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Thursday, July 5, 2007
Braves’ hitting resurgence was timely
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gonna be an interesting night with a fine pitching matchup of Tim Hudson vs. Brad Penny at Dodger Stadium, then a midnight drive to San Diego. Wish you were here. (Well, some of you.)
Anyway, while I’m thinking about it, I was just crunching numbers and came up with this one: The Braves have hit .290 on the road since May 1, and .248 at home in that same stretch.
But here’s the positive news you folks were looking for (no, not “Kyle Davies has figured out the flaw in his delivery and should now be ready to turn in quality starts on a regular basis.”)
The positive news: The Braves have hit .317 and scored 59 runs in their past nine games, while going 6-3 with a 3.53 ERA in that span. This after going 3-9 in the previous 12 games while posting a 4.74 ERA and hitting just .242 with 28 runs — yes, 28 runs in 12 games. Ugly.
From under 2-1/2 runs per game to nearly 5-1/2 runs per game, that’s progress. Of course, the level of competition hasn’t been nearly as strong in the latter stretch, with Washington, Florida and Los Dodgers not comparable to the likes of Cleveland, Boston and Detroit. Well, the Dodgers are, but not the others.
But nevertheless … the schedule is the schedule. And while the Mets have been stumbling and letting the Braves stick around, several Atlanta hitters have emerged from their slumps and the team actually has more than a few hitters going strong at once, for the first time in a while.
The pitching still is rife with concerns — John Smoltz’s shoulder, Davies’ everything, Bob Wickman’s recent struggles, the new lefty’s underwhelming work — but improved offense can go a long way toward lessening the impact of those pitching problems.
The Braves still need to find a starter on the market, which I think they’ll do before the July 31 trade deadline, whether it’s an impact guy or just a modest innings-eater who’s more reliable than what they’ve got now at the back end of the rotation.
We’ll know soon enough, perhaps in the next few hours, who is expected to start Saturday for Smoltz. Could it be top prospect Jo Jo Reyes, the extremely promising lefty who’s only been up with Class AAA Richmond for a few weeks? Probably so. Which tells you how desperate the Braves are getting, to use the first option on this kid with such limited experience in the high minors.
Stay tuned.
Now, about those resurgent hitters: Chipper Jones has hit .378 with a .446 OBP in 19 games since returning from the DL, and has 11 RBIs in his past seven games.
Several others have picked it up in the last week or three, perhaps some of them responding since Hoss returned to stabilize the lineup from his No. 3 spot. For example:
Brian McCann has hit .323 with three homers and 10 RBIs in his past nine games, after hitting .174 with two homers and 13 RBIs in his previous 24 games.
Jeff Francoeur has hit .448 (13-for-29) with three doubles and seven RBIs in his past seven games, after batting .206 with just one extra-base hit and three RBIs in 68 at-bats over his previous 18 games.
Matt Diaz has hit all season, but jacked it up recently, batting .415 (17-for-41) in his past 15 games.
Edgar Renteria keeps going strong, batting .333 with 14 RBIs and a .404 OBP in his past 22 games.
Rookie phenom Yunel Escobar went through a very brief slump, but is cookin’ again now, going 11-for-25 (.440) with four doubles, eight runs and four RBIs in his past seven games.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia has hit since he got here, and despite going 1-for-9 in the first three games of the Dodgers series, he still has a .339 average with three homers in his past 20 games (59 at-bats).
The Braves regulars still struggling mightily: Scott Thorman, who’s 3-for-26 (.115) with one double and 10 strikeouts in his past 10 games, and Andruw Jones, despite his current one-hit-a-game eight-game hitting streak.
He’s 8-for-35 (.229) with three homers, six RBIs and 12 strikeouts during that unusual hitting streak, and in his past 21 games he has a .134 average with six RBIs, 25 strikeouts in 82 at-bats, and a .202 OBP.
Is Wickman fading? The veteran closer has been very hittable for the past few weeks, posting a 9.45 ERA and .382 opponents’ average in nine appearances since June 14. He’s allowed 13 hits and seven earned runs in 6-2/3 innings over that stretch, with an 0-1 record and two blown saves in six chances.
For the season, Wickman has a .270 opponents’ average and .349 OBP, including a .293 average (17-for-58) by right-handed batters.
He’s allowed only eight hits and one unearned run in 14 home games this season, but on the road he’s got a 7.63 ERA and .333 opponents’ average in 18 appearances, with 23 hits, 13 earned runs and 10 walks in 15-1/3 innings.
New guy not impressive: So far it’s been a rough go of it for left-hander Wilfredo Ledezma, who is doing pretty much for the Braves what he was doing with Detroit before coming over in a trade for lefty Macay McBride.
Ledezma was charged with a run and two hits without recording an out Wednesday night, after allowing a run Monday and two runs and three hits in one inning Friday at Florida.
In his past 20 appearances with Detroit and the Braves, he has a 6.93 ERA and .301 opponents’ average, with 31 hits (three homers), 20 runs (19 earned) and 14 walks allowed in 24-2/3 innnings.
Ok, gotta get to the ‘park. For our last day in L.A., a late, great Southern Californian will take us out with this little ditty.
“JOIN ME IN L.A.” by Warren Zevon
Well, they say this place is evil
That ain’t why I stay
‘Cause I found something
That will never be nothing
And I found it in L. A.
It was midnight in Topanga
I heard the DJ say
There’s a full moon rising
Join me in L. A.
wake up … wake up
I was at the Tropicana
On a dark and sultry day
Had to call someone long distance
I said “Join me in L. A.”
Join me in L. A.
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