Spring Training

I don't do this much. Not near as much as I should. But instead of babbling about my opinions I figured I might just share my adventurous trip to Florida to catch some MLB Spring Training. This is pretty much an annual trip for me, but this is my first time doing it with someone else and also my first time making it a multiple day trip.

This past Monday I met John in Florida for 4 games. He had seen some the previous few days, but I joined him Monday-Wednesday. Two of the four games were Braves vs. Mets. We also squeezed in the Cardinals vs. Tigers on Monday and the Pirates vs. Yankees on Tuesday.



The weather was nearly perfect. The sun wasn't blasting on us, but spent the majority of the week behind the clouds. A slight breeze was the perfect touch.



I got Terry Pendleton's autograph.



Of course, I accomplished many things that I hoped I would. I saw Tommy Hanson pitch. And I saw Freeman and Heyward hit.

On Hanson:

Obviously I'm not a major league scout. But I saw pretty much what I expected to see. Hanson (along with Heyward) is an enourmous dude. He's listed at 6'6" but after seeing him in person with many other players on the field, I think they might need to remeasure. This heighth has its pros and cons. One of the main cons: Hanson has to work much harder to get the ball down (since he is so tall).

Throughout his outing the Mets were spanking Tommy Hanson pitches to the warning track. He, true to form, was up in the zone and the Mets were teeing off, especially in the first few innings. While only one of them was a homer, it certainly raises an eyebrow that batters frequently were hitting it very hard and very far (albeit many were outs.) I shared with John my concern about what might happen if Hanson were to start in Colorado, Houston, Philly, Texas, or any other HR friendly park.

I'm kind of ignoring the fact that Beltran and Delgado weren't in the lineup. That would only add to my worries.

Of course, I have just as many positive things to say about what I saw in Hanson. That Curveball....WOW!!!! It reminds me of that big, whooping Barry Zito curveball that we would see 5 years ago, only from the other side.

I have a picture of Hanson pitching...but haven't uploaded it yet. Just pretend it's here.

Now, onto Heyward. Heyward only got 3 at-bats (I think) in the 2 Braves games I saw. All 3 of those at-bats have something in common - he crushed the ball. He didn't always reach safely but everything he hit was hard and loud. If I were an infielder I would fear a Jason Heyward groundball. If I were a thirdbaseman (or first) then my knees would shake knowing that Heyward can get that ball to my teeth in less than half a second.

I'd certainly like to watch those kind of outs more than the patented "Frenchy popup" or the even more frustrating "swing-and-miss-at-a-helmet-high-fastball" Even if Heyward wasn't in the equation, Frenchy should still have to earn his at-bats. But if Heyward gets to Mississippi and puts up huge numbers while Frenchy hits a weak .230 with the big club then we'll have some drama.

Once again, I have a picture of Heyward batting, but its on my other camera. Pretend it is here...

This is just off the top of my head, so if I'm inaccurate then forgive me, but I really think the leader in hits amongst the games I saw was Schafer. I don't see us carrying all 3 of Anderson/Blanco/Schafer. All 3 have their ups and downs, it'll be interesting to see what Cox/Wren decide. I have my opinion, but I suppose another post would be more appropriate for that.

You guessed it...my picture of Schafer will go here.

Anyways, I had a glorious time at Spring Training this week. Special thanks to John Wright for coming with me.

Misc. Braves Rambling

It's been awhile since I've blogged about the Braves. But that doesn't mean I don't have many thoughts about what has been going on in Bravesnation.

A majority of the Braves sites the past month have been talking about John Smolts, the new pitchers, and/or Frank Wren's GM abilities.

But I think one of my favorite Braves links of the past several weeks is this.

I think I've made it known how feel about Terence Moore's work, but in case you missed it I'm not the biggest fan of his writing. Half of his articles feature "Cy Maddux, Cy Glavine, and Cy Smoltz" and is it really necessary to have a hyperlink everytime the word "Braves" appears? Those are just nit picky things...I could go all day on his often misled theories. Anyways, back to the article.

I'll be honest (and obvious). I miss Mazzone. McDowell has done an average job (not great, not horrible), but Mazzone is a mastermful pitching instructor. And I've always wondered deep inside if he regrets leaving the Atlanta organization.

Now we know the truth. Yes he does.

I won't repeat everything the article says, but in a nutshell Mazzone left stability and security for money and friendship.

He had a good thing going with the Braves. Mazzone's methods were often criticized but you can't argue with the results. He had pitchers throwing twice between starts, instead of usual one side session. Mazzone was also effective at keeping his pitchers healthy. He encouraged them not to throw hard during those side sessions, but to work on breaking and offspeed stuff. When his pitchers were in a jam, instead of telling his pitchers to "put a little more in this one" Mazzone would tell them to take some off. Throwing too hard too often is what tears tendons, rotator cuffs, and whatever else is inside those multi-million dollar arms.

Mazzone had a legacy. And he left it all for an opportunity to coach with his best friend, and oh yeah, a lot of zeros.

In a sport with teams that go through managers and coaches like McDonald's goes through hot cakes, why risk job security?

I realize I'm many years late by blogging about Mazzone leaving. I suppose it's just hard to know exactly how to feel about Moore's column. Am I to be happy that Mazzone regrets leaving the Braves? The Atlanta Braves shirt I'm wearing wants to say "yes." My heart wants to say "no".

Other News and Notes:
Many World Baseball Classic teams will feature Braves players (assuming they make the final roster. As I look through the teams and the players, I expect most of them will) The situations the players are in will vary, however.

Jorge Campillo will probably make the Mexico team if he sticks with the team. However, as TC notes, it might be wise for Campillo to stay with the team in Spring Training, rather than play in the WBC. Right now Campillo is penciled in the 5th starter spot of the Braves roster. It's his to lose. If guys like Tommy Hanson, Jo Jo Reyes, Todd Redmond, or Charlie Morton have a great showing in the Grapefruit League while Campillo struggles in the WBC, we might have some drama. Of course, if Campillo dominates in the WBC then nothing happens and he is a hero. It's ultimately Campillo's decision, but either way he needs a strong showing. Would it be easier for him to keep is rotation spot by throwing against minor leaguers in the Grapefruit League or by throwing against a stacked Dominican team in the WBC? I know which one I'd do.

The reporters are very wishy-washy on if the Braves will (more importantly, SHOULD) sign Andruw Jones. I've read some articles that say the Braves are talking about it. And I've read some articles that say there is no interest. What are we to think? Who knows what will happen. Personally, I'm rolling my eyes if it is anything more than a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite. The last thing we need is yet another bad outfielder we feel obligated to give at-bats to (I'm looking at YOU, Frenchy!)

Speaking of Frenchy, the reports are that he has been doing a lot of work this offseason. Where have I heard this before? Last offseason? The one before that? His season's are gradually getting worse...and I fear it is because pitchers are realizing his weaknesses more and more. Not just that he swings at everything including fastballs that are forehead high, but that he must decide quicker if he should swing or not.

I'm getting tired of hearing phrases like "The Natural" or "Face of the Franchise" or anything of the like. He wouldn't be starting in RF on any other team. My patience is wearing thin with Frenchy.

And in case you are wondering, no, my future Braves posts won't be this long.

Why I'm not worried...

I feel like there has been a lot of panic in the Braves Community. It's true, the Braves season thus far has had many disappointments, but I feel like panic time has not arrived. There are plenty of reasons why we shouldn't panic yet:

We're playig horrible. We are 13 games into the season. There is plenty of Baseball to come still.

We're fourth in the Division But we're only 3 games back. And the Marlins aren't going to continue to win games at the pace they are unless their pitching gets better (The Braves aren't helping).

The Braves have a bad bullpen, yes. But so do 10 other NL teams. But the difference with the Braves is that they don't HAVE to make a trade to improve their pen. It will get better in June when Gonzalez comes back. It will get better when Moylan and Soriano come back, assuming that "elbow tendinitis" isn't anything more serious. The Braves could make a trade to improve their pen (and I think they should), but it will improve even without a trade.

Kelly Johnson and Mark Teixeira are rally killers. Obviously there is truth to this one. I'm not the biggest fan of hitting these two in the 1 and 4 spot of our lineup while they stink it up, but I'm rarely a fan of Bobby's batting order anyways. I'm more worried about Teixeira than I am KJ. KJ has always been streaky and has had stretches like this before. Teixeira however has the burden of having higher expectations set on him (for good reason). Plus, I think most would agree that we began this season relying more on Teixeira at the plate than KJ. It's too early to say that Teixeira:2008::Andruw:2007. It is important to note that over Teixeira's career, April has always been his worst month. Although this could be one of the worst Aprils he has had, he historically has put up his worse numbers in April. Is he a slow starter? The splits say he is. But if it's mid-late May and Teix still hasn't shaken out of it, he'll have Braves fans screaming. Not to mention Scot Boras.

Look at all those injuries! Yes, the Braves have a long list of important names on their injury list (Soriano, Hampton, Glavine, Gonzalez, and now Moylan). But...look at the Mets list...Alou, Castro, Pedro Martinez, O. Hernandez, Matt Wise. They've got some key role players out as well, and many of those look to miss more time than a lot of the Braves injured players.



I see plenty of reasons not to panic. While the Braves haven't started the season firing on all cylinders, I don't think we should say the engine has totally broken down.

Thursday Notes:

I am so thankful that the Jarvis family has safely arrived in Valdosta. It has been a long year here at Central without a preacher. I look forward to working with Bryan and to serve alongside him. Too bad I'll miss his first sermon this Sunday, but I'll be...

In Atlanta this weekend. The Youth Group Braves trip is this weekend. We'll be at Saturday night's game, stay the night in ATL, worship with the Snellville COC, then head back to Valdyville. Personally, I'm pumped about the trip. It will be my first time seeing Teixeira and the other "new Braves".

A few posts ago, I was asking other people's input on Google Desktop. The input i received from you all matched the reviews I read: very mixed. Some liked it some hated it. I gave it a try. I downloaded it and tried it. The end result? I uninstalled it. I can see how a lot of people like it, but honestly, It got in my way too much. Most of the stuff I added on google desktop was the same stuff I have on my personalized google homepage, anyway. It just wasn't for me.

Top ten searches that brought visitors to my site:

1. What would I look like as a Simpsons character?
2. Bryan Jarvis Church of Christ
3. How do I make myself a simpsons character?
4. "chris petty" blog
5. "i'm by myself this week"
6. chris petty blogspot
7. look like one of the simpsons
8. what i look like as a simpsons character
9. when Barry Bonds was on the simpsons was he skinny or chubby?
10. make a simpsons portrait of yourself


Looking at these searches...Can anybody guess which of my posts received about 3 times more hits than the others?

I'm getting Nervous...

I think a trade is gonna happen soon. I can't really give a good reason why, I just have this feeling....7 days left

Since the arrival of Julio Franco, Cox absolutely refuses to play Salty. Yesterday Woodward came in to pinch run for Franco...BUT WOODWARD STAYED IN TO PLAY 1B. Why not let Woodward run the bases (which might be all he's good for) then let Salty man the field? I like to give bobby the benefit of the doubt but he has this thing about not playing certain guys.

We should probably just trade Salty and Devine. Bobby isn't going to play them anyways, so why not just swap em for somebody? What if we just traded those two for an entirely new bullpen. I think Bobby Cox needs some more guys to overwork.

I'm still not sold on Texiera. If you look at his Home/Away splits you notice that he isn't the reliable hitter he needs to be when playing away from that softball field in Texas.

In other news, more Bonds/Balco mumbo jumbo.

I can't really think of anything else to say, so I'm gonna eat lunch now.

Our Message(s)

What!?! can it be? a new post from Petty's Ponderings? Sure enough. Sorry it's been awhile. The knee is better, still struggling to walk at times but right now I'm probably about 75% healed. The last 25 will come very slowly according to the doctors...quite possibly several months. But hey, as long as I'm walking.

I wanna discuss something I've been struggling with lately, and that is our message. I'm not talking about what we teach, i'm talking about our message that is indirectly communicated from our actions.

Parents teach their kids something when the kid hears mommy yelling at a telemarketer over the phone. The kids are watching what daddy looks at on TV and that sends a message. If Dave receives too much change at the cash register, Dave's kids are sent a message when Dave sneaks out of the store hoping no one realizes their mistake.

Now to take it further...What do you do if doing the right thing sends the wrong message?

I never really thought that it was possible for such a scenario to even exist. But that is kind of the dilemma I am in. I cannot release details at this time, but hopefully tings will pan out. I'm open to thoughts on the question above, What do you do when doing the right thing sends the wrong message?

Random thoughts on MLB, The Braves:
Not much to say, as usual I thought some all stars were undeserving and some were left off. I guess it is to be expected. Doesn't really matter though because either way the NL doesn't stand a chance without a miracle (1996 was the last time the NL won the Midsummer classic)

Random thoughts on the NBA draft:
I'm a Bulls fan (but one could argue a strong case that I'm not an NBA fan at all), but it will be obnoxious watching Joakim Noah play for the Bulls, a first round draft pick that I wasn't really impressed with.

Random thoughts on NASCAR:
they are loud and go zoom

Atlanta: we have a problem

To say the least, the Braves season has taken a tailspin. After the blowout yesterday I'm starting to think that pythageras might be catching up with them. But who knows?

You can blame who you want...Andruw, Davies, Woodward, or even Bobby Cox. The fact is that something is missing. Or maybe, just maybe, that something that is missing is not a something but a someone. What do I mean by that? Two words:

The first is Chipper. The second is Jones.

Chipper Jones.

Fact: The Braves have won a grand total of 4 games (This was typed before today's game was finished. The Braves are currently up on the Brewers 2-1) since the day Chipper took that spill with Batista against the Pirates. From now on that incident will be known as the Batista plunge.

After Chipper tumbled to the ground...the rest of the Braves followed. You hear all this talk about how 1 man can't make that much of a difference. How locker room leadership doesn't really exist...it's all about how they perform on the field.

We're 4-10 since the Batista plunge. We're 4-10 without CJ the past week and a half. Is there more to why the Braves are plummeting? Sure. But I won't get into all that now. I just want to keep repeating that record...4-10 since chipper hurt his palms/thumbs/whatever it was he hurt on his hand.

You never really know how much someone means to you until you have to survive without them.

Salty's Fate

There have been numerous discussions on what the destiny of Braves catching prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia (his name always seems to get the red wavy underline). There have been talks of a position switch for either he, or Brian McCann.

MLB Trade Rumors explores different possible trades between the Braves and the Tigers (plus a few other teams mixed in), a team that is interested in a young catcher.

In case you aren't familiar with MLB Trade Rumors, it is a site that gathers all types of rumors concerning transactions of MLB players. It is simply a collection of rumors, nothing reliable.

If you are subscribed to MLBTR, you really have to be a critical reader. Sometimes they make public a rumor that is completely idiotic (for example, the article suggests a Salty for Dontrelle Willis swap, ha!). Other times, they are right on the money and a trade rumor they share happens days or even hours later. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Don't translate this post as saying that Salty is about to be a Detroit Tiger.

So back to Salty. Really, I feel like his stock is highest as a minor leaguer. I'd like to see Salty stay a Brave, but I fear is stock dropping once he gets up here and faces tougher pitching. Some say LF is where he'll be. I've heard that the Braves aren't very high on putting him in LF (source was ajc.com I think). Outfield prospects Brandon Jones and Gregor Blanco seem to be sending a message (with their bats) that the OF is stacked in the minors for the time being.

If I had a vote on where to put Salty, I'd put him at 1B. Thorman probably will eventually be a decent major league hitter, but probably not soon enough for Braves fans' patience to stick with him. Also, 1b is the weakest position in the Braves minor league system, as far as quality of prospects goes.

Still, if the right trade offer comes, especially for pitching, I'd say jump on it. Salty's value will possibly drop when he jumps to the big club...although I've been wrong before.

So...how good are the Braves?

Some say the Braves are back to their dominant form. to back up their statement they claim the following facts:

-They are 12-7.

As Bill Parcells likes to say, "You are what your record says you are"

-They are 6-2 in games decided by 2 runs or less.

The sign of a solid bullpen (although i'd argue that it's not as solid as most people think). You can't win the close ones if you can't win the 8th and 9th innings. Record in close games is what killed the Braves in '06

-They haven't yet lost a series.

Great, so no one can play a series against us and win more games than we do...isn't that the goal of October baseball? Even more ensuring is the fact that we've already played 2 series with the Mets, going 4-2 against them.


Others claim that the Braves have not yet proven themselves. Here are the facts they use to point to their statement:


Pythagorean Record is currently at 10-9.

Winning a close one and then getting blown out the next day is a sign that maybe things aren't as good as the record indicates.

The past week or so, they've played .500 baseball.

Oh, I was hoping nobody else would notice. The first 2 weeks we go 7 - 2, now we are sitting at 12-7. Still a good record, don't get me wrong. But we have gone 5-5 the past 10 days. We won't be able to hang with the Mets for long unless we can win a bit more.

With the exception of the Mets, they've played nothing but sub .500 teams

So as we stand right now we are 4-2 against good teams (or a good team), 8-5 against bad teams. It's kind of funny. At the beginning of season, everyone was saying the first few weeks of the Braves season will really set their tone, because they start the season right off playing division opponents for almost the entire month (save chicago and colorado). Now sports writers are using the same fact to prove a different point, saying, these are weak teams, the real test is yet to come.

sidenote...I don't want to spend too much time on the last point. But has anybody looked ahead to the Month of May. May will have some fantastic matchups as the Braves play the Dodgers, the Brewers, the Redsox, oh...and the Mets of course. We play those 4 teams that have been battling for the best record in baseball. It should be fun, if I had tivo...I'd tivo those games (just trying to get into practice of using tivo as a verb). If you really want to point to strength of schedule, let's point to the Month of May, and see how the Braves do.

So, back to the back and forth discussion how good the Braves really are. Is it as good as the first few facts point to? Or are they not quite as good as the second set of facts point toward.
To me, it boils down to which record means the most. Most of those facts involve a Win-Loss record of sometype. But which one means most. Overall record? Pythagorean record? Record in close games? Record in the past 10 days?

Most of you are probably going to hate this answer, but my answer is somewhere in the middle. They probably aren't as good as the top set of facts indicate, they probably aren't as bad as the bottom set of facts indicate. Just somewhere floating in the middle (another sidenote, does anybody besides me say that we're "in the middle" way to much? Church, Politics, now sports!).

I would be a little bit more comfortable if we had a better Pythagorean record. As I've said before, I don't 100% agree with the idea of Pythagorean record...but I don't 100% disagree with it either. There needs to be a bit bigger margin between our runs scored and runs given up. Most people say that the Braves need to score more runs to accomplish this. I certainly don't have a problem with us scoring more runs, but I'm not sure I agree that our offense is the big problem. After all, we are 5th in the national league in Runs scored/game(also 5th in runs), leading the league in homers, third in the league in SLG%, well above league average in OBP (would anybody have guess that we are second in the league in walks). Although there are a few holes and a few slumps in the lineup, the offense is OK (compared to the rest of the NL).

Our pitching is however below the league average in ERA, runs surrendered/game, and WHIP. When I first noticed this, I was stunned. How could our pitching be worse than our offense? Hudson is new and improved, smoltz is smoltz, James is a quality 3 guy. Our bullpen is one of the best out there. How can this be the problem. After more browsing of the stats, i then discovered the problem. The problem can be found here.

That link is the Braves pitching broken down by inning. What you notice is that the Braves have superb pitching in innings 1-3. Braves pitching has given up 23 runs in innings 1-3 and considering that 9 of those belong to Mark Redman, that puts us in pretty good at the beginning of the game. The problem, I believe, lies in innings 4-6 (or really, just 5 and 6). The braves pitchers have given up 15 homers all year. Ten of those have come in innings 4-6. The opposition is batting .308 against us in the 4th - 6th innings(Including almost .400 in the sixth). We are just completely getting hammered in the middle of the game! So what is it about innings 4-6 that make us so vulnerable?

I guess nobody really knows, but I have a few ideas. Inning 5-6 is normally the time when your starter starts to wear down and you start to go to the pen. So maybe (a) we leave our starters in too long and they give up lots of hits/homeruns because of their fatigue or (b) we don't have anybody good enough to get us to the 7th inning, when we turn it over to Mike Gonzo, then Soriano, then Wickman to end the game. I'm thinking of a few cases when Villareal or Yates gets handed the ball in the 5 or 6th inning and they don't get us to the 7th.

Whatever the problem is, I thought it was pretty interesting, seeing the pitching stats broken down by inning. Clearly we are most vulnerable during the middle of the game. We are solid in the first few innings. We haven't necessarily been awesome in the late innings (41 of 86 walks come in the late innings). But that isn't to the fault of wickman or soriano. The problem there is when McBride or Molyer would come in and turn a 7-1 braves lead into a 7-5 wickman save. The game is pretty much decided by that time anyways, so I didn't read too much into the 7-9 inning stats, they are so different from Wickman and soriano's stats.

In case your curious, here is the runs given up compared to runs scored broken down by 3 inning segments:

Runs given up Runs scored

innings 1-3 23 29
innings 4-6 34 26
innings 7-9 30 35

I realize several will disagree with me that the pitching is more of a problem than the offense. They'll point to the LF and 1B platoons and show they're lack of production. That's not incorrect. 1b and LF should step up, i don't disagree that we need more production from those slots. We really do! However, i feel like a bigger problem is getting to the 8th and 9th after our starter comes out. Or perhaps our bullpen is not as solid as Braves fans including me think.

Anyways, sorry this one was kind of wordy (and possibly a bit on the boring side). I learned a lot while browsing around looking at the stat distribution by inning. Tonight redman goes up against the Marlins, so I'm worried this might be the first series we lose. We'll see how it goes!