BRAVES WINLESS WITHOUT LONG BALL

Basketball teams that rely heavily upon the three-point basket are often said to “live by the three or die by the three.” In baseball something similar could be said for teams that rely heavily upon the long ball—live by the home run or die without it.

Such is the situation facing the Atlanta Braves thus far this season. The Braves have a stellar 15-6 record going into Friday’s series with the Tigers, but never once has the team won without hitting a home run. The Braves are 15-0 when hitting at least one ball out of the park. They are 0-6 when no one goes deep.

The Braves have scored just eight runs in their five losses and that number is skewed by their 6-5 loss to Colorado in the nightcap on Wednesday. They have failed to show they can manufacture runs without the big blast. You recall in their 6-3 win over Kansas City, the Braves had five- count e’em—five home runs and won 6-3. The night after they had zero –count’em—zero home runs against the Royals and lost 1-0.

Justin Upton celebrates one of his 11 home runs

It’s called living dangerously. What may be even more precarious is that 11 of those home runs have come from one source—Justin Upton. Can he keep up that scorching pace throughout the remainder of the season? Highly unlikely. Evan Gattis has accounted for six and we are not even sure if Freddi Gonzalez can find a permanent place for him in the lineup now that Freddie Freeman is back at first and Brian McCann’s return is looming in a month or so. Other than that Dan Uggla and Gerald Laird have four home runs and the remainder of the Braves league-leading 35 home runs are scattered around among six other players.  (BTW-Colorado is second in home runs as a team with 30 -- playing home games in the rarified air of Denver; even the Yankees have only 28 to rank 3^rd to Atlanta). The Braves also have 185 team strikeouts (an average of almost nine per game) and are fourth behind league-leading Houston, which has the most strikeouts in the majors at 207. Again, the Braves have shown little or no ability to play small ball, a virtual necessity for clubs hoping to win it all.

The Braves efforts to date have been extraordinary. The long ball formula is working. The question remains can it last for the rest of the season…and beyond.

Hawks Secret

I’m wondering if Hawks management—and that does not include head coach Larry Drew—is secretly hoping these playoffs end as quickly as possible. The worse the Hawks look the more it justifies Danny Ferry making the changes necessary to make Atlanta’s NBA entry truly competitive in the future.

With cap space aplenty and no single player—outside maybe Al Horford—considered not expendable, the Hawks can really move. Even Josh Smith, who can electrify the crowd, has had issues and openly expressed his desire to be traded. He too could be replaced. The only drawback this year is the lack of a truly fertile free-agent market. But there will be a few good coaches around, another position Mr. Ferry may be interested in filling.

Titletown

Atlanta has notched another major event with the naming of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl as one of the rotating bowls which are part of the new College Football Playoffs. The "Peach," which was added at the request of the playoff committee brings back the original name of the game. Kudos to Gary Stokan and his group. Between that, the SEC title game and the Kickoff Classics, Atlanta is truly the sports capital of the South and the college football capital of the nation.