Ten steps forward, thirty steps back. After a couple of dominating performances in a row, Mike Foltynewicz just didn’t have it tonight. And the Pirates, who have frustrated their fans by remaining only a few games above .500 all year —€” ah, what I wouldn’t give to be angry about that just once more — teed off on him.
Quick-hook Snitker yanked Folty after three innings, and the first man out of the pen was O’Failurety, who gave up a run; John Gant followed him and gave up two more. He may some day be a good major league pitcher, as Fangraphs seems to think; but, to quote Aragorn son of Arathorn, it is not this day.
Chase d’Arnaud led off (?) and went 2-3 with a walk (?!), but Neck and Freddie couldn’t do anything with the table he was setting, going a collective 0-8. Neck is now batting .194 in May, with a grand total of one extra-base hit all month. That, uh, isn’t boosting his trade value.
Presented without comment is this from the ESPN recap:
Atlanta was forced to scratch Erick Aybar a few hours before the game after the shortstop arrived at PNC Park expressing discomfort in his chest after swallowing a chicken bone. He was taken to a local hospital and replaced by Daniel Castro, who went 0 for 4 as his average dropped to .198.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said Aybar was fine and returned to the team during the game but was unable to play because he’d been sedated while undergoing treatment.
The Internet has a lot of fun with the Aybar incident. My favorite tweet:
“A chicken bone in his throat is the first thing Aybar has caught all year.”
Aybar is trying to be Pedro Cerano
Or the first baseman from Bull Durham.
Alex,
When I scrolled down over the musical attachment and read the title, I almost fell out of my chair.
I would appreciate anybody’s take on WHY Folty didn’t have it. I guess command / control was part. He seemed to be having trouble throwing strikes. But I also wondered if he was nibbling too much. Several times he got to 0 – 2 and kept throwing the “Francouer strike out pitch” (breaking ball, low and away, 8 inches out of the strike zone.)
The musical accompaniment was chosen because the most apropos Ramones song, “I Wanna Be Sedated,” felt a little on the nose.
But the whole Aybar thing does kind of raise the question: if he “was unable to play because he’d been sedated while undergoing treatment” yesterday, how come he’s been unable to play all year?
Bravo, AAR.
With the team as bad as the Barves, this blog could have mailed it in some.
Nope. I think we have taken this place to a new level of great.
1/4 of the season is in the books, and I feel like 1/6 of MLB teams are pretty much eliminated from any playoff talk: Braves (obv), Reds, Padres, Twins (obv), Astros. There are a few more that are a big losing streak away from going over my arbitrary hump.
Vanderbilt Baseball.
I think the Reds will end up with the worst record in baseball. Their pitching may be worse than the 2003 Detroit Tigers’.
Nice recap! Thanks, Alex.
today’s lesson…
If a college pitcher entering the upcoming draft is described as having 1-1 potential within 3 years i’m guessing one of the ‘ones’ predicts him to become the ace of the staff within that time period…
Why the need for the other ‘one’? What parameters does it set? 1-5 i could get.
guessing…one after three years AND remaining so after 4, 1-1…if so can we guess a kid with a bionic arm, likely to be hitting the ace spot after the 3 year climb, could then be predicted as 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 and so on, for whatever number of years before they think his arm explodes…why not?
primus inter pares
the longer that he tarries
our expertise is lauded
the fifteenth year being particularly applauded.
I thought 1-1 meant “first pick of the first round”…
@12: The only reason career counting stats are important is that you have to play at a major league level for all the years necessary to accumulate them…. or have The Pictures.
That reminds me: has anybody mentioned yet that Fredi’s firing was foreshadowed by the fact that Gerald Laird doesn’t have a contract?
@13..
Ah! probably right, thanks…but not so much fun.
Is this a joke? https://twitter.com/BatteryATL/status/733650967015620608
Why does everything related to this team have to be a joke?
There’s gonna be a place with a mechanical bull as well. Yee haw.
The ballgame seems rather incidental, doesn’t it?
Mechanical bull: will Debra Winger ride it?
To be fair, there’s a Wahlburgers right next to Fenway too, and the in-game experience at Fenway is very very much low on the peripheral nonsense.
12, 13, and 15—Yep, “1-1” is just scout lingo for “top pick in the draft.”
Fenway is a baseball stadium for people who like baseball. This is… not.
@22
Well, Turner Field is about the same. It’s a carnival.
Just listened to a Fredi interview on 680 The Fan, Chipper was on as well. I never had a lot of respect for him as a manager but I gotta say, the way he handled this is quite impressive. Tip of the cap to you, Fredi.
@22- Too true.
Greetings from Seattle…
In keeping with the caliber of ball I’ve seen this year, I will attend a Triple-A game tonight, Iowa Cubs vs. Tacoma Rainiers.
Baseball with no expectations (or level of shame).
—Ramones tunes that could serve as 2016 Braves-Team Theme Songs:
“I Can’t Give You Anything”
“Crummy Stuff”
“You Don’t Come Close”
“It’s A Long Way Back”
“Here Today, Gone Tomorrow”
“Glad to See You Go”
—Ramones tunes that could serve as 2016 Braves-Fan Theme Songs:
“I Don’t Care”
“Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment”
“I Wanna Be Well”
“Why Is It Always This Way?”
“It’s Not for Me to Know”
“I’m Against It”
“Go Mental”
“Psycho Therapy”
“I Believe in Miracles”
No “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement”?
@13/21
..but isn’t this only practical with the first round? you surely are never going to predict someone as going first in the third round, makes no sense…doesn’t that make the second 1 of 1-1 redundant?
on another topic…anyone else, anyone, buying into the Eybar double clutch theory in the third game at PNC? Not primarily whether Cervelli was out or not, that’s not the issue. What is, to me, is whether Aybar made a clean catch of a rare, good throw from AJ way ahead of the runner, raised the gloved hand with the ball towards him as he bore down, didn’t like what he saw apparently so pulled back from contact, paused, then went forward again to contact the runner who by this time was pretty much stopped, and on the bag. In other words he chickened(!) out of the original full speed encounter.
Anyone see that? Remember, NOT whether he, Cervelli, was out.
If so, do we have a scoop? First time ever a tag was double clutched – not because the original missed the runner but because there was no way it was going to so he went to Plan B. I am not usually a conspiracy theorist but this one has me going. Still.
Erick Aybar
said the distance between us is not very far
and in rapid reduction
so allow me to pause and don’t call it sucktion.
28—Of course it’s redundant. But that’s the standard scouting buzzword.
@22, the proper term is Cobb Family Baseballery And Smile Time Emporium.
#27
It’s dark down there.
No “Beat on the Brat,” either, because this team couldn’t hit traffic on the Connector.
I hope everyone is enjoying this thread as much as I. Blazon: logic? There’s no logic in baseball.
http://losangeles.sbnation.com/2010/7/22/1583391/callaspo-reunites-with-aybar
Presented without comment.
@34..hi coop
Really now? then pray what are advanced analytics – or more precisely the mass of decisions taken that are based on them? Some like you and i might hanker for more romantic times but there’s no stopping them now. We apparently have to give in – to logic. With thanks for all your hard work with the recaps, cheers.
Peanut….The Braves switched long relievers again: Gant to Gwinnett and De La Cruz to ATL. Might bring Norris back into play for Sunday’s start
I don’t get the shuttling of relievers. It’s really ridiculous how many moves we make. Let people get comfortable.
Dr.Joel de la Cruz
we continue to search for the right way to use
he could be either long inning relief
or berating the squad, thus installing much needed belief.
@37 now that’s really annoying. I can really only watch day games and they’re giving me the Bills on Saturday and Norris on Sunday? Boo!
Also, just read somewhere that the Braves are the first team ever to have no two-game-winners after forty games into the season.
At this point in the rebuild, I hate that we have Williams Perez and Bud Norris in our rotation.
Glavine was terrible his first year but we stuck with him. Is it better to let a pitcher like Blair take his lumps in the majors and hope he eventually figures it out or is it better to send him back and forth? I would think the former. At least he should be given a longer leash than 2.5 bad starts.
Yeah, I think Blair needs to keep getting looks. One of the most annoying things about this rebuild is all of the moves where it feels like the team is making them just to make them. The Simmons trade is worst of all.
The other thing that’s annoying about the rebuild is that we don’t have enough good players to rebuild with.
@44, which is oddly why we shouldn’t have rebuilt
I’m starting to think that Gwinnett is too close. “Well, our long guy’s not available for 2 days, so let’s call up our 20th best guy. I’m sure it will be fine.”
“That was fast” – my wife, this time in reference to how quickly the braves got behind 1-0
That was a good first inning by 2016 standards.
Sheesh he was clearly safe, why did that take so long? Two bunt hits in the first three innings. So exciting.
When are we moving Albies to second base?
I enjoy leading. Winning would be nice too.
His teammates notwithstanding, he is still a free man.
@47 – LOL. My wife claims our 3rd child was conceived between innings. It is… plausible.
@50, how about June 10 vs the Cubs?
Regardless of what happens for the rest of the game, Matt Wisler is a good pitcher.
Aybar does good so long as he doesn’t have to move side to side
Am I crazy or does Aybar generally look more spry today than he did earlier in the season? Perhaps the Chicken Bone Incident has somehow helped Aybar?
Wisler is good. We won that trade.
Cakes!
The Phillies seem to be more our level of competition.
Hank Mardukas!!
A little too quick on the hook there methinks. Strange to make a change with 2 outs and nobody on.
@62 I agree, that was a bit mystifying.
Better too soon than too late though, I guess.
It’s getting harder not to get a little excited about Wisler. He gets the Brewers next time out. Let’s see how he does against the Giants after that.
I guess Casey Kelly is starting Sunday.
Casey Kelly has definitely earned some starts. He’s pitched better than almost all of the prospects, and he’s still only 26. Check out what Jake Arrietta was doing at 26.
Not sure about that. He has almost 5 walks per 9 IP at Gwinnett.
Freddie Bomb.
Yes, but who hasn’t had control issues? Barker, Blair and Ellis? Sims, Newcomb, Jenkins, and Folty all have had control issues, and Kelly has been more unhittable than Blair. He’s pitched better than most of our prospects, and it’s very possible that he’s found money.
As a type 1 diabetic, I have control issues. Blood sugar control.
We won!
The Phillies should consider trading Nola for Evan Gattis.
Very nice game. Always shocks me to see how small left field is at Citizens Bank.
I could hit a ball out of CBP.
The Markakis HR was a boring flyout at Turner.
One game above my 10-31 projection. Here’s to exceeding expectations!
@73, after this outing? that ship has sailed
Recapped.