Braves Report

All’s well that ends well, I guess? This game was on the brink of getting out of hand. The ump had shrunk the zone down to nothing (seriously, nothing) on Jurrjens, four walks in a row, brings in three runs, Bobby tossed, Jair looked to be on the edge of losing his composure. But, a chat with Tex, Roger, and McCann gets Jair back in control and he goes on to pitch three more great innings and Bobby did what Bobby does best, gets himself tossed to save a player.

Outside of the inning where the ump squeezed the zone, the Braves pitchers were at their best. In fact, they limited the Mets to only 2 hits (a season low for them). Jurrjens ended up going six innings, he really would have gone longer. Over those six, he allowed the 2 hits, striking out 4. Three runs, all were earned (four walks, but we won’t mention those). Ohman was amazing, as he has been. He pitched another inning not allowing a hit. Boyer was perfect for the inning he pitched. Ring and Acosta were filthy in the ninth.

Gregor Blanco, I’ve really overlooked him in these recaps. When Diaz struggled (for like 2 days) Blanco gave him the day off. Since then, Bobby has been trying to find a way too keep him in the line up. Tonight, 3 for 4 with a walk, pushing his average up to .462! Maybe we should give him a try leading off? KJ was the most productive, it’s not every night your lead off hitter drives in FOUR runs. Aside from the runs he drove in, he had 2 hits, one a home run, and a walk. Ever so slowly, Tex is hitting his way out of his funk. Two hits tonight, including a first inning RBI. McCann, with a bruise on his shin the size of a grapefruit, also had 2 hits. All counted, the Braves had 13 hits, a very good night all around.

Tomorrow’s game, 1:10 PM, not nationally televised.

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Well, we’re three weeks into the baseball season, and so far, it’s been an interesting one for the Braves and their fans. The first week and half was a struggle. The next week saw a torrid five-game winning streak. Now, we’re settling back down again. What can we ascertain from this? Not much. It’s still early, but things are taking shape. For the next month, patience will be necessary, so don’t start lighting up chat rooms with anger/joy over the week’s games. Relax. Take a breath. Enjoy the ride. It’s baseball season, so enjoy the ride for the next five (hopefully six) months.

“We need an ambulance at Turner Field. Yep, another pitcher.”

What other early storyline has caused so much heartache (don’t say the bullpen; I’m getting there)? Tom Glavine, Mike Hampton, Rafael Soriano, and Peter Moylan have all had injuries land them on the DL. Luckily, Glavine will be back Tuesday. Soriano will need a little more time, and he and Mike Gonzalez may come back at the same time, which would be nice. Who knows when Hampton will get back, if he ever does? Unfortunately in the extreme, Moylan seems destined for Tommy John or at least major elbow surgery. I have to say at least this is early in the season. If it continues, we can make trades to improve the staff now, but by September, it will be impossible. Also, guys like Bennett, Campillo, and Carlyle have stepped in to help out a little. Honestly, Bennett deserves the MVUP (Most Valuable Unnoticed Player) Award.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Bullpen

Well, at least they have their good streaks, too. After beginning the season by attempting to self-destruct the entire team, the bullpen came through for about a week, and they seem to be getting better. Acosta has filled in nicely for Soriano and has been spectacular since his first appearance. Campillo has done very well since coming up except for his 5 “unearned runs” the other night that he most definitely earned. Boyer has also bounced back from his shaky start. Ohman has been an unseen blessing. Ring and Resop have had the most trouble so far with ERA’s above 9 (10.80 and 9.72 respectively). Hopefully, Soriano and Gonzalez can come back and strengthen and stabilize the bullpen.

Smoltz, Hudson and Chipper

Thank God we have these three. Hudson, besides the 3 inning debacle/dead arm game, has been awesome with a 2.93 ERA. Smoltz has been awe-inspiring with his .78 ERA and 31 K’s in 23 innings. For those of you who don’t understand, a good strikeout pitcher averages about 8 or 9 K’s per nine innings. Smoltz’s ratio: 12.13 K/9. Amazing. And we can’t forget about Chipper. Chipper has the best batting average in the Majors by almost 60 points, 3^rd in the majors with 7 HR, 5^th in the Majors in RBI with 20, 3^rd in the Majors in slugging with .733 SLG, 3^rd in the Majors with a 1.217 OPS, and is just 2 runs behind the Major League leader in that category as Chipper has 18. Pretty outstanding, and that’s an understatement. He’s in for not only the NL Triple Crown but for the MLB Triple Crown.

Jair Jurrjens is the man

You want to know who has pitched the most innings for the Braves? Trick question, as the answer is Tim Hudson, but Hudson has one more start than Jurrjens. With 5 2/3 innings tonight, Jurrjens will lead the team in that category. To go along with that, he has a 3.20 ERA and 21 K’s in 25.1 innings. I still contend that he reminds me of Greg Maddux with that great two-seamer and changeup. He doesn’t have the Maddux-like command, but who does? I have been impressed with him, and he’s stepped up when we needed him.

Tex warming up?

For the past few days, Tex continued to leave base-runners in scoring position, and it hurt in those two losses. Yet his numbers are .244/4/14 for the season so far. Multiply those numbers by about 8 to find a .244/32/114. The average is still bad, but the HR and RBI are good. With him probably going to heat up, the average will rise and the HR and RBI should eclipse those marks.

Escobar truly is the World’s Greatest Cuban

When I first became a writer for the site, I had no idea what WGC meant, but now that I know, I’m going to start using it (kudos to whoever came up with it). All he’s done is hit .310 with a .400 OBP. Renteria by comparison is .337 and .371. Everything else is pretty similar as well. The main difference is the defense. Escobar’s range and arm are much better than Renteria (no disrespect to Renty, I still love and root for him). I really like Escobar, and he’s crucial to our youth movement.

Kotsay being worth it

Mark Kotsay has also been pretty impressive. The .257 BA is not jaw-dropping, but we honestly didn’t expect much anyway. Anyway, it’s better than Andruw. Also, Kotsay’s defense has been everything and more than expected. If he can stay healthy, he’ll make Wren look like a genius.

Blanco out of nowhere

The title is not just for his speed. Wasn’t this the kid that Cox has stated for several years that was immature? He has seemingly changed and made himself into the front-runner for the CF job next year. His defense is really good as demonstrated by his wall grab last night (did anyone else want to slap the announcer for saying it was like a “bug on a windshield grab”; seriously guys, stick to baseball not jokes). Although his corkscrew swing makes me laugh every time I see it, it gets the job done.

As for the bad news … Jordan Schafer

Well the steroids scandal finally touched the Braves. Our number one prospect was “caught” using HGH. For honesty’s sake, he was not actually caught, but his silence on the issue makes him seem guilty, although no one really gave Clemens much of a shot when he pleaded his case so desperately. I don’t know what to say about Schafer. I think he deserves a second chance because he made a mistake, and as long as he makes up for it and doesn’t do it again, I think we can all move on. Keep an eye on him, the HGH may not have had the difference everyone expects, and many experts say it doesn’t really help. Remember, we don’t know why he used, when he used, for how long, etc. so everyone should reserve some judgment. Everything is not black and white. If it was, Josh Hamilton wouldn’t be doing what he is today.

Well, after the first couple weeks, I’m still excited about this season. We’ve played admittedly pretty badly, and we’re still doing okay. If we improve some of the small things and get healthier (ha ha ha … eh hmm), we’ll be okay. The Marlins can’t be good forever, can they?

Little different format for the recap tonight.

First, the good. A lot of good happened tonight, of course, the Braves won. The biggest “good” has to go to the birthday boy, Chipper. He went 3 for 3 with a walk and a home run. For his career Chipper is batting over .400 on his birthday. Wow. Also good tonight was Acosta. With the injuries to the starting staff, the pen has been called upon to carry more of the load. For that, Bobby seems to have changed the way he uses them a bit. Relievers are being asked to go 2 innings more often, so other relievers can have the night off (or maybe its because Bobby doesn’t trust the pen?). Tonight was Acosta’s night to go two and he got the save. Campy was also called upon to go two, he only allowed one hit. Of course the comedy of the night was provided by McCann, his head first slide into third!

The bad. There really wasn’t a whole lot to complain about tonight. But, since this is “the bad” section, Tex continues to flail in RBI situations. He left three on base tonight, more than any other Brave. Chuck James wasn’t at the top of his game, but we really can’t expect him to be.

Which leaves, the ugly. Braves pitchers combined for seven walks. Five by James and 2 by Acosta. Three of the four runs James scored came directly from walks. Not a good stat if you want to win games.

Tomorrow’s game 7:10 PM. Not nationally televised.

Feel free to leave a comment or join the discussion in the Forum. Check back often to see all of our blogs.

On Tuesday John Smoltz became the 16th member of the 3,000 K club in baseball history. Here are some Smoltz K facts:
Only Phil Niekro reached it at an older age.
6th fastest to reach it in terms of innings pitched.
Only Bob Gibson and Walter Johnson also recorded all 3,000 K’s with the same team.
 
David Wright with 19 K’s vs Smoltz leads active players.
Craig Biggio leads all players with 26 K’s vs Smoltzie 
 

# 1 – July 23, 1988 – Darryl Strawberry
# 100 – June 5, 1989 – Kirk Gibson
# 250 – June 1, 1990 – Joe Carter
# 500 – Septemeber 14, 1991 – Kal Daniels
# 750 – April 11, 1993 – Eric Davis
# 1,000 – May 30, 1994 – Kirk Manwaring
# 1,500 – September 7, 1996 – Benard Gilkey
# 2,000 – June 7, 1999 – John Flaherty
# 2,500 – July 15, 2005 – Marlon Anderson
# 3,000 – April 22, 2008 – Felipe Lopez

During the ten games above Smoltz’s average stat line:
6.9 IP 6.3 K’s 3.13 ERA 1.16 WHIP.
The Braves record during those games is 8-2.

Something I found interesing when researching, Roger McDowell was the losing pitcher in the game where Smoltz recorded his 500th K.

This was one of those games that just crops up every now and again. The Braves hit plenty, in fact they had base runners every single inning. But, when it came time to get them over and get them in, it just didn’t happen, inning after inning after inning. The Braves actually out hit the marlins tonight, but not when it counted.

Bennett was once again called upon to make a start and once again he was more than equal to the task. He gave us 6 solid innings, really only making two mistakes, both in the first. After that he was solid, gave up 5 hits, 3 ER and walked only one. The pen, who had been doing such a good job during the winning streak, really dropped the ball again tonight. The game was close, the Brave were just one swing away from the lead several times, but during the last 2 innings, they just failed to get it done. Carlyle was effective, he gave up only 1 hit in .2 innings. Ohman got out the lefty to end the inning. That was where the game turned bad. Boyer gave up 2 runs, then Resop gave up two more.

Like I said, the Braves hit the ball plenty, totally 12 hits on the night. KJ raised his average up to .250 with two hits, a walk and stole a base. Tex stranded the most runners of the night, 5, but he also had 2 hits. McCann swung a hot bat with two more hits. Diaz continues to rip left handed pitching with 2 hits, one was a home run.

Tomorrow nights game, 7:10 PM. Not nationally televised.

Feel free to leave a comment or join the discussion in the Forum. Check back often to see all of our blogs.