Norton To Braves

The Braves have announced that utility player Greg Norton has been acquired from the Mariners for a to-be-named player.  We expect the rest of that announcement later this afternoon.  Norton is expected to fill the role that Scott Spezio was originally acquired for as a veteran utility man on the bench.  He has batted .253 over a 12-season career and .235 in pinch hitting situations.  As soon as we have the rest of the details of the trade, we’ll bring those to you.

Home Dominance: Reds Swept

The Braves are 11-4 at home so far this season (now if only we weren’t 4-11 on the road) and it was a much needed 3-game sweep of the Reds after we had dropped 4 straight on the road.  We’ve been pretty lax about getting game recaps up lately, so I’m going to do my best to give a quick recap of the Reds series:

Game 1 - Friday - Braves 2, Reds 0
Friday night’s game was an absolute gem for Tim Hudson.  We’ve been a bit worried about Hud lately with his visible lack of speed and inability to get deep into a game.  But Friday night, he looked like the Tim Hudson we expect to see on the mound.  He threw a complete game, 3-hit shutout of the Reds, while striking out 10 and not issuing a walk.  The offense didn’t really provide much support outside of a two-run home run for Brian McCann in the bottom of the 4th, but who needs it when you have a pitching outing like that.  Hudson only seems to be doing well in every other start however, so we’ll see how he looks next time out.

Game 2 - Saturday - Braves 9, Reds 1
I’m not going to lie.  I was worried going into the game on Saturday with Jo-Jo Reyes making his first big league start for the Braves this season.  Jo-Jo has tended to pitch amazingly well in the minors and then not been up to snuff when he made his appearances in the bigs.  For 5 innings on Saturday, however, he looked decent.  His control fell apart in the top of the 6th and Bobby Cox wisely got him out of the game.  This was definitely the right decision for the team as a whole and for Jo-Jo’s confidence in his ability to pitch.  Through 5 1/3 innings, Reyes issued 4 hits and only gave up 1 run while striking out 5.  He gave up three walks as well, all in the top of the 6th.  The offense helped seal up the win for Jo-Jo with a 6-run bottom of the 7th.  The Braves had 7 doubles on the day.

Game 3 - Sunday - Braves 14, Reds 7
Yesterday’s game can best be described as a slug-fest with the teams putting up a combined 30 hits and 21 runs.  Tom Glavine didn’t have his best stuff for the game, going only 4 2/3 innings and giving up 6 runs.  Royce Ring came in to finish off the 5th inning, and, by throwing one pitch, gained the win on the day.  The offense looked stellar yesterday however, bolstered by 3 doubles from Kelly Johnson (which gave him 5 doubles in two games) and home runs from Chipper Jones and Mark Kotsay.  Chipper had a total of 5 RBIs on the day.

Overall, I know the Reds aren’t really a great team in the league this season, but the sweep was just what the Braves needed at this point.  They’re back to .500 baseball again with a record of 15-15 and have an off-day today before a three-game set at home against the Padres.

Julio Hangs It Up

Braves fan-favorite, Julio Franco, has decided that his time to retire has finally come.  Julio, who had hoped to play in the majors at age 50, is the oldest player to hit a home run in the major leagues.  This home run was at the age of 48 against Randy Johnson on May 4, 2007; one year ago.  Julio’s 23-year career was played with the Braves, as well as the Phillies, Mets, Indians, Rangers, White Sox, Brewers and Rays.

His career numbers are: .298 batting average, 2586 hits and 173 home runs.  Thanks for everything, Julio.  It was great to have the chance to see you in a Braves uniform for the end of last season.

Glavine Tries For Sweep

I forgot to post a game thread today before leaving for the game so here’s a quick one. Glavine’s taking the mound today to try to seal the series sweep against the Reds. The Braves can get back to .500 with a win today.

Oh No Jo-Jo

Well, I figured it would happen sooner or later this season, but this was a little sooner than I thought.  Jo-Jo Reyes is back in Atlanta from Richmond.  Now I’ve made no attempts at hiding my feelings about Jo-Jo in the past, but I am not completely unreasonable.  I will give him three starts before completely passing judgment this time around, but if I don’t approve of at least two of those starts, I will be right back to my old school of thought on him.

True to his usual form, Jo-Jo has been unstoppable in Richmond thus far this season.  He has the second lowest ERA in the International League at 1.17.  Reyes has given up 3 runs in 23 innings across 5 starts.  Control is where he has lacked in the majors, throwing high numbers of walks, however, in Richmond, he has only walked 8 while striking out 25.  We’ll see how he looks in Atlanta this time around, but making it deep into the game has always been a weak point for him.

Jo-Jo makes his first big league start of the season tonight against the Cincinatti Reds.  It’ll be hard to match Tim Hudson’s complete game, three-hit shutout from last night, but I’d love to see him try.  The Braves look to extend their home record to 10-4 tonight.  We’ve been struggling on the road, so we need to get the wins where we can.  Let’s see if we can get another win streak started this evening.

Hampton Ponders Retirement

After his latest injury in Richmond, reaggravating his strained pectoral muscle, Mike Hampton found himself in a far too familiar position.  On the disabled list with a recommendation of not touching a baseball.  An MRI confirmed that it was just a strain and that the pectoral muscle was not actually torn.  Shortly after the reinjury, Hampton pondered whether or not retiring at the end of his current contract would be the best option.

Hampton’s in the final year of his $121 million contract.  Since 2005, he has made 12 starts in the majors and made $56 million dollars.  On that fact alone, he’ll always have the critics against him.  I don’t think he takes satisfaction in making multi-millions and not pitching at all, but rather he just is injury-prone and has had a series of bad luck.  He’s not giving up on it yet and is planning to continue working throughout the season before making a final decision on what to do after this season.  If he doesn’t pitch this season, however, I feel like he’ll have a tough time finding a new contract somewhere.

More to come on this one as we hear it, but I doubt there will be any developments on it anytime soon.

Reds Coming To Town

There’s good news and bad news about the Cincinnati Reds coming to Atlanta for a weekend series against the Braves.

Good News: We’re back in Atlanta where we have an 8-4 record.  On the road, we have a paltry 4-11 record.
Bad News: We’re trying to figure out how to get the offense going to kick out of a 4 game losing streak.

Good News:  The Reds aren’t having a stellar season, with a 12-17 record.
Bad News:  We aren’t either, with our 12-15 record.

Good News:  Tim Hudson’s doing well every other start, so he’s due.
Bad News:  Edinson Volquez is pitching for the Reds and he’s on fire this season.

So that’s the meat of it.  The real question tonight is whether or not the Braves can figure out Volquez, who has only given up 20 hits in 29+ innings so far this season.  He’s carrying a 4-0 record and a 1.23 ERA only giving up 4 runs in his first 5 starts this season.  On top of that, he’s struck out 33.  Can the Braves find a way to crack through this hot streak.  Volquez has only gone 5 innings in his last three starts; maybe we can beat up on the bullpen.

Pondering The Phillies

Erik of PhilliesFlow.com was kind enough to take some time to answer some questions about the Phillies yesterday. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s a great blog full of stats and good insight on the Phillies. Great way to keep track of what’s going on up in the City of Brotherly Hate. I also answered some great questions he had about the Braves, so check out his blog for that Q&A session.

BravesBlast: With Jimmy Rollins on the DL until at least next Monday, how are the Phillies picking up the slack?

Erik: Eric Bruntlett gets the call at short now and forever until the Phils get Rollins back. After a miserable start he’s been good defensively, but the Phillies have no chance to replace Rollins’ offense at the position. One of the things that has Phillies’ fans excited early is that the team is playing well without Rollins. Basically they’ve been managing to win games paced by unbelievable hittting from Utley, who hit seven home runs in seven days, and Burrell, who set a team record by driving in 24 runs in April. The bullpen has also been other-worldly, far better than just about anyone had expected.

BravesBlast: The Phillies’ bullpen has been very successful this year - introduce us to the key pieces and tell us what your thoughts are.

Erik: Brad Lidge is the biggest story for the Phils, not allowing a run in his first 11 appearances for the Phils as he knocked down six saves. Coming into Wednesday night’s game, Lidge, JC Romero and Rudy Seanez had combined to allow one earned run in 31 1/3 innings. Seanez doesn’t see as many of the pressure situations that Lidge and Romero do, but the trio has been impressive.

Tom Gordon is another guy that Manuel feels comfortable going to with the game on the line. He got bombed for five runs in a third of an inning on opening day but has been lights out since. In his ten appearances after his first time out, Gordon threw to a 1.80 ERA with a 1.00 ratio and struck out 12 in ten innings.

Chad Durbin generally gets the call in long relief and he’s been very good as well, throwing to a 1.56 ERA coming into Wednesday night’s game. He leads the pen in innings pitched with 17.

Seanez, Ryan Madson and Clay Condrey make up the rest of the pen and most often fill out when the game is out of reach one way or another. I’m a little surprised we aren’t seeing more of Seanez given how effective he’s been early, but we’ll see if his role evolves. Madson has struggled early, but will likely find himself in a bigger role as the season progresses. Condrey will give the Phils innings until the next time they DFA him, but it probably won’t be pretty.

A big issue for the Phils pen is the lack of lefties. Romero is their only southpaw and it puts a lot of pressure on Manuel to keep the Phils’ left-handed starters (Hamels and Moyer) in the game, especially if the Phils’ opponent has big lefty sticks in their lineup. We saw that in a game last week when Hamels stayed in to throw 121 pitches against the Brewers and lefty Prince Fielder lit him up for his second home run in the eighth. The Phils will put another lefty in their pen before too long and it may be Steve Kline.

BravesBlast: Where are the spots in the lineup opposing pitchers can hope to get a break from the offense? And how good is your offense when you’re not hitting BP in the launching pad that is your home field?

Pretty much everyone except Utley, Burrell and Jayson Werth haven’t done much with the bat this month. Utley and Burrell have just been ridiculous. The lineup is weak at the bottom where you’ll often find Feliz, Ruiz and Bruntlett all in a row. Those three are all righties, too, so the bottom of the order is especially vulnerable to a good righty reliever. The Phils also pretty much can’t hit for Bruntlett cause if they do they have to move Feliz to short, and that’s not what you’re looking for.

In 2007 the Phillies scored more runs in their games away from home than any other team in the NL (if memory serves, the Mets and the Braves were both in the NL last year (could be mistaken, we could probably get someone to look that up if need be)). Primarily due to the extended loss of Rollins and the miserable start by Howard, the Phils’ offense is down across the board in 2008. It may be down all season, the Phils scored nearly 900 runs last year, but by the end I expect they will be among the league leaders in runs scored both overall and on the road if not at the top. Citizens Bank Park is a great place for hitters, but the Phillies’ hitters would be really good without it.

BravesBlast: Let’s Mets bash. Can they keep it up? How tight is the race going to be in the final months of the season, and who’s in on the chase?

Erik: Fraid so. On paper they’re the best team in the division. On the other hand, they were last year as well and that didn’t end up helping them much. The Mets certainly seem like they could implode at any time in some spectacular fashion, but even if they do I can’t see them not being in the picture down the stretch. I think the Phillies and Braves are going to be in striking distance when September rolls around, so it may come down to who plays the best at the end of the season.

The Fish have been fantastic in the early going, but even with all their impressive young talent they may be a couple of years away from being a legitimate contender for the division.

BravesBlast: One of my good friends (sadly a Phillies fan) told me the starting rotation scares him. Tell us who pitches behind Hamels and Myers, and whether or not they’re decent and who we can tee off against.

Brett Myers got the start for the Phils on opening day, but Cole Hamels is without a doubt the Phillies’ ace. The Phils are counting on Myers and Hamels to carry the load when it comes to the rotation, cause they’ve got a lot of question marks behind them.

Sadly for the Phils, only one of the duo is getting it done so far. Myers has struggled to find his velocity, often working in the mid to upper 80’s, and been banged around a bit. After six starts his ERA is over five and he’s allowed ten home runs over his last 32 innings.

Myers and Hamels are the guys the Phils are really counting on, cause there are some big potential problems looming behind. Jamie Moyer is amazing. He’s 45 years old and a treat to watch when he’s on. He has come up with huge performances in big games for the Phils, but he also gets bombed every so often. Even when he doesn’t he can’t go real deep into games, so it puts a burden on the pen.

Adam Eaton pitches behind Moyer, looking to rebound from a season where he threw to a 6.29 ERA in 30 starts for the Phils. He started off the season strong, throwing to a 4.12 ERA over his first three starts. He’s struggled more his last two times out — in both games he seemed to be cruising but then got lit up quickly in a big inning that chased him out of the game.

Kyle Kendrick rounds out the rotation. The 23-year-old is coming off of a fantastic surprise of a rookie season in which he went 10-4 with a 3.87 ERA in 20 starts. Kendrick is a guy that just about everyone expects is going to slump this year. His numbers overall with the Phils last season were better than his minor league numbers, he doesn’t strike anyone out and lefties kill him. He’s been hit pretty hard this year and sports a 5.13 ERA after his first five times out.

Overall I’d say there’s good reasons for concern when it comes to the Phillies rotation. At least one of the guys behind Hamels and Myers won’t make it through the season, but Myers is the real problem for the Phils if he doesn’t start to pitch better. The Phillies are counting on Myers to stabalize things, and if he can’t get his problems figured out the Phils don’t have anyone in the organization with the talent to replace him. It will be interesting to see where the Phillies go when they have to make a move at the back end of their rotation. Giving Chad Durbin some starts may be the first choice. Kris Benson is rehabbing, I don’t think there are many people who think there’s any chance he can help the team before June, if that soon. The Phils do have some touted (at least by the Phils) arms in the minor leagues — if they have to go there my guess is that Josh Outman might get the first call.

Thanks once again to Erik from PhilliesFlow for his insight and willingness to share his opinions. I answered some questions from him about the Braves - don’t lose the opportunity to go check out his blog.

Smoltz Plans To Pitch From Pen

The AJC is reporting that John Smoltz said in a text message Wednesday that he doesn’t think he can handle starting for the Braves and plans to return as a reliever.

Here’s the quote:

“I am planning on coming back as a reliever first, and more than likely for the rest of this year.”

Can the Braves’ rotation handle Smoltz being in the ‘pen?  Sure, it’ll stabilize things out there, but what becomes of starting pitching?  Do we have to just cross our fingers and hope Jo-Jo Reyes can hold it together at a big league level?  Who picks up the slack?

Can we take it?  What do you think?

Jurrjens Attempts To End Slide

The Braves are on a three-game losing streak and are looking to Jair Jurrjens to help end the road trip on a high note this afternoon against the Nationals.  Jurrjens (3-2, 3.45) has been the most consistent hurler in a rotation that has been severely plagued by injuries already this season.  There’s no reason to doubt why the Braves have high hopes for him in the future of the pitching staff.

The Braves have given the Nationals 4 of their 10 wins thus far this season.  As I said yesterday, they always seem to have our number no matter how each team is doing.  Hopefully today, with Chipper and Yunel settled back into the lineup, we can get the offense going and put some strong numbers on the board.

Hampton….You Know The Rest

Mike Hampton was injured yet again to the point where he might as well legally changed his middle name to “Injury-prone.” Turns out he re-injured the pectoral muscle he injured warming up earlier this year. They had him on a 75 pitch count and Hampton exited his start after throwing just 71 pitches into the fourth inning. He allowed one run on four hits, four strikeouts and two walks before his premature exit. The injury is not believed to be as serious as it was the first time and may only set Hampton back two to three weeks. Of course, with Atlanta’s injury woes at the major league level, that seems like an eternity.

Chuck James replaced Hampton in the fourth inning, leading fans to believe that Jo-Jo Reyes will get the start against the Reds this weekend in place of the fifth starter. Reyes has been spectacular at Richmond, going 1-1 with 1.17 ERA in 23 innings, his most impressive stat might be that he has walked only eight hitters in the 23 innings pitched.

Smoltz Willing To Leave Rotation

John Smoltz is willing to leave the starting rotation and return to the bullpen, the AJC is reporting.

Smoltz, who just went on the DL today with biceps tendinitis, said in a phone interview Tuesday that he was willing to do whatever was necessary to help the team out.

“Right now I’m sitting at ground zero, taking it day by day, looking at every option to help this team get to the playoffs and end my career the way I’d like to end it.”

The rotation would definitely be hurt by the loss of Smoltz, but the bullpen could use his magic closer capabilities right now with Moylan gone for the season and Soriano out for at least a while longer.  Smoltz converted 154 saves in three and a half years as a closer from 2002-2004.

The trick here is that while we want Smoltz dominating for six innings, he may not be able to handle it.  He apparently has aged and his body can’t take the starting job right now.  If he heals up properly and can return to the rotation, he’ll be much appreciated.  But if he can’t start for the Braves, I’d much rather have him in the closing spot than not at all.  His arm is needed whenever he can pitch.

Smoltz promised he won’t rush back and that the Braves would be OK.

“I will be fine. The team will be fine. And the next time I throw will be because I’m ready.”

What do you think?  How is this going to affect the Braves heading into May and beyond?