Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman homered in the bottom of the 7th to break a 3 – 3 tie, and the Braves take their 2nd straight series, 2 games to 1. Coupled with a Phillies loss to the Rockies, the Braves open up a 4.5 game lead in the NL East with 3 weeks to play.
Max Fried allowed only 4 hits and a walk while striking out 7, but one of the hits was a Jesus Sanchez 460′ homer to dead center field in the 2nd, and the other 3 hits were bunched in the 6th, leading to the final 2 Marlins runs.
Eddie Rosario put the Braves in front in the 4th with a 2 run homer, and the Braves added a run in the 5th on a Jorge Soler double and Travis d’Arnaud single. d’Arnaud getting the start in a day game after a night game with an off day coming on Monday, and besides, September.
Fried did not help himself in the 6th defensively. A Lewin Diaz triple and a Miguel Rojas single cut the lead to 3 – 2. From there, Max bobbled a potential double play ball on a Jazz Chisholm bunt and failed to record an out on the play, then his foot failed to find first base on a potential 3-6-1 double play. All the runs were charged as earned, as Chisholm was awarded a sacrifice despite the probability the Braves get the out at 2nd if his bunt was fielded cleanly.
Since his complete game shutout against the Orioles, Fried has gone exactly 6 innings in 4 consecutive starts, each without a decision.
The homers were Freddie’s and Ozzie’s 30th and 28th respectively, and Rosario is now up to 10. Ozzie was the only Brave with 2 hits, and Max legged out an infield single.
Jacob Webb wiped up the bottom of the Marlins order in the 7th; Alex Jackson, Eddy Alvarez, and Lewan Diaz batting .127, .167, and .140 respectively. Luke Jackson shut down the top of the lineup in the 8th.
Whenever there’s a series where the Braves bullpen keeps trying to remind us we have no one better than Will Smith, Smith keeps moving the bar. Hancock worked around a lead off triple by Sanchez and a 1 out walk to Isan Diaz to escape the 9th without a run. To be fair to Smith and to Fried, Joc Pederson played both triples into triples by getting caught to close to the wall.
Because I feel like it, I’ll note the Nationals are 17.5 games out of first.
Colorado comes to town Tuesday with their 21 – 51 road record; Touki Toussaint and Jon Gray scheduled.
Since the Braves streak ended on August 23, they are 8-10. Over that same period, the Phils are 9-10 and Mets 9-9 (pending tonight’s result). If the Braves go 10-10 over the remainder of the season, Phils would have to go 14-5 to catch them, Mets 15-4. Don’t think either of those teams have it in them. 86 wins should do it.
Thank you, Rusty. Go Braves.
You’re welcome coop. Go Braves.
@27 from prior thread. Rob, I am not that scared of the Brewers (3-3), Dodgers (2-4 but 2-1 at home), or Giants (2-1 at home with road series to come). We’ve played all three closely. The Yankees were lucky to win two at Truist but we did take 1 of 2 in the Bronx. I think Morton, Fried, and Anderson will stand up to anyone else’s staff.
Fried also put a charge in one near the warning track in right center that got the attention of the Marlins’ RF and CF. Ynoa has more power, but Fried looks more like he knows what he’s doing at the plate. His career BA/OBP/SP are all slightly above Rafael Belliard’s, and that seems like a reasonable approximation of his current true hitting ability.
Not watching Yankees-Mets because I want both teams to lose. I guess I should root for the Mets, as it doesn’t look like they have much chance of catching the Braves anyway with their remaining schedule, and the Yankees are in a tight race for a wild card spot.
Ynoa’s recent at bats were a disgrace, a caricature. We must hope that discipline will now be maintained. A swing and miss is one thing , playing the fool quite another. He has shown real power in his brief past with us, move on from that base.
To make fun of the Nationals is foolish. I believe they won the W S later than the Braves.
It is always ok to make fun of the Nats
We have to keep Duval .. is he under contract or a free agent ??? Who else do you think we try to keep from the OF’s ????? any body know contract status ?? Do we keep Duval for LF , Acuna in RF and get a CF ..dont know that they will want Acuna playing CF .. can Rosario play CF ?? Soler has been good // DH or we stuck with Ozuna ??
2022 Lineup – I know we cant keep all these guys .. dreaming !! LOL
1. Acuna , OF
2. Albies , 2b
3. Freeman , 1b
4. Riley, 3b
5. Duval, OF
6. Soler, DH
7. D’arnaud, C
8. Swanson, ss
9. Rosario , OF
Prediction. The NL East next year will end up being between us and them. Them being the Marlins. A sea change has swept through.
WHY? their ranks since we last departed their shores by allowing them 7 runs in the top of the ninth and they still couldn’t win. What we saw from them these past few days should be taken very seriously. I assume anyone who watched all those three games might agree.
Que pasa? Where did this extraordinary new burst of young, fast powerful talent and bullpens to die for come from? jesus, Jesus – how far did they say? There will surely many here who know, perhaps they could tell us, the source, the trades, the high draft picks. I’m no numbers man but who is doing the evaluating?
Jeter the obvious choice, Mattingly held in little regard here. So who was it then who made the bravest pick of all, Kim Ng, 51, the first woman GM ever. The Red Sox and Yankees have had Assistant female GM’s but since we hear nothing about them that might well be window dressing you suspect. Ms Ng herself was interviewed unsuccessfully in the recent past for the top position 4 times, 4 different clubs (was AA ever worried- after all, she did find Jesus).
I am not falling in love with the Marlins, Brave till I die – which might be soon since there is the little matter of a 4 hour AAA(that initial again!) surgery to come Friday. Be well guys and gals, get check ups!
We must take the Marlins seriously is my message. The last three games say it loud and clear. What fun though to play so many meaningful games, season long, against them and not the dreary old Phils/Nats etc. The Muts though, a category of their own.
AND PS….
What can we LEARN from them, how they did what they did?
I think the Marlins are still a few years away if they take their current trajectory. Over the last several years it has been 2 steps forward, 2.5 steps (or more) backward, so it’s anyone’s guess about whether they’ll stay on their current trajectory. That being said, as usual, they definitely have some nice young talent both hitting and pitching. Their fielding is atrocious.
The Marlins have some really great young pitching, but that’s almost always true. Time will tell if the new ownership group is actually willing to spend money to keep the team together instead of blowing it up and selling it for scrap — like every single other owner the team has ever had, Wayne Huizenga, John Henry, and Jeffrey Loria — but the next time will be the first time.
Dunno how many of you read J.C. Bradbury’s book The Baseball Economist, but in one of the chapters he looks at the prospect pipelines for each of the franchises in baseball and tries to predict the teams’ future success, and he identified the Marlins as the team of the future, in a book he wrote in 2008. It’s actually a good book, and J.C. is an old, old friend of the blog, so I’m not trying to criticize him so much as to show how consistent the Marlins have been in refusing to attempt to win games with their excellent young players.
Good luck, blazon.
@13
Fielding, yes. In general though when you refer to ‘like the last few years’ you are implying nothing has/will change . Change is the essence of what I see. Appreciate your comments!
Praying, blazon. Stay positive and hang in there.
you spoil me, always…you must please excuse my sense of humor with names.
@15 – I think AAR’s comments are spot on. The new ownership talks a good game and appears to be headed in the right direction, but I’ve seen the scenario a few times before. As noted, we will just have to wait and see. The thing I don’t want to see happen is them trying to get Ron Washington. He would seem like the perfect person to help them with their fielding issues and discipline in general.
Blazon, good luck for Friday.
Nice people we have around here, thank you all..
Now, to the issue of change and will it last , the French had some words for it. Plus ca change, plus la meme chose. So you could loosely say AAR and td are in step with that regarding the Marlins, a somewhat cynical interpretation of the Marlins past performances and blown promises each new year.
Not me, as far as this moment in time goes. Look at the FO change, shocking to the good old boys in south Florida, not the easiest thing to pass off. Designed to achieve what – same again please?
No. But that’s not the main reason I think I’m right not you. Ha. Can you honestly say the Marlins have arrived on our shores before, in the last weeks of the season with the quality and quantity they just showed us. Starting with Mister Rogers on the mound and ending with home runs from their bevy of muscled, lanky Black youths propelling Charlie and others into the night sky at what seems thrice the necessary elevation and twice the carry. We have NEVER seen that level of oomph before, bat and ball, at those ages.
That plus Madame in the Front Office will do it for me. Wish there was something some one could devise to keep track of whose right, who’s wrong. And if the lead ever changed hands. Fun.
EDIT
…. at those ages, from so many young aspirants. Many appear to be prime already.
Best wishes blazon.
Please don’t play Doc in the outfield anywhere near a boundary wall. PH against RHP only, if that’s worth keeping. Do remember though that exquisite line drive the other day that split the outfielders and won the game. The boys in the booth yesterday say he’s always trying to hit a dinger, poor results. But in any event away from those walls please!
Never seen Max so angry with himself before. With good reason.
blazon, good luck on Friday. I’ll send one up to the big man.
When I made the payroll post last week, I forgot one important detail: Duvall has a mutual option but is also arb-eligible for the 4th time. This means that even if he declines his option and takes his $3MM (his option is for $7MM), the Braves can still retain him. IMO, that would be very smart.
@22
Rusty, if they can cut like you guys can write I’ll be fine. Thanks.
NB I am now going off line. Resume normal service. Ha!
@10
I really like the idea of keeping the trio of Duvall, Soler, and Rosario around. The Braves are lacking LHHs, but not lacking thump against RHPs as our RHHs have carried a .756 OPS against them. More to the point, I like Rosario but if I had to choose 2, it would be Duvall and Soler.
@25, Thanks blazon, it’s a good thing your surgery is on Friday in that case!
@20 blazon, prayers and best wishes later this week.
It wasn’t so long ago the Marlins had Stanton, Yelich, and Ozuna patrolling the OF with Realmuto behind the plate. That was some “oomph”. And they dumped them all.
Thoughts, blazon. As someone who had his first encounter with the knife Memorial Day Weekend, I can empathize.
But having empathized, I can now demur re the Marlins. There was, I believe, a minor philosopher who argued that μία χελιδὼν ἔαρ οὐ ποιεῖ, or in the vulgar tongue: “one swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day.” That goes for a series against the Marlins as well.
I thought the Cardinals strategy to not sell at the trade deadline and basically stand pat was crazy. They were way behind the Brewers and I thought Los Angeles and San Diego had a lock on the 2 wildcard spots.
I have to admit I was wrong. The Padres are 14 and 21 since August 1 and they are tied with Cincinnati, 1 game in front of St. Louis, 2.5 games in front of the Phillies, and 3 games in front of the Mets for the 2nd wildcard. The Mets 3 game series with the Cardinals starting tonight is a much bigger deal for both teams than I thought. The Mets or Phillies (especially Philadelphia with a very easy schedule) have a much better shot at wildcard 2 than I would have ever expected.
On August 1 the Padres had a .565 winning percentage. They were 6.5 games behind the Giants and 3.5 games behind the Dodgers. They were also 4 games ahead of Cincy and 6.5 games ahead of St. Louis for the 2nd wildcard spot.
They now have a .521 winning percentage and are 18.5 and 16 games behind the Giants and Dodgers and are tied with Cincy for wildcard #2. Wow, they have fallen hard – especially considering their winning percentage was hovering around .600 through early July.
Good stuff, td. Thanks.
I’m watching the Mets-Cardinals game and Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez were mulling over the NL MVP candidates. Oddly, Riley’s name was not mentioned, even though they didn’t have any candidates they really liked. They did, however, mention the oddity that it is possible, in the AL, that Vlad Guerrero could win a triple crown and lose.
Of course, that’s what ought to have happened with Cabrera and Trout!
Trout should’ve learned how to pitch if he wanted to win the MVP…
I too am amazed that the Cards are still a realistic chance of making the playoffs. If you can hang around .500, you can be in with a real shot at the 2nd wild-card some years (see below). That’s why I wouldn’t want to sell-off if you’re near .500 (within a game or three) at the trade deadline.
2012-2019
AL 2nd wild-card average: 90.75
NL 2nd wild-card average: 89.625
Range – AL: 85-97 wins
Range – NL: 87-97 wins
Yrs less than 90 wins – AL: 4
Yrs less than 90 wins – NL: 5
So about half the time, if you’re around .500, and you can get to 87-89 wins, you’d have a decent chance of being in the wild-card race.
@36 I hadn’t realized it was that frequent. Thank you.
morbidity
when it arrives
has no effect
on other’s lives
departure though
may send a shudder
not me they say
just any udder
I am going to have to stick around another year plus for no other reason than to see you all bow and scrape as the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins duke it out in an electric game 7. As predicted.
To end with a selfish laugh from yesterday’s game, Nats and Marlins (yes I practice what I preach).
Ground ball to short who in order to pick it cleanly and at the same time accrue momentum for his throw does a full 360 spin but releases the ball at around degree 320 which presumably he figures will zip it right over the bag to the waiting first baseman.
Meanwhile first base ump, in a commendable display of ennui, pays no heed to this display of histrionics at short, has taken up his position TWENTY FIVE FEET out from first and, most importantly, stares in at the bag at such an angle and intensity he never sees what’s coming from his starboard quarter. He had no idea.
Bravely, he took a 90 mph throw from nowhere full flush on his right cheek, knocked him flat. A little blood, not much, no apparent fractures. Much relief all round. We were all stupefied watching this. Unforgettable.
I will take that image with me Friday. Again, thank you all, what a crowd.
New thread!
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2021/09/14/a-case-for-re-signing-jorge-soler-and-clarifying-adam-duvalls-2022/