Braves

You say you love me

And you’re thinkin’ of me,

But you know you could be wrong.

You say you told me

That you wanna hold me,

But you know you’re not that strong.

I just can’t do what I done before,

I just can’t beg you any more.

I’m gonna let you pass

And I’ll go last.

Then time will tell just who fell

And who’s been left behind,

When you go your way and I go mine.

You say you disturb me

When you go your way and I go mine.

The judge, he holds a grudge,

He’s gonna call on you.

But he’s badly built

And he walks on stilts,

Watch out he don’t fall on you.

You say you’re sorry

When you go your way and I go mine.

Permalink | Comments (446) | Post your comment |

Doh! Braves’ homers lacking

By Carroll Rogers | Monday, August 18, 2008, 03:53 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

We’ve talked aplenty about how much punch has been missing in the outfield this season. Well documented. But I wanted to have a look at some of the home run numbers team wide. I know it ain’t pretty, and I’m right.

Heading into this afternoon’s game against the Giants, the Braves ranked 13th in the National League with 108 homers. That puts them ahead of only the Dodgers (96), Nationals (86), and these Giants (68).

The 23 homers by Braves outfielders is worst in the majors, worse than the Nationals (33), worse than the Andruw Jones and the Dodgers (39), worse than the Royals (26) and Twins (25).

You have Jeff Francoeur way off this year (10 homers vs. 19 last year and 29 in 2006) and you have Gregor Blanco (1 homer) who’s not a home run hitter, getting a ton of starts in center and left field. You lost whatever punch you might have had in left field when Matt Diaz went down.

But wait, that’s not all, there’s more. At other positions?

Brian McCann is pulling his weight with 21 homers, which leads all major league catchers. He’s off the hook. Mark Teixeira and his 20 home runs moved on to Anaheim, and Casey Kotchman has yet to homer in his first 18 games here. Again, not really his game, but it adds to the power void, and it’s something the Braves have to consider as they put together their lineup for next year.

Chipper Jones, having the year he’s had hitting for average, has 19 homers, which puts him on pace for 25, which is in the neighborhood of what he had the two years he played only 109 and 110 games (21 in 2005 and 26 in 2006). It’s not shabby by any stretch, but it’s not him at his best in terms of power either.

But we’ll stop the picking on Chipper there, because with his next home run he’ll tie Eddie Mathews as the only player in baseball history to start his career with 14 consecutive seasons of at least 20 homers.

From there, let’s go down the line:

Escobar: 6 homers. Not showing the pop some thought he might have, a least not at this stage in his career, and not without Edgar Renteria reminding him that he’s got it (hey, that’s just my theory. And no I didn’t say a word about Brayan Pena).

Johnson: 9 homers. He’s well off his pace of last year when he hit 16. He’s hit nine homers in 114 games. He hit nine homers his rookie year in 2005 in 87 games.

Kotsay: 6 homers. At his healthiest with the A’s, he was hitting 15 in a year. It’s not the strength of his game but missed time with the back injury cost him here.

I think I got all the regulars. Greg Norton has four homers, Omar Infante has three homers, and Ruben Gotay two.

So what am I saying? Not only do the Braves not have many big boppers, the hitters they’ve got have not carried even their usual power load, and not just Francoeur, although he’s the most glaring one.

So go ahead and salivate over an Adam Dunn, or Pat Burrell or the free agent power-hitting outfielder of your choice, because the Braves need to add some pop this winter - either by signing or trade - or it could be another long offensive season.

I’m thinking Milton Bradley’s chances are as minimal as my gut instinct first told me when I left him off the list of potential free agents I wrote about over the weekend.

I’m thinking it’s not a good sign for Bradley that when I first mentioned his name today in the dugout, what immediately came to Bobby Cox’s mind was the story earlier this season about Bradley storming up to the press box to have it out with a radio announcer because he didn’t like what he’d said about him.

I’d forgotten about that one.

Anyway, surely this blog means the Braves will hit a bunch of homers this afternoon against Barry Zito. I’m fully prepared for that. Just know that I hit send on this thing before the game started.

OTHER THINGS: Gregor Blanco is out of the lineup today. He gave us a little revelation - once he figured out the proper English word for it (thanks Greg Norton), he has been playing with a bone spur in his right ankle for a couple of months. It’s been pretty sore and he’s toughed it out. Bobby wanted to give him a day to rest anyway but also because the ankle is an issue. I don’t think it’ll stop him from playing the rest of the way, but it might be affecting his speed to some degree.

Bobby was asked about Jo-Jo Reyes going tomorrow and he didn’t sugar coat anything about his desire to see Reyes get things turned around after his 0-5 stretch his last stint up here.

“I like Jo-Jo, but there comes a time when you’ve got to be on charge on the mound,” he said.

I thought some of you would appreciate hearing that.

Reyes will go tomorrow in New York, when DOB picks the team back up. As strange as it’s been to have this team out of contention this early, how weird is it going to be for them to go into New York without a ton on the line?

Spoilers now. And maybe that’s about as good a motivator team-wide as you’re going to find at this point. And the Braves are 7-2 against the Mets this year. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?

Permalink | Comments (324) | Post your comment |

On Smoltz at the mike, and more…

By Carroll Rogers | Sunday, August 17, 2008, 01:15 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It’s Sunday morning and I’m not totally awake yet, but still I have a good bit to say to let me get to it….

First off, the news to bubble up this morning: Jo-Jo Reyes will get the start Tuesday in New York. Not that anybody came out and said it just yet - perhaps they will later today - but when I pointed out that Reyes was scheduled to start today in Richmond, Bobby Cox said “No he isn’t.” and I think we had our answer.

Reyes has made three starts for Richmond since he was sent back down and went 0-0 with a 3.94 ERA. He had a rough stretch before being sent down, going 0-5 with an 8.74 ERA in his last six major league starts with an opponents’ batting average of .354.

But it’s getting late, the Braves don’t have a ton of options with Tom Glavine back on the DL and likely headed for surgery - and he’s a guy with major league experience. You’re not going to send just anybody into Shea Stadium.

SMOLTZ SHOW: And now, for the fun stuff: I talked to John Smoltz this morning and told him about the bloggers’ positive response to his debut as color man and he got a kick out of it. It’s always a little risky to try something new, but I guess Smoltz has shown us time and time again in his career, he’s not afraid to stick his neck out.

He said he approached it like Skip Caray taught him - don’t be afraid to make a mistake and if you do, laugh at yourself, and by all means, keep going.

Skip’s absence was the reason there was a vacant chair next to Joe Simpson last night on Peachtree TV. I’d bet Skip would have gotten a real thrill seeing Smoltz give broadcasting a try. I think there might be one other time the rest of the season Smoltz will broadcast a game with Joe Simpson.

Smoltz said his only real gaffe was when he told his daughters on the air it was time to go to bed. He got a text back from them that it was Saturday.

Oh yeah!

“In a situation like this - for me - I’m just trying to do my best, trying to have fun,” Smoltz said. “I’m not trying to be anything I’m not. It could be awkward and cause you not to do it, but I don’t look at it that way. I’m not ever going to be a full-time guy. I see myself, if the time permits and there are opportunities like that, it’s pretty fun. I’m not going to shut the door on anything, but it’s a little awkward when you want to come back next year (as a player).”

The one rookie thing Smoltz did during the broadcast? (Not that I saw for myself but hey, got from talking to him about it) Never stood up between innings, stretched his legs or took a break.

“I didn’t want to chance anything,” Smoltz said laughing. So how stiff did he feel standing up after a 3 hour 18 minute game?

“Yeah, it was like ‘What happened, who shot my hamstrings?’” he said.

FRANCOEUR OFF THE FIELD: And for a little perspective on the Jeff Francoeur you guys don’t always see….When people tell you he’s an upbeat person, despite the miserable season he’s had, and he’s a great community guy: this is what they’re talking about.

Yesterday before the game we could see from the press box Jeff out of the field with a young man in a wheel chair. He took him out to right field to get a feel for what it must be like to stand in Jeff’s shoes, and shortly thereafter, Francoeur ran alongside him as he took a spin around the bases in his wheelchair.

At first glance, I thought maybe it was a “Make a Wish” foundation thing that Francoeur had agreed to do. But I came to find out this morning, it was all-Jeff.

Francoeur said he’d met Joshua Kane in 2005 during his first roadtrip to Philadelphia. Kane was sitting near the Braves dugout and cheering for Jeff and the Braves. Francoeur saw him every time the team went to Philadelphia from then on. The last time the Braves were up there in late July, he gave Kane his phone number and invited him for an on-the-field visit to Atlanta.

That’s what we saw on Saturday.

“It puts things back in perspective,” said Francoeur, who at 24 is six months younger than Kane. “He’d be dying to hit .228 in the major leagues.”

Francoeur got a kick - and a little scare - out of seeing Kane max out his electric wheelchair to 7 mph to go from first to third.

CASEY AT THE BAT: And in other baseball news, I spoke to Casey Kotchman about his start. It’s been 2 ½ weeks now and it’s clear he’s struggling at the plate.

Heading into Sunday, he was hitting .164 (10-for-61) with three extra-base hits in his first 17 games for the Braves. For the Angels, he’d hit .287 with 24 doubles, 12 homers and 54 RBIs. He’s homered in three of four games before coming in the Mark Teixeira trade.

He’s a pretty soft-spoken guy who’s not going give us a ton of insight, or not yet anyway. But from what I gather he chalked this up to going through a rough stretch, not that he’s put any huge pressure on himself coming to a new team (though you know that’s got to have something to do with it).

“I think I just hit a couple-week period during the season where you’re not real productive,” Kotchman said. “I don’t really think it’s anything more than that. I’m doing the same work, tee work, the drills that I normally do. I haven’t gotten the results you would like to get, especially when you’re changing teams.”

One of the things he’s been working with Terry Pendleton on is trying not to lunge at the ball. I also saw him talking with Chipper Jones around the cage yesterday and Chipper was giving him a few tips. Not a bad move there to tap that resource.

Here’s what TP had to say about Kotchman:

“His stride is really long,” Pendleton said. “And with that long stride, his body moves forward, which causes him to lunge for the ball, which slows his hands down to where pitches he should be really hitting, he’s actually getting on top of and rolling over them because his body is so far out in front of his hands.”

Hey, that was a run-on sentence. Sorry. I could clean it up, or I could hit send on this blog!

By the way, the Braves surpassed two million in attendance Saturday night. It’s the 18th consecutive year they’ve drawn more than two million fans, going back to 1991.

That’s it. That’s all I got. Time to get a plate of food and start this game rolling….

Permalink | Comments (277) | Post your comment |

Is this the end for Glavine?

By David O'Brien | Friday, August 15, 2008, 02:18 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When Tom Glavine left Thursday’s loss to Cubs after giving up seven runs in four innings, he might as well have handed a baton with “Braves pitching” on it to Jair Jurrjens, who will start tonight’s series opener against the Giants.

Because it sure felt like a changing-of-the-guard moment to me. Oh, sure, plenty of signs before this indicated that Glavine was probably done, that he might not have enough left in that arm to finesse his way to more wins to add to career total of 305.

But long-time observers have learned not to completely count out these wily old dudes — Glavine, Smoltz, Maddux — until they’re officially done. And with Glavine, you had to wonder if perhaps he’d come back a little refreshed after nine weeks on the DL, though you also had to know 40-something athletes don’t exactly heal magically, unless they find a fountain of HGH … er, fountain of youth.

And fortunately for those who care about their memories of the great Braves Big Three, there has never, ever been any link, no whispered suspicion, nothing to link them to any of the stuff that probably helped a few other 40-something ballplayers stay at the top of their profession at an age when history, and human physiology, says they should have been fading.

But anyway, back to Glavine. Like many, I thought it was a good idea for the Braves, who didn’t have $15 million in their budget to spend on a pitcher last winter, to instead bring Glavine back to Atlanta for one year and $8 mill.

Say what you will about his age and final few terrible starts with the Mets, but the facts remained: he’d never been on the DL in his career, had pitched 200 innings last season, had won 13 games last season (third consecutive season and 15th time in past 17 seasons that he had at least that many wins), and had made at least 32 starts in every 162-game major league season since 1990.

But now, the evidence suggests that Glavine is near the end of his Hall of Fame career, at least in terms of being a viable, innings-eating starter who gives his team a chance to win most times he gets the ball.

Maybe he’ll reel off a few wins in the last six weeks of the season and feel like coming back. Perhaps he just needed to shake off the rust last night, and maybe his starts before he landed on the DL for the second time this season should be dismissed because he was pitching with a barking elbow.

Still, it’s hard for me to watch a great pitcher struggle like he has recently, and realistically, it’s hard to be positive about his chances of returning to anything even remotely similar to the pitcher he was before.

For his sake, if he wishes to continue pitching and feels like he can do it, I hope I’m wrong. I really do. He’s absolutely as classy and accommodating, not to mention intelligent, as any player I’ve covered. Oh, yeah, extremely intelligent.

Folks, here’s a secret: We sometimes have to clean up a quote a bit, remove an excessive “you know” or two, or edit a long-winded response with elipses (…) to make it readable or make it fit a 20-inch story without bogging everything down.

Not with Glavine. Dude is more articulate than most folks who make their living as public speakers. You take a quote from him and just plop it into your story, word-for-word, usually without need for paraphrasing, since he generally says it better than the writer can.

Alas, intelligence and guile alone aren’t enough when the physical skills fade and the stuff isn’t there anymore. The great Maddux still has tremendous movement on his pitches, and some semblance of the pinpoint control he had at his peak.

What I’ve seen recently from Glavine is a diminished fastball, which makes it hard for him to be effective with any of his other pitches, most of which aren’t as sharp or consistent as they were.

And if the umpires aren’t giving him pitches a few inches off the plate, well, it’s probably going to be a long night. These days, umps don’t give that strike like they used to.

That line between fading-but-effective and fading-and-not can be a fine one, particularly when pitching for a struggling team.

Consider that in 62 starts for the Mets, from the beginning of the 2006 season until Sept. 8, 2007, Glavine went 28-13 with a 3.88 ERA and .268 opponents’ average in 380-1/3 innings, averaging more than six innings per start in that span. His team was 42-20 in those games.

In 17 starts since then, Glavine is 2-6 with a 6.42 ERA and .312 opponents’ average in 81-1/3 innings, averaging just over 4-2/3 innings per start. His teams are 3-14 in that stretch.

Let’s hope Glavine, if he wishes to continue pitching, knows something about his body, knows there’s enough left to do the job well.

Kotsay’s resurgence: If any contending team was on the fence about trying to trade for Mark Kotsay, the center fielder’s 5-for-5 night Thursday, including the rarity of hitting for the cycle - single, double, triple, homer - might well have been the impetus to get a deal done.

Trade interest had been minimal, in terms of teams willing to give up anything that might help the Braves right away or a decent prospect that might help them in the future.

But if the Rays or another team decide that Kotsay might help for the final stretch, that could change quickly. Don’t know if Kotsay has been put on or cleared waivers yet, but if not, and if he were put on waivers and got down to the contenders, Red Sox could put in a claim to block and keep him from falling to Rays.

And if Sox wouldn’t offer anything of value in a trade for him, Braves might pull him back. No sense just giving him away, though some here on the old blog act as though Braves should take anything, absolutely anything, to get him out of town and get, say, Josh Anderson up here and in center field.

I gotta say, I don’t follow the logic. It’s like, OK, the Braves were woeful these past four games, and Kotsay has been one of the few bright spots, really hitting the ball well after struggling in that first week back from the DL.

Kotsay has hit .359 (37-for-103) with 10 extra-base hits, 14 RBI, a .400 OBP and .505 slugging percentage in 27 games since July 8, after going 1-for-20 in his first six games off the DL at the beginning of July.

He hit .317 with 20 extra-base hit and 33 RBI in his last 66 games before going on the DL for the bulging disc in his back.

If you don’t count that six-game stretch after he came off the DL, he’s hit .329 with 30 extra-base hits (seven homers) and 47 RBI in his past 93 games.

And now, a few (or maybe it’s just one or two) of you sound asif you’d rather the Braves dump him for whatever, so they can be even harder to watch the rest of the season. That they lose 12-2 instead of 12-7, regardless of whether there is any serious trade interest in Kotsay or not.

If Frank Wren could have gotten something decent for him in a trade, don’t you think he’d have done it by now? Maybe he will after Kotsay’s performance last night, including his second home run in a week (two of only three homers by Braves outfielders in four weeks, the other by Jeff Francoeur last night).

But in the interim, why would you want to see spray-hitting Josh Anderson, good as he’s been hitting in Richmond, why would you want to see him manning center field instead of Kotsay? I mean, if the Braves can do no better than Anderson for next season in center, they’re not aiming high.

And if they were going to go with Anderson, or Schafer, don’t you think September and all of spring training are enough time to evaluate? What good would it be to have Anderson play 10 more games now? It’s not like he’s not played in the majors. He spent nearly a month with the Astros last September, played plenty, and played all spring with the Braves.

They know what he can do. Fully aware of that. He’s not 21, you know. He’s been around a while. They know what he can do.

On top of all that, Kotsay would like to play for Atlanta again next season if they want him back and he doesn’t get a much better offer closer to his Southern California home. He loves it here. So why dump him for nothing, if there’s a chance you’d want to re-sign him?

Sure, you can bid for him as a free agent whether he finishes the season here or not. But why have him go play somewhere else and have that team realize what a great presence he is in the clubhouse, etc, if you (Braves) have any intention of bringing him back?

Again, if you can get something for him now, something more than just a fring prospect or minor-league body, then I’d certainly understand doing it. But you don’t just give him away. Makes no sense.

It’s bad enough, losing so much down the stretch. But do you really want the Braves to be worse than they are, to have no chance at all most nights for the next weeks weeks because they’ve got only a few proven players in the lineup?

Boyer’s woes: Blaine Boyer leads the majors with 65 relief appearances. But after posting a 3.63 ERA and .228 opponents’ average in 43 appearances through June, Boyer has an 8.35 ERA and .306 opponents’ average in his past 22 appearances, including a 13.50 ERA and .382 OA in his past 11.

It’s not such a great thing when you have a reliever who leads the majors in appearances, but has a 5.00 ERA, which is where Boyer’s has risen to.

Sort of like - though not as bad — as Francoeur batting just .191 with runners in scoring position, worst among Braves regulars, and having 21 more at-bats in those situations (131) than anyone else on the team.

A fitting tune, perhaps: The fine singer-songwriter Chuck Brodsky grew up in Philly — smart man, he now lives in the mountains outside Ashville, N.C. — and said Steve Carlton inspired this song, but that it was not specifically about him. Rather, it’s about any generic, fading pitcher who once was great.

Braves fans can only hope that’s not the case with Glavine, as signs indicate.

”LEFTY” by Chuck Brodsky

Lefty’s in the minors, got his shoulder packed in ice

He’s trying to hang on there against all that good advice

Used to throw that sinker but that sinkerball went south

And then they started calling him for going to his mouth

Lefty holds the record for most strike-outs in a game

They put Lefty on waivers but nobody laid a claim

It’s a Godalmighty shame — he got too old to play the game

Where he made himself a name — and they call him Lefty

Lefty wore the pinstripes for a good number of years _ The bleacher bums all loved him — they were tanked up with their beer

And now when Lefty lays one up there you can kiss that thing goodbye

It’s a Godalmighty shame — he got too old to play the game

Where he made himself a name - and they call him Lefty

Now they’re calling him from Cooperstown — out on the bullpen phone

And they’re calling for a lefty … but Lefty’s not the one

There’s a capital L in Lefty, so say it with respect_

He’s Senor Lefty down in Mexico & he’s Lefty in Quebec

He could smoke you, he could fool you, throw a curve around your neck

He could paint one on the corners, he could fill the upper deck

It’s a Godalmighty shame — he got too old to play the game

Where he made himself a name — and they call him Lefty

Permalink | Comments (542) | Post your comment |

No more dreaming, it’s reality time for Glavine

By Carroll Rogers | Thursday, August 14, 2008, 11:49 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Any dream interpreters out there?

I dreamed last night (yes, it’s safe to read on, don’t worry) that Charlie Morton, skinny-legged rookie pitcher Charlie Morton, has been pitching with prosthetic legs, from the knee down. And the Braves have been hiding it.

Guess those long pants on the baseball uni come in handy.

I knew I had a big story on my hands. And so the dream was spent tracking it down. Though there was one other reporter who was on to it. (Charles Odum, welcome to my dreams too.) So I was a little frantic.

So what’s to take from this? Perhaps we now have a reason for Morton’s inconsistencies, and I need to have a closer look at his legs today? Or I need to get a life and dream about things other than my job?

Who knows? You tell me.

This is how I welcome myself back to the blog after quite a while away? Hm. Weird, I know. Guess you guys have to take me as I am.

So back here in reality, today is Tom Glavine’s day. He’s headed back to the mound for the first time since June 10 and he’ll be testing out that partially torn flexor tendon.

He’s gotten himself back to this point just as he aimed to - he said he wanted to be back by mid-August, and here we are about as mid as you can get - Aug. 14.

But from his comments yesterday, it sounded like he really didn’t know what to expect. He sounded pretty cautious. So I guess we’ll have to see. You hope for his sake - and for the sake of this ridiculous stretch of bad news for Braves starting pitchers - that he’ll continue to work his way back.

If he’s like the Glavine that we’ve come to know over the years, it might be hard to tell. He’s got one of the best poker faces known to man. The guy pitched with a broken rib and kept his usual stone-face expression. Shoot, he pitched for five weeks this season with this elbow pain, and we didn’t know it until after that start he made June 10 at Wrigley.

He doesn’t throw all that hard anymore, so it’s not like hitting 84 on the radar gun will mean a whole lot. If he gets hit around, that would be an indication something, like his location, is off. But mostly, we’ll probably just have to hear from him afterward, unless something really bad happens and he has to leave early.

He’s got a pitch count of 85 pitches. It’d be nice to see him get through all 85.

Whether or not he actually ends up here again next year is yet to be seen. But this is the first step he has to take to prove to himself and to the Braves that he has a shot at it.

I have to say, seeing Glavine in the Braves clubhouse this year, and around the team, he seems to be the happiest I’ve ever seen him. He laughs a lot, hangs out just chatting with the media quite a bit, seems to really enjoy his new younger teammates, like lockermate Brian McCann.

Not that he seemed unhappy before, but there’s a different level of comfort this time around. I guess that’s what comes after you’ve been gone for five years with the Mets, living away from your family much of the time, dealing with New York media, and then get a chance to come back home.

It was obvious he loved playing here and for Bobby before, but it’s just human nature to go away and come back, and appreciate it all the more.

Anyway, tonight will be interesting to see.

CUBBIES: I got a little more insight into the whole Alfonso Soriano episode from the first game yesterday from my cousin Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune, who is on our notes group.

Soriano took a pitch nearly to the head from Francisley Bueno as likely retribution for when he’d stopped to admire what he thought was a homer but turned into a single by watching on a ball off the left field wall.

Phil says Soriano apologized to manager Lou Piniella and his teammates.

“I said to them that’s not going to happen again,” Soriano said.

Piniella did his part to prompt the apology by having a few words with Soriano.

“I told him he’s one of our leaders here and there’s no need for that,” Piniella said. “He agrees and said it won’t happen again. Over.”

And this little nugget in case any of the Cubs fans who invaded Turner Field this series are invading the Braves/MIB blog. After yesterday’s doubleheader sweep, winning 10-2 and 8-0, it was the first time the Cubs have swept a road doubleheader by margins of eight or more runs in both games since 1908. And yes, that’s the last time they won the World Series.

TEX VS. KOTCH: OK and what the heck, maybe it’s apples to oranges but just thought I’d see how Tex was doing vs. Kotchman at this point since the July 29 trade.

Tex: .340 in 13 games (17-for-50) for the Angels with two doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs.

Kotchman: .173 in 14 games (9-for-52) for the Braves with two doubles, one triple and 5 RBIs.

Permalink | Comments (454) | Post your comment |

Play two the long, hard way: Split DH

By David O'Brien | Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 01:16 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As a great Cub Ernie Banks once said, “The Cubs are due in ’62.”

No, wait, that’s not the Ernie Banks quote I was looking for.

“It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame … let’s play two!”

Yeah, that’s it.

It’s not a particularly beautiful day, at least not yet. It’s gray out here at the ‘yard. But it’s not raining, it’s supposed to be sunny later, and, best of all, high in the low 80s.

So, yeah, relatively speaking, it’s a beautiful day. Let’s play two.

Gotta love these split doubleheaders, don’t you? Well, no, you really don’t.

Doubleheaders are great. Split doubleheaders are not great. Not great at all.

But in the modern era, where every revenue stream must be fully exploited, teams are reluctant to give up a gate by having a “conventional” doubleheader with one ticket good for admission to both games.

(By the way, while I’m thinking about it, if you bought a ticket last night and couldn’t comply with the team’s policy of making you either use it for today’s 1 p.m. game or exchange it for another game, in person, by 1 p.m. — what kind of policy is that? — then I’d suggest you come to the ticket office next time you’re here, tell them why you couldn’t exchange it by 1 p.m. today, perhaps because you’re working, and I’m fairly sure you’ll be able to exchange it. Can’t imagine they’d turn you away if you explain your case. In fact, a person who works for the team told me as much.)

Anyway … so when games are rained out these days, they’re usually made up as part of a split doubleheader like this marathon we’re about to experience today, with start times of 1 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., enough time to clear out the stadium between games, but not enough time for your correspondent to go home for a while.

(Although a quick first game might give me time to head over to Six Feet Under for some shrimp and grits … but with Charlie Morton facing Jason Marquis in the opening game, what are the chances we get this one done in under 2 hours, 30 minutes? Not good.)

Anyway, let’s play two. The nightcap is a helluva pitching matchup, with the surging Jorge Campillo going against the filthy stuff of new Cubs right-hander Rich Harden. Anyone who’s seen them pitch a few times knows that both are far better pitchers than their modest won-lost records might indicate.

Harden is only 5-2 in his past 15 starts despite a 2.05 ERA in that stretch of games, with 119 strikeouts and 29 walks in 92-1/3 innings. Yes, 119 and 29 is quite the overwhelming ratio. Dude is outstanding.

His teams (A’s and Cubs) scored two runs or fewer while he was in eight of those 15 starts. Harden was still with Oakland when he dominated the Braves on May 17 for seven innings (four hits, one run, eight strikeouts).

Meanwhile, Campillo is 4-0 in his past six starts, had a 1.26 ERA over five starts before giving up five runs in 6-1/3 innings of his most recent outing at Arizona. He twice pitched seven scoreless innings in that stretch.

Best thing about Campillo for the Braves might be that he’s not even eligible for arbitration for two more seasons after this one. What a find he was, signed for almost nothing (relatively speaking) as a six-year free agent last winter, when any team could have had the Mexican League veteran who turned 30 this month.

But first up today, we’ve got young Charlie Morton, the most unassuming young ace-in-the-making that I’ve ever encountered. Seriously, he has no bravado, no cockiness, and he could stand to develop a bit of that. Self-confidence is about all this kid’s lacking, because the stuff is there.

His last two starts were outstanding, so we’ll see if he can build on that today when he faces a former Brave, Marquis, who was one of Leo Mazzone’s favorites (if Leo’s reading, he’s laughing at that line. Let’s just say he and Marquis didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye at times.)

Oh, and I talked to Tom Glavine about tomorrow’s start and these last six weeks. How he feels and how he pitches the rest of the season could go a long way in determining whether he’ll come back next season, he told me.

He also reiterated that even if his elbow doesn’t hold up and he needs surgery, he wouldn’t rule out a comeback, difficult as that is for some of us to believe.

Anyway, he said he felt good in one of his two minor league rehab starts, but mechanically he didn’t have it in the most recent one. So he’s not quite sure what to expect when he faces the powerful Cubs lineup tomorrow.

By the way, the 305-game winner and former two-time Cy Young Award winner is 2-5 with a 6. 33 ERA in his past 15 starts, dating to Sept. 20. In the 16 starts before that, from June 22, 2007, to Sept. 14, he was 8-1 with a 3.20 ERA.

Good diversions: A couple of people e-mailed me about that John Rocker song, so here it is again, the link to “Cross-Eyed John”. You can check out a couple more tunes by this guy, Keith Morris, a Georgia boy and lifelong Braves fan. And a fine singer-songwriter.

Alright, game’s starting. Let’s do this. Let’s fill this thing up today.

”CHILDISH THINGS” by James McMurtry

Aunt Clara kept her Bible right next to the phone

in case she needed a quote

While she talked to someone

In my memory she smiles

While the blessing is said

And visions of freeze tag dance in my head

She says I’ll grow up big f I eat all my roast

I’ll still believe in heaven

But I won’t believe in ghosts anymore

I’ll put away childish things

Every other weekend at the age of thirteen

But I didn’t play the game anymore

I put away childish things

The wolves howl all night long

They won’t stop and they won’t go home

Beneath my window they run

Probably it’ll be alright

If I keep it all locked up tight

And wait ‘til daylight comes

Now my boy goes like a house on fire

But I still believe in ghosts.

Permalink | Comments (479) | Post your comment |

One more Skip story, then baseball….

By David O'Brien | Tuesday, August 12, 2008, 02:38 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A great man and broadcasting icon is dead, but the stories live on.

Here’s one for the ages from his son Chip, who inherited dad’s sense of humor in the face of, well, in the face of just about anything.

At this morning’s memorial service at Turner Field, Chip Caray told this story to the masses, a story that we, understandably, didn’t hear at the Skip Caray memorial mass yesterday at Church of Christ in Buckhead.

“I’m 16 years old,” Chip said. “It’s 1981. We have a sky blue four-door Volvo stick shift. Dad decides on a Sunday ‘Son, you’re going to learn how to drive a manual transmission.’ Dad knew how to go home but wasn’t afraid to stop with a double, if you know what I mean.

“Loaded up with a double, we drive to a church parking lot. I’m in the driver’s seat. And anybody who’s ever driven with a rookie manual transmission driver knows what happens in first gear. The car is shaking back and forth. My dad braces himself with his hands on the dashboard, but his libation is soon between his legs.

“The infamous words, which live on forever in family lore, as the car is jerking back and worth and we’re laughing, is: ‘Son why are you spilling my drink on my penis?’”

And can’t we all hear Skip saying that, in that distinct, often imitated but never duplicated voice?

Rest in peace, Skip. And shine on, you big, gregarious, crazy diamond.

Playing like a cornerstone: The team might be out of the postseason race, but don’t tell Brian McCann. He keeps saying how the Braves aren’t mathematically eliminated and that they’ve still got to play every game to win, for themselves, for the fans, for the team, etc.

And he’s not just talking, he’s playing like it, shaking off the effects of a concussion and playing as aggressively as ever since returning last week after a one-week absence with that Shane Victorino-induced throbbing noggin’.

In his past 20 games, B-Mac has hit .366 (26-for-71) with five doubles, six homers, 21 RBI, 14 walks, seven strikeouts, a .477 OBP and a .690 slugging percentage. Oh, and lest we forget, three stolen bases in three attempts.

The Braves are 11-9 in those 20 games, and McCann has reached base at least once via a hit or walk in 18 consecutive games.

Cubs hot, Marquis is not: The Braves took three out of four on the road against NL West leader Arizona in the series that ended Sunday, but now they get the far more formidable NL Central-leading Cubs.

The Cubs come in on an 11-3 roll, having hit .305 and averaged more than six runs in that 14-game stretch, while posting a 3.76 ERA. Braves rook Charlie Morton faces another tough test tonight when he goes up against Rich Harden, who was traded from Oakland to the Cubs on July 8.

Harden is 5-2 with a stingy 2.05 ERA in his past 15 starts, with a whopping 119 strikeouts and only 29 walks in 92-1/3 innings. Yikes.

Young Charlie has made huge strides in his last two starts, posting a 1.29 ER and .180 opponents’ average in those games, including two runs allowed in seven innings vs. Milwaukee and seven scoreless innings of five-hit ball at Arizona.

The middle game pitching matchup favors the Braves in a big way: Jorge Campillo, who’s 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA in his past six starts, against Jason Marquis, a former Brave whose work you’re probably familiar with.

Marquis (7-7) hasn’t played a big part in the Cubs’ success this season, particularly of late. He’s 1-4 with a 5.31 ERA in his past seven starts, and he’s give up 13 earned runs and five homers in 18-1/3 innings over his past three

Chipper has to be drooling: He’s 4-for-6 with three homers against Marquis.

By the way, Marquis’ former roommate with the Braves, Mark DeRosa, has had quite a bit to do with the Cubs’ fortunes this season. The versatile veteran is having a solid year after bouncing back from the heart-condtion scare in spring training.

DeRo has hit .276 with 35 extra-base hits (13 homers), 66 RBIs and a .369 OBP this season, and in his past five games he’s 7-for-18 with three doubles, two homers and 11 RBI (including a grand slam.

The Braves were swept in a three-game series at Chicago June 10-12, where Atlanta hit just .220, got outscored 20-9, saw Jair Jurrjens miss a start after slipping and turning his ankle on a staircase while leaving the clubhouse the night before he was to pitch, and, of course, saw Tom Glavine leave the series opener with a sore elbow.

Glavine’s been on the DL ever since then, with what was diagnosed as a partially torn flexor tendon. He’s scheduled to come off the DL to pitch against these same Cubs Thursday, his first game since the injury. That one will be interesting to watch, since Glavine hasn’t decided yet about pitching another season.

He’ll wait to see how he feels, how he pitches, and then whether or not the Braves have any interest in re-signing him if he does want to pitch again.

Vote for Skip: Speaking of Skip Caray, I just got an e-mail about the upcoming Ford C. Frick Award balloting, which begins Sept. 1.

You folks, the fans, will determine three of the 10 names that go on the final ballot for the award, which is presented for excellence in broadcasting. The winner will be announced at the winter meetings Dec. 9 in Las Vegas, and the winner will be honored at next summer’s Hall of Fame induction in Cooperstown.

Caray is in the Braves Hall of Fame. It’s time he’s honored in Cooperstown, don’t you think?

Fan voting begins Sept. 1 online at baseballhall.org and the ballot with the top 10 finalists will be announced on Oct. 6. If you want to see Skip on the ballot, I’d suggest you flood that site with votes.

The winner will be selected by a voting panel of 20 that includes the 15 living Frick Award winners (among them: Ernie Harwell, Harry Kalas, Vin Scully, Milo Hamilton, Bob Uecker and Marty Brennaman), along with five historians and veteran media members, including Bob Costas.

Voters are asked to base selections on the following criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games; and popularity with fans.

I’d say Skip fits that bill.

OK, a tune: Got a CD in the mail by a singer-songwriter guy, Keith Morris, who grew up in Georgia as a big Braves fan, and is now a fixture in the thriving music scene in Charlottesville, Va. I really like the CD, Songs from Candyapolis, and was a bit surprised to hear some familiar names, including a “Mr. Schuerholz,” in the second song, Cross-Eyed John.

The John referred to in the title isn’t Schuerholz, but rather a certain former Braves left-handed reliever, a rather intense fella who ran into a bit of controversy. A Rocker, so to speak. I think you folks would get a kick out of it. Google it, you can find it. It’s a really good CD, beyond the novelty of that tune.

Here’s part of a review of it I found online at CDBaby, which reviews indie music: “The musical moods here run the gamut: from Pentecostal, snake-handling Gospel to dreamlike odes to Appalachian hoe-downs; from quietly whispered prayers to unhinged rave-ups to transporting lullabies. Apropos of the album’s wide-open perspective and emotional honesty, “Candyapolis” also features a rocking and redefining cover of Daniel Johnston’s “Casper The Friendly Ghost.” It’s a siginificant album; one that draws the listener into a world all its own….”

One other baseball-related music note: After I included lyrics to that Chuck Brodsky song, Dock Ellis’ No-No a while back, I was sent a CD of his that includes all baseball tunes, called, appropriately enough, Baseball Ballads. Most of you would absolutely love this compilation, which has the Dock Ellis song and that other tune I mentioned, about Richie Allen, Letter in the Sand. It’s singer-songwriter, folk-rock fare, with Brodsky and his guitar, plus various accompaniment on piano, bass and dobro. Great stuff. Check it out at chuckbrodsky.com Records….

On a non-baseball music note, the new Beck CD is really strong, when I can find time to play it between spinnings of the terrific new one by The Hold Steady, Stay Positive. The recently released Sigur Ros CD is also outstanding.

”WITHIN YOUR REACH” by The Replacements (Paul Westerberg)

I could live without so much

I can die without a clue

Sun keeps risin’ in the west

I keep on wakin’ fully confused

I never seen no mountain

I guess it’s up to me

I can’t live without your touch

Cold without so much

Can die without a dream

Live without your touch

I’ll die within your reach

Reach

Reach

I never seen no mountain

Well, it’s really up to me

I can live without your touch

Die within your reach

Die within your reach

Die within your reach

Die within your reach

Reach

Die within your

Reach

Die within your

Reach

Reach … for the sky

Permalink | Comments (230) | Post your comment |

Where were these Braves all season?

By David O'Brien | Sunday, August 10, 2008, 01:50 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Phoenix — Why the Braves weren’t a better team while they had Mark Teixeira is a mystery that might never be solved. Like Mariah Carey surpassing Elvis Presley to have the second-most No. 1 singles, behind the Beatles.

But we do know one thing: The Braves are far, far better when Chipper Jones is in their lineup than when he’s not. He returned from the DL on Friday, and the Braves scored 11 runs in the next two games, a pair of wins against Arizona.

They’re going for a four-game sweep of the D-backs today. Yes, going for a sweep.

For those keeping score at home, the Braves are 47-44 when he’s played this season, and 8-18 when he hasn’t.

Now, you might think they’d have a similar win-loss disparity when All-Star catcher Brian McCann plays and doesn’t play. You’d be wrong. They are 49-54 when McCann plays, and 6-8 when he doesn’t.

McCann has been their most productive hitter lately, no question about that. But the catcher himself said it’s a different lineup when Jones is in it, that Hoss is a serious difference-maker in many ways.

“It’s huge,” McCann said of getting Jones back in the lineup. “He gets on base at such a high rate that it seems like the [Nos.] 4, 5, and 6 guys are always going to come up with something going on.

“Esky [Yunel Escobar] is swinging the bat great, [Gregor] Blanco’s setting the tone … it’s what we need for the rest of the season to finish on a strong note.”

Jones, who appears to be on his way to his first batting title — he’s hitting .370, 20 points ahead of Albert Pujols entering today’s games — would be a lot happier if the Braves weren’t headed toward their third consecutive October of golf, hunting, and watching other teams play postseason baseball on TV.

But he and McCann and the rest all seem honestly determined to play this thing out as if they’re fighting for the division title, and they’ll tell you there’s still at least a glimmer of hope of getting back in the postseason picture (just telling you what some of they are saying; we know it’s extremely unlikely).

Anyway, a win today against Brandon Webb would give them an improbable four-game sweep of the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, and perhaps drop the D-backs from first place. But what are the chances the Braves beat Webb twice in as many starts in a span of two months?

(Probably about the same as the likelihood of the Braves pasting season-high 10-hit totals on both Webb and Dan Haren, a feat they completed last night with six runs in 5-1/3 innings against Haren, who’d been 7-1 with a 1.93 ERA in his previous 12 starts.)

By the way, just got the lineup. Mac’s in, and so is Francoeur. It reads: 1. Blanco (LF), 2. Escobar (SS), 3. Hoss (3B), 4. McCann (C), 5. Kotchman (1B), 6. Infante (2B), 7. Kotsay (CF), 8. Francoeur (RF), 9. Hampton (LH).

Anyway, you’ve got to think that Jones, beneath his statements downplaying the significance of the batting title, is actually aching to win the thing after coming so close last year. His first batting title, at age 36? It’d be special.

These Braves winning at a far higher rate with Jones in the lineup isn’t anything new.

His recent stint for a pulled hamstring was his first time on the DL since June 2007, though he missed games here and there in the interim for various injuries (including a quad tear that, in retrospect, should’ve put him on the DL, since he struggled playing with it and it didn’t heal until he went on the DL for the pulled hammy in the other leg).

Since returning from that prior DL stint on June 13, 2007, Jones has hit a gaudy .362 (245-for-677) in 183 games with 44 doubles, four triples, 36 homers, 133 RBI, 137 runs, a .453 OBP and .598 slugging percentage (1.051 OPS).

The Braves are 95-88 in those games.

In games he’s missed since June 13, 2007, the Braves are 9-22.

OK, let’s wrap it up. It’s been a draining trip, folks. Only seven games, but it’s felt like a lot longer because of all that’s happened. Skip’s death was a blow to everyone. Every time I think about it, I get a little melancholy. But then I think about something Skip said, some razzing he did, some ball-busting, some politically incorrect, hilarious joke, and it makes me smile.

We’ll finally get to goodbye to him tomorrow afternoon at the memorial service. He’s probably up there saying, get it over with already, you idiots.

”I’M ON FIRE” by Bruce Springsteen

Hey little girl is your daddy home

Did he go away and leave you all alone

I got a bad desire

I’m on fire

Tell me now baby is he good to you

I’m on fire

Sometimes it’s like someone took a knife baby

edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley

through the middle of my soul

At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet

I’m on fire

Permalink | Comments (565) | Post your comment |

“The Cobra” fits as Braves closer

By David O'Brien | Friday, August 8, 2008, 04:28 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Phoenix — Sitting here on the balcony of my Scottsdale hotel, smoking an Arturo Fuente stogie and looking within some numbers of this Braves season.

But first, let’s discuss “The Cobra.”

Yes, I really like that nickname for Mike Gonzalez. Unless Gonzalez says he hates it when I ask him about it, we’ll use it as long as he continues doing that trippy, rocking, swaying, tension-building, batter-mesmerizing, back-and-forth motion on the rubber before his delivery, which most of you surely would agree with me is absolutely cool and essential that he continue.

Cobra or Gonzo, both solid nicknames, but Cobra is more original, and fitting. Dave Parker, another former Pirate, was the original Cobra (hey, I didn’t say it was totally original) and he was The Man, one of my favorites back in the day.

Anyway, Gonzalez. The dude is impressing me, he really is. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot, or, I should say, I didn’t know quite what to expect this season after he returned from his 12-month Tommy John-surgery rehab.

He’s quickly returned to dominant form. Maybe not quite as consistently overpowering as he was in his 24-for-24 saves season with Pittsburgh in 2005, but pretty close, and seemingly getting closer by the day.

He’s converted all five save opportunities this season and has a 2.45 ERA and .203 opponents average in 18 appearances, but those numbers don’t do justice to his recent performance.

Gonzalez gave up three hits and two runs in his second appearance back from the DL on June 22. Since then, he’s posted a 1.65 ERA and .186 opponents’ average in 16 games, allowing 11 hits, three earned runs and just three walks with 19 strikeouts in 16 innings.

At the very least, if he stays healthy he gives the Braves a solid backup closer for 2009. But the way the Soriano thing has gone, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Cobra is penciled in for the full-time role.

Do people realize it’s been more than four years since Gonzalez blew a save? That was in his rookie year, on June 25, 2004, at Cincinnati.

In 174 appearances since then, he’s put up these splendid numbers: 2.15 ERA, .210 opponents’ average, 35-of-35 saves converted, 171-1/3 innings, 131 hits (six homers), 75 walks, 200 strikeouts.

That’s dominance. Rock on, Cobra.

The 2-hole’s been a hole: Here’s one that I came across. Wondering just how much the Braves have missed Edgar Renteria’s work in the 2-hole, I went to see how the Braves have done from that spot this year compared to last.

Wow, what a stunning difference.

In 2008, the Braves led the National League with a .329 average and .393 OBP from 2-hole hitters, a full 20 points higher than the next-best batting average or OBP at the position (Cardinals, .309 and .372). The Braves’ .477 slugging percentage trailed only the Cardinals (.498).

And this season? The Braves are dead last in the NL with a .247 average from the 2-hole position. Yes, they went first-to-worst, at least so far, with an 82-point drop. Their slugging percentage has suffered a huge 139-point drop to .338, a full 25 points lower than the next-lowest in the NL.

And their .317 OBP is 75 points lower and ranks 11th in the league this season.

Like I said, wow. Yikes. That’s a huge dropoff in every way. The Braves had 66 extra-base hits including 16 homers last season from 2-hole hitters, including six homers from Renteria and — this will surprise you — six homers from Matt Diaz, who hit .381 (24-for-63) with a robust .746 slugging percentage in 63 at-bats in the 2-hole last season.

Edgar hit .341 with a .403 OBP in 370 at-bats in the position, and Willie Harris hit .378 with 11 extra-base hits and a .420 OBP in 82 at-bats in the 2-hole. The Braves had five players with more than 60 at-bats in that position last season, the other two being Yunel Escobar (.279 in 68 at-bats) and Kelly Johnson (.244 in 86 at-bats).

If you’re following, you know what I’m getting to: The only two players who didn’t thrive in significant at-bats in the 2-hole last season - Escobar and Johnson - are the two who’ve gotten the bulk of the at-bats in the position this season.

Escobar has done fine in the 2-hole this season, batting .286 with 13 doubles, a triple, three homers and 30 RBI in 238 at-bats, with a .351 OBP and .387 slugging percentage. Not as good as three others did last season in 60 or more at-bats, but at least OK.

Johnson has been, well, fairly brutal when batting second this season: He’s hit .217 (25-for-115) with eight doubles, two homers, eight RBI, a .297 OBP and .339 slugging percentage.

Mark Kotsay has hit .259 with just one extra-base hit in 54 at-bats in the 2-hole, and four other Braves have 25 or fewer at-bats in the role.

OK, power’s down to 44 percent on my laptop battery, and the temperature is climbing out here, so let’s move along quickly. By the way, haven’t heard anything yet on either the Rafael Soriano MRI or Tim Hudson’s surgery today, both of which took place (or in Hudson’s case, may still be taking place) at Dr. James Andrews’ Braves annex in Pensacola, Fla. (actually not a Braves annex, just seems that way these days).

If we don’t get any word before then, we’ll at least know after the clubhouse opens around 3:10 p.m. (6:10 Eastern) or so, though I won’t be able to get back upstairs immediately to write anything, so hopefully the PR man with the Braves will tell us something before we head downstairs from pressbox around 3 p.m. BDT (Broiling Desert Time).

The home-road thing: We knew it would eventually start to even out, and it has. Or has anyone not noticed that the Braves are actually a better road team than a home team lately?

They are 13-13 with a 3.70 ERA in their past 26 road games, and 8-17 with a 5.15 ERA in their past 25 home games. The Braves have averaged just over five runs per game on the road in that stretch, and just 3.6 runs per game during that sad stretch of home games.

OK, a tune. Let’s go out with the Man in Black.

“I STILL MISS SOMEONE” by Johnny Cash

At my door the leaves are falling

A cold wild wind will come

Sweethearts walk by together

And I still miss someone

I go out on a party

‘Cause I still miss someone

Oh, no I never got over those blues eyes

I see them everywhere

I miss those arms that held me

When all the love was there

I wonder if she’s sorry

And I still miss someone

Oh, no I never got over those blues eyes

I see them every where

I miss those arms that held me

When all the love was there

I wonder if she’s sorry

And I still miss someone….

Permalink | Comments (552) | Post your comment |

Weather’s blazing hot, but will Chipper be?

By David O'Brien | Thursday, August 7, 2008, 06:35 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Phoenix — So I left San Francisco this morning wearing my KU hooded sweatshirt in 50-degree weather, landed in Phoenix in 103-degree weather. Gotta love it.

Anyway, they just shut the roof on Chase Hangar … er, Chase Field, and the place should be cooled down a bit by game time. They leave the roof open during the day to save bucks and/or to grow the grass.

Gonna keep this quick because clubhouse is opening, and I didn’t have time to do anything but drive to my hotel, change clothes and drive down here (it’s 30 minutes to the hotel in Scottsdale; you can stay in very nice hotels here for very cheap rates in the summer, about one-fourth what the same roof costs in winter).

So what do the denizens think — is Chipper going to win the batting title, or what? Hey, that would at least be something cool to monitor down the stretch, don’t you think?

He’s supposed to come off the DL tomorrow, and his lead is down to 17 points against the steadily rising Albert Pujols, .369-.352. There’s no question who’s the hotter hitter, even before Chipper went on the DL two weeks ago.

Pujols has hit .359 with eight homers and 33 RBIs in his past 38 games, including 6-for-9 with two homers and six RBIs in his last two games Tuesday and Wednesday against Los Dodgers.

Meanwhile, Hoss, after batting an even .400 with 16 homers and 45 RBI in his first 66 games, has hit .264 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 23 games since June 19, including .231 with two extra-base hits (doubles) in his last 12 games before he went on the DL with the pulled hammy.

Sign of the times: It’s not exactly North Dallas Forty (look it up, youngsters) in the clubhouse these days, and I guess that’s got to be a good thing given all the performance-enhancing drug ugliness that hung over the game in recent years.

Greenies are out, since they’re testing for amphetamines in baseball, have been for a couple years. So it’s coffee or Red Bull for most guys. Yes, Red Bull qualifies as edgy stuff these days.

Mark Kotsay had a bag of them — Red Bulls, that is; better be clear here — for his teammates yesterday, the early day game after a night game at San Fran. Bobby had pitching coach Roger McDowell distribute them “only to the starters,” he said, laughing.

Hey, the return of innocence. (OK, that’s sarcasm).

Still trying to find it: Jeff Francoeur has hit .214 with a .280 OBP in 89 games since April 23. Yes, .214 (74-for-345). With more hit-by-pitches (eight) than homers (six) in that span, and 11 double plays grounded into.

Since June 14, he’s hit .177 (28-for-158) with four doubles, one homer and 11 RBI, with a .251 OBP and .222 slugging percentage.

His .230 average is second-lowest among NL qualifiers, better than only Khalil Greene’s .213 (Andruw doesn’t qualify, or he’d have the distinction in a runaway, with his .164 average).

Still racking ‘em up: There are three major league relievers with 60 appearances this season, and the Braves have two of the. Blaine Boyer leads the majors with 61, and Will Ohman (60) is tied for second with Florida’s Renyel Pinto.

Kelly likes 2B: Just in case anyone’s wondering, Kelly Johnson has no desire whatsoever to move back to the outfield. I asked him yesterday.

Does that mean the Braves wouldn’t do it? No, but I doubt they’d move a guy who says he wants to stay at his current position.

I asked him if he thought his defense has slipped this season, and he said he thought it’s been about the same.

By the way, I asked Bobby Cox about Omar Infante, and he raved about him and said how great he’s been and how versatile, etc.

I asked if he’s too valuable in the utility role to play one position, and Bobby said, if a guy wants to play every day and has earned it, he should play every day.

Sounded to me like they might be considering making him a starter next season. You speculate on what position that might be.

“AVENUES” by Ryan Adams (Whiskeytown)

Know the cops here they can’t run down to your house

Sometimes I’ll sit and wish I were somewhere else

So let’s dim the daylights for us sweethearts that we are

Sometimes I find myself still lying in your arms

All the sweethearts of the world

Avenues run one way

Streets they run the same

Something in the air here

Still keeps me away

Though the cops here they can’t take me to your house

And I am still avenues from any place you are

You know avenues run one way

The streets they run the same

It’s going to take a lot of s—t for me to stay away

Permalink | Comments (412) | Post your comment |

Hampton wins, remains uninjured!

By David O'Brien | Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 03:49 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

San Francisco — Twelve hours after recording his first win in three years, Mike Hampton’s body was still intact, with no apparent strains or pulls or contusions.

As Tim Hudson said last week, miracles happen (just not the one Hudson was hoping for; Hudson will have Tommy John elbow surgery Friday in Pensacola, where Dr. James Andrews has his new clinic).

But in regards to Hampton, the day he and the Braves had waited so long for finally arrived Tuesday, when the lefty looked a lot like his old self in pitching seven strong innings (four hits, two runs, one walk) in 90 pitches.

It’s been a while, folks. Nine days shy of the third anniversary of his last win. But that happens when you go 35 months between starts, as Hampton did while recovering from two elbow surgeries and blah blah blah (look up the injury history if you need to).

Everyone I talked to last night and this morning sounded genuinely pleased and relieved for Hampton. They really do like the guy, who was never anything remotely like a clubhouse cancer or even a problem, which some outside observers have speculated he’d become due to his long and winding recovery road, that included three setbacks this season, each time just before what would have been his first start.

Anyway, the players and coaches who’ve seen him working out these past three years, and talked to him about the heat he’s taken from many including some of us in the media, say Hampton was just unlucky.

“He certainly didn’t try to hurt,” Kelly Johnson said. “He’s taken so much heat for his contract, which is ridiculous.”

By ridiculous, Kelly meant the heat he’s taken for the contract, not the contract itself, though that eight-year, $121 million deal that Colorado gave him back was ridiculous, too. That was back when $121 million was $121 million. (That sentence was written with sarcasm.)

Anyway, some have asked, so to clarify: Hampton is a free agent after the season. That option year on his contract for 2009 was bought out, with Colorado picking up the $6 mill buyout as part of the complicated three-team trade that sent Hampton to the Braves after the 2002 season.

(My guess is that if he makes it through the rest of the season healthy, he’ll end up signing a one-year contract with someone, perhaps with an option year attached, and probably for something like $1 mill. But I’m just guessing. Maybe if he pitches like he did last night for the next seven weeks, he could get more, but after three years of injuries and two elbow surgeries, I kind of doubt it.)

(Oh, and will the Braves try to re-sign him? Don’t know. You won’t get an answer from them on that, not right now. Nothing to be gained by saying if they feel strongly one way or the other on that one, not when he’s still got eight or nine starts to potentially make the rest of this season.)

Anyway, when I told Hampton after last night’s win that it was time to negotiate a new deal, he laughed and said, “I ain’t going to go there yet. Just gonna get ready for the Diamondbacks and go from there.”

Make no mistake, this is a guy who’s not looking ahead past his next start, and he says that’s the way he’ll be from now on, given what it’s taken to get back.

“There’s always been some doubt, with all the stuff I’ve been through, with all the health issues, you definitely start doubting a little bit,” he said. “But I kept pushing and kept working to get to this point one day.

“That’s all I could do. Pretty much three years of rehab that I’ve went through has been for this day. And now that it’s come and gone, I can kind of refocus and set some new goals.”

I asked him when he could remember a win that was as important as last night’s.

“They’re all important,” he said. “That’s one thing I’ve learned through this whole process — don’t take anything for granted. Cherish each one of them. And I’ll do that from here on out.”

So anyway, when we went to check on Hampton this morning, to make sure the limbs were intact and he was still planning to pitch again Sunday against Arizona, I also had to ask him about his hitting.

Dude has two doubles and three RBI in his past two games (not to pile on Francoeur, but the right fielder has two extra-base hits, both doubles, in his past 15 games).

Hampton was regarded as the best-hitting pitcher in baseball during his heyday, and has a .243 career average with 21 doubles, five triples, 15 homers and 71 RBI in 670 at-bats.

But how could a 35-year-old pitcher maintain any semblance of a hitting stroke during three years away from major league games, three years in which the only hitting he did whatsoever was a few at-bats in spring training and in a couple of rehab starts this season.

“Just lucky. Just see it and swing at it,” he said. “We’ll see the next start. If I can get a hit off that guy, I need to be playing every day.”

He was referring to Arizona ace Brandon Webb, who he’s scheduled to face in Sunday’s series finale at Phoenix.

“Seriously, if I get a hit off him, I’m gonna suggest I play every day,” Hampton cracked. “That guy’s dirty.”

Then someone reminded Hampton that him playing every day would be a recipe for disaster in terms of injuries. “Yeah, I’d just need someone to tag and run for me,” he said. “Didn’t Babe Ruth do that?”

OK, we’ve got a game to play, folks. And as we start this series finale on this gorgeous, sunny, 62-degree day by the Bay, let’s have a tune. A baseball tune, about one of my boyhood heroes, Jim “Catfish” Hunter, who used to toe the slab on the other side of San Francisco Bay, in Oakland.

”CATFISH” by Bob Dylan

Lazy stadium night

Catfish on the mound.

“Strike three,” the umpire said,

Batter have to go back and sit down.

Catfish, million-dollar man,

Nobody can throw the ball like Catfish can.

Used to work on Mr. Finley’s farm

But the old man wouldn’t pay

So he packed his glove and took his arm

An’ one day he just ran away.

Catfish, million-dollar man,

Nobody can throw the ball like Catfish can.

Come up where the Yankees are,

Dress up in a pinstripe suit,

Smoke a custom-made cigar,

Wear an alligator boot.

Catfish, million-dollar man,

Nobody can throw the ball like Catfish can.

Carolina born and bred,

Love to hunt the little quail.

Got a hundred-acre spread,

Got some huntin’ dogs for sale.

Catfish, million-dollar man,

Nobody can throw the ball like Catfish can.

Reggie Jackson at the plate

Seein’ nothin’ but the curve,

Swing too early or too late

Got to eat what Catfish serve.

Catfish, million-dollar man,

Nobody can throw the ball like Catfish can.

Even Billy Martin grins

When the Fish is in the game.

Every season twenty wins

Gonna make the Hall of Fame.

Catfish, million-dollar man,

Nobody can throw the ball like Catfish can

Permalink | Comments (333) | Post your comment |

Tough, sullen stretch for Braves

By David O'Brien | Tuesday, August 5, 2008, 02:44 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

San Francisco _ These are difficult times for the Braves, whose players are trying to make the most of the season’s final eight weeks and build some momentum for the future after the white flag was raised and their RBI leader traded.

And in the midst of Braves Nation’s adjustment period, of seeing the team becoming basically irrelevant after the trade deadline for the first time since 1990, comes the death of a beloved figure.

That can put things back in perspective, for sure.

Hey, but Skip Caray loved this franchise and certainly wouldn’t want people to stop caring and stop calling for their heads when they screw up or praising them for making a good decision — like, for instance, if they were to increase the payroll.

The past couple of days have been a difficult time for just about everyone connected to the Braves, from Atlanta-native players who grew up listening to Skip call the games, and veteran players who’ve known him for a decade or two, to the manager and broadcaster partner who were friends with him for half their lives.

And certainly for fans. The memories and stories that so many of you have told here and elsewhere since the awful news Sunday night have been cathartic for others and have genuinely touched those who loved Skip most — his family — and for friends and colleagues.

It’s almost overwhelming to see so many different people share so many memories and reveal so much passion and such a connection to a man that most never met, but who most felt like they knew so well from listening to his voice for thousands of hours, through springs, summers and early falls, year after year.

You talk about the beauty of sports, that’s a big part of it. A perfect example. The Braves and baseball are very important to a hell of a lot of people, and he and Pete Van Wieren, and Joe Simpson and Don Sutton, have been a very big part of that enjoyment for so long, that connection that so many felt to the team, to the game.

So many of you have shared so many of your nights with Skip and them, whether you were by the grill with friends and family, driving a truck across the South, sitting alone in your recliner with your old dog, on a beach with your kid, or in bed listening with the lights out and school tomorrow while the team played into the late innings on the West Coast.

Hey, it’s a big part of so many of our lives, baseball. And when the conduit dies, and that conduit was so spectacularly good and alive and vital for so long, well, it’s hard to just accept it and move on.

So feel free to share all the Skip stories you want, for as long as you want. I’ve been reading them all, and a whole lot of other people have told me they’ve been doing the same.

In the meantime, I’ll throw in a couple items about the team as this series continues here in San Francisco.

Jurrjens deserved better: Rookie Jair Jurrjens was frustrated after last night’s 4-2 series-opening loss, as well he should have been. He got poor run support, but even worse, he got no defensive support as the Braves lost for the eighth time in 10 games.

Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson each made a couple of defensive mistakes that opened the doors for three of the four runs. Jurrjens was charged with four runs (three earned) and got the loss while pitching six strong innings.

The good news for Jurrjens is that his shoulder feels great as he approaches 140 innings, which has been the problem point for him in previous seasons.

He pitched a career-high 143-1/3 innings last season between the majors and minors in the Detroit organization, after totaling just below that many the previous two seasons.

There was some concern that Jurrjens might have to be monitored late in the season, to be babied this year to ensure he didn’t have another bout with the shoulder fatigue that he had in the past at this point.

But that hasn’t been the case. He spent nearly two months after last season working in an intense program with other pro athletes in the Tampa area, and the shoulder-specific and general-conditioning work he did is all paying off.

Jurrjens said he feels stronger than he’s ever felt this late in a season, and that his shoulder feels good.

That’s obviously quite important for the Braves, because he’s going to be either their No. 1 or No. 2 starter next season, depending who they get to replace Tim Hudson, who’ll miss most of the season after Tommy John elbow surgery he’s scheduled to have later this week.

Jurrjens has had a fine rookie season, going 10-7 with a 3.12 ERA while allowing 132 hits (eight homers) and 49 walks with 97 strikeouts in 138-1/3 innings. He needs to improve the walks/strikeout ratio, and surely he will as he continues to develop. But otherwise, there’s been very little to criticize.

Especially when you consider he’s only 22, and won’t be 23 until January.

He’s not fading down the stretch, that’s for sure. Jurrjens has a 2.32 ERA in his past nine starts, including seven quality starts (six innings or more, three earned runs or fewer).

He’s only 4-4 in that stretch, mostly because the Braves scored one or no runs while he was in four of those nine games, and two runs while he was in another.

The Curacao Kid is 4-1 with a 1.03 ERA in his past five road starts, including wins at Toronto and Philadelphia in which he twice allowed only three hits in eight shutout innings.

Jurrjens’ 2.92 road ERA is seventh-best in the NL, just ahead of Dan Haren’s 3.04 and Ryan Dempster’s 3.17.

Boyer at 60: If his arm isn’t dragging the ground in two months, Blaine Boyer should be able to enjoy a relaxing offseason.

The right-hander pitched a clean seventh inning last night to become the first major league reliever to reach 60 appearances this season. The Duluth native is on pace for 87 appearances; the Braves record is 84 by Chris Reitsma in 2004.

Will Ohman is tied for third in the majors with 58 appearances, on pace to match Reitsma’s mark.

Power outage: The Braves have gone without a home run in seven of their past eight games, and scored three runs or fewer in six of those seven homerless performances.

The outfield power dearth has moved from alarming to astounding, and underscores the need to add a power bat - a priority that should probably run neck-and-neck with the pursuit of another top-of-the-rotation starter.

Braves outfielders have hit just 20 homers in 112 games. Twenty! That’s the fewest in the majors, and fewer than half as many homers as nine other NL teams have gotten from outfielders.

Jeff Francoeur is the Braves’ leading outfielder home-run hitter, with nine.

And he and they have stopped hitting them altogether lately. It’s startling to look at the individual numbers:

Francoeur has hit .173 with one homer and a .220 slugging percentage in 150 at-bats over his past 40 games.

Mark Kotsay has one homer and a .338 on-base percentage in 157 at-bats over his past 44 games.

Gregor Blanco has one homer in 326 at-bats all season, but the rookie was not expected to hit for any power. He’s done a solid job in his first season, posting a .374 as a leadoff man (sixth among NL leadoff hitters).

Blanco has hit .295 with a .401 OBP in his past 33 games, and ranks fifth in the league with 22 infield hits this season. His numbers would fit nicely between two power-hitting outfielders. Unfortunately for the Braves, they don’t have those on the current roster.

Oh, and don’t expect a power infusion if Matt Diaz returns in a couple of weeks. He hit .250 with two homers in 42 games before hurting his knee.

Tough task for Chuck:: Tom Glavine could be back next week and take Chuck James’ spot in the rotation against Arizona. The old lefty’s rehab start last night for Myrtle Beach went well (four innings, hree hits, one run, one walk, four strikeouts).

Unfortunately for the Braves, there’s no one to take James’ turn Wednesday, when he’s scheduled to face Giants ace Tim Lincecum in the series finale in Frisco.

Chuck is 0-3 with an 11.37 ERA in his past three starts, with 17 hits, 13 walks and six homers allowed in 12-2/3 innings. Painful.

He gave up six runs and a couple of homers in 2-2/3 innings on Friday against Milwaukee in his first game back after two months in the minors.

The lefty is 0-3 with an 11.08 ERA in three major league road starts this season, with five or more earned runs allowed in each. This will be his first since giving up five runs and three homers in four innings at Philly on May 15.

Looking for hope? Lincecum is 11-3 with a 2.71 ERA, but only 1-2 in his past five starts. However, he has a solid 3.44 ERA in that span, with 45 strikeouts and 10 walks in 34 innings (seems almost impossible to win one game in five while piling up 45 strikeouts against 10 walks, doesn’t it?)

OK, a tune. We’ll dedicate another one to our old friend Skip, who Joe Simpson said was like a big brother to him. This is the “secret song” that’s not listed on Springsteen’s Magic album.

“TERRY’S SONG” by Bruce Springsteen

Well they built the Titanic to be one of a kind, but many ships have ruled the seas

They built the Eiffel Tower to stand alone, but they could build another if they please

Taj Mahal, the pyramids of Egypt, are unique I suppose

But when they built you, brother, they broke the mold

Now the world is filled with many wonders under the passing sun

And when they built you, brother, they broke the mold

When they built you, brother, they turned dust into gold

When they built you, brother, they broke the mold

They say you can’t take it with you, but I think that they’re wrong

Just like when they built you, brother, they broke the mold

Now your death is upon us and we’ll return your ashes to the earth

And I know you’ll take comfort in knowing you’ve been roundly blessed and cursed

But love is a power greater than death, just like the songs and stories told

And when she built you, brother, she broke the mold

That attitude’s a power stronger than death, alive and burning her stone cold

When they built you, brother

Permalink | Comments (433) | Post your comment |

We’ll miss Skip something fierce

By David O'Brien | Monday, August 4, 2008, 01:41 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There’s a gaping hole in Braves Nation today, a collective sadness as we reflect upon and mourn the passing of the inimitable Skip Caray.

I didn’t get to cover the Braves when Ted Turner owned the team, and regret that whenever I hear the many stories about the colorful, boisterous billionaire Mouth of the South.

But I did get to spend more than six years on the beat while Skip Caray was in the broadcast booth. My life is a hell of a lot richer for it.

This was an original, folks, and that’s a huge understatement.

Skip was in the pantheon of great baseball broadcasters, in my book. That he didn’t get selected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown while alive is a shame. If he doesn’t get elected soon it’ll be a complete injustice. Yes, he was that good, that impactful, that important. No doubt.

Of course, if I said that to Skip he’d probably just respond with some profanity-laced line about not wanting to be a member of any club that would have him. Only he’d come up with his own unique way to express that sentiment, rather than simply paraphrase that line like so many of us others would.

Because you’ve got to understand, Skip said original things, brilliant things, off the top of his head that most of us would commit to memory and repeat to others. Lines that we never forget, that made us smile or laugh or shake our head in wonder that he had the cajones to say that on the air.

God, I’m gonna miss him.

There were a few times I sat with him exchanging stories about our hell-raising days and damage wrought, physical and otherwise. He had a lot more of those stories than I did, more interesting ones, over a far longer period.

I’d walk into the clubhouse or dugout before a game, and he’d have a sharp barb about the shirt or shoes I was wearing. Meanwhile he’s sitting there in some loud, flowing Hawaiian shirt that one of his kids or his wife bought him.

He’d bet me $50 that his Mizzou Tigers would beat my Kansas Jayhawks in a football game. And when KU won, he’d come into the writers’ section of the pressbox with a $50 bill stuck to his forehead and make me take it, after making a comment about a prostitute that I can’t write here.

When the Braves looked awful, Skip would say it — he’d spare no words in his brutal assessment of the team to others of us who covered it, and on the air he’d make his point with acerbic humor, rather than express some phony, rose-colored lens view that no one would’ve bought anyway.

The thing is, Skip’s witticisms and criticisms during a five-game losing skid, with the team down 6-1 in the sixth inning, were often so entertaining that you’d keep the radio on just to be entertained. When he did radio, if the TV broadcast wasn’t delayed by too many seconds, I’d turn down the TV sound and listen to Skip’s call on the radio.

He was the perfect partner to Pete Van Wieren. Pete, the smooth-voiced professional armed with statistics, a razor-sharp memory and perspective. Skip, the distinctive-voiced announcer with … well, everything he brought to the booth.

The two of them spent so many a night in years past at the hotel bar or a steakhouse, often entertaining a fortunate table full of folks who knew at the end of the night it was one they’d never forget.

I’m thinking about how, if there was a way to have recordings of those conversations now, it would be as illuminating — and far more entertaining — than spending the day at Cooperstown, believe me. (Of course, you’d need someone to spend a lot of time editing the taps to make them suitable for the kids.)

I remember being in high school and college in the late 70s’ and early ‘80s, and getting two teams’ games on cable TV - the Cubs, with the great Harry Caray bellowing in the booth, and the Braves, with son Skip Caray and his splendid partners. I used to think, how cool that Caray household must have been.

Chip Caray indicates it was everything I’d imagined. And more.

When some of us wondered the last couple of years if Chip might have regretted not staying with the Cubs instead of jumping to TBS a few years back, we were forgetting he did it in large part because he wanted to work with his dad.

Chip knew he wouldn’t be here forever. Chip was smart. He got to spend more time with his pops in last few years than a lot of us have spent with our dads in the past two decades.

When I heard last night, in my hotel room here in San Francisco, that Skip had died, a lump formed in my throat and my eyes got a little damp. I had just spent a half-hour talking on the phone to my mom, who lives in Wilson, N.C. She and my dad had spent the weekend at Emerald Isle, N.C., and she was telling me every little mundane detail about the experience and about my cousins who were there, etc.

Being caught up in my own experiences out here, I didn’t listen as closely as I should have. I rarely do. I’m an idiot for that.

But dad wasn’t in the house when I called her. He was out running some errands. Later, after hearing of Skip’s passing, I realized that I hadn’t talked to my dad for more than a few minutes in quite a while. Stupid.

I’ve got to do better than that. A lot of us do. We don’t get to spend hours at a time sitting next to our dad at work, like Chip and Skip did the past few years.

My dad had triple-bypass surgery a few years back, and he’s still not eating right or doing all he should do to take care of himself. He’s a lot like Skip in his gregariousness and ability to light up a room with a joke, often one unfit for mixed audiences. I really wish my dad had met Skip. They’d have hit it off.

I really need to spend more time with my dad, and am going to regret I haven’t. Chip, I don’t have to tell you how wise you were to come “home,” so to speak, and how fortunate you were, in so many ways.

Skip cared more about others than most people who never met him could ever imagine. They hear that cynical tone, that sardonic wit, that dripping sarcasm, and they assume he was a rude SOB. No, the man just didn’t suffer fools.

And he wasn’t phony. Nothing about him was.

You knew where you stood with him, and you knew how he felt about the team, about baseball and about the corporations and networks that have pumped so much money into the game and hijacked it, for all intents and purposes. They arrogantly believe they can make whatever changes, subtle or otherwise, they see fit to make to further their own interests. They believe that because they can.

Skip hated a lot of that stuff. But he loved the game. Man, how he loved it.

When I started covering the Braves in 2002, he and Pete were bigger stars than anyone on the team other than perhaps Chipper Jones and Greg Maddux. Sometimes when I’d stay in the team hotel, I’d see the team bus arrive or depart, and note the dozens of fans who’d crowd around Skip and Pete for autographs.

People around the country and beyond had seen and heard them do the games for decades on TBS when The Superstation beamed the games off satellites to million and millions of homes that didn’t get nightly broadcasts of any other teams.

But exposure alone didn’t account for that popularity. Greatness did.

Skip was great.

Damn, I’m gonna miss him.

Gonna miss listening to the broadcast on radio as I mowed my lawn on days off back in Atlanta. I think of the times when I’ve been pushing the mower, smoking a cigar, earbud things on, and stopped while laughing out loud at a comment by Skip.

It happened just this summer when the Braves were beating up on Dusty Baker’s Cincinnati Reds, and Skip said, if I remember correctly, “The bases are loaded, and Dusty Baker wishes he was.” He said that on the air? Yes, he did.

We’re gonna miss Skip. We’re gonna miss him something fierce.

The venerable broadcaster, who lived life to the absolute fullest, died Sunday in his sleep.

Rest in peace.

“SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN” by Kris Kristofferson

Well I woke up Sunday morning,

With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt.

And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad,

So I had one more for dessert.

Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes,

And found my cleanest dirty shirt.

An’ I shaved my face and combed my hair,

An’ stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I’d smoked my brain the night before,

That I’d lost somehow, somewhere along the way.

On the Sunday morning sidewalk,

Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.

‘Cos there’s something in a Sunday,

Makes a body feel alone.

And there’s nothin’ short of dyin’,

Half as lonesome as the sound,

On the sleepin’ city sidewalks:

Sunday mornin’ comin’ down.

In the park I saw a daddy,

Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.

On the Sunday morning sidewalk,

Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.

‘Cos there’s something in a Sunday,

Makes a body feel alone.

And there’s nothin’ short of dyin’,

Half as lonesome as the sound,

On the sleepin’ city sidewalks:

Sunday mornin’ comin’ down.

Permalink | Comments (491) | Post your comment |

Musings on Family Day

By Carroll Rogers | Sunday, August 3, 2008, 01:09 PM

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.

Permalink | Comments (309) | Post your comment |

Braves Nation must know: Will Sammy displace Corky?

By David O'Brien | Friday, August 1, 2008, 02:41 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The trade deadline has passed, August is here, the fourth-place Braves have conceded they are out of contention, and the question on the minds of Braves Nation is this: Who’s catching tonight, “Sammy” or “Corky”?

Why would I use quotation marks around Corky, when that’s his actual name? This is a question for which there is probably no satisfactory answer, much like: “How has an .094 hitter remained on the major league roster all season?”

But anyway, will the tools of ignorance — baseball jargon for the dog days — be worn tonight rookie catcher Clint Sammons, who went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI last night in his second start this season?

Or will the starting nod go to grizzled journeyman backup Corky Miller, who is 5-for-43 (.094) with one homer and three RBIs all season? Stay tuned. We’ll let you known in an hour or so.

By the way, the catching reins could be handed back to All-Star Brian McCann by Monday, when the Braves open a two-city road trip at San Francisco (we’re gonna have highs in the 60s in ‘Frisco, then highs of 105-110 when we get to Phoenix).

Mac’s progressing well in his recovery from the concussion he sustained in his collision with Shane Victorino Sunday in Philly, and was supposed to see the doc last night to see about getting clearance to pinch-hit this weekend and resume starting duties next week. I’ll let you know how that went later today.

In the meantime, Sammy or Corky tonight? What’s your guess? I’m going with Sammons. The Braves want to take a look at a few young players over the last two months of the season, and I think Sammons might be one of them. Could he be slotted for the backup job next season? Don’t see any reason why not.

The Braves wanted the former UGA player (and former Parkview High quarterback) to get a solid year of work in Triple-A to continue learning to handle pitchers, and he’s done that.

Tonight’s game: It’s been a while since we’ve seen Chuck James, and a whole lot has transpired with these Braves since he was banished to Triple-A following his May 15 start at Philly when he gave up five runs and three homers in four innings and said he flat-out felt needed to learn to pitch again.

He went 2-3 with an 8.22 ERA in five starts for the Braves in April and May, but James has gotten back on track at Richmond, going 4-5 with a 2.48 ERA in 14 games, including 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA in his past three starts, with 17 strikeouts and five walks.

The little lefty has regained his arm strength and hasn’t had issues with his pitching shoulder (it was a partial rotator cuff last fall that played a big part in his decline, and prevented him from preparing for this season).

With all the question marks the Braves have in their rotation for next season, James might be getting an early audition for job consideration. Keep in mind, he won 11 games each of his first two seasons in the majors (2006-07), and was a quality pitcher before the homer totals soared with his ERA.

In his last 13 major league starts, James has allowed a staggering 21 homers in 62-2/3 innings, going 4-5 with a 6.75 ERA in that span.

If you’re looking for a positive, other than his progress at Richmond, here’s another couple of points to consider: Chuck is 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA in his past four home starts. He really is. He only gave up three homers in 23-1/3 innings in those four games, two starts in September and two in April.

(On the road? Oh, my. He’s 0-3 with a 9.47 ERA in his past six road starts, three last season and three this season, with 30 hits, 10 homers and 12 walks allowed in 25-2/3 innings.)

Two other reasons for Braves fans to have legit reason to believe tonight: Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan is 1-3 with a 9.10 ERA in in his past six starts, and 1-5 with a 5.61 ERA in six career starts against the Braves.

By the way, the Brewers had a 2.22 ERA and hit .285 with 12 homers during an eight-game winning streak through July 24. Since then they are 1-6 with a 6.43 ERA and .228 batting average, including a current five-game losing skid (they were just swept in a four-gamer against the Cubs at Milwaukee).

Got this letter from a fan: Not everyone has converted to the blogosphere. Some still prefer to send an e-mail or, believe it or not, a letter (I still have a few waiting in my mailbox each time I stop by the office).

Here’s an e-mail that was forwarded to me, written on July 25. The guy said I could use it in the blog. We didn’t edit or add the elipses or anything else, other than replacing some of the numbers with X’s in his phone number.

Subj: Bobby Cox.

David Myler (Snellville 404-2XX-XXXX)

Manny circus leaves town: Doc Holliday, Shaun and other regulars on the blog were debating the big Manny Ramirez-to-L.A. Dodgers three-team trade, and Doc and some were arguing that the Red Sox are a lesser team now because Jason Bay is no Manny, etc.

Anyway, thought I’d chime in.

Bay’s not a Hall of Fame player and Manny is; everyone, I assume, can agree on that. But as much as a segment of bloggers here often states and apparently believes that clubhouse chemistry and attitude mean little, it’s not true. Particularly in extreme cases, prima donnas can become more trouble than they’re worth, can pass the point of diminishing return. Manny is a case study.

When it comes to someone who so blatantly ignores team rules and clubhouse decorum, flaunts his status, and time and time again makes a spectacle of himself with no apparent regard for game situations and little personal regard for the importance of winning, when one takes his behavior to such an extreme that even the adoring fans at Fenway boo one of their own, long-term superstars, well, then the situation has become so dire, the distraction so great, the risk too high for a team that needs to have everyone on the same page in order to win in a competitive division and in what promises to be a rigorous postseason test.

By the way, speaking of stats, since the 2006 All-Star break, Jason Bay has hit .268 with 122 extra-base hits, 57 homers, 191 RBI and 197 runs, with a .474 slugging percentage and, though not overly important, 16 steals in 17 attempts.

In that period, Manny has hit .305 with 109 extra-base hits, 51 homers, 193 RBI and 177 runs, with a .527 slugging percentage and one steal in one attempt.

I think a few of you are letting Manny’s unbelievably productive decade from 1995 to 2005 skew your opinion of this trade, and your view of him in the present. He’s 36 and tailing off significantly (just look at his numbers the past couple of seasons, compared to those previous years).

You should not just ignore declining production, enormous salary, outrageous behavior and legit concerns that the player is not going to play hard in crucial situations. You can’t. The Red Sox decided they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, and that they did not want to deal with it anymore.

Dog-days diversions: Finally had a chance to listen to a few CDs I picked up recently, and here’s three new ones I’d recommend: Beck’s Modern Guilt (co-produced by him and Danger Mouse), Partie Traumatic by Black Kids (sounds very much like great ‘80s-era new wave/post-punk stuff like The Cure), and Fire Songs by The Watson Twins, a solid alt-country/rock set by the ladies who did an album with Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis a couple years back. What does this one sound like? I’m thinking Byrds, Gram Parsons, early Neil. Also, speaking of The Cure, there’s an improbable, unusual, cover of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” on this CD that actually sounds great.)

”BACK TO TUPELO” by Mark Knopfler

Around the time of “Clambake”

Movie number twenty-five

You and the lying Dutchman

are still in overdrive

You’re as strong as when you started

Mississippi in your soul

You can still be Marlon Brando

and the king of rock and roll

It isn’t just the records

are just not ringing true

Oh, it’s a ways to go

back to Tupelo

When you’re young and beautiful

in your first recording booth

Around the time of “Clambake”

that old dream’s still rolling on

Sometimes there’ll be the feeling

things are going wrong

The morning star is fading

Lord, the Mississippi’s cold

You can still be Marlon Brando

and the king of rock and roll

But it’s a ways to go

back to Tupelo

Permalink | Comments (782) | Post your comment |