Well, that’s one way to kill the momentum. The Braves followed up a walk-off win on Thursday and a 17-strikeout performance on Friday with…a dud of a performance in a 6-4 loss to the Marlins on Saturday.
Womp womp.
Other than a brief little spurt of life in the fifth inning, that was a really flat performance all the way around. It started with a rare bad first inning from Charlie Morton and ended with an increasingly common bad inning from Richard Rodriguez, and not much in between was better.
Just win the series tomorrow, I guess.
Positives:
- That double play by Dansby Swanson, oh my god. Just one of the best efforts from a shortstop you’ll ever see to turn two.
- And better yet, the Braves won a replay review in the process of that double play. Two birds with one stone!
- Travis d’Arnaud is looking better by the day at the plate, adding two more hits tonight. He’s going to be absolutely vital for this team with the injury to Stephen Vogt throwing a wrench into the catching depth.
- It only happened once, but the offense is still capable of stringing rallies together at any point. Three runs with two outs in the 5th inning brought some life into the game after a dismal start at the plate.
Negatives:
- Five games this week, five times trailing after half an inning. This time it was an RBI single and a sacrifice fly off Charlie Morton in the top of the first frame that did the trick. You can’t keep playing from behind forever, and tonight it bit the Braves.
- So, RichRod. The big bullpen trade deadline acquisition has allowed four homers in his last three outings after allowing only one in his first 17 appearances with the Braves. He was due for some regression, but this has been a hard nosedive in the last week. Hopefully it’s just a blip on the radar; this team really can’t afford this version of Rodriguez down the stretch.
- Dansby Swanson is 3-for-30 at the plate in September and has two hits in his last 26 at-bats. Up and down the rollercoaster we go.
- In the big picture, this division race is too tight to afford losing a home series to the Marlins with a west coast road trip looming. Tomorrow is now a must-win game.
- The Braves had ten hits, a walk, an error and a hit batter tonight and still failed to score in eight out of nine innings. Just that kind of night.
Former Brave Of The Day:
Tommy La Stella had three hits and five RBIs for the Giants in a 15-4 romp at Wrigley Field.
Quote Of The Game:
“The two most important things in life: Good friends and a strong bullpen.â€
— Bob Gibson
Tomorrow’s Goal:
Pitch a clean 1st inning. The Braves have allowed a run in the top of the 1st in all five games on this homestand so far, and that trend needs to stop.
I’ve never felt more confident in a prediction:
Kevin Gausman is going to start NLDS game 1 against the Dodgers and get lit up.
Alright Max. That’s how it’s done. Gotta win today as Alan said.
Damn you, Chip.
Dammit Chip, you woke me up.
Chip with his predictable “32 years young” bs followed by an eruption on a ball 15 feet short of the fence. He can’t use the excuse of not being there either since this one is at Truist.
Also, falling behind every night doesn’t seem to be the soundest way to continue to win games. To quote Pepper Brooks, “It’s a bold strategy Cotton, lets see if it pays off”.
Chipwatch: He mentioned last night that, as talented as Jazz Chisholm is, it’s a problem that he strikes out too much. He just reiterated the criticism, calling Chisholm a “strikeout machine.” His strikeout in the top of the first was his 124th on the season, which isn’t good.
Obvious MVP Austin Riley has struck out 140 times this year. Do you think Chip will refer to Riley as a strikeout machine? Of course Riley is having a better season than Chisholm, but strikeout rate is not the distinguishing factor. Riley gets on base more often (60 points higher OBP) and hits for more power (almost 100 points higher SLG).
The more valid criticism of Chisholm is that he doesn’t walk enough. It may be that Chip thinks of Chisholm’s strikeout rate as a proxy for his relatively low OBP. But of course that’s just lazy and inaccurate analysis.
At least Fried waited until the second inning to give up a HR. The Braves pitching staff have the HR ball perfected.
The Phillies are winning behind Nola. Time to score some runs.
Yeah I like Eddie
Anthopolous!!
3-run HR Rockies – leading the Phillies 3-2 now.
Top of the 6 – 22 runs scored so far for the Blue Jays against Baltimore.
Maximus’ defense is minimus.
This is about as bad as you can field your position and screw yourself over in one inning. Very bad defense by Fried.
Ozzie! Freddie!
Okay. Luke Jackson has had a great season so far. Who would have thought that. I prefer him over Hancock for the closer role.
Luke Jackson being good is very much a bird in the hand. I’ve seen the movie about Closer Luke. I don’t need to see the rerun.
I hear you, AAR, but he can’t be worse than this guy right here.
Timo, the thing is… he can.
Anyway, all’s well that ends well 🙂
Will Smith reminds me of Don Stanhouse, the old Orioles closer whom manager Earl Weaver dubbed “Full Pack”… because Weaver had to smoke one nearly every outing.
Whew.
Relax.
Anyone for Tennis?
Smith is a joke. That shit will not work against high offense teams like, playoff teams.
Jacob Webb is going to start getting higher leverage situations with him pitching well.
@12 Make that 44 runs in 3 games vs. the O’s. That’s insane.
So, ultimately, the Phils lose and the Braves win and Smith is tied for second most saves in the NL. Today was a good day for guys recovering value. Rosario got his OPS back over .700. Ozzie got his OPS back over .800. Freddie got his OPS back over .900. Fried kept his BA over .300.
Fried is normally an excellent fielder. His 6th inning was way far out on the Bell curve of his normal performance. He still managed to contain the damage and left having completed a quality start. It was unfortunate that he could have pitched 7 or 8 the way he was going.
But also, how about Webb? He has been fantastic since coming back from Gwinnett.
How are the Cardinals 1.5 games out of the Wild Card? What devil’s bargain have they struck?
I’m still keeping the faith with this team – all of it. Since dropping three to the Dodgers, we are 6-4. I predicted a long time ago that the Phils would phade. They have tanked the end of the year every year since we emerged from our rebuild. They are 3-7 in their last 10. If we stay .500 or just above, we’ll win going away. We’re 4.5 ahead at this point. My goal is to be 6 ahead (i.e. clinch) before the final two series against the Phils and Mets. With games coming against the Rocks at Truist and the D’Backs on the road, we have a good path to getting there.
I just can’t bring myself to get worried about winning the division. I fully expect us to win the division, but more importantly, if we can’t be better than the Mets or Phillies, then why the heck would I want us to then have to go play Milwaukee, San Fran, LA, etc? If we limp through this division, then it’s going to be a short weekend in October for us.
Is it wrong of me to want us to lose 2 out of 3 to the Giants, to help ensure that the Dodgers don’t win the West? I so want them to be bounced in the Wild Card game. I maybe tempting fate, but I don’t see the Phils as much of a threat
Braves got swept by the Dodgers, but they didn’t get clobbered. Team is better than their record with d’Arnaud, Ynoa and the deadline guys in the mix.
Recapped.