Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Heartbreaker in DC, Old Friend Hired
Sep 2, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez (33) watches the action from the dugout in the second inning of their game against the Miami Marlins at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Worst Braves team in quarter-century could lose (gulp) 100
One hundred losses. Has a nasty ring to it, doesn’t it?
A 100-loss season is the measure of truly awful performance by a major league team.
I never imagined last winter that it would be possible for these Braves. I didn’t even think a 90-loss season was a realistic possibility. Even after they traded Justin Upton, Jason Heyward and Evan Gattis.
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That’s remarkably bad, and afterward, Gonzalez’s mounting frustrations, which he had kept private previously, boiled over in his postgame session with reporters.
Asked if perhaps the on-the-job training, aka thrown into the fire, that these young pitchers are getting might be overwhelming some of them, Gonzalez replied: “You know what? They better get used to it. It’s one of those things, there’s no more help. If we feel that they’re our guys and we want them to be our guys, then they’ve got to get over it. They’ve got to go out there and get the big outs, get the big innings, have the big outings. Sooner or later we’ve got to do that. We’ve got to keep running them out there, and they’ll figure it out sooner or later.”
Then he continued, regarding the recent atrocious pitching by the Braves.
“The stuff that we’ve been seeing, it’s really unacceptable,” Gonzalez said. “Guys are professional. Major leaguers. Some of these guys have a lot of years playing in the minor leagues. And for them to get hit around like that, it’s not really acceptable. And you go back and look at the tape – and we will in the morning – it’s a lot of 1-2 pitches over the plate, 0-2, ahead in the count, just not very good pitches. And I know for sure that a lot of the pitching coaches and managers that they’ve gone through in the minor leagues (have taught them a better two-strike approach than that). It’s not good. It hurts. Especially, there’s a way to lose, and today wasn’t one of those days. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”
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[ Ed. note: much more from O’Brien at those links above. Meanwhile, about that ‘tomorrow’: the team seemed to play with improved resolve last night in response, but the end was the same. That’s why it was the ‘heartbreaker’. As bad as the 15-1 loss was, this 5-2 defeat was someone worse, and it’s really going to take a serious rally of resolve to to recover from this one.
Oh, by the way: it’s Shelby Miller on the mound again. Recent history suggests something like another 4-2 loss… unless they can somehow muster a few runs for him. ]
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