Sports Page Atlanta

Over the past day or two a few people have landed on this site searching for information about players from the 2008 First-Year Player Draft this past June. Not wanting to disappoint anyone, here’s a bit of information on the Braves’ first four picks, all of whom were pitchers.

• Brett DeVall | LHP - DeVall was taken with the 40th overall pick in the draft, which was a supplemental first round pick for the Braves. He finished his high school career in Niceville, Florida where he went 13-2 in his senior season, with only 25 walks and 152 strikeouts. You can see his MiLB draft report here. DeVall pitches for the Gulf Coast League Braves and has seen action in two games thus far, both in July. He’s thrown a total of 4.2 innings and has a 0-0 record. He hasn’t given up an earned run and has two strikeouts and two walks.
• Robert Stovall | LHP - Stovall was taken in the second round by the Braves with the #64 pick overall. He’s from Hokes Bluff High School in Alabama and was named Mr. Baseball by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. His senior season was impressive with a 14-1 record with a 1.00 ERA. He also struck out 187 batters in 84 innings and threw three no-hitters. So far for the GCL Braves, Stovall has pitched 10.1 innings in four games. He’s 1-0 with a 6.10 ERA and has struck out 14 while walking 11 batters.
• Ezekiel Spruill | RHP | Draft Report - Spruill was also taken in the second round with the #70 pick overall. Spruill, who’s out of Kell High School in Marietta, Georgia has a fastball that sits in the low 90’s. He’s also pitching in the Gulf Coast League for the Braves and in seven games has a 6-0 record. He’s thrown 27.1 innings and has an ERA of 1.65. Most impressively, he’s shown that he can overpower hitter as he has a 27:5 strikeout to walk ratio.
• Craig Kimbrel | RHP - Kimbrel was taken in the third round with the #96 overall pick and played at Wallace State Community College before being drafted. He started in the Rookie Appalachian League for the Danville Braves where he saw action in 12 games pitching 19 innings. His record was 1-2 with a 0.47 ERA and six saves before he was promoted to the Single-A Rome Braves. In Rome he’s record three saves (I spoke about him notching his third save last night) in 5.1 innings of work. He also has a 0.00 ERA and opposing batters are hitting only .056 against him. He’s struck out 12 while walking zero for Rome.

Brian McCann had 3 more hits yesterday and now is batting .303 this season. He also has a .298 career batting average. That average is the highest batting average by an Atlanta Braves catcher ever by players with at least 1,000 career at-bats in an Atlanta uniform.

Here are the top 4

1. Brian McCann: .298
2. Joe Torre: .290
3. Javy Lopez: .287
4. Biff Pocoroba: .257

By the way, McCann only trails Javy Lopez and Earl Williams for the most home runs by an Atlanta Braves catcher (but he will need a lot more homers… McCann has 67 and Lopez had 214).

San Francisco 3, Atlanta 2 (box)
Richmond 5, Durham 4 (box)
Jacksonville 10,  Mississippi 9 (box)
Myrtle Beach 9, Kinston 6 (box)
Rome 1, Charleston 0 (box)

MLB - Atlanta: This one-run game skid has got to stop soon. Today marked the 26th time in a row that the Braves lost a one-run ball game. Brian McCann collected three of the Braves five hits as Tim Lincecum is proving just hot tough of a pitcher he really is. Chuck James struggled again allowing three runs and five hits in four innings. James gave up another home run today (his 10th in seven starts) in the first inning to Aaron Rowand.

AAA - Richmond: Josh Anderson made it two games in a row with a home run as he led the R-Braves to a 5-4 victory going 3 for 4 with two doubles, a home run and two RBI. Brandon Jones kicked in another two RBI as he went 2 for 4. Damian Moss got the win in relief (his 4th) and Jorge Julio saved the game (his 5th). Starter Jo-Jo Reyes went only five innings giving up four runs and seven hits.

AA - Mississippi: Starter Calros Sencion only made it 3.2 innings as he gave up four earned runs, three hits, and struck out four while walking six. But, the M-Braves scored some runs, and Sencion wasn’t on the hook for the loss. Matt Young, Greg Creek, and Jose Camarena each had two RBI for the M-Braves and the team even took an 8-7 lead into the ninth inning. But Luis Valdez gave up three earned runs and three hits in the 9th to blow his 8th save of the year and take his third loss.

Adv. A - Myrtle Beach: Willie Cabrera was in left field instead of the DH spot tonight, but he continued to swing a hot bat going 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI in the Pelicans 9 to 6 victory. Most of the offense came from Randy Gress’s three RBI and Eric Campbell, who hit his 17th home run and went 1-4 with two RBI. Georgia Southern’s own Dustin Evans gave up a home run Carlos Rivero, but managed to lock it up and earn the win in relief (his 2nd). Nick Fellman earned his 6th save of the season as he struck out two and walked one in 0.2 innings.

A - Rome: 20-year-old Jeffrey Locke earned his fifth win of the season as he pitched six shutout innings, allowing five hits and striking out five while walking two. And continuing with the trend of 20-year-old pitchers, Craig Kimbrel earned his third save as he pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two batters. Rome only managed five hits tonight, but scored on a fielding error by Charleston pitcher Jairo Heredia.

The Mississippi Braves have slated Tom Glavine as their starting pitcher this Saturday night against the Jacksonville Suns.

This will be the second rehab start on his road back to “The Ted”. On Monday he pitched four innings at Myrtle Beach allowing  three hits and one run with a walk and four strikeouts.

Saturday night will mark only the second rehab assignment for Glavine since 1987. And, if all goes well, it’ll be his last for a while as he’s expected to rejoion the big club next week.

Mike Hampton got the win last night when the Braves defeated the Giants 11-4.  It was Hampton’s first win since August 14, 2005.  In that game Atlanta defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-8.

Here is what the Braves lineup was the last time the southpaw received the victory.  Most of them are no longer with the team.

SS - Rafael Furcal

2B - Marcus Giles

3B - Chipper Jones

CF - Andruw Jones

1B - Adam LaRoche

RF - Jeff Francoeur

LF - Ryan Langerhans

C - Brian McCann

P - Mike Hampton

Atlanta 11, San Francisco 4 (box)
Durham 9, Richmond 6 (box)
Huntsville 4, Mississippi 2 (box)
Myrtle Beach 4, Kinston 3 (box)
Rome 9, Hickory 1 (box)

MLB - Atlanta: Mike Hampton hasn’t had a lot to be happy about on the diamond in the past 2 and a half years. He’s been criticized for his injury prone ways and many fans have used him as the butt of their jokes. After last night Hampton can smile with Braves Nation as he earned his first win in almost three years. In seven innings of work, Hampton allowed two runs and four hits. He struck out two, walked only one, and even added to the Braves offense with a double and a RBI at the plate.  Seven Braves hitters notched RBI’s last night and all nine starters got, at least, one hit.

AAA - Richmond: The R-Braves were trampled early on by the Durham Bulls as pitcher Brian Lawrence gave up seven runs and 12 hits in only four innings. And even with a four run 7th inning from the R-Braves, led by Josh Anderson’s two-run home run, Durham maintained control and won handily. Anderson was 2-5 with two RBI, and that 7th inning blast was his second of the year. Brent Lillibridge went 0-4, but did steal his 16th base of the season.

AA - Mississippi: After third baseman Van Pope tied the game in the 6th inning for the M-Braves with a two-run home run, relief pitcher Paul Bush came on and promptly gave up the eventual game winning home run to Huntsville first baseman Chris Errecar. Pope’s home run was his fourth of the year as he went 1-3 with two RBI and a stolen base. Bush fell to 0-1 on the year.

Adv. A - Myrtle Beach: The Pelicans were behind Kinston for most of the game, 25 outs to be exact. It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth inning, when Designated Hitter Willie Cabrera singled in Jon Owings and Randy Gress with one out, that the home team pushed ahead and won the game. Cabrera was 3-5 on the night with a double and those final two RBI that won the game for the Pelicans. Jaye Chapman won the game in relief, bringing his record up to 1-1.

A - Rome: Scoreless through five innings, the Rome Braves started the scoring in the 6th and never let up, scoring nine runs in the final four innings. First baseman Frederick Freeman started the scoring by tripling in Jason Heyward in the 6th inning and added a home run (his 18th of the season) in the 7th. Heyward was 3 for 3 (two doubles) on the night with two RBI, and Aussie catcher Matthew Kennelly was 3 for 4 with three RBI and is hitting .464 in his eight games since being called up from Danville. Cole Rohrbough improved his record on the mound to 3-4 while giving up only one hit in eight innings of work. He struck out seven and walked three.

As you read, heard or seen already today or yesterday, longtime Braves announcer Skip Caray passed away on Sunday.  He has lots of memorable moments on the air, but probably none bigger than the 1992 NLCS Game 7 game against the Pirates.  Every Braves fan remembers that game, but I want to take you back to that October 14th night and tell you how incredible that game was…

The Braves were down 2-0 in the bottom of the 9th… actually when I start the story it is now 2-1, with the bases loaded and 2 out.

Stan Belinda pitches, Francisco Cabrera singles, David Justice and Sid Bream score before Barry Bonds gets it home… (now here is where it gets tricky).

Belinda was a solid pitcher… a career 4.15 era in 585 games… He also had a 0.87 career postseason era.

Francisco Cabrera sinlges… the man was a .254 career hitter and had only 62 career rbi in 196 games…

Barry Bonds throws home… he was a 8-time gold glove winner… only 5 outfielders have won more gold gloves than he did… he also had 173 career assists from the outfield.

David Justice scored… nothing wow… he was a solid player

Sid Bream… chugging from 2nd base… he’s very slow… in 1,088 career games he had 50 career stolen bases and has never made an attempt in 28 postseason games.

Even with all those all odds against them, the Braves won 3-2.

You can hear Skip Caray now…

Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!

What do the following quotes have in common?

• From the Braves 1995  World Series win. “Yes! Yes! Yes! The Atlanta Braves have given you a championship! Listen to this crowd!”
• How about from the 1992 NLCS? “Here comes Bream! Here’s the throw to the plate! He iiiiiiiisssssssss … safe! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! … Braves win!”

Both of these legendary Atlanta Braves calls were made by Skip Caray, who died yesterday in his sleep while taking a nap.

Skip Caray had been a fixture in Atlanta sports broadcasting since 1964 when he came to town to handle minor-league games for the Atlanta Crackers. He moved to the Atlanta Hawks after that before finally settling with the Atlanta Braves in 1976, where he stayed broadcasting both radio and television games until his death yesterday.

The AJC did a nice write up of some of Caray’s best lines and thoughts about his family.

Bobby Cox, Chipper Jones and John Smoltz had some great things to say about Caray in a different AJC article.

“It’s a sad day,” Smoltz said. “There are no words. Sad doesn’t do it justice. I will always remember Skip for his humor and his ability to go about life the way he did. I gained so much respect for what he did and how long he did and how he did.”

Jones was at home with his family on Sunday evening when he was informed.

“I figured Skip Caray is as much a part of Atlanta Braves baseball as any of us,” said Jones, who will rejoin the team in Arizona later this week. “We all grew up listening to Skip, whether it be on TV or radio. Any time the guys on ESPN imitate [you] calling the highlights, you’re pretty much a legend. From a fan’s standpoint, he’s going to be a huge loss for them because he relayed the games to fans for so long.”

And Dale Murphy and few other famous Atlanta sports figures speak about Caray in this AJC article.

“I knew that he had been battling some health issues, but I was just really shocked and saddened when I got the e-mail,” former Braves star Dale Murphy said upon receiving the news that longtime Braves broadcaster Skip Caray died Sunday at his Atlanta home.

“And I was grateful for the many years I was able to be with Skip from 1976 until 1990.

“Skip saw the funny side of things and enjoyed making people laugh when we weren’t giving them too much to smile about during some of those years that I was with the Braves.”

Skip died at the age of 68 after following his father Harry Caray into baseball broadcasting. His son Chip Caray still broadcasts games for the Braves. Just about anyone who has listened to and watched the Braves for a while know the names of Skip and Pete [Van Wieren] just as well as Chipper, Smoltzie, and Bobby Cox. This loss to the Braves family is devastating and it will be a long time before the mourning ends for Skip Caray.

Pitcher Jorge Campillo dominated as the Braves shut out the Brewers 5-0.  The right hander went 7 innings, 6 hits, 0 earned runs, striking out 6 and walking no one.  This was not the first time Campillo took control of Milwaukee, nor it was the 2nd time.  In fact it was the 3rd time as he improved to 3-0 against the hard hitting central team.  He is not doing horribly against the rest of the majors, but there is a difference as you can see…

                                    Season vs Brewers                Rest of Majors

Record                                      3-0                                       3-4

ERA                                         1.42                                    2.83

Opp Average                           .200                                   .239

Walks                                           0                                       21

Strikeouts                                 18                                        54

Well, Chuck James is back and he is back to his old tricks… that is not necessarily good.  The southpaw pitched 2 2/3 innings yesterday and gave up 6 runs as the Braves lost to the Brewers 9-0.

In the game James gave up 2 home runs… one to Prince Fielder and one to Mike Cameron.

When it comes to James there is a big difference in triple A and in the majors.  In 76 1/3 innings at Richmond, he has allowed just 3 home runs, but in 25 2/3 innings he has allowed 9.

The record for most home runs allowed as an Atlanta Brave is 386 held by Phil Niekro.  Knucksie surrended 482 long balls overall which is 3rd all-time behind fellow hall of famers Robin Roberts and Ferguson Jenkins.