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297 comments Add your comment
Optimist
August 21st, 2012
11:16 am
If the Nats go 20-20, all we have to do is play 26-14(.650) to tie them, a piece of cake..
Three holes is too many
August 21st, 2012
11:17 am
Can’t compete w the Nats with three sure outs in the lineup. Mac had a hit, big deal. His shoulder is shot. and he’s not hitting the ball nor can he throw. Sit him and let it rest. Uggla, a genuinely good guy, has no idea at the plate. The pitcher is of course, the third hole in the lineup. I’d say Janish is a fourth hole, but his D is so good, I can’t throw him under the bus.
CARROLL. You nor DOB would make it in NY as beat writers….and that is a complement. You’re both too talented and too decent. So, you both need to stay here. Let the cornbag NYers move back up there!
Frank Wren
August 21st, 2012
11:20 am
Hi i got Overbay to help us lose wildcard n chance win east..hey i said we will win World series i mean the minor league teams…we are really a double-A team!So be great n come out see chipper retire and we will raise our tickets up alot for you here…enjoy it folks 2013 another freddi Gonz. season of bad playin as i go to winter meetings and fall in pool behind MLB folks again!
bubba
August 21st, 2012
11:20 am
LOL at the dumb Phillies fan. Braves franchise has three World Series titles. Phillies only have two. Thanks for playing retard.
Jason Bourne
August 21st, 2012
11:23 am
You know how to tell a player is really bad? You will have hordes of people saying how nice he is. Three Holes, I bet you are a nice person. Anyone pay you 80,000 a day for that character trait? Let’s stop bashing Freddie for playing uggla. Wren tells Gonzalez to play Uggla. How can that not be more obvious? Do Gonzalez’facial expressions indicate a really assertive guy or someone who would roll over and go fetch. Uggla is Wren’s baby, pure and simple.
Johnny Logan
August 21st, 2012
11:29 am
Bubba-I believe the Phillies fan was referring to last few years. He probably wasn’t alive in 1957 when Wes Covington was a darn good left fielder and Hurricane Hazel hit over .400. The problem about living in the past is it usually becomes our prime. He probably also wasn’t here for the Boston Braves stuff. Hell, neither was I. We are closing in on 20 years since we won one of those fancy trophies. wouldn’t it be nice??
And Uggla Strikes Out
August 21st, 2012
11:30 am
Wish the ‘91 Braves were back. They’d win games like this.
jharber
August 21st, 2012
11:32 am
Maybe Uggla will take Wren with with him when he leaves, Whenever that might be. If you do not put best team on the field why do you expect to win?
Bravesfan54
August 21st, 2012
11:33 am
Sha-na-na-na, hey-hey-hey, goodbye!
Suicide Squeeze
August 21st, 2012
11:34 am
Leads the team with 10 boots, and has a .210 average with 138 strikeouts in 410 at bats. Now that’s value.
Three holes is too many
August 21st, 2012
11:38 am
Bourne,
If I were FG, I wouldn’t play Uggla. I said he seemed a nice guy, he does. He wouldn’t be on my infield if I were the mgr. I think he needs to ‘de-bulk’ to regain quickness w his bat, and I think his approach at the plate needs retooling. He was a .280 hitter under FG in Miami.
FG has the fourth best record in MLB with a payroll in the bottom half. Not bad. Problem is, when you lose starters, or go after bench help we can only afford guys like Overbay, Hinske, etc…
We can’t compete, long term, w the Nats as they have twice our payroll. Doesn’t hurt that they are basically younger than we are. Except for RF,1B and SS (Simmons), we are thirtyish or older at every spot.
Jason Bourne
August 21st, 2012
11:40 am
jharber-People who are viewed as really special in their fields(Think Wren) are very reluctant to admit mistakes. Mistakes don’t happen to them, they happen to other people. Wren probably can’t believe Uggla is 2 bad days from the Mendoza line. Frank Wren made up his mind to sign Uggla well past what should be his prime and “Darn it!! Uggla will play like that”, this Uggla stuff goes against his feelings of self worth–Frank Wren does not screw up. It’s just a given. I’m telling you guys, Frank Wren writes in Uggla’s name and you will really be able to verify that when Wren says in the next few days that he DOES NOT have anything to do with the lineup card.
Can't Fredo Go To Vegas
August 21st, 2012
11:44 am
You can tell Uggla has been around Freddi too long. His facial expression on that last play was a carbon copy of what we see on our leader;s face every evening.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
11:48 am
Uggla is hitting over .500 against Strasburg, of course he’ll be out there tonight.
marty
August 21st, 2012
11:52 am
its time tp put reed jonhson in left an prado at 2rd
JNick
August 21st, 2012
11:52 am
Three holes is too many
Nats Payroll is about 10-15 mil less than the Braves – not twice ours. Look it up. And for the record, we have the 2nd youngest team in baseball (behind the Rays, I believe).
bobbymahlon
August 21st, 2012
11:53 am
Carrol :
If scorekeepers scored games like a high school game there would be twice as many errors as there are now. I’m sure Major League baseball does not want a lot of errors so they score them as hits. I saw one game this year where in my eyes Uggla made two errors on a play and another later in the game and he was not credited with a single error.I’ve seen players run for a ball have it in the middle of their glove than drop it and it was called a hit and the ruling was that they had to run for it. I guess we should not expect major league players to have to run for balls.
Brave Hokie
August 21st, 2012
11:57 am
LOSER+ville = All Atl Professional Teams
Couldn’t play w/ the Walgreens EXPOS when they sucked and can’t now that they are better.
Get ready for that 1 game WTF Wild Card game in Turner field w/the opposing teams celebrating.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
11:59 am
Lou wasn’t the only one who got railed for making doomsday predictions about Ugly Dan guys, I received a lot of the same, I just find it funny that I KNOW some of you calling for his head are the same folks who called me an idiot last year:)
bruce benedict
August 21st, 2012
12:04 pm
Even if we get the wild card- does anybody really believe we can win a one game elimination?!! This team cannot hit under pressure, and that’s been a problem as long as I can remember. The Cardinals are licking their chops. We are just staring the choke a little earlier this year.
Blake
August 21st, 2012
12:05 pm
doe’s anybody really feel the Braves have a chance against this team? Mark It down….Atlanta’s going to lose 2-3 from these guys….
JNick
August 21st, 2012
12:11 pm
We sure have a lot of ex-MLB players/managers/coaches on here…experts all around. I’m in awe.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
12:12 pm
http://www.examiner.com/article/youngest-teams-major-league-baseball-2012
3rd youngest team, my mistake….
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
12:15 pm
JNick, I enjoyed your original post about being at the game, not sure why everybody kept bringing up that double off Chipper’s glove? It looked pretty hard hit and pretty far from him to me? Anyway, I thought Chipper could’ve given better effort on that ball in the 13th, but I can’t say with certainty it would have mattered, tough play, even if made. Someone earlier said Ugly Dan had no chance at home on that final play, but I disagree. It was hard hit and he was on the grass, even with Kenny Lofton on 3rd, there should’ve been at least a chance of getting the out at home?
bobbymahlon
August 21st, 2012
12:17 pm
Somebody please tell me why Freddi the last two games has Hinske pinch hitting before Francisco. Like last night if it wasn’t an extra inning game Francisco would not have got to hit. Probably because of his limited plate apperance all Hinske is doing lately is striking out. By the way Eric is hitting a robust .203.
jharber
August 21st, 2012
12:17 pm
BravesFanSince80s—Never have I called anyone names on the blog but I have received a lot of flack for my bashing of Uggla dating back to spring training of 2011, Freddi G. as well. You can not buy a Chevy and expect it to be a Cadillac.
crackbaby
August 21st, 2012
12:20 pm
@Candide – Nice post.
@optimist – that’s the way to look at it!
Not sure how many Braves fans post here – mostly whining know-it-all monday morning QBs. What a bitch fest… LOL!
Here are some facts:
1) The Nats have the best record in baseball.
2) Braves are 3 games up on the second wild card team.
It remains to be seen if the Nats can continue to win down the stretch with the pressure of a pennant race and fan expectations. A four or five game skid could catalyze a lot of puckering in that young lineup. Their starting pitching is strong, but let’s see how they perform under stress.
Braves just may have to take the wild card route to play in October. I’ll take that, thank you.
Carl Farvman
August 21st, 2012
12:21 pm
Ken Stallings is a genious. I believe he scolded when I pointed out Sheets is a career .500 pitcher…providing a bunc of theories to support his position. Well, given a reasonable sample size it basically means he loses half the games he starts as the official pitcher on record. Over time it’s an indication that he is an average pitcher.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
12:21 pm
well said jharber, I predicted from the day of the trade that a guy hitting around .260 in a low-pressure environment would probably drop to low .200’s in a high-pressure environment, and tons of people lashed out at me. I said if someone had asked me prior to that trade to give my short list of players I hoped to never see in a Braves uni, Ugly Dan would have been on it. I even had regular bloggers trying to convince me that Ugly Dan could play better defense at 2B than Prado could!
Brave New World
August 21st, 2012
12:22 pm
Good comeback by the Braves, frustrating loss nonetheless. Still quite a few games to go in the regular season. GO BRAVES!
bobbymahlon
August 21st, 2012
12:22 pm
Somebody ought to explain to JNICK this is a blog and people are venting their anger. So don’t be so sarcastic and join in on the fun.
Brave Hokie
August 21st, 2012
12:22 pm
JNick
Just cause LOSERs get OLDER does not mean they won’t continue to be LOSERs.
Hell, give us the younger UGGLA who use to KILL the Braves ~ over and over. He is now more experienced, older, and a bigger LOSER.
I’ll take an old team of winners over LOSERS, anyday.
ATLNatsFan
August 21st, 2012
12:24 pm
As well do not understand the Braves hating by their fans….Nats left so many opportunities on base last night. They were lucky. Our bullpen is just average to good so I think the race will go down to the end. And I do not think we will go to the World Series if we manage to make it to the NLCS due to our average bullpen.
Sonny Jackson
August 21st, 2012
12:25 pm
Everybody feel better now? Sometimes you just need to blow off some steam…
jharber
August 21st, 2012
12:26 pm
How nice would it be to have Omar and
How nice would it be to have Omar and Mike Dunn right now?
Dan Faber
August 21st, 2012
12:27 pm
It’s time to consider Uggla to be one of those bad contracts.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
12:29 pm
@Dan Faber: finally, JUST now?
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
12:31 pm
I would have thought last year was a pretty good indication of how bad the deal was. Even during his ridiculous “hitting streak” he had like 8 games where he had 1 infield hit to keep it going so it’s not like he was raking the ball even then…
jharber
August 21st, 2012
12:32 pm
We added him to the list the day he signed it, Freddi also.
Brave New World
August 21st, 2012
12:36 pm
Dan Faber August 21st, 2012 12:27 pm It’s time to consider Uggla to be one of those bad contracts.
What should the Phillies consider about Cliff Lee’s contract, or the Mets about Jason Bay?
jharber
August 21st, 2012
12:36 pm
In my opinion Prado should still be our second baseman, We give away to much talent for junk players.
Mike
August 21st, 2012
12:37 pm
@CarlFarvman
If you think pitcher wins are a reasonable way to evaluate how good a pitcher is, I suggest you don’t travel beyond the horizon otherwise you might fall off the face of the earth.
jharber
August 21st, 2012
12:39 pm
At least Philly could have dumped Lee on the Dodgers, Bay was never that good.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
12:44 pm
@Mike, if a guy has a career .500 winning percentage on a decent team, that seems like a pretty reasonable example of his being an average MLB pitcher. How is that a stretch or unrealistic? Now if he had a career ERA under 3 and played for Kansas City and his record was .500, that’s another story, but that’s not what was said now was it?
benchwarmer
August 21st, 2012
12:47 pm
Werths “double” past CJ was at most a single and an extra base on the misplay. Dude just freaking missed the play.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
12:47 pm
@BravesFanSince80s, yep, the ball in the first – I can’t say any 3B would have gotten that ball. Part of me wonders if he hadn’t tipped it, I think it would have been ruled foul. Who knows though, b/c the 3B ump was legally blind last night
The 13th was a weird inning if I ever saw one. Uggla definitely had a play at home, but it seemed like he was thinking too much – he self-admitted to (over)thinking before the play about what he would do – sometimes you just have to react and go with the play – but with it being after midnight, 13th inning, game that was dragging on, I understand that they’re human and are going to get tired. We’re 120-ish games into the year – these guys aren’t perfect – and as much as people think they are “informing” me that this is a blog and the object is to vent frustrations – I still say wake up – this team has the 4th best record in the game, probably playing in the 2nd toughest division (with baseball’s already unfair unbalanced schedule). People here are idiots and expect the Braves to go 162-0, all 5 starters to have 20+ wins, every position player have zero errors and hit .300 with 30 HR and 100 RBIs…oh and never strike out.
benchwarmer
August 21st, 2012
12:49 pm
Uggla was always a very streaky hitter. His bad streaks have just gotten worse and longer. Some indicaters are that he may not be the sharpest knofe in the drawer either.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
12:54 pm
I agree, if it had been about anybody else on the team I would’ve given him the benefit of the doubt considering the circumstances, but as poorly as his overall performance since coming to Atlanta has been, I can’t find forgiveness in my heart where he’s concerned. They all make mistakes, a good hitter only hits a 3rd of the time, but with Ugly Dan, it’s a whole ‘nother matter. Terrible trade, period. Give me Infante back ANYDAY…
benchwarmer
August 21st, 2012
12:56 pm
Truth is Braves do not play well against better quality opponents. They have to win more of those before I believe they can go through the playoffs.
The Truth Will Set You Free
August 21st, 2012
1:05 pm
Nolie, So many Lous and so little time. You do have the brains to realize-since you wait on spread sheets at 1:00AM—that everybody who hates uggla is not named Lou, so what was the purpose of that crap? Uggla can’t play. Deal with it. Get the guy in deleware to deal with it. It’s not personal against you or Uggla. Nobody hates either of you. This is a baseball blog and contrary to what you, a few dozen Pollyannas and Dave say, Dan Uggla was a horrible signing. Just beyond the pall. He was obviously the product of a time and a place. he had already entered his 30’s. He had never shown any kind of willingness to adapt any new approach. Bases loaded one out, 2nd and 3rd 1 out, 2nd nobody out, 1st and 2nd 2 outs, it does not matter to Dan. It will still be the helicopter, power swing with that hand coming off the bat and continual chasing of ball in the dirt. It’s who Dan Uggla is and in fact the defending of his kind of play is indicative of a recalcitrant mind set. Just say it–This Was A Mistake. It will set you free.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
1:08 pm
@The truth: awesome
Charles
August 21st, 2012
1:08 pm
Most disheartening loss! But while it is tempting to rip Fredi, Uggla and Chipper (yes, he did cut Janish off to create the infield-in situation that led to the Uggla boot) the fact of the matter is that the Nationals are simply a much better team. With the exception of catcher, their lineup is solid and consistent at the plate and their bench is strong. They don’t have Janish, Uggla and McCann dragging down their offensive stats. The Washington papers are all over Bryce Harper because his BA has dipped a few points to .260. What would the Braves be if McCann, Janish and Uggla hit .260. Washington’s starters and bullpen are excellent. The Braves didn’t lose the game in the last inning. The offense is anemic. In addition to Uggla, McCann and Janish who don’t hit at all, the Nats broadcasteres made an excellent point that Michael Bourn is 7th in the National League in striking out with 123 strikeouts — not what you want from your “franchise” leadoff man. Bottom line is the Braves offense failed to produce a single run for six inning innings which would have allowed them to bring in Kimbrell for the lights out. The bullpen, including Martinez, kept them in the game much longer than could reasonably be expected hoping for just a single run, beating back the Nats for six innings. Frankly, I was surprised the Nationals did not win the game earlier with their lineup. You can’t expect to go 6 innings against this team and not score and still expect to win. Right now they have 3-4 players who just aren’t hitting, and they can’t expect to make up any ground until that changes.
I'm A Numbers Guy
August 21st, 2012
1:15 pm
Nobody expects the Braves to go 162-0. Now a significant number of people have come to the realization that IF the Braves miss the playoffs–and I don’t think that happens–it will be the result of continuing to send out a .208 average, power guy with diminished power who has just lost it. Don’t know why he has lost it but it is gone. There have been more than a few people in last few years who suddenly forgot how to play. Who can explain it but to act like it hasn’t happened is crazy. Does anyone defending Uggla really believe the Braves would not be in 1st place right now if Infante would have been second baseman entire year? Plus the Braves would have had 10,000,000 in additional money to play around with.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
1:17 pm
If we can’t sign Bourn next year, I say Dexter Fowler needs to be a serious target, he’s on the verge of breaking out in a BIG way, and in my opinion, is a better defensive outfielder:)
Nice Guys Finish At The Mendoza Line
August 21st, 2012
1:21 pm
Charles-If Dan Uggla played in a real baseball market with a critical fan base and aggressive newspapers and vitriolic call in shows, he would have been run out of town. can you imagine his act playing in New York, Boston, Chicago? Hell, his act would not play in DC. Really nice people in Atlanta, do their nice chop and all feel like family, friendly and forgiving beat writers, radio shows dominated by Georgia football recruiting. Dan landed in one of the few places outside of Seattle and Houston where he could hit .208 and get defended by significant numbers.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
1:28 pm
If you think there’s a better defensive CF in the game than Bourn, you haven’t watched many games this year….he’s probably single-handedly saved at least 5 wins with his defense alone. While I do agree that he strikes out WAY too much for a top-tier leadoff guy, his defense is 2nd to none.
Carl Farvman
August 21st, 2012
1:31 pm
@CarlFarvman
If you think pitcher wins are a reasonable way to evaluate how good a pitcher is, I suggest you don’t travel beyond the horizon otherwise you might fall off the face of the earth
Mike, it is a metric used with others that, over time, can help understand/assess talent and ability……..over the course of a career. Any talk of Cy Young is accompanied by W/L and ERA, then SOs, innings pitched, QS, etc., etc, etc. Never has there been a CY Young awarded where W/L was not a central factor in the decision, along with ERA….and this is only over the course of 1 season. You can pull examples of ‘W/L’ doesn’t matter” out of the hat all you want, but in the aggregate it has always been an important measure. You and Ken can get a room together and overwhelm each other with your superior knowledge of the game of baseball. Sheets, to date, has settled into his career average of just over.500 and, guess what, we’ve lost about half the games he’s started. See the connection?
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
1:36 pm
oh I’m not saying Bourn isn’t a good CF’er, he covers good ground and runs good routes to the ball, but I was a pretty good CF’er myself in college and I recognize strengths and weaknesses pretty well in these guys. Bourn is actually better going back on the ball than coming forward. Strange given that in most MLB CF’ers, its the other way around. No big deal there, he covers tons of ground. Here’s my biggest complaint about his defense: he has NO arm whatsoever, he throws no one out and gets ran on quite a lot. Teams that run, make him look bad going 1st to 3rd A LOT. Now, as long as he’s hitting over .300 and leading the league in SB’s that’s ok too. BUT, he’ll be 32 next year and for a speed guy, that ain’t young anymore. Should we in good conscience pay him Scott Boras money or go find somebody younger? Dexter Fowler covers ground well and has a much better arm, all I’m saying…
Jaded
August 21st, 2012
1:36 pm
I didn’t get why people were making this out to be some epic series. The Nats are in complete control of this division. They’ve been on top for virtually the entire year, and now they’ve opened up a six-game lead. Even if we win the next two nights, the odds of making up a four-game deficit with less than 40 games remaining statistically quite small if you look at baseball history.
My focus is on the wild card.
Sam
August 21st, 2012
1:42 pm
This is my first time reading these comments and it totally justifies why everyone thinks Atl has a God awful fan base. Long live Chipper and Dan the man. Go Braves
BillEGoat
August 21st, 2012
1:43 pm
Honestly, the Nats have a better team, not by a big nargin, but better. With Uggla and McCann having bad years, the Braves are a step or two behind the Nats, and it is nobody’s fault, just the facts. Add in the questionable defense at 2B ands 3B and the mediocre pinch hitting, and we see that the Braves are playing for the wild card this year. Hinske has gotten some big hits in past seasons, but it looks like his career is over. We can HOPE this was just a bad season for Uggla and that McCann will get attention to his injuries over the winter and be his old self in 2013. This Atlanta team has some holes, but the Nats do NOT.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
1:45 pm
a big nargin?
Nice Guys Finish At The Mendoza Line
August 21st, 2012
1:47 pm
Jaded–If the braves split next 2, that means if the Nats go 19-19 in last 38 the Braves must go 25-13 in their last 38 to tie them. Right!!!!
Nice Guys Finish At The Mendoza Line
August 21st, 2012
1:51 pm
Sam–Thank You!!! You just justified my earlier comment. The Braves have the most kindly and benevolent fan base in America. If Uggla played in Boston, he would not only NOT read the papers, listen to the radio or watch TV but he probabaly has an alias put on his lease. The same thing goes for New york, Chicago, detroit, St Louis and every other REAL baseball city.
TPic
August 21st, 2012
1:52 pm
Carroll, I’d like to respond to the answer you gave Csonka. Scorekeeping (as you know) is very subjective. I did not see that play, so I won’t comment on it. But I have seen dozens of plays this season that should have been ruled errors and were not. It is very simple – if an out should have been recorded and was not, it’s an error. I don’t care if an outfielder ran 50 yds for a ball and it bounces off his glove. Or a rocket is sidestepped by an infielder. Or a ball drops in shallow left field because no one called for it. Major leaguers are supposed to make those plays. When they don’t, they should be charged an error. It’s a wonder the NL doesn’t have several players with 1.000 fielding percentages.
Joe Gordon
August 21st, 2012
1:53 pm
BillEGoat, Was last season a “good season” for a 13,000,000 second baseman???
larry dothan al
August 21st, 2012
1:56 pm
choke,choke,choke 12 games out end of season.
Mark Wohlers
August 21st, 2012
1:57 pm
Yeah, let’s focus on the one game Wild Card, guys…
What possibly could go wrong?
Joe Gordon
August 21st, 2012
2:00 pm
Sam, Atlanta actually has very good fans who have been rewarded with 1!!!!!! World championship in 3 sports since 1966. we are actually Buffalo and Cleveland with 1 more Title.
Spoiled?? I Don't Think So
August 21st, 2012
2:04 pm
Yea!! Lay off the fans. A bunch of division banners and 1 Super Bowl appearance. We are not exactly spoiled. Now I know many are really proud of that 1,333 NL East thing but I believe that should have resulted in more than 1 World series Crown.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
2:13 pm
@Mark Wohlers: PRICELESS!
JNick
August 21st, 2012
2:15 pm
@BravesFanSince80s – I’ll have to look up Fowler…but the guy I really like is Roger Bernadina. If the Nats overpay for Bourn, then I say we try to get Bernadina. Dude is fast and has (IIRC) about a .390 OBP in limited play. I say give him a shot.
BravesFanSince80s
August 21st, 2012
2:22 pm
Fowler is from Atlanta as well, probably be pretty easy to get him here…
TPic
August 21st, 2012
2:34 pm
JNick – Bernadina has a .379 OBP right now, the highest of his career. I think he may be one of those guys (see Diaz, Matt) who gets exposed with regular play. Good speed, decent defense, but a 4th OF in my opinion.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
3:00 pm
Thanks TPic…his defense is what I’m unsure about. Figure there had to be a reason he wasn’t starting, other than the obvious glut of OFs that the Nats have.
ERman
August 21st, 2012
3:03 pm
Everybody is on Uggla pretty good and well they should be, but we can’t forget Freeman and B McC. Uggla’s bat has been in the deep freezer all year, Freeman’s bat the last two weeks as well as B McC’s. When Brian is at bat, he looks like he would rather be some where else. He needs to go talk to his brother again.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
3:09 pm
Rockies outfielder Dexter Fowler is hitting just .194 away from Coors Field this season, compared to .338 at home in 2012.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
3:11 pm
Looks like he has brought that stat up in the last month though, up to .269 – but the first half of the year on the road was ugly…
harry taylor
August 21st, 2012
3:19 pm
JNick: We sure have a lot of ex-MLB players/managers/coaches on here…experts all around. I’m in awe.
I’m sure you are included in those experts.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
3:27 pm
Fowler won’t be a FA until 2016, and his agent is Scott Boras
JNick
August 21st, 2012
3:28 pm
Harry – I’m not on here criticizing players for being imperfect. It’s ridiculous some of the comments you read on here…
Backdoor Slider
August 21st, 2012
3:43 pm
MORE FREDI MISMANAGEMENT
Consider these well stated comments from Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk on Fredi’s mismanagement of the bullpen last night:
“Nationals 5, Braves 4: I suppose you can yell at Dan Uggla for messing up the play with the infield in and a runner on third in the 13th inning which allowed the winning run to score. But perhaps it’s also worth noting that the Braves played perhaps their most important game to date, in a series that, if they don’t win, the division title is basically out of reach, with their best relief pitcher sitting on his butt. But hey, at least Fredi Gonzalez saved Craig Kimbrel for a save situation that never came. Not having him then would have been terrible. Far better to leave everything up to Cristhian Martinez in a situation when a strikeout is absolutely critical, not the guy who strikes out 15.8 batters per nine innings.” — End quote.
Carl Farvman
August 21st, 2012
3:49 pm
“Carroll, I’d like to respond to the answer you gave Csonka. Scorekeeping (as you know) is very subjective.”
Yeah,I was surprised by his response…..coming from a beat writer. Scorekeeping in MLB is wildly inconsistant and can lack total credibility. The most notable example that I personnally observed was a STL/Philly game in STL when Bob Forsch was credited with a no-hitter. Late in the game, Pete Rose hit a hard grounder past 3rd…the 3rd baseball moved to his left and couldn’t get a glove on it; the ruling by the home team scorekeeper: Error. As long as there is subjectivity, incompetence and agendas…..you can take it for what it’s worth and sometime that’s not much. Rose said during a post-game interview: “Bobby just pitched a heck-of-a 1-hit game.” Even as an avid Cards fan I agreed. Surprised to see Carroll defend these rulings as if an exact science is used.
harry taylor
August 21st, 2012
4:40 pm
JNick
I realize there are some ridiculous statements on this blog. In a perfect world it would be different, but this is not a perfect world. Thus it is not unusual to see average folks to state an opinion right beside an idiot. In a natural world that is normal. Just get a chuckle out of those idiots and smile. That is what makes the world go around. If everyone was the same it would be a boring world. Take iit from an old man who learned the hard way- by experience. lol.
JMac
August 21st, 2012
4:44 pm
The collapse has started. The Braves WILL NOT be in the playoffs this season. They have NO leadership on or off the field. They will fold just like last season, and the wildcard teams will be St. Louis and either the Pirates, Dodgers or the Giants. I said it last year and everyone scoffed at the thought, and I say it again, and am positive it will happen again. The Bracves have some talent, but not enough PLAYOFF quality talent, and sadly no leadership.
JNick
August 21st, 2012
4:51 pm
^speaking of chuckling
KYBravos' fan
August 21st, 2012
5:05 pm
Wow! I’d sure hate to have some of you guys in a foxhole with me. Tough loss? Definitely. Lots of them in a 162 game schedule. We tend to forget the games like this that WE win. In baseball you HAVE TO HAVE a short memory. Any closer knows that. Any hockey goalie knows that. Baseball is great because you don’t have to wait too long to “get back in the saddle.” Go Braves!
JMac
August 21st, 2012
5:35 pm
Chuckle if you want, but the only way the Braves players will get to attend a playoff game is if they buy a ticket. Take off the rose colored glasses and remove the blinders, and you will see that I am right. I said the same thing last season, and even Mark Bradley laughed. I am saying the same thing this season, because it is going to happen. The Braves have absolutely no direction, no leadership. They have been overacheiving according to their talent level, while teams that have been crippled by injuries, (Washington and St. Louis especially) have outperformed the Braves, based on the talent those teams had to work with. Now they both are getting healthy, and both will finish ahead of Atlanta. And remember that the Cardinals, besides having to replace many injured players, including 2 of their 5 starters, have had to replace the best manager of this era, and the best player in baseball. (And they are still nipping at the heels of the Braves)
bravesincebirth
August 21st, 2012
5:39 pm
Why dont Uggla lead off. Whats the difference. Get his out , out-of-the-way because stupid fgonz gonna play him no matter what.
bravesincebirth
August 21st, 2012
5:43 pm
Why cant Uggla get hurt? Not seriously, i dont mean to be melicious r rude, but thats what its gonna take..Put constanza in left and prado at 2nd and try to manufacture some runs. The players u need r hurt and the useless ones like uggla cant get injured to save his life
bravesincebirth
August 21st, 2012
5:52 pm
No leadership says it all. This team has none.Great point JMac. Its that one little thing thats missing thats holding this team back from reaching its full potential. No upper management, managers r coaches. No players. No leadership at all. Just point out how great the other team is and intimidate your younger players is all these so-called leaders do. What happened to the old-fashioned were coming after you attitude like the great teams of the past in mlb. This team follows its leader chipper/with his lackadasical, lazy, never in a hurry, never worry, dont matter attitude. Hes been the leader for 10 years and his attitude is why th team is headed nowhere again!!!
bravesincebirth
August 21st, 2012
5:54 pm
Th Braves need to quit complimenting the nats and go kick their ass!!!
Keefro
August 21st, 2012
6:45 pm
Hey DICK NUT I mean NAT NUT…act like you’ve been there before…. Remember, when your team has sucked as long as yours has, you are put in a position to draft the best players available…when your owner is happy to buy big names, it also puts you in a position to have a great team…. With that said, our owners are the pioneers of bringing porn to your hotel room and the team is simply a tax write-off…I’m tired of Freddie Gonzalez.. I’m even more tired of Dan Uggla… Congrats Nats and quit being little girls with stras and let the dude help y’all win the WS…. Peace out
Bo
August 21st, 2012
7:12 pm
Have you seen any of these Little League Games? Some of those kids can Play solid defense. Nuff said about that. Uggla is a true liability to this Team and salary or no salary should be benched. Of course, hardheated and stubborn as he is, won’t make a difference. The rest of the league is chuckling at us for keep playing this dud.
Rob Smith
August 22nd, 2012
12:21 am
Looks like Uggla’s “rebound” August never really panned out…hard to believe he’s on pace for worst year of career, even worse than the year where he was batting .175 before the all star break. His contract has all the makings of a bust, given how horrifically streaky he’s been its hard to imagine him having another year as good as one from the Marlins days. Totally unreliable bat in the line up and the opposite of clutch, doubtful that 12M will ever look like its being well spent when you could find a solid fielding 2B w decent OBP and avg and free up budget space for either a power hitting outfielder if Prado goes to 3B, or another reliable starter…
Nurse Ratched [aka Randal Patrick McMurphy]
August 22nd, 2012
8:50 am
Candide – 1964 Phillies… lived thru it. Let me remind you of a little something… 2011 Atlanta Braves…
‘Nuff said…
Submariner
August 22nd, 2012
9:59 am
Why are we not complaining about Fredi Gonzo? He lets Juan hit for himself in the top of the 9th, leaving Chipper standing in the on deck circle with duck on the pond? Stupid!