Jurrjens Looks For Redemption

Jair Jurrjens finally found his stride against the Pirates Friday night.  After struggling with control for his first two starts of the season, Jurrjens threw a great outing, going 6 2/3 innings and only giving up one run.  Unfortunately for Jair, the Braves failed to put a run on the board and he was stuck with the loss.  Jurrjens comes into tonight’s game with a 2-1 record and a 2.04 ERA.  He will face off against a struggling John Lannan, who has posted an 0-2 record with a 6.46 ERA so far this season.

The Braves are looking for a much needed win tonight after dropping two straight to the Washington Nationals and 7 of their last 8 games.  Stay with us for in game updates.

Mac Is Back For Game Vs. Nats

After missing two games with blurred vision in his left eye, Brian McCann has been tentatively written into the linup for tonight’s game against the Washington Nationals.  Mac has been suffering from the blurred vision issues over the past two weeks and had tried a series of options including a contact lens and an antibiotic ointment.  These caused an increase in the blurred vision and the absence from the past two games.

After a visit to an eye doctor this morning in Washington, McCann has been prescribed a new contact lens that has corrected the issues for the most part.  Before taking batting practice today, he said he felt great and would be ready to go.  Bobby Cox, always cautious, has a lineup ready without McCann as well and said a lot would depend on how he looked while taking batting practice today.

Kenshin Kawakami takes the mound for the Braves today, facing off against Shairon Martis, who has been credited for one of the Nationals’ two wins on the season.  After dropping the first game of the series last night, the Braves need to get back into the win column tonight.

Braves at Nationals, Game 1

Derek Lowe takes on the Nationals tonight as their #1 prospect Jordan Zimmermann takes the mound in his major league debut. The Braves have lost six in a row in Washington and need a series win after losing five of their last six this season. The Nationals have done some roster shuffling recently after a dismal 1-10 start to the season – so Braves fans, remember it could always be worse.

Brian McCann is out of the lineup tonight as he’s still experiencing some eye dryness. He may need lasik surgery before he can return – hopefully that’s not the case. Either way, good thing Dave Ross got healthy just in time for this. Fortunately Chipper should play tonight – the Braves are a much better team when opposing pitchers have to think about pitching around him.

The Braves need to step it up and take at least 2 out of 3 from the Nationals. They’re an easy team to take it from – and we need to be back on track soon so we don’t fall behind early in the season. Hopefully our bullpen is less sucky without Blaine Boyer.

Glavine Improving, Showing Interest In Nats

Continuing the rehab on his surgically repaired left shoulder and elbow, Tom Glavine pitched from a mound for the second time this past Tuesday. The first session came two Friday’s ago where Glavine threw 15 fastballs and reported no discomfort. In Tuesday’s session, he threw 30 pitches, combining fast balls and changeups. Once again, Glavine reported no discomfort in the elbow or shoulder. He is slated to meet with Dr. Andrews in Birmingham this coming Wednesday for a routine checkup to monitor the progress on the repaired flexor tendon in his left elbow.

The biggest thing for Tom in his recovery right now is to not overdo anything.  Pushing too hard to be ready in time for Spring Training if his arm is just not up to it would be the biggest setback for him.  Glavine has repeatedly said that this is the best his arm has felt in years and is making a concious effort to do his recovery properly and not become overly excited with each mound session.  At the rate he is progressing, Glavine is fairly certain that he’ll be ready in time for the regular season however.

While Glavine’s main focus right now is being able to pitch again in the 2009 season, there is still the fact that he remains a free agent for the upcoming season.  He has indicated that he’d love to stay and pitch for the Braves, but realizes that this may not be a possibility.  Glavine has said that he has thought through multiple possibilities and knows that financially, the Braves just may not have the ability to sign him this season.  Right now however, he continues to just go out there and prove that he’ll be ready to go once the season gets under way.

If things with the Braves don’t work out, Glavine has expressed some interest in pitching for the Nationals because of his close relationship with team president, Stan Kasten, who was in the Braves organization together with Glavine from 1987 to 2002.  As of now, the Nationals have not contacted Glavine’s agent, as they are focused on acquiring young players for the long term.  Should they choose to bring him on board, Glavine would likely serve in the mentoring role for the team’s young pitchers.

So the question is, do the Braves bring back Glavine or not?  We have no lefties in the rotation right now (aside from Jo-Jo Reyes potentially grabbing the 5th spot) so is this a role that Glavine gets the nod to fill or is it time for the Braves and Glavine to go their separate ways once again?

A Game Thread?

So we haven’t had a game thread in a long while.  Blame jobs, blame lack of time, blame apathy, but no matter what, they’re back.  As promised, we’re bringing back the game threads after the All-Star break.  The Braves are closing out a 3-game series against the Nationals this afternoon and looking for a series win.

Jo-Jo Reyes is taking the mound today and hopefully can get a win.  Jo-Jo has been plagued by a lack of run support so far this season and as a result, only has 3 wins.  Hopefully the bats can get active today and help him out for once.

NL East Review: Nationals

So, here we are at the halfway point of the season. About the time when you can almost judge what will happen down the stretch (no one could have seen the Mets major collapse this early last year, but there will be random cases). If the season ended after 81 games, the Phillies, Cubs, Diamondbacks and Cardinals (wildcard, WC) would be off to the playoffs in the National League. The Rays, White Sox, Angels and Boston (WC) would be the teams in the American League. Yes, the first name on the AL side was the Rays and in Tampa Bay, formerly the Devil Rays. The team has a great nucleus of young players, young pitchers and veterans. Almost reminiscent of some of the early Braves teams of the ‘90s…but not quite.But I’m not really here to talk about the AL; I wanted to talk about the NL East this week, starting from the bottom up. So today we’ll talk about everyone’s favorite bottom feeder: The Washington Nationals. Remember in 2005 when they were the only team with 50 wins by the all-star break? Well, they were living on the edge much like last season’s Diamondbacks and winning a lot of one run games with Cordero as their designated closer. Of course, all the Braves did was calmly go to Washington in the first series after the all-star break to take the lead in the division and never looked back. The Nats ended up finishing last at 81-81 (the NL East was the only division without a losing record that year) and haven’t really seen much more than the bottom of the division.

Since that time, former manager and hall-of-famer Frank Robinson retired and Manny Acta took over. Guys like Ryan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge and Cristian Guzman have been the go-to guys on that team. Not saying much? Seriously, those are probably their best hitters. This season, Zimmerman leads the team with eight home runs, Milledge leads the team with just 32 RBIs and Guzman leads the team with a .314 (respectable) average and 48 runs scored at the top of the order.

To see how they fare against other teams, you pretty much have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the NL in the stats page to find them. They rank dead last in:

• Runs scored (305, Braves are seventh with 375).
• Hits (675, Braves are third with 769).
• Total bases (1014, Braves are sixth with 1193).
• RBI (285, Braves are sixth at 359).
• Batting Average (.239, Braves are third at .270).
• OPS (.673, Braves are fourth at .765).

Obviously, that’s the result of not winning a lot of games and not getting any production out of guys they would have thought were guys that would give them a lot. Austin Kearns (.187, 42 games) and Felipe Lopez (.242, .318 OBP, 72 games) are hitting well below their averages in Cincinnati and has been the status quo for what the Nats are going through. Guzman is, in fact, the only guy with respectable stats on the entire offense. He is hitting .314 with a .776 OPS and 24 doubles in 82 games.

Sadly, the pitching stats do not get much better with this team. They rank 14 in ERA (4.55, Braves are tops with a 3.69 team ERA), 11 in the NL in walks (308, Braves are ninth with 287) and 14 in batting average against (.288, Braves are again tops with a .246).

So what will the Nats have to do to get better? This team looks so similar to our teams of the ‘80s that there are no quick fixes. The fans and the players will have to ride it out until they can get some solid young talent in, enough to fill up their minor league system and who knows, maybe one year it will just click and send them to the top of the division.

This year, there’s probably little to no chance of them making a run. The Nats currently sit at 33-51. They have shown little to no efforts to get better and are not getting healthier. Chad Cordero was placed on the disabled list today and was never fully healthy this season. Because of this, I doubt the Nats will win that many more games than they won in the first half.

Prediction: 63 – 99, 5 in NL East.

- Akshay

NL East: The Big Picture

Here’s the big picture in the NL East right now:

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?

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.

Nationals Park…..Again….

How is it that, in April, we are already making our third trip to Nationals Park and have only played 4 away games against them so far?  Either way, we’re back in Washington for a two-game series to close out the month against the Nationals.  The Braves are fighting a slew of injuries, but key performers Chipper Jones and Yunel Escobar are back in the lineup tonight, which is good to see for all of the fans.

Tom Glavine’s taking the mound for the Braves tonight in his first start off of the disabled list.  Tommy is admittedly rusty after not pitching with his strained hamstring over the past couple of weeks.  Hopefully he still looks good enough to tame Tim Redding tonight.  Redding has more wins personally than the rest of the Nationals’ starting rotation.

I’m hoping for a good two-game series for the Braves, but the Nationals always seem to have our number no matter how well we’re doing.  It’s time to break that streak and get back in the win column.

Smoltz Gets 3000 K’s, Braves Fall

Tonight was a special night for John Smoltz (3-1), who unfortunately got the loss after striking out 10 in seven innings of one-run ball.  In the third, he struck out the 3000th batter of his career, joining only 15 other pitchers in baseball.  Smoltz’s stuff looked good all night – his nasty slider and shoulder intact through all seven innings.

Unfortunately, the bats were non-existent tonight when it mattered.  Braves hitters combined to leave 12 batters on base, and Smoltz got pinned with the loss – even though he only gave up one of the six runs.  There were opportunities – but nobody could convert.  At least it wasn’t a one-run loss.  Going into the ninth, it was 1-0 Nationals.  But Jorge Campillo and Chris Resop combined to give up five runs (only one earned) in the top of the ninth.

Great to see Smoltz get 3000 strikeouts – he deserved the win tonight but didn’t get it.  Chipper’s 13 game hitting streak came to an end as did the five game winning streak.  We’ll try and start another one tomorrow against the Marlins as they come into town.  Overall, I’ll take 1-2 from the Nats.  We’re heading in the right direction as a team.

And Mr. Smoltz, congratulations.  Quite an accomplishment that I’m glad I was on hand to see.

Smoltz Goes For 3000

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.

Nats In Town For Two

The Braves (9-9) start a two-game series against the Nationals (5-14) tonight at Turner Field.  The Nationals got off to a great 3-0 start but have since had a 2-14 record.  The Braves have fought back from a 5-9 record to get back to .500 baseball with a four-game winning streak, outscoring their opponents 24-3 in those four games.  They hope to keep that hot streak up tonight as they face Washington, who has recorded 2 of their 5 wins this season against the Braves.

The big question mark tonight is Chipper Jones, who left yesterday’s game early with a strained quad, but was listed in the lineup for tonight that was issued earlier on in the day.  It will be interesting to see if, and how long, he plays tonight.  I think if we have a lead, Bobby will take him out and rest him.  It’s time to keep the win streak going as Tim Hudson (2-1) faces off against Matt Chico (0-3).  Hopefully Huddy has shaken any remnants of the flu bug that had him looking a little sour in his last start.