Update: Wellman's shenanigans(I love that word)

Well another video of Phillip Wellman's ejection, although the video is much much better, the person who uploaded the video disabled embeding, so the best I can do is give you the URL...So here it is, Wellman's shenanigans.

Side Note: Wellman's grenade toss kind of reminds me of dinner at my Grandfathers, back when he used to have flashbacks of World War II and he started to reenact the battle scenes, I can't even begin to remember how many dinner rolls I've been pelted with in my day.

UPDATE #2: Finally a video is available that I can embed.

Phillip Wellman: You ain't seen nothing yet

During Friday night's loss to the Chattanooga Lookouts, Mississippi Braves manager, Phillip Wellman decided to put on a show before leaving after being ejected in the third inning.

Wellman's show started after one ball in the bottom of the third. He burst out of the third-base dugout, flinging his hat behind home plate and getting in the face of plate umpire Brent Rice.

After having his say in a nose-to-nose conversation, Wellman strolled over to the plate and started kicking dirt on it. Then he dropped to a knee, scooped dirt on the plate and outlined a new one in the dirt.

Then Wellman walked down to third base and gave Rusty Barrett, the ump there, a piece of his mind before pulling the base out of the ground as a batboy scampered out of the dugout to reclaim the tossed hat. Wellman headed toward second base and tossed third into center field.

The antics continued.

Wellman crawled up the mound on his elbows and knees and flung the rosin bag toward the plate as if it were a grenade. He went back to second base, pulled it from the ground, grabbed third base and headed toward the clubhouse.

He ended the show by turning to the cheering crowd and waving goodbye.

"That was a pretty good show," Botelho said. "I'd probably rank it No. 1."

Let me be the first, or one of the first to present, one of the greatest freak outs in baseball history...

James loses no-hitter in the 7th, Braves win in blowout

After failing to get out of the fourth inning his last start, Chuck James was certainly looking to have a good outing, but i'm sure no one expected that he would flirt with a historical outing. Chuck James had a perfect game going into the sixth inning before he walked Jose Bautista and Jack Wilson to start the inning, but he was able to regroup by getting a double play and a strike out to keep his no-hitter and shutout intact.

The no-hitter was broken up later in the seventh, when Jason Bay singled to left field. James was able to finish out the seventh and even ended the inning with a strikeout. And of course as soon as he was taken out, Chad Paronto came in and fell apart. He led off the inning giving up a single, then a double to Wilson that scored Bautista later on Wilson scored on a sacrifice from Chris Duffy. Paronto was finally relieved by Peter Moylan after failing to get out of the inning, in fact he was only able to get one out, he gave up four hits, 2 runs in a 1/3 of an inning. Moylan came in and locked it down, getting LaRoche to ground into a double play and then he finished up the ninth inning, 1-2-3 including getting two strikeouts.

"I've been struggling a little bit and trying to get back to where I feel comfortable, and I've been putting a little extra stress on myself," James said. "I've kind of built me up a wall in the sixth inning and couldn't quite get through it. Today was a good confidence booster."

It was also a big offensive day for the Braves, I mentioned yesterday that it had been 8 games since we had homered, but we broke that yesterday as Andruw Jones and Jeff Francoeur both homered, and then again last night we had another two homers. Both homers came courtesy of Scott Thorman, it was his first career multi-homerun game. His first was a three-run shot in the second inning that gave us the lead and then again in the ninth this time it was a two-run shot. I am continuing to be impressed by recent call-up, Wilie Harris. He continued to play like a mad man, going 4-5 with two doubles and an RBI. He also is doing a great job on the bases, both with running the bases and stealing bases. It's been awhile since we've had a true base stealer, not since Rafael Furcal left us.

I, along with many on the Braves Journal, am in favor of Thorman starting everyday at first base, instead of Bobby Cox doing that stupid platooning all the time. But then again, Bobby Cox did just move into fourth place in All-Time major league wins with 2,195 wins. Cox surpassed Sparky Anderson on the career wins list and trails only Connie Mack, John McGraw and Tony La Russa. So I can't really talk, seeing as how the last thing I won was a stupid plastic telescope
that I got for sending in 200 box tops.

"He downplays everything, but for him that's awesome," Jeff Francoeur said. "We couldn't be more excited, you couldn't get it for a better guy. Look at the guys he's passed, Sparky Anderson -- it's hard sometimes to realize because he's your manager, but they're going to talk about him for a long time. There's no doubt he's a Hall of Fame manager."

WP: Chuck James(4-3)
LP: Tony Armas(0-3)

HR: ATL- Scott Thorman, 2(4,5)

The Braves will be going for the sweep today against the Pirates. We have rookie Anthony Lerew making his second start and they have a very good young pitcher starting, Ian Snell. It should be fun.

Homerless no more, Braves win again.

Coming into the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves, after leading the National league in homeruns for majority of the first month of baseball, but we hadn't homered in the last eight games. But finally in the sixth inning we broke out of that slump, when Andruw Jones hit a deep two-run homerun to center and of course, seeing as how we haven't homered in over a week, we promptly went back-to-back when Jeff Francoeur hit a laser to left field.

Kyle Davies had another good start and he got his first win of the season. He went seven strong innings, giving up seven hits and only allowing one run. He did walk two batters while only striking out one, but no matter.

"My confidence is starting to get a little bit better and my pitching is a little bit better, and I think the two go hand in hand," said Davies, who hadn't won since beating Washington 6-1 on Sept. 18.

Tyler Yates came in on the 8th inning and pitched a scoreless inning striking out two Pirates. And then former Pirate, Mike Gonzalez came in for the ninth and was filthy, yet again. He struck out one batter in the inning and earned his second save in as many opportunities. Gonzo hasn't allowed a run in his last 14 appearances. I'll say it again, I love this Bullpen!

"I had to tone it down emotion-wise," Gonzalez said. "It's very different, facing these guys."

The fourth inning was very scary for Braves fans everywhere, when Chipper, just having hit a double, was advancing to third on a Francoeur groundball when he collided with Pirate's third baseman, Jose Bautista and was launched into the air at least a good two or three feet and landed hard on his both wrists, his left shoulder and his quad. Jones laid on third base for several minutes, in obvious discomfort, but stayed in the game to Cox's relief. And contributed a great deal both offensively and defensively.

"I thought I was going to have to take him out when I went out there," Cox said.

WP: Kyle Davies(1-1)
LP: Zach Duke(1-4)
SV: Mike Gonzalez(2)

HR: ATL- Andruw Jones(6) and Jeff Francoeur(6)

The Braves play the Pirates again tonight at 7:05 pm ET. We have Chuck James pitching and they have Tony Armas pitching. I like our chances.

Side Note: Bobby Cox moved into to a tie with with Sparky Anderson for fourth all-time in career victories with 2,194 wins.

Site news

Sorry about the lack of posts today, I had to take my pooch(yes I said "Pooch") to the vet. I'll be doing a couple posts very soon, including the Braves, NBA Playoffs and whatever the hell I can conjure up. By the way, the pics are of my pooch, Syd.

Live Blog: San Diego Padres @ Atlanta Braves

Top of the 9th inning: Rafael Soriano relieved Yates. Another dominating performance for Soriano, he gets them in order, 1-2-3. Braves win 5-3

Bottom of the 8th inning: Willie Harris walked again, but we got nothing else, four up, three down.

Top of the 8th inning: Tyler Yates relieved Paronto. Three up three down for Yates. He is looking good these past few days.

Bottom of the 7th inning: Easy inning for the Padres, as Hampson struck out both Jones'. Francoeur singled and then stole his first base of the year, but we didn't get anymore runs.

Top of the 7th inning: Chad Paronto relieved Hudson. He gave up a run on a sacrifice fly, but that was it. Braves still lead 5-3

Bottom of the 6th inning: Huge inning for Atlanta. First a single by McCann, then a double by Woodward. Harris then came in for Hudson and walked, then Johnson hit a bases clearing double. Braves now lead 5-2

Top of the 6th inning: Scary moment, Josh Bard hit a comebacker off of Hudson's arm for a single, but he was ok, and go t the next three hitters easily, including a double play.

Bottom of the 5th inning: Wells is cruising, sadly. Three up three down, although Andruw just missed having a homerun, he was a foot or so away.

Top of the 5th inning: Very easy inning for Hudson, he did give up a single, but otherwise he retired the others easy enough.

Bottom of the 4th inning: Another easy inning for Wells, he did allow a walk to Wilson but it got us no where as Johnson flew out to leftfield.

Top of the 4th inning: So much for a lead. Huddy gave up two runs after back-to-back RBI doubles by Cameron and Kouzmanoff. And we're all tied up 2-2

Bottom of the 3rd inning: The Braves went three up three down, we seriously need to hit a homer today, it's been forever.

Top of the 3rd inning: The Padres get a couple of singles, but strand two as Hudson got Gonzalez to ground out to 1st.

Bottom of the 2nd inning: Wells gives up a couple of walks, but the Braves can't push across another run.

Top of the 2nd inning: Three up, three down for Hudson, a ground out, fly out and then a strike out.

SIDE NOTE: Just in case you haven't discovered that i'm an idiot, here's more proof.

Jay10 Says:
May 10th, 2007 at 12:22 pm

McCann! We’re jumping on Wells early.

I'm the one that posted the lineups today on the Braves Journal and i'm live blogging here and I still got the name wrong, it's attention to detail like that, that keeps the readers coming.

Bottom of the 1st inning: Wells got roughed up a little bit, first Matt Diaz singled, then Chipper singled and the Andruw hit an RBI single and just in case you wanted another single, Fracoueur then hit an RBI single. But Wells was able to get out of it. Braves lead 2-0

Top of the 1st inning: Pretty easy inning for Hudson, he did however give up a couple of singles, but no harm done as Greene grounded out to third to end the inning.

Today's Line-ups

San Diego

1. Marcus Giles 2B
2. Juan Cruz Jr LF
3. Brian Giles RF
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Khalil Greene SS
6. Josh Bard C
7. Mike Cameron CF
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
9. David Wells P

Atlanta

1. Kelly Johnson 2B
2. Matt Diaz LF
3. Chipper Jones 3B
4. Andruw Jones CF
5. Jeff Francoeur RF
6. Brian McCann C
7. Chris Woodward SS
8. Craig Wilson 1B
9. Tim Hudson P

For the record, i'm not a fan of this line-up.

Live Blog: San Diego Padres @ Atlanta Braves

Top of the 9th inning: Soriano relieves Gonzalez. Holy shit I love this guy! Three up, three down another two strikeouts for Soriano, he is so electric. Braves win, 3-2

Bottom of the 8th inning: Dan Brocail relieved Meridith and got the Braves, three up three down including one strike out.

Top of the 8th inning: Mike Gonzalez relieves Smoltz. Gonzalez gets them 1-2-3 and in impressive fashion. He got a couple of soft groundouts and blew away Cruz Jr with a 95 mph fastball.

Bottom of the 8th inning: HUGE inning! It started off bad, with two straight groudouts, but Kelly hit a single, then Willie singled then Chipper just missed a 3-run homer, but it was ruled a ground rule double and KJ scored. Next up was Andruw, who hit another opposite field hit, this one scoring Harris. Braves now lead 3-2

Top of the 7th inning: Three up three down for Smoltz, he's been great these past few innings.

Bottom of the 6th inning: Andruw singled and then caught everyone off by stealing a base(1st of the season). He then advanced on a ground out by McCann but we were unable to get him in with a couple of groundouts. Oh and Maddux was relieved by Cla Meridith.

Top of the 6th inning: Smoltz fought back after giving up the lead-off double, he got a couple of ground balls and finally he struck out Brayan.

Bottom of the 5th inning: Long inning, first Woodward singled, then Smoltz bunted him over to second, then he advanced to third on a wild pitch, then KJ struck out, Big Willie came through again with an RBI single and then a stolen base but Chipper struck out to end the inning. San Diego leads 2-1

Top of the 5th inning: Another three up three down inning for Smoltz, he struck out Maddux and got a couple of groundouts.

Bottom of the 4th inning: Three up three down for Maddux. He's looking great tonight, great for him, bad for us.

Top of the 4th inning: Three up three down for Smoltz, Brayan did double but he tried to stretch it and was thrown out at third.

Bottom of the 3rd inning: Maddux walked Harris and Chipper reached on an error by Blum, but the Braves got nothing as Jones flied out to left.

Top of the 3rd inning: Much like the second, Smoltz got two quick outs before Adrian Gonzalez took him deep. Then Smoltz was able to come back and strike Cameron out. San Diego leads 2-0

Bottom of the 2nd inning: A couple of balls were hit hard, like Thor's, it was maybe a foot short. Francoeur did get a single, but other than that, Maddux cruised easily again.

Top of the 2nd inning: Started off great, didn't quite end as well. Smoltz struck out the first two batters he faced and then on a 2-2 pitch, Blum hit a solo homerun. And then Maddux came up and was able to fight through the glare off of Smoltz's head and he hit a single right up the middle on the first pitch he saw. But Smoltz recovered and got a ground out to end the inning. San Diego leads 1-0

Bottom of the 1st inning: Good inning for Greg Maddux, he did walk Chipper however, but Andruw flew out to center, no harm done. Let me just say, for the record it's weird rooting against Maddux, but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Top of the 1st inning: Easy inning for John Smoltz, can't say the same for Woodward. Woodward made an error on the first ball he saw but it didn't hurt as Chipper was able to gun down the other Giles, Brian, as he tried to stretch a single into a double. Gonzalez grounded out to second and before that, Sledge popped up to second.

Tonight's Line-ups

San Diego

1. Marcus Giles 2B
2. Terrmel Sledge LF
3. Brian Giles RF
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Mike Cameron CF
6. Russell Brayan 3B
7. Geoff Blum SS
8. Rob Bowen C
9. Greg Maddux P

Atlanta

1. Kelly Johnson 2B
2. Willy Harris LF
3. Chipper Jones 3B
4. Andruw Jones CF
5. Brian McCann C
6. Jeff Francoeur RF
7. Scott Thorman 1B
8. Chris Woodward SS
9. John Smoltz P

Andruw Jones breaks out of slump and leads Braves

Atlanta kept with the theme of lose one-win one last night as they defeated the San Diego Padres, 3-2. Braves rookie, Anthony Lerew, got the start, it was his first of his big league career. He made the most of it too, he went 6 innings, giving up two runs(both off of solo homeruns) while striking out seven and only walking two batters. Also those two solo shots, were the only hits he gave up. I think it's safe to say that Mr. Lerew has earned himself a couple more starts. Lerew had his fastball up around 95 mph or so, a pretty nasty change up and he showed off a new pitch, a two-seam sinker that Atlanta's pitching coach, Roger McDowell, showed him.

"It's been my bread and butter since I started throwing it," Lerew said.

Said Cox: "That's the best I've ever seen Anthony. All he's got to do is throw that sinker like he's throwing it, throw the changeup and he's in business."

Lerew did make a mistake in the third inning, a mistake that Mike Cameron was more than willing to take advantage of. Lerew left a pitch up and over the middle of the plate and Cameron absolutely crushed it to left field for the first of two homeruns by the Padres. The second came in the fifth, this one to Padres' left fielder, Terrmel Sledge, also was hit very well and to left. I also should mention that the Padres spot starter, Justin Germano, pitched very well too, he was also called up before the game from AAA, much like Lerew.

As the title says, Andruw Jones finally broke out his slump, which reached to 0-21 before his RBI double in the 6th inning which scored Edgar Renteria. Before this game, he had been hitting .048(1-21) with no homers, only one RBI, just four walks and seven strikeouts in the month of May. But besides Andruw, the offense hadn't really been able to get going for us, that is until Heath Bell stumbled in the 8th inning. He gave up a lead-off single to the pinch-hitter, Matt Diaz, and then a triple to Edgar Renteria and then what proved to be the game-winning RBI single to non other than Andruw Jones. Oh and before I forget, I mentioned yesterday that Andruw had been trying to pull everything in sight, well both of his hits were to the opposite field. Goes to show you, if you settle down and stop trying to over exert yourself, good things will follow.

Our bullpen was once again, just plain filthy. Tyler Yates relieved Lerew in the seventh and need just nine pitches to retire the Padres. Followed behind him was Mike Gonzalez, who picked up the win, he also had a scoreless inning in which he did give up a single, but no harm done. And finally, Rafael Soriano, who is by far the nastiest guy in our bullpen right now, he picked up another save with his scoreless ninth in which he struck out two of the three batters he faced.

WP: Mike Gonzalez(2-0)
LP: Heath Bell(0-1)
SV: Rafael Soriano(3)

HR: SD- Mike Cameron(1) and Terrmel Sledge(4)

Our next game is tonight and it is a must see, best friends and teammates for 11 years will be going at each other for the first time. We have John Smoltz going and the Padres have Greg Maddux pitching. It starts 7:35 pm ET on FSN South. Be there!

Side Note: The Braves have designated Steve Colyer for assignment. He has exactly 10 days to either accept the assignment and return to Richmond or he can choose to become a free-agent.

Braves lose opener to the Padres, 4-2

I mentioned last night, that the Atlanta Braves didn't play up to our capability against the San Diego Padres and honestly haven't for the past few weeks. It seems that we're in a win one-lose one loop right now, but we've been lucky enough to be winning series, usually two games to one. But let's get to this game, it was two totally different storylines for the starting pitchers, Chris Young was great(although he did have a bump in the 5th) and Chuck James was abysmal, lasting only 3 2/3 innings and walking four batters including the pitcher twice. I don't know what it is about Chris Young that makes him so good, he doesn't have overpowering stuff, his fastball only reaches up to 92(on a good night) the only thing that I can think of is his height and the downward movement he gets on his pitches from being 6'10". But what ever it is, he had it working last night, as he struck out eight Braves and only gave up two runs(both came in the 5th) on route to his fourth win on the season.

The trouble for James started in the second inning, when Pad's first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez, took him deep and gave San Diego a 1-0 lead in which they wouldn't surrender. James then went on to have an easy third inning where he struck out two batters but then came the fourth. He started it off by walking Gonzalez(not a bad move, seeing as what he did last time), but then he gave up a single to the next batter, Josh Bard. After a Khalil Greene fly out and a Mike Cameron single, the Padres scored their second run off of a Kevin Kouzmanoff sacrifice fly to right field. He was then pulled after walking the next batter, Chris Young, for the second time. In to replace him was Oscar Villarreal, who got us out of a tight spot. Although the Padres did strike again the next inning, after a single and a walk, "The Vulture" got Bard to ground into what should've been a double play to end the inning, but of course the walking worthlessness that is Chris Woodward threw the ball away allowing Brian Giles to score on the error.

Our only scoring came in the 5th inning, when Brian McCann walked and then followed behind him was Jeff Francoeur, who was hit in the elbow by a pitch and then both runners advanced on a Chris Young balk. Scott Thorman was able to capitalize on Young's mistakes with a groundout that scored McCann and then of course, just to make me look like an ass, Woodward came up and hit an RBI triple to score Francoeur and pull us within one run. Chad "Parontosaurus" Paronto came in to relieve Oscar, a move that we would regret as he failed to get out of the inning unscathed. First he started off great, striking out Cameron and then getting Kouzmanoff to groundout. But then Chris Young came up, and Parontosaurus decided to get some revenge on him for hitting Frenchy, which I liked because we never get pay back, but it was a move that would end up costing us another run. So Parontosaurus(I love saying that!) hit Young with two outs, then Marcus Giles came up and singled to center and then advanced to second on the throw by Andruw Jones to third, then the other Giles was walked intentionally in favor for Jose Cruz Jr, who was then walked and in came their fourth run.

Nothing really happened in the following innings except for really bad offense and really good pitching by both team's bullpens. I do have to say, Andruw Jones is struggling right now at the plate, he's trying to pull the ball everytime he goes up and it's effecting his train of thought at the plate right now. I am really thinking he may need a day off soon just to try and regain his composure. But not tonight, we're going to need every bit of offense we can get as we're having a rookie start for the first time. That rookie being Anthony Lerew.

WP: Chris Young(4-2)
LP: Chuck James(3-3)
SV: Trevor Hoffman(9)

HR: SD- Adrian Gonzalez(9)

Next game is tonight at 7:35 pm ET on Sports South. We have Anthony Lerew making his first start and he will be going against another player making his first start of the year, Justin Geramano.

Braves play like shit

The Atlanta Braves lost to the San Diego Padres tonight in the opening game of a 4-game series, 4-2. Chuck James went 3 2/3 innings before getting pulled, he actually found a way to walk Chris Young, the Pad's pitcher, twice. We all around played like shit, out defense had more holes in it than Julian Tavarez's face. Speaking of Tavarez, while searching for a pic of his hideous face, I found this gem on Deadspin, of him punching former D-Ray's centerfielder, Joey Gathright, in the face with an open palm. Wow, and I thought I fought like a girl.


EDIT: I'll recap this horrible game tomorrow, i'm not in the mood right now.

Chipper Jones is not a big fan of Bob Davidson.

Chipper Jones had the day off yesterday in the Braves 6-4 win over the Dodgers but he did make a pinch hit appearance in the seventh inning. Davidson made a horrible call, and replays proved it, when he called Chipper out on a check swing. Chipper didn't like the call and let Davidson have it and eventually Bobby Cox made his way up the stairs and before he could finish his long journey(50 feet) he was thrown out for the 128th time of his career, that's three ejections away from the major league lead which is held by John McGraw. After the game, Chipper had some choice words for Davidson, words that will inevitably cost him a fine.

"The second Bobby stepped out of the dugout, [Davidson] was gunning to throw him out," Jones said. "Bob Davidson feels like the thousands of people in the park come to see him. He's always been like that. It's a joke among the players."

"That wasn't what I was upset about," Jones said. "When Bobby came out of the dugout, [Davidson] was just waiting to throw him out before he even heard what he said. It's a shame the cameras have to put [Davidson] on TV for 30 seconds."

Jones didn't confine his critical umpiring review to Davidson. He said home-plate umpire Sam Holbrook missed a call when catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia reached back to tag Andy LaRoche on the helmet

in the fifth inning.

LaRoche was called safe on the slide to tie the score at one.

"How do you miss that?" Jones said. "How does a professional umpire miss that?"

Chipper Jones is in the lineup tonight against Chris Young and the San Diego Padres.

Live Blog: Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves

Top of the 9th inning: Mike Gonzalez came in for Soriano. Gonzo came in and gave up a hit to the other Gonzo, the Louis version and after that was unhittable. He made LaRoche pop up to second, then overpowered Russell Martin, who came in for Ethier and struck him out and then he got Lieberthal to pop out to 1st base. Braves win 6-4.

Bottom of the 8th inning: In the bottom half of the eighth inning we ended up getting two man on, Frenchy reached on an error by Kent and then Andruw was walked but we couldn't get either one of them in.

Top of the 8th inning: Rafael Soriano relieved Chad Paronto and got the Dodgers to go down in order, Pierre and Kent both flied out and Nomar grounded out.

Bottom of the 7th inning: This was a huge inning for the Braves, it started off a walk to Willie Harris and then a double by Kelly Johnson and then a 2-run double scoring both of them. After that Francoeur fouled out and Andruw was walked then Chipper came in to pinch hit and was called out on a ridiculous check swing call, both he and Bobby Cox argued and were tossed from the game. After that subsided Thorman came up to pinch hit for Wilson and promptly hit an RBI single and then Salty, who had just got his first major league hit the inning before, got his first major league RBI off of a single. And even the worthless waste that is Chris Woodward got into the mix and hit an RBI single. Braves now lead 6-4.

Top of the 7th inning: Davies pitched great today but in the end he couldn't get out of the 7th inning, he was relieved by Chad Paronto after giving up a 2-run pinch hit homerun to Wilson Betemit. But Salty bailed us out again with that golden arm of his...throwing out one of the fastest players in baseball, Furcal.

Bottom of the 6th inning: Jarrod Saltalamacchia got his first major league hit, but it was to no avail as we get the bases loaded with one out and fucking Woodward grounds into a double play. Fuck that guy....Dodgers still lead 2-1.

Top of the 6th inning: There we go, back to normal, a 1-2-3 inning for Davies, much much better. Now if we can only score some runs.

Bottom of the 5th inning: Another three up three down inning for Wolf, this guy is beginning to piss me off.

Top of the 5th inning: Horrible meltdown of an inning for Davies, first Ethier knocked in LaRoche, then Davies threw another error this time into centerfield and then Lieberthal hit an RBI single to score Ethier and finally three batters later he got out of it with just giving up 2 runs, it could've been a lot worse. Dodgers lead 2-1.

Bottom of the 4th inning: Wolf gets another three up three down inning. With Salty, Woodward and Davies all going down.

Top of the 4th inning: Wow, Kyle Davies is really dealing right now, another three up-three down inning for him included in that is another two guys giving him a total of six strikeouts so far.

Bottom of the 3rd inning: Once again we leave guys on base with Andruw and Wilson both striking out and before them he struck out Renteria. Both pitchers are cruising.

Top of the 3rd inning: Another easy inning for Davies, what is going on with him, he's pitching like he did when he first came up, I'm loving it.

Bottom of the 2nd inning: After Chris Woodward just missed a homerun, Wolf came back and struck out both Davies and Johnson.

Top of the 2nd inning: Another pretty easy inning for Kyle Davies, he did throw a ball away giving him an error but no harm done has he got a couple of fly outs and then struck out Ethier to end the inning.

Bottom of the 1st inning: Braves get one on the bored on a Matt Diaz RBI single. KJ grounded out to lead off, Renteria then singled to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, Francoeur hen walked for the eleventh time this season and Andruw struck out. Next up was Diaz, who as you know knocked in a run, then after him Craig Wilson walked and then Saltalamacchia struck out on a bad call with the bases loaded. Braves lead 1-0

Top of the 1st inning: Kyle Davies looks good, getting them 1-2-3 three and striking out Furcal and Nomar. He walked Pierre on 4 straight pitches but Salty picked him off on first. Great start for Davies.

Today’s lineups

Los Angeles

1. Rafael Furcal SS
2. Juan Pierre CF
3. Nomar Garciaparra 1B
4. Jeff Kent 2B
5. Louis Gonzalez LF
6. Andy LaRoche 3B
7. Andre Ethier RF
8. Mike Liberthal C
9. Randy Wolf P

Atlanta

1. Kelly Johnson 2B
2. Edgar Renteria SS
3. Jeff Francoeur RF
4. Andruw Jones CF
5. Matt Diaz LF
6. Criag Wilson 1B
7. Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
8. Chris Woodward 3B
9. Kyle Davies P

Live Blog, Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves

Top of the 9th inning- Soriano is amazing, he hit 100 MPH on the radar and was constantly hitting 97-98. He sit them down 1-2-3, although Furcal had a deep ball hit to left center that Andruw ran down, it seemed like he ran forever. Great win, Braves win 4-0 and improve to 18-10.

Bottom of the 8th inning- Rudy Seanez relieved Chad Billingsley. Harris singled, Pete Orr came in to hit for Gonzalez and got a infield single thanks to pure hustling, he slid into first to beat the tag. But then Johnson grounded into a double-play and then Renty grounded out to third. Braves lead 4-0 going into the 9th.

Top of the 8th inning- Mike Gonzalez relieved Smoltz, who had an outstanding game. Gonzo got the other Gonzo(the Louis version) to ground out to second, after that he gave up back-to-back singles and then struck out Saenz and then got Martinez to ground out to third.

Bottom of the 7th inning- Billingsley had a pretty easy inning, he struck out Andruw swinging, walked McCann, who was later tagged out at second on a fielder's choice by Francoeur and finally Thor flew out to deep left field.

Top of the 7th inning- Smoltz with another easy inning, he struck out Valdez, Furcal grounded out to second, Juan Pierre singled and Nomar grounded out to Smoltz.

Bottom of the 6th inning- Chad Billingsley relieved Beimel and Wilson Valdez took over at third for Betemit. Willie Harris singled and then advanced to second on Smoltz's sacrifice bunt, Kelly Johnson walked(for the 27th time this season) and then Renteria flied out to right. Chipper flew out about as far as you can hit it without it going out, and the Braves still lead 4-0.

Top of the 6th inning- Smoltz walked two batters but it resulted in nothing as he struck out Betemit and got Martinez to pop up to second. And before both of them he got Martin to fly out to right.

Bottom of the 5th inning- Big inning for Atlanta, Johnson led off with a walk, Renteria struck out(first time in 41 at-bats), Chipper hit into a fielder's choice, Andruw walked, McCann walked and Frenchy capitalized with our 70th and 71st 2-out RBIs with a bloop 2-run double. Tomko was then relieved by Joe Beimel who promptly struck out Thorman to end the inning. Braves now lead 4-0.

Top of the 5th inning- Smoltz is still cruising, he did give up a single to Furcal, but struck out Tomko, threw Pierre out at 1st as he was attempting to bunt and Nomar popped out to right field.

Bottom of the 4th inning- Tomko sits them down 1-2-3 and he literally sat down to make an out, Willie Harris, who robbed them of at least tying the game just minutes ago, hit a come backer to Tomko, and willing falling down, he reaches out grabs it and throws it while sitting down to get Harris, who is really fast. The Braves still lead 2-0.

Top of the 4th inning- YES! Smoltz gave up three straight hits to start the inning, so the bases were loaded with no one out and Smoltz got a pop up to short, a strike out and Willie Harris made a great running catch that saved at least two runs. YES!

Bottom of the 3rd inning- Braves leave two guys stranded, Chipper, who walked again and McCann who singled. Renteria grounded out the short, Andruw popped out to third and Francoeur grounded out to short also.

Top of the 3rd inning- Smoltz with another three up, three down inning. Tomko struck out swinging, Furcal flew out to left field and Pierre lined out to Renteria.

Bottom of the 2nd inning- Tomko settled down in the second, striking out Harris, getting Smoltz to ground out to short, he did give up a single up the middle to Johnson but KJ was thrown out at second trying to steal. I think he was safe, but that's just me being biased.

Top of the 2nd inning- Things go relatively easy for Smoltz again, Gonzalez led off with a single to right field and then he was forced out at second on Russell Martin's infield hit. Russell then advanced to second while Either went to first on Brian McCann's catcher interference call. But no damage done as Betemit struck out swinging and Martinez grounded out to second.

Bottom of the 1st inning- The Braves jumped on Tomko early, with a Renteria single, a Chipper walk and a Brian McCann 2-run double followed by a Francoeur walk. The inning ended when Thorman flew out to Pierre on the warning track.

Top of the 1st inning- Smoltz breezes through the first inning, getting them 1-2-3. Both Furcal
and Pierre grounded out the second and Nomar hit a lazy fly to center.

Starting Lineups:

Los Angeles

1. Rafael Furcal ss
2. Juan Pierre cf
3. Nomar Garciaparra 1b
4. Louis Gonzalez lf
5. Russell Martin c
6. Andre Ethier rf
7. Wilson Betemit 3b
8. Ramon Martinez 2b
9. Brett Tomko p

Atlanta

1. Kelly Johnson 2b
2. Edgar Renteria ss
3. Chipper Jones 3b
4. Andruw Jones cf
5. Brian McCann c
6. Jeff Francoeur rf
7. Scott Thorman 1b
8. Willie Harris lf
9. John Smoltz p

We're getting no respect, no respect at all

This article by Cliff Corcoran over at SI.com,

The Braves are back in their customary first-place position in the NL East, but they have several hitters on unsustainable paces. Chipper Jones might be a future Hall of Famer, but he’s not going to slug .692 at age 35 when his career mark is .544, and, though he hasn’t missed a game yet, he’s also not going to stay healthy all season. Kelly Johnson is a good hitter (his career minor-league batting line is .281/.366/.464), but he’s not this good. His hitting .323/.466/.591 while learning a new position is a great story, but reality will come calling sooner or later. Meanwhile, Edgar Renteria is outproducing his 2003 career year. That can’t last either. On the mound, Tim Hudson’s 1.40 ERA and perfect record won’t hold and I’ll be surprised if he’s not sharing the DL with Chipper at some point during the season. On the flip side, other than Craig Wilson, the short side of the team’s first-base platoon, there are no real candidates for improvement, especially now that Ryan Langerhans and his .068 average have been shipped out of town.

Ok, what to say, what to say, first off what the hell is he talking about when he says "there are no real candidates for improvement"? What about Andruw Jones, who is currently hitting .253/.392/.505 with 5HR and 20RBI, last year through 27 games he had 8HR 27RBI so there is room for improvement there, what about John Smoltz who has had a couple of off games this season, still he has performed well with a 3-1 record and a 3.96 ERA. What about Chuck James who is sure to improve, he's currently at 3-2 with a 4.83 ERA, what about Rafael Soriano who has been lights out in close games but when we have a big lead he gives up hits/runs/walks, I have no doubt that all of these guys will improve dramatically throughout the season.

After a little research, and I do mean a little(google is a hell of a thing) I found out that this guy is a Yankees blogger over at Baseball Toaster: Bronx Banter. So let me get this straight, the Braves are taking heat and being called "overachievers" by someone who blogs(I don't know if he's a fan, but I would assume he is) about the Yankees, the same Yankees who are currently in 4th place in the AL East while we're in 1st, the same Yankees who are currently underachieving and in a big way. And they think their problems are because of a strength and conditioning coach, maybe, I don't know stop signing players that have injury risks. But before I start insulting mothers, throwing out childish names, etc...I'll just stop.

Chipper and the bullpen come through again

If this was last year, we would have lost this game as soon as Chuck James came out, with that horrible bullpen, if they would've had to work four innings, we'd be lucky to get out of their with them giving up less than, oh, three or four runs. But it's not last year, it's this year and we have a totally rebuilt bullpen, a great bullpen. After Chuck James, who was dealing before the sixth inning, was chased out of the game thanks to a game tying three-run homer by Ryan Howard, we had to turn to our bullpen a little earlier than expected.

and Mike Gonzalez is currently 1-0 1.59 ERA with a 1.50 WHIP while But our bullpen pitched four scoreless innings in which they allowed a combined one hit. Our biggest transaction from the offseason, Mike Gonzalez, was just plain filthy once again, striking out Chase Utley and Ryan Howard back-to-back in a scoreless eighth inning. If you remember, we traded our left-handed slugging 1st baseman, Adam LaRoche, to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for their lights out closer, Gonzo. It was a move that was frowned upon by some because of the loss of offense, more notably the homeruns. But seeing as how we lead the NL and I believe the Majors in homeruns LaRoche is currently hitting .132/.245/.253 3 HR 11 RBI and Mike Gonzalez is currently 1-0 1.59 ERA with a 1.50 WHIP while. I may be a little biased but I would say we got the best of that deal and oh yeah we got a little prospect named Brent Lillibridge too, who is hitting quite well in AA.

Widely regarded as our top overall prospect and the number one catching prospect in the majors, Jarrod Saltalamacchia made his major league debut. Although he didn't get a hit in the game, he showed me at least a lot of promise. He went 0-2 with a walk and got hit by a pitch, he also threw out Jayson Werth at second in the second inning. Each at-bat he worked the count by taking pitches and fouling off pitch after pitch and nearly missed a double down the right field line that could've scored two runs in the 6th. Later in that at-bat in the sixth he was hit on the upper right arm by a pitch by Freddy Garcia, who was relieved by Geoff Geary right after that. Later in the sixth Salty was thrown out at home by the "Flyin' Hawaiian" Shane Victorino. It is almost a certain thing that Saltalamacchia will be traded sometime this season for pitching help and honestly until last night I had no real problems with that, because he could bring a load of good players and or highly touted prospects but I am now rethinking that. He showed great plate discipline last night, great power as he was about 3 feet from a homerun in his first at-bat and he showed that his defense isn't as big as a question as it was believed to be. I would love to see either him or Brian McCann making the switch to first base that way we can have both of those talented young men in our lineup. But we'll see, something tells me we'll still trade him.

"You're always going to have nerves your first game in the big leagues," he said. "After that first at-bat, I settled down a little bit."

Braves third baseman, Chipper Jones, continued his hot hitting by going 1-3 with a two-run double in the third inning. He also walked for the 19th time this season. Chipper is hitting .318/.421/.692 with 10 HR 22 RBI after tonight, just amazing, simply amazing. And better yet, he's played in all 27 games for the Braves, with no sign of injury or slowing down. Willie Harris is quickly making us forget about Ryan Langerhans as he's already done more in his three games as a Brave than Langerhans did in the 20+ games he was in Atlanta. Harris went 2-3 last night with an RBI single in the 6th scoring Scott Thorman. Harris also made a great diving catch in left field last night to rob former Brave, Wes Helms of a hit in the ninth inning.

"I just want to go out there and earn the respect from my teammates, let them know I play the game hard," said Harris.

WP: Chad Paronto(1-0)
LP: Freddy Garcia(1-2)
SV: Rafael Soriano(2)

HR: PHI- Ryan Howard(4)

The next Braves game is on Friday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. We have John Smoltz going and they have Brett Tomko going. The game starts at 7:35 pm ET and it's on TBS.

Saltalamacchia's first night as a Major Leaguer.

ESPN's Closing Number reminded everyone that Jarrod Saltalamacchia's last name, which has 14 letters in it for all those math majors, is the longest last name in MLB history. Sure, it's pointless but it's just another Brave in the history books.

Not only is this Jarrod Saltalamacchia's major league debut, it's his 22nd birthday too.

Top of the 1st inning: I love how Salty's name on his jersey goes all the way down his side.

Top of the 2nd inning: Threw out Jayson Werth at second, this kid has a cannon!

Bottom of the 2nd inning: His first at-bat was a deep fly to dead center, he just missed having his first homerun on his first major league at-bat.

Bottom of the 4th inning: Salty's second at bat was a good one, he made Garcia work for it, fouling off pitch after pitch and finally working a walk. He may not have a batting average but his on base percentage is .500, Billy Beane loves this kid already.

Bottom of the 4th inning: Chuck James laid down a beautiful but to move Salty over but that was as far as he could go as Kelly Johnson flew out to center.

Salty's wife is a MILF! And apparently she's almost 15 years older than he is and she's a gym teacher at the high school he graduated from just three years ago. To quote a bad movie...."My son is a hound doggie".

Bottom of the 6th inning: Salty works the count again and apparently Garcia didn't like the fact that Salty scorched an fould right down the line, almost a 2-run double but a few pitches later Garcia hit him in the elbow, what a pussy. To quote Mac from the BravesJournal, "Never throw at a guy married to a gym teacher, unless you want to suffer the death of a thousand dodgeballs."

Bottom of the 6th inning: Salty is tagged out at home by a hell of a throw by the flyin' Hawaiian, Shane Victorino. Salty is a really slow runner, but his slide was very good and he almost got his left leg in there, but Victorino's throw was deadly accurate.

Bottom of the 8th inning: Salty grounds out to third base, he almost beat it out due to Wes Helms innability to get it out of his glove, but he did and Salty goes 0-2 with a BB and a HBP in his major league debut.

Nothing is better than a win, well maybe a win over the Mets and Phillies...we're still in 1st place baby!!!

It's official, Salty is going to start

It is now official, According to David O'Brien of AJC.com and Mark Bowman of AtlantaBraves.com, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is in Atlanta and he will be making his major league debut against Freddy Garcia and the Phillies. Salty will be in the starting line-up as their catcher. Brian McCann and Brayan Pena are unable to play tonight, and luckily the Braves have an off day tomorrow so that will cushion the blow of not having McCann.
To make this day even better, it's Saltalmacchia's 22nd birthday today. He is he Braves’ top-rated prospect who is hitting .309 with seven doubles, six homers and 13 RBIs in 22 games for Double-A Mississippi, with 13 walks and 17 strikeouts. He has been rumored to be on a number of team's lists to try and trade for, including the Detroit Tigers who are looking for a top catching prospect. Here is Saltalamacchia's career stats since being the Braves number one pick in 2002.

The slugging switch-hitter known as “Salty” is at Turner Field today. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was recalled from Class AA Mississippi and will be in the lineup at catcher tonight against the Phillies.

I can't wait to see how he fairs, I really like him and I want to see how he hits against major league pitchers. Best case scenario is he kicks major ass and doesn't get sent down when both catchers are completely healed, I would love to see him learn to play first base so we can then move Scott Thorman to left field. That would give us one hell of a lineup. If he does hit well and we don't keep him up, that would mean the likelihood of him being traded for pitching help.

News Flash: Mark Redman still sucks

I could honestly finish up this post in very few words, "Mark Redman sucks and he cost the Braves yet another win" and be done with it, but I don't think I will, because a lot of huge story lines emerged from this game. The first major story line happened in the second inning, when Rod Barajas' backswing hit Brian McCann's catching hand and knocked off his glove. He tried to walk it off and return to the game, but he was forced to leave shortly thereafter because he couldn't hold onto Redman's pitch and let it get by him that led to the Phillies first run. Brian was taken to get x-rays on his hand, which were negative, he is currently listed as day-to-day with a bruised left ring finger, the same finger he injured against the Met's last week while trying to put down a bunt. And then again, more bad lucked struck in the top of the ninth inning when Braves back-up catcher, Brayan Pena was struck in the back of the head off another Phillie backswing, this time by rookie, Greg Dobbs.

"You need your fingers to catch a baseball," McCann said. "When one of them is giving you trouble, it's tough to do your job."

It isn't known right now if Brian McCann or Brayan Pena will be able to play tonight against the Freddy Garcia and the Phillies. If neither are able to catch then that could mean, Blue-Chip prospect, Jerrod Saltalamacchia, would be making his major league debut. Saltalamacchia, or "Salty" is currently hitting .309 with 6 homeruns, 7 doubles 13 RBI's and 13 walks in 22 games while in AA Mississippi. If Salty isn't brought up then it would most likely be Corky Miller who is in AAA Richmond or Craig Wilson, who is on our 25-man roster would get the start tonight.

For the Phillies starter, Cole Hamels, he started off really bad giving up three runs in the first inning, but he settled down very quickly. He ended up going 7.1 innings while giving up four runs, all of which were earned, he gave up nine hits, walked three batters and struck out six. Not his greatest performance, but it was enough to hold off the Braves and get the Phillies first win against the Braves.

There was some good parts of this game though, for instance Chipper Jones became the League Leader in homeruns by hitting two last night. His first was a two run homer in the 1st inning and then again in the eighth inning, both came off of Hamels. He passed up Phillies shortstop, Jimmy Rollins who has nine homers, Chipper now has ten. The other good news was our bullpen. They were forced to pitch over seven innings and only allowed two runs, Villarreal went 2.1 innings allowing one run and striking out four, Peter Moylan went three innings allowing one run, a homer to Barajas and striking out one and then Chad Paronto and Steve Colyer both went one inning apiece.

Mark Redman was about as effective as this guy in life. It was thought that his starts couldn't get any worse, I mean the guy was sporting a 10.16 ERA before the game, but somehow he found a way to suck even worse. First of all, he only went 1.2 innings, he gave up 4 runs, struck out one and walked three. And he injured one of our best players, McCann, if Brian wouldn't have had to stretch out his arm to catch the 69 MPH heat Redman was throwing, maybe he wouldn't have been injured. Hopefully he'll get busted for picking up and undercover cop, looking for a good time or something and never has to disgrace the Atlanta Braves uniform again by wearing it.

WP: Cole Hamels(3-1)
LP: *Mark Redman(0-4)
SV: Tom Gordon(5)

HR: ATL- Chipper Jones,2(10) PHI- Rod Barajas(2)

The next Braves game is tonight against the same Phillies, we have Chuck James going and they have Freddy Garcia pitching. The game starts at 7:35 PM ET and it's going to be on ESPN.

*= Fuck that guy

We're going STREAKING walking!

What's the best way to counter getting beat by a walkoff homerun? Winning by a walkoff homerun, of course. In the 9th inning of the Braves game against the Phillies, Andruw Jones connected on a three-run shot with one out against "Six Finger's McGee" aka Antonio Alfonseca. I didn't post what happened Sunday, but we were beaten by the Colorado Rockies on a Matt Holliday walkoff homerun in the 11th inning.

Tim Hudson was playing with a heavy heart as he had just lost his former college teammate, Josh Hancock and his grandmother, but he wanted to play and he pitched yet another gem. He went eight and allowed just four hits, all singles, and one walk. Unfortunately, three of the four hits he gave up came in one inning, the 6th, in which he gave up two runs, one came courtesy of a Chase Utley sacrifice fly that scored Jimmy Rollins and then an RBI single by Ryan Howard that scored Shane Victorino.

In the bottom of the sixth-inning Chipper Jones came back and tied the game at two with a solo shot to center, it was his 8th of the season.

In the eighth inning, we blew a great chance to take the lead for Hudson when Brayan Pena, who came in and hit for Hudson, grounded out to the pitcher with runners at third and second. Mike Gonzalez came in for the ninth to replace Hudson and to say he was excellent was an understatement. He was absolutely lights out, he faced the Phillies best hitters, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell(I use "best" lightly here) all went down almost as fast as they came up. Gonzalez mixed his 94 MPH fastball, 85 MPH slider and his 83 MPH change up so well, he got Utley to pop up, Howard to ground out and struck out Burrell.

In the bottom of the ninth, Kelly Johnson led off the inning with a single. Next up was Edgar Renteria who laid down a bad bunt and the Phillies got KJ at second. Chipper was then walked in favor of Andruw who as you know, ended the game in one swing.

WP: Mike Gonzalez(1-0)
LP: Antonio Alfonseca(1-1)

HR: ATL- Chipper Jones(8) and Andruw Jones(5)

The Braves next game is tonight against the Phillies, they have Cole Hamels going and we have Mark "fuckin" Redman. Spare me!

Note: Braves starter, Tim Hudson, was granted special permission to wear "J.H." on his left shoulder in memory of his fallen teammate, Josh Hancock. And Willie Harris, who was called up when we traded Langerhans, went 1-3 with a walk.

Bob Wickman to the DL.

Well it now makes sense on why Bob Wickman has been struggling recently. He's been injured. The Atlanta Braves have placed closer, Wickman, on the DL and have activated Chad Paronto from the DL.

From AJC:

The Braves have placed closer Bob Wickman on the disabled list and activated reliever Chad Paronto.

Wickman struggled in three appearances the past five days, blowing leads Wednesday against Florida and Sunday against Colorado. He also had to be removed in the ninth inning Friday night against Colorado.

The veteran righthander has allowed five hits, six runs and six walks in 1 2/3 innings in his past three games.

More details on the injury and the amount of time he will be missing aren't out yet, but I will update as they are released.