Goodnight Irene

[argentina brave]

Well....goodnight Braves. You made a good run in the second half. Please prove me wrong and win 9 straight. I'm afraid this is it. The leaves are about to turn brown in Bulgaria, and it's football season now. I'll continue to follow you, but the light has dimmed.....

:no:

[luvdembravos]

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey ...

My personal magic number is 8 more losses...if/when that happens, I'm officially throwing in the towel. :(

[Hobbes]

Yep, it's over. Sure, there could be some sort of miraculous finish, but in any reasonable scenario for this close to the season we'll be on the outside looking in.

[Chris_Moderato]

Well, if argentina has thrown in the towel, it must be over. The only pillar left to fall is Gilley. Then we'll know, it's finished.

[Wahoo]

Well, if argentina has thrown in the towel, it must be over. The only pillar left to fall is Gilley. Then we'll know, it's finished.

And that won't happen until the last game of the season.

[argentina brave]

My personal magic number is 8 more losses...if/when that happens, I'm officially throwing in the towel. :(

actually, this is a neat way to approach the last month of the season.....maybe a loss countdown thread. hopefully, it would last longer than 10 games :cool:.

[sdp]

Only if this team can pull of some strange 15-5 run is it not over. Bobby's management and the performance of our players on a night-to-night basis is too variable for that to happen. In a nutshell, consistency in every facet is what we lack--and that goes for the manager, too.

[luvdembravos]

And that won't happen until the last game of the season.


LOL. I'm glad we have some never-say-die fans like Andy G and AB.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

[Middle Man]

My wish is that we start the 2010 season like we actually want to win from day 1. That probably means putting you-know-who in right field and not taking a let's-wait-until-the-middle-of-the-season approach to fixing any obvious glaring weaknesses.

On June 27, the Braves were 34-40. If they had been 40-34 instead, they'd currently be a couple games behind the Phillies in the division and one game up on the Rockies for the wild card.

If Heyward starts the season in Gwinnett despite a strong winter and spring and we go into April with a bunch of projects in the bullpen or something, then I'll be greatly disappointed.

[luvdembravos]

My winter wish list:

1. A power bat for LF and/or 1B.
2. Established closer for the bullpen.
3. Keep 5 of our 6 starters (trade one but not JJ or Hanson)
4. NEW MANAGER (yeah, like that's going to happen)

[Middle Man]

...
4. NEW MANAGER (yeah, like that's going to happen)

I started to write something about BC but didn't. I assume he'll be back, but I would be pleased if he was promoted to some sort of front office position.

I've never been a Bobby basher. He has his strengths and weaknesses as a manager. You can't just look at the weaknesses when judging him. IMO, he'll go down as one of the all-time greats. But, he needs to retire from the bench. Personally, I'd like to see a clean sweep of the main coaches too.

[Wahoo]

LOL. I'm glad we have some never-say-die fans like Andy G and AB.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

LOL. What's it say when AB has said die?

[luvdembravos]

LOL. What's it say when AB has said die?

I refuse to believe AB has given up? Maybe he's been kidnapped?:confused::(

[luvdembravos]

I've never been a Bobby basher. He has his strengths and weaknesses as a manager. You can't just look at the weaknesses when judging him. IMO, he'll go down as one of the all-time greats. But, he needs to retire from the bench. Personally, I'd like to see a clean sweep of the main coaches too.

I've never been a Bobby basher either. He's definitely one of the all-time greats...I love the guy and appreciate everything he's done for Atlanta - and he's done a lot. But his best managerial days are behind him...he needs to retire and enjoy his golden years. I think many Braves' fans would agree.

Please JoPA, I mean Bobby, step down ... because there's no way you'll ever get fired.

[Hobbes]

I've never been a Bobby basher. He has his strengths and weaknesses as a manager. You can't just look at the weaknesses when judging him. IMO, he'll go down as one of the all-time greats. But, he needs to retire from the bench. Personally, I'd like to see a clean sweep of the main coaches too.

+1

[CanadaBravesFan]

My thing about this is the fact that Chipper is no longer the man. He should be getting the Francoeur treatment right now and bat no higher than 6th. I love the guy, but facts are facts. We need to bring in a few bashers next year. If an Adam Dunn type is around...you take him, and worry about defence later. Also, I agree with most that its time for Bobby and Pendleton to go. Bennett was here too long, and the Norton situation is a fiasco. Add to that he has worn out Soriano, Gonzo and Moylan. I am really happy with the progress this year and will stick it out to the end like I always do, but this movie has been seen before. Time for a shakeup.

If it were me, I would resign Laroche to a 2 year deal. (His market wont be that hot in the offseason, IMO...and I dont think Freeman is ready to be a 150 game starter). I would let Gonzo walk and probably let Soriano go as well and sign a more veteran closer. I would look for a trade for Lowe if its ever possible (I know...good luck!). KJ needs a change of scenery and Medlen might help get us a big hitter. Chipper will probably not be moved but it might be a good idea. Id love to see him retire a Brave of course, but he is not a top hitter anymore. He may hit .320 again, but the "killer" instinct seems to have dissapeared when the game is on the line or we need the big hit to DRIVE IN RUNS. Chipper is a singles hitter.

OF - McLouth, Shaffer, Heyward, (BASHER)
IF - Chipper, Prado, Escobar, Laroche, Infante
C - McCann, Ross

[quick]

I started to write something about BC but didn't. I assume he'll be back, but I would be pleased if he was promoted to some sort of front office position.

I've never been a Bobby basher. He has his strengths and weaknesses as a manager. You can't just look at the weaknesses when judging him. IMO, he'll go down as one of the all-time greats. But, he needs to retire from the bench. Personally, I'd like to see a clean sweep of the main coaches too.

Well said. Frankly, all other things being equal, I just think Bobby and some of the established coaches need to go just to establish a new urgency to win. Sometimes, it all just gets stale, and the Braves this year seem very stale. Indeed, so stale that even when players like being here, they seem to lose energy while here. This is not good.

[BigWorm]

I know how the Braves work. I've been studying the machine for about 20 years now. I can guarantee they haven't shot their wad just yet. They will torture us a little bit more, I'm afraid. Probably will win the next six games, and just as we are bracing for that 9 game win streak you opened with Argentina, they'll pull the football back and we'll all fall on our ass.

[argentina brave]

I know how the Braves work. I've been studying the machine for about 20 years now. I can guarantee they haven't shot their wad just yet. They will torture us a little bit more, I'm afraid. Probably will win the next six games, and just as we are bracing for that 9 game win streak you opened with Argentina, they'll pull the football back and we'll all fall on our ass.

i'm afraid you may be right...

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Braves 2009 Playoff Hopes.

R.I.P.

4/1/09 - 9/9/09

[Lauren T.]

A 0.8% chance (http://www.coolstandings.com/baseball_standings.asp?i=1) is still a chance, right? ;)

[luvdembravos]

A 0.8% chance (http://www.coolstandings.com/baseball_standings.asp?i=1) is still a chance, right? ;)


I understand a snowball's chance in hell is 0.9%. ;)

[warefreak]

I'm with you. I lost hope last night when Soriano blew it for us. I remember a few years ago we had a "double play" specialist who could come in and 4 times out of 5 get a grounder that would turn into a double play. We needed that desperately last night.

As far as I feel about this season... this guy sums it up: :banghead:

I love Bobby, but I also am starting to see that he might need to get promoted and let somebody else in there who doesn't trust the veterans as much as he does.

[KB 34]

End games are a bit more difficult without Smoltz around aren't they? I'm fine with Soriano as closer personally and a bit sick of hearing about what a problem he is. The offense that can't score more than 1 run a game dwarfs the problem of a tired Soriano in my book.

[RiknTN]

End games are a bit more difficult without Smoltz around aren't they? I'm fine with Soriano as closer personally and a bit sick of hearing about what a problem he is. The offense that can't score more than 1 run a game dwarfs the problem of a tired Soriano in my book.

^^^^^
what he said.....very inconsistant offense....it shows flashes of good......but those flashes go away.......need at least 2 more complete hitters in that lineup............pitching is not a problem if we score more runs consistantly.......

[ScooterBrave]

I think that's been our problem for a long time. Even when we had our most wicked rotation, the bats would go stale. Even years when we had a great offense during the season, they would dry up in the playoffs. Flashes of brilliance, then nothing.

[warefreak]

With the 5 people in our rotation right now I feel like we could compete with ANYBODY in baseball and keep the game very, very close. It shows in the statistics as we have way too many one run games and way too often we are on the losing side of them.

Next year we need to keep our rotation and get offense and we have a legit chance of a world series chamption team... seriously.

[KB 34]

The Braves bullpen next season is currently anchored by Moylan and features O'Flaherty, Acosta, Carlyle, etc. A lot can be done but the bullpen can't be overlooked because potentially losing Soriano and Gonzalez is huge.

[BigWorm]

That's what Kelly Johnson is for. Traded in the offseason for Scott Downs.

[quick]

The Braves bullpen next season is currently anchored by Moylan and features O'Flaherty, Acosta, Carlyle, etc. A lot can be done but the bullpen can't be overlooked because potentially losing Soriano and Gonzalez is huge.


I agree.

As you are intimating, the only time--the only time--we won it all since we've been in Atlanta was when we had a closer who had an exceptional year.

In order of importance, our front office focuses on starting pitching, defense, offense, bullpen. I'd reorder for starting pitching, 8th and 9th inning pitching, defense, offense, rest of bullpen. Nobody wins today in the post-season without a grade-A bullpen. Nobody. If Philly's pen is still wandering around loose this postseason, they won't repeat.

Since so few complete games are tossed today, and in the NL we also pull the pitcher for late-inning offense/pinch hitting, there is no way to get to and win the Series with just starting pitching. Starters only pitch about 75% or so of the innings in today's game.

[Dreamscape]

Well, John Smoltz had a more exceptional year than Mark Wohlers and that didn't get us a championship. And I disagree in how the Braves approach the bullpen. Sure, there have been the occasional year where they ignored the pen, but largely, they have focused just enough on the bullpen. While a bullpen is valuable, you cannot rely on it too much because relievers are likely to wear down and/or get hurt. It's the nature of the beast. Sure, you have your Mo Rivera's and Trevor Hoffman's, but there are more Rafael Soriano's who have years (not just a year, but years) lost to injury.

Now, the Braves will have to address their bullpen in the offseason, but you stand a better chance at cobbling together a productive pen than cobbling together a productive offense on limited funds. Especially if the market repeats like it did last offseason where we saw good relievers last deep into the offseason. The most important thing this team faces is finding at least one very productive corner outfielder in the offseason to go with a productive first baseman. I'm okay with Diaz/Church manning the other corner outfield spot until the Braves want to go to Jason Heyward. But they need to address these pivotal holes on the team while trying to bring in some power arms to the pen to go with a "big" name.

Last offseason, the San Diego Padres went after any and all power arms they saw. Two of their best arms this year, Edward Mujica and Luke Gregerson, were not in the system last year, but they kept looking for power arms, getting Mujica on April 1st right after spring training. Yes, you don't want to go with a bunch of unknowns and you want to bring in a solid reliever, but even if only 2 of the 10 targeted arms stick, that's two relievers to go with the one you signed, Moylan, Medlen (if he's still here), and O'Flaherty. You can go to war with that.

[luvdembravos]

I know how the Braves work. I've been studying the machine for about 20 years now. I can guarantee they haven't shot their wad just yet. They will torture us a little bit more, I'm afraid. Probably will win the next six games, and just as we are bracing for that 9 game win streak you opened with Argentina, they'll pull the football back and we'll all fall on our ass.

Nice call, BigWorm.

[warefreak]

Hah, you totally blew that one! It was 7, not 6!!!

just kidding. that was an amazing post as I could feel a little optimism coming back into my mind. It won't last though