There’s Still Hope
By raykelsey
Every time we think the Braves have officially flatlined and we look up at the clock to call the season’s time of death, the heart monitor suddenly beeps, and beeps again, and just like that, we’re right back in it. Whether they’re just toying with us and merely prolonging the inevitable remains to be seen. There’s no denying, though, that despite all the difficulties this year, the Braves still have a pulse. There is still what Emily Dickenson referred to as that thing with feathers…that keeps us warm’
Hope.
And summer just arrived in Atlanta.
On the current road trip, the schizophrenic Braves followed a sweep of the Phillies with a series loss to the lowly Nationals, before beating a surging Cubs team–and did it with a utility third baseman, a second baseman no one has ever heard of, Jeff Francoeur, and no Chipper Jones. Say what? The reason is the same as it has been all year: stellar pitching. Kenshin Kawakami, who has as many incarnations as Sybil, looked like the same guy who outpitched Roy Halliday and was blanking the Yankees (before leaving the game early after getting hit with a line drive). He, like Javier Vazquez the night before, put a lid on the much anticipated return of Aramis Ramirez, and rendered the red hot Derek Lee a non factor.
Oh, and that guy playing shortstop, the one who was rumored to be in Bobby Cox’s dog house as well as on the trading block, was nothing short of amazing. He always hits–that’s not a surprise. But during the Cubs series, he turned into a veritable superhero, throwing his body in front of game saving bullet after bullet. The beeping we all hear tonight is due in large part to Yunel Escobar.
Tommy Hanson pitches the first game of a four game series–the last before the All Star Break–tomorrow against the torrid Rockies. His brief major league credentials include an impressive 4-0 record with a 2.25 ERA. But he has yet to pitch at Coors Field.
Over the next several days, we shall see if ‘that thing with feathers’ can reach a mile high.