Official 2008 Atlanta Braves Season Thread (59-77) vol. We Blow

congrats to smoltz for #3,000 but he still took the L.

john lannan > john smoltz
pimp.gif
pimp.gif
pimp.gif
pimp.gif
pimp.gif
pimp.gif


thanks to the pitcher for that throwing error in the 9th. that helped us break the game open.
 
John Smoltz Strikeout #1 vs Darryl Strawberry

15mgt1d.jpg


John Smoltz Strikeout # 3,000 vs Felipe Lopez

33kvgjl.jpg

immsjk.jpg
 
Happy Birthday to Chipper Jones (36) Chipper Jones countdown to career homeruns # 400
pimp.gif
has begun currently Chip is at 393 Homeruns

Nice win by the Braves Chipper Jones is really on fire hit a homerun today
pimp.gif
and went 3 for 3 with a walk.

Chuck James was
eyes.gif
got the win and was then sent back down to AAA.

Braves vs Mets

Friday Night Jurrjens vs Pelfrey.
Saturday Hudson
Sunday Smoltz
 
Great win by the Braves. Kelly Johnson had a good night driving in 4 RBIs to complement Jair's third win of theyear.

Mets offense sputtering lately. The Home run has killed them as of late.

Hudson (3-1) vs Maine (1-2) today
 
indifferent.gif
indifferent.gif
@ another loss to the Nationals.

Glavine returns from injury, and Blaine Boyer just gave up 4 runs in the 7th.

Looks like injuries to both the pen and startng pitching are killing us early.
tired.gif
 
Smoltz: 'I'm coming back as a reliever'
Right-hander believes he is best suited to come out of the 'pen
By Mark Bowman / MLB.com

WASHINGTON -- While others might be currently speculating, there's no doubt in John Smoltz's mind about what he'll be doing when he comes off the disabled list. In fact, the Braves right-hander has even allowed himself to accept the fact that he might never make another Major League start.
"I'm coming back as a reliever first and then we'll see what happens," Smoltz said during a late Wednesday afternoon telephone conversation. "I'm content with this."

While Braves manager Bobby Cox and pitching coach Roger McDowell indicated they were going to wait at least a few days before seriously beginning to think about putting Smoltz back in the bullpen, the 40-year-old hurler doesn't believe there is any other option. He simply can't continue to pitch with the tightness that has existed between his shoulder and neck since midway through Spring Training.

After Sunday's game, Smoltz's body language indicated he was in greater pain than he'd been in during any of his previous starts. But he was truthfully just lamenting the fact that he'd reached the breaking point he'd been anticipating since he first started to feel some shoulder discomfort during Spring Training.

Smoltz will rest his arm for a week and then begin throwing again. If all goes well, he'd like to make two or three Minor League rehab appearances and then join a Braves bullpen that undoubtedly would benefit from his presence. Top setup man Peter Moylan is likely destined for season-ending elbow surgery and closer Rafael Soriano is still on the disabled list with a sore elbow.

If Smoltz does return to the closer's role, he'll be returning to a role that he dominated from 2001-2004. During that span, he notched a franchise record 154 saves in 168 opportunities.

"He was probably the best closer that I faced [in 2003]," said Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira, who remembers the intimidating factor Smoltz could bring to the mound as a stopper.

Still, while serving as a dominant closer, Smoltz always longed for the opportunity to return to the starter's role. Before the start of 2005, the Braves gave him a chance, and since then he became the only pitcher in Major League history to have both 200 career wins and 150 career saves.

Making things different now is the fact that Smoltz will turn 41 on May 15. More important than age is his internal clock, which tells him his playing career could be nearing its end. Four years ago, he correctly predicted that he still had some profitable years remaining as a starter.

"I'm no longer at that point in my career," Smoltz said. "Things are different than they were before."

Even as he mentally prepares himself to move back into a relief role and likely become a closer again, Smoltz hasn't completely ruled out the possibility of being a starter again during the postseason. This is simply the mind-set one takes when they've notched a Major League record 15 career postseason victories.
Smoltz on the DL and will come back as the Closer so this means that Soriano will no longer be the closer and when Mike Gonzalez returns inMay-June Braves could have Gonzalez, Soriano, Smoltz 7-8-9 innings which is pretty good.
Click to expand...
 
Tim Hudson pitched a three-hitter Shutout
pimp.gif
, striking out 10 and walkingnone great pitching performance he outdueled Volquez who was 4-0.

Braves need some offense now

Mike Hampton injured again in a rehab start in the minors.
roll.gif
laugh.gif
mad.gif
eyes.gif
indifferent.gif
Thats how i feel about this bum.
 
Braves leading 12-6 in the 7th inning.

Offensive explosion today going for the sweep of the Reds.
 
Our bullpen has received setbacks again.........
indifferent.gif
tired.gif


ATLANTA -- Over the past couple of weeks, the Braves have received both good and bad news regarding their bullpen on seemingly adaily basis. Unfortunately, the news regarding Rafael Soriano got worse while he threw a bullpen session at Turner Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Soriano's latest bullpen session was cut short when he felt further discomfort in his right elbow. Given that the veteran closer has been battling elbowpain since early March, the Braves have opted to send him for further evaluation. He'll undergo an MRI scan and other imaging tests on Wednesday.

"It just hasn't seemed to improve much," Braves general manager Frank Wren said. "It's a lingering issue that we want to get to thebottom of. It had seemed to be getting better."

Just when it looked like Wren's bullpen was improving, he's been forced to deal with some sort of setback. With little surprise, the Braves alsoannounced on Tuesday that Peter Moylan will undergo season-ending surgery to repair his right elbow tendon on Thursday in Birmingham, Ala.

Moylan is 95 percent sure that he'll need Tommy John elbow ligament transplant surgery, which would require at least a full year of rehab. Noted surgeonDr. James Andrews has said there is a five percent chance that the bone spur that is impeding the Australian reliever's ligament can be repaired viaanother surgery.

While the Moylan development didn't cause any alarm, news that Mike Gonzalez had a little tightness in his left elbow this past weekend did at leastforce the Braves to realize his return might be delayed until the final week of May. Still, they didn't seem concerned, providing indication that he wasfinally feeling the discomfort that all pitchers eventually feel while coming back from Tommy John surgery.

The Braves are still hopeful that Gonzalez will be able to make a two-inning appearance on Wednesday or Thursday. If all goes well, Wren said he'shopeful that the left-handed reliever will still be able to begin a Minor League rehab assignment "in the near future."

"Everybody [coming back from Tommy John] gets [this tightness] at some point," Wren said.

Soriano, who hasn't pitched since recording a save on April 6, said after Friday's bullpen session that the discomfort in his elbow wasn't asgreat as it had previously been. While there might have been a hint of progress in his words, the fact that the discomfort lingered for so long always seemedtroubling.

After making a career-high 71 appearances with the Braves last season, Soriano signed a two-year, $9.1 million contract. Before signing this deal, the28-year-old reliever traveled to Atlanta to undergo an MRI and other tests similar to the ones that will be performed again on Wednesday.

Wren remains hopeful that Soriano will be able to overcome his discomfort and that Gonzalez will overcome the expected pitfalls that come following TommyJohn surgery. As for John Smoltz, who is currently battling right shoulder problems, the Braves don't know when he might be able to join their bullpen.

But if he's able to stay healthy and join a mix that also includes either Soriano or Gonzalez, the Braves could still potentially have a strongbullpen.

"We feel like we're going to have some quality guys joining our bullpen soon and hopefully Rafael Soriano soon," Wren said. "It'sjust taken a little longer than we had hoped."
 
Martin Prado is out 6-8 which led us............

[table][tr][td]
Braves acquire Norton from Mariners

Utilityman could add punch off the bench; Prado out six weeks

By Mark Bowman / MLB.com
[/td] [/tr][/table]
ATLANTA -- Braves general manager Frank Wren's long search for a veteran bench player has concluded with the acquisition of GregNorton.
The Braves announced Monday that they've acquired Norton from the Mariners in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.Unfortunately that wasn't the only news to announce relating to their bench.

Martin Prado suffered a badly sprained left thumb while sliding into first base on Sunday and will consequently miss the next six to eight weeks. Whilehe's on the disabled list, Ruben Gotay will serve as the primary backup middle infielder and Norton will become the team's primary pinch-hitter.

"We wanted to improve the bench a little bit, and Norton is somebody we've been looking at since Spring Training," said Wren after acquiringthe 35-year-old switch-hitting infielder, who has batted .253 during his 12-season Major League carer.

When the Braves weren't able to get Norton, they opted to roll the dice on Scott Spiezio. Once Spiezio was unable to control his substance abuseproblems, Wren continued his search, renewing his attention back on Norton after he became a roster casualty in Seattle last week.

Norton was designated for assignment last week when the Mariners opted to promote two of their top prospects. This transaction was certainly not based onlack of production. He recorded seven hits in the 16 at-bats he had for the Mariners after being promoted from Triple-A Tacoma.

While beginning this season with Tacoma, Norton had nine hits in 22 at-bats. His early-season success has been a continuation of the way he ended lastseason, when in his final 32 games with the Rays, he hit .317 (26-for-82).

Norton, who will be primarily used as a corner infielder, enjoyed his finest big-league season in 2006, when he hit .296 with 17 homers and a .520 sluggingpercentage for the Rays. He was forced to miss the first six weeks of last season because of knee surgery, and struggled until August.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Norton, who has batted .235 with 10 homers in 289 career pinch-hit at-bats, the Braves moved Peter Moylan to the60-day disabled list. Moylan will visit Dr. James Andrews later this week and at that time, he may have his elbow repaired via Tommy John elbow ligamenttransplant surgery.

If all goes as expected and he undergoes that surgery, Moylan will likely be unavailable for 12-14 months.


Hope Norton provides the insurance we need for a bench player.
 
they beat the padres last night.
good thing they dont face peavy or maddux.

they should actually sweep this whole series.
go bravos
 
Newly acquired Greg Norton hit a decisive pinch-hit RBI single as the Braves won 5-2 en rout to their fifth straight consecutive victory.

Hudson is 5-2 with a 2.90 ERA.
pimp.gif
 
6 straight...
pimp.gif


All at home, though. Now we have to go back on the road...
frown.gif


It's only Pittsburgh, though...right?
 
pirates and phillies actually!
7 games in row on the road.
glavine is suspected to pitch today.
lets just hope nady and mcclouth dont play.
smh.gif
 
i just copped an ATL fitted (navy w/ the red brim) and was wondering if I shoulda copped the newer version (w/ the hammer). What do you guys think about thatone?


(btw, not a diehard Braves fan but I always rooted for em' since the early 90s. probably my 2nd favorite baseball team next to the A's)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

The ultimate sneaker enthusiast community.

NikeTalk was created as a way of giving back to both the sneaker enthusiast community and to the greater global community of which we are all a part.

NikeTalk is NOT affiliated with Nike Inc. in any way, shape, or form. All opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Nike, Inc.

© 1999-2024 NikeTalk.com

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom