I recall that not too long ago, Ervin was leading the league in era, but his last three starts have been painful. Thankfully he was pretty decent tonight going 6 innings giving up 7 hits and 3 runs, winning his first start since May 10.
The Really Good: The Braves, now 30-25, scored nine runs on twelve hits: three in the 3rd, two more in the 4th, one in the 7th, and three insurance runs in the 9th.
Freddie Freeman drove in two in the third with a double to right.
Is anyone still griping about Jason Heyward batting in the 1 hole? With 30 hits in his last 27 games, it looks like he is starting to provide some much needed help for the Braves offense. He drove in two runs with a single in the fourth, putting the Braves up 5-0.
Tommy La Stella got two hits, a walk and an RBI in the 7th, pushing the braves to 6-3. He’s no Dustin Pedroia, but isn’t it nice to have a second baseman who is not an automatic out?
Gerald Laird had two hits and scored three times. I wonder if he’s ever scored 3 runs in a game?
BJ continues to look good, especially that he’s not whiffing every time up. He had two hits and walked in the 9th to push a run across. His average is now up to .216.
Luis Avilan looked good in his 1/3 of an inning. Anthony Varvaro had a good 7th.
Shae Simmons got his first appearance and looks like he could be an 8th inning answer to the Braves woes.
Craig Kimbrel had good stuff getting his 15th save of the season, tying Smoltzy with 154 to lead the Braves all-time.
The Not So Good: The braves left 12 men on base.
David Carpenter needs to go away, and David Hale may have a better career ahead of him as a baseball statistician than a pitcher.
I thought we were going to get out of this game without an error, but that was not to be. Craig Kimbrel came on in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on, got Stanton to hit sharply to Chris Johnson, who made a good play. However, Ramiro Pena booted the fielder’s choice throw my grandma could’ve caught. Thankfully, Kimbrel then got Casey McGehee to end the game with a soft roller to short.
Still, really nice job tonight… we are now two up on the Marlins.
David Hale has thrown 39 innings at a 268 ERA+ this year. I don’t think he needs to send his resume to the Elias Sports Bureau anytime soon. Last night’s shakiness notwithstanding, this team would not be in first place right now without him. With relievers turning into pumpkins all around us and Aaron Harang still living on pixie dust, I think we have a tendency to underrate having a guy like Hale around.
I’m late to the party but I wanted to say how much I liked Alex’s analogy of Julio Teheran to a precocious teenage daughter. He seems to be making the leap this year, and you get the sense Game 3 of last year’s NLDS would be very, very different if it was played today.
Your grandma must be pretty tall, chasT. And I would guess she has better hands than Pena, but I lack direct experience.
Good outing by Simmons. And he has amazing hair.
Harang vs. the Marlins in Miami is a disaster.
Nice swing by La Stella.
Thank you, Herr Dietrich.
Marlins looking positively Braves-like. Thanks!
Chip: “If we said it once, we’ve said it a million times…” Chip shows some rare self-awareness. That’s the first step, Chip. Next step… SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
Big Handsome plays with fire, doesn’t get burned.
Eovaldi’s looking like he’s got a CG in him.
Who are these people who argue that “strikeouts are just the same as any other outs.” They aren’t sabermetricians, so who are they, exactly?
@11 I’m still trying to wrap my brain around how a play that didn’t result in an out demonstrates how all outs are not created equal.
The logic is not strong in Joe.
@11 and 12
Jim and Don are pretty easy to pipe in
Doumit and Johnson: 6 AB, 6 outs, 11 pitches.
La Stella: 3 AB, 1 out, 15 pitches.
Would that it were true Edward. For those of us watching on DirecTV EI, the difference in delay makes the radio impossible, as well as complicated logistically.
Tommy can hit.
TLS comes exactly as advertised.
That’s two walks we should have had (Freeman in the 6th, SImmons in the 7th). Eovaldi doesn’t need your help, Blue.
And Harang throws the same pitch to Yelich, and it’s ball two instead of strike three. Good job, good effort, Greg Gibson.
What’s that make BJ? A lolygager
Is La Stella really playing such a poor defense that he needs to get replaced in the late innings? I’d rather keep him in to hit in a tie ballgame.
Come on, Woodie. Gotta bring that 2.60 WHIP as a reliever down a scosh.
EDIT: Attaboy. Took two third strikes to get one.
Oh for goodness sake.
Dan Uggla is the answer, right?
No it’s so not.
Beautiful.
THAT BEAR IS WHITE
EL OSO BLANCO EL BOMBO
That was a missile.
way to go Evan!!
Darvish 11 SO through 6 against the Nats. 0-0.
Jordan Schafer has become so weirdly fun to root for.
i agree. i would love to see him succeed somewhere if not ATL.
Fredi will not do that again – Pena pops out, TLS sits
He’s not quite a Kimbrel yet.
I am not thinking about Joey Devine.
Why you never wave the white flag: a near-rally yesterday forces Kraken into service, sets up an untested closer today.
Kimbrel isn’t Kimbrel every time either. Well done, Shae.
After the last game in Boston and the game yesterday, I might have been a little leery of trying to end the game on a toss to second. Fortunately, I think Pena had been replaced by ChasT’s grandma. Sweep. This team is really hard to figure out.
Shae Simmons, Major League Closer™
Chip Caray is really riding this Shae Simmons train. What a wierdo.
Nice sweep. Starting June on top.
Series MVP is clearly Fredi for mixing up the signs behind the plate.
@36 Sybil comes to mind. If a team takes personality of their manager, I do not want to think about the Fredi G that we do not have the opportunity to see in public.
I like Simmons (the pitcher.) Seems to have good stuff and he’s a useful part if he keeps the gas cans out of the seventh. But I have to wonder, considering how *hard* the broadcast team is selling him as a major league “answer,” if he’s being shopped as part of a “buy Dan Uggla, get a fresh young closer type for free!” type deal.
Live arms who can occasionally find the strike zone are always useful, especially given that Avilan, Carpenter, and Varvaro are basically all equally unreliable, and Wood is basically Cristhian Martinez — good for multiple innings but not someone you’d be able to count on situationally.
Why did the Braves not play from May 26-29? Isn’t it unusual to have four off days in a row?
In recent years, the Braves have had a lot of scheduling oddities like that in May and June.
Alex Wood, Expert Winner.
Our pen is going to be fine. Simmons keeps us from having to watch as much high-leverage-Carpenter. And then later on this year we’ll hopefully also get JR Graham added to the playoff roster bullpen.
The 1 and 2 hitters on this team will be the key. If they are on base we can beat anyone.
Alex “Vulture” Wood.
Why did the Braves not play from May 26-29?
I do seem to recall them showing up for a few innings on the 26th, but then I guess the game got canceled due to rain.
Recap up