Atlanta Braves 43-45: "There's a Calm before the Storm"

A breeze. Humidity. Rain. The sun sneaking through the clouds. One can sense changes in the weather before they happen. Before a real hard rain batters the Earth, the temperature sags, and tree branches tense and relax like they have lungs inside their bark. A few droplets land on a windshield, and then the air becomes a river. After the rain, the sun fills the river bed like dirt, liquid gold following the path where water once tread, and on ticks time.

Kids, in the South, learn to smell a storm before it arrives every summer, when storms last just long enough for one to catch their breath in between games of hide and seek or octopus tag. It's also a lesson to be learned from mediocre baseball teams.

The Atlanta Braves had their longest winning streak of the year going into a series against what might wind up being the worst team in MLB history. They took game one against the Nats, and then dropped the next two games in DC. Before the series with the Nats, Atlanta was only two games back, but the two losses in that series started a sequence that saw the Braves lose five of their last nine games before the All-Star Break.

The lone Brave to play in the game was Brian McCann, who went 0 for 1, in his lone place appearance. The lack of Braves on the All-Star team tells the tale of why the Braves are 43-45 and 6 games back of the Phillies half way through the season. This team can't hit. Offensive numbers make everyday players into All-Stars, and Chipper Jones, who leads the team in home runs, is only on pace for 18 on the year. This team does not hit for power, and it does not possess any on base speed. This team scores by stringing singles together, which is like having to erect a mouse trap every time one needs to score a run. For an explanation on why the mouse trap philosophy is a horrible offensive strategy, watch the following video:

When the mouse trap works, it's beautiful to behold because the whole team worked for the run and can, therefore, rejoice in the accomplishment. McLouth turned the crank, Prado kicked the bucket, Chipper Jones teetered down the stairs, McCann jumped in the tub, and then the cage rattled down to score a run. Of course, nothing happens if just one thing goes wrong, and, too often, one thing does go wrong--a man misses the tub, a rubber band breaks, or maybe the cage just doesn't fall.

This offense is why the Braves lack consistency, sweeping the Phillies one series and then dropping five of their next nine games, including two to the worst team in baseball. This offense is also why Jair Jurrjens and Javier Vazquez missed out on opportunities to become All-Stars. Jurrjens and Vazques have ERA's under 3.00, but neither one has a winning record. At what point, does the lack of offense begin to affect the pitching performances of Jurrjens and Vazquez? At what point, do they begin to press, believing that they've got to be perfect every time out?

This Braves season continues to be one of opposite forces facing off against one another. The Braves have a solid rotation whose performances are unravelled by their own team's ineffective lineup. They win a few games, and then they lose a few games. So far, the positives and negatives for this team have balanced out one another to keep the Braves around .500, but what happens if that balance disappears?

One could make the case that if the Braves started scoring runs, then they would run away with the NL East, but no sign foreshadows that sort of change. On a team, where not one player hit double-digit home runs the first half of the season and the pitching is good but not great, it seems much more likely that any changes in the status quo would be negative for this team. Any southern kid with their nose pressed against the window screen can come to that conclusion.

Perhaps, the Braves are not the ones setting the trap, but the mice gathered around the cheese wheel; and any jilt to their surroundings will cause that cage to crash down around them, creating the worst place for anyone to be when the floods come.

This All-Star Break was a calm one, which means a storm of light or a storm of rain is on the way. At least, that's what John Fogerty says:

Someone told me long ago There's a calm before the storm,
I know; It's been comin' for some time.
When it's over, so they say, It'll rain a sunny day,
I know; Shinin' down like water.

I want to know, Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know, Have you ever seen the rain
Comin' down on a sunny day?

Yesterday, and days before, Sun is cold and rain is hard,
I know; Been that way for all my time.
'Til forever, on it goes Through the circle, fast and slow,
I know; It can't stop, I wonder.


PS I've stated before that Francoeur probably needed to go, but it's hard to think that Ryan Church is the solution. Church is five years older and only hits about twenty points higher than Frenchy. Frenchy is also the better power guy and a Gold Glove outfielder. It's also not much of a money-saving move. Francoeur only makes about a million more. Anyway, I guess I'm just afraid that this might happen.

Atlanta Braves: Come Rain or Shine

This Atlanta Braves team changes with the weather, which means one can be chilling poolside, in the sun, one moment, only to see the sky turn black, out of nowhere, as lightning flashes, and the thunder cracks the heavens like an egg, covering the baseball field with yolk dripping into a frying pan.

This team's longest win streak is three games this season, which has occurred on four different occasions, and its longest losing streak is five, which has happened just once. The good news is that the dreary weather does stay long. The bad news is that it shows up every other day, like an annoying extra on one of the TGIF shows.

Recently, the Braves went 3-6 on a road trip that started in Baltimore's Camden Yards and went through Cincinnati and Boston's Fenway. I was at the lone game Atlanta won in Baltimore a 7-2 win by Tommy Hanson. Then the rain started, and they dropped the next two by a total of thirteen runs. If baseball were The Wire, then the O's pretty much hid Atlanta's pitching arms in row houses, as if Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, and Melvin Mora were Chris, Snoop, and Marlow.

In Boston, the only game Atlanta took of the series was an 8-2 win by Kawakami in the opener. Then, in a rain that fell all game, they left three men on base when Matt Diaz struck out in the top of the 9th. The game ended on a solo shot by Red Sox short stop Nick Green. The homer especially stung because it followed the announcer's words, "Get ready to be here a while; we're probably going to extra innings." It was one of those small moments in a season that makes a fan think that even in a downpour, our glass is somehow half empty, that it's just not our year. This emotion grew when one reflected back on the bottom of the seventh that saw both Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones ejected.

Sometimes when managers and players argue with the umpire, they're arguing more with God and fate than anything else: "Hey, God, where's the damn rainbow? How come when we throw strikes to JD Drew you call 'em balls, but the same pitch is a strike for us?" God often responds to such outbursts with an ejection, allowing your team to come back without you, and then, just for kicks, breaking the hearts of your teammates while you sit helplessly in the locker room. The experience opens up a wide range of emotional flood gates, including anger, joy, worthlessness, and ultimately dejection.

Of course, when times are bleakest, the clouds part, a dove flies by, and there's a rainbow, causing one to think the worst is over--"I can see clearly now. The rain is gone." The Braves are on a two- game winning streak, and they are going for their fifth 3-game win streak of the season tonight. Currently, they lead the Yankees 1-0 at home, and Bobby Cox says he likes this team . . . rain or shine. I just hope one morning I find the summer heat has turned all this rain into a fried egg, sunny side up and ready to eat. I want consistency from a team that so far has played like a weather report.