With the Grapefruit League kicking off it's time to start this season's thread. Follow all of the action here as your Atlanta Braves begin their campaign to knock off the overrated Philadelphia Philthies while hopefully making a few Mets fans curse along the way. Freeman started off spring training well with a three double game. http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/...ent_id=16741188&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
Pretty big for the Braves. They desperately needed someone who can hit 30+ homeruns. I don't think they've had that from anybody since Andruw Jones.
I like Uggla's addition...but to me, biggest offseason was signing Freddy Gonzalez as skipper to keep the Bobby Cox approach in place. That will pay off big dividends with his comfort in the org and approach just like Cox's.
Good article about Brooks Conrad. Realistically he lost us the NLDS but without him we wouldn't have been there to begin with. Hopefully this year injuries won't force him into too much defensive service. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2011/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=6196561
This is exactly why I bumped it a couple of days ago. Things are starting to pick up a little now. Derek Lowe has pitched nine scoreless innings so far this spring. Last I checked Freeman had a ridiculous batting average. So far so good, I'm glad that minor league coach was relatively OK.
Do not **** with Tommy Hanson on The Show. He is more filthy than a Filipino hooker after 2-for-1 Tuesday specials.
You ruined everything. I was reading some USA today article earlier and it looks like the top six in the batting order [I'm assuming vs. RHPs] will be Prado McClouth Chipper McCann Uggla Heyward I'm assuming they're leaving Mac at cleanup so that they can wedge a right handed hitter in between the two lefties.
Right, they must want him in between lefties McCann and Heyward. If Uggla was cleanup they'd have to have Mac and JHey batting consecutively at five and six. Maybe Freddi doesn't want lefty/lefty in that part of the order. I'm just guessing here as I can't think of any other reason the guy who hits the most homers on the team isn't batting fourth.
Apparently McClouth is having such a great spring that they're ready to throw him back near the top of the order. I'm a little skeptical as well but sixth should be a decent RBI spot for Heyward at least.
Hanson looked really good today after his first pitch to Scutaro, and the team hit the ball all day. Lord, please give him some run support this season.
I don't like that idea at all especially since spring stats mean nothing. Heyward should be batting 2nd or 3rd in that line up as he's probably the 2nd best hitter on the team already, batting him 6th he'd lose at bats. And let's face it Nate McClouth just isn't good. If I were making out the Braves line up it would be Prado, Heyward, Chipper, McCann, Uggla, Freeman, Gonzalez, McClouth/Schafer, Pitcher.
McLouth would fit in well in the 7th or 8th hole, dropping Heyward in the lineup doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
That's not what they mean when they say "Keep your eye on the ball" ._. Though he should keep a better eye on what goes on. Seriously though, best wishes and here's hoping he can get back to doing what he loves.
I've got my tickets for Braves @ Nats next Saturday. I was expecting Huddy to be the starter when I bought the tickets a week or so ago but apparently it's going to be Tommy Hanson and Huddy will be the number three starter. A little disappointing, I try to see Hudson pitch live whenever possible but Tommy isn't a bad consolation.
oops, forgot link; http://markbowman.mlblogs.com/ per Mark Bowman, here is the Braves opening day roster; Infielders (6): Brooks Conrad, Brandon Hicks, Freddie Freeman, Alex Gonzalez, Chipper Jones, , Dan Uggla Outfielders (5): Jason Heyward, Eric Hinske, Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, Matt Young Catchers (2): Brian McCann, David Ross Pitchers (12): Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy, Jair Jurrjens, Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters, Peter Moylan, Eric O’Flaherty, George Sherrill, Scott Linebrink, Cristhian Martinez. Cool to see some new blood getting a shot on the big league roster in Young and Hicks!
Well the pitching today was what we expected it to be. J-Hey became only the second player to open his first two seasons with a homer. But he only got three ABs today so that Nate McClouth could go 0-4.
That needs to change for the next game. You can't have your 2nd or 3rd best hitter on the team batting 8th while your 2nd worst hitter batting 2nd. It's just dumb having McClouth that high. The only positive is that McClouth will end up forcing the manager to move him down in a few weeks due to lack of production anyway.
Heyward hit 6th but your point is well taken. McClouth doesn't need the pressure of batting 2nd trying to come back from that horrific season last year, and besides that, he hasn't earned the opportunity to hit anywhere higher than 8th.
by his 4th at bat he had that deer-in-the-headlights look again. you could see his confidence was shaken. i dont recall his third AB, but i dont think he had a decent at bat from what i recall.
Yeah this experiment with him batting second could be over by the end of this series. That's my wishful thinking anyway.
A really slow start offensively for the Bravos so far. Prado doesn't have a hit yet. I think he's the only one now. The game yesterday was ugly and I'm not just talking about the weather. [Hail started falling in the bottom of the 4th] Poor offensive production and Tommy was mostly garbage as well. The few times they did have RISP they mostly blew it. The Nats did a much better job manufacturing runs throughout with that big shot from Ankiel to pad the lead. I know Ankiel strikes out a lot but keeping him around probably would have been better than going with McClouth who also strikes out a lot but without the power. Nate also made a defensive mistake that cost us a run late. He tried to make a sliding catch on a Zimmerman single and missed turning it into a no out triple.
Total domination. I wish I would have driven down to DC for this game. I've never seen a pitcher balk like that with the bases loaded. He went through his entire pitching motion but kept the ball in his hand. Riggleman left him out there forever too, as a rookie he could be shellshocked for a while. They were saying that was his first ever MLB appearance.
The Braves fans on this board have all gone AWOL. Kimbrel's stuff today was electric, the Brew Crew never had a chance.
I still check this thread. Haven't had much chance to watch any games as I don't live in georgia. Thanks for the updates though, you're the bomb diggity.
I don't think it's that serious but I'm starting to wonder how long it will take for him to get fully healthy again.
That series was complete garbage. How much longer can the guy with the highest OBP on the team sit in the bottom half of the order for a guy batting .200?
