Braves' News Tidbits

[General]

He is one of our pitchers of the future. I regard him as our top pitching prospect, with Lerew 2nd, Davies 3rd and Devine 4th.

[brewersfan19]

Cool... so in your opinion there is a light at the end of the tunnel for you...

[General]

Ofcourse. Its just that I kinda hoped for 15 straight...

[brewersfan19]

I hear what you are saying. That would have been special.. Bobby Cox has really managed that cllub awesome especially the past 2 or 3 years.. Well guess you can start a new streak next year.. I really dont think they are that far away from being good again... Hell at the beginning, many of the so-called experts picked them to win the division again... They must have saw something in ATL....

[General]

We're not, we are a good team. We need to keep Wickman, add a left fielder or start Diaz there, and we will contend.

[brewersfan19]

Well, I definitely think you offense is lethal enough... Keep Chipper (who btw is one of my favorite players in the MLB) healthy.. that would most certainly help too

[General]

Chipper's health and the lack of a closer through July are my two reasons for folding this year.

June didn't help either.

[General]

Chipper Jones said if he isn't back in the lineup by the end of this homestand, he probably won't play again this season.
The homestand extends through Sept. 17, so there'd be two weeks remaining in the season if he makes the decision to shut it down then. Jones hasn't played since aggravating his strained oblique on Sunday. Willy Aybar has taken over as Atlanta's third baseman.



Tim Hudson held the Cubs to four runs -- one earned -- in six innings of work tonight to improve to 12-10 on the season.
He gave up six hits and two walks while striking out seven. A pair of errors and another batter reaching on a fielder's choice allowed the Cubs to score three times without recording more than a single in the second inning. Hudson recovered from the poor inning to allow just one more run the rest of the way while lowering his ERA to 4.85. Hudson has yielded more than four runs just once in his last nine starts. However, that lone outing was against the Phillies, the team he faces next time out.

Brian McCann homered and doubled to drive in three runs in an 8-4 win over the Cubs on Firday.
Marcus Giles and Adam LaRoche also homered in the contest. McCann, who is batting .332 with 18 long balls, has been of the three best fantasy catchers in the land this season despite missing almost three weeks with an ankle injury. He's set some pretty high expectations for next season with such a consistently strong performance, but he has the talent to live up to them.



Adam LaRoche homered and scored three times against the Cubs on Sunday.
He just isn't letting up. LaRoche also doubled and singled in the affair, raising his average to .293. The homer was his 29th, which is nine more than he hit in 10 extra games last season. A whopping 16 of those long balls have come in 48 games since the All-Star break.

Working on three days' rest, Kyle Davies was tagged for six runs in five-plus innings Wednesday in a loss to the Mets.
Better if he had gotten to face the Cubs on Friday. Davies bounced back well after a sloppy first, holding the Mets scoreless until the sixth. However, he gave up two singles, a walk and a two-run double to start that inning, and both runners he left on came around to score off Chad Paronto. He'll probably next face the Phillies, which isn't a very good matchup for him.

[General]

Lance Cormier struck out a career-high 10 batters and yielded just one run in seven innings against the Cubs on Sunday.
He didn't walk a batter and yielded eight hits, with the lone run scoring on a Freddie Bynum homer. Cormier entered the game with more walks (31) than strikeouts (27) on the season, so that he was able to post a career-high in strikeouts without walking a batter was rather surprising. The right-hander has now posted quality starts in each of his last three chances, but he remains a shaky play against the Marlins next time out.


Whoa.

[General]

Josh Smoltz was pulled with a groin injury after giving up six runs in two innings Monday against the Cubs.
If he wanted to be more like Roger Clemens, he could have at least pitched five effective innings before taking himself out. Smoltz keeps talking big, but he's been part of the problem as the Braves have drifted out of contention over the last two weeks. This gives him an 11.08 ERA in his last three starts.

Josh Smoltz? JOSH SMOLTZ!!!???

[General]

Horacio Ramirez's season is over due to the ligament tear in his finger.
"All they'll let me do is toss with the finger off the ball," Ramirez said. "They won't let me put any pressure on it. I have to just let the finger rest and heal. It's frustrating. Hopefully everything will be fine by spring training." Ramirez will return to the Braves rotation in 2007.

Adam LaRoche went 2-for-4 with a homer in the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Padres.
LaRoche was able to play one game despite his sore hamstring. It's possible that he'll sit Thursday with the Phillies throwing left-hander Jamie Moye

John Smoltz threw a regular indoor session Wednesday and said he will be ready for his scheduled Saturday start against Florida.
Smoltz left Monday's game with a strained groin. Even though he's struggles lately, Smoltz will have to be kept active in fantasy leagues

Tim Hudson's frustrating season continued on Wednesday when he suffered his 11th loss of the year.
In five innings, the Phils got to him for nine hits, five runs and four walks. Hudson did strike out six, but yielded a pair of long balls as his ERA rose to 4.95


Brian McCann had three hits, including a homer, in the second game of the doubleheader Wednesday to lead the Braves' attack.
McCann, who's been fantasy gold this season, has 20 homers and 76 RBI

[General]

Lance Cormier lasted just two innings against the Marlins tonight, yielding six runs -- four earned -- on 48 pitches before being removed.
Cormier walked two and gave up six hits, including a two-run homer to Dan Uggla. The right-hander was coming off back-to-back strong outings against the Phillies and Cubs, but he still wasn't a strong play even against the Marlins. He remains a shaky option against the Nationals in Washington next time out.


Marcus Giles hit a solo homer and a two-run single in five trips to the plate against the Marlins on Friday.
Giles has managed to avoid the disabled list this season, but he's been so banged up he's only played in 128 games anyway. After three straight seasons where he's failed to match his breakout 2003 campaign, it's probably unrealistic to expect such a rebound in the power department. Given his injury history, he's also not a very good bet to play in 150 games, so Giles will be ranked considerably lower in 2007 than he was in 2006. He's still capable of compiling a strong season when everything breaks right, but that seems increasingly unlikely

[General]

Danys Baez (appendectomy) cannot pitch without pain after undergoing an emergency appendectomy last month.
Throwing overhand feels fine, but when he tries to finish a pitch at his usual release point, the abdominal pain grabs him. "It's frustrating, believe me," Baez said. "I want to pitch." He might not make it back this season.

John Smoltz won for the first time in four starts by limiting the Marlins to one run in eight innings on Saturday night.
Smoltz, who left his last start with a strained groin, struck out eight and threw 111 pitches before being relieved by Bob Wickman, who picked up the save in a one-run game. The win was the 190th of Smoltz's career.

[General]

Marcus Giles hit a walk-off RBI single with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning against the Marlins on Sunday.
The two clubs entered the top of the 10th inning tied at 3-3, but things got wild from there. Braves' reliever Chad Paronoto was charged with four runs after allowing three hits and a walk in the inning, and finally had to be replaced to end the Marlins' rally. In the bottom of the inning, Marlins' closer Joe Borowski was charged with five runs -- three earned -- and a blown save after yielding five hits and retiring just one batter. Giles' game-winning hit actually drove in two runs, but left fielder Josh Willingham botched trying to field the hit and allowed Branyan Pena to score from first on the play. Giles was only awarded one RBI as a result, but he'll gladly take the victory instead. The loss knocks the Marlins four games out of the NL wild card race.

[DravenX]

Yates is not looking too good. Paronoto was looking pretty good their for a little while but I haven't seen much out of Yates.