Well, it’s not really new, but Frenchy’s official site has a new look to it than it did last year and I believe it runs better. During the off season it was down, and I’m assuming that’s because it was being redone. The overall look of the site flows really well, in my opinion. The layout is a lot better than the previous one and is more functional for visitors. Frenchy even has his own blog on his official site, but it doesn’t allow you to comment on it like the Delta blog that he posts on, because Delta is running on WordPress and the blog on Frenchy’s site is run by something else. Personally, I think he would get more feedback and interaction by having comments on his official blog, but that’s just me. Maybe he’ll have that feature added sooner or later.

Last night’s historic game in Coors Field was also a major downer with a 2-1 loss. Not only did we get quality pitching yet again from our starter in Tom Glavine, and I know it was freezing the entire time, but there was only three hits and those were spread out through nine innings. It wasn’t like it was the first time we were facing Aaron Cook and we usually hit him pretty well. We hit better against Johan Santana on Sunday than yesterday. But enough griping, it’s not going to change the outcome unfortunately.

Today is the first time we see Johan Santana this year and I’m sure it won’t be the last. With Smoltz going against him, if he is the Smoltz of old, we can expect a good outing. As Smoltz has said before, he knows his body more than anyone, so if he says he can go, let him go for it; he hasn’t proven he’s going down hill yet. If we bring the offense that was obviously apparent yesterday, along with timely hitting, we should pull out a win. Sure, we’ve only seen Santana once in the last few years, but he is beatable. We already almost beat him last year, except for Wickman blowing the game. Now that he won’t be doing that, let’s hope the bullpen doesn’t follow in his path in doing so. Should be a great match up and great game. I’ll be watching on TV, but my sister is going with a few of her friends, so I might be able to get a few pictures out of her if she takes them. More often than not, she takes them of herself and her friends more so than the players, etc., but you never know. The game comes on at 1:30 pm on SportSouth. I’m guessing they’ll do a Braves Live? I’m not quite sure on that one, though.

Our last game of the first series and Hampton takes the mound. Let’s hope it’s a good outing for him, I know some people still don’t believe he’ll pitch any this year. And that ball that headed straight for him last night into the dugout, ricocheting off the fence was just asking for an injury, but at least he still has his reflexes. Maybe he’ll prove us wrong and we can breath a very small sigh of relief if he gets through his first start.

The past two games seemed to be an appropriate brew for a very evil April Fool’s joke. Of course, they were not, unfortunately. Besides losing the first two games, and the Nationals being in first place, everything will hopefully be fine.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Most of the roster moves have been made or decided, but there’s still the backup catcher, fifth starter, and backup outfielder to determine before Saturday. Here is my (short) predictions on who wins what and what the lineup will be like.

One of the out-of-option guys was sent on his way to Pittsburgh, who we’ll be seeing on Monday, for a minor league pitcher. Tyler Yates was not proving he was worth keeping in this year’s bullpen and thus was traded to make room for one of the other out-of-option guys who have seemingly faired better than Yates this Spring. The minor leaguer we traded Yates for was the young 22-year-old, Todd Redmond, who hasn’t pitched but three times above A ball. DOB and many others see another trade happening before the week is up.

The Braves made their second round of cuts this morning. Some of the players cut were in the running for a spot on the roster, but were taken out of the running. The following players cut were Javy Lopez, who opted to retire instead of accepting a minor league assignment, Brandon Jones, Jo-Jo Reyes, Ryan Drese, Jorge Campillo, Francisely Bueno, and Jordan Schafer, who hasn’t played above A level yet.

This game looked to be a great match-up against Cleveland and C.C. Sabathia, but Smoltz was scratched this morning after feeling shoulder soreness. Smoltz says it’s just the Braves being cautious and that it is just a Spring Training game. Smoltz also said he could start the season on the DL. I think we all really hope that doesn’t happen. Jeff Bennett will get the start instead as he tries to keep his name alive for one of the remaining bullpen spots. The game is on FSN and the boxscore is already up with not many regulars in the lineup. Still should be a good game to watch.

Braves play Tigers in a really good match-up with Tim Hudson taking the mound against Justin Verlander. While it is only a Spring game and both starters probably won’t go more than five innings, it will still be a great game to watch. The game is on TV on SportSouth, so make sure to catch it if you can.

So there’s a reason for a post today other than posting about tonight’s game, I found this post that was written over at Braves Report and thought it was worth mentioning as well as posting the link to it. The post is a review over where the money goes on this year’s payroll as well as in 2009 and beyond. Kind of makes you wonder if we’ll become a "rebuild" team by then with very little veterans or go after free agents if Liberty Media raises the payroll. Also, in the post is a question of whether we should risk everything for Mark Teixeira when we’ll probably have needs elsewhere to fill or if we should really even try to keep Teixeira and find another alternative. As it states in this post, uncertainty is exciting. 

The Braves have their only off day of Spring Training tomorrow. Jo-Jo Reyes will get the start against Houston on Wednesday, which is a night game at 7:05 PM. The Braves may conduct their next cut afterward, but I’m not exactly sure on this. Just a guess. The game on Thursday night will be on SportSouth at 7:05 PM against Detroit. Friday’s game is at 1:05 PM on FSN against Cleveland.

Normally, I wouldn’t make a post about this, but Frenchy is one of my fave players, and also an asset to the team that we can’t do without for a long period of time. Apparently, Frenchy’s been hit by a pitch in the same place that he was in 2004 on the left side of his face.

Today wasn’t the best day on either field for either split-squad team, but at least we tried to come back in both games instead of saying, “it’s only a Spring Training game” and giving up. That’s only one thing I like about this team. Even when we’re down 5-0, we seem to create runs out of nowhere. I think this will continue to happen throughout this season with the guys in our lineup and our pitching depth being so deep.

Sorry for not posting before the game again yesterday. My Internet is currently out at my house because our DSL modem is pretty much dead. Alltel is sending us a new one and it should be here today, at the latest tomorrow. Hopefully it’s today. But nonetheless, that is why I was nowhere to be found during/before the game last night. Although, I’m sure not many, if any, people were looking for me.

I’m just blogging to let you readers know that the rest of this week (and this weekend even) you will probably see fewer posts from me because of the current quarter at college is coming to an end. I have six days before the quarter is over (Wednesday is the last day). I have a lot of stuff I need to work on and I also need to study for my exams this weekend after we finish our last test this week. So, if you don’t hear a lot from me the next couple of days, that is why. I will post every chance I get, but I’ll be lucky to get a post in everyday. Just so you know what’s up.

Sorry for the late blog this morning, but I didn’t have to be in my classes today, so I opted to sleep in. But I’m up and ready for some Braves baseball, even if it is meaningless at this point.

The starting rotation could prove to be the strongest in the NL or at least prove to be strong enough to contend against the Mets’ and Phillies’ starting rotations. This all depends on the health of Hampton, Glavine, and Smoltz, although the latter two are not our biggest concerns health-wise as much at Hampton is for now. If for whatever reason Hampton cannot fulfill his duties this season, we have other options this year that could take his place and not have a complete hole in the rotation or have everything fall on Smoltz and Huddy’s shoulders yet again.

Hampton was removed from the game during his start. Reports are saying that it is a mild, right groin strain and Hampton is listed as day to day.

Ok, I didn’t make the second post yesterday. I didn’t forget; I was drawing a blank and figured I would wait until today to make it. So, here I am. I wanted to touch on this player-written article, which I think should be done more often than every once in a while. I like the idea of getting to know the player more than just watching them on TV or looking at their lines/stats for the season. 

Sorry about the non-posting yesterday. I was going to in the morning hours, but I did not venture over to my classes because of my stomach feeling upset. I went straight to bed and the only thing I got up for was to eat lunch and check the game score, then went straight back to bed. So now I will make up for that or at least try to do so.

I know it’s hard to keep up with when the games will be aired on TV (at least for me it is), so I thought I would help myself and you readers who are like me by making a post with the schedule for reference.

Today is the day all of us Braves fans have anxiously awaited to arrive since the last game of the ‘07 season. It’s finally here! Huddy gets the start today and we get to see what the other Jones boy looks like in a Dodgers’ uni for the first of many times for at least the next two years. Here are a few comments on Andruw donning Dodger Blue:

While not too much is going on other than the normal Spring Training talk and what to expect, I realize my posting has kind of been sporadic lately. While I’m not making excuses, I do hope to remedy this now that the games are about to get into full swing.

AJC Galleries: Feb. 17/Feb. 18/Feb. 19/Feb. 20