Post by jobo9braves on Jan 10, 2017 0:19:06 GMT -5
Atlanta Journal and Constitution Monday, August 28, 2028
By Burman Fisher, Sports Editor
In the hole…
Two weeks ago the Atlanta Braves looked to be sitting in the catbird’s seat in the NL Sandy Koufax division.
After winning 2 of 3 games in St. Louis, they found themselves tied with the Cubs, only one game behind the first place Cardinals. And they were coming home for a week of games with those same Cubs and Cardinals… Atlanta was leading in the wild card race with a great chance to move up into the division lead in these head to head matchups.
When the dust and the debris of the week settled, both Chicago and St. Louis had swept Atlanta, pushing the Braves back into 3rd place, 7 games off the pace.
“0 and 6... That was brutal,” said Braves pitcher Pedro Chavez. “And what hurt the most was the idea of the missed opportunity to make our move…”
And things got worse….
Appearing to play in a dispirited manner, in the next week the Braves dropped 5 of 7 to the Mets and the Brewers, extending their slide with a 2-11 record over the two week span. It dropped Atlanta into 4th place behind the surging Pirates, who had won 8 straight from the Cubs and the Cardinals. It also left the Braves behind in the Wild Card run as well.
“We’ve put ourselves in a really deep hole,” Chavez acknowledged. “We needed a real come-to-Jesus meeting.”
Which is what Chavez called for…. A closed door, players only meeting following Sunday afternoon’s 3-2 loss to Milwaukee.
Chavez would not disclose exactly what he said in that team meeting… or what others may have said.
“It’s not important to tell all that we said. But, we did clear the air on a few issues and we committed to focus on how to climb back into this playoff chase….. Meaning? Starting tonight… we’ll take ‘em one game at a time,” he said. “We’re just gonna take care of business.”
With five weeks left in the regular season, the value of each individual game goes up. But the games with the teams ahead of them in this division have greater significance, as they mean a full game swing in the standings.
The Braves have only 3 games left with the Cubs, 3 left with Cardinals. But they do have 7 remaining with the Pirates. Chavez was asked if these were critical, do-or-die series for the Braves chances for the playoffs?
“I said every game from here on is most important. We will take them one...at...a…time...” he said, with fire flashing in his eyes.
They find themselves in a deep hole, needing some explosive bats and some dynamite arms to come through in this last month…
And all Atlanta is counting on them to create some fire-in-the hole….