Are the Astros this good or are the Braves this bad? Probably a little bit of both. The Astros are surprisingly the best team in baseball even though they’ve had injuries and ineffectiveness in their starting rotation. The Braves threw Sean Newcomb and Jaime Garcia, two starters who have been pitching well for the most part. Freddie Freeman also returned to the lineup, and we are remarkably one of the most healthy teams in baseball right now. None of that mattered. Yesterday, Jaime Garcia was the next starting pitcher to have to pitch against the best offense in baseball. But it didn’t go well, and the bullpen didn’t help things either.
Jaime actually started out fine, giving up one run on a bloop Evan Gattis single that dropped between Brandon Phillips and Nick Markakis (I contend one of them should have caught it, but I digress). But the floodgates opened with 3 runs in the 5th, and then the bullpen allowed Jaime’s only runner of the 7th to score. By the time the 7th was over, the starting pitcher and bullpen had given up 7 runs, and that was enough. Matt Wisler pitched the 8th and 9th, after throwing 7 innings down in Gwinnett three days previous, and he gave up 3 runs of his own. It’s hard to defend Matt Wisler‘s 7.41 ERA, but I doubt Atlanta would have treated Newcomb, Lucas Sims, Patrick Weigel, etc. that way. They seem to have a plan for him and it isn’t to give him the best opportunity to have major league success at this point.
And to compound problems, Matt Kemp, Matt Adams, Tyler Flowers, and Dansby Swanson are all mired in mini-slumps. Kemp is probably injured again, but there’s really no one to spell him for long periods of time in LF. At some point you could look at Sean Rodriguez or Micah Johnson for a time in LF, but Danny Santana, Lane Adams, and Jace Peterson all cannot hit. Kemp may not be a 162 game guy, and he may need a solid LF caddy for the duration.
The Astros are a good team. So are the Nationals, and we’ll be playing them 4 times coming up.
Marcus Stroman anyone?
Please.
Thanks, Rob.
Don’t really get why they recalled Wisler on short rest instead of Hursh.
These Astros are pretty much the best-case scenario for our guys — a full-on teardown rebuild that seems to have worked. I hate seeing the Braves get creamed, but it’s nice to look at the other clubhouse and dream of what we could wind up with.
Right. He wasn’t needed, he just pitched 7 IP a few days before, he was a rushed prospect who seems to be struggling with his confidence, so why bring him in? We called Wisler up when he was 22, which is younger than Newcomb, Sims, Weigel, and Fried are, and they now seem to be using him in disposable form based on what the team’s needs are that day/week. They know more than we do, of course, but they clearly seem to be using him based on what is best for the team, not what is best for the player, which I don’t necessarily have a problem with, but it’s certainly different than the other prospects.
I assume just to have someone who could conceivably go long in case of emergency.
I got to see the FireFrogs in Kissimmee on July 4. Seymour couldn’t hit a right hander’s curve batting left handed. Looked very overmatched on that. Riley, Jackson, Cumberland, and Castro can all hit the ball hard. Alay Lago made 2 good turns at second on double plays. Oriel Caicedo looked o.k., but when he isn’t throwing strikes, it gets problematic. Sean McLaughlin looked dominant in the last 2 innings. A win and then a good fireworks show.
@7 thanks, the raw material around here! You chose your July 4 baseball well.
Alay Lago
up, up and away they go
those turns at second
Balanchinesque, the Met has beckoned.
I think that name might challenge Roughned Odor.
I’ve seen 3 FireFrogs games this year, and each featured an ugly strike out by Seymour. I’ve taken an endearment to his personality (he’ll swing on the dugout railing during rallies, which looks hilarious, and I’ve mentioned his funny interaction with my girl), so I’ve hoped he could use that 80 grade speed to his advantage. I think he’s the only 80-grade speed guy in the system. He would also be more found money as he came over in the Chevanka deal, and maybe he could have a short Charles Thomas-, Jose Constanza-type career during some contending years.
cliff, was Jackson behind the dish? What did you think?
Alay Alay oop
he will catch every bloop
laygo of his tether
can he hit? no matter the when, rather the whether.
Ozzie Albies
has many here praying, down on their knees
be our very own Jose Altuve
bring him up, we feel we have no say pal 2day.
The moment Freddie steps back on the field and goes to third base the pressure on Matt Adams is doubled, and showing, as predicted here. What we can do about it I don’t know but he clearly felt it from the time the announcement was made and I’d like to think that explains his last two weeks plus. What else could he think about?
Expectations at one remove. Just keep on doing what you were doing. Easy.
@12 agree 100%. He was playing with house money (to some extent) when Freddie was hurt as we had no other options. Now the franchise player volunteers to move to another position to enable you to stay at first and now he might feel like stuff just got real
Wisler sent down and Akeel Morris recalled.
Oil of Alay
the pimples, they’ve all gone away
la go of your doubts
at second, embrace me, ignore the crude shouts.
BP midseason top 50:
#11 Ronald Acuna
#24 Kolby Allard
#32 Mike Soroka
#40 Ozzie Albies
#48 Ian Anderson
No other team has more than four prospects in the top 50, and they admit that Maitan might be deserving of inclusion too. (The other teams with four prospects are the White Sox, Phillies, and Cardinals.)
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=32224
With Andrelton Simmons, Alex Wood in Colon’s spot, and a decent starter purchased with the 30 million wasted on Olivera, is this team leading the Nats?
WAR says definitely. Andrelton’s 3.8 WAR would lead the current team leader (Freddie) by 1.2 Wins. Wood’s 3.0 WAR would be second.
And I don’t really buy the ‘yeah, but Andrelton was an awful hitter’ argument. Everyone knew based on how few at-bats he had in the minors that he would take time to develop and his 108 OPS+ this year is in line with a four year trend.
But Coppy had to get rid of all of Wren’s furniture. Hubris. We won’t win until he appeases the gods.
Matt Adams career vs RHP: 287/335/493
Johan Carmago vs LHP: 364/391/591
#18 – Good platoon partners
Rob Cope at 9,
They DH’d Cumberland and had Jackson catching. I thought Jackson looked pretty good (maybe a better way to look at it is “sufficiently adequate to not seem like a misfit or a project). Made a caught stealing throw. I am certainly not “scout qualified,” but the eye test says he is capable of being better than Gattis.
Yeah, really like Camargo at 3B and Freddie back at 1B. Good to give Matt a night off against a tough lefty. This is the versatility and depth they hoped the 4-man bench and players like Santana/JPete/Camargo would create.
I guess they told Wisler to throw his bullpen under the lights on a major league mound during a game situation? I just don’t get why you call a guy up to pitch 2 innings while tired to then send him back the next day. I just hope outings like these where he’s being shuttled around aren’t being held against him.
But Coppy had to get rid of all of Wren’s furniture. Hubris. We won’t win until he appeases the gods.
Yeah, I think you’re right there. I mean, they traded his kid for goodness’ sake. Really, though, you’re highlighting three risks they took that didn’t work out, and we’re taking a snapshot of two of them to say they went wrong. Obviously they were dead wrong about Olivera, but their bet with Wood was simple: whether through bad mechanics or injury, he will not be the ace he could be. And up until about 10 starts ago, the 22 starts and 4 relief appearances across a season and a half suggested that Coppy could have been right. He’s potentially become the ace Coppy bet he wouldn’t be, and until he blows out his elbow or his mechanics falter, Coppy is wrong. In the same trade, though, he did accurately bet that Peraza would have the stick knocked out of his hands. They chose Albies over Peraza, and they appear to have chosen wisely.
They also bet that Andrelton’s bat wouldn’t develop, and they appear to be wrong on that as well. I mean, they took risk and they didn’t work out, and with both of those players entering their primes, I don’t think the future will make these look any better.
Not sure why the Nats didn’t start the game at 7, when there is still no rain and its 8:30.
Nats are playing games. DOB called this bush league.
They purposefully delayed this game before it rained so they didn’t have to dig into their atrocious bullpen after it rained. What a sham.
#ClownForecastBro
This is an utter joke, and should be against the rules. The maximum you should be able to wait like this with no rain is 30 minutes…tops. MLB really needs to crack down on this BS.
If you haven’t yet, check out DOB and Peanut on Twitter. To say they’re displeased with this delay is an understatement. They’re both absolutely destroying the Nats’ front office right now.
First pitch 10:10pm. Area meteorologist on Twitter said it never rained enough to stop play…
I give Chip a lot of shit, but this is golden
https://mobile.twitter.com/kapaya1234/status/883138856635297792
Narrator: “Ironically, Gio Gonzalez was placed on the 10 day DL in the 3rd inning due to old age.”
Chip and Joe’s opening for this game was pure gold. They may be terrible in general, but they completely roasted the Nats front office in a most deserving way.
I’ve never wanted the Braves to win a game as badly as I want them to win this one. I hope they knock Gonzalez out in the 5th inning. The Nats deserve some karma.
62 pitches for Gio through 3.
It’s honestly amazing to me that Mike Rizzo still has a job. The Strasburg shutdown disaster should’ve single-handedly cost him his job, as far as I’m concerned. He let Scott Boras talk him into throwing away his only chance to win a World Series, then refused to back down on it because he wanted everyone to know what a massive genius he thinks he is.
Now, he orchestrates fake rain delays and postponements (there apparently was actually a game against the Orioles postponed earlier this year under similar circumstances) to try and make sure that he doesn’t need to use his bullpen or throw spot starters.
It’s a complete embarrassment, and if I were the Nats, I wouldn’t stand for it.
Wouldn’t mind seeing Camargo playing everyday.
DOB’s tweets were fantastic if you care to go through them.
I had tickets and went to this game. Sat there like an idiot drinking $10 beers for two hours until we decided we’d had enough. They didn’t even get the tarp out until 8:30. The cloud cover broke up a bit for a while and you could actually see blue skies above while the rain delay continued.
Gosh, I hope we just dismantle that precious bullpen Rizzo was trying to play games with.
I hope the umpires pay back these tool bags by turning every close call against this pen.
That sucks, Sean Q. That’s really unfair to paying customers.
I’m late to this shitshow, but I feel like I could make a good argument for the gnats forfeiting.
Maitan: 2 for 4 tonight w a double. .400 avg and 900 OPS so far
Gnats bullpen…still good for what ails an offense
Chip’s call on the last out: “The Braves rain on the Nationals’ parade.” Nice.
The Nats can feel free to shove their “impending weather” up their asses sideways.
Yeah that was karma.
The length of the game (3hr10m) was almost the same as the rain delay (3hr5m). I think this BS heightens the rivalry between the two. I hope we sweep these pansies.
Sean,
Hope you got your money back
The Nats are good enough but they haven’t ever had championship DNA. Weak leadership, weak mentality. Harper is a goner after next year. He wants to win when it matters.
@47 – Good point. I’m sure the Nationals clubhouse is not happy they had to sit around for 3 hours because their bullpen sucks either.
Cool piece about Tyler Flowers:
http://tinyurl.com/y76rjw9r
@49 Very nice. He is certainly easy to root for
BA Top 100:
Acuna 10 (+57)
Allard 23 (+14)
Albies 25 (-14)
Soroka 33 (+15)
Wright 41 (NR)
Newk 42 (+36)
Anderson 54 (+12)
Maitan 71 (+6)
Gohara 75 (NR)
Great googly moogly.
49 – thanks for posting.
recapped
I went to the first two hours of the non-game last night. By the time I got home, they finally announced that they were about to start. If I was still in my 20s, I’d have been angry I left. But I’m an ancient 33-year-old and I was happy just to be home before midnight.
Foltynewicz’s FIP is atrocious this year, but to my eye, he’s showing consistent improvement over previous years — his good starts are better and his bad starts aren’t as bad. He’s basically had three absolute stinkers this year: May 5, when the Cards scored seven earned in four innings off him; May 27, when the Giants scored five runs in four innings; and June 12, when the Nats hung eight earned on him in 3 1/3, including three taters.
The biggest problem is the homers, obviously. Here are his stats in his last 11 starts, all after that May 5 slaughter:
63 1/3 IP, 54 K, 20 BB (2.7 K/BB), 10 HR, 3.41 ERA, 1.33 WHIP
He’s a flyball pitcher with a juiced ball, and homers hurt him a whole lot. He still walks too many people, and his 4.50ish FIP makes him look like a fringy #4/#5 starter, when in reality I think he could be a #3. But even if he is only a back-end starter in a future Braves rotation anchored by studs like Allard, I think that’s a more than acceptable outcome.