» Brian McCann

I went to the Georgia Aquarium today. It was really fun, but on the way home I heard the news on Jeff Francoeur. My first thought, “Wren is an idiot!” I still stand by that. Frenchy… gosh, I never thought they’d trade him.

I get that he was struggling, but I’m the one that’ll cheer for my favorites forever. He goes in that category. I’m excited to see what Ryan Church has to offer, but… it’s my Frenchy. I remind you, I’m a girl. So I have some emotions for Frenchy that won’t go away and I feel more attached to him than say, my best friend Chris, who was able to drop him in a second.

So, before I continue, what’s your favorite memory of Jeff Francoeur? Personal or on the field! Mine would probably when I met him in January and he was just fabulous to my little nephew!

Good luck, Frenchy. We’ll miss you!

In other news:

• Tommy Hanson is better than advertised in my opinion. Congrats to him on all his accomplishments
• I’ve pulled for Brooks Conrad since Spring Training, and its good to see it was all in good reason. Go Brooksie .
• I still love Kelly Johnson. I’m hoping he gets better and doesn’t have the same fate as Frenchy!
• Peter Moylan is still my favorite. No one can convince me otherwise. I believe I heard last night that he leads the National League in apparences, only thirteen or so months removed from Tommy John Surgery. So I blame Bobby for all his problems.
• Despite what I said above, I would still like to congratulate Bobby on the whole 2000th win situation.

and finally,

• Congratulations to Brian McCann for his fourth All-Star selection. Next year he’ll be starting. 

Thanks, guys. I’m back. I swear this time. I’ll be sure to tell you of all the fun I haven’t been able to tell as soon as possible

Is it just me, or is Yunel Escobar getting no love from pitching this series? He’s been hit twice. With that being said, he finished a triple short of hitting for the cycle yesterday and the Braves are in line to sweep the Reds today. I’m very happy for Yunel and he says it best when he says “Take That, Reds!”

Esco was not the only one to have a good day. Both David Ross and Jordan Schafer   hit doubles and Chipper Jones continued his success against Arroyo with a three run homer. Greg Norton hopefully hit his grove yesterday as he hit a double (and then looked to the bullpen where the relievers were cheering for him. According to Jon and Joe, Peter Moylan was cheering most. That’s so awesome)! Derek Lowe was outstanding yesterday, and the only blemish on his record was the two run he gave up to Alex Gonzalez in the second, beyond that he had a four hitter! Go D. Lowe!

Now, here comes the tension from the game. D. Lowe took care of Yunel yesterday, hitting Joey Votto with a pitch in the first inning as revenge for Volquez hitting Yunel Friday night.  Lowe was given a warning and was solid the rest of the day, despite Arroyo hitting Yunel again (though I’m not sure if that was on purpose or not. You never know)! Reds manager Dusty Baker and CF Joey Hairston jr. were ejected for arguing with HP umpire Mike Estabrook about Hairston being called out on strikes. There was a two or three minuet period where Baker wouldn’t leave the Dugout but eventually left. Would I be suprised if there was a fight today? Absoloutley not. The Reds need to try to keep the ball off of Yunel, because I have no doubt there would be a brawl, it’d be exciting, but we don’t need Yunel being suspended, especially with Brian McCann on the disabled list.

Let’s hope the Braves can complete the sweep! Let’s support Kenshin Kawakami!

Last night’s game was weird. It was fun to watch but really weird too. Jon “Boog” Sciambi and Joe Simpson cracked me up the whole time (as Boog taught us he could do math) but it was impossible to tear away.

I mean, I can’t remember when we accepted two staight bases loaded walks! Yunel Escobar’s little  bench and bullpen clearing “show” in the third inning was… kinda awesome in a weird way. There are times when I just love Yunel’s fire. It made the game ten times more interesting. Jeff Francoeur continues to remind us why we loved him so much before his slump last year (and why some of us continued to love him even during the slump) with his solo homer in the fifth plus Matt Diaz with his RBI. The Braves are starting to look better, so we’ll watch this work out.

Pitching Notes:

• Mike Gonzalez got the save! Now he has two! Go Gonzo!
• Rafael Soriano gave up his first run of the season.
• Peter Moylan got charged with an error but managed to not give up a run, and now has in ERA in the single digits! Go Moylan!
• Javier Vazquez is now 2 and 1. Go Javy!

Team Notes:

• Garrett Anderson is on the DL. Get well!
• The AJC’s David O’Brien expects Brian McCann to go on the DL and he’ll have a surgery to fix the left eye that has been giving him problems. Get well soon Mac!
• Chipper turned 37 years old yesterday! Poor guy didn’t have a hit though! Happy belated birthday!
• On the McCann note, Clint Sammons is expected to be called up! As much as I hate to lose Mac, I love Clint! Wooo!

So that’s it! The game starts at 1:10 EST, be sure to check out those Bravos! Wooo! Go D. Lowe! Woo!

Man-oh-man-oh-man! I can’t help but think that Kelly Johnson is the awesomest person in the world- ever. (Now I know you might think my Peter Moylan love is dying. Well, if you’re that concerned, it’s not. Pete’s accent gives him a major advantage over KJ)! Okay, so, Kelly. I swear I felt so happy when he walked and “drove in” that run last night, the only run of the game in the Braves-Nationals finale. I must say, if we had been swept by the Washington Nationals I would have been extremly worried. Last night’s game was has so much suspense in it, I would have thought I was watching a murder mystery.

Jair Jurrjens was great as always and his performance last night makes me wonder what he’ll be like in his late twenties or early thirties and its hard to think of him as 23, a year younger than my brother. This is two starts for him in a row where he could probably get the win if there had been some run support. Well, at least we won last night. That gives most of us some peace of mind on this long and boring off-day.  It seems like every two days we have an off day and that just stinks. So let’s look at some key points for this series with the Reds.

Brian McCann

That specialized contact lense he has will has… helped. He was one for four last night and one for two the night before, his first two hits in five games. Mac is essential to the line up and without him, lose a powerful, powerful element.

Chipper Jones

He needs to stay healthy. The Braves tend to play better with him in there. There is no doubt about it, so we need to keep Chipper as healthy as possible- that’s vital.

The Bullpen

We have three surgerically repaired relievers in Rafael Soriano, Peter Moylan, and Mike Gonzalez as the top relievers, they need to stay on top. Moylan has had a shaky beggining, but he’ coming back. His ERA went from 135.00 to 10.80 in six games, so I have no worries for him. As long as he keeps the ball in the strike zone, most of his earned runs have been walked in, so he needs to work on some control, but he looks pretty good considering he came back a month early from Tommy John Surgery. Gonzo needs to be his usual FANTASTIC self and be the closer he was last year after comming back from TJ. Sori, well, Sori’s fine. He needs to stay healthy. That’s all. The rest of the bullpen is pretty awesome. Eric O’Flaherty is really starting to impress me and (I’m hoping) other fans. Of course, Blaine Boyer is gone so these other guys will have to deal with the two guys who had the most appearances last year being gone (the other being Will Ohman, of course. I miss him and his hilarious self)!

Major Offense

We need to be able to protect our leads with good defense, yes, but adding isurance will definatley help that too. We need to be able to score runners that are in scoring positon and get guys on base. So far, Matt Diaz, Jeff Francoeur, Kelly Johnson, Chipper, and Yunel Escobar aren’t concerning me so much. MattE isn’t a regular like the rest, but he’s played more than Garrett Anderson this year (or it seems like it at least)!

With all this mind, I hope the Braves can start winnning. We have potential, but can we live up that potential…? That is the question.

(PS. I really wanna think of some nick names for the boys, espacially Moylan, Diaz, O’Flaherty, Schafer, KJ, and Kenshin- my favorites. Any suggestions?)

They finally snapped the losing streak! Not only that, they handed Zach Duke his first loss of the season (on his birthday! I kinda feel bad for him here!) and gave Javier Vazquez his much deserved first win. It was a shut out until James Parr hit a batsman with the bases loaded and made the score 11-1. I like Parr, he was amazing after his September call-up last year, but he’s worrying me this year. I know it’s only his second game of the year, but still, this was not the Parr we saw last year.

Brian McCann and Kelly Johnson didn’t play today (Mac for the eye!) but Chipper Jonez was in the line-up for the first time since the first game of the Marlins series. Mac’s and KJ’s replacements had great days, both shooting in three run homers. Jeff Francoeur, Matt Diaz, and Casey Kotchman also had RBIs, Frenchy with three, Kotchman and Diaz with one. The Bravos had a fifteen-hit, eleven run game and the Pirates had a seven hit, one run game. Both teams had one error. Peter Moylan continues to make his ERA smaller and I see him coming back to his 2007 self- minus the geeky glass of course and of course with more tattoos (which seems to be a subject in just about any interview he does, by the way). Jeff Bennett seemed to get around the jam he created for himself after the triple he could have prevented, but Javy Vazquez was by far the most amazing pitcher today! He went six shut out innings in awesome style! Go Javy! Go Braves!

Now, we’re going to visit the Nationals! Let’s sweep them again!

First off, sorry for not posting yesterday. I intended to so after I got home but when I did I was so tired I couldn’t think straight. So I’ll do yesterday’s and today’s right now.

The game last night will be pretty hard to forget. It was the second home-opener I’ve ever been too, and the rain delay for about two hours was pretty fun at times and miserable at others. I think the highlight of the whole delay was when they showed “Prime Nine” that show on MLB Network, one of my favorite shows. Okay, game time now.

Before the delay, Derek Lowe gave up one run in the top of the third (I’m not to entirely sure what happened as my nephew and I were running the bases in Sky Field). So the Nats got an early lead, not for long though, in the bottom of that inning, Yunel Escobar hit his first home-run of the year, a three run. So going into the delay called at the top of the fourth, the score was 3-1 with Atlanta on top!

After the delay, Buddy Carlyle came in with two outs and a full count for Lowe. Carlyle struck the batter out to end the inning. Buddy did pretty well last night, a good portion of the pitches he threw were strikes. The bottom of the fourth, the Braves added to their lead by one. After Carlyle, Pete Moylan made his home debut in a year. He gave up a hit, but I swear he made my night just being out there (because I’m sure by now I’ve made it clear that he is my favorite and last year was unbearable without him). After Moylan gave up that hit, Bobby brought in Eric O’Flaherty, who suffered a blown save, but the inning ended. After the Irish came Jeff Bennett in the top of the seventh. Bennett got into a jam but managed to get out of the via a double play. The bottom of that inning, the Braves broke that tie. Then in the eighth the Braves sent former closer Rafeal Soriano. Soriano went through quickly, leading into the bottom where the Bravos remained silent for one of the few times that night. Finally, came the ninth. Mike Gonzalez came in… and blew the save. So the ’pen continues in struggles, but that might just be short term. In the bottom of the ninth, despite Chipper Jones getting to second after a single and a sac-fly by Brian McCann, Atlanta couldn’t get the point.  So onto the tenth. The Nats didn’t make it, so we go to the bottom of the tenth. Jordan Schafer managed to get on base, then to second. Then came the best part of the night: Kelly Johnson hit a basehit to score Schafer. THE BRAVES WIN. Jorge Campillo got the win while Joe Beimel suffered the loss! I don’t think there was anyone there who wasn’t happy that long game was over! I like to compare to that 17-inning game last year against Houston, it was early enough into Saturday, that no one really cared who won at that point.

So onto tonight. Kenshin Kawakami will make his Braves debut against John Lanan. We could probably expect to see Chipper in the line-up tonight, and it wouldn’t suprise me if Garrett Anderson will be starting tonight too. We’ll find out more about that later on in the day!

(And finally, I’ve noticed I forgot to mention that I’m Crista. I live in the Merto-Atlanta area and the Bravos are probably the best part of the summer.)

     First off, who else thought that Javier Vazquez’s Braves Debut was awesome? I have to admit, when the Braves traded Brent Lillibridge for him, I was pretty upset. Looking back on today, I don’t know where I stand now, Lillibridge was one of my favorites but it seems to me that Javy can be pretty valuable to the starting rotation! Today, for example, he gave up three runs in six innings against the 2008 World Champs, the Phillies.

      The bullpen is something I couldn’t say the same about. When Vazquez left the gam after the sixth inning, the score was 10-3 Atlanta. In the seventh, the Phillies scored eight runs, gaining the league. The only real highlight about it was Peter Moylan’s first appearance coming back from Tommy John Surgery. He gave up four runs, but you can guess he was over-excited.  He told Mark Bowman that he was, and that his mechanics were off. Which explains the two walk in runs. He’s a nice guy, I really have to give him credit. When I saw him at Autograph Fest in January, he was sweet to both me and my nephew and he’s one of my favorites. Blaine Boyer, he’s not someone I really trust in any game. I suppose that’s not fair, but that’s just my opinion. He also walked in four runs and until Jorge Campillo ended the inning  after giving up a run, the nightmare seemed endless.

     Even with the poor bullpen support, the Braves still had a decent day with the bat. Both Chipper Jones and Garrett Anderson were scratched from the starting line-up, but even that couldn’t silence Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, Jordan Schafer, Matt Diaz and the rest of the line-up. McCann, Diaz, and the rookie Schafer each had homered. Diaz was making his first appearance of the season in Anderson’s place. Oddly enought, after Diaz’s two-out ninth inning homer gave the Bravos some hope, Anderson struck out to end the game. So the Braves walked away with the series, not the sweep.

     Now, Atlanta will come home and open up for their hometown fans against the Nationals on Friday after they have Thursday off. I’ll be at Friday’s game and will definatley share picutes and any stories.