AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > May > 14
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Late innings have been woeful
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Philadelphia _ Blowing a three-run first-inning lead last night in the City of Brotherly Love was not exactly what the Braves were looking for to shake their road doldrums and/or their one-run game affliction.
But it’s what they got. So you deal with it and move on.
No, wait. First, let’s ruminate on it a bit. Because I got to thinking in that ninth inning about how it seemed I’d witnessed a lot of similar down-to-the-wire heartbreak for the Bravos here in Philly in the past couple of years.
So I looked it up. And it wasn’t quite as many times as I seemed to remember, but it was still a lot. Enough that I wasn’t going to waste the research or the easy intro to this blog, especially since I’m running late (again) and have to get to the ballpark.
Anyway, five times. Last night was the fifth time since the beginning of the 2006 season that the Braves have lost at Philadelphia by one run. Five times in 19 games, or half of their 10 losses at Big Faceless Commercial Bank Park.
(The park itself is actually nice; it’s the bank that’s big and faceless).
So anyway, the Braves were losing a lot here in Philly by one run before they started losing everywhere else by one run. Last night’s 5-4 loss was their 16th consecutive loss in one-run road games dating to last season.
Sixteen straight. That’s remarkable.
And it was their 11th loss in 12 one-run games this season, home or road. Again, staggering.
Do I think it’s flukey or the sign of a real, fundamental flaw in this team?
Glad you asked.
We’re in mid-May now, and the Braves have won one game decided by a run. One.
That’s terrible, obviously. And I do think they’re to the point now where they’ve been asked about it so much, and talked about it so much, that it’s in the back (or perhaps front) of their minds, at least with some Braves, when they enter the late innings of a very close game.
By that I mean, some of them are perhaps expecting something bad to happen, rather than playing smart, aggressive baseball and making sure something bad doesn’t happen.
That’s easy for me to say, I know. And probably overly simplistic. And yes, I do think the Braves will eventually go on a run of four or five consecutive wins in one-run games to make the record a little less glaring.
But to be 1-11 in one-run games, and to have lost 16 consecutive one-run road losses _ that’s just tough to fathom.
There’s a reason the Braves never had runs of such ineptitude in close games during their division-title streak. You know, back when they had a high payroll and a roster filled with proven veterans and a perhaps a few kids sprinkled in.
Proven veterans have a tendency to come through in tight situations. And in the glory years of the Braves pitching staff, they had the kind of starting rotations that only needed 3-4 support runs to assure wins most nights.
And they usually got more runs than that.
After the pitching staff began to decline slightly, to levels of simply solid major league staff instead of utterly dominant staffs, then the Braves had a few years when they had a lineup filled with hitters capable of hitting a ball out of the park.
That’ll also help you win a lot of one-run games, as you can imagine.
The Braves have 37 homers, which ranks eighth in the 16-team NL. And when you consider that 17 of those homers have been hit by two players, Chipper Jones and Brian McCann … well, this isn’t a power-laden lineup. At least not right now.
Not until Mark Teixeira starts hitting the way he’s capable of hitting, and unless and until Jeff Francoeur returns to the power-hitting mode he was in a couple years ago.
Just a few years back, in 2005 (their last division title), the Braves finished fourth in the NL in homers. In 2003 they had a whopping 235 homers when no other NL team had 200.
That 2003 team had six players with more than 20 homers apiece, led by Javy Lopez (43), Gary Sheffield (39), Andruw Jones (36), Chipper Jones (27), Vinny Castilla (22) and Marcus Giles (21).
Not to mention leadoff man Rafael Furcal’s 60 extra-base hits (15 homers) and 25 stolen bases in 27 attempts.
Those were the days, weren’t they?
Well, they’re not coming back anytime soon. Not in that form. Not a power-laden lineup like that (even Robert Fick had 11 homers and 80 RBI on that team).
But the Braves do have a good rotation (despite all the injuries), a solid bullpen (despite all the injuries) and a lineup that hits and scores enough, if they play smart baseball (can’t get picked off second base in crucial situations, for example), and if they start getting hits when it counts.
Yes, the Braves currently lead the NL in batting average (.283). But tell me that doesn’t seem like a mighty hollow distinction?
That’s because while they lead the league by a significant margin in average from the first through sixth innings (.294), the Braves are seventh in average after the sixth inning (.258), and have only nine homers in those late innings.
They’re slugging .390 after the sixth inning, .452 in the first through sixth.
And not to harp on the close-and-late thing, but it’s important: In the late innings of close games (basically, after the sixth inning in tied or one-run games), the Braves are tied for 11th in the NL with a .240 average and have only two homers and a .330 slugging percentage.
By comparison, the Phillies have 12 homers, 23 RBI and a .423 slugging percentage in the late innings.
The Cubs are hitting .264 with eight homers, 42 RBI and a .386 slugging percentage in the late innings.
The Astros have 42 RBI and a .451 slugging percentage in the late innings.
The Marlins have nine homers in the late innings.
On and on.
The Braves have got to start producing in the late innings, because they don’t have the lineup that’s proven it can build big leads on a consistent basis and coast through the late innings.
It didn’t help that in their ninth-inning rally last night, they were without Teixeira, who missed his second game with back spasms. I’m expecting him to be back in there tonight, but won’t know till we get down to clubhouse.
Teixeira is tied for the major league lead with a .500 average (10-for-20). Throw that out and the rest of the Braves’ lineup … well, the close-and-late thing ain’t pretty.
And what’s a shame is that the pitching staff ranks among the league’s best in the late innings, especially in close games.
Chipper in SI: Michael Bamberger of Sports Illustrated is in Philly to write a story on Chipper Jones. I talked to Michael for a while last night. He had some good questions about Hoss, wants to really write about what’s made him so good in his mid-30s.
By the way, here’s the latest on Chipper’s recent and extended surges: He’s hit .434 (43-for-99) with nine homers, 22 RBIs and a .509 OBP and 1.287 OPS in his past 26 games.
He’s hit .371 (156-for-421) with 34 doubles, 26 homers, 94 RBIs and a .450 OBP and .646 slugging percentage in 109 games since July 5.
And in 221 games since June 24, 2006, Chipper has hit .361 (305-for-844) with 66 doubles, six triples, 58 homers, 184 RBI and a .441 OBP and .660 slugging percentage (1.101 OPS).
Oh, and on the road in that last stretch he’s hit .371 with 37 doubles, 30 homers and 89 RBI in 110 games.
So much for that idea: I think I’ll just shut up about Francoeur taking a day off, for now. He’s 7-for-15 with two RBI in his three games during the past two days, after going 6-for-38 (.158) with three RBI in his previous 10 games.
Road-woeful Braves: Since April 24, the Brave are 7-0 with a .331 batting average, 2.86 ERA, 47 runs and six homers in seven home games. And in that same period, they are 1-8 with a .241 average, 4.34 ERA, 27 runs and three homers in eight road games.
OK, tunes. Just stopped at a Philly record store and got the great new CD by British songstress Duffy, a blonde who’s better looking and, believe it or not, more talented and soulful than Amy Winehouse. Also got the just-released one by Philly’s own The Roots, a remastered edition of Roberta Flack’s “First Take,” and a My Morning Jacket early CD, The Tennessee Fire, which I’d only owned on a burned copy. Had to have the real thing.
Today’s tune — this seemed appropriate.
”CAN’T WIN” by Richard Thompson
I started to cry, they put gin in my cup
I started to crawl, and they swaddled me up
I got up and run, they said “Easy, son,
Play up, play the game”
They told me to think and forget what I’d heard
They told me to lie and they questioned my word
They told me to fail, better sink than sail,
Just play the game
Oh, towers will tumble and locusts will visit the land
Oh, a curse on your house and your children and the fruit of your hand
They said “You can’t win. You can’t win.
You sweat blood. You give in.
You can’t win. You can’t win.
Turn the cheek. Take it on the chin.
Don’t you dare do this. Don’t you dare do that.”
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Oh the nerve of some people, the nerve of some people,
The nerve of some people
I don’t know who you think you are, who you think you are
Oh what kind of mother would hamstring her sons?
Throw sand in their eyes and put ice on their tongues
Ah better to leave than stay here and grieve
And play the game
Don’t waken the dead as you sleepwalk around
If you have a dream, brother, hush, not a sound
Just stand there and rust, die if you must
But play the game
Oh, if we can’t have it, why should a wretch like you?
Oh, it was drilled in our heads, now we drill it into your head too.
They said “You can’t win. You can’t win.
You sweat blood. You give in.
You can’t win. You can’t win.
Turn the cheek. Take it on the chin.
Don’t you dare do this. Don’t you dare do that.”
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Oh, the nerve of some people, the nerve of some people,
The nerve of some people
I don’t know who you think you are
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people….
Services »
