Braves arnt playing well. I know you have little hope, but i have less unfortunately. Its unbelievable that we have shat all over a 9 game lead. Braves usually finish strong, and now we are attempting to limp into the WC spot.

Dear Fordy,

We decided to pitch Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels this final series.

xxoo,
The Phillies

GO fluff YOURSELVES PHILLIES

CHIPPA JOOOOOOONESSSSSS

GO PHILLIES ;)

I will admit. That hurt a little to say.

i will stab you in the face with a used tampon

ASTROS FTW

Dear Fordy,

We've decided not to pitch Hamels tomorrow after all because, well, we sort of want the Braves and their 9-16 September record to make the playoffs.

xxoo,
The Phillies

See, I would think the Phillies would prefer St. Louis (although I do admit it's arguable).

If the Braves make the playoffs, then the Phillies get either Arizona or Milwaukee. Beyond Philly, I think Milwaukee is the most dangerous team in the NL by far. They have the 2nd best offense by OPS and have a pitching staff anchored by Gallardo and Greinke. Even though Greinke's been only a pretty good pitcher this year instead of a true ace, you know the potential is there. The Crew's only 1 game ahead of the D'backs right now, so there'd be a chance for Milwaukee/Philly in the first round.

If St. Louis makes it, it'd be Philly/St. Louis. I think St. Louis's recent surge makes this arguable instead of clear-cut towards preferring a Braves choke, but St. Louis is still a team without their ace (in Wainwright) and a team that prior to the last 20 games was a pretty mediocre team most of the season.

I understand the Phillies not pitching Hamels because they obviously have other good options and their first priority at this point should be setting their playoff rotation, but I don't necessarily agree with the idea that the Braves making the playoffs is the favorable situation for the Phillies.

I am a bit shocked though that this surge has continued. Every time St. Louis had a setback loss, I expected them to string together 2-3 losses and let the Braves clinch. But the Braves have continued to struggle and the Cardinals have avoided letting an individual loss break up their hot play.

I'd be curious to see what St. Louis's stats are for September alone. I'd imagine they're pretty gaudy.

i totally agree that milwaukee is the biggest threat, particularly in a five game series. but i'd rather play arizona than st. louis.

fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff

x2

Today will be an interesting day for MLB

Dear Fordy,

If you can't shell Joe Blanton, you don't deserve to make the playoffs.

xxoo,
The Phillies

Bumpcity

It's about that time of the year. Braves didn't make too many moves but still look good IMO.

pfft. Dragon's thread is the new baseball thread. You and your Braves thread are old news, fordy. :P

4 game win streak in which kimbrel has 4 saves! Wewt, good turn around after a fluffty start to the season. Still cant wait for chipper to return..... Again

Good news this year, fordy. If the same thing happens this year, at least both the Cardinals and Braves would make the playoffs (albeit for a 1-game playoff between the two). ;)

Beachy looked great the other day, I expect big things from Minor this year too.

Go Braves

Braves are 9-1 in their last 10 games after starting the season 0-4. In that 10 game spam that have scored 74 runs and Freddie Freeman has been playing like a fluffing boss.

/me chops all over the thread

10-1 in last 11. Braves are here and makin noise

april ftw!

Hey, you win in April it takes the pressure off you in September. There were many games the braves should of won early last year that they didn't because their intensity wasn't there because as you seem to be pointing out, it's only April.

Well, the braves missed the playoffs last year and any one of those dumb losses in April Coulda changed that

Chipper hit a solo HR on his 40th birthday to help the braves win against the Dodgers 4-3 and kimbrel got another save.

Don't get me wrong, last night scared me, but tonights turnaround was fluffin dope.

BRAVES FOR THE fluffIN WIN

Yuuup

... and that's 8 straight braves losses to the phils

And that's a chipper jones HR in the 11th to walk off and walk on that losing streak :)


I mean WTF, 15-13 with Hansen and Halladay starting? That was a really fun game to watch, and chipper is a beast, even at 40.

that game was ridonkulous

i have no idea who killed joe blanton in the offseason and assumed his identity, but he has my full support

Wednesday the braves trailed 0-6 and won it 15-13 in 11

Friday the braves were down 0-5 and won it 9-8 in the 11th again I believe.

Last night, Saturday, the braves trailed 0-6 and won it 13-9

This is insanity, and extremely entertaining to watch. He'll, chipper had 5 RBIs last night lol.

Braves are surging. The NL East is likely going to be the most interesting division to watch this year with the Phillies still lurking, the Nationals being much improved with all their young players and Miami with their much improved team as well.

Even the Mets are 2 games over .500 right now, but I kind of expect them to be around 70 wins by the end of the season, so I'm leaving them out.

If your Braves win that division, they certainly earned their post-season berth.

The reds are hurting us with the long bps right now, but I ain't worried, we ain't had chipper all series

I gotta say, this is a nice thread. I'm not all that thrilled reading the old news.

mrford, Posey is still out.

Well the braves have lost 6 or 7 in a row. I'm starting to get a bit frustrated that our hot bats have started to cool off in a big way. We need chipper and McCann back to spark our offense

Even good teams have bad stretches. I didn't realize how much the Braves had been struggling until I just looked it up (due to your comment).

The Cardinals have been scuffling recently too, but they're 5-5 in their last 10, as opposed to the 1-9 the Braves were coming into tonight's game. Of course, as I say that, your Braves are currently up 5-4.

ttt

We finally won last night!!!!!!

Lol, the NL east is fluffing insane. Braves are in third place with their 8 game slide, but the WORST team in the division is playing .509 baseball. Should be a fun summer of baseball

Yeah, the East divisions are looking especially strong (both AL and NL) while the Central divisions are looking pretty pathetic.

It'll be interesting to see if that continues to be true throughout the season or if all those NL East teams start to beat each other up and the NL Central top teams rise up from playing teams like the Cubs and Astros.

Here's an interesting question for you though fordy: Are you more concerned about the Mets, who lead your Braves right now, or the Phillies, who obviously are the cellar dwellers but still have that amazing (on paper at least) rotation?

Depends on the phillies injury recovery

I'm more worried about the marlins than the mets imo

yeah. I figure the Marlins will be for real though and you'll simply have to either outplay them or try to grab a wildcard.

The Nationals are somewhat "for real" as well, although it'll be interesting to see if their youth/the limits on Strasburg ends up dragging them down this year, in that whole "not ready for prime time quite yet" way.

But given how good the NL East is so far, it's possible the NL East 3rd place team could be the other wildcard.

As a fan of a team that could be hoping/fighting for a Wild Card if the Reds end up winning the division though, I'd be least concerned about the Mets from the East staying in contention all year. I guess you never know though. The last couple World Series champs have all been pretty unlikely. Definitely shows that in baseball, there occasionally are some pretty crazy scenarios that play out, unlike the NBA games I'm watching now where you can pretty much name 3-4 teams at the beginning of the season and almost know you're picking the champ.

Man I just love watching Chipper play. Tonight, the night he was announced to the all-star team for his final time, he has a 5-5 night with 4 RBIs. Believe it or not it was only his 3rd career 5 hit game, last of which being in August of 2002. His BA jumped 22 points tonight and he looks like a kid out there having fun.

I truly will miss him next yer

I forgot to mention that he also stole 2nd and made a defensive play at third that will probably make SCs top 10 as well tonight lol

Go yankees

4 all-stars! A starter at seccond base in Dan Uggla, a center fielder in Michael Bourne, a third baseman in the great Chipper Jones, and a closer in the young, great, Craig Kimbrel. Wewt

why are people more crazy about the braves than the hawks? ok, the braves one something.

It is a regional thing. You can't compare the two sports. When I was growing up, in Charlotte, there were two channs that ran baseball games. WGN that ram Cubs games, and a Turner channel (it changes names often) that ran braves games. That is it, so you were either a Cubs fan, or a Braves fan. It is the same story through the south. There sent that many teams in the heart of the south, so many went after the Braves. It also didn't hurt that through the 90s they won 14 pennants in a row.

*division titles

Bump, I can't believe that chipper only has around 12 regular season games left. It has been cool watching all the final away games and the opposing teams pay tribute to him, and he is still going strong. He makes SCs top 10 atleast once a week and is hitting around .300

There is a pretty solid chance that he will get to play in the post season this year as well, and with the braves recently sweeping the NL best Nats, I feel good

I was thinking about bumping this myself.

Looks like the one-game playoff could be Atlanta hosting St. Louis.
You liking your chances of avenging the loss of your wild card spot last year, fordy?

The Cardinals are so up or down, I honestly have no feeling for whether they could beat the Braves in a true winner-take-all situation. The offense can be so good, but I just don't see any of our pitchers this year as being true stoppers (Lohse is probably statistically the best guy, Wainwright's the one I'd probably have the most faith in).

Regardless, I do like seeing two teams from the East, with neither of them being Philadelphia or New York, making the playoffs (barring an even crazier and more unlikely collapse than last year)