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BRAVES NEWS
Shelby Miller continues to get awful run support as Braves lose to Marlins
All you can do is laugh about it at this point; I truly hope that Shelby Miller is finding the humor in the bad situation that he currently finds himself in, as once again, he pitched a game in which he received absolutely terrible run support. Miller kept the Braves within reach of the Marlins, but Miami's whopping four runs of offense was more than enough to shut down the Braves. Jonny Gomes hit a homer late in the game, but that was well after Miller had departed. Now, try your best not to get physically ill as you read this tweet.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Braves run support during Miller's winless streak (15 starts) 0 runs: 8 times 1 runs: 3 2 runs: 1 3 runs: 3</p>— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) <a href="https://twitter.com/mlbbowman/status/630511616283557888">August 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Note: The Braves had scored 22 runs (and the offense was finally looking somewhat competent again) during the series before Miller took the bump, and he still couldn't get run support. Poor, poor Shelby Miller.
Swisher/Bourn trade should set the Braves up nicely going forward
Meanwhile, the Braves are clearly pushing towards the magical year of 2017, and the trade that Atlanta made with Cleveland appears to be another step in the right direction. The deal frees up a decent amount of money for 2017, and it also brings in two players who may not be in the prime of their careers at this point, but can still bring value in other ways while they're here. Michael Bourn could be a better option than [insert organizational player here] in left field, while Swisher seems genuinely excited to be in Atlanta, which is always a positive (seriously, I can't get enough of him doing the Chop after he got his first hit as a Brave).
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Andruw Jones: "I'm not retired!"
Atlanta Braves legend (seriously, Braves: It's time to retire 25. Get on it.) Andruw Jones made a return to Atlanta this weekend as the team celebrated Alumni Weekend, and made an appearance in the Braves' TV booth. During this appearance, the outfielder let everybody know that he's not done and is actually still trying to latch on to a major league team.
He added that while retirement is in the near future, he's not quite ready to end his career. He won 10 Gold Gloves with the Braves from 1998 to 2007. Jones turns 39 in April.
"I just wanted to just go to Spring Training and give it a try and see what happens," Jones said of comeback thoughts before this season. "… I’m going to give it one more try next year, and if I don’t get it, I will retire."
I mean, before the Braves traded for Bourn, I probably wouldn't have minded seeing Andruw give it one last go in left field. Couldn't have been worse than the alternative, right? No, these aren't nostalgia-colored sunglasses; They're regular shades!
Are Braves fans rooting for the Mets now?
With the Braves inevitably fading into the ether of non-postseason contenders, most fans are developing temporary rooting interests in order to keep their love for baseball going into the final stretch of the season. As a matter of fact, some of us are rooting for the Mets to win the NL East. 2015 is a strange place. Even people in the New York/New Jersey area are confounded by this recent development (which they learned of thanks to an article from the AJC's Mark Bradley). However, it's all down to one thing: Braves fans just don't like the Nationals, at all.
...It makes for a pretty lengthy list that includes many grievances Mets fans likely have against the Nationals.
But it isn't just a negative story, apparently there's some love for the Mets too.
"The Mets, on the other hand, are kind of cool," he writes. "They have great young pitching, which they need because they can't hit. (A recent outpouring of offense has lifted them from last in the majors in runs to 28th.) The Braves sent journeymen Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson to Flushing two weeks ago."
So, there you have it: Apparently we've got some Mets sympathizers in our fold. We'll talk more about this later.
Check out the minor league report
MLB NEWS
Cubs complete four-game sweep of Giants
The Cubs made a huge move in the NL Wild Card race this weekend and they did so by sweeping the San Francisco Giants over a four-game series. As a matter of fact, this was probably one of the most hard-fought four-game sweeps you'll see in a regular season, because the Cubs just about managed to pull out every game in this series. But the fact of the matter is that they did it, and even though they're still third place in the NL Central, they're now three-and-a-half games ahead of the Giants in the second Wild Card spot. The NL Central is kinda good this year, y'all.
Blue Jays sweep Yankees; Claw their way into Postseason contention
There's huge buzz around the Toronto Blue Jays right now. Ever since their big-time moves at the trade deadline, the Jays have caught fire. They've won eight straight games now, and their past three wins came over the Yankees. Toronto only gave up one run during this entire series, and just looked like a flat-out better team than New York throughout the entire series in the Bronx. The Blue Jays are now only one-and-a-half games behind the Yankees for first place in the NL East, and have seized control of the first AL Wild Card spot. The Blue Jays are making a serious run at this thing, and they just might make it back into the Postseason for the first time since they went Back to Back.
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