Evan Gattis will stay play a prominent role the Braves when Brian McCann returns.

The Braves sent Tyler Pastornicky back to Gwinnett to give Brian McCann a roster spot for the Braves for Monday’s game against the Reds. While the Braves are excited to have McCann’s bat and game calling back with the big league club, this leaves fans to wonder about Evan Gattis.

Evan Gattis won the NL Rookie of the Month Award for April, after leading all rookies in home runs (6), RBIs (16), and slugging percentage (.566) for that month. The 26-year-old had performed much better than anyone had thought coming into the season, thus minimizing the loss of Brian McCann. Gattis will not not be the full-time catcher when McCann returns, but his role will still be prominent with the Braves. » Continue reading “Evan Gattis’ Role When Brian McCann Returns”

Kevin Pate helps us look for Atlanta’s hide and seek offense.

The Braves just dropped three of four games to the Pittsburgh Pirates, owners of 21 consecutive losing seasons. In those four losses, they managed to score just four runs. Is it time to worry about the offense? Not quite.

The Braves, recently, have been the recipients of bad luck. The biggest receiver of this unfortunate luck has been Jason Heyward, who has a BABIP (batting average of balls in play) of .114. Considering that Heyward’s career BABIP is around .300, it’s safe to assume that you should expect Heyward to gain about .200 higher in average, and expect a few more of those flyouts to turn into homeruns.

The Braves walk into Monday’s game with a BABIP of .275, which is good for 23rd in the league. Despite that statistic, » Continue reading “Where is the Braves Offense?”

Did you know that three of the five Braves starting pitchers have higher batting averages than Jason Heyward? Did you realize that Heyward is 4 for 39 for an .103 average, but he has seven walks and seven runs? Did you also realize that Heyward, B.J. Upton, and Dan Uggla have more strike outs than hits, and they are all batting under.175? » Continue reading “The Hits Keep Coming…For Some of the Braves”

All season we have watched a 40 year old play like he is a teenager all the while wondering, “is this the last home run,” “is this the last…” Sunday was a definitive last- Larry Wayne Jones played his last regular season home game for the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta has at least four more games, three in Pittsburgh in the regular season, and at least one playoff game.

Oddly enough, during Chipper Jones weekend, it was not Chipper Jones carrying the Braves. For some fans, this was surely disappointing, but honestly, it should be relieving. All season, those of us covering the team have told you it is not a good thing for the best player on your team to be the guy who will not be here next year. Finally, Atlanta does not need Chipper as their spark- at least not this weekend. Martin Prado, Kris Medlen, Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, and Mike Minor were the stories on the field. Atlanta won a record 23 games in which Kris Medlen started on Sunday, Minor’s win on Saturday further highlighted his incredible second half turnaround. Prado, Freeman, and Heyward each stepped up with key RBI to give both pitchers enough run support to get the wins. All of this while Chipper went one for the weekend.

I understand you wanted the Chipper Jones heroics you have become used to over the last 19 years, but your happiness should be in that the Braves can win without him. This was something that I myself was skeptical of at several points during the season. The faces of the Braves as Chipper announced his retirement showed sadness and even doubt. Maybe, just maybe, this was something that this team was not certain of themselves, but now that they are, you may be for a Hall of Fame ending to a first ballot Hall of Fame career.

Photo courtesy of MLB. Click for this and more photos of Chipper Jones weekend.

Braves fans may finally be able to take a breath and enjoy the rest of the season thanks to the guy that ended a horrific September and in return the season in 2011. Freddie Freeman not only clinched at least one playoff game for the Braves with his two run walk off home run, he also brought a glimmer of hope of a division title.

That’s right folks the team that had the most colossal collapse in team history, could make just as shocking of a come the next year. With eight games remaining, Atlanta finds itself only four games back of the NL East leading Washington Nationals, a team that has shut down their ace when they need him most. More than the loss of Starburg’s arm, Washington misses the continuity in the clubhouse. The message sent to the Nationals and their fans is that winning is not important. On top of the fact they they have proven to the world their inability to manage a pitching staff.

Freeman’s moment of glory may have taken away from two milestones: Chipper Jones tied Robbie Alomar in career hits, and Kris Medlen tied Whitey Ford for the longest games started team winning streak. In the 22 games Kris Medlen has started, even if he has gotten a no decision, the Braves have won. You cannot really blame Freddie though, it could have more to do with the fact that we are just accustomed to Medlen and Chipper carrying the team.

Four days shy of two years since his last pitch in Major League Baseball, Ben Sheets gave the Braves just what they what they needed- six innings of shutdown ball. Sheets was on a pitch count of 80-100, and left the game at 88 pitches, 0 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, and 5 strike outs. With a little help from his new friends, Sheets was given six runs in the bottom of the fifth before Juan Francisco pinch hit for his spot in the order in the sixth.

Atlanta got production from the old faithfuls in Bourn, Prado, Jones, Heyward, and Freeman and a key walk from newbie Paul Janish. In true Braves fashion the majority of runs were scored with two outs. Those runs came just in time considering Kris Medlen gave up a run in the top of the seventh.

While the outing was impressive, it was not the Ben Sheets one would recognize. The right hander with high 90s overpowering pitches was reinvented as a low 90s fastballs and lots of breaking stuff. There is something to be said for an athlete’s talent and intestinal fortitude to be able to depart from what made you successful the first time around, make it back, and most important to the Braves, win. It is only one outing, but it is a great start for Sheets and the Braves second half with a sweep of the Mets.

WEATHER FORECAST
105F 4:05; 106F HIGH *UPDATED TEMP 3:28PM, **HOTTEST BRAVES HOME GAME IN HISTORY

BRAVES LINEUP
1. Michael Bourn CF
2. Martin Prado LF
3. Jason Heyward RF
4. Freddie Freeman 1B
5. Dan Uggla 2B
6. Brian McCann C
7. Andrelton Simmons SS
8. Juan Francisco 3B
9. Mike Minor P

NATIONALS LINEUP
1. Danny Espinosa 2B
2. Bryce Harper CF
3. Ryan Zimmerman 3B
4. Michael Morse RF
5. Adam LaRoche 1B
6. Ian Desmond SS
7. Tyler Moore LF
8. Jesus Flores C
9. Stephen Strasburg P

I will take the blame for this one, I asked the rain to go away thinking that would benefit the Braves. Obviously I was wrong. Julio Teheran came out of the gates like Atlanta’s bats, hot. A three up three down inning that ended with striking out Jose Bautista is not a bad way to make a season debut, but as he is prone to do, Teheran had a blow up inning. After being able to get only one out in the fifth, allowing a run, and loading the bases, his day was done, and so was the Braves’. » Continue reading “A Little Rain Never Hurt Anyone…A Lot Would Have Helped the Braves”

Admit it, you cringed when you saw Mike Minor was up against Stephen Strasburg, and it looks like mother nature did too. Friday night’s rain out allowed Freddie Gonzalez to skip the struggling Minor’s start, and give the ball to Brandon Beachy who has been (insert sarcastic tone here) slightly better than Minor this season. The rain also delayed the debut of Andrelton Simmons at shortstop, but by all accounts the youngster is not phased. One last thing, please open your minds and at least look at the reasoning behind batting Beachy eighth with Jose Constanza and Simmons in the line up. It is least disruptive, gives balance, and may possibly allow Simmons to see better pitches. Besides that, the guy that started the whole “pitchers hit eighth” controversy didn’t do so bad with it!

Braves Line Up
Michael Bourn CF
Martin Prado 3B
Brian McCann C
Dan Uggla 2B
Freddy Freeman 1B
Jason Heyward RF
Andrelton Simmons SS
Brandon Beachy P
Jose Constanza LF

Okay people, you have proven you cannot be trusted. I leave you with the big boys for a week, and I come back to an eight game losing streak. It is perfectly fine, I was not at all busting it working SEC baseball or anything. It is possible that sleep is overrated and leaving the city will never be necessary. On second thought, you guys just need to learn how to handle these boys!

Was it so hard to get Freddy Freeman his Oakley’s? Can nobody deal with FedEx? What took so long? Again, not to worry, the goggles are here, and obviously did the trick with a first at bat home run by Freeman. Granted, it was solo because Brian McCann, who needed me to bring him an IV bag after suffering from the flu, hit a two run homer. Which reminds me, all you who said “it’s just the flu,” have never had the flu. Here’s a hint, when you call in to work with a 24-hour stomach flu, you have misdiagnosed yourself. That is merely a hangover, and while you may feel as if you may die, you will not if you make it long enough to feel that bad. The flu is a different story. They have a shot for a reason! » Continue reading “MUST I DO EVERYTHING AROUND HERE? BRAVES START NEW STREAK…AFTER I GET BACK IN TOWN”