The Atlanta Braves will line up as the home team against the NL East Miami Marlins at 2:08 p.m. today on FS1. After picking up a postseason series win last week against the Cincinnati Reds, the Braves will be looking to win their first NLDS since 2001.
Lefty Max Fried will take the ball for the Braves after throwing seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts in Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Reds. He’ll face Sandy Alcantara for the Marlins, who pitched 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball against the Chicago Cubs last week.
ROSTER
The Braves announced their NLDS roster about three hours before first pitch. There were no major surprises, except maybe the removal of third catcher William Contreras and utility man Johan Camargo in favor of pitchers Huascar Ynoa and Bryse Wilson.
LINEUP
The lineup dropped at roughly the same time as the roster, and most fans could’ve predicted this one almost to a man. The only real difference from the last round is swapping Dansby Swanson and Adam Duvall to have Swanson hitting sixth and Duvall seventh. I really like this change because it almost creates a second “top of the order” kind of feel after Travis d’Arnaud in the cleanup spot.
Let’s get weird!
Condolences, coop. Better place, less pain. Your whole family here is with you.
Thank you all.
It was indeed Georgia Southwestern in 1974. Thank your sister for me.
I have followed this blog since I found it, but many of you beat me here. Mac would be proud of your stewardship. He built a good thing, but you people made it even better.
As for the care package, there is no need. Respect each other, but take no prisoners. And please, please fly that forever flag.
I love you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you.
That first pitch was a gift strike, maybe an Eric Gregg tribute.
Our hearts are with you, coop. Your upbeat contributions make you the Ernie Banks of this blog. Hall of Famers both!
Max LOCKED IN!
Um, so far… so good.
RONAAAAALD
@ 5,
great tribute to coop, which I endorse.
Well that’s not great. Would rather Max not be throwing high fastballs.
Dansby is intolerable when he sucks.
This FS1 booth needs like 5 fewer people.
Coop has been a tremendous encourager and supporter of this blog for as long as I can remember. I feel like I’ve gotten to know coop as a person by consistently reading his nice words for so long. I don’t know Kay, but I know she must have been special because coop chose to spend his life with her. My deepest and strongest condolences to you, coop. We love you.
@13 co-signed
You ever need support, we’re here for you, coop.
Edit: in a less important topic, the barves look shaky defensively, and Fried looks touchable.
Coop, I am so sorry for your loss.
Is it time to pull Fried so he can be fresh for Game 5?
It’s happening.
So maybe this time the better pitching staff on paper is going to win the series
About to put this game on mute. The guys in the booth are talking over one another like it’s last week’s debate and the background crowd noise is unnecessarily loud.
Also, Tomlin time?
@16 assuming we survive till game 5. The bats look as lost as they did last week (Acuna has been hot the whole time, and playing hurt to boot)
We will get back into this game.
Fried is getting squeezed both high and low.
Do you roll him back out there for another inning or do you pull the plug?
I think you leave him in. There’s a nonzero chance the Braves are swept. You don’t want to look back and say Max Fried only pitched three innings in the NLDS.
Maybe this team will do something meaningful in my lifetime.
So freaking Marlins.
These clowns should be fined. They’ve decided to make it a multiyear project to plunk Ronald Acuna. There is no room for that in baseball. There should be no room for that in baseball. Suspend the damn manager.
MARCELL!
Love and light to you, coop.
Now THAT’s how you may them pay!!!
I wish the marlins had anyone worth hitting; now that the dh is here, their pitchers are safe.
Play with fire and you get burned, you bush leaguers.
Screw these guys, man.
At least their idiocy cost them a run. UPDATE: Two runs.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of miscreants and villains. May their happiness sink to the level of their moral worth.
My best to you, coop. I am so sorry for your loss. I have some wonderful memories of your contributions to this forum through the years. May the Braves make a deep run this month in your honor.
Good inning there! Hit Acuna and we will come back even stronger.
‘Rissa! So good to see you!
If it was on purpose, it was about the dumbest HBP in history as all it did was wake the bats up.
Plague and pestilence upon the house of Don Mattingly.
Dear Donnie Baseball,
Just so you know… it’s October 6th, not July 6th.
Ozhaino!!!
Fried is not fooling anyone. Our bullpen usage could get ugly this series, even with the extra guys.
Albies saved at least a couple of runs with his good defense on those first 2 batters.
In Max’s defense, defense positioning has not been great, as we unfortunately see often from the 2020 braves.
Man, these Marlins hitters are reminding me of the days when Juan Pierre and Louis Castillo used to slap and doink Braves pitching to death.
The Marlins have been hitting LHP really well this year. See if you get another inning out of Fried and get some righties in.
@37 It was Mattingly, so…
@AAR I’ve had to turn stalker on this site due to keeping up with a toddler and baby (complete with an accidental breech home birth this summer and NICU stay), but you all remain the best place to go for all things Braves!
@45, oh wow… belated congratulations!
Dang, Ronald missing down the middle. I don’t know if it is a wrist related issue, but that has been very disappointing this year.
Good strategy by Kranitz and Snit. Let the Marlins righthanded hitters have the “O’Day Experience.” I am on Gamecast, so maybe Fried looked toast, but if you were going to make a move, that was a good one to make. Anderson singled to the off field on an 0 – 2 count.
Wow, Alcantara carved up Ozzie. That was some impressive pitching.
Oh wow. EVH passed away.
MatzeKKK!
Careful, Timo. That can be taken out of context in the USA.
@52 oh my. You’re right, my bad everyone.
@ #50
Hard to believe.
This crowd noise is so random, it’s like they recorded “the wave” and put it on a loop.
So to channel EVH, now’s the time for an “Eruption…”
Tyler Matzek has been some kind of unbelievable for us this year.
Chased him! Come on Freddie!!
And damn that is bad news about Van Halen. One of my favorites! A friend’s husband just passed away due to COVID, my best friend is in the ICU after a car accident (his fault) and hear about coop’s sad news. I think we all need the Braves to lift us up right now! Let’s go!!!
Come on Ozuna!!
YES!!!!
Awright awready!
Marcel!
EDIT: Eruption, completed.
Gonna miss marcell… oh well, who knows, he might end up terrible next year like Donaldson.
yes travis oh my god!!!!
TRAVIS DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-ARNAUD!
(Update: I’m gonna defend Donaldson for two seconds here: his triple slash line this year was near-identical to his similarly injury-hobbled 2018. When he was healthy, he hit just fine; he simply was rarely healthy. Too early to call the contract a bust, but the injury risk was certainly a reason why AA balked at the fourth year and the AAV that Donaldson managed to get on the free market.)
I admit I was not really a fan of the Ozuna signing when it happened. I freely admit I was wrong and now love this guy. In 10 short weeks he has washed all that Marlin/Cardinal stank off him.
Now, I LOVED the D’Arnoud signing from day one, so I guess things even out sometimes hahaha.
Yes!!!
Travis DA , now that was a great FA signing!
Maybe it won’t be a rally killer.
I think we have Melancon room, now.
This team is never out, especially not in the second inning. AMAZING.
Travis looks pissed off and laser focused today. Wow, what an amazing time for his bat to come alive!
@62 we may need you to play that song a few times more this postseason.
Love this team.
OH MY GOD!
EVEN DANSBY CAN HIT OFF THIS PEN
THE HAIR IS ON FIRE!
Note to the Marlins: don’t throw at Ronald Acuna, schmucks.
Whooooo Dansby, ! Finally woke up!
I only wish Urine had gotten a chance to be bombed as well.
Ka-boom x2
#72
That did occur to me…
5 run lead now…I’m sure Snit will say that Martin was already warm but I’d like to save him and Meloncon for tighter games.
And man did Dansby need that!
I like seeing Panda be a big cheerleader in the dugout. I am sure he loosens things up alot with (along with Ozuna)
Proposed nickname for the Braves bullpen: “The Swarm.”
Can we check to see if Timo woke up his wife again?
I woke the dog up, but that’s not quite the same…
Assuming a good eighth, put Greene in for the ninth and see if we can’t get him on track.
@83 Thanks for checking, Mike. I’m actually in a hotel room right now – but I did call her just now. She was awake. Or is now…
@84 that’s a good idea, I think Greene is probably my least trusted bullpen piece (unfortunate after a solid season).
Wainwright’s a big believer in the dumb hockey momentum theory, apparently. Literally every time I’ve watched a hockey playoff game where a team is losing 4-0 with five minutes left and winds up losing 4-2, some announcer will say, “Well, that should give [insert losing team] some momentum for tomorrow, at least…”
Fried only threw 70 pitches today. My guess if this goes to Game 5 he will start.
@88
I think so, too. I think that might’ve been a reason for not letting him go back out there. Another reason was that he wasn’t pitching that well, of course.
I’ve been half-following and multitasking; how did Fried look?
Probably his worst start of the year, to be honest. I mean, it was still better than like any of Sean Newcomb’s starts this year, but it wasn’t that great. He did have his velocity, though, so that wasn’t the issue.
I thought Fried looked fine. He was getting squeezed up and down in the zone (not calling that high curve that hits the zone or his low fastballs) and tried to pitch through it. Some unlucky pitches, but nothing bad. He was trying to hit the zone they were giving him, such as it was. Upped his pitch count, to be sure.
I’d throw Greene here
GO BRAVES!
Just win, baby.
Melancon rested looks completely untouchable.
What a game. Great defense. Awesome offense. Go Braves!
This was the fifth time the Marlins have hit Acuna. In his entire career, the first several years of which had him playing nine teams 18 games per year, the most Hank Aaron was ever hit by one team was five. I would have expected that Drysdale or Gibson or someone like that would’ve hit him 10-15 times over the years by themselves.
@98 – Acuna doesn’t even have several years. He’s been hit by pitch about 1/4th of the time by this team in his short tenure in the majors. It was stated above..bush league! Glad we were able to make them pay for it.
coop,
So sorry for your loss.
Yeah, if they’re not actively head-hunting (and I’m not at all convinced), they’re at the very least saying, “Run your best fastball way in on him and if he gets out of the way, good on him.” It also seems to happen an inordinate amount of times after he’s hit a ball 450 feet or more on them, so…can’t convince me that’s not a part of it, too.
Savage post by Acuna on Instagram!
It certainly woke up the Braves bats today.
Yet his inconstancy is such
As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee (Fried) so much,
Lov’d I not Matzek more.
I like seeing the team get pissed off when the Marlins play shenanigans. There have been times where their pesky style of play seems to have gotten under the team’s skin and it’s hurt their level of play. The was a much better response and result.
@105
I agree. I didn’t think the response was great when they hit Acuna during the series in early September in which they took two of three (though admittedly the third game was the 29-9 one). Much better response today, though.
Recapped