The Braves aren't bumbling anymore . They stopped booting the ball and, lo and behold, they've won four straight.
Maybe it’s that simple.
“We’re not giving away outs defensively,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “First week of the season we were pretty sloppy, making a lot of errors. We are cleaning that up the last few games and it’s starting to show.”
There was a lot of weirdness for the Braves during those first eight games on the road. They played in cold weather. They had two off days. Matt Kemp went to the disabled list when he was the only regular producing much.
Now the Braves are home, playing in their new ballpark in a pleasant climate, and they are winning. Maybe that’s the difference.
“I don’t know,” manager Brian Snitker said. “I just keep thinking, ‘We’re home.’ We are off the road, got a little routine going. The road trip wasn’t good but we hurt ourselves. We are playing better baseball now.”
Related Mike Checks
Thankfully the Braves are playing better baseball, but are they a good baseball team? Obviously there's still not enough data to say for sure. And just as those strange circumstances during the first eight days made it foolhardy to write off the Braves, it's silly to ignore the one big caveat to their newfound success.
The Padres are awful.
Jhoulys Chacin—remember him?—is their No. 1 starter. Trevor Cahill—remember him?—is their No. 3. Catcher Christian Bethancourt--remember him?—has made three appearances as a relief pitcher. Erick Aybar--remember him?--is the regular shortstop. Wil Myers is the only player in their lineup that I’d for sure want on my roster (maybe I’d take Yangervis Solarte).
The Braves are beating up on a bad team. That’s no small thing because, if the Braves can’t dominate the Padres, it would be more evidence that they also are a bad team. (Though the Giants, a pretty good team, somehow lost a home series to the Padres.)
But will the Braves look as good when the competition stiffens again, starting on Tuesday when the Nationals come to town?
Ender Inciarte’s power surge is unsustainable, and he’s still not getting on base much otherwise. It’s a good sign that the team’s on-base percentage is a respectable .324, anyway (though it was .310 pre-Padres). But OBP figures to be a weakness for this team and, of the top OBP guys now, only Freeman and Nick Markakis have the history to suggest they can keep it going.
Among the starting pitchers, Julio Teheran has been great, R.A. Dickey has been steady and the others have been up-and-down. The bullpen seems to have stabilized but I always believe the Braves will figure it out because they usually do. The pitching (or the lineup) certainly isn’t good enough to overcome shaky defense.
In any event, Braves backers at the Cobb County palace haven’t had to watch bad baseball, at least not from their team.
“Everybody is having a lot of fun, especially the fans,” Inciarte said. “They come to see us win.”
Maybe it’s better for them to just enjoy the current ride rather than wonder if it will last.
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