Once again I alert you to the necessity of having a DVR. In olden days, one would have to stay home from work or fake an afternoon illness to catch the sporadically televised spring training game. But no longer! Now we press record and hope the game finishes before the recording does. Here are a couple of games of interest coming up next week that you should add to your scheduled recordings.
Monday, March 20th @ 1:00 pm - Braves vs. Cardinals on ESPN
Monday, March 20th @ 9:00 pm - WBC Final, Cuba vs. Japan on ESPN
Wednesday, March 22nd @ 1:00 pm - Phillies vs. Braves on ESPN
Thursday, March 23rd @ 1:00 pm - Indians vs. Braves on Fox Sports South
Friday, March 24th @ 7:00 pm - Nationals vs. Braves on Fox Sports South
Saturday, March 25th @ 1:00 pm - Indians vs. Braves on Fox Sports South
It's not quite as good as being there, like Joe will be, but it's as good as we get until the season starts. With so much Braves spring training baseball, there will be plenty of opportunities to catch a game. These games should have the Bravos at full strength, so you'll get to see Chipper, Frenchy, and all the regulars.
By the way, at first blush it looks like I was wrong in writing that Francoeur might be way behind in his hitting after so many lost at bats during the WBC. He loudly announced his return to the spring lineup on Saturday with a 3 for 3 performance, including a home run. Of course, he did get the home run and some of the hits off of Reds' starter Dave Williams, who was traded straight up for (gulp) Sean Casey. That trade might come back to haunt the Reds for years. It could have been moves like that which got former GM Dan O'Brien fired. This comment from him is priceless: "In our minds, he has the necessary profile to pitch in our ballpark," O'Brien said. "He's delighted to come to a team like ours that can score a lot of runs. He feels it's an opportunity for him to take a step forward in his career." First, it looks like Dan had the wrong profile, and second, with Williams giving up a run an inning and over 2 hits/walks an inning this spring he's going to need his teammates to score a lot of runs.