Today, the Atlanta Braves stand at a mere 21-21; a .500 winning percentage. This may seem shocking to others that may have had the Braves doing better in a so-called "weak" division, but to me, it's perfectly normal.
The Braves have a pretty normal history of being a second-half team.
To improve on their record so far they need a couple of things to happen:
1. Chipper needs help.
Chipper Jones is leading the majors with a .419 batting average, by far the best start of his career so far. But he can't carry the Braves himself every day. He also leads the Braves in home runs (11), RBI (32), and runs (30). Other players like Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, and Mark Teixeira need to "chip" in.
2. You can't just win at home.
Yesterday, the Braves lost 5-4 to Oakland, snapping an eight-game winning streak at home. So far the Braves are 15-5 at home but are a mere 6-16 away from Turner Field, which just doesn't cut it.
If the Braves want to make some noise this year in the NL East, they need to win easy games against Washington or other weak NL teams.
3. Their pitching needs to come around.
Tim Hudson leads the Braves with six wins and newcomer Jair Jurrjens has the team lead in ERA at 2.82. These two pitchers are getting the job done, but Tom Glavine (1-1) and Jo-Jo Reyes (1-1) need to help the bullpen out by giving them something to work with.
Also the bullpen has been inefficient, aside from Manny Acosta doing a nice job filling the closer spot for Rafael Soriano, who is on the 15 day disabled list with tendinitis.
If the Braves can fix some of these problems, they will be fine. But look for a strong second half as the Braves start to get healthier and look to make a strong run at the division-leading Florida Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies.
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4 months ago
McCann has put up big numbers this season, just not quite what Chipper is doing - Teixiera and Francouer need to get it together.
4 months ago
yea i mean they are doing well for the most part but they need to pull it together and win aginst easy teams like that.
4 months ago
The stats are deceiving for some of the individual players. It's the lack of clutch hits that has killed the braves. the last few games mccann has been coming through. Texiera & franceour are the keys. Getting Kelly Johnson out of the leadoff role is critical also. They are a better hitting team with him down around 7th.
How can anyone complain about the pitching. last i checked the braves were 1st or 2nd in the league in ERA. If anyone had said that the braves would be leading the league in ERA at this point, the consensus that the braves would be at least 5 games up (in 1st place) with the vaunted lineup they are supposed to have.
4 months ago
Yes, we're playing around .500 ball. We have managed to stay "close" to the division leaders while Cox is tweaking his lineup, rotation and bullpen. I have watched Cox over his tenure here as manager and can see that he has been testing players out in key roles. It's a good system as long as people stay healthy and available. Well, the pitching has had some hiccups with Soriano, Glavine and Smoltz going on the DL.
If Smoltz and Soriano can come back while Tex and Francouer can start hitting without Escobar, Blanco, Jurrjens or Diaz losing any progress, we should be close to the top in September.
Atlanta is indeed a second-half team. At the 1991 All-Star Break, we were nearly 10 games out behind the leading Dodgers and about 4 behind the formidable Reds. The rest is history. The braveos went on a tear and took the division by a small margin. It's a long season...we'll see who has the stamina to keep winning into September.
4 months ago
Well, I was hoping to see us do it this year but this year belongs to the Cubs as they rid themselves of that 100-year drought. 'Cuz 2009 is when my Braves hit the decline. We can't afford to keep Teixeria. Chipper's on-field performance will steadily drop off. Glavine, Smoltz and Hampton are soon set to retire. And even Bobby is looking forward to doing some fishing. Once all that happens, I see quite a few years of missing the playoffs accumulating. And making the playoffs this year just to and lose to the Cubs in 7 in the NLCS just ain't gonna suffice.
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