I’ve been reading a lot of AJC Braves blogger David O’Brien lately. Today he interviews Braves reliever Will Ohman and he asks him if manager Bobby Cox should be blamed for the Braves struggles this season.

Here is Ohman’s predictable response:

“I think that blame is placed at the feet of the manager far too many times. He’s writing out the lineup card, but we’re the ones playing the game.

…

“Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten the timely hit, or the timely out, made the pitch — whatever the case may be, you can generally go to one play per game that really turns the tide, and unfortunately we just haven’t been able to put that together.”

It’s not often that players throw their manager under the bus, and few managers are more beloved than Cox. So Ohman’s response isn’t too surprising.

But I think Cox should get some of the blame because, as Ohman points out, he is filling out the lineup cards. And he’s doing a crappy job of it. Consider what O’Brien wrote in the comments section of another recent blog post:

By David O’Brien

Consider this stat: With the bases loaded, the Braves are third in the NL with a .282 average (29-for-103) and fourth in OBP (.307). But Francoeur is 3-for-22, twice as many at-bats with bases loaded as any other Braves player. Without his numbers, the rest of the team’s average with bases loaded is .321.

The NL leader, by the way, is the Dodgers at .308.

The Braves’ individual leaders are Chipper at .750 (3-for-4, one walk), Tex at .500 (5-for-10), Kelly at .500 (2-for-4) and McCann at .455 (5-for-11). Chipper has 17 fewer at-bats with bases loaded than Francoeur does, and that Tex and Mac combined have one fewer bases-loaded at-bat than Francoeur. Yes, continuing to bat him fifth or sixth has been a costly mistake.

Hey Dave, don’t forget that with runners in scoring position, Francoeur is hitting .193. Ugh.

The Braves’ biggest problem this year has been an inability to win close games. This, despite the fact that the Braves pitching staff has been the best in the league. If Cox hadn’t insisted on batting Francoeur fifth or sixth all year, how many more runs would the Braves have scored? And how many victories in one-run games would that have translated into?

Today AJC blogmaster and Braves beat writer David O’Brien calls out Teixeira for a lack of clutchness. From Braves Blog:

Is Teixeira, with his Gold Glove-level defense and likely .290-30-120 to .310-45-130 offensive range for many years to come, worth $20 mill a season? I’d say only to a team that has a huge payroll, at least $150 mill or so. Not to a team with a $100 mill payroll, because while he piles up stats, he’s not a player, at least from what I’ve seen, who puts a team on his back and delivers big hits when the team needs it most.

Say, for instance, during the first six weeks of this season, when the Braves were dealing with a slew of injuries and Chipper Jones was carrying the offense with help from either Brian McCann or Yunel Escobar, but not much from Tex.

Slow-starter or not (and he’s a slow-starter, every season), the Braves needed to count on him for power and RBIs, and didn’t get it on a regular basis until about two months into the season, when they were already back in the standings.

Where were you when we needed you, Tex? Sure, you were playing Gold Glove-level defense and you had a respectable OBP of .359, but where was the power? Where were the RBIs? Six weeks into the season, you had five homers and 21 RBIs. Not good enough! Sure, we knew you were a slow starter when we traded for you. But we expected you to get off to a mega-hot start! It’s not our fault for having unreasonable expectations. It’s your fault for failing to live up to them!

I don’t remember O’Brien bemoaning Teixeira’s lack of clutch hitting last season, when Tex mashed 17 homers and 56 RBI in 54 games after being traded from the Rangers to the Braves. I don’t recall O’Brien questioning Tex’s ability to “put a team on his back” then. Last year, Teixeira was a hero in Atlanta. But that’s only because Atlanta got the benefit of his torrid August and September hitting, without having to suffer through his chilly April and May. This year, they are getting the complete Teixeira experience.

I really hate defending Teixeira (again) because everything I read about him makes me think that he wouldn’t be my ideal wingman. But the fact is he is remarkably consistent. He always starts slow. He always finishes hot. He’s good for a .375 OBP, 35 HR and 110 RBI every single year. So if he fails to live up to your expectations, odds are you were expecting too much.

If O’Brien really wants to fault somebody for the Braves’ struggles, he should start with Jeff Francoeur, who has failed to live up to even the most modest expectations. O’Brien points out on his blog that since he was recalled from triple-A, Frenchy “has hit .157 (13-for-83) with one double, one homer and four RBI in his past 23 games, with four walks, 21 strikeouts and a .436 OPS. He has more errors (three) than extra-base hits in that stretch.” Yeah, I think the Braves have bigger problems than Teixeira.