Braves newcomer McCarthy hopes to improve wayward slider

It took a few days to get everything dried out at Cedartown High School, but t he wet weather passed l ong enough for the Bulldogs to get the baseball season underway.

The Bulldogs finished off a week full of changeups at 1- 1 against area teams, getting both games after what was supposed t o be t he l aunch of the season got pushed back due to soggy field conditions and rain that wouldn’t quit.

Chattooga dealt Cedartown their first loss of the season in a 2- 1 finish in 10 innings of play, with each team holding each ot her scoreless in a defensive slugfest through nine of the night’s innings.

Cedartown drew first blood in the top of the 10th inning with a run, but Chattooga was able put up hits in their final chances at bat and score two runs across the plate for the win in three extra innings.

Things got better for the Bulldogs when they were able to get in the first make-up game of the season against Coosa on Friday after the expected rivalry showdown was pushed back due t o Rockmart’s basketball playoff games.

The Eagles swooped in last Friday evening to take an exciting 2-1 win after pulling out runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Coosa intentionally walked s enior J ack Haney during his final at-bat, which got him on base before the game got away from the Eagles and swung toward the Bulldogs.

OPENS

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Brandon McCarthy figures his slider needs some work this spring. The last one he threw didn’t end up where he expected.

“I gave up a game- winning home run in the World Series on it,” McCarthy said Wednesday before his first organized spring workout with the Atlanta Braves. “So I really want to get back to work on it. I need the time and the reps to really get it under control and be effective with it.”

George Springer hit a two-run homer off McCarthy’s slider in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the World Series, a game the Houston Astros won 7-6 at Dodger Stadium. It was the last game the 34-year-old right-hander pitched for Los Angeles Dodgers, who threw him into a five-player trade with the Braves for Matt Kemp.

“The way things ended last year is really a letdown, but it was still great to go through the whole experience. It’s something you’d like to get past as the season goes along,” said McCarthy, who will be pitching for his seventh major league team.

“There’s a little bit of a change mentally,” he said. “When you’re going to the Dodgers camp, the talk is: ‘We’re going back to the World Series.’ That obviously changes a little bit here, where you’re a part of something that’s building, part of something new. You try not to look at it negatively.”

McCarthy has 182 major league starts, including 16 with the Dodgers last season, and is one of three pitchers the Braves have penciled into their rotation as spring training begins. The others are Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz.

BRAVES