Slight Hiatus

The blog will be going dark for a few days as I head to Florida (minus the laptop) for a quick Spring Training tour.

O’s/Twins Tuesday afternoon in Ft. Lauderdale

BoSox/Jays Wednesday afternoon in Ft. Myers

Braves/Tigers Thursday night in Orlando.

I’ll return with a Spring Training report, many many pictures, and what I hope will not be sunburn.

Alas, my George Mason Patriots will be playing their first round NCAA game Thursday night at 9:50 when we were planning on driving back to Lauderdale from Orlando. A slight change of plans is in the works. I’d quote Dana Jacobsen right about now, but that just wouldn’t be couth. Suffice it to say, Notre Dame sucks!

GO MASON!

Yunel Escobar

Kenny Doyle has an extensive write-up at Dugout Central in which he challenges the thinking at Baseball Prospectus that Yunel Escobar will probably be nothing more than a utility player by year’s end.

While it’s highly unlikely that Escobar can sustain his excellence from last year (.326/.385/.451), I think it’s also unlikely that we see a drop-off that will find him on the bench by August. According to Baseball Prospectus 2008:

Now that Edgar Renteria is gone, the shortstop job belongs to Escobar, but it’s not clear that he’s good enough to hold it…..
Brent Lillibridge could pass him by August

That’s not necessarily a forecast I can dismiss but just watching Escobar play last year, he was pretty adept at moving runners. In 111 AB with runners on, he swatted 10 doubles, a homer and 11 walks for a .397 OBP. There’s no doubt his aggressive nature at the plate and the effect of pitchers having never faced him before contributed to many of his more remarkable stats last year. And while he had good range in the field, he also had a tendency to rush throws and try to make throws he should have just held onto. All indications from Braves camp are that Yunel is willing to adjust, learn and do what it’s going to take to remain a viable player. Whether he has the ability to translate that into success is the million dollar question.

Doyle sums up:

If he remains aggressive as a hitter, you should expect more of 2007. Pitchers will most likely make an adjustment and start trying to prey on his aggression, just as they’ve done with Jeff Francoeur and Andruw Jones. But that adjustment will most likely be counteracted if Escobar hits second in front of Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira. Pitchers will be afraid to risk wasting too much time messing with Escobar and possibly walking an aggressive hitter when they have Chipper and Tex coming up next.

And I think that will help him more than anything this year. KJ will be getting on base in front of him and Chipper will be batting behind him, two of the more patient hitters on the team. While that may have an effect on how is he viewed statistically, there couldn’t be a better spot in this lineup for him than the 2-hole. Yunel will be given every chance to play and succeed but knowing that highly touted ‘Lil Bridge is waiting in the wings should keep him motivated as well.

Personally, I’m no prognosticator nor can I crunch the numbers to prove much, but I think we’re going to see yet another solid season from Escobar. His defense is good enough so if he can keep getting on base and moving runners over (which is all the offense really needs from him), I don’t see him landing on the bench by year’s end.

Pair off in threes….

Well, the Braves are back and I guess I am too.

Since I last posted, I’ve really grown to envy most every blogger working today. Even the blogs full of moronic dribblings have gained my respect just for the commitment to putting up some new content daily. While that may sound easy, stupid, worthless or just pathetic, it’s definitely not easy – and those with the real talent and drive see to it that it doesn’t become any of the last three; for themselves or their readers/commenters. So bloggers, I salute you. Even if I can’t keep up with my own blog.

Once again, this stupid blog will speak for all of about four weeks on all things Atlanta Braves, music, movies, television, books, politics and anything else I use to wile my time away. I might also try writing this go-around instead of just inserting trite little one-liners [fat hope—ed.] and linking to other people’s posts full of much richer content than my own. I guess that might mean taking this thing seriously but I still haven’t decided if I want to do that. On INTERNET, people who take themselves too seriously die a quick death. So it’s a delicate balance.

I’m not sure what you, the reader, should expect of the blog this time but I know my own expectations are not so guttural as they’ve been in the past. That’s gotta count for something, right? But for any of you five “regular” readers I’ve had in the past, this goes out to you:

YES WE CAN!

There, don’t you just feel the hope?

I thought so.

But by god, it’s Spring! Baseball is back, the golf courses are a rich green, the days are longer and I’m sitting inside typing furiously on the laptop. MMMM, life!

Braves Crush Schilling

In a rather pleasant development the Braves pick up their third win of the six I’m claiming they need in interleague play.  Schilling never quite had it tonight allowing six runs on ten hits with exactly ZERO strikeouts.  Brian McCann led the charge with 4 RBI, three of them coming on a homerun, while Chipper and Edgar Renteria set him up with three hits apiece.

Though the most crucial run of the game was probably pitcher Chuck James’ bloop single to make it 3-1.  The Bravos never looked back from there.

Great pitching matchup tomorrow night with Josh Beckett bringing his 9-1 (3.39 ERA) record to Turner Field to face Atlanta hurler Tim Hudson (6-4, 3.25).   The Bravs remain 1.5 games back of the first place Nye Mets.

Braves vs Red Sox

A three game set begins tonight with Atlanta lefty Chuck James facing off against Curt Schilling and the league-best BoSox. I love these games.  I’m also happy to report the game is in Atlanta which means there will be no DH and Big Papi will take the field to hopefully hilarious results.

And now that I look up at the game already started, it appears Ortiz is getting a night of rest. I certainly won’t complain about that. After three innings the score is tied at 1.

Also, I must say that ESPN Baseball has one of the crispest HD offerings in all of sports, and it’s infinitely better than FOX’s. I can watch a Royals-Pirates game on ESPN HD and still find something to enjoy. Just be sure to mute the television as you can lose brain cells just listening to these announcers.

So go Braves. Hopefully I can report on a Braves win in the morning. It would be a GREAT start to this homestand and something this team needs dearly right now. And it will keep the Red Sox fan at bay for a day at least.

Bravos Gain a Game?

Thanks to an awful stretch where the East-leading Nye Mets lost 7 of 10, the Atlanta Braves now find themselves only 2.5 games back after losing an only slightly more respectable 6 of 10.

The whole East division is now mired in mediocrity and what this means is that the second place Braves now find themselves trailing two teams from the West in the wildcard race.

Yep, it’s June and these standings mean nothing, but the Braves should be able to look back and thank their lucky stars that after a mostly forgettable last three weeks, they are still squarely in the middle of the playoff chase. Last year’s slump at this time sunk the team—- but should they be able to maintain .500 ball for a couple weeks while waiting for key players to heal and Overrated Andruw to break out of his slump, the rest of the summer should see the Braves kindly.

A deserved and much-needed off day today is followed by four interleague series Minnesota, Cleveland, Boston and Detroit.

.500 ball over the next two weeks doesn’t look so easy now, but if the team can scrape together at least five, if not six wins, I, for one, will still feel good about this team. Of course, how the rest of the Nat’l League and in particular, the East, handle their junior circuit counterparts will be the real determinant in how the beginning of July look for the good guys.

Not so lazy Saturday…

I wanted to post something just to keep this thing alive as it’s been a busy week and an even busier weekend. Fairs, shopping, birthday parties, golf, house-cleaning…..and a blog post.

The Braves have been amazingly bad over the last week and I thought maybe not blogging about them might reverse this awful slide the team has been on. Alas. I mean, they have to win tonight, right?

The Sopranos finale is tomorrow night and I couldn’t be more giddy. It’ s a bit sad that the best television series ever is ending, but I just want to see this wonderful story’s denouement. (Or lack thereof.) It’ll be much like the feeling you get after you’ve just completed a novel that you couldn’t put down. So I expect to be gushing come Monday. Bear with me.

Other than that, I don’t have much to report at the moment. I’m a bit behind on the news although there doesn’t seem to be much out there beyond the failed (thankfully) immigration bill and Paris Hilton.

It’s a gorgeous weekend in D.C so I’m off to enjoy even more of it.

Shut up Kruk

On Baseball Tonight, John Kruk just declared the Atlanta Braves “Done” for the season. On June 6. While the Braves are 3.5 games out of first place.

Granted, he was trying to make a point about how far this team can go with an ailing or benched Chipper Jones, which incidentally isn’t very, but it’s just foolish to call a team out of it in June when they’re that close no matter what slump they’re in or what parts are missing. That’s the thing about good baseball teams, John, they adapt and do what it takes to stay in the race. I have faith that even if the Braves don’t make the postseason, they will be competitive to the end and hardly “Done”.

What’s a guy gotta do around here?

Buddy Carlyle pitched a gem of a ballgame today for the Braves as they defeated the Marlins 3-1 in the opener of the double-header. He allowed one run on one hit in seven innings, striking out five.

A couple hours later he was demoted to Triple-A Richmond.

I’m sure there’s a good reason for sending him down as we won’t need him for another five days and Chipper’s out, but still. Some thanks.

UPDATE : How soon we forget. Oh yeah, Sir Lance Cormier is back. Maybe Carlyle is down for good, or at least until another pitcher strains something. Not like he’s an ace, much less a solid 4 starter, but I guess it would help to get him a couple more starts in Richmond while we’re seeing if Cormier can carry the load. Still.

Braves Lose Again

I didn’t get to see much of the game but was able to note via updates that Tim Hudson was falling back into his old frustrating habit of giving back every single lead the offense staked him to.

I’m guessing his god-awful ball/strike ratio wasn’t the result of bad umpiring or pitching entirely around the Marlins offense? Grab a bullpen session with Lance and come back on Saturday ready to steamroll, Tim.

Twin-bill tomorrow and looking at the pitching matchups, this might turn out to be another Boston doubleheader with a 15-2 loss and 24-0 win. Carlyle (9.00 ERA) and Smoltz (2.82) for the good guys, Mitre (1.74) and Vanden Hurk (12.75) for the Fish.

Go Braves.