Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: rally killers

Believe it or not, the Braves are still in second place.  It sure doesn’t feel like it … and there’s good reasons for that.

As of this morning, the Atlanta Braves are tied with the New York Mets for second place in the NL East… that 21-27 record isn’t exactly something to get all excited about, though.

Obviously, a .500 record or better would at least lift the spirits, but there are other reasons for the mood that I’ll bet we’ll all feeling here in Braves’ Country.

TIMING.

When you win the opener of a series, you gotta feel pretty good that there’s a chance for bigger and better things.  Yet against both the Pirates and Giants, Atlanta failed to capitalize on early success:

• vs. Pittsburgh:  won 2, then lost the last two (also the last pair of the homestand)
• On top of that, the way that one of those games was lost didn’t help either – snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
• vs. San Francisco:  won the first game against a Giants’ team that sports a poor offense… and then Atlanta struggled to score at all for the remainder of the series.

Heck, even if the outcome had been the same – winning just 3 of the last 7 games – there’s a psychological lift that you’d get just from reversing those outcomes and winning on the back end of each series.

RALLY KILLERS.

There’s actually no good correlation here to winning and losing – at least on the surface – but double plays are killing Braves’ rallies.

Through today, Atlanta now leads the National League in offensive double plays:  54 in 48 games.

The next closest NL squad?  The Dodgers, at 47, with the Phillies a distant third (42).

Strangely enough the 2nd place Red Sox (58) and best-in-the-majors Astro (55) have more.

At least the next opponent – the Angels – are 6th overall at 49.  After that comes the Reds with just 29 – good enough for 3rd best overall.

But it’s worse than that.  Atlanta has actually accelerated their GIDP pacing in May… leading all of baseball with 30 just in this month alone, and 10 in the past week.

They are accomplishing this dubious feat with the 6th most grounders and third fewest fly balls this month… though 7th best line drives (though I’d swear most of those go directly into the gloves of outfielders).

Sure – as a team, they are hitting .293 this week, but once those runners get on base, they are being erased, and that’s not exactly helping – especially when the pitchers need all the help they can get.

So which is better?  The strikeout or the double play?  In May, Atlanta is 10th best in strikeouts committed (and 3rd best in the last week), but worst in double plays.  I guess the right answer is probably “neither” – one is a bad outcome; the other is worse.

REALITY CHECK.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Atlanta Braves Mailbag: New Year’s Edition
• Braves News: Atlanta makes a pair of trades, prospect debuts, more
• Atlanta Braves History: How the Red Stockings became the Braves
• Braves News: Atlanta Braves acquire Eli White from the Texas Rangers
• Atlanta Braves Swing Trade with the New York Yankees for Lucas Luetge

So that second place record of 21-27… that would be last place in the AL East and NL Central, while just barely out of the basements of the other divisions, save perhaps the NL West (19-33 Padres).

Still, that should be cause for actual optimism.  Once returning home, the Braves have a run through all teams in the NL East… and all of them (Washington included) are looking quite beatable.

So while there’s still this general malaise of feeling like Atlanta isn’t getting anywhere, there are others doing worse that they can properly put in their places.

Hopefully June will be that month where this club can figure itself out and develop a bit of consistent winning.

THERAPY.

Is all that supposed to make you feel better about the Braves?  Not exactly – but knowing ‘why’ you’re annoyed is certainly part of the problem.

We want them to win, of course.  We want all of these great prospect kids to already be in the majors and crushing the Nats and Mets and everybody else.

But most of all… we wanna win.  That day will come.

Here’s the box for Sunday afternoon’s battle by the Bay.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Next: Let's Knock Around a Few Topics

ANGELS SERIES… without Mike Trout perhaps??

• MON: Teheran vs. Nolasco (9:07PM EDT)
• TUE:   Colon vs. Pitcher-to-be-named-later (10:07PM EDT)
• WED:  Garcia vs. Chavez (10:07PM EDT)