If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

I don\'t know about unbeatable, but I would like to see it that\'s for sure.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

You know what I mean :P ... a good 4 runs a game will probably lead us to around 100 wins and another division title. But as far as the playoffs go... :(

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Smoltz with another win giving up only a run in about 7 innings... and Kolb with his 7th save. I\'m surprised we took the series and out pitched their great hitting.

If you still read it sw... Braves.
 

Man, taking a series from the Cards, and another win for Smoltz??? Holy crap. We won\'t lose another game. :D Just kidding, but that is truly impressive. We may be on our way.

Wow it's been so long... but ya know what?! The Braves are once again leading the division and our bats are alive. We've been on fire lately and hopefully our pitching... nevermind I mean our hitting will stay at this pace. Andruw has been on FIRE as of late... his average is approaching .300 for the first time in over two years and he's leading us in homers after and extremely slow start. The Andruw Jones we saw during spring training is back and can you guess who's leading the team in R.B.I.'s? Our sweet swinging young first baseman LaRoche. =)

Did you see the games that Langerhans homered in? Two 2 homer games and he was all over Sportscenter... things are looking up! Even Kolb struck out two batters the other day for a 1-2-3 9th inning save. Miracles I tell ya!

Spoke too soon. I hate Kolb. :cry:

I am officially off the Dan Kolb support wagon. Please release this one year wonder excuse for a closer. Smoltz should be 5-2 right now at the least... and his ERA is already under 3... if only someone could save a game for the guy.

It's about time you joined me on the lose Kolb bandwagon. :P Oh, right now Ramirez just got touched up for 6 RBIs by Khalil Greene, two homers, one in the 2nd, one in the 3rd. 7-0 Pads. Aye Carumba.

Braves manager Bobby Cox stuck with Dan Kolb as long as he could. But the veteran skipper has decided it's time to move the struggling closer into a middle relief role and utilize a closer-by-committee system.

It's official. Hopefully one of the relievers will step up and take the job.

Saw that too. Thank God.

papzy, Kyle Davies. Where did he come from? Kid beat the Red sox and the Mets.

He's now 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA. :mrgreen: He's the organization's top pitching prospect. I've written a lot about him in the other Atlanta Braves thread. This is the guy that Oakland wanted in the Tim Hudson trade but we denied them and gave away Dan Meyer instead. He's got a good looking arm doesn't he?

I have noticed whenever I start talking good about one of our guys then they start struggling. Hopefully I did not just jinx Davies. On the side note our experiment with Mondesi has officially ended. You pretty much called that one. We called up Kelly Johnson to take his roster spot and he made an outstanding throw throwing out Thome at home plate. Johnson was a thirdbase prospect and highly touted a couple of years ago with Wilson Betemit but he had a couple of inconsistent seasons afterwards. He was hitting over .300 for Richmond with 8 dingers so hopefully he'll be able to stay contributing in Atlanta. I don't know if you noticed Pena our backup catcher. He's a very good looking prospect who can hit.

You didn't jinx Smoltz when I was down on him, so there's no curse there, but damn Davies!! That kid has looked nice. I haven't noticed this Pena kid, I will have to be on the lookout. Thank God no more Mondesi.

Damn Braves need a big bat... so many injuries. With Hampton and Thompson out, and Chipper and Furcal hurt... we are in trouble. Kelley Johnson hasn't hit a lick since he's been called up. Sigh. I wonder what our masterful GM is thinking and who he'll trade for.

On the bright side, Davies has been lights out. And we are finally seeing Betemit show glimpses of the talent he has. Langerhans is also heating up. I think it's time for us to fire Pendelton as hitting coach no matter how much he's meant to this organization over the years. Time to go after Paul Molitor or some other established hitting coach who's had good results with other teams.

I agree on Pendleton. Time to move on. It's obviously not working out. Half the time I feel like we are the damn Astros.

This is kinda weird but the 4 prospect I've been telling you about before the season started, 3 of them have been promoted to Atlanta. Davies, Marte, and now McCann. I'm pretty sure if Jordan continues to struggle, Jeff will be up soon too. Is the Braves youth movement beginning? Is our run of 13 straight divisions titles in jeopardy? Stay tuned as we return to the episode of Braves of Our Lives. :P

I am more concerned now about the injuries to our pitchers than calling up these young players. It's good they get the time in the majors, but pitching is our calling card. And what's the latest on Estrada?

He'll be back in a day or two. Yea pitching has always been the backbone of this team. Even in the years where we had no offense, we were still able to win the division title. Hopefully Hudson will get out of this mini funk he's in. Davies goes tonight.

Man, I like this Davies. Let me propose a question though. We both know Leo is a GREAT pitching coach, probably one of the best ever. But in thinking about Huddy's struggles, I found myself wondering, in order for a pitcher to fit into what the Braves want them to do, could a pitcher who has done well come here and actually be made worse, at least for a season? Think about it. Huddie was a stud before we got him, and he seems to be funking now. Kolb was a stud closer and a good addition, but he seems to be funking now. But Leo takes pitchers like Jaret Wright and Mike Hampton, or the young guys coming up in the system and makes them better. Could it be that new pitchers who come here and have been successful elsewhere struggle initially with Leo? Not saying Huddy and Kolb won't be straightened out, it's just a thought I was having though.

I agree... not every player needs to be fixed or change his style of pitching. I mean Huddy looks like he's dropped a couple of mph on his fastball... maybe his oblique muscle or whatever is still bothering him from last year. His ERA is still under 3.3 which is still in-line with what he's been doing throughout his career. They lack of run support by the Braves has affected him though... he did have a DH in the American League which helped.

I've been following Kolb ever since he was drafted centuries ago as a Texas Ranger. To be honest with you, his best year was as a Brewer. Every other year he's been either injured, in the minors, or inconsistent in the pen. Could last year have been a fluke? Maybe. Does he still have a 95 mph fastball? Yes. Is he effective? No. His numbers after the allstar game last year was absolutely HORRIBLE. I was in favor of the trade that brought him here because it would lead to Smoltz going back to the rotation... and the fact he's been a Ranger for a long time, but now if I really had to think about it... one good half season out of an injury-prone inconsistent career wasn't such a great move after all. Look I'm eating all my words from the beginning of the season. :( I guess there are some people in which Leo can't reach.

I laugh at Jaret Wright... look where he's at, the disabled list. What a sucker! He might had gotten some nice change, but he won't amount to anything in New York and will be a big bust.

Like I said, it was just a thought. Seemed interesting to explore. Maybe Kolb is just a bomb who fluked into a good year, and suckered us into getting him due to our desire to place Smoltzy in the rotation. I still think that was a mistake, and said so since day one. Sorry you are having to eat your words a little, but you have been more right than wrong.

HOW BOUT DEM BRAVES?!?!?!?!? Andruw Jones, damn. Smoltz, damn. They are making a move before the all star break.

Trust me sw... I've been very excited about the play of Andruw and the rest of the young players. I haven't posted about them because it tends to jinx everytime I do. But as you can see, all the young prospects I've talked about prior to the season have been contributing. I can't believe I posted! :evil: Now they are going to lose! We are on fire though, and I hope it can continue.

Crap, you did jinx us, as we lost a tough one last night. Freaking Bernero. Marte hasn't been contributing though so not ALL of the young prospects you were talking about are contributing horn tooter. lol And I asked you about those guys chump, it's not like you were just going on and on about them. Remember, you were selling ME on Jordan and Mondesi. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. :wink:

Ok I missed on Marte... he's still 21 geez. Plus Betemit is playing extremely well. He needed more at bats in Triple-A. Haha... yea oh well Mondesi was poop, I already admitted it! Jordan is doing fair. He has a decent amount of rbi's and is playing solid defense out there. Johnson and Langerhans are going to be great for us. Andruw is a homerun machine. Furcal is starting to heat up. Hudson and Hampton is about to come off the disabled list with Thompson probably coming after the break. Smoltz and Horacio have been pitching extremely well. Most importantly, we are only a couple of games back! And we are doing all of this with our Triple-A team! :mrgreen: Things are looking positive.

Anyways we aren't going to go anywhere unless our bullpen improves. I swear we probably have the worse bullpen in the majors right now. Sigh.

I agree on that last point. We had two opportunities to win the game last night, and our bullpen allowed the Marlins back into the game. They are below average at best. Mazzone, why are you failing us? I haven't even seen Kolb lately, maybe I am just not looking hard enough. I thought Reitsma was gonna step up and be the guy, and he was okay early, but nothing to write home about lately. We definitely need to make something happen there and sure that up before the postseason, or during our push for the postseason.

Kolb actually pitched 2 shutout innings last night. (Yes I know, it's a miracle!)

I'm calling for Reitsma head right about now... he's not suited to be a closer. He's a better setup man. 6 saves with 4 blown, I'm not liking that one bit. Let's see what moves we make after the allstar break. If we don't get bullpen help, stick a fork in us.

It's midway through the season and I'm very impressed about the way we are playing. Now every single prospect I've named are currently contributing in the big leagues. I honestly thought maybe 2 would have been called up, but all of them are there and playing well now. Just wait til Huddy, Hampton, Thompson, and Chipper comes back at full force... I think we can overtake the Nats. 8)

EVEN OUR BULLPEN IS PITCHING BETTER !!!!!!

We will overtake the Expos. I have no doubts. And are you still harping on this prospects you were talking about thing? I thought we had been through this. Let it go Mr. Mondesi and Hunter will be fine, Kolb will be fine. :wink:

Haha... Kolb's ERA is under 6 now! Next thing you know it will be under 5! :P

Next thing I know, we won't need him as Smoltzy will become the closer late in the season once the rotation is healthy, and we will have Huddy, Hampton, Thomson, Davies, and Ramirez as starters. :D

LOL! You're such a smartass in the best way possible sw! I love you!

That's a pretty good idea moving Smoltzy into the bullpen for the post-season too. I wouldn't oppose to that although Smoltzy wanted get back into the starting rotation so he could make more of a difference in the playoffs. Holy crap I just realized you got me saying Smoltzy! 8) I guess it's a good thing that we can do so many things with him because he is our best starter and reliever.

I'm watching on ESPN right now and they are talking about the possibility of them acquiring a Billy Wagner. Wouldn't that be better?!?

OMG!!! No way the Phillies will let us get Wagner. No way. Smoltzy can stay the starter if we got that guy. Wagner is lights out. Huddy starts today, and we are closing in on the Expos. Woo-hoo!!!!

6 shutout innings :D

Think he coulda helped us if he hadn't gotten hurt? Damn I will be glad when we are fully healthy. We are already making a move on the division.

Whoohoo! That's right we are back in first place where we belong. John Thompson is on his rehab assignment and we should be getting him back real soon too! :wink: It's like we are seeing a whole new Dan Kolb... for the past 20 appearances he's had, his ERA is under 3. That's very encouraging and Reitsma has been doing an admirable job filling in the closers role. I think we need to trade for a corner outfielder to platoon with Kelly Johnson though... he's been struggling of late.

Kelly Johnson's strike outs worry me. And didn't Kolb just blow a save like two nights ago or something? I am so ready to dump that chump. I like that thomson is starting his rehab assignment, maybe my Smoltz back to the closer for the postseason plan will grab some wings and take off. Wouldn't you like to go into the 9th with the security of knowing if you are up by a run it's in the bag?

Only thing about moving Smoltz into the bullpen during the postseason is that we might never get to him. He gives us a great chance to win games off the bat. Let's just see how Reitsma does for the rest of the season and how much more Kolb can improve. If you look at Kelly Johnson's base on balls, it balances out with his K's. But for a #2 hole hitter, he does not make enough contact. Lately he's been making less and less contact... his average went from .270 back down to .230. :|

Here's another rookie you should be aware of... Joey Devine. He's our closer of the future. We drafted him in the first round of this years draft with the idea of bringing him up for the post season. He has a mid 90's fastball, a nasty slider, and the type of attitude you want in a closer. So for he still hasn't given up a run through Single A or Double A. He's on the fast track and I'm pretty sure we'll see him in our bullpen soon. Could he be our Chad Cordero/Houston Street? I think he can and will. Help is on the way!!!

Gotta say papzy with all the time the young players have gotten in, I like our chances this year. They held their own when we were kicked down by injuries, and should have enough composure to help us for the stretch run. I'll look out for that Devine guy.

Oh yeah... bring out the brooms! We just swept the Nats and now hold a 3 game league that will only grow larger.

Jeff Francoeur... wow. I can see why he was a top 10 prospect in all of baseball. In his brief callup so far, he's hitting .414 with 5 dingers and playing outstanding defense. His arm is as good as I've ever seen and compares to Vladmir Gurerrro/Bo Jackson's arm.