The defense and base running tanking like this was totally unexpected by me. The offense has these spells every single year. They are annoying as horsefeathers but they are an annual event for whatever reason.
I really have to take back my effusive praise of Counsell though. He has made a lot of decisions that I questioned when made that came back to bite us immediately. He hasn't been the finger on the pulse guy I anticipated. Hes actually been bad. I also expected Kelly to bring our offensive ebbs and flows down a notch too, so thats been surprising as well. To me, sorry to repeat myself, but I question if this team prepares for each pitcher they face on the level of the better offensive teams in the league. Some of the best lineups in the game aren't star-studded but they don't have enormous weaknesses up and down like we do and they avoid those long valleys IMO. Too often we just look unprepared and get dominated. They are just not built to combat the stuff that dominates the league these days.