ATL AM: Atlanta Sports News 6/2

If Pena is playing second base on a regular basis, we might be able to see a lot more double plays. Lord knows Dan Uggla has botched a ton already. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

In today’s links we get something from each of the three professional teams of Atlanta, including the Budenholzer hiring, controversy with the Falcons new building, and some notes from David O’Brian of the AJC.

The poll of the day is inspired by DOB’s article however, as he points out the success Ramiro Pena has had this season. It’s pretty alarming to look at this page and see how much better Ramiro Pena has been than Dan Uggla. In 39 games Pena is hitting .329/.388/.487 while Uggla has managed a .180/.300/.390 line in 50 games. Pena has a 0.7 WAR while Uggla is just at 0.2.

Given their defensive prowess–Pena good, Uggla not so good–as well as the offense mentioned above, is it crazy to think that Ramiro should have the starting job at second base at this point?

SoaringDownSouth–Wesley Morton talks about what he thinks the hiring of Mike Budenholzer means for the Atlanta Hawks franchise:

"Since his ascension to assistant coach in 1997, the Spurs have seen 4 championship teams, with a 5th one only 4 wins away. The Spurs have a regular season record of 888-376, or a 70.3% winning percentage. If you’re not an engineering or math major, that’s pretty darn good. Put another way, in any average ten game stretch, the team went an average of 7-3 for a 16 season time period.How much is Budenholzer to credit for these accomplishments? It’s hard to say but ask anyone who has known him over the years, and they’ll say he is partly a driving force. Just some of the quotes from his adversaries that have emerged over the past day:"

TheFalcoholic–James Real starts a discussion about some new “controversy” surrounding the new stadium the Atlanta Falcons are in the process of building. In my opinion, it’s not much of a controversy, and the people of Atlanta should have a say in what is going on with the building and the funding of that building. Just look at what Jeffrey Loria did to the people in Miami:

"Alas, it appears there is some new and improved controversy surrounding the Falcons’ new digs.A watchdog group is launching an effort to place a ballot measure before Atlanta voters calling for the repeal of public financing for a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons.William Perry of Common Cause Georgia said Thursday it’ll be a “monumental task” to get the 35,000 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot. But Perry says the effort is worth it so the public can have a say in the process.To be fair, while it is public financing we’re talking about, this isn’t an Atlanta taxpayer-funded project. At least not in its entirety. It’s mostly funded by traveling hearing aid salesmen and Uncle Arthur. In other words, the public financing portion is hotel tax money, it’s not money that can be spent on parks, schools, and/or art nouveau sculptures.AJC–David O’Brien talks about the Francisco trade rumors, Brian McCann nearing 1,000 hits, Alex Wood‘s addition to the team, and Ramiro Pena’s success with the bat:Brian McCann entered Saturday three hits shy of 1,000. The Braves veteran wasn’t in the lineup after catching the past three games. Since the beginning of 2006, his first full season, McCann led major league catchers in homers (157), extra-base hits (367), RBIs (595), two-out RBIs (249) and game-winning RBIs (74).Youth served: The addition of 21-year-old pitcher Alex Wood to the roster this week made it 11 players under 25 years old on the Braves’ 25-man roster, the most in the NL according to Elias. Published on 06/02/2013 at 10:49 AM ESTLast updated on 07/10/2019 at 4:23 PM EST A watchdog group is launching an effort to place a ballot measure before Atlanta voters calling for the repeal of public financing for a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons.William Perry of Common Cause Georgia said Thursday it’ll be a “monumental task” to get the 35,000 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot. But Perry says the effort is worth it so the public can have a say in the process.Brian McCann entered Saturday three hits shy of 1,000. The Braves veteran wasn’t in the lineup after catching the past three games. Since the beginning of 2006, his first full season, McCann led major league catchers in homers (157), extra-base hits (367), RBIs (595), two-out RBIs (249) and game-winning RBIs (74).Youth served: The addition of 21-year-old pitcher Alex Wood to the roster this week made it 11 players under 25 years old on the Braves’ 25-man roster, the most in the NL according to Elias."