The Elusive .500

After another dominating performance from Jair Jurrjens on Friday, The Braves were in great position to get back to .500 on the season in the first game of 2008's second half. Alas, for the 4th consecutive time, they couldn't win when trying to even their record.

Even with Tim Hudson going against AAAA pitcher, John Parrish, the Bravos couldn't deliver. Hudson seems to pitch better when his offense doesn't back him up. Today, the Braves scored 5 runs for Tim, but Hudson had one of his worst performances; giving up 6 ER in 5 innings. (Of course, the Jays also owe a thank you card to Bobby Cox for allowing them to tee off on Manny Acosta in the 8th inning.)

One positive that the Braves have exhibited in many of their losses for the last two weeks is cutting into a lot of 3,4, and 5 run deficits. So far, this "feistiness" has ended up in only one win--a comeback over the Mariners against Miguel Batista, possibly the worst closer in baseball. One of these days, if the Braves can actually come all the way back, it could be a huge momentum boost. I think Braves fans would settle for just getting back to .500, before worrying about "big mo." If The Braves win Sunday's finale against Toronto, their next chance to get there would be against the Phils in the biggest series of the season to this point.

Although the division is definitely down right now, the Braves are going to have to win more than half their games to get back to October. I see three things the Braves absolutely NEED in order to turn this around for the 2nd half.

Set-up Man: For two months, Manny Acosta and Blaine Boyer were a solid top 2 guys in the bullpen, and in the near future, both may be able to maintain that for a full season. It's become obvious in recent weeks, however, that Manny and Blaine are tiring. At the least, both need some rest, which to Bobby Cox would mean only pitching one inning a game instead of two. What it really means is only pitching 3-4 innings a week and NOT putting in multi-inning appearances. Apparently, the first thing to go in a great manager is their ability to logically distribute innings within the bullpen.

One pitcher that the Braves can trust in the 8th inning would improve the bullpen, and every Braves fan's mental health. The best thing is that Atlanta might not even have to make a trade to get one. All Frank Wren may need to do is make a call to Richmond and Bring back Phil Stockman...again. Here's the catch, though, Cox would actually have to pitch him, you know...give him the ball. Here's all Stockman's done in his Pro baseball career with the Atlanta organization: 97 IP, 12 (12!!!!) Earned Runs, 113 K. That includes a 0.00 ERA with 9 strikeouts in 7.1 major league innings. Think he might deserve a fair shot? Well, now we just have to convince Bobby.

Outfield Help: The Braves outfield is near the bottom of the Majors in every offensive statistic, and has only gotten worse the last few weeks with Mark Kotsay and Matt Diaz on the DL.

Even pre-season, the OF didn't look like the best, but considering Francoeur's improvement in '07 and the ridiculous hitting abilities Diaz had shown in two seasons splitting time, it certainly was not anything to bemoan. Kotsay looked like the weak link then. As it turns out, Mark was the best of the three before his back flared up again.

Getting Kotsay back soon will help a ton, but to truly shore up the OF problems, a trade will probably be in order. Adam Dunn is the most intriguing, even if not the most likely, of the many possibilities.

Shorten the DL: I'm a believer in the theory that over the course of a baseball season, more than any other sport, luck will even out. The first half of this season was nothing but bad luck. In the last week and a half, Yunel Escobar has hurt himself sliding into home plate late in a game with a 9-1 deficit and diving back to first base to avoid a double play.

Then there's the fact that 3/5 of the projected rotation is on the DL, with at least one of them--and possibly all three-- not pitching this season.

Then There's Peter Moylan... Then there's Rafael Soriano...

Then there's Chipper's quad. Anyone that remotely follows the Braves knows this: There in no way that the Braves go to the playoffs if Chipper Jones does not get healthy enough to play every day. That's just the way it is. He changes the offense completely when he's in the 3-hole. Replace him with Ruben Gotay, and .500 would become the end instead of the means.