The Braves' Third Quarter: No shortage of suspense

Much like when I'd had an alternate graphic prepared for the first quarter of this Braves season, I'd thought that the memorable evening dedicated to Tommy Boy was certainly going to be a lock for this third quarter image. Instead, the horribly unfortunate hand of fate made a win in Houston feel like something of a loss as Atlanta's future Hall of Fame third baseman went down for the remainder of the season—possibly even his career (although I really doubt he's going out like that).

If indeed the pretty much universally pre-season favored Phillies complete a late-season charge to overtake the Bravos for the division, I suspect it will be that night in Houston to which many point as the point the whole thing began to go downhill. However, as a fan, I still believe Chipper was only a part of what put this team into first place. There's plenty of other assorted pieces to the puzzle that have kept them there—and could continue to if those players keep it up to the very end:

RECORD FOR THE QUARTER: 24-17 (72-50 OVERALL) — Atlanta won eight of the 12 series the team played in the time span between July 5 and August 20, with all three series losses coming consecutively on the road. Milwaukee gained the only split in there—also the only home series the Braves didn't win.

BEST WIN: July 7 (Braves 7, Phillies 5) — After dropping the series opener to the rivals from Philly, Atlanta got a big win in 11 innings the next night and then a huge lift from a six-run sixth inning that gave them this series win on the road (which have not been easy to come by this season). Martin Prado had two home runs, Brian McCann had a bases-clearing double, and even Matt Diaz got into the act with the longball that drove Jamie Moyer out of the game. Kris Medlen didn't have his best game, but pitched just good enough to keep the Braves in the contest before Venters and Saito held the Phillies in check for Billy Wagner to close it out in the ninth. There was no shortage of dramatic endings during the past quarter (or throughout the year, really), but in hindsight, taking two of three from Philadelphia in their own park was necessary in making the case for the National League East crown.

WORST LOSS: August 1 (Reds 2, Braves 1) — After dropping two-of-three in Florida and then D.C., the Braves had more than their share of opportunities to take the rubber game of this set in Cincinnati. Atlanta left 11 men on base and was an abysmal 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, wasting an otherwise solid outing from Tommy Hanson, who allowed only five hits after pitching into the eighth inning. While Cincy's position atop the NL Central most of this season (thus going totally contrary to what I had believed would be their story at the beginning of this year) might make the series loss a bit more forgivable than dropping the previous sets to the Marlins and Nats, the loss was only more reason to be concerned about the Braves' struggles on the road. And this particular loss stung the most because the team had a number of good opportunities to score runs but was simply unable to capitalize. Such failures would be unacceptable in October.

MVP: Tim Hudson — Ever since working eight innings in a loss on Independence Day, Timmy's been lights-out and has vaulted himself into Cy Young consideration (which almost certainly means somebody else will get it). Other than a five-run seventh allowed against Milwaukee on July 17 and a no-decision on August 18 against the Nationals (in a game which the Braves still won), Hudson has won every game he's started. And by and large, every game this quarter was a quality start, with the six innings he went against the Mets on August 2 being the shortest he's lasted since July 4. In four of his nine starts during the quarter, he didn't allow any runs. The result is an overall line that's pretty damn impressive: A 14-5 record, a 2.15 ERA, and a WHIP standing at 1.09. He's struck out 91 batters while only walking 56, and opponents are hitting a meager .217 against him so far this year. Timmy had plenty of doubters at the beginning of the year, but I don't hear too many of them saying much these days.

  

LVP: Troy Glaus — After raising his batting average all the way to .290 in mid-June following a slow start, Glaus has seen his average decline from .260 at the beginning of the quarter to a meager .239. The rest of the numbers aren't pretty, either: On-base percentage has dropped 20 points to .343, slugging percentage has fallen 50 points to .406, and thus the OPS has gone from .818 to .749. On top of the ugly skid in those statistics, he's now hit the DL with the possibility of replacing Chipper at third—seeing as the Braves have a new first baseman. Still, with Omar Infante and Martin Prado (both All-Stars this year, for the record) hitting over .300 and probably being better options defensively-speaking, you'd have to wonder why Bobby Cox would take the risk by trying to suddenly have Glaus switch over to the other corner of the infield.

THREE THINGS I'VE LIKED SO FAR:

1. THEY'RE NEVER OUT OF IT — Rick Ankiel's two-out, two-strike bases-loaded triple the other day gave the Bravos their league-best 22nd win in their final at-bat and marked their equally impressive 37th comeback victory overall.
2. IT'S THE PITCHING, STUPID — In addition to Hudson, the rest of the rotation (Derek Lowe, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, and now Mike Minor) gives Atlanta one of the strongest starting five in all of baseball. Overall, they have the best team ERA in the league since the All-Star Break.
3. BEST HOME RECORD IN ALL OF BASEBALL — Now that the National League will have home-field for the World Series for the first time in something that feels along the lines of, oh, forever, that could be a huge factor.

THREE THINGS I HAVEN'T:

1. WHAT'S WITH ALL THE ERRORS? — Only the lowly Cubs and Nationals have more. But more concerning, the 94 they've committed is nearly twice as many as other division contenders such as Cincinnati and San Diego.
2. FUCKIN' PHILLIES — They just can't go away quietly, can they? Worse yet, they've been getting healthier and hotter since the last update here on BMC.
3. GET WELL SOON, CHIPPER — See introduction to this post. I'm secretly (or was secretly ...) pulling for him to get a Kirk Gibson-type pinch-hit moment in the post-season.

25 WORDS OR LESS:

The stage seems set for an epic conclusion with Philadelphia coming to the Ted to end the regular season.