Thursday, May 29, 2008

"This team can flat out play."


By Carroll Rogers
May 29, 2008 12:03 AM | Link to this

you guys sound almost as frustrated as the braves….thought i’d share these quotes from blaine boyer from after the game:

“As a player right now, competitively throughout my whole career, this is as frustrated as I’ve ever been,” Boyer said. “On my part, there’s no excuse for that run coming in. This team is just flat-out good, really, really good....You’ve got to think over the course of 162 games that this is going to even out. This is just getting ridiculous. Tonight I’m the goat.”

“You look at this team top to bottom, I don’t care about the injuries we got. This team can flat out play. And now we’ve got the veteran leadership. We’ve got stars, we’ve got studs, we’ve got role players, we’ve got everything. It’s just frustrating. I promise you we’re going to be there in the end, once we get all cylinders going. Once we get on a roll, like we’ve gotten on at home, sky is the limit.”

Everyone can't be a superstar every day, but it would be nice if the Braves could have won either (both) of the previous two games. If I was a Brewers fan, I'd be rejoicing at the exciting game-winners my team pulled off, but as a Braves fan, it's extremely frustrating. I'm certainly not blaming Blaine here -- crap like that happens sometimes, and Jo-Jo pitched a gem. I'm blaming our offense. Four hits all night, and that whole mess with Baby arguing strikes late in the game was...not good. I know the pitch wasn't a strike, but dude, don't take it out on the umpire. (Especially if you're the pitcher or the catcher. The rest of the game will NOT go your way.)

Here's hopes to Jorge's blisters staying away today, and if someone (Roger McDowell) needs to throw some firecrackers in the bat bin, so be it.

PS -- Is it just me, or does it seem like Campillo is pitching every other day? I miss Smoltzie in the lineup.

30 comments:

Jessica said...

You're dead on. It's gotta come down to the offense stepping it up on the road. Hudson and Reyes did their parts beautifully. We've proven we can score at home...now we need to do it on the road. No excuses. I have no doubt the boys are even more frustrated than we are. I've still got hope they can make it happen!

SCJ said...

dude... mac should've raised hell. and shame on bobby for not comin out sooner! these boys NEED to get mad; get angry! And they need to use that to send that ball sailin!

Besides, the umpiring in MLB has been (in Chip's words from last season) "abysmal"! And these guys are human.. things are gunna make them mad and they're gunna react.

CABravesFan said...

I agree with Sarah- Mac had every right to be pissed- especially after that crap when he wasn't ready to hit...having watched almost every game over the last 3 years it seems to me that it takes an awful lot to get Mac that upset but when he does get angry it is usually because he is right...and that pitch to Tex right before was at least a foot off the plate

Lauren T. said...

Here's the thing, though... you can't "raise hell" when you disagree with management in most professions. You guys may not be working professionals and may not know this, but if you are in a meeting and someone who outranks you presents wrong information as fact, you can't jump up and start yelling at them, especially if they have the power to throw you out of the meeting or even out of the company.

Players shouldn't show the umpire up. They should refocus their energy and tear the cover off the ball, but nothing good comes of screaming at the man in charge.

CABravesFan said...

i dont think he was trying to show up the umpire- he voiced his opinion and then- at least it seemd to me- that he was trying to collect himself when the umpire decided he was going to flex his power and demand that Mac get back in the box when it was clear that he was not yet ready...by the way i generally agree with you that players (especially catchers) have to be careful with the way they respond to things like that and the fact that Mac didn't get tossed I think says alot about his (usually) calm manner

Jessica said...

I think Lauren's right, though. Mac, especially being the catcher, has to protect his pitcher. He can't 'raise hell.' I agree with both Teix and Mac that those were not strikes. But, it's Bobby's job to argue. It's a fine line, arguing with the ump, and you're almost guaranteed not to get your next pitches. And, MLB has asked umps recently to speed up the game. I love Mac, but Wegner did ask him 5 times to get back in the box and he took his time. I'm sure he needed to calm down, but he also needed to not strike out. That's a tough one, but I think it was just frustration building up. Winning games will help that :)

CABravesFan said...

I am certainly not trying to start an argument:) but what wegner did was not in the interest of speeding up the game- it was to let Mac know that HE was in charge and was going to do as he pleased- he should have either given Mac a second to clam down or tossed him on the spot...I do think Lauren and Jessica are right though- I think Mac being pissed caused that 4 pitch walk to the lead off guy in the next inning- hte one that came around to score

Jessica said...

That's true - if Wegner was trying to show Mac who's boss and not trying to speed up the game, then I'd be pissed like Mac was, too. Catchers and umps are supposed to have a better bond than that. Give Mac a break. I'm glad he didn't toss him. You're not allowed to argue balls and strikes, so Wegner could have tossed Mac, Teix and Bobby. But, if I were the ump, even though Mac was asked several times to get back in the box, I would have given him a second to calm down. Out of respect for the catcher...

CABravesFan said...

it didn't look like he wanted to give Mac any time at all to collect himself- Mac stepped out and wegner almost immediately signaled him to get back in the box...oh well- probably a good thing Mac isn't playing today- although maybe getting kicked out of a game would wake these guys up...or maybe a bench clearing brawl? Or something...anything

Lauren T. said...

I would say it was intentional, that Baby's not in the game today, but it's looking like Corky is going to be Campillo's personal catcher. That's fine -- Baby needs a break to be able to last the whole season and Campillo's comfortable with Corky.

We're smoking some pitches now! Let's go, boys!

CABravesFan said...

Looks like someone finally woke up Tex- he has all 4 RBI today- he needs some love on this site!

Jessica said...

Campillo singles in 2 runs after the Teix HR? I love it! Finally, some offense. Please be able to hold onto it (fingers crossed)!

I agree - I'm ok with Mac having a day off every 5th day. He deserves it. We still love ya, Baby!

CABravesFan said...

Especially since the Braves have a grand total of 2 off days in the month of June...nice scheduling Major League Baseball (we should all know by now that it SNOWS IN DENVER IN APRIL)

Jessica said...

Yeah - and we had one week not too long ago where we had Monday and Thursday off. That in addition to playing the Nats a gazillion times already makes me think somebody was smokin' something when they made the Braves schedule.

CABravesFan said...

16 games in 5 cities without a break...nice

Lauren T. said...

cabravesfan, I do love Teix. There just aren't many articles / pics out there that we haven't seen before, and I'm not interested in turning this blog into a daily game preview/recap blog. There are plenty of those out there.

He is featured in the opening spread of the June Chop Talk magazine, which includes pictures of his Atlanta rental home and his beautiful family.

Jessica said...

Teix gave me hope when he said that Bobby signing a 1-yr extension would make him at least think about sticking around even if he were offered more money elsewhere. Please stay, Teix! We love you!

CABravesFan said...

Lauren- thanks for letting me know-I get absolutly nothing about the braves out here (not even sure if they would deliver chop talk) and PLEASE don't ever turn this into a recap site- I love reading and listening to all the things you post here because it is the only place i can get most of it- and i fully blame you for my crush on Baby:)

Jessica said...

You can totally order Chop Talk online. I live in NC and get it monthly, so I'm sure they'd send it to CA. I look forward to it every month!

http://www.choptalkonline.com/index.php

CABravesFan said...

Thanks Jessica!

Jessica said...

Anything for a fellow Braves fan! :) Chop Talk is well worth the money.

Lauren T. said...

They're selling it on newsstands in the Southeast now too, so if you have a friend who can pick one up for you, that's also a possibility. :)

If you like behind-the-scenes pics and stories, it's a great mag. If you want statistics...it's a little light on the hardcore stuff.

CABravesFan said...

I get enough stats from espn- I want the behind the scenes stuff- don't really know anyone in the southeast and as you can imagine the Braves don't get much (or any) coverage out here

Lauren T. said...

It was the same when I lived in Utah for a little while. Luckily back then, the Braves were still on TBS almost every day.

CABravesFan said...

i forked over my $150 for the DirecTV MLB package...best money I have ever spent

Jessica said...

Yep, I forked over $$ for the mlb.tv package. Next year I might do Extra Innings, though. Can you choose who you watch? I hate wathing non-Braves announcers. I'd so much rather watch Boog, Joe, Chip and Skip.

CABravesFan said...

yes i can choose- I have watched every game this year (except the national games on FOX- which are shown everywhere but the west coast) on SportSouth, FSN South or Peachtree TV

Jessica said...

Oh, I'm totally doing that next year. But, at least this year has made me really appreciate the Braves announcers. If they're not on, I just listen on the radio. Pete is still awesome.

CABravesFan said...

Pete is awsome and i really like him and schombie (sorry if i butchered his name!) together...really enjoyable

SCJ said...

ahem. so sorry i didn't look at this again! haha and i know this is old by now... but

i don't disagree that if you are in an office job that you can't get up and yell. but take a look-- this is baseball. yes, it's a business... but quite different than your typical "office job". and i wouldn't call a strike/ball a "fact". it's very rare that you see Mac get mad like that.

Secondly, I wouldn't necessarily assume that the walk was from the argument... I mean, he did say he had a blister that opened up! haha

Anyway! Not tryin to "start an argument" either! :) I really do like this site...!!