Kind of like the weather here in Montana, the Braves bats have been going cold over the last 6 games.  The team was on a scorching hot streak winning 10 in a row and then the cold front seemed to dip down and engulf them.  Now some old habits have come back to haunt them.

The Braves took on Kansas City on the heels of one of the best starts they’ve ever had.  They won the first game and lost the second in a 1-0 pitching duel.  They then moved on to the Pirates for a 4 game series.  The team was able to get a win on the first night of the series but lost the next three games even getting shut out on Friday night 6-0.  It seemed like someone had dipped the bats into ice cold water.

On closer examination of the box scores, we find a familiar friend has stuck its head back into the game.  The dreaded RISP and team LOB.  This was a real problem for the team last year and contributed to many a loss.  It does not matter if you get men on base if you can’t get them around to home to score runs.  In the past 6 games the Braves have left 38 men on base….yes you read that right….38.  That’s an average of just over 6 per game.  Now let’s examine this, if you have an average of 6 men LOB per game and you’re only losing by 2 or 3 runs or less, guess what getting those 6 men across would have won you the game.

The other thing that has come back to haunt them is the dreaded RISP.  Just as bad as LOB but even a tiny bit worse since the LOB could be left on first base, but RISP are on 2nd or 3rd base.  Those are guys you have to get home to win games.  A total of 35 RISP over the last 6 games.

Granted, they have faced some very good pitching in some of these games.  In the game that they were shut out by the Pirates 6-0, the Braves managed 2 hits zero walks and 7 strikeouts.  That’s some very good pitching and some ice cold bats.  Just like Montana, the Braves need to hope for a nice high pressure system to bring some warmth and hopefully some renewed heat back into those bats!

Here we are 12 games into the 2013 season and the Braves are 11-1.  I still have to hold my hope down a bit and my excitement.  It seems almost too good to be true and as we all know we Braves fans have been burned before.  But it’s just SO exciting!

The Braves are 5-1 at home and 6-0 on the road.  They have a 9 game win streak.  Sweeps have been the order of the day with the latest one coming against the Nationals and their best pitchers.  They have scored 62 runs.  Let me say that again, they have scored 62 runs in 12 games.  Justin Upton leads the National League in homers with 7.  Paul Maholm is tied for 1st in all of the league in pitching….his ERA is ZERO.  The Braves team ERA is 1.82.

The Braves have been mostly stellar through these 12 games.  Julio Tehran did not look so great his last outing, but despite his less than great effort, the Braves still won the game.  The Braves have Maholm, Minor and Medlen in the top 20 of NL pitching stats right now.  Tim Hudson sits right outside at #22.

Unbelievably, Justin Upton is on at #19 tied with Bryce Harper in the batting side of the NL stats.  The team is 8th overall in batting for the entire league with a .334 OBP and a .447 SLG.  The team has put up 20 homers through 12 games.

I really do try not to get too excited.  I’ve been down this rabbit hole before but they just look so good every time I see them play.  Brandon Beachy is rehabbing nicely and is still looking to return before the All-Star Break.  Brian McCann will return soon but Gattis is doing work as the everyday catcher.  You would think this would only make the team that much stronger.

The Braves get Kansas City and Pittsburgh this week and if they keep playing like they have been it could turn out to be a week of sweeps…..and how sweet would that be….