Catcher’s Blog

I wasn’t planning on posting today, but DOB’s blog changed my mind. First, we’ll look at some quotes that I’m referring to:

“I’m finally off the hook,” he said, smiling as he ate a postgame sandwich in a clubhouse that was as noisy as a frat party when compared to the morgue atmosphere of the previous week. People were smiling, laughing, after the pins-and-needles atmosphere we felt entering the clubhouse after recent losses.

Most of you know just what Johnson was referring to — his dropped popup with two out in the ninth inning a week earlier against Philadelphia seven nights earlier, when the Braves had a game in the bag … until it squirted out of his glove.

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Johnson hadn’t stopped thinking of that popup since. But late last night, he could finally smile about it, since some of the mounting pressure of losing for a solid week after his error had finally been released.

“I told my wife [earlier Friday], if this [losing] goes on much longer, when we walk by fans it’s not going to be, ‘Hey, there’s Kelly Johnson, the Braves second baseman,’” he said. “It’s going to be, ‘There’s Kelly Johnson, the guy who dropped the ball and lost us the season.’”
If the Braves don’t start playing like they did last night a lot more frequently, that dropped ball might still be the moment fans point to first, fairly or not, as the point where the season was lost.

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No, that dropped popup is a moment that sticks out, not just because the Braves were one out from a series-opening win against the Phillies, but because they seemed to be in a daze the rest of the weekend and much of the Chicago series.

And, of course, because a dropped popup with two out in the ninth tends to stand out in the memory bank more than so-and-so failing to deliver with bases loaded with none out, or with one out, or with two outs….”

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We’ve been told before by KJ himself, that KJ is very hard on himself. I’m sure that’s all he’s thought about until last night after they won and still probably will for the remainder of the season. But even though no one but himself could be to blame for dropping the ball, there is other people at fault for that loss and it’s not KJ’s fault we went on a 6-game losing streak. KJ can only control what KJ does and even then sometimes he can’t control that since he’s merely human. I know I’m a fan of KJ and I’m not saying this because of that love as a fan I have for him, I’m saying it because some fans automatically turn on players when they start costing the team wins. Take Frenchy for example, people wanted his head, along with KJ’s, on a silver platter to feed to the wolves when he continued on his major slump.

Fans that decide to pack it up this early in the season, after a few mishaps and tough losses, shouldn’t be fans at all. Injuries are a mere excuse, but you can’t get past them when it’s half of your starting lineup/payroll on the DL; they’re going to start hurting you eventually. But with that, fans should be behind the team that much more to help pick them up. If the going gets tough and the tough gives up, you’re not going to get very far no matter what you do. We as fans need to keep supporting this team, no matter what they do. We need to show them that fans are not just there to see them win, we need to show them that we’re there for when they win, lose, or whatever. True fans never give up on their team, no matter how bad things get. I’m not giving up on this team and true fans won’t either.

I’ve already mentioned the All-Star game one time, but Mac really deserves to go this year with the way his first half is going. I know that Chicago fans are voting like mad for their catcher Soto, who is having a great year as well, but Mac has been to the past two All-Star games as a reserve. He deserves to be “rewarded” per se as the starter for his major improvement from last year, which was plagued by injuries that he won’t use as an excuse because he’s good like that. Mac is only down by 202,717 votes, which is not a low margin, but not unreachable either. With this All-Star ballot, you can vote 25 times with one e-mail and when that runs out, use another e-mail or make a free one solely for this. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, or wherever, just vote for Mac; he deserves to go to this game. Fans should bust their butts to get him there this year. This fansite has the right idea: McCann YOU Dig It? I plan on making a bigger All-Star banner for this, so expect to see that up soon, and vote for Mac however many times you can.

Maybe now that we’ve finally mastered the art of winning an extra-inning game, we’ll be able to accomplish even more and improve on our struggles on the road and in one-run games as well. Baby steps. Today is a 1:00 pm game and is on Peachtree TV again like last night’s game. Glavine will face Mark Hendrickson and hopefully we’ll pick up another win. Let’s hope Glavine has a better outing than his last few have turned out.

With the team on a six-game win streak, I say let’s do our best to keep it going. Today we start a four-game series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh and I’m sure it hasn’t been quite long enough to forget the first time we saw them at home. We have Glavine on the mound tonight for us facing Ian Snell. Glavine still has yet to pick up a win and his last outing wasn’t that great considering it was a Reds massacre or there about. Let’s hope he has his stuff tonight and can notch his first win of the season.

My two key people for tonight’s game that need to get it going: Teixshy and KJ. When these two are on, the lineup seems to be better and wins more ballgames. My other key person is Mac since he seems to have Ian Snell’s number or whatever you’d like to call it. Whatever the line is used, Mac owns Ian Snell. Bottom line.