"Braves Start a New Streak With Late Flops"
By PAUL NEWBERRY
ATLANTA (AP) - Here's a streak the Atlanta Braves don't like to talk
about: For the fourth year in a row, they stood glumly in the home dugout at
Turner Field, watching another team celebrate a postseason triumph.
In an all-too-familiar fall ritual, the Braves fell flat at that time of
year when the pitching gets a little tougher, the hitters have to be a little
more patient and every mistake can take on season-ending importance.
This time, it was the Chicago Cubs - a team that was 13 games worse during
the regular season - ending Atlanta's year with a five-game victory in the NL
division series.
``With a team like we have, there's no way we should have lost like
that,'' Javy Lopez said after the Cubs prevailed 5-1 Sunday night in the
deciding game. ``We all know they've got pretty good pitching, but our offense,
we should have done better than we did.''
Who knows if they'll get another chance in 2004. Closer John Smoltz
admitted to a sense of desperation to win this year, knowing that Lopez, Gary
Sheffield, Greg Maddux and Vinny Castilla are at the end of their contracts.
The Braves haven't made a major push to re-sign any of their potential
free agents.
``I'm not going to talk about that now,'' general manager John Schuerholz
said. ``We're dealing with a tough loss. We'll deal with next year later on.''
The Braves continue to defy the laws of probability. A record 12 straight
division titles have produced only one World Series championship - and that was
eight long years ago.
``The ball's got to bounce your way. It didn't,'' said manager Bobby Cox,
who has perfected the postseason mea culpa. ``We played great baseball all year
long. We played good in this series. The ball's got to find some holes once in
a while.''
The loss closely resembled the 2001 NL championship series, when the
Braves fell to an Arizona team featuring two dominant pitchers. Randy Johnson
beat Atlanta twice, including a three-hit shutout. Curt Schilling won his only
start with a four-hitter.
This time, Chicago's hard-throwing young guns, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior,
sent the Braves home for the winter with three dominating performances.
Wood won his two starts, including Game 5. He allowed just seven hits and
three earned runs in 15 1-3 innings, striking out 18. Prior dominated the
Braves in Game 3, going the distance in a two-hitter.
``Their pitching was awful strong,'' Cox said. ``We failed to beat the two
big guys one game out of three. That's what it would have taken.''
Maybe the Braves need a change in philosophy. They have tended to favor
pitchers such as Greg Maddux and Mike Hampton, guys who get by more on guile
than overpowering stuff.
Over the long haul of a 162-game season, that works just fine. In the
postseason, it sure helps to have guys such as Wood and Prior, who can totally
take over a game.
``Pretty much those two pitchers were their whole team,'' Lopez said.
This points to a frequent criticism of the teams assembled by Schuerholz.
He's too concerned with building a roster for the regular season, not the
postseason.
Then again, Atlanta did pursue a different tact this season, winning 101
games with offense rather than pitching.
For the first time, the Braves had four players with 100 RBIs. They were
only the second team in NL history to have six players with at least 20 homers.
They set a franchise record with 235 homers, and they averaged nearly 5.6 runs
per game.
It didn't matter against the Cubs. The Braves finished with a team batting
average of .215 and scored just 15 runs in the five-game series.
Sheffield, who set an Atlanta record with 132 RBIs during the regular
season, went 2-for-14 with one measly RBI - his second straight postseason
flop. Chipper Jones had two homers in Game 4 but batted .167 overall. Even
Lopez, who hit .333, wasn't very productive; he failed to drive in a run.
``I got a bunch of hits, but I couldn't get the big hit when we had people
in scoring position,'' conceded Lopez, who had a career-high 43 homers and 109
RBIs during the season. ``That's pretty frustrating for me personally.''
He sighed.
``We have to deal with it now,'' Lopez said.
No one is quite sure where this team is headed. Corporate owner Time
Warner had been trying to sell the Braves, but put that effort on the
back-burner while dumping two other Atlanta sports teams, the NBA Hawks and NHL
Thrashers.
If nothing else, the Braves' payroll will certainly take a hit after
beginning this season at around $104 million - the fourth-highest in baseball.
Sheffield, who made $11.4 million in the last year of his contract, would
seem to be the prime target for re-signing. The postseason notwithstanding, his
loss would leave a massive hole in the lineup. He makes everyone around him
better.
Assuming the Braves let go of Maddux (16-11, 3.96) or bring him back at
substantially less than the $14.75 million he made this year, there might be
enough in the reduced budget to keep Sheffield.
Lopez, who made $7 million, is unlikely to return, despite the best season
of his career. The Braves acquired Johnny Estrada a year ago with the idea of
moving him into the lineup in 2004.
Lopez has played for the Braves his whole career and would prefer to keep
it that way. But he didn't sound hopeful.
``After the World Series is over, the Braves will have to talk to my agent
about any kind of deal,'' he said. ``If it's free agency, then we'll see who's
going to call.''
10/06/03 22:31 EDT
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
"This president is a miserable failure in foreign policy and the
economy, and he's got to be replaced!" ~~ Rep. Dick Gephardt
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
FAQ
Profile
Private Messages
Log in
