Chop Chop
The Braves continue to do what they have done for most of the 2nd half, win games. For a long time, they were unable to make up any ground on the Phillies, but of late they have been slowly creeping closer.
At the current time, the Braves are just 6 games back of the Phillies. They have gone 8-2 over their last 10 games. They have been putting together multi-game win streaks. The bats have woken up for the team as a whole and they are winning games, lots of games.
The Phillies lost to the Mets on Wednesday and have gone 6-4 over their last 10 games. They also put Jimmy Rollins on the DL and retroactively put Cole Hamels on, although he is scheduled to be back on Sunday. The Braves got Brian McCann back and his bat has heated up again. Jason Heyward is finally hitting the ball better. The Braves pitching continues to roll along.
Brian McCann hit 2 home runs in Thursday’s game against the Cubs and when he has multi-homer games the Braves are 7-1. Michael Bourn also contributed with 4 hits. Beachy was outstanding on the hill running his total to 4-0 over his last 7 starts with a 2.55 ERA and holding opposing teams to a .213 batting average.
The Braves get the Mets for the weekend and given their performance against the Phillies, it might not be as easy to get a series win as one would hope. That said, the Braves are obviously on a roll and the fans are doing the chop a little more often these days.
The End
As with all hitting streaks since Joe DiMaggio’s, Uggla’s streak has come to an end. As with most of the streaks in recent memory, after 30 is reached it becomes increasingly difficult to gain much more.
I still believe that the main reason it is so difficult is that once a hitting streak reaches 30, the national sports media becomes locked in. The streak becomes THE story. It leads off all the major national sports broadcasts and shows. It becomes the subject of multiple columns such as this.
It then becomes that every single question, every single thought, every single word mentioned to Uggla by any member of the sporting press or the press in general is ONLY and ALWAYS about the streak. Not only is it one of the hardest records to break because of the ever changing pitching that a batter must face on a daily basis but the pressure of the constant scrutiny added on just finally takes its toll.
Uggla had a great, great run at it. He also is having a great bit of production even outside the hitting streak. The multi-hit, multi-homer games are helping the Braves maintain their position in the NL wildcard race. But, once it reached maximum exposure, it was only a matter of at bats until it was done. The hitting streak anyway.
Unfortunately, for the Braves, in yesterday’s game with the Cubs when the streak ended, so did Uggla’s other at bat production. Without it, the team was unable to overcome the Cubs and win the game, which after all, is the most important thing right now. The team winning.
While it is sad to see the hitting streak come to an end, it would be even more devastating if Uggla’s overall production came to an end as well. The Braves need that production going into the last half of August.
Streak Mania
The Braves are on all kinds of streaks lately. Of course Dan Uggla continues his hit streak and will go for 33 tonight vs the Cubs. The Braves will be going for their 6th straight win.
Last night’s game versus the Cubs was filled with emotion. Before the game the Braves put long time manager Bobby Cox into the Braves Hall of Fame in a very emotional ceremony. His jersey replica was painted into the field for the game. It was a swell of emotion before the game for all the Braves and their fans.
Then the game comes around and Uggla extends his hit streak with a homer. The stadium erupts in emotion again. Uggla adds another homer for good measure. Chipper Jones, a Braves fan favorite, hammers a 3 run homer to bring the emotions even higher. And not just for the Braves faithful.
Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano hit Uggla with the ball after the first homer. Then, later in the game he threw not once but TWICE at Chipper Jones knees, who everyone knows are bad, and was tossed from the game and rightfully so. He left the game and apparently cleaned out his locker and whined about retiring. Of course, the Cubs would be in HEAVEN if Zambrano were to be serious about this whining threat. Giving up his $18 million salary for next year and taking his temper and crybaby antics with him. But the Cubs don’t have luck like that. Zambrano will likely stay and inflict more punishment or he will leave and take most of the Cubs money with him.
Derek Lowe will get the ball for the Braves tonight and the Braves are hoping that he performs like he did his last outing with six innings, allowing just two earned runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts. The emotions are sure to still be running high for both the Braves and the Cubs tonight but for very different reasons. Streak mania has taken over Atlanta and Braves fans hope it just keeps running.
Underhyped
Dan Uggla is quietly going about his business and in Friday’s game vs the Cubs he has the chance to extend his hit streak to 32. Quietly, Uggla sits 25 games from DiMaggio’s record. Because he is Dan Uggla and because he plays for the Braves and not the Yankees or Red Sox, quietly is how he is being covered.
On MLB.com news page, Uggla’s hit streak is 7 stories down. If he were ARod or some similar player on a similar team, it would undoubtedly be the top story. I have watched several hours of SportsCenter today on ESPN and for the entire times that I have been tuned in I have heard Uggla’s name a total of…zero times.
It is this underhyped coverage that may be contributing to the extension of the hit streak. Generally, when a player hits 30, there seems to be some sort of impediment to going further. When ARod had his hit streak that was in the 20s, the hyped coverage was unbelievable. It was everywhere. The FIRST story you heard or read. The pressure mounting on ARod was enormous. The streak ended.
Uggla is getting far less coverage. He is basically being allowed to go on about the day’s business as if it were almost any other day. He’s not the lead story on ESPN. He is not the lead story on MLB.com news. When you type MLB into Google news search, Uggla’s quest doesn’t appear until PAGE 6! Page 6….wow. Quietly might be an understatement. Underhyped might be underestimating it. It’s almost unnoticed.
The Braves have won 4 games in a row and are 6-4 over their last 10 games. They STILL despite playing very, very well sit 8.5 games back of the Phillies in the NL East. The Braves are now 5 games ahead of the Giants, who have struggled in the last 10 games, in the wildcard standings.
During the streak, Uggla is batting .355 (44-for-124) with five doubles, 12 home runs and 29 RBIs. The whole streak is impressive, not just the hit streak. But the coverage is underhyped in the extreme. And so far that seems to be a very good thing for Uggla.
All Well & Good
The Braves Dan Uggla finds himself in the middle of a 24 game hit streak. An outstanding accomplishment to be sure. However, his team is still losing ball games and falling ever further behind the Phillies and letting other teams catch up in the wildcard race.
Uggla notched the 24th hit in his streak on Monday night against the Nationals when he singled in the 6th inning. It was his 32nd total hit in the streak after he came into July hitting just .180.
Uggla however later in the game was directly responsible for not bringing runners around that could have helped the Braves in the game when he struck out looking in the 7th with runners on. The Braves in fact left 8 runners on base and lost the game 9-3.
Uggla said that it’s easy to be happy and have fun when things are going well but struggles bring out the real character of a player. Uggla is having a bit of both. He is hitting well. Much better than at the start of July. He is in the middle of a really nice hit streak. But his team is going the wrong way fast.
But Uggla has had his struggles as well. He hit 12 homers and drove in 28 runs in his first three months in Atlanta, but he has 10 homers and 21 RBIs in the month and two days since. He has had a very big hill to climb to get out of that .180 spot.
Uggla is a team player and he wants the team to win and that’s where his focus is. Not the hitting streak. For him the streak is all well and good but the team winning is what’s important and that’s what he wants to contribute to. A few more hits will help pad his streak and hopefully help the Braves to start winning more games.
Wrong Way
The Braves seem to be headed the wrong way on a one way street. At this time of the season, wins matter even more and so do numbers. The Braves are going the wrong way on both counts.
First, they are now 7 games behind the Phillies in the NL East after losing to the Nationals. That’s right the less than .500 Nationals. The 10 games out Nationals. Oh, wait, the Braves are 3 games away from being 10 games out too. Still, they lose to the Nationals. While of course the Phillies are winning 4 in a row.
To make things all the worse, they are now only 2.5 games ahead of the D-Backs in the wildcard numbers. That’s right, 2.5 games. Seriously, turn the car around people. A couple more losses and you could find yourselves on the outside of the post season looking in.
The team is 4-6 over the last 10 games. They have lost 2 in a row. They are still at .573 for the season, but that is becoming just not good enough. Other teams are closing and closing fast by going the right way – and winning.
The Braves may have pulled off one of the greatest steals in non-waiver trade deadlines when they poached Michael Bourn from the Astros for 4 spare parts players and they got cash on top of it, but he along with the rest of the team has got to start playing like it matters. Because guess what, it does. On Monday, Bourn had 1 hit in 4 at bats.
Dan Uggla is trying to do his part and is now up to a 23 game hit streak. But one guy can’t do it alone. Baseball is after all a team sport.
The Braves have 2 more games with the Nats and then move on to the Mets for the weekend. Two teams they should be able to handle easily – if they stop going the wrong way.
Deborah Horton
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