Did The Atlanta Braves Just Become The Favorite In National League Race?

Published by Wes Holtzclaw | Filed under Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves had to move to the top of the list of teams that are racing towards the National League crown with their move today to bring in SS Alex Gonzalez.

The Braves traded once heralded players, SS Yunel Escobar and Jo-Jo Reyes, to the Toronto Blue Jays for SS Alex Gonzalez and two minor league players.

The move is sure to bolster the middle of the lineup that has been struggling in the power department (Chipper Jones 6 HR, McCann 10 HR, Glaus 14 HR, Hinske 6 HR, and Escobar 0 HR).

Gonzalez, who has hit .259 with 17 HR and 50 RBI through the first half of the season in 328 ABs, is a major upgrade over Escobar who has struggled the first half: hitting .238 with 0 HR and 19 RBI in 261 ABs.

One stat that jumps out, Gonzalez’s .319 average with RISP and an astounding .361 average with RISP/2 Out. While Escobar has struggled in 2010 batting .209 with RISP and a horrible .188 with RISP/2 Out.

The other players included in the deal are LHP Jo-Jo Reyes heading to Toronto and minor league LHP Tim Collins and SS Tyler Pastornicky.

Reyes, who was supposed to emerge as the Braves long-term fifth starter, struggled mightily in the major leagues going 5-15 over his short stint as a Brave.

Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen have pitched beautifully over the last year which made the decision easy for the Braves to move on from Reyes.

Will this be the only move the Braves make before the trade deadline? They might still add a power hitting outfielder to shore up the outfield.

Whatever the Braves do in the next couple of weeks, they just sent a message to the rest of the National League that they are back.

2010 Brings A Breath of Fresh Air For Georgia Bulldogs

Published by Wes Holtzclaw | Filed under Georgia

After a somewhat dissappointing 2009 season, the Georgia Bulldogs finished with an 8-5 record and an Independance Bowl victory over Texas A&M that secured a 13th straight season with at least eight wins. 

Going into the 2009, I along with several others, predicted that Joe Cox would be a great game manager that is careful with the football. We were definitely wrong with that prediction.

Cox’s numbers were actually reasonable: 2584 yds, 24 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. The problem with Cox was that at least eight of his interceptions were inside the Dawgs own 40-yard line giving the Bulldog defense a short field to defend.

Another four of his interceptions were from him trying to throw the ball out of bounds but not getting it even near the sidelines.

One thing Cox was able to do was continue to keep plugging along, not giving in, and leading the team to several shoot-out wins. Most notably the wins over South Carolina and Arkansas, which if he threw in the towel, the Dawgs would have been 5-7 and would have not been able to play in the post-season.

Led by Willie Martinez and his soft zone scheme, the defense was also disappointing in 2009 giving up over 20 points in 10 out of the 13 games played. The sad thing is that the Dawgs ranked in the bottom half of the nation in almost every defensive category.

That being said, Coach Mark Richt did the right thing by letting go of coaches Martinez, Jancek, and Fabris. 

Even though the new defensive coordinator has not been named to date, he will be named in the next week or two. Let us all hope and pray that he brings with him an attack style of defense that will bring back memories of the defenses that played for the Dawgs in the ’80s and early 2000’s. 

In 2009, Georgia was able to show glimpses of what can be expected in 2010 with the emergences of several freshmen and sophomores.

Players such as freshman RB Washaun Ealey (125 carries, 717 yards, 3 tds in only nine games), sophomore RB Caleb King (114 carries, 594 yards, 7 tds in 10 games), sophomore WR A J Green (53 receptions, 808 yards, 6 tds in 10 games),  and freshman TE Orson Charles (23 receptions, 374 yards, 3 tds).

Georgia is returning 10 out of 11 starters on offense and if two prominent juniors on defense return (LB Rennie Curran and SS Reshad Jones) eight out of 11 starters on defense. That is a lot of experience returning to play a schedule that is somewhat softer than the previous two years.

Teams such as Louisianna-Lafayette, Colorado, Mississippi State, and Idaho State replace Oklahoma State, Arizona State, LSU, and Tennessee Tech on the 2010 schedule.

Georgia also returns Ray Guy award winner P Drew Butler and Lou Groza award finalist PK Blair Walsh to handle the kicking duties. Both players will be juniors next season and will look to repeat their success. Coach Richt just hopes he doesn’t have to turn to them as much as he did this season.

Even though the Dawgs lose return man Prince Miller, sophomore Branden Boykin emerged as one of the best return men in the nation (38 returns, 988 yards, 3 tds).

One of the two freshman QBs (Aaron Murray or Zach Mettenberger) will meet Coach Richt’s criteria for the next signal-caller: “Whoever wins that job has to have a very good respect for the football. I think it’s going to be a very difficult thing for these young men because in one sense they want to do something great to win the job, but they also understand they need to respect the football and not be careless. That is a big part of the job description and it might be the biggest thing they have to understand.”

The offense should be able to score points whether it is led by Murray or Mettenberger and hopefully the defense will be able to prevent opponents from even getting into the red-zone.

It should be an exciting off-season as we wait to see who will win the quarterback battle, if Curran and Jones stay, and who exactly will be leading our defense as it’s coordinator.

Stadium Journey

Published by Wes Holtzclaw | Filed under Atlanta Braves

Guys I just wanted to let each one of you know that there is a new website called Stadiumjourney.com that rates all of the stadiums in the country.

They currently have all of the MLB stadiums up and are also working on all of the NFL and NHL venues.

They use a FANFARE system to rate each ballpark on their food, atmosphere, neighborhood, fans, access, return on investment and etc.

I believe it will be an awesome tool to figure out if taking your family to the ballpark would be worth it, especially when you are going to a stadium you are not familiar with when you go.

You can check out what I had to say about Turner Field as I was able to do the review for the Braves’ stadium earlier this summer.

Check it out at: StadiumJourney.com