It seems the Marlins are the only team in the NL East over .500 right now. Though I don't think the Mets and Phillies are stumbling over themselves quite as badly as the Braves are. It really is pathetic when you can't get even one guy in from 2nd and 3rd with no outs. If this continues over the course of the season who will be held accountable? Are we going to have to sit back and watch our Braves become a perennial 3rd or 4th place team? I really don't know who is to blame for this. Has Bobby lost it?
I've only watched a few games sporadically but from what I've seen I don't like our lineup. Johnson and Escobar are decent. But neither provide much speed at the top of the order. And I don't think either get on base as often as you'd like. Chipper is great but misses a series because of a hangnail. McCann is great but has this problem with his eyes that hopefully gets sorted out. Kotchman and Anderson are solid veteran hitters but don't give you much power. Francouer might be having a bounch back year but I'm not sure he will ever hit for a high average again. At best I think we have the 2nd best lineup in the division. We will probably score a decent amount of runs. But I'm not confident we will score enough to make up for the bullpen.
Our lineup is the main problem. I've almost given up on this season already. I think if this continues we should bring up Heyward and Freeman. McCann's struggles are also killing us at this point. It amazes me the identity of team can remain so similar even with a change of season. This years Braves are similar to last's in so many ways. Little power, no stolen base threats, bad bullpen, bad with RISP, and downright HORRIBLE offensively from the 7th inning on. I bet if you were to take the runs scored vs. runs against from the 7th on starting at the beginning of last season until now we are severely outnumbered.
Baseball Reference is awesome. I found some stats that somewhat support my claim. This season, from Innings 7-9, we have been outscored 29-12. We have a .199 average during those inning while our opponents are hitting .286. Last season we were only outscored in those innings by 13 runs, but we were outscored by over 40 runs in innings 1-3, which is no surprise given our horrible starting pitching. Given the fact we've played the majority of our games against Washington, who has a one of the poorest Pen's in the league, these numbers are frightening. Imagine when we start to play teams with good relievers, like the Mets and Phillies.
Me too. I'm to the point of wondering how things get back on track in Atlanta. The GM seemed so zeroed in on starting pitching all offseason, now here we are with perfectly fine starting pitching and a bad bullpen and a lineup that can't score.
The pitching was brilliant tonight, led by Jurrjens. Of course, our offense couldn't do anything and needed a bases loaded walk by Kelly in the 9th to take a 1-0 lead and hold on. Off to Cincinnati. Friday: Vazquez vs. Volquez. Saturday: Lowe vs. Arroyo. Sunday: Kawakami vs. Owings.
well the Braves aren't getting many style points, but another good outing from the starters, and the Marlins are falling back to earth, so maybe i can hold off on my "wait til next year" rant for awhile after all.
"If you win tonight thats 2 in a row, if you win tomorrow, thats 3 in a row. That's called a win streak, it has happened before." -- Lou, Major League 2
Despite everything the Braves are in second place and just three games back. They'll have to pick it up but the season is a LONG way from being lost. It's frustrating to endure a slump so early in the season. Who knows, maybe it's a sign of good things since usually they have been starting well and fading around June/July. If they can hang around and play their best baseball in August and September then you really never know.
how good is it to have a backup catcher who can actually hit his weight, for once? having McCann is such an advantage over most teams catchers. but Ross as a backup has proven his value already, IMHO.
Diaz with a seeing eye single in the bottom of the 8th then Mike Gonzalez laying the smack down in the 9th. not often that somebody makes Pujols freeze like that on a called strike three! good win, but the bats need to wake the heck up already!
They need McCann back in the worst way. They still seem to be leaving a lot of guys on base when they were great at getting them across the first week of the season, even with two outs. Granted I haven't watched a lot of the games but I don't think I've seen a good AB out of Schafer since then either. He was up with the bases loaded yesterday and allowed the pitcher an easy three pitch strikeout. He seemed absolutely unaware of the fact that all the pressure should be on the pitcher in that situation. Two of the pitches he swung at were balls.
Braves still struggling a little bit at 11-13. They have a big week within the division now with the Mets at home for 2, then on the road against the Marlins for 2, and the Phillies for 3. It's time to wake up and play some complete baseball.
i would have thought that, but after reading this article, and seeing something negative in the Brave's MLB beat writer Mark Bowman's blog awhile back, i am starting to believe he is just collecting a paycheck. the Braves offered Anderson the chance to see some pitching in Gwinnette to try to get his swing back before reactivating him, and he refused. said he doesn't think he needs it. his .200 average in 49 plate appearances says otherwise. http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/...t_id=4539082&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl i am pretty close to writing him off already.
I really thought they had a pretty good shot at a win yesterday evening in the 3rd when I changed the channel to watch House. Looks like they found a way to blow it after all. The Mets had not previously overcome a deficit of 3 runs or more all season.
Glavine is claiming all is well.......Hanson gets the shaft and remains in minors..... What the F is wrong with "One inning of Hell" Vazquez....its always the same thing from him.
What's wrong with the entire team. Outside of Chipper and maybe Francoer none of them have been overly productive or dependable. Another helpless AB by Schafer yesterday with the bases loaded. Nobody out this time so all he had to do was actually make contact with the ball. He was pitched the same way as before and basically did the exact same thing. He let a pitcher who wasn't hitting the strike zone make him look bad. Vasquez got the runs across instead of him, how embarrassing.
It's always something. Either they're not hitting, or they are hitting and the pitching is ****ting the bed. Mostly the former. We should have won that game last night. Three 2-run homers by the Mets off Vazquez is unacceptable. Hopefully Kawakami can pitch well tonight and we can get some runs off Livan Hernandez and split this series.
the Braves not playing good fundamental ball at all... way too many base running errors.Reyes failed to get down a bunt with runners on first and second, and let two pitches down the pipe go by in doing so, which resulted in an immediate DP two days ago.
It's ironic that as much **** as Gregor Blanco took from alot of fans he's a much better hitter than Jordan Schafer right now. The strikeout totals on that kid are gonna be Adam Dunn-esque if he keeps it up (without the 40 HR's Dunn puts up in doing so)
He looks lost. Completely. I think Kawakami pitches tonight and I'd much rather see him batting with RISP at this point then Schafer. His last couple of ABs with RISP have been that bad. If you can throw a belt-high fastball on the inside of the plate you can strike him out. Easily.
Speaking of Kawakami, that cat is gonna have to learn to pitch inside. He's away, away, away with everything and the hitters are making adjustments.
He got extremely lucky in the top of the 2nd. It looked like the batter chased ball 4 with the bases loaded and got him the pop out to centerfield. They just revealed that Schafer hasn't been able to drive in any of the 33 RISP he's had on. Poor kid. All his RBIs this season have been from the opening series at Philly. At least he made contact this time though.
Losing streak snapped with an 8 run outburst over the first 3 innings. Of course, that inning was also the last time we got a hit the rest of the game. But a win is a win and I'll take it. The bullpen looked brilliant and hopefully the bats can stay alive for tomorrow with Jurrjens on the hill. God knows he could use some run support. He's been outstanding this season and gets no help from the offense.
yea i will take it versus the Marlins right now... this series and the upcoming Phillies series are very important. even Garrett Anderson got in on the action a little tonite. as for Schafer, yeah that kid is struggling big time. hope they can get him squared away.
Schafer needs a day off, badly. He has no clue up at the plate right now. 99.0% of guys who make it to the big leagues are there because they can hit a fastball. Schafer can't.
He may need a trip to Gwinnett though I'm not sure who would take his place. He was hitting so well in spring training. It's been a huge dropoff. Hard to believe. Give him a break before he gets shellshocked beyond the point of saving.
He's dead weight right now. Even Gregor Blanco is an improvement. I agree, he needs to be sent down before his confidence is completely shot, John Beck style.
Speaking of Schafer he is 1 for 2 so far with no K's. A step in the right direction at least. Ross is the best backup catcher they've had in who knows how long. What a great pickup that guy has turned out to be.
i agree wholeheartedly... was surprised when i posted about him a few days ago and no one responded. dude is money. but then again Atlanta's whole bench (position players) is pretty solid. good win vs the Marlins again today! beating them when Hanley Ramirez strokes two long balls is always good thing. Gonzalez shut them down again for the save. they said during the telecast that after their shaky start, the Braves bullpen has a 1.61 ERA recently, but i cannot remember over how many games that is exactly, b/c my toddler was very excitedly telling me about her latest potty adventure.
Please let last night be the last time I see JoJo Reyes pitching for Atlanta. I mean how many losses does it take to see the guy just doesn't have it at the major league level? Tommy Hanson anyone?
Nice win today. Vazquez had a solid outing. Don't be surprised if McCann is in the cleanup spot next game. Hes had 5 hits in his last 2 games and had a Homer today. Whatever problems he was having with his eye appear to be gone.
Man, I didn't know they had a day game today. I hate missing a win over the Phillies. I still don't want to see any more JoJo Reyes. I think he's had more than his fair shot to be a successful starter at this level.
Another win. Kawakami was solid and Kotchman is on an absolute tear. Chipper left the game with a sore elbow... BTW, Bobby brought Gonzo in the 8th to face Howard, Ibanez and Stairs. I love that move.
