Section 435 An Atlanta Braves blog. From the upper deck at Turner Field.

On the Catcher Situation

Just a quick note after tonight’s stormy affair with the Cardinals:
Corky Miller, in 26 games and 54 at bats this season, has 5 hits, 1 HR, and 3 RBIs.
Clint Sammons equaled Corky Miller’s HR and RBI totals tonight alone.

Goodbye, Tex

When Mike Hampton of all people is the only Brave not currently on the DL, it FINALLY became apparent to management that this season was over. So, mark your calendars for Casey Kotchman bobblehead day sometime in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
With Kotchman we get some stability at first base for the next few years, a [...]

On My Absence

Apologies for my prolonged absence. I’m in the midst of a move. It’s only a mile down the road, but I’ve been in and out of boxes and without the internet tubes. Things should be approaching normalcy again by this weekend’s series against the Brew Crew. I’ll be back to analyze the trade-deadline carnage (both [...]

Another Brutal One

Washington: Like a Kajillion, Atlanta: Significantly Less. (Okay, fine. 15-6.) Folks, today was the first time that I can remember actually leaving a game before the final out. Yogi Berraisms aside, this one was over.
So we lost two out of three to the team with the worst record in baseball going into the series. This [...]

Same Ol’ Song and Dance

Washington 8, Atlanta 2. This was the kind of loss we’ve come to expect from the Braves this year. Nothing doing on the offense once runners get on base.

John Lannan is apparently only a competent pitcher against the Braves. Against the Braves, he excels.
Ryan Langerhans had more hits tonight than his entire 2007 tour with [...]

Battle of Who Could Care Less

Atlanta 7, Washington 6. Wow, was that an ugly game. If we were playing a team that actually cared about winning instead of the former-Brave-AAAA-All-Stars we could have easily lost that one.
Here’s a list of Atlanta Braves castoffs on the Nationals’ roster right now:

Ryan Langerhans
Pete Orr
Odalis Perez
Johnny Estrada
Willie “Caught Stealing” Harris, the second best player [...]

Counterpoint: What the Braves Need to do to Win

Going into the All-Star break, I suggested it’s time for the Braves to wave the big white flag on 2008. I think I’m in the minority on that opinion. It’s hard to argue that 6.5 games is an insurmountable deficit, and with a second half full of division matchups, we certainly have a lot of [...]

Grasping at Straws

There’s a scene at the end of the movie Miracle, about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, when the upstart Americans are leading the Soviets with less than two minutes to go in the semifinals. The Americans start wondering when the Soviets are going to pull their goalie to get an extra skater in the [...]

An Amazing Victory

Atlanta 7, Houston 6 (17 fucking innings). Of the official crowd of 24,000 this afternoon, maybe two thirds waited out the two hour rain delay before this game started. Plenty of people left after Kyle Davies Charlie Morton gave up a grand slam that gave the Astros a 5-1 lead. And as each inning of [...]

On Francoeur, Low Notes, and High Notes

So I’m a little bit behind after early bedtimes and early rising the last couple of days for my second Peachtree Road Race and other Patriotic Hat Day festivities. A lot has been going on with the Braves in the meantime.
On Francoeur
I salute Bobby Cox and Frank Wren for their decision to send Francoeur down [...]