If there is one characteristic the surprising Braves have shown in abundance, it’s resiliency, being able to put a bad loss or disappointing series behind them and quickly get things back in gear.
To wit:
After blowing a huge lead and giving up nine runs in the eighth inning of the frozen debacle that was their April 14 loss at Wrigley Field, the Braves won three of their next four games, including a home-series win against the Phillies.
After losing the first two games against the lowly Reds at Cincinnati on April 23-24, the Braves won seven of the final eight games on a 10-game, three-city road trip, including a sweep of the Mets to overtake them for first place in the National League East.
And after being swept and embarrassed in a three-game home series against the Giants last weekend, the Braves had bounced back to win the first three games of their current seven-game trip, holding the Rays to two runs in two games before pounding the Marlins, 9-2, in Thursday’s opener of a four-game series at Miami.
“That off day was huge after getting swept at home,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said, referring to Monday’s off day in Tampa, where a couple of team veterans organized a steak dinner. “We had a little team dinner when we got to Tampa; that was great. I think everybody just forgot about (being swept) and just go back out and play. Winning the one-run ballgame in Tampa (1-0 win Tuesday) with Ronald (Acuna) hitting the homer, the pitching staff’s been great…. Those are the games you’re going to have to win if you’re going to get to the playoffs. We’ve been able to bounce back when we’ve had our tough little stretches.”
Said veteran utility man Ryan Flaherty, in his first season with the Braves: “From what I’ve seen so far it seems like a team that shows up and expects to win every night. Obviously last week that didn’t happen three times (against the Giants), but pretty much so far, we expect to win. Obviously it’s baseball, it doesn’t always happen that way, but it’s been really fun so far.”
The Braves laid an egg in their three-game homestand against the Giants, who beat them soundly at SunTrust Park in front of huge crowds that totaled about 120,000 over three days. But instead of losing all the momentum the Braves had gained in winning seven of the last eight games on the trip leading to that brief homestand, the Braves just picked up where they left off when they went back out on the road.
“You’re going to have series like that,” Snitker said. “You just never know when it’s going to happen and you’re just going to have to fight through that and play for tomorrow. Because when you handle adversity, good things are on the other end of it. We didn’t really do anything great in that (Giants) series, and it won’t be the last time. But it’s nice to see we kind of rallied back and have played some pretty good ballgames so far on this road trip.”
The Braves were 22-14 overall and 14-7 on the road with an eight-game road winning streak entering Friday night’s game at Miami. The three-game sweep by the Giants last weekend is the longest skid of the season for the Braves, who’ve lost consecutive games only two other times.
“Resiliency. And confidence,” Snitker said. “I think a lot of it is confidence in their abilities and confidence in themselves.”
