Hello ladies and gents. First off, I would like to apologize for the lack of content. We have had our Tuesday and Saturday recappers go rogue and Cliff had other priorities this week, which I informed him I would cover, but wasn’t able to for personal reasons. Jonathan F and TFloyd have both volunteered to help out covering the 2 gaps, but we could definitely use some extra hands. If interested, let me know.
Going forward, I would like to grab a co-owner, one who could help manage the content. My desire is to still get 2 pieces up per day. Let me know if interested.
The problem is that the new CBA for content writers was concluded sharply in favor of management. Even with the agreement to triple our salaries after the doubling of our workloads, tfloyd and I are barely earning enough to afford our luxury suite above the Chop House. The NIL agreements are still in flux, of course, although my Whistlepig endorsement deal should be completed soon now that I have dropped my demands that a photo of Will Smith be put on the bottle.
I can imagine. Whiling the hours away as one dusty file after another tips over and pushes the end one to the floor. There can hardly be enough compensation to allow for that. The fame, though, I can see the seduction there.
I do this strictly for the love of the game and the good of this website. Really, it’s an honor just to be here. As to the financial rewards, I’m happy with just about anything, so long as it’s more than JonathanF gets.
I can do Saturdays, if it’s ok if it shows up Sunday morning sometimes. If you’re interested, let me know.
2 important life events have occurred that have made my personal schedule chaotic, and while I won’t get into that, I will get into today’s news:
We are expecting child number 3 in December or right around the New Year.
I’ll be 62 when little bean walks across the stage for his/her diploma. Dang.
The two Harris catches. The ones that get you off the sofa.
The first necessitated an angular approach, thus the confused entry of the bare left hand. Very lucky really but the effort deserved it.
The second, he could simply run flat out, at it, there was no angle, and so the glove lead and did its job. Many more Michael.
And TravisD – you started all this, also two magnificent catches, head on. Come back soon with a hotter bat.
Cristian Pache played in 25 games for Atlanta and had an otherworldly defensive reputation with an “improving” offensive reputation. Michael Harris has played in 5 games so far and has a very good defensive reputation along with a good offensive reputation. Is it just by imagination, or has Harris already made more defensive plays and looked much better in center than Pache did through 5 times more games?
@4, as a frequent morning recapper, I can assure you that is A-OK!
@7, I will say yes.
Anybody agree that Strider needs to go back to bullpen and be the 8th inning guy or close from time to time ??? I think he more valuable every other day than every 5th day … also so far the trade that brought Olson was hard ..he hasnt lived up to the billing so far but he will I think … give him a little time .. miss Freddie YES but he wanted on west coast … but other parts of trade arent looking too bad .. I was more upset that Langerhans went in the trade but with the emergence of Contreras its not too bad .. although Langy is elite defender and got pop too … also Pache .. A Harris is making me forget him ..Pache hitting in the mid 100’s .. may not ever figure it out .. A Harris you can tell is adjusting and is only gonna get better .. thoughts ???
@7
You are firing on all cylinders -relax and enjoy him. Pache hurt us all emotionally, put our own judgment in doubt.
@7 Most definitely. Harris looks much better at the plate and in the field
Pache is rocking a 0.450 OPS in 154 ABs.
JC’d
And we’re about to play 4 games against a team that gave up 26 runs in 19 innings yesterday.
#5
Congrats, big daddy.
I’d love to do some recaps, but my schedule is pretty nuts this summer & it’s difficult for me to commit to anything at the moment. But if you’re left in a lurch for a particular game, let me know.
FWIW, things should slack up a bit in mid/late August.
@9 – I’m good with giving Strider a chance for the 5th starter spot, but understand your concerns due to durability. He can be possibly be much more valuable as a starter, but he seems a little rushed into the role. Our bullpen will be fine as long as starters last for 6 innings and Strider could help, although I don’t expect him to be in shape for more than 5 innings until he gets a few more games under his belt.
With his changeup I think Strider has enough of an arsenal for a starter. The big question is durability. He only averaged about 4.5 innings per start over 21 starts last year in the minors and he didn’t start whole lot at Clemson due to injury and Covid. He seems to be reaching uncharted waters, but if he continues to progress, he could be pretty special.
I’ve offered a couple of times to tag team on Saturdays but nobody has taken me up on it.
Congrats, Ryan. I am so grateful for you to keep the best site on the web running, also thanks to all the recappers. From my perspective, don’t stress about two pieces per day.
From Batterypower-
After 225 plate appearances:
Olson: .258/.369/.474, 23 doubles, six homers, 22 RBI, 135 wRC+, 1.2 fWAR
Freeman: .295/.387/.466, 19 doubles, four homers, 30 RBI, 141 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR
Olson is/will be fine.
I’m also of the opinion that 1 piece per day is enough, but I’m guessing you have the behind the scenes numbers on how traffic flows to the site.
14 — Yeah, my biggest concern with Strider will be his workload.
And yes, a recap a day with the weekly minor league update would be sufficient, I think.
We are ‘getting away’ recently with various absences from the norm but what is really bad is when you run into the happenings of a new day and the only way you can post is to add to the pile-up of the old blog…that does not look good and just recently three successive days piled up and it someone pointing this out three times but it was Alex it took to save the day…
understand please the real issue here is not even is a recap up by mid morning – it is how tacky the site starts to look when you open it it and see something old…once in a while no problem, but this hasn’t been once in a while.
For the cynics try this…go on TC at 9 in the morning and read how many different articles are newto say nothing about many new individual posts.
My apologies for the negativity but it’s upsetting to see something so valued declining.
@5 My daughter graduates tomorrow and I’m 60 so welcome to the club, Ryan. 🙂
With regards to Strider, my concern is more the hole he leaves by not being in the bullpen. I think the bullpen collapse on Tuesday may have a lot to do with the fact that Strider was not available. He did great on Monday with out us winning and we lost Tuesday because we didn’t have him. Moving him to the rotation effectively cost us two games.
@20 I think you hit the nail on the head. You should just go read TC. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya…
Blazon, not cool. If I recall correctly, you were the one that threw me under the bus when I didn’t let off-season posts marinate more than a day.
As you know by now, the only acceptable frequency of posts is whatever blazon feels is appropriate, which of course depends on factors that only he fully understands. In my religion we have a term for this: kibitzer.
Rusty S. — I’m giving you this Saturday if you want it. Just let me know.
@23–“not cool” is generous. I could call the lack of gratitude something worse, but I’m so grateful for Ryan and this blog that I won’t be negative today.
But anyway, I agree with others that a recap a day plus occasional minor league updates is fine. This site is not Battery Power (f/k/a TC), and I’m glad it’s not. I do read BP, but it serves a very different purpose than this site.
@22/23
Well, at least I seem to have brought the old team back together again – last time I remember was when one called the other’s late night Dark Web mutterings, quote, NASTY.
And Ryan, I happen to believe your recent absences from here are due to your increasing fixation on November 8th and the weeks preceding and following it. What an exciting time that will be for you, lots of action, words too, so many new exciting friends, lots to be Proud about.
No need to reply, academic.
@26
You’ve crossed the line for the last time.
Regulars, once again, blazon is misrepresenting my character & I am not ok with this.
I’ll take advice. Y’all have my email. What would you have me do?
https://c.tenor.com/ALiwiwfUSdEAAAAC/jazzy-jeff.gif
I got Tuesdays. So Rusty S and braves14 have Saturdays, right? I’ve got Tuesdays. We got a reliable person in every seat. Let’s ride. Now all we need are these stupid west coast games to be done and life will be good again.
Congratulations Ryan! I’m quite confident you will not be nearly the oldest father at #3’s graduation with the way the family construction trends are headed. I think I will be having children well into my 40’s. We’re just getting younger and younger nowadays. JonathanF’s 112 years old, and he looks amazing!
Very funny Rob. Although I feel 112, I’m far from amazing looking… ask my wife.
Though I just want to point out there’s another way to do this. At my actual age (66) my grandchild will be entering college in the Fall. Go Tribe!
I’d like to address the elephant in the room that Ryan’s whereabouts on January 6th have never been actually confirmed.
If you guys didn’t catch that, blazon his calling me a proud boy. In no way is that OK. There is also nothing that is worse than racial slurs but being called a proud boy is about as close as a white man can get to feeling that pain.
I don’t even recall Ryan ever even saying anything political. So that is a strange insult.
It was pulled from our political page and it was a gross interpretation of what was implied from something Rob discussed.
I blame me. I radicalized Ryan.
You guys, I’m not going political here, but I’m getting close to breaking the rules. For those unaware, I fight social injustice regularly on other social media platforms and I consider myself politically neutral. For me, love and compassion is all that matters.
I don’t do it here. I’ve taught 2nd-6th grade, in some variation, over the last 21 years. God willing, I’ll do it another 21. Over on Facebook, I write about my students and their experiences that have changed who I am over the course of 2 decades. This was a heartbreaking one and I hope blazon is paying attention. This will be the only time I’ll cross-share my thoughts, because this isn’t the place these pieces should be housed.
“Am I choosing LOVE or HATE?”
I’m going to tell a story while I’m not on kid duty and it might take a while. Be open-hearted and listen to this tale I tell.
When I was teaching in Louisiana, there was a kid in my class (2nd grade) who looked to be a boy, but was a girl. I asked the counselor about this particular child and she told me the girl had been born hermaphroditic. The parents, like most in this situation, made a split decision to choose a sex.
At 2nd grade, this girl was no more female than I was and the situation made me sad as she was being raised in an area where “gay” wasn’t an option. Biblical beliefs got in the way of this girl’s happiness, and I heard a tragic story that she had been in and out of drug rehab since she was 16. This really got to me.
In 18 years of teaching, I’ve taught a handful of kids that were completely lost in their gender, and they weren’t even 10 years old yet. Why does our society care so much to the point where hatred overrules love and kindness? This isn’t a political nor religious statement, it’s an outcry to choose love over anything else, no matter your personal belief. It’s ok to disagree and still choose love. Through my teaching experiences, I have changed nearly all of my viewpoints on society norms and have lost some friends…but boy oh boy have I gained perspective, peace, and an unconditional love in my heart.
Unfortunately, the student referenced never made it to adulthood. She committed suicide 2 months after her high school graduation. Let’s not let our viewpoints cloud our humanity. Love is the true anecdote.
Blazon, you have my email. I sent you an email after the last time you insulted me. It’s your turn now. You have the weekend to send me an apology. Being called a Proud Boy is likely the most insulting thing anyone has ever said to me. If you choose not to apologize, you’ll no longer be able to post on this site.
If anything, you sound closer to being in the same political party that Blazon is. So, yes, strange insult.
Atlanta has a decent shot of breaking the no streak streak against Colorado if, as usual, they win the first game of the series. Except for Kuhl, who has to face Fried tomorrow, Colorado’s pitching looks pretty putrid. Of course we have been known to make several struggling starters look like Cy Young, so we’ll have to wait and see.
@24 @29 @15
braves14, you can have all the Saturdays if you want them. I only want to eat innings when needed and Saturdays aren’t as good for me as Sunday was.
I don’t know what happens on the politics page by design but nothing good was ever going to come out of it, as far as Braves Journal and camaraderie are concerned.
@37
Seeing things through kid eyes makes for a unique experience. Show me compassion, I’ll show my support and that’s as far as my politics talk will go.
@39
I agree. And I caved against better judgment.
Thanks Ryan, for all you do.
@36 Ryan, as a longtime educator myself, I know exactly what you mean. You can’t help but be changed and humbled by your students. Preach it brother!
It won’t be too long before Dansby is our best hitter. He’s getting closer and closer with his current hot streak.
Heredia’s pop always surprises me.
I’ve also been surprised by Heredia’s mom. (sorry, I should have resisted).
It looks like D’Arnaud is making sure that people don’t forget about him.
If our horrible left fielder makes the first catch this doesn’t happen.
This is a very Colorado half inning.
Legit great piece of hitting by Riley there. Good pitch down and away and he drives it to the opposite field gap.
Is an 8-run lead with 4 innings to go enough in Colorado? Stay tuned…
Anderson can’t live at the belt
Individual stats should not be registered in Colorado – only teams wins and losses.
Recapped