Freeman, Hanson updates; Sunday plans

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Positive news on the Braves injury front:  first baseman Freddie Freeman (knee) took batting practice Saturday and Tommy Hanson (concussion) will throw batting practice Sunday.

Freeman had no pain swinging the bat four days after partially dislocating the patella (kneecap) of his right knee. He hopes to do defensive drills Sunday and play Monday against Houston.

“I let it loose and I felt great,” said Freeman, who wore the neoprene-sleeve brace that he’ll wear beneath his uniform from now on. “I swung like I normally swing, I wasn’t even thinking about my knee out there.”

Hanson will face hitters Sunday at Braves camp for the first time since getting a Grade 1 concussion Feb. 20 when he blew a tire and wrecked his car driving to the opening workout of spring. The Braves hope to have him ready for the second time through the starting rotation in about 10 days.

Short hops

Rookie Tyler Pastornicky went 0-for-2 with a strikeout in his debut as the Braves starting shortstop…. Jason Heyward went 0-for-2 and lined out to second base with a runner on in the second… Journeyman outfielder Jordan Parraz had the Braves’ only hit and also made a nice catch in right-field foul territory. Parraz, 27, hit .289 with a .362 OBP, six triples and nine homers in 2011 for the Yankees’ Triple-A team….  Pastornicky, Martin Prado and Matt Diaz are the only lineup regulars the Braves will take to Lakeland for Sunday’s game against the Tigers. Randall Delgado will start for the Braves against Detroit right-hander Max Scherzer. Scheduled relievers for the Braves include right-handers Julio Teheran, Jairo Asencio and Jaye Chapman, among others. Delgado and Teheran, competing for starting-rotation spots, will pitch two innings apiece…. The Braves are wearing their regular-season home white jerseys for home games this spring training. In the past they’ve worn the blue spring-training jerseys with white pants home and away, but this spring they will wear the blue jerseys only on the road…. A crowd of 8,593 showed at Champion Stadium on a sunny afternoon with the temperature in the upper 80s. The forecast for Sunday’s game at Lakeland is for a high of 66 degrees with thunderstorms and 60 percent chance of rain.

63 comments Add your comment

Ball's-N-All

March 3rd, 2012
7:19 pm

KOOL”"”"

reckingball

March 3rd, 2012
7:29 pm

One hit. They might as well cancel the rest of the 2012 season.

Dawgdad (The Original)

March 3rd, 2012
7:34 pm

Tell the offense that the 2011 season is over, they can go back to thumping.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

March 3rd, 2012
7:35 pm

wow, 1 hit???? really guys!! still hungover from 2011 i guess

reckingball

March 3rd, 2012
7:39 pm

Woe upon me, how can we go on, what with this devastating loss, in the first game of the Grape Fruit League season.
It’s terrible, I’m telling you.

tim

March 3rd, 2012
7:42 pm

WE SUCK !!!! Its gonna be a long season please hurry college football.

BravesFanLostInOH

March 3rd, 2012
8:44 pm

Oh, for the love. It’s the first game of Spring Training and the pitchers are usually ahead of the hitters right about now. Quit your panicking.

Mr. Snarky

March 3rd, 2012
9:46 pm

I may be mistaken, but I believe the sky is falling. Fire everybody!

braves

March 3rd, 2012
9:54 pm

wow…since when did 2 at bats of the first spring training game determine a whole regular season. or even the rest of spring training. you so called braves fans should stop calling it quits so prematurely into the preseason. its way too early to see how anyone will do in ST and the regular season

BravesfaninWis

March 3rd, 2012
10:17 pm

Wow, only 1 measly hit and that came in the 8th inning and from a nobody player? They were out hit 10-1 and out scored 2-0. Not going to call it a season just yet, but that is a pathetic way to start the new season.

urban redneck

March 3rd, 2012
10:18 pm

FF needs to take it easy for a while…………and heyward needs to do 100 pushups when he slides headfirst.

one run on one hit? that’s all we got, one GD hit?
you can’t say GD on the air.
don’t worry. nobody’s listening anyway.

Bill

March 3rd, 2012
10:44 pm

Holy Cow…the first damn game and its just a inning are two for each players to get started and the so called fans are already bitching about the hitting..Pitching is always ahead of the hitting when ST starts. Get over it.

O-me

March 3rd, 2012
10:50 pm

urban redneck,yes someone is listening. Not very smart on your part.

Fred-D

March 3rd, 2012
10:50 pm

Please wait at least a week into the REGULAR SEASON to start complaining about the batting and not one game into SPRINT TRAINING!!

Fred-D

March 3rd, 2012
10:53 pm

Make that SPRING TRAINING, we all know that a MLB season is a marathon and not a sprint!!

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

March 3rd, 2012
11:37 pm

really??!! those of you who say it’s only spring training….im sorry, but if i were a brave, i’d be a little pissed on how last year ended. to come out game 1, preseason and put up 1 hit by a scrub..i dont care, it’s pathetic. braves were embarrassed in september, time to come out swinging…no excuses

JAFO

March 4th, 2012
12:03 am

Woe upon my STH renewal stapled to JSs letter. The weakness in my checking account has improved dramatically.

Stinger2

March 4th, 2012
5:14 am

Anyone who makes negative comments after one ST game is either just trying to get attention or just thinks they are being funny. If they really think what they are posting is true or makes any sense they are lost from reality.

Dan

March 4th, 2012
7:25 am

Although I have modest talents, I have realized the critical importance of enthusiastic fans…their devotion, enthusiasm and zeal can elevate a player’s game to unexpected levels. Sounds too simple, but when as an athlete you sense the confidence and high expectations of your home fans you generally respond positively.

I’ve lived here since ‘82 and have come to the conclusion that Atlanta fans, as a whole, take a very casual, wait-and-see approach at their events. Not really sure why that is, but it’s fact.

Almost hate to bring up this name here, given the animosity toward the Yankees, but when I shared this observation with a fan of theirs who attends games at both cities this was their observation:
“Atlanta fans wait for things to happen, Yankee fans
make things happen.”

Just a thought, but perhaps if we wouldn’t bail at the first poor performance and get about doing our job of rooting, our teams might rise to our COSISTENT level of expectation. Just sayin.’

bat082994

March 4th, 2012
7:27 am

hey “Braves Fans” if y’all are gonna give up on your team after the first game of SPRING TRAINING, go root for some else.

Johnny Carson

March 4th, 2012
7:29 am

All the panicking, First spring training game.
Must be just good ole human nature!
I had parents on my 9 year old boys NYO baseball team complaint after our first practice game too!
Get a life!

John Pappadoppagapoulas

March 4th, 2012
7:44 am

Look on the bright side. One hit is more than they had in September.

Felix 17

March 4th, 2012
8:40 am

Still haven’t recovered from September.

Let's Go

March 4th, 2012
8:59 am

The first game of spring training it means nothing. Had the braves scored 10 runs and got 20 hits it still would have meant nothing. Come late March if they are only getting 1 hit then maybe we should worry but not now.

HAL

March 4th, 2012
9:00 am

bright side minors pitching and hetstack dident dislocate his eyebrow

C. Tampa Ironworse

March 4th, 2012
9:04 am

So sad…Milli Vanilli had more hits than the Braves.

Ted M

March 4th, 2012
9:41 am

DOB or anybody – Who is the Braves top outfield prospect? Thanks, Ted

Paddy

March 4th, 2012
9:53 am

Guys if you have never followed ST, don’t comment. Some of these posts are really sad.

[...] Source: ajc.com [...]

Tater in AFG

March 4th, 2012
11:02 am

One ballgame and the gloom-n-doomers start.

64 year Braves fan

March 4th, 2012
11:51 am

Bring back Corky Miller !!!

The Bravenator

March 4th, 2012
11:52 am

Only three “regulars” are playing today? After the sad performance of yesterday, any Brave with a guaranteed contract should be made to walk to Lakeland and receive a ride home only if he actually puts his bat on a ball. These guys obviously need all the at-bats they can get.

Bill M.

March 4th, 2012
11:57 am

DOB– Noticed you had mentioned Justin Townes Earle in your music adventures. I didn’t know who he was until last night, he was on t.v. He’s really good. I got to thinking he might be the son of Steve Earle. Yes he is. You never get to old to learn something new everyday. I really like Guitar Town & Copperhead Road. I guess the reason I like Copperhead Road was because my dad was a moonshiner in N. Ga. Mts. Keep up the great work.

Tampa Gator

March 4th, 2012
12:59 pm

Just bought tickets to the Braves-Blue Jays game in Dunedin next Sunday. The winds almost blew me into the intercoastal while standing in line. Go Braves!

phil

March 4th, 2012
1:24 pm

With few regulars playing today, we’ll get a dozen hits.

Meanwhile, the boys back at camp will be swillin beers and downing some little debbies.

Nothing like spring “training”!

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
1:41 pm

I predict the braves will score a run sometime this next week.

jim

March 4th, 2012
1:46 pm

Phil,
what fantasy world do you live in? You feel no shame writing that Hanson was drunk, Heyward frequents the night spots of dubious virtue, the regulars are back at camp swigging beer and downing Debbies. Are you in Orlando watching the regulars? Do you have friends on the Orlando police force that have feed you this information about Hanson? Do you frequent the night spots you claim Heyward goes? DO YOU FEEL ANY SHAME spewing forth your irresponsible accusations? Just give us your negative take on the Braves baseball activities and leave the character assassination on some other blog site — or preferably none at all!

phil

March 4th, 2012
1:57 pm

Jim:

One – get a personality
Two – calm down
Three – try to reason your way through posts that are obviously not serious, I hope, and quit taking everything you read here so literally.

And four? Get your head out of the clouds. A little negativity is good for ya!

phil

March 4th, 2012
1:59 pm

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
2:10 pm

If you want to write about anything it has to be negative since there is nothing positive ti write about, so far anyway.

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
2:24 pm

It’s HR Derby over on gameday

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
2:30 pm

Do they have the Mercy Rule in spring training?

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
2:44 pm

Today has to be Hat Tipping day and i’m sure Fredi will be proud of the way his young pitchers performed. I am very good at predictions, I also predicted Tiger would wear a red shirt today.

Let's Go

March 4th, 2012
2:45 pm

Oh my, 11 to nothing after 3. On the plus side the Braves have 4 hits today. Get it all out of your system now boys.

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
3:00 pm

Enter your comments here

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
3:01 pm

See I told ya’ll they would score a run this week.

Panamajack

March 4th, 2012
3:27 pm

I just found out that the TV Golf announcers get a &10,000.00 bonus every time they say the word Tiger.

Biff pocoroba

March 4th, 2012
3:27 pm

I am glad I bought Gwinnett tix instead of Atlanta this year. It looks like Delgado, Teheran,and Pastornicky will be there this year with Atlanta finishing last in the east. Now we know why Chipper and the boys were whining about the new wild card game. They knew they had no chance of making it. This team has no heart or leadership.

BravesfaninWis

March 4th, 2012
3:31 pm

Are you kidding me? This team doesn’t even have a heartbeat. Nice to see they are picking up right where they left off last year, falling on their faces. I realize that they have a team full of scrubs today, but come on. I am sure the Tigers don’t have all their best players in either.

With all that being said, I am thankful that I didn’t waste the money this year on the baseball package as I see this type of stuff from the Braves all season long. In the past I always said that I wasn’t ordering it and yet when it came time for automatic renewal through Direct TV, I kept it. This year, I called and cancelled it. They even offered to reduce the price to keep it and I refused. Ten dollars is to much to watch this team choke again this year. Sorry boys, but a fan can only be so loyal when a team doesn’t care.

asdfasdf

March 4th, 2012
3:39 pm

Does noone realize that this is the second game of spring training being played in a wind tunnel, our C squad vs. their A squad. It is disheartening to to see JT give up 5 home runs, but its the second game of spring training for chirstsakes. Be happy we are listening to baseball again

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
3:39 pm

Nike pays the bonus.

Panamajack

March 4th, 2012
3:43 pm

The wind blows the same for both teams.

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
4:12 pm

How bout the Terd, batting 1000, something positive

smallmouth6

March 4th, 2012
4:34 pm

Tehran might have hurt himself a little today. Hope the kid doesn’t let it get into his head.

The Bravenator

March 4th, 2012
4:40 pm

The score is 18 – 1……..maybe ST needs a mercy rule? This may only be the second game of ST and I am happy to have baseball back again, but, all things considered, I’d rather be dishing it out than taking it.

Biff Pocoroba

March 4th, 2012
4:46 pm

I wonder what good things Fredi saw out there today. Has any manager been fired before the season began before?

Bravo Uno

March 4th, 2012
5:02 pm

With Pastornacky, Wilson or Hicks playing short this season, I doubt if post-season is a goal for 2012.

Tampa Gator

March 4th, 2012
5:18 pm

I could hit a homerun in the Florida wind today. But 18-3….yikes.

Ralph

March 4th, 2012
5:33 pm

Tampa Gator – Maybe you could but none of the braves could.

Bama Mike

March 4th, 2012
5:51 pm

Frank and Fredi Spin to follow shortly

BravesfaninWis

March 4th, 2012
5:59 pm

Tehran 6 hits allowed, all Home Runs.. Second ST game or not, first appearance of ST or not, this kid better not be in the starting rotation. Think he is not going to see every teams A-Team in the regular season? Good God, that is a ass whooping no matter how you look at it. Whether we had our A-Team, B-Team, or C-Team, they couldn’t hang with the Tigers today sorry to the folks that are making excuses on why the Braves got their asses handed to them. You could have put all the Braves starters in their for the entire game today and they wouldn’t have overcome that beating. So stop making excuses for this team. The Tigers sure aren’t having any problems in the first two games of Spring Training, so why all the excuses for the Braves? Give it up already, this team is just carrying over from that monumental collapse from last season plain and simple. This is a team with tons of talent, and no drive. It was apparent last Sept, and its apparent right now.

JSS

March 4th, 2012
6:11 pm

Biff Pocoroba
March 4th, 2012
4:46 pm
“I wonder what good things Fredi saw out there today. Has any manager been fired before the season began before?”

The Blue Jays let Tim Johnson go the 1999 season. His case was unusual because he was pathological serial liar… He had serious issues..

Rufio

March 4th, 2012
6:27 pm

Fredi………”I would tip my cap to the Tigers but it was last seen in Winter Haven blowing away.”. Is ther any truth to the rumor that Julio Teheran is going on the DL with a strained neck? He had to have strained it turning and watching 6 home runs in 2 innings.

Maybe, Frank Wren should have shook the lineup up a bit instead of giving a vote of confidence.

Rufio

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