*Official 2009 Atlanta Braves Thread*

Wow...did Hanson sleep with Cox's daughter and piss the ol man off? Why is he being punished....I understand Medlen has done well this year in the minors...but he is no Hanson.

this is weird....

 

beat me to it... Bowman had that in his blog today. he had said the other day that most likely Morton would get the chance to take over for JoJo, because Atlanta is going to shop one of their minor league arms for a bat before the trade deadline, and they want to showcase him.

now why is JoJo being sent to the bullpen, where he will more often than not be brought into the game in pressure situations? he has proven he doesn't handle adversity very well.

he must be out of options, so they can't send him down is all i can think. a loooooong stint in Double A is what he needs right now.

oh, and Hanson is still supposedly scheduled to be brought up in June according to Mark Bowman. where are they gonna fit these guys, plus Glavine, and in August they will have to make room for Hudson too. the Braves could have about 9 starters on the 25 man roster!

 

I think he can hang for a couple of innings.............. jojo I mean.

 

I think ultimately there's a lot less pressure on him in the bullpen. Maybe just what the doctor ordered. They must be out of options to not send him down.

 

good win, hate to see Javy not get the W though. after the homerun, Gonzo must've been pissed. he was untouchable.

that said, they need to give him a few more days off. they are working him hard this month.

 

Yeah, they're babying Hanson for sure. Im excited to see what Medlen can do though.

 

I was just happy he didn't give up the go ahead run. It must hard to keep your cool out there and not get frustrated when you immediately blow your save. He pitched very well after that one mistake.

 

That was not a pretty game to watch last night. After some early struggles Kawakami was actually pitching pretty well after the fifth when they pulled him. I don't know if the pitch count was too high or what but considering how the bullpen performed it might have been good to leave him in.

That careless baserunning by Chipper and Escobar in the 1st really set the tone for the game. Funny how things like that can turn what likely would have been a win into a lopsided loss. I fully expect Lowe to have his way with the free swinging Dbacks today and hopefully the Braves' lineup can wake up a little bit. This is a homestand they really need to perform well on. Especially given that I don't think the Mets have lost at all since the series Atlanta took from them a few days back.

 

Jordan Schafer finally got a hit with RISP

 

This division is officially a dogfight. LOVE the new lineup with Kotch in the 2-hole and Mac hitting cleanup BTW.

 

hopefully they can keep it going and start winning at home. we get some sweeps at home and play like we were on the road against the mets and philly, and the dogfight won't last much longer IMO.

 

It has nothing to do with babysitting Hanson and everything to do with money. Its the same thing the Rays are doing with Price. If the Braves bring up Hanson after July 1 this year doesnt count as service time accrued making him a FA in 2015 instead of 2014. In essence, its an extra year of team control because you need 5 years of accrued service time to become a FA and Hanson or anyone else would be stuck at 4.5 after July 1.

 

going out tonite, thanks for reminding me to tivo the game so i can see what Medlen does in his debut.

sucks about Infante's broken hand...

 

The Infante injury sucked. And they almost nailed Francoer in the head, again. After the Infante hit on the sportsouth broadcast you could hear a fan petitioning Bobby Cox to order a little payback.

The BlueJays will be tough but if they can keep this up they have a great chance to assert themselves in the division. The Mets are on a downward trend again. I'm a little worried that Kawakami is matched up against Toronto's ace on Friday night. I believe it's their ace. I can't remember the guy's name but on the broadcast last night they were talking about this stats which I recall being Johan Santana like.

 

Well Chipper looks hurt again. Sucks going into tonight where we'll face arguably the best pitcher in the AL.

From what I saw, Medlen had pretty decent stuff last night. It appeared the jitters and not being able to hit his spots is what hurt him. Plus he was on a pitch count. If he was told he was on a pitch count, that's a dumb call by McDowell. You gotta let the kid go out there and pitch and what happens, happens.

I can hear people from the Braves message boards screaming about Hanson as I type this...

 

http://markbowman.mlblogs.com/

Mark Bowman's latest blog hints the writing is on the wall for the Braves to trade Jeff Francouer, because of the outfield's lack of production and more specifically; power. i doubt he would offer that up without at least someone in the front office giving him a hint it might be coming.

no one is gonna give us anything for Garrett Anderson. and if we trade another young pitcher, we would still have to move somebody to make room on the roster, so i guess it makes sense Frenchy would go.

wonder if Matt Holliday is available yet, with the way the A's have started?

 

Good win tonight. Kawakami pitched well and pitched 8 innings, gonzo came in and shut them down. Hope we can actually sweep someone this time.

 

beating Halliday is something to hang your hat on. that is the second recent start that Kawakimi showed me something. maybe there is hope for him yet. tonite was impressive. great play by Prado for out number three in the ninth, with a runner at third no less!

of course, the Mets and Phils both had to win also...

 

It was better than well. I watched almost the whole game, it was outstanding. Very nice to see that he's capable of pitching a game like that. He was hitting his spots all night and making it look easy and gave us the opportunity to beat the best pitcher in the AL right now. Let's hope they can take this momentum and run with it.

 

Another exciting finish tonight. Gonzales nearly blew the save [a couple of questionable strike calls that didn't go his way]. Bobby must have felt he was too frustrated to continue b/c he stuck in Soriano with runners on first and third and only one out. Soriano did a great job getting a K and and a popout to end the game.

I don't understand how they can struggle for several games against less than stellar teams like Arizona and Colorado and now they come out and play like this against a significantly better Toronto team. I just hope they keep it up.

 

it is becoming a pattern with Gonzo lately; get into trouble in the ninth and hang on. i think Bobby has to be wondering when he won't be able to pitch his way out of it.

glad for Lowe that they pulled this one out. Lowe couldn't have done much more for the cause last night!

 

Good job this weekend Braves! And thank you.

 

Same here! I would like to thank the Mets also for winning 2 out of 3 against the sox... Sorry the Yanks could not return the favor...

 

The starting pitching in particular has really come through. I still can't get over how well Kawakami pitched Friday night. The upcoming matchup of Medlin vs. Lincecum concerns me a bit. Of course I thought Halladay/Kawakami would be a mismatch so I guess you never know.

That was a fun seventh inning today. If there's a catcher in baseball better than McCann right now I'd like to know who it is.

 

One thing I have noticed is that Mike Gonzalez has better control of his pitches when he throws from the stretch as opposed to the wind up. If Atlanta had a pitching coach worth his salt, Mike would be throwing from the stretch all the time as opposed to his herky jerky wind up.

The bad thing about Mike is that when he's off, he's off big time. He tends to leave his pitches up in the strike zone.

I just don't like this guy as a closer. I know he had that season a few years ago with Pittsburgh where he converted all his save opportunities, but this guy is simply too wild to count on. I like Rafael Soriano much more in this role, though I think Atlanta should do a closer by committee approach with Soriano and Gonzalez.

 

Soriano has obviously been better in the closer role up to this point. I'd go as far as to say they should just use Soriano and only use Gonzales is they have a dangerous lefty or two coming up. The heart of Philly's order is a good example of a time you'd want Gonzales.

 

It's Joe Mauer. That guy is the best hitter in baseball right now. But yes, Mac is def on a tear.

 

I think if you expect to win a division that's pretty competitive like the NL East you should be able to at least occassionally hit off of a top notch pitcher. At least something. They've faced Lincecum, Halladay, and Santana over the past few weeks and I don't think they've gotten an earned run off of any of them. Not even one. I know those guys are the best but I also know their ERA's aren't 0 so they are hittable. What a disappointing start to the trip out west. Pitting that poor rookie against last year's Cy Young winner, they might as well have forfeited.

 

It's ok to get shutdown against top pitchers if you can hit the other guys well. Problem is they haven't done that. One thing positive about facing Santana and Halladay is that we won both of those games. So at least we are getting good pitching performances on those nights.

I thought Medlen pitched decent even though he took the loss. He only allowed 4 hits, and had one bad inning.

We know the offense weould be a concern going into the season. Especially with a weak hitting outfield. We have a couple studs in the minor leagues, so the future looks bright.

 

BTW, many Baseball insiders are predicting Francoeur could be dealt at some point this season. The Red Sox were rumored to have interest (not sure why) but both clubs have been mum about the issue.

IMO, if the Braves cut Frenchie loose they should bring up Heyward. They probably won't because he's still so raw, but I'd love to see what this kid does in the Big's.

 

Can't see Franceour going to the Sox especially considering his poor pitch selection and a terrible OBP, it would drive Theo and the front office mad. I think it's just rumors and not much truth to it.

Who knows though. Penny for Franceour maybe?

 

The Sox don't have an everyday starting OF to give them on the team now or in the minors, unless you want to count Rocco Baldelli. But I'd doubt the Sox would make that deal.

 

I could see Francoeur having relative success in that lineup, in that Ballpark. He hits a lot of flyballs to left that would probably ding off the Monster. Plus, even though his OBP is horrible, he's been solid with RISP throughout his career. My guess is he'd get quite a few oppurtunities in Boston.

 

As a 4th OFer he might not be horrible I guess. I assume he still plays above average defense, I know he has a strong arm.

 

We do have Cody Johnson at Myrtle Beach. He's a power hitting OF'er who could eventually be our LF'er.

I imagine a future OF of Heyward in right, Schafer in Center and Johnson in Left. Assuming we don't go out and get a power-hitting OF in Free Agency this offseason.