Catcher’s Blog

Last night didn’t seem to prove that these off days are helping too much and we have one tomorrow and another on Monday. Why is that when they play the Nats, they seem to forget every fundamental ability to that they’ve learned? Maybe the Nats’ bad luck rubs off on us, but then lasts for a few games after, unfortunately. It seems to be the same thing over and over again. The starting pitching is giving us quality starts and the offense, defense, and bullpen seem to keep letting us down in some way or another, ending in a loss. I know it’s too early to panic, but something has got to give somewhere. The same guys are having to produce because the rest of the offense is not doing their part, especially with men on base and RISP.

On to a less ranting topic, Smoltz has been placed on the 15-day DL with bicep and rotater cuff inflammation. The doctors don’t think the injury will need surgery, but Smoltz says he won’t be returning before he thinks he’s ready. Even then he says that closing is another option, rather than starting because of the way his body has reacted this season so far. Placing him in the bullpen will take a lot of wear and tear off his aging body and may keep him with the team a lot longer. Hopefully he can come back to the rotation, but if it’s in the team’s and Smoltz’s best interest, then we should at least consider it. Smoltz isn’t ready to hit the panic button yet either, though, and we shouldn’t either, as bad as things have gotten and have gone lately.

There’s a nicely written and humorous article about Mac’s triple the other night, which you can see some videos here if you need a reminder, and about his speed or lack there of. Basically, it’s about how much of an asset Mac is to the team even without speed on his side and that he’s already one of the best catcher’s in the league, if not the game, for accomplishing some of the feats he’s already achieved. Of course, Mac is modest and doesn’t think he’s even comparable to catchers with more experience, such as Pudge Rodriguez and the like. But we all know he is.

The All-Star Voting has begun. Make sure to cast your vote for your favorite players, preferably Braves of course, by July 2. All the Braves starters are on the ballot this year, so if you think our Braves deserve to go to the All-Star game, please make sure to vote. You’re allowed to vote 25 times, so make it count.

Also, the default theme that I have on the site only temporary until I can find time to finish up another one. I’m not sold on this one as the main layout, so, again, it’s only the main layout temporaryily. The other theme was getting on my nerves, so I changed it. If you like the previous theme still, feel free to switch the to theme with the the theme switcher at the bottom of the right hand sidebar.

This has to be the third time we’ve been in Washington D.C. already. At least we won’t see them at all in May that I remember seeing. Tom Glavine will be activated from the DL to face Tim Redding, who we’ve seen before, in tonight’s game. The game starts at 7:10 pm on SportSouth. Hopefully having an off day, and with Chipper and Escobar hopefully returning to the lineup, we’ll get a win tonight.

Smoltz might not make his next scheduled start. He was going back to Atlanta last night and is supposed to be evaluated today. We should know by this afternoon what to expect from the veteran. If Smoltz isn’t able to make his next start and Hampton does well in his minor league start tomorrow night, they might bring him back sooner than planned because of the need to fill the rotation spots. But that’s still a big if with Hampton. Apparently, Smoltz has told some of his pals that he thinks he might need to go on the DL, and he might need to if this injury remains serious. Smoltz going on the DL would be a blow to the rotation, but I’d rather have a healthy Smoltz down the stretch.

As you’ve probably noticed, I rarely make a post on Friday’s because it’s my day to sleep in. Well, I thought I’d make a post today because I received an invitation to the Longball Cellars Wine Tasting & Presentation for the charity wines that are being sold for McCann, Chipper, and Glavine. The “private party” I was invited to is on May 19th from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, RVSP date is the 13th. The only thing is, I’ll be in school that day, though not all day, but the main reason I probably won’t go is because I won’t be 21 until October and I would have to go alone most likely. Plus, I’d have to drive over two and half hours to get there from where I live, which stinks.

Of course, if the circumstances were a bit different, I would probably be going. How many times will I ever be invited to attend a wine tasting party with Mac, Chipper, and Glavine? Probably never again now. It’s just not fair. Seriously. I don’t drink anyway, but I would do it just for that I were able. Although the invitation doesn’t really specify if they’ll all be there or not specifically, it does say this, “Come celebrate with your favorite stars,” and has the pictures of the wine bottles printed on the invitation. It is for charity, though, so I’m sure they’ll be in attendance.

If I were to go, I could probably convince my sister to go with me, but she probably will have to work then, especially if she gets a new job. Just thought that that was something fun to post about, even though I most likely won’t be able to attend. It was nice to get invited, though, and it would make for a great memory if I did go. I would scan the invite, but my scanner no longer works, unfortunately. I’m guessing the reason that I did in fact get an invite is because I’ve ordered things from the Braves Catalog and bought tickets, but it lists my personal domain name (where CB was previously hosted) under my name on the envelope, so I’m guessing because I blog about the Braves, they thought I might want to come. How nice of them. Maybe next year. I’ll talk to my sister about it anyway, though. I’ll let you know if the plans change.

Tonight is the first game against the Mets in this three-game series. Jair Jurrjens faces Mike Pelfrey and we need to get another winning streak going. Game is at 7:10 pm on Peachtree TV. Let’s get a win boys.

What’s worse about this loss is that we managed to leave more men on base than the last few games (13). Over the course of the last three games we’ve left a total of 31 men on base. That really needs to stop and our hitting needs to be more timely in key situations, especially since our bullpen can’t really hold a lead or close game right now. We really need to get better in clutch hitting. Also, it doesn’t help when we send the same guys out there that keep blowing games out of reach to hold a game. Buddy Carlyle and Chris Resop should not be brought in to shut down games at all. Obviously, it hasn’t worked yet for them and it probably won’t but every once in a blue moon. But Bobby keeps sending them out there nonetheless like he forgets what they have (or haven’t rather) done during games lately.

Today is get-away day and the final game of the Marlins series. (What’s the point of a two-game series anyway? Why not just make it three?) Chuck James faces some dude with a weird name Burke Heinrich Badenhop. What’s kind of funny is that he was born in Atlanta and is 24 years old. I wonder if he was among the many already in the majors that knew McFrenchy while growing up, if he even grew up in the Atlanta area. I’m sure that Jon and Joe will point that out during the broadcast if he in fact is from the Atlanta area and grew up playing against/with McFrenchy and all the other homegrown talent we have/have had, as they usually do. I don’t think he did since he went to high school in Ohio, but you never know.  It should be known by now that if one grew up in Atlanta and were into baseball when McFrenchy was, one knew McFrenchy or had at least heard of them back in the day. They were that popular, apparently.

After tonight, we head to New York to face the Mets for three games. It’s worth pointing out that we’ll miss Santana and Perez this time around, although Santana isn’t really blowing guys away like the Mets thought he would. Santana isn’t doing badly, but I don’t think he’s living up to the Heavenly potential the Mets thought they had gained in him when trading for him. The hype doesn’t seem to be what everyone thought it was. We already beat him once.

After the Mets series, we head back to Washington again for two games. Seriously, how many times have played them already? I don’t even want to count. We need to come out with a win tonight and at aleast take the series against the Mets when it counts, as well as beating the Nats like we’ve previously done in the past.

Smoltz secured his 3,000th strikeout and more and the offense didn’t even show up to help him get the win. I know we’re not going to win every single game because even the “best team in baseball” *insert your choice team here* loses games at some point. Your team isn’t going to gel every single time you play. Mac hit the nail on the head when he said last night was “disappointing.”

Today we face Andrew Miller, who we faced last season with the Tigers with and ended up with this line: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB/2 K, 2.70 ERA. It’s not like he blew us away and that was during an extreme cold streak during June. So far in the 17.1 IP this season, Miller has given up 19 runs and has an ERA of 9.68. He’s walked 9, given up just two HR, and struck out 18. Maybe now that he’s a Marlin we can turn the tables since he hasn’t been doing so great. Jeff Bennett will face Miller and hopefully he will get more offense than Smoltz did last night.