Yes, it was a hard-hit ball. Is he coming around? Maybe.

To me, it’s time to land another center fielder. While McLouth might come around and we may have moderate production out of the position the rest of the season, and I’m not OK with that.

The way this team is playing, I want to see us go out and get a player who can put some pop in the lineup. I want someone who is going to put us from playing pretty well in the NL East to the class of the NL East. I want to put the Phillies on notice that even if they trade for Oswalt they are going to have to play .800 ball to catch us. I want to be damn good. We’re already good. I want to be even better.

Here’s the thing – I’m against trading prospects for a star to “put us over the top” when we’re only hoping to make the playoffs. However, I am completely behind trading prospects for a star to make us the class of the National League.

Mark Bowman is reporting that the Braves may not be that interested in the Marlins’ Cody Ross. Others are reporting that the Fish are unlikely to move Ross. If you ask me, it sounds like Ross won’t be the next member of the Braves. I would like to see us make a *smart* move and land a center fielder who can give us the production we need from center field to have a potent lineup throughout the batting order.

Let’s go get Marlon Byrd ($5.5M in ’11 and $6.5M in ’12). Or hell, how about we sign Jermaine Dye? His power numbers would be nice and he’d definitely hit for more average than McLouth will. I’ll think on that more and maybe expound on it in another blog post soon.

Jurrjens’ admitted to being nervous before the start after two months on the Disabled List because of a hamstring injury, but showed none of it on the mound. His fake bunt and slash RBI single to left field almost took out Ryan Zimmerman on its way to left field.

As our own Kent Covington has pointed out, Jurrjens’ hamstring injury was a blessing in disguise. In Spring Training, Jurrjens battled an inflamed shoulder and elbow. The two months on the bench gave his shoulder and elbow time to recover that simply wasn’t happening before the injury, when his fastballs were routinely in the high 80s. Last night, Jurrjens’ fastball was what Kent calls “resting” in the low 90s – indicating Jurrjens is likely not experiencing the arm issues he was before his DL stint. The other hidden blessing of Jurrjens’ injury was of course the rise of Kris Medlen as the best 5th starter candidate on the team.

If Jurrjens can stay healthy the rest of the season and be as effective as he was last night, his return from the DL will become the equivalent of pulling off a blockbuster trade for another ace. Jurrjens is probably our number two or three pitcher in this rotation, and with his return, our rotation is stronger than it was with Kawakami in Jurrjens’ spot.

The bottom line yesterday was Tim Hudson. Through seven innings of ball, Hudson struck out six, picked off one, walked three, and gave up a total of five hits. His extremely effective sinking two-seamer led to twelve groundouts – and only one fly out. Hudson showed that he’s back in ace form last night – as the nation watched expecting such a performance from the opposing pitcher.

Strasburg was almost as good. Through six innings he held the Braves’ offense scoreless. Nats manager Jim Riggleman almost pinch-hit for Strasburg when his spot in the order came up in the bottom of the sixth (someone came out on deck for Strasburg but was pulled back) and Strasburg came back out to pitch the seventh inning. Right now I’ll bet he wishes he hadn’t. Following a leadoff walk to Chipper (his 46th of the season), the Braves loaded the bases with no outs (thanks to an error) and tattooed WonderBoy for four runs (three earned). They then tacked on another unearned run.

Hustler of the night: Gregor Blanco, who surprised everybody with a bunt down the first base line that the pitcher couldn’t field cleanly for an RBI comes in second to Tim Hudson, who was absolutely ace-like last night.

Slacker of the evening: In the first inning, Melky Cabrera roped a double to left. Chipper then knocked a fly ball to deep left and Melky got caught somewhere between second and third. Had he tagged up, he could have scored when McCann singled to left. Instead, Melky’s slow self got caught trying to score from second to end the inning.

Strasburg Effect: 9601 walkup tickets were sold yesterday and a total of 21,608 tickets were sold since Strasburg’s previous start. The Braves’ franchise thanks Strasburg for coming to Atlanta, selling tickets, and then giving up the loss to improve the Bravos’ home record to 27-8.

]]> http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/06/29/atlanta-braves-tim-hudson-tackle-stephen-strasburg-5-0/feed/ 3 http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/06/27/hindsight-johnny-damon/ http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/06/27/hindsight-johnny-damon/#comments Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:40:17 +0000 Colin http://www.bravesblast.com/?p=1668 Remember when there was speculation that the Atlanta Braves might beat out the Detroit Tigers for outfielder Johnny Damon? The argument was that Damon would provide some power and consistency in the outfield.

Man, am I glad we didn’t pay $8M for an outfielder that can’t field or throw particularly well, is hitting .269 with 18 RBI and 3 HR.

Eric Hinske is doing just fine by me. For contrast, we paid him $1M and he’s batting .308, has knocked in 28 runs, has 5 homers, and has struck out 33 times to Damon’s 40. The only thing that Damon is better than Hinske at is walking. Damon has more than double the number of walks Eric’s landed (37 to 15).

In hindsight, I’m so glad we didn’t pay out $8M for a player who is underperforming one of our bargain retreads. Damon’s simply not worth the money the Tigers are paying him.

Plus, we’ve got the salary room to make a move if we decide to pull the trigger on a deal going into the second half of the season.

Wagner attempted to warm up today in the bottom of the eighth but was in some considerable discomfort. He attempted to tape the ankle more than normal but was unable to complete his warmup. Today after the game, Wagner received a cortisone shot in the ankle.

Wagner expects to be ready to go as early as tomorrow, depending on how his ankle feels.

• #10 – The decision to start Jason Heyward in Atlanta in 2010
• #15 – The decision to get rid of Kelly Johnson and start Martin Prado
• #17 – Resigning Tim Hudson

Now while I’ll agree that all three of these have been absolutely crucial to the Braves’s success in 2010, I’d add a couple more to the list.

• Signing Troy Glaus. Without Glaus in the middle of the lineup to provide some additional protection for the top of the lineup, where would the Braves be? Would Heyward be doing as well if the lineup weren’t as potent behind him? Glaus has been the offensive key the Braves have been missing in past years, and his .400 batting average (and .600 slugging percentage) with 2 outs and runners in scoring position has him a near lock for the comeback player of the year.
• Signing Billy Wagner. Wags (or The Sandman, if you prefer) has been absolutely dominant this year. If you haven’t seen him pitch in person this season, you’re missing out on how dominant he is. Having Wagner at the back of the Braves’ bullpen has certainly been one of the keys to success this season.

Those are the other decisions I’d put with Heyman’s three to round out the top five decisions of 2010. Ranking which decisions are most important to the Braves’ current success is difficult though. How would you rank ‘em?

The NL East is good this year. Yes, our Bravos are good (and we’re damn good). We’re 29-0 when we score 5 runs or more, and we have the best home record in baseball. But it’s not a one-team division. The Phillies are starting to bat again and have started winning a few games. And though the Mets have been beating up on last place teams like the Orioles and Indians, they’ve won 8 straight. The Marlins and Nationals have shown flashes of brilliance but are riding some younger teams that aren’t developed to the point they need to be at to compete in the NL East.

The AL East is good too. Obviously you have the defending World Champ Yankees. I will point out their pitching staff has been improved by an NL East castoff (Vazquez). The Rays are just playing great baseball in almost every aspect of the game, and then you’ve got the Red Sox hanging just one game back. Even the Blue Jays have surprised and are playing six games above .500. The Orioles don’t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as the word “good,” but I just screwed that up, didn’t I?

Bottom line is the NL East is comparable to the AL East. Even if you throw out the Orioles series (as might be fair), we’ve won 9 of 14. But we won’t throw series out. After all, the Yankees and Rays have played the O’s and those wins count towards their .612 win percentage. We’ve won 12 out of 17 games.

I’m going to go out on a limb (a very strong limb) and predict an NL East vs. AL East World Series. With a National League Champion.

Let me translate: Chipper’s a class act and wants Bobby to get the credit he’s due. He doesn’t want it to be a “Bobby and Chipper are both leaving, win it for them” line the rest of the season. He wants to win it for Bobby. And yes, Chipper is going to retire if he doesn’t bat .300+ the rest of the season. In all likelihood, this is his last year on the field wearing #10.

Chipper was young and inexperienced when he came to Atlanta. Some have accused him of being arrogant over the years, or fragile. Nobody can ever doubt his love for this team and this city though – this move should cement him as one of the most loyal and selfless players in the free agent era. Chipper’s not worried about the hype surrounding his retirement; he wants Bobby to be the focus. As it should be, frankly. Bobby’s an absolute legend retiring – there will never be another Bobby Cox.

And in all honesty, there is not likely to be another Chipper. Here’s to Larry.

That said, the Braves want power. They want a little more pop in their lineup and LaRoche gives them that. He has to work on keeping the strikeouts down (he’s whiffed 83 times already this year, compared to Kotchman’s 28). LaRoche does walk a bit more, too.

The bottom line is that the Braves think LaRoche is a better fit and jumped on the opportunity to bring him back home. When he was with us before, he struck out less. He now gets to play with his old buds and hopefully provide some punch to the back of our lineup, which isn’t looking shabby now. Here’s a guestimated lineup, assuming everyone is healthy:

McLouth, Prado/Johnson, Chipper, McCann, Anderson, Escobar, Church/Diaz, LaRoche. Having someone on pace to hit around 20 homeruns is not a bad person to have in the 8 hole – especially if the guys before him are on base enough to give him RBI opportunities. Sure, he’s only hitting .248, but I’m choosing to stay on the positive side of this trade. I’ll leave the negative to someone else.

Kudos to Wren and Cox for going out and making a move that they believe makes this team better. They’ve been right so many times in the past when it looks like a wash – why should now be any different?

Javier Vazquez and the Braves hope that the Phillies’ slumbering lumber (it rhymed, I had to do it) doesn’t awake for today’s game. Vazquez will be facing Joe Blanton, who is considerably younger than the aging Jamie Moyer and Brett Myers the Braves faced in the first two games. Vazquez is typically a fly ball pitcher – so it’ll be interesting to see how Citizens Bank Ballpark handles the Phillies’ bats and Vazquez’s style today.

Join us in this thread for some in-line game commentary and general chattiness. Feel free to jump in and offer your opinion or comment on the goings-on! Jonathan will be game-threading it and Colin will join as he is able while in and out of class this afternoon. Bring out the brooms!

Derek Lowe Is Solid

He’s not going to wow us every night with heaters – he’s not the typical power pitcher ace most people think of – but he’s a very solid, methodical pitcher who is going to give us quality start after quality start. And when he’s on – like he was last night – he can be very, very good.

Francoeur Will Be Back

You saw Francoeur’s line drive home run last night – he’s going to hit the ball hard night after night this year. Once he gets more used to his stance, we’ll see more power forthcoming – but I’ll take the Francoeur we saw last night. That said, he needs to work on his throw from the right field corner to third. He’s got a reputation to keep.

Jordan Schafer Is Fast

Did you see how fast he cleared the bases after his homerun? What about when he almost ran over Kelly Johnson who was taking a couple steps back to field a fly ball in short right center? The guy has legs. What a night for his first game – a single, an intentional walk and finally a strikeout that made him look silly. I think we’ll see some good stuff from Jordan this year – I’m certainly looking forward to it.

The Braves Looked Good

Lowe pitched well. Schafer showed us a little bit of what he can do. Francoeur looks good. But let’s not forget Chipper – who did what Chipper does – stroking balls comfortably the other way. Yunel almost knocked a homer of his own. Kotchman showed us some defense. McCann crushed a ball that almost landed in another state. Gonzo came out of the bullpen with (a little too much) energy – but once he gets that under control he’ll be the dominant closer he is. When all was said and done, Lowe had an 8 inning, two-hit performance and the Braves beat the Phillies 4-1.

For the first time this season, New York Mets fans cheered for the Braves. And when the Mets played today, Braves fans cheered for the Reds. It’s baseball season, folks. It’s back, and so are the Braves. Now we just have to prove that to the rest of the baseball.

Both would fit in well and fill the need (a bat providing a little bit of power in the outfield). That said, there are a couple of other options – being Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher, both of whom we’d have to trade for (and send people to the Yankees, no less). And you ask, what about Andruw Jones? Is he still an option? Today I attempt to answer all of those questions (and more).

Overall, I think that Abreu fits the bill best. What’s the bill? An outfielder with a powerful bat that can play one season in our outfield before we’re absolutely swamped with the next wave of young Braves prospects to the point where we’d be stupid to pay someone else to play outfield. Abreu is older – he can fill the need without costing too much – and he’s most likely to be cool with a one year contract.

Dunn flat out costs too much. He’s asking $14M, and though some people think he could be grabbed for $10M/year, I think he’s more likely to get a multi-year deal. Sure, he’s more powerful (40 HR his last 5 seasons),  but we flat out don’t have the money for Dunn. Dunn and Done. I just am not going to give him any more consideration – even at $10M we can’t afford him.

Nady just signed a one year, $6.55M deal with the Yankees – so the Braves would have to trade for him AND pay his salary – something I don’t see us doing with an outfielder like Abreu on the free agent market. For a little less money than Nady, we can get someone with very comparable numbers – a couple more homers and doubles, sure, but fewer RBIs. Nady would give us a little bit of flexibility as he plays first base too, but we’re not looking for a first baseman.

Nick Swisher comes with a more long-term commitment than the Braves are looking for right now. He makes $5.3M this year, $6.75M next, and $9M in 2011. Why do that when in three years we could have potentially an outfield of Francoeur, Schafer, and Heyward? I just don’t see us trading for a player that would be around that long – not to mention Swisher is coming off a season where he hit .219 with 25 HRs. Yikes – we don’t need another Andruw Jones.

Similarly, we don’t need Andruw Jones himself. Andruw won’t take a minor league contract, both he and Boras have indicated – and even if we give him a minimum salary contract, there’s no guarantee we’ll see him fight his way onto the roster. I’d point out that bringing him back this year seems like it’d be a lot like bringing back Javy Lopez last year. May bring more people out to Spring Training games, but is that really the point?

I think that we’re most likely to see Abreu in Atlanta, but what do I know? Argue me wrong

Burnett won 18 games with the Jays last year and led the American League in strikeouts. Frank Wren confirmed the offer had been extended to Burnett – who is probably the best free agent pitcher on the market other than C.C. Sabathia, who the Braves are not making a move for.

The Yankees are expected to make an offer soon – but they were waiting to see how much cash the Braves were willing to throw his way first. He’s receiving plenty of attention, and I’m not sure whether or not the Braves have a chance at landing him. I’d guess that Wren put together an offer he feels will be competitive, as we’re not going to just magically land great pitching without giving something up in return. I’m not holding my breath, though, as we rarely win bidding wars with major free agents.

Come to Atlanta, A.J. We have Bobby Cox, Chipper Jones, and a giant cow standing over left field. Not to mention the Varsity, a big fish tank, and friendly fans that’ll show up for games on weekends.

What do you think will happen? Do we land Burnett or not?

This is the home of Bobby Cox.  Chipper Jones.  John Smoltz.  John Schuerholz.

This is the home of winning.  This is a team that’s used to winning and may seem a little disoriented after selling at the trade deadline for the first time in many players’ careers.  We’re not used to not making the playoffs – and there’s a hunger for it here.

There’s a lot of young talent on this team, and I think you’ll fit right in. McCann is a great catcher, Francoeur shows flashes of brilliance, Escobar is a promising shortstop (add extra padding to your glove – he has a cannon), and there are tons of outfield prospects heading our way from the minors.

Bobby will always have your back.  He’ll get ejected for you once or twice if he has to.  He’ll never badmouth you to the media, and he’ll always be yelling encouraging things at you from the dugout.

The fans will like you if you’re friendly.  Hitting well helps that process, but frankly, they want another magnetic personality like Francoeur, McCann, Chipper, Smoltzie, or even Escobar.  Play your cards right and you’ll soon have your own special fan section named something like “Kotchman’s Yachtmen” or something.  We promise it’ll rhyme. We like good young players.

Take some time to look at the people who have played for this organization.  Sit down with Smoltz, Glavine, Chipper, and Terry Pendleton, hear about the old times.  Watch the video of the most remembered play by a firstbaseman in Atlanta’s history – and try to always remember to run faster than Sid.

The future is bright here.  Spirits will be a little dampened when you show up today because this group is used to winning – and that Teixeira guy was a fan and clubhouse favorite.  This group is used to seeing wins on that scoreboard and used to being at the top of the division.  We have some young pitching prospects that are dynamite, and we have a core to build around.  Chipper will always lend help if you ask him – he’s a good guy and fun to be around.  And watch out for Tim Hudson – when he gets back from Alabama he’ll probably organize some sort of prank with you in mind.  Oh, and let Jeff Francoeur take you to the Varsity.  Just don’t get any of the season long slump on you.

Settle in.  Walk around Turner Field and take a look at the retired numbers high above left field.  By the time the end of the season is here, optimism for next year will spring eternal.

We’re glad to have you – and we’re looking forward to the next few years.  Casey Kotchman, welcome to Atlanta – where the players play.

Casey Kotchman was acquired for Mark Teixeira last night from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  In 100 games this year, he’s batting .287 with 12 HRs and 54 RBIs.  He has an OBP of .327 and hits a few doubles, but not many triples.  He’s excellent defensively – only two errors this year for a .998 fielding percentage.  Fans, we think you’ll like him.  If you’re at the stadium soon, give him a hearty Atlanta welcome.

#1 – Rafael Soriano is lights out as closer.
#2 – Peter Moylan eats up innings – and stays effective.
#3 – Will Ohman fills the left-handed setup role.
#4 – The emergence of an effective long-reliever.
#5 – The healthy return of Blaine Boyer and Mike Gonzalez.

Well, I got three out of five right.  Ohman has been great, and Boyer and Gonzalez have been healthy, but Soriano hasn’t seen much time and Moylan is out recovering from Tommy John surgery.

And yet the Braves’ bullpen is one of the best in the NL – we have the third best ERA (3.22) and the best Batting Average Against (or BAA at .224).  We’ve also give up the third fewest runs in the NL.  Our BAA is second only to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

This is thanks in no small part to Will Ohman, Blaine Boyer, and Manny Acosta.  For the crap we give Bobby for over-using Acosta, Manny is a really good pitcher when he’s not overused.  The return of Mike Gonzalez has been crucial to a stable back end of the ‘pen, and we should see that get even stronger as Rafael Soriano nears his return.

As we head into the second half of the season, our bullpen has to continue to impress to give us a chance for our hitting to win us some games.  Based on what we’ve seen so far, I’d say we’re in a good spot and on a good track.

Who’s the most indispensable arm in the bullpen so far?

- Colin

Edit: You just can’t make this stuff up…It seems Mike Hampton tweaked his hamstring after 2 IP in his latest rehab start, you just have to feel for the guy. He gave up one home run, no word on the severity of his injury yet. More details later.

Edit2: He tweaked his groin in the first inning and pitched a second, still no word on the severity, but said his super-surgically repaired arm felt great.

Who would have thought that Andruw’s absence would have been such a downgrade in power numbers over the past year. It was no surprise we weren’t getting much out of left field, we didn’t last year in terms of slugging and homers. Yeah, Andruw still hit 26 homers and surprisingly had 94 RBI, but about HALF of his at-bats were with runners on and 170 of his 570 at-bats had them in scoring position. Ridiculous, this season, we can’t get guys on, guys aren’t getting over and no one’s driving anyone in.

Yeah, we have the second highest run differential in the East, but about 90% of that is thanks to the ridiculous consistency we are getting from our pitching. How much better would we have been last year with a guy like Campillo (Campillo, btw, is hitting .222, same as Andruw last year, he may have had 90 RBIs batting in the position Andruw did in our line up) or if Reyes didn’t walk every second batter he faced?

2007: Keep in mind,  before you read these stats, these numbers are with Craig Wilson’s 58 at-bats (.172), Scott Thorman’s 287 at-bats (.216), Chris Woodward’s 136 at-bats (.199) and Ryan Langerhans’ 44 at-bats (just three hits in those at-bats, THREE! Julio Franco had that many in ONE game last year). All of those numbers right there are about an entire person’s average for a season, that’s 525 at-bats and 102 hits…seriously those are real numbers, that’s a .194 batting average between three guys. Lots of what-ifs surrounding last year’s team.

In 2007, the Braves finished third in the NL in batting average (.275), and scored the third most number of runs with 810. One of the reasons they were able to do so well was clutch hitting. Guys like Frenchy had ridiculous numbers in the clutch, but we’ll get to those later. With runners on at all, Atlanta hit .284…that went up with runners in scoring position to .291. They hit just .265 with runners and scoring position and two outs, but that was second in the league behind Pittsburgh (.267).

However, last season, just as they do this season, the Braves did hit poorly in close and late situations. Those situations, as described by The Language of Baseball are “situations in a baseball game in the seventh or later inning with the any of the following conditions: score tied. one team leading by a run, or with the tying run on base, at the plate, or on deck.”

In those instances, the Braves came in eighth at .257 with only 112 runs. Compare that to St. Louis who led the league with a .313 batting average and Houston and Philly who both scored 141 runs in those situations.

Fast forward to this 2008, Braves are down two guys that were stalwarts on the field in at least the past two seasons: Edgar Renteria and Andruw Jones since 1997. The Braves, after 92 games, are ninth in the league in runs scored (405, Chicago is tops at 487), yet third in batting average(.263, Chicago is tops at .282)…kind of makes you wonder.

As a team, the Braves are .262 with runners on at all, but not even in the top 10 with RISP, they are 11 with a .252 batting average (Chicago again is at #1 at .282) and EVEN WORSE(!) with RISP and two outs; in those situations, the Braves are hitting a paltry .222 (Pittsburgh leads there at .290, LAD is second at .259, pretty big gap).

In late innings at all, the Braves are hitting an eighth-best .250 while Chicago leads the NL again at .276.

It has been obvious what this team needs from about the beginning of June when Mark Kotsay and Matt Diaz went down and we could not find suitable replacements that were at least able to slug as much as those guys. Blanco did an excellent job, but there’s a reason Greg Norton’s a bench player (he’s a damn good bench player, but not meant to start) and Brandon Jones, Josh Anderson and Jason Perry can only be good for so long without proper minor league development (which begs the question, did we really bring these guys up to help us or to showcase them for Pittsburgh in case of a deal for Xavier Nady or Jason Bay).

The pitching has been stellar, but has been coming down to Earth a little bit after a great start. We are getting more innings out of our guys, but Charlie Morton isn’t the replacement for Tom Glavine. He’s just not seasoned enough in the minors. Will he be an excellent pitcher next year? Maybe, but I think for us to know for sure he needs to pitch against triple A guys before he comes back here. He has been getting hit around a lot in his most recent starts.

In June, without Glavine’s two starts, the Braves had a 3.86 ERA. However, this month Atlanta has a 4.14 ERA, of course a lot of that has to do with the 81 hits they’ve allowed in 87 innings pitched.

On an individual level:

• McCann hit .270 with 18 homers and 38 doubles, not his usual numbers but they are respectable and solid numbers
• Kelly Johnson hit .276 with 16 homers, 26 doubles, 10 triples and 68 RBIs, pretty solid for someone at the top of the lineup as much as he was.
• Renteria/Escobar hit .329 between the two of them with 85 RBIs.
• Chipper Jones hit .337 with 29 homers and 102 RBI
• Francoeur hit .293 with 19 homers and 105 RBI.
• Diaz didn’t qualify for the batting title, but did hit .338 in 358 at-bats (502 are needed to be eligible at season’s end). Diaz also hit 12 homers and 21 doubles. His platoon-mate Willie Harris hit .270 with 2 homers, but did have 20 doubles and eight triples.
• In his time here, Tex his .317 with 17 homers and 56 RBI in just 208 at-bats. Ridiculous numbers from a guy who was here for just two months and is hitting in a neutral park for half the time.

This season’s been, well, take a look:

•  McCann has hit .290 with 17 homers, 50 RBI and 25 doubles, increase from last season.
• Kelly Johnson has hit .273 with eight homers, 22 doubles, two triples and 37 RBI. An increase in doubles numbers, so a plus.
• Chipper has hit .375 with 18 homers, one triple and 14 doubles. His slugging is down from what he’s used to, but still up there. He’s leading the majors with a 1.100 OPS (On base % plus slugging), obviously a plus.
• Escobar has hit .286 with 12 doubles, six homers and 35 RBI. A down, but understandable for someone in their first full major league season.
• Tex has hit .272 with 17 homers, 21 doubles and 67 RBI, very good numbers, but Tex figures to step it up in the second half of the season, when he is typically at his best.
• Gregor Blanco has been a nice surprise, he is hitting just .266, but has a .368 on base percentage and has shown good patience at the plate and leads the team in in-field hits and stolen bases, perfect for a lead off hitter.
• Now for the disappointments: Francoeur was tabbed by many to have a breakout season…unfortunately he went the other way. Frenchy is hitting .234 and getting close to the Andruw line. He is also getting on base at a clip of just .286, lower than most guys’ averages. He does have 19 doubles and nine home runs and the Braves are desperately hoping that three days in the minors will be enough for him to turn things around.
• There’s a bunch of other guys that have taken over in injury situations, but not many have really made an impact.
• Omar Infante has hit .282 while playing all over the field, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pitch or catch if we have another 17 inning game. He is our third catcher with Diaz out, btw.
• Brandon Jones hit .278 while he was up here, pretty strong for a guy that was getting knocked for not being aggressive enough last season.
• Ruben Gotay (.208), Greg Norton (.206) and Corky Miller (.093) have obviously not been the answer at their positions. Gotay and Norton are great off the bench, both have had solid pinch hits with Norton getting several clutch hits in close and late situations. To be honest, I would have much rather had Brayan Pena behind the plate than Miller if not for Miller’s stellar defense.

On the pitching side, we were on the right track last season when we finished third in the league in ERA. But the addition of Jair Jurrjens and Jorge Campillo and a different Jojo Reyes have shown us that while Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz may have been the dominant three in the ’90s, the three J’s are the future of our rotation now along with Hudson.

•  Last season we had 10 guys make starts, only John Smoltz (3.11) and Tim Hudson (3.33) had sub-4.00 ERAs.
• Chuck James went 11-10 with a 4.24 ERA in 30 starts
• Buddy Carlyle went 8-7 with a 5.21 ERA in 20 starts (but is thriving in his current long-reliever role).
• Kyle Davies went 4-8 with a 5.76 in 17 starts and did have some bright spots, but was ultimately traded for about 7.7 innings of Octavio Dotel.
• With the exception of Jeff Bennett late in the season, no one else that started a game had a sub 6.00 ERA.

This year is different, what started as a promising year filled with plenty of pitching depth has seen us put that depth to the test with several injuries, that’s NOT counting Mike Hampton, whom everyone and their best friend expected to be hurt (no offense Mike, it’s just that it is what it is).

•  Huddy is 9-7 with a 3.16 ERA but the Braves have scored two or less runs in his last four road starts against NL teams (never mind the AL, we might as well just ignore his stats against them since they’ve been putrid since joining the Braves).
• Jurrjens is 9-4 with a 3.00 ERA, has been the co-ace of this staff all year long and deserved a spot on the NL All-Star Roster.
• Jojo Reyes is 3-7 with a 4.40 ERA, but has lost twice 1-0. So really, he’s 3-5 with a 4.40 ERA, but if you take out his first five starts (that’s when he settled in) and count just his last eight, he’s 1-5 with a 3.67 ERA, they just can’t score runs for him. Repeat: He Lost 1-0 TWICE, both times on the road.
• Jorge Campillo has been a great story. In 24 games, the righty is 3-4 with a 3.06 ERA. Again, just not getting any run support, he gets an average of 3.2 runs per game in the games he’s started, pathetic by the offense.

This season more than any other, has seen a cause for concern and panic. As I stated in an earlier article, the Braves have had 14 players with 20 different DL stings this season. Not surprisingly this has tested our Major League depth as well as the guys that are supposed to be ready to come play in the majors. This team may just be too banged up to compete. John Smoltz, a veteran presence on the field, has been sidelined.

Tom Glavine is the same, but is expected back after the All-Star break. Mike Hampton says he’s coming back after the All-Star break, but we won’t believe it until we see it. Hampton by the way is pitching tonight for the M-Braves down in Jacksonville, we’ll have an update as soon as we get a story. Update: Hampton went 5 innings, 6 H, 2 R, 4 Ks, 0 BB and most importantly 0 injuries, he also got one hit at the plate. Who knows, maybe Hampton could provide us with the bat we need…

But we’ll see. To me the team is still an enigma, and if they add a bat like the stats suggest, PLUS get back a healthy Glavine, plus get back a healthy Diaz that is closer to his 2007 form than his current form, plus I dunno…it seems there’s so many things that the Braves could do better.

Prediction: 81-81, 3rd NL East, at this point we’re no better than a .500 team and maybe worse.

-Akshay

1. A Mark Teixeira trade would bring in young talent to build into the next few years.
2. The entire outfield has been a bit of an offensive disappointment with Kotsay being the hot spot.
3. The Phillies are rumored to be looking for ace-quality pitching talent.
4. We’ve had 9 different starting pitchers, and Charlie Morton has as many starts as John Smoltz.
5. The Braves going on a winning streak seems synonymous with Mike Hampton and his trip back to starting big league games.
6. There is practically no winning record on the road.
7. We’ve been starting Greg Norton in left field.
8. John Smoltz will be back next year if he has anything to say about it.
9. We’re too bogged down with big contracts on the DL ($37M) to make any legitimate moves for talent that would put us in serious contention (Hampton – 15M, Smoltz – 14M, Glavine – 8M).
10. All of our starting position players except Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann have missed time due to injuries.  To boot, three of our starting pitchers are on the DL and at least two of those are done for the year.

There ya go – 10 Reasons To Throw In The Towel.  Should we be done with the year?  Speak up – I know 43% of you (at time of writing) think we should trade Tex.

Please jump in and comment and critique my thoughts – I’m sure I left some out and made up others in a poor attempt to be witty.  Speak up especially if you want to throw in the towel this season.

Florida Marlins: Can they hold it together? Nobody expected to see these guys in first this far into the season.  I think even the Marlins are surprised.  That hasn’t kept them from acting like they belong in first.  Anchored offensively by Uggla, Hermida, and Ramirez, the Marlins have come out to score this year – currently ranked 10th in the league with runs scored.  The rotation has been solid as well – only six different pitchers have started games this year.  The Marlins recently picked up Jacque Jones to shore up their outfield after he was released by the Tigers.  But if the Tigers can afford to release him, will he help?  The biggest question remains: can the Marlins keep it up?

Atlanta Braves: Sure, the Braves can win at home, but they have to be able to win on the road or nothing will come of it. The Braves have a rock solid offense led by the mighty Chipper Jones, but they’ve had some injury issues on their pitching staff – Smoltz is moving to the bullpen, Rafael Soriano has spent significant time on the DL, but they’ll get those two plus Mike Gonzalez back from the DL here soon. The question – will they trade for another starter? Not if Jorge Campillo can keep up his Greg Maddux impression (and get rid of some pesky blisters).

Philadelphia Phillies:  The Phillies are shadowing the Braves as they both stalk the Marlins.  Their offense has been good but hasn’t been firing on all cylinders for more than a game or two at a time, and past Cole Hamels their other starters have ERAs at or above 4.37.  Brett Myers has dropped his last four starts, and Adam Eaton is still winless.  If the Phillies’ starters can get their acts together, this is a much more dangerous team – already they’re fourth in the NL with 26 quality starts – but they have potential for much more.  On the other hand, their bullpen has been great – lowing the team ERA to a 5th best 3.98.  The Phillies could come together to be a very dangerous team.

New York Mets: The Mets’ manager Willie Randolph is under fire for his team’s poor play. And the Mets have had poor play as of late. They’re now in fourth place struggling to beat decent teams. The team is oft-injured. Ryan Church likes concussions, Moises Alou caught Mike Hampton syndrome, and Marlon Anderson pulled up lame. And that’s just the last series in Atlanta. Pedro comes back soon, but will he really help? Johan Santana hasn’t been the savior he was billed as, either. This team has got to start playing ball if they want to hang it at the top of the division.

Washington Nationals:  The Nationals are just chilling out in the NL East basement, 7.5 games out of first with a .420 winning percentage.  Their offense is one of the worst in the NL, ranking third to last in runs scored, second to last in OBP and OPS, and last in batting average, slugging percentage, and stolen bases.  Their pitching staff is better, but not by much, ranked 12/16 in ERA and 13/16 in Batting Average Against.  This is likely something we see continued for most of the season.

What do you see happening?  Can the Marlins hold it together?  Will the Braves start winning on the road?  Can the Phillies fire on all cylinders?  Are the Mets and Willie Randolph doomed to oblivion?

#1 – The Atlanta Braves
The Braves (3-3) have come out of the gate with their offense firing on most cylinders. The scary part of that is they’re still 2nd in the NL in average (.292), runs (40), slugging percentage (.470) and OPS (.822). They’ve already shown their ability to battle back and put games into extra innings, as well as outscore the Mets 14-6 in the last two games. Their pitching staff is not working as it should yet – the bullpen is recovering from early jitters and Mike Hampton is back on the DL (Surprise? Hardly). But solid starts from both John Smoltz and Jair Jurrjens have put the Braves in a good spot to be – at the top of the division early.

#2 – Florida Marlins
How are these guys able to be 3-3? They’ve taken it to the Pirates. I don’t think they’ll be in the #2 position long, so don’t get used to it. They’ll begin climbing the ranks downward.

#3 – New York Mets
These guys would be in the two position were it not for the Marlins’ strong start. Santana is looking good, Pedro is hurt and their offense wasn’t clicking during their last series against the Braves. The Mets’ bullpen hasn’t been stellar so far either. But they’re the Mets, and they’ll surely rebound strong. Can’t discount them.

#4 – Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies may be in the cellar right now as far as standings go, but they’re not completely dead yet. However, they’ve had issues with the starting pitching and relief corps. And their highly touted offense has had a slow start – scoring only 27 runs so far – that’s fourth in the NL East.

#5 – Washington Nationals
The Nationals have issues. They just lost a series – the entire series – to Cardinals. The Nationals did eek out a win against the Braves to start the season (lucky break on that Moylan pitch), but they’re going to need to start winning the easy games against the teams that are worse than them. Thus, they’re in the basement, at least for the first week of the power rankings.

Did I mis-rank the teams? Any of the 12 Marlins fans that are young enough to own computers want to whine about them not being at the top? Leave us a comment and we’ll hash it out.