The Braves' Third Quarter: Can't whine too much

The Braves season actually passed this point on August 15, the day after the last time I posted here. I recognized the date then, but knew I'd probably end up running a little late with this post. Seeing as I haven't altogether quit the restaurant gig I was working before starting the new Monday-Friday gig, I still have not had an entire day off work ever since then.

I'm still waiting tables tonight, so tomorrow's going to be a big day when for the first time in ... what, three weeks? I'm going to have a whole day free from having to report somewhere for work.

I won't lie ... The new job more or less involves many hours of blogging every day. Even just now, typing on my own where I'm free to say whatever I want, I still found myself wondering if I was adhering to style requirements. It's somewhat difficult for me to now spend eight hours a day at the computer and then come home and add a couple more hours to write something like this. Don't get me wrong; I really like the new job. It's the restaurant I want to drop, but I'm sure that I'm letting a fear of "leaving money on the table" prevents me from working a few more hours a week.

I'm saying that now to justify that most of the posts I made regularly scheduled things here at BMC are probably bound to change again. Life can sort of get in the way like that, but it's not as though a little lack in the frequency here necessarily equates to a bad thing. When you consider how often I have used this space to bitch and moan about lack of work, any further near-grumbling about working too much risks making me sound ungrateful. And we certainly wouldn't want that.

After all, we've probably got playoffs to look forward to this year.

As much as I want to find a reason to object to Joe Buck's on-air assertion that the Phillies were "running away with the division," The Braves have not been within enough distance to even reasonably be considered anything other than a Wild Card threat.

Still, the addition of Michael Bourn and the continued excellence from the bullpen trio of Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters and Eric O'Flaherty have given this fan enough reason to cling to some optimism about what's possible in the postseason. In this third quarter to the season though, if I were to name an MVP, it clearly would have to been Dan Uggla.

Although his hitting streak ended at 33 games the day before the quarter ended, the stretch was a remarkable turnaround considering the struggles the new second baseman had been having most of the year. As good as the back end of that bullpen has been, they won't have much of a purpose in the playoffs if there isn't a lead to protect. So there's no denying the benefit another threat with the bat could pose.

At this point, I don't know that the final 40 games of the year won't involve anything more than just hoping the team can stay healthy and hold on to a pretty comfortable Wild Card lead. I'd elaborate a little more if I really had complaints about this year's team, but right now I generally just seem to be accepting the roster as it is, satisfied more often than not with the efforts all-around, and hoping for the best as October nears.