After a wasted homestand, the Atlanta Braves are in trouble
This man isn't a bad manager, but his team is in a bad patch. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
If you check the standings, the Braves are still OK — four games behind Washington in the National League East, nicely positioned in the wild-card chase. That’s the good news. Here’s the bad:
If you watch them play, you see a team in trouble.
A homestand that began 2-0 wound up 3-6, with a week on the road — first the Bronx, then Boston — coming. “There are a lot of guys in here frustrated right now,” Chipper Jones said Sunday.
June began with the Braves wondering about their starting pitchers. The rotation has stabilized — although a rotation awaiting an MRI on its best arm can’t quite be described as stable — but now the losses are coming hand over fist. Randall Delgado yielded two runs over eight innings Sunday, and it mattered not.
This wasn’t one of those games where the Braves left a zillion runners at second and third. They pushed only two runners into scoring position, both of those in a third inning that came undone when Delgado bunted into a 1-6-4 double play. Contrast this with the Baltimore sixth, when pitcher Wei-Yin Chen sacrificed Steve Pearce to third. Delgado began to pitch from the windup, whereupon manager Fredi Gonzalez whistled to warm Delgado to work from the stretch, whereupon the addled rookie halted his delivery and balked Pearce home.
If a guy pitches a one-hitter against you, you take your loss and tip your hat. (Jason Hammel had done just that Saturday night. Sure enough, Gonzalez said: “You’ve got to tip your hat to him.”) To lose another winnable game in a week that saw three winnable games lost gives greater pause. Are the Braves turning into one of those clubs that does just enough to lose?
Said Jones: “There’s a lot of pride in here. We’re going to go up there [to Yankee Stadium] looking to win a baseball game.”
Then this: “The only thing we need to do is to avoid pressing.”
Which is hard to do when you’re losing. The Braves hit into double plays in innings 1, 2 and 3. (First Jones, then Jason Heyward, then Delgado’s failed sacrifice.) That did suggest a batting order that was getting antsy. But then they came to the game’s final out, when Gonzalez thought too far ahead.
The right-handed Matt Diaz, who was hitting .120 against righties, was allowed to bat against Orioles closer Jim Johnson. With left-handed hitters Brian McCann and Eric Hinske available, why not deploy one? Gonzalez’s reasoning: He planned to pinch-hit McCann for David Ross if both Diaz and Heyward reached, and if Hinske had been used in Diaz’s slot there was a chance the pitcher’s spot could roll around with the tying run at third and nobody to hit except Tim Hudson, who’s a pitcher.
The counterpoint: If Diaz makes an out, all points are moot. And it should be noted that Gonzalez had sacrificed the left-handed Juan Francisco in the eighth not because Jack Wilson is a better hitter — Wilson isn’t a better hitter than many people in the big leagues — but because he hits right-handed and the O’s had just summoned lefty Troy Patton. (Wilson popped to first.)
The impression — heck, the reality — was that the manager of a team that had lost five of six suffered a sixth loss in seven games without using either of the two left-handed hitters on his bench against a righty closer. Had Diaz ripped a single (or drawn a walk), we would applaud Gonzalez’s patience. Instead Diaz whiffed, and his final swing was as meek as the rationale that put him in that spot.
This isn’t to suggest that Gonzalez is overmatched or that his team has stopped playing for him. He’s a solid baseball man, and there has been little to suggest his men aren’t trying. But these past four weeks — the Braves have lost 15 of 24, and that’s with a six-game winning streak mixed in — have put a hitch in this team’s swagger. First the Braves weren’t pitching well enough, and now they’ve stopped hitting.
“We blew a couple of four-run leads [on the homestand],” Jones said, “and those would have gone a long way toward having people not take a loss like today’s so hard.”
Add two wasted leads to the losses-for-no-reason that closed the sets against the Yankees and the Orioles, and you have a well-pitched-but-wasted homestand. (And with Brandon Beachy out, there’s no guarantee the starting pitching will be this good again anytime soon.) It’s still too early to say the Braves’ season teeters on the brink, but it’s not too early to suggest they need to stop losing winnable games.
By Mark Bradley
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363 comments Add your comment
BravesBobblehead24
June 17th, 2012
7:07 pm
You can fire Freddie, Frank but with the owners the Braves have you will probably get the same results, maybe a little better, but no stability in the lineup, no going after players that can fill you needs when players you bring up still need to be in the minor league. Just plain D@mn!!
braveslover
June 17th, 2012
7:09 pm
Did I hear Jair is coming back and will be pitching in Boston on the broadcast today? With all this (deservedly) ripping of Fredi no one has a suggestion for whom could/would replace him. Let’s look at the facts:
1-Libery is not and will not up the payroll enough to be competitive
2.We have the second youngest team in the majors
3.We will be young until such time as the team is sold because we cannot afford to keep or sign big ticket players so we will have to keep bringing them up from the minors when we let them get away cuz we can’t afford them
4. It’s hard to teach athletes how to WIN. From olympians to nascar to golfers, to professional athletes there is a huge difference in knowing how to PLAY and knowing how to WIN
5. A manager has to put his team in a position to win. Fredi bless his heart just doesn’t know how
6. There is no on available during the season to take Fredi’s place even if the Braves wanted to let him go. Well maybe Lou Pinella
7.Yes there is a large number of pitchers throughout baseball that are or have been injured this year but no team has had EVERY pitcher hurt or miss games on their team except the Braves
Let’s face it fellow Brave Lovers…we want more for and from this team and this franchise than the Braves organization does.
BirdDawg25
June 17th, 2012
7:11 pm
this team has been average for the past few years. dont expect a world series ring for this team anytime soon. remember the 90s ? they are gone. and so are the braves glory days.
Sonny Clusters
June 17th, 2012
7:11 pm
Tender little man, we are enjoying blogging about the Braves and we watch them on television and go to games and sit where all the other fans sit . . . so we think we are as much a fan as a little tender tulip that tries to impose his will on everybody else. If you are content with losing streaks and having the Yankees and Orioles come in and hand us our tipped caps . . . well, good for you. If, on the other hand, you have really accepted this organization’s claims of “championship” baseball for years . . . you are a major reason why the organization is not compelled to improve. They can do no wrong because you, tender one, are a “true” fan. Those of us who don’t drink the Kool-Aid are “unworthy” if we ask for more, expect more, demand more than this group cares to give. Now, Chipper could always hit but he’s no role model. He is not “classy” and he is not all that the publicists would like us to think. He is a ballplayer. A tattooed, seed spitting, ballplayer and that’s all right because that’s all we expect of him. If you want to talk with him about marrying your daughter, that’s all right with us. He should be available in a few months.
blazerdawg
June 17th, 2012
7:15 pm
The balk did not hurt, because we could not score a run. Batters failed at moving runners all day – not a Fredi issue. I liked that he stuck with Delgado also. Time for the players’ leadership to step up. Jones, Uggla, Heyward did not do anything at the plate today.
gcs
June 17th, 2012
7:15 pm
Someone needs to light a fire under this team but it’s not going to be the librarian Fredi Gonzalez.
He has NO fire.
LakeDawg
June 17th, 2012
7:15 pm
“After a wasted homestand, the Atlanta Braves are in trouble”
Well, DUH. Welcome to reality. I love Chipper’s quote. After saying the team has pride, he says they’re going to NY “looking to win a baseball game.” Looking to win A GAME. That’s a way to rally the troops, Chipper.
Veritas
June 17th, 2012
7:15 pm
The next Brave that tips their cap, I hope their posterior and career is in it.
LakeDawg
June 17th, 2012
7:16 pm
Did Fredi actually yell “go to the stretch” as Delgado was into his wind up?
1991 braves
June 17th, 2012
7:18 pm
Wren and his puppet making another brilliant move. They are bringing up J.J who has a losing record in Gwinnett and an E.R.A. of over 5.00. This guy doesn’t have it, and why did they bring up Medlen if they were going to sit him in bull pen. These idiots have no clue what the hell they are doing. Medlen should have never been sent to Gwinnett if they were going to just put him in bullpen. Medlen had much better numbers at Gwinnett as starter, so why not let him start. But no these clowns show once again they have no clue. And to say this guy is not a bad manager, is just sugar coating by another AJC writer that is afraid to call a spade a spade. The guy’s explanation for letting Diaz bat instead of McCann or Hinske is typical. And why do the AJC writer’s always give Larry Jones a free pass? This guy runs his big mouth and criticizes other players, and constantly takes his little jabs at teammates, yet he never admits that he is part of the problem. He is no leader, he is nothing but a back stabbing crybaby. He is the biggest problem the braves have, other than the manager. The other players don’t look up to this guy, because they know he is stabbing them in the back, and blaming everyone except himself. A leader will stand up and say when he is hurting the team, and a leader will admit if he is part of the problem, but this guy has no sack, and he will never be a leader. When your face of the franchise isn’t a leader, and he is part of the problem in the clubhouse, you have huge problems. This team has huge problems. Get rid of Larry crybaby Jones, and this team will be better off. Someone would have to step up and become the leader on the field and in the clubhouse.
LakeDawg
June 17th, 2012
7:19 pm
This is ” Bobby Cox: the sequel.” Only worse, because sequels are never as good as the original.
BirdDawg25\
June 17th, 2012
7:19 pm
Enter your comments here
George Stein
June 17th, 2012
7:22 pm
How ’bout Fancona, braveslover?
DAM
June 17th, 2012
7:23 pm
Outstanding article, Mark.
Fed Up
June 17th, 2012
7:25 pm
Finally. somebody willing to say it.
Fire Fredi G. and all will be well. Dude is worthless.
DaveinNEPA
June 17th, 2012
7:28 pm
@Stein
When Francona managed in Philly, the fans called him “Francoma”.
He had the 2nd highest payroll in the game to work with in Boston but if he came here with this ownership, he wouldn’t do any better than he did in Philly.
What?
June 17th, 2012
7:29 pm
Chipper just needs to go ahead and end this little retirement parade. It does no good to have him on the field twice a week. No one gets comfortable because they are constantly switching positions on the field and in the batting order. Go ahead and hang it up, Chip. This team is going nowhere with or without you on the roster. Let Prado be the man at third.
Doofus(Goober and Gomer's Smart Brother)
June 17th, 2012
7:30 pm
“LakeDawg” will let you know if he yelled during his windup(or too late) when I watch it again. Will try to post it on this blog if still available.
That photo of FG walking away from the ump makes me thing he is crying. Just looks that way. “THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!” Wonder if the ump hurt his feelings when he said, “Go sit down and shut up,Fredi!”
JOHNNY
June 17th, 2012
7:30 pm
Did someone mention Chippee should be our next manager..What a laugh that would be..He talks like he has mush in his mouth..Says dumb things all the time…ie, his retirement speech three weeks ago, when he said “I am retiring cause i want to spend more time with my family” ahahahahh…which family would that be Chippee? The one going to family court for a another divorce????
kevkat
June 17th, 2012
7:30 pm
Doofus(Goober and Gomer’s Smart Brother)
June 17th, 2012
6:37 pm
From MB: “This man isn’t a bad manager, but his team is in a bad patch”. That has to be one of the most comical comments I have heard all season. If he wasn’t serious I would think he was kidding. A team doesn’t score but 4 runs in 27 innings, leaving 33 on base, and he is not a “bad manager”. Guess what a good manager would do? He would manufacture runs, you know, like Sparky Anderson, and Earl Weaver use to do, with bunts, steals, hit and run, etc. HE WOULD ALSO HAVE HIS PLAYER’S BACKS and QUESTION THE REALLY BAD CALLS BY THE UMPIRE! Not just be a robot and sit in the dugout, and say, OH WELL, tomorrow’s another d
Couldn’t agree more
Timbo
June 17th, 2012
7:30 pm
Hey LOL… Freddie doesn’t encourage his players. Why should we encourage him? Just because he’s the manager? He should be questioned right now, is being questioned right now, and deservedy so.
Mikey in Jax
June 17th, 2012
7:31 pm
The Braves have absolutely no clutch hitters. They must be dead last in runs scored in bases loaded situations. Heck they can’t even execute bunts successfully. Uggla hits one home run a week and the announcers pronounce him to be on fire. In April I had guarded hopes for a successful season. With this manager and these players those hopes are gone in June.
Joe 12-Pack
June 17th, 2012
7:31 pm
I wish someone on this team would get mad! Throw a chair! Break something! I wish it would be McCann but he is too much of a “nice guy”. It’s not gonna be Fredi even though it’s his job.
These guys are a bunch of sensitive weenies who hug. I am glad they have chemistry but they need some fire.
Freeman needs to suck it up, get on the field and play through the pain.
Chipper needs to assume his role on the bench.
Heyward needs to stop being a kid.
Bourn is good as gone in a couple of months (you’re welcome Yankees).
Prado is the only one who comes to play everyday.
George Stein
June 17th, 2012
7:31 pm
I don’t think this team is devoid of talent, Dave. The manager is complete dolt who has no clue how manage a bullpen, set a lineup, or use tactics to help his team. Francona would make fewer of those errors, I think.
RFK AVL
June 17th, 2012
7:32 pm
You think Fedi leaving in Beachy for 128 pitches in the middle of May just for a complete game
was a good decision either? Hard not to imagine that doesn’t effect his elbow problems from yesterday.
There is a place for Fredi in the MLB, and it is on 3rd base coaches box.
kirkinga
June 17th, 2012
7:37 pm
I still think Joe Torre should be our manager. He played and manged well for the Braves,
He also has all those rings that give him a type of credibility that even Bobby Cox doesn’t enjoy. The Braves clearly lack leadership and accountability in the clubhouse.I think it is now clear that perhaps some teams might benefit from having some players who refuse to be happy-go-lucky when the team is losing..
William Smith
June 17th, 2012
7:41 pm
You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken s—. The Braves are a second rate team, but continues to talk like the 1927 Yankees. The ultimate example of the Braves futility was when McCann let the ball get past him and it bounced off the back wall to him. He stumbled around like a drunk and could never pick up the ball. Time to unload this whole team including players, manager, coaches, and most of all owners. I make my statement by refusing to go to Braves games if everyone did the same changes would be made. Lastly, the Braves should have gotten rid of Bobby Cox and they would have done much better.
DaveinNEPA
June 17th, 2012
7:41 pm
@Stein
Oh, I know how overmatched he is. I live in the NE part of Pa. When they played the Yankees last week I was forced to watch the Yankees feed for the games and their announcers were all over the moves Fredi was making. If Fredi were managing in Boston, NY, or Philly, the news media would be all over him and would basically run him out of town.
Unfortunately, the softsoap media (and company shills in the broadcast booth) in ATL keep trying to con us into believing that “all is well”. All is NOT well and isn’t going to be until this organization gets a complete overhaul. Firing Fredi would only be the start.
Excited fan
June 17th, 2012
7:46 pm
Just because I said I was excited, means if we can lose more, quit putting money in libertys pocket things will change for the good. You retarded nu nut fans keep going to the game so they think you love the product. grow up people and quit letting these corporations own anything. Let’s get back to knowing who own our teams. We all knew Ted and Jane. I bet over 99 percent could not tell me the CEO name of liberty media without searching. I wish somewhere that someone would listen and get rid of fredi and Frankie. The two f boys have made an f in every category they have touched. I predict a fire sale by July break.
George Stein
June 17th, 2012
7:51 pm
Totally agree, Dave.
extremus
June 17th, 2012
7:51 pm
Going to Yankee Stadium to “try to win a game”, Chipper? You should be going to try to win THREE baseball games there, just like the Yankees did on your field.
I realize Jones didn’t mean for his statement to come out that way, but still…
For the many here who are increasingly frustrated by the Braves’ current situation, at least look at the positives that may come out of it should this swoon actually become a season-destroying trainwreck (something I have a feeling we may know within the next week or two depending on how the Braves respond). If the season unravels completely, Fredi Gonzalez will likely be out the door, and perhaps at some point even Frank Wren (keep in mind that ownership really only cares about the team’s profitability, not its on-field performance, so the latter especially is unlikely during the season itself). If ticket sales drop sharply enough to affect Liberty Media’s bottom line, they could sell the team (hopefully to a passionate and emotionally invested human, local owner), but that would require Fulton County Stadium mid-1980s level turnouts. And this roster, chock full of disappointment and inconsistency, would likely see some major turnover as the Braves become sellers at the trade deadline; the question is what they might get for a half-season of Bourn or some of that young pitching they so stubbornly held onto this past offseason to none effect.
Many of us, at least if all those things happened, would have the BEGINNINGS of what we want going by the daily comments here. The big question then is whether those who replace these parties end up being any better than what we have now.
Dr.Don
June 17th, 2012
7:54 pm
Doofus – Earl Weaver? He would have sat back and waited for the 3 run homer. Bunt? Not so much.
cheap braves
June 17th, 2012
7:58 pm
FORGET ABOUT FREDI!
LOOK AT THE SALARIES OF THE PITCHING STAFF.YOU GET WANT YOU PAY FOR!
THE REAL PROBLEMS OF THE BRAVES IS LIBERTY MEDIA.THEY DO NOT WANT TO *OFFEND*
ANY OF THEIR CABLE CUSTOMERS,BY HAVING A WINNER IN ATLANTA!
MLS
June 17th, 2012
7:58 pm
Well Folks, I think we can turn off the light because the season is over here in Atlanta. We have ownership that does not give a crap about the team (just the bottom line) and we have a coach that is absolutely clueless!!!! He showed it last year and he is proving it this year. Atlanta Braves fans deserve better and we should all band together and make sure ownership does something NOW not at the end of the season. We need to start praying for an owner like a Ted Turner or Mr. Home Depot himself. We are back on the road to having a team like the Braves of old (the 1970’s). H-E-L-P,,,,,
braveshoo
June 17th, 2012
8:00 pm
Whoever we got to replace FG couldnt be worse. If Liberty wont spend the money for another manager, then try Eddie Perez. They are already paying him, and having been a former catcher, I am sure he would handle the pitchers better.
dean
June 17th, 2012
8:02 pm
This just sucks.
NYBRAVESFAN
June 17th, 2012
8:04 pm
Good news; Freddie will be fired within the next 7 days
Bad news; The Braves are about to go 0-6 under Freddie this week.
LakeDawg
June 17th, 2012
8:09 pm
Doofus(Goober and Gomer’s Smart Brother)
Thanks
Biff Pocoroba
June 17th, 2012
8:10 pm
When this team gets behind, there is no sense that they have a chance of coming back. Our team doesn’t seem capable of putting pressure on an opponent when they are losing. The Braves seem to be either disinterested or just not good enough and neither is acceptable. I don’t know about the rest of you but I am tired of loserville and our commitment to mediocrity. It wouldn’t bother me at all if all three of our underperforming teams decided to move.
DetroitBraves
June 17th, 2012
8:11 pm
He is over-matched. He is not a good manager. And had Diaz reached, even if the Braves had gone on to win the game, it would still have been the wrong move by a bad manager. I agree that most would have forgiven the move, or worse, let the results justify yet another poor decision by Fredi. It would have been lucky that they won the game despite not deploying resources in an optimal way. Of course, this does happen in baseball. It is not validating. Fredi Gonzalez has been a bad manager in both times when the Braves have won and when they’ve lost. There’s no reason for a big league club to continue to put up with this.
dmr
June 17th, 2012
8:12 pm
This has been and will be the BRAVES the fans get until “private ownership” takes over. We try to live in the past when it comes to pitching. We have good players but not those many would consider clutch. Our pitching staff has been mediocre at best. Our hitting has been inconsistent as per usual. Freddie “G” cannot seem to get out of his own way sometime…”playing by the book.” Finally, Liberty Media will join the ranks of the ASG in terms of ownership.
DetroitBraves
June 17th, 2012
8:14 pm
@Dave and @Stein, amen brothers. It’s getting a little old, and I totally agree that the Braves issues extend well beyond Fredi.
BravesFanInBama
June 17th, 2012
8:16 pm
I love hearing the comments from Chipper…considering it is absolutely awful hitting that isn’t helping this team. How does getting a bruise on your foot kill your swing? Me thinks there is a case of “Tiger-itis” going on here….
BravesFanInBama
June 17th, 2012
8:17 pm
* his awful hitting.
DetroitBraves
June 17th, 2012
8:17 pm
Enter your comments here
Rafael
June 17th, 2012
8:23 pm
At least someone else agrees with me that Matt Diaz is a TOTAL BUM and an EMBARRASSMENT to have on the Braves MLB roster.
Fredi Gonzalez, Matt Diaz’ Uncle keeps putting this washed-up, bargain-basement BUM in the lineup.
Whoever keeps saying “he rakes lefthanders you know” PLEASE STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Frank Wren and Liberty CHEAPIA will NOT make ANY moves to help this struggling team becasue it costs money. Liberty CHEAPIA continues to use our Braves as a “tax writeoff.”
Since Liberty CHEAPIA owns QVC, PLEASE DO NOT buy a thing from QVC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
QVC and Liberty MEDIA are like the ANTI-CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All you toot fans CONTINUE to flock to Turner Field for the 33% off Turner Dogs. Stay away, one of the ways to DEFEAT NAZI Liberty CHEAPIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ken Stallings
June 17th, 2012
8:23 pm
I have never called for Fredi Gonzalez’s head. But, for a manager to yell at a pitcher at that time and directly cause a balk RBI in grounds for immediate termination! It shows way too much of a micro-managerial strategy combined with a tone-deaf appreciation for the game situation.
That run is entirely on Gonzalez for putting his player in a position to fail.
The balk did hurt because in the ninth inning being down two runs vice merely one prevented the Braves from playing that leadoff single into a sacrifice to put the runner at second base. They had to go for multiple runs to tie.
It was a serious lack of judgment for the manager when his team is struggling to score runs and no manager can force such a terrible mistake directly causing a run.
Tomy Fournier
June 17th, 2012
8:24 pm
no comments…for what?????
1eyedJack
June 17th, 2012
8:25 pm
Jekyll and Hyde…with a limp.
tim
June 17th, 2012
8:26 pm
Great article, I too loved the hiring of FG in the beginning however while I do not presume to have the ability to run a big league club I don’t Fredi does either. What this club needs is a Larry Bowa type,not Larry Bowa but his type one not afraid to kick a little ass. This club has been lack luster from day one no spirit no drive,but a move needs to be bad soon like NOW.