Shalom y'all!  This might be a totally unwarranted and inappropriate fanpost but its something I just gots to do.  This blog has been such a part of my daily surfing, work avoidance, stress, and happiness this past several years that I couldnt just let go.  Again this post might be superfluous but hey, arent all blogs?  (Lol jk)

I'm moving to Israel tomorrow, and although, yes, internet works over there and is even more of a lifestyle necessity than in America, the time change disallows me to watch live games or be on OTs.  So sad. 

I want to just take a moment to thank everyone who contributes to this blog, the hilarious posters, Gondee especially, and the first few operators that started up.  Aside from the general banter and conversation, this truly is a special Braves website that gives insight, rumors, direction, and above all - off season information and activity!

So, thanks everyone!  Good luck to you all, good luck with the new-and-improved restrictive regulations (which is a sure sign of growth!) and keep up the blogging.  Hopefully I'll get a day game once in a while that I can watch during dinner. 

Holler

Does anyone know if they will be at this day game?  Im attempting to make it to Rome in order for their 7pm start that thursday, and just found out I have the opportunity to drive through the night Wednesday and try to make the 1pm start for the REAL Braves.  Against the Padres - battle of first place teams oughta be worth the lack of sleep!

Anyone want to meet up?  And cheer heyward together? 

If someone's going to be there and wants to get together and consume some hoppy adult beverages, let me know. Thanks ya'll.

How lucky I am - not only am I seeing a Rome Braves game next thursday, a few weeks after that I have an opportunity to see the GCL Braves, as I'll be in Orlando that time.

Does anyone have any helpful information about this team, venue, and location?  Chances are that I'll be driving a big, bulky moving truck, so small pieces of information, including about parking and access to the actual field, are appreciated.

How much are tickets generally?  Is it easily accessible?  Is it actual in the DisneyWorld areas?  I'm confused and a bit apprehensive to make this trip, yet dont want to pass up an opportunity to see anything Braves.

It happens to be that I'm going to be traveling to a wedding in Savannah on July 25th.  There's a chance I can make it to the Rome Braves game on Thursday, July 22 vs. Lexington Legends, and I wanted some feedback if anyone has any.  I appreciate any information brought my way.

First off, is anyone around that area planning on or have interest in going?  I'm a pretty big baseball geek, and have a no-homo-esque crush on many Braves players, so going to Braves country is obviously a big deal.  If anyone has an inkling towards, it would be fun to meet up and have maybe a TC day at Rome.  Ha - look at me, one person (me) is going, and I'm labeling it a TC day.  I know one thing, if there were others going and wanting to party, it would make the decision easier to tail outta my way. 

The game starts at 7.  Is it a nice stadium?  Is it a fun and friendly atmosphere?  Beer prices?  And, most important, is it totally ok to walk up and get a ticket day of game?

Thanks to anyone beforehand for replying.

Chuck you Halladay.

I was going to put something like "Told you so" or "See!!!" but those would have carried a negative connotation.  That is certainly not the intention of this post.  I guess I just wanted to give a collective message to the masses, and was inspired this afternoon, as I'm sure everyone else was.  There has been great pleasure the past few years beating the Phils, and seeing our Golden Child do it at that, well, it rules.

The message?  Oh yeah.  I tend to ramble in order to hit the requisite number of words.

Just, basically, this is a season.  There was SO much negativity and vile b.s. coming from nearly every post, that I know that I personally stayed away from TC for longer than was cool.  Even when I came back to test the waters there was nearly nothing about any silver linings or actual content worth reading.  It seemed that there were a handful of others doing/thinking the same thing, and there were plenty of "PLEASE STOP" threads. 

So, here we are, in 1st (F*#&ING) place, and singing a different tune. I'm not immature enough to think that we'll stay dominate in first the rest of the season, although I'd like that and its definitely possible, but the season is a marathon, and we arent fair-weather fans on this blog.  Its great to be happy, and we've now seen what our A-squad can do. And they freaking rule.

So, lets enjoy this, and root and root, but please, lets save it with the "BRAVES TO THE WS!!!! PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS!!!!" type posts and if we take a tanking, lets PLEASE, avoid the "Fire Pendleton" and "FIRE SALE" threads.  Thanks.  Maybe a collective thanks for anyone else who feels the same.

And, please dont be that guy who goes back and takes my posts that were negative during the 9 game losing streak and re-post them here as evidence of hypocrisy.  9 games is a lot to lose. 

GO BRAVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe this shouldnt be a whole fanpost either but it was very special to me, and plenty of people around the stadium were talking about it quite a bit, so, here goes.

Chip obviously was out of the lineup yesterday, but today, when he found out he wasnt playing, he immediately came out of the dugout and warmed up.  Maybe like 4 throws with Chino, and then he came right over and started signing everything.

At first people were timid, b/c, well, hey, its Larry freakin Wayne and he doesnt sign for free all the time, etc., but after a few minutes, it was clear he was taking his time.  He went the entire length of the left field fence signing jerseys, taking pictures, signing anything, really, and he was actually pretty approachable.  At first I missed him but went back around, and got to chat for a few seconds while he signed my hat.  People afterwards were talking pretty heavily about how cool it was, that when he realized he wasnt playing, he came out for everyone to sign.  I was touched, and was shaking like a freaking Brittany Spears fan, but hey, if we're not bashful in front of our lifelong heroes, when will we be?

I thought it was awesome.

I dont have enough words to pull this off, but its again a general question to anyone out there who might be going to the game tonight in St. Louis.  I know that we had three or four people chatting yesterday, so, just a stab in the dark.  Something tells me Kawa is going to bust us out of our slump, b/c it seems like every single player in our lineup is due. And Jaime (pronounced Hymie) Garcia is definitely due to finally give up some runs. 

So, lets get together TC style for 3-6 minutes, chat awkwardly about who knows what (probably just TC itself), and then explain to our other friends why we actually met up with 3 other "online buddies" from a website.... "No seriously guys, its just about baseball.... for real......  guys??"

If anyone's around lets try to post soon.  I hope there's enough words!

Hey ya'll - i've brought this up before but didnt hear much about it.  Or, rather, dont remember hearing much about it.  Its something i've been thinking about for a long while, ever since Chip helped Mac with his swing a few years back.  I bring it up now because its been hard to hear about ANYTHING else in St. Louis than the new batting coach, but also b/c its the offseason (Yankees suck).

Do you think Chipper could, would, or should be our future batting coach?

I personally think he should.  I also think that if Bobby was a bit younger and had more on a contract, Chip for sure WOULD.  Right now, given the new hirings and changing face of the front office, I'm not so sure.

But my deep down gut (heart) feeling thinks (hopes) that in the next several years, we'll see Chip as batting coach and  Smoltz as pitching coach.  

It seems as though the darkness has swept over this once-ecstatic world series bound town of St. Louis.  Its very difficult, as well as dangerous, to NOT follow and root for the Cardinals if you take residence here.  Red covered everything, half days and early clockouts expected, Pujols jerseys accepted as "business casual" this week, and sales and deals on ANYTHING a seller can spin as playoff related (2nd Big Mac for free on Cards game days, Playoff Pitcher (of beer) deals, and red colored foods that dont need to be).....   I'm obviously pushing for the Cards to make it and win it.  Busch Stadium also opens up all doors after the 7th inning, playoffs or regular season, so if the WS makes it here again, we all get to PARTY for the ends of the games. For free.

Just wondering where Braves fans' leftover emotions are pushing them this year....

Who are you rooting for?

Happy Mid-Summer to everyone!

I dont post too much, nor do I fanpost at all really, but I couldnt pass up this opportunity.  I live in St. Louis and have been for around 6 years.  It's a fantastic baseball town, and it is common during playoffs for businesses to close early for day games, dress codes to be thrown out of the window in favor of Pujols' jerseys, and a palpable excitement at events such as this week's.

Just a few thoughts.

Since last Thursday, there has been celebrity sightings and long lists for reservations at restaurants.  By yesterday morning's news, there was a list of restaurants closed to the public, a handful of parties open to the public, and more flotsam and jetsam loosely related to baseball.

For a small fee there's a Fan Fest going on at the football dome, but highly geared towards children, and autographs and other meet and greets arent really going on there so much.  I'm sure there are some, but its more of the kids time to experience the game.

Since President Barak will be here, Busch had to abandon all home rules - no reentry, no smoking, no plastic bottles allowed in.  A friend who ushers there said the water bottles are a concern - someone in the upperdeck could launch a full Evian towards the prez and kill him, and the rest of us will have to pay 7 bucks for water.

Hanley Ramirez is having the only player-sponsored party open to the public on tuesday night.  Jim Edmonds', Mike Shannon's, and Albert Pujols' restaurant/lounges are having closed parties, with some celebs mentioned like Billy Bob Thornton, Tommy Lasorda, and Edward Norton.

I'm rambling, trying to think of all the coolness going on.  Really the only reason I posted this is b/c this town is literally electric right now.  I'm ticking off the seconds until I ditch my car and take the metrolink downtown.  I have no tickets and no desire to be in the stadium tonight - there is one section of Busch that the balls surely will come out to the streets, and a bunch of my pals and I are going to try to catch some.  Kinda like the kayakers at Pac Bell a few years ago.

Its wild. I cant stand working anymore - if you're a baseball fan, this is amazing. Like the super bowl but freakin better. 

I know i havent been around much at all in several months, but I finally took some time to read up a LOT about Lowe, the Smoltz sitch, and even back to Furcal.  So, i feel up to date and ready to go. I wanted to drop a piece about Lowe, and maybe someone will holler back.

I'm very pleased with this deal. I'm impressed with Lowe's attitude, despite being a Boras client, and he seems appreciative that the Braves just basically gave him whatever money ol' Scotty wanted.  So with that, I am confident he'll bring good rapport and very good clubhouse assistance, leadership, etc...  he was always a class-act guy, and you felt like you rooted for him from afar.  I remember switching to alot of those dodgers games when AJ, Furcal, and Betemit were playing, and Lowe was a good dude to see up there.

Compared to the other options, i'm VERY happy.  Peavy was a blown deal and a disaster from the get go, and on the Braves homepage, he breaks it down really nicely about the costs and years per Burnett, Peavy, and Lowe.  It seems like we paid what we could expect, but ended up SAVING money, and guaranteeing LESS years than we almost had to.  It seems great!!

Almost done - Smoltz leaving is sad as hell, but its not so clear who's "really" being the "baby" in this. Lowe can bring good leadership and skills, similar to Smoltzie.  And if he's still trucking away the way he was until recently, Lowe should be able to continue his regimen and stay healthy for this contract.

And, hello??!!?!??  What about when Huddy comes back? If all goes well, we would have the two best sinkerballers in the MLB! Our 1-2 punch would be great, and game time would probably average 2 hours!!

But the final point comes back to his attitude.  If pitchers go to the Yankees, it would'nt have been a good match with us anyway.  Perhaps i'm sour grape-ing the AJ and Peavy, or doing the opposite with Lowe, but I just feel good about this whole offseason all of a sudden.

Go Larry....

I'm sure hoping I can fill 75 words while talking about this %#%^ *!$ steal we took from the Rockies years back.  I dont know if I need more than a few though.

Ha.

That's what I had originally envisioned.

But seriously, I doubt anyone on here even actually considered his return a possibility.  Even through all the stupid BS we've been hearing, about how he's optimistic, Hampton could improve the rotation, etc..., I didnt seriously think we'd ever see him pitch again.  So, this new addendum to the Glasstastic Voyage is really a much needed humorous chapter.  Funny in a haha way, not in a "I better laugh or I'll cry" way we're so familiar with.

I think the Braves need to get their asses beat. Someone should throw at their heads, behind them, whatever, but get them charged up.  I dont recall seeing one before, but if the Bravos had a bases clearing brawl, and it went either way, I think that might charge them up into playing as a ^#%$ team for a change.

I just thought that a new fan post about last night's game would be more effective than adding to that thread. And, I guess, I'm assuming that people want to talk more about last night's awesome marathon. At least I do, or would want to point out a few things. It was RIDICULOUS!  It was awesome at times, and excruciatingly tense and boring at others.

Yunel went 4-9!!!!!!! Thats crazy.

Mac came in late, really late, and still went 0-5. What's up with that?

Chip, of course, manages to turn a 9-plate appearance into an amazing line.  Wow.  I saw it and I dont believe it.                3-5, 4 BB, HR, 3B, 2 RBI, 3 R..... COME ON MAN!!!!!!

Gonzo, wow, his snake charm is something else. I mean, when its a save opp, he is just ALL over it. Its like he's feeling the ball and pitch surge through him, he's just SO anxious and ready to pitch, he wants it so bad, all while he's almost taunting the batter. He's just like begging them to step in, they dont even have to be ready. In fact, often, they're so off their timing that they just get locked up. He shut Beltran down last year near the end for him, and I remember thinking these same exact thoughts. I LOVE THIS GUY!!!! I've liked him since the get go, and wished he was the 8th inning man, when they had Gonzo-Rafi-whomever that i dont remember right now. 

I'm just totally for this guy, and we should be locking him up good. We cant wait around for Smoltz to see if he'll be the closer, and Rafi's "mysterious" aches are too reminiscent of my old school homeboy Steve Avery.  "Uhh, where'd my speed go?" Yeccchhh, i'm worried for him.

 11 INNINGS of scoreless relief!!!

Again, I saw that with my own eyes, and just flat out cant believe it. As a matter of fact, it sort of pisses me off with this proof that our team IS good, and that they just dont play well together, per se.

Yeah, so's i was just thinking i would get down on this first, since, i figured, if I devoted 4+ hours to baseball already, I should give it a little more. You know, close it out right.

Those damn Astros and their need to play epics with us.

Happy trails.

Now, granted, when Smoltzie and Glavs (and Mr. Glass) were slated to be in our rotation, I had even loftier expectations for Hudson - i thought maybe if pressure was taken off of him, he could relax and get his true ace form back.  But, as the season grew, and injuries SURMOUNTED even the biggest skeptic (read: Mets fan) prediction, I've sort of slated Hudson for a nice run this year with a lot of wins and few losses - and the ever present woulda-been's, blown-by-whomever-tonight bullpen fiascos leading to the no-decisions.

So, in my head, i've had Huddy lined up to go something like 18-8, 20-6, 19-7, etc, for the season.  I think that's reasonable to assume someone in his shoes should strive for at least. 

But now i'm looking at those loss totals, and averaging them out (i mean, i'm not Beard, but I do think I remember how to figure an average from 3 numbers) scares me.  By my calculations, Huddy better start winning and hoping for no-decisions, b/c he's on pace to have HELLA losses.  I'm not bashing him, not at all, I love the guy. He gives it his all, its his life, he wants to succeed, and he's not FYF.

I guess I'm trying to start a new conversation about Huddy, to see what everyone else is thinking. B/c damn, he's the guy we all thought was the sure-fire W, the dude who you knew would bring it home. And lately, victory is being spelled J-U-R-R-J-E-N-S.

8-6...... damn......

I didnt actually think reading about the Braves tonight was going to make me feel better, but I was cracking UP at this... LOL!!!! This is classic - from the same mailbag about the Tex trade:

Manny Acosta and Blaine Boyer are still learning and that's why they're taking their occasional lumps in some pressure situations.

Oh, occasional lumps? Like, "occasionally" Acosta gets a strike? Or like FYF "occasionally" strikes out with men on?

I've been trying to keep up. I have, honest. But, with the 6 game sweep, and the road trip with the Halos lingering, i took a few days off of Braves.  Thankfully, too, since they won a series actually.

But part of this Braves fast, even before it included the actual games, was that I stopped reading all the reports, articles, and seemingly by-the-minute injury updates.

What this post is intending, is to have all our injury info on one post for quick reference.  Currently, i feel like I have no idea what's going on. I see posts about Hampton and Glavine in the same sentence.  I see Soriano gone. Gonzalez? Who? I didnt even catch a follow up about Smoltzie.

So, it would really help me out if we could get this all out here. Who is injured, why, and what is the expected outcome? Desired outcomes maybe should be held off on until we can get the facts straight.

Thanks ya'll, whoever will end up posting a lot.

SHOP THEM ALL!!!! SHOP OFF EVERYONE!!!!! 

Seriously though. Potentially, we have the somewhat near future gifts of both Gonzo and Rafi, AND SMOLTZ coming (back) to our bullpen.  That is a VERY enviable bullpen.  When we had Gonzo, Rafi, and Wicky as our 7th and 8th and closer, it was working really well.  Gonzo has closed before, and did well. Someone else can posts the stats.  Rafi is the bomb, we all know what he's capable of. And, if Smoltz can do it while not running on fumes, maybe we'll have the only real lights-out closer around.

When a healthy Gonzo is your 7th inning man, that's a solid bullpen. (I like him more than Rafi though, so i'd actually put him 8th)

Therefore - why not try to ship off our boatload of shitty, unreliable relievers? As i'm typing this, I realize that we wouldnt get shit of a starting pitcher for what we have and what's out there, and I cant think of a position that we would need to fill now either (except LF?).  Maybe this whole post is a farce. Or, maybe its a ploy to get your creative juices flowing, and to have someone else come up with a good idea of how to dump our soon to be excess bullpen baggage.

C'mon Beard, dont let us down.

Not fair!! bigjoe got a point for the most posts?? I'm dying with these picks, my gosh.  I pick Kotsay a million times, and stop right when he gets lessons from Chipper.

Smoltzsbeard, jug, and I, traphicg, deserve at least half points. Without any one of us, the whole conversations would have dropped. 
Plus, those of us who watch via MLB.TV had to stop during the 9th, so we wouldnt have two bouts of heartburn due to the delay.

I'm not going to let myself get so disappointed this year - wasnt it too hard on everyone else also last time? I wont be able to take three years in a row, you know? Especially not, living in St. Louis, where any decent boss KNOWS on Cards playoff games (or even stretch games that are important) that are in the day, EVERYONE goes home early. And you can wear whatever you want. As long as its red.

We've got a good group gelling, Frenchy and McCann are still young, Tex and Chip will still bash next year, Shmaltz and Chuddy will be ace 1 and 2, and we've gotta fill in the gaps. Who knows, maybe we'll get something good, and actually get to utilize Matt Diaz.