It’s Touki Toussaint vs. Braxton Garrett in Game 1 of a 3 game series. The Braves are in sole possession of 1st place and play 3 games against the Marlins followed by an off day, then 3 games against the Orioles. There’s real chance for separation should the team continue to click through the weekend.
The Quest for 90
It seemed pretty laughable to talk about 2 weeks ago, but I feel like 90 wins is a division winner and, while it might not come to fruition, it now seems doable. Does anyone doubt that this team could go 28-16 in their last 44 with 6 against the Marlins, 3 against the Orioles, 7 against the Rockies, 3 against the Nats, and 4 against the Diamondbacks? I’m always optimistic…I’ll stay the course.
4 for 30
The Braves are set to make history with their infield if all 4 of Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, and Austin Riley can reach 30 home runs. Here’s where they all sit:
- Freddie: 25
- Ozzie: 22
- Dansby: 24
- Riley: 25
Braves Lineup
Keep rolling, gents.
From last thread:
I think we’d all like to see Touki succeed and push Smyly into a bullpen role (he doesn’t go deep enough into games as a starter but we need his mojo to win games)
Then we’d have a rotation of Fried, Morton, Anderson, Toussaint and Ynoa (who also has a big start tomorrow)
Who expected Marlins games to be so high-stakes?
From the last thread. I have sleep apnea and before it was diagnosed I used to fall asleep at work like those 2 ding dongs. My supervisor was not very understanding at the time.
Frenchy figuring out that RBIs are dependent on having runners on base ahead of you.
Chip cannot stop mentioning the contributions of Sandoval and Adrianza. Didn’t I cover that last Thursday? Doesn’t BRef cover that? Doesn’t everyone’s memories cover that?
It’s like he wants to personally make sure that the La Gran Calabaza gets a full WS share.
They’re handing it to us, fellas… let’s knock in some runs here.
Seems like a pitcher with RAJ on their team would know not to throw a 92 mph nut high fastball in the first pitch of the game
Seems somewhat unusual to have an 8-pitch inning, let alone an 8-pitch inning in which you give up a run. Bit of a contrast with the Miami starter, who gave up only one run in 30 pitches.
Man, bases loaded no outs in first, lead off double in second, and first two on in third, but in danger of scoring only one for all that.
Edit—and that’s exactly what happened.
1-10 with RISP in three innings, and the one hit didn’t score a run…..amazing, in a terrible way.
Chasing that LOB record! In a 9-inning game it’s 20.
We are just snakebit against the Marlins. Just weird.
@10–we are just about on pace for the record. Two more on in the 4th.
Is the game blacked out tonight? My DirecTV guide says it’s on, but it’s just the logo screen.
Soler .. needs to sit a couple games .. What is he 1 for his last 25 ??
HE’S A FREE MAN!
No LOB by Freddie there!!
@13 I have it on channel 646
Dansbo!
Duvall!!!
Some of those line drives are starting to fall. Some of the fly balls too.
Edit: Not sure if Duvall’s has started to fall yet though.
Oh well. With all of these HR’s the LOB record is safe.
I stand corrected. LOL
@17: Thanks! My guide is wrong.
Because this is a site full of well researched folks, I’ll ask the question.
Who is the most underpaid player in the MLB? Does Ozzie make the list?
He totally makes the list. Thinking it might be Soto.
Touki just did exactly what we wanted him to do tonight. Proud of him.
Vlad Jr. makes $605,000. That gets my vote.
“playing the game the right way”……barf
Cole Hamels is on the 60-day injured list. His season is over without throwing a pitch for the Dodgers……..lol
I thought the same thing CindyJ. It’s more like a hit counts for something personally. Advancing from 1st to 2nd on a wild pitch doesn’t juice your stats in any way (at least not if the guy after you walks.)
If they hadn’t failed spectacularly in the first 3 innings, I would think that they would be threatening the 29 run record from last year.
And yeah, vlad jr is a good choice for most underpaid.
@26, oh, right. What you said!
Come on, Snit…totally pointless.
Cole Hamels hurt again.
Webb looking good….much better than Tomlin.
For the season, the Braves now have a RS/RA differential advantage of plus 100 over the next closest team in the division. Given this is somewhat predictive and it doesn’t even take into full effect the deadline roster upgrades recently made over what the competition has added, plus the returning production off the Injured List, I feel pretty confident we’re taking the East. Of course part of the differential includes the part of the season we had RAJ and one would think losing your best player would factor heavily in projections and lessen those odds. But most of the spread in the difference has occurred since he was injured showing how much better the team is playing and the impact of the new/returning production. Have to give some credit to AA and Snit.
Albies would probably be the most underpaid player who isn’t on a pre-arb contract.
@35 Look at the Braves schedule and then look at the Phillies schedule. I’m not at all confidant. The Braves need to keep taking care of business against these weak teams because the next 6 weeks they play the Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Yankees, plus the Phillies. It’s brutal.
@37 Well, the Phillies are an inferior team. So if we can’t beat the Phillies when they have a little bit of a scheduling advantage, then how will we beat Milwaukee, SD, SF, LA, etc in the playoffs? Especially with how our roster is constructed: our roster is more deep than it is top heavy. That helps on the regular season, but I don’t think that helps in the playoffs.
recapped.