Someone asked yesterday why I don't post the DSL stuff. Partly it is because I (and most people) hardly know anything about these 16 and 17 year old guys that are playing down there and another thing is a lot of times the scores don't get posted for these teams until the next day which doesn't make it very conducive to getting up nightly updates. Heck a lot of time the Appy and GCL games won't get posted till much later, though they have gotten better about it recently.

Buffalo 3, Gwinnett 7

• R. Gorecki 2-4 3B, BB
• G. Norton 2-4 3 RBI
• T. Redmond 7IP 9H 2R 0BB 5K

You know on quick glance I feel like the Gwinnett offense has been picking up some slack lately where the pitching staff was decimated. Though when Todd Redmond pitches like this you don't have to score a lot of runs. The Braves are 6-2 in their last 8 games and they are just 0.5 game out of first place in their division. Also Barbaro Canizares is still hitting .342 on the year and hasn't come close to the decline he had last year at about this time. Good for him, I hope he can find a place for himself somewhere.

Birmingham 3, Mississippi  4

• M. Young 2-3 BB
• W. Cabrera 1-4 2B, RBI, K
• E. Campbell 1-4 2B, K
• K. Cofield 7IP 3H 0R 3BB 4K

Matt Young has blown up this month hitting .375 with an OPS over 1.000 and a 17/10 BB/K ratio. Also he has improved his base stealing swiping 12/15 bases on the month. This is the kind of guy we could use in Atlanta right now. Someone who can make things happen. Kyle Cofield continues to baffle me. I would love to see the guy pitch in person just to see how he is getting things done. The funny thing is that his home/road splits are nearly identical except for his runs and walks allowed. I wonder if Mississippi is playing even more pitcher friendly this season that normal. I find it difficult to believe that this offense is as bad as it looks on paper.

Myrtle Beach - Off

Rome - Off

Danville 7, Pulaski 6

• M. Jones 1-4 2 SB(2)
• A. Milligan 3-4 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K
• B. Oberholtzer 4IP 2H 1R 1BB 5K

Apparently Adam Milligan likes hitting baseballs seeing as he has 6 hits and 2 doubles in his first two games. I'll take it. Brett Oberholtzer (seriously, we have to do something about the the names for Danville; they also have Daniel Elorriaga-Matra) was our 8th round pick in last years draft and features low 90s fast ball and 2 solid offspeed pitches. He is another JuCo guy which is apparently becoming the Braves new trend.

GCL Braves 6, GCL Tigers 3

• A. Feliz 3-5 2B, RBI
• J. Dalfonso 5-5 2B, RBI
• C. Brewer 3IP 1H 0R 1BB 6K
• W. Estevez  2IP 2H 0R 1BB 6K

Gondeee was right, these games are fun. Another 4 wild pitches, 5 hit batters and a balk in this game. I think Anthony Feliz might be the most talented guy on this team and I wouldn't be surprised to see him break out a little this season. He flashed some stuff later year early on but the faded later down the stretch. Feliz and Dalfonso combined for 8 of the teams 9 total hits. Don't get too excited by that line from Wilton Estevez, he is 22 years old.

The guys over at Rowland's Office came up with these pitiful numbers about our second baseman, Kelly Johnson:

20 — Games since Kelly Johnson had an RBI hit.
17 – Games since Kelly got more than one hit in a game.
19 — Games since Kelly got 3 hits in a game.
4 — Hits by Martin Prado in his past 5 at-bats.
4 — Hits by Kelly in his past 35 at-bats.
7 — RBIs for Kelly in the season’s first 7 games.
8 — RBIs for Kelly in his past 26 games.
.203, .297, .138 — Kelly’s batting averages for the months of April, May and June.
2/12 — Kelly’s RBIs and total bases in June.
3/13 — Backup catcher David Ross’s RBIs and total bases in June.
220 — National Leaguers with better on base percentages than Kelly.
Jame Moyer — the person just ahead of Kelly on the NL OBP list.
Guess who’s starting at second tonight?

Yuck. But Bobby Cox just keeps trotting him out there every day hoping he will play his way out of his funk.

From K-Ros this morning, perhaps another outfielder we are looking at adding:

The Brewers' quest for pitching could lead to renewed talks with the Braves, who in the past have targeted Brewers right fielder Corey Hart. The Braves would need to clear their own right fielder, Jeff Francoeur, before acquiring Hart, and no team is hot after Francoeur.

The problem for the Brewers in trading Hart is their lack of a suitable replacement. Still, the Braves are deep in pitching — and could get even deeper if right-hander Tim Hudson returns from Tommy John surgery in mid-August.

Like Francoeur, Hart is in his first year of arbitration and signed to a similar contract. Surely the Royals would take him if we just sort of gave him away.

The Braves apparently inquired on Hart back in early December at the Winter Meetings, though there is some debate as to whether they did or not. Hart is a somewhat similar player to Francoeur, though he may be realizing more of his potential at this point than our current right fielder. Here is a comparison of their stats:

He certainly offers more in the extra base hit department, but with the need for pitching on some other teams, I would think we could get more for a starting pitcher if we choose to trade one.

We'll keep an eye on these rumors as they come out, and I believe we'll see more and more the closer Tim Hudson is to returning. His successful return allows the Braves to make a big move.

Sorry this is going to be a quickie update tonight. If you can see the timestamp know that I just walked in the door.I will do an extended post tomorrow with lots of pics from the Sally League All Star Game (I took about 200 pics).

Buffalo 4, Gwinnett 5

• B. Canizares 1-3 2B, 2 RBI, BB
• G. Norton 1-1 3B, 2 RBI

Seriously this Greg Norton kid needs to be called up. He has a homer and a triple in two games with Gwinnett! Lots of power in that bat there.

Birmingham 1, Mississippi 6

• M. Young 2-5
• R. Reynoso 8IP 3H 0R 3BB 3K

Ryne Reynoso is quietly putting together a pretty solid season for the Braves. He has just been crafty not giving up a lot of hits and inducing a lot weak contact. He isn't striking out a whole lot of guys so he needs to remain exceptionally fine with his command.

• Carolina All Stars 1, California All Stars 2 - 10 Innings

• C. Johnson 0-4 2K

Heyward didn't get in the game

SAL South All Stars 7, SAL North All Stars 8

• Z. Spruill 1IP 1H 0R 1BB 1K
• JJ Hoover 1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K
• J. Sucre 1-1 SB
• L. Sumoza 1-2 K

In depth updates on this one with pictures later on.

Danville 8, Pulaski 3

• M. Jones 3-6 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, K
• A. Milligan 3-6 2B
• R. Spanjer-Furstenburg 2-2 HR(1), 2 RBI, BB
• J. Teheran 3.1IP 5H 2R 0BB 5K

Several nice professional debuts here. Mycal Jones is our highest drafted player that we have signed so far. Milligan was a JUCO we drafted last year with a lot of potential. Riann Spanjer-Furstenburg is a guy gondeee mentioned a few weeks ago from South Africa. If he pans out he would be a coup of epic proportions. Also a nice seasonal debut by Julio Teheran who is still only 18.

GCL Tigers 9, GCL Braves 8

• F. De Los Santos 2-4 2B, BB
• C. Betancourt 1-4 2B, RBI, BB
• A. Odreman 2-4 3B, HR, 4 RBI, K

I'll be honest in that I don't know a ton about the GCL guys and that it is pretty difficult to get any real info without being there to see them play since it is mostly complex ball. Christian Betancourt was a big international signing from last summer and he is a 17 year old catcher with good defensive skills and a developing bat. Alberto Odreman is a 1B who showed some good power in the DSL last year though he is already 20 years old which makes him an elder statesman around the team.

Via Scout.com, the Braves have signed 20 draft picks so far from the 2009 draft:

Round 4 (118)-Mycal Jones, 5'10 165, SS, Miami Dade CC
Round 5 (148)-Thomas Berryhill, 5'10 185, RHP, Newberry College
Round 7 (208)-Robby Heffinger, 6'5 225, OF, Georgia Perimeter
Round 8 (238)-Kyle Rose, 6'1 185, OF, Northwest Shoals CC
Round 9 (268)-Matt Weaver, 6'0 185, SS, Burlington CC
Round 10 (298)-Aaron Northcraft, 6'4 215, RHP, Mater Dei HS CA
Round 11 (328)-Chris Masters, 6'0 230, LHP, Western Carolina University
Round 12 (358)-Chris Lovett, 6'0 175, SS, Columbia St. CC
Round 13 (388)-Jordan Kreke, 6'1 205, 3B, Eastern Illinois University
Round 14 (418)-Cory Harrilchak, 5'10 180, CF, Elon University
Round 16 (478)-Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg, 6'2 215, 1B, Nova Southeastern U
Round 17 (508)-Jace Whitmer, 6'4 225, C, Kennesaw State University
Round 18 (538)-Jakob Dalfonso, 6'3 200, 3B, Middle Georgia College
Round 19 (568)-Tyrelle Harris, 6'4 235, RHP, Tennessee
Round 20 (598)-Jeff Lorick, 6'0, LHP, Virginia
Round 21 (628)-Matt Crim, 6'0 195, LHP, The Citadel
Round 23 (688)-Lucas La Point, 6'3 215, RHP, William J Knight HS CA
Round 31 (928)-Derek Wiley, 6'3 217, 1B, Belmont
Round 36 (1078)-Andrew Wilson, 6'2 180, RHP, Liberty U
Round 48 (1438)-Jamie Hayes, 6'0 195, RHP, Rider University

Still no word on our top two picks, who were supposed to be very signable. With the short-season teams -- Danville and the GCL Braves -- starting play today, I'm eager to get those guys into games and get that first-round draft pick fourth-starter to the bigs!

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Tommy Hanson sticks his tongue out and yells "nanny-nanny-boo-boo, you can't hit me" as he throws his mid-90's heater by Yankees hitters.

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It was another shutout win for the Braves -- their second in a row -- on a hot but breezy night at Turner Field. With the wind blowing in, Tommy Hanson and the Braves bullpen kept the Yankees hitters in the ballpark and away from home plate. Hanson won his third game in four starts while pitching through some wildness on the mound. He allowed 4 hits, 5 walks, and hit a batter, but he didn't allow a run; twice pitching out of a bases loaded situation. The Yankees were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.

Peter Moylan came on to bail Hanson out of a jam in the sixth by getting Derek Jeter to ground into an inning ending double play. Mike Gonzalez pitched a perfect eighth, and Rafael Soriano closed out the game in the ninth.

The Braves did all the scoring they needed in the third inning. With two outs, Yunel Escobar singled, then stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Chipper Jones then walked, and Brian McCann doubled off the left field wall (barely missing a homerun) to score Escobar. Garret Anderson follwed McCann with another double to score two and put the Braves up by three runs. That was all the scoring until the eighth inning when Brian McCann put a little more mustard on the ball and got it over the wall for his seventh homerun of the season to put the Braves up by a score of 4-to-nothing.

Tommy Hanson seemed to have a good batter, bad batter syndrome tonight. He'd look dominant against one guy, then he'd walk the next batter, seemingly losing his ability to locate his pitches from batter to batter. He dominated Jorge Posada, striking him out three times; Posada struck out a total of four times on the night, collecting the golden somrero.

Hanson's good work in the first inning -- getting the Yankees batters 1-2-3 -- quieted down the Yankees fans in the crowd, and the Braves good pitching all night kept them muffled. Some fans in the left field corner next to the 755 club chanted hip-hip-hooray when Brian McCann came to the plate in the eighth inning -- mocking the Yankees chant for Jorge Posada, hip-hip-Jorge. Overall, though, I observed a fairly docile Yankees crowd -- they didn't have much to cheer for tonight.

Let's see how long the Braves can keep this shutout streak going.

More photos » by Gail Burton - AP

Show me the money!

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As part of our ongoing series of series previews, next up for the Braves are the Yankees, and I exchanged some questions with Joe Pawlikowski of River Avenue Blues, one of the premier Yankees blogs. Joe and one of the other bloggers over there, Mike, were both lucky enough to attend the Baseball Winter Meetings last year, and I enjoyed following their adventure on a daily basis, so I'm thrilled to have Joe on here for this Q&A. Even for a Yankees blog, their stuff is a really good read.

[UPDATE:]  Here is a link to my answer's to Joe's questions over at River Avenue Blues.

Q:  The Yankees haven't made it back to the World Series since Alex Rodriguez joined the team. Considering all that has gone on this year with A-Rod, is he a hindrance to the team's success? Why haven't the Yankees made it to the World Series with "the best player in the game" on their team?

A:  The Yankees' recent failures have little or nothing to do with A-Rod. In fact, the Yankees were set to sweep the Red Sox in 2004, partly on the power of an early Game4 homer by A-Rod, but Mariano blew the save, and the rest is history. If Mo locks that one down, A-Rod would have been coming off two stellar series (he killed the Twins in the ALDS) and is probably MVP of the ALCS. Strange how things can change...

I think a lot of this stems from A-Rod's departure from Seattle. They won 116 regular season games the season after he left, so the rhetoric swirled that they were better off without him. The difference, to anyone actually paying attention, was the pitching. Seattle's team ERA dropped a full run from 2000 to 2001. Similarly, the Yanks' recent woes have been based in pitching. In 2003 the team ERA was 4.03. When A-Rod showed up in 2004 the team ERA shot up to 4.69.

So the answer to your question is pitching. Pitching, pitching, pitching. Which is exactly why the Yanks broke the bank for Sabathia and Burnett last winter.

Q:  How happy, or unhappy, have you been with your three big free agent acquisitions from last off-season, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, and AJ Burnett?

A:  I'm completely happy with the Teixeira and Sabathia acquisitions. They both started off slowly, but really came on in May and powered the Yanks for a long stretch, in which they returned to first place.

Burnett is more of a mixed bag. His stuff is evidently dominant, but sometimes he just can't harness it. Sometimes that means he has no curveball whatsoever and is forced to nibble with his fastball. Other times he'll (admittedly) lose focus for a pitch, and he'll pay for it. The upside is tantalizing, and it's good to have him on staff. The commitment was a bit too long and the contract a but too lucrative. Still, it's tough to complain too much...

Q:  The Braves need offense, and two of the guys most often mentioned are the Yankees Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher. What is the likelihood that either of those guys is traded this season, and what would the Yankees be looking for in return?

A:  I don't think there's a chance either is traded. Swisher has been phenomenal for stretches, and the Yanks greatly benefit from his bat when he's hot. Plus, he's under contract for next year, while no other corner outfielders are. His contract is affordable, so it's best the Yanks hang onto him.

Nady, I always thought, would be a good fit with the Braves. Unfortunately, the fit doesn't appear to be there. Nady is coming off an elbow procedure and it's unknown whether that will hold up. Beyond that, he's a free agent after this season, and he presents the Yanks with a valuable bench bat. The only way the Yanks would trade him would be to upgrade the team this year. So unless the Braves are willing to part with Mike Gonzalez, I don't see the two sides working out a deal.

Q:  If you could pick one pitcher from the following group -- Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Jair Jurrjens, or Tommy Hanson -- who would you pick and why?

A:  Joba Chamberlain. They're all highly touted, for sure, but my familiarity with (and therefore bias toward) Joba gives him the edge. He has incredible, absolutely incredible stuff, including a curveball which he apparently doesn't enjoy throwing frequently. He's got things he's supposedly working on now, and it's turning him into a six-inning, three-run pitcher. The Yanks will take that for now, in hopes that he harnesses his stuff and can be a three-pitch (plus a serviceable changeup) pitcher who can blow it by guys when he needs to.

Again, the above is heavily subject to confirmation bias. I like Jurrjens, a lot, but I haven't seen enough of Hanson to get a good feel for him. Maybe I'll have to start pulling up his starts on MLB.tv.

Q:  Do the Yankees, as they are currently constructed, have enough to overcome the Red Sox lead in the AL East? Do they have enough to overcome the surging Blue Jays and the Rays?

A:  There is no doubt that the Yanks can win the East. The talent is there. In fact, if they get Nady and Damaso Marte back, they don't even need to make a move. It'll be a tight rate, of course, since all four teams are respectable.

Remember, back in 2007 the Yanks were down 10.5 games at this point, and came within two games of winning the division. They were trotting out Kei Igawa and a gimpy Roger Clemens that summer. This summer they've got five solid starters and a much, much better bullpen. Watch for a big win streak following the All-Star break.

Many thanks to Joe for his great answers to my questions.

For a preview of the pitching matchups in the series, visit bigjoe's series preview at Braves Heart.

My lovely voice contributed to this preview on SNY.tv's New York Baseball Today. I come on about half way through to talk about the upcoming series between the Braves and the Yankees.

First of all, everyone needs to take some time today and vote for the Braves obvious All-Stars, Brian McCann and Chipper Jones. These guys need to be voted in, not just selected.

Click here to vote for the All-Star game

(There is a link to vote for the game just below the video on that page.)

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Secondly, one of our SBN writers, Matt Swartz, for the Phillies blog, The Good Phight, is a finalist for the Baseball Prospectus Idol contest. This week he wrote a wonderful sabermetrically-inclined article about win expectency for every game of the 1991 World Series.

A great way to experience that best case scenario is to look at a memorable baseball moment and see what the numbers show us that might give us more insight into the game. For me, the most exciting World Series I ever watched was also the first World Series I was old enough to stay up and watch: the 1991 matchup between the first two teams to ever win the pennant after finishing in last place the year before, the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins. Even then-commissioner Fay Vincent remarked, "It was I think probably the greatest World Series ever!"

Using Win Expectancy (WE), a metric that tells us the likelihood a team will win a game at any moment during that game, I decided to re-evaluate that World Series to see if the plays and moments I found most memorable were actually the most important ones in the Series. I created a new metric, Championship Expectancy (CE).

Click here to read more and vote

To vote, you need to be a member of Baseball Prospectus. If you're not a BP member, now might be a good time to join. Even though he's a Phillies phan and blogger, we still gotta vote for him, after all his most memorable baseball moment was a bunch of Braves games.

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The last thing you need to vote on today is over at ESPN, where they are doing one of their popularity contests, this one is about who is the best modern era manager. Of course our very own Bobby Cox is one of the finalists, along with Torre and La Russa. This is our chance to see how close we can come to having as much time to waste as New York fans, who will undoubtably turn out en masse.

Click here to vote for Bobby Cox

Tomorrow I will be at the Sally League All Star game. It will be my only chance to see any Rome prospects since the R-Braves do not come to Charleston at all this season. Our very own Zeke Spruill will start the game and I just happen to have bought a nice new camera recently so I will do my best to get some awesome pictures. Other Braves on the roster will be JJ Hoover (I am pumped to see him pitch), Luis Sumoza and Jesus Sucre. None of our guys will be in the preceding Home Run Derby, but I'll hopefully get there in time to see that as well.

Gwinnett 5, Louisville 11

• R. Gorecki 2-4 HR(6), BB, SB(9), 2K
• B. Canizares 2-5
  
• G. Norton 2-4 HR(1), 2 RBI

This game was even worse than the final score indicates. The Braves put 4 on the board late, but the pitcher gave up 5 homers on the night, 3 of them by starter Tony Armas. The offense couldn't do much of anything against once über prospect Homer Bailey. He went 7 strong and struck out 8 men with only 2 walks. The guy has posted a .71 ERA in June. I can't believe he will be in AAA much longer.

Birmingham 2, Mississippi 3

• JC Boscan 2-4 2B, 2 RBI
• E. Campbell 2-4
  
• S. Diamond 6.1IP 7H 2R 3BB 5K

You know looking back at Scott Diamond's season, he might be one of the most hardluck pitchers in baseball right now. He has allowed just 1 earned run in a 7 of his last 10 starts and he is 3-7 on the year. His ERA would be spectacular if not for one bad start where he allowed 7 runs and it is still very good at 3.59. I am going to have to say at higher levels he is going to be a LOOGY unless he breaks out in some special way because he OWNS them to the tune of a .219 AVG vs a .322 AVG against RHs. Either way the guy induces a ton of ground outs and will be useful in some capacity.

Myrtle Beach  - All Star Break

The onyl Pelican's to make the team were Jason Heyward and Cody Johnson. I am a little surprised that Freeman didn't get on, but he just recently turned it on and his power hasn't come on quite yet.

Rome - All Star Break

I'll be there!

Danville

Their season starts today, click here for the roster.

GCL Braves

Their season also starts today, click here for the roster.