Say Goodbye to the Turner Field Coke Bottle posted by Stacey Farr

   After 12 years and countless home run celebrations, the Coke bottle that towers over left field at Turner Field will be retired. It is to be replaced by a 21st-century version according to the Coca-Cola company. The current bottle is made up of 6,680 baseballs; 290 bats; 86 gloves; as well as several thousand other pieces of authentic Braves memorabilia.

    "The original bottle wonderfully symbolized Coca-Cola's long standing relationship with America's favorite pastime," said Coca-Cola North America's chief marketing officer Katie Bayne. "The Coca-Cola bottle in Coca-Cola Sky Field has stood as a distinctive reminder that drinking a Coke is part of summer's simple pleasures, just like being at a Braves game with your friends and family," she added.

    Fans are encouraged to add their photos and memories of the original Coke bottle on the Coca-Cola Facebook page, http://tinyurl.com/kt4hoc, which was created specially for the bottle's retirement. Also, in honor of the original bottle; the first 15,000 fans to enter Turner Field on July 2nd (the official day of retirement) will receive an official 8-oz bottle with a depiction of Coca-Cola Sky Field.

    Derek Schiller, executive vice-president, Sales and Marketing, for the Atlanta Braves stated, "Coca-Cola Sky Field and the Coca-Cola bottle really set Turner Field apart from other Major League Baseball stadiums. The bottle is not only entertaining, it reminds fans that one of America's most iconic brands was created right here in Atlanta.

Tommy Hanson Continues to Impress posted by Daniel Doyle

The Braves rookie has become the team's "stopper."

When Atlanta called Hanson up to make his Major League debut against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 7th, expectations were sky high from people all over the league. The heralded righty turned in a rather sub par performance that day, but since then has been very R.O.Y.-esque.

His next start against Baltimore he allowed 2 earned runs, and those would be the last two he has given up to date. His consecutive scoreless inning streak is up to 21, which is no small feat for any pitcher, much less a rookie. Those 21 innings have come against some pretty solid offenses such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Ever heard of those teams?

What most people have already forgotten, is that Hanson is the main reason that Tom Glavine was cut. Some blamed it on those tight wads at Liberty Mutual, and the one million dollars that would have been owed Glavine had he been placed on the active roster. The real story was, Atlanta needed a fifth starter. Jo-Jo Reyes had been getting drummed every outing and Kris Medlen was a stopgap until the decision was made between the two Tommy's. Braves management deemed Hanson the most suited to fill out the rotation, and so far, he has made them look pretty smart.

Hanson is now 4-0 with a 2.48 ERA in the five starts he has made. Even though his walk total has been high(17BB in 29IP), the young Tommy has shown an incredible ability to get out of trouble. He has left an incredible number of guys on base, one of the biggest factors in his success. At first I thought he was getting quite lucky, but as he continued to work in and out of trouble, I started drinking the Tommy Hanson Kool-Aid.

Braves Get Bombed posted by Daniel Doyle

The Bronx Bombers unleashed their fury in Atlanta, Georgia for two nights this week.

As an avid Braves fan, I should have known it was far too good to be true. The first game and a half of a three game set went as perfect as a game and a half could go for Atlanta. They shut out a 200 million dollar lineup for 14 straight innings. Hell, Kenshin Kawakami and Kris Medlen had combined for a perfect game for the first five innings of the second game. Then, the law of averages caught up with the Braves.

You see, winning those 14 consecutive division titles from 1991 to 2005 really has us screwed now. Having Cy Young Award winners filling the rotation for all those years has simply caught up to the Braves. And now, Atlanta cannot get the ball to take a single bounce their way. And in a game of inches, one bounce means a lot.

While baseball is a game of inches, the Yankees beat the Braves by a few hundred miles in games two and three of this series. Sure, mainstream media will give all the credit to manager Joe Girardi's ejection in the 6th inning of the second game, but the offensive outburst had very little to do with his tirade. Bottom line is, the freakin' Yankees are flat out loaded. Look at their order. Jeter, Damon, A-Rod, Teixiera, Swisher, Cano, Posada. The Yankees have guys on their bench that would hit in the middle of some lineups. A modern day murderer's row, cannot be shut out forever. That is why they beat up on Atlanta. They were simply overdue.

Of course it didn't help that Kawakami took a line drive off his neck and forced Bobby Cox to go to his bullpen in the 4th inning. It's tough for any bullpen to have to give you six quality innings, and against the Yankees nonetheless. And you can't overlook that Derek Lowe was absolutely awful. New York can make a lot of pitchers look terrible, but Lowe has been bad against everybody in the month of June(lost 3 straight decisions).

Frankie serves up some spark for New York...(no, not K-Rod) posted by Cesar Valverde

There's a new face on the New York pro baseball scene. His name is Francisco. Sorry Mets fans, I'm not talking about K-Rod, who granted has been perfect this year in saves opportunities except for that 1 save opportunity that slipped away when a route pop fly by second baseman Luis Castillo was dropped. A.J. Burnett might as well have snuck behind him during his interview on SNY and stuffed a whipped cream pie in his face.

Anyway, I'm talking about Yankees rookie catcher Francisco Cervelli. In Wednesday night's victory against the Atlanta Braves, his home run brought revival to the Yankees offense. Check out the drama here: Joe Girardi gets kicked out of the game for arguing that call on a play at first base. (Replays show that Brett Gardner was safe) Next up is Frankie Cervelli.

Let's set the stage here. The Braves are up 1-0. The Yankees up to this point had been shutout for 14 CONSECUTIVE INNINGS. Frankie steps up to the plate and BANG! He hits his first career home run. What a clutch hit! Some might say that it was Girardi's tossing that sparked up the offense. Some might say it was Brian Cashman's surprise appearance. I believe it was Cervelli's homer. Ever since Cervelli got called up to be the everyday catcher during Jorge Posada's and Jose Molina's stints on the DL, he's been serving up key hit after key hit whether playing every day or coming off the bench. During that stint, Kevin Cash was his backup catcher. That's right! The same Kevin Cash who got called up by the Red Sox when Doug Mirabelli, Jason Varitek's backup catcher when they won the World Series in 2007, went on the DL. Cash may not have played much that year, but he still has a World Series ring. Girardi took a risk on a player with no AAA ball experience over a backup catcher with a World Series ring and it paid off! What's Frankie's style? What's he like?

Wednesday Night Baseball – Not Just About the Sox posted by Tony Rossi

The Red Sox played a great game of baseball Wednesday night, as those of us in the Boston area were able to watch on NESN.  However, there was another fun game of baseball on ESPN 2 for their usual Wednesday Night Baseball game against the Braves and Yankees who were playing at the same time.  I found myself flipping between channels during commercial breaks for the Sox and caught some cool moments.  Meanwhile, the College World Series’ final game was on ESPN between Texas and LSU.  There was an awful lot of baseball on last night. 

I’ve never paid much attention to the College World Series in the past, but I found myself flipping to it a couple of times during Sox commercials this past week.  It’s a lot of fun being a student myself, seeing other students compete for a championship.  That being said, it also makes me jealous that Salem State doesn’t have much of a sports program, not to mention the fact that I don’t play baseball anymore.  But it’s still a lot of fun to watch student athletes compete.   So after the Sox game ended, I switched to ESPN and saw the last two innings of the College World Series.  Congrats to LSU for winning their 6th World Series title.  I’m sure the players and students are proud. 

On ESPN 2, the Yankees-Braves match up wasn’t exactly a World Series game, but it certainly wasn’t a bore.  I had completely forgotten how I used to watch these two teams compete in their own World Series back in the 90s.  It wouldn’t be the same because the Braves aren’t nearly the team they used to be, but it would have been cool to compare.  Regardless, I was watching the top of the 6th inning during a Sox commercial break when I hear announcer Dave O-Brien (who also does his share of announcing for Sox games on the radio) say that the Yankees had yet to reach base.  What I hadn’t realized was that the Braves were already on their second pitcher after Kenshin Kawakami left the game after the third inning where he got hit in the neck by a line drive (I haven’t found much on mlb.com, but it seems as if Kawakami only suffered a bruise and that he’s going to be okay).  That would really have been something special if the Braves threw a perfect game, or even a no-no, with the use of more than one pitcher.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  Brett Gardner got a leadoff walk, but was then picked off on a terrible call by the first base umpire.   Although the Sox game had come back on by this point, I had to switch back and forth a little because Gardner was heated and Girardi was about to be ejected.  

The 2009 New York Mets are Finally the Underdogs posted by Herb Uzzi

This isn't the way Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya drew things up in the offseason.

The Mets put yet another star on the disabled list, this time center fielder Carlos Beltran. He joins Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes on the DL, and that's just in the lineup.

Pitchers John Maine, Oliver Perez and J.J. Putz sit on the DL for the Mets, as well.

So why am I so optimistic?

Amazingly, the Mets have been able to stay in the NL East race, as today they sit just 1.5 games behind first-place Philadelphia.

But is that the reason?

Not fully. The Mets are finally the underdogs again. They were in 2006, when no matter how talented the Mets looked on paper, you had to be crazy to pick them to win the East over the Atlanta Braves. But that was the last time.

They were expected to blow through the league in 2007, which they did for five months before having a dreadful September and coughing up the division to the Phillies.

And then in the offseason, Minaya traded for ace pitcher Johan Santana, making the Mets favorites, yet again, for the 2008 season.

And when the bullpen and late-inning offense failed in 2008, the Mets added All-Star closers Putz and Francisco Rodriguez, once again making the Mets the trendy pick for the 2009 season.

But as we stand right now, with the Mets 34-32, sitting in second place and decimated by injury, the Mets are finally the underdogs.

No one knows how the heck they're going to get things done, how they're going to win games. No one is penciling in production for high-paid superstars. 

Thank You Chipper posted by Daniel Doyle

Chipper Jones was one of three Braves to be ejected in the 7th inning of Sunday's loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Finally emotion from an Atlanta Brave. This club has appeared to be dead to the world for much of the last two weeks. Not only have they been playing poorly, the losing seems to have no affect on them. I know these guys collect a paycheck whether they are ten games over .500 or ten games under, but it would certainly be nice to see these guys actually have one, single shred of pride.

This is the Atlanta Braves. America's team. The team whose fan base spread all over the nation when its owner, Ted Turner, put them on his little television network in the 90's. This is the team that won 14 consecutive division titles and one World Series in its glory days from 1991 until 2005. This club should have some freakin pride about them. They aren't the Chicago Cubs, who are more famous for how they always find a way to lose. They aren't the Washington Nationals, who are routinely mathematically eliminated from playoff contention in May. They are Chief Knockahoma and city of "The Chop." And it is about time someone acted like they care.

What ignited three Braves(Bobby Cox, Eric O'Flaherty, Chipper Jones) to the brink of eruption, was a poor ball-strike call by the home plate umpire. Let me preface the following scene by saying that this particular umpire had been terrible all day. His strike zone wasn't only inconsistant, it appeared to not exist. Pitches that were clearly out of the zone were called strikes several times, and pitches that caught quite a bit of the plate had been called a ball.

Rainy Nite costs Red Sox posted by Dodger

Boston Red Sox; Rainey Night Costs the Sox!!

J. Lester started last night for the Sox and has been outstanding, winning his last 3 games in a row, 2 were almost no hitters and allowing only 1 run in the other and 11 strikeouts in all 3 games--Sick!!! So I expected Lester to come out last night and do the same thing as he has been doing.

Lester would get an early lead in the 1st inning thanks to Youkilis' who hit a solo shot giving the Sox a 1-0 lead. And lately that would be enough for Lester to get a win, but not last night, because in the 2nd inning D. Uggla and R. Paulino would both hit solo shots of their own giving Florida a 2-1 lead and with the rain that's all they would need.

The starter for Florida was Nolasco and he has been up and down this year, but not last night after he gave up that homer to Youk that would be the only hit the Sox would get all night He struje out 5 and then the Boston skys opened up and the rain came down and this was just a sign that last night wasn't the Sox night. They waited for 2 hours until they called the game and since it was in the top of the 6th that's a win for Florida and a loss for the Sox with the 2-1 final.

So the Sox took 2-3 from the Marlins and I believe if the game wasn't rained out we still had a great chance to win, but some times that's how the cards fall, or  in this case--The Rain.  The Red Sox are now 40-26 in 1st place in the East and are up 3 games on the Yankees, sweet!!!  Next the Sox face the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park for a 3 game series, but Boston weather says it's only going to keep raining so let's see if we can get a couple games in.  Tonight at 7:10 it would be Atlanta's Kamakami who is 3-6 versus Dice-K who is 1-4 with a horrible ERA of 7.55,.So weather permitting hopefully Dice can have a good game and Sox can start off winning against the Braves so let's go Sox!!!!  Sox Nation Here.

Time for Change at the Top in Atlanta posted by Daniel Doyle

After Sunday's 11-2 defeat by a last place Baltimore Orioles team, it is apparent that the Atlanta Braves need to seriously consider replacing Bobby Cox.

Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones are the last two links in a Braves uniform to their World Championship team of 1995. I, along with every other Atlanta Brave fan, should be appreciative of what Cox has accomplished in his tenure as the Braves skipper. And I am. But all good things must come to an end. Cox's good thing in Atlanta ended with their last playoff appearance in 2005.

Watching Atlanta play over the last week or so, has been painful. Not only have they been losing frequently, they have played uninspired, ignorant baseball. From base-running mistakes, fielding errors, and other miscues defensively that do not show up in the boxscore, this club needs someone lighting a fire under them. Atlanta needs a Fredi Gonzalez/ Ozzie Guillen type manager that is not afraid to get in his players' faces.

Please do not confuse Cox's all-time ejection record for clubhouse intensity. Anybody with a pulse can argue an umpire's call. And anyone with a pair of legs can stand out there long enough to be tossed. Over the years, hundreds of players have put on a Braves uniform. Admittedly, most loved their time while playing for Cox. The consensus from those players is that Bobby doesn't say a lot, but what he expects is very clear. Fine. Maybe some of those guys from the past need to relay those expectations to the current players in Atlanta, because it is quite clear most of them have missed the memo.

Early Return on Tommy Hanson posted by Daniel Doyle

Tommy Hanson earns his first MLB win in his second start for the Atlanta Braves.

Perhaps it is a little early to determine whether it was the right decision to cut Tom Glavine, or if it was the right time to call Tommy Hanson up to the Majors, but one thing is undeniable. Hanson has the stuff to be one of the best pitchers in the game. How fast he achieves that status, if he does at all, is to be determined.

After giving up three homeruns to the Milwaukee Brewers in his Major League debut, I was admittedly a little concerned. I did not expect sheer dominance in his first start, but I did not expect he would give up three long balls and seven runs in six innings. He left his fastball fat way too many times and one of the best hitting teams in the National League made him pay. It wasn't all bad, however, as he struck out the side in the second inning, giving the Braves faithful a glimpse at what he could possibly be.

His most recent start, he faced the Baltimore Orioles. While they may not be quite the offensive force that the Brewers are, Hanson would have to face an "extra" hitter in the lineup since the Orioles use a DH in the American League. Hanson gave up more hits(9), but was able to keep the ball in the yard. It appeared that Baltimore's strategy against Hanson was to jump on the first pitch. Brian Roberts and Matt Wieters both accounted for one line-drive base hit each on the first pitch of an at bat. Amid the fourteen base runners he allowed(9 hits, 5 walks),Tommy was able to do a great job of damage control and limited the Orioles to only two runs. Peter Moylan relieved Hanson in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and two outs. His strikeout of Adam Jones on three straight pitches proved to be the most important plate appearance of the game and secured the Braves lead.

Cameron suspended 2 games for umpire contact

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Mike Cameron has been suspended for two games after he made contact with an umpire Saturday against the Atlanta Braves.The suspension was scheduled to begin Tuesday night when the Brewers hosted the Colorado Rockies. But because Cameron has filed an appeal, he will be allowed to play until it is heard.Cameron was ejected by plate umpire Marvin Hudson for arguing a called third strike in the ninth inning of the Brewers' 3-0 win. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for MLB

Houston capture series advantage

Houston Astros beat Atlanta Braves 7-3 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. [read full article]

From BBC Sport

Glavine may file grievance against Braves

Pitcher Tom Glavine is considering filing a grievance against the Atlanta Braves over his release Wednesday, as originally reported on FOX Saturday Baseball. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for MLB