About a month ago I wrote a post talking about how the Braves needed to get rid of Terry Pendleton because of how poorly we were hitting. Well, a month later the Braves have turned it around. Bobby Cox finally moved Jason Heyward into the top 3 in the order and the offense is clicking. If I blame Terry for our woes, it is only fair to give him some credit when we are playing well. I read the other day where the Braves are #1 in MLB in walks, which is great because it shows being patient at the plate. That is another area where Terry should get credit. Nice work TP. I don't know if it is any of his doing for our horrible hitting last month and our great turnaround this month, but I have to give credit if I gave blame in the same area. To be honest, I still don't think he is a great hitting coach and I hope he doesn't end up as the next Braves manager. However, I cannot argue with how the Braves have turned it around this month and he deserves some recognition for that.
As you can probably tell, I attribute it more of the success to the moves Bobby has made. Heyward being moved up in the lineup and Prado being moved to leadoff, specifically. Those 2 were already getting on base all the time. That gives Chipper, Glaus, McCann, and Hinske opportunites to drive in runs more frequent and not have 2 outs when they get up to the plate. I am also thrilled Hinske is being given the chase to play everyday. I am a big fan of his since he was in Toronto and have been hoping he would get more of a chance to play. I would like to see Heyward move to #3 in the lineup, but I know he won't be there as long as Chipper is around.
I hope the Braves are able to sustain the momentum we have right now. They are playing really well and I believe we are good enough to at least win the Wild Card. Hopefully Jurrjens can recover and bring us one more great pitcher to use. I know we have some older players, so hopefully we keep them all rested and healthy. What do you all think? Are the Braves hitting better because of Pendelton or Cox? Or maybe they just turned it around individually? Can the Braves win the Wild Card? Let me know what you think in the comments
No comments:
Post a Comment