Everything is Wrong and That’s Okay
I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve been at bars with my back to the game for the last two nights. And let me tell you, I’m probably a lot happier for it. I looked up last night just long enough to see Will Ohman walk in the first of two runs. I was far too ensconced in my beer and trivia to catch Huddy in his first non-magical start of the season tonight. Tomorrow night, we have to rely on Smoltz to leave Miami with a single win. A couple days ago, we could have said, “At least we’re not the Tigers,” but even they have started to turn things around.
What’s so incredibly frustrating about our 5-9 record is how much we’re underachieving. This team is as good as any team the Braves have fielded in the last 18 years and going into the season there wasn’t really any component of the team that was worrisome. Our starting rotation was to include four 20-game winners and a vaunted rookie, with enviable depth waiting in Richmond. Our lineup is a threat from 1-8 (and, hey, even some of our pitchers can wield the lumber). Some of the best gloves in baseball man our defense. Our bullpen was to be anchored by Moylan and Soriano, both proven, and backed by some arms who are undoubtably talented.
Yet, there has been hardly any good news to report this year.
Certainly, the injuries have taken a toll, but they don’t explain everything. I’ve read a lot of comments that say we aren’t playing with heart and that’s why we can’t find a way to win the close games. But how many of the close games have been situations where we battled back from 4, 5, or 6 runs down to even be able to end it close? That doesn’t seem like playing without heart to me. The party line from the team is that things just aren’t falling our way, but we have had more than our fair of opportunities squandered.
So whats’ wrong? Well, it’s all of that stuff and more.
What’s the good news then? Beyond that Hudson only sucked tonight because he sucked tonight not due to a season ending injury and that Glavine won’t be DLed so the old farts can stick together a little longer?
Scan back up to that second paragraph. How much of that is still true? This is still an incredibly talented team. We may end up needing another arm to bolster the pen, but this is by no means a .357 team. A team stocked with this much talent cannot keep up a swoon like this for 162 games. I know these have faith posts may ring a little hollow, but you don’t have to look to far back into the Braves history to find some teams that started off slow and finished with a bang. We just have to find that spark.
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