And there it is. That’s the team – the devastating, star-studded lineup with October ambitions. And that’s the result that tells you why their hopes are not a pipe dream.
For a while, the game seemed like a repeat of the previous evening. Kevin Pillar made the most of a rare start in left with an RBI double in the second to kick off the scoring, and the torrid Sean Murphy kicked in a solo shot in the fourth. Then the game remained 2-0 until the 8th inning; as wobbly as Blake Snell can often appear, the Braves never hung a crooked number on him. For his part, Spencer Strider was finally himself: unhittable. He went six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts, finally yielding a lone single in the sixth. The Padres have now lost six of seven.
Of course, the score didn’t stay there. In the late innings, the offense kicked past insurance runs and took the game into laugher territory, thanks to Earl Weaver‘s favorite play, the three-run homer: Ozzie to straightaway center in the eighth, and Matt Olson with an utter moonshot to right field in the ninth.
The final outs of the game were recorded by Kirby Yates, the former star closer for the Padres – he led the major leagues in saves and finished ninth in the Cy Young vote back in 2019. He hasn’t made a single perfect appearance this year – in every single one of his seven games, he’s given up at least one hit or walk – but last night, he shrugged off a double and struck out his last two men swinging. He’s pitching fine for a middle reliever, even if he’s not a late-inning arm right now. Nick Anderson, who was also excellent in 2019 and has also had a long road back, pitched a forgettable eighth inning, allowing a run on a double and a single, but the run was nearly meaningless thanks to the Albies insurance.
At this point, based on usage, I think Snitker has shown he trusts Anderson. Also based on usage, I think he’s shown he doesn’t yet trust Yates. If Yates can pull out a few clean innings, he might climb higher on the pen depth chart, which would be highly valuable to protecting the health of the other arms back there. The Braves have played 18 games and Jesse Chavez has appeared in 10 of them; A.J. Minter and Dylan Lee have been in 9, Nick Anderson has been in 8, Yates in 7, Joe Jimenez in 6, and Michael Tonkin in 5 (though he typically goes more than an inning, so he gets more rest in between).
Jimenez has been a disappointment in the early going; hopefully, he will recover his velocity and become a key contributor, because he’s been a nonfactor thus far. McHugh will be back soon, which will relieve a lot of the pressure from Jesse Chavez.
Charlie Morton against Nick Martinez today. It’s another afternoon getaway game, as the Braves finally get to enjoy an off-day tomorrow. Nick Martinez is a 32-year old journeyman who has an 11:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio on the young season. Let’s go get him.
I fell asleep listening to the radio in the top of the 6th, then woke up with two out in the bottom of the ninth.
It was a great way to drift off.
It is getting close to time for my periodic reminder that no team is nearly as good as they look when they are playing well or as bad as they look when playing badly (though I might make an exception there for the A’s — how happy must Olson and Murphy be?.)
Are the Braves good? Yes. Is the very best record of any team the Braves have played this season 3 games under .500? Also yes.
The A’s are on a 27-win pace… and that might be optimistic.
Otherwise, let the good times roll.
I decided to manage them in OOTP 24 for a challenge, and managed a 65 win season, Probably should get some MOtY votes.
One of the worst teams I’ve ever seen in OOTP.
Great recap, AAR. Re: the bullpen depth, it feels like playing with fire a little bit to be using Jesse Chavez, repeatedly, in high-leverage situations in 2023. That said, how cool is it that Jesse Chavez is killing it in high-leverage situations in 2023.
It’s really pretty extraordinary.
Playing with the leaderboards, though, Atlanta’s bullpen is once again distinguishing itself both in excellence and volume. Third-most innings in the majors, fourth-most WAR, third-best ERA-, fifth-best WPA, and the best WPA/LI in baseball. So that’s great, and very much in keeping with the preseason projection that it would be one of the best relief squads in the league. But I hope Snit will be able to continue distributing the innings effectively.
Those are great numbers and the eye test confirms those. I think Snit has done a great job so far with the pen this season.
In general, I think, over the past few years both Snitker and Anthopoulos have demonstrated a real gift for both bullpen assembly and bullpen management. The names frequently change via injury, trade, free agency, and ineffectiveness, which tells me that there really is a secret sauce and they really are smarter than the average bear. The Night Shift has mostly moved on. But they’re still getting outs and nailing down games. That’s really impressive.
And this is always the case, right? Snit juggling innings effectively…I live the numbers and the effectiveness of the pen – and I hope our starters can start getting a little deeper into games.
Nozuna today!