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Sunday, June 24, 2007
Braves have bigger problems than squabble
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The worst thing about this is it’s not even a he said/he said. What do you call this: He suggested/he perceived?
Whatever happened to the days when guys just threw punches?
Can’t this team even fight right?
“I think if anybody questioned whether or not someone is hurt, you’re questioning their heart, their integrity, their dignity,” Chipper Jones said Sunday. “Most people don’t react [well] to having their heart questioned.”
OK, I get it. Chipper got his feelings hurt because John said something he shouldn’t have (and for the record, I find it difficult to believe that EVERYBODY took certain remarks one way when Smoltz meant them another).
Chipper got mad. John got upset.
Back in the day, this kind of exchange often was followed by, “Oh yeah!?! Meet you after school! By the bike racks!”
Hey, here’s an idea guys: Win a game.
The Braves shifted into damage control Sunday. They’re not used to having even the most mild of squabbles play out publicly. The dugout and the clubhouse belong to Bobby Cox. Everything else belongs to John Schuerholz, who assured all of us: “We are a team full of humans. I’ve never signed an android.” (For the record, Dan Kolb was animal, vegetable or mineral.)
But the uniqueness of this situation — an open disagreement between two team leaders (for the sake of argument) — shouldn’t lead anybody to believe the clubhouse is being ripped apart at the seams.
If you want to play amateur psychologist and project that this venting somehow will turn into a great bonding agent for the Braves, have at it, Dr. Jung.
But a group hug by Cox, Smoltz and Chipper is not suddenly going to make sense of the Braves rotation or help Andruw Jones break .200 because, like, duh.
As far for fights, or arguments, or whatever, they happen all the time. (Jones: “We’re together eight months out of the year. You’re gonna have little riffs here and there. We’ve had our share.”) The Braves just do a better job than most keeping things quiet.
Other teams and managers have a different philosophy.
Some just don’t care.
Jim Leyland, the Detroit Tigers’ manager, is as beloved by his players as Cox. But he has operated around bonfires his entire career. In Pittsburgh, he managed Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and other assorted explosives. He has twice managed Gary Sheffield, whose interviews can be a daily stream of unconsciousness.
This whole concept of getting along — way overrated, Leyland said.
“I know that’s always been big with some people — clubhouse chemistry,” Leyland said. “That’s the most overblown thing in the world. It’s all bull. When I was in Pittsburgh, we had fights in the clubhouse. Did it matter? We still won three division titles. I’ve had teams that went out to dinner together and chapel together and they couldn’t win a freakin’ game.
“It’s big in the media, ‘Oh, he’s great in the clubhouse.’ Let me tell you something: I don’t give a [hoot] what he’s like in the clubhouse. I care what he’s like in the batter’s box, on the mound, or shortstop, or centerfield. People are different. Personalities are different. That’s OK.”
Leyland did not want to address the Braves’ situation. But he has been in similar situations. He never cared.
“Do I want my players talking about a teammate in the newspaper? I really don’t care if they do or not,” Leyland said. “But they’ve got to be held accountable — not by me, but by their teammate or somebody else. If some player wants to say, ‘Jim Leyland is a horse[bleep] manager, then say it. The next day I might say, ‘Maybe he’s right. But I think he’s a horse[bleep] player.’ I don’t have a problem with people speaking their mind.”
The Braves: Different story. Cox hates this (“It’s over. It’s all taken care of. Enough said.”). He orchestrated the meeting of the angry minds Sunday.
Smoltz spoke on briefly, calling it a “total misunderstanding.”
Jones, who homered Saturday and started again Sunday, says he’s playing now because he feels better, not because he perceived he was being called out.
Also this: “We’re both a little embarrassed that it got outside this clubhouse.”
Fact is, the Braves have several reasons to be embarrassed. But look on the field, look in the standings. This should be way down the list.
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