Injuries, Schminjuries

Oh ye of little faith.

That’s right, I’m talking to you Braves fans. Sure, things in the infield look mighty bleak now, what with Chipper, Renteria and Giles out with injuries.

The fact that they’re hurt now shouldn’t bother you too much. But all three have had a checkered health history in recent years, and that’s none too comforting.

We’d rather have these injuries crop up early so the ill can be rested and operated on if necessary. At least the Braves have a few more-than-capable supersubs in Wilson Betemit and Pete Orr, who both managed to hit .300-ish last year.

That is a luxury many other teams don’t have. If someone goes down, they go to the bench for a .250-hitting scrub who goes to the plate hoping to work a walk.

Besides, at the rate Andruw Jones and Adam LaRoche are hitting homers, we can stand to be without Chipper and Renteria for a little while power-wise. Remember, baseball is a 162-game marathon leading up to the postseason. No reason to start sprinting here in April.

Heck, if the pitching staff has indeed righted itself, maybe we’ll be in for a few more exciting games like the one I attended Saturday when Smoltzie blanked the Padres 2-0. It was a pretty great feeling leaving the Ted knowing that:
1. A starting pitcher threw exceptionally well;
2. We didn’t have to use the bullpen at all. (Let’s just say Chris Reeksma isn’t on my list of favorite Braves); and
3. The weather was AWESOME!

I’ve given up on my illusion of Jorge Sosa returning to any semblance of the pitcher he was last year. Time to stick him in the bullpen and hope he can straighten things out.

Unfortunately the fine weather won’t hold out forever and the dog days of summer in the city are upon us. For my son Tyler and myself, that means resorting to soft-serve ice cream, dippin dots and frozen lemonade to stay cool. But there are a lot worse ways to sweat through nine innings, am I right?

About this baseball-as-marathon thing. Truth be told I want the division to come down to the final weekend, and I’d rather the Braves have to come from behind to catch the Wild Card bid into the postseason.

It’s a known fact that it doesn’t always matter how talented your team is when October’s on the calendar. What matters is how hot you are.

Sometimes getting hot means putting aside thoughts that you’re a no-hit, good fielding bench player. See Francisco Cabrera, who got the game winning single in the ‘92 NLCS clincher.

I’m hoping it just might come down to a no-namer like catcher Greg Olson was for that ‘92 team. They went to the World Series for cryin’ out loud!

The best we can hope for down the stretch is some good Karma from the nobody-knows-who-the-heck-they-are guys. Here’s hoping Bobby Cox doesn’t have to fill his whole infield with such talent in the middle of the season, however.

We end the season against the Mets and the Astros, both at home. Sure would be nice to handily defeat them for rivalry’s sake, but moreso to get the Braves on a sizeable roll heading into the Division Series.

So don’t sweat the injury bug early on. We’ve got a long, long way to go.

— John Munford

Good job, Munford !!! You

Submitted by Baseball on Thu, 04/20/2006 - 3:51pm.

Good job, Munford !!! You finally got a subject of merit--Baseball.

The Braves have a few injuries and I think you're right, it's early. And besides,while no team wants injuries, its better than team discord. The Braves are tight, they play as a team and the recent run of World Series Champs from the Wild Card spot shows us that team unity is better than big dollar, disjointed lineups. And yes I mean the Mets. With now the biggest payroll in baseball of $220 million, they top the NY Chokees with $202 million. Back to unity-- even with Leo leaving it was smooth because he had a reason. He and Sam are buddies. Look for Pedro, Carlos and Andre to get in clubhouse fistfights. Look for Frenchy, Andruw and Chipper to stay loose and be friends down the stretch. A couple starter losses ? I still think we're good at the top of the rotation. Maybe not the killer corps from the '90's but its damn good. Smoltz and Hudson are great. One of my greatest baseball memories was a spring day game last year with Hudson on the mound. He will deliver.

Keep it up Munford. Don't hurt yourself on that political stuff.

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OK---Apologies to the Mets Fans

Submitted by Baseball on Fri, 04/21/2006 - 7:27am.

OK-- I need to apologize to the Mets Fans and say something nice.

How about Julio? Former Brave, now a Met.

Julio Franco, 47, became the oldest big leaguer to hit a home run with a go-ahead, two-run shot in the eighth, sending the Mets past the Padres.

Congratulations !!!!

P.S. Sorry Mets Fans, this will be the 20th year of your drought.

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