Archive for October, 2011

Monday and the Braves postseason is WELL underway in Atlanta. Here’s what’s happened and it isn’t even noon yet. Nate McLouth’s option declined, it cost a $1.5 million buy out but thank goodness that albatross is gone. Following my post on a potential swap for Chone Figggins, the Braves as usual went a completely different way. John Kreger reports Derek Lowe reportedly traded to the Indians. We are paying about $10 million of the $15 million he was owed and the Tribe are sending us A Ball lefty Chris Jones who projects as a LOOGY according to Kevin_Goldstein of Baseball [...]

Breaking News (well it was) – La Russa’s Retirment This morning started with the announcement of Tony La Russa’s retirement and actually I’m watching his news conference as I write this. La Russa’s decision marks a defining moment  in my baseball life. Iconic managers are few and far between yet in my lifetime I’ve seen more than most generations. If you know them by their first name and aren’t necessarily a fan of the team they’re iconic; Sparky, Lou, Bobby, Joe and Tommy are all now gone from the game. Of the old guard only Dusty Baker and Jim Leyland [...]

  Today is the day players not under contract for next year could officially file for Free agency and to no one’s surprise Alex Gonzalez, Scott Linebrink, Nate McLouth, George Sherrill and Jack Wilson did just that. Aside for Jack Wilson who I liked because of the way he plays the game the rest will not be missed by me. Others are making predictions that the Braves will welcome at least a couple of these homeless players.

I personally don’t think that this is Albert Pujols’ final game in St. Louis tonight. But it COULD be. There’s no better spot for Pujols than the baseball kingdom that is St. Louis–we agree with NY Times writer George Vecsey. If we’re placing bets or odds on this, we think Pujols will be back. We’re almost overwhelmingly convinced of it. But even the most casual of Missourians will be tuning in tonight because this could be the last time you see the greatest player of the modern era in the only uniform he should ever wear. Of course that adds [...]

Watching that crazy, magnificent, tumultuous game last night was an emotional ride for myself and my sons – one a die hard Rangers guy and the other like me an NL Braves guy. While the errors early on were Bad News Bears reborn, the late inning heroics on both sides was baseball’s highest drama. NOTHING compares to a ballgame like that, no Superbowl, no final four underdog, nothing. The folks over at Baseball Reference agree and put together a couple of interesting lists with a lot of Braves in them. All of that late inning scoring set a couple of [...]

To think that one MLB fan base is experiencing what went on last night. To think that there was a group of fans that really got to stay up all night thinking of the heroic feats that their team was able to reach–being down to their last strike not once but twice and coming back to win it on a walk off job. I don’t know if people realize what long shots that the Cardinals were to begin with. Though I think that Atlanta fans probably have a better idea than most. Any fan of baseball has to be a [...]

Right now, I follow 221 people on Twitter. I’m going to try and profile your must follow folks as part of being an MLB fan. If you have a personal Twitter, I’d like you to set it aside. Create one that is just for following baseball. That way you’ve got a cornucopia of baseball wonderfulness all 365 days of the year and you can pretend for just a few minutes of scrolling through your timeline that baseball is all that is going on with the world. I’m telling you, don’t knock it until you try it. You might really like [...]

Matt Lipka, the Braves first pick in the 2010 draft (35th overall), didn’t have a great year in 2011. And if he enjoyed playing short stop, his year just took another bad turn. The super speedy 19-year-old played short stop and wide receiver in high school but those days appear to be over now. The Braves figured Lipka would end up in center field on draft day and recently moved him there during the Instructs League. Take it away Dave O’Brien… The move hurts his overall value a little but not too bad if he can be a solid defender [...]

Pardon the tardiness on the open thread. Tonight it’s win or go home time for the Cardinals. As much as I would love to see Josh Hamilton get his World Series ring, I think I want to see a winner take all game seven tomorrow night. Nothing beats it in the sport we all love and I’ve felt like this series has been ticketed to go the distance since before it began. Jaime Garcia opposes Colby Lewis tonight under the St. Louis arch. I think we’re headed towards a game seven tomorrow night to set up your weekend. And for [...]

The Sporting News today named Braves catcher Brian McCann and closer Craig Kimbrel to their National League All-Star team. Yesterday Kimbrel was named the Sporting News’ Rookie of the Year for the National League (BBWA Awards are announced next month.)  Joining our supercharged battery on the team are Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder, Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, Cub third sacker Aramis Ramirez, Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki, Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp, Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun, Diamondbacks right fielder Justin Upton and Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Congratulations to BMac, Kimbrel and all members of this all star squad.