Sports Blog » Atlanta Braves

Tom Glavine, 43, Released By Braves

Dave — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:36:31 +0000

Tom Glavine has been rehabbing his shoulder, and was expected to start for the Braves any day now. Instead, he’s been released. The 43 year-old and 305 game winner said via text message that he was “surprised and disappointed,” adding that he’s ready to pitch.

In a prepared statement general manager Frank Wren said: “We appreciate and respect everything Tom has done for and brought to the Atlanta Braves organization and our fans. His accomplishments for our club during his Hall of Fame career is a measure of his dedication that we will always respect and admire. We wish him nothing but the best.”

Tommy Hanson, regarded by many as the best pitching prospect in the minors, is scheduled to start in Glavine’s place Saturday against the Brewers. He’s 3-3 with a 1.49 ERA, a .169 opponents’ batting average, and has 90 strikeouts and 17 walks in 66 innings.

[AJC]

MLB Power Rankings Galore

Dave — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:07:04 +0000

Here’s the Power Rankings over at ESPN, where they have the Marlins, 11-1, rightfully in the No. 1 spot. They’re followed by the Dodgers, Cubs, Blue Jays and Cards. With four of the five in the NL, is the power shifting? Or does anyone really even give a damn about power rankings, anyway?

Over at Fox Sports, Florida is No. 1, followed by the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Padres and Cubs.

Not that any of their opinions really matter, but it’s always cool to read about how well your team is doing. And when your team is the Braves, it’s always depressing to watch them fall from No. 1 to No. 15 in less than a week. A .190 batting average over the course of five games willl do that to you.

[ESPN]
[Fox Sports]

CBS Power Rankings Out

Dave — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:08:59 +0000

Instead of doing my own, I’ve promised to post the MLB Power Rankings for CBS, Fox Sports, and ESPN. ESPN and Fox Sports had theirs out the other day; today, CBS released their power rankings. At the top is the Cubs, followed by the Rays (3 losses — really?), followed by the Braves (who can’t hit the Marlins), followed by the Cardinals and Dodgers to round out the top 5. Enjoy.

[CBS Sportsline]

MLB Power Rankings

Dave — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:42:44 +0000

Here’s the link to the Power Rankings on ESPN. And here’s the link to the rankings on Fox Sports. CBS Sportsline is yet to have theirs out, though I’ll keep a watchful eye and update the post when they’re delivered. A couple of notes:

The top three in both are comprised of the Marlins, Braves, and Cardinals. ESPN likes the Braves more than the Marlins; Fox Sports is the other way around. Both think St. Louis is the third best team one week in.
Fox Sports really likes the Mariners at No. 5; ESPN thinks they’re barely inside the top 10, putting them at No. 9.
Both believe the Astros and Nationals are the two worst teams in baseball, with the Nationals taking the cake for being the lousiest. Fox Sports believes the Indians are the third worst team, while ESPN says they’re better than San Francisco and Milwaukee, who both have one more win.

[ESPN]
[Fox Sports]

Braves Blow A 10-3 Lead

Dave — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:59:54 +0000

How do you blow a seven run lead in the seventh inning? Pull your starter, insert mediocre relievers, and make sure those relievers couldn’t throw a baseball in the ocean if they were 10 feet from it. They hit a batter, walked four more, and at one point walked in three straight runs with the bases loaded. As you can tell, I’m a Braves fan, and as you can tell, I’m a little steamed at how this one panned out. So much for sweeping the Champs.

[AJC]

You Can Blame Barry And A-Rod All Day, But Don’t You Dare Point That Finger At Bud

Dave — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:24:32 +0000

In recent weeks, there have been a lot of people — journalists, bloggers, media types — that have said in all of this, Bud Selig should be held responsible. And you know what? They’ve got a point. But you know what? They can all go eff themselves.

“I don’t want to hear the commissioner turned a blind eye to this or he didn’t care about it,” Selig told Newsday in a Monday phone interview. “That annoys the you-know-what out of me. You bet I’m sensitive to the criticism.

“The reason I’m so frustrated is, if you look at our whole body of work, I think we’ve come farther than anyone ever dreamed possible,” he said, adding, “I honestly don’t know how anyone could have done more than we’ve already done.”

So don’t blame this on Bud. He’s done everything he could. And on the bright side, at least these Congressional hearings didn’t end in a tie.

MLB Scores: Mets Not Looking So Great

Dave — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:24:27 +0000

New York Mets 7, Philadelphia Phillies 8: It’s very, very hard to get up 7-0 on your opponent and then lose, but the Mets found a way. It took 13 innings, but if there’s ever That Game in the middle of a season that separates whether a team makes the playoffs or not, this may very well be it. New York might have this loss lingering for a while.

Chicago Cubs 14, Pittsburgh Pirates 9: The Cubs can hit, they can pitch, and if they can get over this curse thing, they should be in the World Series.

LA Dodgers 1, Washington Nationals 2: The Dodgers better get it together fast. Thankfully for them Arizona lost, but they’re still three games back.

Florida Marlins 9, Atlanta Braves 10: The Marlins are starting to fade as was expected, but you’ve gotta give this club some credit for being in it this long.

Cincinnati Reds 2, Houston Astros 1: Bronson Arroyo is actually starting to look like a real pitcher again. He pitched a complete game in this one and got the win.

Milwaukee Brewers 12, St. Louis Cardinals 0: Milwaukee’s pulling away from St. Louis, and the Cardinals Wild Card chances are getting dimmer and dimmer.

Arizona Diamondbacks 2, San Diego Padres 9: It’s a tough loss for the D’Backs, but the Dodgers lost, too, so no ground was lost.

Colorado Rockies 7, San Francisco Giants 2: There will be no late season rally from Colorado this year.

Chicago White Sox 8, Baltimore Orioles 3: The race between the White Sox and Twins is starting to get interesting, but it may simmer down. I don’t know how many, but the Twins have got something like 20 of their next 25 games on the road.

Cleveland Indians 10, Detroit Tigers 4: I know it would’ve been a long shot, but had they kept Sabathia, and with their recent surge, would the Indians be in this thing?

Boston Red Sox 7, New York Yankees 3: If the Yanks don’t take the next two in this series, you can pretty much count them as dead this year.

Toronto Blue Jays 6, Tampa Bay Rays 2: It’s a set back, but they’ve got the best record in baseball, and it’s going ot be hard for the Sox to catch ‘em.

Texas Rangers 2, Kansas City Royals 1: I feel like every year we think the Rangers year may be next year, and then they put together similar success from the previous season. But seriously: Next year this team could be dangerous.

Oakland A’s 1, LA Angels 5: They don’t have the best record in baseball anymore, but it’s hard to stay motivated when you’re up by about 3,000 games out West.

Minnesota Twins 2, Seattle Mariners 3: Maybe the Mariners just have the Twins number. For whatever reason, Minnesota just can’t seem to beat Seattle.

That 40 MPH Fastball Has More Heat On It Than You Think

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:01:45 +0000

When I was younger, I was so good at soccer, baseball, basketball and football that teams feared playing me. It wasn’t so much a fear of death, but a fear of getting embarrassed. Well, my athletic prowess has been surpassed, because there’s a nine year old out there that’s so good at baseball other teams are refusing to play.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

“He’s never hurt any one,” Vidro said. “He’s on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?”

How can you punish him for being too good? Listen, Vidro, when the kid’s got a fastball with more hop on it than Jamie Moyer or Tom Glavine, I gotta agree with the wussies in this one.

MLB Scores

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:15:30 +0000

Cincinnati Reds 2, Chicago Cubs 1: The Reds gave up just three hits to a team that normally rips the cover off the ball.

Pittsburgh Pirates 2, St. Louis Cardinals 11: On the bright side, soon the people of Pittsburgh will have the Steelers to cheer for.

San Diego Chargers 6, Arizona Diamondbacks 8: It was the first time all season that Jake Peavy gave up five earned runs.

Colorado Rockies 4, LA Dodgers 3: With the Dodgers losing and the D’Backs winning, that lead is now one game in favor of Arizona.

Florida Marlins 5, San Francisco Giants 6: The Giants are starting to come around. They’re not going to do anything this season, but for a young team, this is promising.

Oakland A’s 1, Minnesota Twins 3: Francisco Liriano didn’t give up any runs, and if this guy is back to the form he was in two years ago, watch out.

Seattle Mariners 3, Chicago White Sox 15: Griffey ties Sammy Sosa for fifth all time, but like someone on ESPN said, “The report should read that Griffey remains fourth all time.”

Boston Red Sox 6, Baltimore Orioles 11: On the bright side, the Rays lost.

Kansas City Royals 5, Cleveland Indians 8: There’s really no intresting stat to report in this one.

New York Yankees 5, Toronto Blue Jays 1: Andy Pettite got his first win in a long time.

LA Angels 5, Tampa Bay Rays 4: The Rays went for the sweept, and tried to put together their normal late-inning magic, but that’s a hard thing to do against the Angels, and an even harder thing to do against K-Rod.

Detroit Tigers 1, Texas Rangers 9: Maybe next year will be the Tigers year to rebound and re-group.

MLB Scores

Dave — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:14:42 +0000

New York Mets 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 5: For as well as the Mets are doing, they won’t do diddly in the postseason if that bullpen doesn’t get under control. Chalk up another loss for hte struggling ‘pen in this one.

SF Giants 5, Atlanta Braves 0: The Braves are rapidly approaching rock bottom. Remember when ESPN picked this team to be in the World Series at the beginning of the year? As a Braves fan, I said it was impossible then, and I’m proving that right, now.

Houston Astros 3, Milwaukee Brewers 9: I know it’s fun jacking up CC Sabathia’s stats, but in October when he has a tired arm, Ned Yost will probably wish he’d sat him down after the sixth when Milwaukee had a 7-2 lead. Just a thought.

Boston Red Sox 6, Baltimore Orioles 3: The Red Sox are 4 1/2 games back of the Rays, who can’t seem to lose no matter what injuries they face.

LA Angels 4, Tampa Bay Rays 6: Does Tampa Bay have the best pitching in baseball? They’re young, they can sling ‘em, and unlike most teams, they’re all healthy.

Detroit Tigers 8, Texas Rangers 7: Edgar Renteria, who hit over .330 last year, is hitting just .268 in the AL this year.

Oakland A’s 3, Minnesota Twins 2: The Twins rallied late, but couldn’t pull this one off.

Seattle Mariners 5, Chicago White Sox 13: Consider this: Carlos Quentin was traded from the D’Backs to the White Sox this off-season for a minor league prospect. Thirty-five home runs later, who do you think got the best of that deal?