AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > April > 10 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USPitching staff digs itself out of first-week hole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Spring being the hot time for baseball books — La Russa’s last year, steroids this year — we can only imagine the publishing proposals the season’s first week have generated. Working titles surely include: “From Haughty To Has-Been: How I Let My Pitching Coach Leave Without Even A Counteroffer And Now My Whole Operation Is Circling The Drain,” by John Schuerholz, erstwhile genius.
“So Who’s Overbearing And Overrated Now?” by Leo Mazzone, the aforementioned pitching coach. And finally: “Can I Have A Second Shot At That First Impression? Please?” by Roger McDowell, harried successor.
The Braves opened the home half of their six-month regular season Monday night bearing the most incongruous number the sport has seen since Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs. The team that has pitched better than any other over the past 15 seasons arrived at Turner Field with the worst ERA — pause for effect — in all of baseball.
And this wasn’t a case of one bad inning fluffing up an otherwise attractive number. This was a case of a week’s worth of bad innings. Braves pitchers yielded 109 baserunners in the first seven games. No starter posted a win on the West Coast. The bullpen nearly blew the road trip’s first game and did blow the last.
In sum, it wasn’t the week the man who replaced the game’s most renowned pitching coach had planned as an opening statement. To his credit, McDowell reported to work Monday saying he’d given his status no thought whatsoever. “It’s not something I concern myself with. I’m concerned with, from the standpoint of this pitching staff, getting the starters to pitch deep into games.”
McDowell wants what Mazzone wanted, what every pitching coach since the beginning of time has wanted — starters eating innings, starters giving their team a chance to win. Again to his credit, McDowell looked on his pitchers’ California crash for what it was. “An unfortunate start,” he said. “Things go in cycles, and we’re struggling a little bit from a staff standpoint in making some pitches. … It could have been worse than 3-4.”
Well, yeah. The Braves scored enough runs in Week 1 to win seven games in most any other week, and their offensive largess prevented a halting start from becoming an utter wipeout. But now for the good news: That was one week, merely the first of 26. Said McDowell, almost smiling: “I have an understanding about the length of a season.”
Already he reports heartening signs. “[John] Smoltz going seven innings Sunday was a huge positive. Kyle Davies going five innings [Friday] was a huge positive. Tim Hudson threw two bad pitches and got behind, but somewhere down the line those pitches will get popped up. … You have to like the track record of our starters.”
Monday marked another advance. John Thomson, who wasn’t in the rotation until Horacio Ramirez hurt himself, worked five nearly scoreless, if not exactly tidy, innings. The bullpen wasted one two-run lead but held another. The staff ERA dropped from 7.58 to 6.85, which means the Braves are no longer the most pliant team in the bigs.
“Kind of like you’d script it out,” McDowell said afterward. “It doesn’t always work that way, but this was like …”
He searched for the words. He found them. “A normal baseball game,” he said.
More than anything, the standard-issue home opener offered no indication that Week 1 was anything but an ugly blip. And even though first impressions can be powerful, it should be noted that the new pitching coach didn’t form his opinion of this staff in one rainy week on the Left Coast. He formed his in spring training, and this is what he thought: “That everyone was where he needed to be. And I still think that.”
So spoke Roger McDowell, presumably including himself in that mix.
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Mark Bradley
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By taraqraqraq
April 11, 2006 12:45 AM | Link to this
You know Leo is smiling up there in Baltimore…
By Amber
April 11, 2006 01:04 AM | Link to this
Repeat after me… It’s only the first week. It’s only the first week….
By jdutton
April 11, 2006 06:08 AM | Link to this
You still think Leo was overrated, not. You still think its the system, not. It was Leo !!! The reason he was considered “gruff” was because he wanted to win. Some of these overpaid, pampered pitchers are going to learn a hard lesson. Winners do want losers aren’t willing to do. Leo isn’t laughing in Baltimore. He respects the Braves way too much to do that. In fact he got a 14 straight tattoo to prove it. The arrogant Braves let him go without ever making him an offer. Yes, its only a week, but with no disrespect to Roger, “he’s no Leo.”
By Give me a break
April 11, 2006 07:50 AM | Link to this
..and on topic, the only pitcher I am truely concerned about is Hudson. He has not consistently shown the form mentioned in his AL press clippings.
By T Robb
April 11, 2006 09:17 AM | Link to this
Give Me A Break, that’s exactly right. Hudson’s been very mediocre since he got here. At some point, he needs to show why he got that big deal. At the time he signed for 4 years, $47m, everyone agreed it was another case of JS getting a premium player to sign for under market. That’s looking like bad money right now.
I kind of hope he’s pitching through an injury, because he’s very, very hittable. Lousy command, then he grooves a fastball and guys are crushing them.
Against lefthanders, he’s got no answer. He seems afraid to throw the splitter, which would neutralize them - keeps throwing the sinker, which backs up over the hitting zone more often than not.
Since he’s been a Brave, Hudson has been no better than an average #3 starter.
By CK
April 11, 2006 09:24 AM | Link to this
Interesting to say the least… The Braves enter the second week of the season with the worst ERA in baseball and now they are 3-4. This is actually good news. What it shows is that the much maligned offense is picking up the slack.
Once the pitchers get comfortable (and they will) this team has the potential to be very very good. Francour is going to rebound and Renteria has been absolutely everything the Barvos hoped for when they signed him. Giles is more than adequate at leadoff.
Get ready Atlanta, we are in for a wild ride this summer with an explosive offensive team (Finally) and our pitching may not lead the league in ERA but it will be more than adequate. Keep your eyes on the aussie phenom the Braves just brought up. He has an arm like a rocket and could very well be closing games soon at a ballpark near you.
By BO
April 11, 2006 11:16 AM | Link to this
Great job Mark. The Braves will be OK. But Manger Borne needs to get a job and get a life. I will pray you get over your hate. Try doing something good for someone an see if that helps.
By Joe Roman
April 11, 2006 12:09 PM | Link to this
I live in Baltimore. Leo ain’t “smiling”. His pitching staff stinks too. He got his first good outing last night-against mighty Tampa Bay. The Braves could be 8-0, and the whiners would still be on their case.
By Alan
April 11, 2006 01:49 PM | Link to this
T Robb is 100% correct. Tim Hudson is THE problem, and it has nothing to do with Leo or Roger. Except for a mere handful of games (most notably Game 4 of last year’s NLDS), Hudson has been a disappointment. He’s being paid like an ace and he’s pitching like a back-end-of-rotation slug. Sorry, but that’s the truth. I’m anxiously awaiting his next start - what he and Smoltz do absolutely sets the tone for the rest of the rotation. And for the Braves.
By ghs
April 11, 2006 01:52 PM | Link to this
Leo Mazzone absence has nothing to do with the Braves pitching woes right now. Come talk to me in September and tell me how great Leo was/is again. The Braves are well on their way to number 15.
One last question, if Leo was the almighty genius many people thought he was, why did the Braves often find it necessary to send pitchers to work with Bill Fisher at Richmond?
I give Leo credit for doing a good job, but the Braves success has been much more than a pitching coach.
By Peerless' Mama.
April 11, 2006 03:05 PM | Link to this
MY BOY HAS A JOB!!!!!!
[http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/0411price.html?imw=Y]
By Peerless' Mama.
April 11, 2006 03:08 PM | Link to this
Lets try this again:
MY BOY HAS A JOB AND IS GETTING PAID!!!!!!
Find the story in the AJC, or CUT AND PASTE THIS TO SEE:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/0411price.html?imw=Y
I am SO proud of him.
Peerless’ Mama
By Miles
April 11, 2006 05:09 PM | Link to this
CK,
Moylan = Sosa
the guy has a rocket arm but no command. He’s so far been all over the place in AAA and I cant for the life of me understand why he was called up over Lerew. My only guess is that the Braves are determined to have Lerew be a starting pitcher. He’s got much better stuff than Chuck James with his high velocity and has very little left to prove at Richmond. Oh well, just pray that “wild thing” Moylan doesnt called to pitch out of the pen in anything more than mop up duty.
By Bill
April 11, 2006 11:49 PM | Link to this
Largess? Mr. Bradley, if you’re going to use the big words, I think you need a better dictionary, a better editor, or both. The word is L-A-R-G-E-S-S-E. No wonder the print media is dying!
By Scrips
April 12, 2006 09:55 AM | Link to this
largess also largesse
1. Liberality in bestowing gifts, especially in a lofty or condescending manner. 2. Money or gifts bestowed. 3. Generosity of spirit or attitude.
From Dictionary.com
By braves fan
April 12, 2006 03:31 PM | Link to this
Last time I checked, Leo Mazzone never pitched an inning for the Braves in the last 15 years. And the last time I checked, Tim Hudson, John Smoltz, Horacio Ramirez, Jorge Sosa and Kyle Davies didn’t make their major league debuts any time after Leo left for Baltimore. So someone is going to have to explain to me how they can possibly blame the first 7 games of poor starting pitching on either Leo’s departure or Roger McDowell’s arrival???? It’s a flukey thing. None of these guys forgot how to pitch because Leo’s rocking in an organge uniform instead of the red and navy. That’s just ridiculous. A west coast road trip (which if you’ll recall the one last year to SoCal was brutal to the Braves too), that was cold and rainy and sh*tty (there’s no nice way to put it) field conditions tell me that it was an aberration. Especially since one game back in the Ted was the best starting performance of the year. They’ll be just fine.
Am I the only one who thinks the league is trying to help the Braves division streak end? Check out the scheduling. Why do the Braves have to start the season out west, meanwhile the rest of the NL East were at home or still in the eastern time zone? I think that’s crap. Why can’t all teams start the season within their division and thereby be in their own time zone at least? I’m probably as tired as some of the players, since I tried to watch all the games last week. Bud Selig stinks.
By Penn
April 12, 2006 07:12 PM | Link to this
Francoeur has a looooong way to go to reach major league status. His hitting since last August is horrid. It is not a recent happening.
David O’Brien wrote in another blog:
{{{In 45 games since Aug. 21, Francoeur has hit .193 with four homers, 17 RBIs, a .247 OBP, .560 OPS and 42 strikeouts in 166 at-bats, with five errors.}}}
Those are not major league numbers. The boy needs another year or two of minor league seasoning (and learning how to hit) and he’s not going to get it in a Braves uniform.
Hudson, Ramirez and Sosa have all looked atrocious. Will they get better? All but Hudson are doubtful. Davies will be a winner and so will a couple of the other kids. Over the season the Braves will be fine but not with about five or six of the current roster members.
Scheurholz is going to have to pull some triggers and within the next 30-45 days. It will happen; he always comes through.
One good thing, McCann looks like the real deal.