Brave New World...

Well, it has been a while since I posted something sports related, so I figured today I would talk about what has been going on with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are 26-26 this year, and sit in 3rd Place in the NL East, 6 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies.

But, the big news out of Atlanta this week was this: Tom Glavine was released in order to make room for rookie standout pitcher Tommy Hanson.


I guess this move wouldn't bother me so much, if the Braves had handled the situation better. I understand the cost and the liability of having Glavine pitch a game you think he will end up losing, but the man did all that you asked him to do. Why wait until he is about to make his season debut to do it? To save yourself $1+ million?

Now, don't get me wrong, Hanson does make the Braves a better team. But he is still a rookie, and Glavine is a 300-game winner, hall of famer. From a baseball perspective, it was the right move. From a personal perspective, it was bad. You gotta treat people better than that.

Now, on to the other move that went down last week: Nate McLouth is an Atlanta Brave!
McLouth is a career .261/.339/.462 hitter, with 60 career HR, and he won a Gold Glove in CF last year. He was an All-Star for the Pittsburgh Pirates last year, as well. He is under contract through 2011, with a club option for 2012.

Many people wonder what the aquisition of a center fielder does to Jordan Schafer's place in the organization. Schafer is a much better defender than McClouth, and both men can play all three outfield positions. So, I don't see that this causes any problems. More than likely, it will allow Schafer a year in AAA to get his swing back together, and he will patrol CF next year with McLouth in LF. That does mean that Jeff Francoeur will have to step up his game in RF, or he may find himself playing somewhere else.

I really like the McLouth trade. The guys we gave up were pretty good, but we needed a bat in the outfield, and McLouth is young and a decent fielder. Assuming the Phillies start playing like humans, and not baseball-programmed robots, the Braves still have a good shot at winning the East.

Only time will tell, but I do have a good feeling about this Braves team. Or, as Zachary would say, "Go Braves!"

Gwinnett Braves Game

Saturday evening, we went to the Gwinnett Braves game. It was opening weekend for the new Gwinnett Stadium, and it was pretty packed. We got seats on the outfield berm, and it was pretty fun.


Out in the berm, they have several of those blow-up bouncy things for the kids to play on. Zachary had fun playing on one of those.


He also enjoyed watching the game (for about 2 minutes), and cheering whenever we did something good.


It was a lot of fun, and something we will probably do a lot more!

~E~

I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech....

Well, you know the rest.

Tech opened their season last night, and what a fine open it was. Destroying Ryan Perrilloux and the Jax State Game Cocks 41-14. Of course, it was only Jax State. Next week, we've got Boston College, a much tougher opponent. We'll see if the Yellow Jackets can build on this game and take it to the Eagles. Should be a real good test.

And what about the Braves? Well, they have been stinking it up lately, but Jeff Francoeur has started to hit a little bit better, and Brian McCann had a huge 3-run homer last night to lead the Bravos past the fish, 4-2. Hopefully Chipper can hang on and win the batting title (which would be his first, at age 36). He leads Albert Pujols by 2 points, .359-.357. Gonna be a tight race from here on out, you can bet.

Just because I can, here is one of my favorite pictures of Zachary. I think I might post it after every Tech win this year.

~E~

Ready, Set, Go...

Well, so much for those World Series aspirations, huh? Can't believe the Braves are this bad this year. Tough year with injuries, though.

Oh well, I guess there is always football. Maybe my Jackets can surprise everyone with the new regime and rough up the ACC (and, of course, take it to those dirty rotten Dawgs). Will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

Zachary and Jessica are on their way to Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. They have to take a couple of puppies to Canada, and are visiting Grandpa and Mary and Grandma and Grandpa Hodge while up there. They'll be gone all week...so it will be a bit like being single again for me. I guess that means some TLC for my guitar!

Here is a video of Zachary yesterday, "getting ready to go." He was holding two boxes of puppy food like suitcases at the door. It was cute.

~E~