A strange homestand yields a cold truth: More hitting needed
Roy Halladay at work Wednesday. Note goose eggs. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Strange homestand. The Braves were shut out twice and no-hit once and beaten by a guy who has never won the Cy Young Award but who roomed with Cy Young. And yet they won three of six against two playoff-caliber opponents.
At the same time, the Braves conjured up two walk-off wins, one among the more improbable in team annals — Troy Glaus? Nate McLouth? Seriously? — and still managed to look feeble for long stretches. Strange, strange homestand.
But it’s the kind we’re apt to see often, at least until Glaus and McLouth and Melky Cabrera start to hit. (Or, more probably, until Frank Wren gets around to making another round of deals.) The Braves are good at pitching but not very good at hitting. They can keep most games close enough to have a chance at the end. But Jason Heyward can’t work a wonder every night.
Stat of the series just completed: The Braves didn’t score an earned run against a Philadelphia starting pitcher. Not against Kyle Kendrick, who entered Tuesday’s game with an ERA of 17.47 but who worked eight scorless innings; not against Roy Halladay, who’s great, and not against Jamie Moyer, who took his first big-league bow three years before the aforementioned Heyward made his debut on Earth.
The only runs the Braves mustered in six innings against Moyer on Thursday came courtesy of double plays flubbed by Chase Utley. They’re not the first team to lose to a guy who’d lose playing burnout with your Aunt Minnie, but it’s never an endorsement of a team’s offense when it gets hog-tied by a 47-year-old and his 82-mph fastball.
And that, sad to say, is the lesson of this homestand: There’s no endorsing this offense. The Braves scored 20 runs in six games, but nine of those came against Colorado last Friday, and seven of the nine were in one inning. They were shut out twice and nearly a third time, which takes us back to Tuesday’s epic rally.
At that moment McLouth’s home run landed in the right-field seats, you’d have figured the winning team would have been so emboldened it wouldn’t have lost for the next week if not the next calendar year. Instead the Braves mustered three runs (one earned) over the next 18 innings. This, see, is baseball, the sport in which momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher.
You can’t hit if the other pitcher won’t allow it. This concept worked against the Braves the past two nights, but there’s a bright side here. They can pitch, too. They’ll hold up their end more often than not. Tim Hudson threw a nice game Wednesday but lost to the best in the business. Derek Lowe wasn’t effective Thursday, but he’s an adequate No. 4 starter.
Pitching will keep the Braves afloat, but the holes in this batting order could sink the vessel. Counting Lowe, the Braves started five men Thursday hitting .200 or less. They entered the game batting .227 as a team, second-worst in the National League.
The patches affixed by Wren over the winter haven’t held. Except for one big swing with two out in the ninth Tuesday, the Glaus Experiment has been a fizzle. (He struck out three times Thursday.) Cabrera has been worse. (Francisco Cabrera had as many RBIs in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS as Melky Cabrera in his first 2 1/2 weeks as a Brave.) Indeed, the Braves’ back line of defense appears to consist of Heyward and three fourth outfielders.
Yes, it has been only 2 1/2 weeks, but you wonder how much longer this can go. We were here a year ago, and Wren did quick work — importing McLouth and Adam LaRoche, exporting Jordan Schafer, Jeff Francoeur and Casey Kotchman — to make the Braves competitive over the second half. The bad news: Such a flurry of dealing might again be required.
The good news: It’s easier to find hitting than pitching. The cold truth: More hitting is needed, and soon. The team the Braves just saw, the team the Braves hope to overhaul, is good at both.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
220 comments Add your comment
Jimmy O
April 23rd, 2010
12:13 am
Any Response “Norton” I did not think so! I know it’s lights out @ 12:30 in your parents basement!
Greg Norton
April 23rd, 2010
12:17 am
Jimmy O is fascinated with doing his sister and living in his parents basement…keep it baseball you fat punk….i expect no less from a philly fan
Jimmy O
April 23rd, 2010
12:18 am
You are correct, get back in the ditch, I’ll make sure when I do payroll you get your 39 hrs, Because we all know your not worth a full time job!
Mafia
April 23rd, 2010
12:18 am
jimmy you should listen to greg norton, he’s a professional hit-man.
Robards
April 23rd, 2010
12:21 am
Mark, I agree it’s looked bad at times. But I think the Braves are two games out. I think they can make that up in the next five months. By the way, those guys won’t be hitting .200 or less all year. We’re more than a month from Memorial Day–let’s look at the standings then.
Greg Norton
April 23rd, 2010
12:22 am
I’m a pinch hitter extraordinaire…no full time job here chief…get back to blowing your unemployment check on the penny slots in Atlantic City, Jimmy O
Jimmy O
April 23rd, 2010
12:28 am
Once again I never said I’m a
Phila. fan. I just call like I see it. How amusing that your name is Greg Norton. The only difference is he was actually in the N.L. You on the other hand couldn’t spell N.L if I spotted you the N. I’m gone because I have to take my wife and kids to work and school,then myself to work. in the morning. If you need a job just e-mail me. God Speed.
Greg Norton
April 23rd, 2010
12:32 am
Doubtful my friend..but I enjoyed the taunts…
drmondo
April 23rd, 2010
12:32 am
I’ve really lost faith in the front office of the Braves. Did anyone besides Wren and company think Cabrera and Glaus were upgrades? When the Braves were good, they had great starting pitching and a starting lineup that could hit. Besides Heyward (who’s to inexperienced to carry this team), Prado (who’s done great so far) and McCann (who’s off his usual level of play but still pretty good) where’s the hitting? No one can leadoff? I don’t care if you have to bring a priest in for an exorcism, do something about our leadoff spot! This team is hard to watch…I’m having flashbacks to the Braves of the 80’s…
Mafia
April 23rd, 2010
12:33 am
why is it whenever someone is instigating a fight over the internet i assume they’re like 13 years old? consider me surprised.
Mafia
April 23rd, 2010
12:35 am
what would it take to get michael bourne from houston? you gotta think they’ll be selling. if we don’t fix the leadoff spot (among others) we will be too.
Roy Updike
April 23rd, 2010
12:45 am
Wrong!! The Braves needs a general manager who knows what he is doing. He can put a decent team on the field (per him & Bobby) for spring training but that’s where it ends. Melky for Vazquez??? That’s treating Braves fans as stupid!!!
macfleetwood
April 23rd, 2010
12:47 am
Guess what?? If you don’t have pitching,hitting & fielding..There’s a good chance you don’t win!!
The Braves outfit is probably one of the worse in the league at NOT Promoting Their Farm Hands To
the major league club! Always had a tendency to hold on to a player too long, draft too many
dead-beats, sore arms & washed-up has beens!
Ownership needs to clean house starting with the GM!!
Coach (I believe it's time to question)
April 23rd, 2010
12:47 am
Too true, can’t score….can’t win.
We saw this last season. Great pitching and little run support, or at least great pitching from the other four starters. Not to mention Derek Lowe’s bloated contract for which Frank Wren is responsible.
Speaking of responsibility, Cox keeps running Troy Glaus out there everyday day and we saw our manager make the same mistake with Jeff Francoeur last season. But there is hope, at least 147 more games to play and Cox is mercifully gone.
This team is improved but it ain’t showing up in the standings. I expect to look up at the Phillies but the Marlins? Again! We saw the same last year too.
Herschel Talker
April 23rd, 2010
1:09 am
Fire Frank Wren!
Fire Bobby the Idiot!
It’s time to clean house!!!
atlpaddy
April 23rd, 2010
1:17 am
Hinske at first and Melky only comes off the bench. That right there should take care of most of the Brave’s hitting woes. Is it too late to still get Larouche?
BravesFan
April 23rd, 2010
1:21 am
It’s quite simple when you look at the fact that both Infante and Hinske CLEARLY hit better than Glaus and Melky, so why aren’t both playing?
The loyalty card has always been Bobby’s downfall and someone needs to step in at some point and get this corrected.
After that, at least one bat has to be brought in because under no circumstances can this lineup compete with the Phils. Probably need 2 if the 3 boat anchors of our lineup don’t come around at some point.
MitchC
April 23rd, 2010
1:22 am
Mark, I can’t watch this team hit anymore. They really remind me of the Mets of the early and mid 1970s. The ones with Seaver, Koosman, Gentry, Matlack,. et al, who would throw low scoring games every night, and finish at 500 every year, because they had little or no hitting. The Braves have so many scoring chances where they leave two men on, or bases loaded, it’s just maddening.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Philly is the class of this division, the league, and maybe all of baseball. I dont think we will catch them. If we just lost two of three to them here, what chance is there of us going to Philadelphia in 2 weeks, and playing well there?
This Braves team does have a chance for the wild card, because we do have decent pitching. but.. as you said, we need to get another hitter, and fast. Hopefully, Bobby and Wren will see this, and soon, and deal for a power hitter.
Hopefully, the Braves can get this turned around. We know Bobby is leaving at the end of the season, so we will have a new manager next year. If the Braves miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year, I think that would be just cause to let Wren go as well.
gcs
April 23rd, 2010
1:24 am
“More hitting needed”
You have to blame Frank Wren. We knew this fact before last season & again before this season. He has done very little to address this issue.
Think about the few good hitters on the team (Heyward, Chipper, McCann & Prado) and then the worse hitters (Glaus, Melky & McLouth). Guess which ones came before Wren took over and which after…
Note: [Heyward was drafted before Wren was promoted to GM]
…
MitchC
April 23rd, 2010
1:27 am
Sigh! I just had another long comment that didn’t post, so I’ll do it again.
Mark, you’re absolutely right about this team needing more hitting. I can’t watch the pathetic hitting that this team has anymore. They remind me of the Mets of the early to mid 70s, who had great pitching, and could not hit.
As you know, I can’t count how many times during this homestand the Braves had bases loaded, or two men on, and people grounded into inning ending double plays, or struck out with men on base.
Bottom line: Philly is the class of this division. It’s only two plus weeks into the season, but, if they just took two of three from us here, they will likely have a lot of confidence when they play us in Philly on Mother’s Day weekend.
The Braves do have a chance for the wild card, but Wren needs to deal for another hitter, and fast.
Hopefully, Wren will be able to get something done, because, while we know Bobby is retiring at season’s end, if this team misses the playoffs for the fifth straight year, it will probably be time to show Wren the door as well.
Mitchell
April 23rd, 2010
1:36 am
Does Bobby Cox not hold any accountability in all or part of this?
Melky Cabrera can’t or isn’t hitting. Why is he playing? That’s the manager. That’s his choice. He has Omar Infante on his bench who hasn’t played since San Francisco.
His trademark loyalty is completely backfiring. As soon as a guy goes into a slump, he’s intent on batting him every day in roughly the same spot in the order regardless of the result. Can anybody honestly say he’s doing Troy Glaus any favors by leaving him out there in a spot where he’s expected to hit for power and drive in runs when he clearly isn’t getting it done?
When the guy starts getting booed that would be right around the time where I take the pressure off of him and either move him down the line-up or sit him down alltogether.
I really feel like he’s torturing the guy. But Melky Cabrera… that guy should just not play.
Robards
April 23rd, 2010
1:42 am
Let’s keep our eye on the big picture. The Melk Man played quite a bit for the World Champs and other Yank teams that contended in recent years. He’s good enough to play for the Atlanta 9, especially in an inferior league. Perspective, please. Bradley is usually a bit more level-headed 15 games in to a 162 game season.
Robards
April 23rd, 2010
1:45 am
Or perhaps not. Was it last year or the year before when Mark predicted, after a nice stretch of April or May baseball, that the Braves would be in first by July 4th?
san diego dawg
April 23rd, 2010
2:00 am
the first change could come in the next series against the Mets if Infante starts at short stop. Escobar is in Bobby’s dog house.
Ron Roberts
April 23rd, 2010
2:59 am
If he’d just broached a deal with Adam LaRoche to begin with we’d be better off. While he hasn’t touched off a long ball, he’s hit in all but four D’backs games thus far, and despite having 12 Ks, 6 of ‘em came in the first 3 games.
I’m just tired of seeing this franchise try to save a million with patch-job ‘reaches” like Troy Glaus (re: Raul Mondesi). The extra million or two would’ve landed LaRoche back in his familiar uniform, with familiar teammates and most ASSUREDLY hitting better than Troy (sure out) Glaus has been, thus far.
hop
April 23rd, 2010
4:48 am
surprise surprise… braves do not have enough hitting! the ajc along with with all of the homers have been drinking the braves or frank wrenn’s cool-lad.
the braves will finish third or fourth!
Jim Jackson
April 23rd, 2010
4:54 am
We could always go get Julio Franco back.. he’s only 50, but could probably do mroe than Glaus has at 1st base so far. I’m just deflated about all the double plays we’ve hit into this year already.. We’re getting people on base all the time (usually via walks), and can do nothing with them. I’ve never seen a team get bases loaded with zero or one out so much and hit into so many twin-killings. It’s really infurtiating. Why hasn’t Glaus been moved down the lineup further yet??
Jesse Stone
April 23rd, 2010
5:14 am
Robards- The melk Man played for the Yankees only because they could afford to have an average fielding, below average hitter in that All-Star lineup. Do you think Brett Gardner could start for us too?
Vazquez has had a rough start in NY, but that’s immaterial. He pitched well HERE and I think he would have pitched well HERE again this year. I compared Melky to Ryan Church at that time and got blasted for it. Turns out, Melky’s not the player Church was for us.
Frank Wren overpaid for Lowe and now we’re stuck with him. he traded Vaz and Melky got away from that All-Star lineup and little league field and is now EXPOSED. Wren’s supporters point to Vizcaino and praise Wren for the deal. Vizcaino is at least 2 years away and for all we know could be the re-creation of Jose Capellan.
backintheday
April 23rd, 2010
5:58 am
is it time to fire Terry Pendleton yet? Or…wait, wasn’t it time last year?
I fixed the line up
April 23rd, 2010
6:36 am
Yunel Escobar SS
Martin Prado 2B
Chipper Jones 3B
Brian McCann C
Jason Heyward RF
Matt Diaz LF
Eric Hinske 1B
Omar Infante CF
Sons of Rick Matula
April 23rd, 2010
6:41 am
Kudos for Carroll Rogers! In her game story, she called out Escobar for lack of effort! That is truly rare at the AJC! Not everyone sees the game with the same smacked-ass optimism as Bobby & Chuddy. As for Glaus & Cabrera — they’re hitting almost .300 (combined.)
Cracker Jacket
April 23rd, 2010
6:58 am
A team can go only so far with bargain basement players! Got to spend money! There’s only Heyward that fans would really PAY to see play!
Marc
April 23rd, 2010
7:06 am
Addition by subtraction – let Melky walk and start Hinske in left
DawgInDC
April 23rd, 2010
7:08 am
This is the same ole story with this team, and we say, just wait, they’ll come around and start hitting eventually…we’ve been waiting for 3 dang years for this dang team..Wren needs to make a move, and stop messing with reclemation projects. Atlanta needs to stop being the place where players come to try to ressurect their careers…FRANK, Go out and get a good hitter to plug in between Chipper and Mccann
Avid Hahira/Valdosta Braves Fan
April 23rd, 2010
7:15 am
For God’s sake do something to fix the “No hitting woes”. The Braves could be very, very competitive with 2-3 more decent hitters.
F-105 Thunderchief
April 23rd, 2010
7:25 am
So, essentially, Wren gave away our best pitcher from last season for a lottery ticket (Vizcaino). Milky Carerra and that reliever, what’s his name, Done(?) are big zeroes. And, what did he use that salary savings on? Glaus signed for basically nothing (and is proving to be worth just that).
Matt
April 23rd, 2010
7:27 am
This is the “same old song and dance” for the last couple of seasons. The offense outside of Chipper, when healthy, and McCann has been anemic. The cheap fixes have not, and are not, working.
Yes, Heyward has been a nice addition, but other than him and Prado can’t see any hope for the rest of the lineup. Even if Escobar starts to really get going there are still FOUR holes in this lineup (Melky, McClouth, Glaus, pitcher) that there is NO getting around.
El Bravo
April 23rd, 2010
7:28 am
Everybody needs to take a chill pill. 15 games played. It’s a long season. You have to give Nate, Troy, et all a bit more time to get out of their slump before we start making changes. No team is going to trade a quality bat three weeks into the season anyway…
Billy
April 23rd, 2010
7:42 am
Bob Cox your manger……..
dap01
April 23rd, 2010
7:56 am
Quit running Melky out there. Put Infante in center. Start Diaz in left. If Glaus does not start hitting soon, try Dye.
We could not hit Moyer!
ltdbrave
April 23rd, 2010
8:01 am
This team is owned by a public company, so despite what McGuirk, Wren or Schuerholz say, they are somewhat held to a very stringent budget, unlike teams privately owned. Yes, they all have budgets, but private ownership can do what they want. The Braves always seem to wait forever on free agency and pick up the crumbs instead of picking up someone that earns the money they are paid. There is also something to be said about a hitting coach that helps instead of hinders. We lost some good players because Pendelton had no idea on what to do. Also, instead of spending $60 million on Lowe who is a has been, they should have bought some bats.
jerry
April 23rd, 2010
8:02 am
One boring ass team.
Bill
April 23rd, 2010
8:06 am
Well said Mark.
I’ve said all winter the Braves need the Big Bat Wren has been promising for two years.
The Braves love to get players from the “injury bend” every year instead of going out and getting a FA are making a good trade.
So What do you expect? Just what you got, nothing.
Donny Corleone
April 23rd, 2010
8:14 am
Wait………….we were going to the World Series just two games ago………………?
Ted M
April 23rd, 2010
8:18 am
Wren & Cox obviously waited too long last year on the moves they made and NEVER made a move on Norton. That easy one alone would have allowed us the wild card.
If they make a move this year it will be too late when they do.
papadawg
April 23rd, 2010
8:21 am
Well Bobby Cox ball at its best, live by the long ball or die by the long ball.
Phil
April 23rd, 2010
8:26 am
Hershel Talker,
I’ve been saying for years on here that the Braves will not get things turned around until Moron Cox is gone. Getting rid of that buffoon Wren would also help. But when we get a new manager with half a brain, my hopes are he will get in Wren’s ear and advise him to pass on players like Melky and Glaus.
We just have to wait this year out and finally that clown Cox will be gone. Things will get better then.
Rough Estimate
April 23rd, 2010
8:30 am
I knew this was going to be the case. Until the Braves spend about $10-15million more per year on payroll, they will be forced to compete with a patchwork lineup. I say sign Sheffield or Dye. They might be old and slow, but I am sure they would provide more hitting than Glaus, Cabrera, or McClouth. Those signing would probably be the cheapest and fastest fix. Lets just hope Sheffield has been taking his ‘roids!
Ted M
April 23rd, 2010
8:32 am
Ha papadawg and he’ll even do it with no long ball hitters!
Ted M
April 23rd, 2010
8:34 am
I could NOT believe Heyward was moved back to 7 spot last night. wtf