At his locker Thursday morning, Braves reliever Jonny Venters said he wasn’t sure if he had slept at all the night before over the disappointment of the Braves’ collapse in the wild-card race. Not that he would admit to anything more than that, but consensus from the outside looking in is that he wasn’t just tired from a sleepless night.
Venters finished the season with 85 appearances to lead all major league relievers. His 88 innings were tied for second most among National League relievers. Seven relievers in the majors appeared in 78 or more games, and he, closer Craig Kimbrel (79) and Eric O’Flaherty (78) were three of them.
For much of the September collapse, Venters and Kimbrel had the look of relievers on fumes, not by velocity but by a lack of command and uncharacteristic results. Both Venters and Kimbrel loaded the bases in Wednesday’s night’s loss to the Phillies, and Kimbrel gave up the tying run in a blown save in the ninth.
In the first five months, Venters and Kimbrel combined to go 9-3 with a 1.46 ERA and a .163 opponents’ batting average, while blowing only seven saves and allowing two home runs. In September, they combined to go 1-2 with a 4.94 ERA and a .253 opponents’ batting average, while blowing five saves and allowing three home runs.
With the season over, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez has started to play the what-if game himself.
“If we don’t use those guys, I don’t know if we’re [at] 89 wins, in the situation we were last night,” Gonzalez said Thursday morning. “I will tell you honestly there were probably a couple games in April and May, maybe we shouldn’t have used them. But coming off the All-Star break, I thought we did a hell of a job not using those guys and keeping them fresh.”
Wednesday’s loss was the Braves’ 26th extra-inning game of the season. The bullpen had to cover an additional 54 innings.
Jones committed to 2012
After the Braves’ season ended with a five-game skid and no postseason berth, Chipper Jones reiterated his intention of returning for the 2012 season.
“I’ve committed to playing next year,” he said. “I won’t commit past that; let’s put it that way. [But] I’m looking forward to it.”
Jones, 39, came back from season-ending knee surgery in August 2010 to hit .275 with 33 doubles, 18 homers and 70 RBIs in 126 games in 2011, despite being slowed much of the season by knee and leg injuries. He spent three weeks on the disabled list after arthroscopic knee surgery in July.
Jones, who turns 40 on April 24, has one season left on a three-year, $42 million contract extension.
Medlen’s moment
One of the few Braves who could take encouragement from Wednesday’s loss was Kris Medlen. The right-hander was called on to pitch with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning and the season on the line, in only his second outing back from 13 months out rehabbing from elbow ligament-transplant surgery.
Medlen needed only three pitches to get out of the inning and 13 more to work a scoreless 10th. He allowed only one hit in 2 2/3 innings since his return.
“To come in in a humongous spot and do well gives me a bunch of confidence, which is what I needed,” said Medlen, who could return in 2012 as a starter or a reliever.
McCann’s September
Brian McCann set out this season to be strong in September after a late-season fade a year ago by losing weight and changing his offseason routine. As it turned out, he still faded.
McCann hit only .200 (17-for-85) in September, a career-low, while striking out a career-high once every 3.86 at-bats for the month. He expected his body to be worn down by the daily grind of catching, but that was compounded this season by an oblique injury.
McCann took only two weeks off in early August after the injury and hit only .180 (24-for-133) with six home runs and 16 RBIs in 37 games after his return.
When asked if he thinks he came back too early, McCann said: “I don’t know. You could always sit back and [second-guess]. I know I’ve learned a lot this year as far as, this in the first time I went on the DL. ... I just didn’t get it done. It was just a bad month of baseball for me. I feel terrible about that.”
Eye on Jurrjens, Hanson
Gonzalez told Jair Jurrjens to go ahead with his scheduled start in instructional league Thursday night. Gonzalez wanted him to get in his five innings of work in his knee brace, and continue to build confidence in his right knee. Jurrjens has been out since Aug. 30 with a bone bruise.
“He’s really worked really hard to improve that strength in his quad and that brace,” Gonzalez said. “I said, ‘It’ll be a good test to see how you hold up.’”
Tommy Hanson, meanwhile, might be supplying the Braves a little more concern after his shoulder injury kept him out the final two months of the season. Hanson won’t throw again until December, as he continues to rehab his shoulder for an undersurface rotator cuff tear.
Etc.
With a crowd of 45,350 at Turner Field in their final game of the season, the Braves finished with an attendance of 2,372,940. That’s the Braves’ lowest season attendance since 2004. The Braves had only 79 home dates because of two rainouts, but their average attendance of 30,037 was still second-lowest since 2004, behind a 29,304 average in 2009. ... O’Flaherty finished the season with an 0.98 ERA, the lowest season ERA by a reliever with at least 75 games since 1900.
Staff writer David O’Brien contributed to this article.
