Blessedly, I did not watch this one. I bet I don’t need to tell you that Ronald went 0-5 and Tucker Davidson pitched like he was doing an impression of Rick Pitino’s “Robert Parish is not walking through that door” press conference and Zach Wheeler was extremely good as usual.
There is, however, some good news: Cave-In’s new album, Heavy Pendulum, just came out four days ago, and it’s great! The first song of the album is called “New Reality,” and just to be clear, I’m changing the subject — I’m not drawing any parallels between the lyrics of the song and the 2022 Braves season. Just wanted to clear that up!
[Verse 1]
Granite state of shock
See the fallen rock
Slip off the mountain
Face of man within
[Chorus]
New reality (New reality)
Never knew would be (Never knew would be)
Dawning on me
New reality (New reality)
Night is moving on (Night is moving on)
Mourning the sun
[Post-Chorus]
New reality
Never knew would be
New reality
Dawning on me
[Verse 2]
Where red river runs
See what one becomes
Old man left behind
Facе of our decline
[Chorus]
New rеality (New reality)
Never knew would be (Never knew would be)
Dawning on me
New reality (New reality)
Night is moving on (Night is moving on)
Mourning the sun
[Post-Chorus]
New reality
Never knew would be
New reality
Dawning on me
Like it was mentioned yesterday, it is probably good we threw Davidson yesterday against Wheeler as that was probably our lowest chance of victory in the series. I did think we did some good things approach wise yesterday and we don’t normally get 3 off of him, so there is that.
Contreras.
If you share my newborn enthusiasm for William Contreras how did you react/adjust to his debut in the outfield last night? I am talking aesthetically of course.
Watching him scurrying around out there early in the game I could not get the image out of my head of a duck being chased by a large, invisible dog. To repeat, I am a big fan, I think it’s his catchers stocky build where his legs are in constant battle with his torso that give this impression.
But over and above, we’ve all heard the old saw about the ball will find you on your debut, try as you may not to allow this to happen. But dear me. Those first two chances, could anyone devise anything more fiendish, both occurring early, one in the first innings even, on the ground, the other tantalising a pop up of some sorts that had he and Austin Maypoling all around underneath it as it eventually fell on the ground between them.
Nil desperandum. He got two hits, right? He may yet one day turn into a slick fielding shortstop for the day, giving Dans a break. That would automatically be a highlight reel.
Word is Contreras will be the DH today, and will give TDA the day off at catcher tomorrow.
Braves14, following up from yesterday. What makes you think Heredia isn’t a better CF than Duvall? I want to say I’ve seen that Heredia has him beat on sprint speed and arm strength.
@Rob
I think Duvall’s got him beat in reads and first jumps and it’s neck and neck in sprint speed. Outs Above Average is the most advanced defensive metric in the game, and they REALLY like Duvall. He goes back on balls with the best of them.
@blazon
Contreras definitely needs some OF reps in Gwinnett if the Braves plan on deploying him that way. He misread at least 3 balls.
@5 Been hearing more and more about Outs Above Average as a reliable defensive stat. Need to do my research.
Duvall does take great reads and goes back on the ball really well. I just didn’t think Duvall was a better defender than Heredia.
Heredia would have to be a markedly better defender than Duvall to play him instead. Heredia is not a productive major league hitter and there is no chance he will be one the rest of this season. Duvall has been dreadful offensively so far, but at least there is a chance he can start hitting home runs again (his one offensive skill).
@7 agree completely. Heredia is nothing more than a defensive replacement and any at bats he gets might as well go to a pitcher as he is nearly an automatic out.
6 — What Ryan said. Notice that when Heredia comes in as a defensive replacement they have stopped putting him in CF and moving Duvall to a corner. They usually replace the LF with Heredia and keep Duvall in CF.
@9 That is a great observation. I think that tells us who the team feels is the better of the two defensively
I know we need Contreras’ bat in the lineup, but our outfield defense is among the worst in the league, and I don’t think playing Contreras out there is going to help the team overall. It’s even worse than playing Ozuna (or Arcia) in left. He’s going to have to be the DH when he’s not giving TDA a night off at catcher. And if Acuña has to be the DH to give his knee a break, then Contreras can’t start.
I have to imagine that AA is looking to acquire a CF somehow. Duvall’s bat might be toast. Waters isn’t ready.
I’ve been out of the loop for most of this year but thanks to everyone for the recaps.
I have real concern Olson’s power numbers were partially a product of the altered baseballs. That coupled with Freeman’s great season makes me frustrated we didn’t just pay Freeman and trade for a great outfielder with the prospects we used for Olson.
This very well may be a gap year but thank God that flags fly forever and we have probably the best player in baseball not named Trout.
I have real concern Olson’s power numbers were partially a product of the altered baseballs.
Why were his power numbers uniquely inflated and not, say, Freddie Freeman’s?
Contreras let him off the hook. Nice inning though
If anybody asks the question, “Why do we need a pitch clock?” just show video of this freaking guy and rest your case. This is absurd.
Fried looks legit great tonight; second inning was dumb weak contact that found holes.
Edit for right inning.
There’s a reminder that the dead baseballs also work in our favor when we’re in the field. Pretty sure that would’ve been halfway up the seats last year.
Seems like that’s one of the rare times that the dead ball helped the Braves as opposed to hurting us. Segura’s flyout would have been a 2 run homer last year.
Well, that’s about as clear-cut a case of batter interference on an attempted steal as you’re ever gonna see.
Can Chipper give the Braves hitters some pointers?
@20
Isn’t that literally his job?
21 — I think they asked him not to come back due to not getting vaccinated.
D’Arnaud’s passed ball was a strike.
Another lazy play by this team with the passed ball cost us a run. The concentration level has seemed to be lacking all year.
I blame that one on the execrable scourge of pitch-framing. In trying to frame it he turned a strike into a ball and gave the Phillies an extra base, so that’s good.
Your first job is to actually catch the ball!
It’s the little things that matter and thus team hasn’t been doing them. Catch the ball, shorten up with two strikes and put the ball in play, throw strikes…those are the things that other teams have done against us
Olson!
Chip: “Max Fried is in line for the win if Will Smith can get 3 outs.”
Um, it’s the 7th inning Chip.
Walking Roman Quinn, a fast man who can’t hit, is asking for it.
Will Smith is just so mediocre. Dude got hot at the right time last year but he turned back into the problem that he is
31 — I believe this is the last year of his contract.
Nice job Chip. I was pretty sure Harper would get a hit once Chip said he was 0-12
I repeat. Albies is not a base stealer. But he keeps attempting such.
I also would like to congratulate Olsen on a run scored and an rbi. Finally.
@29 what he should have said is Will Smith is in line for another blown save
Can’t believe Castellanos was worse there than Hancock but I will take it
Indeed, Smith is back to his pathetic efforts. Guy is a joke.
Smith had a 6.11 FIP coming into tonight mostly because of an elevated homer rate.
@29: I thought Chip’s better line was when the Braves scored their second run.
“And with that the Braves retake the lead.” Ummm… since Sunday?
Also, when the game was going to commercial, Chip said “We go to the bottom of the 7th with the Braves leading the Phillies in Game 2 of this young season.”
I’m pretty sure he meant series, and that he was thinking that this only the 2nd game they have matched up so far, but it was very clumsily phrased.
Chip is also blabbing about an “interesting ninth” when there’s two on with two outs in a one-run game in the eighth. Focus on the moment in front of you, for crying out loud.
He is the worst.
Whoever keeps letting Ozzie try to steal needs to be fired. I mean seriously…how many more times?
Albies is now 3-for-8 this season in stolen-base attempts.
Stop this, Snit.
Ozzie is 3 for 8 in stolen bases. I agree, it’s time to slow the roll.
@43 owww. I didn’t realize it was that bad.
Ozzie’s sprint speed is down from 28.4 last season to 27.4 this season.
It isn’t our year. This year is paying back every good thing that happened last year.
Again, the inability to throw strikes hurt Hancock and Jansen. We aren’t good enough to be able to put dudes on base and then serve up moon shots
Is there anything about this team that isn’t worse than last year?
Gotta go get ’em, Braves…
EDIT: That’s a start.
OK, let’s win this thing
But he keeps trying. Puzzling.
48 — Kyle Wright is all we get, I guess.
That Bryce sure is good at baseball.
EDIT: You’re welcome for the reverse jinx.
Swanson with a double to start the inning. So, basically, this is now like an extra-innings situation. Our guys have done so well at that.
Watching this team is a total waste of time. Bullpen was supposed to be the worlds best. WRONG.
In case we all forgot, this is the Phailies.
Had ’em all the way!
@47 that didn’t age well… I guess we can still have nice things
Excellent. Now let’s never speak of that again.
It is fun when the team we root for wins. Save yr complaints for tomorrow, fellas.
Giggity, Journal. Giggity.
Acuna probably shoulda been on third after that outfield circus, but Acuna also probably not supposed to score from second on a shallow line drive. Sometimes he taketh away, but yet still he giveth.
And the no-streak streak officially reaches at least 44.
Win good.
Jansen getting the win very bad.
That nonsense needs to change.
As stupid as thinking the Ford Fiesta is a high performance vehicle.
Very Happy, they needed that. I’m not sure I have ever seen a home run despatched with such smooth, almost gentle precision. But it turned out not to be enough – were you confident or flattened?
I’m a broken record on this, but the win is certainly a dumb statistic now. It had some virtue as a measure for starting pitchers up until about 2000, but even then it was dumb for everyone else. The only reason for it is history… it’s as stupid as the GWRBI which was discarded because it was dumb but had no history. The problem with “history” as the explanation for the Win is that the win no longer means, even for starting pitchers, what it used to…. and it is almost certain that, just as Cy Young established win numbers in a different era that will never be touched, there will never be another great win producer. Verlander is probably the last, and he’s almost surely not going to make 300.
And of course Chip and Jeff were once again wrong about a non-practice that they think is a practice: not calling an error when the ball isn’t touched. Have they ever watched baseball games?
I think Chip’s greatest strength is his radio-friendly, buttery, smooth voice. He’s the sort of person who could read the telephone book in extremely soothing tones that would pacify a child and calm a yappy dog. However, he just isn’t actually very good at finding things to say, and he also isn’t comfortable enough with silence to refrain from filling gaps with his callow, inane prattle.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, he’s a fine broadcaster.
@66 Soothing until a flyball goes into medium deep left field and he loses his mind yelling “there is a drive”
@66
‘callow’ …
Now, there’s a word. ..Essentially vanished from everyday use it has been used here for the best of reasons, it fits perfectly the subject being addressed by the writer. It serves also to bring back memories of ancient schoolrooms, musty Masters. Let’s go Braves, there are no boundaries.
JonathanF,
You definitely have my respect as a purveyor of baseball knowledge. However, I disagree with you on the win stat for starting pitchers. I guess there was some relevance in wins for relief pitchers many years ago before the age of the 1 inning reliever, but wins are definitely useless for relievers. As a case in point, Mariano Rivera had a career 82 and 60 record. Does anyone really care? I’ve never heard this mentioned related to his stats as having relevance – although I’m sure someone like Chip may try to make a case for it.
On the other hand, I believe there is still some relevance for the win for starting pitchers. A starting pitcher will get many wins he doesn't deserve based on the way he pitched and will get many losses also. I honestly think it's similar to batting average, played out on a much smaller scale, but over several years of starting, I think there is still relevance.
As further examples, Clayton Kershaw has 189 wins and 84 losses over 15 years and a 162 game average of 17 and 7. Kershaw has a 2.48 lifetime ERA but has not been as durable as Maddux. He has not made over 30 starts since 2015 and only more than 30 starts in 6 of his 15 years. Greg Maddux has 355 wins over 23 years, but a few early seasons and his age 37 to 42 seasons were extremely mediocre. His 162 game average was 16 and 10 with a lifetime 3.16 ERA. He started over 30 games in a season 19 times.
You mentioned that wins had some relevance up until about 2000. Maddux was exactly the same age as Kershaw is now and was 221 and 126 through 1999. Given durability, I think win-loss comparisons of the 2 at this stage in their careers paints a decent but obviously incomplete picture.
I’m with JonF on this. Before 2000 starters pitched deep into games and got more decisions.
@69, both Kershaw and Maddux spent most of their careers on very successful teams, so that’s a big reason why their personal records look so gaudy. Even in their golden years, pitcher won-loss records were inordinately affected by their teams’ won-loss records. But as innings per start have precipitously declined, the degree to which pitcher wins convey meaningful information has done so as well.
“callow” – reminds me of one Jerry Gallo, from one of the best movies of the 20th Century. My Cousin Vinny. Much of it was filmed in Braves Country – – Monticello, GA.
“What is a ‘yute’?” 😂😂😂
I wonder when GMs are going to start to realize they should start paying starting pitchers accordingly.
It sure looks like Joc Pederson ate his Wheaties this week…
@71 – I agree that pitching for good teams inflated their W/L numbers, but hasn’t this always been the case? My take is that wins are similar to career batting average. They tell an extremely incomplete story, but they are still relevant, especially as the sample size increases.
Oh good…. This gives me an intro for my recap tomorrow. The horse may be dead, but my whip hand is active.
Behold! A home run that actually carried farther than it looked like it would!
Freddie would have turned a DP there I think. Disappointed with Olson’s defense. And it led to a run.
LOL Phillies
LOLPhillies
Morton is a liability.
Can someone please tell why Demeritte is playing? I got it, to break the record for failure.
Both the Phillies bullpen and the Phillies defense suck out loud.
That play earlier in the inning is legitimately one of the most incompetent things I’ve seen on a baseball field at any level.
I called them them the Phailies last night. They are still the Phailies.
All round, good win.
and note…
Chip was good tonight also. .Rara avis, but I still feel guilty.
If there is an early bird problem from time to time with putting up a new thread of the day please advise and I will be happy to do it – provided always you remind me how to. Cheers.
@78
Yes. He hasn’t been as advertised on defense at all.
recapped.