The Braves were an unfortunate victim to a small sample yesterday. For the most part, Atlanta dodged some pretty rough storms yesterday and many were wondering why the Braves cancelled its game. Well…James Spann has that answer:
Aging Chipper Jones
Yesterday was Chipper Jones birthday and social media showered him with love….except one who tried to add 10 years onto the hall of famer:
Sorry Sean Kazmar…the Fun is Over
Sean Kazmar getting the call after 11 years in the Minors was the feel good story for the Braves. Unfortunately, it’s come to a close.
Obviously, the bigger takeaway here is that the Braves optioned Cristian Pache to the alt-site, and that is real news as the Braves are already razor thin in the OF with Ender Inciarte on the shelf. Fortunately for the Braves, Guillermo Heredia has been able to channel his inner Mike Trout in a 21 AB sample. Seriously…Kevin Seitzer needs to enter the Braves HoF when he hangs them up.
Today’s Pitchers and 27th Man
Drew Smyly is back quicker than expected and that is good news and Bryse Wilson gets another start after 5 innings of gutball in his first start. It was a “quality” start, but was anything other than quality. He’ll have to pitch better to stay in the rotation. Hopefully he can find his stuff he carried with him in his last postseason appearance.
William Contreras is back for today, and I think he’ll be back down come tomorrow. It would be nice to see him get a start today, but with Alex Jackson starting the first game, I’m guessing Travis d’Arnaud gets the 2nd game and Contreras will be used as a pinch hitter/emergency catcher.
Braves Lineup
Take 2 boys, and we’re above .500. Let’s eat.
Nicely done, Ryan. Thank you.
Oh, no.
Bryse has no clue where it’s going. This is painful to watch.
Wilson will never make it as a mlb pitcher. His mental game is very Folty like
This is rough.
Get ‘em later today, fellas.
I think Bryse is a number four starter. Right now he’s more of a five; if he maxes everything out, he’s capable of being a three. Just think of him as Jason Marquis, and he becomes slightly less frustrating, even if only very slightly.
Not a fan of giving wilson only 4 innings.
Pitch count was still low, and it seems like the offense is dead anyway, so why tax the bullpen.
@8 double switch does make sense though with only 3 innings to go.
Dayton is terrible.
@9 double switch is fine, but with Dayton, you might as well forfeit aleady.
Why waste the bullpen if Bryse could go a couple more and it was going to be an L anyway.
We really need a middle reliever who is capable of getting the occasional out, and Grant Dayton is not that guy. I’m ready to fire him into the sun and bring out the next guy to sit in the dunk tank.
Grant is the worst pitcher named after a city in Ohio since Tommy Toledo, who maxed out in AA Huntsville in 2014.
What is Biddle still doing here? There must be a better pitcher available in the organisation than Biddle. Come on.
Our bullpen was a tremendous strength last year… and now, not.
In fact – I think literally the only Brave who’s played meaningfully better this year than last is Acuna. Most have been considerably worse. And yet, we’re hanging around .500, so that’s impressive in its own way.
I turned on today’s game in time to watch Dayton bumble through an embarrassing inning, then turned the game off. I don’t need to have my afternoon ruined by bad baseball.
Recaps will come after game 2.
What do I do between games? Try to answer the question: Who’s the best pitcher of all time with the surname of an Ohio city? I’m leaning towards Reggie Cleveland (no… Grover’s middle name was Cleveland) though I guess a claim could be made for former Brave Bruce Dal Canton. If you’re willing to shade your definition of a city, it’s definitely Tim Hudson.
Here’s a question…why is this team so inept? Can’t pitch, can’t hit…what a shit show
I spent the interregnum between games listening to the Braves’ TV broadcast attempt to convince me that Smyly is useful.
Smyly seems like an astute signing. AA’s magic seems to have worn off
good lord, now a error
So who was it that preferred the $11 mil on Smyly over the $6~ mil it took to sign Melancon and Duvall?
Guys, it’s April.
I think I can say with confidence after one inning in the second game that Bryse Wilson pitched better than Drew Smyly today. I think Smyly should be moved to long relief and let Wright have a shot at starting too.
Guys, I think we may have to leave Smyly off the World Series roster.
what channel for the second game please?
@23 don’t mention Wright when Rob’s online.
@25 – Different no-bat time, same no-bat channel.
Six home runs in 13+ innings is … concerning.
Frenchy says Smyly’s problem is consistency. To me, he seems quite consistent.
Adam Duvall is patrolling centerfield for Miami in the cavernous San Fran outfield. He just made a nice grab at the wall. I swear they’re just trolling us at this point.
Also, the fact that the choice was binary between Melancon/Duvall and Smyly says more about our payroll limitations than the shot-or-stabbed dilemma AA was faced with.
This is embarrasing.
It is very early, but I am losing hope in this team as a whole.
One hit in 11 innings so far.
Seen enough, I have.
@31 yep
If you take out the first inning of just completely randomly selected games, Smyly has pitched really well, and we are the winners of the 2019 National League Division Series.
@16, Lefty Grove – Grove City (pop. 35K). Jose Lima wasn’t all that good. Perry is a village and Gibson is a township, so those don’t count. If you insist on a city that people know and you’re linguistically flexible, the city of Columbus was named after Christopher Columbus, whose name in Spanish was Cristobal Colon, as in Bartolo.
Hey Rob, you’re going to be needing my Venmo…
The magic has run out for our Braves and this team will finish closer to the bottom than it does the top, when all is said and done. In a way, I’m glad. They went cheap, and will be punished for it. That’s how it is supposed to work and it is going to.
Those are some good tries, James84. I reject all of them, but they are well thought out, unless you can prove that his real name was Robert Moses “Lefty” Grove City. While we’re at it, though, I hear Jerry Sandusky was a pretty good ballplayer. (Assume I meant that innocently.)
And Chip, there are 41 no-hitters already not credited because the pitcher didn’t go 9. None of them were the pitchers fault. https://www.nonohitters.com/near-no-hitters/
Epic futility.
As John McKay told his USC team after being slaughtered by Notre Dame, “Those of you who need showers, take them.”
Man, I hate off days.
After a day like today, does the organization do some serious self-reflection, or simply say “it’s April”?
Just ugly. I wish I had continued to stare at the barren landscape around the Denver Airport instead of the barren landscape that is this roster…
Recapped.