Monday, April 30, 2007

The Walk-off Phenomenon

It's no secret to anyone in Atlanta, Andruw Jones wants a fat payout next year. He's earned it - nine consecutive Gold Glove awards, 91 homers in the past two seasons combined, and a 2005 season which saw him place second in the NL MVP balloting, losing to his lord our savior Pujols.

But it's very obvious he is trying way too hard thus far, as going into today's game, he had climbed barely above the Mendoza line, starting the season with 26 strikeouts already, on pace to set a career-high in K's at this rate. He knows that homers = $$$, and he's swinging for the fences at almost every at-bat. During Spring Training, he even showed up to camp 20 lbs. lighter, and even swiped a few bases during Spring games. He hasn't stolen any bases yet this year, but he hasn't been getting on base as much, for that matter. If all goes well, he will finish the year with another 40+ homers, 120+ RBI, .260+ batting average, maybe 10 steals, and a tenth Gold Glove. And then Scott Boras will become the Sultan of Spin once again, and somehow get a team like Boston to shell out $150 million for seven years.

Many Atlantans have already resigned to the fact that Andruw Jones is as good as gone by the end of this year, because the jewing of the organization since Uncle Ted sold to Time Warner which sold to Liberty Media has cut payroll every year since, and paying Andruw his "market-worth" is going to be like asking a homeless man to borrow twenty bucks. So we are all just hoping for an Alfonso Soriano-like surge of production to at least benefit the team for one good run while he's here, and then deal with the loss of his numbers when it comes next year.

At least we'll still have Smoltz.

But all of this being said, the lack of production, the blatant money-grubbing words of Boras coming out of Andruw's mouth, and the constant strikeouts, Andruw Jones showed why he will be severely missed if and when he leaves next season.

Bottom of the ninth, with the score knotted up at 2-2. Tim Hudson's emotional performance was once again null and void by the no-decision. Bob Wickman, as I suspected was hurt in some fashion, and was put on the DL, but no worries, because Mike Gonzalez pitched a perfect ninth. Two men get on base, and Antonio Alfonseca faces Andruw Jones.

I was actually just getting into my car at this moment, because superstitious me didn't want to watch the game and potentially see a Tim Hudson performance go to shit on me. But I turn onto the Bull, just in-time to hear:

"Here's the pitch, BELTED... AND.... THAT... BALL... IS... OUT OF HERE! Three-run WALK-OFF homer for ANDRUUUUW JONES!"

The walk-off home run. One of the greatest spectacles in baseball.

ESPN knows what we want, addendum



In conjunction with what my co-writer had to say, I took this screen grab from Friday night to emphasize the brainwashing ESPN attempts to do to their out-of-market viewers who have to watch other teams they favor through their sometimes-effective GameCast feature.

As we can clearly see, the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees when Boston closer, Chad Cordero earned the save by getting Yankee switch-hitter, Carlos Beltran to pop out to the first baseman. Never mind the fact that in both player images, Cordero is sporting Washington Nationals' hat, and Beltran is wearing the orange and blue of the crosstown rival Mets. Because on ESPN, every game is the Yankees versus the Red Sox.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

ESPN Knows What you Like

The first rule of working for ESPN is anything to do with football is better than anything else. The second rule of working for ESPN is if a baseball player doesn’t play on the Yankees or Red Sox then they don’t exist. Even though most casual baseball fans know who Jake Peavy is according to ESPN we do not. On Mike and Mike in the morning today they spent a good five minutes ranting about who no one knows who any of the players in San Diego are. I am sorry to inform them that I am someone and I know who Jake Peavy is. I also know who Trevor Hoffman is, and although he blew a save last night he is still better than Rivera. Of course Rivera plays for the Yankees so therefore everyone knows who he is and he is the greatest ever followed closely by whoever is closing for Boston at the current time.
This weekend is once again Yankees vs. Red Sox. This means my TV will be polluted with inferior DH baseball. I don’t need to watch too fat guys who don’t even know what a baseball glove is go up and sweat all over home plate. I think it would be more entertaining to see David Ortiz and Jason Giambi sumo wrestle. Of course seeing the Yankees vs. Red Sox is what I care about because ESPN tells me to.
Of course with the NFL draft being this weekend the Yankees vs. Red Sox might be interrupted due to some late 7th round pick out of a college no one ever heard of. ESPN informed me the other day that real men plan their weekend around the NFL draft. I had no idea. I was going to go watch the Potomac Nationals take on the Frederick Keys at 2:00 in Frederick and then head over to Hagerstown to see the Suns play their game at 6:35. I don’t know but watching minor league baseball outside on a Saturday might be more fun than sitting around watching twenty year olds walk up to a podium every 15 minutes.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Heartbreakers

The Mets lose to the Rockies by a deflating score of 11-5. So all the Braves have to do is win against the Marlins and Scott Olsen whom they have owned since he came up to the majors, and they would be sole possession of first place in the NL east, and with no division rivals to play next.

For eight innings, Tim Hudson was the 2007 NL Cy Young winner. Allowing six hits, zero runs, and recording a career-high 12 strikeouts, this game looked like it was going to be a piece of cake.

I should've seen it coming. Olsen, after his shaky start struck out eleven of his own batters, and kept the Braves off the scoreboard for a solid six innings.

But in the 9th inning, that's when the shit hit the fan. Bobby Cox who I have already established is one of the finest managers of modern baseball lore, made a tremendous managing snafu tonight. Twice, now that I think about it. Cox's dedication and confidence towards his players has got to be the biggest rub of inspiration to his team, but there is a little something called reality that isn't being taken into effect. And for an ol'skool skipper like Bobby, who likes to play by the numbers, the numbers aren't favoring tired pitchers.
  • Hudson had already exceeded 100 pitches, and far too often, Braves starters have stayed in one-inning too long. Tonight was no exception
  • The score was only 3-0 going into the bottom of the 9th. If it were me managing, any and all save situations would be handled by the closer, with the only exception being a potential no-hitter or perfect game. (Mistake #1)
  • Bobby usually lets his potential CG'ing pitchers go in the 9th, and immediately relieves them at the first sign of danger. Tonight, he waited until Huddy loaded the bases on three-straight singles, before bringing Wickman into the game. (Mistake #2) As good as Wickman has been thus far, asking any reliever to go out and retire the next three guys without allowing the tying run is way too far.
  • Wickman's reputation as a fireman isn't that great - his closing numbers are stellar yes, but his favorable situation would be starting the 9th completely fresh for him to establish his dominance. Once anyone gets past first base on his watch, Wickman becomes vulnerable and much more likely to make mistakes, like the passed ball that ultimately ended the game.
  • Rafael Soriano, whose intensity and mentality, and capability of producing K's would have been far more ideal at the arduous situation at hand. What baffles me is that in 8th, Soriano was getting warmed up - by the 9th, he should've been nice, warm and loose and ready to go.
I would rather have lost 11-5 than to lose a heartbreaker like the Braves did tonight. This is the kind of game that really deflates me as a fan, and really hurts. As a result, the Mets are still first, and the Braves are a half-game behind. And now they have a day off to let all of this sink in, which, by the numbers is never a good thing.

Here's hoping that James, Smoltz and Davies can get something good going in Colorado, who has to be flying high right now having pwned the Mets to end their series.

Hey, if Byung-Hyun Kim is pitching any of the games this weekend, that's like a guaranteed win, right?

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

An Ugly Game Turns Beautiful

As I got into my car, and began my drive home from the gym, I was delighted to listen in as the Braves jumped all over the Marlins 4-0 in the top of the first. A great way to start loss-avenging win from the night prior. Lots of baseball fans see late game rallies, regardless of the eventual outcome with optimism, because they believe that momentum can be carried into the next day's game. In this case, it proved to be true, because Atlanta jumped out of the gate, making short work of Van Den Hurk.

And then I got home, turned the television on only to see Mark Redman melt down yet again and give up the lead and let the Marlins tie the game on a Cody Fucking Ross homerun. Come on now, Cody Ross? That guy is like a slightly more intimidating version of David Eckstein. But the Braves would not be daunted, as they came forth to regain the lead in the next inning.

Redman actually pitched a scoreless 2nd inning, which had me thinking that maybe he just needed to settle down.

Nope. Cody Ross again hits a massive double off the wall that Langerhans couldn't field because of all the random shit plastered all over the outfield wall in Dolphin Stadium is a huge distraction to lose the ball in. What was funny was that the pitch prior to the game-tying double was exactly the same pitch - except Ross towered it foul, by like a foot. I would've imagined that Redman wouldn't have thrown it again, but who was I kidding, it's Mark Redman - the alleged "worst All-star in history."

So with the game knotted up at 6-6, I felt this pit in my stomach that this was an evening where I would be going to bed upset yet again.

Enter Peter Moylan.

The following is a real transcript with my co-writer, as he was watching his Nationals take on the Phillies:

HIM: Jamie Moyer confuses me
ME: yes he is weird
ME: uh oh
ME: moylan is in
ME: game over
HIM: damn it

What I expected the Marlins to turn into the illegal beating of baby seals turned into the exact opposite. Moylan feasted on the righty-rich Marlins lineup, and recorded three-scoreless innings of solid relief pitching. His unorthodox sidearm delivery had tons of movement, and I was left watching my TV with the WTF look on my face as pitches mysteriously curved back into the strike zone at the last possible movement. I kept waiting for him to tire and eventually let the Marlins take the lead, but he kept pitching, and getting outs.

By the time he was lifted for a pinch-hitter, he had only yielded one hit and one walk, and his ERA had dropped to a very respectable 3.86. Yates came in and recorded a hold in the 7th, and Soriano recorded one of his own in the 8th. In the top of the 9th, the Marlins made a huge mistake and intentionally walked the .056 hitting Langerhans, and with a full-count, Pete Orr cracked a laser into right field for a two-run single. By the time the top of the 9th was over, the Braves were up 11-6, and it was no longer a save situation for Wickman. Regardless, he shut the door on the Marlins, and the game was over.

Peter Moylan's performance was brilliant. He earned his first ever win in the Major Leagues, but the main story was that despite Redman's abysmal performance, the Atlanta bullpen came in and dominated.

Atlanta Bullpen: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 7 K

As far as I'm concerned, they all deserve the win for that kind of performance. Despite the fact that the team won, Redman should still get a loss. For sucking so badly.

Wanna-be Scout

I hate to say "I told you so," but... fuck it, I knew it was going to happen all along - Eric Gagne gets hurt... again.

The Rangers should be lucky that they were smart enough to keep Akinori Otsuka to take over his rightful spot as the closer of that crappy team. With Otsuka back in the closer's role, I'm becoming curious to the rate of teams using Japanese relievers to be closers. Takashi Saito of the Dodgers converted 24 saves in part-time duty last year, and has already converted 6-7 this season already, on pace for at least 40 at this rate, barring any injuries. Otsuka obviously pitched great for the Rangers last season after being Trevor Hoffman's set-up man previously, converting 32 saves for them. And the Red Sox have now apparently decided to have Hideki Okajima to be the closer every third day, in order to save Papelbon's shoulder from falling off by August.

The one thing that these three men have is that they are not eating their innings with blistering heat, like a Papelbon or Zumaya would. Rarely do their pitches exceed 90 on the radar gun - they beat their batters with location and control. It's pretty nerve-wracking to watch one of these guys come out in the 9th inning, because we want to see someone not even have a chance to put the ball in play with the game on the line. And guys like Papelbon blowing away top hitters like Young, Jeter and Guerrero don't do anything but add to the appeal. But when a guy like Okajima throws five pitches prior to throwing a tantalizing curveball to Jason Giambi which makes his psychotic eyes bulge prior to swinging, I can't help but cover my eyes, but then remove my hand to see that Giambi hits a harmless tapper to Lugo who throws him out at first.

So last night, the Braves fell to the Marlins in what should not have been such a competitive game. The D-Train obviously more concerned about his impending fatherhood pitched a mediocre game that the Braves really could have capitalized on, but the right guys just couldn't get any contact with the bat. I really can't stand it when Bobby goes into certain line-ups, just to play on the numbers based on hand-orientations.

Leaving Kelly Johnson out of the lineup, just because Willis is a lefty? Johnson's batting .520 in his last four games!

Atlanta's biggest problem is the lower part of the order - Langerhans (.063), Wilson (.164), Thorman (.206), and Diaz (.222) are for the most part, almost guaranteed outs as it stands. At any given point, two of those four guys are in the lineup during each game, and combine them with the pitcher, it's almost safe to say that the opposing pitcher only needs to worry about 1-6, barring a Renteria or A. Jones GIDP.

Wait, let me take that back - Atlanta's biggest problem is starting pitching - namely the fourth and fifth starters. I cringe knowing that Davies and Redman steer the tail-end of the rotation, but I honestly believe Davies is far better than how he's performing lately. If I could write a letter to Kyle Davies, it would be like this:

Dear Kyle,
You're a major-league baseball pitcher. You obviously harness a talent that 90% of the people in the country do not posess. Take a few steps back and look at your situation - you're not in the minor leagues, and are at the pinnacle of baseball performance. Pitch like you belong. Stop being scared, have confidence in the skills that obviously brought you to this level. Think less about the negativity, give up less hits to the likes of Aaron Fucking Boone. Throw first-pitch strikes, use the curveball more. Greg Maddux once said "you can nullify the running game if you just keep them off base." And we all know there's only one way to do that. And bases on balls thrown into the dirt four straight times isn't the answer. Pitch like you pitched on your debut at Fenway two years ago. Pitch like you pitched at Shea on my birthday last year. Pitch like you really don't want to get sent back to the minors and be teamed up with Macay McBBride.
X


But I digress - Atlanta's still 12-7, and right up there with the first place Mets whom the media is having a collective orgasm at the thought of them in first again, even if it is just a half-game defecit.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

How Quickly the Tides May Turn

With the Mets having tied and then going ahead on a 5-run sixth inning, I dreaded all the possible scenarios that would ensue when the Mets would ultimately shut the door on the all-or-nothing-swinging Braves. How amazing Jose Reyes is, Tom Glavine's 294th win en route to the impending 300th win, how the Mets are the gods of the National League, and so forth. Let's face it, when it comes to media bias, Barry Bonds, the New York Mets, and the Chicago Cubs get the vast majority of the coverage.

I was ready to write about how fucking Shawn Green is the most dangerous, underrated hitter in the Mets lineup, and how Jose Reyes is probably one of the best players in the National League altogether, and if he were on any other team than the Mets, I would probably be a fan of his.

But then with one swing of the bat, thoughts like that came to a halt. Edgar Renteria tied the game with a massive opposite-field homerun off Scott Schoenweis. One inning later, I was screaming at my television when Kelly Johnson played Aaron Heilman like a fiddle and crushed a 2-0 fastball into right-center for the go-ahead 3-run homer. Two innings later, Bob Wickman shut the door on the Mets, and the Braves leave Shea Stadium winners of the series 2-1, and with an overall record of 4-2 against the Mets.

My thoughts of today's game:
  • Kelly Johnson is the man of the hour, and will probably get a hero's welcome the next home game in Atlanta, provided he keeps it up on the remainder of this long road trip. Two homers, clutch hitting, patient at-bats, and good base-running. I feel like one of the few people in Atlanta that actually thought that Johnson was a fine step-up from Marcus Giles, despite having never played second-base ever before. And he's proving it this season thus far, early as it may be.
  • Bobby Cox, if I am not mistaken, with today's ejection, is maybe 5-6 ejections from the all-time record for ejections. I could be wrong, but I don't exactly remember off the top of my head where it currently stands.
  • John Smoltz, despite not getting a decision still pitched a hell of a game. Once again, he pitched one inning too many, and got in a lot of trouble. But the highlight of the game, and a sure-fire shoo-in for an upcoming ESPN Web Gem or a potential defensive play of the week/month/season, was when he took a Tom Glavine bunt, and somehow fielded a perfect, off-balance, windmill throw to Craig Wilson who made the stretch and was able to get Glavine out.
  • Craig Wilson is invincible. Twice this season he has been hit by a pitch, and both times, not even a single flinch. Once was in the thigh, in which he flung the bat towards his dugout and trotted to first as if he just drew a walk - no limping, no indication that it might've even remotely hurt. Heilman is a pretty hard-throwing pitcher - and he plunked Wilson right on the left kidney area, and once again, Wilson acted as if nothing happened, and took his base. If that kind of impact happened in like World Cup soccer, the hit guy would be on the ground looking like someone shot and murdered his entire family and clubbed out his legs.
  • And speaking of hit batsmen, Pedro Feliciano is a thug. Down three runs in the top of the 9th, he threw way inside on Andruw Jones and plunked him in the foot. And with the next batter, Brian McCann, he threw way inside on him, and on an attempted bunt/protective bat, the ball plunked him on the knuckles. Doesn't sound big, but with a catcher, and anyone who has watched the child molester's (Lo Duca) recent struggles, sore fingers on the throwing hand is a difference maker. Unfortunately Feliciano didn't get charged with an HBP but drew a foul ball strike.
The seemingly impenetrable bullpen of the Mets was exploited by some clutch hitting by the Braves lineup, and I am left with a good feeling having watched a roller coaster ride of a game. For the time being, the Braves are in sole possession of first place in the NL East, and hopefully, they can continue to play well against the Marlins.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

The Guy Next Door

Between the 5th grade up until I was in the 10th grade, I had this neighbor that lived next door to me. He was an only-child, and no matter how much he tried to defend it, there was no denying the fact that he was spoiled. His parents, I really didn't know what they did for a living, but they had an in-house housekeeper/babysitter who spoke only Spanish, which was fine because they were a Latino family anyway. He and I were on-and-off friends throughout those five years - we had a lot in common, and we had very similar interests.

But if you were to ask me how I felt about things bottom line, it would be simple - He was kind of a dork, even more so than the blogger I became to be. He was easily excitable, and probably was pretty creepy in closed confines. I was better at video games than he was, whether it was Street Fighter or Final Fantasy, I could draw better than he could, I was a better athlete, and most importantly, I was better at basketball than he was. The last one was important, because in the end, our friendship ultimately ended because of basketball.

Despite the fact that we both had our own basketball hoops in our driveways, I had the innate ability to lower the height of the rim so that we could both pretend like we were international versions of Spud Webbs or Cedric Ceballoses, y'know, the dunk gurus of our respective generation at the time. But let's face it - both of us were chubby overweight kids, we weren't black, and our jumping abilities were pretty elementary. That didn't stop us, and we still dunked away on a 7-foot high rim. And then, my neighbor got this inspiration to pretend like he was Shawn Kemp or something and perform a monster slam, followed by a pull-up on the rim. Naturally, not being Shawn Kemp, the attempted dunk wasn't pretty - and since my basket wasn't exactly NBA-standards, when he dangled on the rim like a 130 lb. Spanish fly, the rim made this painful sounding creak, before literally snapping the welds.

I shouted at my neighbor, and instead of admitting fault like a real man would do, he got really mad at me, as if I did something wrong, and then stormed back to his house. He and I have not spoken since, even to this day.

I saw him on television today.

With each accomplishment he had, he jumped over the third-base line, obviously uncaring on how much of a dork he looked like. When scorned, he glared with his beady eyes like a psycho filled with hate and promises that wouldn't be delivered. And when he was ultimately relieved in the end, he was given a standing ovation by a crowd who obviously had low expectations. And to make things worse, he tipped his cap towards the crowd that cheered him as if he threw a no-hitter or something - an act that someone with a lot more class, and higher standards would have refrained from doing.

Oliver Perez - 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 E, 9 K.

With the exception of the 9 strikeouts he recorded, that is a pretty mediocre performance. For a veteran like Tom Glavine, or even Roy Halladay would walk back to the dugout with his head low, somber, and fearing that his bullpen might blow whatever lead might be in jeopardy.

But with the way the Braves were playing today, Perez was pretty safe. This is the second time that I've seen Perez go crazy and shut the Braves down. I don't think for a moment that he is a good pitcher, because I've seen way too many other teams tee off on him like he were pitching on that shitty ball on a string product that Derek Jeter pimps on infomercials. There is just something about the Braves that turns off the suck-switch, and he performs well. And it's not like he was all that great, it was that the Braves just couldn't get any hits in succession to generate some runs. That, and Andruw Jones is trying his butt off to hit homers, which is blowing up in his face, and hopefully will drive his contract price down towards the year's end.

I will admit that Perez played well. Way more well enough than needed to beat the Braves on this day. But Oliver Perez just annoys me. He is just one of those guys that you just don't like for not a whole lot of reasons aside from the obvious. He's dominated the Braves twice this season, which is reason enough, but I dislike him for more than just that. His actions. His mannerisms. His personality, or my percption of it.
  • The way he leaped like a fairy or a George Costanza over the third base line on his way back to the dugout after he got out of inning after inning.
  • When Chuck James got a little frustrated after the homer he gave up to Ramon Castro, he threw a little high and tight pitch at Perez to get him off the plate and crowding him. Perez then glared at James who was obviously ignoring his empty threats. With those beady eyes and dumbfounded look on his face, he acted like he would have any chance at all he if got into a real fight with the Southern-bred and raised James. I'd pay to see that.
  • When he was finally relieved in the 7th inning, Perez leaped like a fairy for the last time over the third base line on his way to the dugout, and then tipped his cap to the cheering crowd like he just completed a perfect game or something. I'm sorry, what? Nine hits? Is that something to be that proud of? This past Tuesday, John Smoltz left the game after giving up six hits to the Nationals, and could be seen in the dugout throwing Gatorade coolers and equipment around in sheer frustration.
The bottom line is that I'm miffed about the Braves losing. Losing to the Mets is nothing to be ashamed about, as they have rebuilt their squad into a legitimate contender throughout the last two years, but losing to Oliver Perez just annoys me. He is a gigantic dork who celebrates like a champion for small victories, and he's plain ugly too.

Was Oliver Perez really my neighbor? Hell no. But metaphorically, Perez was my neighbor. We could've been friends at some point in my life - but his lifestyle, his actions, and just plain stupid reasons lead to why I just don't like him.

This real neighbor, I actually located through myspace anonymously, and I discovered that he, like me, dropped a great deal of baby-fat throughout the years, and like most twenty-somethings in modern America on myspace, has a large variety of grainy digital pictures taken in clubs of himself with a drink in hand, with some 7/10 females in his company.

I bet if I played some one-on-one with nowadays, I'd still whoop his ass. My Olajuwon-esque fadeaway > His Matt Geiger-esque wanna be Jabbar sky-hook.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Baseball and Emotions

It's April. The baseball season, barring any worldwide tragic events, will ultimately end in October, with the crowning of another World Series champion. Most teams have played no more than maybe 17 games at this point in the season, and there are still over 140 games left to be played. Regardless of the seeming irrelevance of the games being played now, I find that my emotions are ultimately decided by the end of each day by the outcomes of all of the games that I am interested in.

This can be said about pretty much any sport that I am currently following - being baseball season, baseball outcomes ultimately decide how I am feeling by day's end.

Today, was an excellent day, and I feel wonderful.
  • Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets in Shea, 7-3, with Chipper crushing a monster homer, and Tim Hudson throwing a dominant, scoreless eight innings.
  • Washington Nationals, despite a blown save by Chad Cordero, prevail in 14-innings over the Florida Marlins. The worst team in the history of Major League Baseball shouldn't be winning games like this.
  • Boston Red Sox charge back against Mariano Rivera and the New York Yankees. Torre fails yet again to realize that a man like Rivera should not be used for anything other than three-out saves. Okajima slams the door on the Yankees in place of Papelbon.
  • St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley - Lou Piniella explodes... twice. Mysteriously, nobody seems to get the win for the Cards.
  • Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, further plunging them into the dregs of the majors. Flash Gordon blows his second save of the year, thus proving how much the Phillies suck.
  • In Texas, one of my favorite targets in baseball, Bruce Chen contributed to the overall routing of the Rangers by the Athletics.
Watching Baseball Tonight and seeing all these Braves and Nationals players in both Web Gems, Best Hits, and That's Nasty leaves me with a good taste in my mouth as I sign off.

The Sports Retards

If the Nationals win the local radio sports show won’t even mention them, but if they lose they use the entire show to gloat. It is sad that they are supposed to represent this area, but yet they are happy when the home team loses. They twist the knife in the wound by saying because the Nationals lost by two runs yesterday they won’t be able to sign Zimmerman to a long term contract in four years. They love to point out that anyone that thinks the Nationals won’t lose 100 games isn’t being realistic. They fail to realize that negativity and realism aren’t the same thing.
Since Manny Acta had a closed door meeting with the team that have been playing better baseball. If they continue to play solid games then they won’t be as bad as these whining gloating losers won’t them to be. Of course we won’t hear anything about how wrong they were. They will just point out they still had a losing season and keep on being negative.
Another theory of theirs’ is that the owners are cheap. Including buying the team, improvements to the stadium, hiring scouts and other front office people, increased advertisement, prospects from the Caribbean, and the players signed in the off-season (minor league contracts or not) the owners probably spent nearly $500,000,000. If I had the ability to spend that kind of money call me cheap all you want. Stan Kasten built an empire in Atlanta, and for some reason that resume isn’t enough to convince these whiney little pencil neck geeks that the Nationals are in good hands. Of course it is hard to convince people with such deep personality flaws that anything possible can happen. The first thought out of their head on a sunny day is it will rain tomorrow.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Phenomenon known as "Cubs Fans"

Losing is a part of sports. Every team loses now and then, except the 1972 Miami Dolphins. But losing to the Chicago Cubs, now that blows. And then losing a shut-out to the Chicago Cubs, that just makes me want to take my own life on my own birthday.

Rich Hill isn't that good, but the Braves were having a definite off-night with their bats. I could've fucking hit his overblown 12-6 curveball, because I was correctly predicting every time he was going to use it 90% of the time. For once, Mark Redman had a quality start, but the Braves offense just could not get anything going to generate any run support.

I love Bobby Cox, and I will firmly go with the notion that along with Tony LaRussa, they are two of the best baseball managers to have ever lived. But a disturbing trend I've noticed this season thus far is that Bobby is allowing his starters to consistently go one more inning too long in their starts. And each time he does, the fatigued starter gives up a crucial hit or two, and sometimes a threatening run. It's cold still, and it's early in the season. There's no adrenaline, and there's still a lack of stamina built up. Smoltz the other night went one inning too many and almost had his decision blown against the Nationals. Davies went an inning too long last night, and Villarreal gladly blew the save and took the decision for himself. Tonight, Mark Redman, despite being down two runs, went an inning too long himself, and before he was pulled, the deficit was three runs. With the way the Braves' bats were performing it might as well have been going from an eight to a ten run deficit.

Despite Mike Gonzalez's elbow woes, Villarreal, Yates, Soriano and even Coyler have pitched well recently, to be able to handle the construction of the bridges to Wickman. It's too early to push starters to the limit. Even King Felix in Seattle has been in some pain lately, because the Mariners have been riding his arm so heavily already.

But the main reason I decided to sit down and write is because of the aberration I witnessed tonight...

It's pretty well known. All baseball fans know it. The Chicago Cubs, they have fans, no matter where they go. It could be the Cubs vs. like the fucking San Francisco Giants, and there would be spots of blue all over the entire stadium of sporadic Cubs fans. If the Cubs ever had interleague with the Red Sox in Boston, even they would find a way to infiltrate Fenway to disrupt the seas of red and green. The bottom line is that Cubs fans are absolutely everywhere, regardless of if they're from Chicago, have any affiliation with Chicago, family in Chicago, or not.

Yet, it still baffles me when I see it, and I'm afraid I must also say that it makes me absolutely sick. Yes, Atlanta is a very fair-weathered city, and the fans only have a tendency to come out for the most popular games, and even if the World Series came to Atlanta, tickets would be available at the gate, prior to the first pitch. Turner Field rarely sells out, and even if they do, not all the tickets actually make it back to be redeemed. They have more seats than what they know what to do with, but I can't knock it, it's my absolute favorite park to watch baseball in.

But to see my own home field, smothered with this blue cancer of Chicago Cubs fans, spread few and far between like chicken pox almost makes my skin crawl. To see a fifth-grader named Ronny Cedeno bloop a single, and then to hear an approving eruption in Atlanta disgusts me. These Cubs fans are all belligerent, loud, obnoxious, and most of them are really, really fat. Most are old, and many are young and ignorant, and don't even know why they're cheering for them. They drink way excessively, and now I have this opinion that they really do search to pick out fights. It's fine to cheer for your team, no matter the lack thereof justification, but do it with some class.

Why Cubs fans are so enamored with the Cubs is completely beyond me. They have sucked for like ever, and they seek out excuses like Steve Bartman when Piss-Hands couldn't catch a pop foul. The reasons why Mark Prior and Kerry Wood will never recover is because deep down, Cubs fans don't want them to - because if they were ever healthy and the Cubs continued to skid, they would no longer have that excuse.

My co-writer has said it best, and briefly - Cubs fans obviously have a martyr complex.

Cubs fans are the same people who argue tooth and nail that Clay Aiken was the true American Idol that one year it had William Hung in it. Why that is my prime example is something i should be ashamed of, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. The analogy is that Cubs fans cheer for losers, and dispute things that will never be changed. (Like Bartman)

Even as it stands now, the injury to Alfonso Soriano, the financial situation with Zambrano, the changing of the leagues for Lilly, and the impending sale of the fucking team are all being used as excuses to why the Cubs are still below-average, and are continuously losing to the Reds.

But I digress - mostly I'm just fuming because the Braves lost, and even this early in the season, I treat every loss as if it really sucks - because there ain't nothing good about losing, ever. But I do mean everything I've said - seeing Cubs fans outweigh Braves fans in Atlanta is something that really bothers me.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

birthday baseball

"you fucking don't know shit, you motherfucker!"

And with those words, all gloves were off, and the fists started flying. Unlike high school, nobody around the combatants started chanting "fight, fight, fight." Security allowed the fight to go on for about an entire sixty seconds before reinforcements came along, and there were enough bodies to separate. I don't know if anyone could see it on television, but i caught Edgar Renteria glancing in our direction in between half-innings.

And when the smoke cleared, the Atlanta Braves rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat the lowly Chicago Cubs, 8-6. Great way to bring in my birthday, as I will be going to tomorrowtoday's game as well. But back to the previous game, the Braves took advantage of a shaky Carlos Zambrano, who seems to be playing like he wants to prove that he's not worth Barry Zito money. Kyle Davies had a decent outing, despite a few shaky moments, and Oscar Villarreal Villarreal'd his first victory of the year.

Note: Alfonso Soriano's backup CF, Felix Pie (pron: pee-yay) hit an impressive triple during the game. He also had this noticeable habit of grabbing his gear/junk/package prior to achieving batting stance. Now when I play softball, I've had to adjust my shorts to where I can get into a comfortable batting stance, but not to the extent of palming my grapefruits in between every pitch.

Note:
Washington 4 10 .286
Philadelphia 3 9 .350

If I'm not mistaken, the Nationals are actually better than another team. Certainly, that can't be possible, because the 2007 Nationals are supposed to be the worst team in history of Major League Baseball?

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

if this were 2006...

if this were the 2006 atlanta braves, they would have undoubtedly lost the game to the washington nationals tonight. hell, if it were the 4/10/2007 atlanta braves, they would have undoubtedly lost the game to the washington nationals tongiht. macay mcbride would have surely been called in for god knows why to get out of the seventh with the baserunners that belonged to smoltz, and he would as sure as i am breathing air, blown the lead, and no doubt given the nationals the lead in the process.

but these are the braves of late april 2007, and they have a bullpen that can actually pull through. for reasons completely unknown to me, smoltz took the mound in the bottom of the 7th with 98 pitches already thrown. two batters, two hits, one earned run. bobby cox, who should've sat him, and had no reason to keep him going, quickly came out to prevent a repeat of thursday night occur. villerreal pitched brilliantly, and if it were not for the errors by chipper and renteria, he would have gotten out of the inning quickly. thankfully, he whiffed the most talented batter on the team (zimmerman) and cox pulled him for some heat. soriano had a hell of a battle with mr. shaves with scissors (dmitri young) but managed to get out of the remainder of the inning with smoltz's lead intact.

i love john smoltz. i would even venture to say that he is my favorite player on the atlanta braves. but regardless of it were his call or bobby's call, he should not have come out in the 6th inning, as he had a lead, and 98 pitches already thrown. he earned the win in six innings, but he single-handedly put it back in jeopardy in the seventh. as i stated prior, if this were last year's braves, or last week's braves, that lead would have been as good as gone.

villerreal holds it together to get a crucial out, and soriano pitches a magnificent 8th. chipper redeems his error with an insurance homer off rauch, and wickman gets the job done to earn the save.

on a different note, i am a native washingtonian/virginian, so i am a fan of the nationals as well. given my current home situation, i do pull for the braves, even against the nats, but i will defend tooth and nail against all of the illogical rhetoric being spouted about the nationals' organization.

130 losses? not going to happen.
100 losses? more realistic, but i have faith that it will not happen.
70 wins? lofty to the sheep who follow sports illustrated and espn like the word of the lord, but what i feel is an attainable goal.

the marlins have endured such onslaughts of discouragement for the last four years, and yet they keep putting out teams that come within a superstar/a few years of maturity away from being real contenders. the media has decided to shut up, and come to the realization that hey, dontrelle willis is pretty fucking good. miguel cabrera is a year or two from being close to a pujols competitor. hanley ramirez is arguably a year or two from being just like jose reyes.

bottom line, i believe that stan kasten takes the criticism his organization is receiving as seriously as i do. imagine trying to tell him that his team will suck? he'd invite you into his office, where 14 division banners are probably hanging, ask you to take a look around, and then say "what?"

the nationals lost tonight, but it was a hard fought game, that they could have taken. and if anyone wants to get granular, they're boasting more wins than "the team to beat," philadelphia phillies. if the nationals lose 130 games, i'll shave my damn head.

Mortal Enemy

A wise man once said, “It is better to be thought and idiot than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” Jon Heyman must have never heard this quote. Time and time again when it comes to the Nationals he removes all doubt. He takes every opportunity he gets to put them down. He is the Barbra Mandrel of hating the Nationals. He hated them last year before all the predication of swarms of locust and rivers of blood. Jon Heyman even went so far as to call the capital of the free world a small market. Yes, the most valuable football franchise in the United States plays in a small market. Jon Heyman’s latest tirade against the Nationals is more idiotic than anything before. In the last paragraph he says when talking of the trade deadline:

That's nice. But of course, they don't have all that many players that playoff contenders will want. The one player they must trade is closer Chad Cordero, who could bring in a haul. A closer it not really the last thing a team this bad needs. But as with Alfonso Soriano last summer, whom the Nats ended up holding onto after the trade deadline, there's always the danger they'll expect too much in return for Cordero and wind up doing nothing.

This is almost too easy to dissect. Last year the Nationals traded Royce Clayton, Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Brendan Harris, Marlon Anderson, Mike Stanton, Livan Hernandez, and Daryl Ward. This year they have the same number of spar parts. There are certain things teams are always looking for at the deadline, relievers and a bat off the bench. The Nationals have relievers and bats that could come off a contender’s bench. Belliard already was traded at the deadline once to help a team win the World Series. Why can’t it happen again? Dmitri Young has been hot with the bat and not terrible with the glove. He will be traded when Nick Johnson comes back. The Nationals bullpen is full of relievers. They have Jesus Colome, Micha Bowie, Jon Rauch, Ryan Wagner, Saul Rivera, and Chad Cordero who can be shut down relievers, and don’t forget Luis Ayala is coming off the DL sometime this season. A team needs to make a game a six inning game not a three inning game.
Jon Heyman then points out that the Nationals must trade Cordero. Why must they trade Cordero? He is young, good, and under contract. This isn’t the same as the Soriano situation. Soriano was a free agent after the season and was having a career year. The Nationals might not need a closer much this year, but what about the next year or the year after that, and unless a team does blow you away why trade a popular good young player. The best offer for Soriano was a low class A pitcher. The same thing the Nationals got for Marlon Anderson. I don’t know if Jon Heyman realizes this, but 2>1. The two draft picks the Nationals got will yield players not far behind a low class A player, and that doubles the chances of one of them turning out to be good.
The stupidity of Jon Heyman is far reaching. He doesn’t understand the term “under contract” or the fact that 2>1. He won’t let facts get in his way of hating the Nationals. I doubt he ever mentions the positives of the Nationals young pitching staff coming around and doing better than experts like him expected.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

never be content

with macay mcbride demoted down to AAA richmond braves, i thought there could be nobody worse that they could possibly bring up to take his place.

enter peter moylan.

known best for making his rediscovery in the 2006 world baseball classic, representing the country/continent of australia. despite the fact that australia went out without any resistance, moylan impressed someone enough for the atlanta braves to bring him to the states for a spring training workout. he ended up making the extended roster, just being another arm - nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. he had a few appearances in the 2006 season, usually during darko milicic time, when the braves were either blowing someone away, or were getting blown away. nothing special, nothing to call home about. i didn't think he could throw all that hard either.

during spring training this year, bobby cox made comments about how he returned to the sidearm delivery that resulted in more success, but obviously he wasn't good enough to make the 25-man roster over macay mcbride.

today's outing showed exactly why. going into the top of the 9th with an 8-1 lead against the florida marlins, the braves called upon moylan to simply close out the rest of the game. moylan would proceed to give up hits to the first three batters, and ultimately give up three runs before bobby cox had to unnecessarily make the AT&T call to the bullpen and bring out bob wickman to throw 0.2 innings in a non-save situation.

his "new" sidearm delivery is slow, and moylan's control is awful. throwing constant balls well below the strike zone, and anything that hits over 88 mph on the speedo is normally wild. lefties also have a gigantic advantage of being able to see his release point easier than righties, and it was proven when borchard and olivo both delivered hits from the left side.

what should have been a relaxing game, i found myself screaming at the television, praying for moylan to throw some goddamn strikes. there was no reason to have to use soriano or gonzalez, but if the braves can't get some reliable arms to do some garbage work, it's going to be a long season.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

it takes a blog to generate results

despite the current rain delay right now, that seems to be clearing up, which means the braves will probably get to take the field very soon, i was absolutely ecstatic at the news i heard today.

RHP chad paronto put on the DL
LHP macay mcbride re-assigned to AAA richmond

i have been pining for the day that macay mcbride gets taken off the 25-man roster, and with the constant "mechanical problems" and "lapses in concentration" he has been suffering with the last two seasons, the braves have finally managed to pull the plug on this liability. i hope peter moylan has enough ability to keep the spot mcbride had, without being such a heart attack inducing waste of a roster spot.

kudos to oscar villarreal who once again provided solid long-term relief pitching when mark redman stunk up the joint again.

Friday, April 13, 2007

introduction

the last few days, i have been infuriated by the abomination known as the "pitching" by atlanta braves relief pitcher, macay mcbride. as thoughts raced through my head, i realized that there were too few people readily available for me to vent my frustrations, and share my overall manly sports jock opinions. too often, these thoughts are ultimately forgotten, and experienced by absolutely nobody. i wish for that to end, and thus one more time for sting is born.

i would like to thank macay mcbride for essentially pushing me over the proverbial edge to finally act upon my desire to vent and possibly be heard by new eyes and ears, and for basically inadvertently becoming my personal target for whenever the subject veers towards bad pitching, or pitiful performances.

shawn marion's shooting form disgusts me. how he became an actual NBA player with that kind of form completely baffles me. he releases quickly, his elbows bow outwards, and often he gets little to no backspin on the shot. considering he is a career 34% 3-pt shooter, i have no idea why he keeps launching so many treys; he's obviously no tim legler.

i will touch on my subjects, with 90% of them probably pertaining to sports of some form. but afterall, that's what we jocks do.

one more time for sting, baby. woooooooooooooooo!