Grinding to a halt

6 games was a pretty good run, but its always hard to lose to Pittsburgh. Something the Braves have done too much of this year. Last night was the third loss in 4 games. The Braves have three more to go in this series and if they run the table will even it out for the year. The Chuck James Roller Coaster rolls into town tonight. He just pitched a 7 inning win over Indianapolis in his last start in Richmond, we’ll see how he fairs against real talent tonight. Chuck owns the minor leagues. His deceptive delivery and change up are too much for the lower level talent. Chuck needs to come into tonight’s game and throw strikes. It’s time to quit walking around the edge of the dance floor wondering if anyone will play. He’s either a major league pitcher or he’s not and we’ll never know for sure if he doesn’t get in and start throwing strike one.

I’ve always been a huge fan of James. His high strikeout rate and low hits and walks rate in the minors were fantastic. Even though he gave up a fair amount of homers, most of his fly balls were pop ups, a sign that he was fooling batters even when they were connecting. But his method in the Bigs so far has taken on the feel of Odalis Perez. I know that Tom Glavine made a living outside of the strikezone, but I grew up watching Tom Glavine, I’ve seen him on TV and in person, i’ve seen him through the good times and the bad and Chuck, you’re no Tom Glavine. Quit wasting your time, get in there and make something happen.

Game Time is 7:05, its another lefty for the Braves which generally spells trouble. Lets hope that’s not the case tonight.

Oh yeah, I know Norton has come up with two big hits, and I’m glad, but it doesn’t change my mind about my previous post.

Huh?

The Braves acquired Greg Norton from the Seattle Mariners for a PTBNL or cash. Frank Wren, the Braves GM, has been on the lookout for some power off the bench and apparently was close to getting Norton this spring, but had that fall through. Now, he’s finally captured his prize possession, to much ado and fanfare.

What? You’ve never heard of him? Well, please check out his line at the link below

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/N/Greg-Norton.shtml

Thats right. A career OPS of 762 and 82 Home runs in over 2000 ABS is the “power off the bench” that Wren has been coveting. I’ve liked the moves that Wren has made thus far, but this one is just dumb. I’m sure it won’t cost the Braves anything, but why do it? How is it helpful? It looks like a move just to make a move. It shard to believe there isn’t already someone in the minor leagues that couldn’t do this, or someone that was actually worth acquiring from another team. Never mind the fact that its not the power off the bench that is killing the Braves this season. The lineup is in good shape, its a matter of them firing on all 8 cylinders, and I don’t think there is a single argument that anyone can raise that will prove to me that Norton is the answer to that.

This is one of those moves for the sake of making a move and it represents time that could be better spent. FOr instance, time that could be spent trying to figure out how to field a starting five that can average more than 5.5 innings per start. Seriously. Take a look at this link, courtesy of ESPN. The stats look great, until you realize how short lived each start is. Only Hudson and Jurrjens have averaged 6 innings. If you think the Bullpen is hit or miss these days, wait ’till August if the starters keep this up.

So yeah. The Braves acquire Greg Norton today. HOORAY!

This floor is looking DUSTY…

Along with all that dust, the Braves swept the Reds in the weekend series, bringing them back up to 500 for the year. They continue to display a great run differential, that belies their actual standings. Damn one run games. I’m sure lots of folks think that Smoltz will end the one run futility but that would mean that we’ve blown everyone of those games in the 9th, and we haven’t, so don’t expect miracles from John.

However, as I’ve said before, this has a lot to do with luck guys, the one run games will start to fall, Smoltz or not, so try not to pull out too much hair in anticipation of the next one run fiasco.

Like I said in the last post, we need some other folks to get hot, and specifically we need production from the first two spots in the order. The Braves got lots of that this weekend, and hopefully, what we saw from Kelly Johnson is what we will continue to see from him over the next few months.

Its an off day today, i’ll try and throw some Pascuals at ya tomorrow.

Huddy Rolls Through the Reds

It was like being in Oakland. Three hits, no walks, ten strikeouts, and no runs. Hell of a game from Hudson. Chipper got on base 4 times and McCann got a hold of one in the fourth, a two run blast that scored Chipper from second. According to Hudson it was the recurrence of his change-up that kept the Reds off balance all night. The night was definitely Hudson’s, to go along with the 10 Ks, he had 12 ground outs as well. Hopefully this is the start of good run for Huddy. The Braves really need him to step in and be a number one, if he can find consistency with his splitter as well as the change, that won’t be a problem for him.

The offense struggled again, scoring only 2 runs. They’ve scored less than 4 runs in five games straight now, not a good sign. Francoeur, Johnson, and Escobar continue to struggle. Francoeur has lost 27 points in OBP and 46 points in SLG since April 22. Johnson has struggled most of the year and has only collected 9 its since April 15th. Escobar has lost almost 200 points in OPS since April 15th. Thats the first two hitters in the order and a middle of the order guy struggling mightily. Its hard for Tex and Jones to knock anyone in if Jones is the only one ever on base and any rally they start is lost once Francoeur steps in.

Tex continues to dig his way out of the season starting hole he dug. Raising his OPS 150 points since April 15th. Jones just mashes. He really seems focused on the batting title this year. Most of his slugging is tied up in the 8 home runs he’s hit, as he’s only got 4 doubles on the year. Kotsay has started to pick it up a bit and McCann continues to be a perfect 5th batter.

Besides Chipper, no one has really been on a bona fide hot streak, it’s a great time for Johnson and Escobar to start to pick up the pace and give more opportunity to the middle of the order. Hopefully that will happen soon.

***

As you’ve all read by now, Smoltz has proclaimed his return to the bullpen. I don’t doubt that its the right thing for him, Smoltz wants to start more, he burns for it, if he’s putting himself in the bullpen, he’s doing it because he feels like he has to. He was right the first time when he volunteered for the Pen, he was right when he went back into the starting rotation, and I have no reason to doubt him on this one. I just wish it wasn’t so.

Smoltz said he couldn’t help the team as a 5 inning starter, I disagree. If the Braves got 5 dominant innings out of him, like they did in all but one of his starts, they can, and have, win. But thats not really the issue, as you could see later in the interview. Smoltz was “lights out’, in his words, “for three innings”, then he was just gutting it out and in pain. He can’t do that all year long, and if he doesn’t head to the pen, then the Braves may not have anything out of him for the rest of the year. Its the right move, its just not the choice you want to have to make.

***

JoJo is on the mound tonight against the Reds, so expect a fair amount of walks and lots of scoring opportunities for the visiting team tonight. I imagine the Braves needing to score quite a bit tonight to win, lets hope the offense syncs up.

Have fun watching the game and thanks for reading!