Official 2011 Atlanta Braves thread

I would have hoped he wouldn't need this pointed out for him. If there was any question before, the stagnant offensive production should make it obvious this is a problem. I hope I can stop myself from cursing in front of my kids if this isn't fixed tonight for the Phillies game.

 

They're up against Cliff Lee tonight so the obscenities will probably be flying. Not the greatest guy to try to fix your offense against. But hey at least it's not Halladay. I think they've scored about two runs against him in half a dozen games.

 

'Dropping a gimme'... sure whatever you say. He overran it by a few steps, I wouldn't call it a routine fly ball.

 

Shows what I know. Chased after just 3 and 1/3. Hard to believe.

 

Apparently today's game isn't on television. Even with MLB extra innings I can't get it b/c Fox is broadcasting Red Sox/Yankees. What a load of ****.

 

They just can't put together complete games. They get the pitching then they don't get any offense. The offense wakes up and the pitching sucks... Frustrating start. I think they'll pick things up in the next couple of weeks or so. Similar to last year.

 

Maybe they've finally had enough. They really should be producing more runs than they were. It's nice to see Beachy have a good outing and pick up his first W. I'll be glad when they're back east so I can watch the games again. I hate those 10PM eastern start times.

 

That was the last Mets game. It was because Chipper and McClouth were out for that game.

 

That was a nice rally in the ninth yesterday. They got some fine two out ABs from Uggla, Freeman, and Ross. It's a shame it turned into an extra inning loss anyway. Kimbrel's got his first blown save out of the way I guess. He had not worked in nearly a week so nobody should have been surprised he initially had trouble finding the strike zone. These guys can't catch a break. Looks like another 9-14 April or something close to what they did last year.

Edit: And San Francisco coming up tonight. This April may actually be worse.

 

The Braves tend to be a dominate team in the first game of series. I'm not sure what happens after that. I hope they can buck the trend today. Freddie Freeman has really been delivering at the plate. Lately he's been better than Heyward.

 

That is what would have happened to the Giants if they would have played a healthy Braves team last October.

 

Roger McDowell could be in some serious trouble for acting like a complete idiot in San Francisco. Reportedly he was calling some dudes gay when another fan took exception to the language he was using in front of the guys' kids. McDowell then apparently proceeds to tell the man that 'kids shouldn't be at the ballpark' [the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard] and then threaten the guy. This is pretty embarrassing to the organization and if true I hope they fire him.

 

Yeah that ended up being a good road trip. With a good homestand we could make up some ground in the east. I guess at some point Philly is going to have to play some real teams. Did any other team in baseball have such an easy first month?

 

Suddenly we have bullpen problems.

 

They've been garbage in tight games for the most part. They're in 2009 form which is a very bad thing. Nine times out of ten at home it seemed like they were walking off in the bottom of the ninth in games like the one last night. I hope they can at least avoid the sweep tomorrow. Last year they were almost invincible at the Ted and this season suddenly they suck there.

 

I did miss most of it. He almost threw a no hitter apparently. The Braves just love the month of May. I hope they can finish the sweep tonight. More important though is going to be winning the Philly series this weekend. We've got to stick it to those guys who have been padding their record with a joke of a schedule up to this point. Because of the doubleheader yesterday they're going to have to either pitch Huddy or tommy on short rest Sunday or call someone up from Gwinnett.

And Nate McClouth reached safely in all eight of his attempts yesterday. The guy loves the eighth spot. David Ross is on fire, right now Freddi has the luxury of resting Mac without any offensive dropoff. Obviously that won't last forever but it's nice for now. It's good to be back over .500 and hopefully the upward trend will continue.

 

Great start to the Philly series. Lowe took a no hitter into the seventh but suffered some kind of injury. Hopefully it's not serious. O'Flaherty preserved Lowe's shutout by striking out the side in the 7th. He made it look easy, it was some big time pitching.

Instead of running somebody out Sunday on short rest they're going to debut Teheran, one of baseball's top prospects, tomorrow night. JJ's being pushed back to Sunday, with the way he's been pitching tomorrow is probably the Philthies' best shot.

 

Agreed. Plus they're an aging team and we have two lefties in the bullpen who are very good at getting their best hitters out. The Phils actually have a real schedule in May so I'm looking for them to fall back a little bit. I wish Lowe wouldn't have had whatever injury he ended up having to see if he could have finished that no hitter. But at least we still blanked them.

Florida came to play this season. I'm looking forward to the next series.