Atlanta Braves

After a long hiatus, it’s great to be back blogging about the greatest sports franchise on the planet. Since my last blog entry, the New York Yankees have won the World Series (coincidentally on this blogger’s birthday last year. SWEET!) and got some good quality talent during the offseason, namely Curtis Granderson from the Tigers, Nick Johnson from the Marlins, and Javier Vasquez from the Braves, among others. They’ve gotten off to an awesome start, winning every series this year so far except this past weekend when they lost 2 out 3 in Anaheim against the Angels. Bringing up Javi Vasquez leads me to discuss Robinson Cano because the Yanks gave up his seemingly inseparable buddy Melky Cabrera to get him. The 2 were like brothers. They lived together. They visited each other’s family. They supported each other, helping each other during slumps. Their antics at times were the life of the clubhouse and highlight reels. But now that is over. Robinson is now on his own outside his comfort zone minus Melky. Manager Joe Girardi took a gamble and put Cano to bat behind Alex Rodriguez in the #5 spot and, boy, did it pay dividends. “You want to take care of your veterans, but all we’ve got is veterans. I consider Robbie a veteran player, “ Girardi said in an interview during spring training. In 18 games so far this season, he’s already had 1 multi-homer game & is hitting .368 with an on base percentage of .416.  He has 5 HRs, 14 RBIs and is going into tonight’s game hitting safely in 8 out of his last 10 games. He’s been clutch since the beginning of the season. He’s had to. The #5 spot last year was occupied by Mr. Clutch himself, Hideki Matsui, who is now with the LA Angels of Anaheim. Those are some heavy shoes to fill especially considering Godzilla was the World Series MVP last year. With more focus and less distractions, Yankee fans, expect another career year from Robinson Cano this season. I admit he’s nowhere near as clutch as Matsui, but he’s do a pretty job so far.

Continue reading "Cano’s a go to stay at the #5 spot"

As it stands right now, the Colorado Rockies are 4.5 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants in the National League Wild Card race. The Rockies have been a bit of a surprise team this season, after an unimpressive '08 campaign and the loss of Matt Holliday during the offseason. They've thrived after the firing of Clint Hurdle, as Jim Tracy has pushed the right buttons, rarely ever taking a misstep.

Continue reading "Have the Rockies locked up the NL Wild Card?"

In Wednesday night's victory against the Atlanta Braves, his home run brought revival to the Yankees offense. Check out the drama here: Joe Girardi gets kicked out of the game for arguing that call on a play at first base. (Replays show that Brett Gardner was safe) Next up is Frankie Cervelli.

Continue reading "Frankie serves up some spark for ..."

(Note: originally posted on February 25.)

Each year, prior to the start of the MLB season, I use a unique mathematical system (one that I will not get into, because it's boring) to project the performance of every player and team. This season, in lieu of their significant offseason additions, I expected the Yankees to come out on top. Surprisingly, my expectations were wrong...

Continue reading "MLB Preseason Predictions: Regular ..."

Before I get to the actual list, I must say when I posted this on FanNation, readers were complaining about the omission of the New York Mets' star-studded infield.

The funny thing is, I'm a Mets fan. And yet I ranked both the Braves and Phillies' infields ahead of the Metropolitans. Talk about reserving one's biases...

Continue reading "MLB's Top Five Infields"

ious mixture of John Rocker and Bad Santa, was a 19-year-old prodigy when he made his debut for the Atlanta Braves in game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning, Powers, who claims to have never once drunk a glass of water in his lifetime, blazed a 101-mph fastball passed an overmatched hitter and Atlanta dramatically won the championship.

Continue reading ""Eastbound & Down" Rules and Everything ..."

Omar Minaya is the Jekyll and Hyde of Major League general managers. It's incredible how he can look like an Einstein-esque genius with some moves, and an executive that knows very little about baseball with others.

Continue reading "Major Mets Blunder: Lowe Signs with Braves"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

According to several blogs, including Baseball Digest Daily, Mark Teixeira is headed to the Angels, in exchange for middling 1B Casey Kotchman and minor-league pitcher Stephen Marek, with perhaps others thrown into the mix.

Continue reading "Tex is an Angel"

As reported in the stalwart Sports Xchange, the Braves are making moves to their roster that may suggest a possible trade is imminent. First baseman Mark Teixeira is the big name that's been bandied about in baseball, and (except for Brian Fuentes and Matt Holliday, who will either go close to the deadline or not at all) is the Last Man Standing as far as frontline trade candidates go.

Continue reading "Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop"

It’s the annual midpoint of the baseball season, and for the brief span that is the All-Star break, all eyes are upon the Bronx. As everyone is well aware of, this campaign is the last go around for the world’s most famous, largest, and most prominent ballpark, Yankee Stadium. It seems hard to believe, and even more sacrilegious that this living legend’s days are numbered. Built in 1923 and christened by the greatest ballplayer to ever live, Babe Ruth, the cathedral of baseball will never truly be replaced. Although the Bombers will move a block to Yankee Stadium’s heir, the Mecca of America’s Pastime will still live on in our hearts. Whether you’re a diehard Yankee fan, or Yankee-hater, you still can respect the history and awe that the stadium brings. So when the All-Stars take the field Tuesday night, sit back on your couch, crack open a cold one and soak up the history of Yankee Stadium, as its final chapter is unveiled to all of us.

Continue reading "National League Looks to End Rut"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

Troy Tulowitzki.

Chipper Jones 3B – Atlanta Braves

The now ageless Chipper Jones is trying to accomplish something that is more elusive than Big Brown’s Triple Crown, or Alex Rodriguez’s World Series ring. He is trying to become the first player since Ted Williams in 1941, to hit .400. Many have tried, but all have failed in the 67 years since the milestone was last reached. As of July 5th, the severely slumping Chipper Jones’ batting average was at a futile .385, and as of now, he must hit roughly .418 the rest of the year to qualify for feat, seemingly impossible. But for this 36 year old, it is one challenge that he has never endured, and one that could fully cement himself in Cooperstown, should he conquer the mystique of the .406 batting average that has been frozen in time for 67 years.  

Continue reading "Mic's National League All-Star Team"

And probably not your own Braves, either. I watched them boot the ball around last night with a long-time Braves fan; three first-inning errors led to three runs, and they never recovered, losing 4-3, in a game without Chipper and a host of others.

Continue reading "Not Your Daddy's Braves"

Someday we will certainly look back on the last few years as some of the best years in baseball, as far as watching some significant milestones being broken. In between Bonds' maligned chase of Aaron and Randy's recent conquering of Clemens' K record, we've seen Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, and ARod all reach the 500-HR plateau, and Sosa reach 600, with Griffey knocking on the same door. Maddux recently won his 350th game, and Glavine won his 300th, and Smoltz recorded his 3000th strikeout just before he went down to a season- (and possibly career-) ending injury, and not long after Pedro reached that same level.

Continue reading "Another Milestone Passed"

I should preface this by saying I'm not a Braves fan and never have been. This is due to many factors, including my dislike of many things Southern (I say this having spent almost 10 years living in Alabama, and several more visiting my parents there), the annoying and insulting idiocy of the Tomahawk Chop and its associated "war cry," the stupid antics of rednecks like John Rocker (and the fans' tolerance of his ignorant ways), as well as their hegemony of the airwaves. Because they were always on TBS, it was hard to avoid the Braves, and in the days before my DirecTV Extra Innings package (AKA "Baseball Heroin") I'd watch the Braves games just to root against them.

Continue reading "Braves: America's Team No More"

Like before, these are the key questions facing each team.

Atlanta Braves

How much do Tom Glavine and John Smoltz have left?

The Braves figure to be loaded on offense and their pitching could potentially be pretty strong depending on how this pair of 40 year-olds fair this season. Smoltz, who will turn 41 this season, is the safer bet as he has pitched over 200 innings in each season since returning to the starting rotation in 2005, each time with a sub 3.50 ERA. At his age though, a pitcher can rapidly begin to decline and he has experienced some shoulder problems already this spring. Nonetheless, I would expect him to put up another solid year.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: National League East"

their fans are now getting restless.  This may be the year they get back to the top.  The Atlanta Braves made a few small moves in the off-season (brought back Tom Glavine and also signed Mark Kotsay) but their big deal was done at the deadline last season when they traded for Mark Texiera.  They also lost Andruw Jones but after the year he had, is that actually a bad thing?  Like the Phillies this team should be fine offensively with Brian McCann, Big Tex, Chipper and Jeff Francoeur in the middle of the order.  The big question again lingers with their rotation and mostly their third starter.  John Smoltz and Tim Hudson will be very good again this year, which means things, come down to Tom Glavine.  He was brought back to sure up the rotation and that’s exactly what he must do.  One person to look out for is Mike Hampton, yes that Mike Hampton.  He is healthy (for now) and if he stays that way he could become a key player for this team.  The bullpen is also a concern because Rafael Soriano has struggled to close games and everyone else seems to be a young kid.

Continue reading "First of a Seven Part Series-NL East Preview"