the day bobby cox broke jordan schafer


it was only four days removed from my own personal lobbying for him to be moved into the leadoff spot. not that it was some revolutionary idea, that being move your fastest, most talented position player into the one hole. the braves organization has been eyeing young jordan schafer as their centerfielder and leadoff hitter of the future for as long as he's been in their system. all of the tools he possessed would make him the most logical current candidate to hold down the job for years to come. consensus thinking was, though, that the first month of his rookie year was too soon to throw him into that type of pressure. and so, his splend-tastic opening night performance came hitting eighth, and he's been there ever since, seasoning himself into life as a major-league hitter. he wasn't driving in a lot of runs and he was striking out too much, but he was also walking a ton. and by a ton, i mean double more than any other guy on the team not named chipper. his on-base percentage was over .400, second on the team only to chipper. he was having the occasional off night, but, all in all, he was making a case to be cast in the role he's been destined for.

i didn't think it would happen so soon, but last saturday afternoon, it did.

what the crap? bobby cox made a lineup move that made sense?

and how did young jordan manage? 2-5, with three strikeouts. he was also tricked by a good pick-off moved and thrown out on the bases. not stellar, no. not at all. plenty of room for improvement. but let's look at the most important statistic in baseball, his on-base percentage. why is it the most important stat? because if you get on base, good things happen. the line-up turns over. runs inevitably must score. it's easy math. in baseball terms, .400 is a magical number. if you go 2-5 every night, you are ted williams, and no one is ted williams. but, for that one night (remember again, his first ever as a leadoff hitter), he was ted williams. a decent debut if you ask me. more than decent. solid.

it feels like there is a "but" coming.

but, it only lasted one day. hitting first that is. for reasons only known to bobby cox, jordan schafer was moved back down to eighth on sunday. batting .400 wasn't good enough for bobby cox. he, for that day, focused too much on the strikeouts and not enough on the positive. and before breaking out of it a little bit yesterday, jordan schafer repaid his manager's lack of confidence by going 0 (zero) for the next four games(!!!) and striking out 12 times in that span. wednesday, the braves won in spite of him striking out four (!!!) times. his confidence was so crushed that whispers of a "sore wrist" started to reemerge. every swing looked awkward and/or forced. he was lost. he was broken. all because bobby cox couldn't outweigh the negatives of the strikeouts in his mind with the hard and heavy fact that his leadoff man did exactly what is expected of every leadoff man. be on base 2 out of every 5 at-bats.

we all do it, focus too much on the negative. let the bad stuff drive our decisions more often than the good. let short term failings dictate our behavior over the promise and potential of long term investment.

i don't like the pastor or this person or that person, so i am going to leave.

and what does that say about how much or how little worth you put into every other person in the church that hasn't pissed you off yet? it says that you don't think the good can, ultimately, outweigh the bad. it's says that you think the grass is greener on the other side, so i am going to go eat over there until it turns brown and then i'll move to another green field. it means that we are terribly shortsighted.

"the farsighted see better things.", says five iron frenzy. indeed, they do.

the farsighted can see that one decision, one bad choice or one conflict does not a context make unless we so choose. the farsighted understand that the stronger testimony is one that has dealt with disharmony yet comes out the other end still singing. the farsighted will always be happier people because goals accomplished are not defined by "how was your day?". they are focused on "what is your legacy?". the greater good. the end result. the 162 game season. shouldn't we allow something to play out in full before we announce the time of death?

we should, but often we don't. and we are left with nothing more than regrets piled on top of regrets. it's a shame.

i bet somewhere around tuesday or wednesday of this week, it hit bobby cox that he made a poor choice when he opted against the positive reinforcement of rewarding a 2-5 day with a return engagement the next game, rather choosing to punish a baserunning gaffe and three strikeouts with more time served at the bottom of the order. i bet he realized his mistake, but he will never come out and say it. saying that you are wrong, that you were shortsighted takes guts. it would be the farsighted thing to do.

i won't hold my breath.