Where do I even begin? We went to the game with some out of town guests yesterday, had a good time despite the loss and that terrible call at home plate, then brought our guests back here, cleaned up and went out to dinner. Just before we sat down to play Trivial Pursuit after dinner, I made the mistake of taking a glance at my usual post-game media sites . . .

First I saw these AP photos:

Obviously, they are the greatest pictures in the history of sports photography -- as I told my friend, who knows me so well that she immediately sent me a "YOU SAW THE PICTURES, RIGHT?!" message: I had sadheap.jpg, goofyheap.jpg, cuteheap.jpg, and depressedheap.jpg . . . I now have angryheap.jpg. At least Fairchild's bumbling behind home plate yesterday yielded something worthwhile.

After being enthralled by those pictures for a few minutes, I glanced at AJC.com to see if there were any Angry Heap quotes . . . and what do I find? Feuding Braves! Chipper and Smoltz, of all people! Actually, the fact that it's those two is not really surprising. It would truly disturb me if any of the others were sniping at each other in the press, but Chipper will say anything, and Smoltz is he of Homeboygate '06, so in some ways this is business as usual, though it's still strange to see them attacking each other and not interleague play or the upper management.

After reading this story, I naturally wanted to be a very bad hostess and stay glued to the computer for a couple of hours, but I was able to collect myself and beat my guests at Trivial Pursuit instead. So I've had time to think about this little feud, and I'm not really sure whose "side" I'm on here. When Chipper was announced in the lineup at the game yesterday, I was shocked. I'd heard that he was "day to day," but he and Bobby did not sound optimistic about his injury, last time I'd checked. He hit a homer while he was playing through the pain -- the only reason we weren't shut out for the fourth game in a row -- so was Smoltz right? Does he need to tough it out? Is Smoltz being a leader or a busybody?

To be honest, when I read the quote Chipper originally got upset about, I didn't immediately think of Chipper, but looking back now, it does seem like Smoltz was criticizing Chipper for not playing when he "could be feeling better" as opposed to sitting because he had to:

"When you don't score, you don't win," said Smoltz, who was in control before surrendering the five sixth-inning runs. "The last three games, we haven't done that. I certainly appreciate the effort of the guys who are on the field busting it, because I'm on the mound busting it just as hard as I can. We all could wish we were feeling better. But that's just the way it is."

Chipper's response to hearing this on the post-game show:

"When I heard it, I wanted to pull over and puke."

And yet, it got him into the lineup. And he hit a home run. And we still lost.

I think we need some sort of leader to step up and start giving guys hell, and in that way, I understand where Smoltz is coming from. But I also think he has a leadership style that can rub people the wrong way, and I don't blame Chipper for being upset. They need to get some sort of fire under their asses, but I don't want to turn into the Cubbies here. I know that Bobby is pretty hands-off with this kind of stuff, because he wants to treat his players like adults, so I doubt he'll call a big meeting about this, probably because he's smart enough to know that something like that wouldn't really help. Still, it seems like someone should step up and say . . . something. I would suggest Heap, but he's kind of angry right now.

I'm more worried about our starting rotation than some fightin' words . . . Good Davies looked so comfortable out there yesterday, and it nearly broke my spirit when he came out with a cramp, but hopefully it's not serious. Today we've got Chuckie going against a guy who looks suspiciously like Diaz. Like we really need another evil twin right now, geeeeez.