Well, we’re a week in, and while it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions about this Braves team, we’re starting to see what we’ve got.

Jordan Schafer (Logan Schafer to Jon Miller) is handling his transition from AA ball about as well as could be hoped. Good defense, speed to burn, good instincts, and how about the bat? As I write this, he’s hitting .421 with a .500 OBP, an .842 SLG, 2 dingers, 3 walks and 4 Ks in 19 ABs. Small sample size, to be sure, other teams haven’t built a book on him, but…wow.

At some point, of course, Bobby will move him up in the order. Hitting him eighth is kind of wasteful, letting him stand on first or second while the pitcher hits. I know Chipper has a strong preference for hitting third, but the way this club is configured, I think the lineup ought to be something like this:

CF – Schafer

SS – Escobar

2B – KJohnson

3B – CJones

C  – McCann

LF – Anderson/Diaz

RF – Francoeur

1B – Kotchman

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I understand where Bobby’s coming from – a lot of pressure on a 22-year-old who was playing in Pearl last year, don’t want to put too much on him (nor make him the linchpin of the team) so early in his career. And, of course, Bobby’s right. But if June rolls around and Schafer’s hitting .300/.400/.500, how do you continue to hit him eighth? I might even consider him in the 3-hole, though I think I prefer Kelly there.

In any event, Chipper said in spring training that he was working on his power stroke “because that’s what this team needs from me”. He’s right. Better this should be one of his .310/38/110 seasons than a .364/22/75 year. Also, Chipper’s suggested lineup in spring training had Anderson hitting third and himself fourth. If he’s thinking that way, it seems the time is almost ripe for the grizzled veteran to move down and put another high OBP guy above him in the order (not Anderson, who has never walked and now hits .280 instead of .310).

Now, Schafer could go dry and hit .240 the rest of the way, in which case you leave it the way it is. But having watched all the games – including taking the family to the opening-night monsoon at Turner (where I purchased four seats in Section 206 from a Young Urban Entrepreneur) – I don’t think so. I think he has sufficient confidence, plate discipline and a complete approach to hitting that will serve him well over the long run. My only concern, in fact, is that he might hurt himself in the field or on the basepaths with his full-throttle style.

There have been a lot of things to like about this Braves team in this first week – McCann looks like he’s ready to be the next Johnny Bench (those Mauer/McCann comparisons look kind of silly to me), KJ is just raking, the infield defense is tight, Francoeur’s new approach shows promise (.200 average notwithstanding), Moylan got his sink back, Kawakawi had a nice debut (his fastball’s fine – that belt-high stuff is what he needs to eliminate), Lowe is money, Jurrjens continues to look like an excellent young pitcher, Escobar has been fantastic in the field and with the bat – but to me, Jordan Schafer is the biggest thing that’s happening with this club.

How long before the national media talking heads, almost none of whom seem to do their homework, climb on the bandwagon? How do you look at the health of Hamels and Santana, the infield defense of the Marlins, the acquisitions the Braves have made, and pick the Braves fourth in the division? My theory is that they put great weight on last year’s results and don’t think nearly enough about the changes made. Lowe, Vazquez, Kawakami, Jurrjens, Glavine versus (last September) Jurrjens, Reyes, Morton, Campillo, Parr? Schafer versus Blanco? Growth of emerging stars (Escobar, McCann, KJ)? The Braves should have at least been in the conversation in the NL East.

Not impressed with the Phillies rotation past Hamels, who is hurt. Mets are deeper and a better overall club than the Phillies (even allowing for the 5-7 game discount for the NY/ESPN hype factor), but not invincible. Marlins have lots of good young pitching – JJohnson, Nolasco, ASanchez, Volstad – but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a worse infield defense. Cantu is a butcher, Uggla is a LF playing 2B, Ramirez is a 3B playing SS, Bonifacio is a 2B playing 3B. Ye cats. Defense matters – a lot.

Braves infield: Kotchman has saved several runs already at 1B, Johnson continues to develop – turns a very nice pivot – at 2B, Escobar is a Gold Glove SS and CJones is a tick below Gold Glove at 3B. THAT’s a defense.

Well, we’re 4-1 coming out of the chute, and I’m not surprised. Mildly pleased that things are working out well, but I certainly thought we’d be in the hunt. The hitting will cool a bit, the bullpen will stabilize. I think, on balance, that this is a 90+ win club.

At the risk of getting too giddy watching the Bravos lay the wood on the Phillies, it was good to thump them – on opening night, in their park, with a packed house, when they hoist their banner and get their rings, on national television. It was almost as good as shutting up the ESPN announcers.

Joe Morgan: “The fact that Brian McCann has to bat cleanup for this club tells you just how little pow-” BAM! 460 feet into the second deck in right field.

Steve Phillips: “Francoeur had a poor season last year. The Braves are hoping-” Smoked 10 rows deep in the left field bleachers in about three seconds flat.

Jon Miller: “I don’t know why Myers is being careful with Schafer. He’s a rookie with little power. He ought to just throw strikes-” KAPOW! 430 feet into the deepest section behind the center field notch.

I thought Escobar’s shot – almost the exact same spot as Schafer’s – was gone, too, though my DVR was inconclusive.

Meanwhile, what about the sublime performance from Derek Lowe? Beating balls into the ground all night. I had my little guy watching the first few innings with me (he’s six) and I was pointing out how the sinker works, how it made the other team hit it on the ground, and we went through at bats where the highest pitch was at the knees. $15m and worth every penny, at least Sunday night. Seems like the kind of guy who should age well, too, in great shape at 36. Moyer still gets ‘em out (hopefully not tonight) at 46 and never had anything like that heavy, heavy sinker Lowe throws.

I called my Yankee buddy today. Said, “hey, I didn’t see how the Yanks did…Sabathia look good?” Couldn’t resist. Now, it’s funny, but when Burnett goes on the DL with shoulder stiffness in about June, and Sabathia is showing the wear of the 72 starts he made for the Brewers last September to will them to the playoffs, Yankee Bill is not going to be amused.

Back to the game. Escobar’s smoothness can’t be overlooked, either. He made all the plays he should and a couple he shouldn’t – great range, Furcal-like arm. Kotchman ranged to his right for a nice get and handled Chipper’s one-hopper, no problem. That was a very good infield defense.

I thought I saw Chipper ouching (oblique?) after he came out of his shoes on a lefthanded swing – second at bat, I believe – but he hung in. I hope his body doesn’t betray him. Just 140 games, Chip, that’s all I’m asking.

Looking forward to seeing Jurrjens tonight. Seems to me if I’m a gambler (I’m not) and I’m looking at the pitching matchups this series, I’m liking the Braves. What does it tell you that once Hamels is out of the mix, Brett Myers is your opening day starter? I did like the Myers quote I saw the other day. I guess he came into camp lighter, like 20 pounds, a writer noticed, asked him about it. Myers says, “I ate salad with my beer. You know, play for the tie.”

Beautiful. How’d we lose 14 of 18 to them last year? We’re better than these guys. Maybe our new rotation has something to do with it.

The Atlanta Braves put a damper on the Philadelphia Phillies playoff hopes as they hammered them by the score of 10-4 on Wednesday night. The Braves had a huge fifth inning where they scored six runs and blew the game wide open. The Bravs played the spolier role that is for sure as they took two out of three games against the Phillies in the series.

Chipper Jones pitch hit in the fifth inning and delivered a big three-run home run as the Braves blew the game wide open. Martin Prado and Casey Kotchman both had two rbi in the game as well for the Braves. To finish up the scoring, Brian McCann and Brandon Jones both had one rbi.

Starting pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes had a tough time as he was roughed up for five hits and three runs in 3 1/3 innings. Reyes got the no decision in the game as Buddy Carlyle got he victory. Carlyle only pitched 2/3’s of an inning to get the win. Julian Tavarez did give up one run in relief that I should mention as well.

Good win for the Braves and they will now be off on Thursday before playing the final series against the Houston Astros starting on Friday.

Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves gave up four runs to the Philadelphia Phillies in the bottom of the eighth inning as they lost 6-2. The Braves thought they would have a shot in the top of the ninth but after giving up four runs, that thought was quickly gone.

Jeff Bennett was charged with three of the four runs in the eighth inning. He had a terrible outing as he took the loss. However it was Julian Tavarez who gave up the big blast when Pat Burrell took him deep for a three run home run.

Braves starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens gave up two runs on five hits in seven innings to get the no decision.

The Braves didn’t have much offense as both of their runs came on a two-run home run by Kelly Johnson. Johnson now has 12 home runs on the season. It’s too bad that the rest of the offense struggled all night long.

Braves Blog

You could tell on Wednesday night that one team was in a playoff race and one was not as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 6-0. The Braves just seemed to be entirely out of the game and you have to wonder if they are pretty much packing it in for the season

Jair Jurrjens only lasted five innings as he gave up five hits and four runs. Jurrjens took the lose for the Braves as well and dropped to 13-10 on the year. Relief pitcher Blaine Boyer gave up two more runs in relief as he had a bad outing as well.

The Braves offense was held to only one run which came in the bottom of the ninth inning. Greg Norton singled to centerfield to score Jeff Francoeur for the Braves only run.

The two teams will face off again on Thursday as the Braves will look to put a hamper in the Phillies playoff run.

Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins finished up a three game series on Wednesday afternoon. The bad news for Braves fans is that the Braves lost 5-3 and dropped two out of three games down in Miami. The Braves now have a 60-80 record on the season.

All three of the Braves runs came in the fourth inning when Kelly Johnson tripled to score Brent Lillibridge and Omar Infante. The Braves were not done in the inning however as Jeff Francoeur doubled to score Johnson and put the Braves up 3-1.

However, the Braves pitching staff couldn’t hold the lead as the Marlins scored two in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 3-3 and then added two more runs in the seventh inning to take the lead. Braves starting pitcher Jorge Campillo pitched the first five innings and gave up four hits and three runs. He ended up with a no decision however as Will Ohman took the loss after being charged with a run in the seventh inning.Vladimir Nunez also gave up a run in the seventh inning.

Most Braves fans probably wish that the season was over now and I don’t really blame them. When your team is used to making the playoffs and is 20 games under .500 it is hard to really root for them.

Braves Baseball

The Atlanta Braves offense sputtered on Wednesdsay night as they only came up with four hits and lost to the Florida Marlins by the score of 4-1. The three game series is now tied up at one game each and the two teams will play the rubber match on Thursday.

Mike Hampton got the start for the Braves and pitched eight innings. It was bad that Hampton ended up with the loss even though he only gave up three runs and eight hits. Hampton deserved a much better outcome in my opinion. Blaine Boyer gave up one run in the ninth inning when Dan Uggla hit a solo home run.

The offense was shut down by Josh Johnson who tossed a complete game for the Marlins. The Braves just couldn’t get any rallies going against him to score any runs. The one run that they did get came in the fifth inning when Martin Prado grounded out to shortstop and Kelly Johnson scored.

Braves Baseball

Now that was a very dissappointing four game series with the San Francisco Giants. The Braves lost three out of four games against the Giants and were shutout by the score of 5-0 on Monday afternoon. It was just a terrible series for the team and all we can hope is that they will rebound and play better in their next series.

Jorge Campillo was charged with all five runs that the Giants scored. Campillo lasted 6 2/3 innings while giving up seven hits and the five runs. Campillo is now 7-6 on the season.

The offense struckout seven times and left 16 runners on base. There just wanted any production to score any runs. The team had seven hits but were never able to come up with the big hit to push across any runs.

Braves Baseball Blog

Mark Kotsay and Jeff Francoeur had big nights at the plate for the Atlanta Braves on Thursday against the Chicago Cubs but it still wasn’t enough as the Cubs beat the Braves 11-7. It seemed like everytime the Braves would score, the Cubs would come right back and score again and just kept the pressure on the Braves the entire game. With the loss, the Braves were swept in the three game series.

Tom Glavine only lasted four innings as he gave up seven hits and seven runs. Glavine wasn’t getting some of the calls he usually gets from umps and walked four batters while giving up two home runs. He is now 2-4 on the year. Buddy Carlyle and Blaine Boyer both gave up two runs each as well out of the bullpen.

Kotsay led the Braves at the plate by hitting for the cycle and finishing the game with two rbi as he went 5-5. Jeff Francoeur hit a three run home run that got the team back in the game but it still wasn’t enough to catch the high powered Cubs offense. Martin Prado and Chipper Jones both added single rbi’s as well in the game.

It was definately not the way the Braves wanted to play the series. Hopefully they can play better this weekend against the San Francisco Giants.

Braves Baseball Blog

Just a quick update about game one of a double header on Wednesday afternoon.  The Braves were hammered by the visiting Chicago Cubs by the score of 10-2.  The Braves had plenty of chances to score some runs in the game but they left 17 runners on base and could not get the big hits when they had runners on base.

Charlie Morton took the loss after only lasting 2 1/3 innings.  Morton gave up four hits and four runs while giving four walks.  Morton was getting hammered so the team had no choice and had to take him out early.  With the bullpen throwing so much I don’t expect good things out of the second game.  Vladimir Nunez was charged with four runs while Francisley Bueno gave up two more runs out of the bullpen.

Mark Kotsay and Omar Infante both had a rbi each for the Braves offense.  Hopefully the bats will come around and score more then two runs in the nightcap.  Stay tuned for our update this evening!

Braves Baseball