moving on up.

For the past few weeks, I've been trying to get the project that I was working on complete. I don't have it completed, but the things I was going to add to it can be added later. It's fully functonal now and I love how it's turned out so far. I think I've gotten the bugs down to a minimum, but I'm still looking for things to add to it and even improve on it. I can be a little perfectionistic at times. The project is none other than a new site for Catcher's Corner.

When I bought my own personal domain recently, I decided to move Catcher's Corner over to it to have more functionality on the site than what Blogger or any other free blog site can provide. I installed Wordpress onto the site and even changed the name a bit, shortening it to Catcher's Blog. I attempted to get a domain name for the site, but that didn't work out because of my not being extremely familiar with setting up domains. I know some stuff, but I'm no expert. Anyway, hopefully I can get one in the future somehow.

http://catchersblog.com/
- Please update your links if you have me linked on your site/blog.

As I previously mentioned, I'm still looking for things to improve and add to the site, so if you think of something that I can possibly add or have any other ideas, please feel free to e-mail your suggestions to me. Also, if you have any questions, also feel free to ask me.

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Trade winds are underway.

Only 24 hours after the World Series concludes, our All-star short stop was traded to the Detroit Tigers for two prospects. Ok, so you ask why didn't we get more? I'm wondering the same thing. I mean, if we're stuck with the-not-so-rookie-only-by-default in Escobar, we might as well get some good pitching in return for trading away such a valuable piece of our lineup. Could this be a preview of what's to come (or not to come)? Hopefully this was just the Tigers wanting Renteria, as the articles say, and not wanting to just get rid of him for the sake of having Escobar in the lineup everyday. At least now we know that the KJ-to-Boston rumor was infact a rumor. But then again, as someone mentioned, there's always the KJ-Prado platoon card that can be played. Let's not go there yet.

Of course, by now everyone knows that Andruw is no longer with us. But other than that, no one really knows anything more. I'm sure the rumors will start flying around again before too long. Of other our free agents this off season, Julio Franco and Ron Mahay have already filed for free agency. There are some talks about Franco returning in the Spring, but he'd most likely have to sign a minor league contract and fight for a roster spot. Maybe someone, somewhere will pick him up for the year.

Before too much longer, hopefully before the end of the year, I will have the project I'm trying to work on finished. It pertains to this blog and when I get the time to write more about it, I will. For now I need to get a head start on the classwork for my next class in an hour. Read more!

The off season is evil.

The last game was yesterday and the off season is now upon us. I can no longer get my daily fix of Braves again for five months. I'm planning on going to FanFest, but that's in January, and it's a one-time thing. The off season is very wrong. Is it January yet? Speaking of FanFest, it is January 12-13 of next year. I've never been to FanFest before, but it's supposed to be entirely different than any previous FanFest event. To get more info on FanFest, visit http://braves.com/fanfest; get advanced tickets or just read up on it. It sounds like a fun weekend.

Sorry that I kind of faded out there toward the end, I was either unispired or just not in a blogging mood. I had hope until the very end, but sometimes hope can only go so far. Hey, at least we're not the Mets. Thank God for that. Yeah, I hope the Phillies lose, too. I'm not sure who I want to win it all, maybe the Rockies? Not sure on that yet. And really without the Braves, it really doesn't matter that much to me.

I plan to keep blogging and such over the off season with tidbits and what not that get posted in the news or on the many sites that I visit. So, it won't be everyday, but I'll see what I can do. Hope everyone has a good off season and that the Phillies lose! I'll be nice, heh. Read more!

The Heap Effect.

I was writing a journal entry on my LJ the other night and I have this sloganizer on my userinfo page. I was looking at it to see what it would say and it comes up with "The Heap Effect." That summed it up right there. So to further delve into the topic, here is my ramblings.

When Mac is in the lineup we have a much better chance of winning even when he does poorly for a game. As Bobby says, he hits the ball hard and is hard to defend because he hits the ball all over the place. Just think, without Mac in our lineup, where would we be? He may not be as good as Chipper yet, but I think he'll get there.

I mean without Mac playing, our other option is Corky Miller. He's not exactly very handy with the bat, but his defense is ok. Mac just gives off this positive energy that the rest of the players feed off of when behind the plate. And when he makes an error, as Jenny has pointed out many times in her blogs, it's usually stemmed from something else that happens prior to his error. I like Smoltz, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't need to take things out on Mac because of something he had no control over. Don't take your anger out on Mac, especially when it's not his fault, he's sensitive as it is. It effects his optimism level. But Mac making errors shows how prone to insecurity Mac can be. You get the sense he thinks he's not good enough to be up there and when he makes an error, he shows all of his emotion on his face. It breaks my heart every time and I just want to go hug him and tell him it's gonna be ok.

As far as Frenchy getting thrown out last night, I'm not entirely surprised. His frustration is mounting because of his lack of offense on this road trip. I figured it was only a matter of time before he exploded at someone.

But with this dynamic duo, we still manage to struggle when trying to piece together the wins that are desparately needed. What's the problem? I've stopped trying to figure it out. We have the talent to go to the World Series, but when it comes time to show everyone what we're made of, it's like we run away scared. Ok, maybe not, but I don't how to explain it. At least Wickman can't blow anymore saves in Florida for us, but then again lately, it seems he doesn't have to for us to lose.

Winning streak anyone? At least the Phillies are catching up with the Mets. At least someone is gaining something on them. Maybe our fate will turn around soon. The next few weeks are going to prove if we're going to be in the post season or not. I'm trying to stay positive because we've owned the Mets this year and we don't have to face Oliver Pairez. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Read more!

Let's take it and run.

The next two series are very important to say the least. We need to win both to get anywhere. I doubt we'll sweep either one, but it would be nice to think about. I wish just once we could put Pairez in his place and beat him. It could happen.

So, the trade deadline has come and gone. Some of my favorites got traded, but I guess I'm getting over it. Salty has been doing rather well glove-wise for Texas and I'm sure his bat will follow soon enough. Teixshy has done rather well since he's been here, but I still haven't drawn my opinion yet on him other than he's a good first baseman, good hitter, and not so bad looking. I guess in baseball though, looks don't really matter when it comes to playing the game.

Kyle gave up A-Rod's 500th homer in his debut with Kansas City, but who would do well debuting against the Yankee's during their recent hot-streak? Not many people. But they are changing a little bit of his mechanics by having him end his delivery on the ball of his foot and not his heel. I really hope that works out for him. It seems the Braves gave up on him or McDowell had no idea how to help him. The latter wouldn't surprise me one bit actually. McDowell seems to look like he has no clue what he's doing a lot. Maybe it's just me.

Hopefully Druw is better now that he's had three days off before this series. It is a damper on our lineup that Rent is on the DL, but I hope he comes back tearing it up like before. I'm pretty sure he will. Escobar still has a lot to prove, to me at least, before he can measure up to Rent even if he has come through in tough situations at times.

Let's bring the bats boys and play some good baseball this week. It really can't hurt right now. Let's take back some ground and keep up the winning and momentum. Let's bring it.

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Long time no post.

It's been a while since I've last posted and I realize that. I was on vacation for almost a week and this past week I just never got the motivation to make a post. If I thought about it, it always slipped my mind eventually or I wasn't sure what to post about. That's still probably the case, but at least I am making an attempt.

We lose last night because Ledezma was put in, which I'm still trying to figure out why when we still had Oscar in the bullpen. Sure he was worked the previous game, but Yates and Soriano look like their arms are going to fall off any day now. Even though I've been disliking Escobar's performance lately, maybe it's just me, he did pull a genius fast one on the D-backs last night. I've got to give it to him because that was just gold. Personally, I don't see why Escobar is even platooning with KJ. KJ is definitely the better option at 2B, but ,of course, they never asked me. That's also another rant that I'll not go into again, so I'll save it.

But anyway, we always choose to lose when the Mets do and even though we're still in the same place in the standings, the Phillies have caught us now. Hopefully the blow of losing Utley will take its toll sooner rather than later. We need to start winning again or we'll get so far back, we won't have a chance. Of course, the Mets are only playing mediocre teams at best, so that's an advantage for them. Maybe the weaker teams can beat up on them like they sometimes do to us. Furthermore, Smoltz takes the mound tonight, lets hope he can keep dishing out these amazing starts of his and we can get back on the winning side of things.

In the midst of all this, it seems Mac is starting to get out of his mini-slump and is starting to hit again. He's hit a number of balls to the fence, but they have either been caught or dropped right at the wall. He should have had two homers last night, but, of course, as in Chip Caray's words and to him in every other ballpark it seems, "any other ballpark, that's out of here." I think he'll start getting it soon and then he'll be hitting them out again. He also knows Frenchy has caught up with him in homers, so you know he's not going to let him stay tied with him for long.

Salty knows his fate may be elsewhere and he's getting very little playing time other than playing for Mac when Mac's had a long game or needs a day off. Salty's not playing first at all right now, even with lefties on the mound. That's Julio's job now and Scott plays first when Julio needs a rest. Personally, I'd rather us keep Salty and trade the weaker of the two in Escobar, but that's unlikely since Salty is our biggest bargaining chip. In my opinion, Salty has a lot more upside and is a lot more valuable than Escobar. We have plenty of prospects in the minors who play the same positions Escobar does and Escobar hasn't really impressed me all that much. Escobar was good when he first came up, but he's not Salty. Lately, Escobar's cooled off, well Salty has too, but Escobar is getting a lot more playing time right now, and we really don't need anymore cooling of the bats. Someone needs to do some fire lighting.

Kyle was demoted to AAA and did rather well in his first start going five innings, giving up only one run, and striking out nine. The only thing is he had 104 pitches and a good amount of those were balls. I think being in the minors for a little while might do him some good. But we lose him and get Reyes. It's like Bobby said, "who else do we have to start?" Unless we make a move before Tuesday for a starter, which I'm not sure if we will, we won't have any other options except calling up someone. Lance Cormier hasn't been doing badly in AAA either with a 4-1 record and a 3.60 ERA. Maybe if it comes down to it, we give him another shot and see how he does. But really who knows what JS has up sleeve.

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Break's over, time to get cracking.

We have four days of no Braves baseball and all we get out of it is a few great pictures of Mac. His miniscule play in the All-Star game feels like a year ago already. The All-Star break is evil, the off season is...well, we all know. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

We start back tonight playing against the Pirates. This home stand could either be bad or very good. It depends on which team decides to show up. We've had four days off, we need to do well. The Mets had to beat Cincinnati last night, so we need a win tonight and to at least take the series if not a sweep. A sweep would be good, but taking the series is also good as well.

Huddy is on the mound tonight for us. He will face off against Ian Snell, which if I remember correctly, we had a hard time hitting the last time he pitched against us. Go figure. Maybe Hopefully we'll fair better this time.

Really that's all I can think to say. I'm used to my bad memory, but you get the general idea. We need to do well the second half to get to the playoffs. We need to get a pitcher or two and our offense needs to stay hot. Some of the guys that aren't really producing well need to step it up, which I think most of them will. Most of them were showing that they looked to be heating up before the break. Let's hope this happens. We'll be much better off if it does.

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