Not so fast with the Nationals tonight, guys.
One of the biggest reasons the team was able to put together eight straight wins is because they enjoyed (as they always do) the advantage of being taken very lightly. The Florida Marlins should be forced to do wind sprints right alongside the Miami Dolphins in the searing Florida sun for the shameless way in which they totally looked past the Nats last week. But why wouldn't they? They'd dribbled this team like a basketball for the last three seasons. Arizona had a winning record, too, against Washington, but once they coughed up a big lead in last Friday's series opener, they just didn't seem to care on Saturday and Sunday.
But tonight the Nats face the Braves in Atlanta, and we've got reason to believe that the Braves care very much about these next two games, and that they won't be looking past the Nationals towards their weekend series with the team they're chasing, the defending champion Phillies.
For one thing, the Braves suddenly feel rejuvenated. Five days ago, they suffered a wrenching loss in their series opener at Dodger Stadium when the diabolical Andre Ethier hit a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 9th to nip them, 5-4. After the game, Chipper Jones said he felt like the team was out of contention. He sounded like he was throwing in the towel on the 2009 season. Then an unexpected thing happened. Over the next three days, Braves pitching silenced the cold Dodgers' bats as the Braves won 9-5, 2-1, and 8-2. Each day, the Braves took the field already knowing that the division-leading Phillies had already been upset at home by the Marlins. On their flight home from California, the Braves suddenly found themselves only 4.5 games back of first place, and with a chance to gain ground on Philadelphia head-to-head this coming weekend.
But first, the Braves have this brief two-game set against the Nationals. You can take it to the bank that win or lose, the Nationals, thanks to their attention-getting wining streak, have Atlanta's full and undivided attention. Not only that, but unlike recent Nats' victims Florida and Arizona, the Braves have no reason to be overconfident tonight or tomorrow because they have a losing record against Washington the last two seasons! It's a bad losing record! Little known fact, but last year, the Braves managed to lose 12 of 18 meetings against this Washington team that went a brutal 47-96 against everyone else. This season, after sweeping the Nats in Atlanta in early April, the Braves then twice lost 2 out of 3 to the Nats in Washington, first in late April and again in early July. That means the Braves are an embarrasing 11-16 against baseball's worst team in 2008 and 2009.
This fact, and Washington's current sizzling play, is not lost on the Braves. Check out hese quotes that appeared in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
“I think they’ve proved to the rest of the league this past week that they are not to be taken lightly,” Braves right fielder Matt Diaz said of the Nats, who’ve temporarily cast aside laughingstock status by churning out eight straight wins.
“We’ve got a little warmup series against Washington before Philly comes to town,” Jones said. “It’s important not to overlook anyone. We’ve got to play well against Washington.”
“We have to keep playing like we have been,” said Braves ace Javier Vazquez, who is 5-0 in his past six starts, including two wins on the trip. “Washington is playing well. We can’t let our guard down.”
“Maybe now that they’re hot, we can beat them when nobody else can,” Diaz said of the Nationals. “Because when everybody else beat them, we couldn’t.”
I don't know about you, but I've heard enough to convince me that the Braves are bracing for a real challenge against a team they know has given them problems.
I love to bet on underdogs when I'm pretty sure that they're not going to draw the other team's best effort. Well, that's not happening here. Washington is getting national attention for springing this winning streak upon the National League when they were previously believed to easily be the worst team in baseball. If they win their ninth consecutive game tonight, they'll really have to earn it. Frankly, I think the Braves want this game much more than they do, so I am going to do what a cold-blooded gambler sometimes does - I am going to abandon my beloved cash cow right here and consider a play on the Braves instead.