Atlanta Braves

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants, who are World Champions for the first time since moving to the west coast more than 50 years ago.  Their last title in New York came in 1954, when Willie Mays made “the catch” that will be played on highlight reels forever.  The Giants came unbelievably close to not even making the playoffs this year, but the fans who claimed that watching their team was “torture” are now the happiest fans in baseball.

Continue reading "A new champion is crowned"

While the fans in Cincinnati, Atlanta, and St. Petersburg may not have appreciated it, nearly every game played so far this postseason has featured a dominant pitching performance.  Roy Halladay no-hit the Reds, Tim Lincecum shut out the Braves on just two hits while striking out 14, and C.J. Wilson and Cliff Lee combined to hold the Rays to one run in 13.1 innings.  Lee displayed his talents during last year’s World Series, earning both of the Phillies’ wins over the Yankees, but Halladay, Lincecum and Wilson were all making their postseason debuts, and not one of them showed any sign of butterflies.

Continue reading "Playoff newcomers show the baseball ..."

Albert Pujols and Joey Votto have been battling each other all year, but Carlos Gonzalez has leap-frogged the front-runners in the Triple Crown race.  Gonzalez leads the National League in hitting (.337), is tied with Votto for the league lead with 100 Runs Batted In, and with 32 home runs is just five back of Pujols, two behind Adam Dunn, and tied with Votto and Mark Reynolds.  While he may have the best shot at the Triple Crown, I suspect Gonzalez’s home-road splits (.387/.435/.783 at Coors Field, .288/.310/.450 on the road) will keep the voters from naming him the NL MVP.

Continue reading "Another Triple Crown candidate storms to the top"

Albert Pujols and Joey Votto are having monster seasons.  Not only are the sluggers leading their teams in the playoff hunt – the Cardinals are 1.5 games back in the Wild Card race while the Reds lead the NL Central – but Pujols (.321, 34 HR, 93 RBI) and Votto (.326, 31 HR, 90 RBI) are the top two National Leaguers in each of the Triple Crown categories.  Both have strong cases for the MVP award, but if either one wins the first Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, it would be awfully hard for the voters not to choose him as the league’s Most Valuable Player.

Continue reading "Pair of Triple Crown candidates duel it out"

The hype over Washington Nationals’ phenom Stephen Strasburg has been followed by terrific pitching from the young right-hander, but the Nats’ front office also deserves a lot of credit.  In his first three starts, Strasburg has faced the Pirates, the Indians, and the White Sox, all of whom rank near the bottom offensively.  While I think Strasburg has a tremendous amount of talent and is going to be a great pitcher for quite some time, I’d like to see how he fares against the heavy-hitting lineups of the Yankees, Reds, and Red Sox.

Continue reading "Nationals handle Strasburg’s schedule ..."

Julio Franco may be the oldest player in Major League history to hit a home run (he also holds a number of other oldest player records), but Jamie Moyer has established himself as the game’s new Ageless Wonder.  In throwing a two-hitter against the Braves on May 7th, the 47-year-old became the oldest player to throw a complete game shutout.

Continue reading "Jamie Moyer: baseball's new Ageless Wonder"

When the Atlanta Braves announced during the last week of spring training that Jason Heyward had made the big league roster, it made headlines in part because both Stephen Strasburg and Aroldis Chapman were being assigned to the minors.  However, after winning the starting right fielder’s job in Atlanta, the 20-year-old phenom wasted no time before impressing the baseball world by launching a three-run home run in his very first major league at-bat.  Batting seventh in the lineup behind Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, and others has limited the pressure on the 14th overall pick in the 2007 draft, but before long, you can expect to see Heyward taking his hacks in the cleanup spot.

Continue reading "Jason Heyward: Instant Hit"

Today’s post is brought to you from Toledo, Ohio.  With Spring Training wrapping up in just over a week, every team has reason to be hopeful that this will be their year.  Though it is widely accepted that exhibition games are meaningless, the Giants should feel good about their 18-7 record this spring, and the Indians are certainly pleased that they have won 13 of their first 19 games.  The reigning World Series champion Yankees, meanwhile, can shake off their 9-12 record as rustiness.  It may not have the excitement of October, but April is when everyone’s glass is half full; no one has ground to make up or nagging injuries to play through.  Every team has a share of first place, and that’s what makes it the most promising time of the year.

Continue reading "The most promising time of the year"

Big news from the Big Unit: 46-year-old Randy Johnson announced his retirement, concluding his career with a record of 303-166, a 3.29 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.  His five Cy Young Awards – one with the Mariners and four in a row with the Diamondbacks – rank him behind only Roger Clemens, and his 4,875 career strikeouts are second only to Nolan Ryan.  He was a 10-time All-Star, starting the Midsummer Classic four times – twice for each league. Johnson made history in 2004 when he became the oldest player – at 40 – to throw a perfect game.

Continue reading "The Big Unit hangs ‘em up"

g me…two records that you wouldn’t believe

Mark Lemke played second base for the Atlanta Braves in the late eighties and better part of the nineties.  He did not hit for

Continue reading "A vote for Alomar"

The 12-inning thriller that was the last regular season game ever played at the Metrodome was exactly what I wanted to see.  When the Twins and Tigers played a four-game series in Detroit last week, I found myself rooting for the Twins to close the gap in order to create an exciting finish to the regular season – ideally a one-game playoff.  When that happened, I decided it would be great for the city of Detroit to send their team to the playoffs, but what I wanted most was to see a great game.  My wish came true when the two teams played a nail-biter that could have gone either way, but eventually sent Minnesota to the postseason.  Props to both teams for giving the fans what they deserved.

Continue reading "Twins-Tigers game was exactly what I wanted"

  Under his leadership, the Braves have won 100 games six times.  The next manager of the Atlanta Braves will have big shoes to fill.

How ‘bout that?

How about Adam Laroche?  Since being traded back to the Braves mid-season, Laroche has slugged .622 to go with his .355 batting average and .426 on-base percentage.  In 126 fewer at-bats, Laroche has hit twice as many home runs (12) as did his predecessor, Casey Kotchman.  To top it off, Laroche has made just one error in 47 games with Atlanta and boasts a .998 fielding percentage.

Continue reading "Bobby Cox has one more season in him"

In the last week, baseball fans have been exposed to a number of unfortunate incidents that involved big-name, All-Star players.  My thoughts on each of them follow.

Kevin Youkilis charging the mound: Youk let his emotions get the best of him on Tuesday night after getting plunked in the back for the second consecutive night.  The Red Sox need Youk’s bat in the lineup and his glove in the field.  Now they have neither for five games.

Continue reading "Poor behavior on and off the field is Bad for Ball"

ast great pitcher to accomplish the feat got some bad news this week.  In a surprise move, the Atlanta Braves released 43-year-old Tom Glavine on Wednesday.  The veteran southpaw has been around so long he was actually drafted the year before I was born, and outside of his five-year affair with the Mets (2003-2007), Glavine has been a Brave his entire professional career.

Continue reading "Big Unit wins a big game"

r leagues?

A sad day for loyal Braves fans

The longest-tenured member (by far) of the Atlanta Braves has left for greener pastures.  Smoltz finishes his Braves career with 210 wins, 154 saves, 53 complete games, 16 shutouts, 3011 strikeouts and a 3.26 E.R.A. in 708 games.  He made eight All-Star teams and came in the top 10 in Cy Young voting five times, winning the award in 1996 – the year he won 24 games and, incidentally, the only time he reached 20 victories.

Continue reading "Orioles finally tap into Japan’s talent"

What are some of the Braves other needs before the season opener against the Phillies on April 5? Adding an outfield bat seems to be Wren's top priority, but who could it be?

Hopefully not Andruw Jones, who just hit the free agent market yesterday. I just don't think he's worth taking a shot on. After all, the Dodgers did agree to pay him the rest of his contract as long as he stopped hurting their team by taking up a roster spot.

Continue reading "What's left for the Braves?"

Yes, it's great for the Atlanta Braves that Derek Lowe is their rotation's new ace. He's better than what they have now — with the exception possibly being Jair Jurrjens, who might be really, really good one day but is still just 22 years old — and there aren't too many other options out there. Randy Wolf isn't that great, neither is Oliver Perez, and Ben Sheets is exactly what the Braves don't need, another starter who will spend more time on the DL then he will off of it.

Continue reading "Braves overbid for Lowe - but they had no choice"

Every playoff contender has been calling for this guy, the Yankees, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and the surprising Tampa Bay Rays. The price tag is slightly lower then Bay, but still substantial, which would leave those Rays in the lead as they obviously have the deepest minor league system.

Continue reading "The Pittsburgh Swap Market"