For the Braves to Make the Playoffs...

by gondeee on Jul 18, 2008 9:01 AM EDT

Here are the top-5 things that must happen for the Braves to make the playoffs this year:

Mark Teixeira must repeat the kind of performance he had in the second half last year (and the Braves, of course, must not trade him).
Either Rafael Soriano, Tom Glavine, or -- heaven forbid -- Mike Hampton must return to our pitching staff and stay healthy and effective for the remainder of the season.
Jeff Francoeur must hit with runners in scoring position (.198 BA w/RISP in the first half).
The team must win twice as many one-run games as they lose in the second half; reversing the trend of losing more then three times as many one-run games as they won in the first half.
Maturity and major league ability must come quickly to Charlie Morton, Jo-Jo Reyes, Brandon Jones and Brent Lillibridge. All three may be counted on to play important roles in the second half.

Oh, and one more thing... we need a lot of luck. The kind of luck and the kind of breaks we didn't get in the first half of the season. We currently have an 11.9% chance of making the playoffs, so if the Braves like being the underdog, they've certainly played themselves into that position.

And in case you were wondering, I actually wrote this piece yesterday afternoon before the AJC published their list of five.

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by jamesrael on Jul 18, 2008 11:50 AM EDT reply actions

6. Kotsay and Yunel need to be healthy

Kotsay hasn’t really been the same after coming back from his back injury and we definitely need better OF production.

Yunel’s probably the best defensive SS in the game right now. His offense is slumping and I think part of it is due to his injuries. He’s not awful right now, especially for a SS, but we all know he’s better than this.

by VictorW on Jul 18, 2008 12:04 PM EDT reply actions

re: number 5

i think JOJO and lillibridge are coming along fine. lilli will probably be sent down once infante comes off the DL, but he had a good series in SD, and i’m encouraged by that. JOJO has been pitching well lately, but bobby seems to have him on a short leash. charlie isn’t pitching bad, he’s just having a couple of bad innings here and there

by bigjoe on Jul 18, 2008 6:36 PM EDT reply actions

also, we need diaz to come back and start hitting like he did last year (not like he was this year), and blanco needs to get that average up. i love the high OBP, but he…can’t…hit. horrible power numbers for a corner OF

by bigjoe on Jul 18, 2008 6:37 PM EDT reply actions