By David O'Brien
June 2, 2008 5:12 PM | Link to thisJust up from the clubhouse: Yes, Smoltz is activated and Stockman sent back to Richmond.
Bobby Cox said if there’s a closing situation tonight, Smoltz is getting the call. They’re going to evaluate on a daily basis and use Smoltz, Soriano and Acosta to close for now. But tonight it’ll be Smoltz.
He’s still sore and is probably going to stay that way, but he thinks he can pitch through it. We’ll see. Only time will tell.
BOYER’s MRI was fine, just a bit of fluid on a bursa sac in the knee, doc said he could pitch today long as the discomfort is tolerable. Boyer said he feels good today.
HUDSON doesn’t think his hammy is a big deal at all and would be very surprised if he can’t make his next start. Bobby said Braves would probably have someone on standby from minors (Charlie?) just in case, but he, too, believes Hudson will be ready.
KOTSAY isn’t doing any better, has pain running down a leg, etc.
My comments on each, now...
Smoltzie -- glad he's back. Let's hope he doesn't overdo anything, in case he wants to pitch again next year.
Stockman -- sad he's gone. If he ends up being this year's Joey "Odysseus" Devine, I'm not going to be happy.
Blaine -- Awww, *pet pet*. I hope Bobby gives him a couple of days rest. He's appeared in just under half our games so far this year, and that's an awful lot for a relief pitcher. Not that we don't like seeing him, just that we want him to last the whole year and not have a bone spur in his UCL next spring training when he comes back from Australia...er...Marietta. ;)
Huddy -- Good, glad to hear he'll be OK. Hopefully we won't hear about some delayed bleeding in his hammy, which is what sidelined Tommy earlier this season.
Kots -- the one I'm concerned about. In addition to my day job, I'm a nationally certified massage therapist. I specialize in sciatic / low back pain, among others, and zaps down his leg make it sound like his sciatic nerve is impinged somehow. Whether that's muscular or skeletal I don't know, but if it was muscular, the massage treatment is really fun -- part of it involves an elbow to the piriformis muscle.
Get well soon, everyone!
By CABravesFan June 2, 2008 - 10:28 pm
Not sure if anyone saw this- great article on Smoltz from Jayson Stark at ESPN…he truly is amazing- I will be sorry when he's gone
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3421717
By slappywhite June 2, 2008 - 11:45 pm
I hate it Kotsay is hurt. He seems like such a nice guy.
I was raised down in GA but relocated to Philly a few years ago. On May 15th I went to the Braves game here. I got seats 3 rows behind the Braves dugout.
Right before the game started these kids about 12 years-old were behind the dugout asking for balls. Kotsay told them he couldn't get them a ball so he gave them some gum instead.
I was like, "What a nice guy."
Feel better Mark!!!
By Lauren T. June 3, 2008 - 12:05 am
slappywhite, thanks for sharing. I love to hear stories like this! :)
By Leah April 7, 2009 - 7:06 am
Sorry there wasn't better pics, most of the guys would walk by as I was taking the pictures and my dumb camera would focus so I would miss them. Ugh. Not sure why it had to focus for so long because they were not that far and it was still bright out. Who knows? Hopefully I'll get better (and closer) ones of them Friday night when they leave and during the game. My sister will probably have her camera, so I might steal a few of hers, lol.
We were amused by Yunel's shoes as well! Can you say PIMP?
By Crista Michelle April 7, 2009 - 8:41 am
I love that picture of Pete. It made my day, I've been impaitent on seeing what he would look like in a suit :).
Thanks Leah!
By CABravesFan April 7, 2009 - 9:15 am
Pete looks great in that suit:)
Kinda love Yunie's shoes…they seem so like him:D
Thanks for the pics Leah!!
By moatsak April 7, 2009 - 9:44 am
Love seeing the guys out of uniform..even in their required suits you get to see more of their individual personalities because of their choices.
And the best part of that pic of Yunel… you can't see those things in his hair. Was there a bet that he lost or something??
Great pics! Thanks!
By Leah April 7, 2009 - 10:23 am
You're welcome, guys! :)
I thought Pete's picture was the best as well. He's really the only one that "posed" for a picture. Most just kept walking, some waved, and some did attempt to sign autographs before being escorted to the buses. The guys did not look happy about that either, by the way. Fans weren't too happy about it either. Of course we're on the wrong side (no one had sympathy for us on side I was on), lol.
By flbravesgirl April 7, 2009 - 7:56 pm
Thanks, Leah!
Those are very funky shoes.
By CABravesFan April 8, 2009 - 9:42 am
Going through those pics again- is it just me or is Mac not even wearing a collared shirt? That would be so like him;)