I Don't Want To Cheat Anymore...On Atlanta

I'll be brief.

Maybe.

I have had only one mojito as I am writing this and I am well on my way to many more after today's fun festivities.

The Disabled List Hall of Famer Mike Hampton pitched his first major league game for the Atlanta Braves in three years this afternoon in Philadelphia. The fact that he was able to actually go out on the mound in a major league stadium wearing a real major league uniform (as opposed to an iron lung or a pirate bear outfit) was amazing enough. For someone who had not thrown a big league game in three years he pitched rather well. As expected, he ran out of gas in the fifth inning assuring that he would not be able to win the game and I suspect the idea was to at least get him out of there before he could lose it. Hampton pitched four innings giving up eight hits and six earned runs (the last three were in the fifth inning where the bullpen could not hold the base runners they inherited). The thing is that when Hampton left the Braves were up 9-3 after posting a season-high nine runs in the top of the fourth off of Phillies ace Cole Hamels. By the end of the home end of the fifth inning the Phillies were up 10-9. The Braves in the very next inning gave up their season high in runs. Of course, as it has been the entire season the score in a road game against a division opponent remained the same. The Braves are now 6-23 in one run games this year. They have won a total of one game by one-run on the road this year. The Braves are, by far, the worst team in MLB in one-run games. The Mariners, for example, are a last place team, but their record in one run games is only nine games under .500. This has been the biggest statistic of the season for the Braves. This statistic has caused me, a life-long Braves fan, to completely want to drink 15 mojitos daily, run my car off a cliff, and run off with any other team that looks good, just like John Daly at a craps table or John McCain at a botox convention. Of course, my choice of teams did not fare any better (the Nationals have lost three straight games all in the late innings and by two runs or fewer...of course, we expect this from them as they are a minor league team and if I had my way they would be relegated to Triple A ball after the end of season). However, this mark of being seventeen games under .500 in one run games has been the biggest symptom of having an extremely young and inexperienced team (mainly in the pitching department that has seen the training table more often than Lindsey Lohan and Miley Cyrus have seen cocaine lines on mirrors in sketchy hotel rooms). This team despite some veteran leadership has not learned how to win in the clutch. Over the years, we have come to expect that the Braves would pull out these close games by finding ways to win as opposed to finding ways to lose...except in the play-offs. So to see this team blow games they should win is a huge shock to the system. It has been so unnerving that I have considered dropping 25 years of fandom just to get away (just like Josh Childress!!!) from Atlanta. Learning how to lose can be as contagious as Bojangles chicken. Learning how to win is the biggest lesson and hopefully somehow this young pitching staff will find a way to pull it together and win a game they aren't supposed to win followed by winning a game they should win in the clutch. This type of losing reminds me of the young Braves squad in 1989 and 1990 where their pitching staff had not learned how to play and win in the big leagues. A year later, they learned and they went to the World Series. I pray something like this happens again. As I suspect that the Liberty Media empire is not going to be spending money anytime soon so this will require key targeted spending on young talent, which Atlanta has. Tampa and Milwaukee have learned to win without spending a ton of money this year so it can be done. However, regardless of money, young players need to learn how to win. It's happening in Tampa. It happened in Atlanta in 1991. It can happen again...and I hope soon because I don't like cheating anymore.