Last night was fun. Personal story, I traveled to my hometown to see my folks and got to do one of my favorite things in life and that is to watch a full Braves game with my dad. Thank you, Ronald Acuña for giving us a good show. Speaking of Acuña, these are some eye opening Statcast numbers:
The Not-So-Good Update
While the Braves bullpen has looked good outside of 1 game, there was bad news after last night’s game:
Snitker then doubled down on the bad news as he said he wasn’t really that concerned until Martin tried to throw a bullpen and couldn’t make it to his set pitches. Hopefully Jacob Webb can continue his good work.
Tonight’s Lineup
A lot of guys righted the ship last night and Austin Riley better get going or there might be a 3-way fight for regular playing time at 3B between Riley, Panda, and Adrianza.
Don’t stop now, boys…. .500 ball comes with the dawn.
Not a great start for Mr. Anderson
TdA in love with the offspeed again.
That’s our Fredward!
I feel that Pache might get bumped and Riley moved to LF if Panda or Adrianza can be regulars.
Aside from Pache, Dansby is more worrisome at the moment in the lineup, IMHO.
@4 agreed…he isn’t seeing the ball very well right now. Ozzie is turning it around and we need something out of Dansby
Jethro has turned it around very nicely since the first. And you know, even the hits he gave up then weren’t exactly smoked.
Lot of deep counts though, so we’ll need at least three innings from the pen, I’d guess.
@4 I find it difficult to believe they’d change this outfield configuration to one that plays both Ozuna and Riley. I anticipate Snitker will mostly say “we’re giving him experience and letting him catch everything,” and let him stick around.
@7
I agree with that for the most part, but how long can they stick with Pache hitting .100- .150?
If the braves keep winning, they will have more patience with him, for sure.
It’s too early to start monkeying with the lineup, especially at the expense of the defense. Let’s get a month into the season and evaluate then.
Just to follow up on @6, after this inning Pache will have had 22 plate appearances this year. Hard to figure out much from that.
DANSBO! Great AB. We’ve gained an inning of Philly’s bullpen with our ABs this inning.
@4 – This has been the story of the lineup the whole offseason. If it is going to challenge “best offense in the league” they need at least one of the trio of Swanson/Riley/Pache to step up and be an above-league-average hitter.
IMO that’s too much to ask of Pache in his rookie season. He’s your 8th guy. That leaves Riley and Swanson to get shit done this year. Swanson has shown like 4 total months of productive hitting in the majors. Riley even less. Both could certainly take steps forward, but we can’t wait around too much longer. Well, the club certainly COULD wait, but if the goal is to be the best team in the league either Swanson/Riley need to get it done or Braves need to upgrade. If the goal is to be good enough to put butts in seats, they may just let it ride.
Does anyone have stats on what our pinch hitters have looked like this year? Like, holy crap!
I think the bench has turned out OK so far.
Ozzie can be so infuriating sometimes.
Ozuna and Riley seem to have their launch angles messed up; their hard contact seems fine.
Dont know what to say about Ozzie and Swanson.
Phailies.
Ozzie desperately needs to face a LHP to get right.
I know the fielding stats don’t like Riley as a 3rd baseman, but my eyes tell me he’s not bad – average to above average fielder with a solid arm. He’s made several nice plays tonight. Anyone else see something different?
@17 Yep.
Newk had a hell of a night. One of his best outings as a reliever.
@18 I definitely see the same, by the eye.
The answer to the question @8: the entire season. Settle down.
For God’s sake, we’ve carried Ender’s useless ass for months at a time in seasons where we won the division.
Recapped
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2021/04/10/gregorious-gaffe-helps-braves-past-phillies-5-4/