With a loss to the Pirates last night and a Phillies win, the Braves are in second place in the NL East for the first time since May 30. What has happened to the team in the last few weeks? Well, Chipper is out for the year, Derek Lowe missed his last start, and the team can't decide on who should play left field or center field. Kris Medlen is out for the year, which takes us down to three healthy starters (Hudson, Hanson, Jurrjens), a hurting Derek Lowe, an ineffective Kenshi Kawakami, and rookie Mike Minor. That is disappointing for a team with too many starting pitchers to begin the season. It just goes to show that a team can never have enough starting pitching.
But, the most confusing thing is the lack of power over the recent week or so. In September, the Braves are 7th in the NL in batting average and 8th in on-base percentage, so they are hitting the ball. However, the team is 15th in the league in slugging percentage and dead last in isolated power (slugging minus batting average).
The pitchers are 5th in the NL in ERA this month and 3rd in WHIP, but they are not getting the outs with runners on base as the team is 14th in the league in stranding runners so far in September, allowing 33.8 percent of all runners to score.
I don't know what is going on, but the Braves need to get back on track. They have one game left in the Pirates series, which they need to win because getting swept by Pittsburgh is embarrassing. Then they host the Cardinals for 4 games and the Nationals for a three game series. The Braves have the best home record in the NL and the Cardinals have been struggling. It would be nice to take 3 of 4 from them. (Plus it would also help the Reds in the NL Central). Atlanta needs to win 4 of the next 5 games to get back into the driver's seat in the NL East.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment