I can't be the only Braves fan here. Hows about a little love for the team that makes the spectacular look routine.

2005 brings a lot of questions on offense (but not as many as the rest of the NL Least)

*Projected Line-up*
SS Raphael Furcal
2B Marcus Giles
3B Chipper Jones
CF Andruw Jones
RF Raul Mondesi
C Johnny "Ponch" Estrada
1B Adam Laroche/Julio Franco
LF Brian Jordan/Ryan Langerhans or Jeff Francoeur

The Rotation will rank up there with St. Louis if the following things happen: Smoltz doesn't blow his arm during the third week of spring training, Hampton performs in the first half as well as he has in the second half of the last 2 seasons, and Thompson and Ramirez eat innings.

*Projected Rotation*
RHP Tim Hudson
RHP John Smoltz (opening day starter)
LHP Mike Hampton
RHP John Thompson
RHP Horacio Ramirez

I hardly ever have anything nice to say about our bullpen since Chris Hammond, Mike Remlinger, and Darren Holmes left. I guess it probably can't be all bad.

*Bullpen*
RHP Dan Kolb (closer)
RHP Chris Reitsma
RHP Kevin Grybowski
RHP Ramon Colon
LHP Gabe White
LHP Todd Martin
RHP Jorge Vasquez

I believe that the biggest question mark will be the bench (cuz we traded the damn bench away).

*The Bench*
UIF Nick Green
1B Adam Laroche/Julio Franco
RF Brian Jordan/Ryanlangerhans and/or Francoeur
3B Andy Marte

The Braves should rule the East for another summer and then lose to St. Louis in six not so wild NLCS games. Be you a Braves fan, deluded Met, sullen Philly, smoked Fish, or hapless National please chime in on another season of futility (well, maybe not the Marlins. Between the wildcard rule and Eric Gregg's wide ass, the Marlins haven't suffered too much).

There are a few Braves fans around. I love 'em, although I miss Javy dearly, and I hope they can make it 14 in a row (and maybe actually do some post season damage). But I do think that each of the last few years has been tougher for the Bravos and there is a serious threat to the title run in the form of the Mets and maybe the Marlins.

I can only hope that the Mets' history of looming dangerous in the pre-season turns to inexplicable disaster in the regular season once again. wink

I am thrilled with the addition of Tim Hudson, but I don't know about Smoltzie returning as a starter. I know it's what he wanted, but having him as a closer was the perfect transition after his return from surgery and now - even if he does go back to being a solid starter - the Braves could get stuck in the rut of not having a closer again. No one's been able to really nail down that position long-term since Wohlers went off the beam and I think it's hurt the Braves.

But here's to 2005! Woo Hoo!

If Chipper and the guys don't make it out to the post season this year, the season won't be a total sucking feeling for me as long as they stick it out and come out ahead of the stupid Mets.

[ February 23, 2005, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: bobby78751 ]

You mean "empty seat disguised as a Braves fan, even during the playoffs." wink

Touche, Susan Lu...I mean Joe. You cut me to the quick. I can't defend the seemingly indifferent attitude of the common Braves fan. However, full stadium or no, it feels pretty good to be in the playoffs every year.

The Braves can't help that they play in a city of transplants and transients who show up only when their hometown team visits the Ted. The faithful Braves fans attend only on weekends, when they have the time to drive into town from rural Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee.

As far as the division goes, if someone else doesn't win it this year, then I'll begin to seriously question whether anyone else in the NL East will ever challenge the Braves again.

I've always thought Braves fans got a bad rap. They are quieter - and, yes, they take the success for granted and the sales could be higher - but I always hear knocks about how they aren't loud enough. I'm sorry, but I don't think you have to throw batteries or paint your chest to be a fan. So, the Braves crowd is a bit more refined ... big woo.

I actually like going to Braves home games much more than going to see them here in New York. At Turner Field, I've seen opposing teams' fans in full gear and nary a word is said ... at Shea, you get at least some serious verbal abuse, and at Yankee Stadium you might as well wear a matching toe tag to the game. It's rude.

*Soap Box On*

Falcons fans are starting to figure out what the "12th man" means. Braves fans, however, are pretty pathetic when it comes to crowd participation. Braves fans tend to give expend more energy on the conversation with the person next to them or to checking out the hot guy or girl at The Chop House than on the game itself. If you buy a ticket to a game, you are signing a contract stipulating that you will become a complete maniac for your team while in attendance (thus bringing about the homefield advantage). I have been told to sit down during pivotal moments so many times by so many fat lazy ineffectual rednecks in this town that it makes me sick. That attitude doesn't exist at Fenway, Yankee Stadium, or any other city with engaged fans. This is part of the reason that the team often seems to play with no emotion. When Chicago or Pittsburgh comes to town and it seems like their fans outnumber Braves fans at the stadium, they don't. They are just the only ones there with any enthusiasm for baseball. Of course, this doesn't apply to all Braves fans (i.e. me) just the "silent majority."

*Soap Box Off*

Don't know if this is proper for this thread but Pitcher Mike Hampton has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to finding a missing Florida girl. Sadly it will probably be the same as most of these missing children cases with a family member being responsible.

So, the end of September is upon us and the Braves are just a few wins away from that 14th consecutive division title ... but WTF? They have looked all but hopeless lately, losing five of seven in the last couple of weeks to the second-place Phillies and seem incapable of hitting the home stretch. The Phils are only 4 games out of first now. I'm actually nervous, although all the talk is about Houston/Philly/Florida for the NL Wild Card ... the Braves seem to be tempting fate just a little too much. I'm not so sure that the fourteenth division title is a given yet. The series that starts today against the Marlins will be very important and the Marlins have the motivation to win ... plus, the Marlins have been a pain in the ass for the Braves since they came into existence anyway.

Go Braves!!

I am always surprised by the lack of Braves fans around here ... I guess people are bored with the Bravos. I was thrilled to see them sweep the Marlins and things are looking good again, although too bad the Phils came back to win their Friday night game. I was cheering for the Reds to pull that one out. (Although what a crazy, exciting baseball game it was.)

Magic number is two!

For the last several years, when baseball season starts, other clubs in the NL East have added players to their roster and made big-time public moves and I think that this is gonna be it ... the year the Braves don't win the division. They are getting older, other teams are learning how to play them, and John Schuerholz rarely goes for the big media-frenzy deals in the off season.

But here we are ... hopefully this is lucky number fourteen! Although I have a hard time seeing anyone beating St. Louis, actually. But the Braves keep proving me wrong and I'm ready for October baseball!

You might be ready for October baseball, but is the Braves' starting rotation? Don't they have a couple of starters who've never been in post-season games?

~Adam

I hear ya, but you know, once the post season came around in the glory days ... it's not like Smoltz/Maddux/Glavine were as dominant as the regular season would indicate. Here's to youthful exuberance!

As far as I know, Bobby Cox hasn't solidified any playoff plans yet ... but there's no way to avoid the Fall Ball "rookies." I'm sure Sosa will be in the starting lineup, for instance. They've helped get us this far. And we still have Hudson and Smoltz as anchors.

[ September 28, 2005, 10:08 AM: Message edited by: Gaga4Gaby ]

Of the four starters slated for post-season work, only one has no playoff experience; Jorge Sosa. Smoltz is the most dominant starter in post season history, Hudson cut his playoff teeth in Oakland, and Thomson started a division series game last year (though he did get pulled early due to a blown oblique muscle). The concern for the Braves, in my mind, is not their post-season experience but whether or not they truly have a team built to compete with Houston and St. Louis.

...and yet again, the Braves have no titles to show for another division crown!

One championship out of fourteen division titles...a percentage of .071! wink This one has to be crushing, though. A 6-1 lead in the 8th, to take it back to Atlanta? Shocking.

How are the Phils doing in the playoffs?

Someone tell me why Adam LaRoche seemed to be dogging it on the play when he was tagged out trying to score on that double....

I don't know, but the entire time I saw the play, I kept thinking to myself "If Freddie Rodriguez sends him, he's out at the plate". Could have made the difference in the game, shame that plays like that are what we'll look at to point to the end of the Braves season.

Braves are perennial losers. They're barely good enough to win the division, but lack the quality to go any farther. Fifteen straight winning seasons and one World Series to show for it. Sad. frown

So, its better just to suck all the time and never win your division, right? There's some sort of implicit glory realized by the those valiant teams which never sniff the playoffs...because it's better to suck all the time. God knows a team is FAR worse off by winning some thing, yet fall short of the thing.

That must explain Cub and WhiteSox fans...they've been avoiding division crowns forever, present circumstances notwithstanding.

Tim Hudson was known as the unluckiest pitcher in baseball in Oakland. I can't tell you how many times he left with a lead after pitching his guts out for 7 or 8 innings, only to have the bullpen blow it. He should have won 2 games his last season in Oakland.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
Poor Huddy. He did his job.