Injury Update

Mike Gonzalez: Gonzalez was originally supposed to come off the DL around the all-star break. Thankfully he has been work extremely hard and is now expected to be ready by mid May. We can only hope that he will not have any major set backs that will keep him out longer.

"He's getting real close," Cox said of Gonzalez, who has encountered few problems while making his bid to return from Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery.

Gonzalez threw 23 pitches during a two-inning simulated game at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Tuesday. He plans to throw one-inning simulated games on Thursday and Saturday.

It’s not a proven fact that he will return in mid May, but in all likelihood we will be seeing the return of my favorite Atlanta Brave relief pitcher.

"It's possible," Cox said. "I'm not saying it's going to happen. But it's a possibility."

Tom Glavine: Glavine who experienced his first DL stint in his 20 plus years in the majors is set to come off the DL on Tuesday. Glavine will bring another veteran presence to our very good rotation thus far.

The problem is that our rotation isn’t our weak point right now. In a matter of a fact, it’s keeping us in close games. The problem is our inconsistent offense and a roller coaster of a bullpen. As the season goes along our pen will get better, but the offense I just can’t figure out.

Mike Hampton: The injury plagued starter is set to go on a rehab assignment for the Richmond Braves on Friday. This will really help our rotation and pen if Hampton can come back with some confidence.

Since the Braves are going to me off two days next week, Mark Bowman of braves.com speculates that he will probably go through another rehab assignment.

"We'll see how it goes [on Friday]," Cox said. "He'll throw his side [sessions], and we'll see what he needs."

The addition of Hampton will let the Braves put Jeff Bennett back in the pen. Bennett can then take the spot of Peter Moylan as the Braves ground ball specialist.

Didn't complete the sweep

This loss was tough to take on two levels...Tommy G. went out in the 1st inning with a strain right hammy and we lost another 1 run game. Considering we were down 5-0 going into the 6th inning then we mounted the comeback.

The comeback started with Escobar getting on base then Chipper, playing with a hurting right quad, went the opposite field with a 2-Run Home Run, then Tex almost went deep instead he ended up with a double. McCann moved Tex over to 3B then Frenchy did what he did all of last yr, get the runner in from 3B with less than 2 out. We made a comeback attempt in the top of the 8th, scoring another run and almost completed it in the top of the 9th when we filled the bases and McCann flied out to RF ending the rally and ending our 2 game winning streak.

My take on the game is Bennett was down right horrible. He struggled from the outset but he wasn't ready to come in on short notice and he did pitch yesterday. I was very impressed with Jorge Campillo, who threw 2 scoreless innings for us and his stuff was down right nasty. He made the National Hitters look like Little Leaguers, just my opinion. Boyer came in and did a nice job too. I am not going to heap to much praise on him, he still has to prove alot to me.

KJ got his 1st walk of the season today. Chipper is hitting the daylight out of the ball and Tex seems to be coming around, had a beautiful hit late in the game, going the opposite way, serving it into LF. McCann struggled alittle today as did Frenchy. Diaz looks as if he needs to sit down with Terry P. and figure out why he is K'ing alot, he struck out 3 times and has 13 for the season.
He is struggling mightly right now.

As for the official scorer in Washington, he is an idiot. If he can't tell the difference between a hit and ball that is not fielded cleanly, the Nationals better get someone who knows the difference.

Now we head to Florida, with a day off tomorrow, guys like Chipper, Smoltz and Glavine can rest those nagging injuries.

Glavine is scheduled to start on Friday against the Dodgers but if he can't go, Bennett could go in is place, after today's performance, let's hope Tommy's hammy is alright.

Braves 5-7

Current road trip 2-4

Another Win for the Braves.

After a 91 minute rain delay, the game got under way and it did in a big way for the Braves. It seems our bats have unthawed from the cold of Colorado. With 1 run in, Frenchy steps to the plate with Chipper and Tex on, he takes the Nationals pitcher deep to LF for a 3-Run Blast.

Braves up 4-0. It looked as if we were going to add more to the score but to no avail, Smoltz grounds into a inning ending DP. Good start to the day.

Smoltz struggled in the bottom of the inning but when it was all said and done, NO Runs. All I can say is this offense found it self today. Frenchy had a career day, 2 HR's and 7 RBI's. Matt Diaz created a run for this team by his hustle on the bases. What looked to be just a routine single but the Nats defense didn't hustle and Matt did, he turned a single into a double. Kotsay moved him over and Smoltz got him in for another run.

This offense is coming around, other than Kotsay, everyone in the original starting lineup had a hit today. Bobby was able to rest guys like Chipper, Kotsay and McCann.

Smoltz went 6 innings, walked 2, struck out 5 and gave up 1 run. The top 3 in our rotation have been down right dominating and we are throwing Tom Glavine at them tomorrow.

Our bullpen came in and did a very nice job, yes Ohman struggled alittle bit considering he hadn't pitched in about 4 days. Bennett, Boyer and Acosta pitched shut out innings to secure the win for the Braves.

W:Smoltz 2-0
L:Lannan

Starting Pitching for Tomorrow's Game
Tommy Glavine v. Tim Redding

Game Time @ 1:00

Day off on Monday.

Braves 5-6

Braves extend Nats losing streak

What a pitching performance by Tim Hudson!!!! The bullpen essentially got the night off, which I think was long over due. Huddy was in and around the plate all night long. He went 8 strong and I mean STRONG innings for us. He had a couple of innings where he threw only 9 pitches so that helped to extend him. The defense behind him came up big on a couple of plays and his catcher, Brian McCann even helped out by throwing out a runner attempting to steal. McCann is now 2 for 2 in throwing out runners at 2B.

This game turned into a pitching dual until Yunel Escobar took a Matt Chico pitch just over the RF wall for his 2nd home run of the season. That was all the help Huddy would need, he would do the rest.

In the 9th inning, bases juiced and Matt Diaz hits a 2-run single to give the Braves a couple of insurance runs. Bring on the temp. closer, Peter "Aussie" Moylan. He got them 1-2-3 and the game was over. Braves win, ending that 3 game skid and extending the Nats to 8 games.

Chipper came up hurt, it seem to be his right quad muscle, but he toughed it out and came out for the bottom of the 9th, you could see the pain on his face. Let's hope he is not out for any extended period of time, Tex needs protection in this lineup or they will pitch around him.

Soriano went on the DL with right elbow soreness. So basically the closers role will be between Moylan and Acosta. After seeing Moylan and the movement on his pitches, I think he should close and don't use a "closer by committee" until Soriano returns.

Hampton threw on the side, he told Braves reporters, he felt great and probably would throw in a couple of day. That is some good news.

As I said the defense stepped up big, KJ had a couple of key plays in the infield which helped Huddy but the big play which kept this game scoreless early was the outstanding running catch by CF Mark Kotsay. This is like his 4th outstanding catch this season for us. My statement after that catch was Andruw Who? So far, Kotsay has played every game for us, that alone is a very good sign and the offense he is giving us, is alittle added bonus. Eventually those hard hit balls that are for outs will drop in.

In a little side note:MLB, imo, has a double standard. It was revealed that two of the guys named in the Mitchell Report, had their suspensions dismissed and the evidence is there proving they used 'roids yet Jordan Schafer has some rat, snitch or whatever you want to call that idiot, call a hotline and report him, no test to verify that this is true. Sorry, you spend Jordan 50 games then Gibbons and Guillen of the Royals do their suspensions too. Sorry you can't have it both ways MLB. Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

W:Hudson 2-0
L:Chico 0-2
S: Moylan 1

HGH Bites the Atlanta Braves

The Braves second best prospect behind Jason Heyward was linked to using HGH. This is just HORRIBLE news for the Braves organization and for fans. I was a huge Jordan Schafer, but now I look at him in a whole different way now. I am still going to stick going to be a Jordan fanatic Major League Baseball in going to suspend the young center fielder for 50 games.

This isn’t the first time a Atlanta Braves prospect has been suspended for using performances enhancing drugs. The up and coming catching/first base prospect Tyler Flowers was suspended last season, because of cheating.

This is kind of unfair in a way, because guys like Troy Glaus, Rich Ankiel, Miguel Tejada, and more. Were linked to using performance enhancing drugs, but they didn’t get suspended. Schafer is going to have to prove that he can still be a great player after he returns from his suspension.

The former best 13 year old baseball player has apologized to his teammates. Frank Wren has said that the Braves will stick behind Schafer through these terrible circumstances. So that probably means that the Braves will not deal Schafer any time soon. It’s going to be essential that Schafer plays well after the suspension.

Best case scenario: Jordan Schafer stops using HGH and comes back with a vengeance. Trying to prove his entire doubter’s wrong that his success last year wasn’t due to HGH. Then he lives up to expectations and become the next Grady Sizemore/Steve Finley clone.

Worst case scenario: He gets caught using HGH again. If that happens, the Braves should trade him immediately. Another worst case scenario is that he never returns to form. Hopefully he doesn’t become anything more than a Gregor Blanco or Josh Anderson type of player. Frank Wren looks really smart right now by picking up Anderson and Kotsay this off-season.

Good thing we traded for Gorkys Hernandez this off-season, he is now my center fielder of the future. Schafer can easily take that from him by showing me that this suspension and using HGH doesn’t affect him mentally and his performance. I will make a prediction that Wren will keep Schafer and he will show that he is still a great hitter WITHOUT HGH.

What should the Braves do with troubled prospect Jordan Schafer?

Heartbreaker of a Loss

What a pitching performance by 42 yr old Tommy Glavine. He had it going last night in the Mile High City of Denver. In the thin air, where all hitters can become power hitters, Glavine had all of his pitches working. He was making the best look real bad. Hitting the corners and pitching inside to both the left and right handed hitters. He gave up 1 run over 6 1/3 innings on 3 hits. He struck out 3 while walking 3.

Our offense struggled big time in the cold of Denver. Chipper had the lone RBI, which was scored in the 1st inning off of Aaron Cook. The bats could not get anything going after the 1st inning.

Then the bullpen came in. Moylan pitched out of a bases loaded jam. My heart sunk as I saw the bases loaded and wondered if he would get out of this self created mess and the Aussie stepped up to the challenge and got the last out on a strike out. Then the wheels came off, Boyer, who I will rip apart in a moment, gives up a lead off double to Tulowitzki, gets Helton then leaves a "beach ball" in the middle of the plate to Matt Holliday, who takes it deep to Left Center for a 2 Run Homer and a Rockies Lead. That was it, the cussing was on.

We had the top of the order up in the top of the 9th, KJ gets on base and Yunel grounds into a DP then Chipper, grounds into a game ending ground out.

Braves lose 2-1. Another 1 run lost.

Braves record after 7 games. 3-4 and in 2nd place.

Now for my take on Blaine Boyer. Two games, two game winning homers, and both losses were by one run. You do not throw a pitch down the middle of the plate to the batter's hot zone, wheel house or whatever you want to call it, that is inviting danger. Boyer has done that twice and twice it has cost us the game. How much more of this nonsense are we the Braves fans going to put up with? Eventually these 1 run losses are going to catch up with us at the end of the season and we are going to point back to these games and fingers are going to point to Boyer. I am not a fan of him and more now then ever. Time to either trade him or put him on waiver and let him become someone else's problem. We need these 1 run wins. McCann was set up on the inside and he throws the pitch down the middle, if you can't throw it to the catcher's target then shake off the catcher and call for another pitch.

We need to after Jimenez tonight. We got our young stud on the mound tonight and need to give him run support, the bats need to warm up. This is a hitter's park, we need to turn it around and do it quickly. Leave Boyer in the pen, do not bring him out under NO circumstances.

Jurrjens v. Jimenez

8:35 pm

Fox Sport South

Be There.

1st Road Trip of the Season-Officially

Taking a side trip to Washington DC to open a new ball park doesn't count as a road trip in my book. After playing the Mets on Sunday, the Braves boarded a plane to fly to Colorado to play a 4 game set with the NL Division Champs, The Rockies. This team shouldn't be taken lightly anymore, with the young guys they have in Hawpe, Tulowitski, Atkins and Holliday to name a few and the cagey vet in Helton, they are going to contend for the NL West Crown.

We are sending two vets mixed in between two up and coming young stars. I like the make up of this pitching match up, the Rockies will face a vet, two young guys then a vet again. Fortunately, the Rockies haven't seen Jurrjens, which gives us a little bit of an advantage, I think. Here are the pitching match up for the Braves/Rockies series.

Glavine v. Cook
Jurrjens v. Jimenez
James v. Redman
Hudson v. Francis

Well folks, I could see a definite 2 maybe 3 wins out of this. Yes, Redman pitching against James is the same Redman that pitched for us, Mark Redman. He is still throwing "gopher balls" and in Colorado, they will be flying out big time with our big bats. I expect big games out of Tex, Chipper and Frenchy against him. Chuck James is up from Richmond to take the place of Mike Hampton is on the 15 day DL with a pectoral strain.

Should be an interesting series to say the least. If we leave Colorado with a split, I will be happy but I would love to see 3 wins.

Two Wins Against the Mets

I thought I would sum up both weekend games in this one post. Except for Friday's rain out which will be made up as part of day/night doubleheader on May 20th. We got another outstanding pitching performance from Tim Hudson. He is finally stepping up to be the ace that we envisioned him to be when we got him from the A's. Finally the bats are coming alive. Chipper had an outstanding game, getting 3 hits in his 1st 3 AB's. Kotsay might not be Andruw Jones in CF but he definitely is alittle bit better at the plate. With KJ out of the lineup, Kotsay was moved to the 2 hole and came through for us. Then magic struck, with the bases loaded and KJ at the plate, pitch hitting for the pitcher, he came through, hitting a grand slam homer to put the Braves out in front for good. The Braves ended up winning 11-5.

Tim Hudson 1-0
John Maine 0-1

Sunday's game was the matchup that we, Braves fans were dreaming about, Johan Santana v. John Smoltz, then our dreams were almost dashed due to the Friday rain out. Then on Friday night, Smoltz and Glavine talked, made the switch so Glavine will start in Colorado on Monday so Smoltz could pitch his regular turn on Sunday and we get that dream match up so early in the season, Santana v. Smoltz.

It was everything we could expected and more. Smoltz went 5 innings and held the mighty Mets bats scoreless. Santana pitched one heck of a game also. But what counts is runs on the board, he gave up a run then in the 8th with a runner on, Mark Teixeira takes one out of the park for a 2-Run Homer, he takes Heilman out for a 3-0 lead. Soriano came on in the 9th, gave up a run and held on for the save, giving Smoltz his 1st win of the season and Santana his 1st NL loss.

The bullpen seems to have found what was lacking in the 1st two or three games because they are now coming in and holding the other team.

Taking these two games against two of the Mets top starters should give our team a boost. We proved to the Mets and the rest of the NL East and league that we don't necessarily have to play long ball, we can play small ball too.

Here are my stars of the game for Sat's game:
Tim Hudson
Chipper Jones
Off the Bench: Kelly Johnson -PH Grand Slam Homer then a curtain call.

Here are my stars of the game for Sun's game:
John Smoltz-5 strong innings with 6 K's, 2 Hits and NO Runs.
Mark Teixeira-Game Winning 2 Run Homer
Bullpen-Getting done when the game seems to be on the line.

If there was one guy that I thought in the Braves bullpen that would struggle considering what their ERA was, I would say Will Ohman. Yet, he has a 0.00 ERA has two Holds and given up just 1 hit. Boyer has stepped it up.

I think we were a little hesitant about Mark Kotsay and his back trouble, well he is producing at the plate and making diving plays in the outfield. He let one fly from CF that landed one hop right in front of McCann. If he can stay healthy and continue to produce, this might be another steal, this time by Wren.

Braves are 3-3 and tied for 1st in the division.

We take our first road trip of the season out west to the Rockies before coming back east to play the Nationals again.

I will take 2 wins against the Mets any day considering we got them against their top two guys in the rotation, Maine and Santana. Good work Braves. Onward to Colorado.

Game 2: Braves vs Mets

Technically, game one. Last night's game was rained out. Today's might be rained out as well. The PPD game will be made up May 20th as part of a day night double header.

As for today's game: Both pitchers will still go, Maine vs Huddy.

Game time: 3:55 on FOX (not the FSN).


Tim Hudson
0-0, 2.57 ERA


John Maine
0-0, 0.00 ERA


Good news is though, they can wait this one out till at least 7 barring Delay.

Braves vs Mets, Game 1

Game Time: 7:30 on PTV.

Disappointing loss last night, hopefully the Braves can turn it around. It seems the bullpen is blowing the games, and with Hudson on the mound, maybe he can eat up some innings tonight for the Braves. This is Maine's first start this year, and hopefully our bats can take advantage of that.

Key to the game: The Braves Bullpen

Also, I have no reason why this post skipped so much space when it looks normal in the creating posts page... ?

Braves win their 1st one

Jair Jurrjens took the mound in his 1st of many appearances as an Atlanta Brave. He looked good on the mound early. He had his change up and fastball working tonight. He broke at least 5 bats with his fastball breaking like it was. I for one was very impressed with Jair's performance. He went 5 1/3 innings, striking out 5 and walking only 1. He allowed 7 hits and 2 runs before he was taken out by Bobby when he got into some trouble in the 6th inning but the bullpen came in and did the job. Got a little shaky but they shut the door and didn't allow any runs.

Some news on Kelly Johnson, he had a MRI done on his knee today, it came back as no structrual damage but as KJ said, any acceleration causes severe pain so they have to treat the pain the best way they know how. KJ is listed as Day to Day and he is available to pinch hit for the Braves.

On the offensive side for the Braves, the bats woke up. Martin Prado played 2B for the Braves. He got it going, hitting a triple. Chipper drove him in, in the 1st inning. Then in the 3rd inning, Braves scored another run, another RBI for Chipper Jones. In the 4th inning, Matty Diaz, goes the opposite field, for a Home Run, which was just inside the foul pole. IMO, it is about time Matt Diaz got the starting job in LF, he has proven the last two season he deserves that job and all he has done is produced. Then the Pirates scored a couple of runs, making the score 3-2 after 6 innings. Then the flood gates opened up, someone lit a fire in the bats of the Braves because in the 8th inning, the Braves sent a total of 10 men to the plate, scoring 7 runs. Yes folks, we scored 7 runs in one inning. Chipper Jones started the inning with a walk, then Tex stepped up to the plate and crushed one to deep CF for his 1st of many Home Runs. Frenchy and Mac singles with Frenchy moving to 3B, then Diaz singles which scores Frenchy. This makes the score 6-2. Kotsay gets on by way of a Fielder's Choice, then Prado gets a infield single scoring Mac, making the score 7-2. Yunel Escobar steps up to the plate and he cranks one out of the park to LF, making the score 10-2.

All total, we hit 3 HR's and it seems everyone contributed in some way, shape or form tonight in this win.

Good win by our Braves at home. Jurrjens looked very good.

Tomorrow night is the return of Mike Hampton. I hope to see a good performance and a continuation of what he has done in spring training. Let's hope the bats stay alive and this is just a start of run of wins for us.

Braves 1-2.

Jurrjens 1-0

Braves Lose a Heart Breaker

Tom Glavine made his first start back with the Braves since 2002. He did ok, giving up 7 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. He ended the game with a 1.80 ERA. The Braves bullpen did ok as well, at least until Manny Acosta came in. Last year, Acosta only gave up two homeruns combined in the minors and in Atlanta. He tied that mark last night, giving up a three run homer, and a solo homer. Tough break for Manny.

Just when it looked like the game was over with, and the Braves were done in the bottom of the ninth, something really surprising happened. Brian McCann was at the plate with 2 outs, runners on first and third. He roped a routine fly ball to left center field. Bay and McLouth converged, looked at each other, and the ball drops! Two runs score, and you have extra inning baseball.

Teams went scoreless all they way to the 13th. Then, Xavier nady of the Pittsburgh Pirates knocked out a three run homer. Looked like the game was over, right? Wrong. In the bottom of the thirteenth, the Braves rallied to get two more runs. The game ended with runners stranded on base.

Final Score; Pirates: 12, Braves: 11

W: Osoria
L: Boyer

Injury notes:

Kelly Johnson: Strained right knee. Will probably miss a few games, but not many.