The Atlanta Braves do not quit, bless their hearts.
The Braves scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to force extra innings, and Lane Adams hit a 2 run walk off homer in the bottom of the 11th to give the Braves the series 3 games to 1, and to formally eliminate the Marlins from the N.L. East race.
Arodys Vizcaino went 2 innings to get his 2nd win in as many days, and Tyler Flowers had 3 hits and 3 RBIs. Ozzie Albies and Johan Camargo each went 2 for 4 to raise their batting averages to .282 and .302 respectively, and Rio Ruiz had a critical 2 out single in the bottom of the 9th, driving in 2 to tie the score.
The Marlins jumped on R.A. Dickey for 3 runs in the 2nd; the Braves answered with 5 in the 3rd. Dickey could not hold the lead however, and left with the score tied after 5, having allowed 6 hits, 3 walks, and recording 5 strikeouts. Jose Ramirez allowed Dee Gordon‘s 2nd home run of the season to break the tie in the 8th, and the Marlins scoring concluded against Matt Wisler, who was allowed to record an out in the 9th, presumably to piss off the Nationals.
The Braves finish the homestand at 4 – 3.  Off Monday, then at Washington Tuesday. Nationals delenda est.
The 4th funniest thing I ever heard about Miami: is irrelevant.
Wind and rain at PCB, pretty much a regular day. No damage as far as the eye can see. Hope each of you fared as well. Please be safe.
Nice recap. Kids forget we aren’t supposed to win.
Go Braves.
coop, do you live in PCB or are you just visiting?
@1 Coop- I am happy to hear PCB has no damage. We go there every year for Spring Break from Michigan and we were hoping there wasn’t too much damage
Hap, we live in Port Orange (Daytona) but have an old condo at the far west end of Bay County right next to the bird sanctuary on Lake Powell (Phillips Inlet). Cross the bridge and you’re in Walton County. We’re the redneckest part of the Riviera.
Putter, we’re as far as you can get from Thomas Drive, but out our way all’s well. It’s probably not a beach day, although there will probably be a bounty of shells.
Would be nice to see Lane Adams turn into Ryan Ludwick
@4 Thanks Coop. Glad to hear you guys are ok.
@5 I really like Lane Adams. I hope there is a place for him moving forward as he adds a lot to our bench
What a baseball game – pure magic for the last hour.
And some folks were watching football??!!!
coop…I have no idea where PCB is but i always knew Irma would drop to a 1 when it encountered you.
PCB
if it’s good enough for he
and Google can find it
will I discover coop hiding behind it?
Panama City Beach, blazon, where good old boys congregate in months that contain an “r”. Other times too: old precepts no longer apply to oyster shucking.
Port Charlotte Bay?
coop…look what happens when you are lazy…i could go on…you know i could.
Presbyterian Church Boulevard
Police Constable Beavis
Politically Correct Bastards
Prorated Country Boys
Pine Cove Battlements
Preposterously Cheap Baseball
Pundit Camp Blackmail
Polished Cheap Balls
Prenuptial Counseling Basement
Proceduraly Crude Blowhards
Prenatal Confessional Blogs
For blazon PCB a.k.a. The Redneck Riviera. A place of constant change… if you show up during college Spring Break it is completely different than what you get if you show up during Thunder Beach or during peak family vacation time in the Summer and also if you show up between November and January you will think you are in Canada, eh?
@11…thank you…I sold Real Estate in Florida in the 70’s and 80’s but on the East Coast and the most trouble i ever had was always with Canadian snowbirds. Rednecks came a poor second, blue rinse widows third. One such i showed some condos to one afternoon in my first week at work, we had two more to see when she tired. Could look at them tomorrow morning, she asked? Surely, i replied, always eager to please. I’ll come by your place and knock you up at 9.30. True story, there were others.
Delenda est may be the Gnats
but yesterday, our last at bats
they surely raised the roof
you will forgive us if we tend to stay a tad aloof.
All is fine in Indian River County, Florida. A mere flesh wound for us. Lost power last night at 8:15 pm, still don’t have it back. Thank the lord for generators.
@13
and the fuel for the generators, ample?
Panama City Beach is much different during high school spring break as compared with college spring break. As adults we actually get to have alcohol on the beach after the moratorium is lifted after the peak college time
@12
‘undefined’
the last resort of the troubled mind
so even Alex might admit
he does tend to go on a bit.
We avoid college spring break and bike week due to traffic and crowds. Otherwise, there’s not a bad time to visit.
Good to hear Indian River’s okay. Friends in Port Orange say they still have power and Direct TV. Hope the rest of Daytona Beach area fares as well.
Tomahawk Take
Did the Atlanta Braves just sign an international prospect… from Korea?
by Alan Carpenter 1 hour ago
What?
Supposedly an IF prospect named Ji-Hwan Bae. Hit .465 in high school but hasn’t shown much power, was projected to be a high 1st round pick in the KBO draft. At least according to some of the BA guys on twitter.
ATL UTD is attempting to set an MLS record for single game attendance next Saturday. Opening up the full capacity of MB stadium. Just FYI.
@1 – Thanks Coop. I wonder what are opinions on how much credit we should give Snitker?
Snitker is okay, could do better than him, could do a lot worse so unless you can find a home run hire, I’d stand pat. I do wish Lane Adams could buy a start.
Pining for more Lane Adams is the sign of a bad team.
It’d be nice to have a .800 OPS backup OFer who can play all 3 OF positions, but right, wishing he got full-time status would be a reach. I don’t think anyone is advocating for that. But if we keep Kemp, he’s got to have a solid caddy, and Adams could be that.
Now, moreso than last year, our September success is fueled by the individual successes of young players. Even moreso than last year, if we have a strong September, we should be optimistic for the next season. And I continue to say this two seasons in a row because, lest we forget, we did start this year 45-45, and I can guarantee that if we do the same next year, it will be clear we will be buyers. For those saying “oh great, another strong September to tank the draft slot” are forgetting that we have a rotation full of youngsters and potential building block pieces in the majority of the lineup. There may be 2-3 players whose present success doesn’t have immediate future value to this team.
I wouldn’t put any stock into September performances, both good and bad. It’s a small sample size against competition that is mostly also in build-for-the-future mode. Not watching is probably the best course of action.
The players who get us to the playoffs aren’t on the team yet.
@24 and @25 80% of these games are meaningless and mean almost nothing. Still a fan, still want them to win but nah, you can’t take much from this.
I’ll know what I think about 2018 during the Hot Stove period and FA. If nothing much is happening, it will be more of same, or if Dickey retires, worse. If worse, I’d expect Coppy or someone to be gone at midseason.
We still have a bad lineup, really bad SP, and an inconsistent bullpen that only has about 2-3 reliable guys.
1B good to borderline great. He is not a great player to me.
2B who knows? If .275, league avg D and little power excites you have at it.
3B L O L
SS L O L #2
C Good combination, a bright spot. Wonder if repeatable/sustainable
LF L O L #3
CF A great player in 1912, a great player in 1984, a good player in 2018
RF L O L #4
SP1 A headcase with an ERA in the 4s and prone to one good start followed by an awful one
SP2 Teheran see above
SP3 Dickey serviceable (whoopie)
SP4 Newcomb below league average, upside is maybe slightly above league avg, IMO
SP5 Sims/Wisler/Blair/whoever else AAAA and below
RP Inconsistent guys that don’t strike out a tremendous amount of guys. No one lockdown guy. Minter hasn’t exactly been lights out, etc. C- bullpen.
@26, Acuna will be in RF to start 2018, or if not, he’ll be there after super-2 cutoff. Anything else is unacceptable.
I think he may be in LF to start 2018
#26 – Suzuki is a FA and Dickey may retire
Would you all rather have Suzuki full-time or Flowers? Serious ? No meming.
Also, to be fair, I looked at the bullpen’s K/9 rates and they were better than what I thought. Still, most of them are just guys IMO.
Yeah, whatever Chief.
This lineup. It’s… not bad. Weird.
Can we swap Dansby for Trea Turner even?
Ozzie Albies can hit.
The LOL trio (per chief) at 2B, SS, and 3B is 6 for 11 tonight with a homerun and 2 doubles. Obviously small sample size, but I think we’ll be just fine up the middle if we get similar production from Ozzie and Swanson plays likes he’s played over the last month or two. I don’t see Camargo as the long term solution, but I think he can be a nice bench piece.
His LOL trio included left field, and not second base.
Well, he just made it clear that Albies doesn’t excite him. I think he could easily be at LOL with him. I admit taking creative liberty, but the LOL trio is a great name imo.
OMG. Really, ONE game is enough to sway your minds on things like post @26. Jesus. If Markakis went 7-7 with 3 HR today and 14 RBI I’d still L O L if he was our RF next year.
This years lineup is below league average in both OPS and OPS+. Slightly above average in OBP. Decent average of .265 as a team which is a positive.
SO when you say things like this lineup is…not bad, that is demonstrably wrong.
3rd from last in HRs.
4th from last in ERA
lower 1/3 in FIP
near the bottom in WHIP, K/9, and almost dead last in K/BB.
26th in overall WAR
25th in pitcher WAR
24th in SP WAR 25th in RP WAR
Last in LF WAR
21st in RF WAR
28th in overall OF WAR
You guys act like this team is close. It sucks. Period. Two castoff catchers are 3rd and 4th in team WAR. That sums it up.
There are a couple pieces. Freeman, Albies will be a positive WAR player that hey, maybe I’m wrong about. Inciarte is a 2.9 WAR player currently. I.e. a good player.
The rest is a heap of meh.
@34 Swanson has a VERY long way to go and if I had to bet, he’s just a guy, I just looked at his defensive metrics and they’re bad. Last year’s weren’t very kind either.
My point is that when Acuna arrives next year I think we will be above average from a hitting standpoint if we get a really good third baseman. I acknowledge that pitching is a question mark. I still think we have the minor league system and the money to get a top of the rotation starter and a good 3rd baseman.
One game won’t sway my opinion on anyone. Just pointing out that I don’t think it’s as bad as stated. Are we a good hitting team this year? – no. Can we be good next year? Yes, with a few additions. Can we be great? Probably not.
@39, fair enough.
In the interest of full disclosure, in perhaps his defense. that Snitker has the record he has this season with that sort of suckiness overall statwise is pretty impressive. Honestly, you’d imagine a team with that ‘resume’ to be much worse.
I’m assuming that overall defense being roughly league average helped ameliorate a bit.
My latest piece over at Walkoff Walk: http://blog.walkoffwalk.net/2017/09/the-day-i-evacuatedon-braves.html?m=1
Ozzie Albies
a power ceiling that continues to tease
now Lindor hits thirty
we think the Oz will be provoked, get shirty.
Johan Camargo
an instant throw from third that broke the Nolan embargo
just how did Ozzie get to second?
quite a bit faster than we had previously reckoned.
Kurt Suzuki
raw anger, we saw a new key
add this to what we already know
don’t let him go.
@41
Yes, like it. A good mix. Thanks.
@26
If Freddie Freeman is not great, who is in your opinion?
Timely article, Ryan. Glad you survived and that the Braves did too even though you abandoned them.
Baseball is a team game. This year’s Braves have won as many world titles as the Angels and the Gnats. Perhaps the Mike Trouts and Bryce Harpers of the world can’t do it alone.
Are the only “great” players those that dominate from the mound? How many rings does Clayton Kershaw sport?
Votto, Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Rizzo are all players that I would take over FF for varying reasons. Therefore, my saying he is good to borderline great, is appropriate.
And @46 that is a horrible judge of greatness.
What is the best judge of greatness then? That which the Braves do not have? He who accumulates the most WAR?
All of the guys mentioned are all in the same league, no one is particularly better than the other. Id probably take Bellinger out of the group just because of age and upside. Other than that, Id stick with FF
Side note on our offense…fwiw, small sample and all, but the Braves lead almost every offensive category in the NL over the past 30 days.
My man Albies is a player. Maybe he’ll eventually wind up in the good-to-great category.
I’m not sure where we should draw the line on using the word ‘great.’ Some people really don’t want to use the word much below Trout at the plate or Simmons in the field or Kershaw on the mound, and that’s fine.
But in terms of ranking players: Freeman has essentially hit as well as Stanton, Votto, Altuve, and Harper this season. (He ranks 4th in OPS+ and 2nd in wRC+; they’re all bunched together a level below Trout.) He’s quite a bit ahead of Goldschmidt, Bellinger, and Rizzo.
Over the last three seasons combined, he ranks 4th behind Trout, Votto, and Harper, and just a tick ahead of Goldschmidt and Stanton and Nelson Cruz in OPS+–again, a clear cut ahead of Rizzo. Tied with Goldschmidt for 6th in wRC+ over the same period. (Josh Donaldson and David Ortiz join the group ahead.)
Look, for four years I never thought Freeman would be more than a good major leaguer. I was wrong. At this point he’s one of the top five hitters in baseball year-in and year-out. He goes through a slump every season, but he’s basically incredible. I don’t think he’s Joey Votto, who I would put in the Hall of Fame if he retired at the end of this season. But if you’re putting together a line-up to win games, it really doesn’t get much better than Freddie.
There’s only one spot on the diamond we don’t have to worry about for the next couple years, and it’s 1B. Sure, you can make a case others are better or split hairs about “greatness.” But who cares? Getting rid of Kemp / Markakis and finding a third baseman are much bigger issues. Arguing about Freddie is a waste of time.
If there was a Hall of Fame Of Weird but Funny Shenanigans, Votto is a first ballot guy.
@52, I believe my post @26 said just that.
FF of course is a winning player. I don’t believe that he would be a leading player on a championship team and that is my prerogative to believe that. You are correct that it is splitting hairs. No argument there.
He is IMO injury/issue prone.
@54, “leading player” in this case pretty much has to mean a star pitcher, right? There’s very few hitters above Freeman right now, and none of them are likely to ever play for us.
@53, There will be a Beltre wing.
I am very excited about our 20-year-old rookie second baseman with an .823 OPS who has accumulated 1.3 fWAR through his first 39 MLB games.
I am also very excited about our 20 year old second sacker in his first 39 games. Last year we had a 22 year old rookie shortstop who in his first 38 games had an OPS+ of 115. (Ozzie through 38 games, i.e., before last night, had an OPS+ of 107.) Of course Dansby then had a terrible first half season this year, although his numbers since getting called up are all we would want from him and more.
I’m one of those Braves fans who believes that those two will be an excellent keystone combo for many years to come. I’m also realistic enough to know that either may yet flame out. My own bias as to Braves prospects probably causes me to be too optimistic. Still, the evidence as to both points to stardom.
Chief Nocahoma is every bit as much a Braves fanatic as anyone on this board. For whatever reason, his fandom causes him to make pessimistic assumptions about Braves prospects.
It’s way to early to know who will be right. Most likely somewhere in between.
@58 I also agree that Dansby and Ozzie could be a great combo for years to come. If this is what we will get from Dansby moving forward that will be more than sufficient and Ozzie is showing that he is not getting the bat knocked out of his hands either.
I think Cakes has a contract that we could move in order to make room for Acuna. Kemp on the other hand, will be very difficult to move so I have a hard time believing we are going to be looking for 2 outfielders to run with Ender. Trade Cakes, replace him with Acuna and get Kemp a handcuff (Lane Adams) and get us a major league caliber player at 3rd and our offense will be just fine. The pitching staff on the other hand…
I don’t get the “September doesn’t matter” stuff. Are there teams that have mailed it in? Sure. But just as important, there are teams throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the last few wins they need to make the playoffs, so it completely goes both ways. That’s like saying April doesn’t matter because teams don’t fully know who they have yet, July doesn’t matter because it’s crazy hot/injuries/no days off. There are unique factors at play in the entire schedule. Plus, the teams building for the future are conducting their tryouts, but so are we. So we lose games just as easy when a pitching prospect bombs.
But I do want to take offense that someone said that I take a very overly optimistic viewpoint IRT to the pitching prospects. If ever true, that hasn’t been me for a very long time. I’ve been excited to see guys get called up to see what they have, and there have been times where I’ve disregarded secondary stats when a young prospect has played well (like Newk’s early success; but remember that I questioned calling him up based on said control issues), but it’s been a while since I implicitly trusted the hype with some of these prospects. I do think we ruined a former BA #34 prospect in Wisler, but I was wrong about Aaron Blair. I thought higher of him early on. But the turning point was when the Braves said they had X amount of dollars to spend on the 2016 roster, and they were so far off that number that it was obvious they were lying. That was the turning point that has led to me a position of “most of what the FO is saying is hype and CYA’ing, but it’s hard to figure out what, and I’m too optimistic of a person to simply conclude they’re lying about everything”.
I like watching Ozzie hit and run the bases. He seems like a valuable player to me. That’s enough to get me excited.
@54 At the risk of ignoring my own advice and arguing about Freddie – LOL
@59. Thanks tfloyd. And, yes. Your last sentence is the most likely scenario.
I think Cakes has a contract that we could move in order to make room for Acuna. Kemp on the other hand, will be very difficult to move so I have a hard time believing we are going to be looking for 2 outfielders to run with Ender. Trade Cakes, replace him with Acuna and get Kemp a handcuff (Lane Adams) and get us a major league caliber player at 3rd and our offense will be just fine. The pitching staff on the other hand…
100% agreed, and I actually think they’ll even do exactly this. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if the Braves Super 2 Acuna and try to move Markakis a little bit into the season.
And if they don’t do something about the pitching, then they’re just plain stupid.
@60, September ball reminds me of spring training, except that there’s urgency for the dozen or so teams that still have things to play for. It’s not that it doesn’t matter at all, I just think it should be taken with a few grains of salt. For one, it’s just SSS, same as cherry-picking any other 30-day stretch. But it’s also not the same as rest of the regular season. The talent is more watered down, and the pressure is just not there if your team is out of it. They might as well be playing these games on the moon – the fanbase is watching football.
They might as well be playing these games on the moon – the fanbase is watching football.
Ain’t that the truth. I do think, though, there’s enough integrity in the quality of the games played and the competition that you can evaluate September just as much as you evaluate the rest of the season. That’s why I can look past 2017’s terrible July and August to see the team that’s 75-70 since August ’16 if you remove said July and August ’17. You can’t disregard the long, strong stretches we’ve had to maximize the bad stretches by saying the good stretches aren’t quality games and opponents. If we commit our entire payroll to real talent instead of betting on rentals to flip and taking on bad contracts… we’re actually good.
Having watched Ozzie play at STP for a couple of game, I admit it, I am an Ozzie fan. Then again, I am easily excited and overly optimistic at times. Having said that, the Braves will make the playoffs next year. RIght??
Rob, do you make a lot of money as a contortionist?
That’d be kind of nice. I continue to believe that once the Braves decide to compete (meaning they’re not right now), and actually do what Frank Wren was attempting to do without too many mistakes, which is to invest its payroll in cost-controlled assets signed long-term, we would be a good team. I can’t help but think that we saw a bump when we traded for Kemp (hard to argue otherwise), and we really struggled when every freaking on the roster was in a MLBTR article about being traded. And I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that you saw a dip in performance when Garcia and Rodriguez were traded. I think these are humans that can clearly see what all our fans can see: we aren’t trying. And you can make an argument that, at this point, a portion of the fanbase has fallen under Stockholm Syndrome and continue to think that the Braves are simply allowed to not put a competitive product on the field. I continue to see long stretches of time where, despite the FO, the talent on the field plays through.
We could have easily made the playoffs this year if the Braves actually behaved like most other teams: contend while you develop talent. Walk and chew gum at the same time. Why are FOs given a “get out of jail free card” that lasts 3+ seasons and not have to put the best team on the field? We’ve had the #1 farm system for almost 2 1/2 seasons, and we have far away the most overall talent (ML roster included) in baseball. But at this point, they are getting a pass that they don’t have to use their prospects, just like every other team in baseball, to put a playoff team on the field. I think they have to do it next year, and I think the long stretches of success are proof that the average fan will see that this FO is saying its collective butts so that they don’t have to rebuild again.
DoB:
Top OPS past 365 days (100 games min): 1.Trout 1.077, 2. Votto 1.045, 3. FREEMAN 1.042, 4. Blckmon 1.026, Stanton 1.005, 6. Gldschmdt .994
#notgreattho
How many times/ways/versions can I say that I feel he is between good and great? I didn’t say he was Nick Esasky.
Chief – if #3 OPS in all of baseball doesn’t qualify for you for ‘great’, then you might need to lower your standard for greatness.
Recapped.