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Monday, June 29, 2009

What to Make of the Braves

They drive me crazy. They're just good enough that I have to keep following them, especially with their starters. But they're just bad enough that I want to throw something every time I get too involved, especially on offense.

Starters: It's a crime that Jurrjens and Vazquez have losing records, and I think they should get to hit a Braves batter of their choice during their next warm-ups. I can't wait until Hanson is able to show a bit more command of his pitches. It'll be a joy to watch. Glad we didn't trade him for Peavy.

Bullpen: Soriano is dominant. Gonzalez makes it interesting, but gets the job done. I love how Bobby is using the two of them in tandem. Jeff Bennett's WHIP is 1.85, he's given up a walk-off bases loaded walk, and a walk-off HR to Nick Green. Therefore, he should never pitch again. I know we don't do it due to options, but I wish we would just cycle through relievers more. Some of the guys down at Gwinnett have to be able to do better than Bennett or Carlyle.

Offense: This is where it gets uglier than Escobar's hair. There isn't a single player with double-digit HRs in a Braves uniform (note: McLouth hit 9 of his 12 as a Pirate), while there are 84 in the majors. That's almost three per team.
Our team leader in RBIs is Escobar with 39. There's only 64 people ahead of him.
We trotted out Greg Norton for 50 at-bats. He got 4 hits.
We can't give Francoeur away.
I still don't understand how Brandon Jones would be any worse than Garrett Anderson. In fact, with the improved defense, he'd probably be better.
In fact, given how little life the Braves offense has had, I refuse to write another word about an offensive player unless they have an OBP higher than .350. Congratulations Brandon Jones, Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, David Ross, Omar Infante, and Matt Diaz. Too bad Brandon is in the minors and Infante is hurt.

So next time it's all about pitching and four offensive players. And you wonder why I post more about the Hawks...

1 comment:

MLT said...

I like to believe my silence on the braves is resounding. It is to me, at least. The offense is painful to watch and the pitching is terrific. Even Kawakami has been good lately. Our overall #s are worse than they appear, I suspect as we tend to "balance" 5 games of less than 3 runs with one or two of 10 plus. All we have to do is average ober 4.5 runs and we'll win 60% of our games.