Hey, y'all. As some of you know, I'm new to Talking Chop and new to the Braves in general. Still,  I have watched every game thus far and am gong to my first game at Turner Field on Tuesday! Either at the game or before hand, I'd like to get a hat and a Jordan Schafer jersey. Schafer's new, I'm new. He's from Indiana, I'm from Indiana. His number is 24, I'm 24 (that's the point where I am reaching for similarities and stop). From what I see online, there are only like four players that have replica jerseys available. Would I have to get one custom made? Or does anyone know if they sell jerseys for the entire roster at the ballpark?

I was just wondering if people had recommendations for places around Atlanta I should look, whether to buy it online to save money, or what my chances are of finding one at Turner Field. Thanks for the input... GO BRAVES!!!

Tom Glavine has apparently faced another setback, for he lleft his rehab start today after two innings after experiencing discomfort in his throwing arm. He will not start Saturday it appears, here is the link: Click!!

Personally, I believe he should just hang them up. He had a great career and he has nothing left to prove. His elbow is in a funk and now his shoulder, he shouldn't try making a comeback and should go into the HoF with Maddux the same year.

Update, Here is another link: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/04/12/braves_tom_glavine.html

Glavine says in this article that he had discomfort when swinging, which may have been true if it wasn't for his horrible pitching line so far. I think he's trying to make it seem better than it is. He's certainly determined to pitch again, huh?

Everyone, I just wanted to drop by and say thank you for all the nice posts and gestures on Halos Heaven concerning the loss of Nick Adenhart. Despite the normal allegiances and the fun we have playing those up at one another's expense, we really are all fellow members in the greater community that is baseball and we all share in this loss. It was a class act to join us in supporting Nick's family and teammates. Your thoughts and prayers were very welcome, and your actions deserve to be recognized. Well played. Thanks.

What do we have to do to get Chipper and McCann out of here?  We just wasted a ton of money on Chipper.  WHY??? He was 0-4 today.  In his last two at-bats, he swung on the first pitch and got out each time.  HE SUCKS!

McCann was 0-4 too!  He is done.  We need to trade him RIGHT NOW.  Our "best" hitters were a combined 0-8.  THEY SUCK!  Get rid of them NOW!

Frank Wren is an idiot.

Fire Bobby Cox.

Sign Adam Dunn.

LEADERS WITH 5
Smoltz's Beard
VictorW

TRAILERS WITH 4
Bream to the plate, and he is...
Chopaholic
dc_allday
heapofoatmeal
someguy917
soup du jour
tomahawkin108
WeStillHaveBobby

A lot of you have 3.

QUESTION THE FIRST: Attendance. Huge drop from the opener to Saturday, and Sunday is Easter.

QUESTION THE SECOND: Pick to click. Kelly has 2 in a row.

QUESTION THE THIRD: What will the time of the game be? You get a point if you're within 5 minutes in either direction. I'm interested to see how many points this question will reward people with...we shall see.

Happy bunny day everyone!

No, this is not to bash Gonzo, as I really like the way he pitches.  But so far he hasn't looked that great.  Soriano, barring last year's craziness, has been an unstoppable force since he came over to the Bravos.  If Gonzo has a couple more outings like last and opening night, are you in favor of moving Soriano to the closing role?  How would that affect Gonzo's psyche?  Gonzo's big plus is he's a lefty he's greatly suited for the NL East with all their left handed bats.

First off, some bookkeeping issues.

FOUR POINTS
someguy917
soup du jour
tomahawkin108
WeStillHaveBobby

THREE POINTS
Bobby Cocks
Bream to the plate, and he is...
Chopaholic
cmdpsu15
dc_allday
ejruiz
GoBravesNY
Jolo
jug
longshotsmith
Mikehd1200
mwchipper
sdp
Smoltz's Beard
TomGarrett
VictorW

TWO POINTS
29 of you

ONE POINT
35 of you

ZERO POINTS
I don't keep track of you until you get a point =)

So lets get down to the fun now that thats out of the way...

1) Attendance. Last night drew a bonzo gonzo crowd that spent way too long at Turner Field...will tonight do the same?

2) Pick to click. Escobar won his first award last night...can he do it again?

3) Tonight is Kenshin Kawakami's professional American debut. Make an above & beyond prediction about it. The more above, and beyond, the more points you get. IF THE ENTIRE PREDICTION IS NOT CORRECT, YOU GET NO POINTS.

Ok so as im watching the game Friday night they would show Bobby on tv every once and a while. He looks normal for the most part, but has anyone else noticed the random twitch in his hands/fingers and sometimes near his eyes too? I know he's getting up there in age, but is this anything serious?

Maybe he's twitching because McDowell just picked up the bullpen phone and told Moylan to warm up and come pitch the 7th inning. Or maybe Jeff Bennett asked to get his 4th hotdog from the clubhouse...not really sure. But anyways... 

Anyone else notice this or concerned?

Just for those of us out there who like prospects you don't get anything much better than this. Ben Badler will be live blogging from tonight's Norfolk-Durham game where Matt Wieters and David Price will face off against each other for their first and most likely last time in the minors. (I think it is the first anyways).

I will be frantically hitting F5 all night as I watch the Braves and monitor our other minor league games. It is surely rare that you get to see the two best prospects in baseball match up in such a way especially when they both should be holding down major league jobs right now. Join me in the fun!

Sorry meant to link it

This post from Beyond the Boxscore just taught me how to get pitch f/x data from Brooks Baseball.  The data tells you all kind of crazy things like the pitch location, release points, the velocity, and the pitch spin.  I played around with the data from Jurrjens's start on Wednesday and here's some graphs.

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