Catcher’s Blog

This is my review post on the Braves vs. Marlins game from August 28, 2008. The link to all the pictures will be below the review since there are 85 pictures; it would take too long to include all of them in the post. Some are linked in the post, though. Please continue reading if you wish.

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Tonight kicks off a very crucial series in that we play the first place Phillies for three games. The Phillies have not had a great go at it lately, so this could be our chance to gain some ground on them. Will we sweep them? I doubt it, but it’s nice to think about. The Phillies can always find ways to knock the Braves around, no matter how bad the Phillies are playing. Sometimes we even help them do it, too, and that’s the sad part. I know half of our bench/team is out of commission right now, but hopefully we’ll get relief from somewhere. If we have good pitching and our offense is clicking on all cylinders, then we should have a pretty good chance. But since this isn’t always the case, we’ll just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best. Tonight Charlie Morton faces Kyle Kendrick in what should be a decent match-up.

We’re halfway through the season already and it doesn’t seem like we should be. Why does baseball season always go by really fast? With all that said, BravesBlast.com is doing a mid-season review series on the NL East. They started from the bottom and reviewed the lowly Nats, who no one seems to even remember exist unless they’re playing them. The review is pretty good and thorough, so I’d recommend reading it if you have any curiosity on what the Nats have (or don’t have) to offer right now. It’s not a bashing review either, it’s done in an unbiased point of view, which usually makes for a better read unless it’s something to do with the Braves.

While the first game of the Mariners’ series looked like it was going to result in a sweep by the worst team in baseball, we came back and won the last two in great fashion. Teixshy seems like he’s gaining confidence at the plate and all us fans really hope he is coming out of his long slump. We knew he started off slow, but we weren’t thinking it was going to end up being this slow. If he heats up, maybe he can make up for the absence of Chipper in the lineup and keep us going in a good direction.

And how awesome is Mac? He is single-handedly leading this team right now, while Chipper is out, with his awesomeness of a season he’s having. He’s up to 14 homers and he had only 18 total last season. He’s hit .300+ for most of the season and I think he’s only going to get better. He is catching a majority of the games and he will, but usually his second half is always better than his first. I don’t know how much better he could do than he is right now. He busts his butt out there every game he plays to try to help this team win and it shows. I’m not saying other players aren’t, but he’s out there every single day that he plays, every single inning giving 200%. I think he’s more of a leader than Frenchy at this point, since Frenchy is having some kind of funky time as of late or most of the year rather. Mac really does deserve to be the starting All-Star catcher.

Tonight the Brewers come in for three games. As you probably remember our first series against them in Milwaukee was not that great, having two one-run losses that were heart breakers and one lopsided-scoring game, which seems to be the norm with this team. Jo-Jo has pitched well his last few outings and if he can keep this up, good things are to come for him and the team. Hopefully he keeps it up again tonight against the Brewers ace, Ben Sheets, who is 8-1 with 2.74 ERA. If Jo-Jo pitches well and our offense shows up tonight, we should be able to get a win.

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.

First, there was a Braves Mailbag posted yesterday at around 10 PM last night, which is why I’m referring to it a day late. Some of the questions asked are sort of repeats, but not entirely. (Are we running out of questions, people?) The questions do delve a little into the ‘08 lineup and where it ranks, what our depth for 1B is (or isn’t), more about B. Jones, Matt DeSalvo’s chances of making the team, and also the old, but not forgotten question of Coco Crisp still being an option if Kotsay doesn’t pan out, which, so far, seems unlikely, according to both Braves writers, David O’Brien and Mark Bowman. 

I haven’t forgotten the Where We Stand series, I’m just writing it slower than I thought I would. I am going to finish it, I promise. It won’t be before or by tomorrow, but it will be in the next week or so. My “spring break,” which is technically just a week between quarters, is March 19–March 31, so I will have time to finish it. I hope that it won’t take me that long to finish writing the last three parts. 

I made an acutal contact page yesterday so that locating where to reach me is now a lot easier and more clear. I deleted the Mailbox page and moved the form to the Contact Info page, making things cleaner around the site and also easier to navigate it. I’m still trying to make little adjustments where I see fit, but I think I’ve gotten most of the site to my liking, for now at least.

But that brings me to my next point. I’m going to be playing around with a new layout, trying to make a new one for the site. The layout shouldn’t be that much different than the current one, but I’m going to see what I can do with a more or less blank theme. I still like the current layout, but I think the site needs a fresh look. I can’t help my perfectionist ways, so please excuse them. I’m not sure when the layout will be finished, but I wanted to let you readers know that that is what I’m planning to work on for the site the next few weeks.  

There’s not really any news, but the official site did go on a mini-post frenzy today. Of course, there’s the Braves Mailbag, which was about Gorkys Hernandez, what our chances of signing Johan Santana were if we didn’t have Hampton on the payroll, the chances of Buddy Carlyle making the starting rotation, leadoff possibilities, and also the options of where to catch Braves games now that TBS will no longer carry games.

Mark Bowman makes his predictions of what the team will look like after Spring Training. I’ve only skimmed over the article a bit, but it looks like a good read and a knowledgeable piece for those who are wondering about some pre-spring thoughts. Also, another piece that is more of an article, that covers all the pieces that was needed for this season and all of Wren’s accomplishments in doing so throughout the off season.

AJC has posted the broadcast numbers of games this season and mentions SportsSouth and FSN South being the primary networks to carry games, with Peachtree TV covering most of the remainder and ESPN2 and FOX picking up the rest.

FSN South and SportsSouth will be the primary broadcaster of Braves games this season, with the two networks airing a combined 106 regular-season games.

An additional 45 games will be broadcast on Peachtree TV.

ESPN2 will air the season opener March 30 against Washington.

SportsSouth will air 81 games and FSN South will air 25 games. The networks will also televise seven Braves spring training games. The broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Jon Sciambi and analyst Joe Simpson return for a second season.

The Braves’ two exhibition games against Cleveland at Turner Field will be broadcast on Peachtree TV.

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