This has become a nice little trend.

Once again, the Braves put up double digits against the Phillies. It’s the seventh time they’ve done that in the last 43 games against Philadelphia, meaning it’s possible to have a reasonable debate with your friends about which Braves beatdown on the Phillies was your favorite of the last three seasons. 

It’s Friday and you’ve earned a little fun to get your weekend started, so let’s do a brief rundown of your options. 

March 31st, 2018: The Braves ripped off 15 unanswered runs to win 15-2, Gabe Kapler tried to bring in a relief pitcher when nobody was warming up and Lane Adams hit a home run off pitching position player (and former Brave) Pedro Florimón. 

April 29th, 2018: Ronald Acuña Jr.’s fifth career MLB game. Ozzie Albies hit a lead-off home run. Ozzie Albies hit a lead-off home run and relief pitcher Jesse Biddle hit an RBI double in the 10-1 win. 

September 28th, 2018: The final win of the 2018 regular season for the Braves was a 10-2 victory at Citizens Bank Park behind four hits from Freddie Freeman. 

June 16th, 2019: Six different Braves recorded two RBIs and Acuña picked up four hits in a 15-1 drubbing on Father’s Day at SunTrust Park. This was also Huascar Ynoa’s MLB debut.

July 4th, 2019: The Braves spotted the Phillies four runs in the first inning, then put on a fourth of July fireworks show with five home runs in a 12-6 win. Dansby Swanson homered twice and drove in ive runs. 

July 27th, 2019: Albies hit a grand slam in this one and Adam Duvall also hit his first home run as an Atlanta Brave in this 15-7 clobbering in Philadelphia. 

August 21st, 2020: Philadelphia ace Aaron Nola made his 132nd career start, and failed to make it out of the third inning for the first time in his career. Marcell Ozuna homered twice and Cristian Pache made his MLB debut in an 11-2 win. 

What a delightful, growing list we have here. 

Positives: 

  • The entire game was one gigantic positive. Especially after two ugly baseball games on Monday and Tuesday followed by another two nights without a game on Wednesday and Thursday. That was extremely cathartic all the way around. 

  • The entire key for Austin Riley’s development is stringing solid performances together. He had a solid night on Tuesday with a hit and a walk, and busted out again tonight. It started with an incredible at-bat against Nola in the second inning that saw him draw a nine-pitch walk; it might have been his best plate appearance of the season. He fell behind 1-2 in the count, fouled off two off speed pitches, took two pitches and fouled off a curveball before finally taking yet another breaking ball to earn the walk. Other than a 500-foot home run, that’s the best thing you can possibly see from Riley right now. The dynamic of the lineup completely changes if he can make it a regular occurrence. 
  • The same goes for Johan Camargo. He laced two doubles and could have had a third one if not for Scott Kingery making an acrobatic catch up against the wall in the second inning. After a couple weeks of the bottom of the lineup looking like a black hole, it was nice to see just a peak of light shine through tonight. Even Ender Inciarte drew the four-pitch walk that ended Nola’s evening. 
  • The Braves are making up for not having any games in San Francisco on the schedule with some splashdowns at home. Travis d’Arnaud and Marcell Ozuna hit back-to-back homers into an almost identical spot in Chattahoochee Falls. Those home runs made Nola uncomfortable and served as the ignition for the entire game. And if you’ll allow me to steal a line from Chipper Jones, Ozuna’s second home run of the night was a #MAMMO. 
  • Cristian Pache’s first career hit was a slow roller through the right side, but it looks the same as a line drive in the game log. Just 3,599 more hits left to tie Hank Aaron’s franchise record. 
  • Max Fried, rinse, repeat. Dominant as usual. It was good to see him get some work in against a Triple-A squad as a tune-up start for his big showdown against the Yankees on Wednesday. 
  • Speaking of getting work in, Luke Jackson fired a perfect eighth and Chris Martin looked like his usual self in the ninth. Day by day, this team is getting a little bit healthier. 
  • Dansby Swanson did a hurdle…again. That’s twice this season. He’s one big jump on the basepaths away from a trampoline sponsorship.
  • All of the heavy lifters in the bullpen got the night off tonight, and that’s absolutely huge with Robbie Erlin and Josh Tomlin scheduled to start the next two nights. 
  • Obviously the goal is to do way more than just make the playoffs, but the Braves have 15 wins on the board in a season where 30 will almost surely get you into October. It’s also worth noting 25 of the final 34 games will come against teams currently under .500. 

Negatives: 

  • If Fried loses the ERA title by one run, his first inning tonight will be a pretty easy culprit. The baseball gods have quite a sense of humor. 

Former Brave Of The Day: 

Not much to think about here. Dallas Keuchel allowed one run in eight innings for the White Sox at Wrigley Field as the South Siders drew first blood in the 2020 edition of the Crosstown Cup. 

Quote Of The Game: 

“Marge, it happened again!” 

– Homer Simpson 

Tomorrow’s Goal: 

Remember last year when seemingly every opposing player from the Atlanta area absolutely torched the Braves? How Flowery Branch’s Danny Duffy threw a shutout last July for the Royals and Fayetteville’s Niko Goodrum had a 5-for-5 game for the Tigers in Atlanta?

The Braves are facing Smyrna’s own Zack Wheeler tomorrow night. It’s time to buck that trend.