At the risk of sounding like I’m taking credit for something over which I have no control…I’m going to take credit for something over which I have no control and point out that since I poured my Braves angst over a lost game and season into a parody of the greatest baseball poem ever written and humbly submitted it to the best Braves blog on the web, the Braves have yet to lose a game. Had I known the effect it might have, I would have written that much sooner. My bad, guys.
Since this was a game that had events worth recapping, I will actually recap the events of the game and save further recapping shenanigans for when we need a distraction from the baseball.
Bud Norris started and pitched into the 6th inning, giving up a couple of runs but keeping his team in the game. The first run he surrendered came at the hands of his mound opponent, Jose Fernandez, who managed to do several Jose Fernandez things in the game like allow a dinky 1st inning hit and then mow the Braves down for six more innings without mercy. He looked like vintage Jose Fernandez, and the Braves managed to do all of nothing against him.
David Phelps relieved Fernandez in the 8th, and the Braves decided to prove to their fans that just because it’s 2016 and they had a five game winning streak didn’t mean that we can’t have nice things, like a six game winning streak. Emilio Bonifacio, fresh from having been successfully called up from the minors, singled to lead off the inning. Jace Peterson was so inspired he deposited one over the right field fence, a no-doubter line drive that tied the game and reminded the Marlins that the Braves absolutely own them.
Following an uneventful 9th inning, Jace got down to business again in the 10th and singled with two outs to score Chase d’Arnaud, fresh off of an off day poolside concert, from third.
Arodys Vizcaino came in in the bottom of the 10th and was tasked with getting three outs to continue the winning streak. He made it as difficult as he could, giving up an infield single and walk to lead off the inning and then facing the heart of the Marlins lineup. Back-to-back-to-back strikeouts later, the Braves were shaking hands on the infield at Marlins Park and celebrating going an entire week without losing a game.
If the Braves can repeat this past week 11 more times this season and pull off a 70-19 run, I’m going to have to start drawing parallels the 1914 Miracle team and be tempted to allow myself to hope. Hee. Hee, hee, hee. Repeat this week 11 times and draw parallels to the 1914 team. I crack myself up.
The winning streak is at six. Even though it’s a lost season, this week has been fun in a totally unexpected sort of way. I’m not sure how these guys managed to pull it off. Should they try for seven tomorrow afternoon?
Aybar delenda est.
‘Rissa, take a bow. Just remember that the next time they lose a game, you’d better write a poem!
Let’s use those prodigious powers wisely. Save it for the home playoff game 7 in 2021.
Definitely go for 7. Win a few more and I’ll start looking at the standings every morning.
A catcher with much on his mind
approaches and asks are you blind?
control is the issue
and these are the Fish who
embody the worst of mankind.
The Braves win their 6th game in a row. The next thing you’ll be telling me is that a Cleveland professional sports franchise won a championship.
I’d love for Jace to revert back to first half 2015 Jace.
Soccer Journal alert! Lionel Messi is good at soccer. Team USA looked really bad last night.
Adeiny Hechavarria
is well known as a zany fetch and carria
releasing the ball was not his forte
he walks it to first so it won’t get away.
‘Rissa is actually Phil Collins.
Thank you, Rissa, for another great recap. Keep winning, Braves.
Maybe you stick Garcia in LF and let Jace play some 3B or vice versa. Between d’Arnaud, Aybar, Beckham, Peterson, and Garcia, maybe you have a 3B/SS/2B/LF solution for a little while.
But don’t forget: Olivera returns August 1st. Problems are solved.
@9
The real question is, “Can Olivera accumulate enough ABs to win rookie of the year?”
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. Use it wisely, like remembering it is not IWOTM(arlins), but it is Pure Evil. Should read, in my opinion anyway, Jace 3, Pure Evil 2. Avoids confusion with those schlubs up in Queens, donchaknow?
And yes, I would take Jose Fernandez on my team any day and twice on Sunday.
I know it’s probably too early to be scoreboard watching, but the Nats lost again last night and we picked up another game.
@11 and he has already had his TJ surgery!
@4 bravo blazon
@5, first half 2015 Jace had me convinced he was a below-average but passable starting second baseman or better yet a valuable super sub.
@14
…thanks John, have we heard from Edward lately? It seems an age but maybe i missed him.
@12 Such a jerk. Haha.
Same. Could be that this trip to the minors helped him to find his head.
A second baseman named Jace
Thoroughly stunk up the place
Shipped to Gwinnett
He was even worse yet
Resumed his 2015 first half pace
Also, catcher Blake Lalli got the win for Gwinnett after pitching a scoreless 12th inning last night. He has pitched 16.1 innings in his 10-year minors career and is 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA and 13 K’s.
Blake Lalli
To strictly catch is folly
He took the hill to pitch
To satisfy his semi-annual itch
Now there’s the John Gant we know and love.
Justin Bour
Gave him what for
The Bour identity
Hit it to and beyond infinity
@20 Yeesh, Gant. 6 hits surrendered in the 2nd inning, only one of which was of the bloop variety. He’s got a nice curveball but his fastball sure isn’t inspiring. That said, a certain tall righty with a big hook and a so-so fastball has had a pretty good career for the Cardinals… I wouldn’t be so quick to give up on Mr. Gant.
Looks like he was lucky only to allow 3 runs.
seems like a good day for Jenkins to make his debut
I like Gant.
Well, if everyone is going to comment on his 2nd inning turd, someone should mention that he’s pitched a no-hitter for the other 4 innings.
Ya had to go and say it, John.
It’s all my fault Gant missed his first “5-out-of-6-inning-no-hitter-with-one-6-hit-inning”
I hate snitkers bullpen management, why take out gant after a seeing eye single and 81 pitches?
let him finish the inning for #&^% sake!
not a fan of the whole 1/3 inning cervenka, 1/3 inning krol, 1/3 inning withrow and then there are no pitchers left for extras either
That’s the first I think I’d seen of Gant that made him look like a viable option in the rotation.
Gant has 4 pitches which is much better suited for the rotation and not the bullpen. I hope they leave him in the rotation for a while.
How’s Folty doing by the way? Has anyone heard anything?
In other news, Eno Sarris over at Fangraphs takes a stab at trying to answer the question “how good is Julio Teheran?”.
Spoiler alert, Julio is the sort of pitcher that traditional statistical analysis has trouble pinning down – for his career, his ERA is substantially lower than his FIP/xFIP would suggest. Eno does his best to come up with decent comps for Julio (mentioning, among others, Shelby Miller, Matt Cain and Jake Peavy) and in the end, decides that Julio looks like he may be a 3.6 ERA pitcher going forward.
Frankly, I think Eno’s analysis undersells Julio somewhat; he’s an excellent athlete who controls the running game and fields his position well. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if he has another 2+ seasons with a sub-3 ERA in his career.
I think the biggest concern with Teheran is that his velocity has dropped every year since 2011. I like Teheran, but if a good offer hits the table then jump on it.
timo at 32,
Foltynewicz (elbow) is expected to face live hitters in the next few days, Kevin McAlpin of 680 The Fan reports. (about 4 days ago)
Data Provided By rotowire
@blazon– Lurking, lurking, lurking. I never stray too far from this stately pleasure-dome. Reread a lot of Coleridge yesterday on an airplane.
Too bad there aren’t any albatross contracts left on this team; I’d shoot it with my crossbow if there were.
More Mets Bad Luck: Both Yoenis Cespedes (wrist) & Noah Syndergaard (elbow) left the KC game early today & went to the hospital together.
Jim is like our Mets beat writer. If it happens in Metsland, he’s going to tell us about it.
Metsland, where the sky is always falling.
If you haven’t seen Syndergaard this year and he does go down, then you missed out.
Is there a reason the pitcher can’t catch a pop fly, especially when it’s landing right on the mound?
Recapped.