Welcome!

Hi. Welcome to the TRobb Braves blog for the 2009 season. Glad you’re here. Looking forward to the season. I’ll be with you on braveshomeplate.com keeping you current on happenings, rumors, contracts, trades and news from the Braves.

I’m shooting for an informed fan’s perspective. I think DOB does a great job with ajc.com and Bowman’s pretty good with mlb.com, but there’s certainly room for an informed discussion among fans – and that’s what I’m going to engage and encourage.

If there are “statheads” and “scoutheads”, I’m a ‘tweener – I value some stats (OBP, OPS, RF) but have no desire to live in Statland; but if you value your eyes to the exclusion of the underlying numbers, you can fall in love with a player and miss the fact that he sucks (see Kyle Farnsworth). So let’s plunge ahead, shall we?

Braves Myths

Reading through the tripe written by national media members and misinformed posters and bloggers, I think it’s important that we address some popular Braves myths that have no grounding in reality.

1. 1. Kelly Johnson is lousy defensively. Actually, he’s not. If you try and get to the essence of defensive second base play, you’re looking for a guy with sure hands, who is accurate, who has range and who turns the pivot.Looking at range factor (2^nd in NL in 2008), fielding percentage (8^th) and double plays/9 (2^nd), it’s clear that Kelly has very good range, middle-of-the-pack hands and turns a nice pivot.

   I think this myth is borne of his very visible dropped pop-up that cost the Phillies game last July. That didn’t mean he sucked; it meant he dropped a pop-up.

   One thing he doesn’t do well is range to his right to make the backhand play. Hopefully, he’s been smoothing that rough edge with tutor Glenn Hubbard in the offseason. Remember, last year was KJ’s second year at 2B.

   Remember, too, that Bill James says in order to optimize your offense, you want to play guys at the toughest defensive position they can handle. KJ’s bat at 2B is far more valuable than KJ in LF. So let’s have a little faith and see if he doesn’t develop a bit more this year.
   
   

2. 2. Chipper can’t run. Chipper is fast. Chipper makes me hold my breath as he goes from first to third on a hit to right field, waiting for him to pop a hamstring or tear a quad or roll an ankle, but Chipper moves very well for a 6’4” guy.
   
   
3. 3. This rotation is nothing special. The last five Braves games (last September) were started by Jair Jurrjens, James Parr, Jose Campillo, JoJo Reyes and Charlie Morton (OK, I might have missed a tomato can in there). All but Jurrjens should have been in Richmond (yes, Campillo had a nice four months).This season, in our first five we’ll start Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, Jurrjens, Kenshin Kawakami, and (probably) Tom Glavine. That’s a huge upgrade. In fact, it’s the main reason why you should just throw 2008 out when evaluating the 2009 Braves. Three of them will pitch 200 innings; all could surpass 180.

   We go from a team that doesn’t know what it’s going to get from its starters four out of five days to a team that has a chance to win every day. Not only does that benefit the ballclub from a pitching standpoint, now the hitters aren’t pressing and the atmosphere isn’t depressing. This team can compete – especially if it gets some help in LF.
   
   

4. 4. Chipper can’t play defense. The guy is money. Good reflexes still, accurate arm, makes the barehand play on a bunt or dribbler as well as anyone. Ever, maybe. He’s not going to first anytime soon because he’s a plus defensive player. Well, that and the fact that the Braves have no decent third basemen on the farm.
   
   
5. 5. The bullpen is a mess. Huh? Mike Gonzalez (“The Cobra”) was lights out, even a few klicks short on the radar gun (14/16 saves, 44 Ks in 33 IP). Soriano’s nerve transposition surgery seems to have taken care of his elbow. Blaine Boyer was great ‘til he ran out of gas (3.78 ERA as late as July 23^rd). Buddy Carlyle was as underrated and unappreciated as any reliever in the league last year (62 IP, 1.24 WHIP, 3.59 ERA and 59 Ks in ’08).And they’ve got about nine guys (Bennett, Campillo, Ridgway, O’Flaherty, Acosta, Marek, Logan, Moylan, Stockman) who could win those last three spots on the staff. Gwinnett could go 100-40 with the pitching they’re going to have this year.
   
   
6. 6. The Braves farm is depleted (In the wake of the five prospects going to Texas in the Teixeira deal). In fact, the farm is robust with a number of nice-looking prospects – Tommy Hanson, Gorkys Hernandez, Jordan Schafer, Cole Rohrbaugh, Kris Medlen, Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman. In fact Baseball America has us rated fourth in MLB. Of course, Texas is first, but still…

Those are the myths that bug me the most. How about you?

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

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

Tuesday night’s game was a microcosm of the Braves’ season.  They received good pitching from their rookie starter Charlie Morton, but the offense’s perpetual battle to come up with timely hits, or any hits at all for that matter, left the Braves on this night on the wrong end of a 4-0 shutout.

On Monday, it was the Braves who were able to take advantage of a brilliant pitching performance from pleasant surprise Jorge Campillo.  They also took advantage of runners in scoring position, something at which they have failed miserably this season.  So complete a team win was Monday night’s victory, Chipper Jones proclaimed it their best victory of the season.

Back to reality.  What has become indicative of Bobby Cox’s team during the last three seasons, the Braves’ inconsistency and lack of fundamental play manifested itself just one day after such an impressive win.  Whatever they did right Monday night, they did wrong Tuesday, starting with the deciding fourth frame.  The Braves began the fourth with three consecutive walks to the heart of the lineup.  Thing are looking pretty good, right?  Recently recalled Marlins starter Rick VandenHurk is reeling, and the Braves are poised to put a few runs on the board to provide their young starter a cushion.  Up steps Jeff Francoeur (cue the music when a game show contestant fails.  You know, “wah, wah, wah.”)   True to his terrible ‘08 form, Jeff swings at the only 4 pitches he sees and strikes out.  I’m nearly certain struggling pitchers view Francoeur walking to the plate as something akin to a sigh of relief. They’d rather see him step to the dish than the opposing pitcher, undoubtedly.  At least the pitcher would make a guy who had walked three straight hitters throw him a strike.

So, not so unpredictably, the Braves squander as promising a scoring opportunity as a team can get, as neither Kelly Johnson or Mark Kotsay could bail Francoeur out.  Move now to the bottom of the inning.  Morton allows free passes to two Marlins batters.  With two outs, he can get out of the inning unscathed and keep the game tied at zero.  Oh, but no.  Mike Jacobs hits a three-run bomb.  Game, set, match.

To this point, the Braves had not even managed a hit.  They finished the game with one, a measley single from Chipper, and the season in a snapshot is complete. The Braves squander great scoring opportunities, while their opponent takes advantage of lesser ones.  The Braves get good pitching, but their over-eager offense makes the opposing pitcher look like 2001 Randy Johnson.  Finally, the one single redeeming moment (no pun intended) is a basehit by their only stud — Chipper.

What else?

- Jeff Francoeur has 2 extra-base hits in his last 25 games.  You wonder.  If the Braves are sellers at the end of the month, what will happen to Jeff?  Will they try to move him?  Will they send him down for the rest of the season, since they are conceding the season anyway?  Or will they allow him to further devolve at the major league level?

- Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning Tuesday night.  It was his first action since June 5th.  He struck out two after giving up a leadoff single to Hanley Ramirez (Ramirez was later thrown out attemting to steal second).  Soriano’s velocity was down a little bit, but the end result was obviously good.

- Kelly Johnson is batting .163 in 15 July contests.  He has one extra-base hit over that span.

The Braves bats provided plenty of offense for Jair Jurrjens tonight, plating 9 on 12 hits.  And with ace Tim Hudson starting the rubber game tomorrow, we are in good position to take our second straight series. 

Just one night after mustering only one baserunner against Dodger starter Hiroki Kuroda, the Braves appeared to be in jeopardy of being shut out for a second straight night.  LA starter Chad Billingsly no hit us through four innings before we finally broke through with 3 runs off Billingsly in the 5th..

Billingsly, he of the disproportionately massive legs, was dominant at times, hitting his spots with an explosive low to mid 90s fastball.  He was locating his pitches at the knees and on the corners, embarrassing Chipper Jones a couple of times (It was only the third time all season Chipper struck out more than one time in a game). But in the top of the 5^th, Tree-trunk legs wasn’t able to escape a bases loaded jam when Yunel Escobar came through with the big hit for the second time in three days.

KJ and Kotsay led of the inning with back to back singles.  After a failed bunt attempt resulted in a K for Jurrjens, Gregor Blanco walked to load the bases with one out.  Yunel followed jumping on the first pitch, hitting a bases clearing, frozen-rope double just inside the third base bag.  

The Braves tacked on 3 more off Billingsly in the 6^th on a no-doubter solo bomb by Brian McCann to right center and a two run single by Blanco. 

The run support was more than enough for Jurrjen the surgeon.  He dissected the Dodger lineup to the tune of 6 Ks, lowering his ERA to an even 3 for the season.  Jair has allowed only 5 earned runs over his last 34.2 innings — an ERA of 1.32.

What else?

Jeff Francoeur doesn’t appear to have really figured anything out from a mechanical standpoint during his brief demotion. If you’re looking for silver linings, he did have a basehit and he managed to avoid any U turns on the night.  In his other three at bats, he hit two weak grounders and an inside out fly ball to right field.  The effort to stay on the ball is pretty clear, but his swing still looks long and slow.

Tex and BMac went back-to-back in the 9^th, each getting his 17^th jack of the season.

Chipper struck out thrice for the first time since August 28 of last year at the Marlins.  After reaching base safely 7 times in the Braves marathon win Sunday, Chipper is 0 for 7 with 4 Ks in the series.

Braves batters have struck out 35 times in their last 35 innings.

Kelly Johnson scored 3 times tonight, giving him 52 for the season.  That’s good for a tie for second on the team with Mark Teixeira.

Newly signed Julian Tavarez recorded only one out in the 9^th before being yanked for closer Mike Gonzalez.  There’s a reason this guy is suiting up with his third different team THIS SEASON.  I’ll continue to scratch my head on that acquisition.

The Atlanta Braves avoided a three game sweep by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 on Wednesday afternoon.  It was a good thing the Braves won as a three game sweep to the Brewers would have been very bad in my opinion.

Jorge Campillo pitched seven innings of two-run ball to get the win for the Braves.  Campillo is now 3-2 on the season.  He wasn’t just pitching well, Campillo also had two hits and two runs scored in the 4-2 victory.  Mike Gonzalez pitched the ninth inning and struck out two as he picked up second save of the season.

Kelly Johnson led the Braves at the plate as he went 2-4 with three rbi.  A two run double and a rbi single was how Johnson tallied his three rbi in the game.  Gregor Blanco went 2-4 and had the other rbi for the Braves which came in the fifth inning when he singled in Brandon Jones.

The Braves are now off on Thursday and will take on the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday for a interleague weekend matchup.

If anyone is interested in doing some game recaps and blogs here at braveshomeplate please use the contact us link on the site or leave a comment in this post and we will get back to you!  Looking for midweek helpers, but could take a weekend person as well.

Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves had plenty of problems with Ben Sheets and the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night as they lost 4-1.  Sheets dominated the Braves as he tossed a complete game and the Braves were only able to record four hits and one run in the game.  The Braves are now 38-40 on the season after taking the loss.

Jo-Jo Reyes had a terrible game as he only lasted 2 1/3 innings after giving up six hits and four runs.  Reyes gave up a two run home run to Mike Cameron in the second inning, and then two one-run doubles in the third inning before he was pulled from the game.  Reyes feel to 3-5 with the loss.

The Braves bullpen did a wonderful job after Reyes was pulled from the game however.  Buddy Carlyle tossed 4 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball and then Royce Ring recorded one out before Jeff Bennett pitched the final two innings of the game.

The Braves only run came in the fouth inning when Brian McCann grounded into a double play and Kelly Johnson scored.  The entire Braves lineup besides Johnson stunk it up at the plate as they couldn’t figure out Sheets at all.

Hopefully the bats will come around and the Braves can put together some hits and score some runs on Tusday as they will battle the Brewers once again.

Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves were the come back kids once again as they scored two runs in the ninth inning to tie the game at 4-4 against the Texas Rangers.  However it was the Rangers coming right back with their own game winning run in the  bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Braves 5-4.  The Braves lost two out of three games against the Rangers as they continue to struggle on the road.

Blaine Boyer ended up getting the ninth inning run charged to him to take the loss.  Jeff Bennett was the pitcher that gave up the game winning hit when Michael Young scored Ian Kinsler for the game winning run.  Bennett simply just didn’t get the job done like he was called to do.

Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton tossed the first five innings of the game and allowed five hits and three runs.  Morton did have some control issues as he walked four batters and that was kind of why he only lasted five innings.  Jeff Ridgway was the other Braves pitcher to give up a run which he gave up in the sixth inning on a three run home run.  Two of the three runs were charged to Morton however.

Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur, and Omar Infante had the three rbi for the Braves.  The other run came in the third inning when Corky Miller grounded into a double play so he was not awarded an rbi.

The Braves will now start up a three game series with the Seattle Mariners on Friday.  Things should be really interesting because the Mariners just fired their manager today.

Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth inning when Omar Infante singled to right field to score Jeff Francoeur and then got another run in the ninth inning when Gregor Blanco tripled to score Infante.  The Braves weren’t done however as they scored one more time on a Kelly Johnson infield groundout.  Nice comeback win for the Braves as they won 5-2 when it was all said and done.

Now that is a great win for the Braves who were up 2-0 earlier in the game.  Chipper Jones hit his 16th home run of the single in the first inning to get the Braves scoring.  In the third inning, Johnson had a rbi triple for the Braves second run.

Braves starting pitcher Jose Reyes threw the first seven innings of the game and gave up five hits and two runs.  Reyes walked four batters and struckout two batters.  Reyes ended up getting the no decision in the game but it was a quality outing for him.

Jeff Bennett pitched a scoreless eighth inning to keep the score tied 2-2 and then Mike Gonzalez made his first apperance of the year in the ninth inning as he finished the Rangers off.  Bennet got the win and is now 1-4 while Gonzalez picked up his first save of the season.

Braves Blog