As it turns out, the squad that was heralded as being one of the six or seven “super teams” in MLB at the beginning of the year; the squad who are paying as much buried and sunken salary for players no longer with their team or on the DL as the Braves are paying for their current 25 man roster; are probably better than us. I mean, it’s a thing, right? If you spend an extra 100 million dollars on your payroll, you’re probably going to have better bench players at the end of the day.
So, there’s that. The Evil Empire North beat us again, and there’s not a lot to say about it. They tried to kill Dansbo, but it wasn’t intentional. Kyle Wright had a decent MLB debut in relief. Philly won in Miami, so they’re back within 3 games. The Nats lost to STL, so they remain 7.5 out, and honestly, we should probably stop talking about them as contenders at this point.
Folty squares up against Hector Velazquez today at 12:10, to try and salvage a game and avoid a sweep. It is a day game, so load up and get ready to go. It’s only 2 hours away.
If you spend an extra 100 million dollars on your payroll, you’re probably going to have better bench players at the end of the day.
Time for us to go sign Darren Dreifort!
Freeman has the day off.
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That’s pretty one-dimensional. Of course, Santana should have been in that group but has underperformed.
We only have one pitcher in our top 5 fWAR, though.
Boston isn’t throwing one of their best starters, so today is as good of a day as any to get Freddie a day off.
Man, they must really hate their backup outfielders.
The Red Sox equivalent of Paul Byrd on field commentator/interviewer is stunning. Who is she?!
Is she a blonde? Guerin Austin is her name. And yeah, she’s a looker.
Kelsey Wingert is beautiful, of course, but she’s just adorable. Great personality and sense of humor. Who did her job before her?
@6 yep, that’s her.
For a reason I don’t know, I ended up at the Delta hospitality area. The amount of food available is insane. Could’ve used it yesterday instead of watching all the walks…
Any word on Dansby by the way?
@ #7
Jenn Hildreth. Emory grad. She covers women’s soccer now.
Is there any way Acuna could be better? Acuna Matata.
That’s more like it!
Rrrrrrrronald! He is officially The Offense.
Alright Folty, those are your two runs for the day. Good luck.
Suzuki in fo flowers? Or not. Sorry.
Man, as soon as we get past Acuna, Inciarte, and Camargo, the offense sputters awful damn fast.
Wait, Brandon Phillips?
The walks lately.
We have the 4th-worst walks per nine in the game, and while one that is worse is the Cubs, the other two are cellar dwellers (Marlins and White Sox). They quoted Smoltz on the broadcast that walks are a rally in the playoffs, and I’m a little concerned about that. Maybe that’s why Stu wants to start Anibal game 1.
I think it’s fair to say that Smoltz is a guy worth listening to when it comes to the playoffs.
That wasn’t even close at home plate.
You just cannot send Duda there in this situation. Come on.
With the pitcher batting next, it was worth the gamble of sending Duda.
Duda is not exactly who I was referring to when I was talking about using our team speed.
“With the pitcher batting next, it was worth the gamble of sending Duda.”
There was one out, and it would have been second and third. They’d have either had to pitch to Culberson, or would have had to face Acuña with the bases loaded after Foltynewicz struck out.
@23 disagree with Duda as the runner. You have one out Culberson up, maybe he gets walked but that’s still only 2 outs after Folty strikes out.
#25 & #26
Forgot about Culberson. My bad.
OZZIE!
Boy, I just rewatched the Duda play at the plate. That was a CLASSIC Snitkering.
This is so much more fun here today.
Dansby just swung at balls 4 and 5 on a 3-0 and a 3-1 count. Let them walk you, son.
Why oh why couldn’t we have some of these runs the last two days. Man. But I sure do agree that this is much more fun to watch.
Kinda confirms the need to give Freddie a rest. He was being a rally killer.
Ozzie has looked a little better recently. Would be huge to get him hit again.
Boy, Folty sure is proving that momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher, huh?
Actually, you have to remember that we’re playing the Red Sox JV – no Betts, no Martinez, no Bogaerts, no Kinsler, no Nunez, no Pearce
But Folty kept his shit together there in the second. That could’ve easily got out of hand. He was visibly upset, rather pissed.
Duvall looks lost at the plate.
And in the field.
Oh boy…
Doomage intensifies
If this game is blown I don’t know what to tell you…
Womp, womp.
Self destruction.
This is gonna leave a mark.
Maybe Snit will bring Moylan in. Sure glad we used Brach yesterday while losing 5-1 in the 8th
Maybe Wright is the only answer
Left Winkler out there too long.
Unbelievable. Our guys are not this bad.
Note that the varsity is doing all the pinch-hitting. Just waiting for Betts to show up.
This one could start a downward spiral in a hurry
Yeah, this is looking like it’s going to be The Loss, the game everyone looks at during the team autopsy as the precise moment the season ended.
The Sawx have won 96 games for a reason, but this one’s on us.
This is brutal.
I think you have to go with Minter here
Without that error at third, inning’s over with a 7-6 Braves lead.
This is a nightmare. But it’s only tied. Gotta still win this.
He went to Minter 2 batters too late
Yep. Walk that guy to get to Betts.
@54 at least 2 batters too late
EDIT- or not….
@55 I want Parkman
Hmmm good thing I didn’t watch this game….I’m still pissed off though.
THROW STRIKES!
Minter is not the guy you want when you need to avoid a walk with the bases loaded. The problem is, this bullpen doesn’t have the guy you want here. There are only shaky options.
Can’t imagine why they didn’t go to Minter earlier. Insane.
Go, Braves!
Minter should have come in much earlier.
We needed one more power are at the end of the pen and didn’t get it.
If the Braves can somehow win this, at least we can look back at that inning and laugh. At least a little bit.
Has Duvall ever played RF before? Very shaky defense on his part.
Freddie!
And that’s why he should be MVP.
That’s how you respond to that umpire’s B.S. strike one call.
Wow..way to earn your keep Freddie!
OH MY GOD…FREDDIE!!!!
I guess you only need to rest Freddie for 3/4 of a game…..
Freddie Freeman drinks from the waters of the Acuna!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pooh yes.
I’m not sure that I have the willpower to make myself watch this half-inning.
We are getting some bad balls and strikes calls.
Luke Jackson warming up.
Minter!!!!!
oh ffs
Ouch.
You knew that was coming. Former Brave.
OMFG
unbelievable
Just freaking give them the trophy. Get these guys out of here.
Minter sucks.
Minter is not a closer and won’t ever be.
And now we have Craig Kimbrel to deal with.
This is a more spectacular loss than it would have been in the first place. I expected a sweep anyway…it is what it is
Chief, describe the stats required to be a closer. Be as specific or generic as you’d like.
where’s Craig Kimbrel when you need him (edit: not referring to facing him)
List of closers who have converted every save:
I voted for miss the playoffs in the site poll, I feel quite confident in that right now, even with the Phillies scuffling.
Not over yet.
Neither the Braves nor the Phillies deserve to be in the postseason. It’s a shame the division thing means the Brewers/Cardinals/Rockies/Diamondbacks/Dodgers will be denied a spot for one of them.
Man, he better not throw inside to Dansby.
At least we made them play some of the varsity players to beat us
I’ve aged like Lincoln during this game.
Just a reminder that the trade before the 2015 season to get rid of Craig Kimbrel was pretty stupid.
Possibly the stupidest AB of the year by Dansby…and that’s saying something!
Lots of blame to go around on this one. Need to win one we expect to lose over the next few weeks to balance it back out.
“Now if he hits a home run here, that would certify this game…”
Probably a deck chairs on the Titanic situation, but should we not pinch hit with Tucker here?
EDIT: I guess the thought was that Adams-Tucker was better than Tucker-Rivera…anyway, ugh.
Brandon Phillips didn’t have a job 20 minutes ago and today he hits a 9th-inning, game-winning home run.
This loss hurts worse than the game in Chicago with all the bad weather.
Chief, still waiting on the answer.
@101 for a team that doesn’t need it.
@97 No blame for Dansby. He should not be playing today at all. Much less hitting.
How many epic blunders have the Braves had this year?
10-2 over Cubs
7-1 over Red Sox in the eighth with their B-listers starting and seemingly on autopilot and the bottom of their order due up
3-0 over the Rockies in the ninth inning with two outs and no one on
We really could have won all three games. They just pounced on every mistake we made.
Hopefully this will be like when we lost that crazy game to the Cubs earlier and rebounded.
This game was lost when Folty didn’t get to pitch the 7th.
Don’t forget all those walks, Smitty. They killed us in the first two games.
I’m going to get ridiculed here and said that I’m overreacting to one loss, but snitker should not be hired for next year.
I have no doubt that he will get a lot of votes or win manager of the year, and that the players enjoy his “style”, but he just represents the status quo as has been since the bobby cox days. Its worked for one championship in 30 plus years.
Bad tactical decisions, bad bullpen management, going with the gut, tipping your cap, not forcing veterans to take a day off once in a while, not using modern methods to manage.
It really sucks for AA for this team to have played over expectations and have to take a managerial decision like this. And I say this even if the braves make the playoffs.
I’m not sure if I’m in full agreement, but not forcing veterans to take a day off is high on my list of frustrations right now. I don’t care what Kakes did today. Did it really hurt that bad to give Freddie a day off and then have him pinch-hit a play a couple innings in the field today when he was absolutely needed?
But Sam is right. They have about a hundred million more in useful payroll that’s going at fair market value to elite players. That’s hard to compete with.
Re-crapped.
The Kimbrell trade was incredibly stupid.
@109
Well, if we don’t make the playoffs there is a small chance he’s not back.
I can’t fault a lot of his pitching calls (today is an exception) their isn’t a ton to work with.
Should he have sat Freeman and Kakes more. Yeah, probably.
He’s done a lot more good than bad with this team. Though today was bad and on him.
I don’t think we should run a white flag up the pole yet. Those seven games with the Phillies will decide the east.
Ok, time for me to leave Atlanta. Won’t forget this last game, that’s for sure.
Games like this are precisely why it can be good to have a manager like Snitker (if he really is what I think he is).
This is the kind of loss that can be crippling, especially to a young team.
But it doesn’t have to be. This is baseball; they play every day. The Braves could go to the west coast and take five of six and today is forgotten.
The manager’s job is to keep the team focused, looking forward, and giving their best effort in each game.
I share folks’ concern with Snit’s in-game decisions, but it’s what happens behind the clubhouse doors that’s most important right now.
I can’t believe all the people saying the Braves don’t deserve to be in the playoffs. For all the frustration and disappointments, the Braves have, for the last month, consistently had the second best record or near second best in the league. As it stands now, just about all the contenders are equivalent excepting the Cubs. This team is really good and I don’t believe they are playing over their heads.
Now, they may fold, but I don’t believe they will. And tfloyd’s right, Snitker’s primary job is to prevent them from folding. There is absolutely nothing wrong with his bullpen choices today, the pitchers just couldn’t get it done. That was the first HR Minter has given up all year. Winkler has never had an outing where he didn’t get an out. The only thing I might fault Snit on today is pulling Folty too soon (got complacent with the big lead). And like I mentioned earlier, our bullpen is actually better than the Red Sox’s statistically. The Red Sox are one of maybe two teams that have hit better than the Braves (by AVG, there are a few others by OPS and/or WAR). There is every reason to believe the Braves can beat anybody in the NL. We can worry about matching up with the Red Sox in the WS.
One of the things today’s game shows is that keeping a perfectly static lineup is not necessarily the best way to go. Taking Freeman out allowed us to sustain a big rally. The lineup should be designed around the hot and cold hitters. WHEN Freeman gets hot again, he can get back in the third spot. In the meantime, he can get some more rest or BP or whatever. I hope this HBP doesn’t interrupt Dansby’s hitting. He obviously didn’t look good at the plate today but he should not have been playing either.
A lot went wrong late in the game but there was nothing to indicate it was a terminal issue. Helluva strategy by Cora to basically pinch hit for every batter that came up in the 8th. I guess he had the honchos to do it and every thing he did worked.