Double plays, lack of team speed hurt the Braves over the past few games

On Tuesday, the Braves lost to the Nationals 3-0. They had their chances to win, but a Brian McCann double play hurt their best chance to get in the game. In the 6th inning with the Braves down 3-0, Chipper Jones led off with a single. McCann came to the plate and grounded into the double play to erase Chipper. Adding insult to injury, the next batter (Eric Hinske) doubled. After Hinske's double, the Braves never reached base again as the Nationals retired the next 10 batters in order.

Saturday's game against the Marlins was even worse than Tuesday's game against the Nationals. Down 4-3 in the seventh inning, Troy Glaus stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. The ensuing double play ruined a great chance to steal a divisional road game. But, wait! There's more! In the 11th inning, with the score tied at 4, Nate McLouth was batting with the bases loaded and one out. His double play set the tone for the Marlins to win in the bottom of the 11th.

Now, I'm not saying the Braves need to change the way their team is built, but there needs to be some balance between speed and power. We're built like an American League team. This year, the Braves have 42 stolen bases (14th in the NL) and have grounded in to 82 double plays (3rd in NL). In 2009, they had 58 stolen bases (15th in NL) and 142 double plays (3rd again). The entire NL usually has a 1.3 GIDP/SB ratio over the last 5 years. However, the Braves push this ratio to 2.0, or sometimes 3.0. Without team speed, you have to get three hits to score a run, as opposed to a team with good to great speed only needing two hits on most occasions. This could be the difference between and team that does well in the playoffs or a team that does poorly in the playoffs, if they make it at all.