Don’t expect much from this recap. Late game out west, and I have an early start tomorrow. So, just the basics.
Braves win!!! You all know about Wednesday’s loss to the Bosox. I’ve seen it described as demoralizing, excruciating, gut wrenching, soul crunching. Tonight’s game was pretty much all of that—with one crucial difference. Despite blowing a two run lead in the ninth and giving up the tying homer with two outs and two strikes in the ninth, the Braves somehow managed to win this one. They scored a run in the top of the tenth on a wild pitch, and then, miraculously, Brad Brach held the Snakes scoreless in the bottom of the tenth. Braves win!
The bullpen was really very good in August. That’s hard to remember after the meltdown the last two games. It’s feeling like there is no one you can turn to right now to hold a lead.
Several good things happened tonight. Four hits by Kakes, homers by Zuk and Johan, Freddie hitting the ball hard and scoring a couple of runs. And let’s all give props to Snit for getting tossed.
As difficult as the last two days have been, the Braves have managed to shave two more games off the magic number. With tonight’s win and yesterday’s Phillies loss, it’s down to 19 with 22 to play. It’s going to be a wild three weeks. Meaningful September baseball is what we’ve all wanted. But many more like the last two and I don’t think I’ll survive it.
Nice recap, especially for the graveyard shift.
Bravo tfloyd…over and above what’s expected.
JC’d.
Ildemaro Vargas
he’ll tomorrow be our argus
a giant with 100 eyes
that one pass ball their full demise.
Roger, well said, we are far too passive on the bases.
Brach. Finally then, has our Oriole friend over come his mental block about closing out a game as detailed by Roger earlier today.
The meatball to Goldschmidt should be in the Chamber of Horrors.
Chip and Joe collectively were good tonight.
Solo, Joe was very good – funny, observant. His best night for a long time.
If the Braves play .500 ball the rest of the way, the Phillies have to go 15-8 to tie us and 16-7 to beat us.
Per Rosenthal, Dale Murphy is now writing for The Athletic.
So glad I went to bed early last night. My nerves can’t take another blown lead right now.
4 of the 5 NL East teams are 4 and 6 in their last 10 games. The Mets are playing the best ball of anyone at 5 and 5. At 9.5 back, I think we can stick a fork in the Nats playoff hopes.
@3. We still have 7 head to head games with the Phillies. It will be up to ourselves to win the division.
@170- ok we need one more to feel good about making it to the 11th
I went to bed early last night, so reading the thread was gold. Krussell @170 is the comment of the night, IMO. With the way the pen has been going, I wouldn’t have been comfortable with even 2002 John Smoltz.
We were very fortunate to have some strong bullpen work early, but every night is a rollercoaster now.
Wright would obviously be available tonight, but I can see why the Braves didn’t use him these past two games, and I don’t think he’s the savior of the bullpen anyway.
If it helps, the Braves pen have the 9th-best FIP and 10th-best ERA in the last two weeks. And league-wide, pretty much every team’s bullpen ERA is up from the full season total. Three contenders — Cubs, Cards, and Red Sox — have bullpen ERAs over 4.50 in the last two weeks. I think the bullpen performance is just magnified considering how crucial these games are and how bad our offense has been. We’re 20th in wRC+ and 21st in OPS in the last two weeks. So I think both of those are just giving us all coronaries.
Thanks, tfloyd. Despite the superficial similarities of the games, “whew” is much better than “ugh.” I commend your word choice. As the season rolls on, recapping descends to the monosyllabic.
Not a word for Anibal??
one of his least good outings…
and yet…
5 IP
4 hits
3 runs
1 walk
8 K’s
time after time after time after time…
next year too…
having given up the three runs in a trice in the fourth he pitched a shut out fifth which lightened the load on the pen that was to follow.
He also outpitched Greinke the 34 million dollar man.
And kudos to Luke Jackson for a huge strike out when it mattered.
Yeah – good on Snit for getting tossed. That call really was a BS call. The batter (I forget who it was) was literally turning to go to the dugout. When he realized he didn’t get rung up, he took a couple practice swings like he had just stepped out to do that. You could see Zuk talking to the ump too (glad he didn’t get tossed), it really was a ridiculous ‘ball’ call.
I didn’t know the base was loaded
with sloppy gunk and quite a bit of lime
i didn’t know the base was loaded
i still got in, i had a lovely time.
timo
three losses and then you must go
then a win
how fickle the Gods, you are left with just spin.
hey, back in the saddle? it’s not fair! could you watch any/all of that game?
Not a word for Anibal??
one of his least good outings…
and yet…
5 IP
4 hits
3 runs
1 walk
8 K’s
time after time after time after time…
next year too…
blazon and Anibal, flexing on us all, and rightly so.
If it helps, the Braves pen have the 9th-best FIP and 10th-best ERA in the last two weeks.
Why would this help?
If you wanted to persuade me that having a mediocre bullpen in the long run was somehow good, then great. But we’re trying to be the best team in our division, if not the NL, right now.
And league-wide, pretty much every team’s bullpen ERA is up from the full season total.
Great. Are we still beating these teams?
Three contenders — Cubs, Cards, and Red Sox — have bullpen ERAs over 4.50 in the last two weeks.
In a real sense, I would think this time of year would be a relief to people who are inclined to try to slice and dice everything to come up with a rosy picture. You are freed of this self-assigned obligation! There is no point in zooming out to see the larger picture. We have to win a small sample of games with the players we’ve got.
I am one of the unsung heroes who work just beyond and behind the Braves dugout. You likely will have caught an occasional glimpse, we tend to huddle together, we have become appalled by some of the decision making with particular reference to the bull pen, how it is managed, who gets the call.
You will know what i mean. The troika, whose power is absolute, again and again reach decisions which make no sense, deny logic and we all are paying the price. Something had to be done.
We started by altering or destroying written notes in and around the dugout that we could get our hands on. The batting order was the easiest to fudge. But the bullpen evaded us until, with a masterstroke, we made contact with a brilliant young hacker in Albania who showed us how to intercept and subtly alter communications on the bullpen phone. Simply put whatever name is required by the big three two names on a pre-constructed list are read down to a third who is the pitcher who actually will take the mound. Clever, eh?
No, no names from our group. We are dedicated to our task. We have the brains, they don’t. You will notice the difference quite soon.
@10
I agree. In fact, I think he should start game one of a playoff series.
As good as Folty has been, he tends to get caught up in the moment. I think letting him watch a playoff game first, then pitch would be best.
You could also argue Gasuman could start the first game.
I think the last few days Freeman and Kakes have snapped out of it some and have put good swings on balls.
I agree with Rob, everyone’s bullpen is a little thin. That’s what having starters go five innings does (or having ‘Openers’)
@10 @11 No doubt that Anibal deserves some luv. Honestly, just one bad pitch.
Your comment about next year is interesting, because I don’t see Sanchez being in the rotation. If he can be had for a reasonable sum then starting him off in long relief might be a really good idea.
Still, he is now the second best Braves pitcher in terms of WAR accumulated. What the bullpen frustration hides is how really good the starters have been.
Another thing I noticed last night is that the Braves used every “standard” reliever in the bullpen except Minter. I think all of the recent callups were available and yet the Braves are intent upon emptying the longer term arms first. The whole point of having the expanded roster is not only to provide opportunity for the called up players, but also extend the current roster by giving them more rest. We are failing to do that with the bullpen. Using the callups (Wright, Wilson, Fried, even Allard), would seem to make the rest of the bullpen better overall. I would especially want to use guys that may not be on the playoff roster so that the playoff players are stronger when the playoffs begin. Further you can’t gain confidence in the newbies unless you use them enough for them to gain your confidence.
@17, LOL, I look forward to reading your NYT op-ed on the matter!
@9–I had my alternative headline written–“Ugh 2.0”– and I was pretty sure I would be deploying it, right up until Ronald caught that shot in the bottom of the 10th.
@10–I was too tired at 2 a.m. to mention Anibal, but I’m glad you have. He has been a delight to watch this year. His ability to locate and change speeds makes him competitive every time out. He was really pretty sharp again last night.
And Winkler did a phenomenal job in the seventh to get out of a bases loaded no out mess that S Freeman left him. After his Wednesday meltdown (which really wasn’t as bad as the box score), it’s great for him to go right back and have success.
Seems to me that every reliever was left in one batter too long all night long. I think the various managers/coaches are not making much of a plan about how they expect the game to proceed. They’re playing checkers instead of chess.
@19 Depends on whether you are just counting cumulative WAR with the Braves (and then it really depends on whether you’re talking about bWAR or fWAR): Kevin Gausman has nearly matched Sanchez’s bWAR (1.5) in just 6 starts (1.3).
Looking at bWAR for Gausman’s total season, he is indisputably the most valuable starting pitcher in the Braves’ rotation (3.7 bWAR). Foltynewicz has a bWAR of 3.
I’m not saying I’m ready to crown Gausman the staff ace, but if we’re going to talk about 2nd best’s, I believe that conversation is exclusive to Folty and Gausman.
The fWAR isn’t differentish enough to change my argument. Of course, fWAR will favor Folty, but even there Gausman is more valuable than Anibal. That shouldn’t be surprising considering Gaus pitches deeper into games.
But more to the original point, what a pleasant surprise Anibal Sanchez has been. I think we knew and saw plenty of reason to think that he was in for a good year as early as June. Sure, his arm could fall off and it wouldn’t be unexpected, but I saw the gorilla tape in the dugout and knew his arm should hold for at least this year. That stuff is amazingly dependable.
Probably shouldn’t entertain signing him in the offseason unless there’s a team discount and the contract doesn’t force the team to rely on him as a front four starter.
This is not meant to be a jab at anyone, so preemptively, calm down snowflakes. But I sometimes frequent conversations of other fan bases. A popular topic of conversation in the Red Sox forums recently has been “can we really trust Craig Kimbrel with a lead?”
Again, not to harp or jab at anyone, but more or less EVERY team’s fans hate their bullpens, especially when they’re going through rough patches.
On a similar, and I think also-relevant path; here are the number of games up or back the Braves have finished in the NL East, this century. The order is descending, so 2017 is first, 2001 is last.
-25, -26.5, -23, -17, +10, -4, -13, -6, -7, -20, -5, -18, +2, +10, +10, +19, +2
What jumps out at me is that we have rarely been in an honest to god pennant chase this late in the season. It’s been a feast or famine type thing, where we either lose by dumpster-fire margins, or we stomp on the competition with a hobnail boot. Even the sort of close finishes in the 5-6 game range were in years where we typically had a WC spot wrapped up.
Just something to consider.
We’re middling-ly good. We were closest to transcendent early on, hit a rough patch in July, picked it up again nicely last month, and seem to be faltering again now. We don’t not-belong in the playoffs, but it’d be surprising to see us in the World Series.
Like, if these Braves were a band’s catalogue, we’d be…
Belle and Sebastian?
I think of it as the period when Eddie Van Halen put down his guitar and started fooling around with keyboards.
@16
Yeah, but you know me: you don’t have to have any one elite unit, but all of your units need to be pretty good. So if you’re asking me what the problem is, first I’m going to point to how bad the offense has been during that span (the real problem), but then I’m going to say that 9th is really not that bad of a position to be in if you’re evaluating a unit. There are few, few teams, even amongst contenders, that have a top third unit of offense, defense, starting pitching, and bullpen. We also seem to have a top third collection of coaches, manager, and FO.
I’m frustrated, not at AA per se, at just how awful our bench is. 15th in MLB in OPS, and without the ability to look it up, I would bet it’s worse lately. It’s not necessarily AA’s fault, but my gosh, can we get a bench deeper than Flowzuki and Culberson? No one can get a day off (which is still true considering Freddie came back in the game against Boston).
@25
Holy cow. Great stat. That’s why our hearts can’t take it.
But hey, one of the items included in the autopsy of the Braves’ run is that maybe they never had to stay hot through the end of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Lucas Duda and Adam Duvall should be a solid, if not super-team quality, offensive bench. Duda has an 837 career OPS against RHP.
I think a playoff bench of Flowers/Charlie Clutch/Duda/That other catcher is fine.
Duval shouldn’t be on the postseason roster
@25–that’s a great reminder, Sam. For all the Braves’ dominance from 1991 forward, they haven’t been involved in as many tight races as you might think.
For me, my favorite thing in sports is my team in a tight pennant race in September. As excruciating as it can be, it’s also the most exciting. My favorite Braves memories are Septembers of 1969, 1982, 1991, and 1993. (Maybe because Octobers haven’t turned out so good.)
For most of the 14 year run, I don’t remember Septembers that were very tight.
Now, I do believe that in both 2010 and 2011 the Braves were tied for the Wild Card on the last day of the season. Otherwise, what a tale of two Septembers; best of times and worst of times. 2010 was glorious; Bobby’s last season, making it back to playoffs after a gap. 2011 was absolutely miserable; I hate to even think about it.
All of which is to say that we have a wild and exciting three weeks ahead of us. And since we are playing the Phillies those seven games at the end, it is bound to stay exciting for a while
Adam Duvall has been dreadful as a Brave, but he can’t continue to be this bad, right? He just might turn it around and provide some value in the next three weeks, and he also might be a valuable pinch hitter in the playoffs. He is capable of hitting the ball out of the park, which can come in handy in these games.
Really? Belle and Sebastian?!
The talk of September baseball is right on point. Stayed up until after 1:00 AM watching the DVR of the game last night. It definitely felt different than similar games earlier in the year. Intense and fun.
Anyone who watched Winkler’s “meltdown” against the Sox wouldn’t have lost any faith in him. Nothing really hit hard, and with even a little bit of defense behind him, it would have been a good outing.
The rational side of my brain keeps telling me “Adam Duvall will return to his general form; this is just a slump.”
The fan side of my brain keeps telling the rational side of my brain “You kept saying that about Reggie Sanders, too.”
Pennant races between two powerhouse teams can be exciting. Pennant races because your team seemingly can’t win more than a few games in a row is just frustrating.
I’ll say it again: has this team even managed a 6 game winning streak this year? I don’t think they have.
@33
I think if we are going to have a chance to make a run in October, we need to clinch the division w/ 3-4 games left. That way we can pitch the kids and get guys like Duval, Dudda, Culberson and a few others 12-16 ABs.
Really? Belle and Sebastian?!
Look, I’m trying to be objective. We can be Motorhead when we win 90+ in a tougher division.
@26, this is such a great comment. I am going to spend the remainder of the afternoon thinking of other answers here.
1. Echo & the Bunnymen
2. Traffic
3. Too $hort
4. Sheryl Crow
5. Franz Schubert
6. The Wallflowers
7. Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers
8. Jill Scott
The last season Braves fans were sweating late season game results like this was 2011. We spent most of the second half of that season buried behind the Nats in the division. But the famously blew a massive WC lead and let STL sneak into the playoffs instead. The year of The Collapse.
2010 was a dog fight with San Diego for the WC spot, which we won by a single game.
Prior to that, the Baby Braves of 2005 held off a Phillies team that was in the nascent phase of developing the power house team that eventually won them a WS in 2008. Atlanta’s 90 wins just edged out Philadelphia’s 88, which was a painfully one shy of the 89 wins that put Houston in the WC.
All the way back in 2001, the same two clubs battled it out for a division title that was make or break, as both clubs’ win totals (ATL – 88, PHL – 86) were well back of the 93 win Cards and the 90 win Giants, in the WC chase.
In 2000 we beat the Mike Piazza/Al Leiter Mets by a single game, but the Mets were 9 games up on the 86 win Dodgers for the WC.
From there, you have to go all the way back to The Last Great Pennant Race, where the 104 win Braves edged out the 103 win Giants for the NL West on the last day of the season.
@40 That’s so great.
Alright, don’t judge me, ok, but these are some of my favorite musical entities, so this is where we slide into their catalogue:
Bad Religion – Stranger Than Fiction
Rise Against – Minor Threat (I can use a cover)
Less Than Jake – Help Save The Youth of America From Exploding
Flogging Molly – The Kilburn High Road
Garth Brooks – Longneck Bottle
Jason Aldean – Hicktown
Brooks & Dunn – Honky Tonk Stomp
They’re good songs, but definitely not great songs.
@43,
R.E.M. — World Leader Pretend
Devo — Fresh
The Ramones — Do You Remember Rock ‘N Roll Radio?
Parliament — Aqua Boogie
Oingo Boingo — Home Again
Busta Rhymes — Touch It
The Meat Puppets — Backwater
DMX – One More Road To Cross
Eminem – Sing For the Moment
Billy Joel – We Didn’t Start The Fire
Duran Duran – A View To a Kill
Starship – We built this city
Guns and Roses
Oh dear. I was just trying to trigger Sam. I didn’t realize the leopards (leppards?) would eat my face…
Sorry — “We Built This City” is not a good song. It’s Buddy Carlyle pitching into the 7th because the closer and setup man are both unavailable and the talented young rookie closer is on the DL with a “dead arm.”
I’ll defend my choice.
March/April (16-13) – early singles/Tigermilk
May (17-12) – the apex, If You’re Feeling Sinister
June (14-11) – The Boy with the Arab Strap
July (10-13) – the nadir, Fold Your Hands blah blah blah…
August (17-13) – the rebound, I have to combine Dear Catastrophe Waitress and The Life Pursuit
September (3-3) – everything since then?
I thought we were going for middling-good?
Paul Simon – You Can Call me Al
Toto – Africa
Oh, here’s one I think fits perfectly…
Balitmora – Tarzan Boy
That has this year’s Braves written all over it.
1991-2001 is clearly the “Superchunk” through “Here’s Where The Strings Come In” era.
2002-2005 was “Indoor Living.”
2006-2011 was “Come Pick Me Up” and “Here’s To Shutting Up.”
2011-17 was Mac running around trying to act like he was a damned jazz musician or some shit.
I’m comfortable saying 2018 is our “Majesty Shredding” comeback effort, and hope for at least a run as good as “I Hate Music” and “What a Time to Be Alive” going forward.
You guys generally have really terrible taste in music.
I mean, like, REALLY TERRIBLE.
2016 would be “We Built This City.” That may be the worst song ever recorded.
For me, “We Built This City” is Andres Thomas — maybe the worst of all time.
But “Africa” is Erick Aybar — I hate it more than anything else, ever, even more than things that were objectively worse.
I’m not even naming stuff I like… I generally only listen to metal or country, though.
Man, tough crowd on “We Built This City”. Hard luck, Simpson. I didn’t think that would have been so down the list.
While these are towards the top of the individual’s catalogues, this is an indisputable list of “good, not great”:
Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield
Lit Up by Buckcherry
Blister In The Sun by The Violent Femmes (yeah, I said it)
Literally every Steppenwolf song
Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler (It’s just too much. Relax, lady.)
Oh, yeah, and that Meat Loaf song that my wife loves. Paradise By The Dashboard Light. I get it. It’s sort of a rhapsody, but it’s just not great. It’s barely good.
I’m going to get banned from here.
Oh I’ve got another one for this team.
Survivor – Burning Heart
I will go ahead and show myself to the door now… and preemptively duck on the way out.
Jim Steinman just doesn’t write songs I like.
This is one of the best threads thanks to that comment @26.
I’ll go current and say Lenny Kravitz ‘Five more days til Summer’.
@blazon, I’m still in the US til tomorrow but only watched the scoreboard. I was just not ready to watch after that 8-9 loss to the Sox. And I’m glad I didn’t in hindsight…
@49 love it! Spot on.
That may be the worst song ever recorded.
Ahem.
@62, I see your Collins and raise you a younger Collins.
There are literally millions of songs worse than Sussudio.
Well, today is going to ruin my youtube algorithm.
Bonus negative points to this one for having two Beatles on it.
This song fills me with an insatiable urge to kill. Maybe my personal least favorite.
The latter song is so bad and I hate that you made me click it. It is the Albie Lopez of songs.
But… this is worse, and by no small measure.
Amateurs
Kirk dropped the big one.
Abandon all hope ye who click here.
I couldn’t watch that through to the end. Does he jump? Hope so.
Showing up only to defend Sussudio is Peak Chief.
How in the hell do you build a city on rock and roll?
Another one by Starship is horrible too — “Sara”
Anything by Nickelback
Starship is the 2018 Peter Moylan of bands.
OK, the gloves are off now. Bring it.
You guys think you’re playing the worst songs but clearly you didn’t bring your jukebox money.
@75 Maybe more like Melvin Upton. I mean, he was overrated as B.J. and basically sucked, kind of like Airplane.
@71, OK I laughed.
@49 @53 and others…. YES. Starship is about the single worst…… I can’t continue.
@77 Do not ever dis the best party band of all time. And I thought some of you guys were from Georgia.
But thanks to this thread for a few of the best guffaws we’ve had for a while.
P.S. I agree with Chief that there are a lot worse songs than Sussudio.
P.P.S. Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio is proof that Phil Specter can destroy any band. Someone should have beat on that brat with a baseball bat……… oh yeah.
https://www.mlb.com/news/fantasy-baseball-top-prospects-for-2019/c-293682840
9. Austin Riley, 3B, Braves
Johan Camargo has had a nice year for the Braves, but Riley is their future at the hot corner. He has been a consistent power threat throughout his pro career and put up 19 homers with an .882 OPS this season, with the bulk of his time coming in Triple-A.
@28 It’s more interesting to find the places where we’re not rated well. You’re right we have a lot going for us but our holes are very specific. Middling at best in HRs (around 18th in all of MLB), in the 20s with least walks taken, and #4 in most walks given up. It’s the few walks taken that really causes us to be streaky. I like the reference someone made before that “walks are rallies in the postseason”. I would think it helps all the time. If you’re not hitting, you need to take more walks.
Lack of walks is a symptom of lack of power.
Nobody is even going to dare going for “Me and you and a dog named Boo”?
Oh, and I liked Plastic Ono Band when it came out. Of course I was 6 years old…
@77, seriously? You have truly led a sheltered existence.
I think we need a metric for this: Wins Over Replacement Music (WORM). Replacement Music is not bad enough to be worth the effort to turn it off, but not good enough that you would miss it if you never heard it again. Maybe something like this.
To have incredibly low WORM, which is what we are talking about here, a song must have: a) inane lyrics; b) no reedeming musical qualities; c) annoying vocals; and d) must have received a lot of airplay durings its time (after all, this is a counting stat). I think this may be about -100 WORM.
That song is brutal. Doesn’t mean it’s not a guilty pleasure, but it’s bad.
Other guilty pleasures that are awful:
Wang Chung – Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Kesha – Tik Tok
I’ll try to think of more songs that fall under the umbrella of “this song is terrible, but man, it’s catchy.”
BUT, what would be more examples of replacement level music?
Can we get a little appreciation for another Acuna leadoff EBH?
By the way, Love Shack fits a sub-WORM criteria to a T.
Were the B-52’s a Georgia thing?
Straight outta Athens. And Love Shack is a great song. You, sir, are in the minority.
Hanson’s “MMMbop” is the worst song ever created in the English language. Worse than “Barbie Girl.” Worse than anything by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, Dawn featuring Tony Orlando, Creed, Milli Vanilli, Nickelback or Ray Stevens. It is the 1899 Cleveland Spiders of music.
That catch was Andruwesque
I do not like Goldy.
Remember when we were so fired up about sitting Ender vs lefties?
Ender has hit Corbin – like 4/10.
That’s really funny, because I love Love Shack but I was convinced I was in the minority. I just had to assume that something so absurd and over-the-top couldn’t possibly be widely loved. I mean, these are lyrics:
I got me a car, it’s as big as a whale
And we’re headin’ on down to the love shack
I got me a chrysler, it seats about twenty
So hurry up and bring your jukebox money
Where are people on Everybody Have Fun Tonight? Sort of the same deal there.
@90 Bravo, bravo. And yes, agreed on all fronts. Who could forget Mmbop?
@95 It’s not that the lyrics are serious; it’s an upbeat song about having fun and getting as many other people to have fun as you can. In that context, the lyrics make a lot of sense. I remember trying to cram 7-8 people in a ’71 Cutlass going to a late party. Times when there was fun and nothing much else to have to think about.
I recall Chryslers being as big as a whale and we called them whales or elephants or whatever big we could think of. There was also my Dad’s Delta 88 and my uncle’s Buick Electra. They were whales.
What a stupid idea to walk a .162 hitter to get to a .192 hitter. Better to get Avila out and pitch to Corbin next inning. I hate that kind of managing.
Ha Ha! Camargo strikes again! Way to go Johan.
Camargo brought his jukebox money!
Camargo has some crazy swagger
Freddie keeps swinging and missing at pitches in his happy zone. I wonder if he’s having vision problems or something.
I love Camargo and our overall team swagger. Have a day, guys.
On a rebuild predicated on pitching and up-the-middle position players, we’ve got a legitimate battle for the 3B spot in play. Sandwiched between Williams Perez and Max Povse on Sickels’ 2015 list was this:
22) Johan Camargo, SS, Grade C+: Would rank as high as seven if you go by tools and upside alone, age 20, from Panama, hit .266/.313/.326 in A-ball. All projection and little production at this point, could develop into a regular, or a bench guy, or nothing at all.
He had the scent on him too in the same year:
7) Ozhaino Albies, SS, Grade B-: Age 17,speedy contact hitter with impressive defensive projection, athletic, already a polished hitter for his age, hit .356/.429/.452 in the Appy League. Needs to get stronger and prove himself in full-season ball but stock on the rise, could be at the top of this list next year.
One day they’ll become multi-millionaires and we’ll feel differently, but I’m really proud of these guys.
I wish Ender would keep the runners from advancing bases rather than trying to throw everyone out at the plate.
This is not going to be a good night apparently. Gausman looking to go full on Folty mode.
Would it be so bad to get Wright or Wilson up and throwing here?
well technically he threw to third, not the plate, but I get ya.
this inning is proof of why it was a bad idea to Int.walk the 8 man hitting .167 and have the 1 hitter lead off this inning.
Eh, 4-1, I’ll call it a night; see ya guys.
I think Wright at least would be a candidate to work multiple innings should this continue.
Bowman tweeted earlier that most of our usual relievers were unavailable today. You’ll probably see Wright and friends tonight.
@105 Exactly. I thought all the stat heads were all about not giving away extra outs or extra bases from free.
The B-52s are legend in the Athens-Atlanta music scene. Absolute bar burners live. They’re revered on par with REM and Pylon out of that 80’s era Athens scene.
Gausman gassed.
I guess that answers if Ender should be switched out for a RH hitter.
That was not a swing. What a joke.
Perhaps this is the opportunity Duvall needs to get going again? Trying to be optimistic.
If Gaus can finish this inning, I hope they PH hit for him next inning.
He is gassed. He’s down 3 MPH on his FB this inning.
Why oh why did they let Gausman bat. He couldn’t even get through the fifth which was highly predictable. And now we have to ask Sam to get us out of the mess. Good luck with that.
Like I said earlier, they don’t seem able to make a plan for how the game should play out.
Corbin had almost 30 pitches in the first inning and now only about 45 pitches over the next four. Our hitters have not done a decent job of pressing an advantage.
Dang, Freddie cannot even foul one off. A bunt would be better than a K here.
Hat trick. Today would have been a good day for a Freddie day off.
Crazy. Second time we had a leadoff double and can’t even get him to 3B much less score. Freddie and Flowers are being rally killers. One foul ball between them this inning.
Now is the time to get Freeman outta there. After an egregious walk. Just pull him now.
Looks like Duvall doesn’t get to face a lefty.
Steal Ozzie, steal.
Wow. Six straight missed pitches. Two blind mice could do that.
Acuna/Camargo trying to bring us back. Freddie’s fourth and final chance.
They should PH for Flowers, too.
Three times with man on second a no one out. Three bunts and three sac flies would have us ahead in this game.
I hate watching that kind of stupid futility.
I’ll take it anyway it comes. Need one more. Just a sac fly. Anything.
Damnit, Duvall, put the ball in play….. So much rank incompetence tonight.
How are you going to let Duvall hit here.
Duvall can erase a multitude of sins right here.
Or not. You’re not good enough to complain about calls, Adam.
I hope Seitzer wasn’t arguing balls and strikes because all those pitches by Ziegler were right on the black and the one Duvall K’d on was the most in the zone of all of them.
Un-fucking-believable. 3/13 with men in scoring position and two of those were infield hits. Not a single sac fly. Not a single runner moved over without a hit or walk. Any little league team would have a two run lead by now.
@126 Good point. Perfect spot for Tucker.
We have dished out 7 walks and we have also struck out 12 times (and walked once). Have gun; shoot in foot.
So much for Wright. He can’t throw strikes either.
We must have a lefty on the bench to throw against Jay. Jackson is not a lefty.
Welp, Wright was the wrong answer.
I can’t believe how bad Duval has been
Great job Luke Jackson
The D’Backs don’t have a problem with sac flies. It can’t be that hard.
@134 I guess you have to give him some props. Bases loaded and no one out and he only gave up a sac fly. That has to be a decent result.
@132 He needs to throw strikes. I don’t know if it was lack of control or fear of the hitters, but he needs to get in there and challenge hitters with strikes.
Another thoroughly winnable game out the window. This lineup needs another shakeup.
Compare the production of the number three hitters. Enough difference in those totals to win three games.
Let’s see Wright next September, not before. Scared kid out there, needs to grow up.
Camargo…magnifico.
Culberson and Dansby(2) both had chances to be heroes and had poor at bats. Dansby must stop taking the first pitch, it’s becoming an automatic strike.
Luke Jackson..2 nights in a row, most acceptable. Freeman was fine too.
Atlanta pitchers must put in time fielding come backers.
Still, it wasn’t that bad considering Gausman was not at his best with an early high pitch count. We took our time coming back from 4-1 but come back we did.
@139 Duvall’s AB was the killer. There was every chance to take a lead until Duvall struck out. Wonder what would have happened if they had PH with Tucker. I guess folks have forgotten about the PH 3-run HRs from April.
I know you guys love Snitker. I get it. He’s like everyone’s dad. He’s costing us wins though.
Ken Rosenthal said it would take Ender, Newk, Riley, Touki, Anderson, and Wright to get Trout until his contract expires two years from now. I don’t know about that.
Get it done Thoppy.