Diamond Cuts.

I am a little upset by the recent performance of the Atlanta Braves. Losers of nine straight games, the Braves have been swept by the Mets and the Cardinals, they lost two of three to the Phillies and they are looking to head into May with the worst record in the NL East. That's right, with only eight wins, the Braves sit five games behind the division leading Mets and four games behind the third place Nationals. This does not sit well with me.

Their sloppy play and inconsistency does not appear to be near an end. Let's start with the Mets sweeping. It gets to me the most because, as I have said before, I hate the Mets. Anyway, the first game was riddled with fielding errors. Four to be exact, and Chipper committed two of them. It doesn't seem right for a major league club to commit four errors in a game. It's blasphemous! Also, the Mets pitching staff struck out twelve batters. It seemed as though every two strike pitch was invisible to the hitter. At least try and protect the plate, sheesh. The second game of the series resulted in nine more strikeouts and no run support. Losing the third game to rain was just terrible. One unearned run coming from two Braves errors and a timely downpour later allowed for the Mets to win it in five innings. Frustration ensues.

On to the Cardinals sweeping. The most consistent thing the Braves had going for them at this point was their bullpen. Allowing inherited runners to score, they lost the first game. Derek Lowe lost the second game. The third and fourth games were just ugly. Kawakami got hit around and Jurrjens left in the first inning with a bad hamstring. A dreadful series.

In this 0-9 slump, the Braves have averaged over six strikeouts a game, not even two runs a game and have given up nearly five runs a game. Pitching aside, it's hard to win a game when you don't score runs. It would help if the number one man in the batting order would reach base. Over the last nine games, the Braves have left it up to five different men to get on base in the number one spot: Nate McLouth 0/9; Omar Infante 0/5; Melky Cabrera 0/3; Matt Diaz 0-5; Yunel Escobar 4/15. That's a batting average of .108. It doesn't help that four regular players are batting .200 or under.

Entering this season the Braves lost Kelly Johnson and Adam LaRoche to Arizona, Jeff Francoeur to the Mets and Casey Kotchman to the Mariners. All are enjoying a decent amount of success elsewhere. Its hard to watch them enjoy success on other teams and not ask why they were traded or let go. It is also hard to watch them succeed and not look to Braves hitting coach and ask what's going on out there? Are you even trying? It may not be his fault, but when playing the blame game (at this point in the season) it's easy to point at Terry Pendleton.

Former all-star, MVP and Gold Glove winner, Pendleton, a career .270 hitter, seems like a likely choice to coach a team on hitting. Maybe my panic is premature, maybe at the end of the season the Braves will be leading the division, maybe our leadoff hitters will start to pick it up, but right now, Mr. Pendleton, rally the damn troops, because we need a win or five and I don't want to see you get canned.

WTF?

Have you ever woken up after a dream and just said to yourself, "what the eff just happened." No? Well, I certainly cant be the only one. Anyway, that's exactly what I did this morning.

Blurry fade to dream land. I'm in a sort of squished football stadium. The field is the same length, but the width is about the size of two sidewalks; it's very thin for a football field. All there is is a running game, there is certainly no room to pass. Anyway, there are people sitting all around the stadium watching the players fight in the trenches. They are clapping and cheering and I decide to take a look around. Directly behind me sit a group of people dressed exactly like the cookie monster. That's right, blue, fuzzy, googly eyes and that awkward neck body. There was at least 20 of them. The freakin' cookie monster...at a football game! Just wait, it gets better. At this point they start to sing. I can't remember the exact words. but it was something about Bob Dole being in the military and wanting him replaced by some guy with the last name of Gold. I don't know if he actually exists. I don't even know what position Bob Dole was holding. I like the song, laugh, clap, cheer and go back to watching the game as if nothing happened.

Now I ask you, WTF? How did this happen? Is this the point in my life where I get crazy pills? All I know is I want some sort of dream analysis on this, because man, I have no idea what went on in my head.

Diamond Cuts.

First of all, congratulations Ubaldo Jimenez, I knew there was a reason I drafted you.

It is a difficult thing to do, root against the team you have grown to love, but sometimes you must tip your hat to the opposition and recognize that it's just not going to be your day.

A disappointing day for my Atlanta Braves results in a historical outing for the Colorado Rockies and young pitching phenom, Ubaldo Jimenez. Fans lucky enough to be at Turner Field in Atlanta got to witness one of the most honorable feats in baseball history, the no hitter.

That's right, for the first time in the Colorado Rockies 18-year history, Ubaldo Jimenez dominated the Braves lineup, striking out seven hitters, allowing six walks and no hits. The six walks allowed came in the first five innings and Jimenez was dealing from the sixth on, often reaching speeds of nearly 100mph.

The Braves have been on the losing side of a no hitter before. This most recent performance was preceded by Randy Johnson's perfect game when he was pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks back in 2004.

Fans of the Braves, although disappointed, did not walk away empty handed. Those who were able to watch the game will have a great story to tell years from now when Jimenez is no longer baby-faced. Those that were unable to watch the game must simply appreciate Jimenez's accomplishment.

Speaking of history, the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals have a chance to break the record of the longest game in Major League Baseball history. As I type, the Cardinals tied the game in the bottom of the 19th inning, taking it into the 20th and hopefully on to the 27th to make it the longest game ever played. For the record, I hate the Mets.

Fringe Science.

The topic of this weeks episode of Fringe was time travel, and it really got me thinking; is there a point to traveling back in time?

I certainly understand the motivation behind time travel: fixing an unpleasant occurrence, taking a different road and all around changing the present. Is that how it really happens though? Is it that simple? Assuming time travel were possible for everyone, would you be able to actually change anything?

For this next point, I have a significant other named Betty and she was killed in a horrific car accident, and time travel exists. Anyway, because of my undying love for her, I would return to a time before the accident and tell her not to drive that day. In doing so, I save her life. But wouldn't the motivation for traveling back in time be eliminated? Would there be a reason to travel back? If there is not, then would my beautiful Betty still be dead?

If this is the case, then the only way to change the present would be to relive your life in the past in order to have a different future. In this case, there would be two of you running around the past and therefore the present and the future, and that could just be a mess. So what does time travel really accomplish? Is it really necessary? I don't see its purpose.

Diamond Cuts.

Dear Easter, this year you take a backseat to America's pastime. That's right, baseball is back and it starts off with a bang. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are quick to renew their rivalry as the World Series Champion Yankees look to start the season the way they ended it: with a win.

Hot Dogs, home runs and human growth hormone will riddle the lives of the millions of individuals that have been waiting for the return of baseball since last October. Being one such individual, opening night brings back memories of ballparks I've visited over the years. My list is small yet ever expanding and a majority of the ballparks have since closed (Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, RFK Stadium, the Metrodome and Rogers Centre). But the most fond memory I have comes from visiting the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minnesota.

The weather called for rain on the night of July 31st, 2009 as the Twins hosted the Angels in the first game of a three game series. The hometown Twins were looking good as they lead 5-2 through six innings, but the game got away from them and the Angels had everything tied up by the end of the eighth inning. Still tied at the end of nine, the game went into extra innings and gave every Twins fan a moment to remember. It was the top of the tenth inning and manager Ron Gardenhire brought in lights out closer, Joe Nathan. The skies opened and the rain pelted the top of the dome as Nathan took the mound and got some warm up tosses in. Juan Rivera stepped up to the plate and Nathan brought his best: strike one followed by two and almost immediately by three, first batter down. The rain got heavier and thunder began to clap along with the fans. As the heavens roared, the fans cheered and Nathan had the dome on his side. Two eight pitch at bats later and Nathan had struck out the side. The thunder, with almost perfect timing had riled up the crowd enough for the "tenth man" to be one with the team creating the most thrilling atmosphere to ever be a part of.

The Twins, not having scored a run since the fourth inning, went on to lose the game 11-5 in eleven innings. Despite their losing efforts and the Metrodome closing at the end of the season, such an experience has elevated my passion for the sport and given me one hell of a memory that will never escape me.