Blue Jays Love

(with a large side of Braves Rage... but I'll get to that in a minute)

So because of things happening in Toronto, Major League Baseball had to move what would have been a homecoming for Doc Halladay at Rogers Centre SkyDome to a series in Philadelphia... where the Jays are technically the home team...

Yeah.  The home team.  In front of a sea of rabid Phillies fans (who, by the way, I don't like).
Needless to say, Doc murdered the Jays.  And I still hate seeing him in red.

But the Jays got a little of their own back the next day (yesterday).  Shaun Marcum struck out 6 guys (including Jayson Werth twice; once looking and once swinging).  And then some guys decided to tune Cole Hamels up to back up Marcum:  Yes, John Buck (2 run homer), Aaron Hill (solo homer), and Alex Gonzalez (2 run homer), I'm talking about you guys.  Final score, 1-5, Jays.  I love it.  And the best part was... I saw a good number of Jays jerseys and Jays shirts amidst the Phillies red of the stands... I love seeing Jays fans because you know they've gotta be hardcore.  :)  Even seeing Jays fans in Atlanta makes me happy.  (But I know that Atlanta would crush Toronto.  I may love the Blue Jays, but I love the Braves way more.)

Aside:  I don't know why I particularly like to pick on Cole Hamels... but I really really do.

Today it'll be Moyer (8-6, 4.43) vs. Cecil (7-4, 4.06).  MLB.tv?  You are my new friend.  Moyer is about location and pitch control... but as long as the Jays aren't fooled... well, they've got this old man.



In other news... the Braves.  I mentioned yesterday in my toned-down-not-as-furious-as-I-would-have-liked-to-have-sounded text post that we won.  3-4.  This time, it wasn't a run support issue, nor was it an issue with Kawakami's start.  No, no.  This time, it was the bullpen, in the ninth inning, doing their absolute damnedest to give away Kawakami's hard-earned win.

And yes, I realize that we still won.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we won and that we're still on top of the NL East.  But it came down to chance and luck.  We got lucky that the umpire called the last pitch that left Peter Moylan's hand a strike.  Because it was most assuredly outside.  It should have been a ball, and the game should have been tied... with the bases still loaded.  But instead, the plate umpire, who had been making strange calls all night (I'm talking calling pitches that were CLEARLY strikes balls, and pitches that were clearly outside or inside or whatever strikes... it was insane... like the strike zone was some squiggly Nickelodeon logo) happened to call a full-count pitch a strike... and by the sheer luck of this call, we got out of a nightmarish situation.  If the Tigers had managed to tie the game with another run walked home (and the bases still loaded, mind you), then Kawakami would have lost his first W (again).  Please note that if the Tigers had tied and then taken the lead from us, I have no doubt we would have still won... but it is absolutely ridiculous that we could blow a 3 run lead while loading the bases by walking 4 consecutive men with 2 outs.  And yet... we did.  I suppose I should also mention that part of the trouble was also a homerun... sigh.


A few other less rageful Braves-related items:
Chipper Jones had himself a big night.  First, he made a nice snag of a pop up in foul territory.  (And did you see Johnny Damon over there, helping Chip out?  Adorable.  I love it when players are nice to each other.)  And then, in order to back up Kawakami, he launched a 100 mph pitch into the stands to give us a 1-3 lead.  Did I ever say I wasn't a fan?  Well, I lied.  [Also, please note the giant smile on KK's face (about 47 seconds in).  There will be no loss for him!  A no-decision, possible, but a loss?  Get out of here.]  Also worth mentioning, that was a one-hundred mile per hour fastball, by Zumaya, who hasn't given up a home run this year... until he met Larry Wayne Jones, Jr., resident Braves badass.

Melky Cabrera.  He's totally underrated.  So his April sucked.  And then suddenly, he came out of nowhere and started destroying his at-bats.  And he makes great catches.  He runs the bases as hard as he can (looks like he's ready to bowl you over if you don't get out of the way even if he's going BMac-speed).  He's got a good throwing arm.  AND he's nice to the fans.  He will often throw it into the stands if he catches a fly out (obviously if it's the third out).  So as far as I'm concerned, I know why Melky's got a loyal fanbase in New York.  And I think he should start getting some fans here.  He's a good player.

Check this out.  If Ross is put on the DL, and BMac is out for a game, then we can use Brooksy or Yunel as catcher!  My only question is:  Why did we remove Clint from the 40 man roster?  And why did we designate him for assignment, where he cleared waivers... so that we could make room for Diory Hernandez?  As far as infielders go, we've got the aforementioned Brooks Conrad (2B & 3B), Omar Infante (2B, SS, 3B), and Eric Hinske (1B & 3B), who have got all the positions infield covered.  I suppose we want to make sure... in case both Yunel and Omar go down, we'd have a SS?  I guess we'll see.  Too bad about Clint... he's adorable.

Max Scherzer of the Tigers is a good pitcher, but I really really REALLY do not approve of you hitting MY GUYS, Max.  Nailing Troy Glaus in the hip really infuriated me, and I had to try really hard not to shout at the television in front of my customers.

IN SUMMARY:  Braves rule.  Jays = Love.  And we'll both win this afternoon.  Tommy's on the mound for Atlanta and Cecil for Toronto.  :)  PS--I called KK's win last night.  Just look at item 5.

Being Busy is Not An Excuse

... for not posting about how awesome the Braves are.

You will notice that I haven't posted much about the Blue Jays lately.  They're not doing poorly, you know, but they're in the toughest division in all of Major League Baseball, in my opinion.  The Jays are currently in fourth place with a win percentage of .544.  If they belonged to the NL Central, they'd be in second place, in contention for first.  It's really too bad, because they are playing better beyond anybody's expectations.

Ahem.  And now to transition abruptly back to the Braves and the NL East.  How about some love for our division, y'all?  Only the National League Eastern Division can boast that all its teams have a win percentage of over .450 in Major League Baseball*.  That's both leagues, ok?  Take that, gimpy Designated Hittin' American Leaguers.

And I just want to mention how awesome Martin Prado is, once again.  (He is awesome.)  And thus shouldst thou forthwith go and cast thy lot for Martin Prado!!*  Do it now.  Immediately.  Straightaway. This instant.  I'll even provide the link for you.  Remember, there are less than 2 weeks left to vote for him, and you can vote up to 25 times PER email address.  (I've got 8 addresses I've been using just to vote for Braves and Jays:  3 school emails, 1 personal, 1 resume-y, and 3 spam/old accounts.)  Prado is behind Chase Utley in votes.

Let us compare these two, please.
Utley's BA this season is .260, while Prado's is .338.  He has had 11 HR as opposed to Prado's 6 (BUT I maintain that grand slams should count more... just sayin').  Both players have 30 RBIs and an OBP of .378.  Utley's SLG is .468 and Prado's is .469.  So their stats are pretty similar.  But Prado's the unsung hero, here... even though he was leading the league in BA (batting average AND badassery.  Yes.  I went there), nobody, not even Braves fans seemed to sit up and take notice of who he was.  And the man is getting paid $440K this year.  What a friggin' deal for the Braves!  Utley, on the other hand, is getting paid 34x as much, and the Phillies are definitely not getting 34x Prado.  Moral of this story:  Money is not everything.  And Prado is awesome.  Vote for him.  :)

Also worth noting:  Troy Glaus.  What a beast.  Friends Ryan and Andrew from north of the border (hi boys), fellow Jays fans, tried to douse my excitement over our Glaus acquisition during the off-season.  And in April, he did appear to be... not-so-good.  But oh, then there was May 2010.  And he shut EVERYBODY up.  Since Awful April, he has had 51 RBIs.  TAKE THAT NAYSAYERS.  And then Ryan and Andrew were like, "He was a former Jay."  Yep... but he's a current Brave.  :D

Melky Cabrera.  All season, there have been all these people talking all sorts of trash about Melky (e.g. Why is Bobby still playing him?  Why did we trade Vazquez for an automatic out?, etc.).  First of all, don't question Bobby.  He's only been doing this for 25 years.  The man has got this, ok?  Trying to couch-manage the team when Bobby's still at the helm, trying to question why he didn't already retire, must be out of your damn mind. /grumble.  Secondly, the Braves front office knows exactly what they are doing, thank you very much.  Did it suck that we had to trade Javier Vazquez?  Yes.  But we got a good deal.  And Melky has been hitting up a storm, thank you.  RBIs this, singles that, doubles, this.  And he works hard.  You can tell.  Get out of here, naysayers!  Bench this!!!  ::points at butt::

Also, Kawakami.  Poor Kenshin.  Nine losses when he should have had more than 3 wins.  He's been pitching well, but if our offense AND defense would both decide to show up for work when he pitches, that'd be nice.  And yes, there are been games where he made some bad pitches.  But it is then the offense's job to bail him out.  It isn't fair to pin it all on him.  But when JJ comes back from his rehab starts at Gwinnett, will we have to move KK to the bullpen?  Or will Kris Medlen go?  Because KMeds has been kicking ass and taking names.  He has more than proven that he deserves to be a starter.

I hope Omar and Mighty Mouse and MattE are better soon.  I can't wait to see them back.  :)

*I'd like to give a shout-out to Stephen Tyndall, who has been helping me with wording in this-here blog.  Evidently, I have forgotten all grammar and vocabulary.

Posting roll!

Apparently, I can't stop posting! There's just too much wondrous baseball to talk about.

So excited. I really do need to get MLB.TV for myself. Or, at the very least, AtBat 2010 for my phone. But that would be approximately $100 and $15, respectively... and think about it. If I spend an average of about $10/ticket for a Braves game, I can go to 11 games! ELEVEN games! OR. If I spend about $20/ticket, I could go to 5 live games, and have snacks or drinks at 3 of the games. Live games are better than watching the games, hunched over my laptop or cradling my iPhone, right? Then again... I want to see some Jays action. My Babies Above the Border are 3-1 so far in the season, and they beat the Orioles, who tried to close with Mike Gonzalez (Gonzo Brave, or Cobra Brave, or Drunken Master Brave). That ERA of 18.00 is not pretty, Gonzo. Not pretty at all.

Speaking of closers blowing saves... I think I need to implement a magic baseball game rewinding app. That way, when BWags gave up that 2 run homer to Edgar Renteria, I could just rewind that moment... press pause, walk up to Billy and say, "Mr. Wagner? The change up is not the way to go. Pitch placement." Angels in the Outfield, much?

OK. So the match ups for today:

• Javs vs. Orioles (Eveland vs. D. Hernandez). Looks like it's the first start of the season for both pitchers? Go Jays!! Hopefully they continue to be this strong for the rest of the season. :)

• Red Sox vs. Royals (Josh Beckett vs. Zack Greinke). Beckett's 9.64 ERA looks pretty nasty right now. And I'm not sure that my love for Marco Scutaro will cancel out my desire to see Greinke win. Then again... I really love me some Marco Scutaro. Probably irrationally.

• Braves vs. Giants (DLowe vs. Todd Wellemeyer). Derek Lowe was a liiiiittle bit rough on Opening Day, but I'm chalking that up to Opening Day nerves. We'll see. He's got a 3.02 ERA against the Giants, so hopefully that will translate into keeping them in their place... which is out. :P The bats have GOT to warm up though. I want a win! I don't like that the Phillies and the Marlins are ahead of us, even if it is early in the season.

Tomorrow, Roy Halladay is pitching, which pretty much means that the Astros have no chance. Doc's ERA so far this season is a ridiculous 1.29 ERA.

Also pitching tomorrow, and more important to me, is Kenshin Kawakami. I'm sure Bobby knows exactly what he's doing if he's matching KK up to Tim Lincecum. Again with the nagging worry, but we've gotten Timmy good before, and we can certainly get him again for the closer. :D

Testing mobile blogging via text. Kawakami will be pitching against Lincecum on Sunday. I'm both excited and worried at the same time. Then again, if KK can out-pitch Roy Halladay... Our bats just need to warm up.

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!!!