AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > July > 24
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Want a prime seat for history?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I have a front-row center seat for history, if it were to happen in this Braves series (and the fact that Barry Bonds went homerless last night in the series opener obviously reduced the chances somewhat).
I’m assigned the absolute middle seat in the front row of the pressbox, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman to my left and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale to my right at the beautiful bayside ballpark, which I rated last winter as my favorite of the 30 major league stadiums.
They’ve got us packed in shoulder to shoulder for what Tim Hudson called “the Barry Bonds Homerfest” yesterday when I asked him about it. (He said that with I perceived to be touch of disdain, though I could be wrong.)
More than 400 media credentials issued for yesterday’s game at AT&T Park, where the Giants usually issue about 100 for a regular-season contest. There were two auxiliary pressboxes set up in the upper decks somewhere, amongst the paying customers (and believe me, these customers pay plenty, with one of the highest average seat prices in baseball, and scalper’s prices that are through the roof for this homestand despite the Giants’ sorry won-lost record).
If he were to hit a homer tonight, you can be there’d bet closer to 500 credentials issued for tomorrow’s game. But let’s just hope San Francisco’s left fielder (I say San Francisco’s left fielder, because surveys indicate most of America would not embrace him as theirs) does not hit one tonight, or if he does, that he doesn’t hit another tomorrow or Thursday.
Not that I don’t want to see history; I love to see history made. I’ve covered four no-hitters, including Al Leiter’s no-no vs. Colorado in Miami, Kevin Brown’s no-hitter vs. these Giants at Candlestick, a nine-walk beautiful mess of a no-hitter by A.J. Burnett for the Marlins at San Diego’s old park, and a perfect-game masterpience by Randy Johnson against the Braves in Atlanta.
History is fun. It’s cool to cover. But for some reason, I just don’t really want to see this history made. Not against the Braves, Hank’s team. Not by Barry, whom I really believe will only hold the record for six or seven years until A-Rod beats it (not that I particularly like A-Rod, since slick phoniness grates on me almost as much as rampant performance-enhancing substance use as indicated by overwhelming circumstantial evidence, but that’s another story).
Not only that, but covering history isn’t as much fun when it’s made at midnight or later on the East Coast, and you’re scrambling just to get the bare essentials and make sure the score is right on extreme deadline.
But again, if this were, say, Ken Griffey Jr. pursuing this record, I’d admittedly probably have a different take on covering this would-be historical series.
As it is, I find myself sitting there thinking, don’t make a mistake, Smoltz (or Soriano, etc). Don’t do it. Let’s make this nice and neat, get out of here without any complications. Then I won’t have to stand in the scrum hoping that Barry will give us a few minutes of his time and won’t have to watch him and the reporters who cover him go through the same tiresome sparring that usually accompanies these increasingly rare interviews with him.
Anyway, maybe I’m jaded. Should I want to witness and cover history, regardless of circumstances? I don’t know. Probably. But I’m just behind honest. This is the one case, and it’s the absolute biggest record in sports, where I don’t have a lot of desire to see it and cover it.
But if it does happen, you better believe I’ll be writing my butt off trying to describe the moment as best as I can before that last deadline.
The road thing: Don’t know if we’ll ever get a viable explanation for the stunning road hitting success for this particular Braves team. Probably just a fluke year, more than anything else.
But right now, 100 games into the season, the Braves still have three of the top five road batting averages in the NL, and four of the top 10. Chipper Jones leads the league with a .356 road average, followed by the Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano (.354), Kelly Johnson (.352), the Cards’ Albert Pujols (.347) and Edgar Renteria (.340). Jeff Francoeur (.321) is 10th.
The Braves lead the NL with a .286 road average (second in the majors to Detroit’s .291), while no other NL team is higher than .275. Strange.
The Braves lead the NL with a .447 road slugging percentage, ahead of the Ryan Howard and the rest of the Philly mashers (.444).
This from an Atlanta team that ranks 10th in the NL in home average (.261) and 11th in home slugging percentage (.403). The Phillies, by the way, are slugging a league-high .476 at that hitters’ haven of a ballpark of theirs.
Reason to believe: If you’re a Braves fan wondering whether your team can stay overtake the Mets and hold off the Phillies, there’s reason to believe, based purely on most-recent performance.
Since June 25, a period that included seven games at Los Angeles and San Diego, the Braves are 15-9 with a .307 batting average, 3.68 ERA and 6.1 runs scored per game.
In that same stretch, the Mets are 14-11 with a .252 average, 4.30 ERA and 4.4 runs per game. And the Phillies are 11-12 with a .312 average (38 homers), 4.94 ERA and 6.5 runs per game.
Co-aces have done their part: While the Braves continue searching for a proven veteran (Livan Hernandez? Jon Garland? Matt Morris — please no) to add to their rotation for the stretch drive, it’s worth noting how the co-aces at the top have done exactly what the Braves hoped they’d do, and worth pondering what might have been if Mike Hampton had done anything close to what the Braves had him targeted for (realistic or not, I’m just saying they had Hampton targeted for a solid season, so you don’t need to tell me that was delusional).
Smoltz and and Hudson each is 10-5, Smoltz in 19 starts and Hudson in 21. That’s a 20-10 record and 3.03 ERA in 40 starts from the co-aces, with 193 strikeouts, 57 walks and 249 hits allowed in 255-2/3 innings.
All other Braves are 17-26 with a 5.31 ERA in 60 starts.
Toss out Buddy Carlyle’s solid 5-2 with a 4.12 ERA in 10 starts, and the others are 12-24 with a 5.59 ERA in 50 starts. Ugh. Yikes. Frightening.
McCann doing it again: He rebounded from an ankle injury that sapped his power in the first half of the 2006 season and had a power surge throughout the second half, and Brian McCann might be following a similar course this year.
McCann had a three-run double in Monday’s 4-2 win and has a .324 average with six doubles, six homers and 22 RBIs in his past 20 games, with a .385 OBP and 1.047 OPS in that span.
This after hitting .250 with five homers, 35 RBIs and a .303 OBP in his previous 63 games, with a .303 OBP and .698 OPS.
OK, gotta go get a late breakfast. Might try to see Hank III tonight, if we get a quick game and Sir Cranium doesn’t go deep.
To take us out, a great one from a mighty San Francisco band.
”Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin” by Sly and the Family Stone
Lookin’ at the devil, grinnin’ at his gun/Fingers start shakin’, I begin to run
Bullets start chasin’, I begin to stop/We begin to wrestle I was on the top
Want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
I wanna thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Stiff all in the collar, fluffy in the face/Chit chat chatter tryin’, Stuffy in the place
Thank you for the party, But I could never stay/Many thangs is on my mind, words in the way
I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Dance to the music/All nite long
Everyday people/Sing a simple song
Mama’s so happy/Mama start to cry
Papa still singin’/You can make it if you try
I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Flamin’ eyes of peoples fear, burnin’ into you/Many men are missin’ much, hatin’ what they do
Youth and truth are makin’ love/Dig it for a starter
Dyin’ young is hard to take/Sellin’ out is harder
I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
