Fire Roger McDowell

The Braves have been built on pitching for the last twenty years, starting with Leo Mazzone's stellar staffs and continuing with Roger McDowell's terrific work with guys like Tim Hudson, Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson.

But the Braves need to fire him if the reports out of San Francisco are true (and they seem to be based on McDowell's apology).

My first reaction to the story (from ESPN here) was to ask if he was drunk, but this was pregame. So he was heckled? I can't imagine it was the first time (Newman?). This is a coach who was wearing a Braves uniform at a Braves game shouting slurs and making lewd gestures with a bat. I don't even care about the kid seeing it; it wasn't appropriate or tolerable for the Braves organization in any circumstance.

I don't see how the Braves can keep him employed. One of the organization's blackest eyes was the John Rocker episode, but this was worse. Rocker got tricked (because he was an idiot) into thinking he was cool with the SI reporter and they were just shooting the you-know-what. McDowell was on the field. In uniform. Doing his job while doing this.

I think Leo Mazzone is available.