By the end of the week, what pitcher will have passed Hoyt Wilhelm and Dennis Eckersley for third on the all-time list of games pitched? You’ll never guess….
never…
nope, wrong again….
It’s….Mike Stanton, who will soon pitch in his 1,072nd game to trail only Jesse Orosco (1252) and John Franco (1119). Ah, to be old [...]
Entries from June 2006
June 30, 2006
Trivia Question
June 30, 2006
Midseason Grades (Part 1)
With the day off today, it’s time to begin taking stock of the Braves situation with the hoary old standby Midseason Grades column(s). It’s not going to be pretty, but on with the show. Let’s start with the infield:
Adam LaRoche
Roachy is into his third year as starting 1B/designated fan whipping boy, and he [...]
June 30, 2006
World Cup-O-Matic
Call it unkosher, but I’m posting my World Cup blog. Hell, the Braves are off tonight (and most of June) anyway.
A week ago I posted (elsewhere) my “Cuisine-theory” of soccer. Basically, I said that I could just as well pick World Cup winners based on who’s cuisine I liked best. In the Round of 16, [...]
June 28, 2006
Rookie of the Game Award
In what I imagine will be available on a daily basis, Tuesday’s R.O.T.G. (not to be confused with R.O.U.S- Rodents of Unusual Size) was Scott Thorman. Batted twice, reached base twice. Raised his average to a Hampton-esque .120. Well, ya gotta start somewhere.
I’m leaving it to the other Matics to talk about another great outing [...]
June 27, 2006
Rookie de Jour
Monday’s menu features Kevin Barry. A 27 year-old rookie, drafted by the Braves 5 years ago out of Rider College.
We’ve reached that nadir where we’re bringing up large swaths of our minor-league system a week before the (faux) All-Star break. A preview of who we may see in seasons ahead. But Barry did a fine [...]
June 26, 2006
A Rare Dominant Performance
After many weeks of watching our starting pitchers nibble (even Smoltz is a nibbler now) and flail, it was with great joy that we witnessed the rotation debut of Chuck James yesterday. Not only were the results grand (8 IP, 1 run, 3 hits, 8 Ks), but the style was refreshing. No hesitation, [...]
June 24, 2006
Braves Win, Braves Win
Well, it’s been a long time since we’ve visited our old pal- The Win Column, but the Braves finally did it. Last night we ended the 10-game losing streak by holding on (barely) against that mighty Tampa Bay juggernaut. Now the next item is making up a 15 game deficit and passing everybody in the [...]
June 23, 2006
Last Couple of Weeks In A Nutshell
Posting here has been rather sporadic of late. Turns out there’s a great big world out there beyond Braves-land, with some interesting people and pretty cool stuff. Who knew?
Anyway, please don’t fret, dear reader — Brave-O-Matic has not forsaken you. Here’s what’s up:
There remains some offensive talent on this team, but the [...]
June 21, 2006
Dispatch From San Fran
Fully two thirds of the workforce here at Brave-O-Matic spent last week in San Francisco, attending a wedding, seeing the sights (not a bit of fog, by the way), and managed to get to a Giants game on Monday night, against the (presumably) hated Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Orange County) California. Our contingent [...]
June 18, 2006
Too Sad to Post
I’ll be at the ballpark tonight as our fading Braves take on the Red Sox for an ESPN national audience. We’re 13 games out and tied with the Marlins (who just swept us and will now sweep past us) for last. It’s too dismal and painful to even blog about right now. Maybe in a [...]
June 14, 2006
Desperation, or Signs of Life?
Two new items of note:
1) Reitsma still has not been released, but the Braves did the next best thing, putting him on the DL for “numbness” in his fingers and calling up Phil Stockman, who’s been mowing down AAA batters with alacrity. His combined stats for Mississippi and Richmond read: 37 IP, 10(!) [...]
June 13, 2006
Off Day — Reitsma Not Released
That’s the big news coming out of a travel day, the continued presence of Chris Reitsma on the roster. I’m not rooting against the guy — he somehow doesn’t come across as negatively as Kolb did last year — but he’s completely fallen apart now. His appearance in Houston on Sunday was one [...]
June 9, 2006
HGH Woes
Wow, you’d have to look around for a while to find a worse player to have cooperated with the feds, from baseball’s perspective, than Jason Grimsley. Grimsley has pitched for seven different teams in a big league career that began in 1989, and spans what we usually consider to be the “steroid era”.
A quick scan [...]
June 7, 2006
Am I A Believer?
A couple of years ago Horacio Ramirez drew comparisons to Tom Glavine — lefty, good-but-not-great stuff, needs to keep the ball down and control walks to be effective. And while there’s certainly a chance his latest results are a fluke, he’s starting to justify the comparison. None too soon, both for the Braves [...]
June 6, 2006
This is Agonizing
During the current momentum-halting, soul-crushing slump, we’ve come to grips to the fact that sometimes we simply can’t hit with runners in scoring position. Hey, every team goes through snaps like that. And so what happened last night was just a continuation of the past eight games.
And we also realize that sometimes when we really [...]
