Atlanta Braves’ Chris Johnson, right, gestures towards first base after he was ejected by home plate umpire Mark Carlson, left, during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals on Sunday, June 22, 2014, in Washington. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, center, looks on. The Nationals won 4-1.It’s been a while, and since we started drifting away from our daily Atlanta Braves report in our “5-at-10” daily online column, the Braves started drifting away from the top spot in the National League East. So maybe we’re to blame.
So it goes.
After Sunday’s 4-1 loss that completed a four-game split with first-place Washington, the Braves are 38-37 and 1 1/2 games behind the Nationals. There are two teams in baseball that have winning records and are on the negative side of run differential — the Braves at minus-14 and the Yankess at minus-30.
There’s good and bad to that. There’s the statistical fact that teams that do not score more than their opponents do not win consistently, yet the Braves have found ways to win in close games.
With that in mind, let’s review — and know that we all agree the season is long, but it’s hard to find reason to believe with this bunch right now. These are less than the high times, considering the Braves started 17-7 and this bunch was built around a pitching rotation that was impressive in its depth but has started to leak oil.