BigD4VT

There was going to be a 7 on 7 today at Richlands but it's been cancelled due to the weather.

A bit of a shakeup for the Braves today. First they called up LHP Alex Wood from AA and designated 3B Juan Francisco for assignment. This means they are back to a seven man bullpen and Chris Johnson is FINALLY the full-time third baseman. Francisco will likely be traded (hopefully for another reliever). They also made a decision to hold Heyward, Bupton, and Uggla out of tonight's lineup. Those three (and Francisco) aren't hitting. Gattis, Schafer, C. Johnson, and Pena are and should be in the lineup as much as possible until they stop, or the other guys start. It looks me to like Fredi Gonzalez just got told what to do.

BJ will come around. He's had streaks like this before, although maybe not this long and at the beginning of the year, but they say he's always been streaky. Personally I think Schafer should play CF as much as possible until BJ does come around. He looks like he's finally becoming the player Atlanta once thought he would be.

He hit a grand slam yesterday giving him 3 HR and 7 RBI in his last 6 AB's. As for where to play him... He's hitting .143 as an outfielder and .274 as a catcher.

He stopped for some iPhone photography.

The following is a tweet from legendary Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes. I'm sure most of you have never heard of him but he's one of the elite sports photographers in the world. Just thought it was kind of cool that he passed through our area.

No place to put him full time. It's a tough situation. The three positions he can play are filled by your 3, 4, 5 hitters. As good as Gattis has been it would still be hard to justify letting him share time with any of those three. He should be catching once a week but since they want Laird catching Teheran it's not going to happen. So at this point he's a RH pinch hitter and IMO would be better off playing every day in AAA.

Very young.

It just keeps getting worse for the best bullpen in baseball. Eric O'Flaherty was placed on the disable list today and the MRI shows a tear in his UCL which could mean Tommy John surgery. They won't know for sure until he meets with Dr. Andrews next week. On top of that Jordan Walden went on the DL yesterday and there is no timetable for the return of Ayala and Martinez. That makes a total of five Braves relievers on the DL. If it's determined that O'Flaherty does need surgery they will probably have to make a trade. I also expect Medlin to move back to the pen when Beachy returns next month.

I hope not. There have been a few guys that came back after having Tommy John twice.

Richlands 6 Marion 5

McCann will be back in the lineup tonight. Gattis (who's 2nd on the team in seven offensive categories) will probably play LF (J. Upton moving to RF) until Heyward comes back. Then he will be relegated to backup and pinch hit duties.

Today's (Tuesday) starting lineup: 1. SS: Andrelton Simmons 2. 3B: Chris Johnson 3. LF: Justin Upton 4. 1B: Freddie Freeman 5. C: Evan Gattis 6. 2B: Dan Uggla 7. CF: B.J. Upton 8. RF: Reed Johnson 9. SP: Tim Hudson

Braves get swept by Detroit and the guy they traded for Uggla (Omar Infante) did most of the damage.

Fredi must have heard me when I said bat Uggla 2nd... but then he struck out four times so forget I said it. Bat Chris Johnson 2nd instead. I makes no sense to have the MLB batting leader batting 5th or 6th with nobody on base. Bat him 2nd so the MLB HR leader can have someone on base when he comes up. I like Fredi but he sucks at making lineups. Do this... Simmons C. Johnson J. Upton Freeman Gattis B. Upton R. Johnson Uggla