01 May
Hamptonian game thread: May 1, Astros at Braves
May Day! May Day!

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The Lockhart cameo kills me every time.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:11 pmWhat’s really weird is that I wrote “May Day! May Day!” before I decided to put these videos in or reviewed them. I didn’t even realize I had actually said “Mayday! Mayday!” until I rewatched them last night.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:13 pmMike Hampton is a punk
May 1st, 2009 at 2:20 pmHe was often injured–as fragile as a china doll–but was he really a bad guy? I don’t recall his being considered a bad teammate etc., but maybe I’ve just forgotten.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:32 pmfrank, according to Chipper they all loved the guy. I dont remember him doing anything wrong that he could control
May 1st, 2009 at 2:36 pmIt would have been a nice gesture for him to resign with the Braves on the cheap (we possibly could’ve avoided going after Kawakami).
But, I’m sure he’s a nice guy. More power to him. Just hate how it all turned out.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:45 pmFor the record, I’d be a pretty nice guy if I had his cash.
Hundred dollar bills ya’ll
May 1st, 2009 at 2:46 pmHe’s a punk because he didn’t give up the money he was owed? BTW, insurance covered a healthy chunk of Hampton’s salary.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:50 pmTruly awful video Mac, but I’ll give you credit for the effort… even if I’ll never get that last 2 minutes of my life back.
I always thought Keith Lockhart had a better range factor than that though… I guess those defensive metrics are a little off from time to time.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:57 pmMike did us a favor when he didn’t re-sign with us. We didn’t need to waste money on any more million-dollar old fragile lefties.
May 1st, 2009 at 3:00 pmOr old fragile righties.
May 1st, 2009 at 3:03 pmRight.
May 1st, 2009 at 3:09 pmFor a bit of inappropriate humor, it’s the 1st of may. Which means it’s time for a Jonathan Coulton song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLAXl0A0ZTM
I’m not sure if he’ll be up anybody here’s musical alley, but I enjoy him (and he’s going to be playing Variety Playhouse the end of the month). He’s an internet “star”… did a CD for Popular Science a couple years ago, does nerdy themed songs… has a “sort of” baseball song too:
May 1st, 2009 at 3:14 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgqN7qj8364
Dangit, I forgot the two link rule (no idea when Mac will find that last post mixed in with the spam)… it’s the first of May… go search for Jonathan Coulton and First of May on youtube… inappropriate and amusing lyrics.
May 1st, 2009 at 3:17 pmCraig Calcaterra at Circling The Bases does a good, concise story on tonight’s game. He specifically states that Hampton is fired up for tonight’s game. I have to think the Braves hitters and Derek Lowe are even more fired up. http://bases.newsvine.com/_news/2009/05/01/2761061-mike-hampton-returns-to-atlanta?category=sports
May 1st, 2009 at 3:28 pmDoes it matter if the Braves hitters are fired up? So they can swing even harder and hit more weak ground balls?
May 1st, 2009 at 3:39 pmCharlesP – I’ve been a Coulton fan ever since I caught wind of that Thing a Week project he was doing a few years ago. It’s not my favorite type of music, but RE: Your Brains and Rock and Roll Boy get a lot of play on my ipod.
May 1st, 2009 at 4:18 pmper fox sports….
gotta love Bobby
Infante
May 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pmEsco
Chipper
Frenchy
Kotchman
Diaz
Sammons
Schafer
Lowe
I for one would love to have Hampton back for a mere 2 million. Superfly won’t admit it but deep down even he knows that we would be better off with Dunn and Hampton than KK and Ganderson. You can win with
May 1st, 2009 at 4:47 pmHampton, I proved it last year when I rostered him all season long and still ran away with the Braves Journal yahoo league title. Speaking of which, wasn’t I supposed to get a Francouer Sucks T-shirt for that?
Bobby,
Chipper was joking about batting Jeffy cleanup.
May 1st, 2009 at 4:54 pmI’m sure Hampton is a nice guy. Nice guys finish last.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:06 pm@10
Would you rather have Hampton’s results to this point in the year…or Kawakami’s?
And to make it even easier…compare salaries.
I would’ve liked to sign him at what he signed with the Stros. I think it was a reasonable chance.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:08 pmEvidently, he took less to sign with Houston.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:09 pmMac – he did…and that is disappointing. But it ’tis, what it ’tis.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:10 pmIs this this longest KJ has been consecutively benched, or is this a straight platoon now?
May 1st, 2009 at 5:17 pmWhat was the quote Hampton said when someone mentioned he might pull a hammy reaching to the top of his locker? “I’ll just stand on my wallet?”
May 1st, 2009 at 5:35 pmI’ve given up defending KJ, or wishing to see him play everyday. He is what he is, and he’s down as much as he’s up, if not moreso.
Also, I have a question for folks: is there any risk to Lasik surgery? Why is McCann avoiding it, trying everything possible first? Is there a possibility that it won’t help? Because the way they talk about it, it sounds like it will help, but is a last-resort option. I find the ongoing eye saga confusing.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:37 pmFrom what I understand, the eye slowly degenerates after Lasik, just like in people without Lasik, but it can be repaired again. However, because of the nature of the procedure, there are serious limits on the number of times it can be performed on a single person; they’re reshaping your eyes by cutting away with lasers, and at some point there’s not enough eye matter left for it to make sense, or such is my layman’s understanding.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:06 pmIn fact, it used to not be recommended for anybody under the age of 40, because the eye keeps changing.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:07 pmA few years ago I was told I wasn’t a Lasik candidate because my pupils are too big. Who would have thought.
On the Bobby Cox show he said:
1 – G-Anderson “means so much to the offense”
2 – McCann is now wearing glasses
3 – KJ in the lineup tomorrow
May 1st, 2009 at 6:23 pmSammons in front of Schafer? Dammit Bobby.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:35 pmThose aren’t cheap hits.
Never mind, that was. Unless they score it an error.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:41 pmYunel tried to hit into a double play.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:48 pmHe just didn’t quite hit it hard enough.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:50 pmJoe Simpson on hitting clean up…
May 1st, 2009 at 6:51 pmYay, Francoeur! All he needed was Hampton on another team!
May 1st, 2009 at 6:52 pmI can see why Bobby would want to throw Kelly in a platoon right now. However, he is doing it the wrong way. Kelly is MUCH better against lefties than righties. If you are going to play him to handedness, it’s gotta be the lefties.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:53 pmIs Francoeur now clean up hitter for life?
May 1st, 2009 at 6:54 pmTurner Field heavily booing Hampton!
May 1st, 2009 at 6:57 pmI’m booing from Ohio.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:59 pmChip and Joe are “surprised” at the reaction. How do these idiots get their jobs in the booth?
May 1st, 2009 at 7:01 pmChip: Nepotism
May 1st, 2009 at 7:01 pmJoe: Schuerholz liked him
They’ve never seen the short films of Mac Thomason
May 1st, 2009 at 7:03 pmI was saying “Bu-urns.”
May 1st, 2009 at 7:09 pm30 — I hope to see McCann in rec specs. That would be awesome. I’m sure there’s someone else, but, off the top of my head, the last person I remember in rec specs was Chris Sabo.
May 1st, 2009 at 7:14 pmEric Gagne.
May 1st, 2009 at 7:16 pmHampton looks very hittable. I think the Braves will explode sometime in this game.
May 1st, 2009 at 7:19 pmI know we’re not exactly the ’75 Reds, but can we please beat this crap team?
May 1st, 2009 at 7:22 pmPeter Moylan. Well, he just wore regular glasses.
May 1st, 2009 at 7:22 pmthat was ugly
May 1st, 2009 at 7:32 pmWe should already be beating this guy up. Their defense has got him out of alot of trouble already.
May 1st, 2009 at 7:38 pmThat was terrible.
May 1st, 2009 at 7:40 pm“Already a few fireworks tonight as Jeff Francoeur has hit the lone home run of the game.”
-Chip Caray
May 1st, 2009 at 7:49 pmJust got home and turned on mlb.tv. WTH! Francour in the 4 hole with a homer and the rest of the team can’t get it together against Hampton!?
May 1st, 2009 at 7:50 pmYesssss Infante!
May 1st, 2009 at 7:57 pm46 — I thought Gagne wore Oakleys. Or did he wear the old school rec specs originally?
49 — You’re right. Moylan just wore regular glasses. I noticed he wasn’t the other game, though. Did he have surgery or move to contacts?
May 1st, 2009 at 8:03 pmHey, runs!
May 1st, 2009 at 8:03 pm56-I don’t know. Contacts, I think.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:03 pm#56, he had surgery this winter.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:04 pmHampton looks a little like Wolverine.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:05 pmSnitkered.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:07 pmDid Yunel pull a Yunel or did they just make a good play?
May 1st, 2009 at 8:07 pmDid Snitker send Escobar?
May 1st, 2009 at 8:08 pmWTF was Snitker thinking?
May 1st, 2009 at 8:08 pmIt was a bad throw and the catcher still got him at the plate.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:10 pmHorrible job waving him in there.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:10 pmWould you rather:
(a) Pay $10 and have the Braves fire Chip Caray; or
(b) Pay $5 and get to punch Chip Caray in the face.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:11 pm#62, not really Escobar’s job to decide whether to come home there so you’d have to assume he was waved around 3rd.
He was about 5 yards short when the throw arrived.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:11 pmI remember Chip Caray’s name getting bounced around as a replacement for Larry Munson. Every Georgia fan should be thankful we didn’t go down that avenue.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:14 pmStu,
B, then A
May 1st, 2009 at 8:14 pm67 — $15 for both?
May 1st, 2009 at 8:15 pmAnyone else get the feeling Chip Caray has had the same haircut since ’89?
May 1st, 2009 at 8:17 pm31–I don’t mind Schafer hitting 8th instead of 7th–he’s getting on at a high rate and the pitcher can then bunt him over–if he weren’t still in his first month in MLB I could go with hitting him higher in the order than either 7th or 8th
May 1st, 2009 at 8:18 pmStu,
May 1st, 2009 at 8:46 pmI’ve told this story before, but in college I did hit Chip Caray in the head with a thrown softball. No, I didn’t mean to…
Boooooo Rain, booooo!
May 1st, 2009 at 8:55 pmEating lemon marinated shrimp and dry rubbed flatiron steak from the grill and watching the Braves score some runs. It doesn’t get much better than this.. what, rain delay!
May 1st, 2009 at 8:57 pm74 — slipped, huh?
May 1st, 2009 at 8:59 pmSo I get home and turn on the Braves game and there are two rather masculine women rolling around on the floor.
Anyway, on Berkman’s “error”, did he try to get the runner at third on the bunt instead of taking the out?
May 1st, 2009 at 9:04 pm@67.
I’ll take A. It’s tough, though. It’s like, you can get paid 5$ to get to punch Chip in the face, since you’d pay the 10$ to get him fired anyway. But then, he wouldn’t get fired. So I’ll take option A.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:06 pmSeriously, this is the rain delay programming? Bring back Junkin’.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:09 pmOr Andy Griffith.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:17 pmThis is amazing. When I first got home to watch the game, it was, of course, Chip doing it. But then MLB.TV got screwed up, so I had to switch to the radio feed. And then there was a rain delay, so once again, Chip comes on for the rain delay show!
A guy just can’t win!
May 1st, 2009 at 9:28 pmHaha. That parrot humming the Andy Griffith theme was hilarious.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:35 pmI’m guessing this one won’t get finished tonight–the same line of rain came through Rome 2 hours ago and it is still raining.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:42 pmSince I live in SC, we don’t get peachtree TV. So what my provider does is just “simulcast” the channel on what would ordinarily be C-span. But! The difference is that there are no commercials (or, in this case, some other show). Instead, they just have this live camera view of the entire field. So ha.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:43 pmI guess they can simply call the game and the Braves win!
May 1st, 2009 at 9:48 pmA rain shortened game is the Hampton of sporting events.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:49 pmWhere is Joe Johnson?
Willie is already starting to kill Putz. He has pitched in 12 of the 22 Mets game!
May 1st, 2009 at 9:54 pm@88 – Soriano has been in 10 and Cox was bringing him in when the rain started to come down…
May 1st, 2009 at 10:08 pmIs this game going to be continued tonight?
May 1st, 2009 at 10:23 pmYes joshua, I have been saying Bobby is probably going to kill Sori this year…knowing that he is our highest paid relief pitcher as well as a potential free agent. I actually think we will trade Sori at the coming trade deadline.
May 1st, 2009 at 10:24 pmHas there been a Manny Acosta siting recently?
May 1st, 2009 at 10:52 pmBaseball!!
May 1st, 2009 at 10:56 pmIf the ball hits the bag on a ball hit up the middle weakly, is it luck?
May 1st, 2009 at 11:01 pmso we’ve wasted at least a week with McCann and now he’s going to try wearing glasses and he’s never done that before? this doesnt sound good. Go get the lasik done and come back two weeks from now
May 1st, 2009 at 11:01 pmHas everyone gone to bed? The stands look like a Braves Giants game in the early 80′s at the Stick. Everybody gets sit on the rails!
May 1st, 2009 at 11:13 pmWhy is Bobby bringing Gonzo in right now?
May 1st, 2009 at 11:21 pmAre you kidding me? Gonzo? In a 5-run game? With outs in the 9th?
WTF?
May 1st, 2009 at 11:22 pm92: Acosta is at Gwinnett.
I don’t know why they didn’t call the game after 7 innings with a day game tomorrow. Hope nobody gets hurt.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:22 pmYou’ve got to be kidding me! Why would you use Gonzalez with 2 out and a 5 run game in this situation!
May 1st, 2009 at 11:23 pmThis situation is tailor-made for Man in Motion. Tying run is still sitting on the bench, just get one out.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:23 pmThree pitches won’t kill him.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:24 pm@102
It’s not just three pitches. It’s warming up in the bullpen and then his warmup pitches on the mound when he comes out.
I guess they were worried that Bennett might hurt his ERA by actually letting one of his OWN runs score. They should ahve left him in, or if they were really concerned, trotted out one of the other non-big three guys…Parr, Carlyle, O’ Flaherty…
May 1st, 2009 at 11:34 pmNice win for the Braves…
Good pitching on the farm as well. Locke and Medlen were at least as impressive as Hanson was the night before.
Despite some wildness, Venters continues to look good at AA…
May 1st, 2009 at 11:38 pmRecap is up.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:42 pm