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

Jo-Jo Wins one for the Chipper

If I wasn’t so numb from the parade of bad news over the last week, I might have panicked last night at the news that Chipper Jones got hit in the face by a caroming baseball in batting practice before the game at Anaheim. It sounded like a death blow for the season. Chipper Jones out. Our record this season without Chipper Jones was 0-6. Just one more situation in which we couldn’t win.

And yet…

We managed to make things happen and win the game against one of the AL’s top teams. And Chipper turned out to be just fine. Maybe that moment will end up being a different sort of turning point for the season.

On Jo-Jo Reyes

With each start, Jo-Jo Reyes is starting to look more and more like a quality major league pitcher. He looks much more confident, and he’s not getting flustered so easily. It’s as if someone finally told him that as a starting pitcher in the Major Leagues, giving up a run or two doesn’t make a bad start. His last four starts have been strong:

And those numbers include a 4 run performance against Philadelphia in which he pitched better than his line showed.

The best news in all of that might be the 7+ innings per game average. Last night, Jo-Jo went a career high 8. Having someone besides Huddy going more than 5 each game is big considering how worn down the bullpen already is.

Here’s to Jo-Jo.

Murphy was an Optimist

Well, after the events of this week (Glavine rejoining the DL Army, Jurrjens stubbing his toe, Soriano declining the opportunity to be a professional baseball player, signing the mediocre Brian Lawrence and Jorge Julio, the offense stranding more men than the Titanic, the bullpen collapsing 4 out of the last 6 games), my most recent Trade Winds post is already hopelessly out of date and the two of three remaining which are half-written as drafts both need to be seriously reevaluated.

Here’s some things going around in the rest of the Braves and baseball blog-o-verse:

• Talking Chop is ready to sell.
• Chop-N-Change prophesied the whole damn mess in March. You know, sort of.
• Apparently our dismal road record can be attributed to our lack of amphetamines. (via Kottke)
• Maybe our luck will be changed by a giant, tomahawk chopping cow.
• Finally, at least we’re not the Mets. Their fans are so distraught at this point that they’ve gone incoherent.

Key Stat: Record by Uniform (Update)

A few weeks ago, I reported on our record by jersey. A lot has changed in that time period:

• The Braves started experimenting with mixing and matching caps and jerseys on the road.
• The AJC cribbed my story.
• The Braves started sucking everywhere they play.

So here’s an update on those numbers:

And, for the remainder of the season you’ll be able to keep track of these numbers using my handy Atlanta Braves Record by Uniform site.

For those more technically inclined or who like to hear boring, whiney, drawn out stories, click the read more link to read the sob story about how I finally got this online. [Read more →]

Trade Winds: Starting Pitching

The first in a series on the Atlanta Braves’ potential for making moves this summer.

Most of the talk about moves the Braves would make this summer involve starting pitching. After the loss of John Smoltz and Mike Hampton to injury and the loss of the Chuck James Experiment to excruciating suckitude, we’ve been plumbing the depths of… well, all that depth that we heard about at the beginning of the season to find guys on the mound.

Let’s take a look at our starting five through Sunday’s game:

Tim Hudson

Hudson’s stepped into the role of solo-ace quite nicely. He’s had a couple of shaky performance but several more in which he’s been well-nigh unhittable. He’s also our only pitcher who’s reliably gone deep into games this year. Huddy’s our ace for the next several years.

Jair Jurrjens

Jurrjens went from competing for the fourth or fifth spot to being one of our most consistent starters. After a strong start, JJ has given up 14 runs in 15 innings in his last 3 starts. Don’t expect the club to give up on this one, though.

Tom Glavine

With Glavine, we got exactly what we hoped we’d get when we signed him over the winter. (Well, except that DL stint.) Not a Cy Young gun, but a fairly solid number 3. Glavine deserves better than has 2-2 record.

Jo-Jo Reyes

Jo-Jo Reyes made his first appearances last fall, having a brutal couple of months. After pitching well in Richmond this spring, he got another shot at the big club. Most of the damage against him this year has been in two starts (5ER at Philly, 7 vs. Arizona) and he’s starting to look a lot more comfortable on the mound. The BB/K ratio has vastly improved since last year (2007: 1.11; 2008: 0.38). The organization still has Jo-Jo in its plans, so I don’t imagine he’s going anywhere.

Jorge Campillo

As a starter:

Campillo is the big question mark. He’d been toiling in obscurity in Mexico and Seattle’s farm system until joining the Braves and posting a 0.99 ERA in his first 16 appearances. He’s cooled down since, but has still been stable. Can he keep up the good work? If the Braves decide to go after another starter, though, Campillo would still fit in well into the bullpen.

The Current Rotation

Barring injury*, slots 1-3 aren’t going to change, and I wouldn’t look for the Braves to give up on Jo-Jo just yet. On the other hand, while Campillo has been pitching very well as a starter, bringing in a new arm and sending Campillo back to the bullpen addresses not only the starting pitching but also adds another reliable arm to the late innings stable.

* Which is a possibility as Hudson has pitched hurt a couple of times this year, Glavine made his DL debut and is… well, old, and Jurrjens has been battling blisters.

Other Options In-House

Jeff Bennett and Buddy Carlyle are in the bullpen with the big club right now. Both have proven themselves to be capable, if not brilliant, starters at the major league level. Although Bennett has taken on the spot starter role a couple of times this season, Bobby obviously likes him in the bullpen for long relief. My Buddy did a tour as our number four starter last year, but there’s not much reason to think he’d do better than Jorge Campillo has, so I don’t imagine we’ll see him as a starter again this year.

In the minors, Charlie Morton has been heating up. Still, his record prior to this year hasn’t been impressive, and I think the Braves would like to give him one more season in the minors. He might be an option to fill in for a start or two, but not to take a permanent spot in the rotation. Meanwhile, Chuck James is just returning from a DL stint for a bothersome shoulder, so there’s no telling if we’ll ever see him again or if we’ll end up just demoting him to Kansas City.

Oh, yeah. Mike Hampton is hoping to be back by the All-Star break. In other news: WOOOOOLF!!!!

Potential Moves

Here are some names that have (or haven’t been) been bandied about as potential trade bait.

Greg Maddux – The Padres are looking to unload after knocking themselves out of contention with a poor start. Maddux is in the last year of his contract and likely the last year of his career. Maddux isn’t in the prime of his career, but he’s put up good numbers this year and gone at least 6 more often than not. Maddux would fit the bill, but don’t look to Braves to give up top prospects for 3 1/2 months of Maddux.

Rich Harden – I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rich Harden go to somewhere that is not Atlanta this summer. Billy Beane’s going to want a lot for him and the last thing the Braves need is another big paycheck on the DL.

C.C. Sabathia – Mark Teixeira to the Indians for C.C. Sabathia? Nah.

Freddy Garcia – Apparently, the Braves are watching Freddy Garcia as he’s rehabbing from injury.

Joe Blanton – Ken Rosenthal reported that the Braves talked to Billy Beane about Joe Blanton but were nowhere near the price. Blanton’s 3-8 with a 4.15 ERA, which really isn’t an improvement over anyone in our rotation. Obviously we’re not going to give up the farm for him.

Sidney Ponson – The Rangers cast off Ponson for being disruptive in the clubhouse. I know that stuff doesn’t fly in Atlanta (and apparently not in Arlington, either), but with a 4-1 record and 3.88 ERA, somebody is going to pick this guy up for cheap.

Kevin Millwood – Jayson Stark dropped this name, but don’t look for the Rangers to part with any more pitchers after releasing Ponson.

Prospects

Don’t count on seeing a blockbuster starting pitching move this summer. The cost/benefit in the long term is too steep to add another ace right now. Maddux is a good option if the price is right, but the price won’t be right. On the other hand, taking a stab at rehab project like Ponson or Garcia that wouldn’t cost us much just might be worth the shot.

Phucked

To say that this was a disappointing series with the Phils would be the understatement of the year. After getting it done against the Marlins, we suffered our first home series loss of the season, getting swept out of town by the Phillies.

I still don’t think the Phillies have the starting pitching to go the distance, but they’re playing like a team possessed right now. The Braves on the other hand are playing like a team about to get repossessed.

So, now we’re 6 1/2 games back from the lead on Philly, 3 behind the Marlins, and about to go on the road where we’re a pathetic 7-21. We’ve got a day off to learn how to win on the road because another .300 road trip might put us out of it for good in the competitive NL East.

Saturday

Philadelphia 6, Atlanta 2. This game was a relief after Friday night’s debacle. At least we didn’t have to hold our breath at the end waiting for whatever colassal cluster-phuck our boys would arrange to assure another loss. This one was out of hand by the bottom of the ninth. Jo-Jo Reyes pitched another strong game. Bobby should have taken him out after pitching 7; he was obviously running out of gas. That cost us the go ahead run.

Sunday

Philadelphia 6, Atlanta 3. The Phillies figured out that to hit Jorge Campillo, you’ve just got to take what he gives you. They blooped their way onto the board with two in the first and picked up one more in the third. Tex brought the lumber today going 3-5 with a HR and 3 RBIs, but he was the exception. Jeff Francoeur left 6 on base today. That boy is obviously driving an automatic because he’s got no clutch in him right now.

The Ugly

I’ll skip the good and the bad for this series because it was mostly ugly:

• The bullpen, which had been great all season long suffered catastrophic meltdowns in all three games. Though, to be fair, the bullpen wouldn’t have had the chance to meltdown on Friday had KJ gloved that ball, but no one is still bitter about that, I’m sure. To top it all off, Soriano is doing his best Mike Hampton imitation and has decided that he can’t pitch again.
• Jeff Francoeur. Francoeur went 3 for 13 with 0 RBI and left 15 men on base in this series. What happened to the guy we saw in 2006 who hit 29 HR or the guy who hit .293 in 2007? He’s worse than dead weight right now, he’s an anchor dragging us down.
• Injuries. Chipper sat today with a slight tear in his quads and will miss a couple. Kotsay is nowhere near ready to come back. Soriano is all gimped up again. I can’t imagine they’ll let him sit much longer without DLing him again.
• Attitude. This is not a team playing with a winning attitude. This is a team playing like it expects to lose. They’re playing sloppy baseball, making lots of mistakes, having bad at bats, and consistently choking at key moments. Ultimately, this is a leadership issue, and I don’t see the leadership stepping up to do anything about it.

As hard as it was watching the Braves collapse of June 2006 putting them out of contention and watching the team last year just not quite having enough, this year is just so much more frustrating because this is a team with more than enough tools to get it done. Yet almost every chance they get, they seem to just want to give it away. It’s hard to keep rooting for that.

Lost on the Basepaths

Philadelphia 4, Atlanta 3. The Braves suffered another excruciating collapse on the road last night, wasting several runs on base running mistakes, blowing the lead with a Kelly Johnson error in the ninth, and losing it with a Manny Acosta appearance in the tenth.

Wait, what’s that you say? We were at home? This was the Home Braves? The Home Braves just completely gave one away?

Let’s not be too quick hang this one all on KJ, though. His error in the 9th was the most visible mistake, but we really lost this one on the basepaths.

• Yunel trying to score on a pop up and getting nailed 20 feet from home.
• Gregor Blanco failing to get down a good bunt on the suicide squeeze after Infante triples.
• Will Ohman trying to take second on a dropped pitch.
• Grego Blanco thrown out at home trying to score the tying run.

Tim Hudson (7.2IP, 1ER, 5H) must be pissed.

Braves Hire New Strength and Conditioning Coach

Frankie Fultz is out, Phil Falco is in. Awesome alliterative name remains qualification for job.

The juicy bits:

When asked about Fultz’s situation, Braves general manager Frank Wren could only reveal that Fultz had resigned… Fultz’s midseason departure has drawn a number of questions. But a club official said this wasn’t a product of the number of injuries the Braves have endured this year.

Draw your own conclusions, but this doesn’t surprise me at all. In fact, the thought crossed the back of my mind a few weeks ago that Fultz may not be entirely secure in his position.

Chipper and the other 400

Atlanta 7, Miami Marlins of Miami 5. While all the focus has been on Chipper chasing the .400 that’s preceded by a decimal point this, he’s also been inching closer to 400 career home runs. I know with Manny Ramirez hitting 500 and Ken Griffey Jr. slouching towards 600 that 400 is not quite as glamorous a number as it used to be. But when Chipper Jones knocked a towering bomb into the right field bleachers tonight, he became just the third switch hitter in baseball history to hit 400 career home runs. He trails only Eddie Murray and Mickey Mantle in that category. Chipper’s punching his ticket to Cooperstown from both sides of the plate.

Now, slide your eyes a little bit further down that list to number 25. Young Mark Teixeira is already at 179 HR in his 6th season. If continues along at this pace, he’ll be joining his current teammate in that elite club at some point down the line.

The Braves slugged it out to take three (should’ve been four) out of four from the Marlins. Yunel Escobar bounced another home run off the top of the fence. McCann went yard as well.

Jair Jurrjens pitched better than his line (6IP, 11H, 5ER) would indicate, but still well enough to get the win. Most of the damage came in a four-run fourth inning in which the Marlins didn’t hit much hard and just beat out a couple of close plays. They did manage to do one thing the Braves haven’t this year which was to use runners on base to their advantage. They made some holes with the threat from their running game and punched a few soft shots through the holes. The home team should take note and try to bring a little of that type of mojo on the road next time.

Smoltz

I’m sure you already know the news, so I won’t add to the cacophony with another recap. I watched the press conference this morning and had a few thoughts:

• Smoltz talked a lot about being at peace with this decision, and that really manifested itself in his bearing when he was talking. You can tell that if this really is the end, he’d be okay with that.
• If you look at his body language, you’ll notice that his right shoulder doesn’t budge at all for most of the conference, even though he does a lot of gesturing with his left hand.
• Smoltz on his last game:
  

  If I struck out the side, I’d still be having this press conference…. I realized an hour afterwards, the pain was too great.

• Smoltz on coming back next year:
  

  I won’t come back just to come back.

Uggla Night for Campillo

Atlanta 5, Miami Marlins of Miami 4. The Campillo naysayers got a bit of a boost tonight as Jorge Campillo gave up 4 in 4IP. Dan Uggla had Campillo’s number (57) all night. Uggla hit two home runs (3 RBI) against Campillo before quieting down against the relief corp.

Campillo struggled to find the strike zone and pitched behind in the count a lot. That coupled with the Marlins taking my advice on being a bit more patient made it a short night for Senor Jorge. It was a classic bad night for a control pitcher, and there’s no reason to think he won’t rebound next time out. However, if you’re looking for something to get your hopes up about before dragging you back into miserable reality, here’s a link for that.

Greg Norton went from goat to guy-who-is-not-the-goat for the game. After reading a number of unflattering blog comments about himself, Norton came to the ballpark early today, practiced hard, and showed up when needed. He made a diving grab in the field (followed by a look-what-I-found, shit-eating grin on Braves Vision), made a personal best zero stupid throws back to the infield, and hit a two-run double to put the Braves back on top in the bottom of the eighth.

For taking it to the next level, Greg Norton is Section 435 dot com’s Full Throttle Energy Drink Player of the Game. Of course, we’ll get back to ragging on him tomorrow unless Corky Miller starts again.

Rafael Soriano took on the closing duties today. This time he looked like the dominant guy that we saw last year. He retired the bottom third of the Marlins lineup in order, using his fastball to set up his fastball, then using his fastball for his out pitch.