I’m just not sure of what to make of this team anymore, which makes this first paragraph hard. So, onto the pitching.

James did better than his last outing, but still not good. In his brief four inning appearance, he gave up three runs on five hits, one of which was a home run. It’s time for him to get the shoulder fixed and learn a new pitch. The pen did a great job. First Carlyle pitched two innings, gave up 4 hits and a walk but didn’t allow a run to cross. Then, Tavarez and Ohman each pitched a scoreless inning.

In typical Braves fashion, we got pretty good pitching, so the bats stayed at home. The only bright spot was McCann and his three hits.

Braves lose, 2 - 3 .

Tomorrow’s game 9:40 PM, not nationally televised.

Hampton gets a win. Hampton Gets A Win! HAMPTON GETS A WIN!! I’ll bet you thought those words would never again be spoken, but there is a lot to be said for his resilience, most people, hell, everyone else, would have given up! Hampton stuck with it, if he can put together a good run till the end of the season, he might, just might, be able to find a job.

Hampton really was great last night. He put together seven great innings of four hit ball allowing only two earned runs. A line anyone would envy. Bennett tried to relieve him, but was less than stellar. He gave up two runs in .1 innings. Ohman had to bail him out, and did with a strikeout. Boyer got the last out of the inning with a strikeout. Gonzo pitched the ninth only allowing a single hit.

The Braves pounded out 14 hits tonight. In fact, every single Braves starter had a hit, including Hampton. The hottest bat of the night was KJ, he had three hits, scored three times, and drove one in. Frenchy had two hits, but his average is still in the dump. Prado, subbing in for Chipper, notched two more hits.

Braves win, 11 - 4.

The downward spiral continues. I must confess, I have never been this down about the Braves, never. It’s not that they are losing, it’s that they have given up. The players have given up, that much is evident. The management has quit, apparent from the Tex move. I guess even I have given up, too, since I haven’t watched an entire game in weeks.

Jurrjens didn’t do too badly, only giving up three earned runs. He actually pitched better than that. He got his ground balls, but they all seemed to be seeing eye hits. In the end, he threw six innings, giving up nine hits and four runs. The pen did a nice job last night. Boyer pitched a perfect inning, while Bennett pitched an inning allowing only one hit.

Not much going on behind the plate (again). Infante and KJ each had two hits. Infante and Frenchy each had an RBI.

Braves lose, 2 - 4.

Today’s game, 10:15 PM. Not nationally televised.

Now, I haven’t followed Skip throughout his entire 32-year career with the Braves, mainly because I really only started watching the team in 1997. But since then, through every single of his broadcasts on TBS, I felt like he gave me something. He gave me the unique feeling of the Braves. His voice is ingrained in my head with most of the fond memories I have. He was honest, but also had a sense of humor that truly made the games more enjoyable. Listening to him was always a treat, and he did his job just about as well as anyone can do it.

More importantly, this was a guy who I grew up with. I’m sure most of you can say the same, that Skip did indeed have an impact on your youth. But now, knowing that I’m no longer going to hear his remarks, or listen to him say something that would undoubtedly put a smile on my face, the feelings are starting to sink in.

Rest in peace, Skip. Thanks for all the great memories. You will be missed.

[August 12, 1939 - August 3, 2008]

What a godsend this guy Campy has been. After, well, our entire pitching staff got hurt, Campy got the call as a reliever… then as a starter, and he has answered, brilliantly.

Campy had a fantastic outing yesterday. He gave us seven, six hit innings, not allowing a run to cross. It really doesn’t get much better than that. His change up was on, in fact, Ned Yost said, “He has one of the best changeups I’ve ever seen.” The pen held today as well. Bennett went .2 innings allowing only a walk. Ohman went .1, perfectly. Gonzo ended the game, only allowing a hit.

The bats were a little better today, scoring five time, but it wasn’t like we were tearing the cover off the ball with only eight hits. The only player to manage more than one hit was KJ. Escobar did drive in two runs.

Braves cruise to the win, 5 - 0.

Today’s game, 10:15 PM. Not nationally televised.

Another day, another good outing by a starter, another loss. Why do I get the feeling that writing the recaps isn’t going to be much fun for the rest of the season? But, I guess I will have to slog through somehow.

Morton had what was probably the best outing of his career, also his longest. He gave us seven outstanding innings limiting the Brewers to only two runs on four hits. When he came out, the game was close, but Soriano took care of that for us, promptly giving up two runs. Nunez got the last three outs with out incident.

Quiet day at the plate today. We had more K’s (10) than hits (7), never good. The only runs were driven across by Kotchman and Johnson. Prado and KJ each had two hits.

Brave lose, 2 - 4.

Tomorrow’s game, 1:35 PM not nationally televised.

Back to our losing ways I see. Chuck James continues to the be ultimate “AAAA” player. Dominate at “AAA” and can’t quite get over the hump to be successful in the bigs. Maybe it is the injury, maybe it is the lack of a third pitch. If it is the injury, he needs surgery. If it is the lack of a third pitch, he needs to learn one over the off-season.

As I mentioned, James wasn’t so good, but I wasn’t clear exactly how bad he was. He couldn’t get out of the third inning. In his 2.2 innings, he allowed six runs to cross, on six hits and four walks. Oh, since he is Chuck James, he did give up two home runs. Overall, the pen was solid tonight, except for one. Carlyle pitched 1.1 perfect innings. Tavarez was perfect for two. Boyer threw a great inning. Ring, wasn’t as good. Two hits, a walk and an error later three runs had crossed. Ohman (of course) was perfect.

Not much going on behind the plate tonight. We managed only five hits and no one had more than one.

Braves lose 0 - 9.

Today’s game 3:55 PM on FOX.

Finally, we win one! It seems like it has been a week (6 days). I can’t get too excited over this, since the team has largely given up and is beginning to focus on next year. But, a win is a win, and I will take it.

Pitching was better than it has been the past few days. Hampton wasn’t great, but he wasn’t awful, either. It was his longest outing of the season (not hard) and he lowered his ERA. He went five innings, giving up seven hits and four runs. If he could have cut back on the walks, it would have helped. The pen helped tonight. Bennett pitched two solid innings, perfect innings, in fact. Soriano and Gonzo pitched the last two innings, neither game up a run.

The story of the night was the hitting. We pounded out seven runs on fifteen hits. Escobar had two hits, scored and drove one in. Kotsay did the same. Infante is on fire as of late. He had three hits tonight, two RBI and two runs scored. KJ joined the hit parade with two hits and two RBI. Sammons hits and three RBI in his second (?) game.

Brave salvage the series finale, 9 - 4.

Today’s game 7:35 PM. Not nationally televised.

Well, now that the Braves have given up, I wonder if I should give up writing these recaps? How many in a row have we lost now? Five, I think? Oh well, I guess I’ll just make the recaps shorter.

Once again, poor pitching from the pen and poor hitting did the team in. On the hitting front, we did have a few, 11, but nothing really in the clutch. Our new acquisition, Kotchman, impressed with an 0 for 5 performance, stranding four runners. On the plus side, Norton is swinging a hot bat posting two more hits. Infante had three, KJ two, and Frenchy two. With all that hitting, we only managed two runs?

Once again, the starter gave us a good start… once again the pen didn’t. Jurrjens (the only starter from the start of the season who HASN’T spent time on the DL) pitched a solid seven innings allowing only three runs. Boyer stunk. He only got one out, allowing two runs to cross on a home run. Ohman (AKA soon to be gone) was perfect, the only good outing on the night. Ring gave up a run, as did Tavarez.

Braves continue to stink, lose 2 - 7.

It is official, the Braves’ season is over. The only burning question left is… “Who else is going to be traded?” So far, I have been pretty disappointed with Frank Wren, JS always seemed to have a way to get that extra player, to get extra value back. Since Wren has taken over, I’ve really felt like we have gotten the short end of most of the trades. Regardless, without Tex, we are done.

The Braves played as if the season ended yesterday, the pen allowing the game to be blown wide open. Campy gave us a great outing, but we have come to expect that from him. Seven fantastic innings, allowing seven hits and only two runs. When he was taken out, the game was tied, it didn’t stay tied long. Soriano comes in, a walk and a hit later we are losing. He makes it through the inning. Gonzo was next. Three walks, two hit and five runs, he was done. Boyer was brought in to put out the fire, he did, by letting more runners cross.

Our Texless offense didn’t show much either. We had nine hits on the day, four of them came from Blanco. Outside of Blanco it was pretty sparse, Norton did manage two hits.

Today’s game, 7:10 PM. Not nationally televised.