The Braves coasted to a victory over the miserable Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of Earth, and pulled within a half game of first place.
Atlanta jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as Acuna led off the bottom of the 1st with a double and Dansby singled him in. After Olson struck out, Riley singled to put runners on the corners, then D’Arnaud picked up an RBI with a fielder’s choice groundout.
In the bottom of the 3rd, after Olson led off striking out, Riley singled again, then D’Arnaud followed with another single. After Heredia (in the game after Duvall was pulled with a sore wrist) was robbed of a hit on a fine diving catch by Taylor Ward, Ozuna singled to left scoring Riley. Arcia walked to load the bases, then Harris singled in 2 runs to make it 5-0, knocking out starter Patrick Sandoval (who threw 80 pitches in just 3 innings). Arcia was thrown out at 3rd to end the inning.
The Angels scored their first run in the top of the 4th, as Jared Walsh led off with a double and was later singled in by former Brave Kurt Suzuki.
But the Braves answered in the bottom of the 4th with a 2 run homer by Riley (his 28th) to make it 7-1. Riley appeared to have struck out on the previous pitch but the first base umpire incorrectly ruled that he checked his swing. Angels manager Phil Nevin was later ejected for arguing the call.
Ohtani hit a solo homer in the 5th to cap the scoring for the Angels. Braves starter Kyle Wright took over the National League lead in pitching wins (which Chip made a huge deal about, because he’s Chip) with his 12th win. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 0 walks, 8 strikeouts, and the 1 homer.
Matzek, Minter, and Chavez finished out the game uneventfully. The Mets lost 2-1 to the Padres about the same time our game ended, as catcher Tomas Nido struck out with the tying run on 3rd. Not sure why they didn’t pinch hit for him. The Mets have a huge black hole at catcher, and I think are likely to go hard after Wilson Contreras before the trade deadline.
Ian Anderson will start the series finale tomorrow afternoon against Reid Detmers, as the Braves try to complete the sweep and pass the Mets for first place.
Yeah, Jeff McNeil (who’s really the toughest out on that roster) was available to pinch-hit for Nido… thanks, Buck.
They hit Nido for the same reason they hit Guillorme earlier in the inning… they had no right handed bats on the bench.
[Just saw your comment, ububba. I don’t disagree. But he is indubitably left handed. Not going against the book is what you get when you have a guy as by-the-book as Showalter.]
Austin Riley is tracking for 6-7 WAR. The window to sign him to a team-friendly extension is closing… fast.
#2
Let’s just say I breathed a little easier to see Nido hitting in the biggest spot in the game. IMO, McNeil is the one guy on that team who can hit a line-drive off anyone at any time.
And, speaking of old school… earlier in the game, Buck had Nido drop a sac bunt with a runner on 1st with no outs. Maybe not as awful as it sounds in that situation (b/c we’re talking about a .207 career hitter w/ no power), but do you want that guy hitting w/ 2 outs & the tying & winning runs on base?
I do if I’m a Braves fan! (As long as he isn’t facing Hancock in the regular season. Have you forgotten this game so soon? https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL202105180.shtml?__hstc=205977932.a3e35179ab2f01cbef23940013edfa83.1652064943398.1657156424581.1657330654721.17&__hssc=205977932.116.1658633625401&__hsfp=1191625704)
Wow, I have no memory of that game. I have very little memory of the first four months of that season for good reason. I do remember some very frustrating losses to Philly though. Also, I would’ve sworn Ozuna was off the team by May 18, but apparently not.
Anyway, let’s sweep the Angels and be in first place tomorrow. Man they are not a good team.
I think I also purged my memory of the first half of last season, so I don’t blame you for not remembering that.
A couple of stats that help illustrate the necessity of depth on a baseball roster:
Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for LAA and ATL as a team / their best two players
Angels – 7.2 (offense) / 8.0 (pitching) – top 2 players are Trout + Ohtani = 5.7 (offense) / 3.0 (pitching)
Braves – 16.3 (offense) / 14.0 (pitching) – top 2 players are Swanson + Riley = 8.3 (offense) / 0 (pitching)
Here we can see that Trout + Ohtani (narrowly!) edge out Riley and Swanson in terms of wins produced in the 2022 season, but LAA has an almost complete lack of real contributors beyond those two while Atlanta has depth for days. The Angels’ offense is so lacking in playable guys that after their top 3 position players (Trout+Ward+Ohtani = 8.2 WAR) the remainder of the offense produced negative value. By contrast, if you removed Swanson and Riley’s contribution from Atlanta’s ledger, the remaining offensive (8.0) WAR would still be higher than the Angels’ entire offensive WAR.
I don’t follow the Angels closely but have heard for years that they’ve had a really difficult time building up decent depth around Trout – those teams were basically Trout + over the hill vets that torpedoed the budget (Pujols, Upton) supported by a bad farm system and lackluster FA signings. Not sure if there’s a good contemporary NL analog for this, maybe the Phillies once they acquired Harper? (I will say the Phils’ depth is more respectable than it once was; acquiring Wheeler and Realmuto has been incredibly beneficial for them. Their 2022 roster construction is still weird, though.)
Kyle Wright has learned the Art of Pitching. I wonder if he read The Art or War? An assignment for the numbers folks. One of the biggest assets a very good to great pitcher possesses is not allowing big innings. Walks and of course three run homers contribute.
So how many no run innings.
How many one run, two run, three run …….From watching I sense very few innings that cause the manager to remove him, or put the game out of reach.
Just curious.
I think we are going to see ongoing refinements which will bring me joyous viewing.
Interesting choice of continuing with the established rotation. Worked so far, so I’m hip.
Jo Adell was predicted to be great
and Rendon dropped off a cliff. But even after that, the Angels depth is pure shit and has been for as long as I can remember.
I agree that depth is remarkably important and the Braves 2021 team proved it, and so has the 2022 team. I’d still love for the Braves to grab someone like Ian Happ.
Is it a coincidence that the gNats won the WS AFTER Harper left? And the Phillies don’t seem to be doing all that great with him and Realmuto. How many times have we seen teams with a single transcendent superstar not be able to build around him? Of course, a team needs stars to win but a team also needs “a team”. I have some sympathy for the Angels as they have tried to buy established stars but they seem to buy them at the top not ascending. And they seem to have no talent with developing pitching. Even top prospects they trade don’t seem to amount to anything (Newcomb/Ellis).
For all the complaining, the Braves rebuild has to be one of the shortest top-to-bottom rebuilds in history. By focusing on international talent and the draft and pitching with just enough offense thrown in, it seems to have been just about perfect. The Cubs rebuild was not quite as fast – 97 wins in 2008 to 97 wins in 2015 – whereas the Braves went a year sooner – 96 wins in 2013 to 97 wins in 2019 (not including the fact they had 90 wins in 2018, too).
Well. This is our clear 5th starter…we should expect a slugfest.
Ian’s “numbers” look good the last couple of outings but there was a lot of tightrope walking
Ugh. He’s tough to watch this year even when the results are okay.
Hope Chavez can handle a few innings today.
If Ian doesn’t develop his breaking ball, I fear he’s doomed.
At least the walk broke up the 5 straight hits
Riley we are coming after the Mets and Anderson says “hold my beer”.
Of course I have to recap this shit. I’m sure a spectacular comeback is in the works.
9 innings left to score plenty of runs.
Time for RAJ to get going.
Ooooh lefty. We can score a few runs early off a lefty.
Detmers’ stuff looks thoroughly underwhelming, but he’s gotten a couple of very borderline calls go his way already. Home plate ump might be ready to get this game over with. It’s hot out there, after all!
Yeah, I’m not sure that Jethro is a starter long term.
@21 making him look like Kershaw though. As good of an offense as we have it must be pretty demoralizing to spot a team 5 in the top of the first and suddenly get the wide strike zone
Which would benefit Anderson more: a move to the bullpen or to the Strippers?
I think swapping him for Muller might be the best option right now. Yeah, a 5-run inning is a particularly awful start, but his struggles have been bigger than just that. He’s really had a rough season. Maybe some low-pressure starts across town will help him regroup.
I mean, I don’t think he’s a bullpen guy at all, so…
We have to have the worst bench of any of the better teams .. Ford, Heredia , Cano … wow … we have to do better … Duvall could have issues rest of season with wrist … so we have to upgrade ..
@26 yeah that’s pretty bleak.
I may not be the best judge, but I don’t think Ian would be much of a stripper.
Seems like a good leverage situation for Will Smith
Maybe an oblique or side soreness IL trip would do the trick
Misery has company.
Acuna’s demise is the most alarming.
Anderson’s not shocking.
Watching both is joyless.
Mike Ford may have gotten back just in time to burnish his pitching legacy.
Adam Duvall on the 10-day IL with a sprained left wrist.
Yeah strippers may do Anderson some good after a game like this. 🙂
I was wondering if AAA was possible as well, he needs to work on 2 more pitches. If we had a 6 game lead we could let him work it out here, but it may be time to make a move of some sort.
hard contact from Arcia but no elevation 🙁
@28 There’s an audience for anything. Let’s not yuck someone else’s yum 🤣
Acuna is really starting to worry me .. I think he is the type to ignore any suggestions or help … I think he goes it alone and he definitely has issues .. he will have to listen to others before coming out of this ..
I think Pete Shelley summed up Jethro’s day pretty well.
Tried to find my sock
No good, it’s lost
Something’s gone wrong again
Need a shave
Cut myself, need a new blade
Something’s gone wrong again
@31 Mike Ford/Will Smith…what’s the difference?
Ronald Acuna is younger than Braden Shewmake and recovering from a major injury. I’m not the least bit worried about Ronald Acuna.
Duvall to have wrist surgery. Braves aren’t sure if it will end his season. Needs are presenting themselves today.
@40 sounds like season ending. Need a deal to minimize the need to play Heredia and Anderson
Well, now they need another outfielder.
@43 that isn’t Mike Ford
Joc Pederson/Jorge Soler come on down
Mike Ford is a first baseman. But yeah, they need a platoon partner for Rosario or an everyday player to replace him.
Tommy Pham of the Reds should be available.
Maybe they could get Benintendi and Merrifield from the Royals.
Adolis Garcia of the Rangers, he’s a CF but could move over to left and be an above average glove man for that position with power.
Who on the farm would AA have to trade? Considering Anderson’s troubles, Muller needs to stick around. I don’t think Grissom should be on the block.
They didn’t have to give up a lot for the 4 outfielders they got last year.
I want nothing to do with Pham.
Rosario in his career has virtually no difference in BA or OBP against righties or lefties, although his SLG% is way down against lefties. The question with Rosario at the moment is, is he good enough to play against anybody?
Looks like we’ll need a RH-hitting OF/DH, yes. The very idea of Ozuna in LF is dyspeptic.
Jorge Soler is having a bad season (207/295/400 w/ 13 HRs). He’s 30-years old & he’s making $12M this year.
The next 2 years of his contract pay him $15M in ‘23, then $9M in ’24 w/ some bonuses for # of PAs. Interestingly, he has opt-out clauses after this year & next year.
Best-case scenario? Get him for very little, relieve the Marlins of some contract obligation, he wakes up, wins another WS MVP, then he opts out of the contract. Easy-peasy.
@51 agree with this. My mention of Joc obviously doesn’t work since we don’t need another lefty in left field with Rosario
@48 Jennista, Shewmake, Alexander would be the position players who aren’t Grissom. Ynoa, Davidson, Tarnok, Shuster and Burroughs are the pitchers not Muller.
Last year Ball (Pederson) and Jackson (Duvall) came out of the farm for those trades.
Yes, there’s enough there to get someone who could help.
Isn’t Soler on the IL? Not sure he’s the best case. If you want someone who is cheap and has a definite need to “wake up”, you might try Gallo. We could probe the Reds for Drury and Naquin. I still like the idea of Benintendi and Whitfield but there will be major competition there. Of course, those OFs are lefties, but I’m not sure a Rosario/Ozuna platoon at DH would be a bad thing. Maybe we only need Drury since he can play 2B or OF. There are a lot of relievers to be had, too. Should be able to pick up a decent one for cheap.
Another difficult and challenging day in the life of a General Manager / President of Baseball Operations.
I’m joking about Soler. We’ve done as well as we’ll ever do with him. We need last year’s Soler.
And I wouldn’t go near Joey Gallo (a LH hitter). He’s already in the perfect ballpark for his swing, but he can’t make contact. Yeah, he needs a new environment, but even at his best… do we need another guy who strikes out that much? We already lead the league in that department.
For some context… in 493 PA w/ the Yanks (since being acquired in ’21), he’s .162/.296/.375 w/ 188 Ks. He makes Adam Dunn look like Stan Musial. We can do better, IMO.
Alex Verdugo has reverse splits, isn’t having a very good year, and the Sawx just gave up 28 runs in a game.
If we’re looking at potential low-cost, high upside acquisitions here at the deadline – – what do ya’ll think about Austin Meadows? Break out year last year – – but man, tough, injury/COVID-filled year this year.
I have no idea who but Rosario /Heredia platoon won’t get it .. our hands may be tied .. farm depleted .. no to Grissom or Muller … everyone else …adios
Recapped
Jonathan
I waited a few days so as to calm down as best I could. Your writing is juvenile, there is no reason to call a major league team miserable. A player of course, the Braves have four or five of them. Most teams do because most teams are really AAAA teams. The Braves were the miserable team in Sunday’s game. Or more correcy, did they just have a miserable performance? Or even more correct, did one player have a miserable performance? But a miserable team? I am inclined to think you never played one minute of any sport in a serious manner.
I would classify your writing as miserable.
But not the rest of your team.
You have my email if you want to continue. I almost never read the forum comments.
EdK