April Over With; Braves A Game Below .500
Time to grade how the Braves are doing after the first month.
They are currently 10-11 going into today's game against the Astros. They are 3.5 games behind the 1st place Marlins and 1.5 behind the 2nd place Phillies
Offense
For the first couple of games, our offense was just simply amazing. Lots of runs were getting scored, we were putting the ball in play, and we were hitting it out of the park. Then in the middle of April, we could barely score a run. It was pretty awful to watch. We even got shutout two times in a row. Javier Vazquez and Jair Jurrjens were losing games when they only allowed 2 runs or less. That's not acceptable. We need to start putting runs on the scoreboard again if we want to compete in this division this year.
There has also been a couple of injuries that may have screwed us over and that may have been why we couldn't really score more than 2 or 3 runs a game, but we still need to have bench players that can come in and still help the team win. Omar Infante and David Ross have done an EXCELLENT job so far and I hope they can keep it up. If we didn't have Ross in Atlanta and McCann went on the DL, we would have an even worse record than we do now. Thank God we signed him!
Infante has done a great job getting on base and he definitely makes me feel better when Chipper missed a good amount of games and when Escobar had a minor injury. He is definitely doing a good job.
Norton and Prado are doing somewhat of a good job so far and Diaz (if you count him as a bench player) has done great as well. With Anderson and McCann on the DL, we need to make sure we pick it up. Diaz and Brandon Jones will be platooning in left field until Garret Anderson is healthy again so they need to make sure they continue to play well.
Jeff Francoeur, Chipper Jones, Yunel Escobar, Casey Kotchman, David Ross, and Omar Infante are all doing a great job.
Jordan Schafer, Kelly Johnson, Martin Prado, and Greg Norton need to pick it up a little.
Garret Anderson and Brian McCann are on the DL heading into May.
Main objective for offense to have a good May: Score more than 3 runs a game. With the starting pitching playing like they are playing, 3-5 runs a game will win us many, many games. We don't have hit the ball out of the park or score 10 runs a game everyday, but as long as we stay consistent, we can win this division.
Grading the Offense: B-
Pitching
Well there is a good and bad side to this.
The good side is the rotation. Absolutely amazing so far. Besides Kawakami, the starters have been great. Lowe is great, Jurrjens is amazing so far, Vazquez is a strikeout machine, and JoJo Reyes has been living up to his potential lately. Kenshin Kawakami is not doing bad, but he is not what most Braves fans thought he was. I know he is still adjusting, so no harm done yet. He really needs to find that control I know he has and needs to keep the ball in the park. He won't pitch 200 innings, but I expect a solid 160-180 innings from him.
Now the bad part.
The bullpen is not-so-great right now. They started off just horrible. After one of the starters came out, it was time to start praying because they just couldn't hold the tie or lead. I won't even discuss the 7 or 8 run lead we had the 3rd game of the season that they blew. Trading Blaine Boyer was a good start that has helped our bullpen, but unless they want more of them to be traded or sent down to the minors, they have to pitch a lot better, which they have the last couple of games. Peter Moylan looks a lot better, Rafael Soriano is back, and Mike Gonzalez is now in top form. Those 3 pitchers are the big part of the bullpen so if they are playing well, our whole bullpen will be great. When Campillo returns from the DL, our bullpen will be great.
Starters objective: Keep playing like they are playing now. They are keeping the ball in the infield, striking out guys, and have control.
Kawakami's objective: Keep the ball inside the park. Do that, and your ERA will be very low.
Bullpen's objective: Throw Strikes. If they do that, everything will be a lot better as long as it stays in the park.
Grading the Rotation: A
Grading the Bullpen: C
Teams's Objective: Stay Healthy. Plain and Simple. If we do, we will win the East.
They are currently 10-11 going into today's game against the Astros. They are 3.5 games behind the 1st place Marlins and 1.5 behind the 2nd place Phillies
Offense
For the first couple of games, our offense was just simply amazing. Lots of runs were getting scored, we were putting the ball in play, and we were hitting it out of the park. Then in the middle of April, we could barely score a run. It was pretty awful to watch. We even got shutout two times in a row. Javier Vazquez and Jair Jurrjens were losing games when they only allowed 2 runs or less. That's not acceptable. We need to start putting runs on the scoreboard again if we want to compete in this division this year.
There has also been a couple of injuries that may have screwed us over and that may have been why we couldn't really score more than 2 or 3 runs a game, but we still need to have bench players that can come in and still help the team win. Omar Infante and David Ross have done an EXCELLENT job so far and I hope they can keep it up. If we didn't have Ross in Atlanta and McCann went on the DL, we would have an even worse record than we do now. Thank God we signed him!
Infante has done a great job getting on base and he definitely makes me feel better when Chipper missed a good amount of games and when Escobar had a minor injury. He is definitely doing a good job.
Norton and Prado are doing somewhat of a good job so far and Diaz (if you count him as a bench player) has done great as well. With Anderson and McCann on the DL, we need to make sure we pick it up. Diaz and Brandon Jones will be platooning in left field until Garret Anderson is healthy again so they need to make sure they continue to play well.
Jeff Francoeur, Chipper Jones, Yunel Escobar, Casey Kotchman, David Ross, and Omar Infante are all doing a great job.
Jordan Schafer, Kelly Johnson, Martin Prado, and Greg Norton need to pick it up a little.
Garret Anderson and Brian McCann are on the DL heading into May.
Main objective for offense to have a good May: Score more than 3 runs a game. With the starting pitching playing like they are playing, 3-5 runs a game will win us many, many games. We don't have hit the ball out of the park or score 10 runs a game everyday, but as long as we stay consistent, we can win this division.
Grading the Offense: B-
Pitching
Well there is a good and bad side to this.
The good side is the rotation. Absolutely amazing so far. Besides Kawakami, the starters have been great. Lowe is great, Jurrjens is amazing so far, Vazquez is a strikeout machine, and JoJo Reyes has been living up to his potential lately. Kenshin Kawakami is not doing bad, but he is not what most Braves fans thought he was. I know he is still adjusting, so no harm done yet. He really needs to find that control I know he has and needs to keep the ball in the park. He won't pitch 200 innings, but I expect a solid 160-180 innings from him.
Now the bad part.
The bullpen is not-so-great right now. They started off just horrible. After one of the starters came out, it was time to start praying because they just couldn't hold the tie or lead. I won't even discuss the 7 or 8 run lead we had the 3rd game of the season that they blew. Trading Blaine Boyer was a good start that has helped our bullpen, but unless they want more of them to be traded or sent down to the minors, they have to pitch a lot better, which they have the last couple of games. Peter Moylan looks a lot better, Rafael Soriano is back, and Mike Gonzalez is now in top form. Those 3 pitchers are the big part of the bullpen so if they are playing well, our whole bullpen will be great. When Campillo returns from the DL, our bullpen will be great.
Starters objective: Keep playing like they are playing now. They are keeping the ball in the infield, striking out guys, and have control.
Kawakami's objective: Keep the ball inside the park. Do that, and your ERA will be very low.
Bullpen's objective: Throw Strikes. If they do that, everything will be a lot better as long as it stays in the park.
Grading the Rotation: A
Grading the Bullpen: C
Teams's Objective: Stay Healthy. Plain and Simple. If we do, we will win the East.
The Red Sox to need to draw up a to-do list for themselves. They are really going through hot and cold phases and consistency has been an issue. I'm hoping that the remainder of May will be kinder to us.
Julia
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