GDT: 6/30/'14 Atlanta Braves vs. NY Mets

[AerchAngel]

I have no idea why anybody here still watches ESPN or MLBN. What we need to do is revive The Braves Show back from cancellation.

Thankfully my satellite system I have the basic package for kids and don't watch TV so no ESPN or MLB or any of that crap. It is unwatchable to me.

The wife has her Lifetime and Hallmark, the kids have their Disney and Nick Jr, I? I don't give a crap about TV.

[cajunrevenge]

Could always make Gerald the bunt instructor. I hear he has mastered the bunt double.

[The Chosen One]

What I'm saying is, I haven't watched ESPN nor Baseball Tonight regularly in about 10 years, coincidentally when they added John Kruk to their full-time mix. The Kruk addition was the start of them adding people I didn't want to listen to, that made Harold Reynolds look like a genius.

I used to watch Baseball Tonight because this was before the Red Sox were winning championships, so the only team they really blew a load over were the Yankees. After Red Sox won, they got equal tv time as Yanks, and that was the beginning of the end for their coverage. They used to actually give the Braves respect when Soup, Dibble, Gammons, Stark were regulars on there.

Another reason I have no need to watch ESPN/Baseball Tonight anymore, is the same reason Bill Shanks and Atlanta Dugout no longer serve a purpose. In the age of the 24/7 social media internet, breaking news gets here regularly, leaked info happens all the time, and we have a great team of regular joes here that do just as great of a job reporting/sharing stuff & news to the community. Why go to Bill when we have Rico, Nick, 50, etc. here to tell us about our prospects and organizational depth? The only thing anyone can really give credit to Bill for was being one of the break the Huddy trade. Other than that, he never really had any groundbreaking info, just some nice fluff pieces on minors guys.

I don't watch MLBN tbh. If I really want to watch baseball highlights around the league, then Baseball Tonight or MLB.com can suffice.

[thewupk]

What I'm saying is, I haven't watched ESPN nor Baseball Tonight regularly in about 10 years, coincidentally when they added John Kruk to their full-time mix. The Kruk addition was the start of them adding people I didn't want to listen to, that made Harold Reynolds look like a genius.

I used to watch Baseball Tonight because this was before the Red Sox were winning championships, so the only team they really blew a load over were the Yankees. After Red Sox won, they got equal tv time as Yanks, and that was the beginning of the end for their coverage. They used to actually give the Braves respect when Soup, Dibble, Gammons, Stark were regulars on there.

Another reason I have no need to watch ESPN/Baseball Tonight anymore, is the same reason Bill Shanks and Atlanta Dugout no longer serve a purpose. In the age of the 24/7 social media internet, breaking news gets here regularly, leaked info happens all the time, and we have a great team of regular joes here that do just as great of a job reporting/sharing stuff & news to the community. Why go to Bill when we have Rico, Nick, 50, etc. here to tell us about our prospects and organizational depth? The only thing anyone can really give credit to Bill for was being one of the break the Huddy trade. Other than that, he never really had any groundbreaking info, just some nice fluff pieces on minors guys.

I don't watch MLBN tbh. If I really want to watch baseball highlights around the league, then Baseball Tonight or MLB.com can suffice.

Pretty much agreed. And mlb.com has recaps of every game. Why watch BBTN, Sportscenter, MLBN, etc when I can go online whenever I want and watch whatever highlight I want to watch. The days of watching sportscenter all hour to see highlights of your game are over. And they know that to. That's why you see more reality tv type stuff and tv's version of sports radio now. That's all they have to offer to keep viewers. The internet has changed that and for the better.

[thewupk]

Run differential. They're at +43, we're at +2.

If we sustain that the rest of the year chances are we probably won't make the playoffs.

Exactly. I mean it does happen that teams with a negative or near even run differential make it into the playoffs. It usually entails winning most of your 1 run games which is pretty lucky in and of itself. It happens. But it's rare. Teams that score way more runs then they give up usually win a lot more games then teams that are around the dead even mark. History proves that. But if the Braves win close games and win most of the games against the Nats then it could happen. However I would prefer to just increase the RD and wins lots of games by healthy margins.

[The Chosen One]

Pretty much agreed. And mlb.com has recaps of every game. Why watch BBTN, Sportscenter, MLBN, etc when I can go online whenever I want and watch whatever highlight I want to watch. The days of watching sportscenter all hour to see highlights of your game are over. And they know that to. That's why you see more reality tv type stuff and tv's version of sports radio now. That's all they have to offer to keep viewers. The internet has changed that and for the better.

Don't get me wrong, I'd still watch Baseball Tonight if the quality of coverage was the same was it was 10 years ago. The problem is it's not. Not even close. It's really really sad to watch baseball tonight now, to see how far it's fallen from where it was 10 years ago. They used to show at least 2-3 minutes of dedicated highlights per game, even if it was a crappy game. But then over time they started prioritizing other teams over others, and explored longer segments dedicated to players and certain teams which turned me off.

[thewupk]

Don't get me wrong, I'd still watch Baseball Tonight if the quality of coverage was the same was it was 10 years ago. The problem is it's not. Not even close. It's really really sad to watch baseball tonight now, to see how far it's fallen from where it was 10 years ago. They used to show at least 2-3 minutes of dedicated highlights per game, even if it was a crappy game. But then over time they started prioritizing other teams over others, and explored longer segments dedicated to players and certain teams which turned me off.

The quality not being as good is only a small fraction of it to me. 10-15 years ago that was literally all we had. For dedicated baseball news that was it. You got some phone interviews and cool segments dedicates to players/teams. And you watched it for that hoping it was for your team. Now? Dozens of websites at your fingertips to get all the info you need. And some of that from espn.com itself. In the on demand world that we live in I'm not going to watch baseball tonight in hopes they have something dedicated to the Braves or watch their trade deadline show I'll go to websites like fangraphs, or some of the espn columnists, or whoever to look for info. And I'll hit up baseballtrade rumors, twitter, and these forums for deadline stuff. TV is outdated for that kind of stuff.

[CyYoung31]

Exactly. I mean it does happen that teams with a negative or near even run differential make it into the playoffs. It usually entails winning most of your 1 run games which is pretty lucky in and of itself. It happens. But it's rare. Teams that score way more runs then they give up usually win a lot more games then teams that are around the dead even mark. History proves that. But if the Braves win close games and win most of the games against the Nats then it could happen. However I would prefer to just increase the RD and wins lots of games by healthy margins.

And I think we will.

[Julio3000]

[yeezus]

I have no idea why anybody here still watches ESPN or MLBN. What we need to do is revive The Braves Show back from cancellation.

I'm down to be part of that. Let's make it an in-depth NL East show.

[GovClintonTyree]

Gameday calls Kimbrel's 85 mph offspeed pitch a knuckle curve. Is this right? I know having just one finger knuckled under is enough to make it a "knuckle" curve but I didn't know Kimbrel threw his curve that way.

Yeah, it's kind of epidemic in our system. Kimbrel, Venters, Hanson, Wood.... the short of it is you knuckle the index finger in order to shift pressure to the middle finger and it creates the spin without having to pop around it. It's a tight, hard curveball and it's easy to control, according to Wood. Somebody said something to Kimbrel last year about his slider, and he was clear that it wasn't a slider.

[CyYoung31]

Am I the only one who thought that the Mets' Eric Campbell was the former Chipper heir apparent?

[BremanFan88]

Yeah, it's kind of epidemic in our system. Kimbrel, Venters, Hanson, Wood.... the short of it is you knuckle the index finger in order to shift pressure to the middle finger and it creates the spin without having to pop around it. It's a tight, hard curveball and it's easy to control, according to Wood. Somebody said something to Kimbrel last year about his slider, and he was clear that it wasn't a slider.

I believe Venters taught everyone how to throw it.

[NinersSBChamps]

I honestly didn't know BBTN was still on the air.

[CyYoung31]

So, according to Jayson Stark, before their game last night Bryce Harper made out his own lineup card and gave it to Matt Williams. The lineup suggested the positions everyone should play, and the lineup did not include Denard Span.

What a tool.

[Julio3000]

So, according to Jayson Stark, before their game last night Bryce Harper made out his own lineup card and gave it to Matt Williams. The lineup suggested the positions everyone should play, and the lineup did not include Denard Span.

What a tool.

You have got to be kidding me.

I've wondered if he could really be as much of an entitled prick as he appears to be or if it's just playa hate on my part.

I guess I'm vindicated. Seriously, this is a 21-year-old kid with fewer than 300 MLB games under his belt. Wow.

[gilesfan]

So, according to Jayson Stark, before their game last night Bryce Harper made out his own lineup card and gave it to Matt Williams. The lineup suggested the positions everyone should play, and the lineup did not include Denard Span.

What a tool.

This is actually not true, but do you have link to where Stark says it?

What the Nats would do when Harper came back has been a hot topic in these parts. So, all the players have been asked about it over and over again. The origin of this story is Adam Kilgore asking Harper how he would make the lineup card out.

[Heyward]

So, according to Jayson Stark, before their game last night Bryce Harper made out his own lineup card and gave it to Matt Williams. The lineup suggested the positions everyone should play, and the lineup did not include Denard Span.

What a tool.

Not a terrible idea, honestly if you want to keep the IF defense intact.

[gilesfan]

Not a terrible idea, honestly if you want to keep the IF defense intact.

They are a much better team with Span in the lineup over Espinosa, letting Espinosa fill in vs. lefties and backup SS and 2B. Span is a very good defender in his own right.

They will probably move the guys around a lot, subbing in other guys vs. lefties (Hairston, Frandsen, Espinosa) and giving more days off to Werth/Laroche.

[Tapate50]

Not a terrible idea, honestly if you want to keep the IF defense intact.

Not if it still included Zimmerman.