Let's return to June 29, sometime in the late afternoon, when the Atlanta Braves were about to play the Cardinals in St. Louis to start a 10-game road trip.
With Atlanta having lost five of its previous seven games, had you told anyone in Braves Nation that evening that their heroes would finish the trip with a 5-5 record against the Cards, New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers, they would have snapped it up quicker than a free chili dog and Frosted Orange from the Varsity.
But then Atlanta had to go and sweep the Cards before knocking off the Bronx Bombers in the 11th inning last Monday on a Ronald Acuna Jr. home run, and suddenly it appeared as if the Braves could go 7-3 or 8-2 against this murderer's row of a road trip. Suddenly it looked as if these guys might have a realistic chance to move 20 games over .500 by next week's All-Star break.
Unfortunately, that's also when the baseball gods said, "Whoa, young fellas. Let's dial this dream back a bit. You're still the Baby Braves 2.0. You've got more peach fuzz on your cheeks than a South Georgia orchard. The Yanks and Brewers are two of the four best teams in baseball right now, along with Boston and Houston. You're good, but you're far from great. Reality is about to bite and bite hard."
And so it did. The Yankees won their last two games against the Braves by a combined score of 14-7. The Brewers took three of four, including Sunday's 10-3 rout. That means Atlanta will return home for Tuesday's two-game visit from Toronto having not only lost five of its past six, but 10 of its past 17.
The good news is the Braves still sit atop the National League East, sharing that spot with Philadelphia. The bad news is no one knows if this downward turn is a pothole or a crater.
For instance, is lefty Sean Newcomb the pitcher who got off to an 8-2 start with a sub-3.00 ERA, or the guy who surrendered five earned runs each of his past two starts against the Yanks and Brewers over a total of 6 1/3 innings?
Having collected three hits in each of his past two games against the Brewers, is first baseman Freddie Freeman back to producing National League MVP numbers? Or is he still shaking the cobwebs off a 21-day stretch in which he hit .205 with one home run?
And if the starting pitching has been the team's strength for most of the season - "The reason we are where we are is because our starting pitching has been so good," manager Brian Snitker noted late Sunday afternoon - it's also the biggest reason the Braves have lost five of six. The starters' ERA over those six games has been a whopping 8.33 after beginning the road trip with a starting ERA of 3.32.
Over a 162-game regular-season, every team, however strong or weak, has a rough patch or two. Of Atlanta's starters suddenly mirroring the season-long relief woes, Snitker told MLB.com: "We're going through a rut with them right now. You're going to have to keep fighting."
And judging by the NL All-Star roster, the Braves have a pretty strong nucleus with which to fight. Freeman and outfielder Nick Markakis were both named starters. Second baseman Ozzie Albies made it as a reserve. Mike Foltynewicz was named to the pitching staff. The Braves haven't had that many on the Midsummer Classic roster since 2010, when six Bravos made the team.
Yet the most troubling moment from the last half of this road trip may have been what took place with center fielder Ender Inciarte on Sunday as he failed to run out a pop fly that wound up being dropped by Brewers shortstop Tyler Saladino. The Braves got a run out of it, but because Inciarte didn't reach second as he should have, they couldn't produce another run on Albies' single that followed.
Meeting with the media afterward, Inciarte said all the right things regarding Snitker's decision to pull him after the gaffe: "He did what he had to do. He's got to set an example and start somewhere. If I've got to be the guy to be pulled from the game to show what we have to do, I'm OK with it."
But something Snitker said of the incident hinted of past issues.
"I've talked to him before," Snitker said afterward. "If you don't run and you hurt the team, then you have to come out of the game. We're playing for first place, and we've got to get after it. You can't let those opportunities get away."
When you're a pro, when you're a past All-Star, one time is the only time a manager should have to remind you to hustle.
That said, the Braves are still atop the NL East. They get Toronto and Arizona at home before the break, then visit struggling Washington after the Nationals host the All-Star Game on July 17.
Because of that, it would be wise for all of the Braves, including Snitker, to embrace the words of Newcomb after Sunday's loss.
"I don't expect to be perfect every time out," he said. "It's just happened to be a couple of rough ones in a row. I've just got to wipe it clean and move forward."
Starting Tuesday.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.