This has been a melancholy week in Braves Country. With the loss of Chipper Jones for the season as well as loss of Kris Medlen for the next year and change, us fans do have reason to be a little on the sad side. But at the same time, the team polished off the Giants, won a road series in Houston, saw the solid debut of Mike Minor, and sort of got out of a little bit of a hitting funk with some dramatic clutch hitting, and as the week comes to a close, our lead in the division is greater than which it started last weekend.
Injuries are more or less the name of the game for this week, as pretty much every team in the division is dealing with some key players with nags, aches, DL stints, or other physical ailments. Except for the Mets, whom instead have all sorts of headaches and internal problems that probably make roster management in light of DL stints seem like Monopoly.
Welcome back to another week of Things Read in Other Moms' Basements.
Francisco Rodriguez fights with babysmama's father, subsequently arrested - Amazin' Avenue
Seriously, I could've had my pick of the litter which source to source this from, but I'll be honest; nobody did it more entertaining than the guys over at AA. Consequence for his actions aside from police custody was a two-game suspension from the Mets, and he's also not allowed to see his kids or babysmama. But seriously, it's no surprise that K-Rod is an indignant, disrespectful, hot-headed punk, but I'll be the first to say that I didn't think he'd really have the gall to do something to get arrested over. Oh, and see K-Rod in cuffs!
"Maybe it's a distraction we need ... Not to say it's a good thing, but maybe at the end of the day, we can turn it into a positive." -Jeff Francoeur
Oh wow, words cannot express.
All because the father (named "Carlos Pena," but not being that Carlos Pena) told him to "Man up."
Jeff Francoeur wants to be traded - MetsBlog
Now that he's hit 100 career homers, 'ol Frenchy feels that he deserves to play more, meaning he wants to start, and if he's not going to get that in New York, he'll settle for Kansas City a trade to a place that will allow him. And since Kansas City has traded Jose Guillen away, a suitable place for Francoeur seems like, you guessed it, the Royals.
Civil suit filed against Johan Santana - NY Daily News
When it rains, it pours in New York. The woman who accused Johan of rape back in October 2009 is filing a civil suit against him, perfect timing what with K-Rod getting arrested.
Irrelevance or punch line? - MetsBlog
The fact that the Mets are turning into one of the biggest freakshow acts in baseball history is not lost on Matthew Cerrone, and he simply poses a question - should Mets fans prefer the team to be irrelevant or a punch line? Because it's obvious what it is right now, and the latter seems like the more ideal scenario.
Mike Lupica: Captain Obvious - NY Daily News
In two, doom-is-gloom stories, author/NYDN writer, Mike Lupica states the very obvious - Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez have a lot of legal troubles, and that it was a bad week in Mets baseball thanks to them.
Pat Misch called up to debut against defending NL Champion Phillies and oppose Roy Halladay - MLB
No presure or anything. Y'know, some of you might hate me for daring to say this, but this situation seems a little familiar. A starter is needed, but instead of going to the bullpen-stranded former starter to spot-start, they'd rather dip into the minor leagues and call up a potential young stud. Yes, I am comparing Oliver Perez to Kenshin Kawakami (situation, not statistics), but at least Mike Minor wasn't called up immediately to face Roy Halladay and the Phillies lolMets
Carlos Beltran has passed through waivers - MetsBlog
Much like OPS guy last week, this really isn't that big of a deal. Likely, 4-5 teams are going to pounce on this, with the crappiest team getting the rights to negotiate, and Omar isn't going to like it, and simply pull him back. But it's worth noting that Beltran could be traded for, for the right deal which probably won't happen.
Rod Barajas starting rehab assignments - MLB
Okay, throughout all this mess, there is an injury update in the Mets world somewhere. Catcher Rod Barajas is beginning his rehab assignments, on his way back from an oblique strain.
Seven players will make up almost $120M in budget in 2011 - MetsBlog
And the LOL part of this joke is that two of them are Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo and one of them is not Jose Reyes. But the reason this is interesting is that it takes nine players to field a team, and it's not conducive for a single starting pitcher to be responsible for throwing 1,458 innings plus potential extra inning affairs. So basically you can expect the Mets to be saddled with a whole lot of mediocrity after the star players are paid.
OPS guy taken off waivers, happy to remain with Nationals - MLBlogs
As if it were any surprise, Dunn was claimed by like five teams, and nothing could be worked out, so Dunn was pulled back, not to be dealt. But he's seemingly content, and reiterates how much he would like to remain with the team for 3-4 years, depending on how much they're willing to pay him.
Josh Willingham also has knee troubles - WaPo
Surgery might be in Willingham's future, but for the time being, he can play through it.
Speaking of all the injured Nats - MLB various
J.D. Martin has underwent successful back surgery, Jesus Flores is slowly taking strides, Tanyon Sturtze Chien-Ming Wang is unsure if he'll ever pitch this year, Ross Detweiler strained his hip, and Nyjer Morgan is taking BP again.
There's Something About the Marlins - MASNsports
You know how we can't beat the Nationals? Statistically, that's a silly statement, because there are times when the Braves do top the Nationals from time to time, but it doesn't take a genius to know that there are just some teams that have other teams' numbers, regardless of stats. Well, for the Nationals, it's none other than the Marlins, whom they are 13-34 against, since 2008 - that's roughly one out of every four games, will the Nationals actually beat the Fish.
Would Bryce Harper ever go back to school? - WaPo
"Hell, no."
It would've been more amusing if such words came from Harper himself, but instead, it came from Tyler Hanks, a 17th round pick by the Nationals who was also a teammate of Harper's at the College of Southern Nevada.
Nationals Time Traveler appeared in 1984's Karate Kid - Deadspin
I knew about this a long time ago, because nobody knows more about The Karate Kid than I do, but it's nice to see someone else put it in the spotlight so I didn't have to be like "SEE GUYS??" But it's not really a time traveler, because way back in the day, before they split town and became the Texas Rangers, the Washington Senators also used the same curly-W on their hats.
Weird-nose actor to appear in movie as a Nationals relief pitcher - WaPo
How many of you knew I was talking about Owen Wilson?
How the baseball itself has changed throughout the years - MASNsports
A pretty interesting watch, IMO.
Rob Dibble would prefer if it if the women stayed at home barefoot, pregnant and making his supper - Deadspin
As opposed to having the best seats in the house, and conversing about the latest iteration of The Real Housewives of ____ instead of watching the sacred game of baseball.
Phillies injuries updates - Various
Chase Utley has been cleared to start taking BP, Shane Victorino has been activated from the DL (with Antonio Bastardo demoted for the 72nd time, in order to keep Domonic Brown), and Ryan Howard is not going to rush and take his sweet time getting ready for a torrid September. Placido Polanco will finish out the rest of the year, but likely have elbow surgery in the off-season.
Let's play the ever-fun blind numbers game! - Beerleaguer
The two lines represent Jimmy Rollins and Wilson Valdez. Which one is which? More importantly, why are they so close? Other than a spike in walks and subsequent OBP, Wilson Valdez gives up pretty much nothing else. For shame, J-Roll.
The Transformation of Cole Hamels - Crashburn Alley
(h/t The Good Phight)
Long story short, he's not throwing the changeup as often as he was all throughout 2009, and speeding up the bats of the hitters who were sitting on it.
The Good Phight interviews Pedro Martinez - The Good Phight
I knew a lot of bloggers got the opportunity to interview the legendary pitcher, but I didn't realize that our rivals' blog got to as well.
Chris Coghlan undergoes his own season-ending knee surgery - MLB
Unlike Chipper Jones' defensive gem, most of us remember it occurring as result of over-celebrating a walk-off hit against us, just a few weeks ago.
Dan Uggla in contract-extension talks with Marlins - Miami Herald
Estimated ballpark figures look to be around 3/$30M. Off the top of my head, given the offensive production they're getting out of the all-time Marlins HR leader, that's a little wee bit more than a fair deal.
Leo Nunez needs to stop throwing so many changeups - Marlin Maniac
Never mind the fact that so few of them are remotely capable of crossing the plate as strikes, but for (Pujols) sake, it's pissing off the coach! But it's okay, no need for demotion, because Nunez is statistically justifying his predictable regression, and E-Rod may soon need to go to a closer-by-committee.
What did the umpires do this week? - MLB
They actually swallowed their pride and consulted the replay on a questionable location of a Mike Stanton hit, which was initially ruled an RBI triple, but upon the unholy review, it was decided that it was indeed, a home run. Perhaps a make-good from the botched line call from last week?
Mike Stanton was a competitive kid - Miami Herald
After going 5-for-5, the stud prospect admits that when he was a kid, he was really, really bitter about not being the first kid in his league to hit a home run. Instead, he had to settle for the bronze.
The Braves way doesn't necessarily work for the Marlins - Miami Herald
None of us need to know where Fredi Gonzalez got the idea of no-music in the locker room that he instituted with the Fish, but apparently, it led to poor morale down in Florida. Edwin Rodriguez has allowed boom boxes and loud music, and some are crediting such leniency as justifiable reasoning that the Marlins have gone 14-10 since the break.