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© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2,709 comments Add your comment
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:03 pm
jeez Brava what are you his Mom? That’s a bit reactionary for a player discussion
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:05 pm
I don’t agree, George.Stein. Don’t much care for hypocrites.
BravesFanForever
June 20th, 2012
6:05 pm
That swing that Heyward put on that second homerun was awesome. It was very Chipper-esque. We have seen plenty of times how Chipper will simply put BAT on BALL. You don’t have to take a massive swing every time at the plate. Sometimes it’s just a matter of making solid contact and you can still hit home runs–in any area of the ballpark.
Jason Heyward is so big and so strong he could literally foul a ball off over the opposite field fence. He needs to quit thinking that every at bat needs to be a great one. A hit is a hit no matter how they fall. Just put the bat on the ball!
As soon as he learns to adjust his swing according to the situation, the pitcher, the at bat, and even the count, he will be a great one. That swing he took against a lefthander was great.
Congrats Jason!
GO BRAVES!
George Stein
June 20th, 2012
6:05 pm
That can easily be fixed, Shaun, by putting your two highest OBP guys at lead off and second, irrespective of their speed. Then the three hitter will likely have more guys on base.
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:07 pm
This isn’t about Constanza, NickB. It’s about being accused of being a hater by a hater. Constanza is merely the hatee.
George Stein
June 20th, 2012
6:09 pm
That’s not a substantive argument, Brava.
phil
June 20th, 2012
6:11 pm
But whatever, there’s always been a double standard on this blog. Some people spend all day and night ripping on others while lamenting all the haters frequenting the blog. It’s a joke. BRAVA
**********
It’s also called life. It’s what people do. Especially the more self-righteous.
Mikey
June 20th, 2012
6:12 pm
Shaun,
Have you ever managed a real team or played in a real baseball game? The reason that Joey Votto and Josh Hamilton bat third and their teams are in first place is empirical evidence that smart managers that know how to win, position their best player in the lineup to give their team the best opportunity to win.
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:13 pm
I’m way behind on reading the blog. Are y’all rippin’ on Biff?
Half Empty
June 20th, 2012
6:14 pm
simple solution. if peeps stop hating on players the others will have nothing to hate about
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:14 pm
George Stein clearly you are just a contrarian with no substance to your comments. Sorry I addressed you.
phil
June 20th, 2012
6:14 pm
Nah, Biff has barely been mentioned, assuming you don’t mean Pocoroba…
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:15 pm
That’s true, Phil.
phil
June 20th, 2012
6:15 pm
No, George Stein has plenty of substance normally….
You’re just a hater, Brava…
Woody Woodward
June 20th, 2012
6:16 pm
Here’s a take away from this series. It’s the young guys’ team now. If we get anywhere, it’s on the backs of Heyward, freeman, Simmons, Hanson, Kimbrel, venters. Not saying Others are not important, but the aforementioned have to play and lead.
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:16 pm
Nah Bat. Not today.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:16 pm
nope Bat we is in a deep discussion about the philosophy of hating
George Stein
June 20th, 2012
6:16 pm
Yeah, you caught me, Brava.
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:16 pm
Oh, okay then.
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:18 pm
Hating?
That’s a worthwhile conversation.
Sopheee
June 20th, 2012
6:18 pm
Haters gon’ hate.
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:19 pm
That’s me, phil. Queen blog hater.
Coach (2012 Fredi's Beisbol Fandango)
June 20th, 2012
6:20 pm
Constanza is what happens when Frank Wren can’t pull his head out of his butt hole. Example, who is the Red Sox fourth outfielder?
Scott Podsednik. Who by the way could have been picked up in the off season for a bag of baseballs. He signed a minor league contract with the Philies who then traded him to the Sox for cash.
Podsednik is what he is, a proven veteran fourth outfielder who comes off the bench when needed. Which is how the Sox are utilizing the guy, and the reason why the podfather is hitting .387 in his part time role.
While we are stuck with the likes of Constanza…..which brings to bear to poor roster construction done by Frank Wren.
Sopheee
June 20th, 2012
6:20 pm
I know Brava wasn’t Heyward’s biggest fan last year but I have to say I’ve seen her give him credit this year whenever credit was due. Haters don’t usually tend to do that.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:20 pm
I jus’ hate haters….
Woody Woodward
June 20th, 2012
6:21 pm
My mom hated the word hate. Gets thrown around like “awesome.” How about “nattering nabobs of negativism.” Agnews only contribution
Woody Woodward
June 20th, 2012
6:22 pm
NNNers
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:22 pm
and he didn’t even write it Bat…
but the same writer came up with some other great phrases…
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:23 pm
Thank you, Sopheee.
phil
June 20th, 2012
6:23 pm
I “hate” to run but time to hit traffic and unleash some road rage….
Danga
June 20th, 2012
6:23 pm
I never went where the Constanza bashers went.
Dear lord, what did they do? Call him a bat licker?
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:23 pm
FCS, Woody not Bat. I better go check mt sugar….BRB
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:24 pm
Wasn’t that william Safir
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:25 pm
I also think the word hater gets thrown around too much. Real haters are dangerous people.
Danga
June 20th, 2012
6:25 pm
Scott effin Podsednik.
Danga
June 20th, 2012
6:26 pm
If your biggest gripe about the team is that it does not have Podsednik on the roster, then you must be pretty happy with your team.
Sopheee
June 20th, 2012
6:27 pm
My definition of hater, angry Sacramento guy. Pure hate.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:27 pm
yeah, Safire, along with others like hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history
Coach (2012 Fredi's Beisbol Fandango)
June 20th, 2012
6:28 pm
nattering nabobs of negativism…..tis the human condition.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:29 pm
I guess it is volume to me. come on once in a while and rip a player or manager and that’s just normal. do it constantly over every little thing that happens, then I label as a hater I suppose
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:29 pm
That was a complement, Danga. I don’t want to revisit the page after page of vitriol that was spewed at him last season. It was very ugly for a while
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:32 pm
Safire and Pat Buchanan………. ye gods
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:33 pm
Oh, and Shaun ripping on Martin Prado was pretty bad, too. Glad Jason is doing well so I don’t have to read about how other players suck more.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:33 pm
OK Brava, and not talking about you, but IMO it was not as ugly as the Jason comments, and they have lasted for over a year.
Danga
June 20th, 2012
6:34 pm
but IMO it was not as ugly as the Jason comments
I suppose this is simply the way of the interweb, and it is why I make liberal use of the scroll wheel.
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:35 pm
sorry for my absence, Just discovered Tulo is missing 2 months or so due to groin surgery, so had to go mke a trade request in my fantasy league.
Lost Beachy AND Tulo today……………ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:35 pm
Yeah, there were a lot of people ripping into Jason, too, nolie.
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:36 pm
Yeah Biff got ripped up pretty bad last year, Heyward, too.
There are some honest to god haters on here in my opinion. Rip a guy to pieces no matter what. All the f’n time, over and over.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:36 pm
I enjoyed Safire’s NY Times Magazine column On Language
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:36 pm
I must admit, the Frank Wren hate amuses me as it is misguided and seems to always omit the great trades he has made. Not to mention that the man has a limited budget to work with and can’t get blood from a stone.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:38 pm
I agree Bat, and those are the ones that really get on my nerves at times, make me grumpy…all their fault….
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:39 pm
I like Wren. Don’t care for Fredi, though.
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:39 pm
Not everybody that wrote about Biff was hating on him though. Some of it was push back against the idea that he would be a starter, or this years center fielder, or whatever.
Dr. John Zoydberg
June 20th, 2012
6:40 pm
Missed game at work. Happy to see Heyward tearing it up, and always good to take a series in NY.
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:40 pm
i think Wren has earned a B+ during his tenure. Really, the only deal I didn’t like was signing Lowe, but at least he wasn’t signed ro 8 years $150 mill or any such nonsense. We could have ended up with Burnett *shudder*
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:42 pm
I read Buchanan’s columns off and on. I even agree with him on occasion. Okay, rare occasion.
Efrim
June 20th, 2012
6:42 pm
Brava, you were about as negative as anyone regarding Jason last year. It was non-stop. And you wanted Constanza to play over him well beyond his ankle injury and how bad he was when he got back. Whatever the term hater means, you were as negative as anyone. I don’t mean you were some of these trolls who come on here screaming for Heyward’s head. You were specific, in your belief that Heyward sucked. Constanza is insignificant. He doesn’t deserve “hatred” because as a baseball player, he isn’t an important piece of this organization. Never was.
SMOLTZ 29
June 20th, 2012
6:44 pm
TJS SURGERY- Moylan, Hudson, Medlen,Vizcaino, and Beachy. Red flags abound!
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:45 pm
not much for any political talk, but I love language
Efrim
June 20th, 2012
6:46 pm
OK Brava, and not talking about you, but IMO it was not as ugly as the Jason comments, and they have lasted for over a year.
Totally agree. Not even close. Heyward has taken heat for so long, I can’t even remember.
Everyone gets it on this blog. Who doesn’t? Maybe Brandon Beachy. Honestly, that guy may be the only one who hasn’t gotten heat here – and that’s because through 41 career starts – he;s been pretty amazing.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:46 pm
you pay any attention to the fact that it is happening all around baseball the last few years, S29??
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:47 pm
TJ surgery in all of baseball in the past few years:
Josh Johnson
AJ Burnett
Strasberg
Dempster
Hudson
Liriano
Beachy
Dotel
Soria
Billy Wagner
Kerry Wood
These surgeries occur, not because the Braves medical staff sucks, but because pitchers throw too hard when they are kids
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:47 pm
Simmons, Efrim. but give it time and a slump….
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:48 pm
and I just picked out the BIG names for that list
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
6:48 pm
Oh, and Shaun ripping on Martin Prado was pretty bad, too.
Yep, just crazy. I mean hell both those guys were hurt last year, though a lot of people would not give any credence to the idea Heyward was.
Not Shaun though. No stats for that. Heyward falling off the face of the earth was entirely reasonable for a 21 year old player that was being compared to Micky Freakin’ Mantle the year before.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:48 pm
I think there are other reasons too NickB., but that is part of it
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:50 pm
well, I think Shaun was wondering why the blog seemed to be ignoring prado’s rather lousy season, yet was all over Heyward’s case, when Heyward was the young player and Prado the veteran…
i thought it was a reasonable position.
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:51 pm
nolie
well yeah, but i didn’t wanna write a dissertation on why I think TJ’s are up, (IMO though, i think the presence of the surgery itself has lead to an increase, less fear of ending one’s career)
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:52 pm
because Prado was a proven favorite such as always get more benefit of the doubt than an unproven youngster, just human nature. both were hurt, neither should have received the anger that they did
VaBravesFan
June 20th, 2012
6:52 pm
Heyward is definitely going in the right direction.
David O'Brien
June 20th, 2012
6:55 pm
postgame QUOTAGE
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2012/06/20/braves-quotes-after-wednesdays-win-vs-yankees/
NickB
June 20th, 2012
6:55 pm
I really feel that by age 24 Heyward will be a perennial MVP favorite, garnering 8+ WAR a year
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:56 pm
personally I think the change in mechanics and approach is the biggest difference. for one thing that caused the rise of inverted w and extreme scapula loading both of which correlate strongly with TJ S
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:56 pm
personally I think the change in mechanics and approach is the biggest difference. for one thing that caused the rise of inverted w and extreme scapula loading both of which correlate strongly with TJ S
Brava
June 20th, 2012
6:56 pm
Efrim, you are full of it. All I ever wanted was for Fredi to put the players on the field who were more likely to help us win. I stated that over and over. Heyward was horrible whether you want to admit that or not. And of course, you can’t resist the opportunity to take a couple more shots at Constanza. True to form.
The A Bomb
June 20th, 2012
6:56 pm
NickB — that’s where you and I agree 110%.
You know who I compare him to. And he’s not even close to prime yet. But I say 25.
George Stein
June 20th, 2012
6:57 pm
Freeman and Prado have largely avoided the blog scourge, Efrim, even though Freeman has stink out loud so far this season.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:57 pm
you tell ‘em , wanna repeat that again?
CB
June 20th, 2012
6:58 pm
You guys do know you are supposed to be happy after a great win? Nitpickers
nolie
June 20th, 2012
6:59 pm
there are a few dedicated Prado haters, most of which dates back to the Prado/Johnson war. still a breakout at times. last season ater the infection brought out some of it
nolie
June 20th, 2012
7:00 pm
Happy? we hate happy here….
George Stein
June 20th, 2012
7:00 pm
Reasonable minds can disagree, Brava, but outside of three weeks, Costanza was far worse that Heyward (my opinion).
nolie
June 20th, 2012
7:00 pm
there is no crying/fainting/happy in baseball
nolie
June 20th, 2012
7:01 pm
and mine too Stein
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
7:01 pm
i thought it was a reasonable position.
Nope. People had high expectations for Heyward last year. Higher than for Prado. They expected more than less than average. Prado had an injury that could be documented, Jason’s could not be.
People still gave Prado grief, just not as much.
Shaun may be right about some of his stuff, but
neverrarely reasonable.CB
June 20th, 2012
7:03 pm
nolie,did you keep up with ‘The Killing”? Great finish.
The A Bomb
June 20th, 2012
7:04 pm
I’ll be much happier when this team can play steadier baseball — 11-13 out of 20, for example. Much better for the clubhouse, the front office, the fans.
The Colorado deal from a few years ago may not be seen again for a century.
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
7:06 pm
You know who I compare him to. And he’s not even close to prime yet. But I say 25.
Ah, just in time to be a free agent.
NickB
June 20th, 2012
7:07 pm
Heyward was a 21 year old kid, injury or not he was bound to strugge,
just because YOU put unreasonable expectations on him, doesn’t mean he deserved to be trashed
brian
June 20th, 2012
7:09 pm
Huge win for the Braves – take a road series against the hottest team in baseball – the Yankees no less, after struggling themselves is just huge
Heyward keeps improving and I am thrilled for the kid. I hope he keeps his hard work.
Let’s see – big road series win for the Braves + Heyward raking at the plate = quiet blog tonight???
George Stein
June 20th, 2012
7:09 pm
The Prado thing bothers me more now, as I had a staff infection in my leg this winter. They don’t heal overnight. In fact, it took almost eight weeks for me to be able to workout again, to say nothing of being 100%.
George Stein
June 20th, 2012
7:10 pm
*staph
The A Bomb
June 20th, 2012
7:11 pm
Bat — Funny. But that’s why they need to lock him up now.
Same with Freeman. Same with Prado. Same with Kimbrel. Future core.
Bourn is huge — but not with Boras. Can’t see it. Same with Hanson if he produces.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
7:12 pm
yep I have had a number of bad infections, they really take it out of you and the IV antibiotics that you get daily are really poisons, really bad for your entire body along with the infection.
Bat Masterson
June 20th, 2012
7:13 pm
I didn’t put unreasonable expectations on him, Nick. I’m just telling you people did.
Mine were he should have hit second or third to start the year last year. Then he got hurt and things changed.
Struggling is one thing. Getting completely away from what had made him the hitter he had been is another.
The A Bomb
June 20th, 2012
7:13 pm
Staph killed Jack Snow. Transmitted from the Cleveland Browns locker room few years ago. Ex-WR for the Rams — J.T.’s dad. Serious stuff.
nolie
June 20th, 2012
7:14 pm
I don’t think he did that, he still walked a lot compared to the rest of his game. his mechanics went into disarray from the injuries more than anything else
jeffrey d
June 20th, 2012
7:15 pm
I must admit, the Frank Wren hate amuses me as it is misguided and seems to always omit the great trades he has made
I completely agree. I like Fredi, but I can understand why people are upset with him. And I think that given our attendance, we could do a lotworse than Liberty’s $90ish million, but I still understand why people would be unhappy with them.
But these people who are dead set on seeing Wren gone….I don’t get that. The man’s been a wizard with trades, and he’s kept a strong core of players while on a limited budget. And yet some people want to scapegoat him to the death.
George Stein
June 20th, 2012
7:15 pm
In that respect, Bat, Heyward still isn’t there. He isn’t walking (though he takes good ABs) nearly as much as he did two years ago.
The A Bomb
June 20th, 2012
7:15 pm
Bat — When Gonzalez took over in Oct. 2010 he announced that Heyward would be dropped in the lineup — McLouth would be in the 2-hole. Foretelling of the lineup juggling to come. Heyward never had his role defined for the entire 2011 season.