Archive for May, 2011

The Braves rank 15th in National League and 29th overall with 29 runs scored in the past 12 days. We’ve scored three runs or more just four times in that time and had to have extra innings to do that. So hot is relative.

Hello again everyone from the land that Spring forgot but Summer suddenly adopted, southeast Michigan. This will be a short post, as it’s an idea that just popped into my head and I wanted to throw it out there for everyone to shoot holes in, laugh at, or otherwise bend, fold, or mutilate. And, if it reeks of desperation, I think you all can understand.

Hello again everyone from the Braves’ outpost in southeast Michigan. Spring has totally skipped us, as it was in the 50′s and 60′s yesterday and the 90′s today! On the baseball front, the Braves are in the middle of a hot one with San Diego today. And they’re going at it without Chipper Jones in the lineup for the first time in quite some time. In fact, I’ve contemplated posting this before, but with Chipper resting today, the timing seemed right. My question is this: Are the Braves resting Chipper often enough at age 39? The situation might surprise you [...]

I saw an interesting post over on Baseball Reference about how badly the AL left fielders were hitting based on OPS+. Going into Sunday night’s game with the Reds I thought I’d take a look at where we stand offensively position by position with the league.

Hello again and welcome from the land that Spring forgot, southeast Michigan, where the rain continues to fall and the temperatures are slow to heat up. Speaking of heating up, that’s exactly what the Braves bats started to do Saturday night in the 7-6, 13 inning victory over the Reds in Atlanta.

The David O’Brien’s blog over at the AJC reported tonight that a second, more detailed MRI confirmed no structural damage to Jason Heyward’s shoulder. That’s good news of course as it means no surgeries or an extended time away.

Hello again everyone from the Northern Front in the Great Weather War Of 2011! On the Baseball Front, players performing badly off the field division, word came down today that DUI and reckless driving charges were dropped against Derek Lowe.

Following the signing of Steven Shell the Braves today swapped 35 year old Rodrigo Lopez for perennial minor league reliever Ryan Buchter 24. Lopez will become the Cubs swingman or long man while Butcher reports Lynchburg. This presumably was in the works when Shell was acquired and sent to Gwinnett.

Hello again everyone from flood ravaged Michigan, where our zillion lakes are trying to prove they can keep up with all the other flooding going on. The seven inches of rain in my rain gauge the past 24 hours is helping, I assure you. On the baseball front, I noticed that habitual hat-tippers Brian McCann and Fredi Gonzalez didn’t tip their hats to the fine job done by Mike Minor today. In fact, the quality of his outing was lost in the hoopla over the game-winning two-run home run hit by Brooks Conrad in the 11th inning of today’s 4-2 [...]

The Braves have it’s reported today on MLB Trade Rumors, signed right hander Steven Shell to a minor league contract last week – must be a slow news day.  Anyway Shell 28,  has kicked around the minors since first being drafted in 2001 by the Angels. He had coffee and a snack with the Nationals in 2008 but was granted free agency (like being released but the player asks for it) then signed with the Mariners.