The Braves had a team meeting before their game against the Nationals July 18. Not the panic kind; a beginning of the second half meeting combined with the usual meeting manager Bobby Cox convenes during the first game of a series against a team the Braves haven't seen.
The Braves, of course, have seen the Nationals, but not since April. The real emphasis, however, was on regrouping after the off days of the All-Star break. Not that the players needed a special meeting to ponder that; it's something they've been talking about among themselves, a point everyone stressed following their 7-6 win that night.
"Normally, we're on the wrong end of these kinds of games," Tim Hudson said. "We had some timely hitting (Sunday night), scored some runs. Any other time, we may lose this game 6-4, 6-3. We had some hits with two outs. Kept some innings going. It was nice to see."
Especially because his location was out of whack, thanks to the All-Star hiatus.
"If we would have played this kind of game throughout the season," he mused, "our average would probably be a lot better. We understand what we have to do from here on out. We have to try to scrap and win and score as many runs as we can whatever ways we can. Should be a fun second half for us.
"This is the kind of baseball we've been wanting to play all year."
Unfortunately, the Braves then followed this by being blown out by the Nationals, 8-2 and 15-6.
NATIONALS 15, BRAVES 6: This one fell apart early. Jo-Jo Reyes walked off the mound after 2 1/3 innings -- 65 pitches -- and by the time the inning was over the Braves were down 6-1 and manager Bobby Cox had been ejected for the 141st time in his career. Who knew that would be the high point?
