I take back what I said about it being beautiful baseball weather... it was cold! And the Braves bats were cold too. We looked extremely lethargic coming off the off-day on Monday.
The fans really got onto Garret Anderson, and with good reason, he made Raul Ibanez look like a Gold Glover with his play in left field. I'm for letting him work back into the lineup, but can't he do it in the seventh-hole?
Javier Vazquez had that one bad inning which cost him the game, but I'll take a quality start and 12 strikeouts from him any day -- we'll eventually win more of those game than we'll lose.
Let's see how well Derek Lowe can play stopper tonight as the Braves try to rebound against the Fish.
0 recs | 61 comments
Javier Vazquez appears to be the 2009 recipient of the Braves Tough Luck Award, where he gets no run support when he pitches well, or the bullpen blows it after he leaves a well pitched game. And option 3 of course: he pitches poorly and they still don’t hit, and when others do the same, they get the win.
10-4 - April 15, 2009
That picture of FUGA is incredible.
F TO THE YOUZO, G TO THE IZZAY
bigjoe - April 15, 2009
I hate being right.
10-4 - April 15, 2009
In my world...
…hat tipping is banned. At least to opposing pitchers; you are allowed to tip your hat to a lady.
sddbaker - April 15, 2009
There’s been a lot of hat tipping in the first seven games of the season. When Prince Fielder had his grand slam robbed from him against Chicago, he tipped his cap to Reed Johnson for the impeccable defense, and there was another game recently where the same situation popped up, and all the robbed player could do is tip his cap. They may be opponents, but they know how to recognize a stellar play when they see one.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
It’s okay to “tip your hat” for a really outstanding defensive play, I just hate hearing it used when a pitcher throws a good game. I guess I just hate the overuse of the expression more than anything else, but athletes and cliches — they were made for each other, I guess.
sddbaker - April 15, 2009
Things Smoltz's Beard was right about: 7 games into the season edition.
1. Garret Anderson…was a worthless signing. For all those people that commented about him being a “professional hitter”, I have yet to see him put together a major league AB. Swinging early in the count, swinging at pitches outside the strike zone, etc. When he does make contact I have yet to see him hit a pitch squarely, unless you want to count his line drive to the second basemen last night. His fielding, I’m told this was the reason he was preferred over guys like Dunn and Abreu, was been pathetic. Poor routes, lazy attempts at fly balls…I mean Dunn would look just as bad out there but at least he knows how to work the count. At the very least, Brandon Jones could be providing us the same production.
2. Javier Vazquez…is going to make Wren look like a genius. He’s pitched two quality starts, losing out on a win in both instances, and it’s apparent that he doesn’t have his best stuff yet. When he finally clicks I think we’ll be in for some dazzling performances. I was almost at a loss for words last night because after spending all off-season reading about how Vazquez was such a mystery on the mound we got to see it first hand last night.
Note…all sample sizes that work against anything stated above should not be mentioned. The statements above are not ironclad, and should said player produce an opposite performance, Smoltz’s Beard reserves the right to cheer/jeer for them as necessary. Please fasten your seatbelts, keep arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and enjoy the ride.
Smoltz's Beard - April 15, 2009
+1 on both accounts
sdp - April 15, 2009
Things bwellnjonesco was right about: 7 games into the season
.
bwellnjonesco - April 15, 2009
Love
the disclaimer.
cmdpsu15 - April 15, 2009
Not to toot your own horn or anything.
mvandonsel - April 15, 2009
Yakker - April 15, 2009
For the millionth time…the money was not an issue at the beginning of the offseason. Wren specifically stayed away from Dunn because of the defense.
Smoltz's Beard - April 15, 2009
Love the picture
Don’t love the fact that immediately afterwards was a wild-pitch that took the score to 3-0, instead of getting out of the inning 2-0.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
Garret Anderson Hates Baseball
rhinoskin - April 15, 2009
FYI
I had to ban someone last night for racist remarks. This is kinda borderline.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
good thing he only posted it in 3 threads
Smoltz's Beard - April 15, 2009
lol
I also love how they’re linked to his webpage development site.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
If every sale you made went directly to feeding your kids, you’d do what you can to bring in traffic too, amirite?
rhinoskin - April 15, 2009
Look, I work in marketing, I know all about the “there’s no such thing as bad advertisement” belief, but I tend to think that racist undertones are more likely to bite you the ass in the long run, even if they bring you a couple of inadvertent hits in the process.
And come on now, no “target=_blank” attribute to your link? How inconsiderate!
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
I’d edit it if I could, really… I get that it was overboard, thats my fault for going for a laugh at Granny Anderson’s expense. I do believe that there is something call bad advertisement and it’s certainly not what I was aiming to do.
rhinoskin - April 15, 2009
we need at least three threads to satisfy the Free Brandon Jones movement
rhinoskin - April 15, 2009
You spelled Brandon wrong.
bigjoe - April 15, 2009
sigh
apparently I need a review board when I try to photoshop
rhinoskin - April 15, 2009
We’re harsh critics.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
Fixed!
rhinoskin - April 15, 2009
Good man
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
did I miss something
What are the racial overtones in that ’chop?
WienerDog - April 15, 2009
You showed up late. What you see now, is like version 3.0
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
I gotcha
Thanks
WienerDog - April 15, 2009
Okay, glad to know that...
…because I was a little worried that I was losing my ability to, well, use my brain, or that my pop culture knowledge was seriously lacking.
sddbaker - April 15, 2009
"he made Raul Ibanez look like a Gold Glover with his play in left field"
Hell he made Raul Mondesi look like an All-Star with his play on offense and defense.
There are more guys on my city league softball that make that catch than those that wouldn’t. The only difference is we don’t get paid.
Fischerking - April 15, 2009
Ganderson
We should’ve used the money from Ganderson and Glavine to sign Ohman and Abreu.
QUYET - April 15, 2009
Need more than 3.5mil for that.
TradeAndruw - April 15, 2009
you’re right. It would take 5.5 million
QUYET - April 15, 2009
Garret Anderson
Ok why do we have him batting 5th when Frenchy is better? Why did Bobby leave him in the game when we could of put some body else in left field.
Braves2009Champs - April 15, 2009
ol' vazquez
Hang in there Javy, you’ll get a win someday.
beeswax - April 15, 2009
It is MY fault they lost last night
Sorry fellas.
This was the first game I didn’t watch from the beginning and they lost. I jinxed them. Unfortunately I’m in class on Tuesday nights and well, yeah well you saw what happened. You can’t expect the Bravos to have a winning record with UgaBulldog14 watching.
Again, I’m sorry, and I will be watching from the beginning tonight.
UgaBulldog14 - April 15, 2009
***
with UgaBulldog14 NOT watching, that is.
UgaBulldog14 - April 15, 2009
If that’s the case then I definitely sent it over the edge. I foolishly got up to get something before the 7th inning stretch.
Fischerking - April 15, 2009
The moment I left campus last night, the Marlins started scoring runs. I’ll take some of the heat too.
bigjoe - April 15, 2009
I didn’t watch at all. Nor did I do the NAHWAL…which was true for our one other loss as well.
soup du jour - April 15, 2009
The only differentiation for me was that the Marlins started scoring runs after bigjoe and Beard started texting me.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
I blame it on Large Joseph
mvandonsel - April 15, 2009
They sucked the whole time i watched last night. so it wasn’t me. I can be blamed for the meltdown last Wednesday. They were fine during work, the hour long drive home, and then i got home and sat in my recliner to start the 7th inning.
10-4 - April 15, 2009
When I was a kid, i remember watching a Braves game, had to be in ’93 or so. The Braves were killing the ball, which we attributed to a lucky fly, that had managed to sneak into the house thru the screen door on the sizzling summer night, and was buzzing around the room. As soon as the fly made its way out of the room, the opposing team started scoring runs. My buddy and his brother and I then started frantically chasing this fly around the house, trying to trap him in the room and therefore end the scoring session. To this day i remember the desperation in our hearts as we attempted to tame this “rally fly” into watching the game with us again.
Not sure what the point of this is, but your post made me think of that
bravesguy311 - April 15, 2009
The point is…do you know where that fly is now???
Fischerking - April 15, 2009
well i know he wasnt in Florida last night….
bravesguy311 - April 15, 2009
You in class at UGA? I’m a student there, too.
Gage23 - April 15, 2009
no I uhh *cough*
didn’t finish college my first go through so now I’m working full-time, class once a week on Tuesdays.
UgaBulldog14 - April 15, 2009
You are so not alone! I didn’t finish until my umpteenth go ‘round; now I work in student records at a college and I’m constantly amazed at how many people I see who have gone to more colleges than I did…which was 4 for my BA – 2 of them twice, and now I just went back and got an AA at a completely different school. We’ve got some people who’ve been to 7 schools and still haven’t graduated.
Lizziebeth - April 16, 2009
Actually
MY fault because it was the first game I was able to watch from beginning to end.
Get ready for another loss tonight…although I may miss the first couple innings so there’s a chance if we get an early lead that of course I don’t witness.
WienerDog - April 15, 2009
Medlen is rolling against Durham
5 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts.
10-4 - April 15, 2009
aaaand Logan and Valdez allow the tying run to plate.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
Chipper out of lineup tonight, and Diaz is in LF.
10-4 - April 15, 2009
Consider we’re facing a LH Diaz should be playing regardless of what GA did last night. It’ll be interesting the next time a RH pitches to see what Cox does. I assume we’ll see GA back out there in all his glory.
Infante starting at 3rd?
Smoltz's Beard - April 15, 2009
yes to Infante.
10-4 - April 15, 2009
Consider we’re playing the Marlins, Diaz should be starting no matter what.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
And i just realized that we’re benching our only black player on Jackie Robinson Day. I smell a Terence Moore article brewing…..
10-4 - April 15, 2009
Mark Kotsay wore 42 last year. Because we all know how black he is.
royhobbs - April 15, 2009
Call up SWAGGA, stat!
mvandonsel - April 15, 2009
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Talking Chop to post a comment.