Archive for July, 2011

Hello again everyone from sunny southeast Michigan, where everything is much brighter today after the Braves acquisition of Michael Bourn from the Houston Astros. Kudos to Frank Wren on a job well done, as he simultaneously eliminated a black hole from the lineup and landed the team its first true lead-off hitter since Rafael Furcal. With the injection of on base percentage at the top of the order and improvement in stolen base capability, the Braves offense has a chance to really click for the last 50 plus games of the season.

Good Sunday Braves faithful. It’s a VERY good day for the Braves lineup indeed. By now you will know that sometime between 1 a.m. central and 6 a.m. central Ed Wade and Frank Wren made a deal that brings a real leadoff man, stolen base threat and gold glove center fielder Michael Bourn to Atlanta for center fielder Jordan Schafer, Double-A starter Brett Oberholtzer, righty Double-A starter Paul Clemens, and righty Triple-A reliever Juan Abreu. Baseball America rated Oberholtzer our number 8 prospect and Clemens number 9 while Abreu didn’t make the top 10.

It’s about 1 p.m. eastern now, 27 hours from the trade deadline and Braves fans are begging for Frank Wren to do something. I’m sure he will. What that will be is the question.

Hello again everyone from Steambath Springs, Michigan, home of humidity so thick that it takes 5 MPH off everyone’s radar gun readings; pretty helpful for cruising down the highway, at least! Given that this is the time of year when rumors are as thick as the humidity up here, I thought “what the heck” and decided to throw out an idea not broached so far in the deluge: Why not take a chance on Rafael Furcal?

Good Friday Morning Braves Fans.  Welcome to let’s state the obvious and see if anyone is listening. The Braves don’t score enough runs. Here are just a few numbers to chew on. When the Braves Score 4 or more they are 47-9 Allow 4 or more 13-34 I know this isn’t rocket science but changes to the everyday lineup need to address scoring runs.

Hello again everyone! While still watching the Braves and Pirates go at (and who knows how long that’ll take to finish), I thought I’d post my impressions of Anthony Varvaro while they were fresh in my mind.

It always amazes me what the trade rumor mill generates. When Carlos Beltran was made available everyone said the Braves had to have him without recognizing that he didn’t fulfill a real need, was a two month rental who would not sign here again and for who the Mets wanted Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, Arodys Vizcaino or Mike Minor plus a warm body or two.

Hello again everyone from the summer paradise known as southeast Michigan. It’s another day, another challenge, as the air conditioning is out at our offices today. Since it’s “only 88″ (their words), it’s not a priority for the repair guys, as they say they’ll try to get here today. I’m thinking of changing the dress code for today to beachwear and making a party out of it! Back to baseball, I ran across a great article today on our sister site, “Seedlings To Stars“, on Braves prospect Tyler Pastornicky. For those fans of Fred Owens’ writing, you’ll remember that Tyler [...]

Hello again everyone. I’m back in Michigan, having survived a dual-fisted bout with LaGuardia and Detroit Metro. I think LaGuardia took the marathon match on points. Speaking of marathon matches, while it appeared the Braves took one in 19 innings 4-3 over the Bucs, going to the referee’s card showed that Brian McCann’s loss to the DL with a strained oblique meant that the Braves were the real losers last night.

You could say the umpiring was bad last night. Skip Caray could well have said Jerry Meals made a dogs dinner of the game. Everyone in the park knew that Julio Lugo was out on Scott Proctor’s 19th inning ground ball. Everyone that is but Meals who said McKenry missed the swipe tag and Lugo was safe, ending the longest game in Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates history. Looking at the reverse angle replay this morning however, it looks like Michael McKenry might actually have missed Lugo and Meals made the right call.