The Braves’ loss Friday night to the Red Sox was their third in four games to start a highly anticipated road trip. And it said plenty about how much better the team has played this season that a relatively mild recent slump has caused so much consternation in Braves Country.
Losing five out of nine games through Friday and seeing what had been the most potent offense in the National League suddenly struggle to score runs has plenty of people concerned about whether the Braves – still in first place entering the weekend – can continue being contenders. (Or, among skeptics, if they can just avoid a total collapse.)
Welcome back to the world of raised expectations, Braves. Reasonable or otherwise.
“Yeah, everybody expects it now,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said before Saturday afternoon’s game against the Red Sox. “Now you set that bar like that and you have a little rough spot and everybody’s, like, ‘What’s the matter? Why are you (struggling)?’
“I remember the year we won the wild card we lost 13 in a row at one point. I remember talking to David Ross, I was like, David, you have to handle this situation because if you don’t, you start pointing fingers and not being accountable. I said, when you handle the bad spots, on the back end there’s usually something pretty good. But you’ve got to get through it.”
Snitker has had a similar message for the current team and probably would have one for worried fans.
“You don’t know how long it’s going to take or what day it’s going to be,” Snitker said of snapping out of a funk. “But if you think you’re going to go through six months with everything be all peaches and cream, it ain’t going to happen.
“You know, too, you look at this stretch, and it ain’t like we were every facing any slouches.”
Indeed, the Braves have faced particularly tough pitchers lately and will have more in the coming week, including Red Sox ace Chris Sale on Sunday, the likes of Mets aces Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom in a series that starts Monday and Stephen Strasburg in a series against the Nationals that begins Thursday (good news: the Braves will miss Max Scherzer, who’s next start is Wednesday).
And in the midst of facing an unusual number of top-shelf pitchers, the Braves ran into a buzzsaw in Boston that is the powerhouse Red Sox lineup operating at peak form. The Braves gave up a season-high four homers in Friday’s 6-2 series-opening loss, two off Julio Teheran and two off Matt Wisler.
“It’s a deep lineup, for sure,” Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said. “And kind of bad timing playing them, I would say, because it seems like a number of them are pretty hot right now. ... Mistake (pitches) are going to be taken advantage of, they’re going to be the highlights of the game at the end of the day. If you can limit that number (of mistakes) and take advantage of them when you’re on the offensive side, you’ve got a good chance to win.”
Flowers was asked if a slump is magnified now because the Braves, after three consecutive 90-loss seasons, are suddenly relevant again -- 29-20 entering Saturday -- and had been the highest-scoring offense in the NL until a couple of shutouts last week.
“Public perception? Yeah, I’d say so,” he said. “You’re a little more in the sights of everyone, you know?”
But Flowers said that in the clubhouse, players just want to do what they can to help the team win, that a slump or winning surge doesn’t change that. And he believes this Braves team has the right mix of players and personalities and the character to withstand rough stretches and continue to compete and keep their goals in focus.
“Over a stretch of time, whether your wins and losses look great or not great, everyone wants to do their best, get hits, get RBIs, all those good things, get guys over in situations, all that,” he said. “Any time that doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the best team or the worst team, each individual takes that personally and puts that on themself, and ultimately that’s what makes a good team, is that each individual is accountable for their own at-bats in situations and getting jobs done whenever they’re called upon.
“I think everyone’s aware of it right now, myself included. I’ve had a number of opportunities in the past week where I haven’t been able to get the job done, so that just kind of pushes you to continue to work and prepare as much as you can. ...
“And then you also rely on, seemingly outside of this little episode, the fact it’s a different guy all the time like, coming up with the big hit and stuff like that. So while you do put emphasis on yourself, you know that everyone else is doing the same, and it’ll be a different guy every night that can step up in those situations when called upon.
“Freddie (Freeman) doesn’t have to do everything. Nick (Markakis) doesn’t have to do everything. Over the long haul that’s what’s made us a good team and will make us a good team at the end of the year.”
