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Sunday, August 24, 2008
Regarding one-run road games and The Boss….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
St. Louis — One of these days, Braves Nation’s long nightmare will end. Yes, they will eventually win a one-run road game. We’re almost certain of that.
But with September approaching, there’s a good chance it won’t happen this season. Hard as it is to imagine — well, probably not so hard to imagine lately — the Braves could go an entire season without winning a one-run road game.
Their stretch of futility could bridge the 2008 season, stretching from August 2007 to … whenever.
It’s currently at a major league-record 27 consecutive one-run road losses, which is six more than the Kansas City Royals lost in a stretch of road games during 2000-2001, the record until the Braves came along and obliterated it.
They last one a one-run road game on Aug. 9, 2007, when they beat the New York Mets 7-6. (How long ago was that? Oscar Villarreal got the save and the Braves had a 61-54 record. That’s how long.)
To get an idea how remarkable this record is, just consider how much they’ve “beaten” the previous record by.
Anyway, I only bring it up because for a while yesterday, it looked like the Braves might finally end the streak, after the Cardinals scored a single run in the bottom of the eighth to cut the Braves’ lead to 5-4.
Alas, in the ninth inning Kelly Johnson drew a bases-loaded, 14-pitch walk (amazing plate appearance) and Jeff Francoeur hit the next pitch for a bases-loaded, two-run single (some of you are saying amazing, period).
Yes, even when they do well, Kelly and Frenchy screw things up (we’re kidding, folks).
The streak lives. Will today be the day it ends? If not, there are only 15 more road games this season.
Prado’s stock rising: Martin Prado is playing like a man who wants to keep a major league job with the Braves for next season.
Frankly, I can’t imagine him not being on someone’s major league roster to begin the 2009 season — his minor league days are probably behind him now, finally.
He’s filled in at first base for four straight games (including today) in this St. Louis series while Casey Kotchman is on bereavement duty. Bobby Cox initially stuck Prado in there at New York on Thursday — first start at firset base — because Greg Norton had a sore hand and arm.
But now, Prado is showing he can play the position, and Cox wants his bat and hustle in the lineup, even if he’s playing with a sore groin, as he has been for weeks.
He’s hit .447 (21-for-47) with five doubles, two triples and nine RBIs in 17 games since July 27, including 8-for-17 with three multi-hit games in four starts on this trip before today.
No play was bigger in Saturday’s 8-4 win that Prado hustling to beat out an infield hit when Cards second baseman Felipe Lopez hesitated to make a throw because deep-playing 1B Albert Pujols wasn’t at the bag yet (other Cards infielders are used to Pujols playing deep and know they can throw to an “empty base” and he’ll be there to catch it when the ball arrives).
Prado’s two-out infield hit loaded the bases for K.J., whose epic at-bat included eight consecutive foul balls on a 3-2 count. “He was determined not to get called out,” Cox said today when I asked him about the at-bat.
Kelly knows he’s taken too many called third strikes this year, and yes, he was determined not to let it happen in that crucial situation. He was angry at himself for fouled back several pitches he thought he could drive. But to stay alive and then get the walk, that at least made the end result satisfying.
And probably no coincidence that after that 14-pitch duel, reliever Russ Springer’s next pitch was a fat fastball that Francoeur hit for a two-run single.
But again, none of it would’ve been possible if not for Prado, whose defensive versatility, hustle and hitting ability, along with an excellent attitude, make him a player who should be able to carve out a steady career as a super-utility type player and perhaps even compete for an every-day job.
He’s a smart guy and knows that in this day and age, most second basemen and shortstops are also solid offensive player and that many of them have good power.
He’s more a throwback infielder in that regard, which is why Prado, who has a natural line-drive swing, knows he’s probably more likely to hold a utility job on a contending team than an every-day spot at a single position.
Etc. With his next homer, Chipper Jones will join Eddie Mathews as the only players in history to have 14 straight 20-homer seasons to start career…. CF Mark Kotsay is 2-for-21 with one RBI in his past six games…. Chipper’s lead in the batting race is down to four points over Albert Pujols entering today, and Chipper told me yesterday that Pujols is the best all-around hitter in baseball, and the best he’s seen. Pujols has hit .392 with nine homers and 29 RBI in his past 26 games, by the way. And against the Braves, he’s hit .408 with 14 doubles, 12 homers, 32 RBI and a surreal 1.409 OPS in his past 29 games.
The Boss: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have still got it, folks. Saw them put on a rockin’ three-hour show last night in Saint Lou. Two encores. At one point in the show he picks out hand-made signs from about 15 people that had song titles or references to songs, then the band plays a bunch of those songs. Played some really old, deep-catalog stuff, like Mountain of Love. But the show built to to a late crescendo, as usual, with the iconic tunes — Thunder Road, Born To Run, Badlands (oh, was that incredible), Jungleland …
I still get chills when he plays Born to Run and Badlands, and Jungleland, for that matter… Hell, even Dancing in the Dark is awesome live, the way he does it now. But no Atlantic City or Johnny 99, or the great songs I like off The River. But he’s just go so much stuff to pick from, can’t really quibble with his selections. He’s the artist. He’s The Boss. Still.
“BADLANDS” by Bruce Springsteen
Lights out tonight,
Trouble in the heartland,
Got a head on collision,
Smashin’ in my guts, man,
I’m caught in a cross fire,
That I don’t understand,
I don’t give a damn,
for the same old played out scenes,
I don’t give a damn,
for just the in-betweens,
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul,
I want control right now
Talk about a dream,
try to make it real
You wake up in the night,
with a fear so real,
Spend your life waiting,
for a moment that just don’t come,
Well, don’t waste your time waiting
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday,
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you’ve gotta pay,
We’ll keep pushin’ till it’s understood,
and these badlands start treating us good.
Workin’ in the fields
till you get your back burned,
Workin’ ‘neath the wheel
till you get your facts learned,
Baby, I got my facts
learned real good right now,
Poor man wanna be rich,
rich man wanna be king,
And a king ain’t satisfied,
till he rules everything,
I wanna go out tonight,
I wanna find out what I got
I believe in the love that you gave me,
I believe in the hope that can save me,
I believe in the faith
and I pray, that someday it may raise me,
Above these badlands
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday,
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you’ve gotta pay,
We’ll keep pushin’ till it’s understood,
and these badlands start treating us good.
For the ones who had a notion,
A notion deep inside,
That it ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive
I wanna find one face that ain’t looking through me
I wanna find one place,
I wanna spit in the face of these badlands
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday,
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you’ve gotta pay,
We’ll keep pushin’ till it’s understood,
and these badlands start treating us good.
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