Turning point? We know better! Last night’s game had a lot of great stories, the 5 biggest were that Marcell Ozuna…. and Austin Riley directly contributed in a big win, something that neither dude had done in centuries (well…it seemed that way), Ozzie Albies, who was amidst a huge slump, collected 2 hits, Matt Olson found his power stroke and Charlie Morton remembered that he was Charlie f’n Morton and looked brilliant through 6 innings, only giving up 2 hits and 1 run over 6 innings. The biggest plus was that the curveball was back and help Morton send 9 Padres back to the dugout questioning their futures in the game.
Here’s Charlie’s thoughts on himself.
Will Smith, aided by putrid defense, gave up 4 runs, all of which were unearned (which is a bold-faced lie), and I think we as Braves fans can now consider his World Series run as the outlier, not the norm. Outside of Smith, the bullpen was great as A.J. Minter and Kenley Jansen combined for 2.2 innings of 0 hit baseball.
Travis Demeritte continues to surprise and with Ronald Acuna Jr. sidelined until at least tomorrow, Demeritte will continue to see regular playing time. My guess is when Acuna does return, Demeritte will shift to LF and Ozuna will finally take his place on the bench for defense.
Reminder for all, there’s morning baseball today so don’t sleep in, and if you’re a church goer, hide your phone in the hymnal, and remember to say Amen every now and again.
Crew, we don’t have a recapper for Saturday games. It’s been an issue all year. And while there are times that I have 0 time to get to it on Sunday AM, lat night’s game was just too good to not discuss, so I carved 15 minutes out of my day.
As you all probably know, I’ve got 2 young girls at home, and a wife that works a whole lot. Now, child number 3 is baking in mama’s oven, and she’s started feeling less than great in the mornings. I’m putting out an all call for Saturdays. We tried to go with a rotation of recappers for Saturday, but it’s just not working out. Is anyone available?
Can me and someone else tag team it?
Good morning, peeps!
Looks like good Kyle Wright today; what a pleasant revelation he has been.
Been liking Demeritte as well. Happy he’s making the most of the opportunity.
Edit: looking like real good Kyle Wright
@1 – I’m mostly free Sundays, but I could probably do Saturdays if it suits you. It might be Sunday morning sometimes.
What a great at bat by Ozzie
AMEN DANSBY
I sure hope that doesn’t turn out to be the only hit… but I also kind of do since we would get the shutout lol
I’m liking what Contreras is doing, giving a lot of positive reinforcement to Wright, especially since the latter is known to have confidence issues.
Wright has been missing his spots in the 5th though….
Edit: omg Contreras and olson wtf? Olson looking a bit like lacksadaisical adam laroche out there.
What an awful play. Olson’s defense has not been great so far. I thought he was supposed to be a defensive upgrade?
Peacock TV is terrible for non-US people. Don’t allow me to sign up for Peacock as I am not in the US and don’t have a US address. So even if I wanted to pay for Peacock, there is no way I can watch this game. Great job looking after the international market, Manfred.
Obvious Riley is much better in the 6 hole
@11 haha, yeah
And damnit, Ozzie, you have a 12 pitch battle the first AB, then 2 pitches, 2 outs the following AB’s…..maddening.
2 — I can platoon with you, Rob.
@12 I was thinking the same thing.
Let’s hope Will Smith isn’t the choice today out of the pen
All I have is Gameday; the pitch that got hit for a double looked okay, but I assume it actually was a hanging breaking ball?
Get in front of the damn ball, Riley.
Make him watch the Tom Emanski videos, stat.
Our defense is complete trash. Riley has fallen off a cliff with the glove the last couple of days. Make a play and help your pitcher…geez
With Jansen pitching multiple innings last night, he might not be available tonight. You would think Will Smith would also be unavailable after pitching 2 games in a row.
@16 wasn’ t a bad pitch actually, same with the one hit for a single by the next guy.
The defense though….what is up with that….is that on Snitker or Wash? (Joke question, you smartasses).
Edit: would they have run on acuña there…
Seems to be a pattern with the Padres. They take advantage of late game lapses by the opponent. I just don’t understand why we continually have to gift it to them.
McHugh is certainly not going to solve the problem. Wouldn’t Strider have been a better choice?
All that great work from Wight just flushed by the defense.
Our poor defense has essentially led to all three runs. The Padres aren’t great without Machado and Tatis in the lineup
@23 well really 2 of the 3 runs, but yeah, very disappointing D
Can the bats wake up for half an inning?
Garcia is NOT throwing strikes and yet has two Ks. Only Ozuna finally “got it”.
Ozuna finally playing baseball. And Ozzie swings at ball 4. Too many of our guys susceptible to bad sliders. Three strikeouts on balls.
Riley should have punted on the whole game
I think the corner infielders need some extra work with Wash.
Kenley is quietly at 2.45 ERA now. Magnificent.
Dang. They just can’t hit these junkballers. Crismatt hasn’t thrown a single pitch faster than 85mph. They are taking hanging curveballs and changeups.
Not a single fastball at all.
@29 the hitting approach and execution hasn’t been great this year. A lot of poor fundamentals
Stephens has been a very pleasant surprise
Stephens looks like a keeper. Prepare to say goodbye to Thornburg at the end of May.
Can someone PLEASE figure out how to hit a 83mph changeup?
As ever, this team can’t get a runner over. Sweet merciful crap. This is why they’re awful in this contrived extra-inning format.
Why in the heck do they have instant replay? They refuse to overturn obvious bad calls like that.
So snitker defenders, what about either pinch running for the catcher on 2nd, or not having arcia try to sac bunt, when that is not one of his skills.
God forbid TDA has to catch for an inning.
Then he pinch runs with Heredia, and he doesn’t try to steal, when he couldve scored on olsons hit.
And don’t mention the genius move of walking machado, anyone with half a brain would decided on that.
Figures Demeritte having his worst game after I praised him.
Riley……nope
We look lost against the change up and are missing them by a foot
Ugh, Stephens with the hanger. Good day.
Dang. We’re gonna gift them another 4-run inning. Three errors today. Ugh.
Another gift. At least 3 unearned runs today, maybe more.
Another error, this is laughable, I’m out for today.
Pretty sure Freeman catches that.
This team… wow. Please keep telling me how they aren’t lacking focus. The bad defense are from mentally lazy plays
@39 pretty sure my high school first baseman son catches that .
These Braves remind me of the 2007-08 Rockies. They got hot at the end of ’07 after being mediocre for nearly the entire season, then went on a run in the playoffs (although they lost the World Series). The following year, they went right back to the form they had before their unexpected late-season sprint. The positive indication in this pattern is those Rockies returned to the playoffs in 2009. But in ’08, Colorado was a frustrating 74-88, and while these Braves are probably better than those Rockies, this is trending like a season that has much the same, all-the-little-things-go-wrong feel.
Time to cut grass!
Well, I guess Stephens isn’t the answer.
Those last two runs wont matter as we won’t score the runner from second anyway.
Stephens didn’t do that poorly. The double was hard hit, but that was it. The error by Swanson/Olson killed him, along with the fielder’s choice at home.
2-0 down 4 runs and Ozzie swings at ball 3. Smh…
Hum. 5 hits 3 errors
16 K’s. Riley not hitting, not fielding.
Olson walking but not scoring runs. Also not fielding. Braves are a AAAA team. If you think it is a major league team, you are sadly mistaken. Also Snitker is a average, probably below average manager. The most important part of managing is the pitching staff. Snitker is weak at this. Very weak.
Many games left. But if the Braves continue to play this sloppy, undisciplined baseball with bad coaching, they will be lucky to make the playoffs.
In all fairness. Kyle Wright will be a very good pitcher. By very good I mean number two at the worse. He is strong physically and more importantly mental.
As he learns he will be even better.
Read Curveball at the Crossroads. Thinking is as important as stuff.
Ask Maddux. Ask Glavin. Ask Smoltz.
You may not have to ask Gibson, Ryan, Koufax. But ask Paige.
There’s nothing wrong with this team that couldn’t be fixed by the hitting, fielding, and pitching all getting better.
@44 I cannot put that on Stephens. Too many bad plays in the field and poor hitting. We had at least 4 chances to take a lead with a single run after the Padres tied it and two chances to walk it off. Eventually, if you let it leak too long, the roof will cave in.
The Padres scored 7 with 4 unearned.
@51, yeah Stephens did his job holding them off in the 10th. No excuse for not winning it in the bottom of the 10th.
Then the big defensive letdown in the 11th.
This team is so inconsistent .. offense, defense .. no continuity .. they aren’t far out if they can get consistent .. Riley and Olsen are kicking it around
Speaking of inconsistency, the Braves are within three games of setting a major league record for inconsistency. Details to follow….
Recrapped, as it were
@49 – EdK – thank you for mentioning my book Curveball at the Crossroads!