Note from Alex: hard to tell if they’ll get in a game today. So, if there is a game, this will be the game thread. Otherwise, open thread.
Those of us who were Braves fans in the early 1970’s remember the “beep beep†on the PA at Atlanta Stadium every time Ralph Garr came to bat. Now, the College Baseball Hall of Fame has named Garr to its 2013 induction class. The induction ceremonies will be held June 28-29 in Lubbock, Texas.
Garr played a token amount at Grambling as a freshman in 1964 season, making only 21 plate appearances. His next three seasons he would lead the team in hitting leaving with a career batting average of .418 while his senior season’s batting average of .582 remains the NCAA Division II record today. Grambling went 103–11 over the four seasons Garr played, culminating in a 33-1 mark and 3rd place in the NAIA baseball championship.
The Braves would draft Garr in the 3rd round of the 1967 draft, behind another 2 players who never made a Major League appearance, OF Andy Finlay and RHP Dennis Dalton. Interestingly, the Braves selected Dusty Baker in the 26th round of the 1967 draft. Garr, Baker and Bob Didier, who became one of Knucksie’s catchers, were the only 3 players from that draft to make it to the big leagues.
Garr made limited appearances with Atlanta in 1968, ’69 and ’70, batting .359 at Richmond the latter two seasons. After making it to Atlanta permanently, Garr’s best season was 1974, a year when he lead the National League in batting with 214 hits, an average of .353 and 17 triples (he only hit 11 homers). After dropping to a .299 batting average in 1975, the Braves would trade Garr to the White Sox as they entrenched themselves in the basement of the NL West.
Garr’s Atlanta career concluded with a .317 batting average, and an .350 on-base percentage. Beep-Beep.
‘the Braves would trade Garr to the White Sox as they entrenched themselves in the basement of the NL West.’ LOL. Good stuff Alex.
As one of the guys that actually watched Garr play, I thank you for the update. One of my weird memories of the guy was a picture of him in SI in those funky shorts uniforms the White Sox wore when they were owned by Bill Veeck. I was sad when he got traded.
I didn’t write this, it was AtlCrackers Fan.
@mlbbowman: Pastornicky has been recalled from Gwinnett to take Hewyard’s roster spot.
At least with Pastornicky on the bench we won’t have to watch Pena try to hit right handed.
That’s really great — I had no idea about Garr’s college career. The fact that Juan Francisco shares a nickname with him is a bad joke.
From previous thread: DG, I must have had the phrase “wait and see” in my head from your comment, but I was actually responding to the comment following yours. Sorry for the confusion.
Sansho: No worries. I think I got confused as well in my response. I think the site could use a “reply” feature in the threads.
They seem determined to go through with this afternoon’s game:
Simmons ss, Bupton cf, Jupton lf, Freeman (yay!) 1b, CJohnson 3b, Gattis c, Uggla 2b, RJohnson rf, Minor p.
Thanks AtlCrackers fan. Missed the big old by line.
Watching on TV, the field is clear, so I don’t think there will be any problems with the risk of injury or anything. It’s just going to be damned cold. Frankly, they need to play if the only problem is that it’s cold. Otherwise, there’ll be a doubleheader tomorrow, and then they’ll have to go back through Denver on an off-day at one point and play another doubleheader.
I think there should be a rule that if Denver has to snow out two game of a series the make up games are played in Atlanta, where the gods actually like baseball.
@10 Amen.
Garr was in an outfield with Henry Aaron & Dusty Baker. Pretty good pop out there.
He could hit a line drive whether the pitch was at his shoetops or the bill of his helmet. Because he was so fast & he kind of stepped in the bucket on a lotta pitches, Garr was really fun to watch.
But his strike zone was pretty much any pitched ball. At the plate, he was kinda like a lefthanded Manny Sanguillen (with a lot more speed, of course).
@10
I think it should be a deal if they can’t get the snow off the Rockies forfiet.
My buddy is at the game and says the field looks great FWIW
Between the cold, the snow and the humidor, why have a Major League Baseball team in Colorado?
This will apparently be the coldest starting temperature for a game in Rockies history.
EDIT: You can’t just say Denver can’t have a Major League Baseball team. If you do that, then why can Minneapolis have one? What about Detroit? Cleveland? The list goes on. If Denver can support a team and there’s an owner who wants to operate out of there, they can have a team.
Jason Heyward had an emergency appendectomy.
The Braves’ right fielder is gonna take some time off after having an emergency appendectomy last night in Denver. No other details apart from the fact of the surgery were released by the team.
A couple of players have had in-season appendectomies relatively recently: Matt Holliday and Adam Dunn. Holliday missed about ten games, Dunn six. Holliday was fine, Dunn took some time to get his groove, such as it is, back. They do these things laproscopically now, so it’s not terribly invasive.
And frankly, Heyward could use a break as he’s been struggling something fierce at the plate. No word on how long he’ll be out, but I’d assume the Braves will DL him and let Evan Gattis play some left field while Heyward recuperates.
#10!
See? Justin Upton isn’t complaining about the weather!
Justin could hit homers in Antarctica, in the dead of winter.
Would be funny if one of the struggling guys hit that and had to wear a balaclava every game.
It’d be nice if someone would get on base before these Upton home runs.
@14 – I went to a game there a couple weeks ago. Somehow we caught a weekend where it was 70 degrees every day in early April. It’s a nice ballpark (of the same vintage, and feel, as Turner Field – modern seats, big concourses, 10,000 seats too many) and it’s in a very accessible, walkable district with bars and restaurants all around it. Like what Atlanta could have if our urban planning wasn’t complete nonsense.
I think any Braves fan who visits will come away thinking this is Turner Field if they hadn’t stuck Turner Field out in the middle of nowhere. It’s a fun ballpark experience, even if you do have to account for the occasional snow day at the beginning/end of the season.
They outdrew us by about 2,000 fans per game last year (perhaps for the above-listed reasons) so I don’t think they’re going anywhere.
LOL…Mike Minor with the short sleeves.
I love when Justin hits his non-gritty home runs.
It’s possible that even Kirk Gibson would consider any home run hit in temperatures below 25 degrees to be gritty.
Just saw a homeless guy down here in Macon walking around with a Franceour t-shirt and I had to laugh. I know we’re not supposed to joke about something like that, what with Franceour having had his way with us last homestand.
UGGLA!! Coors can be a good slumpbuster.
26- Sounds like a good way to update Don Henley’s Boys of Summer. “Out on the road today, I saw a Francoeur T-shirt on a bum out back. A little voice inside my head…”
UGGLA SMASH
Reed can run!
Uggla, you lovable little snow home run hitting moron!
I apologize for I believe this has been asked before, but can someone post a good Braves radio stream online?
You know, I like our chances to win a lot better when we hit two home runs in the first two innings. In retrospect, I think we should have tried to do that against the Pirates.
That at-bat sucked. Minor had him struck out on the 1-2 pitch, but the ump called it a ball. Then he lost him.
Great, B.J. decided to lollygag and let him get a hustle double.
We seem to have had more than the usual number of crap umps this year.
Uggla gives and takes away. Mostly takes away.
This is like a Marlins spring training game. Only with implications.
And about 60 degrees colder.
Is that audio from the Rockies’ dugout or the stands? Weak **** either way. “What happened to your ERA, baby?”?
If stands, hopefully that bat was fortuitously aimed.
You see those Braves fans dressed as polar bears?
Finally nailed down that elusive fifth out.
It’s never the nice, respectable fans getting picked up on empty stadium audio.
Dangit.
Can a lead never last two innings any more?
This is going to be a miserable two days.
GeeZ…that triple by Fowler would’ve been a frickin’ single if Heyward’s in right.
Braves are going to need more pitchers for this series.
If they set the stadium on fire now, the rest of baseball will be eternally grateful, it will be warmer for the nightcap and we’ll never have to come back.
Dumbpire.
“Come on Tulo, you own this guy”
Now 0-4 with a fake walk.
And whoever is watching soccer champions league semi final… bayern munich is up 3-0 against barcelona. go bayern!
AHHHHHHHHHHH
GATTIS!!!!
Man o-live.
Man, this ballpark must be even less fun to pitch in with the cold.
BOOMSHAKALAKA
Gattis might be the first ever backup catcher to win rookie of the year.
MLB.com says Gattis hit a HR on a fly ball. Average fly balls are HRs there
I’m loving these guys with the bear costumes. I bet they’re staying warm.
Bayern 4, Barcelona 0!
Ugh, BJ.
BJ both sucks and blows; how do we snap him out of it?
BJ Upton is really frustrating to watch.
“El Oso Blanco hit a home run un-bear-lievably far.”
-Caray
BJ really looks like he needs to sacrifice some power and cut down on that swing.
@63: Chip is unbearable, absolutely no pun intended. Just unbearable.
Minor is throwing mostly in the mid-80s according to mlb gameday…guess it’s too cold to get loose.
Teheran. Coldest game of his life. Opponent is the best hitting team in baseball thus far this year. Coors Field.
It’s going to be ugly.
@66, he has thrown some 89 mph pitches.
The only kind of oso for a day like this is a blanco.
Who the heck bunts in a 1 run game in Denver in the 5th?
“Who the heck bunts in a 1 run game in Denver in the 5th?”
Even Fredi said: “really?”
Making outs on purpose is a good way to shorten the game. It’s cold.
Reed’s having a great day.
Reed Johnson: 3-3.
Isn’t a right fielder for the Atlanta Braves hitting nice?
I wanted Minor to get pinched hit for, but it is a double header.
MLB At-Bat has Minor throwing 87 mph changeups. Is that for real?
Way to go Mike. Saving that bullpen will really come in handy tonight.
Stu, that Vandy geek has pitched a heck of a game.
Major props to Minor. That was a tremendous final three innings.
Yes, really great performance under extreme circumstances.
DON JUST SANG FELIZ AVILAN AGAIN
@76 Must be too cold for speed gun too.
Dangit, radio guys!!! I thought it was gone.
@83 agreed. That was poor.
That was efficient, Eric.
Helluva job, EOF & crew.
Another run couldn’t hurt.
So, can Eric bunt?
Success!
This might just be confirmation bias at play, but it seems to me that Simmons pops up an inordinately high amount of balls. Anyone have the numbers?
Good grief. That run sure would have been nice.
BJ disappoints again.
Those two are frustrating to watch.
BJ sucks.
I grow impatient with Melvin.
Release the Kraken!
No one likes your stupid Carlos Marmol impression, Craig. Put it away.
Has Wren signed anyone to big contract, free agent or extension, that has worked out well, as of now?
Lowe, Kawakami, Uggla, B.J….
Whew. Thanks, Rox…
I know I’m not giving the pitching staff enough credit here, but winning a 4-3 game in Denver feels like we just stole something.
Let’s play two?
El Oso Blanco for the win.
I know I was just bagging on Craig a second ago, but that doesn’t preclude me from being annoyed at the Rockies for denying him that third strikeout.
@97
We knew what we were signing when we gave him that big contract. I tried rationalizing with the majority who were in favor of signing Upton, and the consensus was that the asking price was fair due to his potential.
This is who we signed, and this should be expected. He’ll hit in streaks. He’ll produce. At this point, I’m more concerned with the likelihood that we retain Justin Upton at a discount. Let the Upton brothers share their fortunes since BJ is basically getting paid for his brother to play here!
Game 2 lineup now up:
Pena 2b, Bupkis cf, Jupton lf, Freeman 1b, Francisco 3b, Laird c, Simmons ss, Success! rf, Teheran p
Wow, I’m unimpressed. I pick the 4th inning for Gattis to come in as c/1b/rf/something to get a bad baseball player off the field.
Laird catches Teheran. Freeman’s back at 1B. You’re not going to run Gattis out as a LF in the huge spaces of Coors Field. Plus, it’s 60 below zero and the guys that started game 1 probably need to be treated for frostbite.
Teheran will give up 6 bombs tonight.
@102
Not having Chris “Ty Cobb” Johnson hurts the most.
Having Laird in the six hole is basically an advertisement for a pinch hitter in a high leverage situation.
Game 1 recap is up. New thread…
Oh my!