AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > June > 22
Friday, June 22, 2007
The NL Least
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There is no truth to the rumor the Braves and Mets spent Thursday’s off day working out a complicated agreement under which both teams agree to lose two out of every three games until Sept. 15, to lose concurrently (on same day), and to operate outside the agreement and win additional games only when the Phillies close to within two games of the NL Least division lead.
No truth whatsoever to that rumor.
That said, when might one of the supposed Least, er, East powers step up and, oh, win a couple of series consecutively?
The best opportunity for the Braves would appear to be after the Tigers leave town following the three-game weekend series that starts tonight at Turner Field, where hundreds of workers spent Thursday removing the temporary Boston Red Sox logos from seats and framed, historical sepia-tone Red Sox photographs that had been hung throughout the Lexus Level to make well-heeled Boston fans feel even more at home while their team hammered the Braves.
Can the Braves win a series from the Tigers? Of course they can. They’ve got John Smoltz going tonight against Kenny Rogers, and you’ve got to favor Smoltz, even with his recent shoulder soreness, over Rogers, who’s making his season debut three months after surgery on a messed-up artery in his pitching shoulder (yes, I, too, was surprised that the diagnosis was “messed-up artery.”)
Do you all realize that Smoltz, despite missing a start for the shoulder and going only six innings (a lot for many Braves pitchers, a little for Smoltz) in each of his past two starts, is nevertheless 6-2 with a 2.05 ERA in his past nine starts, with a whopping 54 strikeouts and seven walks in 57 innings?
And even when pitching with a sore shoulder, throwing from the side more, throwing fewer splitters and more sidearm sliders, and taking something off his fastball, Smoltz still has quality starts in each of those last two starts (two runs in six innings in each, including a win last weekend at Cleveland).
So they’ll take the first one, probably. But can they win one of the next two? With Kyle Davies facing Tigers ace Justin Verlander (8-2, 2.90) on Saturday, it might be up to Chuck James on Sunday, against young lefty Andrew Miller (2-1, 3.63).
Anyway, yeah, they can win the series, but I wouldn’t bet the house on it. Or a cup of coffee, for that matter.
Did I mention Detroit, which has an even more explosive lineup than the Red Sox, has won nine of its past 11 road games while hitting .335 and averaging nearly nine runs per game in that stretch? Aye yi yi.
Jimmy Leyland’s boys lead the majors in average (.295), slugging (.483) and scoring (439 runs, the only team with 400). And on the road, the Tigres have hit .295 with a majors-leading 47 homers.
Smoltz vs. Tigers: Thankfully, there are no groundless Smoltz-to-Detroit trade rumors percolating this time as the Michigan native prepares to toe the slab against the team he grew up loving, that signed him and began developing him in the minors before trading him to the Braves for Doyle Alexander on Aug. 12, 1987, when Detroit needed a veteran pitcher for the stretch drive.
Or course Smoltz, who made a total of 35 minor league starts in 1-1/2 minor league seasons for the Tigers organization, has gone on to have a likely Hall-of-Fame career as a Braves starter, closer, starter, and Home Depot pitchman.
But he’s made only one start and two relief appearances vs. Detroit. Each of the relief appearances were perfect performances; the start was not. He gave up 10 hits and eight runs in 3-1/3 innings of that September 1997 game, and had elbow surgery that December.
He’s had four elbow surgeries, but the elbow’s held up fine since Smoltz returned to starting in 2005.
As good as the Tigers have been on the road, Smoltz has been terrific pitching at home. He’s 13-4 with a 2.54 ERA in his past 18 home starts, including 7-2 with a microscopic 1.14 ERA in the past nine.
He’s worked six or more innings and allowing zero or no earned runs in each of those past nine home games. That’s right, no one-run performances. He gave up zero runs in five of those nine games, and two runs in the other four.
You’ve been warned: Two Tigers, in particular, are on fire. Magglio Ordonez has been baseball’s best hitter this season (check the league leaders; he’s outhitting even A-Rod). Ordonez has hit .411 in his past 43 games with 30 extra-base hits (nine homers), 41 RBIs, a .481 OBP, and only 15 strikeouts..
And, yes, Gary Sheffield returns to Atlanta with his bat ablaze. He’s hit .347 with 15 homers, 41 RBIs and 15 strikeouts in his past 44 games. (Man, what’s up with the low strikeouts? Don’t some of these veteran Tigers know how much fun it is to follow some Braves’ hack-from-the-heels approach?)
Frenchy looking for … something: Jeff Francoeur says he just hasn’t felt right at the plate lately, and it shows.
The right fielder hit .388 (19-for-49) with five doubles, two homers and eight RBIs in a 12-game stretch from May 10 to May 22. But since then? Ugh.
He’s 24-for-110 (.218) with four doubles, one homer, 11 RBIs and a .532 OPS (.250 OBP) in his past 28 games. Braves are 11-17 in those games, by the way.
And from the old-habits-die-hard dept., Francoeur has swung at 49.2 percent of first pitches, second-highest in the NL behind old friend Johnny Estrada (50.0).
Dueling slumps: It’s not as deep as Andruw Jones’ epic slump, but the Mets’ center fielder, Carlos Beltran, is struggling almost as mightily this season as the Braves center fielder (I said almost).
Since May 2, Andruw has hit .169 (29-for-172) with six homers, 23 RBIs, 45 strikeouts and a .548 OPS (.234 OBP) in 45 games. Yes, it’s really, really bad.
During that same period, Beltran has hit .212 (33-for-156) with three homers, 16 RBIs, 28 strikeouts and a .614 OPS (.306 OBP) in 42 games.
And the Mets’ other Carlos, Delgado, has hit .237 in that same stretch, albeit with 10 homers, 28 RBIs, and a .778 OPS (practically Ruthian, compared to the aforementioned CFs).
The Mets, by the way, are 3-13 with a 5.72 ERA and 52 runs scored in their past 16 games.
The Phillies are 5-5 with a 6.83 ERA in their past 10 games, the only NL Least team with a non-losing record in their past 10.
Couple more stats: Edgar Renteria leads the NL with a .390 average after the sixth inning, while Andruw (.150) is third-worst…. Andruw’s .202 average is the NL’s worst, and so are his .194 average vs. right-handers and his .132 June average. His .184 home average is the majors’ worst, below Oakland’s Jason Kendall (.186) and Minnesota’s Nick Punto (.190)…. Willie Harris is hitting .302 (19-for-63) with two strikes, second in the NL to Colorado Kaz Matsui (.324).
One last thing: No doubt Mark Buehrle is a fine pitcher. But for what it’s worth, consider this: Since the beginning of the 2006 season, he’s 16-16 with a 4.53 ERA in 45 starts, with a .288 opponents’ average, only 154 strikeouts and 65 walks in 290 innings. Just for what it’s worth.
A little music to take us out: From the mighty DBTs, who are closing down AthFest on Sunday in Athens, as a few of the groovin’ Athens residents on this here blog have informed us.
“TORNADOES” by Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers)
The clouds started forming at five o’clock pm
The funnel clouds touched down
five miles north of Russellville
Sirens were blowing, clouds spat rain
and as the things came threw, it sounded like a train
“It came without no warning” said Bobbi Jo McLean
She and husband Nolen always loved to watch the rain
It sucked him out the window, he ain’t come home again
All she can remember is “It sounded like a train”
Pieces of that truck stop, litter up the highway, I been told
And I hear that missing trucker ended up in Kansas
(or maybe it was Oz).
The Nightmare Tour ended for my band and me
the night all the s#@* went down
A homecoming concert, the night the tornadoes hit my hometown.
The few who braved the weather were sucked out of the auditorium
I can still remember the sound of their applause in the rain
as it echoed through them storm clouds, I swear, It sounded like a train.
Services »
