Tuesday night’s game was a microcosm of the Braves’ season. They received good pitching from their rookie starter Charlie Morton, but the offense’s perpetual battle to come up with timely hits, or any hits at all for that matter, left the Braves on this night on the wrong end of a 4-0 shutout.
On Monday, it was the Braves who were able to take advantage of a brilliant pitching performance from pleasant surprise Jorge Campillo. They also took advantage of runners in scoring position, something at which they have failed miserably this season. So complete a team win was Monday night’s victory, Chipper Jones proclaimed it their best victory of the season.
Back to reality. What has become indicative of Bobby Cox’s team during the last three seasons, the Braves’ inconsistency and lack of fundamental play manifested itself just one day after such an impressive win. Whatever they did right Monday night, they did wrong Tuesday, starting with the deciding fourth frame. The Braves began the fourth with three consecutive walks to the heart of the lineup. Thing are looking pretty good, right? Recently recalled Marlins starter Rick VandenHurk is reeling, and the Braves are poised to put a few runs on the board to provide their young starter a cushion. Up steps Jeff Francoeur (cue the music when a game show contestant fails. You know, “wah, wah, wah.”) True to his terrible ‘08 form, Jeff swings at the only 4 pitches he sees and strikes out. I’m nearly certain struggling pitchers view Francoeur walking to the plate as something akin to a sigh of relief. They’d rather see him step to the dish than the opposing pitcher, undoubtedly. At least the pitcher would make a guy who had walked three straight hitters throw him a strike.
So, not so unpredictably, the Braves squander as promising a scoring opportunity as a team can get, as neither Kelly Johnson or Mark Kotsay could bail Francoeur out. Move now to the bottom of the inning. Morton allows free passes to two Marlins batters. With two outs, he can get out of the inning unscathed and keep the game tied at zero. Oh, but no. Mike Jacobs hits a three-run bomb. Game, set, match.
To this point, the Braves had not even managed a hit. They finished the game with one, a measley single from Chipper, and the season in a snapshot is complete. The Braves squander great scoring opportunities, while their opponent takes advantage of lesser ones. The Braves get good pitching, but their over-eager offense makes the opposing pitcher look like 2001 Randy Johnson. Finally, the one single redeeming moment (no pun intended) is a basehit by their only stud — Chipper.
What else?
- Jeff Francoeur has 2 extra-base hits in his last 25 games. You wonder. If the Braves are sellers at the end of the month, what will happen to Jeff? Will they try to move him? Will they send him down for the rest of the season, since they are conceding the season anyway? Or will they allow him to further devolve at the major league level?
- Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning Tuesday night. It was his first action since June 5th. He struck out two after giving up a leadoff single to Hanley Ramirez (Ramirez was later thrown out attemting to steal second). Soriano’s velocity was down a little bit, but the end result was obviously good.
- Kelly Johnson is batting .163 in 15 July contests. He has one extra-base hit over that span.
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