Atlanta Braves

As it stands right now, the Colorado Rockies are 4.5 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants in the National League Wild Card race. The Rockies have been a bit of a surprise team this season, after an unimpressive '08 campaign and the loss of Matt Holliday during the offseason. They've thrived after the firing of Clint Hurdle, as Jim Tracy has pushed the right buttons, rarely ever taking a misstep.

Continue reading "Have the Rockies locked up the NL Wild Card?"

The Red Sox played a great game of baseball Wednesday night, as those of us in the Boston area were able to watch on NESN.  However, there was another fun game of baseball on ESPN 2 for their usual Wednesday Night Baseball game against the Braves and Yankees who were playing at the same time.  I found myself flipping between channels during commercial breaks for the Sox and caught some cool moments.  Meanwhile, the College World Series’ final game was on ESPN between Texas and LSU.  There was an awful lot of baseball on last night. 

Continue reading "Wednesday Night Baseball – Not ..."

26 in 1st place in the East and are up 3 games on the Yankees, sweet!!!  Next the Sox face the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park for a 3 game series, but Boston weather says it's only going to

Continue reading "Rainy Nite costs Red Sox"

What do you do with David Ortiz? Here's a guy who has bled Red Sox red (note to self: this doesn’t work) for the better part of his career. He is arguably the greatest clutch hitter in team history. Would the Sox have won two World Series rings without him? Surely not.

Continue reading "What to do with David Ortiz?"

The Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves should have respectable seasons while the Washington Nationals battle with the San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates for the label of most horrendous team in the league.

Continue reading "The Sports Don's 2009 NL East Preview"

(Note: originally posted on February 25.)

Each year, prior to the start of the MLB season, I use a unique mathematical system (one that I will not get into, because it's boring) to project the performance of every player and team. This season, in lieu of their significant offseason additions, I expected the Yankees to come out on top. Surprisingly, my expectations were wrong...

Continue reading "MLB Preseason Predictions: Regular ..."

Before I get to the actual list, I must say when I posted this on FanNation, readers were complaining about the omission of the New York Mets' star-studded infield.

The funny thing is, I'm a Mets fan. And yet I ranked both the Braves and Phillies' infields ahead of the Metropolitans. Talk about reserving one's biases...

Continue reading "MLB's Top Five Infields"

John Smoltz was a great signing indeed and it is a win-win situation for both sides of the table.  If Mr. Smoltz performs well as he did throughout his career then he receives bonuses, the Red So

Continue reading "Smoltz; a Red Sock"

Omar Minaya is the Jekyll and Hyde of Major League general managers. It's incredible how he can look like an Einstein-esque genius with some moves, and an executive that knows very little about baseball with others.

Continue reading "Major Mets Blunder: Lowe Signs with Braves"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

Last week I droned on about the mind-numbing dullness of baseball’s mid-season. This week I’m eating my words.

Lets break down the two biggest deals:

Teixeira to the Halos: Braves trade Teixeira, who will become a free agent after this season, for Casey Kotchman (he of the .280 batting average, 12 dingers and 55 RBI). How did the Braves get fleeced here? They get a legitimate, starting first baseman who is excited about playing in Atlanta and who should hang round for a while. In return, they surrender a three-month rental player. Immediate advantage: Halos. Long-term advantage: Braves.

Continue reading "Trade Notes"

According to several blogs, including Baseball Digest Daily, Mark Teixeira is headed to the Angels, in exchange for middling 1B Casey Kotchman and minor-league pitcher Stephen Marek, with perhaps others thrown into the mix.

Continue reading "Tex is an Angel"

As reported in the stalwart Sports Xchange, the Braves are making moves to their roster that may suggest a possible trade is imminent. First baseman Mark Teixeira is the big name that's been bandied about in baseball, and (except for Brian Fuentes and Matt Holliday, who will either go close to the deadline or not at all) is the Last Man Standing as far as frontline trade candidates go.

Continue reading "Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop"

It’s the annual midpoint of the baseball season, and for the brief span that is the All-Star break, all eyes are upon the Bronx. As everyone is well aware of, this campaign is the last go around for the world’s most famous, largest, and most prominent ballpark, Yankee Stadium. It seems hard to believe, and even more sacrilegious that this living legend’s days are numbered. Built in 1923 and christened by the greatest ballplayer to ever live, Babe Ruth, the cathedral of baseball will never truly be replaced. Although the Bombers will move a block to Yankee Stadium’s heir, the Mecca of America’s Pastime will still live on in our hearts. Whether you’re a diehard Yankee fan, or Yankee-hater, you still can respect the history and awe that the stadium brings. So when the All-Stars take the field Tuesday night, sit back on your couch, crack open a cold one and soak up the history of Yankee Stadium, as its final chapter is unveiled to all of us.

Continue reading "National League Looks to End Rut"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

Troy Tulowitzki.

Chipper Jones 3B – Atlanta Braves

The now ageless Chipper Jones is trying to accomplish something that is more elusive than Big Brown’s Triple Crown, or Alex Rodriguez’s World Series ring. He is trying to become the first player since Ted Williams in 1941, to hit .400. Many have tried, but all have failed in the 67 years since the milestone was last reached. As of July 5th, the severely slumping Chipper Jones’ batting average was at a futile .385, and as of now, he must hit roughly .418 the rest of the year to qualify for feat, seemingly impossible. But for this 36 year old, it is one challenge that he has never endured, and one that could fully cement himself in Cooperstown, should he conquer the mystique of the .406 batting average that has been frozen in time for 67 years.  

Continue reading "Mic's National League All-Star Team"

And probably not your own Braves, either. I watched them boot the ball around last night with a long-time Braves fan; three first-inning errors led to three runs, and they never recovered, losing 4-3, in a game without Chipper and a host of others.

Continue reading "Not Your Daddy's Braves"

Someday we will certainly look back on the last few years as some of the best years in baseball, as far as watching some significant milestones being broken. In between Bonds' maligned chase of Aaron and Randy's recent conquering of Clemens' K record, we've seen Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, and ARod all reach the 500-HR plateau, and Sosa reach 600, with Griffey knocking on the same door. Maddux recently won his 350th game, and Glavine won his 300th, and Smoltz recorded his 3000th strikeout just before he went down to a season- (and possibly career-) ending injury, and not long after Pedro reached that same level.

Continue reading "Another Milestone Passed"

I should preface this by saying I'm not a Braves fan and never have been. This is due to many factors, including my dislike of many things Southern (I say this having spent almost 10 years living in Alabama, and several more visiting my parents there), the annoying and insulting idiocy of the Tomahawk Chop and its associated "war cry," the stupid antics of rednecks like John Rocker (and the fans' tolerance of his ignorant ways), as well as their hegemony of the airwaves. Because they were always on TBS, it was hard to avoid the Braves, and in the days before my DirecTV Extra Innings package (AKA "Baseball Heroin") I'd watch the Braves games just to root against them.

Continue reading "Braves: America's Team No More"

Like before, these are the key questions facing each team.

Atlanta Braves

How much do Tom Glavine and John Smoltz have left?

The Braves figure to be loaded on offense and their pitching could potentially be pretty strong depending on how this pair of 40 year-olds fair this season. Smoltz, who will turn 41 this season, is the safer bet as he has pitched over 200 innings in each season since returning to the starting rotation in 2005, each time with a sub 3.50 ERA. At his age though, a pitcher can rapidly begin to decline and he has experienced some shoulder problems already this spring. Nonetheless, I would expect him to put up another solid year.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: National League East"

their fans are now getting restless.  This may be the year they get back to the top.  The Atlanta Braves made a few small moves in the off-season (brought back Tom Glavine and also signed Mark Kotsay) but their big deal was done at the deadline last season when they traded for Mark Texiera.  They also lost Andruw Jones but after the year he had, is that actually a bad thing?  Like the Phillies this team should be fine offensively with Brian McCann, Big Tex, Chipper and Jeff Francoeur in the middle of the order.  The big question again lingers with their rotation and mostly their third starter.  John Smoltz and Tim Hudson will be very good again this year, which means things, come down to Tom Glavine.  He was brought back to sure up the rotation and that’s exactly what he must do.  One person to look out for is Mike Hampton, yes that Mike Hampton.  He is healthy (for now) and if he stays that way he could become a key player for this team.  The bullpen is also a concern because Rafael Soriano has struggled to close games and everyone else seems to be a young kid.

Continue reading "First of a Seven Part Series-NL East Preview"