UPDATE: Escobar left tonight's game in the bottom the fourth inning with what appears to be a hip flexor problem.  I didn't sound too serious, but it is sure to put a damper on trade talks regarding our now even slower shortstop.

(4) Corey Hart

The general feeling around the blog-o-sphere is that Corey Hart may never become the Grady Sizemore-lite that so many believed he could be.  I won't go into too much depth about Corey Hart's past seasons.  David Golebiewski certainly did it enough justice here.  To reiterate his critique in the article, it seems pitchers had all agreed on a game plan when approaching Hart: "get ahead of him 0-1, and then feed him a steady diet of sliders, knowing full well that he would be tempted to chase them out of the zone."                                                                                          

That article was written before the 2009 started.  At the time, many experts believed that he would rebound the following season.  By taking a quick glance at Hart's statistics for this year, it's clear he has not.  There is little difference between his current OPS of .750 and his previous year's .759.  Even worse are his peripherals; they seem to confirm the pitching strategy outlined above.  The 22.9% strikeout rate he is sporting is 5% more than it was last year.  The struggling outfielder is taking notice to this, though, by drawing more walks than in the past three years, up to 9.2%, and swinging at much fewer pitches outside of the zone.  Unfortunately, this change seems to be costing him some of his power (on pace for 34 doubles, a total that is 11 lower than last season).

His poor hitting still hasn't made Hart useless.  He is on pace to improve upon his last year's RAR, but it will fall far short from the 44.0 runs above replacement he had produced in 2007.  Add in that he is already into his arbitration years garnering a 3.25 mil salary in his first eligible year, Hart is definitely not an attractive trading option.  There is hope.  Anyone with flashes of greatness like in his 2007 season is certainly capable of doing it again (see Carlos Quentin and what he did in the minors).  I believe he is the perfect opportunity "buy low" candidate on the trading block, but taking only Hart for our prized shortstop would be a definite loss.  However, if we were looking for Abraham Lincoln impersonators, there is no doubt he would be our best option.

(3) Denard Span

Acquiring Span has two key benefits over fellow outfielder Michael Cuddyer, the other Minnesota Twin mentioned as possible trade bait by Buster Olney: his potential and his cost.  The 25-year-old hitter had a good rookie year in 2008, where he displayed his plus speed, good eye, and above-average defense in right (below-average in center).  He managed to post a batting line of .294/.387/.432 with 18 stolen bases in a matter of 411 plate appearances.  His '09 campaign hasn't been quite as successful as his OPS has fallen to .759.  This drop was, actually, predicted by all of the projection systems[1].

More interesting is that most of them were even more pessimistic about his sophomore season.  Bill James' projections, naturally[2], expected the most out of Denard, but .739 OPS he predicted him to have is still less than his current line.  This discrepancy is mostly due to the underestimation of his strikeout tendencies and his ability to draw walks.  He is currently walking about once in every 9 plate appearances (11.1%), while only striking out 14.7% of the time.  Plus, his contact percentage has improved (88.7% to 91.4%) via making more contact on pitches outside of the zone (+13.8% making contact when swinging inside of the zone), while he has cut down the number of pitches he swings at out of the zone (down 2.9% to 58.0%).  Considering he was expected to have a BB% and a K% of approximately 8-10% and 17-19%, respectively, I would say he hasn't necessarily disappointed this year.  Still, while everyone recognizes Span has potential, there doesn't seem to be much agreement on how high or how soon.

At this point, much of what I am going to say is speculative, but it is my belief that, if he can improve his defense in center, Denard Span will be a top tier at that position.  I have some evidence of this claim.  His RAR in his rookie season, during which he only played two thirds of a year, was 26.2 runs.  This year, so far, he has produced 17.6 runs above a replacement player, according to Fangraphs.  Most of this is done splitting his time in left and center at a two to one rate.  He has shown improvement at center this year by recording a -42.8 UZR/150 in '08 to -9.7[3].  If he can translate this defense into a superior right fielder and slowly, yet consistently, improve his bat, I don't see any reason why he can't become as good, if not better, than Yunel.  The chance that he turns out better, given the above empirical and external scouting "evidence", is there, but it is certainly not substantial enough to guarantee certain future success.

Whatever Span's chance at a huge upside may be, my final verdict on this trade is that it is a complete wash unless one of the following is true: 1) we need a top-of-the-order guy who can steal bases or 2) Atlanta believes the replacement for Yunel (Brooks Conrad) is much better than who  (a combination of Matt Diaz and Brandon Jones).  Both of these things are unlikely, so I'll stick with my gut feeling.

First, I've learned that I will probably never be a season ticket holder, at least not the kind that goes to every game.  When you live 40 miles or so from the stadium and have a full-time job (along with a part-time teaching gig and sports blogging to do), six games in six days is exhausting!  Now, I can imagine nothing better than having a job that paid me to go to every game, but until then I don't think I'll be making it to the ballpark so often.  That's not to say that I won't be watching on tv or listening on the radio though, so don't think I'm not still as diehard a Braves fan as ever.

That leads me to what I wanted to write about today: being a diehard fan.  First, let's all admit that the people who can call themselves diehard Braves fans in this city are scant when compared to those who follow the Yankees or Red Sox.  If you haven't figured that out yet, then you didn't go to any of the six games.  As a matter of fact, you probably didn't listen to any of them on the radio or tv either, because I hear they talked at length about the presence of masses of Yankee and Red Sox fans at The Ted those six days.  What you missed were chants of "Let's Go Yankees" or "Let's Go Red Sox" and a litany of other chants by the Yankee fans and the Red Sox Faithful.  At times I was sure there were more of them than there were of us, but it was obvious they had at least equaled our numbers. 

Forget your disappointment in Braves fans for not showing up in full force or being louder.  Forget how much you hate those obnoxious Yankee fans yelling in the stands.  Those six games were the six best games of the season at The Ted.  Those six days and nights were baseball at its best, even if the Braves were not.  People came early and tailgated.  People went in the ballpark two hours before the game.  Virtually everyone who came into the park was wearing something with a team logo.  The stands were nearly full when the game started - and the same was true when the game ended.  Nearly 50,000 people came through the gates of The Ted everyday for six straight days.  For those six days, Atlanta was a baseball city. 

Having lived here my entire life, I've always been a Braves fan.  I've also never cared if there were 5,000 people in the park or 50,000.  I've only left two games early in my entire life, and I think I've only missed the first pitch once.  I've never cared if anyone else was a diehard fan because it didn't matter - I was and am.  That all changed in 2001 when I visited Fenway Park for the first time.  My father has been a dual Braves-Red Sox fan for as long as I can remember, so I have as well.  But it wasn't until 2001 when he and I visited Fenway Park for the first time that I really formed my bond with the Red Sox.  Going to a game at Fenway is like stepping back in time.  They literally roll up metal gates to start letting people into the ballpark.  I went on a tour and sat in the same dugout where Babe Ruth and Ted Williams once sat.  I saw the names of hundreds of players scrawled on the wall inside a door out on the Green Monster.  I sat in the same cramped confines that so many have before me and watched the game unfold before me.  And it wasn't just the ballpark - it was the fans.  There is not a single Red Sox fan who comes into that stadium that doesn't have something on with a Red Sox logo, whether it's a shirt, a hat, a pin - they're all sporting something with the logo.  It is an amazing experience for anyone who loves baseball, whether you like the Red Sox or not.  Being a Red Sox fan just makes it that much better.

Ever since then, I have found fault with my fellow Atlantans for not caring more about the Braves.  I know our team doesn't have the history here in Atlanta that the Red Sox have in Boston, or the Yankees have in New York, but you have to admit that we have a lackluster fan base for a city this size.  As embarrassing as it was at times during these last series against the Yankees and the Red Sox, nothing was more embarrassing to me as a Braves fan than the last time we were in the playoffs and we couldn't even sell out the stadium. 

I don't know how you repair this problem, or if anyone else even really thinks it's a problem, but what I do know is that those six games felt like I think baseball is supposed to feel like when you go to a game.  If you missed getting to one, you really missed out.  Regardless of the fact that the team didn't play the best baseball, they were the best games of the year in terms of being a fan in the crowd.  I may have been exhausted, and it may be easier to say now that I'm rested again, but I enjoyed every minute of those six days and nights, from the time I got to the ballpark (two hours before the game, of course) until the final out.  And even though I'm an admitted Red Sox fan as well, I was proud to be a Braves fan those six days!

For my thoughts on this and more, you can now follow me on Twitter @BaseblEconoMiss!

• Michael Cuddyer
• Shin-Soo Choo
• Corey Hart
• Matt LaPorta
• Denard Span
• Mark Teahen

It is always beneficial to rank all possible trades and, as mentioned above, Olney's list is an appropriate place to start. These rankings will represent my evaluation of which trade leaves Atlanta the best off, in general. By this, I mean I plan on rating each trade based on both the short-term and long-term[5]. Before getting started, I want to point out that I do not believe that some of these deals for Yunel are worth it at all. Yunel is a top 10 shortstop and is almost certainly going to improve as a player. I don't put too much weight on attitudes, with a few exceptions (ala Elijah Dukes), but even when considering that, any acquisition that includes Escobar needs to have a good deal of talent on the other end to make any trade worthwhile. With that, let's see which of our lovely suitors have the most to offer.

(6) Mark Teahen

This is, honestly, the worst of the major trade options Buster talks about in the article. Teahen, who was made famous by Michael Lewis in his book, Moneyball, and a fantastic article he wrote for the New York Times Magazine, probably needs little introduction. After his first productive major league campaign in 2006, Mark proceeded to disappoint for the two years after that, with his OPS dropping from .876 in '06 to .763 in '07 and .715 in '08. He has bounced back, so far, in '09 with an above-average .292/.350/.451 line.

As Olney mentions in his article, a key advantage to Teahen is his positional flexibility. The guy came up as a third basemen, moved into the outfield playing both right and left in 2007, garnered some time at first and third (again) while continuing to play right field, spent this past spring training trying to learn second base [6], and, finally, is now spending a majority of his time back at third base. It's obvious his DeRosa-lite presence would bode well with an aging left fielder, an injury prone third baseman, and a "right fielder".

My problem with this is that we don't need that guy. That role is already filled by a combination of Omar Infante and Martin Prado. Omar can play all of Teahen's positions plus he is a decent shortstop. Infante's projected line is decidedly worse, coming in around .275/.335/.400, but he did show (in his little playing time) this year that he was hitting for more contact. In his 184 plate appearances, he had cut his projected K% almost in half to 8.1% for the year. Teahen is undoubtedly a better hitter, but by a fairly slim margin. However, even more comparable to Teahen is Prado.

While Martin Prado can't play outfield, he has the same predicted OPS as Teahen; the difference is the combinations of power and on-base abilities they use to produce that number. Here are the CHONE projections of each player's advanced statistics for this year[7]:

Prado's contact makes up for his slight deficit in his batter's eye to Teahen, giving him a slightly higher OBP. Teahen's extra power (career HR/FB of 10.8% to Prado's 4.4%) shows up in SLG, beating out Prado in that category. The season is halfway through, however, so we can update these predictions with what both of these players have done this year.

Teahen is outperforming his current projections by a small amount, but it should be taken with a grain of salt. His BB% is down (7.1%) and his BABIP is elevated (.344 to his projected .327). We all know Prado has been ridiculous so far this year. This past week's NL Player of The Week is sporting a .889 OPS. That will, inevitably, come back down to Earth, but there are some positives to take from it. He has further improved his contact by only striking out in 8.0% of his at-bats and his BABIP is below his projection. They may profile differently, but Prado's and Teahen's overall contribution with their bats are about the same.

This should be enough for why we wouldn't want Teahen's services, but, in case you are still not convinced, I'll continue on. The two players compare nearly identically defensively. Mark's only position he has posted a positive UZR/150[8] (while logging enough playing time to consider the results as significant) is right field, where he saved 6.7 runs in 2007[9]. Prado's defensive work around the diamond has been mixed, but should not be considered distinctly worse than Teahen. He seems to be adequate to below-average at third base and above-average at first. Second has been a struggle for Prado, but comparing him to Teahen who wasn't even good enough defensively to play that position in Kansas City is a stretch[10].

Finally, the last thing to consider is his contract. I won't say too much here, since I will be talking about many of the underlying problems with moving Yunel when considering Cuddyer's contract (see below), so I'll sum Teahen up pretty quickly. He is in his second year of arbitration and will be set free, as it were, within two years. Yunel is not even arbitration eligible yet. 'Nuff said.

I think that this analysis leads to a pretty simple conclusion: whatever we get from Mark Teahen, we already have in one form or another. Why would we need to send an top tier shortstop away to acquire a service that we can install internally?

(5) Michael Cuddyer

Trading for Michael Cuddyer would be a less poor idea than acquiring Mark Teahen, but, more importantly, would be very unrealistic. Cuddyer is a solid right fielder, posting an OPS+ of 124, 111, and 92 over the last 3 years. While his current line of .278/.359/.516 shows he is improving at the age of 30, he is no defensive stud. He has never posted a UZR/150 of above -5 runs for the past 3+ seasons. There is also the concern of injury, which sidelined him for most of last season. However, his biggest flaw of all is the contract he carries around with him.

This year he makes 6.75 mil and he'll make another 8.5 mil in '10. That's not a ridiculous contract, but it is definitely not worth it in this market. Given that Dunn is only getting paid 10 mil a year (my arbitrary reference point), I would think we could get a lot more bang with our buck[11]. Plus, I don't expect the Braves are willing to take on that much payroll. The same goes for Minnesota; I doubt they will cushion Cuddyer's financial blow.

Let's say that we did have the best case scenario, where Minnesota pays for half of that contract. At that point, it might be a decent trade. However, Yunel is still under control for about 4 years, he will cost us much less than Cuddyer, especially considering that we have a guarantee of service from Yunel, and he is a better player for his position.

To give a little perspective, Yunel's RAR, or Runs Above Replacement[12], last season was 32.0 runs. Cuddyer's RAR for his last full season (2007) was 21.8 RAR. Considering the replacement for Yunel would be Brooks Conrad and Cuddyer would be filling in for Francoeur[13]/Diaz, we would actually be losing a few runs[14]. Thus, paying extra for the chance that Cuddyer, who is slightly less impressive at his position, to perform above what is expected while losing out on two "free seasons" from Yunel is simply not worth it. Hopefully (finger crossed), this trade will never be given real consideration.

Parts 2 and 3 will be coming out over the next two days.

For our second introduction in as many days, allow me to present the other winner of the writing contest, Tom Gieryn. I'll let him take it away from here!

Greetings, Chop-n-Change denizens...my name is Tom Gieryn, and I'll be the other new guy joining the estimable C-n-C blogging team. Many of you know me as "Tom" from the comments, and I look forward to bringing the same objective perspective to the front page.

One of the things we're going to try to start over here (now that we're fully staffed) is a nightly recap of the day in BraveWorld. We'll always start our evening tour in the lovely city of Atlanta, but we'll also make stops across the Southeast, in beautiful destinations like Pearl, Mississippi and Danville, Virginia to visit the various Braves minor-league affiliates and see what they've been up to. 

First things first: the big club. Every night, we'll of course give you the score, but as you expect from C-n-C, we don't stop at the easy stuff. We're also going to try to glean some game-by-game insight by looking at FanGraphs' excellent win probability data.

(To get us started, a little primer on Win Probability Added; if you've seen this drill before, skip down below. WPA is a metric that measures each player's direct impact on the team's chances to win a given game. Based on years of play-by-play data, we have matrices that show the probability that a given team will go on to win a given game depending on the situation -- which is defined by the inning, the number of outs, the score, and how many runners are on which bases.

In the simplest example, in the top of the first with no outs, no runners and a 0-0 score, each team has a 50% chance to win. If the leadoff guy hits a home run, we go look back at all the games where that situation has come up (top 1, 1-0 score, no outs, no runners), and see how often the team leading 1-0 actually went on to win the game: that gives us a probability that either team will wind up victorious. And baseball is a zero-sum game -- i.e., as good as that homer is for the team that hit it, it's equally bad for the other team.

So, we attribute the change in probability to the hitter and the pitcher. If the team's chance to win goes from 50% to 60% because of the leadoff homer, then the hitter gets a +0.10 and the pitcher gets a -0.10. This is going to give major credit for hitting or pitching in clutch situations; a pitcher who throws nine shutout innings to win 1-0 is going to have a far higher WPA than a pitcher who tosses a shutout but gets tons of run support. As a result, WPA is not--repeat, NOT--a metric to evaluate future performance, since obviously those two hypothetical shutouts require equal talent from the pitcher. But if you're trying to look back at which shutout was more valuable, obviously the "clutch" shutout is.)

So, with that out of the way, here's what info we'll bring you after every game:

MVP: This will be the player with the highest WPA total for the game. Whose contributions did the most to help the Braves win? Even in a loss, we'll look at whose fault it wasn't.

LVP: This player had the lowest WPA total for the game. For a win, we won in spite of this guy; for a loss, he's to blame the most.

MIP: This stands for Most Important Play. This is the single play with the highest change in win probability. This play was the one that did the most to help one team or the other put the game away, and there will be some surprises sometimes. In a 1-0 game, you'd think the single run would be the biggest factor, but sometimes you'll find that the MIP was a time when the losing team, say, grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and one out.

UotG: I really need a better acronym for this (suggestions welcome). This is "Unit of the Game," for lack of a better term. For this, I split the team into offense, starting pitcher, and bullpen. I total up the WPA for each of those groups, and name the unit who contributed most to the result (in a win, who was best; in a loss, who was worst). This way we'll be able to look at trends across many games, and identify strengths and problem spots.

Then we'll go around the minors, and I'll give a tidbit or two from each minor-league team that played on any given night. I see no reason to give scores, as what I'm most concerned about is the commentary: who played well or didn't? 

So, without further ado...

Around BraveWorld June 30^th:

Braves 5, Phillies 4 (10 inn.)

This one was a roller coaster, folks. Braves took a 3-2 lead into the eighth after a solid six innings from Derek Lowe, but the Phils got back-to-back solo shots from John Mayberry Jr. and Pedro Feliz to put the Phillies up 4-3.

MVP: Martin Prado. The guy had a WPA of .668 for this game. In every game, the winning team has a +0.5, and the losers get a -0.5, so a 0.668 figure means that Prado not only did enough to win the game by himself, but his contributions were enough to also erase the negative contributions of some of his teammates.

Prado went 4-for-5 and drove in four of the Braves' five runs: a third-inning RBI single to tie the game at one, a fifth-inning solo homer to tie the game at two, an eighth-inning, two-out RBI double to tie the game at four after the Phillies had taken the lead in the top of the inning, and the walk-off RBI single off the indomitable Chan Ho Park in the tenth. That's about as impressive of a performance as you'll ever see -- the Braves kept trying to give the game away, but Prado just wouldn't let them do it. Even as big of a KJ fan as I am, we need to find a way to get this guy's stick into the lineup more often.

LVP: Mike Gonzalez. Took a 3-2 lead into the eighth and gave up a pair of home runs to put the Phillies ahead. (With his WPA of -0.427, he nearly lost this game single-handedly. He owes his teammates a drink for covering his back.)

MIP: Prado's RBI double with two outs in the eighth, tying the game at four. Remember what I said about surprises? The MIP is not the walk-off hit, because that came with no outs in a situation where the Braves didn't have to get a hit right then. But in the eighth, with two outs and down a run, the Braves had their backs against the wall, and Martin delivered.

UotG: Offense. For all the grief our offense has taken lately, they came to play tonight. Pitchers kept giving the Phillies runs, but the offense kept getting them right back. 

Before I start rambling on and on with numbers, claims, and cultural references, I think it is important that I introduce myself. My name is James Piette and I have been an avid Braves' fan since back in the days when Fred "Fire Dog" McGriff was just acquired and the Tomahawk Chop was still intimidating.[1] My current occupation is a 3rd year PhD student in Statistics at the Wharton School of Business, which makes me one of the worst kind of people. My focus, which regrettably is not the most respected in academia, is entirely on sports, whether it be basketball, cricket, or hockey, but my true passion is in baseball.

Somehow, I impressed Alex and Kristi[2] enough to give me a shot as a writer for Chop-n-Change. I plan to post relatively frequently focusing mainly on developing stories surrounding the Braves', players who are under/over-performing, specific issues related to the team's strengths and weaknesses, and anything in between. Due to my incredibly geeky nature, these posts will inevitably be full of tirades lambasting and praising trades, players, front offices, etc., via statistical evidence, along with a little (hopefully) witty rhetoric. I plan on devoting ample time to each post's comments, as well. If I start becoming too obscure and out-of-touch, feel free to bring me back down to Earth through your hate.

As this is my first post, I feel it is appropriate to write about the question that I most often get asked when I explain to Northeners that I am not a Sox/Yankees/Mets/Phillies fan: What chance do you give the Braves to make the playoffs? Before looking at existing computer predictions, let's take a look at the standings. At 35 - 40, Atlanta is 5.0 games back of the Phillies. While plenty of teams in baseball's history have made more impressive pushes to get into the playoffs, our chances would appear to be dwindling fast.

One might suggest we have gotten unlucky, but that does not appear to be the case. Our luck score, or our current number of wins minus the Pythagorean-formulated number of wins[3], is 0 this year, compared to last year when it was -6. If luck isn't the case, is it simply the Braves' are not good enough to win the division title?

My next step when evaluating this question is to look to Baseball Prospectus' postseason odds, a page with computer predictions of postseason odds for every team. They list three sets of probabilities for each team making the playoffs, breaking each down into the expected number of wins and losses, the actual winning percentage of each team, and the chance of being crowned the division champion or wild card. I've decided ELO-adjusted is completely out of their mind[4] and the original version is not adjusted for current roster[5], so I am sticking with the PECOTA-adjusted odds.[6]

You'll note that our current chance of getting into the playoffs is about 25.6%, which breaks down into 20.9% odds at winning the division and 4.7% probability of winning the wild card. That is pretty good, considering the lead Philadelphia has. I would have pegged it around 20% myself, but I suppose this is why I am the eternal pessimist. However, this is not the most surprising number on the page. The Braves' Pct3, or the expected winning percentage, is 0.546, which, relative to the rest of the NL, is the 2nd best such number behind the Dodgers at 0.582. That is, the Braves' have the 2nd highest expected winning percentage, a higher value than any other team in the NL East. I'll let that sink in before continuing on.

Perhaps this doesn't come as a surprise to most of you. Kudos to you. For those of you who are in my shoes banging your head against the wall every time our outfield fails, this should come as a sigh of relief. I specifically remember this wasn't the case a month ago, but with all of the injuries to the Mets and the ineptitude of Philly pitching, it does not seem like too much of a stretch. Because I am a complete nerd, I decided to see what our chances of winning the division would have been if each team in the division started with their current Pct3 (i.e. for 6/29). After running 1,000,000 simulations[7], where I consider each team to have started the season with June 29^th's posted, PECOTA-adjusted, expected winning percentages and play out 162 games, I got the following results for the approximate probability of each team winning the division[8]:

Braves: 0.463
Phillies: 0.397
Mets: 0.098
Marlins: 0.042
Nationals: 0.000

To have a 46.3% probability of winning the division title is a huge accomplishment for any team. While the Phillies would still have a substantial chance of taking the crown, considering how close 0.541, the Phillies' Pct3, and 0.546 are, it is a big discrepancy. Of course, this isn't even taking into account the wild card, which I did simultaneously using the same simulations.[9] The wild card was won by the Braves' 11.6% of the time; this is fairly often when conditioning on them being eligible to win it (i.e. did not win the division).[10] Thus, according to my simulations, the Braves' playoff chances if we were to flashback in time to April 5th, but using current rosters and player progressions, then we have a 57.8% probability of making it to the playoffs.

While that whole venture into exploiting PECOTA's abilities was exhausting, it puts up a few good points that I will end with. The first being that the Braves pitching depth is great, while the Phillies and the Mets are really suffering from their respective garbage they picked up this summer. Second, the Braves are still in this playoff race. With Tim Hudson coming back soon after the All-Star break and a front office that is almost always engaging in positive dealings, I think it's safe to say that our expected winning percentage will only go up. Lastly, if you work/live with any Phillies/Mets fans, a feeling I can relate to so well being in Philadelphia, then the next time they bring up Atlanta's fortune this year, you'll know that your team is the best team, right now, in the NL East. Unless either team acquires a star player. In that case, just cry loudly and they'll leave you alone.

First, I'd like to provide you with my baseball playlist.  I created this before I left to drive down to Spring Training this year have listened to it before every game I've attended this year.  Just really gets me in the mood for some baseball!  I welcome all suggestions for additions to the playlist, as I'm sure I've missed some good ones!

1.  Centerfield by John Fogerty (THE classic baseball song after Take Me Out to the Ballgame)

2.  Cheap Seats by Alabama (another natural choice)

3.  Taking Care of Business by B.T.A. (Does anyone else remember the Taking Care of Pittsburgh spoof that was done back in '91 by Fox 97 here in Atlanta?  I have it on tape and have been trying to acquire the technology to upload the song for you all!)

4.  Fortunate Son by CCR (just seems to come on a lot at games)

5.  Rock'n Me by the Steve Miller Band (again, seems to come on a lot at games)

6.  Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones (another classic played at games)

7.  You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC (yet another classic played at games)

8.  Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne (I'm sure most of you know Chipper used this song for years as his at-bat song)

9.  What I Like About You by The Romantics (again, played at a lot of games)

10.  Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond (a tribute to the Red Sox, my other love)

11.  Hells Bells by AC/DC (a tribute to John Smoltz and his days as the Braves closer, although I still never understood why that was his song because it doesn't really seem to fit him)

And in other randomness, here is my guide to eating at The Ted:

Peachtree Pizza: found all over the stadium, this is the most recent version of pizza available at the stadium.  I could seriously eat pizza everyday, so I've tried every version of pizza available at the stadium over the years and this ranks in the top two.  They have huge slices and they're pretty good as long as you get them when they're fresh.

Chick-Fil-A: my favorite Atlanta staple finally made it to The Ted, replacing a fledging Moe's on the 100 level close to the plaza.  Although a bit more pricey than the ones you find around town, the quality is the same.  If you want fries, nuggets or wraps, you'll need to hit the one on the 100 level just off the plaza going towards the first base side of The Ted.  If you're only looking for the classic sandwich, you can find that on the 200 level not too far from home plate in a tent, on the 400 level around first base or being sold in the stands. 

The Chop House: a full-service restaurant located just off the plaza above right field, The Chop House has become a huge fan favorite at The Ted.  My brother goes for the hot wings and my friends love to stand against the railing and watch the game while grabbing a beer.  Some fans never make it to their seats, instead choosing to watch the game from the railing.  You'll need to arrive early if you want to grab a spot with a view from The Chop House for the game.  As far as the food goes, it's fairly good although pricier than your other concessions. 

The 755 Club: featuring a buffet, a sports bar and a menu you can order from, the 755 Club is a members-only restaurant above left field with floor to ceiling glass windows overlooking the field.  If you get there early, there are also tables out on a patio overlooking the field.  Don't let the members-only part scare you off - there are always plenty of passes for sale on eBay and Craigslist if you want to try it out!  I'm more of a baseball traditionalist though and prefer to grab something from the concession stand to eat in my seat while I watch batting practice.  I have had some delightful meals at the buffet in the past though.

Smokehouse BBQ: formerly Skip & Pete's BBQ, this is located right in the plaza and features ribs, pulled pork, pulled chicken, beef brisket and turkey legs along with accompanying sides.  It's not really my style, but my father frequents it.  I hate that they renamed it after Skip passed away and Pete retired, but maybe it's what those guys wanted.

Tomahawk Tavern: last but not least, if you're looking for a frozen adult beverage, hit up Tomahawk Tavern at Sections 120, 122 or 235 for a Tomarita.  They also feature a variety of beers and wines.

Other concessions around the park have the usual ballpark fare.  If you're one of those who doesn't care for the footlong hotdogs you may have trouble locating the "normal" size ones at Turner Field.  We canvassed the ballpark for them this week and located them just outside Section 412.  As an added bonus, these shorter dogs are Hebrew National hotdogs for those looking for a kosher dog.

I hear there are some non-traditional selections in the Lexus Level if anyone wants to comment on those.  Personally, I don't like to sit in the Lexus Level and haven't done so in years, so I can't provide much guidance there.

I'm interested to hear other opinions and suggestions for Braves game-related traditions, treats or other interesting facts!

Yet, I'm having to sit here and tell you about how the Braves lost to the Red Sox by a score of 0-1.  While I think the home plate umpire did Vazquez and the Braves huge disservice by failing to call a strikeout on Big Papi in the sixth, allowing the inning to continue until a run was finally scored, the fact remains that you cannot win a game without scoring runs.  And you certainly cannot win a game without scoring any runs at all. 

The Braves had just four hits yesterday, two from Gregor Blanco who was filling in for the injured Nate McClouth.  I'll give them credit and point out that there were only two strikeouts, both on Diory Hernandez.  They just couldn't get a ball to fall in a gap, especially when there were runners on base.  Speaking of runners on base, the Braves had two stolen bases yesterday.  Perhaps not all that noteworthy except that one of them was by Brian McCann.  Not at all known for his speed, McCann managed to rack up his fourth stolen base of the year.  The element of surprise and the slow nature of Wakefield's pitching were contributors.  Nonetheless, I love seeing McCann steal a base!

Today the Braves will send rookie Tommy Hanson (3-0, 3.13 ERA, and the author of our last win) to face Brad Penny (6-2, 4.93).  This matchup is certainly the best shot at a win we've had this series, so let's hope we at least manage to avoid the sweep!

I'm leaving town from the game today, so I may not be able to get up the sixth installment of Six Games in Six Days, but I'll certainly try.

Boston's Josh Beckett and Jair Jurrjens were evenly matched if you look at the boxscore and ignore the runs and earned runs columns. Beckett pitched 7 innings and gave up 6 hits while striking out 6. JJ pitched 8 innings and gave up 7 hits while striking out 6. However, JJ also walked three and gave up 4 runs, 3 of those earned runs. Mike Gonzalez pitched a perfect ninth innings, striking out all three batters he faced. Despite the similarities in pitching performances, the story last night was Boston's ability to post some RBIs and the Braves lack thereof.

As if the third straight loss at home wasn't depressing enough, now I have to tell you about the declining health of our team. Brian McCann sat out last night's game with a "light-headed sensation," but team officials say they're not worried because of the arduous duty he pulled the previous four nights in the Atlanta heat. McCann did come in as a pinch hitter in the ninth doubled off Papelbon, so I expect we'll see him back in the lineup tonight.

Yunel Escobar sat out last night with the sore right hip flexor he's had for about a month now after Cox noticed him having some issues with it in Thursday night's game. I think we were all ready for Escobar to have an night off after his attitude in Thursday night's game. For those who missed it, Escobar made a diving stop on an A-Rod grounder in the fourth but was charged with an error on his throw to first. The television cameras all caught him pointing to the press box and spitting out an expletive. He then stood with his hands on his thighs during the next two pitches, unready for what might come at him next. During a pitching change later in the inning, he continued to sulk with his arms crossed over his chest. We've seen a lot of this attitude lately, and the press has widely covered his refusal to discuss his missteps with the press after the games. Cox indicated, however, that his replacement by Diory Hernandez last night was due to the sore hip and not the sour attitude. No word on whether he'll play today.

And if all that wasn't enough, Nate McClouth strained his left hamstring legging out a bunt in the eighth inning. Okajima had trouble grabbing the ball and McClouth was safe at the bag. Unfortunately, he had to be removed and Gregor Blanco entered in his place. McClouth is listed as day-to-day and could still play today.

Today, the Braves will have to overcome the injuries and sore spots and beat knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield (9-3, 4.47 ERA). Javier Vazquez (5-6, 3.18 ERA) will take the mound for the Braves, looking for a win to tie up his record. Vazquez has pitched better than his record shows, but like the other Braves starters he hasn't gotten the run support he needed. An offensive performance like last night won't get it done, so lets hope the bats are hot today.

In totally unrelated but notable news, Georgia native Melanie Oudin, who was unseeded at Wimbledon, has beaten the #20 and #6 seeds to advance to Week 2. A huge feat for the Marietta native, and one I couldn't resist mentioning!