Within a 162-game baseball season there are good performances and bad performances, individual hot streaks and slumps, winning streaks and team-wide lulls.
The Braves are undeniably in the midst of the latter right now. Having lost 11 of their past 16, they now trail Philadelphia in the National League East by 2-1/2 games.
Manager Brian Snitker, not appearing panicked or fazed, said he is eager to see that flip.
“Like I say, you’ve just got to play today and keep it going,” Snitker said. “You keep grinding, and at any point in time you look back and say ‘Wow that’s where that seven, eight, nine game winning streak started. That’s where it turned.”
Where does that confidence come from?
“Well, we’ve done it before,” Snitker said, without hesitation. “We’ve been through really good spots this year, and we’re capable of it. We’re a talented group.”
There have been stretches this season in which the Braves have looked like one of the better teams in the National League. They won five of their first seven games of the season. In late-May into early June, they won seven out of eight. In mid-June, they won seven of nine.
This, though, appears to be the worst prolonged stretch of the season. Certainly there’s a chance that turns around in the weeks and months to come. Snitker seems to think so.
“Hopefully we can get on — we need to go on a roll,” Snitker said. “We need to go on an extended period.”
But with the trade deadline just days away, and the schedule offering little solace in the near future, the line between staying afloat and legitimate contention continues to drift toward the former. Thursday night’s loss kicked off a stretch of 32 games in 32 days, with the lone off day coming Aug. 6, the day before the Braves play a doubleheader in Washington.
That, of course, is merely a by-product of the gauntlet of any baseball schedule. Snitker said it could even be a positive for the slumping team, a chance to catch fire and ride that wave.
But as for what he can do to spur that change, Snitker acknowledged that challenge. He can’t go out there and throw or hit. He isn’t the one manning the phones, sifting for external help. There is no magic switch he can flip.
“Move them around, give them some time off, keep encouraging them, be there with them,” Snitker said. “It’s hard. It’s part of the grind, that’s part of what you deal with here. It’s a tough part of the schedule, but we’re going to have to survive it.”
