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An exclusive CPF investigation has uncovered that the baseball season begins in earnest on Thursday (not quite sure where earnest is but it also begins in New York, in Chicago and several other cities that people actually care about) so it's time to familiarize ourselves with our first opponent who, it can now be revealed, is the Atlanta Braves
When we last saw Los Bravos they were turning in an 89 win seaon in 2011, a total which wouldn’t have been so bad had they not lost 9 of their final 12 games including the last 5 in a row to choke away the WC race by 1 game to the eventual champ Cardinals, a race which went down to the wire as, in their very last game, they managed to cough up the lead in the 9th inning before eventually losing in the 13th.
All of which must have really sucked for their fans, particularly for all those who already had plans to NOT buy tickets to the 1st round games.
But when we next see them it'll be at CitiField for a season-opening three-game, all day-game, set beginning tomorrow.
Thursday - 1:10 PM EDT
Tommy Hanson vs Johan Santana
Hanson is 3-3 vs Mets in 7 career starts but we beat the crap out of him last year: 2 starts; a total of 8.1 innings; 10 ER
Saturday - 1:10
Jair Jurrgens vs RA Dickey
The 26 y/o Curacao native has already made 13 starts against the Mets over four seasons and is 8-4; 2.94 ERA although he lost 2 of 3 last year.
Sunday - 1:10
Mike Minor vs Jonathon Niese
Minor, the Braves 2009 1st round (7th overall) draft pick, has made 4 starts vs the Mets and has managed to go 2-0 with 2 NDs even while giving up 15 runs in 20 innings.
IOW, Minor is a major PiTA.
* Gone from the 2011 squad - Nate McLouth, Derek Lowe, Scott Linebrink, Alex Gonzalez
* New to 2012 team - RHP Livan Hernandez; RP Chad Durbin; 3B Juan Francisco
* Currently on DL: Chipper Jones and pitchers Arodys Vizcaino, Peter Moylan, Julio Teheran
[u:2ov0x5tu]Projected starters[/u:2ov0x5tu]:
C - Brian McCann -- 466 ABs @.270/.351/.466 (in 2011)
Now 28 y/o with 6 solid ML seasons under his belt
Also fat and bald
1B - Freddie Freeman -- 635 PAs @ .282/.346/.448
22 y/o coming off a 2nd place RoY season
He kind of looks like a guy they got off the same assembly line they once tapped for Dale Murphy. I suspect both are voting for Romney.
2B - Dan Uggla -- 672 PAs @ .233/.311/.453
Now 32 y/o, had a solid end of the ‘11 season following a horrid first half (.296 BA vs .185).
Still pretty much sucks in the field
3B - Martin Prado -- 590 PAs @ .260/.302/.385
Subbing in for the injured Chipper, the 28 y/o utility guy played 40 games at 3B last year
The Braves also traded just this week with the Reds for Juan Francisco meaning Prado could be seen in the OF
SS - Tyler Pastornicky -- ML Rookie
A 22 y/o Floridian who was a 5th round draft pick of Toronto before being dealt to Atlanta late in 2011 will be making his ML debut. Glove is supposedly more ready than the bat at this point although his hitting took a step up last year at AA & AAA
LF - Matt Diaz/Eric Hinske/Jose Constanza
Diaz (34) is the designated LHP-crusher
Hinske (34) is his LH-hitting, knuckle-dragging, over-the-top tattooed counterpart
and Constanza (28) is the real speedy pest we saw some of late last year.
CF - Michael Bourn -- 722 PAs (led league) @ .294/.349/.386 split between Houston & Atlanta. Led the league in steals (61 of 75)
RF - Jason Heyward -- 456 PAs @ .227/.319/.389
Injuries and the dreaded sophmore slump took his near RoY season stats in 2010 and pummeled them to the tune of 50, 74, and 67 point drops in his slash stats in 2011
Still doesn’t turn 23 until past mid-season
[u:2ov0x5tu]Can their pen do it again[/u:2ov0x5tu]?
The combo of Craig Kimbrel and lefties Jonny Venters & Eric O’Flaherty all turned in ridonculous ERA & WHiP stats last year even as some wondered about the long-term effects of their collective workload (avg of 80 appearances each)
Phormer Philly Chad Durbin comes over to teach the young Braves penners how to grow vaguely pornographic facial hair.
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