Catcher’s Blog

As it has been announced, Chipper will indeed be the starting third baseman in this year’s All-Star game, and deservedly so. Mac will be one of the backups to Geovanny Soto, along with Russell Martin. Here’s one of the stories from SI.com on the whole NL catcher’s deal:

And how do the National League players snub Atlanta catcher Brian McCann, instead putting L.A’s Russell Martin in as rookie Geovany Soto’s backup? I love Martin and his game, and I’ll admit that this is a tough call. But you have to take McCann’s power over a few more walks, don’t you? Merit-wise, I mean?

Now they’re saying Mac got snubbed as a backup? Geez. He should be starting, end of story. At least he’s going period, I guess, but this makes three straight All-Star games for Mac in a row and it’s just his third full year in the majors. How awesome is that? I won’t get to watch either way because I’ll be camping at Hunting Island, SC all next week and won’t have access to a TV more than likely. Hopefully someone, somewhere will get some footage of Mac playing, if he even plays at all. Congrats Chipper and Mac, though, on receiving this chance to be in the Mid-Summer Classic at Yankee Stadium; it is very well deserved.

In other news, Frenchy has been recalled after spending three days in AA ball, after being sent down Friday to work on his swing. In this promotion of Frenchy, though, we’ve had to put more players on the DL. Bennett, Acosta, and Infante will be replaced on the roster by Frenchy, Vladimir Nunez, and Brent Lillibridge. The Braves will only play with eleven pitchers, but opted to promote another infielder because the All-Star break is only a week away. I’m sure they promoted Lillibridge because of Escobar’s recent injuries as well and uncertainty that he’ll play tonight, or in the event that he’s out a few more games than expected. Why is that when we finally get some players healthy and off the DL, we have a few more that have to be put on there from more injuries? It’s just unreal.

Trade rumors are starting to fly around about the Braves trading Teixshy. Here’s a take on this situation from John Donovan of SI.com:

With C.C. Sabathia now off the trade table after his weekend shipping to Milwaukee, we should probably turn our attention to the big slugger on the block, Mark Teixeira. Will someone be able to pry the switch-hitting first baseman away from the Braves for a pennant run? My guess: No. The Braves face the Dodgers and Padres before the All-Star Game, which means they’ll probably hit the break closer to the NL East lead than they are now (six games at the start of the week). With Teixeira, they have a chance at stealing the lackluster East. Without him, they have none.

My take is that we won’t trade him while only being six games back the week before the All-Star break. My hope is that we play well against these two West Coast teams and dwindle our way back toward the top of standings. But realistically, if we can take both series (4 of 6), that would be great. Hopefully we can feed off last night’s huge win and play some good baseball.

I added an IM widget to the sidebar, so if you have a question or comment for me on the site or the Braves, please feel free to message me using this widget located at the top of the sidebar. I’m usually always online unless it’s really late at night or in the morning, in which case I’m asleep.

This is my review of the day game in Atlanta on June 25, 2008. It was good trip, it was a very, very hot that day, and we played a good game. I got decent footage and pictures below. The footage is a little shaky and I apologize for that. That would be from me not being able to hold my camera still hardly at all. I can’t sit or stand still, so that’s probably why. The footage was clearer on my computer before I uploaded it to photobucket, so know that it wasn’t my camera. The only bad thing about that day was that it felt like it was 100 degrees, literally, with no shade hardly at all and the seat digging into my leg the whole time, resulting in my leg becoming almost numb when I did finally get up around the 8th inning. I’ll save the rest for the review. The review is under a cut for length purposes.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.