Bluefield_Rules

I suggest you stay home and catch a thrilling game in the D.C. area...

BTW: The old reliable BDT says the game next week starts at 7pm, is that correct?

I also miss the G-Men swag of their fans, especially you CPF. It is no fun beating Graham when you all expect to lose and are just hoping to be competitive. There are plenty of teams around the region for Beaver to whip up on, they need to be challenged early on and Graham used to always do that. I want Beaver to win, but I want Graham to make them sweat and earn it.

Having some success will be a big positive going into the season because in reality this team is still young. However, hopefully the senior leadership is strong and prevents any sort-of overconfidence going into Beaver/Graham. And according to the roster #8 is DJ Stewart, who is a rising sophomore and I felt would be key to giving another weapon opposite Leggett. I remember him from last year's C'burg scrimmage and he was very impressive; quick and quite elusive.

Here's hoping for a more competitive game this year. Bluefield's recent dominance in the series with games being over by halftime has taken a good part of the luster away from the game for me. I haven't missed Beaver/Graham since 1994, but I debated whether or not to come last year. Did I really just say that? There is no debate going into next week, God willing I will be there since it will be my last Friday of freedom before grad school resumes on Monday.

The line looked okay considering the size and strength of C'burg up front. However, as I stated previously several kids slated to start on the line did not play on Saturday. You'll get a better idea about the line at the Shady scrimmage.

Typical Leggett; breaking tackles, fighting for extra yards and had a long 25+ yard TD run in the controlled scrimmage. Bluefield did not utilize him much yesterday; they were mostly trying to identify other possible weapons to put around him. Leggett is the least of Bluefield's worries going into the season. If they put an OL together to block for him and he stays healthy he'll have a great season.

Bluefield "won" the controlled scrimmage where the teams started at the opponent 40-yardline and ran 20-plays; they outscored C'burg 5-3 in touchdowns. In the game-situation (minus live kicks) with two 12-minutes quarters C'burg "won" 14-0. Overall, Bluefield has potential, but they definitely a work in progress. Beaver also played without three starting position players today, which made it more difficult to get a feel for what they have. I was more impressed by the second team and JV than the varsity because those two squads played more aggressive, especially defensively. The starting defense missed a bunch of tackles and need to develop a tough, hard-nosed attitude; they were too timid on tackles. The second string QB (wore #14 today) looked very sharp passing the football and threw two touchdowns. He is undoubtedly a better passer than Edwards, but Edwards make plays with his feet. The JV squad had two nice little backs (freshmen I was told) that had long TDs run after making several defensive players miss tackles.

I am heading to the scrimmage in the morning since C'burg High School is less than five minutes from my home. C'burg lost a lot of skill position players, but still return a couple of very good athletes. In talking to people at the local recreation center, the strength of the C'burg team will be the offensive line. Someone who has followed them for a number of years said the line had a chance to be the best ever at C'burg. Obviously, going into the season for Bluefield the biggest area of concern is their offensive and defensive lines, so the scrimmage tomorrow should provide a stern test to those two units. Beaver has a couple of kids playing this year that did not play last year, a few of which bring a bevy of talent with them. From what I've been told Bluefield is "loaded" at the skill positions, so hopefully they can piece together a line to block for the speed and talent at the skill positions.

Greinke is off the board, which is a relief. I did not want to see Atlanta give away the future for three months of rental.

I do not see Greinke coming to ATL. The money he will command when his contract expires would hand-cuff the Braves salary-wise and make it difficult to re-sign current players that are heading for free agency. It would undoubtedly mean Bourn would not return and the Braves need to keep Bourn around b/c his presence at the top of the lineup is huge. They have no other player anywhere in the farm-system capable of doing the type of things Bourn can do.

Impressive series wins early in the season versus the other top NL teams, Dodgers and Cards, on the road.

I was checking out the MLB standings/stats this morning and realized something shocking. Going into today's games, the Braves have scored more runs than other than team in baseball with 155. The second closest are the Rangers, Cards, and Rockies with 144. Now if offense can continue to be productive and the pitching staff could get itself together we might have a legit chance to do some damage.

I'm sure some will adamantly disagree, but I believe that Tommy Hanson is overrated. Who knows, maybe he'll find his niche at some point moving forward, but to this point in his career he has been very inconsistent.

Thanks. The semester is over, so I have a life and something called free time again, at least until May 14.

Bobby Lutz. I am surprised Greenberg lasted this long because of what an *** he was to multiple people at Tech; very, very, very few people could stomach and coaches couldn't wait to leave. However, meeting or exceeding expectations helps significantly to have people in power turn a blind eye. Once you fall below expectations the blood is already in the water and the sharks turn on one another quick. Don't be surprised to see another press conference before the start of fall semester by Weaver announcing his retirement. If you think he looks rough on video, you should see him in person; very sad.

Five in-a-row now for Atlanta with multiple positives from today minus Durbin's masterful 9-inning pitching performance. Does he really receive a paycheck to pitch? Let's see what they can do against the Mets after getting swept to start the season.

Tonight's game will be on the MLB Network for anyone wanting to watch Atlanta's home opener. It'll be my first opportunity to watch the Braves in 2012, so I'm looking forward to it.

Agreed about Damon not being a good fit in Atlanta. However, they wouldn't want his defense in LF, but yet they continue to trot out Matt Diaz every few days?

There have been a lot of questionable managerial decision just four games into the season from bullpen choices to starting lineups and pinch-hitters. And the late spring training additions of Durbin, Francisco, and Hernandez have been as crappy as they appeared to be.

Wow, J Francisco is a defensive stud; three errors through 4 innings tonight!

Wow, the Braves offense gets more impressive by the day; one-hit through six innings.

Another impressive showing for the Atlanta offense through five innings.

Hopefully more Beaver fans make the trek to Charleston for today's game. I was disappointed in yesterday's turnout.

I'm looking forward to the season and getting rid of the bitter taste that last year ended with. I'm anxious to see if Heyward can bounce back from his injury-riddled 2011 and if Pastornicky is the player Atlanta thinks is manning short-stop. The pitching, as usual, is there for the Braves. It's the hitting, or lack there-of, which will determine just how good and far they can go in 2012. The NL East looks to be one of, if not, the toughest in baseball, so whoever comes out the winner will have definitely earned it. I think Atlanta ends up competing for the Wild Card with the Phillies winning the division.