The Side Line
I remember being young when it was safe to assume the Atlanta Braves would make the playoffs.
Ever since our spoiled run in the 90s the Braves seem to blow it early in the post-season or, even worse, not make it at all. Their historic collapse in the 2011 season may be remembered throughout baseball for a few seasons, but it will stick to this Atlanta native forever. And even after destroying our lead in the wild card race in September, we still had a chance at the post-season.
We needed one win over the Phillies and the Cardinals needed to lose the Astros. Instead we got a 4-3, 13th inning loss and the Cards slaughtered Houston 8-0. Our lights-out rookie closer, Craig Kimbrel, and relief pitcher, Jonny Venters, were a fierce duo to close out games this season. When it all mattered, with the season on the line, they combined for four walks and a hit batter. In the 13th inning at Turner Field, Philadelphia’s Hunter Pence’s broken bat blooper single was the icing on the cake to the worst ending of a baseball season I’ve seen.
At the beginning of September we were eight and half games up on the Cardinals and looking like wild card hopefuls. Down the stretch we went 10-20 losing nine games to he Phillies and Cards and losing three consecutive series to the Mets, Marlins and Nationals, statistically some of the worst teams in the National League.
Not all was bad this season. Craig Kimbrel gave strong performances night after night in situations that are difficult to handle as a rookie. Uggla finally remembered how to hit, Freddie Freeman held down first base. And Chipper finished solid, batting .275 with 18 bombs. But this season lost its positive memories real quick when first year manager Fredi Gonzalez let it all crumble.
In-game operations usually entail lineup changes and bullpen substitutions. But real coaching takes place off the field when a team needs motivation. Dwelling on the injuries doesn’t help and being complacent with a mediocre lead hurts you in the MLB. Atlanta looked like they were waiting for the playoffs to fall into place. There was no spark and every player looked as if they were playing for themselves. In a division with the Phillies, nothing is free. I personally don’t remember one time when Gonzalez got fired up at a bad call or yelled from the dugout to support his player. Bobby Cox’s voice rang out from the dugout during television broadcasts. It was Gonzalez’s first season, and he is already set to return for 2012. I’m fine with that, in spite of the lack of team unity.
Chipper is returning and a new hitting coach is on the way. Heyward is getting another shot, but is going to have to battle the young talent for the outfield position. Tyler Pastornicky is a young gem at shortstop that could bring things to the organization and I pray we pull the plug on Derek Lowe. Maybe missing the playoffs is not a bad thing. Nurse our injuries, think leadership from a managerial perspective and learn how to close out a baseball season.
Posted by Taylor Lamb
on Oct 6 2011. Filed under Sports.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
