Smoltz Goes For 3000

Written by Jonathan on April 22, 2008 – 5:40 pm

In the finale of a two-game series, the Braves (10-9) square off against the Nationals (5-15) who have struggled to find their offensive stride lately.  The real point of tonight’s game however is John Smoltz (3-0) who is currently at 2,996 career strikeouts after striking out 10 in his last outing.  With 4 more strikeouts, Smoltz will become only the 16th player to ever reach that mark.

Other items of note for tonight’s game:  The Braves are on a five-game win streak in which they have outscored their opponents 31-6.  John Lannan (0-2) will be taking the mound for the Nationals.  Nothing is really important tonight outside of Smoltz’s shot at history.  Is tonight the night?  His photo graces the season tickets for tonight’s game; it must be so.

Tags: John Lannan, John Smoltz, Washington Nationals
Posted in Game Threads |

Smoltz Smokes Nats

Written by Smitty on April 12, 2008 – 6:29 pm

Dear Mr. Smoltz,

Thank you so much for your good work on Saturday, April 12th. Can you please keep this up all year? We would all appreciate it.

Sincerely,

The Writers and Staff at BravesBlast.com

Coming off of their much needed victory last night, the Braves dove right in to claim another from the Nationals at Washington today. An initial 91-minute rain delay did nothing to soggy the Braves offense.

In fact, they wasted no time at all scoring four runs in the first inning, with a little help from Jeff Francoeur knocking the first of his two homeruns for the day. When all was said and done, the kid From Parkview had a career-best seven RBI’s. You know things are going well when all nine starters bat in the first inning.

Francoeur’s second homer came in the sixth, with one runner on base. Not to be outdone by his childhood friend, Francoeur’s high-fives hadn’t ended when Brian McCann knocked a single shot some 400 feet.

Smoltz had a (for him) shaky first inning, goofing a throw to first and throwing a semi-wild pitch. But after regaining his classic composure, it was nothing but the Smoltz we know and love. Resourceful, professional, and keenly intelligent. I truly don’t think we Braves fans know how good they have it having a stabilizing and consistent force of nature like Smoltz in the line-up. Plus, it was pretty evident his shoulder was bothering him the entire game.

His line for the day? 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K. The one earned run attributed to Smoltz came in the 4th.

The Nats starter, Scott Lannan lasted through the 4th and the Braves went through three of their relievers by game’s end.

Finally, I am starting to feel good about our bullpen! With very respectable outings by Bennett and Boyer, Manny Acosta zipped it up in the 9th. The one stinker in all this, and the one guy I have truly been pulling for, was Ohman. Lasting less than an inning, he really didn’t do anything to counter the criticism Frank Wren took for acquiring him from Chicago.

So, yeah. Excellent series so far. Can you smell a sweep?

________________________________________________________________________________

Smitty’s Random Notes:
(A stream of consciousness recall of unrelated observations for the short-of-attention span)

» Sorry, Willie Harris, but I totally don’t miss you.

» Tough-guy Hustle Award goes to Matt Diaz for his aggressive and heads-up base-running.

» Still looking for Teixeira’s bat to wake up. The defense is there; let’s get something going at the plate.

» I still believe in you Ohman. I want to believe.

Tags: Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, John Lannan, John Smoltz, Matt Diaz, Washington Nationals
Posted in Game Analysis |

Smoltz Looks To Stay Undefeated

Written by Jonathan on April 12, 2008 – 1:02 pm

John Smoltz (1-0, 0.00) and the Braves (4-6) face off against John Lannan (0-0, 2.70) and the Nationals (3-8) in a Saturday afternoon matchup.  Smoltz made his first start of the season last Sunday against Johan Santana of the Mets.  He threw 5 innings of scoreless baseball to make a good first start off of the disabled list. with 6 strikeouts  However, he left after 5 innings with the continued soreness in his shoulder and neck.  Hopefully that won’t continue to be a problem for him today.

It’s raining at the stadium right now, so it looks like the game’ll be delayed a little bit, but it sounds like the rain is lightening up now.  Hopefully when we get started here, the Braves can continue what Hudson started last night, throwing 8 innings of scoreless, 3-hit baseball.  Is it time for the Braves to make it two in a row and get one step closer to a .500 record?

Tags: John Lannan, John Smoltz, Washington Nationals
Posted in Game Threads |