It is almost exactly one month into the 2008 baseball season and the Braves have opened the door to the cellar. With back to back losses they have fallen to 3rd in the NL East and a full 3 games back of the streaking Florida Marlins.
John Smoltz was able to pitch 7 innings on Tuesday and in the course of that outing he struck out 10 helping to bring his career strike out total to over 3000. An amazing accomplishment indeed. Smoltz gave everything he had and what did his teammates do?? Nothing...not one run contributed. Shut out by the current cellar dwellars the Washington Nationals.
The Braves then headed to NL East leading Florida Marlins. A tough test no doubt, but one fans hoped they could handle. Wrong again buddy. The Braves fall to the Marlins 7-2 with absolutely no offense to be seen on a consistent basis. The Marlins handled them with ease making one wonder if tonight won't be a repeat performance.
The Braves are hurting physically with so many on the DL. Struggling to fill pitching spots. Relievers struggling just to stay in games. Starters trying to go to at least 6 or 7 innings. But the offense is just hit or miss. They either pound out 10 or more runs or they can't get on base to save their lives. There's no in between.
And as all baseball fans know it's the in between that wins games, that wins divisions, that wins championships. Let's hope the Braves can turn around and leave the cellar behind.
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