That was hard to watch, indeed. The Braves were up 10 1/2 games on St. Louis on August 27th. I really can't believe that it happened. It's pretty shocking for a team that had the 2nd best record in baseball and led the wildcard since June 8th. That was an epic meltdown, indeed. I thought the team was done in Florida, honestly.
The Braves had a good year, but they have to finish that. There really are no excuses, but it's a young team. That shouldn't have happened, and they can thank their ice cold bats with runners on base, too.
I stated it earlier in the thread. You can look back at two games.
@ St. Louis- Atlanta leads 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th and has 2 outs and a man on first base and loses. That was the first game of the series, and the Cardinals needed to win every game of that series. The Braves never recovered, and the Cardinals continued to roll.
@ Florida- Atlanta has a 1 run lead (in the bottom of the 9th) with 2 outs and the bases empty and loses. Chipper lost the game ending out in the lights, and Kimbrel didn't pick him up. Crusher.
Those were back breakers. Losing their two best starting pitchers caught up to them in September and ultimately did them in. The backbone of the team (Venters and Kimbrel) looked tired in the end due to the starters not going deeper into the games. These guys had to be perfect for the Braves to win, and that is a ton of pressure on them. They had great years, and the Braves are not even close to contending without them.
Nevertheless, those young rookie pitchers gave the Braves every opportunity to close this out. They did their jobs well and pitched good and gave their team a chance to get it done and win. This is a pitching team, and the hitting with runners in scoring position (during September) was atrocious.
If you lose 2/3 to New York, @ Florida, @ Washington, and get swept @ St. Louis, you really don't deserve to be in the playoffs.
Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals. They deserved it in the end. They went 5-1 against the Braves.
I expect the winner of the Phillies/Cardinals series to go to the World Series. I thought the Phillies would get old this year, but that wasn't the case. They are very experienced and very good. It wouldn't surprise me if they won it all, again. However the Cardinals (especially in a short series) are very dangerous to them.
The Braves have some great young pitching and found a stud first basemen. Craig Kimbrel had a great year, and he's just a rookie. Venters was a stud, again. Hope to see Chipper Jones back. That old man had a great year, especially when you consider his age. Dan Uggla had a very strong, good year after a horrendous start. He's a really good player and watching him everyday will show you. Micheal Bourne is a really good player, and he performed great for the Braves. Prado had a very surprising down year, and McCann and Prado really struggled in September. However, there is plenty of blame to go around with the offense for sure. Tim Hudson was really good, but Brandon Beachy really struggled in September. Derrek Lowe looks done, and starting him was pretty much an automatic loss in September for sure.
The Braves need a new shortstop, and Jason Heyward needs some good coaching. They have to get him back on track. He has too much talent.
Randall Delgado is about to take someone's job, and Mike Minor is, too. The Braves better be glad that they didn't trade them to the Mets. Julio Tehran is lurking, too.
Tommy Hanson's shoulder is a concern, and Jair Jurrgen's knee has to be a concern, too. Losing Jurrgen's was a killer. He won 12 games (16 starts) before the All-Star break and was an All-Star himself and the Cy Young frontrunner at the break. Then he starts just 7 games after the break and wins 1 game. He was the team's best starting pitcher. He was the Ace.
Tommy Hanson was 10-4 at the break after 17 starts, and he should have made the All-Star game. He was the team's 2nd best starting pitcher. After the break, Hanson starts 5 games and wins 1.
Jurrgens and Hanson combined for 22 wins before the All-Star break, but they combined for 2 wins after the All-Star break.
That is the root of the collapse, imo. However, the rookie starting pitchers did their job. This wasn't their fault.
The Braves were not going to last long in the playoffs, anyway. The team was just a shell of what they were in August.
