Braves vs. Twins Game 1 went the Braves way, 4-1, and if you didn’t get to catch the recap, you missed out on the brilliance of Jonathan F. Lucky for you though, I keep receipts so here is that piece. Bryce Elder will take on Joe Ryan (my first name is Joseph, middle name Ryan so I already like him). It should be a good matchup as both carry ERAs below 3. Chris Roberts just informed me that neither team has seen the other pitcher so look for adjustments after the 1st time through the order.
Braves Transactions
According to the Braves official page, the team has brought both Charlie Culberson and Seth Elledge back on MILB deals. This is not surprising as the Braves value both these guys as veteran leaders. This makes the 3rd signing in less than a week as the Braves also signed catcher Dominic Miroglio to an MILB deal.
Respect the Elder, Twins. Let’s hope he keeps doing his thing, and the offense keeps doing theirs! I just wish I wasn’t blacked out from watching these games…MLB.TV – SMH…
Thanks, Boss. BTW: I was doing some more research on guys who hit 40+. As I said, Davey Johnson was the only one who never hit more than 20 other than that year. There are only 8 others who haven’t hit 30 at some point. Three of them are youngsters who I’m pretty sure will hit 30 eventually: RAJ, Tatis and Torres. All of them might even do it this year, though Torres will have to pick up his pace a bit. A fourth active player, Salvador Perez, will probably do it as well if his knees don’t give out, possibly this year.
The others are: Hack Wilson (27 in his second-best year) Richard Hidalgo (28) and Jayson Werth (29)
Note: 159 players have had 40 HR seasons… so 150 of them had a second-best HR season of 30+. Just over half of them (77) have had more than one 40+ HR season.
HR, 3B, HR…
Helluva start, guys…
EDIT: This is getting ridiculous, but… gotta love it.
Goodness, this offense. Feels like 2003.
Edit: Awesome stat from the broadcast – the Braves have more 1st inning home runs this year than the Mets have 1st inning runs.
Edit2: OK this is ridiculous! All I can say is wow.
That’s both awesome and hilarious!
They hit 5 HRs before they made 5 outs tonight.
This offense is scary good.
Did Olson hit on the ump’s missus? Talk about borderline strikes….
Elder is not sharp tonight.
But he continues to grind…
Oh, lawdy. This offense sure wasn’t hitting like this a month ago. Just disgusting.
I’m watching on Gameday. Does the defense really look as bad as four errors in four innings would suggest?
Sorry in advance, Rob, but here’s a good piece about scouting LSU-Florida:
https://theadvancescout.substack.com/p/in-omaha-the-edge-is-in-the-execution
Double plays, a pitcher’s best friend
Elder pulled it together and got through 6 allowing just 2 runs despite his struggles. Kudos.
It is fun to pull for a good team.
I am damn tired of the FEESH winning.
Yeah, the Feesh are having a ridiculous run. They have the 3rd best record in the NL with a negative run differential still. Surely they have to regress back to .500 soon.
Agreed, Cliff. The winning concludes Friday!
It wasn’t too many years ago the Braves were known for a June swoon. Didn’t that contribute to why Fredi got fired? How times have changed. 19-4 this month with 2 games left. Wonder what the team record is for June winning percentage? Or any month.
Fredi was fired because his 2016 team started off like 9-27. (IMO he should have been fired much earlier after the September 2011 collapse).
Allard is getting the start tomorrow instead of Soroka. Which means he will have to come off the 60 day IL and take a spot on the 40 man. Also is he even stretched out yet? Odd choice.
Edit: Maybe they want to see if they can get something out of him to see if he’s a trade candidate or simply a DFA candidate.
Kolby Allard tomorrow. Didn’t see that one coming. Sorry to mislead y’all with the series preview.
I’m disappointed it won’t be Soroka but am kind of anxious to see Allard make it, too!
Apparently the reasoning is that the Twins hit RHP better than LHP.
Elder is now leading the NL in ERA. If he keeps at his current pace, do you guys think he has a chance for Cy Young? I was not expecting to ever mention Cy Young and Bryce Elder in the same sentence.
Also, Atlanta is only .5 games behind Tampa for the best record in baseball. If you would have told me at the first of the year that Wright and Fried would be hurt. Iglesias would have a 4.57 ERA, Minter’s ERA would be 5.40, and McHugh would have a 3.69 ERA with a 1.81 OPS, I would have said there would be no way we would be in first place. 3rd or 4th place would seem much more likely
All the glass half empty stats being invoked here belong on the pitching side of the ledger
When your offense is picking up the slack, the glass is more than half full
I, for one, am almost relieved that we get Max at some point in the next month with time to build for the postseason without a full regular season workload on the clock (injury permitting, etc)
I’ve heard nothing about Wright – this worries me
Recapped: