I got nothin.  Ryan, if you want me to recap this crap I need a raise.

Second time held scoreless in the last week, after going over a year without being shutout. Zero for eleven with RISP.  Nine men left on base. I can’t bear to watch this team, much less actually write about them.

Ok, in the spirit of doing my unpleasant duty, I’ll recap the first two innings.  Michael Harris led off the game with a triple.  Sure enough, as night follows day, they failed to score.  Groundout, strikeout, pop out.

Top second, two men reach with one out.  Sean Murphy hit a rocket to deep left–103.9 exit velocity, 34 deg launch angle. Balls like that are supposed to be home runs. In 29 of 30 parks, the Braves would have been up 3-0. But of course this game was played in that 30th park, Camden Yards, where they moved the left field fence back a couple of years ago.

Speaking of three run homers, in the bottom of the second, two men reached. Fried hung a curveball to Jorge Mateo, and the score is indeed 3-0, but in favor of Earl Weaver’s team rather than the Braves.

The rest of the game went as you would expect.  I’ve got nothin to say about any of it.

Ryan asked yesterday for us to come up with reasons the Braves suck so much right now.  Once again, I got nothin.  Really, this makes no sense.  Sure, they aren’t hitting with runners in scoring position.  They aren’t bringing runners home from third with less than two outs.  Balls that would have been home runs last year are dying on the track. All that is true, but those are results, not explanations.

Some folks like the psychological/emotional explanations.  They are listless, uninspired, and need to be fired up and play with more urgency.  Other folks suggest they are letting the pressure get to them; they are playing tight and need to loosen up.  I’m in no position to judge either of those, although I’m more inclined to believe the latter over the former.

Other folks blame their approach, or philosophy, or some similar concept.  They need to cut down their swings, go the opposite way more, and the like.  That may be true, although it is much easier said than done.

I will say that with pretty much everyone hitting below their career norms (with the exception of a certain ursine DH), the chances of regression to the mean are still good.  This can’t go on all season, right?

I’ve asked a version of that last question each of the last several weeks.  So far, the answer is, perhaps it will.  The only regression happening right now is the continuing regression to the rear. 

I’m an optimist as a fan.  I much prefer to root for a team that has hope, and I don’t enjoy even a little bit griping about my team. I cheered for a lot of Braves teams from 1966-1990 that had little hope, but I always tried to find it.  I’m trying to keep hope alive this year.  But this morning, if you want me to give an encouraging word, I’ve got nothin.