Moving to a new location
AJC blogs are moving to a new technical platform. So check out Terence Moore’s new blog home and bookmark it.
Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > August > 18
Monday, August 18, 2008
Braves don’t lose hustle despite losing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Braves haven’t stopped losing, but you know what? They also haven’t stopped hustling. “No, they haven’t,” said Tom Glavine, the disabled pitcher of yore, referring to the struggling youngsters and veterans throughout the home clubhouse on Monday at Turner Field. Then Glavine added, “To be honest with you, they should be playing hard.”
That’s true. As second baseman Kelly Johnson put it, with his Braves sinking further into oblivion after Monday’s 5-0 loss to the pitiful San Francisco Giants, “We’ve got a young team, and when you’re a player in this situation, you’re trying to establish your career. You’re motivated by what could be. On top of that, it’s just out of respect for your teammates, your manager, your coaches, fans and yourself.”
Yeah, but it’s like this: Sometimes, with 162 baseball games stretching forever, the hustling vanishes. The Philadelphia Phillies are winning, and it happened to them, when reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins was benched for failing to sprint to first base on a dropped pop fly. The Tampa Bay Rays are winning, and it happened to them. The gifted B.J. Upton was benched for loafing on a double-play grounder.
The Boston Red Sox are winning, and you know it happened to them. They shipped the insufferable Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers after they realized Manny being Manny was synonymous with Manny playing them for fools in the field, on the bases and at the plate.
Such issues haven’t happened to the otherwise imploding Braves, owners of one winning month this season. They’ve had other issues, though. After left fielder Omar Infante caught a line drive on Monday in the first inning, he trotted toward the Braves’ dugout. It was the second out of the inning, not the third, which is why the Giants’ Dave Roberts tagged up from third base and scored without a throw.
Infante’s gaffe was more a lack of focus than of effort. “We have meetings about [giving your best], because the last two years before this, we didn’t get knocked off until the last week or 10 days before it got bleak,” said Braves manager Bobby Cox, referring to the 2006 and 2007 seasons that followed the Braves’ record streak of 14 straight division titles. “Right now, it would take a miracle for us to get back in it. But you play for pride. You play for the fans. People pay good money to watch us, and you’ve got to give them a show.”
The ongoing show for the Braves is wretched. As a result, much less than the announced crowd of 18,113 came to Monday’s finale against the Giants, but that’s more folks than the Braves of the late 1980s often attracted at home during an entire week. Glavine remembers, because he was there, when the Braves were destined to lose 100 games before the first pitch of each of those seasons.
Any comparison between the Braves of then and now? “No, because with those teams, we were so bad that there was no light at the end of the tunnel,” Glavine said. “I think with this team, you look and go, ‘Oh, man.’ You get a couple of guys here and there healthy, and they’re back next year. And if you make a splash or two with a free agent or even a trade — I mean, this team has a chance of being right back in the thick of things next year.”
First, the Braves have to get through this year, and that’s the problem.
Permalink | Comments (43) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
