Open Thread, July 3, Bravos vs. Jeff Picos
“I hate this team.”
So I texted to CB last night when Hanson immediately pulled the plug on the Braves’ momentum. I’m sure psychologists have a term for the phenomenon of “I can badmouth my team/family/hometown, but you damn well better not.” That’s how I am with the Braves. And right now, I think we an all agree that we’re not feeling very upbeat about our squad.
In the comments of yesterday’s open thread, “Sharon Egan” mentioned the improbability of this team going on an extended run. He’s probably right. We simply don’t have the consistent starting pitching to do it. It’s not fair to compare any pitching staff to the Herculean ’93 Braves staff, but here goes.
That club went 54-19 after the all star break. That winning percentage over an entire season would equal 120 wins. That incredible second half was because of pitching, to start with, though the offense was strong as well. Look at these second-half stats from 1993:
Smoltz, 7-4, 4.27 ERA, averaged 6.9 innings per start
Glavine, 12-2, 3.55, 6.4 IPS
Avery, 9-3, 2.37, 6.6 IPS
Maddux, 12-2, 1.79, 7.5 IPS
Mercker, 1-1, 3.00, 5IPS
So on average, that team in the second half got a quality start, a starter pitching into at least the seventh inning. (Mercker made just six starts. The others all had at least 16.) Oh for that kind of work now. With this staff, nothing in that universe will happen. But on we go, with JJ on the hill, following one great start, one that was OK but looked like it could have been worse based on the number of lineouts and long fly balls.
Lose tonight and hope recdes still further.
The biggest problem this year, a bigger problem even than the inconsistent starting pitching, has been B-Mac. He drains rallies of all life. He can’t handle a high fastball, or any kind of breaking pitch. And he has been in the middle of the order, every day.
No sense comparing anyone to that ’93 Braves staff, except maybe the ’69 Orioles.
Jeff Pico? Nice! First visit to this blog, and it won’t be the last with that random mediocre pitcher from the late 80s and early 90s shout-out.
Re: the Braves, our staff is better than they’ve pitched. I still think things will normalize out with our roster – just got to get a little mojo going, in the words of Lou Brown.
Have yourself a game Chipper Jones! A nice bright spot to emerge from a discouraging couple of days. But then, this is Team Schizophrenia. Nothing but winning or losing streaks the whole year.
This is pretty much what we all needed.
Good to see you back, CBF.
Too bad Chipper’s big game wasn’t against the Mutts at Shiti Field. Either way, it was one hell of a night.