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Sunday, August 3, 2008
Musings on Family Day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, well, well. The season is proverbially over, but the blog keeps on humming. I see while I was up breathing the air of the NC mountains - cruising, hiking, and not-quite-camping-thanks off the Blue Ridge Parkway - that you guys were commenting a ton about all the comings and goings.
What I want to know is did anybody do actual back flips at the Corky news? Bonus points for sticking the landing.
Seriously, though, I’ve been out of touch. Hardly a cell phone signal and no chance for XM and the only sounds I heard were running streams and the crunch of rocks under my feet. Lovely.
Oh, but baseball? I come back to Turner Field this morning and it’s family day. I’ve got multiples of Glavines to talk to, multiples of Jones, I believe I saw a tiny little Ohman pop his first piece of gum in his mouth - see what happens when Mom can’t come in the clubhouse?
Hard news of the day is that Glavine’s elbow is looking pretty good as he throws a wiffle ball. But hey, you guys need a clean slate. So I tried hard to dig something up.
Well, let’s start with Glavine. He’s set to begin his rehab assignment Monday for Class A Myrtle Beach. If all goes well, it’s on to AA Mississippi to pitch Saturday.
Brian McCann is on track to return tomorrow in San Francisco and it can’t be a moment too soon. For him, that is.
“Yeah I can’t wait to get back out there,” McCann said. “Sitting on the bench for a week is not fun at all. Those days off that I get now, I really don’t want them. I can’t stand sitting on the bench. It’s something that I’ve never really had to do. It’s tough.”
As for the concussion, he seems to be in good shape. And given the amount of respect I have for the Braves medical staff, it sounds like they’ve taken every precaution with him necessary and he should be good to go.
McCann had mentioned there was a test they can do to judge where he is in his healing from the concussion. He explained it a little better today that it’s a comparison test to see how he’s doing compared to when he’s 100 percent.
“You take a test in spring training when you’re feeling good,” he said. “This gives you a gauge on how you feel when you take it. (It’s) reaction time, remembering things, stuff like that.”
He’s taken it the last three days and passed.
In other news, not sure if DOB updated you guys on Matt Diaz last week but he said the setback he suffered in Richmond had to do with a nerve problem just below his left knee, which he injured sliding awkwardly into a base in a game during his rehab assignment in AA Mississippi while wearing a bulky knee brace.
As a result, he was having problems with weakness in his ankle and foot. He finally realized he needed to take a step back in Richmond. The medical staff has isolated the problem, given him five days off and have let him resume activities the last couple of days.
Oh and while they were at it, the MRI they did to check his setback showed that his PCL had healed properly.
Diaz said he ran 100 percent and did some sliding Saturday and came away feeling good. He thinks after a couple of days shagging and working out on the road trip, he’ll be ready to head out on another minor league assignment, perhaps when the team heads to Arizona next weekend.
And one last injury tidbit: Bobby Cox said Manny Acosta isn’t close. Sounds like the hamstring is not cooperating and we shouldn’t count on seeing him anytime soon.
Also got a few nuggets from Frank Wren. He was chatting up Brandon Jones’ night last night - two homers on a 2-for-5 night for Richmond. He also said Julio Teheran was throwing in the mid-90s for Danville last night, after missed some time with a sore shoulder. I just double-checked myself and can I be right? He’s 17?? Still. Born January, 1991. Wow.
Frank also said the Braves signed fifth rounder, 6-6 right-hander Jacob Thompson from the University of Virginia, who visited Turner Field a couple of weeks ago. That means they’ve signed their top six guys. The deadline is August 15.
And some numbers to throw out, because I don’t want you going through withdrawl without DOB (who’s on his way to San Francisco today). Braves went 10-15 in July with a .256 batting average and a 5.27 ERA. The team ERA was the highest the Braves pitching staff has put up in a calendar month since July of 2006 (5.31).
That, boys and girls, and a dearth of clutch hits is why these days are now the dog days. Welcome back to it….
And for the diehards (which I suppose, is all of you!), the lineup: 1. Blanco LF, 2. Escobar SS, 3. Kotsay CF, 4. Kotchman 1B, 5. Infante 3B, 6. Johnson 2B, 7. Francoeur RF, 8. Sammons c, 9. Campillo P.
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