Braves notes: Wild, wacky day for Braves

Web posted June 21, 1998

By Bill Zack
Morris News Service

MONTREAL -- There was plenty to come out of Friday night's 14-1 loss to the Expos and fortunately for the Braves, most of it was humorous.

There was reliever Alan Embree's first at-bat in the majors. And, shortstop Walt Weiss' response to taunts from a fan Saturday afternoon.

First, though, the serious stuff. The 14 runs was the most the Braves had allowed since a 16-8 loss to the Rockies on Sept. 12, 1986, and was their largest margin of defeat since a 16-0 loss to the Reds in Atlanta on June 18, 1994.

The Braves headed into Saturday night's game having scored only three runs over the past two games, matching their lowest production in consecutive games this season (May 16-17 at Houston). They also had gone two games without a home run for only the second time this season (April 3-4 against Philadelphia).

Now, Embree's at-bat. He faced Shawn Boskie in the third inning and struck out, but not before he fouled off a pitch.

``I grabbed Curtis' (Pride) helmet and one of Andruw's (Jones) bats and asked him which one doesn't he mind me breaking,'' Embree said. ``He said, `You probably won't make contact, so take my pearl.' I'm sure I was supposed to take the first pitch I've ever seen, but I said, `Nah, pull the trigger.'''

Embree last swung a bat as a high school senior at Prairie High in Vancouver, Wash.

Finally, Weiss, who wasn't in any mood to exchange chatter with fans on his way to Olympic Stadium on Saturday. He listened to a man yell at him about losing to the league's worst team, listened to him describe a World Series in which the Yankees beat the Braves, then turned around and remarked, ``Yeah, and you'll be watching it too.''

That broke up Tony Graffanino and Keith Lockhart, who were walking with him, and the trio headed inside, leaving the fan to mutter dark curses.

STILL THE BEST: Despite Friday's lopsided loss, the Braves' 49-24 record remains the league's best and represents the best 73-game start in franchise history.

GOOFY NEAGLE: Denny Neagle's second career is beginning to take off. The pitcher, who has teamed up with Alabama sports show host David Meckley to produce a 30-minute weekly TV program, can now be seen in the Atlanta market. Atlanta's Media One, Channel 33, has picked up the show, Denny Neagle and The Meck ... Behind the Dish, and the first show will air Saturday at 6 p.m.

``We do some funny, goofy stuff, but the main point of the show is seeing a different side of players,'' Neagle said.

The program also can be seen on Channel 18 in Dothan, Ala., Ozark (Ala.) Cable Channel 4 and Troy (Ala.) Cablevision Channel 52.

NEEDING A WIN: The Braves needed to win Saturday and today to avoid losing their first series to the Expos since July 1994, ending a streak of 14 consecutive series wins.

LOUSY ON WEEKENDS: According to the statistics, the Braves are a great team during the week and a downright lousy club on weekends. So far they are 32-6 Monday through Thursday and 17-18 Friday through Sunday.

JAVY HOT, HOT, HOT: The hitter the Braves want at the plate with runners in scoring position is Javy Lopez. He's hit .453 with five homers in that situation this season, better than Chipper Jones (.276), Andres Galarraga (.312) and Ryan Klesko (.217).