GTfan's Braves Dynasty-Continued

[GTfan]

ATL Braves (55-40)
@
NY Mets (46-49)
Shea Stadium, NY
3 Gm Series
Gm Impact- 8

Series Preview
The Braves were in for another good division matchup against the sub-par Mets. The season series is dead even between the teams, 3-3, and none of them were more then 2 run games. The Mets started out by leading the division and then holding on to 2nd place, but have since fallen below .500.

Who's Hot
The Met's Cliff Floyd has been getting on base a lot with an awesome .332 avg. He has also launched 10 HRs.

July 23
ATL- Russ Ortiz (8-4)
@
NYM- Al Leiter (3-5)

Pitching Matchup
This matchup was between two of the premier starters in the team's rotation. Ortiz and Leiter met back on opening day and Ortiz got the win. Leiter has had a disappointing season with only 3 wins while Ortiz has started to heat up a little.

PLAY BALL
The Braves showed that their defense was ready to play in the 2nd when Ortiz gave up 2 leadoff singles but was got out of it with a triple play.
Then the defense of the Mets did well by getting Leiter out of a bases loaded with 0 outs jam.
Ortiz and Leiter went at it for 8 innings with no score until Mike Cameron finally broke it up with a grand slam. The Mets almost scored another, but Andruw threw him out at the plate.

4-0 NYM End 8th

Then closer, Looper, came in and finished the job for Leiter in the 9th and Leiter the win.

4-0 NYM F

WP- Al Leiter(4-5)
LP- Armando Almanza (1-2)

HR- Mike Cameron (13)

Player of the Game
Mike Cameron- 2 for 4- Grand Slam

July 24
ATL- 12
NYM- 3 F

WP- Mike Hampton (11-3)
LP- Tom Glavine (6-6)

HR- Chipper Jones (10)
Eddie Perez (3)
Jose Reyes 2 (10)

Player of the Game
Eddie Perez- 2 for 4- 2-Run HR, 3 RBIs

July 25
ATL- 11
NYM- 0 F

WP- Horacio Ramirez (9-7)
LP- A. Heilmen (6-5)

HR- Marcus Giles (12)
J. D. Drew (19)
Andres Galarraga 2(13)

Player of the Game
Andres Galarraga- 3 for 5- 2 HR, 5 RBI

Next:
ATL
@
PIT

[GTfan]

Atlanta Braves (57-41)
@
Pittsburgh Pirates (40-58)
4 Gms

Series Preview
Well, the Braves are facing off against the Pirates again. This time a 4-game series after the 2 games 4 days ago that the Braves swept. The Pirates are lowly ranked in every catogory except their #1 in fielding. They are now 16.5 games out of the Central race with their postseason hopes long gone.
Who's Hot
Jason Kendall gave the Braves a hard time last time, and has continued to light up the baseball with a .330 avg. and 10 HRs and a league leading 25 doubles.

July 26th
ATL- Paul Byrd (3-7)
@
PIT- Josh Fogg (2-9)

Pitching Matchup
Today's matchup was between a struggling pitcher and one that is just starting to pitch well, Paul Byrd. Byrd has been the disappointment in the Brave's rotation, but has had a decent ERA at 3.54. Fogg on the other hand is at 4.45.

PLAY BALL!
Wilson struck first for the Pirates in the 3rd with an RBI base hit to give them the first lead.

1-0 PIT End 3rd

But then the HR machine, Andruw Jones launched a monster HR of 484 ft. to tie it in the 4th.

1-1 Mid 4th

Then both pitchers dualed it out throughout the game and into the 7th.
It looked like Andruw had another RBI in the 7th but a Pirate in right field made a tremendous dive to rob him and save the run.
But finally Derosa's pinch-hit double in the 8th put runners at 2nd and 3rd with 0 outs. And it was Marcus Giles who came through with 2 outs to get one in, but Derosa was thrown out at the plate to keep the lead at one.

2-1 ATL Mid 8th

But Mackowiak tied it up in the 8th with a solo-shot off of Alfonseca and they didn't stop there.
They started threatning to take the lead with a fast pinch-runner at 2nd with 2 outs, but the ball hit off of Alfonseca and Boone made a nice play to throw him out to end the 8th.

2-2 End 8th

Then the went to extras. Galarraga got the 10th started by nearly missing a homer off the wall for a double, but the Braves couldn't capitalize.
Then Dominating John Smoltz failed to stop the hard charging Pirates in the 10th when Wilson got the walk-off double to give the Pirates the close win and give Smoltz his first loss.

3-2 PIT F/10

WP- Vogelsong (1-5)
LP- John Smoltz (2-1)

HR- Andruw Jones (40)
R. Mackowiak (13)

Player of the Game
Craig Wilson- 2 for 5- GW double

July 27th
ATL- 8
PIT- 2 F

WP- Tim Drew (1-0)
LP- N. Figuerson (4-6)

HR- Marcus Giles (13)
Andruw Jones (41) (Watch out Barry, the record is coming down!)

Player of the Game
Kevin Gryboski- IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Trade News
In an incredible move, Boston's Nomar Garciaparra is traded to San Diego for Brian Giles.


July 28th
ATL- 15
PIT- 10 F

WP- Russ Ortiz (9-4)
LP- K. Wells (3-13)
SV- Jung Bong (1)
(I didn't know that was a save situation)

HR- J. D. Drew 2 (21)
Andruw Jones (42) (This is immortal, he's not missing a game)
Craig Wilson (10)

Player of the Game
J. D. Drew- 3 for 5- 2 HRs, 5 RBIs

July 29th
ATL- 4
PIT- 3 F

WP- Mike Hampton (12-6)
LP- Kris Benson (7-10)
SV- John Smoltz (22)

HR- Marcus Giles (14)
Andres Galarraga (14)
Bobby Hill (5)

Player of the Game
Aaron Boone- 2 for 3- 3B, RBI

Up Next:
ATL
vs.
NYM

[GTfan]

Here's a look at the early race for Cy Young and MVP in the NL:

NL Cy Young Race
1) John Smoltz- ATL
2) Roberto Hernandez- PHI
3) Jeff Weaver- LA
4) Ben Sheets- MIL
5) Jason Schmidt- SF
6) Mike Hampton- ATL
7) Tony Armas Jr.- MON
8) Roy Oswalt- HOU
9) Brett Myers- PHI
10) Steve Sparks- ARI

NL MVP Race
1) Andruw Jones- ATL
2) Barry Bonds- SF
3) Bobby Abreu- PHI
4) Carlos Delgado- PHI
5) Albert Pujols- STL
6) Orlando Cabrera- MON
7) Morgan Endsberg- HOU
8) Todd Helton- COL
9) Geoff Jenkins- MIL
10) Nomar Garciaparra- SD

[GTfan]

Atlanta Braves (60-42)
vs.
New York Mets (48-56)
Turner Field, Atlanta
3 Games
Impact- 9

Series Preview
The Braves are facing off against the Mets once again after finishing the last series with 2 blowout wins, but the season series is only a 5-4 Braves advantage. This game has a lot of impact of whether the Braves can pull away in the East.

Who's Hot
Mike Piazza has kept a .296 avg. and just needing a few hits to get over .300 and leads the team with 18 HRs.

July 30th
ATL- Horacio Ramirez (9-7)
vs.
NYM- Aaron Heilman (6-5)

Pitching Matchup
Today's two pitchers are very simular in ERA and record. Both ERAs are high and both have average records. Ramirez's once low ERA jumped after a rough outing in Kansas City back in interleague play, but he's started to pitch up to his potential again so watch out.

PLAY BALL
Both pitchers cruised through 2 innings, but in the 3rd inning, Aaron Boone led off with solo-blast on the first pitch from Heilman and the Braves had their usual early lead.

1-0 ATL End 3rd

But the Mets came right back in the 4th with an RBI from Vaughn and Ramirez got the double play ball that should have ended the inning but Giles was taken out on a slide and another run scored.

2-1 NYM Mid 4th

But Marcus Giles tied it right back up in the 4th by killing the first pitch he saw into the center field seats. And Galarraga regained the ATL lead by hitting a sac-fly to score Chipper.

3-2 ATL End 4th

But Ramirez's good outing suddenly turned into a slugfest in the 5th. Floyd started it with a 2-run double with 0 outs. And then Piazza cleared the bases with a ball driven over the wall for a 2-run homer to make the lead 3. But Ramirez finally got a double play to end the nitemare inning.

6-3 NYM Mid 5th

Then in the bottom of the inning, Heilman hit his second batter of the day to put 2 runners on for Drew and the Braves dugout was getting a little restless. But Drew came through with a double to score both runners to throw it in Heilman's face.

6-5 NYM End 5th

When Heilman batted in the 6th, a few pitches came very close, but amazingly there was no warning issued.
When hit his 3rd batter of the day in the 6th, which happened to be Andruw Jones, on the shoulder, pandomonium broke out. Andrew sprinted to the mound ready to kill somebody. When the teams were finally separted, Andruw was ejected and Matthews Jr. came in to replace him.
Highlights were galore in the 6th when Matthews stole second and Galarraga fired one to center field but Cameron made an amazing diving catch. Then Perez flied out to end the inning.
But they started threatning again in the 7th when two bad defensive plays loaded the bases for Matthews with 1 out. And a grounder is once again misplayed and the tieing run scores. (none of these plays were errors, but were stupid and probably wouldn't happen in real life) And then Strickland capped off the horrible inning full of mishaps by walking Galarraga to score the go ahead run. Then Estrada got some insurance with an RBI base hit, but Matthews was thrown out to end the inning.

8-6 ATL End 7th

And then Smoltz made up for the loss in the last series by closing out in dominating fashion once again by striking out the last batter to finish out one of the craziest games of the year for the Braves.

8-6 ATL F

WP- Jung Bong (9-3)
LP- Strickland (5-6)
SV- John Smoltz (23)

HR- Mike Piazza (19)
Marcus Giles (15)
Aaron Boone (10)

Player of the Game
J. D. Drew- 2 for 4- 2B, 2 RBI, run scored

[GTfan]

July 31st
ATL- 9
NYM- 3 F

WP- Paul Byrd (4-7)
LP- Steve Trachsel (5-5)

HR- Mike Cameron (14)
Marcus Giles (16)

Player of the Game
Paul Byrd- CG, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, BB, 13 K

August 1st
ATL- 6
NYM 5 F

WP- Terry Sanderson (3-1)
LP- J. Seo (3-8)
SV- John Smoltz (24)

HR- Mike Cameron (15)
Mike Piazza 2 (21)
Marcus Giles (17)
Andres Galarraga 2 (16)

Player of the Game
Andres Galarraga- 2 for 4- 2 HRs, 3 RBIs

Up Next:
@ HOU

[PJ520]

Keep it up!

[GTownWarHawks]

This is some really nice work you do here keep it up fun to read

[GTfan]

And the cool thing was I didn't plan it. Heilman just pissed me off and I said heck Matthews can come in for Andruw. Let's just make sure Heilman gets the message!

(By the way, how do you bean a batter? I put the ball all the way over when Heilman was batting, but it didn't go far enough.)

[GTfan]

Atlanta Braves (63-42)
@
Houston Astros (60-46)
Minute Maid Park, Houston
3 Gms
Gm Impact- 6

Series Preview
This was a huge mid season matchup between two good teams that could meet in the playoffs. Houston comes into the games with a 6-game winning streak, but the Braves have not been a friend to them. The Braves have dominated HOU recently icluding a sweep of them in the 2001 playoffs. And Atlanta swept the series back in May. It looks like the mental factor is going to be the decider in this game.

Who's Hot
HOU
Endsberg and Berkman have light up the scoreboards for the Astros this year. They have combined for 46 HRs and a .320 avg and .329 respectively.
ATL
Russ Ortiz is 9-4 and has only lost 1 since he started 4-3 and is a key player in the 1st game of this series.

August 3rd
ATL- 3
HOU- 7 F

WP- Andy Petitte (8-7)
LP- Russ Ortiz (9-5)

HR- Andres Galarraga (17)
Adam Everett 2 (14)
Richard Hidalgo (14) (still with Houston)

Player of the Game
Adam Everett- 2 for 4- 2 HR, 3 RBI

[soonerfan07]

this is probably the best of the Dynasty reports

[tigerbait99]

soonerfan07 said:

this is probably the best of the Dynasty reports

That is for sure. My god GT you really go into detail on yours. You do a good job, keep it up.

[Mr. Tennessee]

GTFan's Dynasty is the Dynasty of the year on All-Sports Forum in my opinon! Keep it up man!

[GTfan]

Mr. said:

GTFan's Dynasty is the Dynasty of the year on All-Sports Forum in my opinon! Keep it up man!

Yeah, but its going to take me forever to get me through this season! I'm going to have to think of a faster but still detailed report for next season.

Thanks to Tigerbait, MrTennessee, soonerfan, GtownWarhawks, and PJ for all the replies. Keep them coming, it lets me know that people are reading this!

[GTfan]

August 4th
ATL- Mike Hampton (12-6)
@
HOU- Roy Oswalt (10-6)

Pitching Matchup
Today was another great matchup in this close series. Oswalt and 12-game winner, Hampton. Both pitchers have only lost 6 games and have very low ERAs. This one should be a dandy all the way. But Hampton is going to have to go through a red-hot Houston Astro lineup riding high with an 8-game winning streak.

PLAY BALL
Well, the shutout ended early for Oswalt as he was greeted by Chipper in the 2nd with a solo-blast to center and the Braves lead early.

1-0 ATL Mid 2nd

Then the "Big Cat", Galarraga, doubled the lead with another RBI in the form of a sac fly in the 4th.

2-0 ATL Mid 4th

As Hampton cruised along merrily through 6 innings, Furcal made the game a bigger deficit with a ripped blast to right field off of Miceli.

3-0 ATL Mid 7th

Then the Astros finally got on the scoreboard on Hampton with an RBI from Guerra.

3-1 ATL End 7th

But the game was over when Smoltz came in the and shutdown the highpowered lineup stop the winning streak and earn his 25th save of the year.

3-1 ATL F

WP- Mike Hampton (13-6)
LP- Roy Oswalt (10-7)
SV- John Smoltz (25)

HR- Rafael Furcal (8)
Chipper Jones (11)

Player of the Game
Mike Hampton- 7 IP, 4 H, R, ER, 4 BB, 7 K


August 5th
ATL- 12
HOU- 3 F

WP- Horacio Ramirez (10-7)
LP- W. Miller (6-6)

HR- Rafael Furcal (9)
Marcus Giles 3 (20)
Andruw Jones (43)
L. Blaisley (1)

Player of the Game
Marcus Giles- 4 for 5- 3 HRs, 4 RBI

UP NEXT:
ATL
@
ARI

[soonerfan07]

have you had any posts other than you Dynasty reports?