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Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Braves left to look to next season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The Falcons are in training camp. College football teams are in camp. Even Maurice Clarett will soon be in camp, just as soon as Marion, Sing Sing and Attica complete their draft.
Maybe it’s time for the Braves to join the crowd. (Not Clarett’s crowd. He had something in his car the Braves’ bullpen has lacked all season: weapons.) Let’s just consider the rest of the season extended spring training. Hopeless, useless, fruitless thoughts that this team might be headed for a postseason should have ended Wednesday.
Assuming they didn’t end the week before.
Or in June.
Or back when John Schuerholz woke up in the middle of the night and thought, “Eureka! Oscar Villarreal!”
It’s practice time, folks. Extended spring training. Tryouts for next year. Same full ticket price.
On Wednesday, you could have gone to a day game, stretched out in one of several predominantly vacant sections, bought a $7 hotdog, sweated in a breeze-less, 127 degrees at Turner Field for six innings, then watched the bullpen turn a 3-1 lead into a 9-3 loss. Philadelphia scored eight runs in the seventh on six hits, four walks and an error off three relievers and two cyanide tablets.
Three times, manager Bobby Cox made the Verizon call to the bullpen.
Next season, in the interest of saving time, Cox will send the Verizon text message to the bullpen.
Eight runs in an inning?
“Who gives up eight runs in an inning?” Cox said. “Nobody.”
I’m not sure. But I think he just called the Braves nobodies.
The season’s not over. Yeah. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.
Reality: It’s tryout time. Chuck James did his part to earn a look for next season. He threw 46 pitches in the first two innings and somehow didn’t collapse. He shut out the Phillies for five innings, and left after allowing only a solo homer through six with a 3-1 lead.
“I missed a lot of it,” James said later of the bullpen’s meltdown. “I was in the training room getting my arm iced.”
Lucky him.
The Braves finally get consecutive solid starts (after Tim Hudson’s rise from the rotation’s pallet of death the night before) and blow it. James struck out six. He didn’t walk anybody. Afterward, he uttered the obligatory playoff comments, but he acknowledged the rest of the season is about something else.
“Obviously I would love to win the wild card and all that,” he said. “But I’m just trying to make a good impression now so I have a job next year.
“A lot of the guys look at it that way. We’re battling for jobs, especially the young guys. We don’t have a guaranteed spot. I don’t know if just about anybody does.”
The Braves are now 23-30 at home (10-22 since June). The only guarantee that should come with is: price reduction.
Hello, I’m Tyler Yates — welcome to Shoney’s. Yates faced five batters. One got a hit. Three didn’t have to — they walked. That led to one run and Yates’ exit.
Out walked Cox, who unfortunately again was mandated by baseball rules that he pick somebody from his own bullpen.
Hello, I’m Macay McBride — paper or plastic? McBride quickly took the mystery out of things. He allowed a bases-clearing double to Chase Utley, making it 5-3. A fielder’s choice, a single and another run later, Cox summoned Chad Paronto, I think after Bobby Dews said he just didn’t feel up to it.
Hello, I’m Chad Paronto — are you gonna finish those fries? Paronto faced five batters. Three singled (one by a guy, Chris Roberson, who was pinch-hitting for the pitcher’s spot for the second time in the inning. That’s never a good sign.) Another walk, then an error when third baseman Willy Aybar failed to glove a routine grounder. (First thought: Betemit would’ve had it). Three more runs led to another change.
Wayne Franklin replaced Paronto. He struck out Shane Victorino with the bases loaded. He will be with the Yankees next season.
Sunday is another “Faith Day” at the stadium. OK. The Braves might just want to play out the schedule at the Western Wall.
When asked what he thought of the bullpen’s meltdown, James said: “Everybody’s had their bad days. I’ve definitely had a few.” Everybody has had a few this season. It’s time to start trying out for the next one.
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