ST: 3/9 vs. Indians 3:05, Webcast/WSCR

[scenario]

Alright, did Chris Getz have a knee injury because Melton is getting pretty specific here. Talking about scopes and rehab, he can't be THAT wrong can he?

 

Can Melton be that wrong? Yes.

 

The injury Getz suffered in 2007 at Birmingham was to his ankle, not his knee.

 

And the only injury he had in 2008 was due to a fastball that hit him in the wrist.

 

Sounds like Melton was mixing up Getz and Fields' injuries.

 

Not a big shock. Just more proof that he is freakin' clueless.

Edited March 9, 2009 by scenario

[fathom]

Lillibridge honestly deserves to be nowhere near this team

 

his defensive versatility might win him a backup role though

 

He hit .220 in AAA last season...what the hell were people expecting him to do? The Braves considered him a throw-in.

[southsideirish71]

I am very worried about Danks. Maybe they have caught up with him? Discuss

 

During ST, the pitchers start to stretch themselves out. They go through at least 2 different dead arm periods, one around now and one towards the end of ST. Also in ST, pitchers are assigned a pitch to work on, or a specific task to accomplish. So relax.

 

 

[Friend of Nordhagen]

Lillibridge and Getz get down the line faster. I've also never seen a base stealer stumble so many times while getting his jump as Owens.

 

I noticed the other day that Owens doesn't even use a crossover step to get started. He pivots, turns and runs. That's the inefficient way to get a jump. And it may be why he stumbles so much.

[ThunderBolt]

I was at the game today. I'm in a hurry so I'll just give you a few highlights (and lowlights)/

1) Aaron Poreda, he had a shaky first inning, but his fabled slider really worked for him starting in the second. If he can throw that pitch consistently for a strike he could be nigh unhittable. Definitely the highlight of the game

2) Wilson Betemit cannot field AT ALL. He either has no range or is extremely lazy. Make of that what you will.

3) Getz has some serious wheels, and a nice level swing.

4) Vicideo will chase after any slider, no matter where it is. This really needs to be addressed.

5) Owens is awful. (Barring one great defensive play) moving on.

6) Michael Restovich finds it awkward that I knew his name. Deal with it, Restovich. I know everyone

7) Lillibridge, Getz, Walker were nice enough to sign autographs. Got a good picture with Lillibridge, and told him, "Keep hitting, man and you'll make this team". He smiled, good for him.

8) Kenny Williams looks awesome in his skybox. That's an intimidating figure.

9) Harold Baines looks oblivious when you call him out. Hilariously so

10) Jeff Cox is awesome.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Thunderbolt

[Kalapse]

I was at the game today. I’m in a hurry so I’ll just give you a few highlights (and lowlights)/

1) Aaron Poreda, he had a shaky first inning, but his fabled slider really worked for him starting in the second. If he can throw that pitch consistently for a strike he could be nigh unhittable. Definitely the highlight of the game

2) Wilson Betemit cannot field AT ALL. He either has no range or is extremely lazy. Make of that what you will.

3) Getz has some serious wheels, and a nice level swing.

4) Vicideo will chase after any slider, no matter where it is. This really needs to be addressed.

5) Owens is awful. (Barring one great defensive play) moving on.

6) Michael Restovich finds it awkward that I knew his name. Deal with it, Restovich. I know everyone

7) Lillibridge, Getz, Walker were nice enough to sign autographs. Got a good picture with Lillibridge, and told him “Keep hitting, man and you’ll make this team.” He smiled, good for him.

8) Kenny Williams looks awesome in his skybox. That’s an intimating figure.

9) Harold Baines looks oblivious when you call him out. Hilariously so

10) Jeff Cox is awesome.

They showed the view from behind homeplate, it was a horrendous jump, even the clueless Bill Melton called him on it. Thankfully for him he has pretty good closing speed.

[Wanne]

I was at the game today. I’m in a hurry so I’ll just give you a few highlights (and lowlights)/

1) Aaron Poreda, he had a shaky first inning, but his fabled slider really worked for him starting in the second. If he can throw that pitch consistently for a strike he could be nigh unhittable. Definitely the highlight of the game

2) Wilson Betemit cannot field AT ALL. He either has no range or is extremely lazy. Make of that what you will.

3) Getz has some serious wheels, and a nice level swing.

4) Vicideo will chase after any slider, no matter where it is. This really needs to be addressed.

5) Owens is awful. (Barring one great defensive play) moving on.

6) Michael Restovich finds it awkward that I knew his name. Deal with it, Restovich. I know everyone

7) Lillibridge, Getz, Walker were nice enough to sign autographs. Got a good picture with Lillibridge, and told him “Keep hitting, man and you’ll make this team.” He smiled, good for him.

8) Kenny Williams looks awesome in his skybox. That’s an intimating figure.

9) Harold Baines looks oblivious when you call him out. Hilariously so

10) Jeff Cox is awesome.

 

Was there today too!

Betemit is terrible fielding. No range.

Getz will be starting 2B.

Owens is simply a groundout to the right side in every at bat.

Paulie was Mr. GIDP today.

Viciedo looked TERRIBLE today at the plate. Out in front of everything and completely off balanced.

 

Got a foul ball today (7th inning) and had Walk sign it after the game. Mentioned to him that he's caught a lot of crap the last few years. His reply was kind of funny.

Beautiful complex!!!!! Great food too!

 

Funny you remarked about Harold. I remember that chick yellin' at him for something goofy. It was kinda funny.

 

Sec...GREAT SEATS! Had to kick people out from in front of us before the game waiting for autographs. (only bad thing about them)/

Edited March 10, 2009 by Wanne

[bighurt4life]

He will be release soon. My crystal ball told me that. This is my prediction and nothing is official.

 

You got some voodoo thing going on there??? I hope you're right.

[chunk23]

The biggest problem with Owens sucking is that BA is barely playing any better. I guess that's also an issue with b games not being counted in the stats. But still, BA is really not capitalizing on this opportunity.

[scenario]

While Owens was squandering his opportunity to nail down the CF job...

 

Wise was hitting a triple and homerun in the B-game today.

 

 

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

You got some voodoo thing going on there??? I hope you're right.

You don't need voodoo to tell that Gordon Beckham is awesome and Jerry Owens sucks. He should be seeing something about Lance Broadway in his crystal ball pretty soon too.

[caulfield12]

I was at the game today. I'm in a hurry so I'll just give you a few highlights (and lowlights)/

1) Aaron Poreda, he had a shaky first inning, but his fabled slider really worked for him starting in the second. If he can throw that pitch consistently for a strike he could be nigh unhittable. Definitely the highlight of the game

2) Wilson Betemit cannot field AT ALL. He either has no range or is extremely lazy. Make of that what you will.

3) Getz has some serious wheels, and a nice level swing.

4) Vicideo will chase after any slider, no matter where it is. This really needs to be addressed.

5) Owens is awful. (Barring one great defensive play) moving on.

6) Michael Restovich finds it awkward that I knew his name. Deal with it, Restovich. I know everyone

7) Lillibridge, Getz, Walker were nice enough to sign autographs. Got a good picture with Lillibridge, and told him, "Keep hitting, man and you'll make this team". He smiled, good for him.

8) Kenny Williams looks awesome in his skybox. That's an intimidating figure.

9) Harold Baines looks oblivious when you call him out. Hilariously so

10) Jeff Cox is awesome.

 

 

Actually, Viciedo laid off a couple of breaking pitches that he was swinging at earlier in the spring. He did have to defend the plate, because he got down 2 strikes in his 2nd and 3rd at-bats and had to swing at pretty much anything close, which is natural. On the plus side, all of those offspeed and breaking pitches, he fouled almost all of them off and kept his plate appearance alive, especially the 2nd time up.

 

Where they will try to get him out is with slightly above letter high fastballs or busting him inside and trying to tie up his hands...and then down-and-away. The old stereotype, young Latin players will swing at anything that's remotely close to the plate.

 

The FB he struck out Reyes with was a perfect pitch almost. Dotted the black. Viciedo needs to cut down on his swing a little with two strikes, it seems like he's taking the same approach and the only way he could have hit that ball was to the opposite field, but he's flying out with the front of his body a little too much with that violent hack he takes. He's not getting cheated up there, one bit. It's why we have seen 2 400+ foot balls off his bat already.

 

The ball that Chulk struck him up out with was another tailing fastball, this one high and inside and a ball for sure. One he chased because he got too anxious. Should have took a walk in this appearance, his day would have seemed better in comparison in the end...

 

If there's anyone I am worried about right now, it's Lillibridge, Owens and Anderson. Viciedo will get things figured out quickly in Birmingham.

 

 

Viciedo looked TERRIBLE today at the plate. Out in front of everything and completely off balanced.

 

Give him time, he's going to have to adjust to a steady diet of breaking balls because that's the standard first rite of passage for all young hitters who have some success against the FB. He's at least making contact with those offspeed pitches and fouling them off, and he and Brandon Allen actually run pretty well for such big guys...not in the AJ/Crede/Konerko/Dye/Thome slow guys' camp.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2009 by caulfield12

[ThunderBolt]

Look, I’m as big a fan of the Tank as anyone, but sliders pose huge problems for him. While the slider he swung at to K during the Reyes at bat was a good one, he tends to wave at the majority of the sliders that are thrown away. While this isn’t a huge deal as he tends to make some contact, the problem is that if opposing pitchers realizes that he has chase tendencies, all they’ll do is attack that weakness. Also, a couple more observations from the game:

1)Tyler Flowers is still raw defensively, especially on low pitches, but he did a great job of calling a game for Poreda.

2) JVB throws strikes now, and when he misses it’s always low. This is a tremendous improvement for him.

3) Jerry Owens does not know when to break on balls hit his way. His use of speed is to compensate for this, and is often not enough

4) If Jermaine Dye isn’t in the best shape of his life, he’s damn near close to it.