» Garrett Anderson

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?)

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.)

     After the game last night, some twenty-four hours off may be a good thing for the Bravos. Even if it was just the third day of the season, yesterday’s game will be hard to walk away from, especially since this happened twice last year. Right now, that’s all in the past. Let’s look at tommorrow- or at least try too.

    Tomorrow is the home-opener against the Washington Nationals. Honestly, I have no idea how that’s going to go. The Braves seemed to beat the Nats just about as much as the Nats beat the Braves last year. Last year’s July 20th game (for my birthday), for instance, was just Braves massacre (I don’t remember the score, I’m pretty sure I tried hard to forget it as soon as possible. All I remember is the Nationals were in the ‘teens while the Braves were in the single numbers. It was the last time I saw Mark Teixeira in a Braves uniform in person. Sad, sad day). The Braves will send the Derek Lowe to the mound and the Nats will send Shairon Martis, who was 3-1 last season. It appears Martis will be making his first appearance of the 2009 season while Lowe will have his second start, after going eight innings and giving up no runs and two hits Sunday in Philly.

    There are two questions about Friday that we’ll have to wait to be answered. Number one: Will Chipper Jones and Garrett Anderson be back in the starting lineup?  There have been several reports that Chipper will be back tomorrow from his bruised thumb that sat him out yesterday. Although Garrett pinch-hit yesterday, there is no way to tell whether he’ll be back from his calf-strain. It kept him benched through a good portion of the spring, so we’ll just have to play that one by ear. Number two: Will the bullpen crack again? Honestly, I have no idea. Most of the relievers yesterday were making their debuts for the year (and for Moylan, his first game in a year) so they might have been over-throwing. Also the pressure might have caused them to crack, but I’m sure that was just a one time deal.

So now, all that need to be said is LET’S GO GET ‘EM BRAVES!

(And one final side-note: I wish to send my sincere condolences to the family of Nick Adenhart, may he rest in peace. I’ll be paying him tribute at the game tomorrow)

     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.