Atlanta Braves: Don’t Lose Heart or Faith Braves Country
By W. M. Lawson
The Atlanta Braves are on a road trip that most would like to forget. Go ahead and forget it. Just don’t lose heart or faith.
Yeah. This can look ugly at times. The Atlanta Braves, as this is being written, are (53-64) on the year and are currently (sigh) down 14-0 to the Rockies in the 6th inning. This game could get worse. This season could get worse. But don’t give up yet or give in to despair.
This team was never going to win our division. Yes, there was a brief hope about 6 weeks ago that our beloved Braves might contend for a Wild Card spot. That seems as likely now as my running a 4 minute mile. Or a 5 minute mile. Or running a mile. Or running, unless someone is chasing me.
Anyway, the point here is that building and repairing something that was broken is not a pretty exercise. And this isn’t pretty. It won’t be pretty for the rest of the year.
I, like some of you, was both hopeful, yet apprehensive, about the “moves” Atlanta’s Front Office would make by the Trade Deadline. Much like the season, and our premature playoff hopes, that kind of fell flat. They didn’t really do anything.
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But that isn’t to say that nothing has happened. Brandon Phillips and Matt Adams have been revelations. Inciarte wasn’t a 2016 “flash in the pan”. Dude is legit. Camargo and Albies are the real deal and aren’t going anywhere. Even Sean Newcomb, though not killing the stats, seems to have the look of a big league starter.
Then you have the kids not even playing at STP yet. Acuna? More, please. Allard? Uh, yes. And there are 5-7 others in the wings just waiting for a chance. Biding time and chomping at the bit.
I’m not telling you what to think or how to feel. It seems like everyone is in that business these days. I’m just suggesting that, while yes, things can seem bleak at times this year, it isn’t a wash. And yes, those times seem to be in 6-7 game stretches. And yes, we have no pitching (kind of important in the game of baseball).
But don’t lose faith. This 2017 team, in spite of losing Freeman for an extended period, and Kemp for an extended period, and really just being a hodgepodge of good players trying to play like a team, has been better than 2016.
More fun to watch. These Atlanta Braves play harder. It seems like they love the game more.
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Help is on the way. And if this reads like a “pep talk”, so be it. Don’t pretend that everyone doesn’t need one at one time or another. We all do. Maybe this is just our time.