Braves' Post Season Dreams Crushed

The Braves' post season dreams ended in dramatic fashion today. A few days ago many Braves fans, including myself, were feeling great about our chances in the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals. Well all of that fell apart tonight in a way I don't believe many people ever saw coming.

Game 5, winner takes all. The Braves rolled out Mike Foltynewciz, winner of game 2. I was nervous with Folty pitching on short rest...especially after the way Kuechel pitched in game 4. I was finishing up work and rushing home to catch the first pitch. While I sat at the stop light on the off exit ramp I saw a notification on my phone that the score was now 0-1. Then 0-2 before I got home. Ouch. As much as I love Folty, I knew this wasn't good. By the time I walked in my front door, only minutes after the game, the score was 0-4. I sat down hoping they could put out the fire, but it was just too much for Folty. Manager Brian Snitker pulled Folty after 2/3rd inning and brought in 17 game winner Max Fried. Max walked the pitcher with the bases loaded. By the time the Braves finally made 3 outs the score was 0-10. This set a MLB Playoffs record...unfortunately the Braves were on the other side of that.

Now fans are asking what happened? The expectations were high. Yeah there were some naysayers in the media that were picking the Cardinals, but most had picked the Braves to reach the NLCS. So what did happen? Or shall I ask what didn't happen? The Braves were 5 for 39 with runners in scoring position. That's what happened.

Braves should have won this series. They should have won game 4. They had so many chances to score and couldn't. The Cardinals consistently was able to get a runner on base and then advance them. They played A-B-C baseball. The Braves couldn't. It's as simple as that.

The Braves were heavily scrutinized in the national media all throughout this series. From questioning Brian Snitker's managerial decisions, to Acuna's lack of hustle, plenty of people had their opinions about why this team fell apart in the post season. While I am pissed over what has transpired today, I have to give the Cardinals credit. They played hard. They never gave up. A lot like the Braves all season, they kept fighting until the very end.

The Braves locked up the NL East early and after winning they took care of the SF Giants in the following two games. Then more injuries claimed even more players on the already banged up roster. Snitker was put in a tough position. He needed to rest players like Acuna and Freeman, all while trying to figure out who would be on the Post Season roster. He played around with the line up, moving people around on the field trying to figure out what to do. As a result, the Braves basically limped into the Playoffs. This immediately had me concerned.

The Cardinals on the other hand had to play their best baseball to stave off the Cubs and the Brewers, only to win the division on the last day of the regular season. They were hungry. They were already running on adrenaline. The Braves were running on Icy Hot.

I don't care what Freddie says, his elbow was hurting him and effected his swing. I love Freddie. I love how he plays the game. I love how he puts this team on his shoulders night in and night out. In the post game interview tonight he squarely put the blame on him for not showing up. He was adamant that his elbow wasn't bothering him. Freddie isn't the type of guy to make excuses and I respect him for that. His lack of offense surely didn't help, but he wasn't the only one to "disappear".

As I type this post I'm watching the post game show on Fox Sports South and Brian McCann just announced his retirement. Dang. We all knew it was coming. He signed a one year deal. This was his 15th MLB season. McCann may not have provided a lot of offense during this series, however he was invaluable behind the plate.

With McCann's departure it opens the question of who else will be parting ways during the off season? There were several players on one year deals this year. Names like Josh Donaldson, Nick Markakis and Dallas Kuechel. I expect the team to look different next year. I don't know if Liberty Media, owners of the Braves will open their wallet to re-sign some of these guys. Both Donaldson and Kuechel have gone on record saying they want to come back, but this remains to be seen.

As much as this stings and will take some time to get over, I think this team is going to be hanging around for awhile. There is still an awful lot of young talent in the pipeline that we'll be seeing. The young players on the team will only get better. They'll learn from this experience...everyone will. The Braves will be back in 2020. After all, literally no one in the media picked the Braves to even win the division.

This sucks. To go out like this, a 13-1 clubbing is not the ideal way to exit the season. It's going to take a lot of time for me to get over this...but I'm a Braves fan through and through. I'm proud of what this team was able to accomplish this year. With every team there will be peaks and valleys and today the Braves just happened to fall off the peak and into a deep valley.

All season long different players stepped up and provided some memorable moments for the team. This was the first season in quite a while where I didn't want to miss a regular season game. The team was just too exciting not to watch. All the young talent, both on the mound and in the dugout. The gnarly veterans that were brought in to help with the young kids. The late season roster moves to bring in bullpen help and speed on the base paths. It was a great season. Thanks to the Topps Now program, at least I have a lot of great cards to remember these moments. Names like Adam Duvall, Matt Joyce, Billy Hamilton...players that don't often receive baseball cards. Fun times...well until tonight that is.

So, where to now? At least for me I get to turn more of my attention to my Carolina Panthers in the NFL. The new NBA season is just around the corner too. While my Charlotte Hornets aren't expected to do much, I'm excited about some of the changes made and will follow them through out their season. On the hobby front, I've got lots and lots of junk wax boxes that are waiting to be ripped. I'll be building most if not all of these sets so stay tuned for some box break posts and other stuff.

In closing, thank you Braves for a great year of baseball. I know it didn't work out the way that any of us wanted, but we have to deal with the cards we were dealt (no pun intended) and now we turn our focus to the off season and making preparations on coming back even stronger a few months from now when spring training gets underway.

#ChopOn

Welcome Home Brian

I was on my way home earlier today from working in Spartanburg, SC when I got a notification on my phone from MLB's At Bat mobile app that the Atlanta Braves had signed Brian McCann to a 1 year deal. Of course there had been a lot of talk in Braves Country of what we were going to do after Kurt Suzuki signed w/ the Washington Nationals. Sure, there was some talk of bringing back McCann, similar to how everyone had been talking about re-signing Craig Kimbrel too. However I'm not sure how many fans actually believed we'd see either of these guys in a Braves uniform again.

   

I can certain tell you that this Braves fan is very excited to have a familiar face returning to the dugout. I am tempering my expectations however on what he'll be bringing to the team...you know outside his veteran presence. I hated seeing Suzuki go, I really did. This signing however takes away the sting.

The Braves didn't stop here however with the signings as it was also announced that Josh Donaldson had also been signed to a one year deal pending a physical. Of course this raises the question of what are the Braves going to do w/ Johan Camargo?

Well right now I'm just going to sit here, smile and just look forward to the 2019 season that much more now.

Defeated! Atlanta's 2013 season comes to a close.

The Atlanta Braves' season came to a close last night with a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  While it was a great season for the Braves, to say I'm frustrated is a huge understatement.  I'm proud of what the team accomplished, but October just isn't their month.  Heck, September hasn't been too good to them either in the last few years.

Where do I start?  Everyone knew that Dan Uggla has been struggling offensively for a good part of the season.  Just in the last few weeks of the season he had Lasik surgery and had to play several games in the minors before re-joining the team.  That didn't bother me too much as Evan Gattis was sent down to AAA right before the end of Gwinnett's season to hopefully get more at bats and work on his swing.  However, to bench Uggla for the first playoff series in favor of Elliott Johnson?  That's ludicrous Freddi!  What were you thinking?

Yes, I get it.  The Braves need offense and Uggla has been struggling, but you can never under estimate good defensive play.  Just look at the Braves' performance in the field in game 1 against the Dodgers.  It was horrible!  While Elliott maybe the funny guy in the dugout, Uggla should have been in the starting line up.  I'd rather have his glove in the field and hope he gets lucky with one at bat.  Lord knows there are enough other bats in the line up to rely on.

I haven't been on Twitter much, but I couldn't help to send a few tweets during the playoffs.  Man on man has Brian McCann been killed online.  Yeah, I get it he caught a lot of flak when he was standing on the 3rd base line barking at that Marlins player who hit a home run in the last weeks of the season, but that jerk's jaw was moving faster than his legs were while rounding the bases.  He apparently had some history w/ Braves pitcher Paul Maholm, but there was no need for him running his pie hole to every Braves infielder.  Just drop your bat and tag the bases and be done with it.  McCann was just coming to the defense of his pitcher and fellow players.  Outside of that instance, I don't see why McCann has taken so much heat.  Granted his play in the playoffs left a lot to be desired.  A lot.  McCann went 0-13, 4 strike outs alone in game 4 of the NLDS.  He's a free agent after this season and reports state he should command anywhere between $15-18 million on the open market.  The Braves already have two young catchers in the organization so I just don't see the Braves waiving that kind of cash in his face.  It'll be weird not seeing McCann behind the plate for the Braves, after all he is a GA native and was drafted by the club back in 2002...however Evan Gattis isn't an outfielder and he belongs behind the plate.

And speaking of Mr. Gattis, El Oso Blanco came out of nowhere it seemed earlier this year and was on fire.  I remember searching eBay to see if he had any cards earlier this year and his only release was from a minor league Topps Heritage set and man on man what that card trading for some crazy numbers!  Thankfully Topps fit him into later releases, but the timing of that combined w/ my loss of interest in collecting like I used to means I only have a few RCs of his.  Gattis has a good arm and a monstrous swing and good presence behind the plate.  However he is abysmal in the outfield.  I know Freddi Gonzalez wanted his bat in the line up and that is why he was trolling left field against the Dodgers (that and B.J. Upton's offense was no where to be found).  Gattis may eventually win a gold glove behind the plate, but never in the outfield!

Pitching was also a major factor in the teams loss to the Dodgers.  Kris Medlen was the game 1 starter last season against the Cardinals in the one game playoff.  Watching game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers I swear was like deju vu.  I love Medlen, that kid is a great pitcher...just not so much in the post season.  Mike Minor pitched an excellent game 2 and I think he has a bright future on this ball club.  Julio Teheran had a rough outing in game 3, but is a great young pitcher and will bounce back next season.  When it was announced that long time veteran Freddy Garcia would be taking the mound for game 4 with the team's season on the line, I'm sure many of the fans (including myself) were really nervous.  However he pitched a much better game than I thought he would.  If only the bullpen wouldn't have "dropped the ball" there would be a game 5.

I knew the end of the season / post season would be tough on the club when several key pitchers started dropping like flies.  Of course the big blow to the team was the loss of veteran pitcher Tim Hudson.  I was glad to see him w/ the team celebrating after they clenched the division and in the dugout for the NLDS, but I so wish he could have taken the mound.  Also loosing Jonny Venters and Eric O'Flaherty in the bullpen didn't help  Brandon Beachy made his return to the club in the 2nd half of the season, only to re-injure himself and be lost for the rest of the season.  While other guys did step up at times and shine, there just wasn't much consistency in the bullpen outside of Craig Kimbrel.  He was lights out just about every time he took the mound...he just couldn't get out there against the Dodgers enough!

This whole post isn't all doom and gloom however.  Several Braves players stepped up to the proverbial plate and were consistent all year.  Freddie Freeman, should be the National League's MVP, was fantastic.  I can see him being the next guy to play his entire career w/ the Braves.  Chris Johnson, the "throw in" to the Justin Upton trade last winter.  Who would have figured he would be competing for the batting title at the end of the season.  In fact Chris' bat was one of the few bright spots of the Braves offense against the Dodgers in the NLDS.  Andrelton Simmons.  This guys defensive talent is scary.  Batting 7th or 8th most of the season, he surprised a lot of people w/ his at as well.

All season long the Braves were streaky.  There were times they would be on fire and went on several double digit win streaks, only to follow them up w/ horrible losses to under .500 clubs.  Just look at how they were swept by the Marlins in the final weeks of the season!  However honorable mention goes to several key players who stepped in at various points in the season and helped the team.

Gerald Laird, who has one year left on his contract, could really help continue to mentor the likes of Evan Gattis.  Reed Johnson, got some playing time in the outfield at times, but was mainly used as a great, reliable pinch hitter from the bench.  Jordan Schafer was re-acquired from the Astros, the team they traded him away two in 2012, gave a nice spark to the team with his speed...both in the outfield and on the base paths.  Injuries slowed him down a bit, but I would rather see him in centerfield than a certain other overpaid guy with initials that reference an off colored sexual act.  Tyler Pastornicky is another young guy that migrated back and forth between Atlanta and AAA Gwinnett.  Injuries took him out for the season as well, but I like him as a back up for Simmons moving forward.  Jason Heyward may not be living up to some people's expectations, but I like what he did as the Braves lead off batter.  He needs to stay in right field though...he just doesn't seem comfortable at center or in left.  At the tail end of the season the team called up Joey Terdoslavich from AAA and he had some good success.  I got to see him play in person a few times when Gwinnett came to town to face the Charlotte Knights so I was happy to see him get a chance to help out the club.  I'll also throw Alex Wood on this list.  Sure he had a rough outing against the Dodgers in game 3 after Teheran was pulled in the 3rd, but outside of that game Wood was impressive.  I might be a little biased since Wood hails from my hometown of Charlotte, NC, but I think he surprised a lot of baseball fans this season.

In closing I will give the Dodgers some props...as much as it pains me.  Clayton Kershaw.  Wow.  Now I know why everyone raves about this guy.  Of course living on the east coast I don't follow the west coast teams much and rarely do I get to see certain players play.  Unless they are playing my Braves (or sometimes Red Sox when I watch the AL) I don't follow their careers and progress.  Clayton impressed me.  I already respected him for being a devout Christian like myself, but his baseball skill has very much left an impression on me.  The Braves just happened to run into a very good, and very hot Dodgers team in October.  The Dodgers did the things necessary to win games that the Braves simply did not do.  Both teams had their fair share of injured players so I'm not going down that path, I'll just leave it as it is.  The Dodgers were the better team...in October.  I'm proud of the Braves and I look forward to seeing what happens in the off season.  Of course I'll be ready come spring next year as well.

Thanks for a great 2013 season.  I guess the bright side to the Braves being out of the playoffs is this.  I won't have to worry about missing any games the rest of this week or next week since I'll be at Walt Disney World!  I will have to tune in though and root on the Pirates to take out the Cardinals and Dodgers.  And for my wife, I'm hoping the Sox get back to the World Series as well...though I wouldn't be upset to see the A's there either.  I like pulling for the small market teams.

Oh and one last thing.  Yasiel Puig.  Still don't like him and I still think he is overrated.  That is all.

My lone baseball card representation from Christmas

When people were asking what I wanted for Christmas earlier in the year I mentioned just about everything BUT baseball cards.  Not sure why.  Perhaps I was just taking a break during this off season, but my wife was gracious enough to toss a rack pack of 2012 Bowman Chrome into my stocking.

I'm not a big prospector so I don't buy much Bowman each year.  I'll track down all of Tim Hudson's cards and at least a complete Braves set, but that's about it.  Having said that this pack of Bowman Chrome was my first time ripping this product.

You know the break down - three packs each containing three cards + an exclusive three card pack of green bordered cards.  The first pack I opened contained a nice Braves surprise waiting for me in the form of a Brian McCann Refractor.

The 2nd pack didn't contain anything special...just some base cards which have been listed on my trade page.  The 3rd pack however is where things got interesting.  The pack lists the odds at 1:390 for Prospect Refractors.  I'm hoping an Astros fan will want to trade with me.

#170/500

My wife said she had a hard time finding much to choose from at the local Walmart by the house and told me she really didn't know what to buy.  I would've been happy even if I hadn't pulled a Braves card I needed or the auto - I just love her for thinking of me and my crazy hobby enough to buy me a pack of cards.  Thanks babe!

Potpourri

This post covers a little bit of everything.  Trade, new trade bait and new acquisitions.

We'll start off the new acquisition portion w/ some new Jeff Francoeur cards.

2012 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition

Since UD lost their license I really hadn't been following what they were doing so I had no idea this new SP set existed.  Scored this auto for a song.  I know it's a sticker auto and lacks any pictures, but it's still a decent design and better yet another auto to add to my Frenchy collection.

  

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Glove Stories

Nice card, nice mini.

Moving on to Tim Hudson and a trio of Tier One.

#299/399

#50/50

#23/25

Other than to get collector's like me to buy the same card 3 times I really don't see the purpose of these tiered relic cards.

A few new Atlanta Braves added as well...

Dan Uggla #344/399

2005 Donruss Prime Patches Javy Lopez Past & Present #14/56

Picked this nice card of Javy up on Yardsellr for $3 shipped.  Too bad the Braves jersey swatch wasn't red as the Orioles orange really stands out more.

2003 Topps Traded Brian McCann RC

Love this $.99 RC of baby face McCann!

I've been fairly busy working on some trades lately.  After pulling a Yankees Fan Favorites auto from 2012 Archives I waited for a Yankees fan to contact me with a trade offer.  It didn't take long before BA Benny hit me up.  I told him I'd love to trade for the Sid Bream auto from the set and he just happened to have pulled that very card from his box.  What were the odds?!

One of the things I love about this Sid Bream auto is that he included a Bible verse on the card.  In fact he did that on every auto in the set!  Glad Topps didn't try to censor him and his beliefs.  The verse is taken from Galatians chapter 2, verse 20:

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

BA Benny also tossed in this hand signed 1988 Topps card of Randy St. Claire that was also inscribed with a verse.  Thanks buddy!

And the last of my recent additions is a new Jon Beason Carolina Panthers jersey card from the new '12 Panini Prestige.  Man I can't wait for the NFL season to start!


2011 Topps Lineage Pablo Sandoval auto

I picked up this auto of the "Kung Fu Panda" in hopes of swapping it for a Braves auto or relic.

Delivery Day

Before learning last week that I am now "poor" I did pick up a few cards that will be slowly arriving (hopefully) this week.  The first small package of cards contained a few blue parallels from 2011 Topps Opening Day and one UD minor league card.

I still believe Topps handled these blue parallels in Opening Day better than the gold parallels from the base set of Topps.  Hudson is #d 1496/2011, McCann is #d 1410/2011 and Uggla is #d 0848/2011.  I also grabbed a photo shopped card of Lance Berkman #d 1630/2011.

 

I also found another Todd Hollandsworth card that I didn't have.  This time it was a 1992 Upper Deck minor league insert, Player of the Year #PY9.  I wonder if Nomo's Sushi Platter or Night Owl have this card in their collection?

It Came From the Internet

I've always wanted to add an autographed Brian McCann card to my Braves collection and today this showed up in the mail.  Wow, this card is simply beautiful.  I don't normally go after the high end cards like Triple Threads, but after participating in a group break that had a few boxes I couldn't resist to see what else was out there on eBay.  This is the highlight card of my Braves autograph collection at the moment.

In the Mail 9/9/10

It's been awhile since I've posted what the mailman brought me so here are 4 nice cards I was excited about winning on eBay.

2010 Topps 206 Dual Relic Brian McCann #DR-BM (85/99)

2010 Topps 206 American Caramel Autograph Melky Cabrera #ACA-MC

 

2010 Topps 206 Autograph Gregor Blanco #TA-JB

I know the guy isn't w/ the club anymore, but I like the mini framed on card autos.  Plus the card was cheap ($3.00)!

Overall I haven't been that impressed with the new 206 set, but the mini cards are nice and these relic and autograph inserts are terrific.  I'm sure I'll be tracking down some more of these once the wallet has had a chance to recover.

Switching gears now to the gridiron.  In celebration of Everette Brown's fantastic pre-season performance I went looking for more autographed rookies of his.  I wasn't able to find many, but here is one I grabbed for $4.00.

 

2009 Donruss Gridiron Gear #146 (021/100)

All Star woes

I was shocked to see an e-mail alert sitting in my inbox this morning that George Steinbrenner had passed away early this morning. I read this while sitting @ the beach w/ my family including my brother's girlfriend who is from NY and a Yankees fan. I thought about making a smart comment, but then I decided to just bite my tongue and pay the man some respects. I've never cared for the Yankees (or any other NY team for that matter), but it's always sad to see someone leave before they were ready...even if they were 80 years old. Rest in peace George.

On a more positive note...how 'bout that Brian McCann base emptying double in the 7th inning?!

Successful trade w/ On Card Autos

Over the 4th holiday I received a bubble mailer that I wasn't expecting. A few weeks back I sent Chris over at On Card Autos a purple Refractor of Starlin Castro and he told me he'd send me some Braves goodies. Well I gotta say I was very impressed w/ the bubble mailer full of goodies.

Yunel Escobar 2008 Topps Chrome #53 Bronze Refractor #d 339/599

I love Refractors and this is a beauty! He also sent me a 2008 Topps Chrome Brian McCann which I didn't already have. Nice.

Edgar Renteria 2006 Upper Deck shiny green foil card (don't know the insert's name) #75 #d 25/99

Sometimes I forget Renteria even played in Atlanta. I'm not familiar w/ this card, but hey it's #d to 99 and it has that Refractor vibe going.

Gary Sheffield 2008 Topps Moments & Milestones #52 #d 124/150

Gary's years in Atlanta were too short. Great #d card that also goes straight into the Sheffield/Braves collection.

He also sent me a 2010 Topps Yo Mamma card of Chipper Jones that should help round out that set.

All in all it was a great trade and I look forward to sending more Cubs stuff to Chris.

In the mail 7/1/10 through 7/7/10

Got a little back logged while I was "away" so here's my attempt to show some of the stuff that I grabbed from here and there over the last week.

Jeff Francoeur 2010 Bowman Orange #93 #d 005/250

2010 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini #278

Yunel Escobar 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter autograph #AGA-YE

2010 Topps Allen & Ginter game-used bat #AGR-YE

Brian McCann 2009 Upper Deck Starquest Emerald Super Rare #SQ-29

* For whatever reason the scanner screwed up my image on the 2010 Topps A&G jersey card and I was too lazy to re-scan it.

Jason Heyward 2010 Sports Illustrated for Kids #477

I hadn't seen this card before and I got it for cheap ($2) so I couldn't resist. (scan is horrible, card looks much better in person!)

Chipper Jones 2010 Bowman Blue #125 #d 398/520

With this possibly being Chipper's last season I figured I could splurge and pick up a few cards of his that I wouldn't normally.

Braves make it 5 & I play catch up!

First of all I wanted to congratulate the Atlanta Braves for sending 5 players to next week's MLB All-Star game.

Martin Prado has been tearing up NL pitchers all season (.332 average) and I was glad to hear he got bumped up into the starting role...well deserved.

Omar Infante was a surprise when I heard his name, but that didn't mean I wasn't excited. He's been a huge asset for the Braves thus season filling in a 2nd base, short stop, 3rd base and in the outfield. A+ utility player I'm sure any team would love to have.

Jason Heyward - no surprise.

Brian McCann somewhat surprised me too. He's only batting .267 for the season with 10 homers and 34 RBIs. He's been great behind the plate though and should make a great addition to the NL bench this year.

And finally Tim Hudson. Tommy John surgery? You can't tell it by the season he's having thus far. 8-4 with a 2.44 ERA & 58 strike outs.

I believe this has been my longest "absence" from my blog since I started it the first of the year. With work and family these last few weeks have been a little crazy, but that hasn't slowed down my passion for baseball. In the coming posts I'll post some new acquistions both from eBay and from trades.

In the mail 6/1/10 - 6/5/10

I've fallen a little behind on posting some of my acquisitions thanks in part to a hectic work schedule and a comic book convention I attended over the weekend, but I'm back to show off more of my cardboard collection!

We'll start off with a nice Kris Medlen rookie. 2009 Topps Unique #168 Red #0614/1199. Medlen pitched a great game last night despite giving up 3 solo homers to the Diamondbacks. Hard to believe he's been in the Bigs now for over a year (MLB debut was 5/21/09).



Switching gears to Finest. Brian McCann 2010 Topps Finest #116 Refractor # 003/299. As I'm sure you've read elsewhere, scans just don't do these cards justice, esp. the refractors.



Nate McLouth 2010 Bowman Throwback #BT31

I love this insert set partly because I never had many 1992 Bowman cards. The '92 set came out just a few years after I started collecting and I never could seem to find it at the stores where I bought cards. I'm surprised at how well the design has held up and how it doesn't seem so retro looking when compared to other early 90's designs.



Brian McCann 2010 Bowman Throwbacks #BT87



Yunel Escobar 2010 Bowman Throwbacks #BT95



Chipper Jones 2010 Bowman #125 Orange #046/250



Martin Prado 2010 Bowman #18 Orange #235/250



Caleb Brewer 2010 Bowman #BP81 Blue #400/520

A quick scan of the back of the card reveals he was part of a no-hitter in '09 along with 3 other teammates as well as not giving up a home run in 2009.



Michael Dunn 2010 Bowman RC #211 Gold



Martin Prado 2010 Bowman #18 Gold



Yunel Escobar 2010 Bowman #182 Gold