We got televised baseball. Oooohhh, it feels so good.
So, the first televised Braves game of the spring was on Friday, and while I had to work, my Comcrap DVR did an admirable job of recording the game for me. Here are some of the observations I made while trying to tune out commentator Steve Philips.
Starting pitcher John Thompson was all over the place in the first inning, giving up lots of hits and walks. He wasn't doing a good job of holding runners on base either. That gave McCann some good practice attempting to throw out runners trying to steal, and he would have gotten two of them if not for those pitches being ball four. JT settled down a bit in the second and was helped out greatly by a double play. He still has a long road back.
The young Schuerholz mouthed the f-word while the camera was on him in the second inning after letting a grounder up the middle go off his glove. I wonder if his dad saw that.
Poor Wes Obermeuller. He had two balls hit off of him in the third. I don't know if that affected him on the mound, but he didn't look that sharp. Though, he had a nice at-bat in the bottom half and got himself a hit.
The elder John Schuerholz was interviewed during the third and watched the younger John Schuerholz ground into a double play. The GM was asked about the bullpen and the closer's role and had great things to say about Reitsma, Villareal, and Devine, but said that Reits has the inside track on the closer's role (I could have told him that). He also reinforced Cox's statement that Giles can handle the leadoff job.
Also, announcer Gary Thorne was pronouncing Matt Diaz's last name like `DIE az.' I've never heard the name Diaz (DEE az) pronounce DIE az. I wonder if that's how it's pronounced or if that's just a quirk of Thorne's accent. Diaz hit a very good pitch down and out of the zone for a home run in the fourth. The kid doesn't look too physically impressive, but he's got a nice stroke. He misjudged a ball in the outfield, and he's going to have to work on his fielding before he's considered the favorite for the 4th outfield job.
Little Johnny Schuerholz turned on a 3-2 pitch down the middle for his first home run of the spring in the fifth.
Remlinger did not have his stuff and it showed. Brad Baker looked pretty good in escaping a bases loaded jam in the 6th and cleaning up Remlinger's jam in the 5th. Chuck James looked okay, but not dominant - he's got some work to do.
Andruw Jones left to go join Team Netherlands for practice on the field adjacent to where the Braves were playing.
Anthony Lerew looked awesome. He was dominant and appeared confident in every pitch. If he continues like this he's a lock for a bullpen spot.
And so I guess the Braves came back and won in the ninth on a 3-run Jarrod Saltalamacchia home run, but my recording had finished and I didn't get to see it. . . damn, damn, damn.
Overall, it was good to see the Bravos play in the field, and it was great to watch some of the kids play. For us fanatics, they need to televise more of these games.