Home opener is now in the books, and it was quite a game. Sure, we’d have all liked a different ending, but you have got to admit, we’ve seen two great games so far this season (but they could have been better). Every pitcher was used tonight, as well as every batter in this 12 inning marathon, unfortunately the Braves failed to improve on their woeful extra inning record they have compiled over the past couple seasons. I said it last night, it is even more true tonight, if it weren’t for defensive miscues, we’d be celebrating another Braves win. Hopefully, its all out of their system and we see error free baseball for a while.
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Tommy
Glavine posted a quality start giving up just one earned run in five innings but the bullpen once again wasted the effort of a Braves starting pitcher. This is a disturbing trend and one that hopefully will not be a season-long problem. The Braves were sloppy all around committing 3 errors. Perhaps the Doc Brown reference from this morning's post was not the best way to preview tonight's game. It appears Doc set his time machine to 1985 instead of 1995. I'm not going to get into the details of how bad the bullpen actually was because it makes my head hurt. Suffice it to say that Phil
Neikro (even at age 68) would have been a welcome sight as even he could have limited the
Bucs better than the
ATL bullpen. Shout out to the Hall of
Famer as tomorrow is his 69
th birthday.
Wow, what a last few months it has been! It all started with a meeting of a small group of students last September. The cause for the meeting: force the administration to hear us out and reconsider the implementation of a football program at the University of South Alabama. Come to find out, there was no forcing required (as if we could've actually "forced" the administration).
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I'm not going to even stop and doubt Spiezio's signing. Frank Wren has proven that he can do no wrong. I just think it's hilarious that LaRussa can be a
drunk embarassment and still have a job in St. Louis while Spiezio does the same and he gets the boot. Well, Spiezio did wreck his car in someone's yard, and he left the scene of an accident but c'mon now ...
throwing up in your neighbor's home AND beating the crap out of him? -- we've all done that at least once. And if you haven't, you should definitely put it on the things-to-do-before-you-die list.
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In a move that is a bit baffling the Braves have signed former St. Louis Cardinal, Scott
Spiezio, to a minor league contract. He is expected to start with AAA Richmond when their season opens on Thursday.
Spiezio was released by the Cards back in Feb. following a 6 count arrest which included the following charges: driving under the influence, driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or higher, hit-and-run with property damage, assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, and assault and battery.
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I saw Lauren T. do this and thought it might be fun to do. That and I was a bit bored, so here you go. I hope that you find out more about me than you already knew about me.
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I was going to post yesterday before last night’s game, but decided I wouldn’t. I was slightly disappointed after that really bad loss because of all the excitement that had built up from waiting for the season to actually start. Can we just say that one didn’t count? No? OK, didn’t think so.
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Posted by Kyle James
Spot & Stripe — published on March 31st, 2008
“Every team knows they’re going to win 60 games and lose 60 games. They’re all fighting to decide the other 42.” –George Will Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Kyle James
Spot & Stripe — published on March 31st, 2008
Welcome to Spot and Stripe! Here at SNS we will primarily be discussing Auburn University Athletics and Atlanta Braves Baseball. We will also be covering the formation and development of the University of South Alabama Football program. It’s the goal of SNS to be the FIRST USA Football blog on the web. It is appropriate that we are launching on MLB Opening Day as we will attempt to bring you daily coverage of the 2008 season and the Braves’ quest for a World Title.
So the Braves lost 3-2. I didn't catch much of the game but I did see McCann get thrown out at 2nd. The season has officially started: McCann is slow, Chipper and Tex swung big bats, and the bullpen blew it in the 9th. Huzzah!
Posted by ttiger2004
Tomahawk Talk — published on March 30th, 2008
Tough Break for our Braves. Except for the 1st inning, Tim Hudson pitched one heck of a game. He retired 19 straight Nationals. He pitched 7 strong innings, throwing every pitch he has, with good movement. If tonight's start is any indication of what we can expect from Tim Hudson, I can see a Cy Young at the end of season for him.
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Game one is in the books, and it was a storybook ending for the Nats in the first game in their new park. Late inning magic by Ryan Zimmerman spoiled a little late inning magic of the Braves.
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Posted by D'Andre Williams
Tomahawk Talk — published on March 30th, 2008
Well before the season really starts. I wanted to show everybody my pre-season predictions for the 2008 MLB season. This will show how much I know about baseball or how little I know. Feel free to comment on my predictions and to make your own in the comment box below the article.
AL East1. Boston Red Sox
2. NY Yankees
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Baltimore Orioles
The Red Sox have too much starting pitching, offense, and one of the best pens in the game. The Yankees are going to put up a good battle, but the Red Sox’s are just flat out better than them. Look out for the Tampa Bay Rays to make some noise in that division.
AL Central1. Cleveland Indians
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Chicago White Sox
4. Minnesota Twins
5. Kansas City Royals
The Indians have the deepest rotation and pen in baseball. They also have a great 1-2 punch in CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. They also have the ability to play small ball and hit homers with their lineup. The Tigers pitching really needs to improve. After Verlander they have a bunch of inconsistent starters. Plus their bullpen doesn't look that good at all. They do have the best offense in baseball.
AL West1. Anaheim Angels
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Texas Rangers
4. Oakland Atheltics
The addition of Erik Bedard is going to be a major plus for the Mariners. They are one more bat away from being a team that can do some major damage this year. The Angels have a pretty good offense team led by Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter. The key for this team is starting pitching. They might need to go out and get a starter, because of the injury concerns of John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar.
NL East1. Atlanta Braves
2. NY Mets
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Washington Nationals
5. Florida Marlins
This is going to be one of the toughest divisions to pick a winner. I strongly believe that the second place winner in this division will win the NL Wild Card. The team that can stay healthier the longest is most likely going to win. Overall the Braves have the best team from top to bottom. They also have quality backups to replace some players that go down to injury.
NL Central1. Chicago Cubs
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Houston Astros
5. St. Louis Cardinals
6. Pittsburgh Pirates
This is going to be a good battle between the Cubs and Brewers. The Brewers have one of the best offenses in the NL. The Cubs have one of the best rotations and bullpens in the NL. The key for this division is going to be Ben Sheets. If Sheets can stay healthy the Brewers have a great chance at winning the division. I picked the Cubs mainly, because they are a more balanced and more experienced team than the young Brew Crew.
NL West1. LA Dodgers
2. Colorado Rockies
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. San Diego Padres
5. San Francisco Giants
This is basically a tossup to see who is going to win this division. The Dodgers, Rockies, Diamondback or Padres can all win. The Giants have absolutely no offense, but they do have a great rotation. So none of these teams should sleep on them. The Padres have a great 1-2-3 punch in Peavey, Young, and Maddux. If Randy Wolf and Mark Prior can stay healthy, they’re going to be tough to beat. The Diamondbacks have great pitching all around. They are just a bit too young, I don’t think they can do the same thing they did last year and win the division. The Rockies have a great offense and bullpen, but their starting pitching is a bit too inconsistent. The Dodgers are probably the most complete team in this division. With the additions of Joe Torre, Andruw Jones, and Hiroki Kuroda they should be the team to beat in this tough division.
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Actual baseball games! Amazing.
New stadium or not, they’re still basically the Expos.
I think this might be a new feature on the site from now on. A lot of times I’ll come across a great site that I think is worth mentioning, so I thought I would feature Braves blogs/sites that I think are really caliber sites from time to time. This is something different and it gives other sites a link back. Maybe by doing this, you’ll find blogs/sites that you’ve never checked out before.
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Posted by Corey Bishop
Tomahawk Talk — published on March 30th, 2008
Posted by D'Andre Williams
Tomahawk Talk — published on March 29th, 2008
The 2008 Atlanta Braves season starts tomorrow!!! Bobby Cox and the rest of his staff have finally made their 25 man roster. The Braves are hopeful for a return to the playoffs this year.
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Posted by ttiger2004
Tomahawk Talk — published on March 29th, 2008
Most of our regulars got one or two AB's before Bobby pulled them out and got them some rest. Good move. Then the rains came which caused delay in the game.
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Posted by BBlackwell
Braves Report — published on March 29th, 2008
After a decade and a half of owning the NL East, spending two years watching playoff baseball on TV has seemed like an eternity for Braves fans. While the most current edition is no lock to return to past glory, it does appear to be Atlanta’s best team since the 2005 squad that last reached the postseason. Returning a phenomenal offense and vastly underrated defense, Atlanta is hoping that through free agency and some rehabilitation, the pitching staff will be improved enough to once again be considered a strength.
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Braves finally announced their tough decisions later last night after the game. Among the cuts were Josh Anderson, Brent Lillibridge, Joe Borchard, Clint Sammons, and Jeff Ridgway. The five backups kept for the bench were Brayan Pena, who still could be traded before the day is out, Corky Miller, Ruben Gotay, Martin Prado, and Gregor Blanco.
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A hastily written post from Carroll Rogers (a comment on the AJC blog) reads in part:
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Posted by D'Andre Williams
Tomahawk Talk — published on March 28th, 2008
According to Fox 5 News in Atlanta, the Atlanta Braves first baseman Scott Thorman has cleared waivers. Thorman is going to be the starting first baseman for the Braves AAA affiliate Richmond this season. This should do wonders for Thorman. He can have another year in Richmond were he can try to fix his whole in his swing. So this probably means that Brayan Pena might be our backup first baseman this year. Bobby Cox can also go with Joe Borchard in that role too. Since the Braves are able to send Borchard to AAA, the best option is probably to keep Pena in Atlanta for now.
The Braves have claimed former Mets utility infielder Ruben Gotay off of waivers this afternoon. The 25-year-old Gotay, who has three years in the majors, played 98 games for the Mets last year, hitting .295 with four homers and 24 RBIs. He played 37 games at second base last year, five at shortstop and two at third base.
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Good bat for a second baseman, bad glove. Gotay was a 31st-round pick of the Royals in 2000. He pretty much demolished rookie ball at 18 and A-ball at 19, hit a bit of a speed bump at High-A at 20. At 21, in 2004, he hit .289/.368/.440 in AA and earned a promotion to the majors — well, Kansas City — and didn’t play too badly, .270/.315/.375. However, he didn’t hit well at all in 2005 for the Royals — .227/.288/.344 — playing about half the time and on the major league roster most of it. He was puttering along in AAA in 2006 when the Royals and Mets made a “What the Hell?” trade, Gotay for Jeff Keppinger.
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Posted by bravesmith1711
Braves Report — published on March 28th, 2008
As the season nears, the NL East is shaping up to be one the best races in baseball with a three-team bottleneck between the Braves, Phillies, and Mets. Early prognosticators picked the Phillies to repeat their performance from last year, but after the Johan Santana trade, everyone has seemingly switched to back the Mets. However, lost in all this are the Braves, which may not be a bad thing. Staying under the radar may help the Braves sneak into the playoffs much like Phillies last year after their horrid start.
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