Sundries

1. Jose Bautista is a beast and I hope the Jays do not trade him.  If the Blue Jays DO trade him, it had better be for amazing prospects, and a decent OF replacement.
2. I'm so glad that David Ross has signed a 2 year extension with the Braves!  BEST back-up catcher, ever!
3. I cannot wait to see Gregor Blanco when the rosters expand in September.
4. Hurrah for Aaron Hill, who has seemingly found his stroke once more!
5. I get to see Yunel at the earliest on August 6 and at the latest on August 10!  :)
6. Craig, Stephen, and I went to the Braves Blood Drive yesterday.  I didn't have the presence of mind to bring a camera and take pictures (we were in the VERY air-conditioned 755 Club), but man... Turner Field is beautiful.  
7. It's Tommy Hanson vs. Stephen Strasburg tonight!!  Young gun pitchers' duel.  I hope we score first, and I hope that Tommy's got top-notch control, and we shut the Nats down.  I'm excited and I cannot wait!  Also, I'm sure everybody else is excited about this (though I'm kinda meh about it):  J-Hey vs. Strasburg.  I'm more of a pitcher's girl, what can I say?  :)
8. I hope Natey and Gonzo hit homeruns off of the Nats this series.

PS--I think I will refer to Alex Gonzalez as "Gonzo" from now on, even though my original Gonzo was Mike Gonzalez.  However, in my labels/tags, I'll still refer to Alex as AGon to differentiate posts about him and posts about Mike.

BREAKING NEWS:  The Braves have optioned Nate McLouth to Triple-A Gwinnett and activated Brent Clevlen from the DL.  I hope Natey does well in AAA and builds up his confidence as a hitter again.  And in 4 days, I hope we'll see Gregor Blanco again... I wish we could have called him up, but alas...

GO BRAVES


More things to say (last edit, I promise):
I was reading Mark Bowman's blog (I don't know what possessed me to do that because half the time, I'm infuriated)... and he had this to say about the Braves bullpen:

"I was thinking the Braves might also be able to improve their relief corps by sending Kris Medlen back to the bullpen and promoting Mike Minor to serve as Atlanta's fifth starter.  But this doesn't appear to be a one of the club's primary options."  

ARE YOU SERIOUS??  He wants to send Kris Medlen back to the bullpen?  Why can't Mike Minor be in the bullpen?  He really thinks that Meds, who has been AMAZING should be sent back to the bullpen.  Wow.  This is exactly why I think he is out of his mind.  Also, his entry on Schafer annoyed me as well; he never gave Yunel the same benefit of the doubt.