Two games down on the current road trip. Eight games to go. One baseball team, sinking fast.
The Braves ran their losing streak to five games Wednesday night and never had a chance against the team with the best record in the bigs. The Cubs lit up emergency starter Jeff Bennett for seven runs and seven hits in two-plus innings, Atlanta falling 7-2 to drop two games below .500.
Bennett climbed the bump after Jair Jurrjens was scratched from the start early Wednesday afternoon. Jurrjens slipped leaving the clubhouse following Tuesday's road-trip-opening 10-5 loss, injuring his ankle. It happened on the same day Tom Glavine left after three innings with a strained elbow, landing the future Hall of Famer on the disabled list, and on the same day John Smoltz underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in Birmingham.
If it wasn't so sad, I'd laugh.
In 30 years of watching ball, I've never seen so much happen to a team capable of being so good -- yes, at full strength, this team is good enough to not only contend in the East, but to win the NL pennant and perhaps the World Series.
But that's not going to happen, not at this rate.
The Braves can't hit in the clutch, can't win on the road (that's 7-24 for the season, in case you've lost track), can't win close games (3-17 in one-run decisions) and now, three-fifths of their projected starting rotation (Smoltz, Glavine and Mike Hampton) are on the DL.
Ryan Dempster was outstanding for the Cubs last night -- complete-game gem, four hits allowed, no walks and 11 strikeouts -- so it might not have mattered if the Braves had Warren Spahn in his prime toeing the slab at the corner of Clark and Addison.
Speaking of Spahn, the Braves will wear retro 1948 Boston Braves jerseys in today's series finale. In 1948, Spahn and Johnny Sain combined to win 39 games (coining the phrase, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain"). That team won the NL pennant.
This team won't be winning anything other than the "most bad things to happen to a baseball team in recent memory" award if something doesn't break their way. And soon.
--30--
Keywords: Atlanta Braves, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, Jair Jurrjens, Jeff Bennett, John Smoltz, Johnny Sain, Major League Baseball, Mike Hampton, Ryan Dempster, Tom Glavine, Warren Spahn, World Series, Wrigley Field
