A lady from work gave us two tickets to Wednesday’s Braves game, so Ismail and I headed down to Turner Field for our first post-Tex game. They gave out 70s-style Braves hats to the first 10K fans, but we were too late and didn’t get them. We had tickets in the 200 Terrace Level, right behind the plate. The tickets were good, but it was really crowded in our section and the gametime temps were in the high 80s, making for a sweaty night.

We unexpectedly ran into Dave and Quin at the “Kids Run the Bases” section in the Upper Deck. Dave didn’t seem to happy about the Braves prospects, either this year or for the future. I think that obviously this year is done, but there are enough pieces out there to bring in and make this a competitive team for 2009. If we can get a quality starter (Sabathia, Sheets, Lackey) and a power-hitting outfielder, we should be right back into the mix.

We got to see Jair Jurrjens pitch and he had a decent game. The Braves led for the first 4 innings, then JJ gave up two in the bottom of the fifth. After giving up one more in the sixth, the score remained 3-2 until the ninth. The bullpen once again imploded and gave up four runs, negating any chance of a comeback. Blaine Boyer sucks; I can’t emphasize that enough. I just don’t understand why Cox contnually goes to this guy in pressure situations.

We left the game by that point, knowing that this team lacked the wherewithal to tie it up. I’m sure i’ll end up going to another game or two before the year ends, but right now, I have zero optimism and very little interest in what this team is doing; they have lost all desire to salvage the season.  

The Braves traded Mark Teixeira to the Los Angeles Angels Tuesday in exchange for first baseman Casey Kotchman and minor league pitcher Stephen Marek.

Supposedly an exceptional defensive first baseman, Kotchman is batting .287 with 12 home runs and 54 RBIs. The right-handed Marek is with the Angels’ AA affiliate in Arkansas.

Do you think that the Braves got enough for Teixeira, who is batting .283 with 20 home runs and 78 RBIs?

While it’s not an even swap, we would’ve lost Text anyway in a few months. We’ll have a younger Kotchman for the next three years at a cheaper price, hopefully allowing for us to pick up some big free agent outfielders in the off-season.

I think a lot will depend on how the team does over the next ten days. They have series vs. Washington, Florida and Philly. If they can win all three series and get back to within five games of the lead, then I don’t think that they’ll trade him. However, if we lose 2 of 3 to the Marlins and Phillies, then we’ll definitely be sending Tex on his way.

I don’t think we’ll trade him because I think that Frank Wren is under the illusion that the team is on the verge of getting healthy.

There’s quite a few candidates, but my top 3 are Blaine Boyer, Jeff Francoeur and Manny Acosta. Francoeur is just plain awful this year; if he could hit at least .250 with RISP, we’d win half of these one-run games. I have no idea why Boyer and Acosta are even on the roster-every game they pitch, they get into trouble. Yet, Cox continues to punish us by bringing one of them in night after night.

This was probably the most frustrating regular season game that i’ve ever attended. I needed to wait a few days to write this game up because otherwise it would’ve been profanity-laden.

Dave, Steve, Al and I went to the Braves game on Friday night vs. the Phillies. Dave had two tickets from his season ticket package and two more that he exchanged. The exchanged tickets ended up being on the fifth row, just to the left of the third base dugout. His regular tickets were also good, in the same section 19 rows up.

Hudson pitched a great game for the Braves, going 7 2/3 innings and looking strong to get the win. However, some terrible coaching from Bobby Cox, Snitker and Hubbard effectively destroyed Huddy’s chances. In the 7th, the score was 2-1 Braves with the bases loaded and one out. Snitker tried to send Escobar home on a pop fly to shallow left from Francoeur; he was thrown out by six steps. Brian McCann, who had homered in his previous AB, would’ve been next up to bat, but instead, the inning was over.  

In the eighth, Bobby Cox let Will Ohman hit for himself so that he could pitch in the ninth. He walked, but then the Braves tried a double steal with Ohman trying to steal second-he was out by a mile and the score was still 2-1.

In the ninth, Ohman got the first batter and everything looked great for a series opening win. Then, Cox decides to bring in Blaine Boyer and the game went to hell from there. He proceeeded to get one more out but loaded the bases in the process. He got Coste to pop up just behind the first base bag, a ball that Kelly Johnson tracked down, gloved….and then dropped, allowing the Phillies to score the tying run. It was a play that a little league kid makes 75% of the time, yet Kelly dropped it and cost us the game.

 The game would go to the 10th and the Phillies scored two runs to make 4-2. We decided to leave instead of putting up with any more of the Braves futility. Apparently, the Braves made a run in the bottom of the inning, scoring one, but had the tying run thrown out at the plate. I’m glad that we didn’t see it as everyone (mostly me) was pissed off enough already about the 9th inning that we didn’t need any more fuel for the fire.

The Braves went on to get swept and are now 6 1/2 games out. Instead of winning on Friday and climbing back into the thick of the division race, the Braves are now essentially dead in the water. If they would’ve had 1) some competent basecoaching, 2) better use of relievers and 3) some better fielding fundamentals, we might’ve been 2 1/2 out of the lead instead of where we’re at now.

I just can’t see him finishing over .400; I imagine that he’ll finish in the .365-.370 range.

Ismail and I went to the Braves-Mets game on Wednesday. It was Teixeira Bobblehead night, so we got there around 6 PM to make sure that we were two of the 15,000 fans to receive one (we did). My friend Roberto, a Mets fan, met us at the game at 7 PM; however, he didn’t get a bobblehead, so we made the right call on getting there a little early. We bought $6 General Admission tickets, but there were lots of empty seats that night, so we sat above the dugout in the Upper Deck. There were less Ushers than normal, so it made it a little easier to move into better seats.
 
The game was totally one-sided in the Braves favor. Jair Jurrjens pitched another strong game ( 7 innings, 1 ER) and Francoeur almost hit for the cycle (HR, 3b and 1B). The game moved real slow but we stuck around until Frenchie’s last AB to see if he’d get the double that he needed. Unfortunately, he popped out to Second. Chipper hit his 12th homer of the season, prompting Roberto to say that he hated him. If I were a Mets fan, i’d despise Larry too-he’s a Mets Killer. The final ended up being 11-4, the third win over the Mets in two days.
 
We left in the 8th inning and got home around 10:30, just as the game ended. Apparently, we must’ve just missed some guy falling to his death over the wall besides the exit stairs (he was sliding down the rail and flipped over the wall, a 150 feet drop). From what I can tell, it happened in the same part of the stadium where we exited.

2 Year/ $36.2 million contract given to Andruw by LA. I’m surprised that he got that much, considering the year that he had at the plate. It seems like LA has a history of overpaying players and getting subpar results out of them; will Andruw be the next one?

We’ll miss his defense, but not his lack of discipline at the plate. He’s definitely not worth 18 million anymore, so it’s not the biggest loss to us when you consider the financial aspects and the prospect of freeing up money to re-sign Tex.

Does anyone buy Glavine’s quote that he felt his family was having to make too many sacrifices with him being in NY? If that’s so, then why didn’t he return last year?

Are you glad that he’s back? I have mixed feelings- we need someone with some quality to give us some innings and Glavine should be able to give us that. However, I will never forgive him for his greed and for going to the f’ing Mets. I guess i’ll cheer for him to do well but I sure as hell won’t like him, sort of like how we all seem to feel about Chipper.

I think the season ended on our Riseup outing in early August when the Braves lost to the Astros; not because we lost the game in extra innings (although that didn’t help), but because we lost Edgar Renteria for a month (and what seemed like two months). He was the most consistent hitter on the team all year and losing him made a huge difference in our ability to consistently score runs. With the way Teixiera hit in August (1o HRS, 32 RBIs), imagine having another clutch hitter like Edgar in the lineup- we might be looking at a Wild Card lead at the very least.

Of course, the pitching has been atrocious, but Schuerholz’s plan to win games by outhitting teams rather than outpitching them might’ve worked if not for the Edgar injury.