Braves are tearing it up

[kudzu23]

Andrew Jones just hit a three run homer in the 10th inning. Braves up 6 to 3 on the Texas Rangers. Smoltz with a 3 pitch strike out on Alex Rodriguez. Game over man!!! Game over!!

Braves have won 17 of their last 22

[Guest]

I thought Andruw Jones could be a SUPERSTAR.Maybe he is

finally getting there.

[ATLien_]

Well I am certainly glad the real Braves finally showed up. It is amazing to me how every year Braves fans get all worked up when you know they are going to win the division. I never even worry. I count on the Braves like AllState (Im in good hands) LOL joking.

[Guest]

The Braves do play in the weakest division in the National League.Expos/

Philles/Marlins aren't real challengers.Philly had a good season last year,

but they are right back in the dumps this year.

[chillzatl]

that might mean something if a good chunk of their recent wins weren't against the top teams in the other divisions. Beat down on the Reds, tied series with Giants, etc etc. Doesn't mean much in our division as I expect them to win regardless of how well or poorly the other teams in it play. It's against the other divisions that I like to see how we measure up and so far we've measured up pretty well. If we can put 3-5 runs on the board per game, I like our chances against anyone.

Pitching, both staters and bullpen are the best in either league and our hitting is finally picking up to expectations. barring a major injury I feel they have one of their best chances in 5 years to win a title.

[Guest]

To be honest,I'm not sold on the Reds.The only teams I take

seriousally are the Braves/Dodgers/Giants/Dbacks and maybe

the Cards.

But Chillz, I was talking about year in and year out about the

Braves being in the worse division.

But until the Braves get it done in the playoffs they shouldn't

be favorites.

The Braves will have to beat the two best pitchers in baseball

to get the to the World Series(Schilling/Johnson)

[chillzatl]

last year, without a doubt they were the best. This year, no they aren't. Glavine is better the Schilling this year. 1 fewer wins and an ERA more than a run lower. That's just plain better. Especially considering that Glavine got the majority of his wins before this team was playing worth a crap. He was getting those wins despite only getting 1-2 runs per game and having several errors commited behind him. Schilling and Johnson have the leagues best hitting and highest producing lineup behind them. I'm not saying they are slouches, far from it. But apart from their strikeout total, they aren't the most dominating pitchers in the league right now.

That is what seperates us from them right now, their offense, not their pitching. But right now I wouldn't consider their offense to be much better than ours. We are playing like we were supposed to play and scoring runs like we were expected to. Our bullpen is considerably better than theirs as well.

As for your theory that we are in the weakest division, that's hogwash. This division has produced the wildcard 4 out of the last 5 seasons. That means the 2nd best team in our division had a better record than the 2nd best team in any other division. So this division is no weaker than any other. The last few years, none of the other divisions have had any tighter races coming down the stretch either. All the divisions have one or two good teams and a bunch of chumps, no different than our own.

[Guest]

I'd still take Schilling or Johnson over Glavine anyday.Schilling/

Johnson have proved they can get it done when it counts

the most.Glavine has had a good 1st half,but he has stated

that he has done this before.One half of a season doesn't

make Glavine better.The fact that the poll on ESPN.COM even

states that put would rather have Schilling/Johnson pitching

in a big game.And the Braves are supposed to be"America's

team"so that says something.

But I would rather have a power pitcher then strikes fear into

the batters eyes.Maddux/Glavine don't do that.

"As for your theory that we are in the weakest division, that's

hogwash. This division has produced the wildcard 4 out of the

last 5 seasons."

When you beatup on Expos/Phillies/Marlins(Well the Braves

struggle with them alittle)plus everyone knows the Mets

aren't going to do anything.They had one fluke World

Series apperance.The Braves have no real contender

in the division year in and year out.

If the Braves had been in the Giants division last year they

wouldn't have even made the playoffs I don't think.That

says alot.

"That is what seperates us from them right now, their offense"

Please! Gary/Chipper/Andrew/Lopez/Castilla should be the best

hitting lineup in baseball.Those guys should count for 125 homeruns

ATLEAST.Gary/Chipper both are 300+ hitters usally also.

I predicted that the Braves would win the WS this year,but it's

obvious they play in the weakest division.Expos/Phillies/Mets/

Marlins all suck.The Mets suck this year aswell.NOBODY is

hitting for that team.

[chillzatl]

Well, You've proven that you don't watch enough baseball (with the exception, MAYBE, of the braves). I'm not going to argue with someone who doesn't know enough about the game to state facts.

Saying that Johnson and Schilling "get it done when it counts" is laughable. It proves my above statement. Johnson was one of the losingest post season pitchers, for a pitcher of his stature, ever. He had never done anything in the post season before last year. There is no arguement. Before last season he has been a post season flop and a liability in the "big games". I could be mistaken on the exact numbers but I think he was something like 2-8 in the post season before last year. cough*choke*cough.

Schilling is a dominant pitcher now. But previously he had a whopping 1-1 record in the post season. yeah that's getting it done when it counts.

If you've bothered to watch any of the games the braves are hitting now. Every one of those guys you listed has raised his average over the last 3 weeks and it looks like they will end up doing exactly what many expected them to do. The team batting average jumped 5 spots in two weeks. They are getting it done.

You still dodged the fact that while you think "this is the weakest division", we still had to battle the eventual wild card winner 4 of the last 5 seasons. So while the division might be weak this year, it hasn't always been this weak and it certainly hasn't been the weakest division over the last 5 years. Your fanboy "everyone knows the mets won't do anything" is crap. It's a braves fans perspective and nothing more. The braves division race has been considered one of the tightest races over the last 4-5 years of any division out there.

So if you are going to make statements, at least have the facts to back them up instead of making "it's what I think" statements that aren't the least bit true.

[Guest]

Saying that Johnson and Schilling "get it done when it counts" is laughable.

It proves my above statement. Johnson was one of the losingest post

season pitchers, for a pitcher of his stature, ever. He had never done

anything in the post season before last year. There is no arguement. Before

last season he has been a post season flop and a liability in the "big games".

I could be mistaken on the exact numbers but I think he was something like

2-8 in the post season before last year. cough*choke*cough.

Schilling is a dominant pitcher now. But previously he had a whopping 1-1

record in the post season. yeah that's getting it done when it counts."

But what did they do last year?The Braves have underacheived and choked

for several str8 years.

"If you've bothered to watch any of the games the braves are hitting now.

Every one of those guys you listed has raised his average over the last 3

weeks and it looks like they will end up doing exactly what many expected

them to do. The team batting average jumped 5 spots in two weeks. They

are getting it done."

The Braves are probably the most streaky team in the league.Getting it

done in the reg season is alot different than getting it done in the playoffs

and the Braves have been unable to do that for several years.The fans

have realized that the Braves have turned into the team that wins reg

season games and losses in the playoffs.And if they don't win the WS

with the team they have they will underachieve AGAIN.

You still dodged the fact that while you think "this is the weakest division",

we still had to battle the eventual wild card winner 4 of the last 5 seasons.

So while the division might be weak this year, it hasn't always been this

weak and it certainly hasn't been the weakest division over the last 5 years.

Your fanboy "everyone knows the mets won't do anything" is crap. It's a

braves fans perspective and nothing more. The braves division race has

been considered one of the tightest races over the last 4-5 years of any

division out there."

By who?The Mets/Marlins/Expos/Phillies all suck.What more can you

say?The Mets either don't have the offense,or they don't have the

pitching.They had one fluke season,but other than that the Mets

haven't and never will be anything.Come on,their best pitcher was

Al Lighter(sp?)I 'm saying year in and year out Philles/Expos/Marlins

have of the worst records every year.Considering they make up

3 of 5 teams, I'd say that is pretty bad.Plus like I said,the Mets

never have enough fire power to get the job done.Piazza is on

the decline so it will become easier.MP is batter 260?

Fanboy?I don't even have a favorite baseball team.Shows you

don't know as much as you think you do.I really don't like

the Braves either or the Mets and all the other teams in the

division suck.

[Guest]

But no,I don't follow baseball in the same manner as I do

football and basketball.

But I watch enough to know who's who and what is what.

[Admin]

If you were an American League team, such as my beloved Yankees.......whom would you rather face in the Series, the DBacks or the Braves? Take that even farther, which top two pitchers on any team in the majors would you least want to face? Even as much as I love the Rocket and Mussina and Pettite and even the greatest post season starter ever El Duque......I would go on record as saying that I would not want to play the DBacks or the Schilling/Johnson. They are almost unbeatable in the post season. Only those two guys have enough moxy to pitch from the bullpen the night after throwing 130 pitches and still be effective. They are the two most intimidating pitchers in baseball, bar none. Not even Maddux/Glavine in the early 90's when they were so dominant are comparable to S/J in the playoffs. I can tell you this first hand being a life long Bombers fan too. Yeah it was scary facing M/G but nothing compared to seeing S/J last year. I have hated my boys facing Johnson for many many years now. I would also argue that I would take Schilling over any pitcher in baseball at this point also. He is the best, maybe 2nd best behind Maddux defensively as a pitcher, he is the best or second best in strikeouts, and the best or second best in intimidation now that people dont fear Pedro anymore.