Bleacher Report - Articles by Abner Lope

Opening Day: Brave First Impressions

Abner Lope — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:47:13 -0400

Well, Opening Day has come and gone; and while it's just one game in a long season, first impressions can be revealing.

For the Atlanta Braves, Opening Day was extremely encouraging—something their fans have not felt in a long time.

The Braves had many obstacles to consider on Opening Day. They were playing the reigning World Champions on the road(gulp), starting a rookie center fielder who had never gotten past Double-A ball, staying with a once-promising outfielder who was coming off such a horrific season that he redid his batting stance, offensively anchored by a 36-year-old batting champ coming off an injury.

On the mound, the Braves started without pitching anchor John Smoltz for the first time since fire was invented, and are temporarily without Tim Hudson and Tom Glavine (surgery recoveries).

In spite of all these hurdles, the Atlanta Braves came to play on Opening Day.

The Pitching

Derek Lowe was simply fantastic. He had that trademark sinker ball—both in and away. His slider had a subtle cutting motion—not as pronounced as Greg Maddux’s cutter, but equally as effective.

He even caught a line drive off the mound, reminiscent of Mad Dog’s gold glove work.

Over eight innings, Lowe scattered a paltry two hits, struck out four (including big Ryan Howard), and induced 13 grounders on an economic 97 pitches. In one inning, he only needed nine deliveries.

Reliever Mike Gonzalez came on in the ninth and did his best impersonation of Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams, promptly giving up a run and eventually having the tying run at the plate.

However, the kid managed to strike out Howard and Raul Ibanez to close it out—more likely due to their tendency to go fishing, in my opinion.

If Gonzalez can gain some control on his delivery and not fly in three different directions when he pitches, he will be a formidable. The velocity is there, but the consistency is not.

If he doesn’t harness his mechanics, sooner or later batters will wise up and simply take the free passes.

I understand manager Bobby Cox’s long-term strategy in letting the kid work it out. Eventually, Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell will teach him the rule that relievers preserve leads when they are provided.

The Hitting

The Braves’ sticks came out early. Brian McCann went second deck, Jeff Francouer went deep, and rookie Jordan Schafer took Brett Myers deep in his first major league at-bat—and all within two innings.

Chipper Jones had two hits, including an inside-out line drive that extended the first inning so McCann could hit his 2-run homer. Schafer also had two hits.

Yunel Escobar raked a ball that would have easily been out anywhere else.

The explosion of power was aided by Meyers' inability to throw his curveball, but it took an aggressive team to hit his mistakes—and hit, the Braves did.

It'll be interesting to see how the bats perform when the y come up against a Cole Hammels or Johan Santana and have to push a run across. They won't simply hit home runs at will.

The Defense

Aside from Jones bouncing an easy throw to first baseman Casey Kotchman, the defense was sound.

Escobar looked great, displaying his cannon to gun down the speedy Shane Victorino. Kotchman continued to show why he belongs; he may not have Texeira’s bat, but he has range, reflexes, and presence at the corner.

Hopefully, there will be no more need to hold one’s breath during a ground ball to the Braves' infield.

What To Look For: Starting Pitching

For all those who wrote off the NL East as a two-team race between the Phils and Mets, they may have to reconsider—and not just because Florida is looking good, too.

These Braves are poised to compete; and while they have provided the first impression that the sticks and the staff ace are in place, the key to Atlanta’s overall success in 2009 will be that of everyone else: consistent starting pitching.

Enter Jurjjens, Vazquez, Kawakami and Glavine.

Manny's Arrival Gives Dodgers Options On Andruw

Abner Lope — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:25:28 -0400

Okay, Dodger fans. LA went out and got the real deal - a bona fide slugger with a loud bat that boasts over 500 career HRs. Manny came to Chavez Ravine and wasted no time showing fans what Andruw Jones was supposed to deliver: hits, home runs and RBIs. Great. Wonderful.

Now that LA has Manny, there is no longer any need to cross fingers, offer sacrifices to the baseball gods, or plead with Mattingly to spot and seal the gaping hole in Andruw's swing.

But now comes the $36 million question: What do the Dodgers do with Andruw?

They cannot send him to the minors without his consent because he is a 5-year MLB veteran. They can bench him to give Pierre (.280, 0 HRs) and Ethier (.274, 11 HRs) some ABs while Jones (.161, 2 HRs) becomes the highest paid sub in the history of the game. Should the Dodgers keep him around, he may feed off of Manny the way he fed off of Chipper in Atlanta and become the hitter he once was; but we're back to hoping all over again.

If by some miracle Jones does consent to being sent back to AAA or even AA ball and the Dodgers can admit their $36 million investment needs some maturing, that would allow Torre a luxury he hasn't always had in LA: writing in the optimum offensive outfield lineup out of conviction and not out of hope.

Fan Violence, Stupidity Make Their Way to Turner Field

Abner Lope — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:35:31 -0400

I understand loyalty and fans rabidly supporting their teams. But when they turn violent against other fans simply because they prefer different teams, it is appalling and sickening.

Consider the following news story that recently came out of Atlanta. This wasn't a playoff game or even a regular season game with a division title in the balance. It was a regular season game early in the year.

I sincerely hope they catch the pathetic animals responsible for this. The following was extracted from "When fans attack" by John Grupp (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).

Bobby Collins has lived in Macon, GA all of his life and has loved the Pirates for nearly as long—primarily because he adored Roberto Clemente as a youngster, and watched former Pirate Chico Lind play for the club's minor-league affiliate in Macon. Through thick and thin, he has remained loyal to his Pirates. It was Collins' yearly tradition to make the northern trek to Atlanta to see the Braves play his Bucs several times during the season.

That's why it is so sickening that Collins, an optimistic, mild-mannered baseball fan, recently ended up with a broken jaw and most of his teeth missing—all because he wore a Pirates cap to Turner Field.

Collins, 52, attended the April 2 Pirates-Braves game with his 11-year-old nephew, Tyler, and a friend. While Collins referred all questions regarding the assault to his attorney, his friend who attended the game, Andy Coggins, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution what happened. Collins, wearing a Pirates hat, became the verbal target of some beer-drinking, rowdy fans sitting in front of him. They took exception to his choice of baseball loyalty; and later, one of them sucker-punched Collins as fans left the stadium.

Collins told Coggins that the attacker was among the rowdy fans sitting near them. The blow knocked many of Collins' teeth out and broke his jaw and other bones in his face, according to an Atlanta police report.

"Bobby didn't say squat to those guys," Coggins told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "He didn't deserve what he got." Collins, a father of one who works in landscape maintenance, is still healing.

"I still hurt," Collins said from his home Friday afternoon. "It's the first time I had encountered anyone of that kind of behavior or lack thereof."

During the third inning, a group of six young Caucasian men sat down in the row in front of them, drinking beer and getting rowdy—but no words were ever addressed to Collins, Coggins said. But during the seventh inning, Coggins said one of the men turned around and said something abusive to Collins. Collins, who is African-American, chose to ignore it.

Coggins said they decided to leave in the bottom of the eighth inning, with the Braves en route to an eventual 10-2 victory. While leaving the stadium, Collins saw a cigarette fly by the side of his face; out of reflex, he turned around and was hit by a member of the group of rowdy fans, Coggins said. The assailant escaped into the exiting, dense crowd.

Atlanta police spokesman Eric Schwartz told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he is unaware if any arrests have been made, but Coggins said it would be easy to identify Collins' attacker.

The loud group was shown dancing on the stadium's big-screen TV during the game. Police also took possession of a cell phone found under the seat of one of the suspects.

Atlanta Braves: Time to Bring Leo Mazzone Back

Abner Lope — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:11:10 -0400

In recent years, the Atlanta Braves pitching has been in some decline; it would seem that this was never more obvious than this year.

Beginning in 1991, the Braves put together a franchise that not only won, but was expected to contend for a championship yearly. The foundation of this success has always been its pitching—first and foremost, the starters and then the relief corps.

In the Braves' streak of division championships, the starters have grabbed the most headlines: Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Avery, Neagle, Millwood, etc.

In Atlanta's recent and constant failure to hold leads, the bullpen of those glory days beckons to memory: Pena, McMicheal, Clontz, Stanton, Mercker, Wohlers, (dare I say it?) Rocker, Freeman, Wade, Lightenberg, Embree, Seanez, Remlinger, etc.

These guys are long gone, but they were just as important as the starters.

Year in and year out, Atlanta put together a good bullpen—and the man at the revolving door was Leo Mazzone.

Sure, Bobby Cox ran the team and John Schuerholz made the deals; Leo was the man with the pitchers. He was usually at Cox's side rocking back and force, taking in the hurler's mechanics and delivery.

Mazzone has the reputation of having one of the best eyes in spotting mechanical flaws in a pitcher; he also has the reputation for being a stickler for side throwing sessions to keep an arm strong and disciplined with memory (our starters have struggled with injuries and consistency).

With a reputation for being a drill sergeant, even overbearingly abusive at times, he helped Wohlers and Mercker improve their pitching—even with their adverse responses to Mazzone's tactics.

I have seen Mazzone come out of the dugout on a reliever trying to find the strike zone to lambaste him for walking the tying run because he was trying to nick the corners.

Mazzone was also a stickler for living on the outer part of the plate—if the guy was going to hit it out, he's going to have to do it to the opposite field. Sinkers on the outer half usually meant a weak ground ball—a pitcher's best friend with men on.

In my opinion, Mazzone was the perfect balance to Cox.

Bobby was calm (except when protesting an ump's call) and never ripped his players; Leo was a nervous habit on two legs who would not hesitate to rip a pitcher on mechanics and execution in a packed stadium on national TV.

For me, the tandem of Cox and Mazzone was a proven recipe for success. Something our current pitching staff has seemingly struggled to find. I cannot help but wonder if bringing him back would help the Braves bullpen.

More importantly, I believe he is currently available and lives in the Atlanta area.