Braves quotes after Tuesday’s loss to Giants
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On what went wrong for Jurrjens
“I think his command. The command wasn’t as good as we’ve seen it before. It just happened to be one of those days, whether it’s the long layoff between starts, but he just wasn’t the same and they took advantage. On a good note I thought Avilan was terrific. He gave us 3 2/3 innings of middle relief. That’s one of those games sometimes you’re thinking you’re going to use the whole bullpen just to get through. for a young man who hadn’t pitched but one-third inning in the major leagues I thought he did a terrific job getting us through those middle innings.
Did Jurrjens come up awkwardly after play at first base?
“I think the knee was all right, I think he just missed the bag. I think he tried to get to the bag and his steps weren’t there and he tried to kick it on the way by. A couple innings were weird: the stolen base that could have gone either way, they score a run, the hustle play by Cabrera, they get in scoring position with two outs and then they get a run. We don’t get the out at first base because we missed the bag, then we ended up getting six.
“Get it out of the way. It’s probably one of the ugliest games we’ve played in a while, and hopefully now we can go out tomorrow and Minor will give us a good outing, then Huddy, and get back to winning ways.”
On Posey being a tough out for anybody and bringing in lefty Avilan to face him
“It’s a tough situation. JJ had faced him two times before. And he gave up a walk and three base hits to get to that point. Yeah it’s a tough spot to put the young man in. It’s tough, but I think the kid did a nice job settling down after that, and he gave us a pretty good outing.”
On a couple of close plays that went against Jurrjens
“They took advantage of all those situations. You give a good club extra outs and guys like Posey and Sandoval are going to come up to the plate when you don’t want them to come up to the plate.”
**JAIR JURRJENS
On his performance
“I didn’t have my command. I was battling to get strike 1. They’re a good team, and I made a lot of bad pitches and they got hit…. That was a tough one. That’s a game for us to put behind us and be perfect tomorrow.”
More on what went wrong
“All the rallies, I think I started them with walks and not covering first base. The small things led to the big innings, and they just had good ABs and made me pay.”
On whether his velocity was down
“I wasn’t paying attention [to it]. I just know my command wasn’t there. I can throw hard or throw slow, if I throw it down the middle everybody is going to hit it. It’s not my velocity, it’s just my command.”
Being off for 10-11 days affect you?
“I still have to go out there and make my pitches. I had a chance to throw a bullpen and work on my stuff. It just didn’t happen today. Start working for the next one tomorrow and try to bounce back.”
If a player or two had been made, or you’d covered first base…
“Lot of if’s. We just didn’t get it done as a team. That’s it. I didn’t make pitches, we didn’t hit, we didn’t field. That’s a team loss. That’s it. Put this behind us and come back tomorrow. We’ve been playing good, and one bad game, nobody’s going to panic. Just come back and start having fun tomorrow again.”
On not covering first base properly
“I was too worried about Pagan being too fast and didn’t get close enough to the line like I need to do, and I just missed [the base with foot]. I was a little far from the base. I really didn’t pick up first base to see where I was headed; I was just focused on Freddie and trying to catch the ball. I didn’t see how far I was from the base.”
**CHIPPER JONES
On Zito being craftier than ever at this point in career
“He’s got that slower-than-slow change-up, the front-door and back-door cutter, the straight one …
“But we just played sloppy. Sloppy. That’s the word for today, sloppy. We were sloppy on the mound, we were sloppy in the field, we were sloppy at the plate. You’re going to have stinkers like this every once in a while. It’s disappointing, but you’ve got to flush it, come back out and be ready tomorrow.”
On playing day after an off day, seven-game winning streak…
“I’ll never use that as an excuse. It’s disappointing. And nobody was exempt tonight.”
**DAN UGGLA
“We just couldn’t get anything going.”
On if the Braves had made a play here or there…
“You can never blame the game on any of those kinds of things, but you never know what would have happened say, if a few things would have happened differently. What it came down to, they took advantage of opportunities that were given to them early in the ballgame, then they put up that big inning against us.”
On Zito being crafty
“Yeah, definitely. He mixes it up. Still got a good curveball. Just kind of picks and picks and picks. Like tonight, he had us in a position where we had to hit his pitch, and he made pitches when he needed to all night. He kept us off balance. Sometimes, like my first at-bat, I had a great count and a good pitch to hit, and I just missed it by a hair. Should have been 2-1 right there. That’s the way the night went.”
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147 comments Add your comment
Dan Struggla
July 17th, 2012
11:24 pm
Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap.
Hmmmm
July 17th, 2012
11:39 pm
“It just happened to be one of those days”
it must be pure coincidence that “one of those days” has happened in 3 of the past 4 starts
now
July 17th, 2012
11:42 pm
it’s time to make a trade now!!!! why wait to the last day of july??? NOW IS NOW
i have two ideas
1.- trade for Greinke, Liriano or Felix Hernandez in exchange for MINOR/DELGADO, PASTORNICKY AND LOW LEVEL PROSPECT
2.-Trade Jurrjens in exchange for RH batter like Willingham or Quentin …or trade him for a couple of good prospects ,,sure contenders teams wants a 4-5 starting pitcher like JJ
now
July 17th, 2012
11:45 pm
oh yes i forget that call up Teheran for 5th spot in rotation replacing JJ
imagine: HERNANDEZ, HUDSON, HANSON, SHEETS and TEHERAN
keeping MINOR OR DELGADO in AAA
stuart
July 17th, 2012
11:47 pm
FG ways that it was a bad position to put Avilan in, yet he does it anyway. Also Chipper says sloppy. A better word would be EMBARRASSING.
stuart
July 17th, 2012
11:49 pm
Says.
Scrappy
July 17th, 2012
11:51 pm
The Braves thought it was still Monday…
now
July 17th, 2012
11:51 pm
another idea but hardly possible is trade Uggla for RH batter OF and move Prado to 2B
Example:
tigers delmon young for uggla
bluejays bautista for uggla
dbacks upton for uggla
rockies gonzalez for uggla
marlins stanton for uggla
now
July 17th, 2012
11:53 pm
carlos gonzalez is LH batter sorry but is better than uggla anyway
Who Me?
July 17th, 2012
11:53 pm
At least Uggla got a hit tonight. I didn’t see Francisco bat in the 7th or 8th but I’m sure he whiffed.
Jerry Slate
July 17th, 2012
11:53 pm
Forgot they were playing, thank God for lost memory, will look tomorrow
nolakid21
July 17th, 2012
11:55 pm
Where do you get trading Jair Jurrjens for Willingham? One of the more uninformed post of the night. Already reported that don’t want to trade a player they just gave a multi year contract to. Actually all of your trade ideas are poorly thought out and make no sense.
now
July 18th, 2012
12:03 am
@nolakid21: you prefer uggla than the other guys??? lol Uggla is a shame
right now is better call up Constanza and put him on LF and move Prado to 2B
Uggla kills this team
About JJ the braves were a idiots because they dont trade him before ,,,i remember when the dodgers offers Kemp for JJ and 2 prospects….wow a stupid GM reject the trade and now Kemp is the most complete player in baseball
Graham
July 18th, 2012
12:10 am
Why would any of those teams do any of those trades? Giancarlo is the best young power hitter in baseball, Bautista is hurt btw, but also probably the best power hitter in the game right now, Cargo is a 5 tool superstar signed through 2017, Upton is just way better than uggla, and demon young sucks, but Detroit won’t want that contract. Also, you compared Francisco Liriano to Greinke and Felix…….come on man get real.
NorCal Brave
July 18th, 2012
12:17 am
On the plus side: we’d won 7 straight and getting scorched is less painful than losing a heartbreaker.
On the other hand: we’ve got some serious issues with our starting pitching.
Mister Frisky
July 18th, 2012
12:32 am
After 250 plus games of Dan the Caveman I’ve seen enough.Trade this loser for anything you can get.Or this contract will strangle the overall payroll like so many others in this regime.
Ralph
July 18th, 2012
12:37 am
now
July 17th, 2012
11:45 pm
oh yes i forget that call up Teheran for 5th spot in rotation
Oh yes, have you paid any attention to how Teheran has pitched at AAA, Bad, very bad.
lee maye
July 18th, 2012
12:39 am
now: you really think a team is going to want Uggla? Overpaid. 3 years left at 13.3 mil. Poor on defense. Hitting .220 for the last 2 years. On target for 180 K’s. Come on man. Stanton, Upton? They would want Prado and a couple of pitching prospects, not Uggla.
Ralph
July 18th, 2012
12:41 am
now
July 17th, 2012
11:51 pm
This is for your fantcy team, right!
nolakid21
July 18th, 2012
12:43 am
Nobody is taking Uggla and that contract. And now we are going to extend Prado with a nice contract. I’m thinking in the ballpark of 4/40 million. Let me break it down so you can understand :
Carlos Gonzalez is going NO WHERE. Look at his contract and you will see why.
Gincarlo Stanto could be available but the Marlins will have to become big time seller. Not going to happen.
Justin Upton is not coming here, becuase of the wants of the Diamondbacks. We just don’t match.
I don’t even know why you mentioned Bautista.
OnMeds
July 18th, 2012
12:47 am
now–I wish you were our GM. I’d like to trade a bag of balls and a rosin bag for Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. Then maybe some folding chairs for Miguel Cabrera. Your proposed trade ideas are great but a lot one sided! What reasonable team is going to trade their best player for Uggla who is the worst Braves batter other than our shortstop?
FIRE FREDI
July 18th, 2012
12:50 am
I just wish Chipper would fire Fredi and go out as a player/manager
HIVPositive
July 18th, 2012
1:09 am
Bad News Braves!
The good thing is, we didn’t have to endure watching Hinske play in the outfield. He looks like a fat bullfrog, and moves like one.
double
July 18th, 2012
1:28 am
Errors & Excuses-Looks more like T Ball time.
man and dog
July 18th, 2012
1:36 am
Bla bla bla bla la bla bla bla bla bla. What was that Charlie Brown?
bulldogbubba
July 18th, 2012
2:15 am
PITIFUL!!!!
bulldogbubba
July 18th, 2012
2:21 am
We might could use a pitching coach with some fresh ideas.The arms on our pitchers are giving out with almost half the season to play. Come on Braves … Get real!!!!
Anon21
July 18th, 2012
2:39 am
now: The other teams aren’t blind. They see what’s going on. Jurrjens has negative trade value, because he is terrible and no one wants him in their rotation. On another note, to get a pitcher of Greinke’s caliber you’d have to give up one of Minor or Delgado, Sean Gilmartin, Bethancourt, and another decent prospect. Or a package of that sort. You can’t just get rid of a bunch of bad players and come back with a good one.
now
July 18th, 2012
3:17 am
READ BLEACHER REPORT FIRST …GIANCARLO STANTON IS AVAILABLE OK , IF YOU TRADE TEHERAN AND JURRJENS THE ROCKIES SURE COULD TRADE CARGO
FELIX HERNANDEZ IS AVAILABLE TOO BUT IS EXPENSIVE I GUESS 18-20 MDD PER YEAR BUT GREINKE WANTS THE SAME TYPE OF SALARY PER YEAR
AND FOR ME HERNANDEZ IS BETTER THAN GREINKE PLUS GREINKE HAVE HEAD PROBLEMS THAT DONT HELP IMAGINE PLAYOFF GAMES WITH SELL OUT CROWD MAKING NOISE ,,A LOT OF PRESSURE
AHAHAHHA I WOULDN’T SURPRISE IF FRANK WREN TRADE FOR DEREK LOWE :p
now
July 18th, 2012
3:20 am
i think is a good trade anyway the braves are paying 2/3 of his salary so trade for Lowe ,,,
HE PITCHES WELL IN APRIL MID MAY AND MID AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER ALWAYS HAHAAH
AND HE IS A PLAYOFFS PITCHER ,,,WE NEED HIS SINKERBALL AGAIN
D-LOWE IS COMING IN THE TRADE DEADLINE AND I HOPE WITH ASDRUBAL CABRERA INCLUDING :p
Braves quotes after Tuesday’s loss to Giants FEATURED BRAVES ARTICLE | Atlanta Braves Dugout Online | Atlanta Braves Blog
July 18th, 2012
4:47 am
[...] The rest of the article can be found here: Atlanta Braves [...]
bravesgrl4life
July 18th, 2012
5:35 am
Disappointing game last night. But the blogger was right, it does hurt less to get blown out 9-0 than to lose a close game. Somebody forgot to tell the Braves it wasn’t Monday, I guess. Oh well, go get ‘em tonight, Braves. Still love you.
Darryl Blackberry
July 18th, 2012
5:49 am
Minor and Delgado for Greinke. That still leaves us with Gilmartin and Teheran in the minors.
I’d do that deal. How ’bout you, Utivich? You’d do that deal?
chas
July 18th, 2012
6:29 am
trade struggla for a bat boy if thats all you can get. with him gone, the team wil lbe better
WTF - the original
July 18th, 2012
6:31 am
‘Welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Hobbs’.
The Braves have been beating up on the bad teams, now they must confront reality again in the form of the Giants and the Nationals.
Juggle all you want, tip your hat, do dances around a cow’s intestines, sacrifice a chicken. It wont do any good. They are still a 3rd or 4th place team – in the EAST.
phredd
July 18th, 2012
6:38 am
your gonna get beat every now and then, but the starting pitching from some of our younger guys is unacceptable. They don’t get that this is their career and you only get so many chances
timS
July 18th, 2012
6:56 am
Will the real JJ please stand up. I love all the things that this young man has done for the Braves over the last few years however I hope management is not putting all their eggs in one basket with this kid.
Something is wrong be it mental or physical he is to good a talent to blow hot and cold like this. Hope it gets straightened out.
PaulG
July 18th, 2012
7:11 am
I think some of the bloggers here suffer from premature ejaculation problems….one defeat & the love affair has ended..given the stats the team has produced, that is, mediocre indices of pitching performance, at bat, some poor OB % etc, they have done well to keep their head above water…it is what it is….a team that can stay above .500& has a shot at a wild card
No CAPS please
July 18th, 2012
7:22 am
Really? I don’t know about others but as soon as I see an all caps comment, I skip it. We don’t like shouting in public nor on blogs (besides, it’s very difficult to read all caps).
RWill2073
July 18th, 2012
7:24 am
You people are just dumb… A third place team in the East? You check the standings? Come off a 7 game win streak with one loss and its the end of the season? Uggla kills us? Did Andruw Jones kill us? Guess we never made the playoffs with Andruw Jones hitting cleanup, did we? Should I post Uggla’s and Andruw Jones’ numbers side by side for you dolts again?
Bill M.
July 18th, 2012
7:30 am
The Braves need to take a chance on J. Sanchez. He’s still young and a lefty. That way it would save the prospects and see if D-backs would bite on Uggla & Minor/Delgado & low minor pitcher for J. Upton. Move Prado back to second.
Jasons Shrinking Waist
July 18th, 2012
7:32 am
Forget last night…its over
Concentrate on the next two games…are the Braves going to go into a funk again? or
was last nite just a blip on the radar, a bump in the road and they move past it?
Tonite and Tomorrow are the KEYS to how these guys RESPOND
Buzz 2011
July 18th, 2012
7:39 am
The Giants are too godd! Not to worry, Uggla continues to light it up as he pushes that hot 220 average. A true All Star in every sense!!
Buddy Landel
July 18th, 2012
7:39 am
Aaron Hill is having an outstanding season at 2B for Arizona. I don’t think they’ll take on Uggla or his contract.
Buddy Landel
July 18th, 2012
7:41 am
blahblahblahblahDan Uggla sucks.blahblahblahblah. I summed up about 8 posts in 1.
milesarcher33
July 18th, 2012
7:41 am
Why is everyone here so negative after a braves loss? Things weren’t so bad last night. Avilan and Durbin both pitched well. Freeman had some hard hit balls. Besides there was a long layoff for JJ and the Giants are a crafty and hot team. Zito has resurrected his carreer with his craftiness, Yes, you do have to tip your cap to the Giants. Posey showed us why he’ll be an All Star for years to come.
Jack in Macon
July 18th, 2012
8:02 am
If we can trade for a top of the rotation pitcher that will agree to a long-term extention with Delgado as the centerpiece, then do it as quick as you can Frank Wren. We’ve gone to far being committed to developing young pitching to not keep Minor, Teheran and Gilmartin.
a fan
July 18th, 2012
8:06 am
WTF you are so wrong.
Nuke" LaLoosh
July 18th, 2012
8:13 am
“On playing day after an off day, ”
Rest is an excuse? Ha ha. Glad he didn’t use it.
These guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you?
Chipper's ACL
July 18th, 2012
8:22 am
I was impressed with Avilan. True he gave up 5 hits, but did strike out 5. With the questions surrounding Braves starters I wonder if Fredi has considered giving this kid a turn in the rotation. We all know how Beachy came from no where to excell.Couldn’t hurt before the end of the month. With JJ’s turn for the worse over the last year I can’t see anyone trading anything for him, other than maybe KC. I noticed KC is cutting ties with Sanchez. Maybe a swap there. Yeah he’s had a rough year but he has put up good numbers in the NL. No difference than trading for Liriano. If JJ isn’t traded don’t be surprised if he’s cut this winter.
Lemke's Knuckler
July 18th, 2012
8:35 am
“You’re going to have stinkers like this every once in a while. It’s disappointing, but you’ve got to flush it, come back out and be ready tomorrow.”
Having one of those now after Tuesday Taco night.
Don
July 18th, 2012
8:47 am
It ain’t no MYSTERY. Injured Pitchers seldom return to their former greatness. They may come back and be fairly good or pitch some very good games – but seldom return to their former greatness. REMEMBER how great JJ was before his first injury????
That’s why you can forget EVRYTHING ELSE and forget being a championship team as long as the current Braves INJURY MILL for pitchers continues.
But I guess that Pitching is no longer important anyway – because the Braves Writers don’t seem to be excited about this or even seem to notice it.
harry taylor
July 18th, 2012
8:55 am
Tuesday night was a typical night for the Braves.
bustersonly
July 18th, 2012
8:58 am
Our “untouchables” Teheran, Delgado and Minor are losing value everytime they take to the mound, trade all three of them now while you might get one decent player in return, JJ is a complete dud, we will just have to eat his 5 million and we stand a better chance of making the playoffs with Uggla riding the bench than having him in the lineup, put Prado back on 2nd and platoon Hinski and Diaz in LF. Uggla will become next year’s LOWE, we pay 10 million of his salary and somebody may be fool enough, maybe Cleveland, to take him off our hands.
Quack Quack
July 18th, 2012
9:00 am
Oh my!!
The sun came up on a new day. Lets go out and have fun.
GO BRAVES!!
Don
July 18th, 2012
9:00 am
Remember how all of you (most all of you anyway) were saying all winter that the Braves were going to have great Pitching, a huge surplus of Pitching, and that they should trade some of it. Some idiot kept saying that they were going to have Pitching problems (oh yeah, that was me).
What could possibly go wrong with their Pitching when they had such and oversupply??
I mean – they only had FOUR of their FIVE Starters from last season coming off INJURIES — ;and this INJURY MILL for Pitchers (especially Starters) had been going on for 7 years – since Leo left.
And it only took less than half the season this year for their great young rookie Starter who was leading the Legue in ERA to be INJURED – and for their best great young relief pitcher to be injured.
Nick
July 18th, 2012
9:11 am
They win 7 in a row, then loose and game and people get on here like the sky is falling.
Anyone who post anything about the Marlins trading Stanton should not be allowed to make posts anymore. That’s the equivalent of saying the Nats will trade Bryce Harper.
Calm down folks its one game!
Barbara
July 18th, 2012
9:12 am
WOW. What &@$$&@@&$ team showed up last night. It certainly couldn’t have been the team that just swept the Mets. That had to be the poorest performance by the bravos and management ever in the history. They should hang their heads in shame no one should have been paid for last night. If this is what happens after a day off then they should not have any more days off. McDowell nor Fredi took any interest to go out and talk to JJ or even take him out before 8 runs. They acted like someone glued them to their seats. The Nats are playing great baseball so you guys better get your act together or you will be watching the playoffs like last year
Ken Stallings
July 18th, 2012
9:21 am
I guess the trolls were getting frustrated since for seven straight games they were stymied in their negative commentary. So, the Braves lose a game and the trolls had to get it out of their system.
harry taylor
July 18th, 2012
9:24 am
Is Roger McDowell still the pitching coach for the Braves?? If so, they need to tar and feather him and ride him out of town on a rail. I can’t remember Leo ever having this many pitchers injured or hurt. If the Braves had a decent pitching coach and manager they would be in 1st place. All we are asking for is another miserable finish like last year. Same management, same results.
Nutjob
July 18th, 2012
9:28 am
How can we trade Jurrjens? Who the heck wants a righty who throws 86-88 with a crappy slider and average change up? Looks like a pitcher that will end up signing with KC or Oakland in the offseason. Send him back down and give his turns to Delgado. Over the course of the second half, Jurrjens having a WHIP of 1.78 will result in about a 6 or 7 era. He is terrible!
Rick
July 18th, 2012
9:33 am
All the bloggers are like the Braves……we go on a 7game streak and the team is the best since 92! We lose a game and we need to blow it up? Wow our fans are the exact likeness of the Braves…..up and down! Like I said months ago lets just hope the one game playoff or a game 7 is not on Monday. Besides that just chill out and let them play!
Peter R.
July 18th, 2012
9:38 am
Why have the Braves done nothing but choke for the past decade? They have the talent, so why don’t they just get a grip and play better baseball despite whatever amount of national attention they might be getting. I just hope that Dan Uggla doesn’t suck it up like this for the rest of the year and the next three years on his contract. NO HORRIBLE TRADES FOR A TWO MONTH RENTAL WREN! Just imagine if we had Feliz and Harrison… Such is baseball. I feel better now.
David O'Brien
July 18th, 2012
9:43 am
How can we trade Jurrjens?
Answer: Next to impossible, especially given that teams know he’s likely to be non-tendered this winter.
jt
July 18th, 2012
9:44 am
You idiots are talking about all of these possible trades, and what will really happen at trade time is “NOTHING” Wren did this exact same thing last year, Who did he trade for? NoBody!!
Same Ole SHEET!!
jt
July 18th, 2012
9:47 am
Enter your comments here
Rick
July 18th, 2012
9:47 am
jt, Wren traded for Bourn last year.
David O'Brien
July 18th, 2012
9:47 am
You idiots are talking about all of these possible trades, and what will really happen at trade time is “NOTHING” Wren did this exact same thing last year, Who did he trade for? NoBody!! — jt
Let’s see, how to break this gently to jt … Michael Bourn?
RWill2073
July 18th, 2012
9:50 am
@harry taylor: If Tuesday was a typical night for the Braves, what was the last 7 games?
For all you clowns saying Uggla is “killing” us:
Andruw Jones’ 162 game average for his career:
.252/.338/.489 OPS: .827 32 HR 96 RBI
Dan Uggla’s 162 game average for his career:
.255/.344/.474 OPS: .818 32 HR 94 RBI
Now, please tell me again how Dan Uggla “kills” the Braves.
Yogi Berra
July 18th, 2012
9:53 am
jt…trades by bloggers are just that. Their opinions are just that but to call people idiots for their opinion is stupid on your part.
What Wren does as GM is his business..if you don’t like write him a letter and call him a idiot..
One game last night does not make a season…Go Braves.
O'flarity's water bottle
July 18th, 2012
10:02 am
EVERYONE here should know bt now that Uggla is STREAKY! give it time…
Rick
July 18th, 2012
10:03 am
DOB check the filter it is blocking alot of blogs…..as for the some of the bloggers, you guys thought we were the best thing since the 92 Braves when we won 7 in a row, lose one and you guys are like the home team. Up one day and down the next. Just relax, this team is who it is, a good enough team to catch fire at the right time! Just have some patience (HINT HINT ST. Louis)! Cant expect to win them all! Much like I said months ago, as long as the one game play-in is not on a Monday or a game 7 is not on a Monday, take it in stride we will be ok! OK!!!?
Still@theKool-aidBAR
July 18th, 2012
10:08 am
Can’t figure out the BRAVES to save my soul. Glad i kicked the Gambling habit.
Rick
July 18th, 2012
10:09 am
Ugh I need to change my name on the blog. Seen a few posts from this impostor now
jt
July 18th, 2012
10:11 am
I stand corrected, thought that was off season! But I still bet he will not make a trade that will help us, namely in pitching.
Tumbledown
July 18th, 2012
10:18 am
All of us just need to calm down, take a step back, sip our morning drink,and and slowly realize that . . .THIS TEAM IS ON THE PRECIPICE OF ANOTHER HISTORIC CATASTROPHIC COLLAPSE!!!!
Sorry for the shouting and the momentary doom and gloom. Seriously, we must remember that the Rangers did not have an overwhelming staff in reaching two straight WS. Also, the Phillies WON the WS in 2008 when they only had one of their star pitchers as opposed to four last year. Because the Braves hitting is not quite at the level of the Rangers or even the 2008 Phillies, I believe we only need to acquire one legitimate starter to have a real chance this year. Hopefully, it will not cost too many prospects to do so, and we have to trust Wren not to mortgage our future too much. I just want the Braves to have the best chance this year as great assets like Chipper and Bourn will not be around next year.
FireFrediot!!!
July 18th, 2012
10:19 am
My first thought was this is a Monday game and we never win on Monday . . . but then I realized this is Tuesday and we are playing like Mondays . . . . now are we going to have the NEVER on Monday and Tuesday???? Soon they will add Wednesday to the list I suppose. And another thing, Uggla,, can you pitch a ball up in the air and still strike out trying to hit it? or even on a tee??? I would be ashamed to put on a major league uniform and play like you are! Give the money back if you can’t perform your duty.
Kofo
July 18th, 2012
10:24 am
Sometimes, even Charlie Leibrandt looks good.
Dirty Dawg
July 18th, 2012
10:29 am
Had to turn this mess off when it got to be 4 or 5 zip…it appeared to me that Fredi was gonna let SF rub JJ’s nose in it to the point that sending him down, or giving him his outright release, will be obvious to everyone and then maybe Frank Wren will go out and get another pitcher that can actually break 90 somewhere near the strike zone. The Ben Sheets thing looks like a miracle, but now we just need to pull off a small ’slight of hand’ thing and get someone in here – without giving up the farm (like the Texas thing) – that gives us a chance. Sorry but JJ isn’t a major-league pitcher…in fact I don’t see him pitching professionally anywhere after this season. Command don’t mean crap if you can’t fool anybody with any of your pitches and you can’t get a fast-ball – to at least 92 MPH – somewhere close enough to the zone that a batter might swing at it and an ump might call it a strike.
Don
July 18th, 2012
10:29 am
@ now…first, never go to Bleacher Report as a source. NEVER. Two, as a sports writer living in the pacific northwest, trust me, Felix Hernandez is not available. The Mariners should put him on the market, but they won’t. There would be riots in downtown Seattle and they would tear down Safeco Field brick by brick if they traded King Felix.
jt
July 18th, 2012
10:33 am
I agree on Uggla, HOW long do we have to put up with his flimsy excuses? “I am a slow starter” crap. We have now seen him for 2 seasons and he has not started as yet. He is an average 2nd baseman, and just above the Mendoza line on hitting. Get rid of him, If we can. Signing him to that ridiculous contract is another Wren “gem”
Tumbledown
July 18th, 2012
10:35 am
Don: You are a sports writer. If you seem to think that there is some organizational or systemic issue at the root of all the Braves’ pitching injuries, why don’t you publish something. I disagree with your theory, but only because it is all just conjecture.
Henry D.
July 18th, 2012
10:36 am
I think the thing that frustrates everyone is how bad this team can look sometimes. When they decide they don’t want to put out effort (for whatever reason) they just flat stink. Just look at their Monday record, and I would like to see what their record is after an off day.
I like long weekends as well, but I don’t get paid the salary that these guys do.
Thank's Chipper.
July 18th, 2012
10:39 am
D.O.B – Anyway to wrestle Wandy from the Stro’s without selling the whole farm? He’s under contract thru ‘14 and we really need a consistent lefty.
harry taylor
July 18th, 2012
10:56 am
Maybe it would be better to check Uggla’s stats since he came to the Brave. Batted .233 last year and .221 this year. All his stats are at his career lows. Your argument doesn’t hold up. Try again.
The Truth....
July 18th, 2012
10:58 am
Don’t give away the farm FRANK like you did with the Tex deal! PLEASE lets make a smart decision for once! Maybe we should just dance with the one we brought to the party….Giving away good prospects is not a good idea for a guy that might not even stay long term…STOP DOING THAT!!
Yogi Berra
July 18th, 2012
10:59 am
Frank didn’t make the Tex deal
DawgDad
July 18th, 2012
11:00 am
RWill2073: What, pray tell, do the career stat lines for Andruw Jones and Dan Uggla tell us about Dan Uggla’s impact on the team now? Might explain his inflated salary . . .
The Truth....
July 18th, 2012
11:00 am
Lets invest in better coaching and stop giving away good young players…McDowell has had plenty of time…Lets try something else…..
RWill2073
July 18th, 2012
11:02 am
@Dirty Dawg: “Command don’t mean crap if you can’t fool anybody with any of your pitches and you can’t get a fast-ball – to at least 92 MPH”
What??? You ever watch Tom Glavine? Greg Maddux? Why are so many mental ward patients up and on the internet this morning?
Rufus
July 18th, 2012
11:02 am
Still say we need a pitching coach first. Then a manager. YOU JUST CAN’T Wait on someone else to start the ralley. Looked like dead fleas falling off of a dead dog last nite.
The Truth....
July 18th, 2012
11:03 am
Yogi – well whoever made that deal…..I hate to watch the all-star game and see former Braves everywhere…..
TradeJurrjens
July 18th, 2012
11:04 am
Trade crooked hat Jurrjens while he still has some value! The guy got lucky his first 3 games back and is showing his true lazy colors again.
mountain_jim
July 18th, 2012
11:10 am
Chipper could have stated: “If I just caught that one easy grounder for a DP 6 runs would not have scored.”
Scorekeepers need to quit coddling him with ‘hit’ rulings when he does not make the easy play.
Instead he indirectly refers to ‘we were sloppy’ and ‘nobody was exempt’.
Rick
July 18th, 2012
11:11 am
harry taylor, last year Uggla had a career high hitting streak and career high home runs. This year he is on pace to have a career high in walks.
Don
July 18th, 2012
11:14 am
Tumbledown: I cover college football, not Braves baseball, although that would be the best gig ever. And what theory of mine do you disagree with? Seattle not trading Felix?
BrandonLee49
July 18th, 2012
11:15 am
Yes sirreee That was some “Bump in the road” alright.. Knocked half the DOB Bandwagon Cheerleaders Off into a Ditch somewhere.. So Now Maybe after that Disastrous excuse for a Ballgame, maybe the Team can realize it’s Wednesday, Not Monday, and Play like the Professionals they’re getting Paid to be. Oh that was Low wasn’t it, or was it Really LOWE…. Are you kidding me You actually Think Anyone of the Caliber of Greinke, wants to come into This Mess… NOT Enough Money in Ted’s Spare Change drawer, or Wren’s either.
shorty
July 18th, 2012
11:19 am
Fire Fredi…there can’t be a more clueless manager in baseball and less passionate..when he went out to ask the ump about the missed call on the steal he showed no anger..he doesn;t stand up for his players …and after that little meeting the players just followed his lead and went thru the motions.
RWill2073
July 18th, 2012
11:22 am
You people want to run off a guy that produces at the exact same level as Andruw Jones when he was here. While playing a historically weak offensive position. You want to know why he was signed for what he was signed for? Look at those numbers. You want to know why he’s in the lineup? Why he’s in the middle of the lineup? Look at those numbers. I’ll put my money on his career averages before I would a 1 1/2 year stretch. (A year and a half stretch where he’s still produced plenty of power and RBI, with a solid slugging percentage last year and a solid OBP this year.) I know, let’s run him off and go with Tyler Pastornicky at 2B. Or Danny Espinosa. Or Daniel Descalso. Or Ryan Theriot. Or Mark Ellis. Yeah, real appealing. I’ll take the 30 HR and 90 RBI from 2B thank you.
DawgDad
July 18th, 2012
11:24 am
Right now the Braves starting pitching consists of four guys coming back from significant injuries and two [ahem] young guys struggling for consistency (plus Teheran if you like). There are NO reliable “ace” stoppers on this staff, at least not at the moment, and that is the big worry.
Wren really has some tough decisions to make. Several key players will be fleeing the scene after the season or in the near future, but he also has a nice core of young players to build around and probably would like to keep the team competitive down the road (read, he doesn’t want to tank the team going all-in and get fired). Looking to the future, it would really help the Braves to be SELLERS this year and part ways with the vets, but assuming they play the game to paint flags on the wall they need to add a pitcher and a right-handed bat, however they do it.
This team is REALLY thin. Aside from pitching, if Bourn, Prado, or Chipper get hurt they are in big trouble.