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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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.

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.

Today I was sent an article in one of my alert e-mails from SI.com writer John Donovan and he brings up a good point about the NL East when he says it’s the toughest division in baseball. But this particular part caught my eye and I agree:

Right now, the Phillies are staggering. The Mets are playing their best ball of the year. The Marlins are sticking around. The Braves, the one-time king of the division, are … I don’t know. What the heck are the Braves doing?

Every Braves fan seems to be asking that very question to themselves and other Braves’ fans. What the heck are the Braves doing? This past series seemed to be looking good in the first game and that we were picking up where we left off before the break, with almost everyone contributing, getting hits, and stealing bases, but the last two games in the series were played by a completely different team altogether. I really don’t know an explanation for any of it. How do we play well the first game and then the last two we act like we have no clue as to what we’re even doing out on the field? How on earth do we let a last place and current worst in baseball team beat us like it was merely batting practice? And former cast-off Braves at that. And why in the world do we sit arguably our best hitter right now in Brian McCann, especially right after the All-Star break? I just do not get this team sometimes.

The AJC made a good point that Mac is playing with urgency and getting fired up when it seems no one else on the team will. I have noticed him playing with a lot more fire underneath him than the rest of the team seem to want to play with. I just don’t get why they don’t get it. Something needs to happen or we won’t even get a sniff of the post season. We’ll be sitting right at home like the past two years, watching other teams play in the post season. It’s just stupid. The team and players say they want to win and they say it’s frustrating to lose, but if we really wanted to win, we would find ways to do it. No matter what it took. I just don’t see us doing that at all. We seem like we’re playing because we have to and that’s not how it should be at all.

The next two series against the Marlins and Phillies will set the tone for the second half and if the Braves want a shot at the post season, they better start playing better baseball. No one is going to hand it to them or roll over and die. They need to play and they need to start to doing it now.

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.