I'm sure many of you were captivated by the 2008 presidential election. I sure was. In December of '07 there were many contenders for the highest seat in the free world. As time went along, however, the numbers continually dwindled until there were only a few legitimate candidates.
Usually in a presidential election cycle, Super Tuesday, in February, is the culmination of the process. On Super Tuesday in 2008, Republican primary contender Ron Paul thought he had a real chance against the likes of John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney.
Paul had the loudest, most loyal supporters. But in the end he never really had a shot against the big boys. Leading into Super Tuesday, some thought he had a chance to take a state or two, but he ended up swapping votes with Huckabee supporters to keep McCain from taking West Virginia.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Braves just had their "Super Tuesday."
The Braves were 27-28 heading into a 10-game stretch against the Pirates, Orioles, and Reds. This was to be the most important stretch of games so far in '09 because of the 12 games that take place after this stretch.
Over the next two weeks the Braves will play the Red Sox six times, and the Yankees and Phillies three times each. So obviously the 10 against the Pirates, Orioles, and Reds were of utmost importance.
Well, not-so-hotlanta is nine games into that 10-game stretch and has gone 3-6 so far; 3-6 in a stretch where they should have gone 7-3.
This series of winnable games started out with Hope taking the first two from the Pirates. Then the "lackadaisical" Braves came out to play. Yunel Escobar cost them the third game in that Pirates series and the Braves could not capitalize on Javier Vazquez' 8 IP, 12 K, 2 hit, 1 ER gem in the fourth game.
Then the Braves went to play the worst team in the AL, Baltimore. A team that had been struggling worse than the Braves offensively, scored 19 runs in two games—or as many runs as they had scored the entire month of June up to that point.
Now, with one game left in another "must-win" series against the Reds, the Braves have watched two more go into the loss column. Pending tomorrow's outcome, Atlanta could go into Boston as many as five games under .500.
It's pretty safe to say that the Braves will not finish this upcoming murderer's row of games at .500. As a matter of fact, these Braves might not win three or four of the next 12 games. If that happens then you can kiss this season goodbye.
The Braves hitters are completely hapless, careless, lackadaisical, and have zero fire at the plate. No one seems to give a rip that they continually ground into double plays or strikeout with runners in scoring position—and that's only if they don't swing at the first pitch of every at-bat and pop it up.
I'm convinced that no amount of trades or roster moves can remedy this team's terrible offense.
At least the pitching is great. After calling many times for Atlanta to trade Javy Vazquez for a hitter or a handful of prospects, I have seen the error of my ways. The Braves would be stupid to trade this guy. He's been the best pitcher on the team for over a month now.
He's also the most frustrated. That's saying a lot because many of these Braves pitchers have not only a right, but an obligation to be frustrated at this point.
If there's one saving grace it's that Atlanta is still only 6.5 games out of first in the East. But the fact that their longest winning streak of the season is three games they might as well be 10 games back.
It's time to take a page out of the Cubbies book and actually change things up. Send some people down to triple-A, fire whoever needs to be fired, and turn the batting order upside down.
Just as Ron Paul's chances dwindled as he approached the most important part of the campaign season, these Braves have squandered their opportunity to remain a contender in 2009.
It's time to hit the panic button, or this campaign will go the way of Ron Paul's presidential run: with plenty of loud followers, but no real chance to make some noise.
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