Well, I don’t think this is where any of us wanted to be coming into Sunday. The Braves find themselves in the midst of a three game losing streak and will try to salvage the series today to avoid their first sweep since September 2021. Max Fried (1.08) will toe the bump and try to get Atlanta back in the win column. He will be facing off against Houston’s Cristian Javier (3.68).
Max was tremendous last week against San Diego. He threw 79 pitches (55 strikes) over five scoreless innings against the Friars and picked up his first win of the season. Four K’s and no walks also paved the way to a shut out victory in his first full start of 2023. After the start in SoCal, Brian Snitker said the gloves were coming off and Fried would be fully ramped up for his next start. We need a good one and I trust Max to give us just that. I would really like to see 7 strong innings from Max and take some pressure off of a bullpen that has had some tough sledding this weekend.
The bats have been good but not great to start this seven game homestand. Some runs are being scored, a few balls are flying out of the yard, but timely hitting has completely vanished. Pair this with the production the team is getting from the bottom of the order and it’s really not all that surprising that Atlanta has dropped the first two games of this series. I can look past the bullpen hiccup on Friday night, but the bottom third of this lineup is a glaring weakness for the Braves as we start to move toward the month of May. This team needs to get back to full strength. Quickly.
Javier is off to a solid start in 2023. He comes into Sunday with a 2-0 record as well as 19 K’s through 22 innings, Opponents are slugging .500 against his fastball in 2023 so that’s what I expect the Braves to be hunting. The slider and curve have been gems this year. I predict that Matt Olson will put a 93 MPH Javier fastball into the Chop House. Olson has taken him deep twice in his career and I’d like to see Matt get back on track. He’s had a rough week.
Let’s salvage the series today and move on to the Marlins.
Where: Trusit Park, Atlanta GA
When: 1:35 pm ET
Watch: Bally Sports South, MLB Network
The lineup is about as good as it can be considering it’s an off day for Murphy and half the damn team is IL’d.
I am as concerned about our defense as our anemic offense. The left side of our defense doesn’t help our pitchers out at all.
And then Riley makes a really nice play for two
Yeah, great play there to end the top of the 4th. The bats will wake up now.
What do you think will be the over/under on guys Max picks off on the 3rd disengagement this season? I put it at 1 1/2.
I’m hammering that over.
Olson has struck out 37 times now in 22 games. I know an out is an out, but…damn.
He looks bad at times too
Hilliard should be hitting cleanup in this lineup.
Olson is starting his 8th season and he is a career .250 hitter. The idea that he is suddenly going to be something different than that is just April talking.
I think Olson is just pressing too much right now. He saw his unsustainable hot streak starting to come to an end and immediately got really frustrated for some reason. His last trip to the plate where he failed to check his swing on a 3-0 pitch and let Javier (or whoever it was at the time) back into the count was a pretty good example. What you’re doing giving a half-hearted check swing on a 3-0 pitch, I’ve got zero clue. I feel like simply relaxing might be in order for Matt.
Minter gives me absolutely no confidence here. But there are no better options.
three games in a row Alvarez has screwed us. This time wasting a great effort by Max.
We’d have been better off walking Alvarez and walking in a run – one is better than two.
Beaten in the last three innings three days in a row. Our hitters totally disappear in the last three innings.
Please keep telling me how great our bullpen is. Against good teams they get lit up. I hope this isn’t the pen we see in October because if so it is a short trip
We need Iglesias and McHugh back.
And about three other dudes. The smoke and mirrors has worn off these guys
This team is at the brink of being 3-7 against the Astros and Padres. This weakened lineup and bullpen can’t stack up against the big guns (and the Padres didn’t have Tatis). It happens. But it also shows that they have scant margin for error.
Nice series, A.J.
what a horror show. We needed one out and couldn’t get it
Amazing that out AAA level pitchers couldn’t get out legit mlb hitters…I would rather have the young kids who can at least break glass instead of these lollipop throwing fools that rely on guile and experience. The pen lost 2 games and put the other one out of reach. I feel bad for Snit because he has no bullets in that gun
Danny Young is one thing, but A.J. Minter and Jesse Chavez are clearly not AAA level pitchers and a large amount of the damage this series has been done on them.
Rosario is hardly better than Ozuna.
The offense is not doing well either in general.
I don’t know if Harris and tda are enough to finish in first places and anthopolous has blown the budget with these possibly unnecessary extensions….
DOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!! A tradition unlike any other.
Yes, these DOOOOMED!!!! comments today are absolute classics of the genre.
Recrapped, as they used to say: https://bravesjournal.com/2023/04/23/another-late-implosion-leads-to-astros-three-game-sweep/
I was coming to ask if we were DOOMED yet, but I see that I am too late…