Has Fredi Gonzalez
Changed the Course of the Pennant Race with One Move?
The Atlanta
Braves started off the 2013 season on a torrid pace and despite playing only
.500 ball until recently have never been in danger. The rest of the NL East is
so bad that a mediocre Atlanta team has run roughshod over the division. One of
the main reasons for their tremendous start was the start of Justin Upton. He
tore through the league for the first 20 games or so and Atlanta was looking
like the best team in the game bar none. Upton began to cool down and Atlanta’s
reliance on the long ball came to the forefront. If they weren’t hitting home
runs, they weren’t winning, but again, none of that mattered because the
division was so bad.
Over in the
NL Central, the Cardinals, Pirates, and Reds emerged as the cream of the crop
and were in a three way dog fight for supremacy. A funny thing happened though
on the way to a Pittsburgh or St. Louis pennant celebration. The Atlanta Braves
got hot once more. Justin Upton has been blue flame Bunsen Burner hot, and as
he goes so do the Braves, but something else has helped turn them around, and
the embattled Fredi Gonzalez deserves all the credit.
The Atlanta
Braves do two things extremely well; they pitch and they play defense (despite
having Dan Uggla with a glove out in the field). Starter, bullpen, or closer,
it doesn’t matter, the Braves have guys who can continuously get the job done.
Julio Teheran has been a revelation for this team, an under the radar arm just
as good as the Harvey’s, Fernandez’s, and Locke’s. In a big game he should be
the man to get the ball and have the chance to lead the Braves to victory.
Craig Kimbrel has already put to bed the debate of best closer once Mariano
retires and is as sure of a thing in baseball than anyone else.
There are
some things the Braves weren’t doing too well also. First and foremost was
their reliance on the long ball as mentioned above. Like the Yankees before
them, they were a great team who lived and died by the home run. Lately
however, that has changed. They have been getting clutch hits and hitting balls
into the gap with regularity. Another Achilles heel of the team was the lack of
production from the leadoff spot. For as great of a team as they were and could
be, they had no one who could leadoff. This is where Gonzalez and the smartest
decision he’s ever made come into play.
Fourteen games
ago, Fredi decided to bat Jason Heyward leadoff. Heyward isn’t prototypically a
guy you would think of as a leadoff hitter but he can handle the bat and get on
base. He won’t set the base paths on fire with his speed but he’s more than
capable of stealing a base here and there. Since making Heyward the leadoff hitter,
all the Braves have done is win 14 games in a row and show no signs of slowing
down with two more games against the Marlins to finish off the weekend set.
Having Heyward, Upton, and Freeman (who has undoubtedly taken over for Chipper
Jones as the face, heart, and soul of the Braves) as your top three hitters is
just unfair. Add in the fact that hitting behind them is Chris Johnson, who
could very well go on to win the batting title, and things are looking rosy in
the peach state. Other managers and pitchers have to be so selective and
overthink strategy that they are bound to make mistakes and these guys will
make them pay.
Fredi
Gonzalez gets criticized for many things, and deservedly so, but this decision
very well could’ve locked up a World Series victory for the Braves. Barring any
kind of injury and the dependence on the long ball fading, Atlanta is without a
doubt the most complete team in the league. Come October the streets of
Badstreet, USA will be filled with tomahawk chopping and baseball clobbering,
and Hotlanta will make everyone forget about cold weather.
