The Ted Turner Memoirs Part 2: Ascension and Ice Cold Brewskis

[lilbiggio]

Lake Buena Vista, Florida
March 5, 2011
2:32 PM

Some of the moves Turner had made were laughable. Yes, we can admit that there were some rather absurd, downright ingenious moves from a man out of baseball for 10 years. The signing of Chone Figgins, the resignings of Derrek Lee, and Carl Crawford...

But Julio Gomez in the starting lineup?


Hah...


Holman Keezel jotted down another stat in his small notepad. It had been a warm spring day. Worthy of a fine Corona as the owner took his notes. Watchful eyes behind the darkly tinted sunglasses. There was an obvious need to watch the moves that Turner made. Because when the Friday paper hit the pavement no one would be saying Damn, Ted Turner really screwed the pooch thinking Julio Gomez could outplay Chone Figgins.

MLB League Leaders - Updated: Mar 5, 2011
Julio Gomez			Chone Figgins
	1. Games	13		1. Games	15
	2. At Bats	25		2. At Bats	31
	3. Hits	3		3. Hits	12
	4. AVG	.120		4. AVG	.387
	5.			5.

Nope they'd say his name... Holman.

Quote:

Hmph... linedrive base hit from Miguel Tejada. he's showing a great Spring with his new ball club. the Cardinals really love his presence on the field.

Competition is good though. It fuels the fire. It keeps the edge



The notes had alerted another thing. Jason Heyward had played a rough first few weeks of the spring. Now it looked as if he was coming out of his shell thanks to the pressure from journeyman AAA "star" Eric Hinske:

MLB League Leaders - Updated: Mar 5, 2011
Eric Hinske			Jason Heyward
	1. At Bats	38		1. At Bats	26
	2. Hits	11		2. Hits	10
	3. Home Runs	1		3. Home Runs	2
	4. AVG	.289		4. AVG	.385
	5.			5.

[lilbiggio]

***

...he watched Holman Keezel from a far... there was an added presence of security. Ha! It wouldn't be enough if ends needed to meet tomorrow. But things weren't that neccessary. The deed would be done soon enough. Still... it was unsettling to see that Holman would not be as easily accessible as he was that night. That night as he understood was perfectly orchestrated. Ruined only by incidental chance. A lucky stroke that would not happen again on his watch.

The past few weeks Holman had drifted into virtual obscurity. Unseen by anyone... literally no offseason news or controversies over his where abouts. He knew he'd have to wait until the games began again. through the first half of spring training Holman had predictably sat in the same seat 14 times out of 14.

Holman Keezel would pay his debt for testing him. It was only a matter of time. Part of the fun of the hunt, is the strategy of the chase. The impending fear over the head of the unsuspecting victim...

[lilbiggio]

Errors and Cold Hitting Lead to Another Loss


When Asked by the media Saturday afternoon whether the lack of offensive production was something to worry about going into Opening Day in just 1 week, Manager Bobby Cox had this to say:

Quote: Originally Posted by Bobby Cox

You know it's tough to go out there playing these games and keep the mentality that we're just trying to see what we have beyond the engine. The past few times we've talked the Atlanta Braves have looked pretty bad... I won't lie. Shut out by NY and PIT, today we just got shutout by the Jays. Yes we're all frustrated in the lockeroom. And Yes, it looks bad out there.. Sure I could go out here each day and play Derrek Lee, Brian McCann and some of the others and pick up a couple of wins to please the fans. Those that are watching the games and keeping up with us want to see some W's. They want to see us go 162-0. But newsflash, that ain't happenin' here. It's not realistic... it's not baseball. We're struggling. It happens, teams struggle. But at the end of the day, this is still Spring Training. I need to see what we have with Alvin Colvin. We need to see if Troy can still swing a good bat and help us in some fashion this season. IT hurts to keep losing games that you want to second guess yourself and say if HE was in the game, we'd might have had a different outcome... but we're not worried about winning games in March.. we want wins in April, May, June... July.... Aigust... September...and finally a few in October if we can get some then. I feel good about this team. We have a lot of speed, we have a lot of good bats that haven't got used as much as we could have, but that will change in a weeks time. Everybody won't be cold.. don't worry about the Atlanta Braves. We'll be ready April 1.

[duke776]

I read the first one and recently discovered this one. I love your franchise, keep up the good work.

[lilbiggio]

Quote: Originally Posted by duke776

I read the first one and recently discovered this one. I love your franchise, keep up the good work.

Cool thanks for reading!


SPRING TRAINING POSITION BATTLE RESULTS

Quote:

Figgins beats out Julio Gomez obviously with a stellar spring training. He batted .367 through 30 games. In a surprising turn of events, Melky Cabrera beat out Jason Heyward for the starting rightfield spot for opening day. Cabrera, Eric Hinske, and Heyward dueled for most of March, but Heyward played inconsistantly and lost out on the nod. Cabrera will have to fight to hold on to the spot for a majority of the season as Heyward is a crowd favorite. Omar Infante narrowly defeats Yuniel Escobar for the starting SS role. It was very close, but my deep hatred for Escobar keeps him out of the lineup for now. He'll serve as a good platoon player so it's all good bros. Peter Moylan earned a promotion and held off Carl Pavano for the closer's role. This one was too close to tell so we give it to the guy that was here last year. More on this development as the season goes on, because both are equally trash compared to our former guy Billy Wagner. Jair Jurrjens had a fantastic spring training and earns the 5th spot in the rotation over Tommy Hanson. Jair went 4-1 this March with a 2.34 ERA. Hanson was 2-2 and had a 4+ ERA.

So there we have it, the 2011 season is upon us within the next update. It's a brand new year and we open up at home against the Florida Marlins. Lowe will be the Opening Night starter vs. Josh Johnson. The ring ceremony for the 2010 World Champions is at 6:05pm with a a first pitch 15 minutes later.

[yankeesandre]

Hey this is pretty great man I haven't checked the first one but saw this one nice job.

I have a question though how did you get Chone Figgins with the Braves uniform?

[lilbiggio]

Quote: Originally Posted by yankeesandre

Hey this is pretty great man I haven't checked the first one but saw this one nice job. I have a question though how did you get Chone Figgins with the Braves uniform?

Oh, for Figgins, I just Photoshopped him into the Home Blue-Red-White Tonites. Take two pics one with the current player and one with the new hat. Substitute the face of the orignial guy into the hat and jersey of the joe that you replacing him with and wah-lah.



Opening Day: Ring Ceremony and Fishes
Hmm and so the first day back from a hearty Thanksgiving break, the grammer police strike our title as they wonder should a man really refer to fish in the plural form as fishes? That sir is uncivilized.

But none the less the Marlins would be the visiting team with the honor of watching our hometown boys collect their 2010 World Series Rings

Quote:

Holman Keezel: .. but today wouldn't be right unless we gave a special ring out to the guy that played his heart out for the city of Atlanta for 17 seasons. We're glad that we were able to send him off into the sunset with a second ring. Come on out here Chipper...

Chipper Jones comes out of the Atlanta Braves dugout to a rowdy obvation. I mean and why the hell not, it had been the first time since the Braves won the 2010 World Series that the Atlanta public had seen #10. Many thought he wouldn't even be in attendance as he had become a shadow, a deleted person from a proud franchise file.

Quote: Originally Posted by Chipper Jones

HOW SWEET IT IS ATLANTA!!!!!!!!!! WHOO!!!!!!!!!!!

....


.. so with the rings out of the way, the 2011 Season got under way and the offensive problems that seemed to plague us throughout Spring Training for atleast one game have dissapeared. Nate McLouth led the way with 3 hits including an opening day bomb to left as the Braves jumped on the Flordia Marlins 6-4.

Is it me or does MLB the Show like to pile on the rust factor big time early in the season, people were bobbling balls left and right, over throwing people, and barely making routine outs. Kinda frustrating, kinda cool... let' me give an example of the kinda fustrating:

Exhibit A: Dan Uggla hurt himself on a relatively sophomoric play to first and will be out for a couple of weeks. His replacement came into teh game I think his name was Benefacio or something along those lines and stroked 3 hits in a row. Uggla had previously struck out twice... but the play was so simple, just a grounder to second that required him to dive, and now he's out. Wow!

Marlins at Braves -
Jan 1,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida ()										4	9	1
Atlanta ()										6	10	1

Oh boy.. what a start for the season. We'll take the customary 6 days and be back for round 2 of this young season.