Braves Notes: July 21, 2010

First Place
Is it really late July? Are the Braves really 6.5 games ahead of the Mets and 7 games ahead of the Phillies? Can they keep this up? Man, I hope so. This is such a fun team to watch and I'm awfully glad that Atlanta seems to be getting out and supporting the team. Of course, there's a lot of baseball left, and there's no doubt that the Phillies and the Mets are looking to better their teams. Still, you won't see this Braves team quit. No way. I think it will be exciting right down to the wire.

Matt Diaz
How can you not love Matt Diaz? How did this hitting fool end up on the scrap heap? Man, his first two months this season were dismal and were so out of character. I think it's safe to say that his performance since coming off the disabled list is more in line with the player that he is. Personally, as much as I like Eric Hinske, and I do like him a lot, I would leave Diaz out there until he slows down. Platoons are fine, but so is going with the hot hand.

The Princess
I've always considered myself a minor Brewers fan. My favorite Brewers team was the early 80s version with Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper and Gorman Thomas. I even met Ben Oglive's sister who lived in my hometown, Columbus, Georgia. I think its great that they have so many good young players. Ryan Braun is a future MVP and Yovani Gallardo could win the Cy Young award one day. They're a hard team not to like, but they sure made it easier in this past series against the Braves.

Now, I don't want to come off like a cranky old guy (although ... I am), but Princess Fielder should consider himself lucky he's playing in this day and age. Seriously, if he flipped his bat at the Cardinals bench after hitting a home run off of Bob Gibson, the next time up, they would have had to carry his fat ass off the field after Gibson nailed his ass with one of his patented fastballs. That said, I don't see any way that Venters hit the Princess on purpose. Still, even if he did, it was a minor shot to the back. He got his payback with the hard slide, and then with Heyward and Glaus getting hit on Sunday. This is called "The Code" and it is how baseball is played.

Still, the whiny ass Princess and his worthless manager (for now ... this guy can't keep his job much longer) go whining to Bob Watson who simply isn't very bright and decides to suspend our Hall of Fame manager for a game and our talented young reliever for four games for, you know, playing baseball. I gotta say, when we face the Brewers next year, if the Princess is still there, I think we gotta drill him again. This time, on purpose.