Catcher’s Blog

What else could possibly happen this season? I really don’t think we want to find out, but I’m sure we still will within the last month and half left of the season. Glavine has now gone back to the DL for the third time and is possibly done while possibly needing surgery on his elbow. Matt DeSalvo has been brought up from Richmond to join the already tattered bullpen to take Glavine’s spot on the roster. What did we do the baseball gods because they really do not like us this season, at all. This a good interpretation of the season so far:

Now maybe that the dreaded Cubs are out of town and off to Florida, maybe we can acutally do well against the Giants. But I’m not holding my breath. Beware people, you never know what might go down in this soap opera of a season.

Braves come up with a series win in a very big way. They scored four runs last night and twelve today, with the Pads only scoring a total of five runs in the last two games (eight for the entire series). If we stay hot like that offensively and can get everyone healthy for the second half, we would be in good shape. Too bad I’m not counting on us playing that well the rest of the season. I hope we do, but I won’t hold my breath. Everyone is going to go through some slumps now and then and have bad games, that’s just how it is. Chipper and Mac will probably be out and about in New York tomorrow with the All-Star festivities starting. While I won’t be here to provide coverage for it, I’m sure Lauren of Braves Love will be on top of it like she currently is on most of the goings-on in the Braves world. I hope to hear (and see) good things about the two Braves’ sluggers when I return on Saturday, or hopefully before then if I’m able to get Internet access any this week. I wish Brian and Chipper both good luck in Tuesday’s All-Star game.

With the All-Star break upon us, the trade rumors will now start to fly around a bit more than they currently are as the trade deadline looms near. We will most likely hear a few here and there about random teams wanting some extra help for the long haul of the second half, but writers are saying Teixshy might be the most sought-after player right now with his Gold-Glove caliber defense and his bettering offense. A poll on AJC asks readers their opinion on this matter, if we will or will not trade Teixshy, with 58.93% saying the Braves will indeed trade Teixshy, while 41.07% say they won’t. Personally, I don’t think the Braves will trade their first baseman, especially since we’re not out of the race by any means yet and he’s too good of an all-around player to trade away. Who would play first if we did trade him? Scott Thorman? Yeah, I really don’t want to witness that again.

Also having rumors flying around about being traded is Will Ohman. Ohman has provided the Braves with a sturdy lefty relief pitcher and has been very effective in most situations all season. We could possibly trade him for something as he has trade value, but I’m not sure that we’ll trade anyone with too much effectiveness unless we get someone good in return. But while Ohman is effective in his rolls, we now have Gonzo back to fill in the lefty reliever roll, but Gonzo is our closer with Soriano still out. Although, if I had to make a choice, I would keep Ohman over Ring. Someone is going to go somewhere if Matty, Glavine, and Hampton (it would be a miracle) comes back after the break. But we shall see what happens later this week after the break.

I’m gone now until probably next Sunday. Have a good break and enjoy your time off from the world of baseball. I know I will, even though I’m sure I’ll be ready for it again before I come back.

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.

According to MLBTR, we’re currently hurting for pitching and need to make a deal soon or we might as well call it quits. They list who is available for the Braves to consider. Are we really hurting that bad? One, we don’t know the verdict on Glavine and if he doesn’t feel any worse than he did Sunday, some find it a non-worrisome injury. Glavine apparently said himself, “they better not,” be putting him on the DL without his knowledge, but he’s not ruling the possibility out if it will end up hurting the team. Two, yeah, we’ve lost Hampton, but he was an added bonus at the time. Everyone was almost expecting something to go wrong with Hampton with the backup depth we acquired in case something did happen to his fragile self. Three, Smoltz is Smoltz and while he is getting older, he is still making every effort he can to pitch when his time roles around. As he said, he has a lot of pitching left in him and he’ll know when he can’t pitch anymore. But let’s not push it, Smoltz isn’t 20-something anymore. Four, why would we spend money or give up a player on someone else that we really don’t need unless one of our other pitchers are lost with an injury, which hopefully doesn’t happen.

Add in the fact that Mike Gonzalez will return before too much longer (before or around the All-Star break) and will hopefully provide some stability to the weakening ‘pen. While it’s still early, we could see a reliever being added to the equation if the ‘pen keeps going at this rate. Everyone is almost expecting Pena to be traded at some point because he’s not proving to be the bench option that we really need in key situations, so maybe we’ll trade him for a reliable relief pitcher. This option seems more plausible than trading for/acquiring a starter just to have another one when we already have other options. Some may not be great options, but we do have other options in pitching until the regulars get healthy.

The series with Florida in Miami, where I wish I was right now because of the recent cold streak here, kicks off later tonight at 7:10 pm. Jair Jurrjens faces off against Scott Olsen. This could go either way really because Florida has been hot to start the season, but I think it’s time they get down more on their own level, like Washington. I say we take at least two of three of this series, but with the Marlins, you never know what might happen. Olsen has pitched great and bad against us before and he is a lefty, so look for Matty to hopefully have a really good game in his favorite ballpark.