...don’t have time to address all of them while at work. Most important would be the fact that we still have 125 games left in the season, not including the one going on right now.

The Astros went 48-26 in the 2nd half of ‘04 and went on to beat our ass in the NLDS…in case you forgot.

Funny, a lot of experts picked the Braves to win the World Series this year! If it’s obvious that we’re not a playoff team, the experts sure haven’t figured that out yet.

I’m going to follow a team with a better shot at making the playoffs…GO RED SOX!

Dude, I was living up there when that was happening. There is nothing worse than that. Horrible analogy.

Braves Baseball = Always putting together a competitive team, while nurturing the minor leagues and ensuring that there is talent / trading chips. Often mixing a blend of youngsters as well as veterans, but always keeping the door ajar for the next young good talent waiting in the wings, whether it be progression, injury, or just plain natural selection.

Look, I get that a lot of us bitch and complain, but I think I can speak for a lot of us by saying that we’re pretty content with what we’ve got right now – we just want them to perform to the level that we expect them to, and hope they stay healthy.

Wow I am so tired of reading posts calling our team old. We have the second youngest starting 8 in baseball, and that is a fact. I even took into account all the oldest players that might start on a given day. Yeah still the youngest starting 8. We have three pitchers who are old, true and guess what all three of them will be gone at the end of the season and we have capable replacements for at least two of them and have tons of money coming off the books next year.

Trade B. Lillibridge, B. Jones, B. Boyer, and T. Flowers to BAL for D. Cabrera (who looks to be turning the corner and is still 26) and L. Scott. Trade M. Kotsay, C. Johnson, and W. Ohman to CHC for R. Hill and K. Hart (Hill is 28 and has had some success though some minor control problems so far this year, while Hart is 25 and can start or relieve). Trade B. Pena, T. Redmond, and S. Evarts to CIN for R. Freel and J. Affeldt. Platoon Freel and Blanco in center batting leadoff and Scott and Diaz in left. Drop KJ to the 7 hole behind Francoeur. Rotation is improved, lineup is deeper, have only slightly expanded payroll, we are younger, and havent given up our best prospects, What do you think?

The proposed changes – getting younger, getting talent – uhh, didnt we do that last year? Arent we perpetually doing that? Dont we consistently have a huge pool of talent within our farm system anyway? Didnt we shop off Salty who sucks for return?

This is early panic. Calm down.

didn’t think I would hit that nerve to set off some of you like that. I reiterate that I love the Braves and want to see us win it all. I also love all the players for the most part, other than Hampton, who I think should give some money back. However, some may have overlooked that I was curious to see what some of you would do if you were GM. As for ejruiz, I agree that McCann is a good catcher, he just tends to be streaky, i never said he sucked. Johnson is a decent 2B, but looking at the 2B out there and bragging that he is the 7th best isn’t helping your argument. Yunel is better than good but not of the Ramirez, Reyes, young Arod, young Jeter caliber. Don’t get me wrong I am not throwing in the towel, b/c we can still turn things around especially if we get healthy and stay that way. But look at the recent years and how we fell apart b/c of injuries. Our stars are getting older hence the injuries. However, please don’t get mad and go off on me or other posters b/c of something they or I say. Honestly, if you don’t agree with something you should be able to give your opinion in a mature, professional manner.

I’m finding out all kinds of cool shit about how great we really are. Suddenly all the 1 run losses don’t seem so bad. No…wait…yes they do. But still, I am serious about not really looking at the numbers to know how good we are. In fact, knowing this makes me believe that its a matter of time before everything clicks and we tear off a streak of winning 15 of 20 games or something like that.

Anyway, I do have to agree that all the doom and gloom is unnecessary and is viewing the team with blinders on to the fact that despite being 19-18 we are really good everywhere else and its only May. In actuality, I’d say we’ve done quite well to stay about .500 considering the injuries and “struggles” with offense.

Those usually peter off a bit, or at least even out. The bad teams find a way to lose those, the good ones find a way to win them. I think our Braves are just figuring things out again – i mean, the yanks lost their two best SPs and are in the toilet bowl straight up. We were picked to win it all by a bunch of people, and lost everyone to injuries, and we’re still doing ok.

I agree with Jug the most.

will be okay. I really believe that these things even out over the course of a season, and if we are getting all the bad now, then we will experience a lot of good things later. I think I would be a lot more worried if we had 11 eight-run losses. The usual culprit in one run losses is a bad bullpen, and all complaining aside, ours has not been that bad. Also, it will be getting even better within the next few weeks, with Smoltz, Soriano, and hopefully Gonzo coming back. So what is the reason for the 1 run losses, and the losses on the road? I think it is a combination of some failure to execute the basics (which can be improved on), some bad weather, and some plain old bad luck.

Go Bravos!