Braves Fading Fast
By raykelsey
Javier Vazquez pitched another gem saturday afternoon. He threw 7 and 1/3 innings, giving up but a single run.
He lost, of course, because this is the Atlanta Braves, after all. But let’s focus on the positive.
Uh…I guess I already did that. Okay, the negatives, then. Are you comfortable?
The Braves have scored one run in two games. Chipper Jones is hitting .179 for the past 2 weeks and isn’t driving the ball with any authority. Nate McClouth is hurt. Yunel Escobar is hurt. Jeff Francoeur is still in right field.
The Braves have looked so agonizingly overmatched during long stretches of interleague play this week, one has to assume it to be a hypothetical glimpse of what would happen if they did win the division and somehow, miraculously, managed to make it to the World Series. But enough science fiction/comedy. The truth is, their offense is turgid. I often find myself wondering if Terry Pendleton has a tenure clause in his contract that allows him to continue being the hitting coach with impunity. His job performance is akin to an air traffic controller who, on his watch, has had 15 mid air collisions in two years. As a player, he was a gamer, but having tools does not mean you necessarily know how to share them. For example, Jeff Francoeur saw 8 pitches in 3 akward at bats against Tim Wakefield today, a lack of selectivity that has been very much the rule and not the exception since his first game in a Braves uniform. Perhaps this is a silly question, but…why? I suspect Bobby Cox is also deserving of some blame for the Braves’ ineptitude the past few seasons. Lest we forget, the Braves now own the record most consecutive one run losses, EVER. That’s an embarrassment. And that certainly falls, if not squarely at the feet of the manager, somewhere near his bed side slippers. Somehow, even with the same 2008 roster and bullpen, I simply can’t imagine Lou Pinella or Joe Torre suffering the same ignominious distinction.
Ultimately, the players have to be fingered, of course. You can be of average ability, but you can’t be average and sloppy. Kelly Johnson can eek out a living in this league being a .250 hitter, but he can’t go hitless for a week and botch text book run downs and double plays. There simply aren’t enough weapons in the Braves’ arsenal to compensate for mental errors; there are too many weeds in the garden. And those rank and file Braves who at times seem to flirt with all-star caliber talent, never quite blossom. Chipper said it best when he cited the futility of pinning all their hopes of winning games on he and McCann. Let’s hope that next year, when some fresh faces fly into Atlanta to replace some tired, familiar ones, T.P. isn’t directing traffic.
And Bobby is in his slippers.