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~

What Happened?

Well, so much for seeing Junior Griffey in a Braves uniform.

Apparently miffed that the AJC reported he was going to choose the Braves, Griffey backed out of talks with the team, and decided to head back to where it all began for him, in Seattle.

I gotta say, I am disappointed. I was really hoping to see him in Atlanta this year. Oh well. It is what it is.

~E~

Misadventures in Officiating...

Well, I just knew that the Phillies were going to prove me wrong, and win this year's Fall Classic. But the Tampa Bay Rays got a reprieve in the form of a timely RBI single, and an even more timely call to suspend Game 5. That's right, the series is on hold until better weather surfaces.

I don't disagree with Bud Selig's decision in this matter, probably because I am rooting for the Rays. But you have to admit that it hurts the Phillies because you know that Cole Hamels wasn't done when they called this thing. He was only at 75 pitches, going into the 7th inning (his spot is due up first in the bottom of the 6th). But with the delay, he will not be on the mound for the remainder of the game.

Then again, with the bullpen that the Phillies have, maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all. All I know is that if the Rays can get going, especially if Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria get hot like they showed last night, and get this thing back to Tampa, they have more than a legitimate shot at taking the whole shooting match.

Now, the umpires, on the other hand, need to figure out what is going on. The umpiring for the Series has been horrific, with numerous blown calls and inconsistent strike zones. This seems to be part of a bigger trend right now in sports. Off the top of my head I can think of several missed calls in the past weekend: the no-call of blatant holding on Michael Johnson in the Tech-UVA game that led to a Virginia TD; the missed call on the Eagles punt that claimed that the Falcons touched the ball (they didn't), giving the Eagles possesion leading to a score; the entire sequense of plays at the end zone in the NY Giants-Steelers game with the back-to-back challenges of touchdowns; the whole World Series. Coupled with numerous mistakes already made this year in officiating, it looks to be an atrocious year for the officials. Glad I'm not one of 'em.

Speaking of Tech, the Jackets looked horrible this weekend. Hopefully this isn't the start of the Wreck's annual fade, and more of a one-off bad game. We gotta play better next week against a decent FSU team that is trying to prove it is still the class of the ACC.

~E~

About that Major League Dream....

OK, so while we were on vacation, we spent some time at Wonderworks. Wonderworks is an interactive experience that allows you to have fun and learn at the same time (perfect for a geek like me).

One of the activities at Wonderworks is “Power Pitcher.” This is a game, like those found at most Major League ballparks, that allows you to see how fast you can pitch. It also has a catch, in that you are pitching to a “real” batter. The screen at the back of the game shows footage of an actual Major League player (selectable when you start the game). The goal is to strike out the player.

It is a bit tricky, because throwing a strike is tough. I am not sure what the calibrated strike zone was, but it was like trying to fit a Cadillac into a shoebox. It doesn’t help that, because it displays your pitch speed, you are all geeked up to try and throw your 90 MPH heater on the inside corner.

I chose Chipper Jones, and I walked him on 4 straight pitches (Four-seamer, Four-seamer, two-seamer, changeup). My Four-seamer was clocked at the whopping speed of 48 MPH, and my changeup hit 38 MPH. So, yeah, anytime you stop and think to yourself, “You know, I throw about half as fast as Jaime Moyer,” you can pretty much give up on that hope of ever making the big leagues as a pitcher.

I figure if I actually did pitch to Chipper in real life, he probably would have done the same thing the video Chipper did – not swing at a single pitch. He wouldn’t want to mess up his timing, and I doubt I could hit the strike zone anyway. But it also got me thinking about how hard it is to be a Major League hitter. I did the math, folks: It is pretty darn hard. The chart below illustrates my point:

Typical Major League Pitcher (Fastball, Changeup)
Pitch Speed (MPH)	Pitch Velocity (FPS)	Time to Home Plate (S)
92 MPH	135 fps	0.45 s
87 MPH	128 fps	0.47 s
My Speeds (Fastball, Changeup)
Pitch Speed (MPH)	Pitch Velocity (FPS)	Time to Home Plate (S)
48 MPH	70 fps	0.86 s
38 MPH	56 fps	1.08 s

(Distance from pitching rubber to home plate calculated at 60’6”)

That is crazy. Even throwing as slow as I was, you have around one second to see the ball, recognize the pitch, decide to swing, and start moving the bat. That is crazy. A Major League player has less than half of a second to do this. That is insane. No wonder you are considered an elite hitter if you only succeed in one-third of your attempts!

~E~

Things that make you go hmmm....

Well, nothing real earth-shattering today. Just some musings on sports.

GT played an underwhelming game this weekend, and almost seized defeat from the jaws of victory, but somehow, we managed to pull out the win. I can't say that a 10-7 win against Gardner-Webb inspires confidence, but with all the injuries and personnel changes for the week, I am just happy we didn't loose the game.

Georgia played well and won, and that is good. I can say that because they were playing Tennessee. And I hate the Vols.

Yesterday made for an amazing day of sports. The Colts destroy the Ravens, the Falcons squeak one out against the Bears, and Arizona shocks Dallas. All good things. It was nice here, because we watched most of the Falcons game, which directly preceded the Arizona game, which was then immediately followed by Game 3 of the NLCS in LA, which the Dodgers took with ease.

Speaking of baseball, go Rays! I'd love to see Tampa Bay win it all this year. I think they will beay Boston in 6 games. I think that the Phillies win the NLCS in 6, as well. My World Series prediction: Rays in 6.

Later,
~E~