It’s time to change the lineup again.
It’s time to fire the manager again.
It’s time to wonder if an Applebee’s, a LaQuinta Inn and a store with overpriced Braves plush toys had been built across the street, thereby dissuading the Braves from holding secret meetings in a Cobb County broom closet, would Dan Uggla or B.J. Upton really be that much better.
After seven straight losses, the Braves welcomed Gavin Floyd to this season like they have every other pitcher on the team: with a thank you and a few too many whiffs.
Floyd, making his first start in a year after Tommy John surgery, allowed only a run and six hits in seven innings but he left tied 1-1. The Braves didn’t waste the effort, though. They scored in the eighth on an RBI single by Chris Johnson and won 2-1, temporarily derailing the early-season panic train.
“Maybe this one will get us going,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
“You can’t worry about winning streaks and losing streaks when you’re out there as a pitcher,” Floyd said. “It’s about today. You have to have a short memory.”
In that sense, the Braves are rolling.
It’s only the first week of May. The Braves are in first place by a half-game over Washington. But we reside in the emotionally scarred world of Atlanta sports, so it’s never too early to scream, whine, mock, freak or panic.
Unless you’re Gonzalez.
“The water always rises to its level. I’ve got to be the rock on this team. I can’t be the roller coaster,” he said.
Be thankful: The baseball gods will not downgrade the Braves for metaphor mixing.
Offense, that’s another story.
The calendar suggests it’s too early to panic. But if you expect a good healthy dose of disgust over the next four or five months, you would be justified.
This isn’t about the Braves’ record or the recent losing streak. It’s about their problems: They haven’t changed for over a year. Dan Uggla. B.J. Upton. Jason Heyward’s hiccups. Justin Upton’s dramatic swings from hot to cold. Too many strikeouts. Too few hits with runners in scoring position.
Second verse. Same as the first.
Heyward was the surprise solution as a leadoff hitter last season. This season hasn’t been the same success story (.216), and we can’t attribute a slump to an appendectomy or a beanball to the face.
Some believe B.J. Upton looks better now. We call that lowering the bar. He doubled Tuesday night but also struck out twice and is 8-for-36 (.222) in the past 10 games, well below $75 million standards.
Uggla seemed to fix some problems in the spring and began the season promising enough. But after a 0-for-4, two-strikeout night, he had three hits in his past 35 at-bats (.086), hadn’t homered in 16 games and fans were screaming for heavier doses of Ramiro Pena.
Johnson: a mere earthling again, not the player who almost won a batting title last season. But at least he singled twice and came through in the clutch after seeing his average drop to .236.
Justin Upton: He homered in the fourth inning. That came after a four-strikeout night Monday and a 1-for-16, 11-strikeout stretch. He hit .326 April. Strap yourselves in. He was this same thrill ride a year ago.
Time isn’t the Braves’ problem. Flaws are the Braves’ problem. Aberrations occur over a day, a week, even two weeks. Aberrations don’t carry from one season to the next. It’s a lineup of mostly streaky hitters with holes in their swing. That isn’t changing.
Johnson said the players aren’t listening to the noise.
“We know what we have here, what we’re trying to do and we’re still very capable of achieving our goals for the season,” he said.
The losing streak was like kindling and matches for Gonzalez’s critics. But this is the roster he was given. He has changed the lineup, changed the batting order. The pitcher now bats in the eight spot. He knew B.J. Upton wasn’t going anywhere with a $75 million contract, so he tried to jump-start him by batting him second. He knew Uggla also was here because of his contract, but he doesn’t appear to be overly confident about Pena in a full-time role. Hence, no full-time change. Yet.
Johnson again: “I never get any of those things: Fire the manager. Fire the GM. We’re the players. We’re the ones on the field. We’re the ones winning and losing, making errors or not making errors. There’s only so much a manager can do.”
The Braves won 96 games last season. But ultimately they weren’t good enough to win in the postseason. This has the potential to be the same story, even if the pitching holds up.
They’re not as bad as a seven-game losing streak would suggest, but neither are they as good as a 17-7 start might’ve suggested.
Gonzalez is taking daggers. He says he gets advice “from the time I get to the coffee shop in the morning to the time I get to the stadium, from the security guard.” The latest attacks from the masses came over his decision to sit Pena after he homered and doubled in Monday’s loss.
“Sometimes, your bench players are bench players for a reason,” he said. “Fans don’t understand that. I was watching something on the ‘Nasty Boys’ (Detroit Pistons). Vinnie Johnson comes in and scores 15 points and everybody asks, ‘Why is he not starting?’ Because Chuck Daly knew how to handle that player. As coaches, we never get credit. (People ask), ‘How come you’re sitting Pena?’ Match-ups and the right number of games. You have to put them in a position where you know he’ll be successful.”
Little has been working. But the problems aren’t new, so there’s little reason to believe they’re going away with the same cast.
