AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > July > 22
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Why must Braves make this difficult?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Miami — They don’t make it easy to shovel dirt on them, these Braves. I know, I know … many of you will respond to that by saying they were done in May, or June, or whatever.
But from an actual business-decision standpoint, if you’re the one that’s ultimately making the decision on whether to officially pull the plug on this season and trade Mark Teixeira and Will Ohman before July 31, a game like last night’s 4-0, two-hit shutout by Jorge Campillo and relievers Ohman and Mike Gonzalez certainly can’t make said decision any easier, can it?
Do they have a realistic chance of overcoming three teams with five- or six-game leads on them to win the NL East? Probably not. But they do have a chance, whether it’s 10-percent or whatever. And you know how stubborn these Braves and Bobby Cox can be, and how much they’d prefer to wait until the last possible minute before sending Tex to some contender and perhaps having to take far less than what some uniformed folks believe the Braves will get in return in such a trade.
But anyway … just saying they’re not easy to figure out sometimes. They get absolutely destroyed by the lowly Nats Saturday and Sunday, the Braves playing sloppy and failing to get key hits while the Nats played like they were the team playing with something at stake.
Then the Braves hit the road and shut out a surging young Marlins team that had won eight of 11, including two road series in Southern California, and came from behind to win for the 27th time Sunday, and led the majors with 140 homers.
And the Braves throw a two-hit shutout against them. Go figure.
So as much as a lot of folks would prefer the Braves pull a trigger on a Tex deal now, if you’re in Frank Wren’s shoes can’t you at least see where he might want to wait to see what happens in the next five games against the Marlins and Phillies.
Because what if? What if - and I know it’s highly unlikely - the Braves were to win four of these next five, go 5-1 on the trip, and get back to Atlanta about 4-5 games out of first place. Again, I’m not saying I think it’ll happen; not saying that at all. As I pointed out, they haven’t had a winning trip all season.
But if you’re in control of an organization’s direction, to a large degree, and if it’s your first year in the GM chair, aren’t you going to wait as long as reasonably possible before you turn off the life-support machine and tell those fans who aren’t in the trade-Tex-now mode that it’s over, that you’re aiming for the future?
Hey, it’s only six more days, folks. In six more days, the Braves will have finished the trip that most of them have said is going to determine whether they’re buyers or sellers. So just hang on.
Smoltz a travelin’ man: For the first time since his shoulder surgery, John Smoltz accompanied the team on this trip. It does make it seem a lot more normal when the bearded, balding Braves icon is in the clubhouse, that voice booming as he plays practical jokes and bust balls during the drawn-out afternoon preparation period.
I talked to him yesterday, before last night’s win, and asked him what he can say to the team at tough times like this from his position on the sidelines.
“The biggest thing is, with the way the games are being played, we’re in every game and we’re not exactly doing the things that would equate to a lot of victories,” he said. “You just try to help you pitchers learn for the future. You certainly can’t make them panic, can’t make them pitch perfect games … I’m really only focused on the young pitchers, trying to help them.
“I believe Jo-Jo Reyes, if he can learn something from [Sunday], he didn’t pitch that badly but his results weren’t good. And that’s a mixed emotion that a young pitchers can’t deal with. He made a lot of adjustments that a lot of people would never realize.”
I asked him whether Reyes and the other young pitchers have it tougher than he did because they’re going through their struggles on a team that’s under scrutiny, rather than a team that’s not expected to contend. He said yes, in so many words.
“The biggest thing is, for the most part they do ask questions, and they’re reacting like sponges instead of bricks,” he said. “What I mean by that, they’re willing to take information in and not let it hurt their performance. It’s actually like a light going off. From that they’ve gained a lot of experience that can only pay off for the future.
“I mean, it’s hard to look at this season, with the amount of injuries that we’ve had, and the [young] guys where they started and see where they are today, and expect them to replace the likes of the starters that we lost. It’s not an easy job.”
I asked him if, given everything that’s happened, could he have reasonably expected the Braves to overcome the injuries they’ve had.
“Not really. But you always have optimism, and as long as you’re within striking distance…” he said. “The problem is that we’re behind three teams. And so that striking distance is a little misleading.
“We’re gonna learn a lot about our team this week. We’ve been saying that every week so far this year. But I think this week will really be either the hope for the next two months or the concern for what our team’s going to look like via options to trade people or whatever the avenue they choose after this week. Only time will tell.”
Finally, I asked him if the most frustrating part for him was to not be able to put team on his back every five days like he used to.
“That’s the biggest thing I’ve struggled with,” he said. “It’s the physical part, that you can’t go out there, but it’s also really the energy that you bring when you’re in the game. It’s only once every five days — or, well, could it be three or four if I was pitching out of the bullpen — you know, you’re a part of the team, but you’re not.
“So all you can do is do things behind the scenes.”
Chipper’s flick hit: He had one at-bat last night with a runner on base, and in that at-bat Chipper Jones reached across the plate and flicked an opposite-field single to left field with two out in the fifth inning to drive in a run for a 2-0 lead.
Chipper’s .405 average (60-for-148) with runners on base is 33 points higher than the NL’s next-best, Ryan Church’s .372.
He isn’t dominating games like he did earlier in the season, but Chipper is still leading the majors with a .372 overall average that’s 18 points higher than his closest competition, Albert Pujols (.354). The AL leader is Texas’ Ian Kinsler at .324, a whopping 48 points behind Jones’ average.
Against the Marlins this season, Jones is 20-for-36 (.556) with five homers and nine RBI in nine games. Since 2004 he’s got 18 homers and 60 RBIs in 64 games against the Fish, including a .389 averag with 27 extra-base hits (15 homers) and 44 RBIs in his past 47 games against them.
On adolescent development: Let’s face it, along the way the unfortunately dubbed “Baby Braves” (God, I hated that name) have failed to develop into the juggernaut some had envisioned. Or even into much of a solid nucleus.
Only Brian McCann has met or surpassed all expectations. The three-time All-Star catcher is everything the Braves could have possibly hoped for offensively, and his defense is adequate, his game-calling improving.
If they eventually wanted to move him to first base, I’m sure he’d accept the move and thrive there. But for now, I know McCann loves catching and wants to keep getting better behind the dish, working with pitchers, etc. If he could only make better progress in throwing out runners….
But as we said, he’s a nucleus player you build a team around. The others, well….
Kyle Davies is long gone. Horacio Ramirez, too (was Horacio even considered part of the Baby Braves? I forget). Langerhans? Gone. Pete Orr? (Was he good enough to be a Baby Brave? Don’t know. But gone.) Thorman? He wasn’t even here yet, but he’s come and gone, returned to Triple-A. There were others, but I don’t have a class — er, team — photo in front of me.
Oh, yeah, there’s the class president, or homecoming king, or whatever: Jeff Francoeur. Enough piling on, for now. He’s a good dude and a guy who cares a lot and wants to win. Yes, he’s had a nightmarish season after making a lot of strides a year ago. Yes, he was overly hyped (by us, by Delta, by the Braves, by SI, et al). But that’s certainly not his fault.
And besides, it’s still too early to know if he was extremely overrated, mildly overated, or if he’ll develop into the All-Star the Braves and their fans had anticipated he’d become, or just a good player, or maybe not even that, if can’t fix the flaws in his swing and his approach to hitting. (And whether it’s due to the extra weight he added last winter and/or the foot/ankle problem he needs to get fixed this winter, his defense simply hasn’t been of anything close to Gold Glove-caliber this season.)
Then there’s Kelly Johnson, who was always one of my favorite guys to deal with, and still is. Great guy, good interview, and genuinely cares about the team and absolutely hates to lose or to fail to deliver at the plate (or on a popup in the ninth inning, but enough’s been said about that incident, right?).
But I gotta say, I’m surprised that Kelly has taken a step back offensively, because I thought this would be the year his offense really started to take off, a couple years removed from elbow surgery and in his second season at second base, a new position he was thrust into after Marcus Giles was dumped following the 2006 season.
Kelly ended an erratic 2007 season on a down note, slumping for most of August and September. Problem is, he’s sort of continued along those lines for most of this season.
Since Aug. 5, 2007, he’s hit .250 with 29 doubles, 12 homers and 50 RBI in 132 games (12-for-480), with 57 walks, 103 strikeouts and a .331 OBP and .398 slugging percentage. The walks and strikeouts are surprising, the average, OBP and slugging all a lot lower than I thought he’d produce in a stretch that long.
Since June 27, he’s hit .190 (11-for-58) with more errors (two) than extra-base hits (one)m, and since July 5 he’s 6-for-36 with no extra-base hits, two RBI, one walk and nine strikeouts in 11 games.
Home-road reversal: We knew the home-road thing would eventually even out some, that the Braves would not keep losing four out of ever five on the road or winning four out of five at home. It has turned significantly in recent weeks.
On the road, the Braves started out a horrendous 7-24 through June 12. Since then the are 9-8 on the road, with a 2.79 ERA in that span as the main reason for the improvement (they’ve only hit .250 in those 17 road games).
Meanwhile at home, the Braves started out 25-8 with a .303 average and 3.34 ERA. They were a machine at home in that span through June 5.
But since then, they’ve gone 6-12 at home with a .246 average and 5.04 ERA. Ugly.
Everything changes. Well, almost everything. The cheeseburgers at Le Tub in Hollywood Beach, they don’t change. They’re still the best in America.
OK, a distraction: Using the term distraction, as one blogger did a few days ago, for apparently anything - talk of movies, music, etc. — that dares to stray from discussion of all things Braves.
Anyway, the new album by The Hold Steady, called Stay Positive is their fourth and probably their best. If not, it’s at least on par with the brilliant Separation Sunday, which is saying plenty. What a great straight-ahead rock band. I hear early Springsteen all over several songs on this CD, and there’s even a salute to the great Clash front man, “St. Joe Strummer.” I’ll put this album up there with the latest by My Morning Jacket, James McMurtry and the Drive-By Truckers as my favorite albums so far in 2008.
“SEQUESTERED IN MEMPHIS” by The Hold Steady
It started when we were dancin’
It got heavy when we got to the bathroom.
We didn’t go back to her place,
We went to some place where she cat-sits.
She said, “I know I look tired, but everything’s fried, here in Memphis.”
Man, they want to know exactly which bathroom…
Dude, does it make any difference? It can’t be important…
Yeah, sure, I’ll tell my story, again…
In bar-light, she looked all right;
In daylight, she looked desperate
That’s all right, I was desperate, too
I’m getting pretty sick of this interview.
Subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis
I think she drove a new Mustang
I guess it might be a rental
I remember she had satellite radio
I guess she seemed a bit nervous,
Do you think I’m that stupid? Well, what the hell?
I’ll tell the story, again…
In bar-light, she looked all right;
In daylight, she looked desperate
That’s all right, I was desperate, too
I’m getting pretty sick of this interview
Subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis
Subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis
I went there on business, subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis
I went there on business, subpoenaed in Texas, sequestered in Memphis….
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