It looked as if the Braves were going to lose another close ballgame to the Phillies, but the Braves bullpen took care of that silly notion, as 3 consecutive Phillie home runs in the bottom of the 8th helped turn a 1-1 pitchers duel into a 5-1 Phillies lead. Â Cesar Hernandez, Aaron Altherr, and Odubel Herrera did the honors for the Phillies; Hernandez and Altherr off of Arodys Vizcaino, and Herrera off of Ian Krol.
The aforementioned pitchers duel featured Mike Foltynewicz for the Braves and Zach Eflin for the Phillies. Â Foltynewicz was terrific, going 7 innings and allowing only 4 hits, 2 walks, and 1 earned run, while notching 9 strikeouts. Â The Phillies played a bit of a Sunday lineup, but Folty passed the eye test, with good command and effectiveness of both his curveball and changeup. Â Eflin was even better, (unadjusted for Barveness) allowing only 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run in his 7 innings.
Matt Kemp plied his useful skill in the 7th for the Braves first run. Â The Braves scratched across another run in the 9th and actually had 2 subsequent shots with the bases loaded, but the the hole was too deep, and ultimately the Braves lost to the Eflin Phillies 5-2.
The Braves are now 6-12, have lost 6 in a row, and have a 2-9 record on the road. Â Beginning on Tuesday against the Mets there are 6 more road games to endure before returning to SunTrust Park. Â If the road woes don’t turn around this week, it will be interesting to see the effect on the long awaited SunTrust revenue boom, if the Braves drop so far out as to depress even the greatest optimists before the home schedule even begins in earnest.
The funniest thing I ever heard about Philadelphia: Â “Philadelphia, known as ‘The City of Brotherly Love’ ever since Benjamin Franklin invented sarcasm in 1767, is the largest city in Pennsylvania and a suburb of New York.” – Mac Thomason.
http://bravesjournal.us/2010/07/05/welcome-to-philadelphia-game-thread-july-6-braves-at-phillies/
So the Braves have played eighteen regular season games here in 2017, and have won a grand total of two games against teams that aren’t the Padres.
I think that Philadelphia post was my favorite post of Mac’s. Thanks for linking it. It always makes me chuckle.
The starting pitching has been decent.
The bench is horrifying.
The offense (save Freeman) is horrifying.
The bullpen is horrifying.
On pace to win 53 games.
I wonder what Mac would be saying about the post Frank Wren era.
Well, Shelby Miller has forearm tightness. That can’t be good
On a non-Braves note, the beanball wars are getting ridiculous and out of hand (BOS-BAL). MLB needs to get tougher on the supermacho headhunting.
Mac would have had fun with all this.
https://t.co/eIizqgZrpE
Sigh.
If they go 1-5 over the next 6 is it time to pack it in?
Folty is naassssttttyyyy:
http://mlb.mlb.com/r/video?content_id=1315697483
To be fair, we have 4 guys on the 40-man itself that would be helpful who have shorter-term injuries: Biddle, Cabrera, Rivero, and Winkler. Then we have a guy who is clogging a 40-man spot because we strategically took on a player out for the year that was out of options but it’s believed he can play: Lindgren. And then, of course, Paco appeared to be a contributor but is not. Accordingly, we have a DFA candidate who, in order to fill a spot in the pen, is on the 25-man roster, thus occupying a 40-man spot (EOF). Then there’s Chaz Roe, who is not only ineffective, but also injured, and is clogging a 40-man spot. I would assume once one of the 4 40-mans who can be effective come back, we will then add Motte to the 40-man and jettison Roe or EOF. And at some point, if Minter is healthy, we’re being told he will be on the big league club, and thus on the 40-man.
And kinda the same thing on the position player side, from what I see. They thought they had something with Micah Johnson, and of course Sean Rodriguez, and they’re both tying up the 40-man with injuries. And they still only have 4 primarily OFers on the 40-man.
This is a roster construction that really, really sucks in April 2017, and I don’t really see what else you can do to not rush players, start clocks, or not exceed the 40-man if and when they decide to add a legitimate bench bat. All these close games, and a move here and a move there could turn losses to wins, and we’re just kinda handcuffed. Blech.
I don’t get all the hate for EOF. My strategy would be to change the priority for him and Krol and give him some more chances to pitch. EOF hasn’t been good but Krol has been worse and has pitched a few more innings. I wouldn’t have a very long leash for EOF, but I still haven’t given up on him. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but Krol seems to be a bigger problem than EOF.
@10, Indeed. Keep it up, Mike.
Hot take: Folty’s WAR will exceed Teheran’s in 2017.
@14 I ilke Folty. I am just constantly worried that he is one questionable umpire-pitch-decision away from imploding. He reminds me of Samardzija. I hope he’s keeping it together.
That old thread features some good OG Alex R. rants — not to be missed.
Hernandez to the Angels. Kinda surprised he wasn’t in the Atlanta pen
I know Hernandez had an opt out clause in May, but last I checked he was throwing well in Gwinnett. Not sure why we gave him away and didn’t give him a shot, but then again we did the same with Paco.
I guess they want Motte to take the 40-man spot. So many spots going to players who can’t help the big league club.
Dansby is 35th in the league in balls hit with 100 MPH exit velocity. Tied with Schwarber, Longo, and Goldschmidt. Poor guy can’t buy a break.
Folty got into a shouting match with an autograph seeker in a Chick-Fil-A so he has my admiration.
Peanut says there’s a good chance we add Lane Adams and Jason Motte this week, possibly by tomorrow
The guys in the pen blowing games for us are pretty much the guys we’re counting on to be good (except for Krol maybe?). If they don’t get it done then there’s not likely to be much of a plan B. Minter being hurt is definitely reducing our flexibility here.
I still think the problem with this roster is the offense. I don’t expect much out of Inciarte or Swanson – definitely hoping for an upside surprise or two – but I think projections for them should be…realistic. Everyone that has us near .500 is banking on huge years from both. Could happen, but not likely.
So, after Freeman, where is your reliable bat? Not 3B. Not C. Probably not SS. Probably not CF. LF is a crapshoot, and RF is mediocre at best. BP at 2B is probably better (or near equal) to what Albies would do, so it’s not like they are gonna be in a rush to call him up.
I dunno. I think you have to pretty much hope that Kemp, Inciarte, Swanson, and Markakis all exceed projections. They might when all is said and done. Stranger things have happened. But there’s no plan B for any of them at all for this year.
@16, boy, this was a pretty salty place on the regular BITD compared to the last few years.
Oh come on, Kemp has over a half of season of being back to his former self, and he’s not so old that you can’t expect it to continue. Markakis, also, has had over a half season of an OPS over .800, so he’s not that bad. 3B is the glaring problem. Defensively, however, we have 4-5 below average defenders, and that’s not good enough.
@24
Expectations.
Ryan Howard and Lane Adams will be huge upgrades to our bench. Of course, at this point, a 60 year old Julio Franco would be a huge upgrade.
@11 players on the 60 day DL do not count as a spot on the 40 man. So Rodriguez and Lindgren are essentially free spots as long as they’re injured.
So Fried looked great today. 7 IP, 1 H, 1 BB (picked off), 6 K, 0R
I wonder why Biddle is in AA. One would think his next jump is Atlanta.
Great to hear about Fried. He had me worried.
Demeritte has cooled off. Another 0-4 has him down to .206.
According to the tweeting folk, we’ve pitched the 2nd-fewest relief innings in MLB. So I can probably cool it with my “starters don’t pitch enough”, Bob Feller-ian attitude.
We are 25th in relief ERA, unshockingly.
Aside from Ender’s Babe Ruth impression, he is hitting .080.
Dansby has a BABIP 200 points below Markakis, Kemp, and Phillips despite significantly more hard-hit balls.
My small intestines are over two miles long.
d’Arnaud dfa’d for Lane Adams
** Bonifacio frantically searches for the pictures… **
Oh, he knows where they are.
Seriously, Bonifacio doesn’t even play the infield anymore. There’s no justification for him to be on the team when another OF is called up instead of D’Arnaud.
My guess is the Braves want to keep D’Arnaud and will be happy to let Bonifacio walk. If Bonifacio gets one or two hits before Howard is called up maybe we can get a bag of slightly used baseballs for him
Rained out? Grrr. Bad baseball is better than no baseball.
I’m assuming Howard will replace Bonifacio in the next few days. Jace Peterson will be the back up shortstop
Padres outrighted Bethancourt. He might upgrade our pen.
New thread.
@41 It would be hard not to, but I don’t think he’s the answer, either, LOL.