Some wins are pretty. This is one of those skin-of-their-teeth games the Braves were consistently losing up until about 15 minutes ago. The Phillies are still in first. Still, I feel a corner’s been turned. These guys may be bums but, dammit, they’re our bums.
As usual, the newcomers were responsible for much of the action. Nearly all the Braves offense came from Jorge Soler, who got on base three times (in nine games as a Brave, he’s hitting .344/.447/.656), and Adam Duvall, who contributed a titanic two-run equalizer in the fourth.
The rest of the Braves could hardly muster a thing else; the winning tally scored in embarrassing fashion, via their fifth bases-loaded walk in their last five games played. What made it more mortifying was that the Braves got a single and three walks from the first five batters of the inning, and couldn’t push across more than a single run.
That’s the kind of anemic offense to which our feast-or-famine boys have gotten us accustomed. The thing I’m still struggling to get used to is that somehow the new-look bullpen is, well, pretty alright. Smyly made it through six innings yielding no more than a two-run homer, which is almost the literal definition of the best you can hope for from him, and then he gave way to three scoreless innings from the likes of Jackson, Rodriguez, Matzek, and Smith. You can’t quite cancel your Subscribe & Save for Maalox, but as far as my lyin’ eyes could see for one more night, the kids are alright.
Reality stirred me
My angel had heard me
The prayer had been answered
A reprieve had been granted
From the previous thread. Yeah, money and the fact that we signed Ozuna were the reasons we let Duvall go. But I think we all wish we had kept him and cut Ender during the offseason. I just hope we have more money to play with this offseason.
This team is so much more fun to follow now.
You’re torn about their performance, Alex, because you’re a 21st Century Schizoid Man.
Phillies are down 4-0 to the Dodgers late.
Just be happy with what you have to be happy with!
@1 We should have more money next season since the ballpark and The Battery have been full this season. A big issue will be the money wasted on Ozuna. Hopefully he gets a 1 year mlb suspension so they get out of part of that contract.
Phillies just lost.
I’m extremely happy with Duvall and hope he keeps it up. However, if he would have hit like he did in Miami for the first 60 or so games, I’m not sure how happy we would be with him now or if he would have even been on the team at this time.
On June 5th he was hitting .194 with a .633 OPS. Take away his 4 for 5 game against Atlanta when he hit 2 home runs and a double and drove in 7 runs and I’m not sure where he would be. My point is I wasn’t happy when we didn’t sign him, but he didn’t exactly silence his critics during the first third of the year or so. Maybe it was a good thing to let Miami absorb his sucktitude for those first few months.
Alex, let me tell you a secret. You can handle the English language. Thanks.
They are our bums. This whole sucky season feels pretty special right now. We may not get there, but my money is on us.
I prefer this to an August clinch and a “World Series” or bust mentality.
I friggin’ loved last year’s run with the playoff rotation of Fried, Anderson, Wilson and Wright.
Can’t wait to see how it all plays out this year. Hopefully with a division win.
Thanks, coop!
@10 – We are 6 and 1 over our last 7 games. I think we are 3 and 4 at best without those guys. 3 games have been won when at least one of the 3 guys above was directly responsible for the majority of the runs. It will be really interesting to see if Rosario has a significant impact.
Depending on how many holes you have in your lineup, two 3 WAR players can be much more valuable than 1 6 WAR player, even though in general 1 6 WAR player is much more valuable. If your lineup is sucky enough, six 1 WAR players can be better than 1 6 WAR player. The Braves were getting roughly zero production out of all three outfield positions, post-RAJ. (Alright, that’s a rough estimate, because Heredia is marginally valuable.) They were (and are) getting well under zero out of catcher, being addressed by the return of TdA. AA needed both quantity and quality in the outfield, and he got it, even if Soler, Duvall, Peterson and Rosario perform merely at expected levels.
Is D’arnaud going to be with team tonight ???? Cincy throwing a lefty ??? Be good to have him in there instead of Mr DP and SO machine Kevin Smith
@14
He’s supposed to be, but Gwinnett’s game got called last night so I don’t know if that influences the decision.
Tonight has to be make-or-break for Touki with Anderson ready to return. It would be so nice to continue beating the Reds who are a pretty good team. And then rooting for the Dodgers which can only be described as Pumbaa did as “slimy yet satisfying”.
TDA is back and Kevan is DFA.
@17 so happy!
@17 .. Great .. news .. with Lefty on mound for Cincy .. I expect TDA to be in lineup .. been a long time since he hit 7th or 8th in a lineup .. love the lineup . But I would make this change .. Albies hitting .140 in leadoff so gotta move him down ..
Swanson, ss
Soler , RF
Freeman, 1B
Riley , 3b
Albies, 2b
Duval, lf
Peterson, CF
D’arnaud
or
Peterson
Soler
Freddy
Riley
Albies
Duval
Swanson
D’arnaud
Thoughts ???????????????????
@17,
https://i.makeagif.com/media/1-28-2017/yPMeS1.gif
Na na na na
Na na na na
Hey hey
Goooodbye!
TDA is going to have some pretty big shoes to fill in Kevan Smith. After 15 games or so if his OPS is below .300 and he is averaging a passed ball every game, he may start hearing a few boo birds.