AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 19
Thursday, April 19, 2007
This & That: Beat blog notes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Braves just rallied last night to beat the Cubs to get to 10 wins quicker than any Braves team has since 1997. Let’s wax nostalgic, shall we?
I can either show you my scribbling, of all the 7-6 records, the 9-7s, 8-8s, the Braves have been on the mornings of April 19 in ‘05, or ’03, or ’01. But I’m not sure how to scan my notepad into a blog. So how about some factoids to put in perspective just how long it’s been?
1997 was the Braves’ first year at Turner Field of course. Duh. Moving on. That 1997 team started the year 12-3 and went 19-6 in April, but actually started the season 0-2. They lost to the Astros’ Mike Hampton and Shane Reynolds, both of whom have come through the Braves clubhouse since. Hampton, you might have heard about.
The first win of the season came that third game of the series against the Astros when the Braves beat Darryl Kile. We wish he were still pitching today. Over a 13-game stretch the Braves went 6-0 twice, and in those 12 wins went 5-0 against the Cubs. One of the wins came when Greg Maddux pitched eight innings of a shutout against his former and soon-to-be again team.
Now, of course, Maddux is with the Padres and just pitched against the Cubs two days ago. Some Braves players and coaches — including Maddux’s old backstop Eddie Perez — watched Maddux pitch in Wrigley Field on TV in the cramped visiting clubhouse at RFK Stadium. (Maddux left after five innings of a 3-3 tie. The Padres went on to win 4-3 in 14 innings.)
And on this day in 1997? Tom Glavine woke up a happy man, having just pitched his second complete game shutout at Coors Field. It was a 14-0 pummeling. It was only the fifth shutout in Coors Field history, and Glavine had pitched two of them. And he didn’t have any help from any humidors.
I just went back and read what our Tom Stinson talked about in the Braves clubhouse this morning and it’s priceless.
Maddux’s description of what Glavine had just done:
“That’s a Triple Lindy,” Maddux.
A Triple Lindy?
“Yeah, the dive Rodney Dangerfield does in ‘Back to School,’ where he lands on all three boards,” Maddux said.
Glavine will be facing the Braves Sunday again as a Met, going against John Smoltz for the second time in two weeks.
All I’m saying is, the Braves are off to a great start. And time flies, doesn’t it?
NO-HIT STUFF: The Braves surely took interest in seeing Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter last night for the Chicago White Sox. They just saw him less than three weeks ago in an exhibition game in Turner Field.
He showed what a different style the White Sox have for their pitchers at the end of spring training. Where a Braves pitcher might tune down with maybe a handful of innings his last outing, Buehrle was stretching out. He threw 100 some odd pitches. But he was effective, going 7 innings, allowing only two earned runs (including a Chipper Jones homer). That lowered his spring training ERA to 6.95.
He’s on now, boy. On Wednesday night, he threw 105 pitches and struck out eight while no-hitting the Rangers in two hours and three minutes.
From the Notes Group… This time it was Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News with some great stuff. First on manager Charlie Manuel’s blowout with radio personality Howard Eskin. From Hagen’s point of view, Manuel tried to answer the questions politely about why he didn’t go off on his players (who had gone 0-for-11 with RISP in Tuesday’s 8-1 loss to the Mets which dropped them to 3-9.) But Eskin — a strutting, preening radio personality, as Hagen put it — kept at it. Finally Manuel went off.
The confrontation lasted several exchanges, the first with Manuel saying:
“I can show you I can get angry.”
Eskin: “OK, I’d be happy to.”
Manuel: “I’ll be waiting on you.”
Eskin: “Maybe if you did that to a player.”
There were two more exchanges, once behind closed doors but loud enough to hear, the other in full view.
So we go to Hagen, whose judgment we trust, for some overriding thoughts.
“Bottom line: Manuel came off looking bad and probably shouldn’t have reacted. But Eskin is a no good louse who set out to make himself the story and sadly, succeeded.”…
Oh, and the quote of the day. From Phillies former No. 1 starter Brett Myers, who was just sent to the bullpen (Panic city?). He had this to say after losing to the Astros Friday night to fall to 0-2 with a 9.39 ERA. “I’m pitching like a scared dog. If you pitch like a Chihuahua, you’re going to be eaten by a Rottweiler.”
And last but not least Ryan Howard — he of the 58 homers and MVP award last season — has got to have an MRI on his knee this morning. Not good for the Phillies.
Services »
