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No sweep, but tonight there?s Smoltz
By David O'Brien | Thursday, May 24, 2007, 12:57 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As I was saying, I didn?t think there was much of a chance the Braves could sweep the Mets (ahem?). Not with Oliver Perez going in the middle game. What, you guys haven?t noticed he dominates the Braves?
Anyway, moving on, onward and upward, and all that. Tonight, Smoltz vs. Glavine, with the bald-on-top dude going for win No. 200. My guess is he gets it, simply because not many are better at answering the bell for these dramatic moments than Smoltz, and this couldn?t be scripted better for him.
He gets win No. 200, at home and against his good friend. Sure beats going for it in Milwaukee next week, don?t you think?
So I?m not going to return to the suggestions of how to treat Glavine tonight, or opine on whether it?s time to put past disagreements with him aside and appreciate what he did for the team while he was here, etc. That?s your call.
Will say, however, that Smoltz and Bobby Cox both have strongly suggested the fans at Turner Field should, for once, give Glavine warm applause instead of booing him like some villain.
?He?s as tough as they come,? Cox was saying yesterday, about Glavine pitching through ankle, knee, rib cage injuries, and the blood-clot scare. ?Let alone talking about his arm?.?
Cox loved that Glavine never complained about aches and pains or asked to skip a start over a sore, but not debilitating, elbow or shoulder. He never worried about pitching at less than 100-percent health, about what it might do to his ERA, etc.
Then Bobby dropped a modern reference on us that really surprised me.
?He never gives in,? Cox said. ?You get him in Extreme Fighting and get him in that choke hold, he?s never going to tap out. He?s going to keep going.?
Huh? Extreme Fighting? Choke hold? Tap out? He knows more about the sport than I do, that?s for sure. Wow. Wasn?t expecting that.
Anyway, asked whether Glavine should get an ovation instead of the 50/50 (at best) boos/cheers he gets at Turner Field, Cox said, ?He absolutely deserves a three-minute standing ovation here, for what he?s brought to this town.?
OK, I?ll stop. Because again, I hate being told how to respond to athletes or politicians or anybody else. It?s your money, you bought the ticket, you?re free to respond however you see fit.
And I also don?t want to be a hypocrite, because I gotta tell you, I?d boo Roy Williams for the way he left Kansas. And I know he did a hell of a lot for the university, winning the right way and all. But I?d still boo him.
That said, I still think the Glavine thing is more about his union ties more than a decade ago, and to me that seems like it should be secondary to all the nights he put the team on his back and helped make the Braves a model franchise.
But maybe I?m missing something. I do know, as I?ve said before, that his exit to the Mets wasn?t over a few dollars, as many of you believe. It was a large gap between the offers made by the Braves and Mets initially, and a lot of pride stung and bad water flowing under the bridge before the Braves made a comparable offer to the Mets? proposal, by which point it was probably too late.
But I?ll leave it at that. Don?t want to rehash, and I?m sure you don?t.
Again, if you boo it?s not an indictment of Atlanta as a sports town or anything else. Don?t let anybody tell you it is. But I will say, it?d probably impress folks watching on TV and in the opposing dugout if you cheered, just this once, on this special night.
Then go back to booing the next time he?s in town, if you like.
Baseball?s a strange game: And here?s just another small example of that. The Braves have hit .212 in their past six home games, but are 4-2 with a 2.17 ERA in those games.
They have hit .301 in their past five road games, but are 1-4 with a 5.27 ERA in those.
Or maybe that just underscores the overwhelming importance of pitching, rather than the fact baseball?s a strange game.
About Andruw?s slump-busting: Apparently it?s still a work in progress. He followed up his encouraging 2-for-3 night with no strikeouts Tuesday by going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts last night.
Since May 2, he?s hit .155 (11-for-71) with one homer, 12 RBIs, seven walks, and 25 strikeouts in 19 games. He has one RBI in his past five games, and was hitless in four of those games.
After the sixth inning this season, Andruw has hit .191 with nine hits and 21 strikeouts in 44 at-bats, with nine walks.
For some comparison, recent arrival Jarrod Saltalamacchia has six hits in just 11 at-bats after the sixth inning, with no strikeouts.
Edgar Renteria is a National League-leading 24-for-57 (.421) with five strikeouts after the sixth inning, and Kelly Johnson is 16-for-50 with 10 walks and nine strikeouts after the sixth inning.
Renteria is 46 points ahead of the league?s next-best after the sixth inning, San Diego?s Brian Giles (.375). Colorado?s Todd Helton (.367) is third.
Moylan is the real thing: With so much attention focused on the ?Big 3? Braves relievers - Wickman, Soriano, Gonzalez - and when they might all be healthy and firing on all cylinders at the same time, Peter Moylan?s performance has been overshadowed.
That?s a shame, because it?s been stellar, mate. The amiable and heavily tattoed Aussie sidearmer gave up three runs in his first appearance, while still wiping sleep from his eyes after scrambling to get here from Richmond.
But since then, Moylan has given up just one run and eight hits in 21 innings, a stunning 0.43 ERA and .125 opponents? average over those 14 appearances.
Speaking of Smoltz? He rises to the occasion for big games and within games. With runners in scoring position, he has held hitters to a .164 average (9-for-55), the best among National League starting pitchers, just ahead of the Mets? John Maine (.167).
The Braves have two of the top five home ERAs in the league with Smoltz (1.93) and Hudson (2.00). Brad Penny (1.43) and Roy Oswalt (1.76) lead the league.
Baseball is strange, Pt. II: Last season the Braves hit .280 at home and .261 on the road. This season? The Braves are tied with the Mets for the league lead with a .281 road average.
But at home, the Braves are hitting a mere .244 (13th in the NL).
Jeff Francoeur is hitting .343 on the road, 10th in the NL, but hitting just .259 at home. A complete and utter reversal of last season, when he hit .343 at home and .217 on the road.
Edgar Renteria is fifth in the NL in road average (.358) and Chipper (.345) is tied for seventh.
Braves ain?t hitting lately, period: The Braves have scored 44 runs in their past 10 games, but 22 of them came in two games, a 14-0 win at Boston on Saturday and an 8-1 win vs. New York on Tuesday.
They have scored three runs or fewer in six of their past 10 games, and are 3-7 with a .265 average and 4.71 ERA during that stretch.
Damn, we need some music?.
?HELLO WALLS? by Willie Nelson (and popularized by the great Faron Young)
Hello walls (Hello, hello.)
How?d things go for you today?
Don?t you miss her/Since she up and walked away?
And I?ll bet you dread to spend another lonely night with me,
But lonely walls, I?ll keep you company.
Hello window, (Hello, hello.)
Well, I see that you?re still here.
Aren?t you lonely/Since our darlin? disappeared?
Well look here, is that a teardrop in the corner of your pane?
Now don?t you try to tell me that?s it?s rain.
She went away and left us all alone/ the way she planned.
Guess we?ll have to learn to get along without her if we can.
Hello ceiling (Hello, hello.)
I?m gonna stare at you a while.
You know I can?t sleep/So won?t you bear with me a while?
We gotta all stick together or else I?ll lose my mind.
I gotta feelin? she?ll be gone a long, long time.
(Hello, hello wall.)
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No sweep, but tonight there's Smoltz | Braves | ajc.com
By David O'Brien | Thursday, May 24, 2007, 12:57 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As I was saying, I didn?t think there was much of a chance the Braves could sweep the Mets (ahem?). Not with Oliver Perez going in the middle game. What, you guys haven?t noticed he dominates the Braves?
Anyway, moving on, onward and upward, and all that. Tonight, Smoltz vs. Glavine, with the bald-on-top dude going for win No. 200. My guess is he gets it, simply because not many are better at answering the bell for these dramatic moments than Smoltz, and this couldn?t be scripted better for him.
He gets win No. 200, at home and against his good friend. Sure beats going for it in Milwaukee next week, don?t you think?
So I?m not going to return to the suggestions of how to treat Glavine tonight, or opine on whether it?s time to put past disagreements with him aside and appreciate what he did for the team while he was here, etc. That?s your call.
Will say, however, that Smoltz and Bobby Cox both have strongly suggested the fans at Turner Field should, for once, give Glavine warm applause instead of booing him like some villain.
?He?s as tough as they come,? Cox was saying yesterday, about Glavine pitching through ankle, knee, rib cage injuries, and the blood-clot scare. ?Let alone talking about his arm?.?
Cox loved that Glavine never complained about aches and pains or asked to skip a start over a sore, but not debilitating, elbow or shoulder. He never worried about pitching at less than 100-percent health, about what it might do to his ERA, etc.
Then Bobby dropped a modern reference on us that really surprised me.
?He never gives in,? Cox said. ?You get him in Extreme Fighting and get him in that choke hold, he?s never going to tap out. He?s going to keep going.?
Huh? Extreme Fighting? Choke hold? Tap out? He knows more about the sport than I do, that?s for sure. Wow. Wasn?t expecting that.
Anyway, asked whether Glavine should get an ovation instead of the 50/50 (at best) boos/cheers he gets at Turner Field, Cox said, ?He absolutely deserves a three-minute standing ovation here, for what he?s brought to this town.?
OK, I?ll stop. Because again, I hate being told how to respond to athletes or politicians or anybody else. It?s your money, you bought the ticket, you?re free to respond however you see fit.
And I also don?t want to be a hypocrite, because I gotta tell you, I?d boo Roy Williams for the way he left Kansas. And I know he did a hell of a lot for the university, winning the right way and all. But I?d still boo him.
That said, I still think the Glavine thing is more about his union ties more than a decade ago, and to me that seems like it should be secondary to all the nights he put the team on his back and helped make the Braves a model franchise.
But maybe I?m missing something. I do know, as I?ve said before, that his exit to the Mets wasn?t over a few dollars, as many of you believe. It was a large gap between the offers made by the Braves and Mets initially, and a lot of pride stung and bad water flowing under the bridge before the Braves made a comparable offer to the Mets? proposal, by which point it was probably too late.
But I?ll leave it at that. Don?t want to rehash, and I?m sure you don?t.
Again, if you boo it?s not an indictment of Atlanta as a sports town or anything else. Don?t let anybody tell you it is. But I will say, it?d probably impress folks watching on TV and in the opposing dugout if you cheered, just this once, on this special night.
Then go back to booing the next time he?s in town, if you like.
Baseball?s a strange game: And here?s just another small example of that. The Braves have hit .212 in their past six home games, but are 4-2 with a 2.17 ERA in those games.
They have hit .301 in their past five road games, but are 1-4 with a 5.27 ERA in those.
Or maybe that just underscores the overwhelming importance of pitching, rather than the fact baseball?s a strange game.
About Andruw?s slump-busting: Apparently it?s still a work in progress. He followed up his encouraging 2-for-3 night with no strikeouts Tuesday by going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts last night.
Since May 2, he?s hit .155 (11-for-71) with one homer, 12 RBIs, seven walks, and 25 strikeouts in 19 games. He has one RBI in his past five games, and was hitless in four of those games.
After the sixth inning this season, Andruw has hit .191 with nine hits and 21 strikeouts in 44 at-bats, with nine walks.
For some comparison, recent arrival Jarrod Saltalamacchia has six hits in just 11 at-bats after the sixth inning, with no strikeouts.
Edgar Renteria is a National League-leading 24-for-57 (.421) with five strikeouts after the sixth inning, and Kelly Johnson is 16-for-50 with 10 walks and nine strikeouts after the sixth inning.
Renteria is 46 points ahead of the league?s next-best after the sixth inning, San Diego?s Brian Giles (.375). Colorado?s Todd Helton (.367) is third.
Moylan is the real thing: With so much attention focused on the ?Big 3? Braves relievers - Wickman, Soriano, Gonzalez - and when they might all be healthy and firing on all cylinders at the same time, Peter Moylan?s performance has been overshadowed.
That?s a shame, because it?s been stellar, mate. The amiable and heavily tattoed Aussie sidearmer gave up three runs in his first appearance, while still wiping sleep from his eyes after scrambling to get here from Richmond.
But since then, Moylan has given up just one run and eight hits in 21 innings, a stunning 0.43 ERA and .125 opponents? average over those 14 appearances.
Speaking of Smoltz? He rises to the occasion for big games and within games. With runners in scoring position, he has held hitters to a .164 average (9-for-55), the best among National League starting pitchers, just ahead of the Mets? John Maine (.167).
The Braves have two of the top five home ERAs in the league with Smoltz (1.93) and Hudson (2.00). Brad Penny (1.43) and Roy Oswalt (1.76) lead the league.
Baseball is strange, Pt. II: Last season the Braves hit .280 at home and .261 on the road. This season? The Braves are tied with the Mets for the league lead with a .281 road average.
But at home, the Braves are hitting a mere .244 (13th in the NL).
Jeff Francoeur is hitting .343 on the road, 10th in the NL, but hitting just .259 at home. A complete and utter reversal of last season, when he hit .343 at home and .217 on the road.
Edgar Renteria is fifth in the NL in road average (.358) and Chipper (.345) is tied for seventh.
Braves ain?t hitting lately, period: The Braves have scored 44 runs in their past 10 games, but 22 of them came in two games, a 14-0 win at Boston on Saturday and an 8-1 win vs. New York on Tuesday.
They have scored three runs or fewer in six of their past 10 games, and are 3-7 with a .265 average and 4.71 ERA during that stretch.
Damn, we need some music?.
?HELLO WALLS? by Willie Nelson (and popularized by the great Faron Young)
Hello walls (Hello, hello.)
How?d things go for you today?
Don?t you miss her/Since she up and walked away?
And I?ll bet you dread to spend another lonely night with me,
But lonely walls, I?ll keep you company.
Hello window, (Hello, hello.)
Well, I see that you?re still here.
Aren?t you lonely/Since our darlin? disappeared?
Well look here, is that a teardrop in the corner of your pane?
Now don?t you try to tell me that?s it?s rain.
She went away and left us all alone/ the way she planned.
Guess we?ll have to learn to get along without her if we can.
Hello ceiling (Hello, hello.)
I?m gonna stare at you a while.
You know I can?t sleep/So won?t you bear with me a while?
We gotta all stick together or else I?ll lose my mind.
I gotta feelin? she?ll be gone a long, long time.
(Hello, hello wall.)
Permalink | Comments (247) | Post your comment |
No sweep, but tonight there's Smoltz | Braves | ajc.com
