AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 04
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Braves are still in race … to avoid cellar
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Start me up. After six days of down time, we’re rested and ready to cover these Braves in a September pennant race! What’s that? Oh, then nevermind.
But seriously, that was the intention when we did the schedule waay back in February. See, I figured I’d take off that six-day trip to Washington and Florida in late August/early September since, of course, the Nationals and Marlins would be way out of contention and the Braves could catcher their breath a bit before starting a crucial, perhaps decisive stretch in second week of September with series against Colorado, New York and Philly.
Things haven’t gone exactly as planned, have they?
So what have we got left before we dive into what has become the more anticipated “season” for these Braves, the offseason and the various moves they must make to foster hope of returning to one of the top rungs in the standings?
Well, the NL batting title is still up for grabs. No really. Since Albert Pujols’ 1-for-7 in the past couple games has reduced his lead to only two points over Chipper Jones (.360-.358) just when it appeared Pujols was about to run away with the thing (hot as he’s been for the past two months, he still could.)
So that’s still a race. Unfortunately for the Braves, so is fourth place. The head-to-head battle, as it were, to avoid the dubious distinction of last (fifth) place in the NL East resumes tonight with the Nationals’ arrival.
Who’d have thought, six months ago, that this series with the Nationals would be the September series that had the most relevance for the Braves? Either way you look at it, whether you want the Braves to avoid last place or your one of those folks who believes it’s better to finish dead last for draft purposes, this is arguably more important than any other series this month.
(Well, unless the Phillies and Mets are tied for the East lead when the Braves go to Philly the last week of the season, in which case you could argue that beating the Phillies would be more important in the bigger picture. But screw that, we’re going with our original premise. This is the big series. Stop laughing, it is.)
The Nationals are 10-4 against the Braves this season. Yes, 10-4. And they’ve won the last five in a row, including a sweep last week in Washington and two games in Atlanta July 19-20 when they outscored the Braves 23-8.
The Natty Nats have hit .352 - repeat, three-fifty-two in their five-game winning streak against Los Bravos. The Nats have double-digit hits in all five games, including 37 hits (only one homer, but who cares?) in last week’s series in the aesthetically underwhelming new ballpark in D.C.
How is this happening? Simple, really. The Nationals are a better team, or at least have been for the past few months. The depleted and now entirely lackluster Braves are playing like they want their embarrassing season to end, while the Nats are playing like they still want to win every single game.
After starting out 32-29 with a 3.64 ERA, the Braves since June 6 — 6/6, the evil turning point, if you will — are 28-51 with a 5.21 ERA.
The Nationals are 29-50 with a 4.56 ERA since June 6. Yes, they’ve been the Braves’ equal for nearly half a season, not including head-to-head battles, where they’ve been the clearly superior team.
The Braves since July 26 are 11-27 with a 6.47 ERA while hitting .277 with only 21 homers in 38 games. In that same period, the Nationals are 16-21 with a 4.84 ERA while hitting .264 with 25 homers in 37 games.
What’s amazing is that Willie Harris and Co. have been 5-1/2 games better than the Braves since July 26 despite enduring a 12-game losing streak. Yes, the Nats lost 12 in a row through Aug. 20. Since then, they’re 10-3 with a .297 team batting average and 4.42.
While the Nats are enjoying a late-season surge, the Braves have gone 5-18 with a 6.98 ERA since Aug. 10. They’ve scored three runs or fewer in 14 of those 23 games, and also gone homerless in 14 of 23.
They’ve scored 99 runs in their 23 games, and 37 runs came in three games. That’s 62 runs the Braves have scored in the other 20.
Elsewhere in the league…. Haven’t seen anything yet on Carlos Zambrano’s MRI that was scheduled for today. But if the report is bad, if “Big Z” is out for the rest of the season, then I’m going to have to reassess my midseason pick of the Cubs as the hands-down favorite to win the pennant.
There’s also some concern about Rich Harden, who had shoulder “discomfort” according to Lou Piniella. The oft-injured former A’s pitcher said his shoulder’s fine and that the Cubs just skipped his last turn because they want to keep him healthy, that the move had been planned since right after they traded for him. We’ll see. But if Harden has any woes, on top of Zambrano’s situation … oh, my, that changes the complexion of things. Hello, Milwaukee.
Black holes at outfield corners: Speaking of the Braves being homerless in 14 of the past 23 games. When the obituary is written on this sorry season, it’s going to obviously include a lot of talk about Braves injuries. Because frankly, even if everyone in the lineup had lived up to expectations, I don’t see any way the Braves could have overcome their multitude of pitching injuries.
However, everyone certainly has not lived up to expectations. Specifically, the two outfield corners have been woefully underperforming positions for these Braves, who will undoubtedly look for another left fielder in the offseason, but might also have to consider their right-field situation.
Their hodgepodge of left fielders have produced the fewest homers (six) and lowest slugging percentage (.364) at the position among 30 major league teams. They had counted on Matt Diaz there, and he struggled even before hurting his knee and missing most of the season.
In right field, the Braves were obviously counting heavily on Jeff Francoeur after he totaled 48 homers with two 100-RBI years in his first two full seasons in the majors.
Francoeur has played almost every day, and Braves right fielders rank dead last in the majors in average (.228), on-base percetage (.289) and slugging (.348), and only three of the other 29 teams have fewer homers (11) than Braves RFs.
Francoeur’s .232 average is third-lowest among NL qualifiers, six points off Michael Bourn’s NL-worst .226 for Houston. Since April 29, Francoeur has hit .217 in 108 games with eight homers, 44 RBIs, a .285 OBP and a .319 slugging percentage.
Diversions: Saw a great (free) show by Patterson Hood at the Decatur Book Festival on Sunday. He’s got a solo album coming out, he said, at beginning of next year. He played a bunch of stuff from it, and every song was strong. Some of it is stuff he wrote after moving to Athens in 1994, before forming Drive-By Truckers…. If you’re looking for a great new alt-rock album, tough to beat The Walkmen’s You & Me. They’ve had a couple of solid albums in the past, but this one’s the best, to me. Doesn’t seem as forced. Nothing as catchy as their great tune The Rat, but the overall album is a new high for these dudes…. Saw a terrific movie, Transsiberian. I’m a sucker for a great train-ride terror movie, and this is a great one. Six days across the frozen tundra from China through Siberia, and Woody Harrelson and his lady unwittingly get caught up in a drug-running mess that turns bloody. It’ll make you think and it’s nearly two hours long, but it’s well-written and directed and you won’t be able to predict the outcome an hour in…. If you’re at an event at see a catering truck for Chef of Soul Food, do yourself a favor and eat. Good BBQ sandwich and greens on the side. We went to the Superbike races last weekend at Road Atlanta, and these folks had their truck there. Good stuff…. Terrific new series on FX, Sons of Anarchy. And even if it didn’t involve motorcycles, I’d say that. Looks like it’ll be must-see viewing, based on last night’s gripping premiere episode. FX needs another series, since the void will be huge when The Shield final season ends. The premiere episode with warring Vic and Shane and the rest this week was as sublime as ever.
“DON’T GO TO NIGHTCLUBS ANYMORE” by Van Morrison
Don’t get around much anymore
The smoke has driven me out the door
All night I used to walk the floor
Don’t go to nightclubs anymore
Don’t see my old friend Mose
I don’t run into Mr. Clive
I cut out all that off the wall jive
I don’t go to nightclubs no more
I’m not a legend in my own mind
Don’t need juice to unwind
And don’t have no need to pretend
Ain’t got no huckleberry friend
Alcohol was too big a price
Listen I just said no dice
When it comes to the men and the mice
Don’t go to nightclubs anymore
I’m not a legend in my own mind
Don’t need booze to unwind
Don’t have no reason to pretend
Ain’t got no huckleberry friend
Alcohol was too big a price
That why I said hey no dice
When it comes to men or mice
Don’t go to nightclubs no more
Don’t go to nightclubs no more
Don’t go to nightclubs no more
Don’t go to nightclubs no more, I’m such a bore
Don’t go to nightclubs no more
