Wait, what exactly did he save?

I ask this question because Will Ohman got a save last night for throwing two pitches and getting one out. That's it. Did he do more than Manny Acosta who got two outs in the ninth? Nope, but he got the save and not Acosta.

Seriously, MLB needs to change its rules on what constitutes a save or at least how it is implemented. It's the most useless stat out there. Rule 10.20 in the Official Rule Book states:
"Credit a pitcher with a save when he meets all three of the following conditions:
(1) He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his club; and
(2) He is not the winning pitcher; and
(3) He qualifies under one of the following conditions:
- (a) He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at least one inning; or
- (b) He enters the game, regardless of the count, with the potential tying run either on base, or at bat, or on deck (that is, the potential tying run is either already on base or is one of the first two batsmen he faces; or
- (c) He pitches effectively for at least three innings. No more than one save may be credited in each game."

The first condition, I think, is one of the problems. Who cares if he's the finishing pitcher? Maybe they need to modify it and say they have to get at least one out in the ninth. You're basically awarding a stat not based on achievement, but on the manager's whim.

(3)(a) gets me too. Why three runs? Why should you get credit for holding a three run lead in one inning? That should be expected. Are we going to start awarding semi-wins to starters for every scoreless inning? This one drives me nuts especially for guys like Todd Jones or Joe Borowski. They come in with a 3-run lead, give up two runs, escape by the skin of their teeth, and they get a "save."

(3)(b) makes sense however. If you come in with the game on the line with the potential of someone tying the game or getting the lead and you finish the game off, then hats off to you. You saved the game. Here's your save... right next to your gold star. Todd Jones, you go sit in the corner with the dunce hat.

Bravissimo

So can you tell that Chipper personally tries to destroy the Mets pitching staff? I mean this isn't at the level of 2001, but still. He went 1-2 with a homer and two walks last night. Just hope the pitch he took to his shin isn't serious.

If he has to miss any time, at least the Braves offense is starting to wake up. They have scored 6, 6, and 11 runs so far against a surprising Mets pitching staff (7th in the NL in ERA despite no Pedro and an only pretty good Johan). We'll see if this continues tonight against the aforementioned Santana.

On an unrelated note, my worst fear happened last night. I'm not exactly scared of heights, but any time I get close to those railings at Turner Field I get a slight sense of vertigo. I'm sure this story will do wonders for that! I just love this snipet, "alcohol may have been involved." Uhh... you think?

Friends don't let friends slide down rails drunk when the dropoff is 150 feet!

Your 2008-2009 Atlanta Hawks!

Alright here’s the continuation of my Hawks post, answering the question of what should the Hawks do this off-season.

The party already started on May 7, 2008, when Billy Knight decided to step down. This is not especially surprising since his contract expired in July, and since the revelation that Knight allegedly tried to fire Mike Woodson three times. So the Hawks will have to find a new GM. I pray it’s not Billy King, though he would resign all of our free agents for a ton of money.

On that note, let me first address our free agents since we’re the only team with no draft picks. The Hawks have no unrestricted free agents, but Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Salim Stoudamire, Jeremy Richardson, and Mario West are all restricted free agents, which, of course, means we can match any offers.

The number one priority should be signing Josh Smith. He’s a special athlete who works hard to improve every year, he has strong ties to the Atlanta community, and except for some run-ins with Woodson, he has been a model citizen. More than likely he will command money along the lines of $70-80 million over 5 years. I say just get the man signed as long as he isn’t asking for something like a max contract.

Unfortunately signing Smith will leave very little room for signing Childress since we also have Johnson and Bibby under large contracts. He is a classic glue guy and an under-rated sixth man. If a team is smart, they will wait till the Hawks sign Smith and then offer Childress enough money that the Hawks won’t match. If, however, Speedy Claxton retires and gets his $5.7 million off the books that would leave enough money to get Childress signed as well. If he does not retire I think it will be next to impossible to try and move his contract unless the Hawks are willing to trade another asset. That brings me to my next point.

I think we should trade Marvin Williams. He is still young enough (21) for teams to see that he has potential, he still has a relatively affordable contract next year ($5.6 million), and he does little to help the team. The Hawks need two main things: (1) A solid, veteran big man who can play good defense, mentor Smith and Al Horford, and take the pressure off of them, and (2) more outside shooting to relieve the pressure off of Johnson. Marvin provides neither of those things. He’s too small to play defense in the post and he can’t shoot the three (1-10 for the YEAR!). He’s an athletic mid-range jump shooter who does not crash the boards that well (only 5.7 rpg despite being 6’9”), and does not have the aggression to become a go-to scorer. Trading Marvin, however, could get rid of Claxton’s corpse (if he doesn’t retire), bring back someone to fill one of our needs, and make room to re-sign Childress.

The remaining restricted free agents are Stoudamire, Richardson, and West. I would love to keep Stoudamire, but I think he’s gone considering his relationship with Woodson and his misuse of Stoudamire. I think we should resign Richardson and West. Richardson has a sweet shooting stroke, and West could develop into a stopper.

There's always room for...

The largest bowl of wiggly jiggly badness being Mike "Mad Libs" Hampton with his injured ______ (body part) and rehab setback of ______ (time frame). But the past two years it has been more than just Hampton that has been spending time on the Jell-O list.
Minor injuries to JoJo, James, Hudson, Smoltz, and Glavine and major injuries to Gonzalez, Soriano (I'm pessimistic about the "tendinitis"), Moylan, Lerew as well as nagging injuries to the position players makes me wonder about the Braves conditioning coach. Injuries are part of baseball, but the frequency and severity of the injuries especially in regards to the pitching staff concerns me. While age might be part of the puzzle it seems strange that a team could consistently lose 1-2 players a year to the knife of Dr. James Andrews and also have a quarter of the roster spend large amounts of time in Richmond and Mississippi each summer.

Perhaps I'm spoiled by the healthiness of the 90s Braves and age has caught up to them but I can't help but wonder if there isn't something more behind it. I'm not saying the players aren't conditioned well, other than Brayan Pena and JoJo the Braves seem like one of the more athletic looking teams (strange to say that) in the league but perhaps more flexibility/stretching work needs to be done.

That said, I could just be frustrated with the $30 million dollars we've paid Hampton. At least, I guess, insurance has picked up some of the tab.

What Would You Do?

Apparently Mike D’Antoni has a decision to make. This mastermind of the Phoenix Suns’ seven seconds or less offense is getting offers from the Knicks and Bulls to be their next coach. The Bulls have not put out an official offer, but for the sake of argument I’m going to assume that the Knicks are going to offer more money. They sure as hell offer more money to everyone else, so why not here too?

So if you were D’Antoni (nice mustache buddy, when did you grow that?), would you rather take less money and go to the Bulls? These are the hugely disappointing Bulls of last season with a roster that is one of the youngest in the league (Nocioni is the senior citizen at 28), which also means they are one of the more athletic teams in the league. The only frontcourt player that has a semblance of post game is Drew Gooden, who needs to be tied down and shaved for his own good. But they have plenty of perimeter players that have no conscience when it comes to jacking it up (I’m looking at you Ben Gordon!) Also the only really bad contract they have on the books is Larry Hughes.

Or would you rather go to the Knicks? This is a completely different team in that it has two post players who are legitimate forces on the block in Randolph and Curry. The bad thing is that they never pass, have high turnover rates, and only play defense when someone is trying to steal their food. They do, however, have some very good role players in Lee, Balkman, and Robinson.

I think this is an easy decision for D’Antoni. The Bulls’ young team with their athletic big men and shooters is a perfect fit for D’Antoni’s offensive schemes. Granted the Bulls don’t have a great point guard like Nash, but I guess Hinrich is a better option than anything the Knicks have. I think if D’Antoni goes to the Knicks, with the roster in the shape it is in, he will end up like Larry Brown: Fired with a bad reputation.

Hawks Season Recap

Well this is my first entry into the blogosphere (spell check doesn’t like that word). I’ve certainly had many a discussion/argument with MLT about sports and edited his previous articles (it was rough), but never put my own words out there. I’m going to focus on analysis and hopefully I can add some relatively humorous remarks, but don’t hold your breath.

The Hawks season hit its climax during Game 6 of their playoff series. Going into the playoffs, no one thought much of the Hawks’ chances since they had the worst record of all the teams in the playoffs, but they were able to eek out 3 wins at home. As for the rest of the series, it is telling that the Celtics averaged 12 more points per game than the Hawks… and that is factoring in the three wins. In other words the Hawks got killed on the road. That was to be expected though, considering Boston’s home record (35-6) and Atlanta’s road record (12-29). Not a pretty combination.

All in all the season was a step forward in that our record improved, the players improved, Woodson actually started to use our athleticism on the fast break, Knight drafted well (I’m still convinced Law will be a good point guard), and we made the playoffs. Unfortunately the season also revealed that our players still do not play as a team, but, rather, as a group of individuals. We were able to get into the playoffs due to talent of those individuals, but to take the next step they have to start playing as a team.

It’s just frustrating to see a core of players that have been together for 3-4 years STILL has no clue how to play together as a team on offense or defense. And you can’t chalk it up to having young players either, because there are college teams that are more cohesive than the Hawks. Our players have no clue how to defend the pick and roll, our help defense (other than Josh Smith) is still atrocious, and we still have no offensive sets. I’m going to tear my hair out if I have to see the highlight of Garnett rolling to the basket, unguarded and with no one attempting to help, and dunking again. And how many times do I have to see the play I like to call the pick and double team on the offensive end. You know the one. It’s where Zaza, or some other player with no outside shot, sets a pick for Joe Johnson. At that point the player with no outside shot will roll to the basket while the two defenders stay on Joe. At this point Joe will back up and not pass the ball to the rolling player. Just think of the complete opposite of the pick and roll you see in a Utah game.

At some point the blame has to go to the coaching staff, whose job it is to get the team to play as one. Woodson glaring and/or gaping at the players after an error is not going to cut it. With the resignation of Billy Knight today it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Woodson and the Hawks.

Next post will be my attempt to assess what the Hawks should do this offseason.

Matt Ryan and Why I Like Him

At this point the draft has come and gone and all the draft grades have been written to never be looked at again. So it's time for me to explain why I like the pick of Ryan.

Here it is: Because it's who the Falcons selected. I know that seems trite but it's really the state of being a fan. You like who the team brings in until they have a chance to prove themselves. There is no point in second guessing or speculating "what if". Ryan is OUR QB of the future and I need to get on board. In a way, we should almost be like kids again; rooting blindly for our team and supporting their choices on personnel. At least until they do something stupid like hire a prostitute the week of the super bowl, finance dogfighting rings, etc. So I'm a Matt Ryan fan now and will be. At least until we find an actual skeleton in his closet.

Blog News

Sorry about the hiatus. A bunch of real life stuff got in the way. But I'm back! With help! I'll be joined soon by a good friend who cares as much about the local teams (minus the Dawgs) as I do. I'll let him introduce himself and his first post will be up in the coming days.




In the mean time, here is the Hawks finally coming together as a team. I'm normally not one for "moral victories" but watching the Celtic's freak out and almost blow the series against an inferior team was great!