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Pot Shots

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

I normally look forward to the Masters tournament at Augusta, but I’m beginning to detest the elitism that accompanies the event. Why do they have to refer to spectators as patrons and the ‘rough’ is labeled the second cut? Why does the premier commentator on CBS, Jim Nantz, need to whisper on the airwaves when he is ensconced in a soundproof booth and refer to me as his friend?  Why is the Chairman of Augusta National, Billy Pain, (real spelling Payne) such a pompous ass?

The issue that ladies are not admitted as members of Augusta National was a major talking point at the insidious Chairman’s press conference and he was asked: “I note your concerns about the growth of golf around the world, and that Augusta National is a very famous golf club. Do you not think it would send a wonderful message to young girls if they knew that one day they could join this club?”

Pain replied: “Once again, that deals with a membership issue, and I’m not going to answer it.”

Another journalist followed up: “It seems like a mixed message, Billy. You’re throwing a lot of money into growing the game and yet there’s still a perception that certain people are excluded.”

The Atlanta Braves opened the new season with four successive defeats which has not happened since the 1988 season. Long suffering Braves fans should not be surprise because this is basically the same squad of players who inexplicably lost 20 of their last 30 games to miss the playoffs.

Braves skipper Freddy Gonzalez claimed the team’s meltdown had been thoroughly aired and dissected and it was time to move on. So Braves fans stick your head in the sand with the manager, hold hands and sing a few choruses of kumbya, and we can look forward to another under whelming season.

I’m afraid the team has no spark or personality and in short is an incredibly boring product to serve their fans that deserve better.

Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff has placed himself between a rock and hard place. The team reached the play offs but were defeated in the first round which mirrored the previous season’s elimination at a similar point. It is quite clear that the team needs reinforcements. Unfortunately they have no draft picks until late into the second round and they had 17 free agents on the books which don’t give the franchise a lot of options in hiring new players.

In last year’s draft, Dimitroff traded four draft picks to sign Julio Jones who admittedly has the potential to be a great receiver. But the team has glaring weaknesses on the offensive and defensive lines which should have been addressed first.  Middle linebacker Curtis Lofton and punt return specialist Eric Weems have signed for other teams only to be replaced by journey men.

A franchise tag was placed on Brent Grimes which means he will be paid a minimum of $10 million for next season. Don’t get me wrong; he’s a good athlete but at 5’8’’ is on the small size for a corner back and is not good value for the money.

Bobby Petrino the Arkansas Head football coach who four years ago abandoned the Falcons after 13 games has recently confirmed his status as one of the sporting world’s low lifes. Yesterday he was fired by the college having lied to his family, the police, the media and his employers by initially refuting the presence of a leggy blonde assistant on the back of his motor cycle which ran off the road in rural Arkansas. He is evidently a road hog rather than a razor back.

Barely four weeks ago Swansea City had almost secured their position in the premiership for at least another season. However four successive defeats clearly reveal that the job is not done. Statistics don’t lie and one goal scored and ten conceded in the last four games is genuine cause for concern.

I am aware they have received plaudits for their passing style of football even to the extent to be ludicrously compared to Barcelona. It’s all very well producing pretty passing patterns rather than resorting to the long ball, but it disturbs me when most of the passing is confined to the defensive third of the field.

According to those pesky statistics, Leon Britton has produced more passes than any other player in the premiership, but how many of his passes have been defense splitting passes? The loan signing Icelandic midfielder is the only player adding to the meager goal count at the moment. They have become very predictable and need to be very careful not to be sucked into the relegation battle.

Congratulations to Bubba Watson for proving good ‘ol boys can win the Masters and not be intimidated by phony southern charm presented in the mantra of the reptilian Billy Pain. It was refreshing to watch a player comfortable in his own skin and unique style and not stereo typed by the coaching gurus and swing masters. His deliberate hook shot from a gap within the pine trees that landed on the green to effectively set up the win was unforgettable for its ingenuity and bravery.

 

 

Posted in Association football, Atlanta, Baseball, Golf, NFL, Sports | 2 Comments »

Shooting Oneself in the Foot

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

Can somebody tell me why most of the teams I’ve supported during my lifetime invariably shoot themselves in the foot sending a dagger through my heart. The latest disappointment was Wales losing to France in the rugby World Cup semi-final by the slender margin of 8-9.

The previous day I discovered the game was being televised on some obscure cable channel (channel 245) tucked away in the outer reaches of home shopping and Jerry Springer re-runs. I elected to pre-record the game to avoid having to get up at the unearthly hour of 4.00am, and I was sitting in front of my screen at approximately 7.30am proudly wearing my Welsh rugby shirt eagerly awaiting the referee’s whistle to start proceedings.

The game began promisingly for Wales and they quickly gained an early lead from a penalty by James Hook. The team was growing in confidence as the match progressed, and looked likely to make another score until the game was turned on its head quite literally.

In the 16th minute, the Welsh captain, Sam Warburton, performed a spear tackle on a French wing three-quarter which a Zulu warrior would envy, and was shown the red card reducing Wales to 14 men for the remainder of the game. It wasn’t malicious but it was a dangerous tackle all the same. I stared open mouthed at the TV screen completely stunned watching Warburton trudge dejectedly off the field taking a nation’s dreams and aspirations with him.

 It is to Wales’ credit that they nearly won. France didn’t offer much in terms of attacking options and were content to win the game with penalty kicks. James Hook missed two kickable penalties and Leigh Halfpenny went agonizingly close with a long range attempt in the final minutes. Mike Phillips should have attempted to get closer to the posts when scoring the game’s only try but was too busy celebrating crossing the line.

It reminded me of the day Swansea Town reached the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1964; long before the dark side invaded our comfort zone. On the way they had knocked out three first division teams: Sheffield United, Stoke City and the mighty Liverpool on their own turf at Anfield. Their opponents in the semi-final were a fellow second division team Preston North End who they had defeated 5-1 in the league a few weeks earlier.

The Swans led 1-0 at half time following a Jimmy McLaughlin goal, but Preston scored an equalizer early in the second half and the match was drifting towards extra time until disaster struck. Swansea’s goal keeper Noel Dwyer was on a walkabout in his penalty area when Preston’s center half Tony Singleton latched onto the ball around the halfway line. He took a few steps before unleashing a shot from nearly 40 yards which flew over Dwyer’s head into an empty net. Game over and the dreams (maybe the Welsh are a bunch of daydreamers) of thousands of rain sodden fans from South Wales were shattered at Villa Park.

Long suffering Welsh fans have nightmares (dreams/nightmares; it has a touch of Harry Potter) over failing to qualify for the FIFA world cup finals in 1978 and 1986. Each time they were pipped at the post by Scotland as a result of two dubious penalty decisions which were created by the naivety of Welsh defenders. Joe Jordan was the original “hand of God” merchant.

Who can forget the Atlanta Braves’ attempt to retain the World Series in 1996? They won the first two games of a best of seven series in New York and were leading 6-3 in the first home game. Braves closer Mark Wohlers entered the fray in the 8th inning and needed to strike out a pinch hitter to move into the final innings and take a virtually unassailable 3-0 lead.

Jim Leyritz was little more than a journey man back up catcher with very little pedigree. Unfortunately nobody had shown him the script and he unceremoniously blasted Wohlers’ fast ball out of the park for a three run homer to tie the score. The Yankees went on to win the game and never trailed again winning the series 4-2.

In 1999 the Atlanta Falcons were in the Super Bowl for the first time in their history facing the Denver Broncos in Miami. In the early hours of the morning on game day, Eugene Robinson, self-appointed spiritual leader of the team, was arrested for propositioning a hooker who just happened to be an under cover police officer. Robinson and several other players spent several hours at the police station which was not an ideal way to prepare for the biggest game of your sporting life. Needless to say Robinson was torched a couple of times for touchdowns and Denver were comfortable winners.

 Staying with the oval ball, underwhelming France plays New Zealand next Sunday for the ultimate prize in international rugby. The All Blacks demolished Australia in the other semi-final and are hot favorites to win the cup for the second time. However not so fast my friends, as they have experienced moments in previous world cup tournaments when the team imploded. I would be wary of the French if I was a Kiwi because on their day they can beat anyone including New Zealand.

Quote of the week: My friend Nick recently had his car serviced and when he arrived to pick his car up the mechanic asked him: “Do you want me to grease your rear end, Sir?” Without batting an eyelid Nick replied: “Shall I drop my trousers and bend over?”

Posted in Association football, Atlanta, Baseball, FIFA World Cup, NFL, Rugby, Sports | No Comments »

An Epic Collapse

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

I elected to take some days off before making any comments on the Atlanta Braves’ diabolical meltdown in the month of September which allowed the St Louis Cardinals to rest the wild card from their sweaty palms. I resisted a knee jerk reaction to their pitiful end to a season, but before I voice my own comments there were some interesting quotes from various beat writers around the country:

— “Fredi Gonzalez struggled all season long to get his best players on the field, while riding the three relievers he trusted into the ground. For the second straight season, the Braves had a championship-caliber pitching staff and an offense not worthy of it. For the second straight season, the Braves had no path to victory when the pitchers let them down.” – Joe Sheehan, SI.com

— “It was one more reminder of why the Cards are still alive and the Braves are done. Some folks look at the bright glare of a playoff hunt as if it were a scalding heat lamp. Others bask in the warmth of the intense pressure and act as though it’s some soothing morning sun. That would be the Cardinals.” – Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Neither the Red Sox nor the Braves could find that one guy to come up with the key hit, or get the key out when they needed it most.” – Bob Harkins, NBC Sports

— “Gonzalez will take plenty of fan heat but, so did Cox for the perceived underachieving of teams that won 14 division titles but just one World Series.” — Paul White, USA Today

— “I’m sure the City of Atlanta will be devastated by the Braves’ collapse for another five or six minutes.” – Dan Wolken, Memphis Commercial Appeal

— “My heart goes out to the Atlanta Braves, mostly because they didn’t play with any in September.” – Matt Sussman of Detroit, on Twitter

The club’s statistics for the month of September make for harrowing reading, but baseball is all about statistics and averages, and analyzing them can give some insight into what went wrong for a team that was coasting into the playoffs at the beginning of the month.

The St. Louis Cardinals won 16 of their final 21 games, including sweeping the Braves to win the wild card and deny the Braves’ postseason bid in Gonzalez’s first season as the managerial replacement to retired icon Bobby Cox. The Braves led the Cardinals by 10 1/2 games Aug. 25 and by 8 1/2 games Sept. 5. but matched the 1964 Phillies for the dubious distinction of largest blown lead by an NL team in September.

Rookie-of-the-year candidate Craig Kimbrel gave up a run in the ninth inning for his third blown save in his last six chances, and the Braves lost after leading in the ninth inning or later for the third time in their final 20 games. They scored three runs in 13 innings, two on Dan Uggla’s homer that staked them to a 3-1 lead in the third. They didn’t score for the last 10 innings of their season.

Three runs are about what the Braves averaged (3.1) during the fateful 7-16 stretch that began Sept. 5. They scored three runs or fewer 14 times in that 23-game slide, forcing their injury-depleted starting rotation and overworked bullpen to pitch with little or no margin for error.

On opening day the pitching rotation comprised five men: Hudson, Lowe, Jurrjens, Hanson and Beachy. By August Hanson and Jurrjens were injured and did not pitch again which naturally placed a lot of pressure on the rookie replacements who understandably could not pitch sufficient innings to give the bullpen a well deserved rest. Consequently Venters and O’Flaherty pitched more innings than any other relievers in baseball and understandably were exhausted coming down the home stretch. Closer Kimbrel had a rookie record 46 saves for the season, but succumbed to the pressure of attempting to stop the September slide into oblivion.

Braves management and fans had every right to expect veteran Derek Lowe to step up to the plate (literally) and pitch at a level to match his inflated salary. After all, he came good last September and played a major part in the team reaching the playoffs. Unfortunately lightning doesn’t normally strike twice and the 38 year old failed to deliver.

In a team sport the manager/coach is usually the fall guy or scapegoat when the team experiences an unsuccessful season. His supporters would claim that the manager of a baseball team cannot make the hits or pitches for his players and the overpaid stars need to take responsibility which is true up to a point.

However, a manager decides on the line up for the game; he decides how long to leave a pitcher in a game; he makes a decision on the match ups with his pitchers for the opposing hitters, and correspondingly his choice of  right and left hand hitters to play against the opposing pitchers . Former manager Bobby Cox was an avid disciple of the righty-lefty match up and endorsed by his successor; BIG MISTAKE.

Indeed Fredi Gonazalez made several mistakes during September. In the middle of August he called up Costanza who provided speed and versatility at the plate to complement lead off hitter Michael Bourn. The combination of those two at the top of the order revitalized the offense until Constanza picked up a niggling injury, and was benched for the rest of the season in favor of the predictable and unproductive Jason Heyward; BIG MISTAKE by Gonzalez.

 Batters No2 through 8 in the lineup played with very little imagination or intensity. They were all swinging for the fences with very little thought given to manufacturing runs; BIG MISTAKE by Gonzalez. Professional hitters should be able to bunt or execute a squeeze play if demanded by the manager.

Derek Lowe had a torrid time through September and had lost his last four starts with an ERA approaching a ridiculous 9.0 when Gonzalez decided to persevere with him in the last game of the season with play offs on the line. Gonzalez informed the media that he was “relying on Lowe’s experience to get us into the playoffs;” BIG MISTAKE

Twenty years ago the Atlanta Braves ignited the City of Atlanta by going from worst to first in the national league. In contrast the current line up provided a cure for insomnia with regular servings of boring baseball. Winning teams need “heart.” If that’s the case the 2011 Braves are in desperate need of a transplant.

Posted in Atlanta, Baseball, Sports | No Comments »

A Chopper to Chipper

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

A major league baseball season is a long prolonged slog for the beleaguered fan and the over paid pampered 162 game purveyors of hits, errors, RBIs, steals, homers, strike outs and base on balls. Occasionally one play in a game nearing season’s end can be the defining moment for a team contemplating a slot in the playoffs leading to the ultimate prize of World Series Winner.

It may resemble a signature dish of a beloved restaurant or it could be construed as one’s worse nightmare. The moment arrived for the struggling Atlanta Braves on Monday 19th September in a near empty cavernous stadium in downtown Miami where they were playing the first of a three game series against one of their nemesis the Florida Marlins.

 At the resumption of the season following the All Star Break the Braves led the St Louis Cardinals in the race for the wild card by 91/2 games. Their lead was now reduced to a miserable 31/2 games before the start of play with the Marlins. The game didn’t begin too well for the Braves and they were quickly trailing 1-4. Fortunately the recently misfiring offense rediscovered some pop in their bats and battled back to lead 5-4.

Bottom of the ninth, the Braves rookie and record breaking closer, Craig Kimbrell entered the fray in search of three outs to win the game for his 45th save of the season. Everything was going according to plan with Kimbrell recording two routine outs. His third and potentially final victim stepped up to the plate and chopped the ball high into the night air toward Chipper Jones lurking at 3rd base. Inexplicably Chipper appeared to lose the ball in the lights and the ball fell to the ground in front of him and shot into the outfield for a base hit.

Chipper was seen to mutter something about the baseball gods not being very kind to an aging superstar and the body language of his team mates concurred with his negative vibes But not to worry; the next batter was former Brave Omar Infante with a mere 5 home runs for the season, and on paper no match for Craig Kimbrell. Apparently Infante had not read the script and proceeded to blast Kimbrell’s fast ball into orbit for a two run homer to win the game 5-4.

The Braves gave their fans some encouragement winning the second game of the series, but were shut out in the final game of the series by ironically another ex-Brave Javier Velasquez. Meanwhile the St. Louis Cardinals continued to move like a juggernaut recording 8 wins in their last 10 games, threatening to steam roller the misfiring Braves. The Wild Card lead was now down to 11/2 games.

But wait; do I see a ray of hope for long suffering Braves fans? Yesterday (Thursday 22nd September) the Cardinals had one more game to play against the stinking Mets and were leading 6-2 entering the ninth and final innings. I was chalking this game into the win column for the Cardinals when ex-Brave Rafael Furcal’s fielding error at shortstop initiated a revival for the Mets who proceeded to score six unanswered runs to incredulously win the game. The Braves had received a break without even playing and their lead in the wild card is 2 games with six games left to play.

The Cardinals ostensibly have the easier run-in with a 3 game series at home to the Chicago Cubs and a final three games at Houston. Meanwhile the Braves travel to Washington this weekend for three games against the Nationals and return home to play a three game finale with Philadelphia. The Phillies have clinched the division and a berth in the playoffs, so it remains to be seen whether they will rest their starters in readiness for the playoffs. Fasten your seat belts Braves fans; you could be in for a bumpy ride.

Posted in Atlanta, Baseball, Sports | No Comments »

Back to my Roots

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

The last few posts have been a little off my radar if I’m being honest. I’ve lurched from weiners to a criminal trial via foreign accent syndrome which is quite bizarre really. Consequently (a word I used regularly in my town planning career) I want to catch up with some sports issues which naturally are my favorite subject to write about.

I’m not a great fan of women’s soccer. Most of the women’s matches I’ve witnessed, and admittedly there were not many, remind me of non league soccer, so why settle for lava bread when you can have caviar? I happen to love lava bread but the analogy is appropriate so grant me a little poetic license here folks.

The USA women’s soccer team has reached the World Cup Final to be played on Sunday against “land of the rising sun,” Japan. Remember Pearl Harbor girls. I’m just kidding. Anyway USA defeated an arrogant Brazil in the quarter finals by overcoming them in a penalty shoot out.

What impressed me was the equalizer by Abby Wambach two minutes from the end of extra time. It came from an old fashioned cross from a winger and finished off with a classical header at the far post. It’s not often you see women heading a football and I take my hat off to the goal scorer. She looks and plays like she has more male testosterone flowing through her veins than I do right now, but then again she’s not competing in a beauty pageant.

Three days later the USA were pitting their wits against a very skilful French team who were technically far superior to the Americans. Technical ability is a great attribute but what matters at the end of the game is the scoreboard. USA scored early in the 9th minute and didn’t have another shot on target for 60 minutes. France equalized early into the second half and were so dominant for twenty minutes that they should have scored a hatful.

The USA’s coach made a couple of substitutions and a tactical change to the team’s formation which proved to be pivotal. From one of their rare forages up the field in the second half my new pal Ms.Wambach scored with yet another header from a corner kick, and it was good night Irene. The French resembled an over inflated balloon which was suddenly pricked, and they could not respond.

The Americans scored a well deserved third goal which was well taken by their young striker, Alex Morgan. She fastened onto a great through ball from midfield, and faced by a quickly advancing goalkeeper, coolly and skillfully chipped the ball over her opponent into the empty net. Basically USA defended better than their French opponents.

Later, it was reported that Harry Redknapp had sent representatives to Germany to sign Alex Morgan until they discovered she was a woman. Typically, Harry was not lost for words, and determined she would probably do a better job than the jokers he currently has in the squad.

Staying with association football, my home team, Swansea City, will be making their debut in the English Premiership in just little over a month’s time. I was a little concerned that they hadn’t signed a quality goalkeeper for the challenge ahead, but my fears were allayed (sort of) over the weekend when they announced the signing of 29 year old Jose Moreira from Benfica.

 During his career at the famous club, he played 148 times over an 11 year period with them but was relegated to 3rd choice last season. Yes, he has big game experience but the Premiership is a seething cauldron of intensity and drama played at a break neck pace which no other league in the world can match. Therefore I am reserving judgment until a few games into the season.

On the domestic front, we have arrived at the halfway point of the baseball season and the Atlanta Braves are lying second to the Phillies in the Eastern Division of the National League. If the season finished today, they were would qualify for the post season on the basis of winning the wild card. They remain 31/2 games back of the Phillies and one wonders if they have the tools to catch them in the second half the season rather than rely on the wild card. They have the 3rd best record in major league baseball thanks primarily to their pitching. Just look at their starting rotation stats:

  • Jurrjens 12-3 with and ERA 1.87
  • Hanson 10-5 with an ERA 2.44
  • Hudson 9-6 with an ERA 3.57
  • Beachy 3-1 with an ERA 3.21

Then there is Derek Lowe, the highest paid pitcher on the staff with a 5-7 record and a worrying 4.30 ERA. The bullpen has proved to be stellar in game winning situations providing O’Flaherty, Venters and Kimbrel   pitch in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings. The 14-1 loss to the Phillies before the All Star break was a not so gentle reminder that the bullpen is far from strength in depth, and there is the risk that the aforementioned three guys could be over pitched before 162 regular games are completed.

The Braves’ offense is a work in progress. They are 18th in runs scored, 26th in batting average, 27th in on base percentage and 19th slugging percentage. Run production is coming from the infield in the shape of McCann, Freeman, Chipper, and Prado and surreptitiously from Dan Uggla. At the break Uggla, recently signed to a big contract had recorded 15 home runs but was hitting for a .183 average.

Traditionally teams can usually rely on run production from one of their outfielders whether it is from right or left field but neither McLouth nor Heyward is cutting for me. McLouth has a batting average .229 with 3 home runs, and Heyward has a batting average .224 with 9 home runs. When the Braves won the World Series in 1995, right fielder David Justice had a .253 season batting average with 24 home runs and Ryan Klesko playing in left field had 23 home runs with a batting average .310.

There is an old adage in baseball that claims good pitching beats good hitting. The Braves pitching is very good but the Phillies rotation is better. The Braves offense is mediocre while the Phillies batting lineup has improved with the return of Chase Uttley from injury. Trading for a seasoned hitter with good run production could help the Braves down the stretch, but not at the expense of selling the farm.

Postscript: Japan defeated USA in a penalty shoot-out and the Americans have only themselves to blame. They were the dominant team, took the lead twice, but opted to protect their lead rather than go for the jugular.

Darren Clarke won the 140th The Open at his twentieth attempt proving there’s life in the old dog, and good guys sometimes win.

Posted in Association football, Baseball, FIFA World Cup, Golf, Sports | No Comments »

Braves Are Up Again (2011 Season Preview)

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Readers of this blog may assume that my favorite subject is the Atlanta Braves notwithstanding the 2010 FIFA World Cup. That would not necessarily be a correct assumption, but the Braves play a prominent part in Atlanta life and it’s only fitting to write about them. The baseball season is long, arduous and if you’re a fan quite often turgid. The regular season kicks off in late March and concludes at the end of the September covering 162 games. Teams fortunate enough to make the playoffs will continue to toil away until a World Series Champion is crowned around Halloween.

The Braves did reasonably well last season to make the playoffs only to fail at the first hurdle against the eventual World Series winners, San Francisco Giants. A play off berth was made more impressive by the absence through injury of Chipper Jones and Martin Prado, two of their more potent offensive weapons.

One has to take the cap off to Chipper. He suffered a serious potentially career ending injury in August and chose to have surgery immediately. Seven months later, and fast approaching 39 years of age, he has enjoyed a great Grapefruit League campaign during spring training and is raring to take his place at third base for the 2011 season. Martin Prado who filled in admirably for Chipper and also played a stellar 2nd base is also healthy but has been moved to left field to accommodate Chipper and the new signing Dan Uggla.

Uggla will help the batting order since he has registered 30 plus home runs for the last five consecutive seasons. Unfortunately, he is a bad defender with 47 errors over the past three seasons which is a lot for a second baseman.

Every American schoolboy knows that the defensive strength of any baseball team is down the middle: catcher, short stop/second base, and center field. Brian McCann is only OK; Alex Gonzalez turns 34 next month and was a major defensive disappointment last season. Dan Uggla is the 2nd baseman and I have already touched upon his defensive frailties. That leads me to the center fielder, Nate McClouth who spent most of last season at Triple AAA Gwinnett and finished the regular major league season with a batting average below the Mendoza line, 0.176.

It was noteworthy that Rick Ankiel was the Braves’ starting center fielder in the Division Series even though McLouth was on the active roster. The Braves thought so little of Ankiel they let him leave after the season, and now they plan to run McLouth out there again. The new manager Fredie Gonzalez believes he has helped McLouth rediscover his swing and confidence, but my thought is you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

In the remaining outfield positions, rookie Freddie Freeman will be playing first base and consequently the jury will be out on him until the all star game by which time  he could be jettisoned back to Triple A in Gwinnett. Justin Heyward is entering his second season which can be a difficult one since pitchers have had a season to assess your strengths and weaknesses.

The bench looks reasonable with the return of Hinske, back up catcher David Ross, and Brooks Conrad. But for goodness sake don’t let Conrad have a regular run in the line up following his abject fielding in the post season.

Despite the new manager’s efforts to instill some basics into his squad during spring training such as bunting, stealing bases, producing squeeze plays, this team still has no speed. The Braves ranked 14th in a 16 team league in stolen bases last season and their new position players are not Olympic sprinters by any stretch of the imagination. Uggla, for example, has 19 stolen bases in five big league seasons.

The Braves have lost Troy Glaus, Omar Infante, Matt Diaz, and Billy Wagner from last year’s regular line up. Glaus was a converted 3rd baseman playing first base and one could argue his wheels fell off following the all star break. Nevertheless in the month of May he transformed the Braves season with his sensational hitting. Infante made the all star team as a utility player but by all accounts was a disruptive influence in the club house and the franchise was happy to trade him.

The starting rotation looks fairly solid, but Derek Lowe was roughed up by the Mets in his last spring season outing before appearing as opening day starter, and one wonders which Derek Lowe will show against the Washington Nationals. However, alarm bells were ringing when Jair Jurrjens was sidelined with yet another injury. The Braves management has not decided whether to place him on the disabled list, but it does not augur well for a player with a history of niggling injuries causing him to miss a substantial number of games in the last couple of seasons.

 Near rookie Brandon Beachy will claim the No. 4 spot in the rotation in the opening weeks of a new season and Mike Minor will be called up into the No. 5 spot; neither of whom looked impressive in spring training. Surprisingly, the rotation does not include a left hander which may come back to haunt them down the road.

The bull pen appears to be fairly efficient, and Craig Kimbrel is projected to be the closer following Billy Wagner’s retirement. He has everything you’d want in a closer except….. control. He walks people as he made patently apparent in the devastating ninth inning of Game 3 of the National League Division Series. You can’t walk people if you want to close.

When the Braves play Thursday in Washington, D.C., it will mark the first time they’ll work for someone other than Bobby Cox since June 23, 1990. I’m not the only one in Atlanta who thought Mr. Cox should have retired at least five years ago, possibly even earlier. Yes, they won 14 consecutive division titles under his tutelage, but one solitary World Series win (1995) is a meager return when one considers he had one of the best starting rotations (Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz) in the history of baseball for over 10 years at his disposal.

Ironically, division rivals Philadelphia now enjoy the best starting rotation (Halliday, Oswallt, Lee and Hammels currently in baseball which should be more than enough to win the division leaving the Braves fighting off the best of the rest to claim the wild card. As usual, a lot will depend on Chipper Jones’ fragile body withstanding another long campaign. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Prado reclaiming 3rd base thirty games into the season. Who from the current staff will be playing left field then? Please don’t mention Brooks Conrad.

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Sunday Sport

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Every Sunday for five months of the year the NFL dominates the American sporting calendar. Pre-game shows hit the air waves early Sunday morning followed by live games on the national TV networks at 1.00pm, 4.00pm and the evening game usually shows up around 8.30. However, on Sunday October 3rd, the sporting action was shared with three other sports; well that was the case in my household.

Despite the appalling weather on day 1 of the Ryder Cup the conclusion on Monday provided dramatic theater. This was the first time in its 83 year history that the Ryder Cup was extended into Monday to play the singles matches. Graeme McDowell won the cup by claiming a victory in the last singles match over a blubbering Hunter Mahan and Europe won by the slenderest of margins 141/2-131/2. Nevertheless the cup was really won on Sunday. Following another rain delay in the morning all 24 players entered the arena to participate in the remaining two foursomes, and 4 four balls.

 The match score overnight was 4-2 in favor of USA, but Europe led in all six matches to be played on Sunday albeit by narrow margins. It was almost asking the impossible for Europe to accomplish six victories against seasoned US PGA campaigners but they almost pulled it off by winning 51/2 points from the possible 6. Lee Westwood and Luke Donald set the tone by demolishing the previously unbeaten pairing of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker 6&5.

 Europe were gathering momentum aided and abetted by Captain Colin Montgomerie looking for intents and purposes like a constipated bulldog driven around the course by the token Welshman in team Montgomerie, Rhys Davies. At the end of Sunday’s competition the match score was now 91/2-61/2 in favor of Europe. Traditionally the Americans are stronger in singles as it proved once again. But they couldn’t quite pull off another “Brookline” comeback; failing tantalizingly close by one point.

The TV controls were overheating from the constant channel changes as I switched back and fore to Arsenal v Chelsea in between greens and tees. This was a clash of two London rivals who have finished in the top four of the Premiership for a quite a number of seasons. As usual, the match was played at turbo speed and nail biting intensity. Chelsea always looked capable of scoring with Arsenal’s defense looking as shaky as ever. Arsenal’s back five – Fabianski, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy- sound like members of the United Nations Security Council. Didier Drogba, Chelsea’s enigmatic striker from the Ivory Coast breached their security and scored his 13th goal in 13 games against Arsenal to lead his team to a well earned victory.

Arsenal play some pretty football spraying the ball about with great lucidity, but they have not beaten Chelsea or Man Utd in the premiership for the last four seasons. Put simply, their rivals have developed a strategy whereby they allow Arsenal their share of possession, suck them into their half and then strike with pace and power on the counter-attack. There is no doubt that Arsenal are close to making a major breakthrough but, unless they quickly become more streetwise, failure when it matters most threatens to become an insurmountable habit.

No sooner had Eduardo Molinari sunk a putt on the 18th green to earn a valuable and significan ½ point for Europe, I was turning over to Fox to witness the kick-off in the Falcons v 49ers match up.

 The talking heads on the local sports stations had been warning the Falcons to be wary of the 49ers coming out fast and furious to prove to observers they didn’t deserve a 0-3 record. The Falcons failed to heed the warning and by the end of the first quarter they were trailing by two touch downs, 0-14.In contrast the Falcons looked flat and listless; possibly suffering a reaction from their hard fought victory in New Orleans the previous Sunday. Tantamount to a baby taking its first steps, Ryan tentatively led his offense back into contention with a touch down and field goal to trail at the half 10-14.

 To my mind, he overdoes the throws to Tony Gonzalez while neglecting Roddy White, supposedly the number one receiver. A second field goal by Matt Bryant in the 3rd quarter separated the two teams by one point going into the final quarter. Thanks to a fumble by a San Francisco receiver, Ryan was afforded the opportunity to drive his offense down the field to give his goal kicker the chance the win the game. Bryant duly delivered his 3rd field goal of the game to win it for the Falcons 16-14 with two seconds remaining. They claim that the good teams sometimes have to win ugly and this was certainly not one of Ryan’s better days.

In between shouting and screaming at Ryan and the Falcons, I was tuning in to watch the Braves stumble into the playoffs. They had to win the 162nd and final game of the season and the Padres lose to the Giants if they were to avoid a one game playoff and take their place in post season as the Wild Card. Their opponents, Philadelphia were assured of the Division title and appeared disinterested in proceedings.

By the end of the 5th innings, the Braves were coasting with a commanding 8-2 lead, only to see it ebb away by the top of the 8th. The Braves’ veteran closer Billy Wagner entered the arena in the top of the 9th with his team’s lead cut to 8-7. He manfully struck out the last three batters and the Braves crawled over the finishing line. Several hours later, news came through confirming that the Padres had lost and the wild card was ours. Bring on the Giants people.

 

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Bobby’s Last Hurrah

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Another baseball season opened last Sunday night (4th April) and predictably ESPN televised the season opener between The Yankees and The Red Sox. Meanwhile The Atlanta Braves staged their first game on Monday afternoon against The Chicago Cubs which always proves to be an entertaining series. The Braves’ new season is significant for two reasons; firstly it’s Bobby Cox’s last season as manager and secondly it’s the first season in the big leagues for the much vaunted rookie Jason Heyward.

 The season opener drew a record day crowd of more thatn 53,000 to Turner Field, but it looked like a disappointing afternoon was in store for the crowd basking in the warm sunshine when The Cubs  raced into a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the first. Aided by a couple of bloop singles and a wild throw The Braves levelled the scores and then Jason Heyward took over. He fended off two balls inside and then  hit a 3 run homer to right center field to send the capacity crowd into raptures. Welcome to the big leagues Mr. Heywood.  The table was set and The Braves ran out comfortable winners 16-5 with nearly everyone making a contribution. But does one emphatic win over The Cubs mean we can return to the playoffs with the roster cobbled together by general manager Frank Wren?

 Let’s take a look at the starting lineup, the pitching rotation, the bullpen and bench:

  1. Nate McClouth          Acquired from the Pirates in a trade early last season. Hit for an average .256, HRs 20, RBIs 70. Troubled with his vision last season, but doesn’t generate much excitement with an average glove.         
  2. Martin Prado              Replaced one of Bobby’s poster children, Kelly Johnson, during the second half of the 2009 season hitting for an average .307. Much better glove than Johnson and he is definitely an upgrade for the new season.
  3. Chipper Jones            Chipper’s season average dipped to .264 last season dropping 10 points from  a career high in 2009. Very injury prone with the latest being an ingrowing toenail! He appeared in 128 games last season but he needs to play between 140-150 games if the team is to make the playoffs. Two questions: is he in decline and can he remain relatively healthy?
  4. Troy Glaus                    Played in only 14 games last season following shoulder surgery. Aged 33, his best season was in 2000 hitting 47 homers and a batting average .284. He played in 151 games in 2008 hittting 27 bombs with a season average .270. Normally plays third base with very limited experience at first where the Braves intend to play him. Big gamble healthwise and position.
  5. Brian McCann              If his vision problems have been finally resolved, he’s an awesome hitter/catcher. A bit suspect on attempting to throw out base stealers but at 25 has yet to reach his peak.
  6. Yunel Escobar             Competent short stop who could develop into a very good all round player if he matured a little. Has an ego the size of Stone Mountain and the temperament of Denis Rodman.
  7. Jason Heywood            He’s 20 years old and better judges than me are convinced he will become a very good player.  Notwithstanding  his great debut don’t expect too much too soon. Trouble with shin splints concern me.
  8. Matt Diaz/Melky Cabrera  Diaz is an adequate platoon player at best and Cabrera is a reasonable utility player who can play all outfield positions. I would have been happier if the Braves had acquired Jermain Dye , a veteran hitter and former Brave who remains a free agent.

 

Starting Pitching Rotation:

  1. Derek Lowe:     The Braves overpaid for him at $15 million a year. He’s 36 years old and he will never be a 20 game winner again. At best he should be No4 or 5 in the rotation and not the ace.
  2. Jair Jurrjens:     had a great season in 2009, with a 14-10 win-loss record and an ERA of  2.87. I’m hoping his tendinitis in spring training was a blip on the radar screen and he is 100% fit .
  3. Tim Hudson:     Tim Hudson is returning to the big leagues following “Tommy John” surgery. His best win-loss ratio was in 2000 with 20-6 when he was with The Oakland A’s. His best ERA was in 2003, while his best stats with The Braves was in 2007 with 16-10 win/loss ratio and an ERA of 3.17. He’s 34 and I am concerned that his best days could be  behind him.
  4. Tommy Hanson: Quite simply he is the future of the franchise. Had a 11-4 record in his first season in 2009 with an impressive 2.89 ERA. More of the same this season please. 
  5. Kawakami: Another over priced acquisition from Japan. General managers don’t seem to learn that pitching in Japan and America are quite different standards. Capable of improvement on 2009 and could prove to be an adequate 5th starter.

Bullpen:

  • Billy Wagner (closer)
  • Takashi Saito
  • Eric O’Flaherty
  • Peter Moylan
  • Kris Medlen
  • Jesse Chavez
  • JoJo Reyes

Wagner is  a futre hall of famer but is coming back from elbow surgery and is 38 years old. Meanwhile, Saito is also returning from injury, and is longer in the tooth than Wagner at 40 years old.

Bench:

  • Eric Henke
  • David Ross
  • Infante
  • Brooks Conrad

On paper, we have a serviceable bench.

In essence the bottom line revolves around the health of key players: Chipper, Troy Glaus, Tim Hudson and Billy Wagner. Vazquez was our best pitcher last season but was traded to The Yankees for Cabrera and a couple of minor league pitchers. Okay he will be a free agent at the end of the season but it didn’t show much ambition on the management’s part.  We also lost our closer, Soriano, and set up guy Gonzalez to free agency but I don’t believe that will hurt us providing Wagner and Saito defy advancing years. I’m concerned we lack a big bat in the lineup and as usual lack speed around the bases. Consequently we may run out of steam by season’s end and miss the playoffs for a fifth successive year. Please prove me wrong.

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