Atlanta Braves's Atlanta Braves friend's fan blogs

After a long hiatus, it’s great to be back blogging about the greatest sports franchise on the planet. Since my last blog entry, the New York Yankees have won the World Series (coincidentally on this blogger’s birthday last year. SWEET!) and got some good quality talent during the offseason, namely Curtis Granderson from the Tigers, Nick Johnson from the Marlins, and Javier Vasquez from the Braves, among others. They’ve gotten off to an awesome start, winning every series this year so far except this past weekend when they lost 2 out 3 in Anaheim against the Angels. Bringing up Javi Vasquez leads me to discuss Robinson Cano because the Yanks gave up his seemingly inseparable buddy Melky Cabrera to get him. The 2 were like brothers. They lived together. They visited each other’s family. They supported each other, helping each other during slumps. Their antics at times were the life of the clubhouse and highlight reels. But now that is over. Robinson is now on his own outside his comfort zone minus Melky. Manager Joe Girardi took a gamble and put Cano to bat behind Alex Rodriguez in the #5 spot and, boy, did it pay dividends. “You want to take care of your veterans, but all we’ve got is veterans. I consider Robbie a veteran player, “ Girardi said in an interview during spring training. In 18 games so far this season, he’s already had 1 multi-homer game & is hitting .368 with an on base percentage of .416.  He has 5 HRs, 14 RBIs and is going into tonight’s game hitting safely in 8 out of his last 10 games. He’s been clutch since the beginning of the season. He’s had to. The #5 spot last year was occupied by Mr. Clutch himself, Hideki Matsui, who is now with the LA Angels of Anaheim. Those are some heavy shoes to fill especially considering Godzilla was the World Series MVP last year. With more focus and less distractions, Yankee fans, expect another career year from Robinson Cano this season. I admit he’s nowhere near as clutch as Matsui, but he’s do a pretty job so far.

Continue reading "Cano’s a go to stay at the #5 spot"

How many years have we seen the Lions fall to the second or third worst team in the leauge in the last 20 years? 20 years that's how many but what if that changed this year. It will the Lions are making moves that the Lions never make like drafting a good quarterback! No not the Lions they don't know how to draft. They did last year and hiring a coach for defense wow impressive they haven't stoped anyone since 1945. While I am still holding my breath they are getting better personal wise and I hear people talking about them actually winning a few games this coming up season so who knows!

Continue reading "Lions Looking Up!"

Can the Detroit Pistons ever get back to the way they use to be? My anserw is yes! How can they do that, it starts with the guards. With the championship team the Pistons had three guards that could defend and shoot. Now they have five gaurds and only two of which can defend and one that is getting old (Hamilton). They have to draft a young point guard that is a true point guard and work on Stuckey at the two spot. Or even make a trade for rookie sensation Collison who is going to want a starting job and won't find one in New Orleans. We have some guys down low that can last for a run to the playoffs next year but with Ben Gordon taking crazy shots and no point guard they don't have a chance next season. you trade Ben Gordon to the Hornets for Collison and they have a point

Continue reading "Can Detriot Get Back To Championship Form?"

You never want to be the man that follows The Man. It's a much safer situation to be the man that follows the man that followed The Man. To follow a legend, almost always leads to a predictable demise. That legend, whether a player, coach, or general manager, has obviously set such a high level of expectation, that his successor really has no choice but to fail. This was the thinking for Atlanta Braves fans when John Schuerholz left his position of General Manager and put Frank Wren in his former place.

You see, over the run of 14 consecutive division titles, Schuerholz became as much of a respected icon as the Braves manager, Bobby Cox, himself. From the worst-to-first season in 1991 to the "Baby Braves" divisional title in 2005, seemingly every move Schuerholz had a hand in turned to gold for Atlanta. So when Frank Wren was named the new General Manager of the Braves in October of 2007, skepticism flooded through the Atlanta faithful. Now that it is coming up on the completion of his second full season as General Manager, let's take a look at what he has been able to accomplish.

Continue reading "Wren's Not So Bad After All"

Baseball families have made history in pinstripes. The Boones are in their 3rd generation playing baseball. Aaron Boone, whose brother Bret, father Bob, and grandfather Ray all had 10+ year careers in the majors, cemented his name in Yankee history. Jose Molina, whose brother Yadier plays for the Colorado Rockies and other brother Bengie plays for San Francisco Giants, also cemented his name in Yankee history. Now that the Yankees have acquired Jerry Hairston, Jr., whose brother Scott is playing for the Oakland Athletics, and father Jerry, Sr., uncle Johnny, and grandfather Sam also had MLB baseball careers. Now Jerry Jr. has a chance to continue this trend of success for baseball families playing for the Bronx Bombers. Before we get into the Hairstons, let’s take a look at what the Boones and the Molinas have accomplished in pinstripes.

Continue reading "Move over Boones. Move over Molinas. Get ready for the Hairstons!"

Being a baller, I tend to play basketball a lot. The other day I was balling, and some other ballers challenged me and my baller bros to a game of full-court. FULL COURT. I suck at full court.

I can't dribble, so full-court makes me look like an even shitter dribbler. One of my favorite dribbling techniques is to get a rebound, then take a few steps and crouch down, protecting the ball. I'll try to pass it to a teammate, then it'll get stolen. That's how I work.

One of the things I've noticed about street-balling is that there are two kinds of defense: physical and voice. "Physical D" is obvious: that's you actually playing defense. "Voice D" is when you're too tired to get to the basket, so you scream something random at your man when he's trying to score.

Continue reading "Street Ballin'"

You may be wondering how Joba Chamberlain came off the All-Star Break with 2 consecutive victories: 1 against the Tigers and 1 against the A's. Before the break, it just seemed to be no-decision after no-decision. He holds the Major League Record for most No-D's in a season.

Reports say that Joba went home to Oklahoma during the All-Star Break. He didn't even think about baseball. He just spent quality time with his family. He only had a couple of throwing sessions and that's it! Nothing complicated. No pressure. No nothing. Just basic throwing. No Joba rules to worry about.

As a family man with 2 kids, I can relate with how Chamberlain can come back and have success on the mound his first 2 starts back . Joba was grinding it out in the first half. He was working hard with coaches trying to figure things out. This is a lot like a student grinding it out with his schoolwork; grinding it out with his schoolwork, getting pressure from his teachers to do better, getting pressure to keep their GPA up, but oh, when the semester is over, they go home, hang out with family and friend, and just breathe. When the new semester starts, they're fresh minded and ready to go.

Continue reading "How Joba Got His Groove Back"

Moses spent 40 years in the desert before shepherding Israel through the desert enroute to the Promised Land. Michael Jackson grew up in a musical family and became the King of Pop over a span of 50 years. Don Zimmer tops them both. We're talking 61 years in the game and he's still going. Homeboy loves baseball. He was Joe Torre's bench coach when he managed the Yankees to 4 World Series championships. He had left Yankee management over a dispute with the boss George Steinbrenner after the 2003 season. Check out this interview with Kimberly Jones from the YES Network.

Continue reading "Much love for Don Zimmer at Yankee Stadium"

He’s got 4 World Series rings: 1 with the Mets and 3 with the Yankees. His career was tainted with drug abuse. He’s Darryl Strawberry. He was a special guest on the show “Centerstage” with Michael Kaye on the Yes Network. He was a class act. Whatever questions Michael Kaye had about the negative things that happened in his life, he took full responsibility for it: drugs and tax evasion. You name it! Whatever he did wrong he took full responsibility for it, unlike Roger Clemens, who’s given denial after denial that he did steroids.

Darryl is an overcomer, then and now! He mentioned how he grew up in South Central L.A: in the hood. His dad used to abuse him and his brothers. Straw said his dad used to…uh you’re gonna have to watch the show. Don’t want to spoil it for you. Eventually, his mom had enough and divorced his dad. Throughout the show, he mentions that because he didn’t have a father figure in his life, he had to figure out things on his own. Straw even admitted to believing what his dad used to tell him: “You’re good for nothing and you’ll never amount anything.” His father was wrong. His upbringing in just one of the things that he overcame.

Continue reading "Straw Humble on Yes Network's "Centerstage""

Try not to think about what might have been, cause that was then. And we have taken different roads. Those are lyrics from the song What Might Have Been, by the country band Little Texas. Please excuse me, as I have listened to this piece of music several times since I heard news of the Atlanta Braves trade of Jeff Francoeur.

Several weeks ago, I actually wrote an article claiming that it was time for the Braves and Francoeur to go their seperate ways, in hope that each party could find true happiness and success apart. That was my head talking. The part of me that wants what is best for the Atlanta Braves and their playoff chances. I never thought about the bond that had been formed between Frenchy and the Atlanta area.

Francoeur had lofty expectations placed upon his shoulders when he debuted for his hometown team in the summer of 2005. That season was supposed to be the year that the Atlanta Braves string of division titles came to an end. It was a transition year of sorts, with Atlanta integrating several rookies into prominent roles with their club. However, with instant contributions from the likes of Brian McCann, Kelly Johnson, Ryan Langerhans, Wilson Betemit, Pete Orr, Kyle Davies, and Francoeur, the team took the National League East crown for the 14th consecutive year. The group of youngsters were labeled the

Continue reading "What Might Have Been"