Coming home and playing the Marlins, rather than the lossless Padres and Dodgers is going to help them get loose and play their game. This hitting strategy will pan out in the long run, but in the short term vs those two teams, notsomuch.
On the West coast, all of the hitters looked like they were on their first day on the job. Tight.
The RISP issues look like they signed a multiyear deal, same ghosts, new season. Watching the bench mob play some 90s style small ball on Wednesday actually gave me a spark of hope… which didn’t last of course.
I’ve read a few publications on the Braves woes this year. I think we all understand the problem, but problems need solutions not more problems. So I’m genuinely asking, what’s a solution? I’m sure there is more than one, but no one is coming to save them. Acuna isn’t going to get them over the hump, neither is Strider. It’s a team sport, so focusing on one or two players is not a solution.
I’m not suggesting firing, hiring, or burning jerseys but what do the baseball gods need as a sacrifice? Snit Bear?
These are elite guys. I'm not asking for miracles, just execution. Pressure’s part of the job, and lately it feels like some of them are trying to force a walk off every at bat instead of just keeping the line moving.
That being said, what could be a fix? I get that the game punishes even small mistakes but bad luck stops being bad luck when it becomes a pattern.
Not looking to blame one person over the other, but Ive seen what happens to teams when they lose moral, discipline, and confidence. Both in baseball and in the military.
Coaching seems to be an obvious direction to point, but thats not exactly the case when you have a group as talented as Snit does. Can't blame ownership for not giving AA more money to spend on talent that either pops for PEDs or gets hurt because a fly landed on them.
These guys know how to play. I’ve watched this same roster break records and steamroll teams. Now? It’s head down, “woe is me” baseball. And I'm not mad because they’re losing, I'm frustrated because they’re playing like they forgot who they are.
[Sorry, dude. I know you said you had writer’s block today, and here I am unloading like it’s group therapy after a blown save, because, well, it kinda was.]
No, you're good. The writer's block was yesterday.
As terrible as this sounds, I think it's partially down to vibes. These guys need to shake out of the funk and hopefully they can do it with a big run-scoring weekend against a middling Miami pitching staff.
Whether or not highly-paid veterans should be struggling due to bad vibes is another story altogether, but I do honestly think it's some bad luck and some bad vibes. In the past, there's always been that leader in the room - Markakis, Freeman, Dansby - that could help galvanize guys out of it as well as that clubhouse "character" full of swag and fun like Joc Pederson or Guillermo Heredia to distract them and lighten the mood. Not sure who is filling either of those roles at the moment.
That's the first thing I said when I saw the news about D'Arnaud leaving, "There goes the leader we needed to stay." I could say the same for the others you mentioned. I know he wasn’t the best catcher statistically, but man, he got the boys going.
Maybe someone will step up. But for the first time in a while, I can’t point to anyone on the lineup card or 40 man and say, “That’s the guy.” Maybe that’s something AA is going to have to address. I guess we’ll see how tonight goes.
Schwelly looked sharp in San Diego. Six scoreless innings, just one hit and one walk, four Ks. I don’t know much about Meyer, but maybe Olson and Riley can feast on the fastball, and Ozuna can wrestle with the sliders. We’ll see.
[I try to stay out of the “You make $20 million, hit the damn ball!” conversations. That’s a whole different can of worms.]
Coming home and playing the Marlins, rather than the lossless Padres and Dodgers is going to help them get loose and play their game. This hitting strategy will pan out in the long run, but in the short term vs those two teams, notsomuch.
On the West coast, all of the hitters looked like they were on their first day on the job. Tight.
The RISP issues look like they signed a multiyear deal, same ghosts, new season. Watching the bench mob play some 90s style small ball on Wednesday actually gave me a spark of hope… which didn’t last of course.
I’ve read a few publications on the Braves woes this year. I think we all understand the problem, but problems need solutions not more problems. So I’m genuinely asking, what’s a solution? I’m sure there is more than one, but no one is coming to save them. Acuna isn’t going to get them over the hump, neither is Strider. It’s a team sport, so focusing on one or two players is not a solution.
I’m not suggesting firing, hiring, or burning jerseys but what do the baseball gods need as a sacrifice? Snit Bear?
To genuinely answer, I think it's a lot of bad luck combined with trying to do too much in those RISP situations.
Riley should not have taken a borderline pitch on a two-strike count on Wednesday, but Olson's pop-up was more egregious. Etc etc.
These are elite guys. I'm not asking for miracles, just execution. Pressure’s part of the job, and lately it feels like some of them are trying to force a walk off every at bat instead of just keeping the line moving.
That being said, what could be a fix? I get that the game punishes even small mistakes but bad luck stops being bad luck when it becomes a pattern.
Not looking to blame one person over the other, but Ive seen what happens to teams when they lose moral, discipline, and confidence. Both in baseball and in the military.
Coaching seems to be an obvious direction to point, but thats not exactly the case when you have a group as talented as Snit does. Can't blame ownership for not giving AA more money to spend on talent that either pops for PEDs or gets hurt because a fly landed on them.
These guys know how to play. I’ve watched this same roster break records and steamroll teams. Now? It’s head down, “woe is me” baseball. And I'm not mad because they’re losing, I'm frustrated because they’re playing like they forgot who they are.
[Sorry, dude. I know you said you had writer’s block today, and here I am unloading like it’s group therapy after a blown save, because, well, it kinda was.]
No, you're good. The writer's block was yesterday.
As terrible as this sounds, I think it's partially down to vibes. These guys need to shake out of the funk and hopefully they can do it with a big run-scoring weekend against a middling Miami pitching staff.
Whether or not highly-paid veterans should be struggling due to bad vibes is another story altogether, but I do honestly think it's some bad luck and some bad vibes. In the past, there's always been that leader in the room - Markakis, Freeman, Dansby - that could help galvanize guys out of it as well as that clubhouse "character" full of swag and fun like Joc Pederson or Guillermo Heredia to distract them and lighten the mood. Not sure who is filling either of those roles at the moment.
That's the first thing I said when I saw the news about D'Arnaud leaving, "There goes the leader we needed to stay." I could say the same for the others you mentioned. I know he wasn’t the best catcher statistically, but man, he got the boys going.
Maybe someone will step up. But for the first time in a while, I can’t point to anyone on the lineup card or 40 man and say, “That’s the guy.” Maybe that’s something AA is going to have to address. I guess we’ll see how tonight goes.
Schwelly looked sharp in San Diego. Six scoreless innings, just one hit and one walk, four Ks. I don’t know much about Meyer, but maybe Olson and Riley can feast on the fastball, and Ozuna can wrestle with the sliders. We’ll see.
[I try to stay out of the “You make $20 million, hit the damn ball!” conversations. That’s a whole different can of worms.]