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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Pitching will be Braves’ downfall
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
No question, it’s been a nice little run for the Braves in July. Guided by the sparks from Chipper Jones’ suddenly blazing Louisville Slugger, they’ve left the darkness of their 6-21 June to slug their way back into the light of the living. They’ve done so in nearly unprecedented ways.
Thus the Braves’ problem: This won’t continue.
This can’t continue. As a result, the Braves won’t take the National League wild card, not with as many as eight other teams in contention, including the six that were ahead of them entering Wednesday’s action. They also won’t take a division title for a 15th consecutive season, not with a slew of pitching issues that haven’t melted from the summer sun or their sizzling bats. What really is thwarting any chance of a Braves comeback in the NL East is that the New York Mets finally have it right both physically and mentally.
I mean, it’s not like this is 1993 or something. For one, that was a fluke, when the Braves did the ridiculous by roaring from 10 games behind the San Francisco Giants on July 22 to finish with 104 victories to the Giants’ 103 for a division title. There were no wild cards back then. You won the division, or you were out, and those Braves had enough of everything to make losing not an option.
For another, those Braves were just better than these Braves.
We’re talking much better.
“In 1993, we had a lot of answers, and we just needed to play better. Whereas this team, if you really look at them, they have a lot of questions,” said David Justice, the Braves’ last true leader, who joined Fred McGriff and Ron Gant back then to give those Braves a trio with 100 or more RBIs. Justice spoke over the phone from New York, where he now is a television announcer for Yankees games. This is his fourth year in retirement after 14 seasons in the major leagues that included prolific stints with the Cleveland Indians, Oakland A’s and New York Yankees.
Even so, Justice’s opening eight years with the Braves always will sit the deepest inside his heart. “You know, people say that they couldn’t have imagined the Braves going to the playoffs this many times, but, yeah, I could have. And I also could have imagined me on every one of those teams doing it,” said Justice, still shocked by the Braves’ foolish trade of Marquis Grissom and himself after the 1996 season. “Maybe I was being naive, but with all of that talent we had, I thought they’d keep that team together and that we’d all play at least 10 years together.”
Now those Braves, who in 1995 provided the only world championship during this run, have evolved into these Braves, with Justice adding, “They’ve had, what, three or four closers already this year? Tim Hudson has been up and down, so they really have just one starter (John Smoltz) that you can guarantee a win. We knew we had the personnel to overcome in the second half and play unbelievable baseball. We had a bullpen that was steady, and we had a pitching staff that was solid.”
Uh, yes. In addition to Cy Maddux, Cy Glavine and Cy Smoltz, those Braves had Steve Avery, all winners of 15 or more games. Mike Stanton also was the closer for an adequate bullpen, which is in contrast to whatever these Braves have now among relievers. Despite the bullpen’s recent surge toward decency, it remains a string of disasters waiting to happen.
Worse, the Braves likely can’t fix their bullpen mess this season. With 21 of baseball’s 30 teams still having at least a medium shot at a playoff berth, and with many of those teams joining the Braves in a search for relief help in an already weak market, well, this isn’t good news for the choppers and the chanters.
You also have the ugliness that is Hudson, supposedly the ace of the Braves’ worst group of starters since their bad old days of the 1980s. He has been allowing about two field goals per game, but he has been lucky that his teammates have been scoring more than a touchdown per game.
Somewhere it is written that man cannot live by offense alone. Sooner than later, when the Braves’ hitters become Clark Kents again, the Braves’ pitchers will be exposed as Lois Lanes again. And the Braves will start sinking faster than a speeding bullet in the standings again.
Permalink | Comments (106) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Pity the Auburn professor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Professor James Gundlach?
Professor Jan Kemp?
They are kindred souls. While Kemp exposed the University of Georgia during the 1980s as a fraud when it came to the “student-athlete,� Gundlach is doing the same at Auburn University.
Not only that: when Kemp began discussing the academic truth about Georgia and athletics, she was called a kook (among other things) by Bulldog supporters.
Word already is circulating around Auburn that Gundlach squealed because he was angry that he didn’t get to head his sociology department.
That means the name-calling and the blatant lies directed at Gundlach by the Tiger Nation are just beginning.
Permalink | Comments (41) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
