I still love Touki, probably always will but…would have to think he’s due a longish stint back down, unfortunately. What a pity, we were all so amped up but it became a farce in a hurry.
So the weather gave us the chance to go right back up on the horse and he blew it for us, comprehensively, before we’d hardly sat down. And there were no home runs, no line drives booming off the walls – it was comic cuts stuff, left side, right side, short, long, hit the batter too…enough. walk walk walk.
NOTICE IN VIEW OF LATER UNFORESEEN DEVELOPMENTS THE HEADLINE ABOVE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO REFLECT OUR 9/8 WIN!
So first let’s praise our pen who gave up NOTHING after the second inning. Sarle, Sobotka,Winkler and Jackson( got the Win!!!) took it to the ninth where after a massive comeback by the hitters we took the lead by one. AJ comes on to close that precious lead and does it with no drama – no walks, no hits, no PB, No HBP. perfect.
So what about our hitters who had been named and loudly panned by me after the first game? There was evidently some outrage from some but did it work or didn’t it???? Swanson was the first to burst out with a glorious homer to CF in the 7th.
So we get to the top of the ninth down 7/3. We scored 5 runs to take the lead. Their pen soon loaded the bases, Ozzie hooked one down the line to score 2. JD made an out. Freddie ( no shift all day, notice?) walked forcing in the tying run.
Up comes my whipping boy of the day, Acuna, with 2 out and hits one of his specials I had assumed he had forgotten how to…like a cannon to the wall in left center, quite uncatchable, scoring the tying and go ahead runs.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/braves-vs-indians/2019/04/20/565322#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=565322
Did we win that second game? Oh my (best Sulu voice). I’m ashamed to say I gave up on it after watching the whole first game and seeing us down 7-1 after 5 and being so disappointed in Touki’s performance (3 HBPs??? I mean really? That’s Urine territory). After watching Sobotka HBP away a Fried win, we have been leading the league in HBPs – I hope that’s not who we are.
Also, it seems awfully ironical how the pitchers we thought were going to save us – Touki and Parsons – were horrible and our frustrating, disappointing pitchers led the way (Sobotka, Biddle, Minter, Jackson, Carle – all pitched well).
Donaldson still sucked in both games – 3 more Ks in 7 ABs
Trevor Bauer says the Braves hitters are weenies that didn’t want to get hits and just wanted to walk:
Upon reflection, I actually think he’s primarily complaining about his bullpen being shitty.
I am reliably informed the winning score was 8/7. Not that it matters. As long as we came back with one more than them that’ll do just fine.
Changed my mind…show faith…keep Touki up…it was cold.
I can’t post regularly or even pay attention to the Braves at this point, but thankfully I can just skim the comments to get the gist. No scoreboarding watching necessary.
Comments rationalizing sports team fandom = the Braves got swept
Contemplating firing the manager in May = the Braves lost four straight
Everybody prematurely surrenders the game = big late comeback win
I think Touki deserves another start. It was in the low 40s up there last night and I think he was having a very hard time gripping his curveball.
When Bauer was mentioned in some trade rumors, I thought he might be worth a big investment of our young pitchers. After watching that interview, no thanks. What a POS. How dare the Braves not honor him by swinging hard at every pitch.
Trevor Bauer is a really good pitcher and he’s a jerk. This was a good profile: https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/02/19/trevor-bauer-cleveland-indians-training-tools-twitter-controversy-cy-young
I don’t think it’s too early to start the “MVP” chants for Acuna, by the way.
Is there even any reality where Snitker would possibly be fired this season/off-season? I don’t think so.
@11: I hope not.
This is about a .500 team +/-, which is just about what their record is.
It’s not a 95 win team, and its not a 65 win team.
I think the Braves need to (and will) eventually go with a 6 man rotation. They need to keep the workloads of Touissaint and especially Fried and Soroka down. Also the numbers show they pitch better on 5 days of rest.
I would be surprised if they sent Touki down after just one bad start. Newcomb got demoted because he sucked over the whole 2nd half of last season, Spring Training, and then his first 3 starts this season.
I love Trevor Bauer. He is a jerk, definitely.
I agree with Grst that he’s really more complaining about (should be?) the bullpen. He pitched a great game, and he’s expressing annoyance at the Braves approach. I don’t care if he likes it or not. But I did enjoy hearing his transparency.
Couldn’t watch either game due to traveling and seeing the greatest solo artist of all-time in the greatest college football stadium of all-time, but followed closely. Great to see them keep fighting to salvage it.
Didn’t Touki have a game last year where he struggled in the cold?
I get that young pitchers struggle… but the Braves are, or should be starting to see that TINSTAAPP is a real phenomenon. Most of these pitchers are ultimately going to be no good.
Relying so heavily on the farm is some phrase more than risky.
If they aren’t willing to shop in some different aisles going forward, this isn’t going to work. Acuna and Albies are good enough building blocks that it should be a .500 team by default but is that really the goal?
Baseball isn’t meant to be played when it’s 40 degrees or lower. I’ll give Touki a pass. He obviously couldn’t grip his curve. But seriously the first 17 innings yesterday were like watching a little league tournament. In the 18th inning the Indians decided to one-up us on bullpen futility.
Give our guys credit for taking the walks. Donaldson still looks done to me though.
Reading between the lines, Bauer was pissed he had to leave the game because the Braves drove his pitch count up forcing him out and then the bullpen was so incompetent that they couldn’t hold a huge lead. I didn’t really see anything wrong with what he said, though I’m sure some will be rubbed the wrong way.
@16: Rob, you were between the hedges?
Trevor Bauer is good for baseball. He’s out there but quite fascinating. And a fantastic pitcher. I’d live to have him on our team. Since he mentioned he’s only interested in one year deals, AA should be interested in him.
@19
It’s because he passive-aggressively flipped it on the Braves, but yes, you’re exactly right that he was just simply pissed that he had to leave the game earlier. Nothing wrong with that. Braves first in MLB in BB%; the Indians are 5th (and first in the AL). He definitely doesn’t have an issue with walks being taken.
@20 No sir!
Donaldson looks so foolishly on some offspeed pitches that it does seem like he’s cheating a lot. His exit velo is still strong, so when he’s barreling up, he’s still hitting the ball hard. But my fear is that his batspeed is down a tick so he’s having to cheat.
WAR Alert! 20 games into the season, these are the fWAR paces our main 9 position players are on:
Acuna: 9.6
Dansby: 6.4
Freddie: 4.8
Flowers: 4.8
Ozzie: 3.2
Donaldson: 3.2
Nick: 2.4
Camargo: 1.6
McCann: 0.9
Ender: -1.6
Braves pitching:
Fried: 4.8
Gausman: 4.0
Newcomb: 1.6
Touki: 1.6
Luke Jackson: 0.8
Julio: 0.8
Soroka: 0.8
Biddle: 0.8
Fifty feet of crap
Everyone else
Bauer is salty there. Lol.
The interview rubbed me a little wrong in the first minute or so, because he came off like he was crying about the fact that the Braves were patient and wouldn’t swing at his pitches. He did give the Braves credit for their approach in the end, though. Can’t say I’m a huge fan of the guy, but I’m not really outraged either.
@18 Agreed, baseball isn’t meant to be played in the cold. I’m in the let’s give Touki another start camp too because of that. Besides, outside of Gausman, Fried and (hopefully) Folty when he returns, no one else has really solidified anything in this rotation so far.
Completely disagree on Donaldson being done, though. As Rob mentioned, he’s hitting the ball hard. He’s shown some glimpses of his old self. The way I see it, after he missed so much time last year, and didn’t play that much this spring, he probably deserves some time to really get going before making any decisions. I feel like 40 or so games is likely fair.
@28 Donaldson has had plenty of time now. He was bad, at first, because of not getting enough innings then he had a little spurt and got his AVG up to about .250. And now he has devolved into a 50% K rate. You cannot hit the ball hard while you are striking out. The pitchers are giving him nothing but breaking pitches on the outside corner or just off the plate and he keeps swinging and missing because he either can’t identify the breaking pitches or he’s trying to cheat on FBs. And he’s missing badly. The only hit he got yesterday was a squibber off the end of the bat.
If he cannot either lay off the breaking balls outside or start hitting them hard then he is absolutely “done”. If Riley doesn’t pick it up at AAA, then we may end up with Donaldson back on a fraction of the contract he signed this year. He’s still good in the field but he is NOT bringing any rain.
By June 1st, we’ll need to have Camargo back at 3rd on a regular basis.
Like Rob said, I see JD being a hair slow and trying to make up for it by guessing. It’s ok to guess, but you have to lay off when you guess wrong. He’s pot-committed before the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand.
He may just need more reps, I’ll give you that. But jumping to immediate extreme conclusions is more fun.
“jumping to immediate extreme conclusions is more fun.”
Cool.
@29 How has he had plenty of time? We’re 20 games into the season, after he played sparingly in the spring. Your typical ST is 30 games, and we’re probably all in agreement that ST means nothing, as it takes guys some time to get going. Let’s give him some time to get going.
Besides, Riley’s not lighting the world on fire in AAA. And if you aren’t fond of Donaldson’s present K rate, Riley’s absolutely not your guy.
Let’s also not forget, Johan’s hitting .225 presently. If you’re judging off 20 games, he’s not going to be the solution either come your June 1st date. Is that a ludicrous thing to say after he played so well last year? Sure, yeah- but that’s what I’m saying about small sample sizes. We’re not even 1/4 of the way into the year.
I’m not worried about Donaldson.
Donaldson hasn’t even played poorly. He has a perfectly cromulent .776 OPS. He is certainly in decline and probably will not be an MVP candidate this season but let’s not overreact.
Methinks Wilson is up to join the bullpen, not the rotation.
New post/game thread-type thing.