Back To The Baggie

You may have forgotten, but this is not our first trip to the Metrodome (which rivals whatever the Tampa [Bay] {Devil} Rays are now calling their home as the ugliest and worst home park) since the ’91 Series. In fact, it was five years ago yesterday that we arrived in ‘s hometown for a 3-game series.

Game 1 was a 15-inning affair in which Furcal managed an 0-7 as the Braves lost 6-5 to a run-scoring double by the recently (and surely temporarily) resurgent Cristian Guzman off Kerry Ligtenberg. This was of course our Year of the Bullpen — check out those ERAs.

Game 2 was a bit more of a kick, as we roared back for an 11-0 shellacking. I’m quite sure this was the only game in ML history to feature home runs from both Keith Lockhart and Matt Franco. Why, we were so far ahead, even Albie Lopez got to play!

Game 3 was a 3-2 win for the good guys, despite the shaky save by Smoltzie. But the real historical significance of the game was this: it was the last game in which Johan Santana was NOT one of the absolute best pitchers in baseball. Going into the game, he had a lifetime ERA of about 5.70, and would give up 10 baserunners in 4 2/3 innings in this game to take the loss. Beginning with his next start, he would go 9-1 over his next 10 decisions and finish the year with a sub-3 ERA. Nobody knew at the time, obviously, that this would be the turning point, but what was baffling was how long it took the Twins to realize what they had — it was well over halfway into the following season before they put him in the rotation to stay.

But, as far as we know, he still stinks (nyah nyah).

A Good Result……, But

Braves win. Outstanding. Not just win, but they did it with a come-from-behind effort in the 8th against Dempster, who had only one blown save on the season. Excellent. But here’s the problem:

Cubs starter Ted Lilly was ejected with 2 outs in the first. From there on, the Braves were hitting against the Cubs bullpen for 8 innings. This comes the night after the Cubs bullpen had thrown 6 and 1/3 innings. We should have seized a huge offensive opportunity. Yet, until Dempster’s meltdown at the end, we managed to produce runs only in the 2-run 3rd inning. Once again, the lack of power caused the Braves to leave alot of potential runs on base. Sunday that number was 12.

More bad news

• Edgar had to leave in the 4th when it was decided that his hand, bruised by Lilly’s pitch, needed an x-ray. (Good news- the x-rays showed no damage.)
• Andruw goes 0-for-4, dropping his average to .221.
• Chipper is still far from returning to the line-up.

Good news

• Mets lose, Braves are somehow only 2.5 games off the pace.
• Phillies, Marlins and Nats also lose. Brave pick up a game on the entire division.
• Carlyle looked like a decent option for our problematic 5th spot in the rotation.

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.

NYT Rhoden on Sheffield

More reasoned analysis here (subscription required).

King Kaufman on Sheffield

Take a look at today’s column by Kaufman at Salon.com (I subscribe, but I think anyone can read it if you wait through an ad or two). I’ll pull a couple of quotes:

“Chris Isidore of CNNMoney.com spelled it out beautifully just before Jackie Robinson Day: Though the draft limits the bargaining power of amateur players in this country, it also makes the international market more efficient for teams.

They can open an academy, develop players and sign the best of them without other clubs even knowing the kids’ names. Open that same academy in Compton, say, and you’re one of 30 teams with a chance of drafting the kid you want.

Combine that with the expense of playing youth baseball, and the economic reality of the United States, which is that blacks are generally poorer than whites — even though, don’t forget, racism has been conquered and people should stop bringing up race all the time — and you have a system that funnels international players, mostly Latin Americans, and nonpoor American kids, who are mostly not black, into the pros.”

then later in the column:

“Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg writes that former Tigers great Willie Horton told him he was shocked when he visited a minor league facility in Florida in 2001 and found Latino Tigers farmhands living in substandard conditions with no money, constantly afraid of being shipped home. “I gave them money for toothpaste,” Horton says.

Those conditions have improved, Rosenberg writes, “but the attitude hasn’t really changed. Compared with their American-born counterparts, Latino players are like migrant workers. They deal with lousy work conditions because the alternative — going home, often to a poverty-stricken area — is so unappealing. On every rung of the ladder, they are afraid of getting sent home. Yes, this makes them ‘easier to control.'”

So can we agree that Sheffield wasn’t just talking nonsense, that he was trying, without really succeeding, to get at an important issue?”

I agree.

Gary Sheffield Puts Foot In Mouth…Or Does He?

I’ve been wanting to mention this, but it needed to percolate for a few days. As you may remember, Gary Sheffield was asked about the predominance of Latin players in MLB compared to black players. Here’s what he said:

“I called it years ago. What I called is that you’re going to see more black faces, but there ain’t no English going to be coming out. … [It’s about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do — being able to control them,” he told the magazine.

“Where I’m from, you can’t control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is. And that’s a person that you’re going to talk to with respect, you’re going to talk to like a man.

“These are the things my race demands. So, if you’re equally good as this Latin player, guess who’s going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys.”

“They have more to lose than we do. You can send them back across the island. You can’t send us back. We’re already here.”

And the race was on to call Sheffield a moron, usually without bothering to address the content of his remarks. Here’s Jeff Pearlman’s take on Sheffield. I defy anyone to read it and explain to me what Pearlman adds to the discussion. He must believe that his exposure of John Rocker as a racist gasbag gives him license to pen ad hominem attacks against anyone who brings up the topic of race.

I don’t believe that Sheffield is a moron — he strikes me as an intelligent man who has a chip on his shoulder. I don’t think it’s out of bounds to say he might be a little bit paranoid. But here’s the thing about paranoids — they pay meticulously close attention to the world around them, and Sheffield is in his 22nd year of organized ball. It may be his tendency to view the world through the prism of race to a myopic extent, but before we condemn him out of hand, shouldn’t we first attempt to assess the possible truth of what he said?

A few people have. Here’s Torii Hunter:

“You can go to Latin America and get that same talent as a black player in Compton and if he’s in Compton he gets drafted in the first round he’s going to get two million dollars…If he doesn’t pan out, you’re out two million dollars but if you go to the Domincan, Cuba, or whatever and you can get a guy for two thousand dollars and he doesn’t pan out you’re only down two thousand dollars.”

Here’s Carlos Guillen:

“I’m happy he said it…I’m glad somebody spoke up…In my first year, in rookie league, I hurt my elbow and I played DH. In my first at-bat, I hit a double, and I missed first base. I was out, and they screamed at me. I didn’t know what to say. If I had said anything, they would have sent me home. I was afraid to talk. That happens to every Latin player. They are afraid to talk.”

Here’s Ozzie Guillen:

“Maybe we’re hungrier…We’re trying to survive. Those guys sign for $500,000 or $1 million and they’re made. We have a couple of dollars. You can sign one African-American player for the price of 30 Latin players.”

Sheffield makes two arguments, one economic and one cultural. That he did so with his usual air of defiance caused most commenters to give him the figurative finger. But both arguments have merit, based on a simple risk/reward calculation. To management, the question is one of economics: Which player do I sign? To the players, it’s cultural: What happens to me if I fail?

I’m grateful for pot-stirrers like Gary Sheffield. Without him, not only would this topic not have been discussed, but I personally would never have thought of it. I look forward to more reactions to the content of his remarks.

More on Heyward

Nice (and prescient) writeup by the AJC on Heyward, who is the youngest player in the draft, and who was projected to go as high as sixth. The names McGriff and McCovey have been mentioned as comps, just to get us started on the overhype….

UPDATE: Here’s Baseball America’s take…

“Heyward has as much upside as any player in the draft. He possesses a rare blend of strong tools and feel for all phases of the game. He draws physical comparisons to Fred McGriff, while his tools are similar to Willie McCovey’s and his approach is comparable to Frank Thomas’. Heyward’s father played basketball at Dartmouth and his uncle played basketball for John Wooden at UCLA. He led McDonough High to the school’s first state championship in baseball as a junior, when he was used as a center fielder, first baseman and pitcher. He’ll play right field as a professional, where he’s a solid-average defender with average arm strength. He’s an average runner. His plate discipline and pitch recognition are outstanding, though some scouts left his games frustrated that he wasn’t more aggressive. He rarely misses his pitch, and he shows above-average bat speed and a willingness to use the whole field. He has plus-plus raw power. Heyward will need to lower his hands in his set-up to improve his ability to get backspin on balls, helping his power translate into more home runs.”

and their take on our second pick, 3B Jon Gilmore:

“As expected the Atlanta Braves selected Iowa’s Jon Gilmore (Iowa City High) at the 33rd pick of the supplemental first round. Gilmore ranked as the 84th best prospect in our Draft Preview is now the highest Iowa high schooler ever drafted, with the previous mark being held by righthander Zach Hammes when the Los Angeles Dodgers took him as their 51st selection overall in 2002.

Gilmore, a Wichita State signee, broke into the national spotlight with his performances off the nation’s top high school pitchers at national showcases and the Aflac-All-American game. Gilmore showed his powerful bat when he hit a rocket double to the wall off Michael Main at the Aflac Classic. So far, the Braves have shown that they are going after powerful bats with selecting Gilmore and Jason Heyward.”

UPDATE II: Here’s BP on the Braves subsequent pick, Josh Fields from UGA:

“The 2nd round is finally underway and the first interesting pick is Josh Fields to Atlanta at #69. He went into the year as a potential first round pick and one of the elite college closer, but he dropped on a bad year. Bit of a risk, but some upside there, and of course, he’s local.”

Here’s who else we’ve gotten so far:

2 78 Freddie Freeman 1b/rhp El Modena HS, Orange, Calif. CA
3 108 Brandon Hicks ss Texas A&M TX
4 138 Cory Gearrin rhp Mercer GA
5 168 Dennis Dixon of Oregon OR

Sweet Bird of Youth!! great pick

2007 Draft: Atlanta Braves

Players signed indicated in Bold

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School	State
1	14	Jason Heyward	of	Henry County HS, McDonough, Ga.	GA

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.

News of the Day- In re Clemens

What’s Eating Roger Clemens? The fat, 44-year old was supposed to begin dragging the Yankees back to within shouting distance of the BoSox on Monday. But here its Tuesday and still no Roger. What gives? What did the Yankees get for their $28 million? Here’s the scoop, according to ESPN, home of the ESPy:

He scratched himself from the outing on Saturday because of what the Yankees said then was a fatigued groin…

Fatigued grion? Dude, you are old. And fat. Then Joe Torre explains most disturbing facts about the examination of the Rocket’s groin:

“We knew [the MRI] wasn’t going to show anything,” manager Joe Torre said. “He’s had previous problems there. “

Man. I did not need to know that. I don’t know which is worse- an MRI of your groin can’t find anything or your manager explaining to the press that you are known to previously have problems with your nether regions. Maybe it would have been better for Roger to stay fat and retired. And did I mention Clemens is fat?

Remembering Clete Boyer

Former Braves 3rd baseman Clete Boyer passed away, at 70 years of age, in an Atlanta hospital yesterday. Clete was a long-time Yankee who finished his career here in Atlanta, winning his only Gold Glove while playing here in 1969. Boyer, one of 14 kids, had 2 brothers who also made it to the majors. He and his brother Ken became the first brothers to hit homers in the same World Series game in 1964. But Clete was able to remain in the bigs for 16 years because of superlative glovework, rather than his hitting. No doubt, had he spent the prime of his career in the NL, rather than with Brooks Robinson in the AL, he’d have garnered several more Gold Gloves. We send our condolences to the Boyer family.

Unrelated note(s) on today’s game(s): The Braves love playing the Marlins so much, they’ll do it twice today. After Huddy took the loss yesterday, its imperative that the Braves win at least one today. Giving up 2 to a division rival just 4.5 games back of us would be bad news. But the Braves currently have more wins in the division than anyone else.  Its important that we keep that distinction.

Smoltz goes in the afterno0on. Carlyle tries to look like a major-leaguer in the nightcap. Needless to say, we look for pitching early and hitting late. In fact, with Carlyle (9.00 era) facing Vanden Hurk (12.75 era), the late game promises to be a fantasy-league….. well…. fantasy. Expect a 4-hour game. Go Braves.

UPDATE: Looks like I was confused. Its Carlyle looking to post a win in the afternoon game against Mitre and then Smoltz against the AA-quality Vanden Hurk. The match-ups work out very well for the Braves, seeing how Carlyle has a 2-run lead in the 8th right now.

Wellman Is Anything But

As a Braves blogger, I’m contractually obligated to link to this video. You have to hand it to the manager of our Mississippi affiliate — he’s obviously studied at the feet of titans, and this was a veritable Norton Anthology of manager tirades:

1) First he pays his respects to Larry Bowa with some old-fashioned nose-to-nose jawing, then…

2) he throws in some Bobby-esque circular stomping

3) The subsequent covering of home plate was a stirring homage to Earl Weaver, and…

4) the tossing of the bases? Pure Piniella.

There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging the old masters in any discipline — as has been said, everything comes from everything else. But a true work of art requires the personal stamp of the artist. And with the first ever “resin bag hand grenade” in recorded history, Phillip Wellman’s legacy is secure.

And so, to him I say “Bravo, sir”! Here’s something you might find handy in the coming weeks and months.

Cormier Returns. Next, please.

Lance Cormier returns for his 2007 debut. On the plus side- He didn’t allow more than one home run in any inning. The downside- everything else. Including a first inning, 2-out grand slam by Mark Derosa. Ugh.

I think someone in the Chicago organisation needs to offer Chip Carey a job. He’s ready to go. Its tough to listen to one of our broadcasters be such a cheerleader for Chicago’s city and team. For the 5 innings I could tolerate, I listened to Chip explain how great the stadium is. How well improved the new seating has made things. How great the Chicago fans are. And he discussed many landmarks around the Chicago area. Several times Chip became effusive about the wealth of talent in the Cubs starting rotation. When Soriano went deep to left in the 2nd, Chip’s call was very enthusiastic- “Hit hard…. look at that ball go. It’s in the basket!” The plate umpire’s first call was that the ball had hit the wall below the basket. Chip was adament that this was wrong and that the Cubs had a homer. Well, it turns out that it was a homer and the crew reversed the call. But Chip’s enthusiasm for the opposing club was naked for all to see. Any question about who Chip cheers for was erased by his excitement over Derrick Lee’s dinger the next inning. Send Chip back to Chicago. Where he wants to be. And I want him to be.

And send Cormier with him.

More Cubs, Please

The Cubbies. They’re good for what ails ya. With all the turmoil decimating the Braves line-up and starting rotation, its reassuring to see how bad things can really be. The Cubs are a dysfunctional group with enough talent to be competitive (especially in the pathetic NL Central), but who act as individuals who can’t play well with others. The sum of the parts does not add up to a whole. And thus, the Braves win again, thanks to small ball and Cubs miscues.

Rich Hill did a good job, but got no support. Once again, one big inning put the Braves over the top. This time it was a 3-run 4th that opened up what had been a scoreless contest. 3 runs off 2 hits is the sort of things the Cubs give away regularly. The Cubs offense collapsed under the weight of 2 runners put out trying to unwisely take 3rd. On the second occation, in the 8th, Sweet Lou took the opportunity to beat Bobby to the “punch” and got himself ejected. Bobby is still one from the ejection record. Don’t look for it before the Braves return to Atlanta.

The Pinella ejection was entertaining though. Lou takes full advantage of the opportunity to scream and vent the frustration of the Cubs Nation. He even kicked his own cap a few times and, according to the official’s report to MLB, he also kicked an ump. This led to a downpour of refuse from the outfield bleachers. This was Cubs Travel Mug giveaway day, so there were plenty of Blue and Red plastic cups, heavy enough to heave from 12 rows back, to be tossed. And it was great fun to see. I love audience participation at the ballpark. Though the announcers always feign disgust.

The downside- Chipper still DL’d. Smoltz will not start Sunday due to now-admitted pain in the injured pinkie. So cross your good fingers and hope for the best as LANCE CORMIER makes his ’07 debut this afternoon.