Smoltz Trumps Santana, 3-1

In front of a great crowd, John Smoltz and the Braves faced off against Johan Santana and the Mets in a highly anticipated pitching matchup.  For fans looking to the game for the starting pitching, they were not left disappointed.  Smoltz, making his first start of the season, pitched 5 scoreless innings for the Braves, giving up 2 hits, 0 walks and striking out 6.  Santana likewise pitched a great game for the Mets, only allowing 1 run on 7 hits in 7 innings of work, but still obtained his first tick in the loss column this season.

Smoltz left the game after the fifth inning with some soreness in his shoulder (the same injury for which he just came off of the DL for) and turned it over to the bullpen as a precautionary step.  He’s not expected to miss his next start against the Nationals on Friday.  The bullpen for the Braves was stellar as well, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits through the last 4 innings of the  game.  Closer Rafael Soriano looked a little flustered in the 9th, allowing one run, walking two, and almost issuing a game tying double with 2 outs.  Mark Teixeira made a diving stab to keep the ball in front of him and potentially saved the game, at least from going into extra innings.

Teixeira also put the game a little farther out of the reach of the Mets in the bottom of the 8th inning with a two-run home run to right that just snuck over the glove of Ryan Church.  The official distance on the home run was registered at 345 feet.  This gave the Braves a 3-0 lead at the time; enough to keep the game out of reach of the Mets.

The offense for the Braves always seems to put runners on the board once there are two outs, leaving us with large amounts of runners left on base.  Hopefully the offense can start getting things going earlier in the innings.  If we learned anything from this series, it’s that the Mets/Braves matchup will not disappoint once again this season.  I look forward to keeping an eye on it throughout the season.

The Braves are now tied for the NL East lead with the Florida Marlins at 3-3.  The Mets are close behind in third with a record of 2-3.  We can’t officially call this one a sweep until the first game of the day-night doubleheader on May 20th (Friday’s rainout has been rescheduled for then), so for now, great “sweep” against the Mets.  The Braves are off to Colorado to face off against the Rockies to kick off a 10-game road trip starting Monday night.

Braves Look To Dim Mets’ Shining Star

To close out the rain-shortened series, aces Johan Santana (1-0, 2.57) and John Smoltz (0-0, -.–) face off in a Sunday afternoon matchup.  The Braves (2-3) look to continue the offensive power from last night’s 11-5 victory over the Mets (2-2) to get on the board early and often.  It’s slated to be a pitching duel between two solid starters and the game may come down to the performance of the bullpens on both sides.

The highly anticipated matchup between these two pitchers was almost not be as a result of the rain cancellation of the game on Friday night.  This caused Bobby Cox to push back his starters by a day, slating Glavine to be the original starter to today’s game.  Soon after that was announced however, Smoltz asked Glavine to switch spots in the rotation so that Smoltz could avoid the added strain on his shoulder that would come from pitching in the cold, thin Colorado air on Monday.  Glavine will instead make this start against the Rockies.

It looks to be a great day for baseball.  The foul weather has moved out of the area and we’re looking for temperatures in the low 70s by game time.  We’ll see you on the site or at the ballpark.  Go Braves!

Smoltz v. Santana Back On

After the rainout of the game against the Mets Friday night, Bobby Cox pushed back the starting pitchers by a day to keep the rotation starting as planned.  This eliminated the much-anticipated Smoltz vs. Santana pitching matchup that was slated for Sunday’s game, instead pitting Tom Glavine against Johan.

Shortly after that change was announced, Smoltz asked Glavine if he’d be okay with switching rotation spots with him to avoid having to make his first start of the season at Coors Field next week.  The combination of the thin Colorado air and projected cold temperatures aren’t good things to subject Smoltz’s recently injured shoulder to, thus the main motivation for the switch.

Glavine, in the interest of helping out the team in the long-run by trying to preserve Smoltz’s arm, and probably to relieve a little of the stress from pitching against his former team, happily obliged.  So to everyone that had tickets for tomorrow’s game just because of the pitching matchup, fear no more, the matchup between Smoltz and Santana is back on as originally projected.

Mets at Braves - Series Preview

The New York Mets (2-1) come to town this evening to face off against the Braves (1-3) who are looking to pick up the pace after a slow start on the season.  This early matchup highlights one of the key rivalries in the NL East for the season, in what is expected to be a 3-way race between the Mets, Phillies and Braves.  I’m looking to see some solid starting pitching matchups on both sides.

Projected Starters:
Friday: John Maine (0-0, -.–, RHP) vs. Tim Hudson (0-0, 2.57, RHP)
Tim Hudson looks to get a little more run support from the squad than he did during his first start on opening day against the Nationals, where he only issued 3 hits through 7 innings of work.  John Maine makes his first start of the season for the Mets.  Both pitchers should be highly effective and I look to see a battle of two potent offenses against solid pitching.

Saturday: Mike Pelfrey (0-0, -.–, RHP) vs. Tom Glavine (0-0, 1.80, LHP)
Tom Glavine faces the Mets for the first time since coming back to pitch in a Braves uniform.  Hopefully Tommy will make it a little deeper into the game than on Monday against the Pirates, where he gave up 7 hits in 5 innings.  Glavine got shelled the first time he played against the Braves when he went to the Mets; let’s hope the favor isn’t returned.  Of the starters we’ll see from the Mets this weekend, I think Pelfrey has the potential to be the weakest link.

Sunday: Johan Santana (1-0, 2.57, LHP) vs. John Smoltz (0-0, -.–, RHP)
This is the pitching matchup that Braves and Mets fans alike are looking forward to.  John Smoltz looks to make his first start of the regular season coming off of the 15-day disabled list.  The Mets’ golden boy, Santana, looks to extend his record to 2-0.  This should be a great matchup to watch as long as Smoltz is back to feeling up to pitching at full strength.

Offensive Matchup:
The Braves and Mets have two potent offenses (1st and 2nd in the NL in runs scored, respectively).  It’s hard to really tell how those numbers pan out at the start of the season, but it still shows that the teams are capable of putting runs on the board.  I don’t expect to see as large of offensive numbers from these games on account of solid pitching, but one swing of the bat on either side could influence the tone of the entire series.

Prediction:
I doubt we’ll see a sweep by either team in this series and I’m going to give a 2-1 advantage to the Braves on a couple of conditions.  First of all, it’s a home series and the fans are buzzing for this one.  Secondly, that prediction only holds true if Smoltz is at full strength to go up against Santana.  I can’t possibly predict which games go which way, but I expect to see some hard fought games on both sides of the ball.

The Mets’ Injury Woes?

It’s not September and the Mets are already showing signs of collapse.  Yes, 8 games into the preseason, they’re already facing some issues with their antique roster. Their prize catch, Johan Santana, is healthy and looking good, but beyond that there’s not much good news.

• Moises Alou will miss the beginning of the season with hernia surgery - out 4-6 weeks
• Marlon Anderson and Ryan Church banged each other up when they collided in a game earlier this week - Church sustained a concussion and Anderson apparently bruised his chest and banged up his jaw.
• Carlos Delgado, who had elbow and wrist surgery a couple years ago, and ended last season with a broken hand and some knee/hip issues apparently is having hip issues again.  And by apparently having hip issues, we mean he got sent back to NY for an MRI.
• Carlos Beltran is having knee trouble - may be just a long recovery from his knee surgery 3 1/2 months ago, but it’s not encouraging news.
• Pedro apparently had a toe issue, but he pitched a simulated game yesterday, though his pitches lacked movement.

So it’s not September, and the Mets are already showing signs of collapse.  They better hope that these injuries heal up or all the Santana pitching in the world will do little good.  They lose a lot of offensive firepower with Delgado, Alou, and Beltran nursing little bumps and bruises here - and the real hard playing hasn’t even started yet.

Mets fans hate to hear it - but if their aging veterans can’t escape their injured pasts, the Mets may not be a legitimate contestant in the NL East this year.  David Wright can only do so much by himself.

Santana Tagged Up!

So perhaps even better than the Braves’ 10-3 win over the Dodgers yesterday is the Mets and their 5-4 loss to the Cardinals. Here’s why: Johan Santana got tagged for 4 hits, 1 home run, and three earned runs in two innings.

Now I know this is only the Grapefruit League - wins and losses don’t count, and it’s for practice purposes. But someone needs to let Johan know that even though the record doesn’t count, he shouldn’t run around giving up hits and home runs. I mean, the guy could have only pitched to six batters and gotten back to signing autographs and being worshipped.

If it’s not bad enough that Santana got tagged for a big home run, he gave it up to none other than Juan Gonzalez, who hasn’t even played the last two years and had only one at-bat in 2004.  It’s not like he gave it up to Albert Pujols, people.

Total Stats for Santana: 2 innings pitched, 10 batters faced, 4 hits, 1 home run, 3 earned runs, 1 strikeout, 1 induced ground out, and 4 fly outs. ERA: 13.50

Where’s your god now?

Sick of Roid Rage: Top 5 Things I’d Rather Hear About

We know people used steroids.  We get it.

I just really don’t care.  I can’t tell you how much it doesn’t even begin to matter to me.

In honesty, as we’re ramping up for Spring Training, let’s move past this thing - let Congress stick their nose into things and leave it alone.  Because I don’t think it matters whether or not Roger Clemens injected HGH.  Moving forward, obviously he can’t get away with it.  Let someone else look into the past, Baseball needs to focus on the future, not the somewhat shady past.

So without further ado, the top 5 things I’d rather hear about than Steroids:

5. What team Scott Boras is screwing over now - and who is most vehement in the “I hate Scott Boras” fan club.
4. Whether or not the Braves have enough pitching (I think they do, no worries) Read more »

2008 Preview - New York Mets, Part II

We’ve all heard it.  The Mets traded for Johan Santana and they no longer have any flaws.  They’re the strongest team in baseball.  In fact, the Mets could put on skates and beat the 1980 Olympic USSR hockey team, according to some Mets blogs.  You are all also familiar with my stance - Santana is a fine fix for now, but is not a blanket solution for every issue they face as a team.  But, since they traded for Johan Santana after I wrote my initial Mets 2008 Preview, I have to redo this along with my pre-season division predictions.

Read more »

Notes from Spring Training

Since we’re not on-site yet (full time jobs and classes are regrettably taking up most of our time), we have to report everything second-hand for now, but here’s a bit of a digest of the goings-on at Disney’s Wide World of Sports from major news outlets.

• Tom Glavine is fitting in - and everyone loves having him back.  His wife and kids are down in Florida with him, and today even USA Today ran an article on him being back. I appreciate even guys who haven’t played with him like Hudson giving him the respect he deserves.  That said, I have spoken to a few fans who don’t want to see him in a Braves uniform since he dirtied himself by playing with the Mets.  But that opinion is only shared by a small minority.

Read more »


Tags: Jair Jurrjens, Javy Lopez, Johan Santana, Mike Hampton, New York Mets, Spring Training, Tom Glavine
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