Austin Riley beats himself up after coming up empty to worsen Braves skid

The Atlanta Braves absolutely stink and are going nowhere fast. This team lacks dogs and is chock full of a bunch of sad boys right now. Riding a five-game losing streak, fresh off getting swept at home by the Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta had a terrific opportunity to get back in the win column on Friday night vs. the Colorado Rockies. Atlanta went on to lose its sixth game in a row on Friday, 6-5.

While you win as a team and you lose as a team, Austin Riley seemed especially defeated after this loss. He answered some questions with the media in the clubhouse after the game. While Riley did deflect by saying baseball is a hard game and his teammates are putting in so much work, he did start out by taking on some of the blame for not getting it done at the plate in crucial spots for the Braves.

Riley was 1-for-5 at the plate on the day, but a pair of strikeouts contributed to Atlanta losing again.

"I had two opportunities to score two runs and didn't get it done. I didn't help the team win, so it is frustrating for sure."

Just look at the guy's body language, and you can tell this is not a fun clubhouse to be a part of now.

The Braves now find themselves on the outside looking in at a Wild Card spot. What a total disaster!

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Austin Riley takes on all the blame for the Atlanta Braves losing yet again

The thing that frustrates me the most about this game is how quickly it can cave at the first sign of adversity. It is like a majestic sand castle that looks so great on the beach but is absolutely worthless as soon as the tide rises. This year's team loves to let things snowball. They have big problems, like the offense, and small ones that pop up every day. They are a Gordian Knot of immense confusion.

Trying to untangle whatever chemistry experiment gone wrong in Alex Anthopoulos' laboratory is reserved for those with a lot of free time and a great capacity to hate themselves. You may really hate yourself, but you don't have enough hours in the day to figure this out, even if you were paid by the Braves to do so. Injuries, an aging manager, a few bad signings, whatever. This is a joyless team now.

The good news is the other time this season the Braves lost six games in a row, they then went on to win six of their next seven. The only problem with that is this is a team that loses games to the Chicago White Sox, the Miami Marlins and the Colorado Rockies now. When you are coming up empty-handed vs. a bunch of tomato cans, maybe it is time to step outside the ring and reevaluate.

The best thing that can happen for Atlanta is this is a turning point for Riley and he becomes a leader.