If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

It's the bottom of the first inning and John Smoltz is getting rocked. He just gave up a grand slam... :casstet:

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Yup, just saw it. Thanks for the false hope dewd!!! :P

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

LOL man Smoltz fastball is so straight. He needs some more movement. Josh Beckett\'s curveball is sick. One down 161 more games to win ;)

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

I am not buying the false sunshine papz. It lasted one game. ;)

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

That was a long arse game. 161-1 isn\'t too bad. :cool:

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

I can see clearly now the rain is gonNNNnnnee... :P

What a great song :exclam:

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

If we win 2 out of every 3, we can be 108-54 and Kolb could have 108 saves!!! ;)

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

You heard it here first! A couple of more things... who needs Carlos Beltran when you can have Julio Franco ;) As Kolb notches another save... 105 more to go.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

papz, Smolts is 0-2 as a starter, and Kolb just embarrassingly blew a save to the Nationals. Time to rethink priorities. And it was after a great outing by Hudson.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Well Smoltz blew the first game... but the second game he went 7 innings gave up 2 earn runs and struck out 15. Pedro just shut us down. He\'ll be fine. Kolb has 3 saves and 1 blown save... I don\'t consider it that bad. I agree our offense needs some work, but our pitching will be fine. Can\'t win them all.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Apparently can\'t win a series against the Exp, err, um, Nats either. Mondesi sucks, as I figured he would. Chipper is hitting well, as is Andrew and LaRoche but they seem to be in the minority. Why is Giles always hurt? And furcal, what the hell is he doing? Jordan is sucking also. I knew this would come back to bite us. Damnit!!!!

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Damn Whodi...10 games in and already it\'s Mondesi sucks (2 dingers last night), Furcal -- what the hell is he doing -- 2 dingers of his own last night and 2 stolen bases right? Jordan is sucking also? I don\'t know if I\'d want anybody else at the plate with runners in scoring position (ok, maybe chipper). Giles is hurt often, but he plays head first. Smoltz may be 0-2, but he should be 1-1.

Which priorities should be re-thought? It\'s a LONG season man! Cheer up!
:soleil:

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Just messing with papz saintfan. We had a long back and forth before the season started and he got me to put my faith in some of these guys. Just throwing some pessimism at him when they don\'t do well. Trust me, I know it\'s a long season, and the way we came on in the second half last year, I know it\'s always our division. Just gotta :poke: papz every now and then. ;)

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO Kolb!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Mondesi sucks still. BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Hampton was great and Kolb blows it again. Fantastic. If Steinbrenner can call out the Yanks this early I can call out the Braves. ;)

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

I think Mondesi is gonna come around Whodi...he\'s showing signs, but I\'m all about boooooooo-ing Kolb. We\'ve already shipped off one guy out of the pen. Mabye Kolb should be next?

:shrug:

[Edited on 18/4/2005 by saintfan]

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

I want Kolb moved to middle relief and Smoltz as the closer again. Now I will grant Smoltz has pitched well for the most part, but blowing saves is not tolerable. Kolb is 0-2 but has given away 3 games. We could possibly have 3 more ticks on the win side and 3 less on the loss side if Smoltz was closing instead of Kolb.

As far as Mondesi goes, I guess we will have to wait and see. Is he hitting under .200 again after yesterday? I don\'t see him just turning it on. I hope I am wrong but he has done nothing the past few years to make me feel differently.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Agreed on the Smoltz thing. I LOVE the guy as a starter, but with the Braves offense I get the feeling we\'ll be in a few 1 run games and the closer is key.

As for Mondesi, yeah, we\'ll have to see, but Julio is gonna teach the boy to hit. I have faith...

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Father time Julio Franco? lol What is he 60? Hopefully someone teaches Mondesi how to hit cause after 11 games, besides one spark(2 home run game) it has been a colassal failure to me. I wasn\'t sold on Jordan either but he seems to be doing okay. We\'ll see how that goes over the course of an entire season.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Bah... that damn Kolb keeps on blowing saves. Maybe we should consider trading for a reliever and Baltimore and Minnesota has loads of talent in their bullpen. Jordan has been playing well and it looks like Mondesi might just be around the corner. Our starting pitching has been rock solid it\'s just that we need Furcal (STOP TRYING TO BE A POWER HITTER AND GET YOUR ARSE ON BASE ;) ) to get on base more and our bullpen to hold the lead. We\'ll be fine... look at the Yankees. Do you think they are going to stay at the losing pace that they are in? We\'ll win the division again unless the Marlins keep on pitching like that.

Keep Smoltz in the starting group, he\'s been great besides the first game. Hampton is pitching lights out... 20 game winner?

[Edited on 18/4/2005 by papz]

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Now with Kolb closing. ;) Kolb needs to be moved to set up man, and Smoltz back to the closer\'s role. If he really wants to help this team, that\'s the way to go. With Hampton and Hudson, we would still have a solid 1-2.

And where is all this Mondesi faith coming from? He is turning the corner to what, hit .200? I am giving this guy no slack cause I felt before the season started he would be a failure. He has proven me more right than wrong. But we shall see.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

But remember you were also dogging Brian Jordan real bad ;) Let\'s just give it some time.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Wow... Hudson vs Roger was outstanding. Huddy was still throwing 94 mph cheese in the bottom of the 9th. If we can get some offense going, our pitching will carry us deep in the playoffs.

I was a bit shaky watching Kolb get the save. His control just isn\'t there. The velocity on his fastball is great, but he needs to add a slider or change. His sinker just isn\'t cutting it. I think before we should even consider moving Smoltz back, which I am totally opposed to, we should take a look at Sosa closing games. He has a 98 mph fastball and nasty slider. Definately worth a look. If we move Smoltz back into the bullpen, which we shouldn\'t, we\'ll have a void in the rotation. Davies will be great, but he\'s not ready.

Will the real Andruw Jones please stand up? Sigh.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Huddy left no doubt as to who was our number one. And if Smolts moves to the pen, weren\'t you talleing me John Thompson was gonna have a breakout year? What happened to Ramirez? I think Sosa is a good set up man, but could he handle the pressue of closing? I guess we wouldn\'t know unless he was thrown into the fire. Don\'t get too high on Jordan, he is doing okay, much better than Mondesi, but he ain\'t no J.D. Drew. Mondesi sucks, and he has for the past couple of years. He totally gaffed on one fly ball last night that could have cost us the game. Put a lead off runner on second late in the game. He was just to slow to cover it. Glad for a win finally though. Damn Huddy is outstanding.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Okay maybe I\'m just fooling myself with Jordan and Mondesi. They both are hitting under .220 and both has been disappointing. But... Ramirez and Thompson both has been pitching fine. Thompson has had one tough start as has Smoltz. The other starts were great. Ramirez hasn\'t had a terrible outing yet.

Yea about Sosa possibly closing... yea true we wouldn\'t know unless he was put back there. They same could be said when Eric Gagne was converted to a reliever. The same could also be said when Brad Lidge (man this guy is nasty) replaced Dotel last year. Or when Robb Nen got hurt the other year and Tim Worrell did an outstanding job replacing Nen. I\'m not saying Sosa will be anywhere as good as these two, but it wouldn\'t hurt to give him a chance. He has electric stuff.

On the side not, it\'s only 13 games into the season! Give it some time and faith. The Braves for the last 13 years has come through... you gotta love that. Any hitting and we\'ll get 14 straight. If you look at Thompson\'s number for the past 2 years, he\'s already been solid. And I do have faith that he will win 16 plus games. :P

\"John Thomson will make his fourth start of the season when he opposes Brandon Backe on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park. Thomson struggled with his control and suffered his first loss of the season on Wednesday. Dating back to last year, it was his first setback in 11 starts.\"


[Edited on 19/4/2005 by papz]

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

I was pointing out Thompson to say it wouldn\'t hurt us in the starting rotation to move Smoltz back to the pen cause of Thompson. I wasn\'t knocking him. But if you have huddy, Hampton, Thompson, and Ramirez, you have a 1-4 rotation right? We can have guys fill in if we need a 5th guy. But Smoltz as a closer is as close to a sure thing as we can have, especially with hitting not being very good right now, outside of a select few. Close games, we need Smoltz to finish. Maybe Kolb could close if we have a 3-4 run lead or something. He closed last night, but that seemed like a battle of atrition for both teams more than a solid close out inning.

I can;t say anything more on Mondesi and Jordan. I just hope at some point they prove me wrong.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

I agree he didn\'t look good yesterday at all. 4 more rotation will tire of starters though. We don\'t have any other candidates that are major league ready. 4 man rotation means more bullpen action. I\'m not for that at all. True having Smoltz back there would be a great asset for this team but the season is still young. Let\'s just hope Kolb pitches better than we\'d have nothing to worry about. He was an allstar last year... I think it\'s his nerves. Over 140 more games to go, I\'m pretty sure he\'ll have it straightened out soon. ;)

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

If kolb gets it together, you are right. But that\'s an if as well as Jordan and Mondesi\'s ifs. Long way to go though, baseball is definitely a marthon and not a sprint. But damn, we can\'t lost to the Expo, err, um, Nationals any more. That\'s just a no no.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Nothing to get excited about yet but both Jordan and Mondesi are hitting better. Our pitching staff is still doing extremely well... and word on Kolb is that he went to see a shrink about a week ago and has pitched well every since. And we just sweep the Philles :cool:

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

:dance:

I am just glad to see the bats have been alive for the last two games.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

After tonight, I officially give up on Kolb. We need to weigh our options here because we can\'t have him keep pitching like this and expect to win. I still can\'t justify moving Smoltz into the bullpen though, he\'s been pitching so well besides the first start. :(

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Smoltz got a win!!!! Cy Young baby!!!!!!!! ;) And yes, the Kolb experiment has failed. I am also more of the opinion we should not move Smoltz back, especially if he is gonna get 3 or 4 runs run support. He can win 20 easy if that is the case. But something needs to be done about Kolb. Pulling your closer in the ninth? That\'s embarrassing.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Yes that was VERY embarrassing. And also by doing that, his confidence, well what was left of it, probably all went down the drain. Julio would be a solid pickup if we were willing to give up a promising prospect to Baltimore. But I\'m going to remain positive because it\'s only been 20 games. Kolb might get better... :( Leo will think of something I\'m sure.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

papz, I think you need to go talk to Kolb and give him the same pep talk you were giving me. Maybe that will get his confidence back. :cool:

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Who is Betemit? I\'ve heard the name before..............

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Two years ago he was Atlanta\'s top prospect... he never developed into the player everyone thought he was going to be. He was our third baseman of the future but now it\'s Marte. Betemit has very good power potential but I don\'t think he will ever hit for a high average. Kind of sad because I think the Braves and scouts put too much pressure on this guy. He was with our organization ever since he was 16 (Atlanta took a major fine after the league found out he was underaged when we signed him). But you never know with these Dominican players... Adrian Beltre didn\'t develop until he was 25/26 and look what kind of player he turned into. I\'m not giving up on him yet but I doubt if the Braves had to choose btw Marte and Betemit, Marte would win by a landslide. The Braves don\'t want to release him because they are afraid he will develop with someone else, so they will probably keep him as a platoon player on the bench for the next couple of years because he is out of options.

That pretty much covers it... ;)

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Thanks. Thought he sounded familiar. He came through pretty nice yesterday.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Tim Hudson vs. Mark Mulder tonight... it should be a great series. Playoff preview right here. On the side note Andruw had 3 hits yesterday... hopefully he can stay consistent and start doing what he did during spring training.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Hopefully, but I am not holding my breath. But good players do eventually break out of their slumps right? Look at A-Rod. I like that we are winning without Chipper, cause he was hitting pretty well and when he returns we should be that much better.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Mondesi won a game for us papz. He was hitting .200 with 2 hrs(both in the same game) and 10 RBIs before that. Bitter sweet. ;)

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

I hope you are seeing that Jordan is hitting very well the past week or so... and he\'s moved up to the cleanup/5th spot in the lineup. Mondesi is getting his rbi\'s too. Classic Braves baseball anyways... get 3 runs and leave it to the pitching. Just imagine if they could average 4/5 runs a game, unbeatable.