Braves Baseball Fan

This week’s Braves’ Player of the Week is MARK TEIXEIRA.

Tex had a nice week last week, the Braves overall did not.  They ended up 2-4 for the week.

Coming up this week, the Braves return home to face the Phillies for three games followed by the Astros for three.

I can’t believe that this has even come up as an option, but there is an idea going around that the Braves should sign Barry Bonds.  To be honest, I’d say no, even if it meant he could help get us to the post season.  But the point here is the Braves still have to make some kind of big move for the second part of the season if they want to be playing in October.

Mark Teixeira had a very good game today. He went 3 for 4 with three home runs and 4 RBIs. This is exciting for me to see him have the type of game that he had today. Hopefully this will get him going. We are only four games behind the division leading Phillies, and there is still a lot of baseball to be played. If Teixeira can be the type of clean up hitter that we all know he can be it should mean good news for the Braves for the next 85 games.

It is hard to know what to do when your team goes on a skid. As if loosing Smoltz for the season, and having Glavine going on the DL wasn’t enough, the Braves went on a 6 game loosing streak that finally ended last night with a 5-2 win over the Angels.

I came across a blog post last night that gave me some answers. It is from our friends over at BravesBlast.com. Read it here:

Counseling Session with Smitty

Thanks Smitty. I needed that!

This week’s Braves’ Player of the Week is CHIPPER JONES.

Chipper also leads the majors right now with an overall batting average of .400 for the year.  He is third in the national league for home runs with 10 and third in slugging percentage at .685.

The Braves overall had a decent week winning 4 games and loosing 2.  The four wins came at home against Cincinnati (14-7) and the Padres (5-3) (5-2) and (5-4).  The two losses where on the road against Pittsburgh (2-3) and (2-5).  The Braves are now 4-13 on the road this year.

The Braves need to figure out how to win some games on the road.  Coming up this week they have two more games against the Pirates in Pittsburgh and then a three game set with the Phillies in Philadelphia, before returning home to face Oakland on Friday.

If John Smoltz comes back from the DL and returns to the bull pen as the Braves’ new closer it will have a huge impact on the way the rest of 2008 goes for the Braves…a good one!

The Braves would rather have Smoltz as a starter. Having him in the starting rotation gives biggest impact in helping the Braves win games. But if his injury is bad enough from keeping him from starting, moving him to the closer is the next best thing. The Braves have suffered from not having a solid closer ever since he left the spot after the ‘04 season.

This year so far the Braves have a loosing record at 12-15. Nine out of the 15 losses have been “one run” games. The Braves are close to having a winning record and being at the top of their division. But close doesn’t cut it. Having Smoltz as their closer could give them that boost they need.

Not only would Smoltz likely get more saves, having him in the pen would boost the confidence of the whole team. It would lead to more late inning rallies because the players will have confidence that Smoltz can come in and close out a close game.

There still are many questions to be answered regarding this possible move, like who would take John’s place in the starting rotation. Mike Hampton (we can always dream, right!), Jeff Bennett or Chuck James would all be possible options for the spot.

This week’s Braves’ Player of the Week is MARK TEIXEIRA.

Tex had a nice week. He doubled his RBI total for the year adding 8 RBI to bring his total to 16 for the year. He also added his 4th homer of the year this week.

Let’s hope Tex can keep it up tomorrow.  We need him to have a solid game, with it looking like Chipper might not play.

The Braves have a huge series this weekend against the Mets. The only bad news is the lack of depth in the bullpen, but we have our three best pitchers going against the back end of the Mets’ rotation. This is the series where I am looking for the Braves to establish themselves as the team to beat in the East. Chipper is red hot, and he loves playing at Shea Stadium. Look for him to have a big weekend. A sweep is what we need. It would be a huge shot in the arm for us.

This week’s Braves’ Player of the Week is CHIPPER JONES.

An easy choice this week.

What a week for Chipper. He finished off the week with back-to-back 2 home run games Thursday and Friday, which helped propel the Braves to two badly needed wins.

Here are Chipper’s stats over the past 7 days:

There have been a lot of things that have gone bad for the Braves this week. First, Rafael Soriano was put on the DL, then Peter Moylan found himself there also, and he might need season ending surgery. Bobby Cox felt that it was necessary to call a team meeting to tell them to grind it out during this tough stretch. The Braves responded well to the meeting and blew out the Marlins 8-0. If the Braves can continue to get by during the rest of April, they have a lot to look forward to in May. Soriano should be back off of the DL as well as Mike Hampton. Plus, the best left hander in our bullpen, Mike Gonzales, is expected to make his season debut sometime in May.