Ernie Banks is credited with frequent use of a phrase in his career. Something to the effect of “It’s such a nice day, let’s play two.” Well, it wasn’t such a nice day as a subtropical or tropical or whatever storm entered the Redneck Riviera and pumped a lot of water up over Cobb County and all parts nearby.
I have never had to recap a doubleheader. I am “double” restricted in that I also saw none of Game 2 and only a little (but the worst and best parts) of Game 1. But we have electronic media for that sort of thing.
I haven’t taken time to check, but Talking Chop has a thing where people try to guess the highest WPA for any Braves player before the game. If there was money on this and somebody had Charlie Culberson, such person probably got a good multiple on those dollars.
So, Max Fried got a chance to show his stuff. The stuff he showed in inning 1 was, to quote Hoyt, not too good. HBP, error by Swanson and all safe, K (YAY!!!), passed ball, BB to Bautista, walk, K of Jay Bruce (YAY!), BB to Devin Mesoraco for a run. But that was it for Mets first.
Then, in inning 4, the Mets strike again. Mesoraco singles and then something called a Luis Guillorme doubles him in. Meanwhile, Fried has been getting strikeouts and his curve looked like Steve Avery‘s used to look.
Fried got through 5 getting 6 K’s, giving up 4 BB’s. and giving up 2 runs. One was earned, but the first one wasn’t, although Fried did create a lot of the chaos in that first inning.
Inning 7 saw Tyler Flowers bang a long one. 2 to 1 Mets. That inning ended Jacob DeGrom’s day with only 1 run scoring. In came Seth Lugo (and weren’t we glad).
Bottom of 8, Ozzie Albies gets a bunt single, Freddie Freeman singles Oz to 3rd. Neck sac fly (2 all) and Freeman moves up on the terrible throw. This is where I started watching. From 2nd, Freddie gets to see Tyler Flowers and Preston Tucker strike out.
Top of 9. Shane Carle gives up a solo home run to Mesoraco. Then he settles down and it is 3 to 2 Mets going to the bottom of 9.
So, Johan Camargo walks, Dansby Swanson lines out and Charlie Culberson clobbers a ball to right center for the win.
Thanks Cliff. Fried pitched actually not at all that bad in the first inning. Yes walks BUT – he should’ve been out of the inning after seven pitches (double play chance-error Dansby). Have to say I was impressed with Fried. I would like to see him in the rotation instead of Sanchez. Free Fried!
I THOUGHT I put “recap of game 2 coming, but apparently forgot. But, I had to start doing some revenue generating work.
Don’t worry about it cliff! That game’s not worth remembering! Thanks for the great recap.
To rip off Adam, here are my STARTING PITCHING POWER RANKINGS:
1) Folty
2) Newcomb
3) Soroka
4) Gohara
5) Fried
6) Teheran
7) Wisler
8) McCarthy
9) (But could shoot up fast) Anibal
So, in my book, our 3-5 best SPs are not fixtures in the rotation, our 8th-best SP is in the rotation, and we’re probably starting our 9th-most confidence-inspiring SP today. And Wisler is probably the long reliever today.
McCarthy is better than Wisler.
We have not been playing well lately, and I wondering what kind of perspective folks have. If 5-5 in your last 10 is “struggling”, then this is a playoff team. If 5-5 is just a stop along the way to finding our true bottom, then 80 wins is still up in the air. I’m still not sure where I’m at yet.
I’m starting to think that the Mets and Phillies both kind of suck, and we’ve played a ton of games against them to this point. The rest of the schedule is going to be harder.
@5
I think we may be in our toughest stretch of the year.
Cubs, Phillies, Sox, Mets, Nats and Dodgers are all pretty solid to great teams.
The second half of June is easy. The first week of July is hard. Outside a handful of games in August, that moth is easy.
September is a tough month.
@5
I do think that the Mets kind of suck, and find myself baffled that a bunch of people still think they’re better or more talented than us. They’re not, and really, they’re kind of a mess outside of the top of their rotation.
I think the jury is still out on the Phillies, but I think we’re about even with them, at worst. And we’ve beaten them a bunch head-to-head.
At the end of the day, I have a tough time not coming to the conclusion that the Nats are going to get it together (they may already have) and win the division, as predicted at the start. I would be disappointed of we weren’t in contention for a wild card spot all the way through, at this point, and I think the Phillies probably will be, too.
When the Nats get some of their guys back, I think they will be the best team in the division. We would need to have our offense and bullpen perform fairly close to where it was at the beginning of this month, and we need to find 5 quality SPs out of that list of 9 (or outside the org). I really doubt those things happen, and the Nats overtake us. I’m sorry for being a wet blanket. We’re a good team, but I don’t think we win in the 90’s, which the Nats will end up doing.
I do not expect that the Braves will make the playoffs, but only because I don’t think they will make the moves necessary to do so.
A trade for a SP and two bullpen arms COULD be enough to win the Wild Card. I just don’t think they will do it.
You’re not wrong, but I don’t think it tells you what you think it does.
I will continue stopping short of calling the Nats a really good team. They are an unpredictable team who may win 90 games give or take 5. It’s not a given that they will get and remain good from here on out. For the Braves’ sake, let’s hope they don’t.
I want to believe that the Braves will get some bats hot again. They’ve had a mixture of bad luck and some players slumping.
I think the Braves make the playoffs if they get a starter, a reliever (or two) and address third base (Riley?)
If the Nats lose one of their top two pitchers, I think we get in a lot easier.
@ 9,
Chief, what starting pitchers do you think will be available in trade this season and what would you give up for them?
I see 3B as the big hole (subject to Acuna continuing to health). Good article on Camargo on Talking Chop today. He is still drawing walks at unprecedented levels (for him) and has cut his strikeouts. He may be good enough to carry 3rd. If not, I don’t think Riley is ready. Riley needs a few more weeks at AAA.
I do agree Herera and Moustakas on one trade would be a good jolt.
One thing to remember in projecting to the end is that Braves have way more home games than away. Historically, teams win 53% of home games, 47% of away games. So, that is something that shouldn’t regress, but progress. Also, strength of schedule is about to go down for the Braves once we get to July.
So, progress, not regress. The young pitchers can keep stepping up. Soroka gets back soon. Fried may be ready.
For gNats to win 95, they have to win 65 and lose 45 down the stretch. I don’t see that happening.
Syndergaard to the DL with a finger injury. The Mets really can’t catch a break. Wednesday’s game just got much more winnable.
The Nats are still obviously the prohibitive favorite for the division. A one-game lead in May is meaningless. This division is 100% owned by Washington until / unless someone else is on top in September, and I think it’s foolish to suggest otherwise.
All we should hope for is to contend for a wild card spot, and I think that’s realistic. We’re still a year early and playing with house money at this point.
Pretty funny moment in Dustin Peterson’s first AB, around 1:30am. Took ball three on a 2-2 count and started to walk to first, got 10 feet up the line before realizing. Somewhat understandable given call-up jitters, and 12 straight hours of sitting on the bench, I guess. Naturally, he ended up striking out. Another thought experiment in the vein of Kirk H.’s: what if walks were given after just 3 balls?
If you believe Fangraphs then the Braves are currently an 83 win team when it would take 86 to make the playoffs. I think that’s pretty consistent with what the debbie downers here are saying.
I agree that improvement is required to make up the last few wins (3-4) needed to be a real contender rather than a “decent” team. Yes, the starting pitching needs to be better, but, like Rob said, some of our best starters are not available (Gohara, Soroka) or not being relied upon in the rotation (Fried, Allard). We are currently relying on four starters who are OK-great and we have 4-6 potential starters waiting in the wings. With all four current starters pitching at least mediocre, it’s going to take force to get them out; it won’t happen automatically. But this situation screams for not adding from outside.
Relief is a not really much different except there are no promising internal candidates outside our starters and maybe Evan Phillips. I do think that some combination of Gohara, Wisler, Sanchez, Fried can more than adequately cover a multi-inning relief role. What we need from outside is that one inning lockdown reliever that will either close a game or not allow a game to get out of control.
The offense is pretty solid. We’re complaining about our slumps but we’re still mostly scoring 3-7 runs per game. We’ve scored less than 3 runs only 7 times in the last 26 games (and one of those was a win). Yes, players are slumping but not all at once and a few – Neck and FF – have kept us going and Flow is coming on. I think the last few days have brought us back to the 12 singles and 1 run offense. We’ve got to generate more EBH or get back to running (why did the whirlwind around the bases stop?). This, of course, brings us back to 3B which is where the obvious place is to add power.
Also, after the Fenway series, I am beginning to wonder if Acuna is a better RF than Nick and Nick a better LF than Acuna. Really SSS but seems like Acuna stacks up better in RF. I also think Camargo is starting to stabilize the 3B defense. Infield defense is coming around.
I still think cheap(er) rentals are the best way to go this year, Over the winter, we’ll have enough info to really make up the best rotation and can add any long term pieces we need to.
We’re in a little bit of a blip caused by injuries, bereavement, and rain outs that has our pitching staff looking worse than it really is. Additional injuries are certainly possible, but if you rode with this pitching staff, you’d have a very good team:
Rotation
McCarthy
Soroka
Teheran
Folty
Newcomb
Bullpen
Vizzy
Minter
Winkler
Carle
Freeman
Biddle
Fried
Gohara
Let Wisler and Sims hang out in AAA, perhaps never to return again. The next relief promotion would/should be Phillips. But as it sits, you have Anibal making a start tonight, Wisler and Sims on the roster, and no Soroka, Gohara or Fried. But all of this can change by even the end of the week, so I think we’re just in a little blip here.
Chief, what starting pitchers do you think will be available in trade this season and what would you give up for them?
I’d really like to hear this answered by Chief. Sorry, Noc, holding your feet to the fire here.
By the way, Peter Moylan does not need to be coming into games with runners on. SSS, I guess, but he has a WHIP of 1.9 allowing 10 H/9 and 6 BB/9, and he’s by far our worst reliever. Of the 84 batters he’s faced, he’s allowed 35 to reach. That doesn’t work in his role.
I bet Peterson is the lineup tonight against Matz.
I yield to no one in my complete contempt for the Gnatspos. I do not like anything about the franchise.
But Sean Q is right that they are the prohibitive favorite to win the division. The top three starters are the best in the league by a wide margin (Mad Max is the best pitcher on the planet at the moment), and Roark and Hellickson have been pretty doggone good themselves so far this year. If they ever get Harper, Rendon, Murphy, Eaton, Wieters, Zimmerman, and Turner in the lineup at the same time, that’s awfully strong. Big City has been great for them so far.
So, the Braves’ best bet for October is one of the wild cards. Looking around the league, those odds aren’t too bad.
Of course, the Nats have blown it before when they were prohibitive favorites, and I’ll dance in the street if that happens.
As long as we are forecasting the Braves the rest of the way, I still think it comes down to the starters. (Duh)
The offense will not continue to lead the league–surely Kakes will come back to earth, right? I said the same thing about Flowzuki before this season started, though, and so far that two headed monster is every bit as good as last year. Can they keep it up?
Anyway, if Folty and Newcomb continue as they have, and if Soroka and/or Gohara (or maybe Fried) pitch well in the second half, then the 1991 analogy starts to look pretty good.
Back in 1982 the Braves won their first 13 and won the division (barely) at 89-73. So once you got past those first 13 games, they played 3 games over .500 the rest of the season. In his 1983 Baseball Prospectus, Bill James responded to the oddity of this by saying that every team that wins 90 games or so has long stretches of the season where they are a .500 team and, indeed, pretty long stretches where they are sub .500 team. The only oddity is that the Braves bunched up some of their good play in a way that was noticeable. krussell above is right: even GREAT teams have extended periods of .500 ball. We may not be great (and great teams have a good shot at winning 100 games), but criticism of any stretch in which we are anywhere near .500 simply doesn’t recognize natural variation.
I don’t know what they’ll do with Zimmerman; Adams is playing like Zimmerman from 5 years ago. Turner/Eaton/Rendon/Harper/Adams/Murphy/Wieters is really a stout lineup. To say they don’t have the capacity to out-perform us by at least a couple games — the current difference in the standings — would be selling them short. They were the pre-season favorites for a reason.
The 1982 team actually played well until the end of July; at one point they were something like 25 games over. But then they had a stretch in August in which they lost 19 out of 21. All appeared lost. A good September–really a good final week–got them to 89 wins and a division title.
Yeah, a stretch with few games near or under .500 is nothing to worry about. Overall, this year’s team has been pretty consistent. Even when they lose 11 or 12 out of 15 at some point (which is quite likely), it still won’t mean that all is doomed. I like what someone said above; we’re playing with house money. Let’s enjoy it.
Fried and Sims down to Gwinnett. Sanchez activated for the start.
Culberson in the lineup again in LF. What’s the point of calling up Peterson if he isn’t going to start against LHP?
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I think Grant nails it. It’s a thread you’ll have to click to see the whole thing.
In fairness to Snitker, a lot of minor league scouts seem to agree on Peterson — he’s likely to be a bench piece.
But I’m not sure how you could ever describe Charlie Culberson as anything more than that. (EDIT: I understand that Grant’s point is that Culberson has more positional flexibility. Fine — but in the grand scheme of things, they’re both basically replacement-level talent.)
Intentional Talk
at Rizzo they balk
Joe Blow just up from Podunk
unacceptable, hillbilly punk.
When every interview on your show with a ‘star’ descends into giggling, fawning, general ass kissing then your double standard is always primed in auto mode, and the truth is shot.You wouldn’t care call out Rizzo. MLB did.
@17 Rob, you’ve got five lefties in the bullpen. That’s not gonna happen. Maybe Phillips can replace Moylan and Sanchez will stick for a while but they’re not going to have more than three lefties in the pen, maybe four. Also, is Carle gonna keep it up – not looking great recently, but could be overuse.
Zimmerman is the kind of guy the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers each have about a half-dozen of: an old expensive guy who doesn’t play any more, who the team is rich enough not to mind having.
@32
‘dare’
@33
Alex…
excuse me please, can’t resist.
Cakes and Ale
there hangs a tale
you still don’t believe?
come out, and earn our reprieve!
@33 Doesn’t mean they’ll play him when Adams has been playing so well. They’ll write him off like the other teams you cited.
Danny Santana
the third banana
O Danny Boy we miss your speed on the bases
your steals, your occasional awesome power which the ball defaces
Wait no more, come on up
serendipity, let’s fill a cup.
@36, yep. They’ve basically already been through this with Jayson Werth, who was old, brittle, and not very good. They’re rich. They’ll be okay.
I wonder if there is some sort of disconnect between AA and Snitker on this. AA may have called him up to be a platoon piece and Snitker decided he is going to use Culberson instead.
I don’t think Peterson is anything special (I don’t even think he projects to be a regular player), but he is definitely a better hitter than Charlie Culberson, who is one of the worst hitters in the league among position players and is a defensive specialist.
This was news to me: Markakis and Flaherty are brothers-in-law and have a kind of Odd Couple friendship dynamic in the clubhouse. Some nice anecdotes in this piece from Jerry Crasnick.
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23636060/atlanta-braves-brothers-law-nick-markakis-ryan-flaherty-bring-best-other
Isn’t Santana out of options? I would think that means that he’d have to clear waivers after he was sent back down. That doesn’t seem like a very good gamble if it’s only 10 days for Acuna. Any of you have a different perspective?
I do think the Braves deserve an amount of credit for building up a decent amount of depth at AAA that may come in handy. I do also think Peterson is exactly the “prospect” you call up to cover a DL spot. Peterson has to put up a big season at AAA to justify even a short-term full-time spot, and he hasn’t done that.
Tonight’s lineup is fairly scrubby. Wouldn’t mind another rainout.
You bite your tongue! This is our view at the moment
This is embarrassing, but I stand corrected. Our seats are pictured. I didn’t think $50/ticket stretched me this far. Thanks StubHub!
Nice score Rob. Heckle Snitker for me.
As I begin to say that it could be worse, that we could have Joey Bats, he ropes a double. Well played, Bats.
It was not pretty but could have been worse. Let’s score bunches of runs.
Did Clint Hurdle have a point?
So it seems Sanchez is #9 on the starting pitchers list
If he’s not careful, he may fall.
Terrible challenge
That was a bad challenge and yet another loss
Well, I paid half-price, and I got half of a pitcher.
Whoever is in charge of challenging plays sucks.
It’s more fun to win at the big league level than to follow the minors obsessively, but tonight’s game is pretty sad.
So, the good news from the farm: at AAA, Wes Parsons says don’t forget about me. He went 6 innings with 9 K’s and no walks. At AA, Kyle Wright had a no hitter thru 5 and a third; 6 IP of one hit shutout.
Terrible send there, but thankfully the throw was even worse!
Are we really getting beat by Bats and AGon?
Of course Chip thinks Hawk Harrelson is a great announcer.
Another damn K with a man on third and less than 2 outs. This is ridiculous. Sac flies, RBI groundouts are good things!!!
Good start by Wisler
Can someone please stop giving up HRs to Asdrubel? We’re making the Shmets look like the ’27 Yankees.
He looks just as good in person.
Camargo doesn’t hit enough to play 3rd. Heck, he doesn’t hit enough to play short. We need a solution to the 3rd base hole
No more Wisler, no more Sanchez, no more Sims…
Wisler done. Sims done . Sanchez done.. Albies hits another fly ball with uppercut swing .. Camargo not a everyday player .. we need to just go ahead and promote the kid at AAA…
Wisler actually hasn’t been too bad tonight for a long relief appearance. 4 IP, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K. Better than Anibal.
Ender! If he had run hard out of the box he might have rounded all the bases.
Another terrible at bat for Ozzie with a runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs
Abominably terrible at-bat by Ozzie there.
The last couple of days, Albies has looked like a post-HR derby masher whose swing and at-bats are fouled up for about a month afterward.
Ozzie may have swung if Rhame threw the ball in the dugout. Youthful exuberance hurt us there
Crap, Chip just said Winkler is having a “terrific” season and an “All-Star caliber first half.”
EDIT: And there it is. Two straight appearances in which Winkler has allowed at least two baserunners.
Come on Albies s little patience…
I knew,leaving that runner would come back to haunt us ..
I had a feeling he was going to hit him 0-2. He looked so bad getting jammed I thought Winkler might try to go inside again
It’d really be something if we came back around to win this one. This would be a stolen win.
Nice recovery! Reports of Winkler turning into a pumpkin are greatly exaggerated.
Setting up for real Dansby to drive in fake Dansby.
ok..I guess Johan hits enough to play 3rd
Rally killer.
Camargo does it!!!!
The Shmets bullpen is really bad…..
Beating the Mets. Aaaahhhhhhh…..
Wisler did an oddly credible job – no walks, 4Ks, 2 runs, in 4 innings.
A big assist to Stephen Matz’s troublesome middle finger for that one. Credit to our guys for continuing to battle after that, as well.
Well that was fun.
I know it’s the Mets, but this team is incredible.
GET OUT!!
Mamacita Camargo
Shouts to the ball, “largo!”
Gracias Senora,
Por su hijo con mucho aura.
with considerable thanks to mrs. blazon.
A third of the way through the season, Braves on pace for 96 wins, despite their recent uneven play. They’ve been on the road against some good teams and were due to hit a rough stretch. Pythag ExWL is actually a game better than actual. Lots to love about this team. Tonight was an incredible comeback. I agree the gNats are going to make a run at the division crown and have more proven talent. But I think this team will definitely contend for the wildcard. And it may take 90 wins even to get the second spot. This appears to be a season with more than the usual gap between haves and havenots.
This is honestly way beyond the expectation of even the most optimistic pre-season projection from anywhere including this site. This is a lot of fun.
Anytime you find TAD saying exactly the same thing you just said, you should probably reassess everything about your opinions and how you formulate them.
Offense needs to be more even. Can’t keep relying on 8th and 9th inning magic to get the job done.
I’m-not-sure-I’d-call-that-a-recap is up.