AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > August > 15
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Braves nearing three-quarter pole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The season will be three-quarters completed when the weekend arrives, and the Braves aren’t where they had hoped to be, in first place in the NL East. They are a flawed team that could miss the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
On the other hand, all the other NL teams they’re competing against for the division title or a wild-card berth are flawed, too, and none of those teams added Mark Teixeira to their lineup at the trade deadline. Or made a move of similar impact by adding a pitcher or pitchers.
That’s why there’s probably more optimism in the Braves’ clubhouse than perhaps any NL team except Arizona’s. The Diamondbacks have the league’s best one-run-games record and have the look of one of those destiny’s darling teams, like the 2003 Braves.
The statistics say the D-backs should not be contending for a playoff berth — they’ve been outscored 537-507, for one thing — but the won-lost record says they are, and that’s all that counts. That and momentum, which the D-backs certainly have had in the past few weeks.
But can they maintain it? They were 17-4 despite hitting just .248 with a 3.73 ERA over a 21-game span before they got pounded by the Marlins last night, when Dontrelle Willis (he’s only 8-12) struck out 11 in seven innings.
Let’s keep an eye on Arizona in the next week, because what happens could provide a good indication of whether their magic will continue. But if they keep up what they’ve done lately, the Braves wouldn’t have to worry about them in a potential wild-card race anyway, because the D-backs would win the NL West.
But back to the Braves. Sorry for the detour there.
Last night’s game was exceedingly entertaining, if you could get past the gut-wrenching aspect from a Braves fan’s perspective, or the ulcer-inducing aspect from a beat writer cranking out an immediate story on Bobby Cox’s ejections record and then seeing Wickman blow a save in the ninth, forcing you to frantically rewrite the game story you’ve got going on another file that has to be punched as soon as the game ends….
And is it better to win 4-3, after scoring those four runs in the sixth inning after Teixeira leads off with his fifth homer in 12 games as a Brave, and Yunel Escobar comes through with yet another clutch hit, and Matt Diaz keeps up his ridiculous hitting clip with a pinch RBI single for the 4-3 lead.
Is it better to have won by that score, than to watch Wickman blow a save - the seventh blown save by the Braves since the All-Star break, matching their total blown before the break - and force the Braves to come back and score again in the ninth?
I don’t know, but a case could be made that responding to the Giants’ ninth-inning tying run off Wickman by scoring another run of their own in the bottom of the ninth on Chipper’s RBI double, that that was better for the team’s psyche than putting it away in the top of the ninth.
Or not. Who knows? Sure, they’d like to think their bullpen is lights-out every night, but the Braves have already seen Wickman struggle enough and blow enough saves - albeit none at home before last night - to know he’s not foolproof at this stage of the game. And to do that celebration after a walkoff hit, a game-ending knock by a team leader, that’s good stuff for a team. The stuff that the Diamondbacks have been enjoying on a seemingly everyday basis, including at the Braves’ expense a couple weeks ago.
Alright a quick rundown: Went back to where the Braves started playing better ball and wanted to see how their record since then compared to the other contenders for playoff berths.
Since June 25: Braves (25-18, .306 average, 3.90 ERA, 266 runs); New York Mets (25-20, .270, 4.23 ERA, 216 runs); Philadelphia Phillies (24-19, .291, 4.37 ERA, 261 runs); Arizona Diamondbacks (23-21, .239, 4.41 ERA, .178 runs); San Diego Padres (22-20, .242, 4.27 ERA, 187 runs); Los Angeles Dodgers (18-26, .281, 4.41 ERA, 195 runs); Colorado Rockies (23-20, .292, 4.38 ERA, 260 runs); Milwaukee Brewers (19-25, .257, 5.16 ERA, 210 runs); Chicago Cubs (25-19, .270, 4.38 ERA, 213 runs); St. Louis Cardinals (23-21, .285, 4.24 ERA, 207 runs).
Rough go for Ho: Horacio, that is. Horacio Ramirez. Might lose his spot in the Seattle rotation. The ex-Braves lefty is 7-4 with an unsightly 7.38 ERA and .341 opponents’ average, with more walks (32) than strikeouts (31) in 72 innings over 14 starts this season.
He’s 6-1 with a 4.05 ERA with huge run support in eight home starts, and 1-3 with a 13.50 ERA (not a typo) and .410 opponents’ average (and huge run support) in six road starts. He had a huge home-road disparity as a Brave, too, but nothing like that. That’s unbelievable.
Horacio, who the Braves traded for Rafael Soriano, is 4-4 with an 8.88 ERA in 10 night games. Right-handers are hitting .367 with a .988 OPS against him.
With runners in scoring position, he’s allowed a .419 average and .481 OBP.
He’s having, in other words, a Pacific Northwest nightmare.
More stats: Escobar has already had 18 multi-hit games in his 56 games in the majors, including three four-hit games. Only seven NL players have more three-hit games this season, including Edgar Renteria, who leds the majors with five. Escobar has been filling in for Renteria, who is probably at least another week from returning from a high-ankle sprain.
In his past 19 games, Escobar has hit .393 (24-for-61) with four doubles, 10 runs and eight RBIs.
Tim Hudson is moving up the list of Cy Young candidates. He’s still got an ERA a run higher than San Diego’s Chris Young (2.02), but Hudson is the hottest pitcher in the NL, notwithstanding Brandon Webb’s scoreless innings streak.
Hudson is 7-0 with a 2.26 ERA and no homers allowed in his past nine starts, and 4-0 with a 0.64 ERA in his past four home starts.
Andruw Jones sunk to an NL-worst .212 with his 0-for-4 Tuesday, and he’s also got a league-worst .192 home average and league-worst .212 average vs. righties. Next-lowest home average belongs to San Diego’s Marcus Giles (.202).
Jones has hit .138 (32-for-232) with 113 strikeouts in two-strike counts.
Chipper’s .358 average vs. right-handers would lead the NL by nine points if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. He will soon, but the Braves have faced more lefties than any team in the majors, by a wide margin. That and his DL stint have kept him below that particular qualifying standard.
Jones ranks second in the NL in OBP (.425), third in slugging (.593), and sixth in average (.335, eight points behind leader Hanley Ramirez).
Alright, gonna devote the rest of this blog to my thoughts on Willy Aybar, in light of yesterday’s news that he had surgery on a broken hamate bone in his right hand.
If you don’t want to hear sympathy for the kid, if you think he should just go away and that the Braves should cut the cord, I understand. I really do. So maybe you should just skip the rest of the blog. Not a problem.
If you’re still here, here goes:
No, I wasn’t expecting much if anything from Aybar down the stretch, when the Braves planned to add him to their expanded September roster. But he would’ve been a nice extra bat and pretty good infield glove to have on the bench.
But much more importantly, some who really take a look at the year he’s had feel for the kid, including me. If you’re of the opinion that addiction and alcoholism are a choice and you simply won’t empathize or sympathize with him or anyone else who suffers from it, I respect your opinion. Respectfully disagree, but I understand the sympathy and realize that a lot of folks feel that way.
But beyond that, if you had met this guy like some of us have, you’d know he’s a bit different that most other pro athletes. Painfully shy, speaks very little English, and had developed a few good friends in the Dodgers organization before he was abruptly traded to the Braves in July 2006.
Between the shift to new surroundings after the trade, and his insecurities and/or shyness, and then the left-hand fracture that he played with for a while before going on the DL late in the 2006 season, it was a rough couple months.
Then he hurts the other hand in winter ball, has visa issues that make him late for spring training (I’m thinking that a shy and withdrawn guy who doesn’t assert himself could probably get moved to the back of a line in a country like the Dominican, if he didn’t know the right folks to talk to and how to use his status, if you know what I mean).
Gets to spring training, can swing from only one side (he’s a switch-hitter) because of the hand, and probably doesn’t do a good job explaining to Braves officials and trainers what happened, how he got hurt, etc.
If it was the same injury he has now, it’s no wonder he couldn’t swing (and I’m betting it was, though Braves won’t say if they think so for obvious reason _ it’ll make the medical folks look bad for missing it on the MRI or X-ray in spring training).
Folks, you don’t play baseball with a broken hamate bone. If he did, even on a limited basis, he’s a tough hombre. Bobby Cox called him tough last September after revealing that Aybar had played hurt with the fracture left hand, because the kid thought he could help the team even if he could only slap at the ball (and he did help them, he hit over .300 and was on base four out of 10 times).
Anyway, like I indicated above, I know that defending Willy Aybar probably isn’t going to be popular with many, and that most denizens will wonder why even waste the space here and why bring him back.
But the Braves know he’s a talented player, and he’ll still be cheap. I could definitely see why they’d take a chance to bring him back. He’s harmless to others, believe me. He doesn’t say enough to be any kind of cancer in the clubhouse. He’s a good kid, just got some issues, including his extreme shyness and insecurity.
I’m taking the space here because I want to. And because I think any who’ve dealt with substance abuse or have a loved one who has, know what an insidious disease addiction can be. And because I’ve talked to this kid and come away thinking, you know what, that’s a guy who’s not comfortable in his own skin.
And that’s sad. Know what I mean, when you come away from a conversation with anyone and that’s what you’re thinking? Especially when you know the kid makes $400,000 and still, you wouldn’t want to trade places with him or be him. I mean, that’s just unfortunate. And I wish him the best, I really do.
He’s the kind of guy who could slip through the cracks to a bad place, even having a brother who plays baseball like he does (Erik Aybar of the Angels). Actually, having such a brother might even compound his own feelings of unworthiness or whatever.
If you’ll allow me to play amateur psychologist a moment, what I mean by that is, from all I hear, his brother is outgoing, full of energy and joy. Hey, if you’re the opposite of that it’s probably tough to see it in your own brother and deal with it, you know?
OK, that’s all. Sorry if that came across as bleeding-heart crap to some of you. I’m sure it did. I can take the inevitable blasts I’ll get from some supposed hardasses and tough-talking types here who can’t bring themselves to feel sorry for anyone making more money than themselves. Fire away.
But this kid Willy Aybar, I wish you folks could meet him and view it from another perspective. Because I’m telling you, there was something in that face, some innocence and fear and stuff that just makes you feel bad for someone when they struggle with their demons like this guy has.
Personally, it’d be good just to see him healthy and happy in spring training. Don’t know what the chances of that are, but sure couldn’t hurt any of us to hope for that — for his sake and, if it makes it easier for you to hope for that, then for the Braves’ sake, too.
”CINNAMON GIRL” by Neil Young
I wanna live/with a cinnamon girl
I could be happy/the rest of my life
With a cinnamon girl.
A dreamer of pictures/I run in the night
You see us together,/chasing the moonlight,
My cinnamon girl.
Ten silver saxes,/a bass with a bow
The drummer relaxes/and waits between shows
For his cinnamon girl.
A dreamer of pictures/I run in the night
You see us together,/chasing the moonlight,
My cinnamon girl.
Pa sent me money now/I’m gonna make it somehow
I need another chance/You see your baby loves to dance
Yeah…yeah…yeah.
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