AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > December > 30
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Let’s reflect on recent Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Frisco, Colo. _ Mid-vacation greetings from 9,097 feet up in the Rockies, where the snow is deep, the slopes terrific and the sun was bright in a cloudless sky this afternoon at Breckenridge.
The wrists and the rest of my body have survived several days of snowboarding, first at Steamboat Springs (unbelievable powder after 22 inches of snow fell in 24 hours) and then at A-Basin, with our last day on the board set for tomorrow at Copper Mountain.
The only casualty so far was the poor woman I barreled over while out of control on a blue-black run on our first day at Steamboat, (she spoke Spanish, no English, but the universal language of moaning as she pointed to her left leg was enough for us to summon the ski patrol to help her out.)
Anyway, I swore I wouldn’t file anything while on vacation this time, but I just couldn’t bear to see the blog dormant any longer. So I decided to post a quickie that I think might draw an opinion or two from the majority of you out there.
(Oh, before I forget, if you’re ever out this way and you’re a pancake nut like me, you can’t do any better than Winona’s in Steamboat Springs or Log Cabin in Frisco, both restaurants located on the little main streets in those respective towns. The cinnamon rolls at Winona’s are also ridiculously ginormous and delicious.)
(Wait, gotta make one other restaurant recommendation — Mazzola’s Majestic Italian Diner in Steamboat. You don’t expect to find such a great Italian joint in the middle of a relatively isolated Colorado town known for ski slopes and ranches.)
(Then there’s the hot springs at Strawberry Park, where you can step from a 108-degree natural pool into the 45-degree stream that runs alongside it. Yowza… But that’s another story. By the way, triple-paragraph parenthesis, a new record.)
OK, so back to the blog, which we’re going to write while we listen to some old Neil Young with a fire blazing here in the condo. (Neil, Bon Iver, James McMurtry and Uncle Tupelo have provided much of our soundtrack out here. Some stuff just sounds particularly good in the mountains, as does watching “The Shining” on DVD last night, with “Fargo” on tap for tonight.)
I started covering the Braves in 2002, and it’s not been the best seven-year period in recent Braves history, to say the least. They lost in the first round of the playoffs each of the first four seasons I covered them, and they haven’t participated in the postseason since.
But despite the relatively mediocre overall results in that span, we’ve seen some pretty remarkable performances, for and against the Braves. Randy Johnson’s perfect game at Turner Field, Chipper Jones’ 400th homer and, of course, John Smoltz’s 3,000th strikeout and 200th win come to mind.
There were plenty of others, both individual-game performances and seasonal work.
There was Chipper’s three-homer game at RFK Stadium in 2006, Willie Harris’ 6-for-6, two-triple, six-RBI game against the Cardinals in 2007, Arizona pitcher Micah Owings’ 4-for-5, two-homer, six-RBI game at Turner Field, and this past season there was Mark Kotsay’s cycle against the Cubs (only the fifth Brave to hit for the cycle) and Jeff Francoeur’s two-homer, seven-RBI game at the new D.C. ballpark (before his season turned sour).
There were a bunch of dominant pitching performances by Smoltz and Tim Hudson in recent years, Smoltz doing it both as a closer and starter. For seasonal superlatives, there was Smoltz’s 55 saves in 2003, and his 211 strikeouts in 232 innings in 2006.
Among hitters, there was Andruw Jones’ 51-homer, 128-RBI season in 2005, when he was MVP runner-up, and his 41-homer, 129-RBI season in 2006. And who can forget Javy Lopez’s 2003 season, in which the catcher hit .328 43 homers and 109 RBI with a 1.065 OPS, all while skipping batting practice for most of the season because one day during an early slump he hit some soft-tossed baseballs in the indoor batting cage and had a huge day, so he decided to keep that routine.
There was Chipper’s batting title (.364, with a .470 OBP) at age 36 in 2008, following a 2007 season when he hit .337 with 42 doubles, 29 homers, 102 RBI and a .425 OBP to finish sixth in the MVP voting.
We can’t forget Francoeur’s auspicious 2005 arrival, when he hit .300 with 20 doubles, 14 homers, 45 homers (and only 11 walks) in 70 games and made the cover of Sports Illustrated (“The Natural”).
And let’s not overlook the general excellence of young Brian McCann, who is easy to take for granted instead of being appreciated as one of the best hitting catchers to come along in at least a couple of generations.
McCann has a .297 career average and .859 OPS, along with two Silver Slugger awards and three All-Star recognition in all three full seasons in the bigs. He has 80 doubles in the past two seasons, and he’s averaged nearly 22 homers and more than 90 RBI in his three full seasons. Heap is very good, folks.
OK, that’s just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head, since I didn’t bring a media guide or anything else with me on vacation (stats are available at a million places online, of course.)
I know I’ve missed some individual and team moments, some great performances, etc. So let’s hear from you folks which ones stand out for you, which were your favorites, which ones you think were underappreciated or overrated or whatever, be they from the ones I mentioned or others.
Yes, I know you’re all waiting for the Braves to make a move or two to bolster this team for 2009, but can’t tell you that I’m hearing anything right now, simply because I’ve been out of the loop for a week now and not making any calls. Things have been awful slow for most teams this past week or so anyway.
But since I’m off through Jan. 3, there should be something significant for Carroll to cover before then. Something big usually happens when she’s got the team, but it’s been a while and she’s overdue for a Braves headline-making story.
In the meantime, let’s hear your thoughts on what’s stood out these past five or six years. Like I said, as bad as it’s been at times, there have certainly been some memorable performances, too.
Oh, and everybody have a safe and happy New Year. Talk to ya soon.
“PARIS” by James McMurtry
When you land in Paris and they wave you right through
Though your passport picture, doesn’t look much like you
They don’t look at your luggage, they don’t look at your face
‘Cause you pose no danger and you’re such a disgrace
You go out walking down the Champs D’Elysees
And your spirits are sinking, it can happen that way
When you do your best Bogart and they don’t seem to care
They walk right down the sidewalk like you ain’t even there
Lookin’ in the wrong direction
Seein’ it from the inside out
The way you couldn’t wait for Christmas
The way you used to twist and shout
It must be the jet lag, you hope it’ll pass
You check your reflection in the store front glass
Kinda gray at the temples, kinda goes with the hat
Kinda round in the middle but it ain’t even that
It’s nothing you can see, it’s nothing you can smell
But you pose no danger and man they can tell
Lookin’ in the wrong direction
Seein’ it from the inside out
The way you couldn’t wait for Christmas
The way you used to twist and shout
You see it in the mirror in the morning
You feel it in the middle of the night
Sleeping with your eyes wide open
Waking with the shades drawn tight
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