BRAVES NEWS
Kemp Kills The Braves Again, Dodgers Win 3-2 On Walk-Off
Matt Kemp's been the subject of some trade talks as of late. Don Sutton of the Braves Radio Network summed it up best when he quipped at the end of last night's game that "I sure wish they would've traded him last week." After hitting 2 homers last night, Kemp added another and also hit the walk-off RBI that gave the Dodgers another victory and added another chapter to the horror story that is Atlanta's recent history at Dodger Stadium. Now, the Braves will have to find a way to avoid a sweep by getting something done against Clayton Kershaw. That'll be fun.
Also, there was a small bit of talk concerning a potential Andrelton Simmons injury. According to Tom Hart, Simba might be fine, as this was tweeted after Kemp's walk-off.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Andrelton may be feeling better. He just threw his bubble gum 80 feet to the foul line.</p>— Tom Hart (@tom_hart) <a href="https://twitter.com/tom_hart/statuses/494717966340988929">July 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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No Heyward Until Weekend Series
Jason Heyward has been out since the middle of Monday afternoon's game against the Padres, and now the Braves have announced that he won't be back until the next time they see the Padres: This weekend. Heyward's sore back is going to keep him out until at least this weekend's series, which means that he'll end up missing the entire series in Chavez Ravine. Even though it's a bummer to see Heyward on the bench for this series, at least it appears that he'll avoid the Disabled List. Jordan Schafer replaced Heyward for tonight's contest and Schafer did what Schafer does.
Braves "Focus On Field" As Deadline Day Fireworks Seem Unlikely
As everyone who covers the Braves for a living has pointed out, the payroll restrictions that the Braves currently have mean that the possibility of the Braves making a big splash for today's Trade Deadline is pretty low. A bullpen arm or bench player seems like the most probable trade scenario for Atlanta. As such, it's business as usual for the Braves in the clubhouse, as Fredi explained to Mark Bowman:
"We're who we are and we're [one game] behind the Nationals in our division," Gonzalez said. "So, you feel like you have a pretty good club. Yeah, you always want to improve, but you never want to take away from your own club if you can [avoid it]. We could get a piece here or a piece there. We'll see."
Development Team Announced For Braves Mixed-Use Complex
Meanwhile, the progress for the new stadium and the area surrounding it in Cobb County continues, as the Braves have officially named the development team that will be in charge of the development of the mixed-use complex that will surround the new stadium. From the AJC's article:
The baseball franchise will partner with a joint venture team that includes retail powerhouse Fuqua Development, office and mixed-use development company Pope & Land Enterprises and apartment developer Pollack Shores Real Estate Group.
MLB NEWS
Stars Shine For Orioles As They Beat Angels
A 2-run homer by O's outfielder Adam Jones got Baltimore off to a good start last night, and the good feelings lasted all night for the first-place Orioles as they defeated the Los Angeles Angels 4-2. The play of the night came on defense, as third baseman Manny Machado made an excellent defensive play to retire Albert Pujols (who hilariously slid into 1st base despite being out by a mile), proving that throwing balls is much more fun and way more productive than throwing bats.
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Chicago And Colorado Play Extra Innings For 2nd Straight Night
The Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies have played 26 innings of baseball against each other over the past two days. After Tuesday night's 16-inning marathon ended with the Cubs coming out on top (with backup catcher John Baker as the winning pitcher), last night's mini-marathon ended with the Rockies as the victorious team. Even though Colorado blew a late lead, they eventually took advantage of a few blunders by the Cubs in extra innings to take the victory.
San Francisco Options Colvin But Doesn't Release Uggla
Last night during the middle of the award-winning documentary known as Sharknado 2, a bit of small news broke on twitter:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Giants Release Dan Uggla, Tyler Colvin <a href="http://t.co/hp4PodtqtZ">http://t.co/hp4PodtqtZ</a></p>— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) <a href="https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/statuses/494660268891205634">July 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Of course, the news concerning the first name in that tweet caused a lot of Giants fans to jump for joy. Then, this happened:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SFGiants?src=hash">#SFGiants</a> have NOT released Uggla.</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/statuses/494674666183983104">July 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
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There was no joy in mudville tonight. In the end, nobody was released: Tyler Colvin was optioned to AAA, while the Giants are apparently "mulling over" the idea of releasing Dan Uggla. Some cats really do have 9 lives.