Game Log: Mississippi vs. Huntsville

I took it upon myself to make the drive over to Huntsville to see the Double A Mississippi Braves in action. I was ready to go. My tickets were behind the Braves dugout so I could catch some of the future Braves up close. It was kinda odd being ten ft away from Eddie Perez and even the Blauser as he is the Miss. manager. Blauser still looks the same as he does in his playing days. I'm not really one for scoring autographs but thought I could get a few. I grabbed both my wife and I's ticket stub signed by Braves prospect Yunel Escobar. I tried to get Eddie's but he was too busy goofing off. I even saw Blaine Boyer throw some down in the pen. I was kinda suprised to see him and didn't know he was with Mississippi. Anyway game time came, and just like that it was gone. The game was canceled due to a heavy storm that happened 3-4 hours before gametime, apparently it was too much for the grounds crew. So that sucked! I was able to get my tix refunded but I had to turn the ticket stubs in which caused my wife and I to lose our Escobar autograph's. So, in the end I went all that way to hear Eddie Perez ramble some incoherent Spanish. Maybe next year.

Atlanta/Washington -Weekend Series

It's a 3 game series starting tonight as the Braves will face the Nats. Atlanta comes into the series losing 2 straight and 7 out of the wild card. 34 games remain this year and the Braves haven't been able to come break the 5 game hold in the wild card standings. Needless to say any playoff hope is fading fast. Danys Baez whom had a rough outing against the Pirates Wed. was sent to the hospital after the game for an emergencey appendectomy. He's been placed on the 15 day DL. I can't remember a season where we've had so many injuries. I guess you realize the extent of injuries when your losing. Anyway, here are your probables.

Fri: James (6-3 4.19) vs. Ortiz (9-11 5.31)

Sat: Smoltz (11-6 3.46) vs. Astacio (3-3 5.43)

Sun: Villarreal (9-1 3.97) vs. Traber (3-2 5.13)

And if I remember correctly these were 3/4 pitchers the Braves faced last week when these teams faced.

Villarreal to start tonight...

For the second time this season Oscar gets the call for another start. During his first attempt Oscar went five scoreless innings of one hit ball against the Nats. Tonight he'll do it again. Villareal's been filling in while other starters have been injured. Judging from his record you couldn't tell he's been a relief pitcher all season; Villarreal is 9-1 4.13 ERA in 65 IP.

8/21 Minor League Updates

The minor league season is coming down to the end. I would like to start posting more about the minor league teams and what's going on within the Braves organization. Look for more updates in the weeks to come.

Richmond- Jason Shiell pitched fairly well over the weekend. Shiell went seven innings allowing three hits and best of all 0 runs. Scott Thorman will ride out the rest of the season before probably getting a call in Sept. Only 15 games are left for Richmond.

Mississippi- The Miss. Braves took 2 wins from Tenn. before losing to Mobile last night. Ivan Terrazas has 11H/22AB's in his first week with Mississippi.

Mrytle Beach-Adv. A The Pelicans have won six of their last eight but remain six game back of the division lead. Advanced A ball is where alot of faces change rather quickly. It's the bridge between A and AA and I like to think a good example is Onil Joseph who has jumped from Mississippi and Mrytle Beach this year. Joseph went .318/.381/.449 in 31 games and 107 AB's with the Pelicans. For Mississippi, Joseph has gone .240/.271/.330 in 80 games and 288 AB's. Onil hasn't quite been able to make it over the hump in Double A.

Rome- Rome continues their series this week with the Columbus Catfish. Eric Campbell continues his success batting .298 on the year. Campbell should start 2007 in Mrytle Beach. Elvis Andrus may also be seeing Mrytle Beach in '07. I think the Braves will try to keep these two running at about the same rate as they make it to Atlanta, keeping the chemistry in tact. Pitchers Beau Jones and Jeff Lyman are also progressing through the ranks.

Danville-Rookie The rookie leagues are the basic training of organized baseball. You can breeze right through it in just a few games or stay a little longer before your designated elsewhere. Some people don't think much of the league. Like I said it's more or less an orientation for new signees to each team, but they still playball, right? Danville is atop of the East Divison with under ten games left on the schedule. Starting pitcher Jaime Richmond has been almost unhittable all year long. In 10 starts Richmond is 7-1 0.74ERA. Out of 60 IP he's only allowed 42H/5ER/0HR and only 4BB with 49K's. Keep it going, Jaime.

LaRoche: The Bunt

"We need wins right now, and I knew I could get the bunt down," -Adam LaRoche

During the 9th inning, Francoeur doubled and Diaz was hit by a pitch with 0 outs. Next, Adam LaRoche decides to square around to bunt. This was not a sign from the dugout, LaRoche took it upon himself and the outcome turned into a rally killing double play.

"I can't imagine why a guy with 25 bombs would be bunting, especially when the lineup behind him doesn't favor it," Chipper Jones said. "If you bunt, they're just going to walk McCann. You don't want them to walk Mac." -Chipper Jones

I agree with Chipper. Even if you do lay the bunt down, LaRoche is not fast enough to beat it out. McCann would have obviously walked, then the Marlins would setup for the double play. Not smart by LaRoche, but atleast it wasn't a postseason game.

Whatever happened to........

Damian Moss- Way back on March 13th I posted on Moss signing with a minor league deal with the Braves. Moss didn't make it out of the month of April starting appearing over three games and thirteen innings, Moss allowed 23 hits off of 16 runs, 15 were earned. Yikes. Moss was cut April 23rd and I'm not sure where we went from there.

Travis Smith-Another second chancee was Travis Smith. When Smith was on the mound in Atlanta you better be ready for the long ball. Smith was very prone to giving up HR's. This year he appeared in eight games with Richmond over 46 1/3 innings. Smith allowed 46 hits and 15 earned runs. Not really that bad compared to what happened later. Smith was cut by the Braves and landed in the Cardinals organization where he currently is pitching for Triple A Memphis and continually struggling.

Brad Baker-Another journeyman who had promise of making the 'pen coming into Spring Training. Baker has been with numerous clubs including the Padres and Red Sox. Baker started out in Miss. was bumped to Richmond one day and the next saw him back in the Red Sox org. He currently resides with the infamous Pawtucket Red Sox.

Wes Obermueller-The guy we got from the Kolb dump. Obermueller lasted a little over a week in Richmond back in April before being shipped to play overseas.

James Jurries-The guy had a really good Spring Training and some including myself thought he should have made the cut for Opening Day. Jurries didn't and landed in Richmond where he has played all season. Jurries has fallen off the boat since the beginning of the year currently batting a measley .202. I guess that ended up being a good decision after all.

Davies in Double AA

Kyle Davies is on the road back to Atlanta. Last night Kyle went seven innings for the Mississippi Braves. Here are the stats.

IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
7.0 4 2 2 3 3 0 4.50

It's good to see Davies go for seven. He'll probably make a start in Richmond next week and then the Braves will decide if he's ready for a callup.

Joey Devine also pitched in the same game going 2 innings with a K, BB, and a H allowed. If Devine continues to succeed expect a September callup.

Chipper with 3 moon shots...

Add another highlight to the season. Chipper Jones went ballistic with three home runs off of three different pitchers. The Braves went to on to thump the Nats 10-4. Chuck James had an impressive outing and got the win.

Matt Diaz has now tied the NL record with 10 hits in 10 AB's. The last person to do so was former Padre Bip Roberts.

Aches & Pains

Since the All-Star break the Braves are just 14-13, while winning thier first five games out of the gate. The team morale was hit hard when Chipper Jones went to the DL and a sweep at the hands of the Mets at the end of July. The acquisitions of Bob Wickman and Danys Baez have dramatically improved our bullpen after we have seen fall to shambles over the last two seasons. Baez and Wickman are an improvement, but their is still more room to improve on. Injuries have spread like the plague this year mostly with our starting pitchers and yes Chipper. Everyone on the staff has had their share of aches and pains. Here's a rundown:

Horacio Ramirez- (2) 15-day DL and (1) 30-day DL
Chuck James- (1) 15-day DL
John Thomson- (2) 15-day DL
Kyle Davies- (1) 60-day DL

Chipper Jones- (2) 15-day DL

And now one of the newest Braves, Wily Aybar has been placed on the 15-day DL.

On To DC...Braves & Nationals

Atlanta begins a four game series against Washington tonight. Even after beating the Brewers 2/3 the Braves still remain beind the Brewers and 6 games out of the Wild Card. Well this team hasn't been able to keep up a winning pace, and so we stick around the 5-6 game back mark. For the remainder of August, Atlanta plays 7 games against the Nats, 3 apiece against Florida, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. All the teams with the exception of the Marlins are below the Braves in the wild card standings. The Marlins currently hold a 1/2 lead above Atlanta. The good part about this is that the Braves will not be facing the upper echelon of the National League. It's simple, Atlanta wins twelve of the next sixteen and we remain in the hunt, but if we win eight out of sixteen we end up walking in place and the season could be over. Here are your probables:

Mon: James (4-3 4.69) vs. Ramon Ortiz (9-9 4.60)

Tues: Cormier (2-3 6.12) vs. Astacio (2-2 5.56)

Wed: Smoltz (10-5 3.41) vs. Traber (2-1 5.14)

Thurs: Barry (0-1 7.71) vs. Bergmann (0-0 7.62)

Horacio: Back to the DL...Chipper Returning

Horacio Ramirez is visiting a familiar place where often frequents, the disabled list. Ramirez has to leave his last outing due to an injury to his left middle finger. Ramirez could be done for the rest of the season but doctors didn't completely rule that out. Kyle Davies is in the works of returning to the five man in the near future.

Chipper Jones is expected to return from the DL this Sunday. I'm going to guess that Willy Aybar could see some action at 2B via Chipper's return.

Bullpen Farts it up...

Cut the entire 'pen except for Baez and Wickman. Talk about a slap in the face. The Braves were on their way to a victory and a series win, before all their hopes flushed down the toilet. The Phillies won 9-3, showing that this loss has been the story of the entire season...Bullpen Blunders. A day off is intune for tommorrow before the Brew Crew visits the Ted.

Andruw Jones Remains a Brave

Finnally this can be put to rest. There was some talk over at ESPN that the Rangers had placed a claim on Andruw, potentially blocking the Angels from caliming him. Then there was the so called Braves scouts showing up at Rangers games. In the end, Andruw wasn't traded and will remain with Atlanta for the rest of the season. The way this whole situation has been handled it makes me think that Andruw won't be around too much longer.

Straggling Along

Sluggish play, but a come from behind win saved the sweep yesterday. Atlanta keeps up with the mediocracy and continues to teeter in the wild card standings. The Braves return home to face the Phils and Brewers this week. Atlanta remains 5 games back in the wild card with 8 teams ahead of them including the two mentioned above. Here's the probables:

Mon: Ramirez (5-4 4.35) vs. Myers (7-5 3.83)

Tues: Hudson (8-10 5.22) vs. Hamels (4-5 5.27)

Wed: James (4-3 5.07) vs. Wolfman (0-0 6.48)

Kerry Wood: In the Braves future??

Kerry Wood has come out and stated that he will bypass shoulder surgery and will turn his attention towards the role of relief pitcher. Wood is up for a $13M option next year or a $3M buyout (My numbers maybe a little off). The Cubs will more than likely take the buyout and release him. Wood will probably be looking for a 1 year offer, possibly 2, maybe in the range of $2-3M. Those numbers I threw out are just a random guess of what he could ask for. The contract would almost certainly have to be an incentive driven deal based on innings and peformance. With the Braves strict payroll I'm not sure if they would take a chance on Wood, but given the state of the bullpen this might be an option to highly consider. I think Bob Wickman is retiring at season's end, but if Danys Baez continues to perform well he should be re-signed to be our closer for 2007. Wood as setup in the 8th, could that work in Atlanta?

More Bumpy Rides

Adam LaRoche strained his hamstring and Andruw Jones has been placed on waivers. Laroche has turn some heads while becoming the hitter that Braves fans have hoped for since after his rookie season. A stint on the DL isn't expected at this point, but we'll see how he progresses over the next few days. The Andruw waivers thing isn't at all suprising just that it's more meaningful now because he was close to being traded away Monday. I think and hope he remains a Brave, but you have to wonder will the Braves deal him before next year? As much attention as Andruw has gotten; that could beome a strong possibility. The Braves have won two straight, going for the sweep today in Pittsburgh. Tommorrow begins a three game series vs. the Reds whom have been on the losing stick as of late. Cinncinatti could fall out of the wild card lead today, but it's a given for the Braves to either win or sweep this series. Here are your probables:

Fri: James (4-2 4.87) vs. Harang (11-7 3.62)

Sat: Sheill (0-2 6.39) vs. Lohse (2-5 7.10)

Sun: Smoltz (9-5 3.45) vs. Arroyo (9-7 3.31)

And the games go on....

Andruw Jones remains a Brave and the season continues on today in Pittsburgh. The Pirates became active sellers yesterday trading off Kip Wells, Craig Wilson, Roberto Hernandez, Oliver Perez, and Sean Casey. The Pirates will send Ian Snell to the mound tonight. Snell has seen his ups/downs this year. Snell is someone the Pirates can build around along with fellow starter Zach Duke. The Braves come into tonight's game needing to build up some wins and momemtum if they want to get back into the wild card chase. Here's your probables:

Tues: Smoltz (8-5 3.55) vs. Snell (9-6 4.63)

Wed: Ramirez (5-4 4.52) vs. Maholm (4-9 4.96)

Thurs: Hudson (8-9 5.25) vs. ???

Wells was scheduled to start Thursday's game, but that honor may go to just acquired Shawn Chacon. Chacon came over from the Yanks for Craig Wilson.