Around this time 13 years ago I went on a family vacation to Orlando, Florida. I was 12 years old at that time and I was a huge Braves fan. My father and I became Braves fans because we were able to watch every game on TBS. Living in New York our only other choices were the Yankees or Mets and we really dislike both of them.

I was excited to go to Orlando because this was the Braves second Spring Training at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex and my dad said that we can go one day while my mom and sisters hung out at the hotel. I was a little disappointed on the day we went because only pitchers and catchers had to report and I was worried my favorite player (Chipper Jones) wouldn't be there.

Continue reading this post »

Watching the game last night I was getting so mad at Yunel Escobar.  I know he has had issues in the past where he hasn't always hustled and has "brain farts", but last night he just seemed awful.  There was the missed fly ball, the throw that pulled Glaus off the base, the no throw on the double play chance.

What is his deal? His defense has been pretty good this year, that has been well documented here at TC, but also well documented is his struggles at the plate.  Is he not trying because he is struggling? Does he just not care? Is he mad about his name being brought up in trade talks? I will be interested to see if he starts today. Bobby was really mad at him last night. 

Infante's top defensive contribution in the sixth inning, when he charged from third base, fielded Josh Thole's bunt and threw the ball back to third to retire Ike Davis, who had reached on a leadoff double when Yunel Escobar allowed a pop fly to land in shallow left-center.

Escobar further infuriated Cox and some of his teammates when, after fielding a Jeff Francoeur grounder with one out, he made a soft throw to first base that pulled Glaus off the bag. As Glaus reached to make the tag, he jammed his left hand against the hard-charging Francoeur.

Glaus remained in the game, and it doesn't appear that he sustained any kind of significant injury, but at least one player said that Cox was so infuriated by the lackadaisical throw that he kicked his dugout chair "at least six times."

The ever-versatile Infante has started at three positions this week and if Jones' back cooperates and allows him to return to third base on Saturday, the All-Star utility player could start at a fourth spot by spelling Escobar at shortstop.

Watching the selection show I expected to see McCann, Hudson and Prado to be named to the NL All-Star team, so I was completely shocked and pleasantly surprised when they announced Omar Infante. I had to call any Braves fan I knew to voice my excitement. I have always been an Infante supporter and fan so this is really exciting.  I am a little disappointed that Glaus and Wagner didn't make the team but Infante makes up for it. 

I am also glad Strasburg didn't make it.  The NL offense is not as good as the AL offense in my opinion, but I think the NL has much better pitching.  What do you guys think? GO BRAVES and GO OMAR INFANTE!!

A lot of good players are up for the NL final spot, Votto probably deserves it, but lets vote Wagner for the final spot.

Voting for the 2010 All-Star game ends tonight at 11:59 pm ET.  As of 2 days ago Brian was less than 200,000 behind Molina.  I know there have been many posts urging you all to vote, but today is an off day and unless you care about the NBA free agency, there is nothing going on sports wise. So lets all get to mlb.com and vote McCann.  Tell your friends, relatives, enemies, anyone you know to vote for him too.  Create fake e-mail addresses, use other peoples e-mail address, do whatever you can to vote McCann! We can do this, Braves fans are the best fans in MLB!

In MLB I see the occasional signs, but I have never seen a big head cardboard sign during a baseball game.  I am from Syracuse and a student created a 5-foot-tall cutout of Jim Boeheim's face.  I decided I wanted to do the same thing for our superstar rookie, Jason Heyward.  I didn't make the Heyward cutout 5-feet-tall, but it is about 3.5-feet-tall.  I am bringing it to Pittsburgh for the 3 game series.  Since I will be at the games, I won't be able to see them on TV, so I was hoping the members of the TC community that plan on watching the games would let me know if Big Head Heyward makes it on TV.  Friday I will be sitting in right field, Saturday I sit behind home, and Sunday I will be in the first row by the Braves dugout. 

The cutout looks pretty good. I have it on foam board, but I have yet to cut it out.  I didn't realize how difficult it would be to cut a giant foam board with scissors.  I have a X-Acto knife now that I will use to cut it out after work.  I will post pictures after I am done cutting it out.  GO BRAVES!!