Another successful failure.(Baseball)

Braves general manager John Schuerholz is delivering another impassioned eulogy, the same one he recites almost every October.

You're tired of hearing it. I'm tired of hearing it. But, as usual, every word makes sense.

Schuerholz won't blame manager Bobby Cox or criticize his players' robotic nature for the Braves' latest postseason flop. All he will do is try to build his 13th straight division champion, and perhaps by sheer force of the law of averages, a second world championship will follow.

Only then will all the questions ease, but in the meantime Schuerholz will continue to rail at the all-or-nothing mentality that exists among many fans and media. Baseball people marvel at the Braves' consistency, knowing how difficult it is to prevail over the long grind of a 162-game season. It's telling that Cox's peers have voted him the SPORTING NEWS N.L. Manager of the Year four times since 1990, but the Baseball Writers Association of America has given Cox its award only once in that same time.

No rational person could argue when Schuerholz said after the team's Division Series loss to the Cubs that Cox will return next season; the Braves have averaged 98 wins over the past 12 full seasons. Their playoff exits, however, are coining earlier. From 1995-99, they reached the World Series three times and the NLCS the two other years. In the four years since, they've lost in the Division Series three times.

Is it possible that the same, even approach that makes Cox such a terrific regular-season manager prevents him from getting more out of his team in the postseason? Other teams replace successful managers, seeking a different voice. Cox is more entrenched; he keeps winning despite roster changes, and his players revere him. Even though Schuerholz says, "I thought this was as good a team as we've had going into the postseason in any number of years," he's outraged at any suggestion that Cox is the problem.

"The record is the record" Schuerholz concedes. "People say we haven't won as many postseason games as we should have--that's accurate. But if they say it's Bobby's fault, it's inaccurate."