The Braves Are Finally Playing Like THE BRAVES Again

By Trey Cosby

It has been a very discouraging first part of the season for the Atlanta Braves, but it looks like they are finally beginning to gel as they have now won their last four games in a row.  After a miserable road trip that had them looking like a glorified t-ball team, something or someone lit a fire up under their you-know-whats and the whole situation changed in a flash.  Manager Bobby Cox won’t admit it to the public because he is such a mild-mannered, gentle spirit kind of guy, but I can assure you that something went on in the locker room that normally does not go on.  The Braves started out looking abysmal.  They lost five one-run games in a row by the time they went on the road trip, and they looked like they had no passion for the game at all.  Guys were making errors; guys were striking out and every last one of them looked totally complacent.  I take that back, there was one player who played like a champion in spite of the others so I can’t say “everyone.”  If you have paid any attention to the Braves or you have had the chance to see who is setting the league on fire right now, then you know what player I am talking about.  You might have heard of him, his name is Chipper Jones!

So there is that exception to the rule, Jones has been great.  The Braves as a unit, however, have not been great up until this past weekend.  There have been several tough injuries that this team has had to endure, no doubt about that, and I take that into consideration as I write this article.  They first lost the closer Rafael Soriano to a nagging elbow injury that keeps on getting inflamed every time he turns around.  Smoltz had to miss some time because of his reoccurring shoulder injury, so they missed him for a start or two.  Tom Glavine had to go onto the disabled list because of a groin injury.  Mike Hampton got to the point where he was going to make his first Major League start in three years, and all of a sudden “BANG” he pulls his pectoral muscle 20 minutes before the actual game and ends up on the disabled list along with Glavine and Soriano.  Top it off with the fact that the next man in line to close games in the ninth inning, Peter Moylan, is probably going to be out for the entire season due to a bone spur that grew around his elbow and tore up his ligament.  I realize there have been some incredible hardships that the Braves have had to face in 2008!  The injury list is crazy.  Not many teams in any league would be able to handle things the way Bobby Cox and pitching coach Roger McDowell have been able to handle them.  I applaud them for their diligence and abilities to be able to juggle so many players.  It is a tall order to mix and match backups when you were not expecting them to contribute in so many separate ways.

My problem was not with the players who were playing, it was dealing with watching a team that looked like they did not care about anything for a couple of weeks.  As I said before, a “team meeting” was called right after the Braves returned from the road trip where they had just gotten swept by the Rockies in Colorado.  Something was said and something was taken to heart by the players.  When they got out onto that field on Friday to play the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers, this 2008 Braves team looked like a team that was on a mission from God.  Even without being able to use their ace pitchers John Smoltz and Tim Hudson because it wasn’t their turns in the rotation, the Braves secondary pitchers came out and dominated the entire game from start to finish.  The starter Jeff Bennett, who had been much aligned because of his bad control, hit the field with his game face on and shut down the Dodgers for six innings.  Then the bullpen went out and did the job to finish the game.  In game two on Saturday, starter Chuck James gave up just one mistake when he threw a gopher ball to Andruw Jones.  Other than that he pitched brilliantly and won the game going away.  Rookie starter Jair Jerrgens, who the Braves got in a trade for shortstop Edgar Renteria, pitched another gem on Sunday to complete the three game series.  Jerrgens pitched seven strong innings before giving way to the bullpen, and the Braves went on to win the game 6-1.  By the time the weekend was over with, the Atlanta Braves had outscored the Los Angeles Dodgers 16-3 as they swept their cross-country rivals in three very well-played victories.

Now the embattled team from Atlanta is looking like they are ready to play baseball.  Jones had to carry the team for a few weeks, but that is no longer the case.  First baseman Mark Texiera is now starting to heat up, right fielder Jeff Francouer is pounding the baseball at a very comfortable clip and Jones is just making the National League pitchers look like they ought to be out flipping burgers or drinking beer rather than pitching to Major League hitters.  What Jones is doing is nothing short of spectacular.  As of now he is number one in the Major Leagues in batting average, he is leading the Major Leagues in slugging percentage, he is number one in RBI production and number two in home runs.  Watch out National League because this team is playing with confidence right now.  FINALLY!  I can feel an eight or nine game winning streak coming on but we will just have to wait and see.  One thing is for sure, everyone knows that the Braves are rising and nobody wants to play them.  Until next time…