[To properly assess the Barves San Diegan experience, I believe we should look to movies about San Diego for inspiration. Most of them aren’t inspiring. That actually works because the Barves were and are not inspiring. To get the comparison to last night correctly, we are connecting the Braves to “Goose.” the whole “triumphant in the end” thing just doesn’t work.]
So, Goose is a likeable guy who may have some talent. But, he is subject to being destroyed by a guy who gives an illusion of talent, but you wonder how much of it is luck. Sort of like Williams Perez.
Goose has somehow gotten a really hot chick to dig him [personification for us of Atlanta and its environs], but by now, she is mourning but moving on.
Just like the polaroid photo of the MIG, the Barves get a run in the first for an initial thrill which has no real significance.
Tied again in the bottom of the first by a Matt Kemp sacrifice fly. Then, Jester Yangervis Solarte launched a 3 run shot in the 3rd and effectively slammed Goose’s head into the canopy. Thereafter, Goose was only a lifeless figure.
Williams Perez left with triceps tightness. So, maybe a different hot shot from some remotely posted carrier will try to take the title. But, these Barves are just as dead as Goose.
From the MLB recap, the last time the Braves won in San Diego Chipper Kones had an rbi double.
I await BJ’s four homerun night this week.
Looks like Kolby Allard made his debut last night at Rome. He was hit hard, giving up 2 Hr’s.
How was his velocity?
He threw 73 pitches, which is encouraging.
I think Simmons comes up soon. He’s been pitching well in his rehab at AAA.
According to Braves Reddit, he worked 90-93 and flashed a “brilliant curveball”:
I’m glad to see he’s been cleared to start pitching. Should be interesting to see how he progresses. If I,m not mistaken, he is still only 18..
Freeman as sick .. threw up 6 times … and he thinks he can play and help a tea m.. who is in charge here .. Freeman or Snitker … you got to sit freeman .. he looked like he didnt even care about striking out 3 times … heck we coulda plugged in Eddie Perez at 1st and he would have done better ….
His curve was nasty. He was around the plate, but missing his spots, and gave up some hard hit balls. His delivery was easy and smooth for the most part.
Kolby Allard
we were recently told was hit hard
but displayed some resilience
a curve ball that offered pure moments of brilliance.
Really just needed him to get on the mound and go from there. I didn’t think he was going to start in Rome. He should be in high-A by the end of the year.
@7, yes. He’ll turn 19 in August. He was only 17 when we drafted him, which I’m sure was part of what made him so appealing. All that stuff at such a young age.
kolby allard:
blork all day
a k’llar body
lob yard, k all
dark lob, y’all
lord, yak ball
bald raky, lol
I may not be good at this…
Thanks for the recap, cliff.
I’ve been waiting for a truly bad Matt Wisler start, so I could go with “Mr Lit Waste” or “It Smelt Raw.”
@15, this last start didn’t meet your lofty standards?
@16, Fair point. The Dodgers are good and he’s been so good, so I cut him some slack.
Aaron Blair, OTOH? His name is Anal Barrio.
@13, “dark lob, y’all”
Reminds me of one of my favorite Braves Journal nicknames Dank Lob.
Kyle Lewis named Baseball America’s Player of the Year:
http://www.mercerbears.com/sports/bsb/2015-16/releases/201606070ww5vz
Yeah, I don’t think he makes it to #3.
I’m no fan of the front office right now but this is a solid move at least.
http://m.mlb.com/braves/tickets/info/monthly-pass
I doubt it moves the needle much in terms of overall attendance but it’s at least a bone to throw at some die hards that still wanna go see Chase D’Arnoud and Jeff Francouer hack it around.
@20
A minor-league price for a minor-league team. Sounds about right.
It’s very much the Priceline strategy — a filled seat loses less money than an empty one (and probably makes you money in MLB, given concessions, etc.).
I don’t think Lewis makes it to #3 either.
I hope he makes it to 3.
Did I hear correctly last night during the broadcast that of the 16 games the Braves have won, 7 of them have come in Perez starts? If that’s right, it’s insane to have almost half of a team’s wins be started by the same guy…in June…when that guy spent some time in the minors that same season. I feel like of all of the stats you can use to show how truly awful this team is, that one ranks near the top.
Last night’s broadcast was full of amazing stats. The one I liked best was that the Braves have scored 3 runs or less in over 60% of their games so far, and their record in those game is an atrocious 3-32.
The fact that I’m staying up until midnight watching this epic shitshow is also rather amazing.
Pitching on the farm tonight:
Lousy outing from Max Povse
Lousy outing from Manny Bunuelos
Lousy outing from Tyrell Jenkins
Great outing from Touki Toussaint
No hits through five for Chris Ellis
@26 Suspect, not even a suspect. Suspect, Major Suspect.
I don’t see the depth of pitching that we’re rumored to have. Most of these guys are just guys.
As I see it, we have two LEGITIMATE miLB prospects, Swanson and Albies. Maybe Allard if he could ever get healthy. Maybe Lucas Sims.
I don’t see Chris Sale walking through that door. I doubt Rio Ruiz ever is anything other than Wes Helms. Yay!
We better get better at drafting, ASAP or else this team is in a world of hurt because I’ll believe we’ll sign a Class A FA when I see it.
Ellis ended with 6.2 IP, no hits, but 5 walks and 4 Ks. 104 pitches total.
Aussie reliever Steve Kent has 1.1 IP, no hits, no walks. 8 innings, Mississippi putting together a special night.
Well, Chris Sale is one of the top 5 best pitchers in baseball, so… yeah. I think if that’s your litmus test, then that’s a pretty fair statement. The good thing is that about 5/6 of the teams in baseball don’t have a pitcher as good as Chris Sale, so I think we might live to tell about that, wouldn’t you say?
Here’s a little fun stat for you: 2 of the top 5 pitchers in WAR last year played for teams that didn’t make the playoffs, including Chris Sale. Do you still feel like Chris Sale should be walking through that door?
@19, 22, 23 – Most mocks I’ve seen have Philly taking Puk, and apparently the Reds like Senzel. I’m hopeful, though nothing would surprise me.
Leads don’t last long.
Rob,
Do you think ANY of our pitching prospects (suspects, OK, it’s my thing) have #1 or maybe even #2 starter ability on a winning or god forbid a championship level team?
I’m not being argumentative, I’m honestly just asking…
The point I’m trying to make is I feel like the Braves fandom meta has forgotten what winners look like that even non-prospects look better than they really are. I mean Newcomb has 6-11 4.85 ERA guy written all over him… Guys like that are never going to lead the Braves to anything.
What I love about baseball is that stats hold. I mean not always,but they hold enough to matter. If a guy has a WHIP of 1.4 in AAA, it is VERY unlikely that they won’t have a WHIP of 1.7 in MLB.
If a guy hits .247 in AA, its likely he’ll never hit .230 in MLB. I KNOW there are exceptions and these are very broad generalities.
I’ll say it… I think this farm system is WAY WAY overrated.
Here are some more fun facts about the top 5 pitchers in 2015 according to WAR. They’re all bona fide Aces (TM): Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta, David Price, Max Scherzer, and Chris Sale. These are guys you would start Game 7 of the World Series, alright. Now, we know that Jake Arrieta took a long time to get his career going, and David Price was an uber prospect out of Vandy (I don’t know if Stu knew that…), but two years before Kershaw, Scherzer, and Sale made their big league debuts, they were nowhere to be found on the Baseball America team prospects lists. They did appear the next year (on their team’s lists, Sale was #1, Kershaw was #2, and Scherzer was #4), but they didn’t make a list, they didn’t make a superlative, nothing.
The two closest pitchers that we’ve had to “aces” in the last 5 years, realistically, have been Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen. BOTH of them were also in the same boat as the three Aces I mentioned: there were nowhere before they were somewhere.
Sean Newcomb is our highest rated prospect (for now), and I have no idea if he has top of the rotation ability. But if you get enough of these guys together, someone will probably meet the criteria.
Everyone looks like a promising prospect when your team is winning at a .250 clip. This will eventually grow tiresome to even the most devout of the faithful. There’s no way to argue against “you have to give them time to see if they become Glavine and Smoltz”. And there’s some truth there too. All we can do is wait it out and hope a few of these become more than just-a-guy.
The highly touted guys are usually the “toolsy” ones that sometimes can’t really play baseball all that well. I’m holding out some hope that our new regime (same as the old regime?) starts to draft baseball players.
Auburn with a grand slam walk off to tie the women’s World Series at a game apiece after being down seven to nothing. This has been a highly entertaining World Series so far.
War Damn Eagle ladies..
Nice win for Auburn tonight. As for the Braves I would have left Blair in the game. He’s got to learn to pitch out of his own mess at times.
If Newcomb puts it all together, he certainly has top-of-the-rotation potential. Fried might. Soroka and Allard *might*. The good news, however, is that both Foltynewicz and Wisler have indicated that as of now they are at least something on the order of a league-average starter, and they’ve both shown enough to suggest that they are — likelier than not — going to be no worse than number three starters. And possibly better, if everything goes right. So could Blair, who’s had less time in the majors than either of them.
Pitching prospects obviously aren’t sure things, even the ones who look like sure things. But the Braves have enough high-ceiling arms that it’s pretty likely that at least one of them will break through. It’s a lot more likely that a few of them will start looking really good at Double-A and Triple-A and will get themselves traded away for veteran talent – you know, like Dan Meyer, and all the rest. They don’t need to be aces in the majors to be extremely valuable to the team.
I would have liked to have seen Blair face Upton with the bases loaded there. I would like to see how these young pitchers handle those situations. Either he gets out of it and learns a lesson, or he gets crushed and learns a lesson. At least, he would learn a lesson. Taking him out does nothing for him and nothing for this season as we are going to lose this season anyways. Winning this game means nothing at the expense of a young player learning a valuable lesson.
We have lots of pitchers who could be a #1 or #2. The smart money for any of them individually is that they’ll bust.
Kelly’s not the player he was a year ago.
That was quick.
I agree with Snitker taking out Blair. I also agree that he has to learn about pressure situations, but bases loaded in the 5th after throwing over 80 pitches is not that time. He was playing with fire all night. As bad as the Braves are this year, I still want them to try to win every game.
Barved
We should try to acquire a player like Wil Myers who has been traded twice now
This team delenda est
Recapped.