Are Innings a Concern - Revisited

Way the hell back on July 19th, I posted a blog talking about whether or not innings are a concern entering the second half.  At the time, Atlanta had a six game lead in the NL East and their record of 54-41 was just four games off the pace for the best record in the National League.  It was a promising first half and the rotation played a significant role in that.  For the most part, they had five healthy starters - including two veterans - and a young lefthander and a returning stud (in more ways than one, ladies).  The depth was enviable, especially as teams scrambled to fill out their rotation.

However, a possible issue was developing.  While there's no hard rule available, teams keep track of how many innings a pitcher logs compared to his recent history.  Some like pitchers who are 25-and-under to avoid pitching more than 30 innings vs. their previous season.  For example, if pitcher A throws 155 innings in 2012, you would like to see him throw no more than 185 the following year.  While rarely clubs employ a strategy that includes shutting down a pitcher when he hits his innings limit, clubs can use the number as a goal to try to aim for.

For Atlanta, with a rotation that currently includes four starters who are 25-and-younger, keeping an eye on innings could be important in a pair of ways.  First, the Braves badly will need their starters to be good in October.  Losing effectiveness at the wrong time could be catastrophic to the Braves' hopes of winning their first Championship since 1995.  Also, the Braves are built for the long-term.  While winning this year is the most important thing, keeping an eye on the next two-to-three seasons is a must.

With that in mind, let's go over the four youngsters.  In addition, I'm including one because his assorted injuries have limited his innings thus far.  On the other hand, I'm not going to include Paul Maholm because he's older.  When I did this column a month ago, I including a three-year average. I will continue to do that, but I think last year's innings total are more important so I'm adding that along with a new innings pace to compare with where they were a month ago.

Mike Minor

2013	7/19 Pace	8/20 Pace	2012	3-YR Avg
158.2	208	207	179.1	175

Despite a rough start Saturday against the Nationals, Minor has consistently put up big inning outings.  In fact, the marathon outing was just the second time this season Minor has failed to pitch at least six innings and the first time since April 10th.  For the record, he logged 5.2 ING that day.  Hopefully, Saturday was a product of an iffy start time because of monsoon season.  Still, the Braves may want to see if they can limit him down the stretch.  If he's laboring badly like he was Saturday, give him a quick hook.  Let him start anew the next time out.  Either way, you'd like if he was reaching 200 innings and higher in the postseason rather the last week or two of the regular season.

Kris Medlen

2013	7/19 Pace	8/20 Pace	2012	3-YR Avg
148	194	193	151.1	87

Unlike the rest of the pitchers in the current staff, Medlen is above 25 as this is his age 27 season.  However, I include him because his arm has never had to shoulder close to this much of a load.  Until 2008, he was a reliever and just set his personal high in innings last year.  He should pass that high in his next start (if not next extra inning relief appearance).  What complicates issues is that Medlen has struggled to regain his 2012 form and with the injury to Tim Hudson, Atlanta has a team-wide competition for the playoff slots behind Minor.  Medlen had a pair of good starts before coming out of the bullpen on Saturday and is scheduled to take the ball Friday against the Cardinals, which could be a tough match-up.

Julio Teheran

2013	7/19 Pace	8/20 Pace	2012	3-YR Avg
149	193	195	164.1	142

The Braves have done a fairly good job limiting Teheran's innings when they can.  They will need to continue to do that.  If you buy into limiting pitchers to no more than 30 innings more than they pitched the previous season, Teheran is on pace for that.  Teheran has games where he labors and struggles with his consistency. It's imperative in those games, especially in September, to get the pen working.

Brandon Beachy

2013	7/19 Pace	8/20 Pace	2012	3-YR Avg
64	NA	84	146.2	96

It's difficult to make any sort of projection for Beachy's innings.  I didn't bother last time, but I put a pace up this time, though its value may not be big.  Nevertheless, Beachy looks ready to breeze past that total with three-to-four starts.  There really shouldn't be any innings worry with him.  Instead, his pitches per game must be charted and decisions should be made off that.

Alex Wood

2013	7/19 Pace	8/20 Pace	2012	3-YR Avg
113.2	135	148	155	86

As expected, with him transitioning to a full-time starter, his pace altered significantly.  It will only to continue to do that. However, with the time he did spend in the bullpen, Wood shouldn't need to be babied much down the stretch.  Last year, between Georgia and his time in the minors, he logged 155 innings.  Even as a full-time starter in a five-man rotation for the rest of the season, he shouldn't throw many more than he did last year - if any.

In the end, one of the things that might help out the young hurlers with their innings is the return of Maholm.  Either as a part of a six-man rotation or subbing for a starter every turn through the rotation, Maholm will give the Braves an option to limit innings.  If a six-man rotation is adopted in September, the concern of its impact on the bullpen becomes an afterthought with expanded rosters.  

I know it's not sexy.  We want our starters to pitch seven innings or possibly complete a game here and there.  But Atlanta has home field advantage to play for and a title to win.  Going an extra frame or two in early September or getting a start pushed back doesn't seem like it might make a big difference and there's no real way to tell if it will.  However, better safe than sorry.  

2013 Atlanta Braves Myths: Part IX

For a few weeks, I thought I was finished with investigating myths that serve as potential pitfalls to the Atlanta Braves celebrating this season with a parade down Peach Street.  But one narrative continues to survive, spoken by commentators around the media landscape.  Some Braves fans follow blindly, believing the logic is so sound, it must be true.  Let’s find out.

1. Atlanta doesn't make productive outs because of strikeouts.

2. Atlanta seems to fall behind early and has to play catch-up.

3. Atlanta can't win if they keep striking out so much!

4. Anyone would be better than Uggla! 

5. Unless Its a Save Situation, Don't Use Kimbrel.

6. A Lack of a Leadoff Hitter Will Kill the Braves & 7. No World Champion gets shut out as often as the Braves.

8. Strikeouts Are Bad Because They Don't Press the Defense

9. The Atlanta Braves Won’t Win It All Because Their Staff Lacks Postseason Experience

When Tim Hudson went down, the Braves didn't just lose a clubhouse leader and a good guy at the bottom-of-the-rotation.  They lost their only player with a notable amount of postseason experience.  While a member of the A’s, Tim Hudson appeared in seven games with six starts as Oakland failed to get out of the ALDS.  Since becoming a Brave, he has made three starts, including one in 2010 where he tossed seven scoreless innings for a no-decision.  All told, he has logged 54.2 innings in the postseason.

Once you remove Hudson, the only other pitcher with a postseason start on the roster is Kris Medlen, who was handed the ball in the memorable Wild Card Game last season. 

The rationale follows as such: The postseason is a different animal.  Pitchers are relied upon with such a higher degree that not having experience in how to deal with those expectations can wreck pitchers the first few times they go through it.  The only cure to this is experience.  Relying on a rotation with youth will destroy Atlanta in the postseason.

Like any hypothesis, this theory must be tested.  I went back to 1991 just to make this tidy, but I’m sure you can go back a lot longer.  Remember, before 1969, only two teams made it to the playoffs.  You have to accept a lot of teams that earned the right to play in the World Series for the first time in ten or so years had little postseason experience in their starting staff. 

In this sample, I found five World Series Champions who meet the criteria.  All have occurred since 2002 and some sported staffs that lacked postseason experience across the board.  

2002 – Anaheim Angels…Though they finished as the Wild Card behind Hudson’s Athletics, the Angels defeated the Yankees and Twins with little trouble before beating the Giants in seven games to win the Series.  Of their top four starters, only Kevin Appier had any postseason starts.  One start, to be more exact and just two games overall.  The other three – Ramon Ortiz, Jarrod Washburn, and fresh-faced rookie John Lackey – had no postseason experience.

2003 – Florida Marlins…Another Wild Card entry, the Marlins reached the playoffs largely from their young, high-performing players.  Their staff was all under 30 and none of the five starters had a single game of postseason experience.  The unorthodox Jack McKeon would use all five to start at least one game in the playoffs and in 17 games, they won more than they lost and took home their second World Series Title in franchise history.  The playoff scene did little to take Josh Beckett, Carl Pavano, and others off their game.

2005 – Chicago White Sox…The ChiSox of ’05 had more experience than the previous two, but two of the starters they relied on (Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland) had one game out of the bullpen in the postseason between them.  Jose Contreras had postseason experience during his time with the Yankees, but never started a game.  Didn't stop their title hopes.

2008 – Philadelphia Phillies…Though they had the geriatric Jamie Moyer and his five postseason starts, the Phillies didn't have much starting experience in the playoffs outside of him.  Cole Hamels had one start and Brett Myers and Joe Blanton were used as relievers in their only postseason nods.  Yet, they rolled through the postseason with relative ease, winning 11-of-13.

2010 – San Francisco Giants…The final entrant resembles the 2003 Marlins.  While they had veteran Barry Zito on the staff, his ineffective play dropped him from the postseason roster.  Instead, the Giants relied on four postseason rookies and were matched up with the Phillies in the NLCS.  Philly was no longer the postseason newbie they were in ’08, having won the previous two NL pennants.   Nevertheless, the Giants took that crown away in six before breezing by the Rangers in five for the World Championship.

Postseason experience is nice.  But it’s not a necessity.  Even in 1991, the Braves and Twins matched up with one starter on each side who actually had a decent amount of postseason experience (Jack Morris and Charlie Leibrandt).  The rest of the starters, and there were some tremendous ones on both sides, were new to the postseason scene.  We still got one of the greatest World Series in history. 

Experience doesn't beat talent and execution.  I will grant you that postseason experience does nothing but help players, but its actual impact seems very low.  And though he’s hurt, Huddy is around to provide advice to the young guns on the staff.  Either way, if the Braves fail in the playoffs – and hopefully, they don’t – the reason for that failure will not because the other team was more seasoned than the Braves.  

See ya, Blake!

Before Saturday's epic encounter, the Braves announced that they had inked Tyler Greene to a minor league contract.  In a non-corresponding move, the Braves jettison'd Blake DeWitt.  So, let's give our regards to DeWitt

DeWitt signed before the season to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.  DeWitt was once the 82nd prospect in 2006, according to Baseball America.  The former first rounder joined the Dodgers in 2008 and OPS'd .728, not all-that-awful from a middle infielder, though he did play a lot of third.  In 2010, In 2010, he set many personal highs despite being involved in a deadline deal that sent Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot to the Dodgers.  Still, he only OPS'd .709.

After a year as a backup, DeWitt only played 18 games with the Cubs last year before being non-tendered.  In 2013, he failed to make the roster coming out of spring training.  Nevertheless, he didn't stay long in Gwinnett, playing just two games before a Freddie Freeman injury prompted the Braves to purchase his contract.  He went 1 for 3 in four games over a week and played an inning at third.  But he definitely got a chance to feel like a real Brave.  In his debut, he pinch-bunted.  Classic.  Unfortunately, his season took a turn from there as he also went to the DL with what would eventually be labeled a chronic problem.

Seems like DeWitt's future in the majors is grim...nevertheless, we thank you for your service, your #32 that went to Scott Downs, your bunting skills, and your super white name.  See ya, Blake!

Random Prospect of the Day - Carlos Perez

In today’s edition of this series, we will check in with a lefthander who has gone from being a future stud to a guy who just might be - hopefully, maybe - if everything goes right, a useful pitcher someday for Atlanta.  Sometimes, prospects fizzle out well before they knock on the door.  Maybe Carlos Perez can get back into the future plans for the Braves, though.  After all, a team can never have enough nasty left-handers.

Perez was born on November 20th, 1991.  On that day, the Braves released future pitching coach Randy St. Claire.  Though, they would resign him, I do like matching birthdays with events in the Braves past.  At just 16, Perez signed with the Braves for $600,000 and made his professional debut the following season with the Gulf Coast Braves, pitching with future major leaguers James Parr and Zeke Spruill.  The results weren't too awfully pretty, but he got his feet wet at 17 years-old.

The following season (2010), Perez arrived on the scene with Danville.  In six starts and 32 innings, Perez didn’t allow a homer and sported a 3.20 FIP.  Considering he was facing a lot of college guys, that was very impressive.   Amazingly, the D-Braves were only 34-34 that year despite having Evan Gattis, Joey Terdoslavich, and Andrelton Simmons.  But none of those three and none of the other prospects in the Appalachian League earned the circuit's Baseball America Top Prospect.  Perez did, though.  He even made it to Rome to finish the year, but a broken rib in early August ended what was otherwise a wonderful campaign.

Expectations were high for Perez entering 2011.  He was on the outskirts of the organizational Top 10 Prospects according to more than a few analysts.   Back at Rome and with a shot to move quickly, Perez fell on his face.  In 125 innings, he walked 66 (4.8 BB/9) and uncorked 20 wild pitches.  His mechanics were clearly worrisome and resulted in an astounding six balks.  To put that into perspective, the 2011 Rome Braves had 12 balks as a team.

In 2012, Perez was tabbed for a return trip to Rome.  After a month of getting hammered by the opposition, Perez was demoted back to Danville.  There, he worked with the coaches to fine-tune his delivery in preparation for the upcoming season.  The effort quickly paid off as he finished the season out of the D-Braves’ bullpen with 50 K’s in 30.2 ING.  Now, the expectations were tempered because Perez had already dominated at the APPY League before.  Just the same, it was the first signs of a return-to-form from that former prospect.

Perez continued his success this season, finally graduating from Rome for the first time after 48 games, 29 starts, and 159.1 ING from 2010-13.  In three months in the SALLY League to start the season, Perez struck out 37 over 32 innings.  He kept the ball in the park (1 homer allowed) and walked just 8, a pretty 4.6 K/BB ratio. The work earned him a promotion to Lynchburg and six games in, it was a success.  In 10.2 ING, he struck out 12.  However, the wheels fell off in a trio of appearances from August 2-12.  He recorded zero outs on the 8th, allowing four walks and a double.  A pair of errors compounded the inning and he was charged with seven total runs – two earned – against Wilmington.

He faced one batter on the 12th and was removed after a walk. Two days later, he was officially placed on the DL.  I have no updates on the severity of his injury.

There was a time where Perez was the next big thing in the Braves system. His fastball tops off at around 93 mph and with a very tight curveball, he can come at you with two plus pitches with a change-of-pace that is in development.  Where he goes from here is a question mark.  If he’s not hurt, Perez will be back next year, likely with Lynchburg and the Braves will want to see something from him.  Even if Perez maxes out as a LOOGY, the Braves will take that from his electric arm.  Always room in the bullpen for a guy who can consistently sit down left-handed hitters.

Trade Target - Ryan Roberts

So, back to normal.  By the time this blog post is published, Atlanta probably has had six more injuries to their second baseman depth.  Mark Lemke has grabbed a glove. Jeff Treadway is sitting by his phone.  Keith Lockhart is ready to pop out behind third base in foul territory.

Naturally, the Braves enter the weekend with an eye on anyone who is available and competent enough to play second base.  Placido Polanco is around, but has played 83 innings at second base since the beginning of 2010.  Brendan Ryan has passed waivers, but are the Braves that desperate over simply starting Paul Janish?  Of course, the Braves could simply just stick with Janish/Phil Gosselin until Dan Uggla returns, but how much concern is there that Uggla's pending return in a few weeks is optimistic?  Doesn't seem to be any and LASIK is super common nowadays.  But just the same, lazers and stuff.

Regardless, Atlanta has to be interested in an acquisition from outside the organization.  Probably their best option is Ryan Roberts, who was designated for assignment by the Rays on Thursday.  Roberts is owed roughly $725,000 for the rest of the season, his second year of arbitration.  Known commonly as TatMan, Roberts became a regular fixture on Baseball Tonight during his 2011 run with the Diamondbacks.  He slashed .249/.341/.427 with 19 homers and 18 steals while playing mostly third base.  His numbers tapered off the following season and he was traded before the deadline last year to the Rays for a minor leaguer.

With the Rays, Roberts has played mostly second with some starts at third mixed in.  However, he only OPS'd .658 in Tampa, failing to recapture his glory of 2011.  Roberts clearly is not a tremendous player.  He maxed out as a 108 wRC+ with 3.6 WAR.  What's his value to the Braves?

Beyond the fact he should be cheap if he passes waivers, Roberts provides plus defense (historically, at least) at both second and third.  He also has some recent playing time at first.  Both this year and over his career, Roberts has been much better against lefties.  He's also shown a solid bat off the bench with a career .269 average as a pinch hitter.  Like Evan Gattis, he is probably better when the manager can pick the time to use him.

If the Braves are to make a move before the return of Uggla, acquiring Roberts seems like the best bet of the supposedly available players on the market.  Roberts would likely be non-tendered so the Braves couldn't surrender much for him.  Still, for the rest of the season, Roberts could be a nice bench piece and give the Braves depth for the playoff roster.

So...Braves fans...about Friday night...

In my last post, I bashed the Nationals for their refusal to shut up.  It was the right thing to do because even after watching the Braves open over a dozen-game lead and even after failing to get to .500 and stay there, Nationals players and their manager continued to spout off.

In the first game of an anticlimactic three-game series, the Braves won 3-2 in ten innings.  Once again, Justin Upton was the guy the Braves were hoping for when they acquired him this offseason.   When the count got to 1-2, I IM’d my friend and said “Upton's going to walk-off here.”  I really should do that more often.

But the result of the game will probably be glossed over by sports media outlets.  Instead, two plate appearances involving Bryce Harper become the story of the game.  You might remember a week or so ago when Harper homered off Julio Teheran and there was a lot of discussion over slow homerun trots.  Why would a ridiculous subject become a debatable point?  Because, according to the theory of a great many bloggers and analysts, Teheran hit Harper later in the game for “admiring” his homerun too much.

Whether it was intentional or not is fully up for debate.  Teheran, who often has wonderful control, seemed to have issues hitting his spots during the game.  In addition, Teheran throws inside.  He attempts to own the inside corner and is not shy about it.  He’s hit 12 batters on the year, the most in the National League, and three different times, he’s hit two batters in a single game.  That’s not to say that there is no possibility that he was trying to send a message to Harper.  For the record, Teheran denies it and I am inclined to believe him.

Regardless, Nationals fans and possibly the worst announcers in baseball (Bob Carpenter and F.P. Santangelo) were convinced that Teheran was aiming for Harper.  True or not, don’t really care.  Short of Teheran coming out and saying “yeah, I was going after him,” no one who seems so sure of Teheran’s intentions actually knows.

Move forward to this evening.  Harper doubled, but was stranded early as Alex Wood pitched into and out of a little trouble.  In his next at-bat, a breaking pitch never broke and softly struck Harper.  The Braves fans cheered.  Loudly. Ridiculously loudly.  Now, it’s not like Harper was injured or anything.  It was just a knuckle-curve that got away from Wood.  And truly, I can forgive the fans cheering this one because it was so softly thrown and even Harper could laugh about it.

In the eighth, with Wood gone, Ryan Zimmerman doubled off Luis Avilan.  For so long, Avilan has been a shut down guy coming out of the bullpen, but he was struggling with his location and crossed up his defense, which was playing Zimmerman to go opposite field.  There was two outs and the Braves were trying to get a 2-1 lead to Craig Kimbrel.  Harper stepped in.  It was the matchup the Braves wanted.  Avilan handles lefties so well (.148/.216/.173).  You don’t want to face Jayson Werth with a chance to tie or put the Nationals ahead.

Instead, Avilan’s pitch comes in and hits Harper in the shoulder/upper back area.  Avilan looked very disappointed by the pitch.  You cannot convince me that Avilan intentionally hit Harper.  As the second-year player said after the game, “Anybody who thinks I was throwing at (Harper) on purpose doesn’t know the game of baseball.”  There’s just no way Avilan intentionally tried to put the go-ahead runner on, a runner capable of scoring with any gapper.  His job is to strand runners, not put them on base.

But that wasn’t the bad thing.  Atlanta fans, as Harper grimaced outside the box, cheered loudly.  The reception grew in volume as Fredi Gonzalez changed pitchers, bringing in Luis Ayala.  A sort-of standing ovation was given to Avilan as he left the field.  It was an abysmal showing from the often mute fans.  Don’t get me wrong, I take pleasure in Harper’s failures.  When he swings-and-misses on a Kimbrel fastball or gets bastardized on a changeup from Wood, I smile and pump my fist.  I yell “sit down, bro” at my TV.  Fuck Bryce Harper.

To cheer after he gets hit, though?  Classless.  It’s not a proportional response.  He talks shit and you want him to fail to live up to that.  You heckle him and throw his words back him.  Hey, is this shit over yet, Bryce?  Are you still fighting to the every last man?  However, you don’t want him to get hit.  Especially the second time, which put the go-ahead runner on base and left Gonzalez with the choice between what appeared to be an ineffective Avilan vs. Werth or the low leverage Ayala against Werth.  The latter resulted in a game-tying base hit.

Much like the trash that was thrown on the field, it was a bad moment for Braves fans.  Even more, fans took to twitter to defend the actions of those at Turner Field.  Seriously, we can call our own fans on something and in this case, it was an awful show of sportsmanship…a classless display of fandom…and a dark and indefensible moment for Braves fans.

Still…that Upton homer was pretty sweet.

The Talkative 'Nats

This is the Nationals.

A team of high expectations and an even higher belief in who they are.  This is a team that despite over 120 games of sample size still can not accept their fate and their failure.  From the manager down to their ever-changing roster dynamic, this a team that has struggled with the target they relished having so brightly colored on their backs.

Before the season, Jayson Werth - a man who definitely thinks highly of himself - made it clear to anyone who would listen that it was the Phillies, not the Braves, who were the biggest threats to the Nationals once-again claiming a division title.

"Phillies," he said. "I think everybody is writing them off. They played good in September, when they were healthy. They're not going to roll over, that's for sure." 

And about the Braves? "Yeah, the Braves got the Upton brothers," Werth said. "But they lost [Martin] Prado and Chipper."

Apparently, the Phillies were going to return to prominence despite coming off an 81-81 season and counting the acquisitions of the ancient Michael Young and Jeff Francoeur's Blacker Half as "key pickups."  Werth was truthful about one thing.  The Phillies look like a bigger threat to the Nationals in the sense that they are much closer to Washington in the standings than the Nats are to the Braves.

Earlier this season, the Braves swept the Nationals in Washington.  After the series, Jason Heyward said, "This is week 2, man. The first series against them. A sweep is a sweep. That’s that. But it’s a long season....We’ll see where we finish up in September, but if it’s like this then obviously we’ll feel like we have a lot of good chances."  That's how professional athletes who have done this for awhile do things.  They don't go out of their way to put down their opposition.  They respect them.  Paul Maholm refereed to the Nats as a "great team." B.J. Upton made it clear how important it was to get off to a good start.  After all, the older Upton reasoned, the Nationals are a "very good ballclub."  Fredi Gonzalez echo'd that thought with the exact same phrase.  The Braves manager stressed that we'll have to see how the summer unfolds.

But Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa went the opposite way. After the second of three consecutive April loses in DC, the second baseman just had to add his two cents about the Braves.

“They’re good, I don’t think they’re better than us.”

Thanks Danny.  But here's the thing that you should keep in mind.  When your rival comes in and whips you, don't add fuel to the fire.  Just take your whipping and talk about how you are going to have to take one game at a time.  In fact, all you needed to say is "They're good."  Because the Braves were and are good.  The next day, in the finale of the sweep, Maholm hit Espinosa with a fastball on the wrist.  It is unlikely it was by design, but after playing over a month with a fracture wrist, the second baseman went to the minors with a slash line of .158/.193/.272.  He's been in Syracuse since mid-June, OPSing .570 while being replace by Anthony Rendon, a third baseman doing his best impression of a middle infielder.  Back to the April sweep, after being hit in a 9-0 thrashing by the Braves, Espinosa expressed his confidence over the remaining 16 games against the Braves.  He's missed a good deal of the games between the inter-divisional rivals since, but still went 2-for-18 with nine K's.  Oh, well, maybe be has more confidence against the Gwinnett Braves.

Stephen Strasburg lost 3-1 during the game that prompted Espinosa's brilliant retort about how the Braves simply aren't better than the Nationals.  His lineup managed four hits during the game including a homer by Espinosa for his team's only run.  After the game, Strasburg graciously commented about how he got out-pitched and tipped his cap to Evan Gattis, who tomahawked a fastball into the Potomac.  Wait, no, he said this:

“Honestly, I think our lineup’s better,” he said. “They’re hot right now. It’s early and it’s not about how many wins you necessarily finish up with in April, it’s how many you have at the end of the year.”

You're right, Stephen.  Nationals winning percentage after April - .481.  Current winning percentage as of Friday evening - .492.  That's kind of better, I guess.  Course, there's that whole lineup nonsense.  The Nationals are averaging 3.8 R/G. Atlanta comes in at 4.5 R/G. Only two NL teams were worse than the Nats.  Only the Cardinals are better than the Braves.  Don't worry about giving me any predictions about the upcoming football season, Stephen.

In late July, ahead of a three-game series in which the Braves tore up the Nationals for another sweep in DC, Bryce Harper, ever the nice Mormon, had this nugget of information about the Nationals' chances of getting back into the race.

"We play the Braves nine more times. This shit ain't over."

Amazingly, he didn't comment after the series that there were still six games.  Harper, of course, would go on to act like a punk during the series after taking a pitch from the arm of Julio Teheran.  To his credit, Harper took his base.  Probably because Teheran took a few steps toward him and asked what he was going to do.

And right before the series with the Braves in DC this weekend, the sickly-looking Davey Johnson, who should know better, couldn't keep away from the microphone.

"We need to show them they're not better than us. Stand up and return the favor."

The previous thirteen games in which the Braves took ten showed that Atlanta was better than you. The previous 120 games in which Atlanta won fifteen more games showed that the Braves were better than the Nationals.  Yet, as if it is impossible to accept your failures, the Nationals from the top-down still hold onto this pathetic idea that they - YES, THEY - are better than every team they face no matter what the results say.

I get pumping up your team.  I understand that you simply can't go out and talk about how every team is better than you are.  At a certain point, though, aren't you just hurting your cause?  It's embarrassing to keep with this narrative at this point.

Just shut your mouth, Nationals.