Yes, the bullpen collapsed and even with a 2nd controversial replay, one which went the Braves way, the team could not recover and the bullpen imploded. This caused panic at the disco and many “what have you done for me lately” fans wanted to DFA the whole bullpen. Might we take a step back and understand that bullpens have bad games and the Braves are ranked 4th in bullpen ERA for the 2021 season.
Tonight’s Lineup
Some notable changes here as Snitker’s going back to what was working last year. Ehire Adrianza gets the nod, and honestly, I think he might be there for a while if he continues hitting. Austin Riley isn’t a productive Major Leaguer right now (Chief should be proud) and he’s got some work to do.
Hey, Adrianza… interesting.
From previous thread…
I’m another one who doesn’t love college football’s OT.
FWIW, I’ve always thought that they should at least force 2-point conversions from the very start of the OT. Those 62-59 games are a bit much.
Also, don’t love the gimmick rules for MLB (DH & extra-inning runner, in particular). But, just like the NHL doesn’t do the 3-on-3/shootout approach for OTs in the post-season, MLB at least has the sense to only use the runner-on-2nd gimmick in the regular season.
I would actually endorse JonathanF’s idea from the previous thread of giving each team half a win for getting to extra innings and then the actual winning team gets the extra half. Or it would probably be easier to go to a point system: 2 for a win, 1 for an extra-innings loss, 0 for a regulation loss. That would solve the problem of deciding the game in scattershot fashion.
Ryan, one thing I appreciate most about you is you are more of an optimist than I am.
But “the Braves are ranked 4th in bullpen ERA” ranks right up there with, “Who are you gonna believe, me or your lyin’ eyes?”
If you whippersnappers soccer up my baseball we’re going to have issues…
LOL.
P.S. I’m ~46 and also like soccer. “Up the Tics”, “Who ate All the Pies”?
It’s like the winner of a 10K race being decided by who has the best kick on the bell lap . . . .
Are we doomed?
@5 I feel like it’s more like you and someone else tied at the end of a 10K and to decide the winner, it’s whoever wins a 200M sprint.
Nick, your hatred of college football overtime confounds me. I LOVE college football overtime (when my time isn’t playing). If you, say, give each time two regular possessions, you’re delaying the conclusion by seeing who can get the most yards in space? DBs line up 8 yards off the ball anyway until you get to the red zone.
Every sport decides its overtime by truncating the style of play. Why should we be any different?
Just as many have reckoned
Freddie bats second.
Bombs away…
Man we give up hits to pitchers like it is what you are supposed to do
As a Braves fan, I can’t wait for the DH to come to the NL. I can’t take much more of opposing pitchers getting hits.
Is he tipping his pitches?
Fried has not looked good so far this year. He is getting hit hard thus far
Max is really struggling to put hitters away when he’s got two strikes. Poor command seems to be the issue.
This team stinks.
This team is a clown show right now. They went from world beaters to hot garbage in 3 days
I think I would prefer Tomlin to Fried tonight.
DOOMED!!!
Back of the order sucks. We’re short one Soroka. Need more in the pen. Other than that, this team is the best team of all-time.
Except for when we don’t win, we can’t lose.
Varsity is getting poached.
It’s JV now… varsity stayed in 2020
@19 – You got those right, Rob.
It sucks because those issues have been obvious since January.
Hmmm, Max looks a tad off.
As for the college football OT rules, I’m in favor. It’s somewhat similar to what KS high school football does, as in four downs from the 10.
I can appreciate the new runner on second rule a little bit, having done play by play for junior college softball for over the last decade and change. Why not force a little action? Maybe play a little more small ball if you’re low in the lineup.
Man, I’m so glad we saved that $2M that it would have taken to re-sign Duvall.
This team doesn’t deserve Ronald Acuna.
Nice one, Dansbo.
Barves.
Someone please tell me why Fried was left in after the second HBP this inning?
Fried should not have been in the game still and this team gets what it deserves. Tomlin should have been in the game in the 3rd.
Nope.
Hey he struck a guy out…maybe Snit can leave him in for another inning. I am not sure an 11.45 era is going to get it done for the staff ace
Ahahahahaha, wth is happening; If Fried continues to have a case of the suck, this team is going nowhere. Leash too long tonight as well.
Oh and whoever let Duvall and Melancon leave should be fired.
Team isn’t going to win with a three hitter black hole at the bottom of the lineup.
@34
Even more so when the black hole consists of 2/3 of the lineup.
Nothing 10 runs won’t cure.
@35 true story
Couldn’t have used Duvall in our punchless lineup
Josh “Lance Cormier” Tomlin
Nothing 12 runs can’t cure.
We aren’t unlucky… we just aren’t very good.
Kill it with fire.
Duvall just won’t let this die
@39 – ouch.
Nothing that a touchdown and field goal won’t cure.
I can’t believe we missed that first extra point.
Bullpen ERA is now 4.08. Bullpen WHIP is 1.528. They’re lucky the ERA isn’t worse.
This ‘pen is trash, sorry.
I knew not signing Duval and Melanson would bite us .. the always saving a buck Braves ..
Good for Duvall, really. Shame on Braves for letting him go.
Will Smith showed his true colors last year, Minter has lost it .. control too, Martin is injury prone , Tomlin got retreads on him … can’t belive AA didbt improve us there instead of Smiley ( Melancon) .. and to not resign Duvall after his resurgence is inexcusable .. gonna be a long year with all teams in our division improving but us …
It’s hard to tell much about the first of the year, but Atlanta’s inconsistency is troubling. We lost 4 in a row, won 4 in a row, and barring a miracle, will lose 3 more in a row.
I’m starting to think the “new ball” is hurting this team more than I expected. Just these last couple of innings, both Acuña and Ozuna hit balls for outs that were likely HR last year. Ozzie last night as well on his near grand slam that turned into a double play.
Yes,yes it’s the same for both teams, I’m just calling it how I see it.
Oh, and if Will Smith was any good last year, the braves would’ve been in the WS. The decision to let pieces of that team leave to save some pennies is indefensible, “operating losses” or not.
Duvall is still a Barve at heart, apparently.
At least Ozuna and Albies are showing signs of life offensively.
So what’s actually wrong with Fried?
Big difference between trying to compete and trying to win.
I expect either the Mets or Phillies to run away with this division if they stay relatively healthy.
Congrats, Liberty on tying the entire franchise’s futures on a cookie cutter 90s-era strip retail center and boring hotel. Sweet tea dumb.
I’m curious if the Braves told Melancon this offseason that they’d resign him but not as the closer so he’d have to take a pay cut – and he said “I’ll take pay cut but I want to close” but was told “sorry, Will Smith is our guy”. Melancon then shops around and finds the Padres willing to strongly consider him for the closer role (just not willing to trumpet it in public in Spring Training), signs for a paltry $3M as “bullpen arm” and immediately takes the closer role there and runs with it.
So Fried will undergo an MRI for his hamstring and Pache will go to the IL with a groin injury. Can’t wait to see Heredia roaming center. Actually I can.
@51 I keep pulling a Chip Caray and exclaiming when a ball looks gone off the bat, and then it dies on the warning track. My wife is very annoyed with me, just like we all are with Chip when he does that. I definitely think the ball isn’t jumping off the bat the way it used to.
Hopefully this is more of a “let’s give Pache a 10-day breather” vs. “he’s really injured”. Maybe same with Fried, though if his hamstring is hurt, that could easily affect his mechanics.
Fried will likely join Pache on the IL, which means we’ll see 2 roster moves today, at the least. My $ is on a reliever until the Braves need another spot (Victor Arano or Edgar Santana?). I have 0 idea who they’ll pull up to take Pache’s spot, but the safe and incredibly boring route would be Heredia.
Would they consider to bring up Waters at this point?
@61 I say why not but I would doubt that will happen
IMO, Waters is not going to be the guy. With Pache struggling offensively, I cannot imagine they’d risk it with Waters.
Bernie Madoff has just died, age 82. In prison of course, appropriately.
So? We must remember him with at least a degree of reverence for his unintended but almost effective demolition of the financial structure of the Mets. Recall those days, the panic that ensued at Citi Field – or whatever it was called then. Some of us had our fingers crossed. A fire sale of their best players? Could we please register our interest, confidentially of course.
Alas, MLB panicked and stiff armed the people who still had some money left.
Then, just the other day came the ultimate cash King, Steven Cohen. Poor Bernie, dead just a little too late.
Hey, don’t look now, but the Red Sox are the second best team in baseball. It’s early, peeps.
If you could have any one ‘source’ in the Braves organization who would you choose?
MacKenzie wants to know.
P.S. I really want to thank the fella who had the bright idea of making it no longer necessary for us rubes to enter our name and email address every time we post – one of life’s small pleasures. Yes, back when, we didn’t write, just had to click, I know. But it’s the small details that count. Ta.
@ 65, shameless Sox…
Alex Cora
we hear you have now been bribing the scorer
and those dazzling hi tech mikes in the visitor’s ablutions
will, eventually, cause the Manfred to allow unlimited substitutions.
This is just like your favorite pro football team starting 0-1. Still a long way to go. As our favorite current Jeopardy! host once said. R-E-L-A-X.
On the other hand….
youneverknow.
Alex, I didn’t get any more details about the Farnsworth/Proctor fight. Believe me, I already asked. He just said, “Ya know, they’re all highly competitive, high testosterone guys. Sometimes something gets said and everyone overreacts,” yadda yadda yadda. My plumber’s brother is also Todd Redmond, who was in the Braves’ organization for many years, got called up to Atlanta, but never pitched for them. Quite a family of pitching prowess.
Rob’s plumber and Smitty’s barber. Braves Journal has all the sources.
There simply has to be something more going on with Max Fried than a hamstring that could have been checked out much sooner (my assumption). Hitters are feasting vs Fried with a .513 BABIP. It’s simply CRAZY how hard he is getting hit when he comes near the plate. Surprisingly, the K rate is up.
Edit to @71
I see now that the hamstring is something that apparently flared up yesterday while running the bases, so not considered the source of his pitching woes.
Never heard anything about this in Braves country. Did anyone else catch this during or after the World Series?
https://dodgersway.com/2020/10/18/dodgers-max-fried-pitch-tipping-nlcs-game-6/
Is there anyone Kyle Farnsworth has not fought?
The angels of his better nature?
Tucker Davidson gets the call until Bryse is needed to start. Heredia, the least exciting player who could’ve been recalled, has been recalled. I expect 2 weeks (at least) of Ender starts. Ugh.
#69
When I think of Scott Proctor, I just remember his time with the Yankees & he seemed to pitch every game.
In the late-Torre Era, he was Joe’s designated middle-inning pack mule. It was an approach that began quite successfully with Mariano Rivera, was transferred to Ramiro Mendoza, but gave way to a litany of guys (Karsay, Quantrill, Vizcaino, etc.) who were never quite the same after their 75-appearance/95-inning season in pinstripes.
#64
Unintended Consequences Dept.: The Mets’ Madoff connection probably contributed to the sale, but ultimately COVID seemed to have made a more immediate impact. By then, the Wilpons had really run out of coupons.
Crazy, criminal & sad as it was, the Madoff tale remains fascinating. This is the best book I read about the whole thing: https://tinyurl.com/HMarkopolos
Of course, it was written by a quant/whistleblower who jumped up and down for years about the scheme, but was largely ignored.
JonathanF, did you ever meet this guy, Markopolos?
New thread.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2021/04/14/pure-evil-14-barves-8-game-thread/
I never met Harry Markopoulous. I do have as an old friend from college someone who, as a mutual fund manager, put all of the assets of the mutual fund she ran into Madoff. She lost everything as well, but went back to school in her 50’s and became a nurse. A nice tale of personal redemption.
I also have a friend of mine from college whose last name is Madoff and has been spending most of the last 15 years mostly uttering the phrase: “No relation.”
Thanks
I have a friend who’s name is Tony Orlando.
Lucky for him, as a school teacher, none of his students have ever even heard of the singer.
@77
There are still persistent rumors, post mortem and all, he madoff with more money than he admitted to.
Wasn’t it once Tony Orlando and Dawn? Poor thing. eh.