BS Report: The Braves Need to Bounce Back in July
Well, I kind of feel like I’m repeating myself when it comes to the Atlanta Braves on the B.S. report. It’s been kind of the same story over and over again for the month of June, but thankfully, June can head right out that door and leave because they are done. And the Braves have got to be glad that the calendar was turned and it’s now July the 1st.
They were awful in the month of July 9th and 14, and if not for the bullpen, they would have already been in second place. They are only two and a half games in front of the second place Philadelphia Phillies right now, and four and a half in front of the third place Miami Marlins, who had an unbelievable month of June.
They won 20 games in June, their best month in team history. So the Braves have got to kind of wash this away. But you can’t deny the fact that when you’re struggling to that level, I mean, they were last in runs scored, last in batting average, last in home runs last and on base percentage last in slugging percentage, which means you were last in Ops.
They were last in about everything when it came to the hitting woes. And then on the pitching side, well, the bullpen was great. They had the best team ERA for the bullpen in the month of June of any team in baseball, and they still had the best ever E.R.A. Overall for the bullpen in the game. But the rotation, which had been really good in April and in May, fell apart.
They had a 5.62 team ERA for the rotation in the month of May or June, rather, and that is fifth worst. So when you combine the fifth worst starters ERA and the starters not going very deep into the games and the offensive woes, you got a team that lost a ton of games in the standings in the National League East in the month of June, same thing all over again.
We got to see Austin Riley get on track. Somehow, someway. We’ve got to see some of the other players kind of step up and have a good month of July. I know it’s silly to think that just because you’re in a new month, things can change, but sometimes it is as simple as that, where they just turn the page on a month and start over and somehow get on track.
So Austin Riley’s at the top of everybody’s list for needing to get back on track and become more of what we’ve seen and what’s kind of on the back of his baseball card. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. But then you look around and you see that Eli White’s having to get significant playing time because of the injury to Ronald Acuña.
And of course, Mauricio Dubon is having to play some in the outfield, some at shortstop, some kind of all over the place. You know, he’s probably been one of the team MVP so far this year, but he’s having to play all over because the injuries to Ronald Acuña and others. So you got that. And then Greg Baldwin who finally got a hit last night after what.
Oh for 36 after that first home run that he hit when he came back from the rehab. He’s just been not very good. So he’s got to step up and be kind of like he was the first part of the season. So Braves do what they have to do. Somehow, someway. They got to get that rotation in order and somehow, someway they got to get the offense clicking because if they have anything like they had in the month of July, as they did in June, they’re not going to be in second place or maybe even third place.
They got to be careful about the Marlins two or only four and a half back.
