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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There are few things I thought that were worth mentioning, so see below for different articles, pictures, etc.

• As most of you have heard, Corky was desginated for assignment with the promotion of Chuck James last night. Corky was hitting .093 for the season, and with Mac being cleared last night to catch in an emergency and pinch hit, clearly Clint Sammons was here to stay. I think the Braves only kept Corky around until they knew Clint was ready or they found another option. He’s not expected to get claimed by anyone off waivers because of his batting average, and thus will go to the minor leagues. Clint will continue to catch for the remainder of this weekend against the Milwaukee Brewers and Mac should return on Monday to his starting duties.
• The Braves and their wives, in their Christmas in July promotion, went to visit and deliver toys to patients in three children’s hospitals. Visiting patients is a really great thing that they do every year and it’s apparent that the kids at the hospitals really enjoy it. I think the players enjoy it just as much as the kids do. There are three different galleries of pictures: one, two, and three.

  I’m not sure of everyone that went, but the pictures include players, wives, and broadcasters such as Mac, Frenchy and wife, Catie, KJ and wife, Lauren, Boyer and wife, Ginsey, Gonzo, Blanco, Ring and wife, Tricia, Brian Snitker, Chip Carey, Joe Simpson, and Fernando Palacios, who is one of the Spanish broadcasters.  And a quote from tough-guy closer, Gonzo, about his experience:

  “This was an unbelievable experience, man,” Gonzalez said after the two-hour visit. “It’s pretty much why we do this, why we’re proud to be big leaguers and see the smile on these kids’ faces.”

• Huddy might have to have Tommy John surgery. His MRI results showed that he had a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament. Both Dr. James Andrews and a Braves physician recommended that he have the surgery done. Huddy would like to avoid having the surgery at all and is going to try to “tough it out”, as stated in a text message. He’s going to try to take the Peter Moylan route to try to avoid the surgery, but no one is sure that it will work. We’ll have to hope it does, but it might just be better for him to go ahead and have the surgery since it might become worse down the line if he pitches with it.
• The Braves may choose the option of trading some players still in the month of August to get other players that can be used in the future and will be younger. Kotsay may be on a different team by the time September rolls around, and even some of the other regulars we see on the field everyday. Terrence Moore says fans should not to be surprised to see the Braves put some of their players on waivers to see what kind of return they can get for them. Putting someone on waivers isn’t risky in that that team can pull him off if they decide not to trade that player after all. Apparently, some still think Frenchy won’t be a Brave by the time the season concludes, but we’ll have to see how things go.

Last night was not a very good outing by Jo-Jo, which further seems to prove he needs more time in the minors… or something. Not only did we have terrible pitching, our offense only had six hits and left six men on base, which is why we only scored one run. I think after the first inning everyone could have gone home because it was fairly pointless to keep playing, but I don’t make the rules.

Hopefully, today will be a lot better, but we are facing Randy Johnson, even if he does currently have a 4.42 ERA. Jorge Campillo did blow the Mets away for the most part, so maybe he can do the same against the D-backs’ offense. Even after this blowout loss, we are still in second place because the rest of the NL lost as well, with the Nats being the exception, of all teams. Let’s hope we fair a lot better today and can pull out a win.

Some notes I’m not going to link to because they’re all on the official site or here:

- Smoltz is making his first rehab start today for AA Mississippi. He’ll either pitch one or two innings depending on his pitch count.

- Pena was activated from the DL and promptly DFA’d. He’ll either be traded, released, or put on waivers after ten days. Should he clear waivers, though I doubt he would, he will go back to the minors. Now Escobar will be lost and sad without his running partner.

Pena was widely popular in the clubhouse. Shortstop Yunel Escobar, his close friend since their childhood in Havana, appeared deeply saddened by the news, staring straight into his locker for an extended period after talking to Pena.

Escobar just shook his head to a reporter when asked about losing Pena.

- Soriano had an inning of shutout ball with one strikeout in his second rehab appearance for Mississippi with his fastball coming in at 93 mph.

- Gonzo is a week away from his T.J. surgey anniversary and will be evaluted this week, after which he should begin a rehab assignment.

This morning I thought of this title and it still sounds good, so I’ll use it. The title says it all. Need I explain myself? Didn’t think so. Braves need to win these next two games against the Phillies to take the series at least. That’s one thing about the Phillies I will give them credit for, they do not roll over and die, at least not against us, even when things look bad; they keep fighting until the end and we should, too.

There’s really more than one reason to list for last night’s loss, but how about we learn something from last night’s game and some other things, shall we? I have a few requests I’ll list below.  

• No sacrifice bunts unless the player can actually execute one cleanly, including pitchers. Many Braves seem to lack this ability for some reason.
• Let us not leave the starter in after he blows the lead and really should not be put back in there the next inning. Especially when there’s two men on and a pinch hitter is the best option to bring in at least one run.
• KJ in the seventh spot seems to have better success than KJ in the leadoff spot, at least for now. Let’s keep trying that and hope it sticks.
• Frenchy just needs to stop trying too hard and be more patient at the plate. Actually, he needs to sit and take a day off, but since we know that won’t happen unless he’s lying on a stretcher unconscious, I’ll settle for the former.
• More McFrenchy shots like this during games. It gives us something to take our minds off the horrible situations we get ourselves into lately.
• Someone please tell Bobby when “too long” is, in fact, way too long and too late. Yes, I’m referring to his bad habit of leaving guys in to pitch that have nothing, and obviously so, but still keep the same pitcher out there until the game has already been lost.
• Frank Wren to at least consider this as a possibility. Not just because of the “Big Three” reuniting, just because we need a decent pitcher that actually knows how to pitch in the big leagues.
• For Sori, Gonzo, and Smoltz to come back healthy and soon to help our bullpen.
• For Teixshy to get hot at the plate when he comes back. This would help solve a lot of things, offensively at least.

For now, that is all I can come up with. Feel free to add in your own in the comments. Not entirely unreachable requests, so can we please try to do most of them? Soon would be preferred, thanks.