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Monday, March 31, 2008
Back from D.C. … is it opening day?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now that the Braves have done a whirlwind trip to D.C., helped open a new park and provided almost no offensive support for Tim Hudson (sound familiar?), time to open the season for real tonight against the Pirates at Turner Field.
What’s that? That game at Nationals Park counted? Oh, nevermind.
Why does tonight feel more like a season opener than Monday, even though that was nationally televised and had a president throwing out the ceremonial first pitch? Why, of course: Because tonight’s a home game, the start of a series, and yes, because Tom Glavine is making his much-anticipated first start back with the Braves.
You gonna cheer or jeer? I’m guessing the vast majority here tonight cheers. And I mean the vast, vast majority. But we’ll see.
But seriously, upon further review I’m going to have to revise my ballpark rankings, at least in one respect. This is important. Please pay attention (OK, it’s not really that important).
After I took another look at the bland exterior of Nationals Park as I was leaving last night, and then compared that to Turner Field when I drove by it on the way back home from the airport late this morning, I gotta say it’s no contest.
Say what you will about the kiddie carnival-like attractions at Turner Field — not what I look for in a ballpark, but I understand how those with little kids might love it — but there’s no denying the place looks like a ballpark, with the brick exterior and the exposed steel upper deck and all.
And though I like the interior of Nationals Park, gotta put it behind Turner Field and the new parks in Philly and St. Louis in terms of overall evaluation, because of the points the D.C. park loses for having an exterior that looks more like the Georgia World Congress Center than a ballpark.
OK, getting to the important stuff. Peter Moylan gave up a walkoff homer to Ryan Zimmerman last night, in case you were out and missed the ajc.com postgame update. Threw him a poorly located sinker that started up and away and ended up squarely over the middle of the plate, about belt-high. He did what a hitter such as Zimmerman is usually going to do with a pitch like that. Crushed it.
So what does this mean for Peter Moylan> He had a sore elbow early in spring training, then pitched well for most of three weeks, then had a rough outing in the last game at Florida when he pitched the first inning and gave up three runs against the Mets. So what does Sunday’s outing mean?
Well, probably nothing other than he made a bad pitch in his first outing. It’s not the first time, you might recall.
Last year in his first outing after being called up from Triple-A, Moylan gave up three runs, three hits and one walk while recording just one out in an April 15 game against Florida. He had slept little if any the night before, after scrambling to catch a flight from some Triple-A outpost.
Anyway, immediately after that rough outing, Moylan reeled off a torrid five-week stretch in which he posted a 0.43 ERA and .125 opponents’ average, allowing eight hits and one run in 21 innings over his next 14 appearances.
In fact, after that debut last season, and Moylan posted a stunning 1.51 ERA and .201 opponents’ average over his remaining 79 appearances and 89-2/3 innings.
Hoss’ homer in opener: Certainly there wasn’t a whole lot to recommend of the team’s five-hit offensive “performance” against Nationals starter Odalis Perez and four relievers including Ray “I Will Have a Job As Long as Baseball is Played” King.
But Chipper Jones hit a home run off a left-hander (Perez), and that’s potentially very good news for him and the Braves. Because if Hoss gets his right-handed swing on a par with his left, it could mean big things.
He led the NL with a 1.029 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) last season, but Chipper’s 1.171 OPS vs. righties dwarfed his .803 OPS vs. lefties.
He hit .274 with seven homers and a .458 slugging percentage in 201 at-bats vs. lefties, compared to .378 with 22 homers and an astounding .699 slugging percentage in 312 at-bats vs. righties.
But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, in some of Jones’ best seasons he actually hit as good or better against lefties than against righties.
As recently as 2006, he hit .293 with six homers and a .576 slugging percentage in 92 at-bats vs. lefties, and .332 with 20 homers and a .602 slugging percentage in 319 at-bats vs. righties. Not that dramatic a difference.
In his career-worst .248 season in 2004, he hit 30 points higher (.268) against lefties than against righties, and had a slugging percentage that was 105 points higher against lefties.
In his .305-27-106 season in 2003, he hit .306 against lefties and .304 against righties, but Chipper had only two homers and a .380 slugging percentage in 121 at-bats vs lefties, compared to 25 homers and a .555 slugging percentage in 434 at-bats against righties.
His power splits were fairly even in 2002 and 2001 (though he hit .376 vs. lefties and .320 vs. righties in ’01), but go back to 2000 and things really get interesting.
Do you folks remember what he did in 2000, the year after he won the MVP? Jones turned in a .311-36-111 season that included basically a demolition of lefties.
He hit a blistering .415 against left-handers, with 12 homers in 130 at-bats, along with a .480 OBP and .777 slugging percentage. Against righties that year, he hit .281 with 24 homers, a .382 OBP and .506 slugging percentage.
And in his MVP season (.319-45-110) in 1999, Chipper also fared better against lefties than righties. That year he hit .352 with 15 homers, a .450 OBP and .739 slugging percentage in 142 at-bats against lefties, while against righties he hit .308 with 30 homers, a .438 OBP and .598 slugging percentage.
So you see, that’s my very long-winded way of saying, if Chipper starts hitting lefties as well or better that righties, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of overall numbers he produces.
I just find it fascinating that a guy’s lefty-righty numbers can fluctuate so much from year to year, or at least every few years.
OK, gotta get to the park now. By the way, I’m listening to the new Van Morrison that comes out this week or next. Good tuneage. Someone let me know when you hear the new Black Keys CD produced by Danger Mouse. That’s one I’ve gotta get soon as it’s out (tomorrow?).
“DESOLATION ROW” by Bob Dylan
They’re selling postcards of the hanging
They’re painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They’ve got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they’re restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row
Cinderella, she seems so easy
“It takes one to know one,” she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning
“You Belong to Me I Believe”
And someone says,” You’re in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave”
And the only sound that’s left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row
Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortunetelling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he’s dressing
He’s getting ready for the show
He’s going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row
Now Ophelia, she’s ‘neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession’s her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah’s great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
Now you would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They’re trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She’s in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
“Have Mercy on His Soul”
They all play on penny whistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row
Across the street they’ve nailed the curtains
They’re getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
A perfect image of a priest
They’re spoonfeeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they’ll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words
And the Phantom’s shouting to skinny girls
“Get Outa Here If You Don’t Know
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row”
Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row
Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody’s shouting
“Which Side Are You On?”
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row
Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke)
When you asked how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they’re quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can’t read too good
Don’t send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row
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