There’s a famous scene in the movie “Bull Durham” when the team is mired in some hellish losing streak and one of the players turns to Crash Davis and says, “We need a night off just to stop our losing streak. We need a rainout.”
So Crash tells the guys, “I can get us a rainout,” and, late that night, a few of them snuck into the stadium, turned on the sprinklers and flooded the field. Instant next-day “rainout.” The next thing you see are four players laughing and sliding around the muddy infield. I’m pretty sure the Bulls started a winning streak after that, but I can’t remember because now I keep thinking of Annie Savoy. Wait, where was I?
You’re probably wondering what this has to do with the Braves. They didn’t have a rainout Friday night, but it looked that way for a while. Hellacious thunderstorms drenched Turner Field in the late afternoon and, with the team on an eight-game losing streak, Gerald Laird, Chris Johnson and Ryan Doumit attempted to mess with the mojo a little. They emerged from the dugout under darkened skies and ran onto the field to do belly slides on the infield tarp for several minutes.
“Hey, a little rain, a little lightning, a little tarp sliding before a big series,” Laird said later, smiling. “Maybe it’s what we need. Have a little fun. Relax a little.”
When a team has its worst road trip in 65 years, there’s really no bad idea to end a slump. But there actually was a kernel of truth to Laird’s comments. This team needs to relax, and the question is whether it’s equipped to accomplish that.
“Too much stress,” Johnson said.
Maybe this released a little. The Braves hit three homers and scored six runs in the first two innings and led Washington 7-0 after five. Then they seemed determine to go from belly slides to belly flop, but they held on for a win. An actual win. Final: Braves 7, Nationals 6.
So ends an eight-game losing streak. “Like an eternity,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
The Braves also trimmed Washington’s lead to 3½ games in the National League East. They’re 8-3 against the Nationals and 51-53 against everybody else. Don’t try to make sense of it.
Keep the celebration short. This team’s ability to go on a run and play into October may largely depend on their ability to grow up quickly. It’s young and is woefully short of veteran leadership.
As Johnson said immediately following his pregame slides in the rain, “There are a lot of us who’ve never been through something like this. I don’t think there’s many guys, if any, who’ve gone on a road trip and not won a game. But we have to figure this out and get out of this thing.”
Natural attrition, the free agent defections of Tim Hudson and Brian McCann last winter and the retirement of Chipper Jones two years ago left the Braves as one of the youngest teams in baseball. The long-time franchise staples were all gone.
“You used to have guys who had been here eight or nine years,” Laird said. “It’s just different now.”
Every team goes through something like this but the hope is that new leaders will emerge. That hasn’t happened, and so it largely has been left to Laird (a backup catcher) and pitcher Aaron Harang.
Many within the organization have hoped first baseman Freddie Freeman and right fielder Jason Heyward would grow into leadership roles. At this point you have to wonder if it’s realistic for Heyward to become a team leader because the Braves haven’t committed to him long term. Freeman was signed to an eight-year extension, but he remains a relatively quiet, even if likable, guy.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez said he has spoken to Freeman in the past about become more of a leader. But leadership isn’t something that can be forced. It either comes naturally to somebody or it doesn’t.
Laird is doing his best to be that guy. But it’s difficult for somebody who’s not an everyday player
“I’m just trying to keep things loose,” he said.
There have been too many white-knuckle at-bats by the Braves in key situations. They’ve been one of the league’s lowest-scoring teams and entered Friday hitting .246 with runners in scoring position and .209 with a runner on third.
They didn’t let that happen Friday, hitting four home runs, two-run homers by Justin Upton (first inning), B.J. Upton (second) and Freeman (second) and a solo shot by rookie Tommy La Stella (career first in the fifth). The Nationals rallied with four runs off Ervin Santana in the sixth, and if he wasn’t done after that, a one-hour, 11-minute rain delay ensured his exit.
When Anthony Varvaro allowed two runs in the seventh, shrinking the lead to 7-6, this game had the makings of sending the season up in flames. But Jordan Walden and Craig Kimbrel recorded the next seven outs. The Braves won their first game since July 28.
At this point, they’re not going to be picky. And if the pregame tarp slides had anything to do with the result, they might want to consider turning on the sprinklers and making this a nightly ritual.
