Notwithstanding the injuries, the strikeouts, the batting averages, the stranded base runners and a lineup in such flux that Jason Heyward (6-foot-5, 240 pounds, .223 batting average pregame) was knighted Saturday as the new leadoff hitter, the Braves can at least fall back on this anomaly:
“Our whole team hasn’t clicked yet, but we have an eight and a half, nine-game lead,” general manager Frank Wren said.
It has been that kind of a season.
“A weird season. A weird division,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
Yes. When a team goes 3-4 on a trip and returns home with a first-place lead two games fatter than before departure, it is living a charmed existence.
The Braves’ latest effort was another day of mixed signals. For the second consecutive game against the St. Louis Cardinals, baseball’s best team, the Braves got tremendous pitching and defense and won 2-0 at Turner Field.
They show no signs of blowing this lead in the East, if for no other reason than the fact that Washington and Philadelphia show no signs of chasing them.
The uncertainty remains: What does this mean for October? The trade deadline is Wednesday. Many are watching to see what, if anything, Wren does, especially in the wake of losing starter Tim Hudson on Wednesday after losing two of the bullpen’s most valuable pieces (Eric O’Flaherty and Jonny Venters) earlier.
Maybe he acquires pitching help. But, “I don’t feel desperate at all,” he said, nor should he. Because even with the loss of Hudson, pitching is not this team’s problem.
On Friday, Mike Minor allowed one run and four hits in seven innings. On Saturday, Julio Teheran allowed no runs and two hits in seven innings. The Braves allowed St. Louis one run in two games, the first time this season the Cardinals have been held to that output in consecutive games. The Braves’ staff ERA of 3.33 ranks among the league’s best.
So let’s drop this panic about pitching for a moment, especially given what it would cost the Braves to land somebody significant in a thin market. (Gonzalez: “We would get taken to the cleaners.”) The issue all season has been hitting, and that hasn’t changed.
Don’t believe me, ask Wren — and he’s the one who locked the Braves into this all-or-nothing lineup with some big contracts.
“Losing (Hudson) was a devastating blow, but I still think we can get the job done, assuming we get (Brandon) Beachy and (Paul) Maholm back,” he said. “The one thing we have not done consistently well all year is perform offensively. But there’s over two months left for that to click. Just based on the guys’ past history, I think they will.”
The Braves outhit the Cardinals 9-2 on Saturday, but they were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. Justin Upton (.249) came up with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh and, on the first pitch, grounded into a double play.
It was a scoreless game until a two-out, two-run double by Andrelton Simmons (who was dropped to eighth in the order).
“I know I’ve been struggling with runners in scoring position this year,” Simmons said, and almost anybody in the clubhouse could’ve uttered those words. “It’s nice to see results.
“It doesn’t matter who gets it done as long as it gets done. Of course, I’m happy it was me today, but we have to do a better job as a team at hitting with runners in scoring position.”
Wren has waited all season for this offense to get some traction. The Braves began the day ranked among the sub-species in most significant categories (save home runs) in the National League: ninth in average, 10th in hits, 13th in doubles, 15th in strikeouts, 12th in stolen bases, 10th in runners left on base, 14th in shutouts.
But it’s difficult to bench guys with big contracts. If there ever was a chance that Uggla was going to be sat, that ended when Ramiro Pena was lost for the season with a torn labrum. B.J. Upton has a $72.25 million contract. That doesn’t mix well with a .177 average (and a strained adductor muscle). Jordan Schafer, Upton’s backup and the team’s only true leadoff hitter, also is on the disabled list.
Heyward hit leadoff for only the third time in his career.
“Just tinkering. I haven’t tinkered in a while,” Gonzalez said before the game.
Heyward went 0-for-3, and his average fell to .220.
Chances are if Wren makes a deal, it will be for a pitcher. But it’s a market short on players and heavy on buyers. Think of a fish being thrown into a piranha tank.
“You probably have 20 teams looking for what amounts to a small handful of guys,” he said.
In the end, the roster you see likely will be the one that has to get it done.
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