![\"\"](\"http:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/wrongcolumn.jpg\")
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In some regards, this kind of start was unexpected.\u00a0 Sure, it\u2019s in all likelihood not going to last, but for what it\u2019s worth, it\u2019s amusing to see at any point in the season, that the Atlanta Braves are sitting up in first place, undefeated much less.<\/span><\/p>\n And in other regards, it\u2019s also not that much of a surprise that the Braves are off to this kind of good start; yes, me and everyone else had pretty much written the Braves off and chalked them in for a billion losses this season, but the team isn\u2019t completely putrid.\u00a0 It\u2019s more like, there are very glaringly putrid components and segments of the team, but that\u2019s not to say that there are individuals who are not all bad either.<\/span><\/p>\n Namely the starting pitching.\u00a0 It\u2019s only been three games, but the starting pitching have all done their jobs in holding a Marlins squad expected to compete for second or third place in the division, with slim playoff aspirations once Jose Fernandez returns and if he proves to be capable, to three runs over three games.\u00a0 Julio Teheran, Alex Wood and Shelby Miller have all delivered in their first starts of the year, and there\u2019s plenty of reason to feel positive if they can keep up this kind of performance for an extended duration of time.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, someone forgot to tell all the old recruits and veteran acquisitions that they weren\u2019t supposed to be good anymore.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be the first to admit that I wasn\u2019t the least bit enthused when I found out the team had picked up Nick Markakis, Jonny Gomes, A.J. Pierzynski, Jim Johnson and Jason Grilli; this is now a young man\u2019s game, and age is the biggest knock on any single player, regardless of their past accolades and achievements.\u00a0 But each and every one of those guys came out and took the field and played as if they were on the champion teams or contenders they all once were on at points in their careers, and it was impossible to see that the Braves were the jobbers they were destined to be this season.<\/span><\/p>\n This has been a fun team to watch, even if it\u2019s been just three games.\u00a0 The television commentators alluded to this particular train of thought, that the Braves, as an organization had been a little stuffy, a little too corporate, and frankly not really that fun of a team.\u00a0 Any team with Jonny Gomes on it is no longer not-outspoken, and the mere existence of A.J. Pierzynski is going to get under the skin of people out there.\u00a0 Jason Grilli might not be the robotic destroyer of the 9th<\/sup>inning from the future like Craig Kimbrel, but he pitches with intensity and actually allows himself to show some emotion.\u00a0 This is not the same team from years past, and I do think that that\u2019s a good thing.<\/span><\/p>\n Nonetheless, it\u2019s just three games, and baseball is a long and arduous season.\u00a0 Nice as it is now to be in first place, the game of numbers tends to win out most of the time, the synchronicity of team success doesn\u2019t always continue, and losses will inevitably happen, occasionally mount, and everything results in a true average.<\/span><\/p>\n 90~ losses is still the expectation, 100~ losses is still my desire, but I\u2019ll also state that it\u2019ll be enjoyable watching the Braves do whatever it takes to defy both from coming to fruition.\u00a0 They may be amongst the worst teams in the league when the season ends, but as contradictory as it sounds, it is possible to be the best-worst team in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In some regards, this kind of start was unexpected.\u00a0 Sure, it\u2019s in all likelihood not going to last, but for what it\u2019s worth, it\u2019s amusing to see at any point in the season, that the Atlanta Braves are sitting up in first place, undefeated much less. And in other regards, it\u2019s also not that much … Continue reading Filling up the wrong column, boys<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62,66,45,15],"class_list":["post-40299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-fail","tag-og"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40301,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40299\/revisions\/40301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}