Arena The Atlanta Braves Thread

We are only two games behind the Mets now, and we have a struggling Brewers team coming up. Let's hope we make up some ground.

 

Yeah, Atlanta's in a decent position right now, but theres a lot of reason to be worried, starting with Smoltz and Hudson, neither of whom is completely healthy at the moment. Take those two out and we don't even have a starting rotation.

Hopefully they'll be ok, though..

 

True, but still Smoltz should make his next scheduled start.

 

Great finish today, with Francoeur hitting a walk off single up the middle to break a 4-4 tie in the 9th. I was out of town all day, got back just in time to turn it on, watch Andruw draw a walk and Francoeur end it.

Braves just a game and a half back of the Mets now, with Andruw seemingly beginning to finally heat up. If he can keep it going and not fall back into his slump, and Chipper stays healthy, the Braves will be looking pretty good.

 

It's a two way street. The Mets are still in first despite a revolving door of right fielders and Delgado's lost April and May as well as Beltran's achy quad. And Met pitching is still much, much better than Braves pitching.

 

True, but that goes to show that it could still go either way.

Besides, I was expecting the Mets to win the division at the start of the season, thinking the Braves were more likely to get the WC.

 

You just repeated what I said: I was just showing you that. Try to keep up!

 

The wild card is in reach

 

I have a friend who's a Braves fan. She hasn't been to a Braves game let alone a MLB game in a long time. I'm going to try and surprise her by taking her to a game when they face STL August 24 -26. It'll be easy since STL is only about 2hrs from Carbondale.

 

The wild card is in reach

Yeah, only 1 game out of the WC right now, and 3 back of the Mets in the East. Neither unattainable, certainly, with the chances for the WC definitely being better, though.

 

the D'Backs are on fire

 

A lot of big changes for the Braves at the trade deadline, probably second only to the Rangers, and in the other direction.

Net result: traded away Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Beau Jones, Neftali Feliz, Kyle Davies, Will Startup, and Wilfredo Ledezma but in return obtained Mark Teixeira, Ron Mahay, Octavio Dotel, and Royce Ring. This easily puts Atlanta's lineup among the very best in the league, and certainly one of the deepest, and also shores up the bullpen considerably. There are concerns, however, most notably the starting rotation, which beyond Smoltz, Hudson, and James, features only Buddy Carlyle (who hyperextended his arm last night and is day to day, though currently expected to make his next start) and Jo-Jo Reyes, who will make his fourth big league start tonight. Besides the obvious questions about Reyes, who steps in if someone gets hurt? Davies was a member of the rotation for most of the season, but he's gone now (after being very inconsistent, and it was probably a good trade), but the pitching talent in the minors is noticeably thinned now. Still, this is now a team that can win by scoring a lot of runs (last three games: 14, 12, and 12, two of those WITHOUT Teixeira) and a solid bullpen, making Atlanta a playoff contender at the very least and possibly even a WS contender.

 

my brother refused to watch the braves after he heard they traded Salty... but of course that only lasted about three hours (the time before the Braves played)

 

Yeah, I wasn't thrilled at trading a talent like Salty, but he'll bring better value as a catcher and the Braves did get a top-notch player in return.

 

unlocking and upping

and 1995 still ticks me off

 

Yeah, ok, I had this unlocked a while back and never got a chance to post a season preview... but I'll do a overview within the next week or so. After I'm done with other stuff.

However, I am taking this opportunity to mark John Smoltz notching his 3000th stikeout and joining that elite club. Any questions on whether he's going to Cooperstown? Over 200 wins, over 150 saves, a dominant starter AND closer, 3006 Ks and counting, career 3.25 ERA. Oh, and despite being about to turn 41 in a few weeks, he's 3-1 with a 0.78 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 23 innings so far this season. Not half-bad.

...and despite a great start from Smoltz, the Braves fail to score a run and thus drop todays game. Here's to forgetting that part

 

Braves trade Teixiera for Kotchman, AA pitcher

 

Yeah, I've been saying they should trade Tex for a few weeks now, but I really thought they could get more for him than this.

 

It may not be everything they gave up for him, but I think its a good deal. Getting a starting MLB first baseman for the next three years in exchange for two more months of Tex, is a good deal in my book.

 

Perhaps, but theres a big difference in level of play between Teixeira and Kotchman.

 

yeah, but the Braves weren't going to be able to resign him. Getting Kotchman is better than seeing Texieria leave in free agency and only get draft picks.

 

A little late, but RIP, Skip Caray

You'll be missed.

 

Well, a good first week of the season (5-1) has gone down the drain after dropping 7 of 8, including 5 in a row. Yikes. Still, there is some reason for optimism here in the early going.

Lineup going into the season:

C Brian McCann
1B Casey Kotchman
2B Kelly Johnson
3B Chipper Jones
SS Yunel Escobar
LF Garrett Anderson (/Matt Diaz)
CF Jordan Schafer
RF Jeff Francoeur

Schafer had a great start in Philly but has been simply ok since. Great talent, though before spring training most expected him to have to wait at least a couple months before making the big league team, since he struggled a bit in the minors last year after missing those 50 games. Francoeur's coming off a horrible season last year, but has looked good in the early going, providing hope for him to bounce back to 2007 form. Chipper's already having to play through injuries, and has missed some games as well, which does not bode well for him in the "games played" stat, which has been his weak spot the last few seasons. Garrett Anderson looks like he might be heading for the DL already, which could also be a problem.

Rotation:

Derek Lowe
Jair Jurrjens
Javier Vasquez
Kenshin Kawakami
Jo-Jo Reyes (Tom Glavine, if he gets healthy)

Glavine's had a setback on his recovery from injury, and has mentioned retirement if it doesn't improve soon. Lowe's looked very solid, especially in his first start against the Phillies. Jurrjens has also looked quite good, lowering his ERA to 1.42 after 7.2 shutout tonight (no decision). Vasquez has been solid early as well. The bullpen, however, has been shaky, though Rafael Soriano does have 6 shutout innings so far this year, and Jeff Bennett's given up 1 run in 8 innings. No other bullpen pitcher for the Braves has an ERA under 5, though, including closer Mike Gonzalez (4 runs in 6.1 innings)

Overall, some potential there, but a long way to go yet, and in a division with the Phillies, Mets, and Marlins (who have looked extremely good so far), its gonna be tough going.

EDIT: good 1-0 win for the Braves today, at least pitching wise. No offense to speak of (only run of the game came on a bases loaded walk in the top of the 9th) but excellent pitching from Jurrjens (7.2 IP), Gonzalez (0.1; win), and Soriano (1 IP; save)

 

And now Brian McCann and Garrett Anderson are both on the DL. Brandon Jones and Clint Sammons are up with Atlanta now replacing them, though Matt Diaz and David Ross will be the regular starters in the meantime.

McCann's having blurred vision; some kind of left eye infection. I would say "doesn't look good", but that would be a horrible pun.

 

The series against the Astros kick off Hampton pitching for Houston? Man, I really, really hope they win that one. After the millions poured into Hampton with no results here I shudder every time I hear his name.