What I did this weekend instead of blogging

Aww yeah, minor league baseball. We were planning to go to the Rome Braves game, but had to head down to downtown Atlanta after the game, so Gwinnett was a little closer. They played the Louisville Bats, the Reds' Triple-A team. I thouhg t Louisville was the Redbirds, but I guess that name doesn't work too well when you're no longer the Cardinals' affiliate.

Woooo! A free program! We have the Braves' Triple-A All Stars on the cover. Wes Timmons I know nothing about, Barbaro Canizares got a cup of coffee last year with the Braves and now is hopelessly behind Freddie Freeman in the organizational depth chart and Mike Dunn is up with the big squad likely as an audition for potential trade partners.

Here's the inside of the program, notice anything missing?

So... what's Joe Thurston's uniform number? Or Mike Minor's? If #36 is on the mound pitching, who exactly would that be? You'll never know, because there's no names on the back of the jerseys and no uniform numbers printed in the specially printed program for the next three home series. Did Richmond fans have to put up with this nonsense? I'm beginning to wonder about the Gwinnett organization.

The Braves got spanked by the Bats 8-3, but it's minor league baseball so who cares. I got to see a few prospects, hang out in the sun and participate in minor league promotional shenanigans such as throwing tennis balls at kiddie pools in the infield for the chance to win tickets.

I got a team set of the G-Braves for ten bucks. Note to Strasburg collectors: he's in the International League Prospect set. Also ten bucks. I didn't get one because I do not care if Strasburg lives or dies. Here's some players from my team set that contributed in the game:

Freddie Freeman, AKA the guy we're calling up as soon as Troy Glaus' knees go. He looked pretty good out there today. Not Jason Heyward good like the last G-Braves game I saw but solid. He smacked a long solo homer off of Jason Isringhausen to right field. Well, now we know he can hit Major League pitching, even if it's former Major league pitching.

Todd Redmond started the game. He was half dominant (struck out the side in one inning) and getting shelled (homers right and left).  Not sure if you'll be seeing him in the bigs any time soon.

Georgia Bulldog alum Clint Sammons pinch hit in the 7th and bopped another solo homer. He stayed in the game as a third baseman, which I thought was interesting. Maybe they're trying to find him another position since there's a bunch of good catchers coming up in the system. Or maybe the organization is desperate for a third base prospect.

Craig Kimbrel is supposed to take over for Wagner as closer next year. Someone needs to get Wagner to pitch one more year because he didn't look that great. Juan Francisco (Remember the scary guy in National Chicle whose face covered the entire card? That guy) hit a MONSTER homer off the dude. There were a lot of surprising names in this game, see for yourself. Dinged Corners' favorite Micah Owings started the game for the Bats and I had no clue. Thanks shoddy Gwinnett program!

Jair pitched yesterday against the F#%$ing Fish and also got a card in the team set for pitching some rehab games here. They announced that the game was tied in the 8th during the G-Braves game. I figured out a few innings later that the Braves must have lost when they never had a follow up announcement.

It was still a nice day at the ballpark kand you gotta love the '87 Topps ripoff minor league team set.

This is why you always curve the bill of your cap

This poster was the giveaway at last weekend's Gwinnett Braves game. This is as much as I could fit on my scanner. I was able to fit in Tommy Hanson (first guy on the top row) but sadly the manager and a trainer got cut out. There's a lot of other guys who made the big league roster on this poster including Brandon Jones, Gregor Blanco, Reid Gorecki, Boone Logan, Manny Acosta, Barbaro Canizaro, Brooks Conrad and Kris Medlen.

Poor, poor Kris Medlen.

You're telling me there wasn't a second take of the photo? Kris could have gotten away with that expression. He does look genuinely excited to be there. Maybe he got called up to the bigs that morning. But the hat..... you can't get away with that hat. Not with that look on your face. Right next to Kris is Wes Timmons with a bill that is almost as level straight as Medlen's cap, but he's able to kinda pull it off. Not Kris. Poor, poor Kris.

And before you say that I'm being unfair to Kris, when a seven year old boy looks at a poster, gets a big smile on his face and says "Hey daddy, look at this guy" then it isn't me. It's that cap. Always curve the bill of your cap!

Tommy Hanson G-Braves Schedule

Things I learned from the Gwinnett Braves game today:

1) Unlike Turner Field, you can't bring food into the stadium even though I specifically looked for a prohibition on that on their website and found nothing saying I couldn't do it.

2) Jason Heyward looks incredible. 20 years old and the guy looks better than anyone in the current Braves outfield right now. 3rd inning he got a solid hit to plate the eventual winning run, then stole second, then stole a run when he scored from 2nd on an infield hit that was almost the third out in the inning. He looks beautiful out in right field too. Just beautiful, man. Anyone worried about Frenchy, fugheddaboudit. Heyward's the deal.

3) if you take kids to the Gwinnett stadium, be aware that they have bouncy things for them to jump on in the outfirld for two bucks a pop or $15 for an all-day pass. Between this and the food thing, it is actually cheaper for me to bring my son to a proper Braves game even though both food and parking are cheaper in Gwinnett.

4) I am officially a Brian Barton fan and am sad that he will very likely not get another chance to make the Braves' roster. It just means he'll become an astronaut sooner I guess. His at-bat music pushed me over the edge from "yeah, Barton's an ok player" to "I am a Brian Barton fan".

5) The goofy Groundhog mascot I mocked a while back is freakin' hysterical. Best mascot I've ever seen for a Braves team that wasn't an actual Native American. Of course we've had some real crappy mascots here in the ATL, but Chopper is legitimately talented. Call him and Jason up ASAP.

I learned some other stuff but those are the important things. Oops, I forgot a very important thing. End of the season gift shop blowouts rock. I got the G-Braves' team set, a pack of minor league cards and all three programs from this year for less than the prce of an all-day bouncy pass. One last thing for people who read all the way down here on a Sunday night: Be the first to post the attendance for the game I went to today and I'll send you that Tommy Hanson schedule up there. This is the age of the interwebs, someone should be able to figure it out.

What the...

The Gwinnett Braves have their mascot for the 2009 season. His name is Chopper. Here's a picture of the critter:


Yep, That's a groundhog. I was initially taken aback when I first saw it. However, it does have a few things going for it:

a) It's cute.
2) Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania has had a free ride for too goddamn long.
Σ) It makes no sense.
four) It's a hell of a lot better than the stupid mascots the parent club employs.

So basically what I'm saying is, I approve. I'd prefer a surreal rodent over a Mr. Met ripoff any day. And guess what? YOU can be the mascot! You have less than two hours to make up a skit and drive out to Lawrenceville, GA... But c'mon! It's totally worth it to be able to don that majestic costume AND GET PAID FOR IT!

BONUS TRIVIA!

Did you know that the groundhog is actually a marmot? I totally love this mascot now!