Hampton Hinders Houston. Is there Hope?

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Mike Hampton. 

Just when we all wondered if  you’d even pitch a single game in 2008 you make yet another impressive start in Spring Training that somehow fools us Braves fans into thinking we actually want you to pitch this year.

After a five inning performance earlier in the week and a six inning display this afternoon with only 2 runs and 4k’s… we Atlantans may be foolish enough to have the audacity of hope. 

Sometimes I wish he would just suck right now so when he’s hurt again at least our high aspirations aren’t crushed so badly.

Here’s the conundrum for us in Atlanta. The Catch-22 if you will:

If Hampton keeps having Spring starts like this we may get really fired up about our starting rotation. We may start thinking positively about Mike Hampton. We may even believe we have a good, solid, deep rotation because our number 4 starter is the guy who was leading the league in ERA before his first DL tenure. We may be glad that the highest paid pitcher on our payroll is en route to gathering 15+ wins for us this year, giving us a solid lefty to follow Glavine. We may actually think our starting rotation will be the surprise of the NL East while everyone else has been talking Santana and Martinez. 

Then, Mike Hampton will be tying his sneakers after an impressive 7 inning gem in mid April, walk to the Braves parking lot and trip; breaking his arm, and ending his 2008 campaign prematurely. Leaving us once again disillusioned and stricken with the kind of luck that makes you think the Red Sox curse had really done nothing more than wander south and make us waste money. 

It will be heartbreaking of course to see our Braves dollars once again spent disproportionately on the Braves bench. 

However, if it turns out Hampton’s Big League return after a hiatus that extended back to 2005 is not as good as we bargained for… well at least we won’t be too upset when he’s inevitably injured again. We just have to deal with the huge expense we put into the Hampton Project and find yet another unprepared stopgap starter to help us hobble through the rotation. 

We could however, end up with Hampton pitching well into September and taking us into October but there’s still very few of us who believe that is a certainty.  

I apologize for being such a pessimist. My verdict is simply still not out. I am encouraged to see such great starts. But we in Atlanta all know how imperative it is that Hampton stays healthy all year long. We also know with Mike Hampton nothing is a given.

I guess the point is, when Hampton has good starts, like the one he had today, I don’t know how to feel. It’s not the same as seeing  a young gun come out firing giving us promises of a bright future.

It’s kinda like getting a date with Marcia Brady. You’re excited that she said “yes” but now you’re just waiting to hear her say “Something suddenly came up” the day before the big dance. 

When Hampton does well I remain very cautiously optimistic. Of course 2008 for MH most likely will not be the fatalistic sink or swim scenario I played out in this post. We may very well have a great #4 starter this year. I’m just not gonna get my hopes up too high until maybe after October is over and the Braves (including Mike Hampton and his weighty contract) are all wearing matching rings. 

 In Other News; Jair Jurrjens

 Jurrjens’ last start was forgettable but lengthy. He did go five innings, meaning Cox is probably getting him some inning work so he’s properly primed and groomed for the number 5 slot. The downside is the 10 hits and 4 ER’s. He did, however, have a minimal walk count (just one in 5 innings, which is what I like to see in a starter). He notched 3K’s and didn’t give up a HR.

So though the numbers don’t look too amazing in this start, I’d say that Jair getting some more innings and showing some good control is encouraging. 

Smoltz Update

There’s talk of John starting 2008 on the DL. It could be backdated so he wouldn’t miss a full 15 days, and hopefully only one start. While we’d like Smoltz there for Opening weekend, we’d rather have him all year long and healthy later. Hopefully this is no cause for too much worry. I downplayed his missed start last week but he may just need more time to rest the ol’ bones. 

 Keep Choppin’

JB in ATL 

 

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Filed under Atlanta Braves, Braves blog, spring training, starting rotation

Tags: Audacity of Hope, Braves Rotation, jair jurrjens, john smoltz, Mike Hampton, news, October, Red Sox Curse, spring training, Starting Pitching