Jul 3rd 2008 10:15AM by Will Brinson
It seems like Jeff Francoeur has been in the majors longer than three years. And it also seems like he was supposed to find his swing and really break out this year. While the first one is still technically true, there’s no guarantee for how long, as apparently the Braves confirmed Wednesday that they have debated sending Frenchy to the minors to work on his swing.
One primary reason that the Braves haven’t shipped Francoeur back to the Minors is the potential backlash they might receive from their fans, who have remained faithful to No. 7, despite the fact that he entered Wednesday night’s game against the Phillies hitting just .239 with a .294 on-base percentage and .383 slugging percentage.

[…]Even before he homered in his Major League debut on July 7, 2005, Francoeur was a favorite among Braves fans. Growing up in suburban Atlanta, he was named the high school Player of the Year for Georgia in both football and baseball.

“This is really the first time he’s ever struggled,” said Braves All-Star catcher Brian McCann, who has been Francouer’s best friend since they were 12 years old.
Francoeur has struggled mightily this season, hitting .234/.291/.379 with only eight homers and 20 walks. But, as Philly proved by sending Brett Myers down to AAA, sometimes the most awkward move is the one necessary to jumpstart a player.

But do I actually think they’ll send Frenchy down there? No way. Popularity aside, the guy’s confidence won’t be helped by a demotion, and the Braves need his gascan arm sitting out in right field. Of course, I might be delusional, since I think the freeswinger will turn it around and have a monster second half too.

Jun 28th 2008 12:15AM by Will Brinson
Bobby Cox has seen the entire career of John Smoltz up close and personal, and he has seen very many great outings by Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. Let’s not discount some of the starts that Steve Avery had back in the day either, when we compute just how many amazing pitching performances he has seen over the years.

So when he throws a compliment to a young pitcher — or any pitcher for that matter - then you would think that compliment has a lot of merit to it. If that’s the case, Jair Jurrjens should be beeming after his eight inning win tonight, because Cox dropped all kinds of hyperbole on him.
“I don’t think you can pitch better than that,” Cox said. “That was one of the best games I’ve seen pitched, ever.”

This success didn’t exactly come as a total surprise. Since turning his ankle while leaving Wrigley Field on June 10 and missing his start the next night, Jurrjens has made three starts and worked 21 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run.
I mean, dang. ? That is a stout compliment to the youngster. Of course, he’s in the zone right now, as evidenced by above, and he certainly has the pedigree to be a great pitcher.

It’s tough to make Jurrjens any sort of sell high/buy low right now, because he’s a legit talent. Still, it’s hard to see him keeping this up for the rest of the season; if I was in a single season league, I would be looking to move him assuming I got good value back. Keeper league? Hold, please.

Jun 26th 2008 10:00AM by Will Brinson
We’ve hashed out the Braves problems before. 11-27 on the road, worst in the majors. 39-41 and 4.5 back of the National League East (mercifully the Phils are 2-8 in their last 10). Pitchers dropping like flies. Guys hitting .400 careening foul balls off their eyes.

But despite all of that, there is hope Braves fans. It comes in the form of Tommy Hanson (not actually pictured), who pitched the first no-hitter in Mississippi Braves history last night, striking out a whooping 14 in the process.
“It was awesome, by far the best time I’ve ever had pitching in a game my whole life,” Hanson said following a clubhouse celebration. “It was great. The fans were up clapping, it was an awesome time.”

[…]”I was kind of sitting in the corner of the dugout and guys would walk by and say, ‘Good job,’ but you could kind of tell they were all staying away,” Hanson said. “I knew they hadn’t gotten a hit, but I was trying not to think about it. It was kind of funny.”
Nothing like the old awkward jinx factor. Now, Hanson might not be headed to the majors this year (although if he keeps throwing no-hitters and the Braves need pitchers, who knows?) but it could certainly happen, especially with no real knowledge about how Frank Wren likes to roll with prospects.

More than likely, he’s going to get promoted to Richmond and if he pitches well there, he’ll get some time in the bigs. But Braves fans, as much as this season isn’t over, should remember that this kid = future. So be patient.

Jun 24th 2008 10:40AM by Josh Alper
There’s no bigger flaw in Jeff Francoeur’s game than his ability to judge the strike zone. His lack of walks has made him totally reliant on batting average to be a productive player. He’s hitting just .243 this season, which makes him a drag on the Atlanta offense, and just .207 at night. The Braves hope that the problem is one that can be fixed with the help of an optometrist.

Francoeur is being fitted with a contact lens for his right eye in an effort to help him with a better approach at the plate. His vision in the eye has steadily deteriorated since he got plunked in the head in 2004.
“We’ll see what happens. I’m near-sighted in my right eye a little since I had surgery [for multiple fractures of his right cheek and orbital bone around the eye]. I’m not making excuses, but I feel like I haven’t been able to recognize pitches. I’ve only got to wear it at night.”

It’s worth noting that last season Francoeur had no trouble hitting at night. He produced a .301/.351/.466 line compared to .273/.303/.390 during the day.
The success of the lens may be the one thing that stops Francoeur from being a one-hit wonder. His 2004 rookie season increasingly looks like a fluke. He was terrible in 2005, okay in 2006 and is back to the dregs this season and, even at 24, you have to wonder how many more chances he’ll get to turn things around

Jun 24th 2008 1:00PM by Will Brinson
I’m not even sure whether to be amazed or angry. Judging by the fans screaming “GO COW!”, I’m a little less angry than I thought I would be, when I finally saw the giant, 40 foot tall, tomahawk chopping cow that is now the center of fan festivities in Atlanta. Superb work by UmpBump to pull this in.

I would also like to point out that no matter how much people are cheering right now, in a few months, I think the whole giant cow thing will grow stale. And then Braves will have a real … beef with their fans.

Jun 24th 2008 4:00PM by Tom Fornelli

On Deck is FanHouse’s look at the day’s most intriguing baseball matchups
Houston Astros (35-41) vs. Texas Rangers (39-38) - 8:05PM Est.

Generally when baseball has their “rivalry” matchups during interleague play, they schedule them for the weekend. That’s not the case in Texas, as the Astros and Rangers prepare to begin a three-game set tonight at Minute Maid Park. I’m not sure the reasoning behind this, but I’m just going to guess that there’s probably a big high school football scrimmage on Friday night, and the Astros are worried that it will hurt attendance numbers.

Of course, it could also just be that neither the Astros or Rangers have done much the last few seasons. The Astros haven’t come anywhere near the success they achieved in 2005 when they won the National League, and the Rangers have only had one winning season (89-73 in 2004, which was good enough for third place!) since we entered the new millenium.

Yet tonight the Rangers are poised to go a whopping two games over .500 for the first time since September 22, 2006. Will history be made tonight in Houston?
Continue Reading

Jun 23rd 2008 1:00PM by Josh Alper

It’s a great pitching matchup - Felix Hernandez vs. Johan Santana - but that’s not why this game leads off our list of Monday baseball. No, it’s because Jerry Manuel will be managing his first home game at Shea Stadium since taking over for Willie Randolph. The nature of that dismissal has been debated to death in New York since then but it will still be interesting to see how the hometown faithful react in their first look at the team since Black early Tuesday morning. Manuel’s fertilizer comments, which seem like little more than a tabloid trying to make a stink where none exists, could also play a role in how he’s greeted. If Santana pitches well, and no reason he shouldn’t against the Mariners, it should all end up as a lovefest by the end of the night. Continue Reading

Jun 22nd 2008 12:45PM by Will Brinson
Right Down Peachtree, the sports portion of (and edited by Jay Busbee, who does some fine work at a few blogs with an exclamation point), has what might be the defining quiz of the 2008 Atlanta Braves season.

They are asking readers to match Braves players and Spinal Tap drummers to their various injuries. And it’s not as easy as you’d think.

Oh, and in totally unrelated news, Chipper Jones (right quad) and Yunel Escobar (right hip) are now hurt and day-to-day. Here’s the list of injuries.
A. Spontaneously combusted in a flash of green light.
B. Hit self in the face with a batting practice foul ball.
C. Either returned to world of jazz or died.
D. Killed in swamp gas explosion while visiting the grave of Mick Shrimpton.
E. Out till the All-Star break with a bad elbow and a bad case of Shea Flu.
F. Choked to death on vomit. Not his own vomit.
G. Still active. Wrapped in bubble wrap nightly to prevent accidents.
H. May not, in fact, actually exist anywhere outside of the disabled list.
I. Fell down the Wrigley Field dugout stairs.
J. Exploded onstage.
K. Sent back into the Terminator shop for repairs.
L. His trick elbow is in, then out, then in, and now out.
M. Died in a bizarre gardening accident.
N. Out for the year with ligament replacement surgery. Will harvest the ligament from Johan Santana.
See? Not all that easy to decipher. Aside from the keywords like “Wrigley Field” and “foul ball” — then you can at least separate them into ST v. AB categories and work from there. Of course, it obviously gets tougher if you haven’t seen , but then every minute more you spend watching moving pictures or reading the internet is about as worthwhile as a Mike Hampton contract extension.

Jun 23rd 2008 1:15AM by Will Brinson
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Mariners, Mark Teixeira was on pace for a not-so-blistering 21 home runs this year. It was especially auspicious considering the Braves poor start to the season and all their injuries. Oh, and the fact that he’ll be a free agent after this year.

But, as we all know, Big Tex likes to turn it on when the weather gets warm, and he did just that Sunday, helping the Braves finish off Seattle.

Note, to your right, that he went three for four against the M’s, with all three of those hits being taterjacks. (The ouch thing is just making fun of the respective in game ERAs of Mike Gonzalez and Will Ohman.) In doing so, Tex became the first Brave to hit three bombs in one game at Turner Field.

And it’s not shocking that it happened the day after the solstice, when Teix usually begins to heat up.

Now, one would have to imagine that this morning, either Tex saw figured out “Holy Crap! It’s Summer!” or Scott Boras called him up and mentioned how many millions he was going to lose for each homer under 40 he hit this year.

Your buy low chance on Teix? Adios, amigo. He should, now that the heat of summer is upon us and the Braves have nearly been eliminated solely through injuries, have a huge rest of the year. But three home run games get you noticed and you can bet his owner is holding tight. Just thought I’d let you know.

Jun 17th 2008 12:15PM by Will Brinson
I won’t go over the dead horse that is the injury-riddled Atlanta Braves bullpen. I will, however, point out that Mike Gonzalez is returning tonight for the first time in over a full calendar year, after a lengthy bbq eating stint, to pitch for the Braves.

It seems pretty, pretty likely, given that John Smoltz and Rafael Soriano are both currently disabled, that Gonzo could be the closer for the remainder of the season.
‘He’s throwing good, they say,’ said Cox, who envisions using him in key situations late in games from the get-go. ‘Hopefully we can count on him for the very end - eighth and ninth. If he’s back to his old form, it’s a huge plus.’

The news is finally positive for a Braves team that has endured watching Rafael Soriano return to the disabled list this week with the same elbow problems that kept him out for the first two months and John Smoltz’s attempt to return as closer end in season-ending shoulder surgery.
See? Gonzo could close out of the gate. Or simply tear his rotator cuff on the first pitch. The latter is the most likely scenario if you have followed the Braves at all this year.

Grab Gonzalez now — the Braves are somehow still potent despite dealing with tons of injuries, and he could provide nice saves totals, if he can stay healthy. Soriano might still nab the gig when he comes back, but if Gonzo deals immediately, there’s no guarantee.