Atlanta with the Double Smackdown

I'm so proud of my babies.

I decided, as I had stated before, that it was necessary to go to NBA Playoffs Round 1 Game 2 of the Hawks/Bucks... So my friends Thomas, Lauren, and John (who also contributes to this blog) went.  After fees, it was 7 dollars... ridiculous.  For a playoffs game?  What insanity.   (fees are about 4 dollars or so; the ticket itself was cheaper than fees.  which I find just ludicrous.)  I hadn't been to a Hawks game in over a decade and I was ultra excited, especially since I had never been to Philips Arena before.  The last Hawks game I attended was at the Omni... we played the Bulls (sans Michael Jordan, but... Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman were there), and we crushed them miserably.  The dancers had some seriously ugly silver boots on, but, hey, more power to them.  Everything seemed way shinier and louder; there were flashing lights everywhere.  There were dancers and music and lights and whatnot.  The crowd was pretty crazy.

Atlanta won by 10 points.  There was never actually a single moment in the game in which the Hawks were not leading.  It got as low as 2 and I think as high as 16.  Excellent performances, even if I was a bit scared of where we were sitting; I have very bad balance, and we were very very high up.  I love Mike Bibby's socks.  I also love that he wears number 10, which was Mookie Blaylock's number.  I also love that he has the same initials Mookie Blaylock.  :D  Also, the slam dunks, whaaaat??  Sick!  Josh Smith, out of control.  I even got to see Zaza, but no "NOTHING EASY!  NOTHING EASY!  WE'RE GOING TO GAME SEVEN, BABY, WE'RE GOING TO GAME SEVEN!  GAME SEVEN!  GAME SEVEN!  GAME SEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"  :P  I think I'll survive, but that would have been FAB.

Oooh, and John let me wear his Mookie Blaylock jersey.  (Thanks, John!)  Some guy at the MARTA station said to me, "Now that is an old jersey!  How long have you had it!?  That's got to be at least 10 years old."  :)  The Hawks are now 2-0 against the Bucks.  Yay!!

John, Thomas, and Lauren at the Hawks game.  <3

I was, of course, every time there was a time-out, checking my phone to see how the Braves were faring.  Let me just say that I did not like what I saw.  You can imagine my surprise and dismay when I saw that Peter Moylan was pitching, and it was only the 5th inning.  The Phillies were already on the board to the tune of two runs, and Kendrick (who entered the game sporting an ERA of 17.47) had only allowed two singles and a double.  WHAT?  And my Tommy Hanson was already out of the game?  What happened?  I had no idea, but I was agitated as hell.

By the time I got onto MARTA with my buddies, the euphoria of having won the Hawks game was starting to wear off a bit.  I am a baseball girl, through and through, after all.  And the Braves are my babies.  I checked the At-Bat app again:  7th inning... and the score was now 3-0.  What??  :(

I was admittedly starting to feel a little desperate at this point.  This is the Phillies, after all, and we couldn't lose to them.  We just couldn't.  For one thing, tomorrow's game against Halladay will be the most difficult one to win.  For another, the Braves had to win alongside the Hawks so that it could be an "Atlanta, baybeh-BAYbeh" celebration, you see.

Even though Kris Medlen gave up a run in the 7th, he came back out in the 8th and pitched perfectly.  Three men up, and three men down, striking out Jayson Werth while he was at it.  (Speaking of Jayson Werth... He is mega hot.  It's annoying.  He's not allowed to be hot.  He's a Phillie!  :P  Also, his "mugshot"* is awful; looks like a total douchebag.)   We still failed to score, to my dismay as I was frantically checking my phone for updates.  I tried to look at Twitter and Facebook for ideas as to what could have happened.  No dice.  All I found was that the Atlanta crowd had been booing Troy Glaus.  Booing!  What in the world, Braves fans?  Since when do you boo your own??  AGITATION.

Top of the ninth (I was still on MARTA/en route to T&L's apartment), Jesse Chavez comes out of the bullpen.  No worries, no sweat.  Took care of business, and now it was up to our boys.  And for the second game in a row, the Braves are behind in the 9th inning, and they are sending in Martin Prado, Chipper Jones, and Brian McCann.  Of the three, only Chipper made it onto base... and that was because he was walked.  Troy Glaus got up to the plate, apparently to a chorus of boos (wtf!!  who boos their own?  WHO??  I wish I hadn't seen that on Twitter), and promptly issued a STFU 2-run homer.  And the game was suddenly not so hopeless anymore!  That Jason Heyward kid, don't know if you've heard of him, but he delivered a homerun as well.  And the game was tied!!  Yunel ended up grounding out, but it didn't matter.  We had tied the game, and it was going to extra innings.

So BWags got out there and made short work of the three Phillies facing him (INCLUDING Ryan Howard, who struck out swinging... oof, Billy!!).  And then?  Nate "Mighty Mouse" McLouth was at the plate.  Five pitches later, there was a ball shooting through the air towards right field, sailing over the head of Jayson Werth and into the stands.

BRAVES WIN.  What a come from behind win!!

AND!  ATLANTA had won on both the basketball and baseball fronts.  What a night to be an Atlantan.  :)

Note:  I am so glad that Glaus hit that homerun.  And the people who booed him are jerks.  I hope they all feel like jerks and that they personally apologize to T-Roy.  hmmph!!  And good for Troy.  You show'em!  :)

I Like Lists

Ok... John just whipped out a long post... and it was actually coherent and organized. My post? Not so much going to be that way.

Firstly, I'd like to show you a picture:

[Image from this link: http://www.baseballisgood.com/images/86gv5101.jpg; 

thanks to Lauren of Braves Love... I got it from her Twitter]

Second picture of the day:

[Image taken from the article: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=93pennant; 

Credits: Ronald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty Images]

Look at how baby-faced Steve Avery is! Look at how young Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz are! I want to hug them.

ANYWAY.

There are a few noteworthy items about the Braves... and also the Jays. As well as some of those other teams out there. But really, just the Braves.

• According the Mark Bowman from MLB.com, Martin Prado leads the league in batting and is the first Brave to start a season with with five straight multi-hit games since, that's right, Hank Aaron.
• Prado's hitting .600 in 20 AB. Actually, the of top 4 guys who are the leaders in batting average [the aforementioned Prado, Placido Polanco (PHI)'s .542, Edgar Renteria (SF)'s .524, and Jeff Francoeur (NYM)'s .476], only one isn't a Brave or an ex-Brave. Conclusion: Braves are awesome.
• Yunel Escobar. That's really all I have to say about that. Yunel Escobar. Right now, both he and Prado, THE LEAGUE'S AVG LEADER, are both kind of flying under the radar. Which is insane. Defensively speaking, Yunel is just ridiculous. He's so good, such athleticism. I could show you video after video of plays he has made... that are overshadowed by BMac, Chipper, and now, JHey. Not that those three don't deserve the accolades. But Yunel hit .373 last season (2009) with runners in scoring position; that's third in the league. Give the man some attention! Give Yunel and Prado BOTH attention!
• Blue Jays have won their 5th straight game (they beat Kevin Millwood!). They'll be going into their Home Opener at the top of the AL East, with a record of 5-1. Sick. Love it. I'm liking how the pitching is so far, I think. :D
• What I don't like is that Aaron Hill is out... :( He's day-to-day, though, just like Chipper.
• No stories yet about Marco Scutaro's exploits as a Red Sox player... except that he made an error and it was "costly." :( Poor Scutaro.

And while we're on the subject of Ex-Jays... Harry LeRoy Halladay III.  What a monster.  What a beast.  Oh my god, you guys.   He is beyond amazing.   Why, why, WHY does he have to play for the Phillies?   Why isn't he owning the AL East?  Why the hell is he playing in MY division??  Why? 
Allow me to explain why I am both in awe and dismayed:

• Roy Halladay's first start with the Phillies resulted in a 1.29 ERA. He struck out 9 batters, walked 2, and gave up 1 earned run in 7 innings of work.
• Roy Halladay's second start as a Phillie lowered his ERA to 0.56. He pitched a complete game, giving up 0 ER, and 8Ks.
• In 4AB, he's hitting .250. WTFawesome!?

On the game last night: Braves (DLowe) vs. Giants (... don't remember... Wellemeyer!)

• John and I both agreed that BWags is ridiculously flexible. I wish I could find a video of him stretching. Because... yeah.
• Derek Lowe sweats so much when he's pitching. It reminds me of Greg Maddux. Also, when Yunel saved our asses last night in the--was it the 6th? I think it was--6th inning, DLowe looked mega relieved. Like, "Thank god this is over." It made me want to give him a hug. But only after he showers. :P
• San Francisco's in-field is terrible. Their only shining moments are Tim Lincecum and Edgar Renteria.

I think... that will be it for the day. :)

Braves and My Scatterbrainedness

Bobby Cox's ejection
That's number 154 for ya.

Also, I find that I really need to find a way to control my temper as far as internet trolls go.  Especially where baseball-fandom is concerned.  Every die-hard fan is pretty biased towards and protective of their own team and are somewhat obnoxious regarding other teams.  I'm no different.  I will readily admit that I pretty much despise all New York teams, regardless of the sport.  [I do not dislike New York though.  Just their teams.  And most of their fans.]  But there was this comment (which really should not have annoyed me as much as it had because it was just some internet hooligan) made on that video up there about how the poster loved the boos, and Bobby deserves them.

"Excuse me, what?  DIE!!!!!!!"  -- My initial reaction.  (Doesn't take much for me to lose my temper via Internet.  Usually goes from disbelief/stunned to VOLCANIC RAGE in about 5 milliseconds.  Yes, I pulled that number out of my ass, shut up, don't give me none of your lip.)

I read in this article that there should have been an interference call for BMac.  [Edit:  Found it.  WTF.  Totally was interference.  And the umpire just shook off BMac's protest.  DIE!!!]  And like any proper Atlanta fan, I am immediately enraged.  Sure, we may have had a botched ump call in our favor on Opening Day (not that it really would have mattered, because we were pretty much pounding the Cubs into the dirt by that point), but the next day, there was a botched call at first in favor of the Cubs.

Speaking of the Nate McLouth "catch," what should he do in a situation like that?  Are there rules for this sort of thing?  Are you supposed to keep your mouth shut regardless of whether the ump was right or not?  Or do you do "the right thing" and tell the umpire that "yeah... I dropped the ball"?  Of course, then again, the "right thing" could(should?) actually mean the "disadvantageous thing for the team."  Any thoughts from my zero readers out there?  (Hello Internet.)

And since I'm on a roll about outrage at the moment, how about the comments out there about Kris Medlen? I'm full of grumbles about this.  I love my Meddles.  He didn't blow the game, nay-sayers.  Billy Wagner did (and his ERA is rather alarming to see >_<).  I don't understand why everybody is giving Wagner a pass but coming down so hard on Meds.  On any other team, he'd be a starter, but because he's on the Braves, he's pretty much the "sixth starter" and he's capable and versatile.  He is a large part of why our bullpen > other teams' bullpens.  No, he does not need to be sent down to the Minors.  And no, he certainly does not need to be traded.  Jo-Jo Reyes on the other hand...



How about some positive things here?  Martin Prado and Omar Infante.  I love them.  <3 them to pieces, I say!  They're both great defensive players, and offensively speaking, they know how to connect with their bats.  I'm so glad that Prado is our everyday second baseman.  And Infante?  He can play practically any position on the field.  Oh, how I love him!

Side note:  I miss Kelly Johnson.  I was sad to hear that he wouldn't be back on the team this year.  He was my first Braves crush after I started watching the Braves again in 2005 (I watched the Braves on and off after 1998... but after the departure of Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux... well.  There you have it.  But 2005 was the year of the Baby Braves, including Jeff Francoeur--Parkview Class of 2002, represent!  And I was at KJ's first game... and I remember thinking, "Who... is THAT?").  Still, it was a touch-and-go situation for me with the Braves.  If I followed them too closely, and then they disappointed me with a loss, I took it really hard.  I still kind of do, which is awfully ridiculous.  So I sort of had to detach myself a little bit in order to keep my sanity; the Braves are a very frustrating team at times.

Evidently, now, I've decided "the hell with sanity!"  I want me some baseball!

Okey dokey, I think that's long enough for a post.  I'll write about Opening Day soon.  :)

Ode to the Braves Pitching Staff

Note:  So I lied when i said I was going to sleep.  I decided to take this unfinished post from my LiveJournal and post it over here.  I started this post during the Phillies/Nationals game while I was at work waiting for the Cubs/Braves game to begin (04/08/2010).  I just figured, though I haven't finished it, it'd still make more sense for it to be over here.  :)


I love baseball.  Love it, love it, love it.

I've gotten to the point where I will even watch other teams play now.  And let's not mince words here.  I pretty much hate every team out there.  Except for the Braves and the Blue Jays.  Occasionally, I'll even admit to liking the Mariners (Suzuki Ichiro, Felix Hernandez, and Cliff Lee... drool.  Also, Casey Kotchman; but they did designate Ryan Langerhans for assignment, boo), Giants (Tim Lincecum is SICK! and then there's Renteria), and... very grudgingly... the Red Sox (two words:  Marco Scutaro.  And Jacoby Ellsbury is so hot.  So so so hot).  But if the Giants play us?  I hate them.  If the Mariners or the Red Sox play Toronto?  I hate them.  And if the Blue Jays play the Braves?  Sit down!

Currently, I am watching the Phillies @ Nationals game.  The Nats got an early lead on Kendrick, which gives me a sick twisted pleasure, because... even though it's still early in the season (it's just a baby, really)... if the Nats can win against Phillies starting pitching (besides Halladay, of course), then we've got nothing to worry about.  Plus, Atlanta's starting rotation is one of the best in the league.  We've got 3 very good vets (Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, and Kenshin Kawakami), Hudson being the awesomest of the three.  And then, there are our young guns, Jair Jurrjens (Smiley Brave) and Tommy Hanson (Big Red Brave).

[of course, as I was typing all this, the Phillies have now loaded the bases with one out... and Jimmy Rollins is up.  Great.  Come on, Nats.  Update:  *smirk* They managed to score one run.  So now it's tied.  And both teams are using their bullpens.]

Our bullpen is strong as well.  Long/Middle relievers Kris Medlen (Babyface Brave, who can spot-start), Jo-Jo Reyes (not my favorite guy, but had formerly been a starter), and Eric O'Flaherty (Walla Walla Brave, and awesome at what he does!).  Set-up men Peter Moylan (can't decide between Aussie Brave or Sidewinder Brave... guy's gotten more and more consistent) and Takashi Saito (he's hunchy when he pitches... I dub him Hunchy Brave).  SO GOOD!!!