8/12: Cubs (Harden) @ Braves (Morton) **RAIN: POSTPONED**

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Meh, enough of all this negativity, this Morton clown belongs in AAA.

 

Soriano hits a bomb, Edmonds continues to be a freak, and DLee hits into 4 double plays.Cubs win 5-2

 

Thank you for a good morning laugh to take my mind off how rapidly approaching school is.

 

No kidding it feels like I just got home from school last week. It just seems like whenever the Cubs are winning the summer flies by.

 

Lets get a win today. Harden goes 7, strikes out 8. Fukudome gets 2 RBI, and the Cubs win 5-2.

[kjfoster 1553]

Meh, enough of all this negativity, this Morton clown belongs in AAA.

 

Soriano hits a bomb, Edmonds continues to be a freak, and DLee hits into 4 double plays.Cubs win 5-2

 

Thank you for a good morning laugh to take my mind off how rapidly approaching school is.

 

No kidding it feels like I just got home from school last week. It just seems like whenever the Cubs are winning the summer flies by.

 

Lets get a win today. Harden goes 7, strikes out 8. Fukudome gets 2 RBI, and the Cubs win 5-2.

 

School coming up does suck, but as long as the Cubs win it doesn't matter.

 

I am glad we agree on the score, must mean we are right. :yahoo:

[Skyballer]

Meh, enough of all this negativity, this Morton clown belongs in AAA.

 

Soriano hits a bomb, Edmonds continues to be a freak, and DLee hits into 4 double plays.Cubs win 5-2

 

Thank you for a good morning laugh to take my mind off how rapidly approaching school is.

 

No kidding it feels like I just got home from school last week. It just seems like whenever the Cubs are winning the summer flies by.

 

Lets get a win today. Harden goes 7, strikes out 8. Fukudome gets 2 RBI, and the Cubs win 5-2.

Now there's a bold prediction. I'd love to see it but I won't hold my breath.

[Soul]

Someone get these guys an advance scouting report of Morton. Always seems like we have no clue about a pitcher we haven't faced before.

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Now there's a bold prediction. I'd love to see it but I won't hold my breath.

 

I feel like he has to do something one of these days, but I'm slowly losing the faith. I know it is impossible to change the way he hits completely but the flail and bail approach is really getting old. I'd like to see him try to finish his swing more. Hopefully we get a bright spot soon.

[kjfoster 1553]

Someone get these guys an advance scouting report of Morton. Always seems like we have no clue about a pitcher we haven't faced before.

 

Found this on Braves-Nation.com

 

Charlie Morton who hails from Flemington, New Jersey was drafted straight out of high school in the 3rd round (95th overall) of the Braves fruitful 2002 Amateur Draft. A draft in which included Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, and Chuck James. Charlie Morton recently had his contract purchased by the Braves on November 20th to include him on the 40-man roster and to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. As always let's delve into his minor league track record.

 

Let me preface this by saying that Charlie Morton's minor league statistics are not outstanding by any means. But sometimes when dealing with statistics, you have to pay attention and dig a little deeper. I've been following Morton on a side level for a little while and keeping up with his game logs. But I'll go through the statistics level to level so you know the whole story.

 

Morton began his professional career for the Gulf Coast League Braves in 2002 at the age of 18 starting five games, appearing in 11 total. He was 1-7 with a 4.54 ERA with a 1.69 WHIP and allowing an astounding 6.81 BB/9 but also posted a 7.26 K/9 ratio. Nonetheless he moved up to Danville in 2003 where it was pretty much the same story. Appearing in 14 games, starting 13 he posted a 2-5 record with an 4.67 ERA. His BB/9 came down to 4.17 and his K/9 went up to 7.67. But you can't walk that many batters per nine or you're going to get the hook early.

 

With these early struggles Morton spent 2004-2005 in Rome (Low-A). In the first year, same story, (7-9, 4.82 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, 5.20 BB/9, 7.80 K/9). In the second year he brought his BB/9 down 4.48 and WHIP down to 1.49. At this point he seemed destined to be a minor league lifer at best.

 

Told you it wasn't pretty, but I digress. In 2006 Morton started in Myrtle Beach and all of his numbers went up again to 4.86 BB/9 and 6.75 K/9 and a 1.70 WHIP. But he bumped up to AA-Mississippi in 2007.

 

Now here is where it gets interesting and the higher ups began to take notice. This is where paying close attention to statistics pays off. In April Morton compiled a 1.92 WHIP, July it was 1.56, and in August it came down to 1.31. To put that last number in perspective, Smoltz usually hovers around a 1.20 WHIP consistently. I'm not comparing Morton to Smoltz, just giving a fair comparison to those who may not pay attention to WHIP (Walks/Hits per Inning).

 

So, obviously something was clicking for Morton and he went to the Arizona Fall League alongside Jordan Schafer playing for the Peoria Javelinas and he started five games and was 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA, basically got nasty. Morton attributed his second half surge to confidence in his repertoire and began pitching with more conviction. His AFL performance also caught the eye of Bobby Cox who thought he excelled immensely in the AFL. What do you know Morton was added to the 40-man roster within the week.

 

Morton's repertoire is this: Fastball that touches 96-97 and a "nasty" curve according to some scouts along with an average to above-average slider and change.

 

Morton has the chance to make the club out of Spring Training as well, but I'm in the belief that he'll start the year in Richmond and to see if his second-half 2007 surge was no fluke. But as you can tell I like many others in the Braves' organization really like this kid.

[badger1679666666]

Someone get these guys an advance scouting report of Morton. Always seems like we have no clue about a pitcher we haven't faced before.

 

 

Can someone actually provide stats on our run production vs. pitchers we haven't seen before.

 

i have a feeling everyone who believes what soul just wrote has been educated by Joe Morgan. I could be wrong though.

[jersey cubs fan]

Someone get these guys an advance scouting report of Morton. Always seems like we have no clue about a pitcher we haven't faced before.

 

 

Can someone actually provide stats on our run production vs. pitchers we haven't seen before.

 

i have a feeling everyone who believes what soul just wrote has been educated by Joe Morgan. I could be wrong though.

 

I'm not sure about the actual data, but he did say it "seems" like. Insinuating that this is akin to Morgan type thinking is inaccurate. Morgan would say "definitely" and if you provided him with numbers showing the opposite, he would say those numbers don't matter. To me it does seem like that has been the case in recent years. If somebody showed me something that said otherwise, I'd believe 'em. Seems can be a dangerous word. But as long as you don't take what seems to be true as gospel, there's nothing wrong with pointing those things out.

[Soul]

Someone get these guys an advance scouting report of Morton. Always seems like we have no clue about a pitcher we haven't faced before.

 

 

Can someone actually provide stats on our run production vs. pitchers we haven't seen before.

 

i have a feeling everyone who believes what soul just wrote has been educated by Joe Morgan. I could be wrong though.

As goony said, that's why I said SEEMS like. And as you know, on those few occasions when goony doesn't contradict me, then what is being said becomes sacrosanct :P

[Guest]

http://i.imwx.com/web/radar/us_atl_closeradar_plus_usen.jpg

 

http://radblast-mi.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/radar/WUNIDS_map?station=FFC&brand=wui&num=6&delay=15&type=N0R&frame=0&scale=1.000&noclutter=0&t=1218563390&lat=33.85500717&lon=-84.39598846&label=Atlanta%2C+GA&showstorms=0&map.x=400&map.y=240&centerx=400&centery=240&transx=0&transy=0&showlabels=1&severe=0&rainsnow=0&lightning=0&smooth=0

[badger1679666666]

Someone get these guys an advance scouting report of Morton. Always seems like we have no clue about a pitcher we haven't faced before.

 

 

Can someone actually provide stats on our run production vs. pitchers we haven't seen before.

 

i have a feeling everyone who believes what soul just wrote has been educated by Joe Morgan. I could be wrong though.

As goony said, that's why I said SEEMS like. And as you know, on those few occasions when goony doesn't contradict me, then what is being said becomes sacrosanct :P

 

jersey cubs fan is goony?

 

I'm out of the loop.

[Guest]

jersey cubs fan is goony?

 

Yes.

[Little Slide Rooter]

jersey cubs fan is goony?

 

Yes.

 

Awesome. Is he the little asian kid with all the cool gadgets? He was my favorite.

[carolinacubbie]

I'm going to this game tonight, so please don't rain, and please win cubbies!!!

[erik316wttn]

Someone get these guys an advance scouting report of Morton. Always seems like we have no clue about a pitcher we haven't faced before.

 

I just have no idea why guys like this shut us down. Is there no such thing as video anymore?

[Guest]

I'm going to this game tonight, so please don't rain, and please win cubbies!!!

 

Doesn't look promising. :|

[David]

No end in sight for that rain.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm going to this game tonight, so please don't rain, and please win cubbies!!!

 

Doesn't look promising. :|

 

I could live with a 2 hour delay and then a chance for Harden to go 5 innings uninterupted.

[jersey cubs fan]

http://www.accuweather.com/forecast-hourly.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=1&zipChg=1&zipcode=30301&metric=0

[abuck1220]

don't start harden if it's gonna rain.

[weatherdood]

I'm going to this game tonight, so please don't rain, and please win cubbies!!!

 

Doesn't look promising. :|

 

I could live with a 2 hour delay and then a chance for Harden to go 5 innings uninterupted.

 

Color me pessimistic, but I'm not seeing this game getting in tonight. Looks like at minimum, an inch to inch and a half of rain will fall, albeit light, but steady for at least the next 6 hours. Maybe some bonus baseball tomorrow...

[David]

AccuWeather is showing rain from 7-10pm... Would they delay it 3.5 hours?

[erik316wttn]

I'm going to this game tonight, so please don't rain, and please win cubbies!!!

 

Doesn't look promising. :|

 

I could live with a 2 hour delay and then a chance for Harden to go 5 innings uninterupted.

 

Color me pessimistic, but I'm not seeing this game getting in tonight. Looks like at minimum, an inch to inch and a half of rain will fall, albeit light, but steady for at least the next 6 hours. Maybe some bonus baseball tomorrow...

 

Noon start tomorrow, then?

[UMFan83]

I hope we win tonight. Tomorrow night's matchup looks awful (Marquis vs. Campillo)

[Guest]

AccuWeather is showing rain from 7-10pm... Would they delay it 3.5 hours?

 

Those hourly forecasts are rarely very accurate because it's tough to predict exactly what will specifically happen hours in the future. NWS expects the rain to get harder the later it gets.

 

In your case, though, they'd just postpone the game rather than sit it out.

 

Late Afternoon: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a high near 83. Northeast wind around 5 mph.

 

Tonight: Occasional rain and possibly a thunderstorm. Low around 67. East wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.