We never doubted it of course. What chance did Jose Fernandez have against the debuting Lucas Harrell, honed and sharpened from the maelstrom of the Korean League? We’d all been following Harrell closely these last 810 days, our many posts marveling at his progress as he traveled wide on his path to redemption. And so it proved. It’s so nice to be right.
Jose, apparently exhausted by his GW double a few hours earlier, clearly thought this would be a walk in the park, to pad his tally. No. Freddy started the barrage up front with a 2 run homer and then we got to the bottom of the sixth with the game still surprisingly tight at 2/1. BOOM. 7 runners crossed the plate dispatching Jose who gave up 9 runs, 6 earned, his most ever.Yes, we had seen this coming.
Our Mr Harrell meanwhile out pitched him and that against a superior line up. Lovely, goofy smile he looked at ease out there. Allowed an early run and then nothing more till he left after 6 innings having given up 3 hits, 1 run, and 1 walk. Some of us had been expecting even more, particularly upset by the walk, but hey we’ll take it. They called this a spot start – we shall see.
Braves hitters had a good day against the clearly bemused Hernandez. Jace continued his excellent form culminating in a 3 run homer in the big 6th. Freddy added 2 more hits to his early homer. AJP had an important 2 out 2 RBI single which doubled the lead at the time. We looked good at the plate, aggressive even. Jose was shocked. All that was missing was BMac to give him a slap on the kisser. But he showed his growing maturity with a pleasant, phlegmatic departure from the field. Times have changed.
Alvarez made a bit of a mess of the 9th (walking CJ!) until he struck out Stanton with the bases loaded for the second out then deprived Ichiro of one more to his tally to end it.
Ho hum. Never a doubt. Another spot start, please.
The last game thread discussion and blazon’s recap thereof are wonderfully accomplished. Thank you all. The discussion rocked. Please continue.
Beautiful prose, blazon.
Great recap indeed, blazon.
Nary a poem in sight
Tis like someone dampened the light
The Braves won
We had some fun
And tomorrow we’ll score one run.
Really great work around here, all around. Carry on.
Suzuki is 11 hits away from 3000. Absolutely amazing.
At least with Horford going to the Celtics I don’t have to deal with the cognitive dissonance of actually really liking a Florida Gator anymore.
Freddy?
Apparently Banuelos threw 5 innings in Gwinnett, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. So progress there. I hope he pitches in Atlanta after the all-star break. Hate to see another lost season.
I don’t know what these guys did with the 2016 Atlanta Braves, but I like it!
@8
Mannybanny
good for five
keeps our tortured hopes alive.
Gatsby
powering through the league
resurrects phenom fatigue.
I was looking to see where the voiding Red Sox players signed (gave up on that), but here is an article from Over The Monster (the equivalent of Talking Chop) on what the Red Sox planned on doing http://www.overthemonster.com/2015/7/1/8877333/baseball-america-red-sox-july-2-international-free-agents and what they just did http://www.overthemonster.com/2015/7/2/8883367/severely-restricted-red-sox-land-top-20-ifa-albert-guaimaro-for-300000.
So yeah, Major League Baseball figured it out.
If your tastes in Sports keep your mind open to new aesthetics indulge them as this year’s Tour de France gets underway. Forget the competitive, cynical BS – enjoy the glorious aerial shots of the Peloton swooping through the French countryside, the farmers in their fields, the small medieval towns. And soon, the Alps. (NBCSN. Too many ads, best record, play, zapp)
Hey Stu, Callis has Neslony’s signing completed at $8k.
Has there been anyone other than Anthony that we have not signed?
I think Neslony was the only remaining that we positively had to sign (to avoid disastrous penalties).
I’m not sure when Gant and the Bills will be back, so unless we are ready for Casey Kelley, 4th or 5th Starter Extraordinaire, they really have to consider stretching Jenkins out. We have Teheran, Wisler, and a rushed-back Folty for 3 spots, and then literally nothing right now after that until Gant and Perez return. I could be reading into it too much, but considering Ryan Weber just had another start at Gwinnett, they seem to be done with him for a little while. Had Lucas Harrell pitched like Lucas Harrell yesterday, I think the tone would be a lot different than it is now. I’m glad we traded Bud, but I hope it doesn’t turn into more Joel De La Cruz and Lucas Harrell. I refuse to believe we are in the same situation we were last year when Eric Stults and Trevor Cahill were trying to convince us that their limbs were fully functioning.
Who knows, maybe Manny Banuelos will become our first left-handed starter since… Manny Banuelos.
Every Braves affiliate, even Danville, is playing a Sunday evening game today
Rob Cope at 16,
The Snitker era has somehow lit a small recognition of a favorite movie line to apply to our situation.
Gus Czinski to Billy Chappell in “For Love of the Game”: “Today, we don’t stink.”
Even though there will be many losses and some more chaos, these past few weeks have made me see sometimes players can exceed their projections. Wow.
This Ft Bragg game is cool.
@19 Yes its very cool. I’m sure this will be an annual event, but I hope they get minor league games as well.
Go Braves. Hope Wisler doesn’t get too geeked up and keeps it in the ballpark.
Digging the Ft. Bragg game, too. MLB would do well to consider making this kind of thing a regular event.
Markakis has absolutely, positively no pop in that bat.
And yes, I do really like the Ft. Bragg idea.
We might be in for a treat tonight with Wisler. 4 K’s through 4 outs.
I love this Aybar.
It’s like Aybar decided to start trying.
It’s a great concept, but…
Colonel this.
Colonel that.
how about spending some time with the grunts?
Garcia has not hit since being recalled.
And Francoeur is Francoeur.
Inciarte would have caught that.
Wisler is getting away with a lot of hanging sliders.
The ball seems to die quite a bit at Fort Bragg Field.
Markakis sucks at every facet of the game.
Markakis has no arm, no range, no power, and is hitting around .250. Drawing walks is all he can do now.
Jessica Mendoza: “Freeman’s struggles are reflective of the team’s struggles.”
Huh?
I am a veteran so at least I can say I don’t dig these novelties. Especially when stories are out there like the NFL requiring the Army to pay them to do stuff like this.
I don’t like playing the early games in Japan, etc. either.
They did just say that MLB paid for everything logistic-wise in this case.
@36, Good but I still don’t like it. I take some solace in that only permanent party folks were given tickets, at least.
Anyone else read Flowers comments when Aybar didnt stop that throw?
I saw MF.
@38, What are you referring to? I missed that.
Really don’t like the way Snitker manages his bullpen. 3 pitches, 2 outs, bases now empty, back to the pen he goes
Flowers made a decent throw on the steal attempt and Aybar wiffed on the short hop. I saw “come on MF’r make a play one time.”
@35
An article came out last winter naming teams that accepted a bunch of money for “pandering” the military stuff. The Braves were high on that list
The Braves probably have a pretty strong following with the military, and this is a great location to build their brand. They accomplish two goals here: they market to the military, and they get on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball for probably the only time this season. It’s a good idea on their part to do this. I just wonder how it makes sense to have a “home” game with such a small crowd. The long-term benefits of the marketing and the appearance on ESPN must out-weigh that.
Poor Flowers. And as someone hitting well at a premium defensive position (meaning: a valuable player), he doesn’t deserve this team.
Jessica Mendoza just said, regarding gender integration in the combat jobs, that it was happening “in the Marine Corpse (sic)” and “the Green Barrettes (sic).” What a freaking idiot.
@43, Maybe I’m just cynical but these events are way too pander-y for me.
@46, President Obama once called it the Marine Corpse. Just sayin, it’s been known to happen to intelligent folk
@48: He actually referred to a Corpsman (medic) as a “Corpseman.” And yes, he should have also known better. The thing is, we’ve been in armed conflict going on 15 straight years. How is this stuff still alien to folks?
@49, oh that’s right. Sometimes I feel like a corpse-man
While I have experienced a great deal of frustration over the Braves rebuilding process, at least they have communicated what they are trying to do. Does anyone have a clue about what the Hawks are trying to do?
Basically they have traded Horford for Howard. Did anybody else even want Howard? He’s been a guy that can’t stay healthy, and consistently underperforms, and disrupts a team approach. Why bring him in instead of Horford, and consequently drive him away? I really don’t get their thinking. If indeed they are thinking.
Recapped.