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Tuesday, October 4, 2005
No grace despite miracle season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
To solidify what already is true, which is that Bobby Cox is peerless in baseball history among managers, the Braves must ignore everything, ranging from overwhelming youth to Pettitte, Clemens and Oswalt, and win. Their division series. The NLCS. Everything. It’s just that to accomplish such an unlikely but possible feat, they must conquer the Houston Astros and all of those ghosts with tomahawks across their chests.
Lonnie Smith rumbling, stumbling, bumbling. Charlie Leibrandt (Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield). That meltdown against the Phillies after surviving that showdown against the Giants. Jim Leyritz. Eric Gregg’s strike zone. Sterling (or was that Alfred?) Hitchcock. Any given hitting, pitching or fielding gaffe along the way to losing in the first round during four of the past five years.
“If we can just somehow go inside a bubble and not concern ourselves with the past, we’d be better off,” said pitcher John Smoltz, telling the truth about a subject that he knows well. He’s the only Braves player to have witnessed all of those horrors during a postseason streak that will extend to 14 today when the Braves meet the Astros at Turner Field. Yes, fourteen. You’d think that anybody during such a streak would stumble into at least a couple of world championships.
Instead, the Braves’ only ring in their run for the ages came 10 years ago. Not good, not for the venerable Cox, not with his Braves flipping, flopping and choking away chances to become something other than what they’ve been, and that is successors to the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s as the greatest underachievers ever.
So why was Chipper Jones shaking his head? “You know, I’ve said this all along, and that is, with the exception of 1996 [when the Braves collapsed against Leyritz and his Yankees], I think that at the time we got beat in the postseason, we got beat by a slightly better team at that particular time,” said Jones, joining Smoltz as Braves’ elder statesmen. “I mean, if we ever go into a postseason on a 15-game winning streak, I’ll feel a little differently, but that hasn’t happened since I’ve been here.”
It certainly didn’t happen this season, with the Braves slumping into October while the Astros are streaking like they did last season, when they became the fifth consecutive team to shove the Braves out of the playoffs with an elimination game at Turner Field.
The bullpen is a mess. The same goes for Andruw Jones’ batting stroke since his 50th home run. Plus, Smoltz’s shoulder is so tender that he went from the Braves’ postseason ace to a Game 2 starter on Thursday night.
If that isn’t enough, Cox must do the improbable during the postseason after he accomplished the impossible during the regular season. He won a 15th consecutive division title (if you include his last season with the Toronto Blue Jays) despite injuries to 3/5th of his starting pitchers, despite operating much of the season without an injured Chipper Jones and despite using 18 different rookies on his roster.
Speaking of rookies, Cox will use eight of them against the Astros, and nobody in recent or distant memory has tried to travel from this point to a world championship with that much youth.
Whatever. Although these Braves had nothing to do with the October failures of those other Braves, history couldn’t care less. History will recall what the Braves franchise did or didn’t do after a fourteenth consecutive trip to the postseason, and history won’t be kind if the Braves franchise doesn’t prosper.
“It’s either hero or goat,” Smoltz said with a chuckle. “It’s gone from our flying start in 1996 against the Yankees, when it was ‘Why play the rest of the World Series?’ to ‘I can’t believe they let us down again.’ With the miracle team that we had this year, and with all of the youth, if we had not of won the division, we would have been given more grace than any team in the history of sports. But the fact that we did win this year, there will be no grace.”
Nope. And, given that this is the Braves’ fourteenth consecutive trip to the playoffs, there shouldn’t be.
Permalink | Comments (35) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Franchise’s fate hinges on holdout
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
To think that after all the 3-on-1s coming back the other way, after all the sad power plays and blur of shell-shocked goalies with groin strains, there may be only one thing keeping the Thrashers from becoming a Stanley Cup contender:
Ilya Kovalchuk and Don Waddell, together on “Kiss Cam.”
The new Thrashers return to the new NHL tonight in Florida. Blink, and you might miss this franchise’s best opportunity to pound its inglorious history into the boards.
Kovalchuk will not be in uniform tonight. But this isn’t about one game. It’s about a season, and the possible irreparable harm being done.
As hockey returns, the Thrashers find themselves possibly ahead of the curve — after five years of being constantly plunked by curves. They have a potential young star in goalie Kari Lehtonen and a capable backup in Mike Dunham. So goaltending has gone from a punchline to a strength. The defense has been rebuilt with size and lacks a weak link.
But what potentially puts this team ahead of most is offensive depth. The Thrashers used to struggle to find even one first-line forward. Now, Waddell has added Marian Hossa, Bobby Holik and Peter Bondra to a roster that already included Marc Savard, Slava Kozlov — and Kovalchuk’s empty jersey.
This doesn’t mean the Thrashers will win every game. But it does mean they won’t be overmatched in any game. As coach Bob Hartley said, “This will be the year of goaltending and special teams.”
New rules and promised reinforcement of the old ones will mean more penalties and power plays. Who is better prepared than the Thrashers? Including Kovalchuk, the team’s top six forwards combined for 167 goals, including 64 on the power play, in the most recent NHL season (2003-04). An amusing comparison: In the Thrashers’ inaugural season, the entire team scored 170 goals, and only 44 with a man advantage.
OK. That’s the dream.
Here’s the reality: Kovalchuk remains unsigned. That means the Thrashers don’t stand out — they blend.
They’re another Holiday Inn in a neighborhood that is crying for a Ritz.
This is a unique time for the NHL in general and the Thrashers in particular. The league is trying to get back on radar. The team is trying to register a pulse among the Braves, Falcons, Bulldogs and Jackets.
The Thrashers will never have this opportunity again because the salary cap, particularly in the East, has weakened so many teams. Clubs have had to slash-and-burn rosters, altering the power structure.
There’s the opening. The Thrashers are set. They didn’t slash-and-burn — they got significantly better. Even Tampa Bay, the defending Stanley Cup champion, lost goalie Nikolai Khabibulin in free agency. But by next season, some clubs that took hits this year will have adjusted and might be on the upswing again. It’s not like the Thrashers can’t be good next season, but they won’t have the same advantage going in. So why squeeze nickels now?
The two sides are about $6.5 million apart over a five-year deal (offer: $28 million-plus; request: just under $35 million). Compromise should not be insurmountable.
This has been a typical Waddell negotiation. He starts at one figure and after an extended period of talks, threats and ultimatums, he agrees to raise his offer — by $1.37 and two T-shirts. He has kept the team’s payroll low.
Problem is, Waddell is dealing with Kovalchuk, not Steve Staios or Andrew Brunette. You don’t deal with an elite player that same way you dealt with expansion year pickups.
Kovalchuk is a franchise player. He tied for the league lead in goals in his third season, and he’ll probably score more than anybody else over the life of his next contract. He may not deserve to average $7 million a season, but he is worth more than Hossa’s $6 million average.
He already has missed training camp, affecting his conditioning. He has yet to practice with new teammates, affecting team chemistry. An opportunity is being wasted, and the season opens tonight.
Welcome to the new NHL. It’s Day 1 and the Thrashers blend.
Permalink | Comments (20) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Thrashers / NHL
14 division titles don’t = dominance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
A week ago, they celebrated. A day from now, they start over again. Do the math. The time for basking in another division title is over.
I know. There is a tendency in this town to get caught up in, “But look at what they’ve accomplished.” Every spring has brought an increasing number of “huh’s?” (This year: corner outfielders Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan.) If this October brings another fizzle, it would be easy to get lost in the implausibility of the previous division title all over again.
“Oh, Andruw. He’s all grown up and an MVP.”
“Oh, the rookies. They’re so fun to watch, and they’ll be even better next season!”
“When Chipper stays healthy next year ?”
“When Dan Kolb is working at Wendy’s next year ?”
But it’s not enough.
What the Braves have accomplished since 1991 defies all logic, probability, economics, luck and even physics (that whole what goes up must come down thing). Professional sports leagues are not set up to win 14 straight division titles. Even if they were, chances are that some scout or general manager eventually would botch enough decisions or a manager or coach would be tuned out by players, thereby leading to a sudden loss in cabin pressure and elevation. Before you know it, you’re the Mets.
That hasn’t happened here. The Braves keep winning, and for that, all of the appropriate parties should be enshrined, particularly Bobby Cox and John Schuerholz.
Did I mention it’s not enough?
Fourteen division titles and one World Series.
Question: If you could trade three of those division titles for a second World Series, would you do it?
How about seven division titles for two championships?
People have talked about this Braves’ run of “dominance.” Funny word, that dominance. When you were growing up and you claimed to be the fastest kid around, were you counting the whole country, the neighborhood, the block or just the two fat kids standing in front of you?
The Yankees. The Lakers. The Celtics. The Canadiens. The Patriots. The 49ers. The Steelers. These teams won’t be remembered for division titles. They will be remembered for championships and for doing something no other teams in their leagues did that season — ending with a win.
Only once have the Braves ended the season with a win. If the Yankees, Lakers, Celtics, Canadiens, Patriots, 49ers and Steelers won mostly divisions and only one league crown, nobody would recall them as dominant. What people would say is, “They didn’t do too well in the playoffs.”
The Braves won it all in 1995. The following season, they blew a 2-0 Series lead coming back home from New York. (The Yankees beat, in order, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux.) They had a 3-2 Series lead going back to Minnesota in 1991. They won over 100 games each season in 1997, 1998 and 1999 but lost NL pennants to Florida and San Diego, and another Series to the Yankees in 1999.
The past five postseasons have resulted in one divisional series win. In all five years, and seven of the past eight, they have watched opponents celebrate on their home field.
October hasn’t been a reward. It has been a stop sign.
Maybe this year will be different. The playoff rotation is a force again (although Smoltz’s sore shoulder is ominous). The top of the batting order is solid. The rookies show little sign of freezing.
At this point, you latch onto any potential positive. This week, it’s revenge. (I know: It’s so high school. But go with it.) Houston, this year’s divisional opponent, beat up the Braves in the NLDS last season, scoring a record 36 runs in five games.
“Anything that can help us get motivated is good enough for me,” second baseman Marcus Giles said the other day. “If it’s about revenge, then that’s what it might take.”
The Astros don’t have Carlos Beltran or Jeff Kent. But they do have a starting rotation with Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt, which apparently is enough for ESPN’s panel of “experts” (nine out of 10 picked Houston to win the series).
It’s fashionable to pick against the Braves in April.
It’s logical to pick against them in October.
They start over again Wednesday. Do the math — 14 division titles, one World Series. It’s time to be more than kings of the block.
Permalink | Comments (50) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Jeff Schultz
