Atlanta Braves

Someone needs to tell the Rockies that it isn't spring training anymore. These games count.

Thus far into the season, the Braves have continued their offensive woes from the run-challenged 2009 summer.

Only Martin Prado, Brian McCann, and Jason Heyward have been better than league average.

Those three have been more than impressive, but the lack of production from the rest of the lineup is starting to be a concern. While nine games is not an appropriate sample size, the team should be hitting better than they currently are.

Let's take a look at the production of the three aforementioned players compared to the rest of the team.

It would be easy to look at Monday’s ugly 17-2 loss to the Padres and panic.

But, I won’t.

Every team over the course of a long 162-game season endures an embarrassing and lopsided loss.

It just happens.

There is often no rhyme or reason as to why, but on any given night a pitcher’s poor misfortune is an offense’s playground.  For Jair Jurrjens and the Atlanta Braves, that night was Monday.  They were such victims of the Padres shelling at Petco Park for San Diego’s home opener.

I know, having Yunel Escobar at the top of the lineup sounds crazy, but the numbers seem to show a different story.

.197/.270/.335 (263 Plate Appearances)

.179/.281/.232 (64 Plate Appearances)

.411/.427/.616 (75 Plate Appearances)

What are these stat lines? They are the typical BA/OBP/SLG line when a player is leading off a game.

But who are those players? In order, they are Nate McLouth, Melky Cabrera, and Yunel Escobar.

Yes, the Braves truly got their hats handed to them this evening, with a 17-2 crushing at the hands of the San Diego Padres. However, Braves fans should take heart, because as bad as this beating seemed, in the great scheme of things, it's only one game out of 162, and no matter how badly you lose, it counts in the standings just as much as a 3-2 heart breaker.

Besides, it's no worse then some of the other defeats the Braves have suffered over the years. Want proof?

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Hey Jo-Jo,

Long time, no see.

Look, it's hard enough to be a rookie in the majors. But to have to shoulder the burden of being the guy who brings interest in baseball back to the African-American community is taking this a bit too far.

Meanwhile, I do get it—Heyward is a very talented young black player coming along at a time when Major League Baseball is trying to encourage more African-American participation in baseball.

But there are other good, young black players in baseball that can help carry that mantle if it does indeed need to be carried.

Yes, it's only been four games. Yes, the opening day home run raised everyone's expectations. Yes, he's human.

However, something is undeniably not right with Jason Heyward right now. After four games, he leads the National League in strikeouts, including four in yesterday's 13-inning loss to the Giants.

In that loss, Heyward left four men on base, but more importantly, he seemed nearly clueless at the plate, swinging so wildly that he looked more like he was clearing brush than trying to drive in runs.

Jason Heyward is a monster. He's a stud. He's a beast.

Heck, his first at-bat was a bomb that hit off the back of the Braves' bullpen.

But last night in a 2-0 loss to the Cubs, it didn't look too good.

Heyward went 0-for-4, and he looked pretty bad to me, especially in his last at-bat, when he faced Carlos Marmol in the bottom of the ninth.

The sequence was pretty simple.

Slider down and in. Heyward swings at a ball. Strike one.

Slider down and in. Heyward swings at a ball. Strike two.

This is a difficult storyline to write about unless you are fine with blowing things way out of proportion.

The fact that a major league rookie hammered a three-run home run on the first swing of his career is, in and of itself, an impressive feat.

Now add a stiff mixture of the following: an incredible amount of hype that has surrounded said rookie since the beginning of spring training, followed by unbelievable expectations from peers, fans, the media, etc., and finally throw in some comparisons to Ken Griffey Jr., Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays to taste.