| Power Rankings |
| Date | Ranking | Previous |
| 10/06/2009 | 9 | 7 |
| Season in seven words: "They should've started trying before late August." ... Hero: Javier Vazquez, even if he has been left out of the Lincecum/Carpenter/Wainwright Cy Young conversation ... Loserhead: It's unfair to assign Chipper the goat horns, as he easily outproduced the third basemen on three of the four NL playoff teams. But the bottom line is this: Had he even approached his 2008 level, the Braves are still playing this week ... Key need: Capable outfield cornermen, plus a Miyagi-like mentor to ease the transition for turboprospect Jason Heyward ... Prognosis: NL East favorites for Bobby Cox's 2010 swan song. |
| 09/29/2009 | 7 | 9 |
| Forget the "believe!" banners overhanging the right-field veranda and the babble about momentum and her slutty little sister destiny (who spells her name with a heart instead of a dot over the 'i'. This might be the best team in the NL East right now ... Through Monday, the Braves' run differential (+103) is just about the same as the Phillies' (+108). Too bad Atlanta overslept the start of the 2009 season and is facing massive odds to play some bonus October baseball. |
| 09/22/2009 | 9 | 12 |
| Adam LaRoche since his return to town: .350/.426/.626. ... I sure hope Bobby Cox decides to manage again in 2010. For one thing, the Braves project to be quite good and it'd be nice to see Cox get a final shot at the crown. But I also wonder how he'd channel his berserker rage without having the umpires as a convenient punching bag. Would you want to be the Banana Republic clerk on the receiving end of a Bobby Cox conniption about an incorrectly tagged blouse? Me neither. ... Forget the tight Cy Young races. After retaking the lead league in mid-game benchings with five, Yunel Escobar is pushing B.J. Upton in the derby to win the Derek Bell Award as the game's laziest baby. This one will likely be decided when either Escobar or Upton quits on a catchable pop-up during the season's final afternoon. |
| 09/15/2009 | 12 | 15 |
| The next time somebody hits you with a "great pitching wins championships" argument, feel free to offer up the 2009 Braves as a neat counterpoint. ... In keeping with the great and senseless scapegoating tradition of blaming a team's best players for its failures, I'm pointing the j'accuse! finger at Chipper. Since August 15, he has sunk to a .134/.294/.183 line in 102 plate appearances. Booo! Booo! |
| 09/08/2009 | 15 | 12 |
| Four runs in three games against the Reds = Larry throwing in the towel on his season-long "the Braves will surge because they have lots of starting pitching and, didn't you hear, starting pitching wins championships, providing it is backstopped by solid defense and a bullpen that generates strikeouts and some occasional timely hitting, because hitting helps win championships, too" campaign. The ninny-bat outfield doomed 'em. In retrospect, counting on Garret Anderson for more than the occasional knock against righty pitching was a big mistake. |
| 09/01/2009 | 12 | 10 |
| They've been my "Watch them! They're super! I like their pitching and their crusty manager-person!" choice since early June, but even through my rose-lensed glasses I can see that the offense will ultimately prove their undoing. ... They just don't have the bats, even with Adam LaRoche doing a passable Albert Pujols imitation since returning to town (.365/.446/.646). Chipper's slump hasn't helped matters much -– but really, what can you expect from a guy who denies his true birth name of Larry? |
| 08/25/2009 | 10 | 11 |
| Matt Diaz is kinda saving their outfield asses about now, no? But let's not let the hot streak distract anyone from the fact that even in his supposed breakout season he remains a pure platoon candidate, with a .999 OPS against lefties and a .775 mark against righties. ... I don't know who you bump from the rotation to make room for Tim Hudson in a few weeks, but that ain't a bad problem to have. |
| 08/18/2009 | 11 | 11 |
| Just when the lineup was starting to provide offense on a semi-regular basis, Nate McLouth goes down with a hamstring pull. Now Rafael Soriano's shoulder is achy again and unsung hero Martin Prado is dealing with mysterious superheadaches. Into every pennant race, some rain must fall. ... Once more, with feeling: I like their chances because I like their pitching. I'm going down with this ship. |
| 08/11/2009 | 11 | 13 |
| They took three of four from the Dodgers, even scraping together just enough offense to negate Clayton Kershaw's best-yet outing as a pro ... It'd still behoove them to get Chipper healthy -- admittedly, a task as challenging as growing chrysanthemums in your sock drawer -- and keep him that way through October. |
| 08/04/2009 | 13 | 11 |
| They've performed fitfully in recent weeks, but they scored the fifth-most runs in the majors in July. Given that run-generation was their primary infirmity during the season's first three months, this bodes well for the weeks ahead. |
