What a tale of two games. The first game saw Max Fried pitch two scoreless innings, but a line drive to the back side caused him to exit. Kolby Allard, called up to be the 6th man, came in in the 3rd and got lit up pretty good, giving up back-to-back home runs to Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman (no great crime at all) and then a garden variety pounding later. The Braves tried to come back, and Cult Hero Charlie Culberson contributed another home run, but it was to no avail.
Kolby Allard has drawn quite a bit of criticism in his two performances, but I can’t bring myself to change my opinion on him just yet. He pitched reasonably well all the way into the 6th inning in his first start until he wore down. Remember that it was his first start, it was delayed by rain, and — not that he shouldn’t be able to do so — he spent some time on the base paths as well. The emotional and physical exhaustion for a 20-year old probably got to him in the 6th. And with this outing, he’s facing a much better and deeper lineup, he’s coming out of relief, and many of our prospects have struggled in that role.
Did I mention he’s 20? His velocity is down, and he’s not an elite prospect to the level of Wright, Touki, or even the way Ian Anderson is evaluated. He’s a MOR or BOR starting prospect at best, and he’s got plenty of time to learn how to pitch with lower velocity. I’m glad he took a pounding, and he can go back down to AAA to continue to work on his approach.
The second game was much better! Sean Newcomb pitched a strong performance, matching Max Scherzer frame-by-frame, and Charlie Culberson put yet another big home run in the seats. If you told me Culberson would have more home runs this year than in all of his other major league seasons combined, I’d thought they accidentally sent Chris Taylor from LA. This is still a young team, this team is still developing, and this team is fighting against a pre-season World Series contender inning-by-inning, and like I said in April, May, June, and July, enjoy the season as it comes.
To flush the Joe Simpson stuff…
Let’s go back to discussing Realmuto: How many here would pay a king’s ransom for Realmuto? Would you seek to extend him long term?
My definition of a king’s ransom is any prospect except maybe the top 1 or 2… if you would pay the top 2 or 3 prospects for Realmuto, feel free to say so.
Re: Sutton
I think he’s starting to wind down his broadcasting career. He’s 73 and is no longer traveling with the team, so Powell has had a rotation of Frenchy, Ben Ingram, Nick Green, Lemke, etc., on the road games.
The Joe Simpson comment was a poor choice of expression, but I don’t think there was any malicious intent. And I think he has to learn that everything he says now and going forward is going to be interpreted with a level of skepticism based on his rant about Chutley. Right or wrong, everything he says is going to run through that filter. He may decide that he doesn’t want that level of scrutiny, and he may decide he was to be announcer elsewhere.
I was in the car for much of the two games yesterday listening to the Washington announcers, and it made me want to go back to Powell, who I agree could handle TV duties. So right there with you, Alex.
If you look to your right, you’ll see the Twitter exchange with a fan and Bowman about how Newcomb may be switching up his repertoire a little bit.
I’d rather spend a king’s ransom extending Acuna and Albies, honestly.
Hursh is off the 40-man. 40-man is now 38.
DeGrom is getting 5 runs support so far after 6. Of course, he has not allowed a run yet.
Philly beat AZ last night. Greinke pitches a gem, but Jake Diekman, who AZ picked up from Texas, gave up the ghost.
@1 No.
@1
Yes, provided an extension could be incorporated up front.
Young pitchers only(no significant ML time), 2 if you also want Contreras(you’re a fool if you don’t), 3 if not. No bats
PS Make it 4, no Contreras, no bats, 6 year extension.
Call any time.
If I told you that Livan Hernandez was one of, if not the worst pitcher of all time, what would you say?
Re the true cost of giving up very young untried pitching – we saw a vivid example this week of how ephemeral it can be.
and as the great Bard of my native land has said…
“Like the snowflake in the river
A moment white, then gone for ever. “
@9
Add to PS… 3 1 year club extensions.
This deal is getting better and better by the minute,
But it has now reached its limit.
My only fear would be AA would be unable to grasp its beauty, its sophisticated subtleties. And would start crying at the table.
@10, what?
Hursh=another Frank Wren 1st Rd failure
Anderson, Allard, and Riley for Realmuto. Who hangs up first? I think Miami does, but they’d at least listen a bit.
15 I’d add Muller and that’s a workable deal for both sides I would think.
I actually think Miami still hangs up — they are clearly looking for blue chips. I think they literally want multiple top-20 overall prospects.
Add even with one year less of control, Realmuto’s season so far has made him more valuable this offseason.
Duvall in LF, Camargo at SS, Culberson at 3B tonight. Very interesting.
Yasmani Grandal
@17 And I think they’re totally asking too much for him.
I think they’ll bring back both catchers and spend the money and prospect capital elsewhere.
Ian Anderson promoted to AA.
Anderson has been showing his TOR potential over the last couple of months.
(And I don’t mean as a future Blue Jay)
@9 @15 Braves position prospects are way too scarce. I would never give up Riley or Contreras. If a bat is required, I’d go for Inciarte. He is a 2-3 WAR MLB player and Realmuto is a 3-4 WAR player. Inciarte has more control. I’d still go for Anderson and Allard. If a catcher is required, it’d have to be Jackson. This is a rank overpay, too. If the Marlins don’t take this then they are not serious about trading. Yet, I think we should offer the overpay this offseason. We really do have a roster crunch coming.
@19 Grandal has to be Plan B. We will not have enough cash to sign every FA on the market and we should shoot higher than Grandal. I would still want Harper. Signing Harper pretty much makes Inciarte expendable since both Harper and Acuna can play CF. We will have a great OF with Acuna, Harper, and a Duvall/x platoon. The formal solution will ultimately be Pache who may be ready by 2020 or sooner.
I cannot figure out why everyone is so dismissive of Riley. He is the #3 3B prospect in all of baseball and he is only 20. He has a rocket arm (former pitcher) and has upwardly developing immense power. Perhaps, before Pache arrives, he can split time between RF and 3B. But he is going to be our starter at 3B eventually. You can argue about Dansby and Camargo at SS but 3B belongs to Riley.
Giving up Riley would be the equivalent of AA poaching Donaldson off the As.
Fried on the 10 day DL and a 6-man rotation would mean he’ll only miss one start.
@21 Flowzuki is on the decline / regressing already this year. Suzuki is especially too old. Bring back one as backup (my recommendation being Flowers) and trade for Realmuto or sign Grandal.
If we trade for Realmuto, an extension is not even required because Contreras is waiting in the wings. We should let him play next year and then, if things go well, extend him the following offseason depending upon the development of Contreras.
@25 My money is on Touki taking the missed start. Especially after they cleared a 40-man spot today. Anyone think AA is making sure a 40-man spot is cleared for an August trade? Since Hursch was DFA’d today maybe something imminent?
I think there is a good chance Touki gets that start—and occupies one of the 40 man spots to do so. You’re right that still leaves one 40 man spot. I’m sure AA wants to be ready to make some sort of waiver deal. Realistically, who might be available?
(See Roger, I’m happy to rosterbate occasionally 😋)
DOB and Gabe speculate it’ll be Touks.
@28 Honestly, I have no good ideas on who might be available in August that would be worth anything. Donaldson – assuming health? Granderson? I was hoping there might be something to the Dietrich rumor but I can’t imagine he’d pass through waivers. A lot of of marginal starters and relievers. Jim Johnson (not an actual suggestion)? Bud Norris? I mean there might be some value out there somewhere but I don’t see anything that moves the needle.
Further related to @1, not to continually chime in on Realmuto, but I took a deep dive this AM into his career record. He’s definitely a good player. He is not, IMO a great one. Some of the offers that have been mentioned in this thread are IMO foolish based on the player that he is and that’s coming from someone that calls prospects, suspects.
Folty tonight, Sanchez tomorrow, Gausman Friday, Teheran Saturday, Newcomb on normal rest Sunday, and a double header Monday (presumably Folty will start one of the games on normal rest). Touki will probably debut Monday.
Philthies lose 6-0. Let’s go Braves.
One option for a FA “ace” signing = Patrick Corbin.
@31 Chief, so here’s the thing. Who is the best catcher in baseball? And you have to consider offensive and defensive performance, health, youth, controllability, etc… and you can assume Gary Sanchez is not available (even though I’m not sure he’d be my first choice anyway). You can include prospects if you wish.
We need a catcher for next year and Flowzuki is not going to be good enough. You’re going to have to pay what the market demands even if you don’t think the value is equivalent. The Braves have a true glut of top pitching prospects and using them to bring in top value at a scarce position is a perfect use for them.
For those looking for an alternative to Chip and Joe (which I’m pretty sure is everybody), tonight’s game is also on ESPN. The announcers are Boog Sciambi (that’s good) and Rick Sutcliffe (that’s bad).
Also, consider this fair warning that tomorrow afternoon’s game is one of those Facebook Watch exclusive broadcasts with no traditional TV.
Get your head in the game, Kakes.
That was a truly pathetic defensive effort by Camargo. Not a particularly great start here.
Terrible play, Camargo (whom I love).
Should be an out or two, but everything’s getting smoked.
So if that first hit had been kept a single, the next play would have been a double play, and this inning wouldn’t be happening, right?
@39
Well, unless Camargo had still pointlessly thrown off his back foot and winged the ball into right field, in which case we’d be in the same place right now.
At least Blog and Sutcliffe are decent.
Good damage control, Foltzie, even if you threw a million pitches.
CHARLIE!!!
I’m naming my first son Charlie Culberson Copenhaver.
Culberson
CHARLIE! That boy is clutch.
@43:
chortle
Folk hero status cemented. Culberson! Go, Braves!
@ #43
Get busy!
Chuckie Culbs is becoming a fan favorite.
Who was the previous Culberson? Brooks Conrad?
Opportunity wasted.
Yeah, there are no delusions that 3 runs will be enough.
Culberson is squarely in Brooks Conrad territory. Next up: Mike Devereaux in 1995.
The Nationals’ starting pitcher only threw six pitches that whole inning, even with the Acuña single and no double play.
I’d rather they keep their starter in honestly. We should be able to get more runs off a dude with an 87 mph fastball…right?
The question tonight is who do we turn to if Folty only goes 4 or 5? The Wes Parsons experiment?
The last two innings were just fine, Foltzie.
The Wes Parsons Project
Noted. And well played.
I’m enjoying the game so far tonight, how ’bout y’all?
Woo, Tyler!
T.Flow. that was kilt.
Mommy Tilone.
Ronnie!
Acuna is a one-upper.
Acuna Matata!!!
Go, Braves!
I’m ok with just playing the Nats for the rest of the season.
I think Acuna might be better defensively in center than left.
These are the Braves we know and love. Back to where we were in May. This is SO much fun. I knew Milone would be hittable.
And after a shaky start Folty has got it going! Flowers’ framing doesn’t hurt either.
Great catch Acuna Matata.
¡Acuña!
Nice Ender impersonation, kid.
@65 SSS defensive stats backs that up.
The thing about home runs is that they very often lead to runs.
Neck just can’t hit the ball as far as Ronald. Poor Neck.
yeah / yeah / yeah / yeah / I wanna be your Tommy Milone
( http://goo.gl/7WtN4h )
Considering Acuna is taller and has more ups, he probably catches that ball in the air that Ender flipped to Duvall.
Earl Weaver ball is so much better than waiting for 4 singles. If this lineup can find the power from early season then we’ll be playing in October.
We got a home run from a catcher, centerfield, and basically Dansby’s spot in the lineup. When the 3 weak spots in the lineup hit home runs, then your problems are solved. But admittedly, it would be Duvall’s spot to produce the home run for the statement to be completely true.
Strikes, please, Foltzie.
Yep.
Culberson is Brooks Conrad!
So far, they are scoring that as a double. That was no double. I feel bad for Folty; the only runs the gNats have scored have been due to misplays.
OK, they changed it to an error now.
Ha! So he makes that play…
Folty has a little bit of that Maddux come-back on his fastball tonight. Not sure if that’s new or not. But it’s nice.
I was afraid we would lose 3 out 4 against these guys given the way the gnats were playing and the way we started yesterday’s double header. Winning 3 out of 4 would be awesome. After his 1st inning I would have never believed Folty would be sitting on less than 90 pitches through 5.
Flowers sure needed a day against Tommy Milone.
I had said that I liked Atlanta if we had to produce basically an extra starter due to more games than days, and tonight that depth is showing.
I agree. Playing 87 games in 45 days is something that will force us to use some of our pitching depth, and that *should* be a good thing. Less Teheran starts. Long rest periods for the starters. I think it’s a positive.
Did the ump bust Soto for leaving the on-deck circle?
WTF just happened?
So uh… I’m at the game. What just happened?
Soto was mouthing off to the umpire about his last at-bat when he was coming up for this one and got bounced. Then the Nats hitting coach also got ejected, eventually.
He ejected Soto for complaining about the prior AB. Said the ball was down on the last AB and the ump said “you can’t talk about the last AB before this one”.
That’s the sort of emotional meltdown you see from a team attempting to rouse itself into a rally. Just hope it doesn’t work.
For the record, the only strikeout pitch that wasn’t actually a strike according to Pitchf/x was the one to Harper early in the game. The rest were strikes.
Folty is running out of gas.
I think there’s an overall frustration for the balls and strikes of the entire series coming to a head.
I love it.
This game isn’t in the bag yet unfortunately. The Nats have that cornered animal vibe going now.
I like Snit staying with Folty here.
@93
Pretty much all of the ones the Nats were complaining about yesterday were strikes, too, by the way.
Greg Gibson, the home plate umpire, motions to the Nationals dugout…
Folty is toast. One more out, buddy.
Alex, get yourself on camera. Any means necessary.
Well, it might be working to a certain extent, because the second-to-last pitch in the Wieters AB was clearly a strike (both by Pitchf/x and evening’s precedent) and was, for some reason, called a ball. Didn’t wind up mattering, thankfully.
Folty is done. I’d take him out right now. He can’t hit 90 – looks really bad.
OK, he just threw a 98, so maybe he can get one more hitter.
Also a strike not called. This ump is apparently a mental midget.
That’s his slider. He just hit 98 but he’s all over the place.
Luke Jackson is NOT a viable answer, Snit.
Gawd, I hope Jackson can get one out.
Luke Jackson with the bases chucked. Nope, don’t like that.
How is this even remotely a good idea?
Use the Force, Luke.
I’d stay with Folty. I know he’s gassed but he’s still better than our pen options. Snit doesn’t understand leverage.
Atta boy Snit.. nothing like waiting until we are really in the soup to make a change
This is why you got a LOOGY. Dumb.
There must be a number of guys unavailable tonight if Jackson is in now
Hell yeah!!!
Almost certainly the best pitch of his career thus far.
Luke! He finally threw an offspeed pitch for a strike.
::Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh::
Wow. Wow. Wow. Great pitch, Jackson.
I don’t want to stay with Folty when he’s gassed – that feels like a recipe for injury.
Luke, the Force was with you!
The pitcher doesn’t always win, but that’s the way to bet.
I couldn’t watch after 3-1, but it sounded good at the end.
I’d have gone with Venters but great job by Luke there.
Man talk about a clutch pitch. No way would you be looking for breaking ball there. Wow. Exhale.
Whew. Thanks, Lucas.
Jackson has been pretty good recently. He would have been a better choice than Carle in the first game. I know he doesn’t have a great track record, but he has been getting it together recently.
115 — He blew up the Death Star!
Rob, my name and email have stopped saving when I comment and there is no box to check to save it like there used to be so I have to type it in every time…is anyone else having this problem?
Now they’re saying Soto was arguing about balls and strikes from the dugout before the ejection. gNats, of course, saying that was other people.
@122, me for one.
ESPN just really botched that play.
@122, same. I figured it was a way to get me to post less.
Luv me some OZZIE!!!!
I’m also having the problem, and I’m working on it. If you care to share, what OS and browser are you using? Or is it happening across multiple devices?
Rob it’s on all browsers and OS’s for me.
If Jackson can better harness that breaking ball rather than throwing three out of every five of them into the dirt, he could move up the bullpen pecking order very quickly.
I’m also having to enter name and email address on every post BTW.
iOS 11.4.1 and I’m using Safari.
@122 me too on a Windows machine.
I’m ready to throw this theme in the trash.
LOL. nvm.
If Snit couldn’t leave Jackson in to start the inning with a 5-run lead, he shouldn’t be on the roster. Simple as that.
I don’t get it… why Winkler in the 7th? I figured he might be closing today. I was sure that we’d see Parsons or McCreery with a 5 run lead. And why not let Jackson pitch another inning?
Alright, and Remy let me know as well. I’ll figure it out, though I ask Hap and/or Donny if they’d like to take a look.
Jackson threw 36 pitches last night.
Really need Folty to be able to get through 6 innings.
“This is good for the game…” whatever Chip
Ouch.
gNats announcers…. sheesh. That was NOT on purpose. Winkler walked up and apologized and Flowers talked to him too. I can’t bear FP Santangelo. I’d rather have Joe Simpson.
Freddie making nice now at first.
Freddie: Bryce, if you decide to come to Atlanta, just remember that this is my team.
@138 Oh yeah, it was a double header. It was in the first game and I was thinking, well, that was game before last but it was still yesterday.
Even more so, Winkler pitched yesterday too. The only guys that are rested are Parsons and McCreery.
Winkler is just not as dominant right now as he was in April.
Freddie selling Brycie on Atlanta.
Scoreless inning and sHarper booboo: well done.
So if the Braves hold on, they will actually be ahead by one less loss in that column. But they will be a half game back overall.
Duvall really shouldn’t be the guy coming out of the game when Inciarte is inserted for defense.
@142
If you were to jam together a play-by-play announcer and analyst in order to create the worst possible announcing pair among active broadcasters, it would be Hawk Harrelson and F.P. Santangelo, respectively.
I would rather listen to a worst-of-Hawk Harrelson marathon than 5 minutes of F.P. Santegelo and Bob Carpenter. At least Hawk is sometimes funny.
I don’t know what the hell that was.
Terrible play, Ender.
That was ugly. That’s what that was.
Santangelo is all drivel all day.
Was he trying to match Acuna with heroics at the wall?
@155
I actually wondered that myself.
Man, I forgot all about Brach. He hasn’t pitched in the series at all yet. I still don’t understand pushing Winkler in a game like this when you have Parsons and McCreery just waiting for an opportunity.
Acuna sure made a better play in CF than Inciarte did.
Ok, the bat thing was pretty cool.
I’ll take another line-drive DP in the ninth inning to get out of trouble, thanks!
Related side note: What kind of idiot gets doubled off there?
Dansby!! That’s why he needs to be your SS. Another DP on a line drive just like last night.
For the life of me, I do not understand why playoff projections still have the Nats with a higher chance to win the division than us.
Ray Knight blames the umps for all the gNats woes during the post game.
If the Natspos lose tomorrow, does Harper hit waivers?
In one game, TFlow’s batting average and OPS went from .225/.708 to .239/.746. That is a 14 point increase in BA and almost 40 points in OPS. Kind of crazy that at this point in the year things can change so much. It is surprising to me that he’s only batted 151 times to date.
Harper has probably already hit waivers, like a lot of players.
Yeah, I’m not sure why he didn’t go to Brach instead of Winkler then McCreery or Parsons in the 9th. But they probably are only going to use them in blowouts, and 5 up on the Nats is not a blowout. With that said, with Carle on the DL, someone will have to pitch his innings. One would think it would either be McCreery or Parsons, or Jackson pitches Carles’ and one of those two pitch Jackson’s.
@167
With tonight’s usage, I’m gonna guess Snit has the latter in mind.
Anyone notice that the Braves have the most road wins in the league? Also, best record in the league over the last ten games (only Boston is hotter right now). Putting July behind us…..
Non-recapped.