With the nasty schedule now from now on underway, the Braves have started it by doing what they have to do: winning.
There’s a daunting task sitting in front of the Atlanta Braves, and Fred already outlined their challenge for us.
There’s still a lot of people thinking that the Braves are flying not just ‘under the radar’, but even under anything worth mentioning.
How so? On the MLB Network last night, Joe Giaradi chimed in during an end-of-segment teaser by mentioning that the Nationals are still ‘undefeated in August’.
Really, Joe?
Meanwhile, the Braves have now won 4 in a row to push back to the brink of the lead in the NL East, beating the Mets 4-2 in Queens.
It probably should be first place period, except for the fact that the Phillies are playing the Marlins, and … well, the Fish allowed a 4-spot in the 9th to blow their chance to win, leaving Atlanta a half-game behind.
Hey – mama always said there would be days like that.
Happily, the Braves are taking care of business: as a rule, you want to beat up on the “also rans”, and then try to at least gain splits with the contenders. After a bit of a skid, that’s now happening again.
Next week begins such a stretch with the latter: 4 against the Nationals and 4 against Milwaukee. Until then, 3 more vs. the hapless Mets require their attention… starting with tomorrow’s game against Jacob deGrom.
Deadline House Cleaning
Speaking of those Nationals…
The trade deadline didn’t exactly see a lot of action in Washington, and what did happen was – at the very least – intriguing.
- Reliever Shawn Kelley was DFA’d.
- Reliever Brandon Kintzler was dealt away to the Cubs.
That’s not exactly what you’d expect to see for a club that whose management supposedly “believes in” this team.
Kelley was dismissed for disrespecting his manager and his team after a bizarre display late during a 25-4 shellacking of the Mets.
There’s a persistent rumor that Kintzler was moved out because of clubhouse actions – specifically that he may have been the source of a leak to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan about a dysfuntional clubhouse.
This morning on the MLB Network Radio morning show, former Mets GM Steve Phillips recounted his experience way back during this past Spring in visiting the Nationals’ clubhouse.
He noted that of all the facilities that he and co-host Eduardo Perez toured as part of their Spring assignments (“7 or 8” of them), the Nats visit stood out due to a total lack of camraderie amongst the players… a completely unique situation.
The way he described the atmosphere sounded like there were 40-ish individual people in the room – strangers, even – all isolated to themselves (remember, this was Spring – a lot of extra players would have been around, which makes this report seem even more surreal).
Aside from their injuries during the season, that’s not a recipe for success. It’s not a recipe for a team, either.
Sure: that team (term used loosely) is still a sleeping giant. But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at their record thus far.
Wild Card Standings
More from Tomahawk Take
- Atlanta Braves 2023 Preseason Top 30 Prospects List: 1-5
- Braves News: Braves acquire Diaz, moves around the division, more
- Atlanta Braves 2012 Top Prospects Review: J.R. Graham
- Atlanta Braves Acquire Lewin Diaz from the Orioles
- Atlanta Braves 2023 Preseason Top 30 Prospects List: 6-10
With the Braves a half game out (I know – this isn’t the goal: winning the division IS the goal), here’s how the competition stacks up right now (note: this was written late on Thursday – some games were still in progress):
- Milwaukee (+2 games; losing to LAD 7-1)
- Braves / DBacks / Dodgers all tied. DBacks tied with SFG early
- Rockies (1.5 games back)
- Pirates / Cardinals (tied; 4 games back)
- Nats (4.5 GB)
- Giants (5 GB)
Of particular note, the Braves have every single one of these teams still on their schedule in August or September… or both.
You wonder why I mention ‘taking care of business?’ That’s why.