This Can’t Be Good

Chipper will not be in the starting line-up for the opener tonight against Detriot. Recall that he left after 6 innings Wednesday with a possible pulled groin. No word on whether he is suiting up or not. 0-fer Jones, on the other hand, will be starting. And batting fourth. Guess he’s got that swing problem all worked out. We’ll see if he can handle Kenny “The Gambler” Rogers. Rogers will be making his 2007 debut tonight in a pitching match-up versus Detroit-native John Smoltz, in what promises to be a battle for the ages aged.

SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE: Yep. O-fer Jones notches an 0-for-3 performance. Expect more of the same tonight. Sunday’s column to be titled: Looking Up to Mr. Mendoza. Also- Tune in for the Birthday edition of Sunday Video Fun.

I’m Done Waiting for Andruw. Bench Him Now.

So close. Just 1.5 games out of first. If Andruw Jones could find a remedy for his amemic swing, that gap would be erased. Andruw continued to underwhelm again yesterday- going 0-for-4 for the second day in a row. Renteria joined him this time. Braves strand 16 runners. Renteria and Andruw account for 7 of those. And the Braves blow a game that was theirs for the taking.

Braves are living right, as the slump has seen no one really taking advantage of things. Sunday ends up with a Braves loss, a Mets loss, a Phillies loss and a Marlins loss. OK. Put Sunday behind us and lets focus on wins in this homestand. Fine to say. But when Andruw struggles to maintain the Mendoza line, we’re trying to run a race with a 50-lb weight on our back.  Sit Andruw? Yes! Time for him to be called out. Embarassed if that’s what it takes. He’s the greatest glove in baseball, but he’s killing our offense. Bench him. Let him spend gametime at the stadium batting cages. Its obvious he hasn’t found any time to work on his mechanics. Let him worry about his status and his contract and start showing some motivation to correct his swing. Diaz, Willie C. and Francouer can handle things while he’s gone.

Rentaria Should Have Been Tossed

Friday- Soriano had a career day, with homers in his first 3 at bats. Saturday-Hudson smacks Soriano with a pitch to open the contest. Sunday- With 2 out, nobody on in the 1st, Ted Lilly goes high and tight to Rentaria and hits him. Benches clear. Lilly tossed. A few pitches later, Rentaria steals second. When the throw comes in Edgar throws a forearm to the face of Mike Fontenot.

So Lilly is tossed for supposedly hitting Edgar on purpose. OK, I give that a maybe. Hudson’s throw at Soriano was far more obvious, yet no ejection then. But if the ejection of Lilly was the umps way of maintaining order, then why is Rentaria still playing? The hit was obvious and dangerous. Certainly Fontenot had no reason to expect it.

I’m not one to cry about ballplayers being too rough or anything. Especially when its a Braves player getting away with a cheap shot. But the forearm to the nose was uncalled for. And even if Edgar did owe the Cubs a shot back, there is no reason I can imagine for him not to be tossed immediately.

The Most Ridiculous Thing I’ve Seen since…..

I’ve seen some stupid things pop up in and around baseball. Ideas that may have seemed good on paper, but in reality are something we can all do without. Having the winner of the All-Star game (aka the mid-season popularity contest) determine home field advantage in the Series is one egregious example. The (thankfully) short-lived “Hold” stat is another. The Astros Softball-esque jerseys. The White Sox stint in short pants.

The newest entry, to my eyes, can be seen in yesterday’s column by Yahoo! fantasy sports writer, Jeff Passan. The title tells you all you need to know about a bored writer who’s gone too far: MLB mock draft.

This is the last thing I need. A chance to guess at what team may draft players who may make the major leagues in 3-8 years. The vast majority will never see the bigs. Of those that do, most will not be with the same team. So what is the point of a mock draft? Nothing. (Although I must admit, I did read enough to note my favorite player name- Georgia’s own Josh Smoker from Calhoun High. A lefty pitcher named Smoker. How cool is that?)

Every Day Brings a New Pitcher

Today’s new mediocrity  is…… Blaine Boyer. BB was called up from Richmond out of concern that Smoltz might be unstating his arm pain. Again. He last pitching in the bigs in April 2006. Boyer got his chance to shine in the final inning of the nightcap on Tuesday, allowing just one hit in one inning of meaningless work.

Congrats to Buddy Carlyle. He notched his first ML win since 1999. I think Salty, who caught for Carlyle, was 4 years old at that time. As Sammy has noted, the performance was so impressive that the Braves immediately sent Buddy back to the minors. He’ll come back up once he develops arm problems or strains some muscles.

The Two-Out Terrors

The Braves clutch hitting is a wonder to behold. In last night’s 11-run performance, 10 runs crossed the plate after there were 2 outs.  Jeff Francoeur, putting 2 more 2-out rbi’s on his ledger last night, leads the lead in this catagory with 18. Inexplicably, the Marlins once chose to intentionally walk McCann with 2 outs to face Francoeur. Who then singled in a run.

During that incredible first inning, where the Braves scored 4 runs on 4 consecutive 2-out hits, TBS posted a very impressive graphic. Coming into yesterday the Braves had scored 20 runs with 0 outs. 25 runs with 1 out. And 50 runs with 2 outs. That’s clutch hitting. That’s how a division-winner hits. And right now the Braves are looking mighty formitable. 

Tonight Tim Hudson is on the mound against Scott Olsen. Tim is the hottest thing in baseball thus far, posting an era of 0.62. Olsen is 1-3 lifetime against our Braves with an era of 11.2. Let’s just say I’m excited about seeing major-league caliber pitching tonight.

How Do Others See Us?

My favorite un-Brave website, Metstradamus, has recently posted its predictions for the NL East. They foresee a 2nd place finish for our Braves, since they just can’t bear the possibility that the Mets one-year string of NL Championships may be at an end. They like our bullpen, hate our starters and don’t take our power numbers seriously. I think they underestimate Chipper-Andruw-Francoeur-McCann.

For my money, I’m loath to make any predictions about our division right now. The race between us, the Mets and the Phillies is gonna be a heck of a fight. I think it’ll come down to who stays healthiest. It will also depend alot on who gets better than expected results from their starting rotation versus who’s pitching weaknesses come to the fore. So I won’t make any prediction till I see everyone on the field- in real games- for a month.

Chipper’s Lands a Linguistic TKO

Just 2 weeks from Opening Day and already Shortstop Jimmy Rollins has declared the Phillies the 2007 NL East Champions.”We’re the team to beat. I can’t put it any other way.” And how does the manager feel about this sort of bravado? “It’s OK if we back up what we talk about,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Thursday. Will they play We Are the Champions at the start of each Philly game?

The problem? Well, for starters, the Phillies are currently the Champions of nothing. The Mets are the defending champs. Philadelphia hasn’t even been to the play-offs, let alone win anything, since 1993. For perspective, in 1993 our #1 catcher was Damon Berryhill. It was Sid Bream’s last season in Atlanta. It was very long ago.

The response from the actual defending champs- “The Phillies, they can come out and talk as much as they want,” David Wright said. “Until they prove it on the field, then it’s
just talk. As far as throwing out predictions and talking about it, talk is very, very cheap.”

But the quote of the day comes from a veteran with division champion rings on every finger. Speaking as someone who’s less than impressed by talk alone, Chipper Jones launched a devastating verbal punch, “We would have never disrespected the rest of the division by proclaiming ourselves division champs before the beginning of the season. The fact that he did, that has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. As far as I can remember, I don’t think he has ever won a division. We’ll leave it at that.”

I’ll leave it at that too.