Idly Standing By

It has become painfully obvious that the Atlanta Braves aren't going to score many runs this season.
Through 20 games, the Braves have scored four runs or less 14 times and two runs or less eight times. Not helping matters is Chipper Jones, Brian McCann and Garrett Anderson haven't stayed healthy.
Remarkably, Atlanta is still at .500 with a 10-10 record, thanks to a stellar starting pitching staff.
The frustrating part is not much is being done to try and improve the offense. Going into the season, it was known runs wouldn't always be there considering the makeup of the lineup.
What's unacceptable, however, is not taking advantage of the players' strengths.
Against St. Louis during Tuesday's 2-1 victory, the Braves had baserunners all night. It wasn't until the eighth inning, though, manager Bobby Cox decided to try to manufacture a run with a Yunel Escobar sacrifice bunt. A few batters later, Matt Diaz supplied the game-winning RBIs.
With this team, small ball has to be the norm.
Instead, it hasn't been.



For many Braves' fans, they would be just as shocked as Matt Diaz if a little more aggression was used on the base paths.







Against the Cardinals, there were three prime hit-and-run chances. Twice, speedster Jordan Schafer was on base, and he didn't even try to steal - let alone an attempted hit-and-run. Another instance Jones was on first with Casey Kotchman at the plate. Keep in mind, Kotchman usually makes contact by evident of his eight strikeouts all season.
But nothing was done. Jones stood idly by and the inning ended without any runs crossing the plate.
Yes, the Cardinals' Yadier Molina is a stud behind the plate and teams typically don't run on him. The thing is, nothing else was working. Hits weren't being strung together and balls weren't leaving the park.
It couldn't have hurt to try some aggressiveness once and see what happened.
If not, it's going to be painful to watch the Braves' offense all season.