Open Thread, July 2, Braves vs. Ivan de Jesuses
Hanson goes tonight. Good thing. The Braves badly need to win at least 3 of four in this series with the woeful little Bears. Samardzijazzkdlalkdkd got off to a really good start but he’s been quite hittable lately.
That needs to continue tonight. What the hell do I know, but I suspect the next seven games leading into the break — and thus how far out of first we are — could largely determine Wren’s trade deadline strategy.
And for those who didn’t see Friday night’s tweet, J. Wilson and his shaky glove have a new nickname: Jack of No Trades.
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Embarrassing. Embarrassing and unacceptable. Our inability to take care of garbage teams like this has hurt us badly over the last four years. It has to stop.
This team looks lifeless and listless and that’s the fault of the asshole at the helm and all of his cap tipping acceptance of it. We need a change in attitude and emphasis. This stuff was bad enough under latter day Cox. It’s completely unacceptable now.
With a rotation with only two at least somewhat dependable starters, whenever both those guys lose, you’re looking at a really ugly week.
Face it, this is a mediocre team helmed by an overmatched manager. Now watch them reel off six in a row, though w/ this rotation I doubt it.
They’re underachieving.
They’re also underwhelming and predictable; with last night’s lost they are 0 – 11 on Monday this year. I figured that they had a chance to snap that streak last night, as Samardzija had a 10+ ERA for June, but leave it to the Braves to make a struggling pitcher look like an ace for 7 innings. Was it 11 or 12 K’s that he had?
Maybe they’ll take a cue from the Hawks and pull of a blockbuster trade by the deadline, but I doubt it…
Perhaps Fredi G should quit toying with the lineup so much. It seems every game there’s a different way the 3-4-5-6-7 spots are penciled in. I bet if you ask vets like Chipper they’d tell you they prefer more consistency in the batting order.
Unfort. when Fredi’s consistent he does things like bat Heyward 7th and Alex Gonzalez second.
I’m well aware of the long history of average teams (and this is most definitely an average squad overall) catching fire in August and September to snatch a playoff spot. But, who might be the hitters in the 3-through-7 spots to play at a high level for 20 to 25 games, rather than a 4-to-5 game streak followed by a slump? Which starting pitcher will suddenly reel off five quality starts in a row and light a fire under his compadres? I’m hard pressed to name any candidates among this group of Braves, which may be why they finish the first week of September in the same form as now … average.
Prado, Heyward, Bourn, McCann, Freeman — all those guys are capable of extended good play. The bigger problem, I think, is finding more than one starting pitcher who might reel off a bunch of good games in a row. Hanson’s capable, but apparently only for six innings each outing. Hudson’s capable, but he’ll be 37 in a couple weeks and has lately had the first-inning bugaboo. Then there’s no one else. Long streaks like the ’93 team had result mainly from good starting pitching, day in and day out. As constituted, this team is not going to get that.