2012 Atlanta Braves: Chipper Walks on Gilded Splinters

I have a bad feeling about this.

beat those Philthies

2012: more of 2011, but with Tommy Hanson guest-starring as Captain Caveman

The ol' TINSTAAPP strikes again.

DavidOBrien – #Braves reliever Arodys Vizcaino has torn ligament, having surgery now and hope is he’ll be ready this time next year.

:-(

Gilded meniscuses

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones will have arthroscopic surgery Monday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

Jones injured the knee Thursday when he slipped while stretching before batting practice. It also was just before his scheduled news conference, where he announced he was planning to retire after this season.

I'm just going to try to laugh my way through this season.

I don't remember ever having a baseball dream before in my life, but last night I dreamed Fredi was fired. No explanation, just "Braves Fire Manager" and then I woke up.

braves vs. braves prospects all-star team exhibition tonight at 7:05 eastern

free video stream will be here

Good pitching, anemic at the plate. Going to be a lot of that this season.

E: J Francisco 3 (3, throw 2, ground ball)

Yeah, he's really shittin' it up tonight. Two of those on one play.

reds otm

J. Francisco invited to ride the pine the rest of the night.

he shall be livan

I would say it's time for Fredi to scream and throw bats in the showers and call the team a bunch of lollygaggers, except I think he needs to be one of the ones screamed at too.

Chipper rushed his meniscus back into action starting tonight because LOL WE SUCK and Jordan Schafer decided to test it by dropping a bunt down 3rd to lead off the Astros'* 1st. Estimate percent chance Schafer gets one in the ear next time he comes up?

*actually Colt 45's tonight

i dunno -- can the braves really afford to put a runner on base?

:/

Murphy to join Braves' TV booth as analyst | braves.com: News
After spending two weeks being introduced to the broadcasting side of baseball during Spring Training, Dale Murphy said he was hoping to spend some more time behind the microphone this summer. Many Braves fans will be delighted to know Murphy will receive his wish. The two-time National League MVP will provide analysis during at least 14 Braves games this year. His first assignment with the Fox Sports South broadcast team will come on Sunday afternoon, when he calls the series finale against the Brewers with Joe Simpson and Chip Caray.

aaaaaghhh noooo, go raise some more kids or grandkids or something

I bet Dale is a big VORP and DIPS guy

he should be, since 398 homers isn't doing the trick for him

I was a bit panicky after an 0-4 start. The Braves don't suck, but my estimate of Chipper's future goes down every day. He's a defensive liability even compared to Juan Francisco, and my knees hurt just watching him run. Last night, him going from 1st to 3rd on a McCann single and then scoring on a sac fly looked a little like a Hostel sequel.

we should have a time-travel race pitting him vs 1973 Willie Mays.

Chipper can definitely still rake though.

Watching these guys pile up runs like this without Larry in the lineup is exciting.

And MIKE MINOR FUCK YEAHHH

BRANDON BEACHY FUCK YEAHHH

Also, lefty-lefty matchups not a problem against AZ, 9 for 15.

The biggest surprise is that the Braves have outscored every other team in baseball so far this season.

Jurrjens down to AAA

Tough but fair. Something's seriously wrong with him; not sure if it's mechanical or between his ears, and Hudson needs the roster spot.

thats weird.. jurrjens didnt last 4ip last night, but he got nickled and dimed to death by the dodgers. almost all the hits were of the cheap variety..

He's been way off his game since his injuries started piling up. 3-4 mph off his fastball, and decreased sinking movement that has cut his ground ball percentage on balls in play in half. He's got to relearn to pitch without the sinking fastball that he used to have, and Frank Wren's not going to let him do that in the majors.

Best way to get to the closer -- hit a line drive off his face.

line drives: they fly at u face

Granddad must feel ok -- he attempted a straight steal in the 6th.

Also, McCann came out after the 5th, no explanation yet.

^^^ strained intercostal, day to day

jurrrjjjens was decent in triple-a today -- 7 ip, 1 r, 4 h, 3 bb, 4 k -- but a) he didn't have to face the legendary brad eldred and b) i have no idea how hard he was throwing

wacky game

Wild

I, uh... that was cool.

A 5.25 runs/game offense is a nice surprise.

13 more runs, and career save #1 for Livan Hernandez.

I wondered what those words between Moyer and Chipper were about last night -- turns out the old man was barking at the old man about relaying signs.

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_05_05_atlmlb_colmlb_1&mode=recap_away&c_id=atl

no one wants to get beaned by jamie moyer

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3qibtM0YV1qzniimo1_500.jpg

wap!

Great job surviving the Beltran onslaught tonight.

One of the most fun things about watching the Braves offense is how hard they work opposing pitchers...they're like jockeys who go to the whip before the first pole. They had Wainwright at 79 pitches through three innings last night, and they just made Lance Lynn throw 36 pitches in the 3rd inning, and 96 through four innings. Heyward rode Lynn into the dirt, fouling off everything until Lynn gave him a meatball on the 12th pitch of the AB for a 3-run double.

http://blog.liberationbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/brooms.jpg

Braves offensive patience from 2010 through 2012 is like night and day and night again

Winless on Mondays, wtf.

Braves?:
http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/2065545.jpg

Beat Shields, beat Price, series win. Profit!

very impressive

I know Fredi said they'd stick with Minor in the rotation while he gets his shit figured out, but he's looked really horrible this month. A couple more bad starts like tonight and the last four and I wouldn't be surprised to see him sent down to keep Jurrjens company, with Livan taking his spot.

Also, I think Joe Simpson just turned on Juan Francisco after he stood and watched his homer go out before trotting, and then committed an error in the bottom of the inning.

I think Juan Francisco is never going to be a decent glove at third. He just looks way too awkward. I think he would be better suited as a brick left fielder or maybe at first base. He was out of options in Cincy and the Reds had Todd Frazier also at that ready to go to the bigs time who while not having that kind of raw power, does have a pretty decent glove and can play outfield and second if needed.

Francisco catches up to a pitch, his power is massive. That ball he hit last year out of the park and on a bounce across the street at Great American was truly a monumental shot. You sit in a seat in that stadium and look out to where that landed and it is pretty awe-inspiring.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19127709

O_O

Good heavens, that went a fur piece.

http://www.barewalls.com/i/c/420904_Cincinnati-Ohio--Great-American-Ballpark.jpg

If you look on this picture at that grassy strip below the road that runs behind the park, that's where that ball Francisco hit ended up.

I went to see a game like two days later and just was blown away how far that ball traveled.

It cleared into the street on the fly according to the Reds announcers and then bounced twice into that grass.

Next stop after the grass is the Ohio River.

I'm trying to think my way through possibilities if Mike Minor doesn't improve. An obvious move would be Kris Medlen to the rotation, but they're wary of overworking him, etc etc. (per Frank Wren via Jayson Stark today). Has any team ever platooned a starting rotation spot? For instance, Hudson-Hanson-Beachy-Delgado and then Medlen and Livan Hernandez alternating starts, or Livan going every third time through the rotation. Just wondering if this has ever been tried.

free todd redmond

Well I hope McCann's over his flu, because David Ross's right groin muscle just gave out on him.

Medlen will be moving from the bullpen to the rotation, but they're sending him down to AAA Gwinnett for a couple of weeks to "stretch him out" first.

jurrjens was good on sunday

Freddie loves his new specs, homered in 1st AB back.

So long Pastornicky, hello Andrelton Simmons.

Uggla's been showing signs of Steve Sax Disease all season...threw a lollipop right over Freeman's head earlier today. He needs to get that shit ironed out asap.

Steve Blass...?

Oh I had never heard the Steve Sax variant

Hahaha, that's pretty funny -- I'd never heard of the original Blass version.

<3<3 Simmons <3<3

in case anyone's interested -- here is a pdf of a 1975 new yorker article by roger angell about steve blass and his disease. even apart from the main topic, it's interesting to read contemporary reports about all the complete games and how strikeouts aren't super important

<3<3 Simmons <3<3

― Trey Imaginary Songz (WmC), Tuesday, June 5, 2012 8:38 PM (2 days ago)

Oh man, this guy is so good. He'll be on Web Gems tonight.

I love heat maps!

http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg618/scaled.php?tn=0&server=618&filename=1cam.png&xsize=640&ysize=640

^^^cannot be true, as centuries of baseball lore tell us that all lefties love the ball down

Schuerholz/Wren seem like pretty hardnosed unsentimental guys -- I have no idea whether they're going to try to hang onto Bourn. He's making it a really tough decision.

I want it on the record that I did not panic in this thread during the 8-game losing streak.

teheran today

Yeah, I feel good about his start. I was going to say he has a good infield defense behind him, but looking at the lineups I see Chipper has talked his way into the game a day earlier than expected, and he's a defensive downgrade from Prado. But Jones-Prado is obviously a huge offensive upgrade over Prado-whoever.

Hudson's a weird one. When he had his back trouble, it seemed to come out of nowhere, but I remember him saying "yeah, I've had this bulging disc for a few years." Now he has bone spurs in his ankle and says "yeah, I've had these for years." WTF? When he retires I half expect him to say "yeah, I played my whole career with lupus, two broken ribs and a steel plate in my head, no biggie."

well at least he did better than livan

I had to turn that Livan shit off and go out and grill something.

i've wanted them to call up todd redmond, who's been good and is now in his fourth (!) year at gwinnett without a summons, but he got shelled in his last two starts -- i think his era's gone up a full run.

still, better him than livan.

rip tyler pastornicky

Impostor crashes Braves alumni celebration

Simpson and Caray were giving Dale Murphy some goodnatured shit about this on Sunday, since Murphy was the captain of the softball team the impostor played on. Weird story, I wonder if the guy will be named or if everybody involved would like to just forget about this one.

Still winless on Mondays btw.

wish I had Jonny Venters' balls and a hammer within reach

Actually, make that Fredi's balls, for not using Kimbrel in the 8th.

Medlen brought back up and put back in the bullpen for the time being; Livan DFA'd.

Freddie's index finger still isn't right; Prado gets his first start at 1B since last September.

Chipper and his wife separating.

http://30fps.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2012-June-15-23-26-15.jpg

Chipper and his wife separating.

Back to Scores in retirement.

Delgado deserves better than this bullshit. He's got to be way up there in lack of run support.

Old news by now, but RIP Beachy's former UCL. If there's an upside, it's that Tim Hudson's been through it all, come out on the other side with a better elbow, and can advise BB on what the recovery/rehab will be like.

I hope Jurrjens learned a few things in Gwinnett.

apparently so

Yes, this has been a treat to watch tonight.

Interesting little Kurkjianism from the Braves booth tonight -- if Tim Hudson has a winning W-L record this year, that'll be 15 consecutive seasons, tied with Cy Young for 2nd all-time. (ha, just checked -- he went 2-1 in 2009)

how do you deal with chip? admittedly he's not as bad with the braves as he was in those tbs playoff series, but between him on the braves broadcast and the nationals color guy, i had to watch the last braves-nats series on mute.

If it were anybody other than Joe Simpson in the booth with him, I'd stab my eardrums out. But Simpson is really really good and holds his own in the booth. If Chip has any broadcast instinct at all, it's that he knows how good Simpson is and doesn't try to crowd him.

Worst things about Chip: the "Mr. Haney" voice when he's pretending to be amused; hysterics during great defensive plays; hysterics during Braves homers. Thankfully, he goes silent when the opposition goes taco.

at least he'll never be the worst as long as hawk lives

He's the White Sox guy, right? Yeah, I can't listen to CWS games on WGN.

I don't know what it is, but the Braves have totally let the Nationals get inside their heads. They are an actual professional baseball team most days, but when the Nats come to town they lose their shit. They're up against good pitching, but the errors and bad pitching are all on Atl.

Chad Derpin

amirite

The "too effing hot" thread reminded me about this from yesterday's Braves game -- Joe or Chip mentioned the big storm that knocked out DC's power and Tom Glavine said "on the bright side, at least the people in DC can't watch the Nationals getting beat right now." I'm not sure he meant to sound like that much of a dick, but dang.

gwinnett has lost 15 in a row

Granddad obliquely called out the rest of the team today, and I guess figured he'd better back it up: 4/4 so far tonight, 2 doubles, 4 RBI, plus a stolen base.

are you voting for granddad?

Nah, he's already in, replacing Kemp. I've never been a fan of the ASG, just voted once or twice ever.

Tempted to vote for Bourn a few times though.

Andrelton Simmons broke his right pinkie stealing second. Don't slide headfirst, kids!

teheran gave up four homers in triple-a today

what's the kimbrel backstory?

Sometime in his yout', a 600-lb. stack of drywall fell on his foot and crushed the hell out of it, so he learned to throw a baseball from his knees and built up hella upper body strength. Then when he was finally able to throw from a standing position, he had Laser Rocket Arm and upper-90s velocity is no problem for him.

i guess no drywall fell on his brother, or he'd have gone higher than the 31st round

haaa

This was told by Chris Myers in the Fox booth, so it might actually have been one sheet of drywall and he might have thrown from his knees for one day.

après google, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/joe_lemire/09/12/craig.kimbrel/index.html

http://www.tiltstudioinc.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Sheetz-Logo1.jpg

nice to see ben sheets get a win! didn't know that dude was mounting a comeback

the Mets specialize in sending pitchers through a time machine

What a game. The rest of this weekend is going to be a grind, though. Kimbrel's shot for a couple of days after working his 3rd straight and blowing the save.

3-hit night for Uggla, maybe a good sign.

Best line of the night was from Chip Caray: "Maybe Janish is German for 'target'."

wheeeeee

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/game92chart.jpg

they gonna go sailing past Nats?

Come on, Dempster, shit or get off the pot.

He wants to play for the Dodgers.

Yeah, I've been dipping into the blogs and rumor mill today.

*UPDATE 1:34 PM* According to Ken Rosenthal Dempster is holding the trade up because he would prefer the Cubs to continue to try to work out a deal to the Dodgers. If this is the case, there is a high probability that both the Dodgers and Braves will move on from Dempster and he will end up staying with the Cubs. The Dodgers don’t seem willing to give up the pieces that the Cubs want in return, and the Braves seem unwilling to wait more than a couple of additional days on Dempster.

Theo Epstein could come out of this looking really, really bad. All indications are he gave the Braves the impression that this was a done deal, and now there seems to be a very real chance that he ends up keeping Dempster, not getting a major piece to rebuild his team in Delgado, and making Frank Wren severely question him in future dealings. Every hour that goes by with Dempster not approving the deal is an hour closer to the Braves being forced to pursue other options and thus take the deal off the table.

I want to thank Dempster for not letting the Braves pull off such a short-sighted trade. If they deal Delgado it should be somebody under contract at least through next year or for a legitimate top-of-the-rotation type.

Still winless on Mondays btw.

that flippy-glove thing is surely worth its weight in WAR tho

First look at Trouble With the Curve -- Clint Eastwood as an aging Braves scout with vision problems. Also with Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake. http://afterthecut.com/2012/07/27/first-look-trouble-with-the-curve/

Sheeeeeeeeeeeets

He looks so good out there, so comfortable.

Medlen & Jurrjens trading rotation/bullpen spots, Medlen to start Tuesday. Simpson said tonight that Atl had the same idea to limit Medlen's IP this season coming off TJ surgery as WAS & Strasburg. (Unspoken: minus the drama and bullshit in Washington.) Instead of working him early and facing a tough decision to shut him down later in the season, they had Medlen work middle relief early and now comes the rotation spot and 120 or so IP for the season. Tactical advantage to Frank Wren, imo.

Also, of the NL playoff contenders, Atlanta has the fewest games against .500+ opponents the rest of the season.

@RealCJ10
Nice sweep by the Bravos! Couple guys went yicketty. Beating the Doc is no easy task. 5 and 0 on the twitta! How long will it last? Naptime!

Chipper is so perky on twitter.

that's so chipper

he's having a fine season in the games he's able to play

Monday curse broken!

Pretty good story from Ken Rosenthal about how the Braves got Ben Sheets.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/atlanta-braves-pitcher-ben-sheets-great-under-the-radar-acquisition-080212

I would love to do some magic auto-replace so that every time Chip Caray tried to say the word "towering," it would come out "panty-moistening" or "taint-shivering" or something. Anything to break him from that word.

- Happy Chipper Jones Bobblehead Day!

- 6-man rotation: classic or dud?

- Caray usually repeats the paid attendance when the PA guy announces it late in the game. Last night it was announced during a lull in the action, 16,000 and change, and the booth mics picked it up. Caray doesn't announce the number, instead goes off on an ecstatic rant about how there are only 20 more opportunities to see a particular future Hall of Famer play here. #coolpointlessstorybro

Big game from Chipper, hope it doesn't overshadow what Medlen's doing too much. Dude's been dealing all year.

via Capitol Avenue Club,

Dan Uggla IFFB% by Season
2006 (FLA) – 6.8%
2007 – 9.6
2008 – 8
2009 – 9.8
2010 – 6.8
2011 (ATL) – 11.9
2012 – 18.9

BAN POPEYE ARMS

MEDLEN!!!!!!!

3 runs in 6 starts now, 28.1 consecutive scoreless, 38:5 K:BB as starter, and two pickoffs tonight. Absolute command of all his pitches.

McCann's August: .194 BA, 1 run, 2 RBI, 0 extra base hits.

hahahaha daaaaang

wau

Every 5th/6th day I'm just going to pop in here and say MEDLEN!!!!!! again.

@AmyKNelson
Mets just ran a short video of Chipper Jones. With about 5 people here, think 2 were booing, 2 were clapping. Heard one Larry. #enthralling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvLikiVraHE

Aw, we lost our shot at 3 consecutive 1-0 wins. (Only happened twice before - 1909, 1917.)

Just call it now, radar looks wet until 11 p.m.

These guys aren't just shitting the bed, they are testing the bed's shit-holding capacity.

Medlen holy shit

I know, right? That's a tough no-decision if Atl. manages to pull this out.

I don't think I'm being too much of a stan in saying he's the best starter in the game right now.

17 Ks and the win, wheee. Bats are still in drydock, but I'll take it. Braves have won 20 straight Medlen starts...MLB record is 22 I think.

fuckin A, that dude is singlehandedly keeping my in 7th place in FBB.

patient, patient, patient -- pushed Gio G. to 50 pitches in 2 innings.

Wow

^____^

Medlen's human after all, but a nice walk-off from Freddie. And the Nats are losing in the 9th, and the Braves won Medlen's 22nd consecutive start, and everybody in the clubhouse managed to spray champagne in Chipper's eyes.

Medlen gets that record, which means he's real good and the bullpen is better than real good. OK, whatever.

So, 3 games left. I don't expect them to catch the Walgreens for the division.

Season: 93-66, .585 winning percentage. 694 runs, 7.46 per game.
September: 19-8, .703 winning percentage. 3.55 runs per game.

Obviously these guys need to start showing up on offense or the postseason's going to be real short again. Bourn looked good today with a week off to nurse the thumb, but Prado and Simmons, maybe Uggla, are the only other spots in the lineup hitting consistently right now.

Playing all six games of the final homestand so the fans could get their cellphone pictures* completely gassed Chipper. Wouldn't be surprised to see him sit the entire Pittsburgh series. Both catchers are hurt, though Ross is playing through his oblique strain better than McCann is handling the knee and shoulder.

Pitching's in good shape except for O'Flaherty's back. As long as they don't have to go to Tommy Hanson.

*Attendance at the Marlins series was just over 50% capacity all 3 games, a little depressing to see.

Can you spot the ridiculous math error in the above post?

Anyway, it's Halloween at the Medlen household:
http://cdn0.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/2386799/medshalloween2.0_standard_709.0.jpg
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1663389/MedsHalloween_medium.jpg

Chipper Jones ‏@RealCJ10

What a crock of crap! Oswald killed Kennedy? Seriously? Sorry, but I'm watching JFK. It's almost laughable what they want us to believe.

Chipper Jones ‏@RealCJ10
Read the Warren Commission Report. I have. It's a crock. No way Kennedy's head moves back and to the left, if shot from the back.

Chipper Jones ‏@RealCJ10
JFK is on REELZ. Zapruder footage is coming on soon. Check it out. Oswald is behind JFK and to the right. No way he fired the kill shot.

lar - ry

Chipper should start a tea party talk radio show with Schilling.

hahaha, Chipper steps blinking into the world. Within a year or two, he'll say something so stupid he retreats back to the game and start his 2nd career as a hitting coach.

Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10)
So the FBI comes out and confirms that Sandy Hook was a hoax! Where is the outrage? What else are we being lied to about? Waco? JFK? Pfff...

http://deadspin.com/chipper-jones-is-now-a-sandy-hook-truther-1684338661

^^I missed this post at the time--never knew anything about this story until I just read a HOF column by Posnanski. So should Jones be viewed as Schilling is now?

@RealCJ10
It was irresponsible of me to do that and will not happen again. Please accept my heartfelt apology to those who were hurt or offended.

I don't think we will ever see that from the Cheese Curt.

True enough, but just the idea that he would entertain the idea that Newtown was faked is pretty creepy.

like 2 out of every 3 chipper jones tweets is a picture of him with a deer he killed

Didn't know that about him either. In any event, Jones is going in, and I think Schilling ought to too.

I do not doubt he will get in on the first ballot.

Jones, absolutely. Which circles back to my original question: how is a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory appreciably less reckless than some of Schilling's statements (with or without apology)? I know I've tried to negotiate the murky gray area when it comes to PEDs, but this is off-field stuff that absolutely has no bearing on the game itself.

lotta ballplayers are kinda stoopid