Community Picks: Atlanta Braves 0% vs Boston Red Sox 0%

How poorly are things going for the Atlanta Braves right now?  On a night where they had two legitimate reasons to celebrate — Freddie Freeman's drought-ending home run and A.J. Pierzynski's 2,000th career hit — they still managed to lose in convincing fashion. In fact, they weren't even competitive, dropping Wednesday's game 9-4 to the Boston Red Sox to fall to a league-worst 4-17 on the season.  [Related: Chip Caray channels Harry Caray as Braves home run drought ends ] As always, the numbers help tell story. The Braves four wins are the lowest in baseball. Their four team home runs are the lowest in baseball. Their 18 errors are the second most in baseball. However, the numbers don't always tell the whole story either. Sometimes you have to watch the games to get a full understanding of what's going on, and one play during Wednesday's game really captured what the Braves are going through.  In happened in the eighth inning with the game already decided. In fact, the man batting, Dustin Pedroia, helped decide it with his second-inning grand slam. This time, veteran Jason Grilli had the battle won. He got Pedroia out in front of a pitch and got him to pop up in foul territory. It should have been an easy final out to the inning, but Pedroia's pop up never landed in a glove. It landed harmlessly, and some might say hilariously, between the catcher Pierzynski and third baseman Daniel Castro.  It was no laughing matter to the Braves. One pitch later, Pedroia hit one of his patented laser's over the Green Monster for a solo home run that adding insult to injury.  Continue to Article

April 28, 2016 2:13:am EST

How poorly are things going for the Atlanta Braves right now?  On a night where they had two legitimate reasons to celebrate — Freddie Freeman's drought-ending home run and A.J. Pierzynski's 2,000th career hit — they still managed to lose in convincing fashion. In fact, they weren't even competitive, dropping Wednesday's game 9-4 to the Boston Red Sox to fall to a league-worst 4-17 on the season.  [Related: Chip Caray channels Harry Caray as Braves home run drought ends ] As always, the numbers help tell story. The Braves four wins are the lowest in baseball. Their four team home runs are the lowest in baseball. Their 18 errors are the second most in baseball. However, the numbers don't always tell the whole story either. Sometimes you have to watch the games to get a full understanding of what's going on, and one play during Wednesday's game really captured what the Braves are going through.  In happened in the eighth inning with the game already decided. In fact, the man batting, Dustin Pedroia, helped decide it with his second-inning grand slam. This time, veteran Jason Grilli had the battle won. He got Pedroia out in front of a pitch and got him to pop up in foul territory. It should have been an easy final out to the inning, but Pedroia's pop up never landed in a glove. It landed harmlessly, and some might say hilariously, between the catcher Pierzynski and third baseman Daniel Castro.  It was no laughing matter to the Braves. One pitch later, Pedroia hit one of his patented laser's over the Green Monster for a solo home run that adding insult to injury.  Continue to Article

April 28, 2016 2:13:am EST

The Atlanta Braves two-and-a-half week nightmare is finally over.  In the eighth inning of Wednesday's 9-4 loss against the Boston Red Sox, first baseman Freddie Freeman hit a home run off left-hander Tommy Layne to end their  15-game homerless streak.  [Elsewhere: Adam LaRoche wants you to celebrate take your child to work day ] As you can tell from the call of Braves broadcaster Chip Caray, he was pretty excited. Excited enough that he broke out his grandpa Harry Caray's famous "It might be, It could be, it is" home run call, even adding a "Holy Cow" for added emphasis and perhaps meaning.  Caray had reason to be excited too. The home run was the first hit by a Brave since April 10 at Turner Field, which was Atlanta's fifth game of the season. On that afternoon, Drew Stubbs delivered a three-run homer against St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright. The Braves only hit two home runs prior to that, when Freeman and Adonis Garcia each homered against Washington's Max Scherzer. So yes, the drought was somehow worse than you imagined.  Prior to Freddie Freeman's homer in the 7th, #Braves had hit just 1 HR in team's prior 774 PA dating back to the 4th inning of Opening Day. — Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) April 28, 2016 If you're keeping track at home, the Braves now have a grand total of four home runs on the season. Freeman's was actually their first on the road. The Braves homerless streak was the longest in the majors since the Cardinals went 18 games without a homer in 1991, so at least it won't go down in the MLB history books. So again, Caray had good reason to be excited.  Here's a little more perspective that's perhaps not as exciting or encouraging. Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen hit three homers in a single game on Tuesday in Colorado, equaling Atlanta's season total before Wednesday. Braves pitching, meanwhile, was allowing plenty of home runs of their own. In fact, they were allowing them in grand style with the same frequency that the Braves were hitting any type of homer. @ESPNStatsInfo @Kurkjian_ESPN Braves have given up as many grand slams (3) as they've hit homers (3) — Yogi Patel (@yogster92) April 28, 2016 That stat included Dustin Pedroia's grand slam on Wednesday, so at least the Braves didn't have to hear about it long. With that in mind, they'll be hearing about this one for awhile.  Freddie Freeman has homered. Via @ESPNStatsInfo : 437 homers were hit in the days between #Braves homers. The #Mets had the most with 27. — Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) April 28, 2016 Yes, the same Mets team that homered just twice during their first nine games exploded while the Braves offense went completely punchless. That might be the most fascinating stat we see all season. Then again, the rebuilding Braves still don't have a lot of offensive upside to speak of. Freddie Freeman is clearly their best power source, but he's not going to get many pitches to hammer with so few home run threats around them. Honestly, it wouldn't be surprising if the Braves have a couple more streaks where the home run well runs dry.  [Elsewhere: Noah Syndergaard tours New York City as Thor ] With that in mind, the old Harry Caray home run call might fit this Braves team perfectly. "It might be" is always delivered with some surprise and excitement. "It could be" brings with it some hope. And "it is" is the signal that the unlikely has happened, and it's safe to celebrate another Braves homer.  More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: - - - - - - - Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813 Continue to Article

April 28, 2016 12:10:am EST