Maybe I deserve to get ripped for this, but I've had a few Sweetwater 420s and am just wondering...

For the money, who is better right now: Pedro Martinez or Tom Glavine?

Maybe the answer is obvious, but I couldn't honestly say if I had to pick one to sign a 1 year contract, who I would rather have. Don't mistake me, I'm not suggesting we should offer Pedro a deal, because I'm not sure he fits here. But I'm looking at the two, and thinking if I were to spend roughly $3 million, which is a better investment?

Anyway, talk amongst yourselves. Again, perhaps the answer is obvious to everyone but me, but I'm not real sure.

Way to get the open-thread up gondeee. Too much ether?

Let's see what this kid can do at 1B! He's from Florida, so Chipper said he already likes him.

Game just started and no thread so I guess it's up to me.

GO BRAVES!!

The Braves lineup:

G. Blanco CF   

Y. Escobar SS

C. Kotchman 1B

G. Norton LF    

O. Infante 3B    

K. Johnson 2B

J. Francoeur RF

C. Miller C        

J. Jurrjens P

Let's get some predictions on what will happen today. I've already read a few, including Hampton's arm fly off and hit Brian McCann, but I want to see what everyone thinks is going to happen today.

Since this isn't a real NAHWAL, there will be no winners, but plenty of losers. Feel free to break away from the traditional format of 1.) Attendance, 2.) Pick-to-Click, and 3.) Above and beyond.

I posted pictures from my Turner Field expedition on facebook and got a few comments worth sharing:

"Great seats! What are the stands so empty...?" -- A Cleveland Indians fan.

I posted an explanation, but basically the point was there were 29,300+ people there, which isn't too shabby for the conditions.

In response to my picture of the pennants with my cocky caption, Does your team's stadium have 14 consecutive division banners?

"That's like one banner for every person that came to the game . . ." -- Same Indians fan.

That was an easy rebuttal, "Maybe you noticed that the 1995 banner in Cleveland isn't red like ours. Why is that?"

In response to the same picture:

"Of the 14 consecutive banners, how many times did your team make it past the first round of the playoffs?" -- A Chicago Cubs fan.

Another easy response, "8 times. The Braves went to the playoffs more in the 90s than the Cubs have in the past 70 years, and there were no playoffs in 1994! How many people alive today can say they've seen the Cubs win the World Series?"

Has anybody had any "discussions" with friends and or rival fans lately?

Continue reading this post »

I am not sure what irritates me more: 1) two ESPN golden boys, Joe Buck and Colin Cowherd, dogging baseball or 2) that most of the nation feels the same way.

I came across this after mourning another coulda, woulda, shoulda loss by the Braves. I don't feel the need to explain my fanhood, I'll simply give a brief synopsis. I've watched Braves baseball forever. As a 10, 11, 12-year old kid I remember many trying to stay awake to watch the game on TBS. I got older, and I followed but I didn't make an effort to watch every game. When I found out that TBS wasn't going to show all the games anymore, I realized I had taken for granted being able to see every game on national TV. I made special efforts to watch games, since I knew they were limited. The more it was taken away, the more I realized I loved it. Now, I can see every game and I can't get enough of it.

Needless to say, I'm probably a bigger fan of MLB baseball than anybody I know. Which is why I'm on the blog, because nobody else I know follows this team enough to have a conversation. And this brings me to why number 2 above bothers me so much-- so many people don't watch baseball. At least not like they follow football.

Although I've never really cared for him, Joe Buck has a point. Our society likes football because its much easier to be fan. If your an NFL guy, your team plays 16 regular season games. Everything happens on Sunday, and you can see the whole league's highlights during half-time of the Monday night game. College has more games per weekend, but your team actually plays less. You don't have the demand of 90-something games a week from April until September. In football, players can make an impact from they day they are drafted or their freshman year. In baseball, it could take 4 of 5 years for a guy to even wear an MLB uniform. Football players have bad games, baseball players can slump for a whole month. Much more is on the coaches in football, because they hand-pick every play or every defensive set. Managers have less control of whether a guy can get a clutch RBI single to the opposite field in the 8th inning. I feel like George Carlin (R.I.P.), and that isn't point. Everybody knows the difference.

I like football too, don't get me wrong. NFL and NCAA, and I like NCAA basketball as well. My point is not to complain that people need to start watching baseball instead of football, but just to implore other baseball fans: what does baseball need to do to get more fans? What happened to the national pastime (I realize it hasn't been that for decades)? Has good ol' fashion American laziness taken the place of the Great American Game?

I don't think Joe Buck should have said what he did. You have a guy with a baseball pedigree calling national games, and then he basically says he isn't interested in baseball outside of work. I know if he ever calls a Braves game I'll be listening to the radio, simply because I want to hear a baseball fan calling the game. Not somebody doing it because it's their job. Unfortunately, I think that his comments echo much of the sentiment of the nation.

If you've read this far, and you are at work, you're lucky you don't get fired! But what do you guys think? Why has baseball fallen out of favor?

Over the past few days there have been a few interesting stories on Yahoo (I know, gasp) that I thought would be worth a look. Since tonight is an off-night, I thought it would be a good time to post.

1.)  3,494 and counting - By Pat Graham, AP. The content of this article actually annoyed me. Here's a guy that is not satisfied just going to games and enjoying the sport, cheering on his team and marveling in the great players of today. No, he's simply on a mission to collect baseballs. At least he gives a few of them to deserving kids.

2.) Pujols is a faith healer - By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports. Uh, Pujols doesn't talk to God, he is God. That is why he heals so well. Mystery solved.

3.) Ramirez considers incident with team official over - By Fred Goodall, AP. This goes back to my comments about Barry Bonds, relates to the Chacon fiasco and is relevant to the discussions about Yunel. First, Manny is a great player, but the whole persona is something I'm glad we don't have to deal with. "Manny just being Manny." What the hell does that mean? Not only does Manny smack around his teammates (ask Eukilis), but secretaries as well. Now Bonds never did this type of stuff (that we know of) but his attitude seems similar-- both are bigger than their team (or think they are). Now, had Manny had an altercation with his manager, like Chacon, would he be gone? If Chacon had more than 2 wins or an ERA under 5 would he have been released (and subsequently clear waivers)? I don't know, but I wouldn't want either on the Braves. And finally, Yunel's temper needs to be scaled back, because he can't get away with upstaging the umpires. But so far, it seems that he is not directing any of his temper toward players, coaches or staff (that we know of). I think Yunel is just frustrated and really is passionate about winning.

Many of you have probably already seen this, but Jeff Passan just wrote an article featuring the all overpaid and under-paid teams. Guess who was a SP for the all overpaid team? Oh yeah, Mr. Hampton. He even wrote a little poem, reminiscent of "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain."

"Hamstring, elbow, Tommy John
Disabled list you’re always on
Mr. Hampton, you’re the best
Working on three years’ rest."

That is all, enjoy.

This isn't my job, so don't blame me for not coming up with a better title.

We'll see if the Braves can carry their momentum from Texas to Colorado as Hudson (7-4, 2.76 ERA) faces Padilla (8-3, 3.89 ERA) in Arlington. Of course, the big story is Teixeira's first game back in this stadium after being traded to Atlanta last season. This Texas team lost 2 of 3 to the Mets last weekend, so it is important we have a good series to make up some ground on the Phillies.

Game info: 8:05 pm EDT Tue Jun 17, 2008

TV: PTV, KDFI

Currently: Arlington, TX
Temp: 88° F

Following the lead of sddbaker and bigjoe, whether intentional or not, I'm creating another thread to focus all our negative thoughts here and not pollute the other threads. We haven't seen a Braves win (or Jamie Kotsay) in a long, long time and we are all frustrated. And right now, I really don't feel like being positive. I want to break something then crawl in a dark cave with a handle of bourbon whiskey and hibernate for a while.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer the royhobbs' approach to coping with defeat, but he's not around to make a good FanPost of anecdotes or mugshots to take our mind off of getting swept by the Cubs.

I want to rant about how we cannot even swing a ball right down the middle with bases loaded, twice. I want to complain to Bobby for leaving Boyer in for 2 innings and Campillo for 1 pitch and Ohman for 1 batter. For bringing Acosta in for any reason other than everybody else had both arms amputated. I want to ask Soriano if he can't pitch because his testiclectomy scars haven't healed. I'd love to ask Francoeur why he's only good when it doesn't matter. I want to ask Teixeira if he plans on making $20 mil next year based on his fielding percentage and I thought he was supposed to heat up at some point...

So do whatever you got to do to let it all out. Just keep it here, and don't pollute the other threads. Oh, and statistics aren't necessary here unless you choose to illustrate frustrations that way.

Of course, just to keep it in perspective...there's always tomorrow!

MLB Rookie of the Month Award
Presented by Gillette

Gillette and MLB invite you to cast your vote for the May Rookie of the Month Award presented by Gillette.

By entering you will automatically be entered for a chance to win tickets to the 2008 All-Star Game in New York. Fill out the form below and cast your vote now!

Vote for Manny Acosta: Gillette Rookie of the Month

Seriously, he is nominated.

This is not a joke.

It has been tossed around by more than a few of us to have a TC meet-up game at the Ted to sport our J. Kotsay shirts and so bigjoe can buy us all growlers of beer. I think tentatively this was set for the Saturday, August 2nd game against Milwaukee (Retro Night, incidentally). I was just wondering if this was a sure thing and if we wanted to try to get seats in a certain section or what the deal was.

Anyway, just wanted to start a thread to figure it out.

Remember:

Alright, so I am trying to stay optimistic despite yet another abysmal roadtrip of 1-5 against two teams in the NL Central we should have beaten handily. Being shutout by the Brewers and losing 2 one-run games in extra innings (which I saw first hand) pretty much had my stomach churning. However, as I am listening to the game today and hear the bottom of the seventh inning, I nearly had to pull-over in my car to vomit. A costly error, Hudson going down, a wild pitch to score a run, Boyer going down, and Buddy Carlyle. What a way to get swept.

Before you think I'm all doom and gloom, that isn't the point of this post. I think we will still be fine in the grand scheme of things, but I'd like some reassurance. Some road wins would go a long way to settle my stomach and lower my blood pressure. But more importantly, we all need to keep thinking positive thoughts.

The point of this FanPost is to start a thread for all of us to write something positive to get our minds off the past 6 games. Everybody likes different things, so be my guest to write whatever will lift your spirits. 'Beard, give us some stats that show we're much better than our record. Royhobbs, when you get back, give us another story about trying to meet your wife at a game. Bigjoe, tell us about your favorite Braves moment that will undoubtedly be tied to drinking your favorite growler. Lizziebeth, remind us how good-looking John Smoltz is. You get the idea.

Personally, I like pictures. This simple photo reminds me that I've seen a lot of really good baseball over the years. That's what is keeping me going right now.

Omar Infante will be activated tonight before the game.

If Infante was so close to being activated, why did we go and get Norton? Especially since we have to send Bryan Pena to the DL to make room for him. I guess my question is that we need more than an extra bat in dugout, such as relievers, so why did we get Norton?

Just for the record, Infante went 4-11 with 1 BB, 1 SO at AAA.

Young, talented and in demand, Teixeira is headed for a big payday

Ok, so that isn't really news at all. But, I found this article which is a good, depressing, read. I remember the days before the Yankees spent over $200 million on payroll, when the Braves were considered a "big market" team. When TBS showed baseball instead of Seinfeld and Tyler Perry's House of Pain. When Scott Boras didn't scare us, and we'd sign his top free agent (a fella by the name of Gregory that has a couple of Cy Young awards). But the reality of it is that we have been given 15-1 odds of re-signing Teixiera.

So, does this matter? No, I'm sure we will find a more than adequate first baseman to replace him. Hopefully someone that can hit too. And maybe it isn't a big loss. We had him to make a run last year and see what we could do with him and it didn't pan out all that great. But Tex is a great addition and seems like the kind of guy who fits in Atlanta. It just depresses me about what it says about the game and when owners are companies, and guys get paid more than an entire team.

Anyway, we'll see what happens. Read the article, even it is written by Yankee Jon Heyman. If he signs with the Mets or Yankees, I will buy and publicly burn a Teixiera shirt (can't afford a jersey) from either team. The thought sickens me.