Should Minor spend a few weeks in the minors?

Post by Mike

The lone hole in the Braves starting rotation appears to be Minor who is 2-4, with a 6.96 ERA. Delgado is also only 2-4, but his ERA is holding at 4.26, and with some more run support he could easily be 4-2.

The trick is to move Minor down without destroying his confidence. Last night the announcers were talking about a time another standout pitcher had to be sent down for three games to figure out some kinks. That pitcher came back to the majors and had a decent career. His name was Greg Maddux.

We put up a pole. Should Minor spend a few weeks in AAA? And if so... should Medlen start or should we bring up Teheran?

Braves pitching stats.

We need a Border Patrol!!!

Post by William

For God's sake, will somebody PLEASE keep Nick Saban out of the state of Georgia??

Bama/WVU in Kickoff Classic

Braves notes -

Post by Mike

Wow a 7-2 road trip with series wins over the Dodgers and a sweep of the Cardinals! Not to mention, the Braves claimed first place in the NL East!

The major difference in the 2012 version has to be the way the team is hitting and scoring. Check out the link below. Atlanta ranks second in runs scored in THE ENTIRE MAJOR LEAGUE. We trail only Texas, which has a freak factory of offensive production.

Check out the big bats!

There are few reasons for the revived offense, but chief among them has to be the new hitting coach. Then there is also the fact that Bourn and Uggla are machines. They have both started EVERY game this year. At some point Prado will have to fill in at second to give Uggla a rest, and Heyward may have to play center for a game to left Bourn have a day off.

NL ranking by number of games played.

We need a traffic report!!

Post by William

Can anybody let us know what traffic is like leaving Ponte Vedra Beach on late Friday afternoon heading South to Jupiter? If so, please let Tiger Woods know b/c he'll be heading that way tomorrow. +2 today, nine back right now.

Tiger thanks you for the help.

Bean ball heats up!

Post by Mike

I hate Notre Dame. In case you missed it, one of the former Fighting Irish shut down the Braves Monday night, and also made some more enemies. Watch the video below and notice how Samardzija turns around to talk to some one after he strikes out Uggla the second time.

The video is cut short, but what happens next is the pitcher and Heyward exchange a few heated words from a distance. I'm pretty sure the F word was thrown back and forth between them. Heyward punched a Samardzija fast ball out for the Braves lone run, then got beaned on the shoulder his next at bat.

Video of Samardzija

O'Flaherty evened the score later by throwing at one of the Cubs, and Fredi Gonzalez got tossed for arguing with the umpire who quickly warned both benches.

The new Brave offense has our batters moving up on the plate and both the Cubs and the Rockies have thrown at our guys because of it.

The good news is this is the National League, and those pitchers doing the plunking have to eventually stand in that batters box too. At least Samardzija will. He's a starter and hopefully he'll be in the rotation when the Cubs come to Atlanta on July 2-5. Might be some good fireworks in that series!

Braves wrap.

Post my Mike
In case you missed it, the Braves rolled up the Rockies over the weekend by punishing the baseball and Rockies pitching.

Atlanta irritated the Colorado staff so much that Saturday's starter Moyer mouthed off about Chipper stealing signs while standing on second and signaling pitches to McCann.

From the AJC: Moyer gets mouthy

On the Sunday pre-game radio show Leo Mazone put this all into perspective. He said:

"Of course Chipper was trying to steal the signs and signal them to the batter. That is baseball. And of course he will deny it to the bitter end."

He went on to explain that all teams do the same thing, but getting caught doing it will get your hitters the chance see a fast ball coming at the ear hole of their batting helmet. On Saturday the threat of getting beaned by  a 79 mph fast ball from the 49 year old Moyer just wasn't much of a threat.

Then the old man whined making the incident even more laughable.

Baseball is not like football where the commissioner will step in if you are caught stealing signals. In the Grand Ole Game there are signals and more signals, and stealing them has always been a part of it. So too has throwing at players for retribution. Why do you think they have those complicated Nose-ear-eye-bill-chest-clap signs anyway?

The last few weeks have seen the Brave's offense explode and climb up the ladder to #2 in the NL: NL Offensive ranking

Unfortunately as friendly as the freak field of Colorado was to Atlanta's offense, it was equally tough on the pitching stats: NL Pitching stats The Braves slip to 14th in this category.

When was the last time a Braves team was playing this well on offense, and also not in the top 10 in pitching?

Now Atlanta goes to Chicago for a three game series against the Cubs only 1.5 games behind the Nationals. The Cubs are in last place in the NL Central.

You college football fans may remember Monday's starter Jeff  Samardzija who was a standout wide receiver for Notre Dame.

Mondays match up:      Hanson   vs. Samardzija

You just can't hide class!!

Post by William

Pretty sure we've all been there for this. Maybe just not a bachelor party.

Alcohol, bad golf and angry men shouldn't mix