Catcher’s Blog

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.