I feel crapshot.
The Phillies put up 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd and never looked back, eliminating the Braves 3 games to 1 and moving on to the NLCS. Charlie Morton was nailed in the pitching elbow by Alec Bohm leading off the 2nd, and went on to allow another single and a 3-run homer by Brandon Marsh before escaping the inning. Charlie was x-rayed between innings, and it came back negative, but he was pulled before completing his 3rd inning warmups.
The usually reliable bullpen wasn’t much help either. In the 4th, Collin McHugh gave up an inside-the-park home run to J.T. Realmuto, Michael Harris hoping for the catch in deepest left-center, but the ball caromed on the fly off the cutout of the fence and back past Harris back into centerfield. There is some debate if Realmuto could have been held at 3rd if Ronald Acuna had been quicker backing up the play, but I think it’s doubtful. It’s been hinted Ronald’s knee is bothering him than made public. I’m optimistic we will see a new Ronald next season.
In the 6th, the Phillies touched A.J. Minter and Raisel Iglesias for 4 singles, a hit-by-pitch, and 3 more runs. Kenley Jansen gave up a solo homer to Bryce Harper in the 8th to conclude the scoring. Only Dylan Lee managed to get through his appearance without allowing a run, shutting down the Phils in the 7th.
The Braves got some long-awaited long balls, but that was about all they got. Orlando Arcia, Matt Olson, and Travis d’Arnaud all hit solo home runs, but the Braves could tack on only a single from Arcia otherwise. The Braves struck out 15 times.
The Phillies were the better team this week. The Braves will have to be content with 101 wins and their 5th consecutive NL East title. Topics will be cussed and discussed all through the winter, but the window is wide open to roll the dice again for the next several years.
At the Nationals, Thursday, March 30th.
Thanks, Rusty. The Braves faltered at the very end, but you stayed strong through the finish line.
Just watched the end of the UT-Bama game. Vols fans are happier than I’m sad.
The series loss itself isn’t all that shocking, but rather the manner in which it was lost. You’d have thought these Phillies were the ones who won 101 games. The competition gap was huge in this series – these Braves didn’t really even put up a real fight outside of Game 2. Games 1, 3, and 4 weren’t even close (excluding Olson’s 3R tank in the 9th of G1). They didn’t hit, they didn’t pitch, and the defensive play was too sloppy outside of G2. Unfortunately, this felt like a playoff performance we’re all too familiar with, but at least 2021 is a soothing balm.
@1, this Vols/Braves fan is feeling bipolar right now. 😉
As far as the Braves are concerned, I’m extremely proud of the team and the way it chased down the Mets. It was the most exciting pennant race since they did it to the Giants almost 30 years ago. We remember that team fondly, don’t we? I think in time we’ll feel the same way about the 2022 Braves.
And, although I almost never post, I want to say how much I appreciate the quality of the recappers and commenters here (most of them, anyway). It makes the season so much more fun!
Thanks to all.
@3
Pretty much how I feel right now as a fellow Braves/Vols fan. Very weird feeling.
FWIW, Riley said post-game that he’s been fighting a mechanical issue with his hands. Nothing injured.
Yeah, crazy game.
Wasn’t really sure which team I was rooting for in Knoxville — a Bama win might’ve helped UGA more — but, as it often seems to happen in games like that (very little defense), it comes down to the field-goal kickers.
That game sure threw a monkey wrench into things in the SEC (& beyond).
M’s-Astros are scoreless in the 17th inning!
Strange to have the pinnacle of the year (unexpected sweep vs the Mets) – – and then crash & burn so un-impressively vs the Phils. But as someone said earlier, the 2021 title makes it easier to digest, for sure.
Congrats to Vols fans. I’m watching my Clemson Tigers take control at FSU. Man, how things have changed since the Bobby Bowden glory days.
Astros win in the 18th and advance. And Dodgers have an early lead thanks to a Freeman double. Sigh…
At least one good thing happened in baseball today. Cleveland with 3 in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Yankees. Rookie RF now has 3 GW hits in this postseason.
Amazing baseball in Seattle. Even more amazing baseball in Cleveland. Less than amazing baseball in Philadelphia.
sdp makes a good point @2. Remember when we lost to the Dodgers in 2018 and everyone said we lost because they were obviously a much better team. Well, if the Dodgers had played like the Braves did in this series, nobody would have said that. That’s part of the crapshoot factor: every team has stretches when they look bad. — you just hope it isn’t in October, because everyone is good enough to take advantage of your problems.
The Braves lost three games because they played crappy baseball for three games against a good (if not great) team. But when you play crappy baseball, the other team doesn’t have to be any more than a good team.
Hoping for a Padres-Cleveland World Series, and I don’t care who wins if that’s the matchup.
I see Dave Roberts is managing his way right out of another postseason.
Hader struck out Freeman to end the Dodgers season. I love it.
After tonight, could be just the Astros standing between us and “Manfred broke the regular season.”
I didn’t watch LA/SD, so someone will have to opine as to what happened at a series level. Was it really just Dave Roberts?
I can stomach our bats going cold and our starters being affected by illness/injury. All that is probably not surmountable. But it bothers me that we didn’t have the right plan to manage Strider because it makes me feel like our braintrust doesn’t know what it’s doing. From top to bottom, we weren’t on our game.
If it is true that a number of our position players wore down–which I’m not sure I buy–then as people on here have said before, we should go get a super-sub, which makes Ozuna even more The Problem than he already is.
In a nutshell, the Dodger bats were cool, and the pitching wasn’t quite as crisp. They were outscored 15-12 in the four games.
Sucks to finish the season like this. But what a fun regular season it has been. We’re going to be in contention for a long time now. Wouldn’t want to root for any other team and organisation. Go Braves.
Yeah, it’s clear he’s been fighting it. Glad he’s not injured.
I do hope that in the next “Where Do We Go From Here”s we can talk about sitting some of those guys an extra 10 games a year. They look worn down.
@3 This Braves/Gator fan is feeling extra depressed. 🤣🤣
Man, what a shitty day for sports yesterday. Kept going from tailgate to tailgate in Gainesville getting the Braves game. Each spot. More bad news. More bourbon.
It is super hard to repeat. And that Philly team really wanted this series. When Hoskins went yard and spiked his bat, I wasn’t feeling good about the series. Sometimes the will prevails. They were ready to win a series.
Man, how about them Vols, Smitty? That’s the biggest win since 1998, no? Heupel has done a tremendous job with that offense. Defense is playing really hard too.
Very real scenario here.
@14, sounds familiar–at least they didn’t have starters with the flu or oblique issues.
I don’t know what to do with “We were worn down by the pennant race” and “The layoff seems to have hurt the teams that got a bye.”
They seem like they contradict each other, but perhaps they don’t. Possible that the bye is the worst of both worlds, not enough time to really recuperate (given what you actually have to do to prep for a playoff series in a few days) but just enough time to throw you off your rhythm.
That the Phillies “wanted it more” is completely unconvincing to me.
Where Do We Go From Here
@18
There’s no question that it’s the biggest win at least since beating your Gators in the rescheduled game in December 2001. However, you may recall that we turned around the next week after that and crapped the bed in the SEC Championship (against a Saban coached LSU, coincidentally). So there’s an argument to be made that it’s our biggest win since the national championship game of the ’98 season.
On the layoff, it was only one day longer than last year’s. I really don’t think it was this huge all-consuming problem that blew us up. To think that would be to ignore that we started listing badly offensively in the Miami series and that illness and injury left us with one reliable starting pitcher. Had the offense been humming on all cylinders we could have maybe plowed through our pitching issues long enough where Fried got his strength back and Strider had himself more or less righted, but they were not running on all cylinders. Given how tired everyone seemed in Florida, I’m actually not sure the layoff did anything to make that worse.
@20
Tweet of the day!
Bama will not be a force until they can clean up the mistakes. School record number of penalties and still almost won. They should have been better this year than last but the receivers are worse and the secondary isn’t better. Probably a repeat of last year but Rob may have a point with the potential SEC outcome.
With regards to the Braves, I think the background issues may be more visible in the playoffs than they were in the regular season. Harris and Grissom ARE rookies and I’m sure they both played better against lesser competition. Pitchers seem to have found Harris’ weak spot – especially lefties. Also, I think recovery of Morton and Acuna from last year’s serious injuries was less complete than we want to admit. Ozuna and his hand too. Rosario and his eyes. Without Ozzie, the Braves don’t have the same energy and Acuna wasn’t helping this year with that. Strider was not at full strength after his oblique. Things that didn’t make as much difference in the regular season (i.e. could be glossed over or compensated) were highlighted in the playoffs.
The potential is there for next year’s team to be even better. Ozzie comes back, Wright stays elite, Ozuna and Rosario and Acuna and Morton revert to their norms. Yates comes on. Another young starter breaks out (Elder, Shuster, Muller, someone). As good as this team was this year, there is potential for better next year.
@18 I think it’s more possible that TN beats GA and then loses to Bama in the SEC championship. In that scenario, I think Ole Miss and GA do not make the playoff but TN and Bama do. Possibly, Ohio State and Mich the other playoff teams. Clemson with an outside chance. With losses by OK State and USC, the Big 12 and Pac 10 should be out. Maybe TCU has a shot.
I’m going to go with the guys just running out of gas. You could see it in Miami. It took heaven and Earth, it seemed, to win the one game they had to. And maybe the layoff didn’t help matters.
The season is long and grueling. Grinding every night to catch the Mets probably made it even more so. I think they emptied the tank in that final series against the Mets. And so it seemed too many guys were just physically and mentally tapped out to play even another week of high-stakes baseball.
@13
I don’t think Roberts’ overmanaging is what cost the Dodgers this series, for the record. In fact, it was less of a factor than usual. However, he didn’t do himself any favors last night. Plus I just like ragging on him because I hate his managing style.
@27, Fair, I was just asking, since I haven’t watched one AB of that series.
I agree that the layoff shouldn’t top anyone’s list of things to blame. Unfortunate that it didn’t help more, though. (And I get that the real benefit is avoiding the wild card round, not necessarily the days off in and of themselves.)
@22, Game 2 showed that the flip side could’ve worked as well. If our other top starters were as healthy as Wright, even with the offense struggling, we might’ve been able to scratch out a couple more victories, given that we still managed to beat their best pitcher.
So it goes. I can’t help but feel good when I see who’s under control and for how long. We don’t have a window, we have an eight-lane highway.
Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Yankees (soon)…. Houston will be the only 92+ win team left.
A tough week at the craps table….
Jonathan, don’t forget to include the favorite team of the World’s Greatest Baseball Fans kicked out in the first round too. Top four teams in the NL all gone.
Why are the big teams losing? As long as you let 6 WC teams into the tournament, IMO, it’s gonna happen. Just that simple. More WC teams, more upsets. It’s a sport made to maximize TV money, not reward the best teams anymore. That’s just the way it is with modern professional sports.
So, get in the tournament & do your best. The ’22 NL champ could be this year’s ’11 Cards, ’14 SF Giants, ’19 Nationals, etc. Just get used to it, if you aren’t already. The crapshoot just got crappier.
A Footnote: If the Phils beat SD, they’ll be the first 3rd-place team to ever make the World Series.
#18
Could be a bit of a dream scenario, but I have a hard time believing that the Big 10 champ won’t be undefeated. And then there’s Clemson… TCU is actually pretty good, but they’d def have to finish undefeated for consideration. (BTW, they have a smallish KR/WR, Derius Davis, who’s really fun to watch.)
Here’s a crazier scenario: An Ole Miss/Tennessee SEC title game.
Obviously, Ole Miss would have to beat Bama & lose NMT 1 game… Truth be told, life’s about to get real for the Rebs. The rest of their schedule is a death march. I see 2 losses.
UT, however, could even lose to UK, but as long as they beat UGA (and don’t lose to anyone else), they’ll go to ATL. Seems like Nov. 5 @ 3:30 in Sanford Stadium is gonna be a helluva tilt.
I wouldn’t call the rest of Bama’s schedule easy, but they can definitely win the rest of their games.
I still don’t know how to feel about any of this, as I assumed the absolute ceiling for Tennessee this year was 10-2 with losses to Bama and Georgia, followed by a trip to a New Year’s Six bowl (and I would have deemed that a bit pie in the sky). Obviously Alabama and Georgia still control their own path to the SEC title game, so I wouldn’t get too carried away yet. As an aside, I’m very glad Tennessee has a gimme game next week (UT Martin) rather than a trap game. Kentucky does serve as something of a trap game the week before the trip to Georgia.
UK & UT will make a curious matchup.
UT has a powerful offense & shaky D, while UK has stout D & a cumbersome offense (even with Levis back in action). RB Chris Rodriguez & their O-line better have a big game if UK’s gonna compete.
@31 I liked the days when MLB was run by a loose alliance of owners who just as well would have been consolidating their capital in a factories. They were owners of traveling circuses. They couldn’t see far beyond their noses. They couldn’t get it together enough to do much beyond having league champions play one another.
Anyway, goddamn hell, that was a great race with the Mets. We Chipper Jonesed their asses. I’ll remember this team like I do for the ’93 one.
@34: We spent 4 very entertaining months chasing down the Mets. You can’t throw all that entertainment away in one disappointing week. Not if you love baseball…
Naylor? I hardly know’er.
I feel like a guy who had a really tasty meal and was just told there’s nothing for dessert.
A drag for sure, but I enjoyed the season.
Waiting for April is gonna suuuuuck
As a Braves fan, I’m really disappointed because we have a much better team than Philly. Winning it all last year makes it slightly more bearable. Other than Wright, our starting pitching ran out of gas at the end.
As a Bama fan I’m really disappointed about this team because they potentially have the most talent they’ve had in the Saban era. As normal, their defense underachieves in big games. We need a new defensive coordinator. Bryce Young was incredible. Tennessee did a great job of stopping our pass rush and making the big play when it looked like momentum shifted.
My offseason wish list:
1. Re-sign Dansby. For as many faults as he has, there are worse options, and I just don’t see us doling out the money to land a Correa or Trea Turner.
2. A left-fielder. It was a black hole this year, for the most part. Given Rosario’s performance, even after the eye injury, I can’t pencil him in.
3. A starting pitcher, but they’ll probably be content with Fried-Strider-Wright-Morton + Soroka/Elder/Muller/Odorizzi.
4. Re-sign Luke Jackson + other bullpen depth.
Am I the only person that wishes the Braves hadn’t committed 40M (I know the 2nd year is a team option) to Charlie Morton?
I’m also wondering if the Battery and attendance this season has generated enough revenue to give Marcell Ozuna his 54M and thank him for his time.
HOTTEST OF TAKES: I’d kick the tires on quietly shopping Albies. 2B is about as non-premium as you can get, Grissom was amazing, and I think Ozzie’s approach and huge splits as a switch hitter are going to doom him to a .265 hitter for the rest of his career if nothing changes. Albies has never had a season with a 121 OPS+ and Grissom did it as a 21 year old rookie out of A+ ball with a cup of coffee at AA. Albies is an absolutely great kid and represents the Braves well. But if a team was enamored with him and that contract, I’d consider it.
Isn’t Albies’ contract a steal? I wouldn’t shop him, I would just treat Grissom like a super sub to give each infielder a rest every few days.
@40, I agree with everything you said there. Albies contract is only a steal if 1.) he actually plays and 2.) he’s better than average. Neither of those is a given. It’d be all about what we could get in return. The longer we wait, the less we might get. I’m not sure what his perceived value is right now. I value him pretty low (way below Swanson, for example), but I’d imagine most fans think he’s awesome.
I wish I had the answer to “how can we make sure we’re clicking offensively in the playoffs?” Riley’s end of season slump kinda doomed us. I’m sure Dodger fans are asking similar questions. Stupid crapshoot.
I have to believe there was some kind of handshake deal involved to not trade Ozzie just because of how ridiculously team friendly the deal was. Also, we should consider the effect on Ronald if we trade Oz.
Ideally, Grissom starts the year at Gwinnett and only comes up when we can guarantee him 4+ starts a week. Given our end of year offensive woes the idea of giving every infielder a day off per week sounds like a good idea. Of course if Dansby leaves then he is penciled in at short which isn’t the worst outcome.
One problem I see is that Arcia is already a good supersub and I question the need for two of those. Trading Orlando might be an appealing option should we sign Dans or another top shortstop and want to keep Grissom in the majors.
New thread.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2022/10/17/who-are-you-wanting-to-wear-the-crown/