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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Braves will be fine without Hampton
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Nothing against Mike Hampton or anything, but the Braves pitching will be just fine, thank you.
No, better than that.
Try slightly beyond good, especially if the Braves’ first seven games of the season are indicative of the rest of the way. Says here, they are a 6-1 team that continues to sizzle atop the National League East. After just a year’s absence, the Braves boldly have returned to their formula of yore: timely hitting, efficient fielding and splendid pitching.
Now about that splendid pitching, exemplified on Tuesday night at Turner Field by Tim Hudson making the Washington Nationals look even more wretched than they are. During his seven innings of the Braves’ 8-0 victory, he allowed three hits while striking out seven and walking one. This is after he spent his first start of the season last week throwing seven nice innings (two hits, one run) against the Philadelphia Phillies.
This is just more of the same from the NL’s best pitching staff not based in San Diego. Solid starting pitching, competent relievers. Such has been the case for the Braves, even without Hampton’s left arm that once produced six seasons with 13 or more victories. Such will remain the case for the Braves when spring becomes summer along the way to autumn that should give this bunch a 15th division title in 16 seasons.
With Hampton slated to miss a second consecutive season with a surgically repaired elbow, this strikingly balanced group of veterans and youngsters still is a couple of fungoes away from reaching the Cy Glavine, Cy Maddux and Cy Smoltz territory. Even so, the remaining starters are plentiful and talented. Along with Hudson, suddenly rejuvenated after his worst year ever, there is the accomplished John Smoltz, the promising Chuck James and the experienced Mark Redman. The nice arms of Kyle Davies and Lance Cormier give the Braves youthful depth.
Not only that, the Braves finally have guys who battle fires out of the bullpen with water instead of gasoline. This time, it was Mike Gonzalez’s turn to give the Braves wonderful relief for an inning, before Chad Paronto did the same in the ninth. So the Braves didn’t have to bother the likes of setup guy Rafael Soriano and closer Bob Wickman, both brilliant so far. Both the antithesis of the mess that dominated the Brave’s bullpen last year.
Then there is that other thing. It’s the splendid thing that had Braves manager Bobby Cox changing his frown over losing Hampton earlier in the afternoon to a smile regarding everything else.
Said Cox, glowing when discussing all of his pitchers, “Ah, we’ve got gamers. They love to play the game, you know. They’re pretty focused on winning. They get used to it, and they like it.”
They haven’t a choice. Not given the Braves’ legacy since their worst-to-first trip in 1991. All-Star catcher Brian McCann was a 7-year-old growing up in Duluth back then, but he still remembers enough about those early Braves and the subsequent ones to know that mediocrity isn’t an option when it comes to pitching.
Here’s what else McCann knows: He knows his batterymates know the same, both old and young.
“What’s going to have to happen is that, just like the other day when Kyle Davies comes out and dominates the game, that’s what we’re going to need from him,” said McCann, referring to Sunday, when Davies held the mighty New York Mets to four hits and a couple of runs in 6-2/3 innings in a Braves’ 3-2 victory. “And Lance Cormier and Mark Redman, they all can do the job. Obviously, losing somebody like Mike Hampton is a huge hit to the team, but you’ve got to move on. Injuries happen to every team, but you just have to make the best of the situation.”
The Braves will.
That’s because they already are.
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The Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: It’s a good thing Liberty Media is only buying the Braves for tax purposes, because they’re getting a heck of a writeoff with Mike Hampton.
9: Things you want to see: Don Imus standing over a sink, washing and setting the hair of players for the Rutgers women basketball team. And then maybe forcing him to walk the streets as an old, white ho.
8: There seem to be a lot of people dumping on Tiger Woods for letting his emotions get to him on the final day of the Masters (“What the hell just happened?” he yelled after his approach shot on 16 went into the bunker.). I’ve gotten e-mails, blogs and was asked about it on a radio show. But, people, Woods is a competitive guy. What did you expect? If we’ve never seen this side of him before, maybe it’s because we’ve never seen him lose on a Sunday before. Does it really mean the guy’s a dirtbag? If he blows a few more majors and starts throwing his clubs into lakes, then get back to me.
7: You know, if we just canceled the rest of the Hawks’ season and let the ice at Philips Arena freeze properly for the playoffs, it would help the Thrashers and nobody would miss a thing.
6: This is not at all an endorsement of Josh Smith’s moronic protest during a timeout the other day. But when a player is so bold that he feels he can call out a coach during a timeout, it doesn’t speak well to the control said coach has over the team. To translate: Mike Woodson has lost them.
5: No, Billy Knight shouldn’t fire Woodson. Why? Because that would constitute Billy Knight putting together another plan. And we don’t want to go there.
4: This is where Knight’s plan has gotten the Hawks: 26th overall, and potentially no lottery pick. Waiter: hemlock.
3: American Express has signed snowboarder and skateboarder Shaun White to an endorsement contract. White also was given a Gold Card. Unfortunately, he doesn’t own a wallet and he lost the card through a hole in his shorts.
2: I promised myself I would never write about the Arena Football League unless there was an item so good that it would interest, like, you know, normal sports fans. So here it is: Jon Bon Jovi, who owns the Philadelphia team (I learned), gave the double-barreled middle-finger salute to referees during a game against the Georgia Force Monday night. This wonderful moment was caught on camera by ESPN (which for all we know hatched the plan in AFL marketing meetings).
1: Arthur Blank’s always up for a new marketing idea. Maybe he can bring in Michael Vick as a consultant on this one.
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