Three Dog Night had it right when they said, “It’s just no good anymore since you went away.” gNats 3, Braves 1.
I’m a TBS-generated Braves fan. My family and I got cable TV in 1979, meaning I could watch the Braves every night on Ted Turner time. I no longer had to listen to the Twins or the Royals on the radio. I had a team I could watch and it was glorious.
Cable TV in 1979, the release of Caddyshack in 1980. My childhood was amazing!
Who had it better than me? Nobody!
Let me connect the dots for you. Braves fans have experienced a lot of highs & lows in our fandom.
While last season ended in heartbreak, to a person we could say that no Braves team was more fun to watch than the 2023 Braves. The offense was unrelenting. Every single person in the lineup was a raker. But the 2024 Braves keep turning Ray Kerr to catch lightning in a bottle. That’s not working.
“One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do. Two can be as bad as one, it’s the loneliest number since the number one.” So true, Three Dog Night!
The 2024 Braves have gone 14-17 in the month of May and are 0-14 when teams score more than two runs in this stretch.
The 2023 Braves were the best team in baseball and that offense, well, it was perhaps the best of all-time. Every team compared themselves to the Braves. And the pundits compared the Braves to the best offenses in history!
The 2024 Braves offense? Well, I imagine most of the position players will start answering the question of how they measure themselves with other offenses the way Ty Webb would have.
Ty Webb, of course, was the bachelor-of-bachelors Chevy Chase character in Caddyshack. Listen in on his conversation with snooty Judge Schmales:
“Ty, what did you shoot today?”
“Oh, I really don’t keep score, Judge.”
“Well, how do you measure yourself with other golfers?”
“By height.”
Ty Webb, Caddyshack (1980)
Ty Webb’s approach may work in golf, but it doesn’t in baseball.
They say, “there’s no crying in baseball.” I beg to differ. It’s just no good anymore since the Braves offense went away! The team is hard to watch, but perhaps you will enjoy this clip.
Jarred Kelenic tripled to lead off the bottom of the third and scored on a sac-fly from Michael Harris II. Marcell OHzuna continued his assault on baseballs and Ozzie Albies added two hits.
Thankfully, Reynaldo Lopez goes tonight when the A’s come calling. Hopefully he and the ‘pen throw a shutout in order to give the team a chance to win.
Christian, I too enjoyed the arrival of the TBS Braves but I was already a fan from CBS Radio. I am also a big Three Dog Night fan so thanks for that. Honestly, this team is not as bad as being painted but after last year it’s a HUGE letdown. It just feels worse than it is. I think we have a few guys that could adjust to a new approach (MoneyMike?), but I am absolutely sick of the strikeouts. That is a great way to keep your batted ball velocity high is to either hit it hard or not at all.
Just look at how the gNats beat us. Pretty much singles and SBs with a few doubles and the occasional HR mixed in. Our team has enough speed (even without Ronald) to exercise this approach. Strikeouts and warning track balls are not going to win any games.
0-14 when allowing > 2 runs. That’s pathetic.
I was thinking the other day, to save time (MLB loves saving time nowadays) we could just forego batting and have our pitchers throw 9 innings against the other team, with a short break in between each inning. If we throw a shutout, we win, but if we give up a run, game over immediately/we lose. Sadly, that’s not too far from reality.
What an interesting idea, Big D! 😂😂