LIVE: It’s time for the Braves (or is that the Black Knight?)
Do Omar Infante and the Braves have enough healthy bodies left to win the wild card? (AP photo)
Welcome back to Turner Field for a game involving what remains of your Atlanta Braves.
To all of the injury issues the team has had in the season — not the least of which were losing Chipper Jones and pitcher Kris Medlen for the year and pitchers Jair Jurrjens and Takashi Saito for extended periods, we add this: Martin Prado is “definitely going to be out for a while” with a hip-pointer, manager Bobby Cox said after Monday’s game.
The biggest problem with that: There’s not “a while” left in the season. In fact, there are more letters in “a while” (six) than there are games left on the Braves’ schedule (five).
Prado might be toast, but the Braves aren’t, yet. They enter tonight’s game against Florida with a one-half game lead over San Diego and 4 1/2 over all-but-dead Colorado in the National League wild card race.
Prado is having an MRI and was not available for comment before the game. Cox said he was “feeling better” today. But, even though we’re talking about one of the toughest players on the team, it would be surprising to see him back in the lineup this season. A hip-pointer is an extremely painful injury, one that prevents a player from pivoting — which eliminates pretty much every movement in a baseball game (fielding, throwing, hitting).
How are the Braves still here? They’re like Monty Python’s “Black Knight,” who kept fighting on despite severed limbs. (”It’s only a flesh wound!” … I am invincible! The Black Knight always triumphs!”)
In fact, since everybody can use a laugh these days . . .
On a related note, the “Black Knight” is batting third and playing center field for the Braves tonight.
OK, seriously. The lineup includes these changes: Catcher Brian McCann is batting third to replace Prado; the struggling Melky Cabrera (hitting only .229 with one homer in his last 49 games) is hitting fifth; Brooks Conrad starts at third base and hits seventh.
Pitching tonight on only three days rest (in place of the injured Jurrjens) is Tim Hudson. He’s only 1-4 with a 6.10 earned run average in five September starts after going 6-0 with a 1.43 ERA in his previous eight outings. One positive omen: Hudson has pitched on three days rest three times before in the regular season, going 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back to live blog at game time. Can the Braves hang on?
♦
EARLIER POST
♦ Bust poll: Bobo (Georgia offense) vs. Groh (Tech defense)
♦
SACK SCHULTZ: Making a little comeback. Went 12-3 last week. Note to all competitors: You’re going down. It’s not to late to lose to me! Click here for details and then here to enter.
♦
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC and Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
636 comments Add your comment
Rick
September 28th, 2010
8:32 pm
Correction he’s batting .210 the past 10 games. Like I said, it can’t be any worse.
Just flip a coin between us and SD to see who gets the wild card. Whoever gets it will get swept in 3 with these potent offenses! lol
JOHN Q
September 28th, 2010
8:32 pm
bobby did it again,putting m-i-lky in left field.nate,s bat is no good,but he can play defence
jl
September 28th, 2010
8:32 pm
Holy S@%T Can Fish Face hit it out of the Infield?????
Ron
September 28th, 2010
8:33 pm
Ankiel is so scary at the plate!
Naboo the Enigma
September 28th, 2010
8:33 pm
For the love of GOD, can we please get rid of Chip.
Bye Bye Bobby
September 28th, 2010
8:33 pm
Yeah Rick. No way we can win one playoff game with this no-hitting bunch.
SG10
September 28th, 2010
8:33 pm
I said earlier, Braves should have started Glaus and brought in Conrad as defensive replacement after the 6th..I remember reading somewhere that there was a big split Conrad’s numbers before and after 6th..Before 6th, he is Ankiel and after 6th, he is Infante!
david s
September 28th, 2010
8:33 pm
A one hitter! So much for last night being anything but a fluke.
turtsnap
September 28th, 2010
8:33 pm
P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C
Jesse Stone
September 28th, 2010
8:34 pm
SG10- Glaus can NOT play 3rd, especially with Hudson pitching. Too many balls beat into the ground
Ron
September 28th, 2010
8:35 pm
We seem to only get runners at first with 2 outs.
Bye Bye Bobby
September 28th, 2010
8:35 pm
Man. If we put together 5 high choppers we can take the lead.
Grownin Samoan
September 28th, 2010
8:36 pm
Blanco .256 with 10 SB as many as the Braves Team in last 30 games. Someone tell me if I am wrong.
Ron
September 28th, 2010
8:36 pm
Even hudson has the swinging flu
david s
September 28th, 2010
8:36 pm
Clearing the pitcher is a good thing for most teams, for us it just means Infante will be the first out in the 6th.
turtsnap
September 28th, 2010
8:36 pm
Oh boy!!! 2 HITS!!!! Exciting Braves baseball!!!!!
walk
September 28th, 2010
8:37 pm
what is the heart of this lineup?
G
September 28th, 2010
8:37 pm
Hey the Marlins should keep their outfielders in the dugout to save them from having to stand around and do nothing tonight.
Grownin Samoan
September 28th, 2010
8:38 pm
this is some sort of TV water torture. we are all slowly dying here like at the Alamo…’cept we hae no Davy Crockett
SG10
September 28th, 2010
8:38 pm
Jesse Stone: Wasn’t he sent down to the minors to practice playing 3rd base? I don’t remember reading he was bad in the minors..Braves have way too many players who are in the team for defense with no offensive power..yet we are at the bottom of the league in errors!
Braves Blah
September 28th, 2010
8:38 pm
Was Melky doing a perrioute out there?
Evan Longoria and David Price
September 28th, 2010
8:38 pm
mlb network probably wishing they had another playoff race to show tonight
Ben Hill, Been Real
September 28th, 2010
8:38 pm
Y is the offense so anemic?
GT Alum
September 28th, 2010
8:39 pm
Rick -
Sorry, was looking at the last 7 days split on ESPN, and forgot that would only be 6 games. So, yeah, when you add the 0-4 in the first game of the Philly series, that drops it to 270. And, yes, before the last week, he was struggling. But he was hitting 318 with 2 BBs and 2 runs scored over the past week. Now we’ll never know if that was the start of something or just a nice week.
Bye Bye Bobby
September 28th, 2010
8:39 pm
There is something the Braves can’t do. Hit a line drive for a hit.
Jake
September 28th, 2010
8:39 pm
Could the Gwinnett Braves hit any worse? I think not.
Jesse Stone
September 28th, 2010
8:39 pm
SG10- that was just a courtesy. There was never any plan for him to play 3rd at the major league level. He knew he wouldn’t play first in font of Lee, so he took a shot at 3rd. He may as well have played CF in Gwinnett.
Bye Bye Bobby
September 28th, 2010
8:40 pm
Ben Hill, Been Real
September 28th, 2010
8:38 pm
Y is the offense so anemic?
PENDLETON!!!!!!!!!!!
Grownin Samoan
September 28th, 2010
8:40 pm
Y is the offense so anemic?
ummm three guys that shouldnt be in MLB McOut, Ankiel and Melky. Three platoon guys Infante, Conrad and Diaz. A gimmick at First Base all year.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
September 28th, 2010
8:40 pm
horrible news on prado- see the braves are tearing it up tonight. what a horrible way to end the season after a phenomenal run this summer.
walk
September 28th, 2010
8:41 pm
glaus is better than lee IMO
Jesse Stone
September 28th, 2010
8:41 pm
Marlins broadcasters said Melky got turned around 3 ways to Sunday
FloridaStateinDC
September 28th, 2010
8:41 pm
The braves are making sanchez look like roger clemens…the hitting funk is ureal…
Rick
September 28th, 2010
8:42 pm
GT Alum
It doesn’t really matter when no one behind you or ahead of you is getting on. Hence the 0 rbis.
I think this may be the worst offense I have ever seen over a 3 week period. I think if they all bunted they would have a better chance at getting a run across.
Bobby Colton
September 28th, 2010
8:42 pm
Is everyone enjoying the Florida Marlins against the Gwinnett Braves (AAA)?
Jesse Stone
September 28th, 2010
8:42 pm
walk- For 6 weeks he was. Everyone seems to have forgotten how putrid he was after that. Much worse than Lee. The defense is not even comparable.
Grownin Samoan
September 28th, 2010
8:42 pm
Jesse…Melky looked like Amelia Earhardt lost over circling back and forth lost
SG10
September 28th, 2010
8:43 pm
Jesse Stone: I agree with that comment about courtesy….It is just that despite offensive struggles, I dunno if Glaus will be any worse than most of the regulars. At least with Glaus, we had some hope that he could quickly be on fire…with Ankiel, Cabrera and McLouth, we don’t even have that..
Bye Bye Bobby
September 28th, 2010
8:43 pm
“The Braves just need to get some men on base just to leave them”. Ha Ha So true. And of course they would too.
Playoffs
September 28th, 2010
8:44 pm
And we only have 2 hits. I can’t get why at least one player can’t do something? It’s not like 3-4 players hit. We don’t have one guy who can hit one out?
Jesse Stone
September 28th, 2010
8:44 pm
SG10- I agree. Is there a worse OF in the majors? Our OF has been a problem for a while and we keep trying to fix it with Elmer’s Glue and chicken wire.
NCBravesFan
September 28th, 2010
8:45 pm
Melky’s batting fifth?! Methinks the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch may be in order!
Rufino
September 28th, 2010
8:45 pm
To BobbyCoxCountdown: 5…
You can take any of those 5 names, and finish no better than 3rd this season.
NEXT!
(You really listed Charlie Manuel? Wow. Either stop drinking or learn a little about sports before you post on a sports blog.)
walk
September 28th, 2010
8:45 pm
the defensive side is true. but offensively lee has don nothing it seems
Grownin Samoan
September 28th, 2010
8:45 pm
Be careful what you wish for Joe Simpson
Black Knight
September 28th, 2010
8:45 pm
Can we have Infante, Heyward and McCann each bat twice?
Jesse Stone
September 28th, 2010
8:46 pm
If we’d traded Vazquez for a minor leaguer (Melky Mesa) instead of Fat Melky, we could’ve signed Marlon Byrd
Brian SC
September 28th, 2010
8:46 pm
Come on people, we’re in the middle of a playoff race and the place is quieter than a church service. Get up off your feet!!! Cheer for your team!!! Make some noise!!!
We can hate on the Phillies and their fans all we want, but you can’t argue with thier passion and the atmosphere they create every night their team is at home. The atmosphere last week when the Braves were there is what it should be like in Atlanta right now. Fans on their feet. Tomahwaks choppping.
Grownin Samoan
September 28th, 2010
8:46 pm
Lee = Garrett Anderson 2.0
Bye Bye Bobby
September 28th, 2010
8:46 pm
Here we go Braves. I predict a K, a Pop Out, and a ground out.