Atlanta Braves: Was weekend Philly series such a huge flop or do we still have a Wild Card shot?
The facts aren’t pretty: NL East-leader Philadelphia came to town and took two of three from the Braves. Philly slugger Ryan Howard dominated the series. Atlanta lost a chance to gain serious division ground.
YOU TELL US: What went so wrong this past weekend against the Phillies? Do the Braves still have a shot at the Wild Card? And what’s Atlanta got to do going forward to make the postseason?
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84 comments Add your comment
Ryan Howards Nostrils
August 17th, 2009
1:17 pm
When healthy the biggest difference between the Braves and Phillies is Ryan Church for us Jason Werth for them. All the other positions have at least at least a respectable comparison.
jfreak13713
August 17th, 2009
1:19 pm
The Braves got beat by a better “team”. The Braves have good starting pitching and that’s about it. They pitched well enough to win every game but the better TEAM played great defense and their star player showed up and hit a few homeruns. If you don’t score more than three runs you are beating the Phillies.
SMOLTZ could help our bullpen!!!
Can they win the wild card? Yes! Starting pitching can make up ground because it keeps you from slumping. I’d say beg Smoltz to come pitch in our bullpen to give some of those guys some rest and hope to stay healthy? It’s possible but probably a long shot?
Kashi
August 17th, 2009
1:34 pm
O yea….I would insert Kelly Johnson over Infante too. To me our center fielder is gone for rest of the season. DL him and bring back Blanco to play center. Bench Anderson and move Church to right and Diaz to left.
shawn
August 17th, 2009
1:35 pm
This team has no heart. Ryan Howard stood forever and watched that second homer fly out. I expected he would pay for hit his next AB. Not even one inside pitch. He should have been beamed. Throw right at him and let everyone know we are in this fight, dont try and show us up. This team needs a spark and O’flattery could use the rest. Why didnt this happen?
Boricua
August 17th, 2009
1:39 pm
What went wrong?…Only one Thing…The Braves Lefty line up was expose.
For next year we need a RH Power Outfield…To many Lefty in the line up
(McClouth,Anderson,Mac,Church,Laroche,kelly,).
sgebraves
August 17th, 2009
1:42 pm
The Braves played a lot better than the end results. Friday night they were killing the ball but the Phillies turned in one of the best performances by and overall outfield that I’ve seen. Saturday they showed a lot of heart coming back and winning that game but lost McClouth and Prado in the process. Sundays game they hung in for the whole game but with McClouth and Prado out and chipper obviously hurting too they just didn’t have the offense to come back. Give credit to Howard he carried the Phillies like he is paid to do, but the rest of the Phillies didn’t do much of anything. I still think the Braves have an outside chance at the division and a good chance at the wild card if they can get healthy in a hurry, but I think they’ll have to sweep the Marlins and Phillies atleast once to do that. The only second guessing of Bobby in the series I have is why he didn’t pinch hit Prado for Church when the bases were loaded last night Infante could have played CF the rest of the game. And friday night I would have left Gonzalez in to pitch to Howard but I understand Soriano is the closer so I see his thinking on that one.
Duane
August 17th, 2009
1:45 pm
Ryan Howard came in on a hot streak, so we could have pitched around him a little better. The other hitters, Utley, etc, weren’t so hot coming in. Given their ERA’s after the break, Cox could have foreseen to switch Gonzalez back to the closer role and Soriano back to the 8th. The team looks good to me, we were in every game, very competitive with the Phils, didn’t expect their pitching to shut us down quite so much. I predict we will continue to win 6 of 10 or better. I just like to see them playing well, even if they don’t make the playoffs. So much better than the past 2 years. As long as we keep playing well, then if the other teams choke, we can be witin striking distance.
Wolf
August 17th, 2009
1:59 pm
The Philadelphia series was “the season in miniature.” The Braves had excellent pitching but NO offense AGAIN, seven runs in three games, and two of them handed to Atlanta on the throwing error Saturday. AGAIN, the Braves wasted some good pitching, both from the starters and the pen. Atlanta is very vulnerable to LH pitching, of which there is a lot in the NL East. Over the winter, Wren needs to try to keep the pitching staff intact but do SOMETHING about the offense. The offense lacks both power and speed–can’t win big without one or the other, preferably some of both.
Braves hit like girls
August 17th, 2009
2:11 pm
The Braves won’t have a single player hit 30 HRs or have 100 RBIs this season (and will finish near the bottom in SB). The Phillies will probably have four do both (Utley, Howard, Ibanez, Werth). That alone should predict where we will finish. We’ve got to get some bats to have any shot next year. This year is done, regardless of what those with eternal optimism think. We’re too far back to catch the Phillies and have 4 clubs to catch in the wild card. Not going to happen. Wren- get some guys that can hit for next year!
Coach (2010 or Bust)
August 17th, 2009
2:16 pm
Our Braves are good and the Phillies are simply better. End of story.
The Phillies can only lose the division and the wild card is just out of reach. 85-86 wins and heartbroken is where our Braves are headed.
cdog
August 17th, 2009
2:22 pm
WHAT WENT WRONG? THE BRAVES WERE LED BY OVER THE HILL, BOBBY COX WHO COULD CARE LESS ABOUT WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP. WHEN YOU START MANAGING WITH YOUR HEART 95% OF THE TIME AND THE OTHER WITH YOUR HEAD, IT EQUALS INCONSISTENT PLAY AND LOSSES.FOR EXAMPLE, HE BROUGHT SORIANO ON FRIDAY WORRY ABOUT WHETHER SORIANO WAS MAD BECAUSE HE HADN’T BEEN USED SINCE HE BLEW THE DODGER GAME. IT DIDN’T MATTER TO COX THAT THE BRAVES ARE IN A PENNANT FIGHT.HE WANTED TO KEEP SORIANO HAPPY SO HE BROUGHT HIM IN AND THE RESULTS WAS A LOSS
Dog Days
August 17th, 2009
2:31 pm
The ‘09 Braves unfortunately don’t have the offense. Upgrades in the offseason and maintaining the current good pitching staff provide the first cause for real optimism in years.
bvillebaron
August 17th, 2009
2:35 pm
What went wrong? I thought these were 3 pretty well played games all of which could have gone either way. Unfortunately, Ryan Howard picked the wrong time to get hot (he probably should have pitched around). For all of you chicken littles out there proclaiming that the sky is falling, consider the following: (1) the Braves do hold an 8-4 season series advantage over the Phillies; and (2) they are only 3 1/2 games behind in the wild card (they were not going to catch the Phillies any way)’ and (3) three are still 45 games left to play.
McCann Fan
August 17th, 2009
2:36 pm
Stop all the worrying. There is plenty of time left to make up ground, be it in the division or the wild card. 7 of our last 10 are against the Nationals.
End is Near
August 17th, 2009
2:39 pm
As a Braves fan do you have a right to be frustrated after this wknd? Sure. But be honest, with a 5mph wind blowing out we win Friday’s game handily and no matter what Howard does in 9th, it’s over. Tough luck with too many loud outs. Brad Lidge almost gave that one to us too despite the great defense behind him! Saturday, we turned it around on them (reminded me of one of those Mets game 6 or 7 years ago when Benetiez would just collapse and you could see it coming no matter what the lead) and then last night, one guy that finally woke up after break did all the damage (for the most part). Not the end of the world and our team did not exactly fall apart guys… You have SIX games left with them and TEN vs Florida. Ask the Mets about a safe lead in this divison! Did Joe “they are no 76 Reds” Morgan finally force the Kool Aid on you guys last night?? So, in one week we went from dominating LA on road to being a team that should give it up and start calling up people because the AJC just did a feature story on them??? Right. Still way too much baseball to play. Save the doom and gloom for mid-Sept. Those who just can’t wait will know by then……..it ain’t over yet. Big series with Marlins is right around the corner. Buy some tickets, fill it up! Get ready for a little fist-bump’in payback. After last three dismal seasons it is still good to be alive at this point!
BeachBrave
August 17th, 2009
2:39 pm
What went wrong? The same thing that has gone wrong most of the season. Lack of bats. 7 runs in 3 games; without a 2 run error in game 2, it would have been 5 runs in 3 games and a 3 game Phillies sweep. No power, no speed, no bat discipline= few ways to score. We need bats!
Ben
August 17th, 2009
2:40 pm
Ryan Howard – 4 the Atlanta Braves – 1
Baba O'Riley
August 17th, 2009
2:40 pm
I’m ecstatic for Reid Gorecki. I saw him play for a couple of years for the Palm Beach Cardinals. You will not meet a nicer guy. Several years of hard work have finally paid off. Congrats Reid!
Nativebird
August 17th, 2009
2:55 pm
No power, No playoffs. MOST major league GM’s know this simple and cutting edge 21st century truth in baseball. While it may have been true in 1991, today pitching alone cannot get you there.
willcoop
August 17th, 2009
2:58 pm
I’d say it’s pretty obvious what went wrong. They lost 3-2, should have lost again 3-2, and 4-1. If your pitchers are going to pitch excellent games and you only score 1-2 legit runs you are going to lose. Counting on the staff to hold them to only 1 and at best 2 runs a game is not possible.
This feels like the 2001 offense except this one has much better offensive players and a better 5-man rotation. I remember back then the only way I could ever expect them to score was if someone happened to lead off the inning with a double and then could be moved to 3rd and score on a SF.
Oh, and please play Garrett less. When Prado returns there is no reason GA should ever play against lefties (despite his higher BA against them). Put Infante in left and even let KJ play at second with Prado at 1B. I don’t think at this point he should really be playing against RHPs either. Omar has higher OPS against both RH and LH.
Mac
August 17th, 2009
3:05 pm
They probably won’t make it. They’re starting to get dinged up.
envoybass
August 17th, 2009
3:06 pm
This is not hard to figure out! Phillies have better front line pitching and 6 out of 8 position players are better than ours! World champs for a reason. Braves can only hope for wild card!
Keef1234
August 17th, 2009
3:06 pm
until the braves keep pace with the RedSox payroll of around $150 million ( 2 world series in 5 years!), IMHO–all discussion is moot. Our beloved Braves have needed 1-2 big bats and we can’t afford it…when a $249 million dollar payroll (Yankees) is 30 games OVER .500, we can play “respectable” all we want. But when it comes down to brass tacks (like this weekend) we can’t compete…I just hope Arthur Blank is planning a takeover after Liberty media dumps us for another tax writeoff…Remember when the braves had a Yankees Matching $100 million payroll IN THE 1990′S????? Remember when we owned TBS which would give us 10’s of millions?
gene garbage
August 17th, 2009
3:10 pm
bottom line folks, here it is, the phillies are a better team, from top to bottom…the best team won that series, plain and simple…
and i’m not sure that we’re better than the cubbies, fish, or the rockies.. i do think we’re better than the giants, but fact is, we’ve gotta pass the other three to get in..not gonna happen, so just watch the games with a little ease, that way we wont be so disappointed. BUT, maybe they will surprise us….
LivinInAL
August 17th, 2009
3:18 pm
They need to make someone beside Howard beat them…he has proved too many times that he can.
Dave
August 17th, 2009
4:08 pm
DAW and End is Near have it right. Its early to bail on our Braves.
Daniel
August 17th, 2009
4:14 pm
we are still in this thing.
Ur a tool
August 17th, 2009
4:21 pm
Braves hit like girls — is that supossed to be a put down? I’d like to see you hit in the majors. No, scratch that. I’d like to see you make a hit against a women’s fastball softball game. LOL
w
August 17th, 2009
5:12 pm
Justafan = Moron. Editor are you crazy.. Braves dominating this season. If Fridays game was played in Philly Braves win by 5… SHUT UP Braves are fine.. we got the pitching.
Hope
August 17th, 2009
5:21 pm
I guess several of you are seeing something completely different than I. Not sure if they make playoffs or not, but remember the last couple of years Phillies seemed to sneak into playoffs. The Phils had a great road trip, no doubt, sweeping Chicago and 2 of 3 from Atlanta. We played well on Friday — game could go either way — they make a few great plays in outfield, but we hit the ball better, than them overall. Saturday, we did not look that good at all but hung in there and got lucky at the end. Sunday, more similar to Friday, just a couple of mistakes which you cannot make to Ryan Howard. It happens. I have hope that we will continue to play well — at least we are worth watching and discussing.
ATLdawg
August 17th, 2009
6:36 pm
What went wrong? The Phillies are the best team in the NL and we’re fighting for a wild card spot. 1 out of the 3 doesn’t derail that aspiration.
JASon
August 17th, 2009
7:33 pm
Good to see many of you are with me on the “many games left to play” mentality. Sure, they didn’t produce as much in games 1 and 3 in that series, but they are still a hot team right now and can compete with the Phillies and Dodgers. Get beyond this “we have to win every game” attitude, sportswriters.
Chuck Uga
August 26th, 2009
9:05 pm
With the old man running the show? Wild Card is a PIPE DREAM. Cox gets the least accomplished with the most talent. Same ‘ole, same ‘ole.
clinging bitterly to my guns and religion
September 12th, 2009
11:25 pm
Any “must win” series were about three weeks ago. The chances ot get the WC? Three words:
HIS TO RY.