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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
LaRoche: Braves, fans were spoiled
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Braves will hold their FanFest Saturday at Turner Field, and Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur and 15 other players are scheduled to attend and sign autographs.
Not on the list, of course, is Adam LaRoche.
After being traded to Pittsburgh last month, he was the star of the recent Pirates FanFest, and told me this week he was overwhelmed by enthusiasm from followers of a team that’s been a perennial cellar dweller for 14 seasons.
He also said this about Atlanta fans: “They got spoiled, and they’ve got to know that. Somebody’s got to have told them by now. They were spoiled, and we were spoiled as players.”
LaRoche senses a very different vibe in Pittsburgh than he left in Atlanta, both among his new teammates and fans. Some of that’s good, some he’s not so sure about.
“It was pretty crazy; those fans were so into it,” he said of the Pirates’ FanFest. “I got to spend a little more time with the GM and the coaches, find out the direction they’re going. It’s going to be fun. It’s not going to be easy. It’s a real young team, definitely going to be a challenge. Their goal right now is about change, almost like their goal is to try to be a .500 team, then try get to playoffs later. They don’t know whether it takes three years or five years.
“In my opinion, they need to get the .500 thing out of their heads and go for the playoffs.”
Spoken like a player who was drafted and developed by the Braves, a team that made 14 consecutive playoff appearances before watching the postseason from home following their disappointing 2006 season.
LaRoche is going from a team that had swagger and walked on the field expecting to win, to a young team trying to develop a winning attitude.
“It really is lot different, good and bad,” LaRoche said. “They want to win, but I think nobody’s real sure how to do it. They’re looking for a couple of guys to come in and show them. That’s going to be the fun part.”
LaRoche knew his name had been mentioned in trade rumors in November and December, but two weeks into the new year he thought the discussions were over. He thought he was safe and would be back with the Braves.
Then John Schuerholz called Jan. 17 and told him he’d been traded to Pittsburgh for left-handed closer Mike Gonzalez. “It shocked me a little bit, because I thought [the trade rumors] had died out,” he said.
He was widely popular with his teammates, and LaRoche said leaving them and manager Bobby Cox was the hardest part.
“Those are basically my brothers,” LaRoche said. “Bobby tried calling me three or four times, and I finally got in touch with him a couple days ago. He said what you’d expect_ ‘It was a great three years, sorry we had to do it, loved you here.’ That was neat to hear.
“I got to tell him how lucky I was to play for him, what an honor it was to play my first three years with him and the guys I got to play for in the organization, learning how to win from them.
“I’m looking at it like I was lucky to get to play there. I don’t know if anybody’s ever left that’s not missed [Cox]. I like [Pirates manager Jim] Tracy; there’s lot of similarities. Tracy talks a little more. They’re both pretty laid back _ just hustle and be on time, sounds like those are the only two rules for both of them.”
LaRoche said he’ll be pulling for his replacement, Scott Thorman, and believes the rookie will do fine. But he added that it might take some time for Thorman to get comfortable and produce consistently.
“As a guy, he’s awesome,” LaRoche said. “He’s going to fit right in, where he’s pulling for guys and everybody’s liking him. I really like him. It’s going to be up to him in between the lines. It’s hard for anybody to say what’ll happen right away at the big league level.
“He’s had some at-bats, but it’s a different comfort level when you’re going to be playing a lot, when you know you’re going to be out there getting your at-bats every day.”
LaRoche was always refreshingly candid, not one to use the standard clichés and filter all thoughts into safe soundbites that said nothing. Now that he’s gone, he had a couple more things to say about his Atlanta experience:
“I can say it now, because now I’m not there. It was disappointing not to get in the playoffs, but those last three weeks we pretty much realized we were not going to be there, and I was saying, ‘Maybe this is what we need, to give us a chance to sit back and realize how lucky we were, and that it’s not going to be easy in the future.’ How that should make us realize we needed do everything we can to put the best team on the field _ not be so conscious of the budget issue all the time, although I know it’s easy to spend somebody else’s money.”
“It’s not necessary to put stars at every position, but try to make moves to field the best team, make the right moves to put together a team….”
“We got absolutely thumped in that division race last year.”
“I hope the [Atlanta fans] get fired up [now] the way I heard they were six or seven years ago, or however long it was, where they truly are pulling for the team and it’s not going to be 50-50 [mix] at the park with some fans just coming out be at a ballgame.”
“That’s hard for 14 years when you get in the playoffs and [with the fans] it’s like, ‘Let’s hurry up and get season over, get back in the playoffs.’ Now I think they realize it’s not that easy, like ‘What they did there was pretty incredible and we need to back them more.’”
“They need to get that fire back like I think teams have that don’t win. And it’s weird _ I’m seeing it in Pittsburgh, and they haven’t even been over .500 in how many years? These fans are going crazy, they’re the underdog, and these are their guys. It’s almost like they’re part of it.”
“Everybody knows the talent there [in Atlanta]. I think the future’s bright, if they can keep ‘em together. If it’s me, I’m locking up some of those guys [to multi-year contracts]. They’re going to be there, they’re going to be good, they’ve got the right attitude, so lock ‘em up.”
Hudson vs. lefties
I wrote a story on Hudson for the Thursday Journal-Constitution, and didn’t have room for a bunch of stats that you guys would probably find interesting. One of them is Hudson’s yield against left-handed hitters over the years.
Specifically, it’s pretty telling to see what lefties hit against the right-hander in the past three seasons, compared to Hudson’s first five seasons in the big leagues.
Here it is, Hudson vs. LEFTIES: batting average-homers-OBP-slugging
2006: .281-17-.353-.493
2005: .285-9-.365-.427
2004: .298-5-.354-.422
2003: .229-9-.286-.317
2002: .283-15-.337-.448
2001: .256-11-.314-.382
2000: .231-17-.301-.405
1999: .234-4-.318-.340
”Houses on the Hill” by Ryan Adams and Caitlin Cary
Well I found a bunch of letters/that were written for the fellow/ who broke your momma’s heart
and the envelope folds/ smelled of her ancient perfume
I’ll bet she didn’t know/how to respond before the blankets of snow
caught him out wandering alone/no place to go
There were stars in the sky/there were houses on the hill/and there were bottles of pills that were easy to buy
to keep her warm from the oncoming storm
well I found them in the northwest corner/ of the attic in a box labeled tinsel and lights
didn’t know what I was I looking for/maybe just a blanket or artifacts
Eisenhower sent him to war/he kept her picture in his pocket that was closest to his heart
and when he hit shore/must have been a target for the gunman
There were stars in the sky/there were bunkers on the hill/and there were caskets to fill where he will lie
shrouded in the red white and blue with the stripes
there were stars in the sky/there were houses on the hill/and there were bottles of pills that were easy to buy
to keep her warm from the oncoming storm
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