The Chops Come to D.C.
The Braves come churning into D.C. tomorrow, fresh off a three game series with the Phuzzies in Atlanta. So far, they’ve take two of three from the Phillies after losing back-to-back interleague series to “the Nation” and “Empire.” This has not been a great year for the Chops, though they remain in the thick of the NL East race, in part because no one else seems to want it. They are three games under .500, but only three games behind the division leading Phillies. Not a few commentators picked the Braves to best the defending champs at the beginning of the year, on the strength of their starting pitching. The Chops picked up Derek Lowe (7-6) in the offseason, signed Japanese veteran Kenshin Kawakami (just 4-6), and brought in strikeout artist Javier Vazquez (now 5-7). That’s three solid frontline pitchers with one (Lowe) who can dominate. But with more than one-third of the season in the books, Atlanta’s premier and feared pitcher is Jair Jurrjens (6-6), who flirted with a no-no in his last start with the Phillies and whose ERA has consistently hovered around 2.30.
The Nats faced Jurrjens on April 12, but the former Detroit product was only so-so, lasting 5 1/3 before being relieved. That’s hardly a good sampling and the Nats would do well to study the sturdy Curacao righty, as they are likely to face him several more times before the end of the season: the Nats have twelve games remaining against the Chops until October. Jurrjens is an interesting story. Scouted by the Tigers, he was signed by them as a free agent in 2003. He immediately impressed, going 12-6 for the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Tigers single-A affiliate. Jurrjens has always maintained the same kind of numbers — doubling strikeouts to walks and walking less than three per game. He’s an innings eater. The Braves noticed and, when they dangled shortstop Edgar Rentaria to the Tigers at the end of 2007, Jurrjens was on their short-list of Tiger prospects. Last year he was 13-10 with a 3.68 ERA in his first full season in the majors — a strike-throwing innings eater that kept the Braves sorry-ass bullpen out of games. He’s no different this year, eating innings and throwing strikes.
Gnats Notes: ”Nice piece on the Milledge trade,” a reader writes, but then adds that the Nats interim GM is not “Frank” Rizzo, but Mike Rizzo. Quite right. And evidence that there is such a thing as default typing. Frank Rizzo, for the record, was the Mayor of Philadelphia and head of the National Association of Morons during my “yute” and famous for his droll views of American justice. I remember that, prior to a Black Panthers Party convention in Philly back in the early ’70s, Rizzo said that if there was any trouble he would “hang them from the city lampposts” and then added, “after a fair trial of course.” Of course. We assume from their pics that Frank and Mike are not related . . .
Ryan Zimmerman is still third in the All Star voting, behind the punchless David Wright and the aging Chipper Jones. It’s time to cast your ballot (or ballots, as the case may be) for Zim. No one else on the Nats is even close in vote totals, so my bet is Zimmerman will be the number two third baseman in St. Louis. It will be interesting to see how Zimmerman and Jones match up in this series . . . We can assume that, with the trade for Nyjer Morgan, the sniffing around about bringing Braves rookie Jordan Schafer to Washington is officially dead. Schafer, a “can’t miss” prospect for the Chops has missed horribly — one of the reasons the Braves traded for Pirate Nate McLouth. Last time we looked, Schafer was hitting just above the Mendoza line . . . If anyone deserves bleacher baiting it has to be Jeff Francoeur, Atlanta’s official whiner. And he’s a beaut. Last year he slobbered and sulked about a demotion to triple-A but then refused to hit for either power or average. He hasn’t gotten much better this year, his career describing an downward arc reminiscent of that other great Atlanta slugger (and former Nats), Ryan Langerhans. The difference between the two is that Langerhans is a nice guy. Jeffy is a crybaby.
Hang 'Em High Rizzo
