Presidents and Braves

02/28/2009 at 3:10 am | In ex-Braves | 4 Comments
I bet Bob Walk doesnt know any presidents

I bet Bob Walk doesn't know any presidents

Julio Franco was buds with Dubya.

Another ex-Brave is a good friend of President Obama.

Matthews met Obama by sheer chance when their daughters were part of the same dance class in Chicago. Their relationship grew into a friendship through which they played golf and planned cookouts together.

–CB

Don’t tell Stan, but the PECOTA crowd likes the Braves’ chances

02/28/2009 at 1:16 am | In 2009, stat geeks | 1 Comment

Baseball Prospectus projects 88 wins for the Bravos. That sounds about right, assuming Francoeur rebounds and Sori and Moylan stay healthy.

If all that happens, the Braves have a real shot at winning the division. If not, .500 might be a stretch. Splitting the difference, you get 84 to 88 wins.

For all the shit we gave Frank Wren, he’s assembled a legitimate contender.

–CB

Checking in whiff Andruw

02/27/2009 at 4:50 pm | In ex-Braves | 5 Comments

I take no glee in relating this. Andruw is 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts for Texas. The stats linked there do not include today’s 0-for-2 with 2 Ks. Has a player in his early 30s ever lost it so quickly?

Zeros

02/27/2009 at 1:48 pm | In Spring Training, The rotation | Leave a Comment

Our soulful new pitcher from Japan, Kenshin Kawakami, cruised through his maiden MLB voyage today with two shutout innings.

According to the local organ’s scribe, Soul Brother No. 1 — what Japanese fans called James Brown — threw 18 strikes in 29 pitches. SB1 allowed only a bloop single to our old pal Adam LaRoche. It doesn’t mean a whole lot, but it’s encouraging and beats seeing him get slapped around.

This just in: Spotted a mention of this in comments on O’brien’s blog. Some dude, or maybe woman, born in Australia and living in New York City writes a blog dedicated to SB1. The url makes a natural fan club name, Kawakami’s Kamikazes.

–CD

The Top 30 of the past 30: #26

02/26/2009 at 11:05 pm | In Top 30 moments, nostalgia | 5 Comments
What coulda been

What coulda been

Sept. 20, 1991, Avery shuts out the Dodgers

With 14 games left in the regular season, the Braves headed out to L.A. trailing by a half-game. They would win only one that weekend, thanks to their dominant young lefty.

Steve Avery had plenty of impressive outings in ‘91, but his gem at Chavez Ravine stands out.

This was the night a struggling Ron Gant finally hit his 30th homer, giving him consecutive 30/30 campaigns. The two-run shot came in the 6th, giving the Bravos a 2-0 lead.

Brett Butler and Mike Sharperson singled to start the bottom half of the inning. Then Avery, who shared Glavine’s calm, struck out Strawberry swinging and coaxed a harmless pop foul from Eddie Murray. An infield single followed, but Avery retired Juan Samuel to leave the bases loaded.

I thought Don Sutton would wet himself calling the 9th. Kal Daniels struck out looking. Samuel lined out. Then Avery got Gary Carter swinging, securing his 17th win.

Avery was even more dominant in the NLCS, twice taking shutouts into the 9th. And remember, he was only 21. For the sake of context, Tommy Hanson turns 23 this August.

It was assumed the kid from Trenton, Mich. would be the best of the Young Guns, but he was never the same after winning 18 in ‘93. The pitcher many thought would be the next Steve Carlton ended his career with numbers more comparable to Steve Trout.

–CB

Braves on TV

02/26/2009 at 1:57 am | In Hanson | 3 Comments

You can watch Tommy Hanson’s debut against big league hitters Thursday at 1 p.m. on ESPN. “This game is huge,” says Duane from Forest Park.

Picking up where he left off

02/25/2009 at 5:32 pm | In Frenchy | 1 Comment

Frenchy was 0-4 today, with three runners left on base. Not that it means anything.

It’s early, but …….

02/25/2009 at 4:25 pm | In Duane | Leave a Comment
What the hell you lookin' at?

What the hell you lookin' at?

Yeah, yeah. I can hear some of y’all now: “Oh, Duane, it’s just one exhibition game. No big deal. Calm down.”

Well let me tell you something — you strap it on and get between the white lines, you’re there for one thing. Getting after somebody’s ass and winning. I guess that’s two things.

Anyway, you gotta set a tone, and set it early. It’s about Ws. And we ain’t got none. One game in, one loss on the board for the Bravos. Some dudes named O’Flaherty and Perez blew this one. A damn United Nations of shitty relief pitchers. I hope they’re on a bus out of town right now. Way to establisize a mindset, Limey.

I did see where Jordan Schafer hit a home run and stole a base. Pencil him in for opening night.

So far, so bad. Hell, Bobby didn’t even play Chipper or the new guy Anderson. Nice job, Skip. Just give it away.

I’m disgusted.

– Duane From Forest Park

The anti-Hamptons

02/24/2009 at 11:13 pm | In The rotation | 3 Comments

(via Jayson Stark)

Derek Lowe and Javy Vasquez are the only active pitchers who’ve spent at least 10 years in the bigs without a stint on the DL. Both have started at least 32 games in every one of the last seven seasons.

Baseball America ranks Hanson, Heyward Top 5 prospects

02/24/2009 at 7:48 pm | In prospects | Leave a Comment

Tommy’s fourth, Jason’s fifth.

Former Brave farmhand Neftali Feliz, who allowed but three homers in 127 IP last year, ranks 10th.

Other Braves making the cut: Jordan Schafer (42), Gorkys Hernandez (62) and Freddie Freeman (87).

–CB

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