Tommy Hanson Debuts - June 7th, 2009

June 7th was a special day in Atlanta. Phenom pitcher Tommy "Jesus" Hanson made his Major League debut against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Braves amidst a three-game home losing streak, utter madness with the Tom Glavine divorce, and 22 straight innings of scoreless offense, decided to take the next step towards improvement - bring up Tommy Hanson.

A picture post, NOW WITH VIDEO

Despite the fact that the gate giveaways this year at Turner Field are pretty lame, I still decided that I really wanted a Brian McCann signature bat brough to you by the Home Depot More Saving. More Doing™., so I had plans on coming to this game one way or the other.  A rainout, days prior pushed backed the entire rotation a day, which luckily made sure that the debut of Hanson would be on the Sunday I was already planning on going to, thus giving me my Saturday back to actually do some constructive crap.

Nonetheless, I arrived to Turner Field really, really early, because giveaways during day games have a tendency to get really horrific.  It's kind of funny, because entire little league squads were showing up, and as David Justice once said in his episode of "In My Own Words," they were "getting their bats for the entire summer."  So it's kind of like cheating, but it doesn't matter; I got my little trinket and was satisfied.

Since I was one of the many eager to see Tommy Hanson, I decided that that the bullpen would probably be my best bet at getting a close look at him.  So, I pretty much went and camped next to the bullpen for about 90 minutes prior to the game's start, and waited for Hanson to show up.  No, this is not Hanson, but it's Jair Jurrjens, who was in the finishing stages of a bullpen session.  Out of all Braves pitchers, I dislike seeing Jurrjens having to take a loss more than anyone else.  I like this picture, because it looks like he's throwing, like a real laser.

After baking in the sun for a little while, he finally emerged.  He emerged from the dugout, and made the long walk to the bullpen to warm up.

Hanson and Ross stretching out and loosening up under the watchful eyes of Perez, McDowell and Butts.  It was kind of cool seeing how engrossed everyone was with every single move that Hanson was making.

As Hanson walked into the bullpen to begin throwing, he was received by a loud rousing cheer from all those who were waiting.  Hanson, already acting the role of consummate professional didn't bat an eye or even acknowledge the ovation he was getting.  Thankfully, lovable ham Eddie Perez was more than willing to accept and soak in all the adoration and praise, much to the humor of those nearby, myself and David Ross.

Here is about a minute-long video of Tommy Hanson warming up.  Just listen to the pop of Ross's glove.

To those who aren't local, here's an idea of how the fans react to particular players when announced during the starting lineups.  Matt Diaz seemed to get a surprisinlgly louder ovation than I've heard before, but that's fine - he deserves it.  I was also pleased to hear the appreciative and loud cheer that Hanson received - almost on par with Chipper Jones himself.

A shot of Tommy Hanson's first ever Major League pitch, to Craig Counsell.  And a sign of good things to come, he got him out on a flyball to RF.  In fact, he got all three batters he faced in the first inning out.  In fact, he got the next three batters he faced to all strike out.  In fact, he got through the entire Brewers lineup first time through, perfectly.

Unfortunately, it didn't last the second time through.  An untimely E6 by our sure-glove Escobar led to an unwanted baserunner whom Ryan Braun used to tie the game with his first of two homers on the day.  Mike Cameron has always fared well against the Braves dating back to his Padres days too, with his own two-run blast.

Despite the fact that Tommy Hanson was dinged on his debut for 7 runs, 6 earned, I was still pleased with his performance.  He showed a great deal of poise, and despite the growing number of runs, he didn't seem really that badly rattled.  Ryan Braun and Mike Cameron aren't exactly chopped liver; giving up some jacks to them I'd say is an educational experience that some of his flyball tendencies are definitely less forgiving on this level than at Triple-A.

If there is anyone who could hijack Easter Sunday away from Hanson, it would be Old Reliable, Chipper Jones.  A double away from completing the cycle, Chipper Jones had a mammoth day in which he went 4/4 on a single, a triple, and two home runs, with an intentional walk.  Chalk that up for 5 RBI, and 14 total bases.

If you want to hear some pissed off Braves fans, here's a rare example of the home fans showing some emotion as they boo the decision that the Brewers made to intentionally walk Chipper, and deny him his chance to hit for the cycle.  Maybe Escobar should have pulled up at first base and stopped, but the way Chipper had been raking all day, there was no telling that Sveum wouldn't have called for the iBB anyway.  Now that's respect.

Needless to say, despite Chipper Jones' massive day which relieves me greatly to put that up there as the biggest offensive outburst I've seen in recent years, knocking out Willie Harris's 6-for-6 day, it was still a team effort, and the Braves salvaged the day, the series, and my sanity by coming together with some good clutch hitting, and taking the lead for good in the 8th inning.  I was especially pleased to see the difference that Nate McLouth already brings to the team with his speed, and now a demonstration of his power, with the big, gap-splitting double.  Heap came off the bench to deliver his patented McCann Super Foul™ before crushing his own double to demonstrate that he's still Baby Jesus.

A good day, entirely.  I got my bat, found Jesus, and enjoyed a back-and-forth exciting baseball game.  The Braves scored runs, which is pretty much all I'd hoped to see at all.  The Failcoeur shirt was acknowledged and complimented by many, especially after Francoeur completed his day of groundballs with a momentum-killing GIDP in the 7th.  I had a long in-depth discussion with an usher about Jeff Francoeur that two other girls interjected on with the most obvious statement "I don't care, he's hot."  Totally valid reason to keep him out there.

And just so that this entry doesn't end talking about a sour note, I just want to say that I'm looking forward to this coming weekend, with a trip to see the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, followed by trying fervently to get bigjoe arrested in Baltimore, that is after the Braves own them in some Interleague action.