Despite a 2-6 road trip, including sweeps by the Phillies and Cardinals, the Braves didn't come home Monday to a closed-door team meeting.
Their lead in the wild card was down to 4 ½ games with 15 to play entering Monday's series-opener with the Marlins, but Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez thought a meeting would have sent the wrong message. He's held one closed-door meeting this year, after the Braves lost a Sunday night game in New York June 5 to drop a second straight series.
“We were playing bad,” Gonzalez said. “We’re playing pretty good baseball. I know the outcome is not what we wanted. We wanted to be 6-2, not 2-6, but these guys are giving you everything they have. ... To sit there and have a closed door meeting, no, I’m not there yet.”
Gonzalez privately has spoken to a half-dozen players, both veteran and young players, including Brian McCann, one of the team leaders. Veteran players have talked amongst themselves as well, and they're not sugarcoating things.
"We know that if we keep losing, we're not going to make the playoffs, plain and simple," Eric Hinske said. "There's a sense of urgency."
But Hinske doesn’t think the Braves are pressing either.
“We’ve got 15 games left, we’re 4 ½ games up; would you have taken that April 1?” Hinske said. “So what’s there to panic about? We ran into two good teams. Tough road trip, just a little bump in the road.”
Long odds for Jurrjens
Jair Jurrjens is trying to stay positive as he attempts a comeback from a bone bruise in his right knee. Yet with a little more than two weeks left in the regular season, the odds are long and he knows it.
Jurrjens has played catch while wearing a special-fitted brace for the past four days and working on strengthening his right quadriceps muscle. He's got no immediate timetable to start throwing off a mound, unlike Tommy Hanson, who threw a bullpen session Sunday and plans another Wednesday.
If all goes well, Hanson is headed to the instructional league to get in some rehab work against hitters and make one start before the regular season ends. For Jurrjens, that window is narrowing. When asked about his chances to get back this season, he hung his head.
“I’m trying to stay positive and take it day by day and work on it,” Jurrjens said. “It’s something you need to check on reality, too. Are you really going to be able to come and help this team out? Every athlete is going to say yes. I can say, ‘Yes, I will come and pitch again.’ But to be a guy who is going to help? I don’t know yet. That’s the thing I’m doubtful.”
Jurrjens received a matching bone bruise diagnosis from knee specialist Dr. Richard Steadman on Sept. 4. Jurrjens said he plans to return to Steadman once the season is over and see if there are other treatment options.
Jurrjens said a platelet-rich plasma injection was an option, but would have been risky because he wouldn’t be able to feel pain to know when to back down. At 25, he’s worried about the long-term consequences.
That also leaves him frustrated in the short-term, facing the possibility that he might miss his second consecutive postseason because of his right knee.
“It’s frustrating and sometimes it’s really hard to be around the guys right now,” Jurrjens said. “But I just need to accept it and deal with it, and try to make the best of it.”
Gonzalez returns
Shortstop Alex Gonzalez returned to the lineup Monday after missing three games with a sore muscle in his lower back. Gonzalez first felt a problem fielding groundballs while warming up in Philadelphia, and had his back tighten up on him in the second game of the Braves doubleheader in New York. It's no longer an issue.
“I feel ready to go,” Gonzalez said.
