Happy Mother’s Day, y’all. We were all concerned when two of the Braves’ top starters went down on the IL for at least a couple of months. Fortunately, the remaining three starters (Strider, Morton, and Elder) have done their part. The Braves are in the midst of a three game skid not due to pitching woes but because the bats all of a sudden decided to go silent. In these three consecutive losses, the Braves have gone scoreless in 25 of 27 innings.
Today’s 1:37 start features the second bullpen game this week. Collin McHugh will start, and I suspect we will see multiple innings from Michael Tonkin and Dylan Lee. The crucial thing, of course, is to get the bats booming again.
Losing three in a row, and facing a possible sweep, is nothing to get too concerned about. Even very good teams go through stretches like this. Nor is the offensive funk anything to get worked up over; they will snap out of it one of these games.
But relying on two bullpen games out of every five is a cause for concern. They need to figure out which of the guys now at AAA can give them serviceable innings in the big leagues. I imagine Dodd, Shuster, and Soroka will get their chances. In the meantime, we have to count on the bullpen. Although I believe the current pen is better than many on this board think it is, it can’t hold up if it pitches this many bullpen games and has to put in at least 3 or 4 innings when a starter can’t go deep.
Although I’m not concerned, I am frustrated. In my Friday recap, I said some good things about Canada and Canadians. But the Braves have now lost 8 straight to the Blue Jays. That’s taking international friendship entirely too far. Let’s kick their butts today.
(Some of you thought I didn’t know any music made in the last 50 years. But who doesn’t love Taylor Swift?)
What do you guys think is the percentage chance Acuna goes 40/40. Currently well on pace for 40+ steals and 33 HRs but obviously on a hot streak.
Not to get too cute, but I’m gonna put his chances at… 40%. Wacka wacka
Tbh from a power perspective I don’t think this is a hot streak. His last couple healthy years his isoSLG has been over .300 and this year it’s “only” .240.
Dang it, I used my work email for that comment and now my work nerd picture is on there.
Oh, young Rob in that picture. I have so much to tell you, and sadly, I cannot.
I thought it was just your Mother’s Day tribute. So clean cut.
Going to be tough to have a viable bullpen if McHugh and Minter are both dumpster fires. McHugh’s WHIP is nearly 2.00 since he came back from the IL. He’s not right.
A blizzard of Ozz!
Good for Riley, getting on base with a little flare hit! He’s hit ’em on the screws right at a lot of guys, but he just put a little massé on that one and dunked it over the second baseman’s head.
From Gameday It seemed like McHugh was mostly getting BABIP’d then maybe got frustrated or tired, but didn’t get hit hard. Does that seem accurate?
A little of everything that inning. Some solid hits, some cheap hits, some more outfield confusion, a walk.
I feel like Acuña is racking up the assists this year.
The Braves have played terrible defense these last three days and the Blue Jays have played great defense. It has made a huge difference. The Blue Jays defense is one reason the Braves bats are not producing.
We gotta get MH2 going.
Wow. I’d been complaining in my head all day about the inconsistency in the strike zone against us, but that called strike 3 on Guerrero makes up for a lot.
This whole team could use a Tom Emanski refresher course. They’re playing defense this series as though they’re drunk.
What is the problem with catching pop ups and communicating this series?
That was some great recovery pitching by Yates.
Weird to think that Yates might be one of the most reliable relievers in this bullpen now. McHugh isn’t fooling anyone, Minter is a disaster and Iglesias has gotten torched twice in a row.
Look, I don’t know for sure that it would have turned out differently, but Anderson absolutely breezed through the 8th on 7 pitches. I know Raisel is the “closer” and he’s a good pitcher, but why not minimize your risk in reliever roulette?
It’s obviously not his fault, but have the braves won a game since TDA got back?
Garbage series, garbage execution on defense and offense. Riley obviously not even trying cause he got his big contract, same as Michael Harris. (Sarcasm).
Ozuna was one of the few bright spots, surprisingly.
I feel like Iglesias is still rusty.
I have barely been able to watch since Wednesday because of kids events and my dad‘s 75th surprise birthday party. This series is on me, but I can now, with confidence, that my priorities are back to where they need to be.
Kind of hard to win when any player you put in to close allows at least 2 runs.
On another note, did you realize that the Mets have the largest payroll in history at 350 million? I’ve got to think if they don’t do well this year, they could be in huge trouble.
Recap thread: https://bravesjournal.com/2023/05/14/braves-swept-in-toronto/
One sentence preview: I really hope we stop with the bullpen games.