The End Of An Era (cont.)

No, I'm not referring to anything resembling ceding the division crown to the Mets. The series at Shea began with a loss, too, and a couple of days later we were feeling pretty good. A fickle mistress is baseball fandom -- a powerful and uplifting presence when things are going well, but as brittle as parchment in the sun. Kinda like Cliff Floyd. So Brave-O-Matic cedes nothing (and besides, I didn't see the game).

Anyway, it's a lot easier to write about a topic that raises my ire than one that just depresses me, so let's return to the FOX decision to go with Bob "Yawn" Rathbun and Jeff Torpor on Turner South broadcasts beginning Monday.

The AJC has a longer article today about the decision. There are some important differences between this decision and the aforementioned TBS New-Coke-style "rebranding" a couple of years ago. Whereas TBS essentially fired Skip and Pete before public outcry brought them back, FOX is simply going with the announcers they already have under contract. According to the article, "(Retaining the TBS announcers)...would have required an additional financial arrangement between Fox and Turner, which pays the announcers."

OK, I understand that Joe Simpson's contract was probably not on the agenda during the purchase negotiations. What this means, though, is that a similar public protest of the decision is far less likely to have any impact -- FOX owns the house, and if they want to replace the rose bushes with monkey grass, that's their prerogative. Not to say that we shouldn't voice our displeasure, of course.

You can always depend on Skip Caray for a money quote:

It's disappointing, but our input wasn't requested or needed.

Skip may be a grouch (as anyone who has listened to his pregame call-in shows can attest), but he's also a classy guy:

It hurts me to say this from a personal viewpoint, but they're doing the right thing...they should be loyal to their people.

Then:

I worry more, frankly, for the people who are not as well paid as we are -- people who have done such a good job all these years.

One last quote before we violate fair use -- this from Jeff Genthner, VP and GM of FSN South:

There were many considerations -- the view of the fan was obviously a major consideration, but also the contractual relationships that various announcers have with various companies, the brand of Braves telecasts on TBS and the brand of Braves telecasts on Turner South and Fox...

Ah, branding. I used to work for a company that licensed images to ad agencies and marketing departments, and "branding" is right up there with "touchpoints" in the pantheon of BS marketing non-words that "mean" whatever you want them to "mean". But what the hell, everyone says "branding" now -- that particular linguistic battle is over.

But if you're going to use it, at least use it in a context that bolsters your point. Please allow me to illustrate, in the form of a trivia question:

How long has Bob Rathbun been calling Braves games for FSN South?

a) Two years
b) Three years
c) Five years
d) Seven years

And the answer is....



e) Ten years!!

Did you know that? Did anyone out there have any idea that Bob Rathbun has been a Braves announcer for a decade?? I have nothing against the guy, but any assertion that he represents the face of FSN South is a serious misapprehension on two levels: one, his approach is too bland and "professional" for the viewer to develop an attachment to him; and two, FSN South is, purposely, faceless. As for Torborg (who is okay, and a vast improvement over Paciorek), he's been here all of a month. His "brand" is "itinerant one-year hire between his managing gigs".

Here's a sampling of reactions from around the blogosphere (AKA the prestigious Brave-O-Matic link list):

From the consistently great Rowland's Office:

From a business standpoint, it makes sense (haven’t we heard that already this week?); from a lifelong fan’s standpoint, it’s a gut-punch...At a minimum, attendance should increase because watching the game on television will be too painful.

A call to action in the comments at Braves Journal from "Patrick":

I'm sure everyone has heard about the horrible move that Fox has made taking Skip, Pete and the rest of the team off of their broadcasts. If anyone else is as pissed as I am about this and want to get them back, e-mail the president of Fox South and speak your mind. Here's his e-mail:
jgenthner@foxsports.net

And lastly, over at Tomahawk, a brilliantly concise summary that, had I emulated it, I would have already gotten my backyard mowed today:

Awful.

FOX Sends Skip and Pete Packing

That's right, Braves fans. The faceless overlords of conglomerate media have pissed on you once again:

From AJC:

Fox Cable Networks announced it will replace the familiar Turner South broadcast team of Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson and Chip Caray. Beginning next week, the Braves games on Turner South will be called by FSN South’s broadcast team of Bob Rathbun and Jeff Torborg.

We figured this would happen next year, but if there's one lesson we should have learned by now in this age of consolidation, it's that it's never too soon for the bean counters, wherever they are, to trample local tradition. Our voices of summer -- Skip, Pete, Don, and Joe (okay, Chip too) -- are now relegated to the 70 games TBS is airing, a number that will drop to 45 next year.

This isn't the first time that Skip and Pete have had their schedules curtailed against their will -- remember Time Warner's absurd attempt to "nationalize" their MLB coverage on TBS a couple of years ago? We made our voices heard then, and forced TW to listen to its market instead of its marketers. Keep an eye on this space for a renewed call to action, and you can start by sending your opinion to FOX here.

No "O" -- Brewers 4 Braves 2

Recent trends continue -- good starting pitching, no offense. Chipper hit a 2-run HR in his return from the DL (bye, Prado -- we'll see you again), but the Braves got no other offense, as Tomo Ohka scattered 7 hits, followed by scoreless innings by Capellan and Turnbow.

Francoeur got a cheap hit, but he's lost again. Cox might try batting him eighth -- he might see a few fat pitches if he's batting in front of the pitcher. It was an exercise in hopelessness seeing LaRoche and Frenchy coming up w/ two outs in the ninth vs. Turnbow. What are the chances they'd start a two-out rally? I'm thinking 2%.

Game 3 tomorrow at 1:05. Sheets vs. Sosa, and if that ain't bad news, I don't know what is.

The Future Is Now

OK, this is actually bad news. But, here at Brave-O-Matic, we can't help but beam with pride that our official mascot has been brought up to sub for Marcus Giles, who is out with a ligament tear in his finger. Or rather, in the modern parlance, he's "out with a finger".

In the meantime, we've got Pena-to-Prado, a true DP combination!

One For The Good Guys, 7-1

With Kyle Davies' struggles late last season and early this season, and the uncertainty regarding the Braves' rotation as a whole, it's been easy to forget that Davies is one of the better pitching prospects in the game. He reminded us tonight, pitching his first career CG and 3-hitting the Mets at Shea Stadium. Even though they were missing Beltran and Floyd, the Mets' lineup still included tablesetters Reyes and LoDuca, and mashers Delgado and Wright. Those four combined to go 1-14, and Delgado struck out thrice.

Davies had masterful control of his fastball and curve, and continued a recent resurgence among the rotation. Even including Sosa's last start (which, in the faint praise department, was also his best), the last four starters have combined for a 1.61 ERA and 0.71 WHIP in 28 innings, with a 17/4 K/BB ratio. The starters combined ERA, a catastrophic 7.99 just four days ago, is now a not-quite-historic 5.83. Good times, good times.

Color Andruw and LaRoche unimpressed with the Mets moundsmen today. With apologies to Craig Kilborn, Andruw was twice amused by the simplicity of this game, and LaRoche chimed in with a call for the finest meats and cheeses. The regrettable Victor Zambrano forlornly obliged, before exiting to murderous catcalls.

Hudson vs. Glavine tomorrow at 1:10. Everyone's going to be there. You should come, too.

The New Smoltz

John Smoltz seems like the kind of person who bores easily. He's always been a tinkerer -- he experiments with different arm angles within a single at bat, and seems to come up with a new pet pitch every spring (remember the knuckler several years ago?). He's still experimenting, but now it's a concession to age rather than boredom relief.

He's ditched the splitter that, once he gained control of it ten years ago, elevated him from a fireballer to an elite pitcher. He knows the strain it puts on his arm, and that his next major injury is likely to spell the end of his career. So now his repertoire consists of fastball-slider-changeup, with the occasional curve mixed in. This means the days of 13-K games are likely gone for good, and we will surely miss them, as there's nobody else on the staff capable of blowing away hitters the way Peavy did to Langerhans last night.

But the good part is we may be able to keep Smoltzie around longer, and if the defense backs him up the way they did last night (last night being an Andruw Special), we'll get used to the New Smoltz.

A Couple of Thoughts

CB Bucknor is terrible -- wildly inconsistent strike zone and wants to argue about it. The announcers of a Bucknor-umped game, whoever they are on any given night, never fail to take note of his erratic calls and pugnacious manner. Contrast this with Wally Bell, who umped second base tonight -- when Charlie Manuel argued a tag play, Bell never lost his composure, and nobody got agitated. Tact and self-possession, not defensiveness, are signs of a good umpire.

kc at Braves Journal notes that Chuck James is reminscent of Jimmy Key, an apt comparison. If James could learn a slider to bridge his fastball-changeup repertoire, he'll have an even brighter future.

Wilson Betemit can hit.

Braves 5 Phillies 3 (Thomson For Mayor)

Now that's a Braves game. Skip and Joe on the mike, a strong starting performance, and a couple of timely HRs and everyone goes home happy from the home opener at Turner Field. Thomson went five innings, allowing one unearned run, and drove in two with a double (one of his two hits which, strangely, Skip prophesized).

HRs were from Giles and Andruw, and everyone in the lineup got at least one hit, except (go on, try to guess) Francouer. According to Joe, hitting coach Terry Pendleton was asked about Francouer's approach, specifically about pulling off the ball too early, which he's obviously doing. TP's response was that he's not going to change anything, because this was the style that brought him success in the minors. Aside from congratulating TP on his brilliant rationalization to do nothing (well played, sir), I have two points to make:

1. It's possible that major league pitchers are better at exploiting a hitter's weakness than are minor league pitchers.

2. Nobody can hit who can't see the ball.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oy Oy Oy!

In other news, Joey Devine has been sent back to Richmond after his latest scary Rick Ankiel-looking performance, and his replacement is Peter Moylan, an Australian reliever who pitched in the WBC. He throws hard, and more or less plateward.

Francouer's Troubles

Watching Francouer swing right now is a painful experience. Here's what to look for in the next few games: We know that both Andruw and Francouer will be fed a steady diet of sliders off the plate, as they both seem to find them irresistible. But watch their swings on these pitches -- Andruw might miss it by trying to pull the ball, but his head will stay relatively level, and he stands a good chance of fouling off a very tough pitch. But Francouer's head is everywhere when he swings. There's no way he can keep his eye on the ball, which makes me wonder how likely it is that he'll break out of this slump in any significant way. It looks to me that he'll have to change his approach before he'll experience any consistent success.

I think he should take a look at Langerhans who, while possessing nowhere near the raw talent of Francouer, has hammered out a consistent, repeatable swing that he can rely on when things aren't going so well.

Catching Up

Despite having given up 6 runs in each of the last two games against the Giants, and many more against the Dodgers, there is some heartening news concerning our pitching staff -- the bullpen has been very impressive. Overall 'pen ERA so far is 3.80, which includes Boyer's appearances. The 'Zona boys have combined for 7 scoreless appearances (although 1 K in 8 2/3 combined innings does not necessarily portend great things), James has been impressive twice, and Reitsma looked like the real deal last time out. And who knows what to expect from Ken Ray, but so far so good. (On the other hand, Devine continues to tend to his gopher farm -- Alou hit a 2-run HR off him last night)

The offense continues plugging along, with Langerhans petitioning for Francouer's spot in the batting order. If current trends continue, look for Langy to occupy the #6 slot next week. Giles now sports a robust .458 OBP in the leadoff spot, and were getting solid contributions throughout the batting order, with the exception of Francouer (.048 BA, and swinging from his heels on EVERYTHING).

Bullpen: Devine Intervention & Ray of Hope

Let's hear it for deft wordplay!

The bullpen shuffle begins already, as HoRam is DL'ed with his injured hammy and Boyer is sent to Richmond to continue his rehab in a less stressful environment. In their places arrive Joey Devine (so much for my "six weeks" prediction) and Ken Ray, who was ignored by Brave-O-Matic during spring training. If only we had some sort of series designed to illuminate fringe players. Hmmmm.....

Braves 9 Dodgers 8

Saw just the beginning and end of this one, which means I missed most of the good stuff. Random thoughts while the Braves get the heck out of LA with two unlikely wins:

-- So I go and insult Garciaparra for not playing in the opener, and it's taken all of three games for Chipper to miss a game with a strained abdominal muscle. Here we go again -- fortunately, Betemit stepped up just like last year with a 2-run HR.

-- Pete made much of HoRam ditching his cutter, but no matter. He still stinks, and John Thomson may be the beneficiary of the injury Horacio received while running the bases. One can only hope.

-- Feast or famine again with Renteria, who got on base three times and drove in two, but committed the error that allowed the Dodgers to tie the game in the seventh. Thank goodness we don't have to juxtapose Furcal's D with Renteria's again for a while.

-- Balanced offense for the third straight game, with contributions from everyone except LaRoche, who got the start against LHP Odalis Perez. Speaking of Odalis, you have to wonder whether he's ever going to realize his potential -- from the sounds of it, he doesn't take instruction very well, and certainly hasn't progressed much as a pitcher. Glad he's not our problem anymore.

-- Reitsma impersonated a reliable closer, getting 5 easy outs on 13 pitches. Quite a relief indeed after another shaky bullpen cattle call.

Jorge Sosa makes his mound debut tomorrow (he scored a run as a pinch runner tonight) against the Giants and Noah Lowry. Unfortunately for the already-taxed bullpen, it's a day game after a night game and overnight flight. What kind of crappy scheduling is that?

Braves 11 Dodgers 10

Well, that got interesting in a hurry. Hudson was staked to an 8-1 lead, thanks primarily to 3-run-HRs from LaRoche and Andruw, but couldn't escape the fifth after having thrown a lot of pitches (83 in 4+ innings) and running the bases in the fourth.

After that, we got an almost complete look at our new bullpen, and may wish that we hadn't. All six relievers gave up hard-hit balls, and Reitsma reprised his tightrope routine from last season, eventually recording a very shaky save. New guys Cormier and Villarreal didn't particularly impress, and Blaine Boyer does not appear to be fully recovered from injury -- he had nothing. Joey Devine viewed the proceedings with great interest, we assume.

There was, however, much good news to report offensively. In addition to the above-mentioned, Langerhans went deep, Chipper looked healthy and relaxed and put some good swings on the ball, and Marcus warmed quickly to his new role as leadoff hitter, reaching base three times.

Finally, it was Edgar Renteria's Brave debut, and he impressed at the plate, getting two hits (and getting robbed of a third). In the field -- well, it's going to take some getting used to. If Furcal (who reached base five times, though I tried not to notice) is a waterbug, Renteria is a praying mantis -- tall and lanky, all elbows and knees, and rather stiff (though the FOX folks referred to him as smooth, which I'm not sure I see). He made one very weak throw that LaRoche had to scoop, but at the end of the day all the plays got made.

One more thing -- do you think baseball players get excited about Opening Day? They say they do, and I think most of them are telling the truth. They've waited months to get back onto the field and play a game that counts, and finally they get to do so. Now imagine if you've changed teams in the offseason, and you get to play in front of your new home fans for the first time -- many of those fans are probably waiting to give you a warm welcome, and just how cool would that be? I think most of us would say that nothing would keep us off the field, at least for that one day.

Anyway, Nomar Garciaparra missed the game with a strained rib muscle. That sounds like it hurts, I suppose.