Braves avoid sweep move onto Cincinnati

The Braves avoided a sweep by the Brewers with their 8-1 bashing on Thursday. Mark Teixeira has finally gotten going now that it's almost June (about his normal time). He drove in four runs including a homerun, his sixth of the season while Kelly Johnson and Jorge Campillo (yeah, the pitcher) drove in the other four runs. Campillo is turning into a real stop gap while the Braves try to mash up a rotation with John Smoltz headed to the pen and Mike Hampton on what is becoming quite a long vacation. In three games, Jorge has posted two wins and a 0.99 ERA. How long he can continue this run, I'm not sure, but just like Chipper's gawdy .420 batting average, I'm all for it! The game also marked the return of reliever Rafael Soriano, who pitched a scoreless inning in his first appearance since being activated from the DL.

The Braves will move onto Cincinnati to take on the Reds this weekend. Tom Glavine, Jair Jurrjens and Tim Hudson will all take the mound against a streaking Reds team. Although they broke their 9 game home win streak last night to the Pirates, the Reds will be tough especially for the 2008 Braves whose away record is almost as horrible as their home record is amazing.

In other news, Matt Diaz will be out for quite some time after an MRI revealed a partial tear in the posterior cruciate ligament. He is expected to miss at least 4-6 weeks...While outfielder Mark Kotsay will avoid a trip to the DL with his sore back. The outfielder shagged fly balls on Wednesday but was not healthy enough to enter the lineup...And finally, click here for a great article on Chipper Jones in USA Today.

It's been fun blogging with you,
Kate

Matty to the DL, Smoltzie has the flu and Chipper's leading the All-Star ballot

Yup, that about sums up all the news from the last few days. Oh yeah, and Bobby Cox signed a one year extension, so we don't have to deal with that drama for the rest of the season. As for Matt Diaz, he'll be out for at least 15 days after he flew into the outfield fence and hurt his knee. Mark Kotsay may also be heading that way after missing a couple days with a sore back, but Rafael Soriano's coming back so that's exciting. And Smoltz could be close to a return as well.

What's not exciting is the Braves record on the road. I made mention to it last week, but with the guys playing in Milwuakee and Cincinnati this week, we'll really get to see if the guys can pull it together. (I've decided, I'm not including last night's 3-2 loss to the Brewers, being a one run game and all and our horrible record during those types of games.) We've proven that that there is no way that we can win every game at home or for that matter lose every game on the road, but if we hope to contend for a playoff spot, we'll have to improve our road record.

Separated at Birth:


All-Star Update: Chipper Jones is leading all third baseman in the NL vote. His closest rival is the Mets David Wright who is currently about 100,000 votes behind! Brian McCann is second behind Geovany Soto, but I'd expect him to be named as a back up if he doesn't make the starting squad, he's had a really great first half so far. Jeff Francoeur is the only other player listed, he ranks 14th in the outfielders category. So we have to start votings (you can vote up to 25 times) to get the rest of our guys in the starting line-up. Click here to vote away!

Braves continue their series against the Brewers tonight at 8:05 PM/est. It will Jo-Jo Reyes going up against Jeff Suppan.

It's been fun blogging with you,
Kate

Braves 11, Mets 4

If only the Braves could play every game at home. A year ago, Turner Field didn't have quite the same effect (even though they were 44-37) and now it's a total love fest going 19-5 in games played at the The Ted (tied for most wins at home in the Majors) and just 6-16 in games played on the road (That mark is the worst in the Majors). They are now tied for second in the NL East with the Phillies and stand just 1.5 games out of first. Then again, who knows what will happen next week when they travel to Milwaukee and Cincinnati. But I’m getting ahead of myself, back to last night.



The night off did Jeff Francoeur very well as he came a double away from the cycle and managed to knock in four RBIs while Mark Teixeira had his way with the Mets driving in three runs in the Braves 11-4 win. However Wednesday really belonged to Jair Jurrjens who allowed just two runs (one earned) in seven innings to bring his season win total to five. Jurrjens could prove to be a key piece not just in this year’s rotation, but in the years to come, especially when Tom Glavine and John Smoltz retire and Mike Hampton moves on.

The Braves will send Tim Hudson to the mound to take on Johan Santana in the final game of this four game series. Sweep anyone?

News & Notes: A 25 year old Braves fan fell to his death following Wednesday night’s win…Bobby Cox says Smoltzie could be only two weeks away from returning to the team...Jimmy Carter made an appearance at last night's game.
(Photo: John Bazemore/AP)



It's been fun blogging with you,
Kate

2 Games, 2 Wins, 2 Easy?

The Braves swept their day night doubleheader against the Mets on Tuesday but there was bigger noise coming out of Atlanta, most notably the absence of Jeff Francoeur in right field for the start of game two ending his consecutive starting games streak at 370. But the Braves were certainly not hurting with him out of the lineup, easily beating the Mets 6-2. (They won the first game 6-1.)

A scary collision between Yunel Escobar and Ryan Church ended the second game and sent Church to the hospital with his second concussion of the year. Escobar had to be helped off the field by his teammates and was noticeably limping around the clubhouse after the game. He is not expected to hit the DL but may miss Wednesday’s game. The incident happened in the ninth inning when a charging Church attempted to break up a game ending double play. He was hit in the head by Escobar’s knee and smacked into the infield dirt. Along with the concussion, Church’s head was marked by some blood or as I like to call it a battle wound. The move made some Braves players upset but I just call it part of the game. It’s not like this is spring training and he’s Shelly Duncan, this is the regular season. And the Mets need a win…BADLY. He was trying to keep his team in the game and ended up injuring himself in the process. Escobar should be fine, let’s just use that rage to kick their asses tonight.

It’s been fun blogging with you,
Kate

Double Header

Admittedly, I hit a bit of wall. Between my actual job, my other blog, working on a bridal shower for my future sister in law and life itself, I have been failing to update this blog in the way that I invisioned. Sorry. I can't say that I'll be back posting once or twice a day (the wedding is only 6 weeks away and I see loads of things just popping up for that), but I will try my best to update the blog about three times a week with news, views and scores. So here goes nothing:

The Braves will be engaging in a doubleheader today at Turner Field. The 1 PM/est being a make up from the April 4th (my birthday) rainout game and the 7 PM/est game being the originally scheduled meeting. The early game marks Tom Glavine's first against his old team and as a postponed bday wish, I hope he gets the win! The Braves have been absolute money at home this year and hope to continue that against their NL East rivals. Also it would be nice if Mark Teixeira started to come around, it's May, and frankly I never want to feel like the Pirates have a better first baseman. (No diss to Adam, because he played well while in a Braves uni but come on!)

Here's the pitching match-ups:
Game 1 @ 1:05 PM/est
Mets: John Maine (5-2)
Braves: Tom Glavine (1-1)

Game 2 @ 7:10 PM/est
Mets: Claudio Vargas (0-1)
Braves: Jorge Campillo (0-0)

In other news, John Smoltz's return could come later than expected, Chipper's still batting over .400 and I can't believe I missed this.

It's been fun blogging with you,
Kate

Braves 8, Phillies 6

It's been a long while since I've done this but since last night's game was quite exciting and on national TV I decided to get back into it.

Recap: The night belonged to the Braves bats which got off to a hot start and continued to pound Brett Meyers into the fifth inning when he was mercifully pulled. Yunel Escobar got the ball rolling with a lead-off homer followed by Chipper's solo shot and one by Kelly Johnson. But as the Braves offense began to cool off, the Phillies started warming up knocking in four runs in the sixth and giving Blaine Boyer quite a scare in the ninth inning. The Braves were able to hold on to give Tom Glavine his first win of 2008 (first with the Braves since 2002) and Boyer his first career save.
WP: Tom Glavine (1-1) LP: Brett Meyers (2-4) S: Blaine Boyer (1)

Next Game: Thursday @ Philadelphia @ 7:15 PM/est on SPSO

News & Notes: John Smoltz told reporter Erin Andrews during Wednesday's telecast that he was feeling good and that he could be back in 10-12 games...Wednesday's game saw the return of Mark Teixeira to the line-up. He had been out since leaving Monday's game against the Pirates early due to back spasms...Chipper Jones has been on fire all week long and Sports Illustrated has taken notice. They'll reportedly run a featured story on the 1999 MVP in two weeks.

It's been fun blogging with you,
Kate

Andruw Jones' Weigh Gains Attention

Even though Andruw Jones is long gone and spending his time in the sun and fun of Los Angeles I can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. He remains part of my baseball inner circle. You know the one that you can totally trash but your friend the Yankee fan cannot. Like when I say something about Derek Jeter’s error my friend Niki gives me that look like, um…that’s Jeets you’re talking about. But she can totally talk about how he should not have thrown the ball into the first row of seats.

That’s Andruw Jones for me (and well the rest of the Braves organization and few select outsiders.) When my brother sent me this link to a Fannation post, I got a little upset. It was an excerpt from an LA Times article that basically said, Jones is fat, he’s not performing and he understands why people are upset but he just doesn't care. (Also the Tubby Jones title got me a little angry. No one calls Andruw tubby, overweight, yes, plus sized ok, but tubby, No!) Anyway, I then turned on Rome is Burning last night to watch him lambast Jones for strolling into training camp overweight and probably overpaid. But I think Jim forgot about last year, when Jones strolled into Braves training camp about 30 pounds lighter. It didn’t really do much for his stats in 2007, so what was the benefit of playing trim?

For me, I think it’s all mental. 2007 he was thinking about that big fat 10 year, $200 million contract he was getting at the end of the year and thought he had to pad his stats to make that happen. And in 2008, he’s thinking about redeeming his performance in 2007 while justifying the 2 year, $36 million deal he got from the Dodgers. Not to mention adjusting to new surroundings, fans, coaches, etc... If he could just stop trying so darn hard and just let everything go, I think he could get it back together, but I know that’s a lot harder than it sounds. I honestly don’t think he’s all of a sudden forgotten how to play baseball in a year and a half. Frankly in 2006 he had 41 homeruns and 129 RBIs compared to 2007 when he only had 26 dingers and 94 RBIs. But the real drop was in average, although let’s be honest, he’ll always be a free swinger. This year, he has barely any power numbers (1 hr, 5 RBI) and he’s not hitting for average.

The fact remains, he’s only 31, he should be in his prime, but he’s starting to trail off to the point where he can barely be considered a proper bench player. So for his sake, I hope he starts knocking a few out of the park and really show those LA fans what he’s made of. All he needs is a boost of confidence and maybe to play a few games against Barry Zito. Well maybe they can balance each other out.
(Photo:Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

It's been fun blogging with you,
Kate