The Morning Aftermath: Pondering Brooks And Bobby

There is a lot of "blame Bobby" sentiment going on out there, and while I get that the manager is responsible for a lot of what transpires, I just can't pin this one entirely on him. Yes, I do disagree with the decision to pull Craig Kimbrel in favor of Michael Dunn, but I also disagreed with the decision to burn Troy Glaus as a pinch hitter in favor of Eric Hinske -- that certainly worked out well.

Should Brooks Conrad have been replaced by Diory Hernandez? Sure. But remember that Jason Heyward was a bit banged up from earlier in the game and Diory was the last non-catcher on the bench. Cox may have been a bit gun-shy to use his last bench player with such a frail team on the field. Besides, Diory Hernandez is not that slick of a fielder (though he is likely better than Conrad).

There was a bit of completeness to the failure of last night's game, which was the worst loss the Braves have suffered since that 18 inning affair in Houston in 2005. The guy who got us out of of the jam in last night's loss was the same guy who caused the drama in 2005, Kyle Farnsworth. That doesn't really mean anything, but in remembering the last two games that really stabbed me in the heart, it's curious that he's been in both of them.

The Braves still have chance, though. It's more of an uphill climb, but there's still a chance. I don't know how many times it needs to be repeated, but we need to get some hits and score some runs. Outside of game two we have six total hits, and one of them is by a pitcher. Perhaps putting Troy Glaus at third base and moving Omar Infante to second will improve the defense and add more offense to the lineup. Inserting Diory Hernandez into the lineup is just giving the Giants another out.

Another thought that crossed my mind since last night is that all of these games have been one-run affairs. The Braves have been in every game, even when it seemed like they were out of it. Of course, that's probably why the losses have hurt so much.

The Braves are dangerous when they're backs are up against the wall, and this season they have left everything until the last minute, so is it really any surprise that they are going to have to come back to win this series? This is what they do. Really, though, I don't know how much more of this I can take.