Doubts growing as routine as division titles for Braves
Offseason of free-agent hits has some predicting end of 12-year title run, but veterans beg to differ.
By TOM JONES
Published March 9, 2004
LAKE BUENA VISTA - The names change. The lineup turns over. The faces in the clubhouse become different.
The stars come and go. The bench is recycled. The pitchers move in and then move on.
One thing, though, never changes. The Atlanta Braves roll along, collecting division titles like a kid collects baseball cards.
One, two, three, four ... keep going. Don't stop until you get to 12 - 12!
"That's just amazing," Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said while shaking his head.
Someday, the streak will end. Many predict that time has arrived, that this is the year the Braves' well finally dries up. Free agency has stripped the Braves of too many stars. The budget was slashed too deeply. The talent is just too thin. The run is over.
But, hey, doesn't it seem like the Braves hear that every spring? Every season they smile at the naysayers, shrug and go out and win another division. As far as manager Bobby Cox is concerned, that's the plan again.
"I like our team," Cox said at the start of spring training. "I think if everything works just right, we can do it again."
Ah, there's the first chink in the armor. For the first time since 1991, the Braves can't help but listen to the doubts. They lost 82 homers and 241 RBIs when Javy Lopez and Gary Sheffield left for free agency. And for the first time since '92, Greg Maddux isn't stepping on the mound every fifth day.
Suddenly, the Braves do sound more like young up-and-comers than the most dominant regular-season team over the past decade.
"A lot of things have to go right," pitcher Mike Hampton said. "Some guys need to have career years and stay healthy. It's going to be tough. It's going to be one of the toughest times we have had."
Is it possible?
"Yes, it's possible," Hampton said. "Of course."
With that, Hampton starts talking faster and louder. The swagger, something all the Braves have, is back once Hampton realizes he's in the same clubhouse as the Jones boys: Andruw and Chipper, who don't know what it's like to finish second.
"I just don't think this organization will ever lose that," the former Crystal River standout said. "As many new faces as we bring in, I just don't think this team as a whole will ever lose that winning feeling."
This isn't the first, or second, time during their run the Braves have had to deal with changes. Think of David Justice, Tom Glavine, Fred McGriff, Ryan Klesko, Andres Galarraga, Otis Nixon, Terry Pendleton. Those are just a few of the players who have come and gone during the run.
"When you lose franchise-type players, you're scrambling," said Piniella, who knows the feeling. He lost stars such as Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson in Seattle but kept on winning.
"But," Piniella said, "it goes to show you one thing about baseball: that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That winning attitude can carry over as long as you have a nucleus of veteran players that are constant, and the Braves have had that. That's what makes things go. And then the other thing that makes things go is the constancy of the manager. Bobby has been there forever."
Cox's second stint with the Braves started midway through 1990; the next season, the Braves started raking in division titles. The nucleus that Piniella speaks of includes Chipper Jones (.305 average, 27 homers, 106 RBIs last season) and Andruw Jones (.277, 36, 116). The pitching staff features 21-game winner Russ Ortiz, Hampton (14 victories) and John Smoltz, who has gone from dominant starter to dominant closer with 100 saves over the past two seasons.
"We've got a bunch of guys in this clubhouse who believe we can win," Hampton said. "And feel we should have a great shot."
