glavine
Steve Avery
Kent Mercker
Mike Stanton
Mark Wohlers
Greg McMichael
Chipper Jones
Javy Lopez
Ryan Klesko
Andruw Jones
Kevin Millwood
Rafael Furcal
Adam LaRoche
Brian McCann
Jeff Francoeur

and others.

Now, the Braves’ “farm” system reaches from Venezuela to Japan. Deals are made, faces change, and only this season have they reached deep into their jeans to play a hand in the free agent rat-race.

This list is a list of other Braves players who had significant contributions to the franchise's run, including two very important players, who are listed first:

John Smoltz
Greg Maddux
Lonnie Smith
Terry Pendleton
Otis Nixon
Sid Bream
Alejandro Pena
Rafael Belliard
Fred McGriff
Marquis Grissom
Denny Neagle
Kenny Lofton
Andres Galarraga
Kerry Ligtenberg
Brian Jordan
Vinny Castilla
Gary Sheffield
Johnny Estrada
J. D. Drew
Kyle Farnsworth

They were all traded for or signed as a free agent. One of the most powerful starting rotations in baseball history, the one of the 1997 Atlanta Braves, was built with the farm (Glavine, Millwood), trades (Smoltz, Neagle) and a free agent signing (Maddux).

A payroll that once was held around the $80-million level, by order of the McScrooge ownership, has now zoomed to about $97 million.

I think he combined "Scrooge" and "McDuck" to get "McScrooge", but how exactly is the Braves ownership a bunch of "McScrooges" if they up the payroll? I guess they could sacrifice some gold coins from their cash vault they regularly dive into for fun.

They even splurged $60 million on Derek Lowe, a 35-year-old they niftily lifted from the Dodgers.

They "niftily" lifted from the Dodgers? Yes, I'm sure it was pretty nifty, but Lowe was Plan B. Plan A was to splurge more on A. J. Burnett, who has been less reliable health-wise than Lowe.

They traded for Javier Vazquez, an $11-million-a-year pitcher

Yes, yes they did, and things have been working out swimmingly for both parties so far.

And then they really hit the high road. They invaded Japan.

How is making a vague World War II backup plan reference hitting the high road?

Kenshin Kawakami is a good-natured 33-year-old pitcher, and I say that without understanding a word he says. When you hire one Japanese player, you get two Japanese. You must have an interpreter, in this case Daichi Takasue, also most accommodating. Any interview is sort of an Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy act. You ask a question, Daiche asks Kenshin, Kenshin replies, Daiche repeats what he said. Kenshin hits well, as pitchers go, and I asked Daiche if he was a good hitter in Japan. Kenshin smiled shyly and in translation, “He wouldn’t want to say. It would look like he’s bragging.”

When I asked him his view on American umpires, he said (so Daiche said), “the plate seems to be narrower over here,” and illustrated with his hands. It does give us a variety we haven’t had in a Braves clubhouse before.

Now that's a very nice tidbit. Kudos for bringing us that, Mr. Bisher.

So far, the Braves have hovered around .500, but I fear they’ve just about found their level. It’s not the pitching; it’s the run-making.

That, I am not disputing.

The best prospect of a leadoff man was traded to Detroit, Josh Anderson, a .300 hitter with base-stealing speed and center field experience in the majors.

Now this, I am disputing. Anderson seems to know how to hit and he does know how to steal bases, but those are his only good points. He can't take a walk and he doesn't have much power at all, despite the fact he led all Braves outfielders in home runs in the second half in 2008 (three). If he goes into a slump, he's not getting on base at all. There's a reason that it only took Oscar Villareal to get him and that the Braves could only get Rudy Darrow for him: he's just not that good.

Jordan Schafer probably would have benefited from at least a half-season in triple-A. He’s not a leadoff type.

I don't really see how Schafer could get that much better in Gwinnett. Besides, a leadoff hitter's job is to get on base and set the table for the next hitters in the lineup. Schafer is leading all rookies in walks (17) and on-base percentage (.407), and that was from the seventh and eighth spots. If he keeps the same approach, he'll be an excellent leadoff hitter. Let's not forget he also has the ability to steal bases.

Josh Anderson is, and he's hitting well in Detroit.
He has a .311 batting average, but he also has three walks in 49 PAs. I repeat: a leadoff hitter's job is to get on base and set the table for the batters to follow. If Anderson isn't hitting, it isn't likely that he's going to get on base. Not to mention that he has been hitting seventh and eighth in the order in Detroit, like Schafer in Atlanta.

There’s a problem at second base right now, but I’m a believer in Kelly Johnson.

As am I. Johnson is a notoriously streaky batter and he's having one of those "bad streaks". Omar Infante is the best option right now and he's certainly handling the job.

They’re suffering the loss of Brian McCann, which nobody has figured into the equation.

I'm not quite sure how "no one" has figured that into an equation because David Ross was signed specifically to back up McCann for a few days at best and to start at worst. If no one figured that into the equation... then I don't know what Bisher is talking about. It could very easily be something I missed.

And Chipper Jones can be handled — just don’t pitch to him.

Got that right.

We saw an illustration while the Cardinals were in town of how a bad deal can draw blood over the years. The Braves didn’t simply trade Adam Wainwright to get J.D. Drew for a year, but they also threw in Jason Marquis, now a $9.8-million starter in Colorado.

They "threw in" Marquis because he wasn't doing particularly well in Atlanta (he had been demoted to the pen in 2003), and he he didn't do particularly well after he was traded. He was up-and-down in St. Louis, finishing as high as 15-7 with a 3.71 ERA (but with a rather high 1.416 WHIP) in 2004 and as low as a 14-16 record with a horrendous 6.02 ERA and 1.523 WHIP im 2007. He at least became an average pitcher with the Cubs (101 and 99 ERA+ those two years) and is starting out well in Colorado. The salary he's making now with the Rockies really doesn't have anything to do with it.

That deal will be haunting this team for years, as will the deal that sent five golden talents to Texas for a season of Mark Teixeira — who, as a Yankee, is currently hitting more than l00 points below Casey Kotchman.

The St. Louis-Atlanta deal will haunt the Braves for years only because of Adam Wainwright. And then, there's that trade again, with Ron Mahay conveniently forgotten. I guess left-handed relievers really are a faceless commodity.

Plus, we all know the reason that Teixeira is hitting 100 points below Kotchman is that he's a habitual slow starter.

Three are on the Rangers roster

Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, for those who don't know. Andrus has cooled off after a hot start and is hitting .254/.290/.390 in 64 PAs with Texas. Matt Harrison was hit hit hard in his first four games this year (1-2, with a 7.89 ERA and 2.077 WHIP). Saltalmacchia is about where he should be, batting .276/.300/.448 with two homers.

and a fourth, pitcher Neftali Feliz, may be the best of them all, Bobby Cox said.

He probably is.

Right now he’s tuning up on the Oklahoma City farm.

However, he's looking pretty mortal right now: 1-1, 4.30 ERA, 14 K, 2.114 WHIP in 14 2/3 innings. That's sure to change, of course, because Feliz is very talented. However, that's one ugly-looking tune-up.

Gone are the rich old farm days that gave us John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, Mercker, Stanton, Wohlers, Lemke, Blauser, Chipper … a bumper crop of farm products. Just pick up the phone and call Richmond. Now, it’s just a matter of calling a cab in Lawrenceville — if there’s any help there to be called for.

Mr. Bisher, with all due respect, you finish way off-base. Just because there's no immediate help in Lawrenceville (the Class AAA Gwinnett County Braves) other than Tommy Hanson doesn't mean the farm system isn't rich anymore. On the contrary, the Braves farm system is very rich in potential. It's just mainly in the low levels, like how the farm system was back in the mid-to-late 1980s.

The Braves regularly mine their farm system for talent and have reaped the benefits lately with Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur (sans 2006 and 2008). Baseball America recognized them as having five Top 100 Prospects:

Tommy Hanson (#4) - AAA Gwinnett
Jason Heyward (#5) - A+ Myrtle Beach
Jordan Schafer (#42) - Atlanta Braves
Gorkys Hernandez (#62) - AA Mississippi
Freddie Freeman (#87) - A+ Myrtle Beach

This isn't counting players like Kris Medlen, who is off to a 3-0, 1.52 ERA, 0.89 WHIP start wtih Gwinnett, and Jeff Locke and Cole Rohrbough at Myrtle Beach. If you look hard enough in farm systems, you can find potential jewels. The Braves have plenty of gold that can shine.

Redbirds Take Two of Three In Atlanta

2009-05-01T15:52:00.006-04:00

ST. LOUIS 3, ATLANTA 2

W - Joel Piniero (4-0)
L - Jair Jurrjens (2-2)
S - Ryan Franklin (6)

THREE STARS

GOLD
P Joel Piniero, St. Louis - 6 2/3 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, W; 0-1, BB, R

SILVER
CF Rick Ankiel, St. Louis - 2-4, GA 1B, 2 RBI

BRONZE
P Jair Jurrjnes, Atlanta - 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, L

ATLANTA 2, ST. LOUIS 1

W - Peter Moylan (1-1)
L - Kyle McClellan (1-1)
S - Mike Gonzalez (3)

GOLD
P Jo-Jo Reyes, Atlanta - 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO

SILVER
LF Matt Diaz, Atlanta - 1-4, GA 1B, RBI

BRONZE
P Kyle Lohse, St. Louis - 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO

ST. LOUIS 5, ATLANTA 3

GOLD
P Adam Wainwright, St. Louis - 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 2 SO; 1-3, R, RBI

SILVER
1B Albert Pujols, St. Louis - 2-4, R, RBI

BRONZE
P Javier Vazquez, Atlanta - 8 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO, L