Open thread, 8/16, Braves vs. Ozzie Smiths
It’s been a month since the Braves lost a series (July 17-19 to the Giants) and that probably merits an asterisk since their best player is a massive fraud.
Keep it rolling, boys, because the schedule’s about to get more difficult. The first-place Dodgers are in town over the weekend, then it’s off to D.C. before traveling to San Fran for a four-game set with the Melky-less Giants.
Meanwhile, if you’ve never seen the Wizard’s play against the Braves from April 20, 1978, do yourself a favor and watch.
#1 – Chipper Jones is a feckin’ ninja pirate wizard.
#2 – If I see Kris Medlen in the bullpen again at all for any reason this year I’m setting the building on fire.
I think he’s more than proven his mettle.
Tommy Hanson should be scared; I think his spot in the rotation just became much more tenuous. Personally, I really like the sound of:
1. Huddy
2. Maholm
3. Medlen
4. Minor
5. Sheets
None of those guys seem to have any trouble pitching past the 5th, or even 6th inning, and sometimes even the seventh. And every once in a while, any of them may just say, “fuck it, I’ll pitch the 9th too”.
I’m a bit concerned about Sheets’ endurance after basically two years off, but it’s refreshing seeing starters who can throw complete games.
And did any other Office workers find it weird to win by virtually the same score three straight days?
A few thoughts.
1. I saw a stat yesterday on the MLBTV game preview that said the Braves have won each of the past 14 (now 15) games that Medlen has started, going back to 2010. How the hell do you justify relegating that to the bullpen? Tommy Hanson should indeed be worried. Unless Sheets tires, Hanson is currently the odd-man out of the 6 man set in my book.
2. I don’t remember who used the term in conjunction with Maholm’s complete game from a week or so ago, but last night was another (near) “Maddux.” When was the last time we had 2 complete game, 100 or so pitch shutouts in a weeks time? Moving Medlen to the rotation could prove to be one of the best non-trade deadline moves of the year.
3. This is completely unrelated, but I realized that the “rowlandsoffice.com” domain name is expired and is being auctioned off. I know y’all used to have a re-direct on that page to the wordpress site, so I thought I’d mention it in case you didn’t realize it happened. I had rowlandsoffice.com typed in as the bookmark on one of our home computers, so that may (partly) explain the reduced number of site-visits that atlmalcontent commented on a couple days ago.
I noticed the same thing with the bookmark – are you guys giving up that domain? If so, was this a request by Rowland so that he could start his own blog?
Bob Horner would’ve been safe by a half step on that play. Just sayin.
The last time a starter had that many consecutive starts of his won by the team was Smoltz in ’96.
Re: Rankin’ Rob: Perhaps, but Rochey would’ve been out by two steps.
Ozzie only had a chance to make that play because of the crappy Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium groundskeeping in the 70s. (Hmm, maybe the Atlanta Parks department — the groundskeepers at the time — should get an assist?) I go with my daughter to run the bases most Sundays and I haven’t seen a rock in any of the red dirt in a long, long time.
Reid, the play was made at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Don’t rag on the Wizard.