All of a sudden the ship has been righted. With the Braves second consecutive rout of the Phils, and the Nats second loss to the Dodgers, the Braves lead is back to 6.5 over the Nationals and 7.5 over the Phillies. Although the game officially ended only a few minutes ago, it was over after the third inning. The Braves opened up a 11-1 lead after 3 innings and led 14-1 through 5. They hung on to win 15-7.
Max Fried pitched a good game through 5, but unfortunately gave up a pair of two run homers before he departed in the 6th. Blevins and Sobotka had mop up duty, and Everyday Jeremy Walker (h/t coop) pitched a 1-2-3 9th for the Atlanta Save.
But the story of the game, of course, was the offense. Where do I begin? How about with a couple of guys who will be playing a lot more thanks to the injury to Markakis: Adam Duvall had his first big league hit since September and his first big league homer since last July; and Ender had his first 2 hits since his call-up, including a two run homer. The usual suspects all contributed: RAJ had 3 hits (including a two run homer), 2 runs, 2 rbi’s; Ozzie became the second youngest player in history to hit his 4th grand slam; FF walked 3 times, scored 3, and had a double; JD hit 3 rocket shots off the left field wall; even Max Fried had 2 hits, walked once, scored a run and drove in a run. Camargo stood out like a sore thumb with an 0 for 6 night.
It was throwback uniform night in Philly; both teams wore 1979 unis. Chip spent a lot of the game raving about how beautiful the Braves unis were. I much prefer the classic look that the Braves have sported throughout the last three decades. I suppose it’s a matter of what you followed as a kid. The current uniforms are pretty much what they wore when they came to Atlanta in 1966, and the vast majority of good Atlanta teams have worn that classic look.
I followed that ’79 Braves team very closely, and there wasn’t much to cheer about those days.  They only won 66 games, and Phil Niekro won 21 of those. He also lost 20 games, pitching 342 innings as a 40 year old. Niekro is my favorite pitcher of all time. For his age 35 though age 40 seasons, Knucksie had a WAR of at least 6.7 each year, averaging well over 300 IP per season. In 1978, as a 39 year old, he went 19-18, with a 2.88 ERA. His WAR was 10.0. Those were truly awful teams, but Knucksie was a bright spot and a true professional.
Here comes some more Braves history; if you’re tired of that stuff, you may skip this paragraph. Thirty years ago today Dale Murphy tied the all time major league record with 6 rbi’s in one inning. He hit two three run homers in the sixth inning in a 10-1 victory over the Giants (young Tom Glavine got the win). That record was later broken by the Padres shortstop’s father, who is the only major leaguer in history to hit two grand slams in one inning. The most amazing thing about the Tatis, Sr., feat is that he hit both off the same pitcher, Chan Ho Park.
The Phillies have worn the all burgundy ensemble exactly twice. They wore it one time in 1979 and lost 10-5. When do you suppose they will bring them out again?
Let’s hope tomorrow, when the Braves go for a sweep in a matchup of Bayou Bengals, Gausman vs. Nola.
Other than the fact that the ’79 uniform gives me some fond memories of Bob Horner (who looked horrible in it, by the way) you can keep them. But promise me 15 runs a night. and I’ll let them wear those old baby poop brown unis the Padres used to wear…. though I still draw the line at the White Sox shorts…
Great recap, tfloyd. I have to say that growing up with the uni’s is not all it’s cracked up to be. All those polyester uniforms reminds me of the decade with the worst looking clothes ever designed – the 70’s. So many teams with outlandish colors like the Phils (the Padres were the worst). The only team that made those uniforms look almost decent were the Astros. As for the Braves uniforms, I never like the little “a” design. I thought it made the team seem small and not bold. I like the current “A” much better.
Yes, Horner was another bright spot on that miserable 1979 team. But Horner and stretchy polyester definitely did not belong together.
I’m not sure what’s better than beating the utter life out of Phillies pitching.
Don’t mind seeing the 1970s look for a weekend or two each season, but the current base look is timeless. It not only defines the success in Atlanta, but it connects the club to its past homes of Milwaukee and Boston.
I prefer the classics: uniforms and tfloyd recaps. Thank you, sir. Win one for the Gausman and the giggles today. Go Braves (and Bums)!
Mamasita
catch a plane
lots of love
the home refrain
If Dansby is Hollywood, Max, when he smiles, is hunky dory.
tfloyd…classy, thank you.
Guys.
If you have scored seven runs, and later total fifteen, it matters not a whit if they, then, can total seven. Relax.
To be fair, the Phils would be 2 games back of the lead in the Central. But that’s the only silver lining in their season.
Not sure where we’d put a TOR, but let’s get one.
Adam Duvall is on a 32.4 fWAR 162 game pace. In my mind, I expected to him to either immediately show that his .932 OPS in AAA was legit, or he’d completely flounder. I was not expecting that. Hope it takes some pressure off too.
I don’t know what to say about Camargo. He didn’t accumulate 3 WAR last year being bad at playing baseball, but he’s bad at playing baseball right now. He just looks lost.
Tyler Flowers is now 4-27 in the month of July. 12 passed balls on the year in 433 innings, which is the worst pace of his career. He’ll undoubtedly pass his career high of 15 in 878 innings in 2015. He’s almost doubled his pace from last year.
Also, that sucks.
@11: he is bad at hitting right now. His glove still works, and his arm is spectacular. Not everyone can hit in the midst of a pennant race in late July after getting two at bats a week since April, says the Johan apologist.
And yes, Tyler is a burden the team somehow carries. His glovework sucks mightily.
@12
So, Rob, why are you guys never including a catcher in the trade packages you construct?
On current form Flowers would be a major embarrassment in a 5 game play off series.
Kimbrel blew a save last night. Keuchel sits at 0.8 bWAR with Kimbrel at -0.4. Keuchel is on a 3.7 bWAR 32-start pace.
I don’t know if I’d be willing to give up much for another catcher. Just start McCann primarily in the playoffs. Plus, I had not included pitch framing data in my critique of Flowers. That’s a feather in his cap, I would think, and others have said that they could be sacrificing passed balls to steal strikes.
@13 Agreed on both fronts, coop.
Byrd commented last night that Flowers moves the mitt during the pitch much more than BMac, who holds a steady target. He moves it to get the advantage on framing, but it does seem it may cost as to passed balls. Byrd implied that there is a cost as to pitcher command, which makes sense to me.
In what can only be described as an egregious oversight by your site editor, “Smitty’s Barber” has finally been added to the Braves Journal Glossary. Congrats on enshrinement, Smitty, and thanks for the heads up, Remy.
Smitty’s Barber: The originator of the internet’s best trade proposals. Smitty’s Barber has been cutting hair since the early part of the century, and the man just reads the tradewinds better than anybody. Also, it’s quite a show of loyalty that Smitty has been going to the same barber for so long. He must do good work. (Added after long last July 28th, 2019)
Are there any additions to the Glossary that have been missed?
http://bravesjournal.us/braves-journal-glossary/
Correction: Remy had also provided the entry itself, and I like his better than mine, so it is being updated:
“Smitty’s barber” is a rhetorical device/narrative persona that allows Smitty, a longtime contributor to Braves Journal, to propose hypothetical trades. For example, in a post Smitty might say something like, “I was just talking to my barber, and he says that Team X will trade Players A,B, and C to Team Z for Players D and E.” This persona, or narrative mask, allows Smitty to speculate as wildly and as freely as he chooses without regard for criticism. Philip Roth has Nathan Zuckerman; Smitty has his barber.
Smitty will often employ this device to interject humor when a thread has become stagnant or contentious.
New poll. If you can’t remember, just guess.
More than 15 years for me. I can even remember the first comment I ever posted. Don’t know when that was exactly but must have been around 2002/3.
Bets place on the internet.
Waaaaay back in the day…
Hap, was that the first incarnation of Braves Journal itself? I know there was his CompuServe message board, which was before my time, but I don’t know if that was, ya know, “Braves Journal”.
Here’s the earliest available, an archive.org snapshot taken on December 2, 1998:
https://web.archive.org/web/19981202110048/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/macthomason/Update.htm
He was calling it Braves Journal at the time too, as you can see with the bottom links.
Gosh, Mac was a gem.
Believe I first came across the site in 06 and started commenting a few years later, with a long hiatus in the middle.
@14 blazon, we have too many replacement level catchers in the org to go out and get some sort of short timer. I would suggest trading for Realmuto, but AAR (or Sam) might flame me.
The catcher situation is not unlike the RF one. Everyone knows the team would be better if Nick sat sometimes, especially against lefties, but Snit wouldn’t do it. An unfortunate injury to Nick allows for Duvall or Riley to take some of those ABs and actually improve the team. And, of course, Duvall is a better defender (note Acuna’s throw from RF last night too).
An unfortunate injury to Flowers would allow for chances for Raffy Lopez, AJax, Jonathon Morales, or even Contreras to get a brief shot. We don’t need to trade for another catcher, especially a backup variety. Lopez, Morales, and Contreras may be better defenders than TFlow.
@11 @13 Have to agree with coop. He’s looking bad at the plate but he is showing better range and a better arm at SS than Dansby was before injury. I hate to say that as Dansby was so much better in the field last year. We have been complaining so much about GBs getting through our IF and blaming bad positioning and shifting, but it could be that some of our IFs are just showing less range than last year.
The rags have been talking about “changing our trade strategy” because of injuries, but I think we have already proven just in the last two games that we have enough depth in position players (especially since Dansby’s injury may not be too serious) and we still need a TOR and closer. Maybe we can’t trade Duvall now, but a few more games like last night and Duvall would be quite a trade chip to be holding. We could still use him as trade bait and call up Pache. Pache needs to be added to the 40-man this winter (Rule 5 eligible) anyway so we’re going to certainly see him in September. Why not right now? The only better defensive OF we could have than Duvall, Inciarte, Acuna is Pache, Inciarte, Acuna. No fly ball may ever drop again. That might be enough to make Julio a TOR.
Game is scheduled on Dish 427/02 1pm
Flame or no flame.
We have tried out umpteen pitchers this summer from Gwinnett…why didn’t we try a catcher out?
I only discovered Braves Journal two years ago when I became extremely bored with all the other baseball coverage and reached out for new sources of info and interest. The writing (and discussion) here is so much better than anywhere else that it became addicting.
On the subject of catchers, I’d agree that Flowers has been pretty awful as of late. Most catchers are incomplete, but if you can’t hit OR field, yikes! As long as the Braves have a decent lead on the division they can probably still get by with him though so they don’t wear McCann down. Then come October, as Rob said, just shift McCann to a FT gig.
@28 Well, AJax was 0/10 at the beginning of the year. Wish he had shown better but he’s streaky and still raw and took a while before he found his recent groove.
McCann or TFlow will have to sustain a mysterious injury for us to see more. We’ll see AJax again in September for sure. The others, I don’t know if we’ll ever see them.
I doubt that Snit thinks there’s any issue with Flower’s overall performance, and when you compare our catcher combo in terms of WAR with the rest of the league, it looks pretty darn spiffy. He is 100% not going to put a rookie catcher out there in the middle of a playoff run to replace a veteran guy.
I got here from War Liberal! Mac was one of a kind.
@27 I’d be opposed to dealing for Realmuto, too. I’m really against dealing for a catcher in general, and you laid out the “why” pretty well.
I’m also not too keen on the idea of calling up Pache just yet. Could he handle it? Maybe. Defensively, certainly. I like players to progress through each level of the minors though, and show accomplishment there. If they call him up and he struggles at the dish, the offense could start to look rather weak. Rash moves are the quickest way to ruin.
Looks like you need to add Stick The Landing to the glossary entry on Gryboskis
Oh, itś in the Triple entry, my bad
Chip: “So Freddie hit it right into the shift…” on a comebacker to Nola. Just how far had the pitcher shifted, Chip?
Great inning by Gausman. Giving up a first pitch homer to Bryce will happen from time to time.
For Mac: roll Tide!
His successors have borne his mantle well. God bless his memory and his enduring site.
Thanks, Mac.
Nola ain”t bad. The Phils aren’t going anywhere, and a dude named Aaron belongs in Atlanta. Let’s get him.
Nola appears to have brought his A game.
Nola is fun to watch. Unfortunately.
@41 For sure. In his last game against us, he throttled us but didn’t look real good (to me) doing it. Today, he is absolutely lights out. Ozzie did get a hit off him, but other than that I think every darn pitch has been near perfect.
He did groove one to Duvall and Duvall missed it, but no one else in the 2nd even swung.
If we can stay within a couple of runs and get Nola’s pitch count up, we may still be able to come back against the Phillies’ pen.
Gaus looks good too. Or, what Eephus said.
Sogard to the Rays.
@34 There absolutely no reason not to have Pache come to the bigs in September. The MiL season will be over and he must be added to the 40-man roster anyway. Even to use him for a defensive replacement and pinchrunner.
Good luck, Claude. Make yourself seen.
We may still need a rotation piece.
Gaus isn’t giving up cheap ones
Might want to stop throwing it right down the middle.
We need to stop throwing nut high fastballs to pitchers. This is ridiculous
FFS, can there be one pitcher we don’t give up a hit to?
Gaus is catching a lot of the plate with his pitches… doesn’t seem to be a good recipe
Gausman’s fastball is not as lively today as last time.
Might want to ease off the first pitch strikes Gaus
Hobson’s (or Hoskins) choice. Whew.
Notice that throw from Duvall on the lineout that kept Nola from scoring? Perfect strike.
Blue has been inconsistent.
Nola might be going all 9 today.
Man, that strike 3 call to Josh was tough.
I think “inconsistent” may have been too kind.
@60: this is a genteel site. Gratuitous profanity is unseemly, even if appropriate.
That is why there will continue to be a push for electronic umpires. The inconsistency of the strike zone is unreal
Strikes. Throw strikes.
Nola’s tough but he doesn’t need help.
If JD had walked and Duvall singled, it would be 2-2 right now.
This blue is terrible.
WTH? Get a stinking pitcher out for goodness sakes
I’m back to not trusting Kevin Gausman.
But I don’t mind having Nola run the bases for a minute.
Time to get the pen up. Location is not on point
There be method to this madness. We’ll wear Mila out by making him run the bases. The catch is that the score may be insurmountable when he quits running.
Doomed?
When does Folty pitch again?
Gaus deserves every bit of this cluster-f
Ugh.
Welp. Go get a TOR, AA.
Doomed.
Welp, so much for that game.
Kevin has no excuse to throw balls. He throws two freaking pitches.
Sure…Folty is worse. This dude needs to go away
On one hand, he’s getting squeezed. On another hand, he sucks.
Gausman’s 2 pitch arsenal would be fine in relief.
@72: Basically. That grand slam was entirely because he hasn’t been able to get Nola, who was 1-for-20-something on the year, out.
Ick.
Need another starter, we do.
I want another two-inning reliever in Gausman.
We don’t have what we thought we had.
Gausman?
More like, Gauze Man.
Aaron Nola was 11-for-202 for his career entering this game. He’s a . 054 hitter. Just for comparison, Tommy Hanson was 11-for-187 for his career, a .059 hitter.
So that’s the guy who’s 2-for-2 off Gausman. A regular George Sisler.
I’ll wait until the Braves get at least 3 runs before being down on Gausman.
Our inability to get opposing pitchers out continues to be utterly hilarious. We seem to have two choices when throwing to them: batting-practice fastballs right down the middle or nibbling to the point of probably walking them. Why we can’t throw strikes that aren’t down the middle to pitchers is beyond me.
On the plus side, there’s nothing that can happen in this game (outside of catastrophic injury…*knocks on wood*) that would make this not a good series for us, so probably best to just laugh it off and hope that AA notices the rotation is probably not fixed just because Gausman and Fried came back.
EDIT: And if the Dodgers can beat the Nats, this likely loss means even less.
We’re gonna need some f*cking savages in that box if we’re going to get back in this game.
Right, Nick. If you could have drawn up a 2 out of 3 series, you’d have to done it this way.
Send Gaus to the bullpen and bring back Folty, or trade for a starter.
I like that Snit left Gausman out there. No point wasting the bullpen on a probable lopsided loss
91 — Tighten this s#%# up!
It’s good that Gausman is showing what he is, which is a guy with inconsistent control, no interest or ability to develop secondary pitches, and a very good fastball. Put him in the pen.
The last time we faced the Phils was exactly the same except Nola pitched the first game instead of the last. The Phils are just not ready for prime time.
Meat Loaf advocates @ 91 and 92. I still hate losing even once to the loving brethren.
Yeah, day game after a night game, a couple starters on the DL and their replacements haven’t totally gotten their timing down, I get all that. I just don’t understand why Gausman, who went to the farm to work on his offspeed stuff, still doesn’t have a third pitch.
Since the start of the Nationals series 10 days ago, the pitcher slash line against the Braves is .450/.476/.600. (Even when taking out Strasburg’s night, it’s .353/.388/.353.)
Blue hates JD.
As far as I’m concerned, anybody who doesn’t think an electronic strike zone is better than this is being willfully obtuse.
Can we replace chip with robo play by play?
Ender!
…and out of nowhere, Ender puts us back in the game!
CLAUDE!
ENDER!! That’s two games in a row. He’s back.
Can’t fault Duvall for his K, that curve was a strike and absolutely unhittable. He came close on the prior pitch.
Update: Claude appears!!! I hope that gets him going!!
Well, according to Roger @88, we can officially complain about Gausman now.
We finally got to Nola. Finally.
Anyone notice that Acuna is tied for the league lead in SB? Tied for 3rd in all of MLB.
Y’all, I love this team.
Ronald looks dazed, not injured.
@111: yes, ma’am.
Ouch. It’s not Ronald’s helmut that hurt Segura but the throw hit him in the shin when he whiffed with the glove. So Segura got hit in both legs…..
Now he’s the league leader in SBs.
Very sportsmanlike of Hernández (2B) to act as translator for Acuña.
Great AB by Albies
@111 seconded
Can’t ask for more than the tying runs on base and Freddie at the plate.
OK, based upon my previous comment, NOW I’m pissed at Gausman. Except for one 3-2 pitch we could be winning this game or at least tied. This looks like another game where we are so close but can’t get over the top. Hope we can fight back and win.
Dang, Freddie barreled it but only took a half swing. Just a bit more emphasis and it would have gone out.
RAJ is out of the game.
Easy to Monday morning QB this, but you’re down two and going to Washington tomorrow … sending Acuña there and taking an unnecessary risk seems pretty reckless to me.
@121
Couldn’t disagree with you more on that.
I mean, by that theory, we should never send Acuna at all unless it’s Game 7 of the World Series.
When I was looking at Ronald’s SB stats, I noticed that his counting stats are awfully close to Yelich. The main differences are that Yelich has 60 fewer ABs, 10+ more HRs, and 30 fewer Ks. If Ronald could turn just a few of his Ks into HRs, he could end up being the next Yelich.
@122 Agree with you. This game is just as important as any game next week.
@122
You’re down 2, not 1. Staying out of the DP isn’t in play. Unless I’ve got Rickey Henderson, I’m not running there. Reward isn’t worth the risk.
Ugh.
Well, darn.
@125 Also consider that the SB got a walk to Ozzie and got Nola pulled. We were very close to all of that giving us a lead. Very worthwhile play to make.
Newk was due a clunker. That pitch got clunked. What’s another couple of runs to this team?
This ballpark is stupid. 3 of their homers probably don’t leave the yard in most parks.
The Dodgers aren’t helping us today.
This is not our day. Is this not more proof we need a good reliever or two?
Uncle.
Tomorrow.
@125 – There are 100’s of stolen base attempts pulled off without injury. The risk is tiny. You can’t manage/play with that kind of fear.
SB’s have become a real weapon in Ronald’s game, but headfirst slides are always a little terrifying.
Relief pitchers, please.
I’m only following on the app. What is the injury to Acuña?
@137 – Neck stiffness due to a headfirst slide into Jean Segura’s leg.
Neck stiffness. Looked precautionary. Probably fine.
No Strasburg or Scherzer this week.
Rumors of Stroman to Mets. Uhhh, what?
@141 Now done deal waiting on medicals. The Mets are psycho. I bet they are giving prospects and Diaz. Toronto will flip Diaz or Giles to someone. Mets will flip either Stroman or Syndergaard/Wheeler to someone for more than they gave to the Blue Jays. The Mets are psycho.
Stroman is a free agent after next season, while Thor is under control through 2021. Makes no sense.
I am in awe of the insanity of what the Mets are pulling right now.
They sent their #4 and #6 pitching prospect.
Say what you want, but essentially not being “allowed” to rebuild because of the market you’re in sucks.
By the way, I do find it really interesting that the Mets are being universally criticized for… competing.
Recapped (sorry Rob.)
Wow that is… not much of a return.