Another 1-Run Win. And a trade deadline acquisition.

The Braves remained perfect for the homestand, beating the Pirates again by a run, 5-4. Last game of the 7-game homestand Monday afternoon.

Much was the same: A close game. 8 innings for Smoltz. A shaky bullpen performance. Francour hitting well (2 for 4 with a double). Another pinch hit for the ageless wonder. And a few things were unexpected: 2 homeruns from Furcal (and a double too). 4 hits for Giles. A 16-hit performance for the team. And Smoltz briefly surrendering a lead, when he gave up 3 runs in the 4th.

Twice Smoltz was presented a chance to play the batsman, an opportunity he has sorely and vocally missed during his stint in the bullpen, but he failed to help himself. In both the 4th and 6th innings McCann was intentionally walked with a runner on 2nd and 2 outs. Smoltz struck out and grounded out. But Smoltz did what he is paid to do- pitch very well. Another win. A perfect July for Smoltz.

TRADE DEADLINE NEWS: The Braves picked up former Cubbie Kyle Farnsworth from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Ramon Colon and the aptly-named minor-league pitcher, Zach Miner. Miner, at 2-7 with an era over 4, seems unlikely to become Zach Major. Now we all want to know- Who will be our closer when the Braves return home for a 12-game homestand on the 9th of August? And will we have a 10-game lead in the division by then?

Saturday Pre-Game Notes

My impression of Andy Rooney, if he were a Braves fan:

90 minutes before game time, and the Braves have stretched their division lead to 4 1/2 games. A win tonight means we pick up 5 games in 5 days. That’ll put us on a pace to win the division by 65 games.

The winner of the Marlins-Nats game tomorrow will be in second in the division. It may be time to start rooting for Washington to win a few.

Julio Franco needs just one hit to become the 80th major leaguer with 2,500. I can’t decide whether to wear my Frano-philes outfit or the new Francouer-philes togs while watching the game tonight.

Did ya’ ever notice that the Saw always seems to finish weakly in the afternoon game tool races?

Every team in the NL East is STILL over .500. But only 2 teams are over .500 in games within the division. The first place Braves and the last place Mets. Curious.

The Braves have not played a game on astroturf this season.

Braves 2 Pirates 1

This one was for….Jay Powell?

With Horacio rolling merrily along (having thrown just 96 pitches through 8 innings), and Reitsma being given a day off, Brave-O-Matic assumed that HoRam would be given a chance to go all the way. But he was due up third in the bottom of the eighth in a one-run game, so Cox pinch hit for him, and things began quickly to unravel.

Powell was Cox’s choice to finish the game — something he’s done sporadically, having notched 22 career saves. This was his fifth appearance for the Braves since coming back from Tommy John surgery, and it would turn out to be very likely his last. His second pitch sailed wildly outside as he screamed and crumpled to the ground, and you knew it was bad.

No doubt he’s headed for a second ligament replacement — a few other pitchers have undergone the procedure twice, and the typical recovery time after the second time is 2 full years. Whether you knew that or not, though, it’s not difficult to see that Powell might have thrown his last pitch. Skip said it best — imagine that, in a flash, you were no longer able to do your job, and you might have a clue what was going through Powell’s head. Kudos to Skip and Chip for their respectful treatment of the situation, and to Chipper for knowing where the camera was, and crouching to block it as the trainers worked on Powell. Very classy.

There was still a game to finish, and the remainder of the ninth inning was a microcosm of the Braves season. Cox gave the first shot at closing the game out to retreads Foster and Brower, who proceeded to load the bases, getting just one out in the process, so it was time once again to entrust the game to a rookie, this time Macay McBride. McBride came in throwing gas, and blew away Ryan Doumit before inducing a game ending groundout by Tike Redman. What looked after 8 innings like a low-key victory over a bad team had suddenly become an occasion for much exultation, because this one almost slipped away.

Davies vs. Redman (unless he’s traded today) at 7:35 tonight — on TBS.

The Sweeping of Nats

The hands of fate clap loudly for the Braves, culminating in a three-game sweep of the previous occupants of first place in the NL East. I bandy fate around because, really, we had no business winning these games. The Nationals, well, they are just not ready for prime time.

In the first game, the winning run came via a bases-loaded walk on a pitch that was a strike. In the second game we made two bone-headed errors (with both Laroche and McCann dropping easy outs) and endured a Dan Kolb outing. In the third game, too, we endured a Dan Kolb outing and still ended up winning even though our pitchers did the unthinkable – walked both Cristian Cuzman and Jamey Carroll in the same game. What is the worst that can happen if you groove one in to these guys? They have three HRs between them, and both sport slugging percentages below .280.

Still, the results are exactly what we expected. Anything less would have been a disappointment. And, look at us… three games up in the East and the second best record in the NL. I’m telling you, it is fated to be so.

Braves 4 Nats 3

The Nats have spent the last two months urging other teams not to pay any attention to the man behind the curtain, but at long last we’ve taken a peek, and here’s what we see: good starting pitching, a shaky bullpen, very little offensive punch, terrible team defense, and a heaping helping of Cristian Guzman. My God, he is bad.

Last night he capped another 0-fer by single-handedly giving the Braves the winning run in the eighth, just after his mates had tied the game. After two outs, Chipper singled up the middle. Then, because his manhood was challenged by the decision not to hold him on first, Chipper decided to steal second against the best active defensive catcher in the league, Brian Schneider, who proceeded to throw him out easily to end the inning. Or, rather, he would have, had Guzman been able to hold on to a perfect throw. Instead, he dropped it, then insured lasting ignominity by turning a Francoeur popup into a run-scoring double by running away from it. I don’t know how Robinson can keep writing his name on the lineup card, but let’s not discourage him.

It was Francoeur’s third hit of the evening, and he’s now hitting a cool .433. Cox gave him the start over Langerhans, but it’s KJ who really needs a day off (or more). Hudson pitched well after a shaky first inning, and it won’t surprise you to learn that Kolb was prominently involved in the Nats’ comeback.

Today’s game is at 1:05 — Sosa vs. Drese. Still waiting to hear more about a possible trade for Brian Giles (oh please oh please oh please).

Braves 3 Nationals 2

Alone in first!

According to Pete, before the game Andruw said that the Braves were not going to lose at home against Washington. Whether you call such statements attitude, leadership, or meaningless comments in a random universe, one thing is for sure — he’s unafraid to put some extra weight on his shoulders. 32 HRs in 99 games will do that to a person. Andruw certainly did his part tonight, with a double, triple, and a bases-loaded walk to win the game in the 10th — on a pitch that he almost certainly would have hacked at when he’s not going well.

If you attribute A. Jones’s success to his public disparagement of the Nats’ chances, then Adam LaRoche must have insulted their mamas, because he was the only other consistent offensive threat in the game. His solo HR versus an otherwise untouchable Livan Hernandez, followed by his 9th inning sac fly accounted for the Braves two runs during regulation. Pick to click, indeed!

Prior to the late-inning offense, the game was a fine pitchers’ duel between Smoltz and the aforementioned Hernandez. Smoltz allowed 10 baserunners and two runs in eight innings — very few of the hits (all singles) were solidly struck. Livan did his throwback thing, mixing in a startling array of junk with the occasional fastball. You’ve got to hand it to him — he’s found a way to stay effective despite throwing far more pitches than anyone else in the league. His 2565 pitches are more than 10% higher than the next highest total — Doug Davis with 2313.

Loaiza vs. Hudson tomorrow at 7:05.

Pennant Race Begins

Brave-O-Matic has returned from the coast, just as the biggest series of the season (thus far) is set to begin. With an off-day today, the Braves prepare for Washington to visit for a head-to-head match-up between the co-leaders of the NL East. Who will crack under pressure? Probably no one yet. The Braves would feel good about winning 2 of 3, having lost 6 of nine to the Nats this season. But the pressure is building as the Braves make their traditional summer surge, while the opponent de jour begins to falter.

The first game of the series promises to be a doozy. Smoltz vs. Livan Hernandez. Smoltz has been lights-out for the past month. He’s won 7 straight, with 3 complete games in that stretch, and 2 8-inning outings. He’s surrendered just 13 runs over the 63 innings, and has not been pulled by Cox mid-inning during this run. Hernandez, the ace of the Nats staff, has a gaudy 12-4 record, but he’s lost his last 2 decisions, and hasn’t held an opponent to fewer than 7 hits since May. So we may be treated to our ace peaking while theirs is ebbing.

Hudson faces Loaiza on Wednesday. This looks to be a battle between the bullpens, as neither pitcher tends to get more than 6 innings per appearance, and Hudson has just one game under the belt since his DL stint.

The finale is an afternoon affair, between Hampton and Ryan Dreese. Dreese is just 3-3 since coming to the NL from Texas, and 7-9 for the season with an ERA of 5 1/2. If Hampton repeats his last performance, this one may take 12 runs to win. But if its our hitters against Washington’s, I think we win handily, with the Jones boys and maybe K.J. or Francour getting big hits.

So it looks, on paper, like a win in games 1 and 3. The Hudson game may be the toss-up. If the Braves win all 3, the Nats have to start answering “collapse” questions. A split means the race heats up till our next meeting in late August. If we drop 3…. No way. Not now.

West Coast Swing

Brave-O-Matic will be publishing sporadically if at all through this weekend, as 1) the games are on too late, and 2) I’m heading to the beach. Go Julio!

Mets 8 Braves 1

Don’t know if Hampton is still hurt or just rusty, but that was pretty ugly. Could be nothing more than the law of averages catching up to him — Hampton was having a fine year prior to his injury, but he’s not a sub-2.00 ERA pitcher. Anyway, crappy game, not much to say.

Tomorrow the Braves begin a series in San Francisco against Los Gigantes Viejos. Here was today’s starting lineup for the Giants, with their ages:

Michael Tucker (34)
Omar Vizquel (38)
J.T. Snow (37)
Moises Alou (39)
Ray Durham (33)
Mike Matheny (34)
Pedro Feliz (30)
Jason Ellison (27)

Of course, Ellison is only starting because Marquis Grissom (38) is hurt, likewise Feliz for Bonds (40). Brave-O-Matic will go on record to predict that Bonds will not surpass Aaron’s 755 — Hammerin’ Hank’s record will therefore stand until 2014, when ARod passes him on the way to 800+.

Braves 3 Mets 0

Hudson’s return highlighted a second consecutive well-pitched victory for the good guys. He was extremely efficient, throwing just 62 pitches in 6 innings of shutout ball. Must be said that he was helped enormously by the liberal high strike zone of umpire Bill Miller, but you have to give Hudson credit for identifying the strike zone early on and pitching to it.

Brower, Kolb and Reitsma each pitched a inning of scoreless relief to complete the shutout. Kolb’s recent performance has been very timely for him and the club — he’s stepped it up just as bullpen roles are being defined, and doubtless Cox is more willing to trust tested veterans in the late innings, as opposed to a rookie like Boyer. It remains to be seen what role newcomer Jay Powell can carve for himself, but overall it seems that patience is being rewarded in the pen.

KJ broke out of a slump with two RBI hits, and Furcal once again reached base three times. Andruw is trying to pull outside breaking balls again, so it’s a good thing that we’ve got some balance in the lineup. Nice day for Langerhans as well — two hits and a good running catch to end the eighth.

Braves 2 Mets 1

A tight, tense game throughout, as old buddies Smoltz and Glavine each spun some of their own particular magic. Smoltz used exceptional control of his fastball, slider, and curve (with the exception of a hanging slider to Wright), while Glavine did his usual outside/in routine, and each found willing foils among the opposing batsmen. You’ve all seen it hundreds of times, but never before had Smoltz and Glavine opposed each other.

By now, we’ve grown used to the sight of Glavine in a Mets uniform, so it’s no longer a shock to see him pitch against the Braves. But the sight of these two longtime teammates bat against each other is most incongruous. I looked for some mutual acknowledgement between them during these at bats, but none was forthcoming.

Furcal continued his recent great work, reaching base 4 times and playing surpassing defense. Brave-O-Matic seems to recall coming out in favor of a Furcal trade — that fire is just about out. KJ was utterly mystified against Tommy G, but Francoeur and McCann both showed a willingness to go with the pitch, and each had two hits.

Kolb and Reitsma finished off the win with a scoreless inning apiece — Reitsma was helped by a DP grounder from Piazza, who failed to duplicate his heroics from the night before. Five years ago, you hated seeing him up in that situation. Not so much anymore.

Subtraction By Addition

ESPN reports that the Nationals have traded for Preston Wilson, giving up Zach Day, J.J. Davis, AND a player to be named later or cash.

Is Jim Bowden even aware of the Coors Field effect? Did he, or anyone in the organization, even bother to check Wilson’s home/road splits? Just in case Mr. Bowden is an avid reader of Brave-O-Matic (hey, it’s possible — we’re getting upwards of 30 hits a day!), here they are (also available at about 18,000 other places on the web):

2005
Home — .281/.350/.544
Road — .224/.280/.411

2004
Home — .255/.321/.402
Road — .240/.309/.380

2003
Home — .302/.370/.591
Road — .260/.316/.479

This trade seems roughly equivalent to our trading Ryan Langerhans, Horacio Ramirez, and a player to be named, and receiving Ryan Langerhans in return.

To be fair, injuries have played a big part in Wilson’s effectiveness, and the players the Nats gave up aren’t exactly top prospects, though Day has had his moments. Still, if this is their idea of girding for battle, then gird away, sirs!

Great Article

All-Star breaks suck. What in the hell am I supposed to do for these three days? You can’t tell me I’m supposed to take part in the All-Star festivities and listen to that sub-human McCarver wax and wane about mindless drivel.

So, during my nasty withdrawal period, I stumbled upon this excellent article (thanks to Jimmy the Skin) from Baseball Prospectus that takes an analytical look at the Braves sustained success over the last 14 years. Read it now. Here is the link since the Blogger software isn’t letting me create a link.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4216

All-Star Game Music Review

Much ink has been spilled about MLB’s ongoing effort to appeal to a younger demographic — what better partner in the endeavor than upstart FOX? And what are the kids listening to these days? Why, the rock and roll, of course! Here are a few of the songs that Bud and Rupert found in their kids’ album collections (culled from the 4th through 7th innings, or all the All-Star fun I can take):

“Night Moves” by Bob Seger
“Levon” by Elton John
“Be Good Johnny” by Men At Work (guess which one of them dug up THAT old nugget)

Bud and Rupert must have grown restless at this point with all the pelvis-shaking debbil music, so McCarver soothed them with a couple of lines from “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” by George and Ira Gershwin, as Phil Rizzuto stepped in to face Warren Spahn…

I did hear one current song — unfortunately, it was the turgid “American Baby” by the Dave Matthews Band. Ugh. I know the point of being a rock star is to get laid, but does he have to be so obvious and creepy about it?

Anyway, the game. I’m sorry, I just have never been able to get excited about an exhibition. What, you’re telling me it means something now? You’re kidding me, right?

Home Run Derby Report

Didn’t watch it. I’m sure the pitching was bad.