The Braves Blog

The rosters for this years All Star game were announced earlier today. Jason Heyward was the only Brave voted in by the fans, but a few more were selected as reserves.

Brian McCann will be making his 5th appearance in his 5 seasons as the lone back-up catcher, and Tim Hudson will be making his 3rd trip as the only pitcher from the Braves. Martin Prado and Omar Infante were both selected for the first time in their careers, and it has been announced the Prado will start in place of the injured Chase Utley.

One player some thought had a shot but not selected was Troy Glaus. Albert Pujols will be starting at 1st base, while Ryan Howard and Adrian Gonzalez were selected as his back-ups. Below is a comparison of the all stars and Troy Glaus:

Player	BA	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG
Albert Pujols	.305	20	60	.413	.567
Ryan Howard	.293	15	59	.349	.502
Adrian Gonzalez	.294	16	51	.389	.522
Troy Glaus	.260	14	56	.364	.458

In my opinion, the right guys were picked. I think there were two things that went against Glaus. First of all, his stats are low because of a slow start. Second, every team has to have at least 1 player, and Gonzalez is that guy for San Diego. I’m curious what everyone else thinks though.

I’ve re-tweeted the AJC article, so make sure you check that out. Per Dave O’Brien: “When Frank Wren called Omar Infante at 8:30 a.m. this morning to tell him he was an All-Star, Infante at first thought he’d been traded.”

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Nationals (34-44)	0	0	0	0	3	1	2	1	0	7	11	0
Braves (45-33)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	5	1

Boxscore

A few newsworthy items worth noting. Martin Prado’s chances of starting in the all-star game increased dramatically when Chase Utley was placed on the disabled list today. At the same time, Jason Heyward announced that he would not play in the game even if selected as a starter due to his injury. And finally, Matt Diaz was activated from the disabled list today, to be followed by %Bn%’s activation tomorrow.

Links to stories on all of the above items, and more, can be found on the twitter feed.

Clubhouse Comments

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Braves (34-25)	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	7	14	0
D-backs (23-36)	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	5	7	0

Boxscore

Good game last night. It was nice to see Chipper back in the lineup. Medlen hurt himself sliding into home, but thankfully it doesn’t look like anything serious.

In other news, the latest results in the all star voting are out, and Heyward, McCann, and Prado are all in 2nd place at their respective positions.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Phillies (28-22)	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	6	2
Braves (29-22)	3	0	3	0	0	0	3	0	X	9	11	0

Boxscore

Granted, we still have a long season ahead of us, but I think things look good. My prediction is that if we are still in 1st place by the end of the long road trip we have coming up, we’ll stay there the rest of the season.

The Braves went 20-8 in the month of May, taking them from last place in the division to first in the span of just a few weeks. All of this was done with Chipper, McCann, and Escobar playing way below what’s expected of them for most of the month. Add to that the fact that McCann and Chipper have both started to show marked improvements, and even Escobar has shown signs he is coming out of his slump. We also can’t overlook Cabrera’s recent performance which has been much better than how he started the season.

Then there are the guys that have been performing on a high level the entire time. Heyward, Glaus, and Prado are the everyday players that top the list. Then there are guys like Hinske that seem to perform as a starter, pinch hitter, or late inning replacement. Even Ross is providing solid offense from a position that you don’t usually expect such things from (backup catcher).

Things are looking good Braves fans!

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
CIN	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	4	11	0
ATL	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	5	11	0

Boxscore

The silver lining to  blown save was  winning the game with a walk off hit in the bottom of the 9th. With  on first,  hit a double into the right field corner.  scored from first to win the game.