So that makes four shutouts in five games. Every season has its ups and downs, but four shutouts in five games is plainly unacceptable on its face. We can grouse about Andruw all day long, and wonder whether Chipper is willing to play hurt, but the real problem with the ‘07 Braves goes deeper than that.
Face it, we were lucky to be scoring as many runs as we did in April — we got a lot of hits with runners in scoring position, and were more than occasionally putting the ball over the fence. All of that is gone now. Aside from the Joneses, Francoeur has regressed to his old free-swinging ways, McCann isn’t hitting the ball with the authority that he always has, and Thorman is awful.
It’s been said that major league hitting coaches don’t make that much of a difference, especially compared to pitching coaches — that batters arrive to the majors with their approaches to hitting basically intact. I don’t know to what extent that’s true, but it’s time to admit that, whatever influence a hitting coach might have, Terry Pendleton is not helping. Maybe he’d be nothing more than a scapegoat, but this maybe this is a goat what needs some scaping.
2 Comments
June 25, 2007 at 9:02 am
Well, O-fer Jones did get a hit finally. As to our line-up generally, we have some decent bats. Edgar and Chipper are reliably above .300. Willie Harris gets on base. Diaz is hitting over .300 in his part-time role.
But Francoeur has been swinging at every first pitch for the past month now, after starting the season showing some discipline at the plate. That is one notable area where Pendleton needs to act. I don’t know what’s up with McCann’s lack of power. Maybe Salty will be pushing him for more starts soon.
Thank goodness the Nats are now in town.
July 8, 2007 at 7:08 am
Gully_dwarf
One Step at a Time (disambiguation) Stoney Clove Charlemont House Nec temere nec timide Cutter call number Phryne Ultras Ballistet Temptation (Game show) White Guards (Finland) Orlando Street Railway