As things turned out the midnight recap target will be comfortably met, there being no need for many words to tell the tale of tonight’s proceedings.
Let’s start with the bottom of the first, first pitch from Sims to Dee Gordon got past Freddie and they were off to the races. 32 pitches later Sims closed out the innings down five runs. He would last only one more.
And that effectively was that. Unlike last night when had a similar lead and sat on it Miami kept piling on and ended with double that total. We could nothing against their supposedly weak pitching and ended with just 2 late runs. Our pitching was universally awful with the short exception of JJ who came back to life pitching a clean 6th including striking out Stanton who did not get his 60th homer. Gordon though did match Ender with his 200th hit.
The last two weeks have been nightmarish, tonight was no exception. One fears for tomorrow. We have a lot of tired players but then so doesn’t everybody. With hindsight Freddie should have stayed home this road trip though doubtless he said no.
That’s it then. No Saturday/Saturday triumphalism tonight. With thanks for indulging my ramblings, I have very much enjoyed writing for y’all.
Well…we’re currently drafting eighth…assuming we lose tomorrow (and why wouldn’t we assume that) if either the Friars or the Mutts win we’d move ahead of them in the draft order. I don’t think we can move down at this point, so unless I’m missing something, we’ll be somewhere between 6th and 8th.
Thank you, blazon. Next year in the World Series.
I’m still laughing at “It was only Lamet” from the Padres series. That won the season for me.
@1 The general draft order is the reverse order of the previous year’s standings. If two teams finish with identical records, the previous year’s standings of the two teams is the tiebreaker, with the team having a worse record receiving the higher pick. (thanks Wikipedia!)
Entering the final day of play, the Mets have the 6th worst record with 70 wins, Padres have 71 wins and Braves 71 wins. Here are the draft orders given various outcomes for last day of play:
1) Braves win, Padres win: 6. Mets, 7. Padres, 8. Braves
2) Braves win, Mets win, Padres lose: 6. Padres, 7. Mets, 8. Braves
3) Braves lose, Mets win, Padres lose: 6. Padres, 7. Braves, 8. Mets
4) Braves lose, Mets win, Padres win: 6. Braves, 7. Mets, 8. Padres
Wow, time flies. Game 162.
Better luck next year, let’s hope.
For you, blazon, in recognition of your all-star season: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN3Mus6dig0
(Skip to the :55 mark and listen for fifteen seconds if all you care about is the main point. But it’s a lovely song.)
4th straight losing season. 3rd straight 90+ loss season. Same record this year as the super-tanking Padres. Are we having fun yet?
@6
Edward, once again my membership here has caused me go to Wiki to continue the broadening of an older mind. Love it, it keeps me young. And thank you.
@7 In the interests of fairness, the Braves’ 2017 season is actually a near-dead-ringer for the Athletics’ year: 4.50 runs scored per game / 5.07 allowed (Braves) vs. 4.56 / 5.12 (A’s), and the A’s are much better than the Padres. The Friars were actually the worst team in baseball by run differential this year by a wide margin – they allowed nearly the same number of runs as the Braves while scoring about 125 fewer runs.
What I’m saying is… the Braves have deserved their 71-72 wins this year; the Pads are truly awful. I think I could probably name only 3-4 players in their starting lineup and rotation. Also, I’m anticipating a pretty big jump for the Braves next season to 80-85 wins, aka respectability.
Don’t worry, we’re right off the pace to match the Cubs’ track: 73-89 in 2014 and 97-65 in 2015. We’re good. Totally good.
But seriously, you can’t compare our state of the rebuild to anyone else anyway. There’s the win expectancy that Blauser highlights, but then there’s the point that we have a ton of talent that isn’t being allocated correctly. I want some trades, dangit.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, rebuilds are a risky IOU from management where the only the losses are guaranteed. I can’t see how this organization warrants any sanguine outlook for major league success, regardless of how much potential energy they have stored in the minors.I can’t see much chance until leadership/ownership changes, and these guys ain’t the kind to fire themselves.
I wonder if baseball is looking at ways of deterring tanking the way the NBA is. I think they changed the lottery percentages to discourage completely bottoming out. But it seems like it makes sense to remove player payroll so that you can spend it on the draft, the international market, and buying prospects, and I just don’t know if you’re not going to be able to always convince ownership that it’s the right way to go.
@11 They have/are choosing to put if not all, most of their eggs in a basket that instead of a solid bottom is a wide slitted gill net. The bottom of the basket isn’t air, but its close.
Action and Reaction.
Max Fried
is showing us everything we need
so Maximilian
how about 6 years, five million?
Plus 1 million signing bonus, payable tomorrow. Clever, eh?
As i said in my recap, Freddie is tired and should have been left home.
Stanton batting leadoff? I hope he gets 15 PAs.
Is he getting tired already after 3 innings, about 50 pitches, control off?
First two i was shouting at the screen he was so good, never done that before for a pitcher.
Suppose you had two 23 year old shortstops. One is much heralded, a player’s player with all the intangibles, and beloved by the talent scouts; the other, not so much, but thus far in overlapping big league experience a demonstrably better hitter and fielder. Which do you play?
As was said here a few days ago it’s his defense that may ultimately decide his future. Poor old Max, that it should end on that. I’m taking the dogs out.
@18
I came on here to openly wonder if the third-best shortstop is the starting shortstop. I have no idea, but it certainly seems like both Camargo and Albies are more athletic. Perhaps Swanson is more sure-handed on the whole. But I think they need to at least take a fresh look at who should man that position going forward, and it’s not necessarily a reaction to this one poor play.
I agree. How does your football team keep winning through all the injuries? The newest new guy looked pretty good.
Feleipe Franks? Well, he’s no Jacob Eason, but his commitment softened the blow of not flipping Eason when Richt was fired. He was our starter the first two games, then was replaced by Del Rio, and now he’ll obviously be the starter going forward. He’s really talented, but Florida has a 5-star QB in next year’s class, and he might get passed at some point. He reminds me of Aaron Murray, to be honest.
Jim McElwain’s a really good in-game coach. He’s 9-1 in one-score games with Florida, and the only loss was in his first year the game after our starting QB was suspended and it was at LSU. He’s batting like .900 in 4th down conversions, and he just seems to push the right buttons. The way things look now, they might beat everyone but Georgia, including FSU. Probably keeps us out of Atlanta, but then that means Georgia gets to get beat by Bama.
You’re beautiful, Adonis. Don’t let anyone tell you different!
@24
short walk.
Agreed, beautiful.
@18/20
If Swanson is packaged in the winter- and i now think he will be – it won’t be because of his hitting. We can’t rely on his defense. 20 errors but that’s not the worst of it.
Season is over. We draft 8th. Looking forward to next year. Especially if we can trade for Stanton.
Swanson + Newcomb + Someone really good + Someone pretty good + Someone mediocre = Stanton?
Minter will end the season with a FIP somewhere less than 1. Akeel Morris, the Forgotten One, will be second on the team in FIP for anyone who has pitched an inning. Then Gohara, Winkler, Freeman, Brothers (!!), Johnson, Garcia, and Newcomb round out the non-qualifying leaders in FIP. Close behind is Folty, whose FIP rose ever so slightly this year. Teheran had the worst FIP amongst pitchers to log at least 100 IP, in contrast to leading the team in the same category last season.
Interestingly, after having only Teheran and Wisler (who is bad) throw 150 IP last year, Teheran, Folty, and Dickey all threw at least 150 IP, and Garcia would have well-eclipsed the total had he not been traded. 5 pitchers threw at least 100 IP compared to 3 pitchers the year before. While the 2017 staff ERA was worse than 2016’s, I think we will carry over more pieces that fit on a contending team than you would have in 2016, and that’s surprising since 3/5 of our OD rotation’s contracts ended at the end of this year.
Light the stove. When do pitchers and catchers report?
I enjoyed this lost season, people. Thank you for making this mess palatable.
coop
you were the glue, you held us all together.
Amazing at your age!
After today’s performance, Fried, starter or bullpen next year?
@20
No way it’s a reaction to one poor play, as you correctly imply, it’s an accumulation of watching him over 140 some games, 20 errors int al. He is not athletic enough to play that position – poor lateral movement on both sides, does not have soft hands and his arm is weak for a short stop.We should plan ST for Camargo there, don’t believe Ozzie’s arm is good enough for ss. Mind you, ‘Margo will have to prove himself there – could he play winter ball at that position (Australia like Acuna)?
Recapped.