mea culpa…the days wither down to a precious few…eyes and thoughts are diverted to other games occurring simultaneously whose results may affect us…but Sunday morning still finds me in possession of memories from our game that are deeply etched so let me spin them out….now that i have realized it is my turn.
Anibel…18 million to 1.4…has ever man adjusted so well to a drop in pay…love the guy, love his attitude, his care for other teammates and above all love watching him pitch….if we allow him, ever, to leave the state of Georgia opprobrium must be poured on our heads. 6 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks, 7 k’s…yeah, that’ll do…again and again and again.
Dear Jonny. For the first time since he joined us(his first two pitches then, hard sinkers diving into the bottom left hand corner, like darts, side by side) I was embarrassed for him. Are we using him too often? Surely that must be it.
Touki proves he can relieve, eh? That was good to see.
Offense. We bowed to Mister Nola. His turn. We’ve had ours with him a time or two.
Enjoy your Sunday and one sixty two.
Better late than never? Humor me please.
Even Homer nods. Thanks for setting the tone on a Sunday morning.
Great recap for a lazy, comfortable Sunday morning.
Thanks to blazon and all the recappers.
I predicted 92 wins. I’m bummed.
Acuna Matata tomorrow email me at jasoncleghorn@gmail.com as I have something to send you for winning the BJ FB League.
@4, don’t jinx me. On the surface, it looks like a walk over, but I have only a very narrow lead in 5 categories going into today’s games. Granted, I only have to win or tie one of them, but they are all in jeopardy.
Anyone worried about how Touki’s curveball will play at altitude?
If Touki’s curve doesn’t play at altitude, not many will.
I’m sure nobody cares, but I would be interested in fantasy veteran advice. On the pitching side, I don’t need K’s or wins, but only have very narrow leads in ERA, WHIP, and net saves. I need to win or tie one of these three categories to clinch.
I have one starter (Gausman), and three relievers (Jansen, Carlos Martinez, and Romo) who might see action. My opponent has no starters, but two very good relievers in Wade Davis and Treinen. Davis will definitely pitch if the Rockies need him, but Treinen is harder to say since the A’s game doesn’t mean anything (he did pitch yesterday).
Gausman hurts me if he gives up 2 or more earned runs and/or allows more than a base runner per inning, so I’m going to bench him. If I also bench all my relievers, to lose all three categories both Davis and Treinen would have to get saves, not allow any earned runs, and (assuming a one inning appearance by both) allow no more than one base runner total between them. Given that set of facts, would you bench all your relievers?
I need all the fantasy help I can get, so following.
Man, flights out of Tampa to Atlanta are starting to jump up in price. Might want to book a trip right after these games end today. The suspense is killing me!
Really, though, just bring on whatever happens with homefield advantage and who we match up with. We’ve got to play really good teams, and they have to play us, a really good team.
So today we root for the Cubs/Brewers and Rockies/Dodgers to both have to play an extra game on Monday?
It would seem that way. Do we root to lose? It seems like a lot of fans don’t want home field advantage.
Well done, sir.
11: and extra innings today, long drawn out games pressure-packed from start to finish.
Which team from the other divisions do you want to see eliminated before the NLDS begins? In other words, which team do you want to see lose the wild card game? I’m going with the Dodgers.
@8 – IF Davis and Treinen both get saves, I’m going to assume they are going to throw clean innings, just based on who they are. I’d try to get one more save, and let ERA & WHIP fall where it falls.
@16, the complication is that blown saves count against you. Romo is always a risk, Jansen has already pitched 2 days in a row and hasn’t been exactly lights out, and Martinez may or may not get the save opportunity if one arises.
Chief, thanks for leading the Braves Journal league. Much appreciated.
@17 – Ah, didn’t know blown saves count against you. Probably my best piece of veteran advice is: don’t listen to internet randos.
Dodgers lead big early. Rockies also lead. At this point, I hope they both win and have to start their best guys tomorrow.
I don’t think we match up well against either of those teams. However, we were predicted to win about 75 games this year, so whatever happens this season has been a great success.
If there is a tiebreaker, Buehler will start for LA and Marquez for Colorado. So their #2 starters will be pushed back in the division series if they get there.
Bad news. Both Kershaw for LA and Freeland for Colorado will be rested enough to start Game 1, depending on who wins their division.
As of right now, all 4 teams competing for placing are winning their games. LAD is up 12, so that’s a win. Milwaukee is up 3-0. Colorado up 7, Chicago up 2. Looks like every game started at the same time today, so that’s pretty neat.
Based on Folty’s age and inning escalation, would you let Folty come back on 3 days rest if the match-up made sense?
Concerned that Lucas Duda hasn’t played in awhile. If he is unavailable for the NLDS then the bench is really going to suck.
23 — No.
So we’ll open on the road for sure. At this point I’m not sure it matters who we play. Like everyone else has already said – just happy to be here, maybe we’ll get lucky.
@23 I’m guessing it would be a must win game or close to it, I would say go for it, if he wants the ball. He’ll be running on adrenaline anyhow, regardless of innings escalation.
He has been a step above every other starter (except Anibal, maybe) and is a big part of the braves over achieving.
Teams who have used guys on 3 days rest in recent years have been unsuccessful.
I’m trying to think of a line to draw in the sand of what I hope the Braves don’t do (or do) to win a playoff series. I hope they throw every reliever every day they could except for maybe the third day in the 3-game block of a best-of-seven series, but even that might be on the table. 4 days rest for a starter is a no-brainer. 3 days rest, for me, is when it becomes a debate. 120 pitches would be on the table if they were pitching a gem.
Mostly, I just want the playoffs to get here already.
I’d rather play Colorado
Roman Quinn = Ben Revere Lite
If you set your pitching largely based on the September FIP performance, you’d come up with Anibal, Folty, Newcomb, and Julio as your starters, and your pen would be Freeman, Sobotka, Fried, Touki, Brach, Jackson, Venters, and Minter. If you gave Vizzy a pass due to injury, he would replace somebody. But Winkler and Biddle would be nowhere to be found, and Gausman wouldn’t crack the rotation. I still think Gausman starts in the playoffs, but I think we definitely could see Biddle and Winkler omitted.
Biddle and Winkler appear to be out of gas.
So we will have games in Atlanta next Sunday and Monday, correct? Monday, of course, will be if necessary.
Mike Scioscia out.
Braves finish 90-72.
I don’t want to drive to Atlanta, but I don’t want to pay to fly. Crazy how that works…
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
A kind gentleman has taken the time to make a Twitter poll for if you’d want to play the Dodgers or Rockies. 87% have chosen the Rockies.
Sorry for this, but to commemorate two teams who exceeded all expectations (Braves and Acuna Matata), and to shock the sleeping bats out of hibernation, I am releasing the Collins.
Take a look at you now, Kirk. Take a look at you now.
Pepperidge Farm remembers that a couple of guys almost hit the nail on the head, especially Adam R: http://bravesjournal.us/2018/03/14/yearly-predictions-post/#comments
Chief’s optimistic outlook was downright uncanny .
I’ve said it before that my regret was being too down so as not to look like a homer, but I’m not sure I would have predicted 90 wins. Even Adam R was kidding about the 92 wins. Coop had 91, but I don’t know if he was being serious (he’d look pretty smart right now if he was!).
@42 HA HA HA
Anybody but LA. I have nightmares of David Carpenter and Juan Uribe.
Recapped.