Chipper Doesn't Recommend New York's Grand Hyatt

Who knew you should stretch before sleeping at the Grand Hyatt?

In addition to introducing the world to his own baseball language on Twitter, Atlanta Braves slugger Chipper Jones has also adapted to what really is one of the biggest things to do on the social media platform … bitching about life.

Come on you know everybody does it. Isn’t that one of the primary functions of social media to bitch about life’s problems? Bitching had never been so easy before social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were created where you can let hundreds, if not thousands or millions of people know that you have a migraine or that your girlfriend did something to piss you off with just one click of a button.

Chipper has mostly used his Twitter account for baseball speak, remarking about Braves wins and losses and bragging about every time a teammate went yicketty, but on Thursday night he finally used it for one of its main intentions … to bitch.

Apparently Chipper Jones was less than thrilled with the Braves hotel in New York City where they were in town to play the New York Mets and sent out the next three tweets:  

*“If anyone was thinkin about stayin at the Grand Hyatt in NY,dont! My AC is set on 65 and its north of 80 in here. Like a freaken sauna!”

*”The movie channels dont work and the beds make my back spasm up! Am i complaining too much? Im sorry, gotta vent to someone. Love yall!!!”

*”Ahh the power of social media. TV guy just showed up at my door. Didnt even have to call the front desk. See what happens when u vent a tad?”

There are some out there that might see these tweets and think that Jones is being a spoiled, rich athlete, but honestly it just helps to remind us that even though we’ve been watching him on TV for close to 20 years hitting home runs and winning ballgames that he’s just an average guy with typical everyday problems like me and you. Sure, we may never have stayed at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, but we’ve all had uncomfortable hotel stays.

Chances are that Braves fans are likely going to hate the Grand Hyatt just as much as Chipper does as the third baseman had to be scratched from the Braves lineup against the Mets on Friday night thanks to a bad back received from the hotel’s poor bed. Luckily the Braves didn’t need the old man to shutout the Mets 4-0, behind a stellar pitching performance by the newest Brave and trade deadline acquisition Paul Maholm.  

Vote Chipper Into 2012 MLB All Star Game

The newest National League All Star voting numbers were released on Tuesday (June 12) and Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who recently returned to the Braves lineup, is currently fourth in the all star voting among National League third basemen.

Jones has 1,054,586 votes thus far. The good news for Chipper and Braves fans is that the voting for N.L. third basemen is among the closest positions in the balloting. The current N.L. leader at third base in the voting is New York Mets third bagger David Wright with 1,358,992 votes. Second in the balloting is San Francisco Giants hot corner resident Pablo Sandoval with 1,103,650 votes and coming in third is St. Louis Cardinals David Freese with 1,095,206.

Braves second baseman Dan Uggla is the only Braves currently leading his respective position in the balloting. Uggla has a fairly solid lead over Cincinnati Reds all star Brandon Phillips.

Now, I’ve never been a fan in my life of fans getting to vote for the Major League Baseball All Star Game starting lineups, because they often get things wrong. Fans tend to vote for the most popular players or their favorite players over the players who are most deserving of being all stars.

That previous paragraph means that every single thing I’m about to say makes me a hypocrite this season. I think that in his final season in baseball Chipper Jones, a seven-time All Star, should be named to the National League All Star team as its starting third baseman. We’ve seen this type of thing happen in the past. Baseball hall of famer and Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. was famously voted into the American League All Star starting lineup in his finals season back in 2001. As a legendary player and a great ambassador for the game of baseball, Chipper Jones truly deserves that same treatment. 

Mets' 3B David Wright is current vote getter

I know that Mets superstar David Wright is having the best season of any third baseman in the National League, and arguably MLB as a whole, with a .354 batting average, eight home runs, 34 RBI and 40 runs scored and has been the MVP for a surprising Mets team thus far this season. His performance and stats this year prove he is an all star and in my opinion should definitely be the game’s starting third baseman had this been any other year. I think he should surely be named to this year’s squad as a reserve. Even though he’d know in his head that he was the better third baseman this season I doubt Wright would mind all that much if Jones was elected to start the midsummer classic over him. 

Vote Chipper Jones into the 2012 MLB All Star Game!

The truth of the matter is that despite Jones not having all star worthy numbers two and a half months into the season that doesn’t mean he hasn’t played like an all star this season. Jones has been an all star caliber player in his playing time, which has been dramatically shortened by multiple injuries. When in the lineup Jones has been the Braves best hitter this season hitting .306 with five homers and 24 RBI. Jones has played 26 fewer games this season than Wright and only has three fewer home runs and 10 fewer RBI. Had Chipper have been completely healthy his numbers right now could possibly be superior to Wright’s.

Let’s work together to try to give Chipper Jones the honor that he truly deserves by being the National League starting third baseman in this year’s All Star Game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City (the only stadium by the way in which Chipper has never played a game in his career) by voting him in. You can click HERE to vote for Chipper up to 25 times. I know I’ll be using all 25 of my votes on Chipper. Sorry, David Wright, you really do deserve it, but sometimes even I’ve got to play favorites.   

Chipper Could Return to Lineup Tuesday Night

There seems to be a pretty decent chance that Chipper Jones could start his season a little bit earlier than planned from his knee surgery. Jones could be back in the Atlanta Braves lineup as soon as Tuesday night in the Braves second game of a three game series against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Braves beat writer for MLB.com Mark Bowman broke the news on his Twitter account on Monday saying: “Chipper felt good today. Could be activated in time to start tomorrow's game.” 

Jones’ season debut was initially expected to come on Friday, April 13 during the Braves home opener at Turner Field against the Milwaukee Brewers.

However, Jones returning early could be something that the struggling Braves right now could desperately use. The Braves are 0-4 to start the season and have looked atrocious losing those four games to frankly horrible baseball team. The Braves opened the season by getting swept by the New York Mets, who many predicted (including me) would be in the basement of the National League East Division this season. The Braves then dropped the first game of their series against the Astros, who were the worst team in baseball last season and shouldn’t be much better this season, tonight.

I don’t expect a whole lot out of Jones when he rejoins the Braves lineup (we all know he’s not the player he used to be), but just his veteran presence in the lineup should be at least somewhat of a boost to the ballclub. With this being Chipper Jones’ final season in the big leagues you know that he doesn’t want to go out on a crappy ballclub, so he’s really got to get in there and get these guys rolling. This club on paper from roster spot number one to 25 is pretty good, but they always seem to underachieve. Being the leader of the clubhouse a lot of that is on Chipper and he needs to put his foot down now.

Proof the Braves need Jones back in lineup comes from replacement Juan Francisco's 3 error game on Monday

Even more so than using Jones’ bat in the lineup they need his steady glove back at third base. Jones’ replacement on Monday night, Juan Francisco (who recently was acquired in a trade from the Cincinnati Reds) committed an utterly ridiculous three errors, including two on a SINGLE PLAY.  

If Chipper does return to the lineup on Tuesday night (game time in Houston is 7:05), I’d love to see it, but unfortunately won’t be able too. There hasn’t been a single Braves game televised on national TV, and even though the Astros are one of the four local teams where I live, this game isn’t being shown in favor of the Texas Rangers/Seattle Mariners game.