The Atlanta Braves entered this past weekend’s series with the Pirates with an opportunity to come out on the other side back at .500 for the first time this season, however came up short in taking advantage of a struggling Pittsburgh team, who had recently fired their manager, Derek Shelton, dropping two of three games in the series.
Now sitting at 19-21, the Braves will begin a four-game home series against division rival, the Washing Nationals, who sit two and a half games back of Atlanta in the National League East standings, and have another opportunity reach the .500 mark, however on Monday, Abe Gordon, who filled in for Carl Dukes, expressed his concern on whether or not the Braves can reach a mark they have yet to see this season.
“They’re going to be .500 by Wednesday morning. Is that crazy?” Gordon asked Mike Bell as they discussed the possibility of the Braves taking the first two games of the series with the Nationals to reach .500. “At some point this thing is going to start rocking and rolling but they have to start hitting. The pitching has been fine,” Bell said later noting multiple Braves’ players who have failed to produce at the plate unexpectedly, Matt Olson in particular.
“He’s not clutch because Matt Olson is vacuous,” Bell said expressing his frustration in the Braves’ first baseman, who is currently batting .194 for the month of May and .224 on the season. “How about some clutch?” Bell asked as he and Gordon shared their thoughts on Olson, along with Ozzie Albies, needing to help the Braves’ offense. “He’s been horrible,” Bell added of Albies, who is batting .132 in May and .213 this season.
The Braves also have struggled with runners in scoring position as they went 3-21 over the weekend and are 21st in Major League Baseball batting averages. “You’ve only got a couple guys running hot and everyone else is slumping,” Gordon added.