crazietalk.net

Lowe
McCann
... and WHO plays centerfield?

Wow... just wow!

I didn't know anyone still watched baseball.

colchar wrote:I didn't know anyone still watched baseball.

I can understand your confusion as it relates to the Atlanta Braves, but the O's or Nat's aren't anything to bet your paycheck against! Being a former baseball guy, you can bet your bottom dollar that there is at least 1 baseball fan out there!

Is this it for Glavine?
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sport ... ab_newstab

Are the Braves any better than a .500 team this year?

What's their biggest need?

Gooooooooo Red Sox!!!

That is all.

Lavabe wrote:Are the Braves any better than a .500 team this year?

What's their biggest need?

Are you kidding? The Braves' starting pitching is outstanding, the best in the East if Hamels continues to struggle with injuries. The Braves just need to start hitting the ball. No, this is definitely not just a .500 team.

wilson wrote:

Lavabe wrote:Are the Braves any better than a .500 team this year?

What's their biggest need?

Are you kidding? The Braves' starting pitching is outstanding, the best in the East if Hamels continues to struggle with injuries. The Braves just need to start hitting the ball. No, this is definitely not just a .500 team.

No, I'm not kidding. I haven't been able to follow as closely, which is why I posed the question.

I see a .500 team on the road and at home, and a team that struggled against the Piraats (see devildeac post). If hitting's an issue, are we going to see a familiar problem: great starting pitching carries the team to the seventh, straining the relief staff, resulting in lost games?

Your paradigm of pessimism,
Lavabe

Yeah, you're definitely not looking close enough. The overextension of the bullpen in recent years has not been a matter of struggling bats, but of ineffective starters, who too often got knocked out in about the 4th inning. This year, our starters' ERA is 3.48 so far, an excellent number for the whole rotation, and they have averaged just a hair under six innings per start (throw out the outlying, rain-soaked home opener, when Lowe had to sit following the two-hour rain delay after the 3rd inning, and that average is easily above six innings).
As for the Pirates, against whom the Braves admittedly struggled, they have the second-best team ERA in baseball, and they followed their two-of-three series victory against the Braves with a sweep of the first-place Marlins.
The Braves are just fine.

Who's on the mound tonight?

Braves: Lowe
Astros:
MIKE FREAKIN' HAMPTON
Discuss!

Lavabe wrote:Who's on the mound tonight?

Braves: Lowe
Astros:
MIKE FREAKIN' HAMPTON
Discuss!

I wonder if he'll get hurt walking out of the dugout? :roll:

Braves win 7-2 over Mike Hampton, who lasted 4.1 innings.

Hampton was able to pitch, allegedly. ;)

Braves lose again to the Astros. They now rest two games below .500, both at home and overall. UGH!

After one of the best games I can remember from about the past five seasons last night, the Braves take another solid game from the (erstwhile) first-place Blue Jays, 4-3. I sat about fifteen rows behind home plate for this one. After the mutts' lucky escape vs. the red sux, the Braves still stand 1.5 games out of first, but the good guys really appear to be putting some solid all-around baseball together.
I am now 4-3 on the season at beautiful Turner Field.
I flippin' love the Atlanta Braves.
And for the record, the "lovestruck" smiley doesn't work; it gets rendered as "mad".

...and the Braves finish out the series sweep against the first-place Blue Jays in resounding fashion, pounding out 7 runs in the 7th inning (some fan from Americus, GA won just north of $11,000 because of that occurrence) and cruising to a 10-2 victory. The red sux are currently beating up on the mutts, and the fillies, courtesy of yet another blown save by Brad Lidge, are locked in a 3-3 tie in the 11th. If the Yankees can squeak that one out, the Braves will be but half a game out of first place!
Knock on wood, but the pitching (except perhaps Peter Moylan) is getting ever more solid, and the bats are also waking up. The Braves have played very good baseball for the past two weeks-plus.

wilson wrote: And for the record, the "lovestruck" smiley doesn't work; it gets rendered as "mad".

There were some potential misunderstandings between my intended and myself because of that...

wilson wrote:

Lavabe wrote:Are the Braves any better than a .500 team this year?

What's their biggest need?

Are you kidding? The Braves' starting pitching is outstanding, the best in the East if Hamels continues to struggle with injuries. The Braves just need to start hitting the ball. No, this is definitely not just a .500 team.

As we go through the halfway point in the season, it looks as though the Bravos are three games out of first, but they are having a lot of trouble crashing through the .500 mark.

Do we see a return of Tim Hudson this season?

Lavabe wrote:

wilson wrote:

Lavabe wrote:Are the Braves any better than a .500 team this year?

What's their biggest need?

Are you kidding? The Braves' starting pitching is outstanding, the best in the East if Hamels continues to struggle with injuries. The Braves just need to start hitting the ball. No, this is definitely not just a .500 team.

As we go through the halfway point in the season, it looks as though the Bravos are three games out of first, but they are having a lot of trouble crashing through the .500 mark.

Do we see a return of Tim Hudson this season?

Huddy's first rehab start is scheduled for July 19 in Myrtle Beach. Top to bottom, the Braves just might have the best starting pitching in baseball. On top of that, dare I say that they may finally have hit upon a reasonably productive lineup? Kudos to Bobby for throwing his silly perennial "loyalty" out the window and going with the scorching Martin Prado over Kelly Johnson. It will also be nice to get Omar Infante (who was batting well over .300 before his injury) back within the next couple of weeks.
The boys really need to finish this series out the right way...get the sweep; no more "happy with 2 out of 3" nonsense. That would be a big statement to me and the rest of the division that they intend to be in the race, after all.
I think the Fillies are finally demonstrating what we've known for a while...that you can't win a division with the worst team ERA in your league. The mutts may or may not have a late-season push in them. Methinks they have too much talent not to do anything, but me also thinks that they're just plain old. That leaves the Marlins. They have been playing really good ball lately, and it'll be interesting to see if they can sustain it this time, or if they suffer another swoon, like they did in late April/early May.
As I said about two weeks into the season, 85 wins just might take this division, and then be quite competitive in the playoffs (a la the 2002 Yankees and 2006 Cardinals).

[

Are you kidding? The Braves' starting pitching is outstanding, the best in the East if Hamels continues to struggle with injuries. The Braves just need to start hitting the ball. No, this is definitely not just a .500 team.[/quote]

As we go through the halfway point in the season, it looks as though the Bravos are three games out of first, but they are having a lot of trouble crashing through the .500 mark.

Do we see a return of Tim Hudson this season?[/quote]
Huddy's first rehab start is scheduled for July 19 in Myrtle Beach. Top to bottom, the Braves just might have the best starting pitching in baseball. On top of that, dare I say that they may finally have hit upon a reasonably productive lineup? Kudos to Bobby for throwing his silly perennial "loyalty" out the window and going with the scorching Martin Prado over Kelly Johnson. It will also be nice to get Omar Infante (who was batting well over .300 before his injury) back within the next couple of weeks.
The boys really need to finish this series out the right way...get the sweep; no more "happy with 2 out of 3" nonsense. That would be a big statement to me and the rest of the division that they intend to be in the race, after all.
I think the Fillies are finally demonstrating what we've known for a while...that you can't win a division with the worst team ERA in your league. The mutts may or may not have a late-season push in them. Methinks they have too much talent not to do anything, but me also thinks that they're just plain old. That leaves the Marlins. They have been playing really good ball lately, and it'll be interesting to see if they can sustain it this time, or if they suffer another swoon, like they did in late April/early May.
As I said about two weeks into the season, 85 wins just might take this division, and then be quite competitive in the playoffs (a la the 2002 Yankees and 2006 Cardinals).[/quote]
Yea, if Kortchman and Francouer (sp?) and (sp?) could hit worth a damn...

devildeac wrote: Yea, if Kortchman and Francouer (sp?) and (sp?) could hit worth a damn...

Kotchman actually started the season plenty serviceably, but has flagged of late. He's been battling a couple of little nagging injuries.
As for Francoeur, yes, he's been an unqualified disaster for a season-plus now. But if you pay attention, he's been putting some pretty good swings on the ball in the last couple of weeks, including several easy, take-what-they-give-you opposite-field singles. He is clearly physically capable of being a .290 or so hitter, but I dunno if he'll ever get his noggin straight. Immensely frustrating.