Meh…the Pirates salvaged a split with our Braves today in another real stinker, 7-5.
There are two personalities I identify with when things don’t go my way: Fred Sanford and the Grumpy Old Man, Walter Matthau. Since I’m an aging, middle-aged white guy…you’re getting the Grumpy Old Man recap today.
Atlanta led 4-0 through 2 1/2 innings and it seemed as though today might be the day. But a one-out single by Jason Delay started a rally for the Pirates. Josh Palacios was then hit by a pitch that should have been called a strike, Bryan Reynolds walked and out-of-nowhere MVP candidate, Ke’Bryan Hayes, singled to left to score Delay and Palacios. With the score cut in half, Bryce Elder got Alfonso Rivas to fly out to left. Kevin Pillar came up firing, Travis d’Arnaud made a great call, and Hayes was called out at home. But, then he wasn’t when replay idiots in NY overturned the call.
I hate MLB replay. There is no way that call should have been reversed. The system is broke and needs to be fixed. Not only does replay need to be fixed, I’m also ready to say it is time for robo-umps. Did you see that strike three call to Matt Olson to end the game? Meh…another real stinker.
Offense does its job
The good news is the offense banged out 12 more hits today and gave themselves a chance in ninth. Olson hit his career-high 40th homer of the season to make it 4-0. Austin Riley had three more hits to give him seven in the series, and d’Arnaud added two, as well.
The bad news is Elder couldn’t get through the sixth, and Snit used Brad Hand against righties – that rarely goes well. Additionally, the Braves are still 31 games over .500 and have a 10-game lead in the division.
And, oh, yeah! The Braves get to play the Mets four times this weekend. I’d like to say I’m confident, but we are running uncle Charlie Morton out there again Friday night and Yonny Chirinos is listed as Sunday’s probably starter. I sure hope we don’t see another real stinker for a few weeks.
Morton takes the mound against Tylor Megill. Morton’s struggles are well documented. He is 10-10 with an ERA below 4 somehow. Megill is 6-5 with a 5.45 ERA and 1.68 WHIP Let’s hope the offense whips up on him and that Morton can dial it in for 5+ innings tonight.
I’m curious, who do you think the Braves’ player of the game will be tonight?
I still can’t get over how high strike three to Olson was to end the game. What a joke.
Terrible! I’ve grown weary of the ump show!
I didn’t watch the game until the last 2 innings, but from what I saw the ump had a huge strike zone. In the 2 innings I watched there were 4 called strikes that were definitely balls.
The good news is that in spite of the disappointing losses we’ve seen recently, our offense is still doing special things. Matt Olson has been just out of his mind lately:
https://www.mlb.com/news/matt-olson-has-chance-at-60-homers-in-2023-breakout-season?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share
22 home runs in 49 games doesn’t seem too insurmountable after 20 in 45.
Saturday is a doubleheader. Strider will start one of the games. Looks like Soroka will be in line for a spot start in the other.
In his last 4 starts, Charlie is 0-4 with a 7.32 ERA with 15 BB, 17 K, and 3 HR allowed in 19.2 IP. Yuck.
Bryce Elder since July 9:
6 starts 28.1 IP, 12 BB, 17 K, 6 HR, 7.94 ERA. I was expecting regression but if he keeps on this bad his rotation spot will be in jeopardy. Or maybe he needs to phantom IL for a breather.
And the 5th starter is Yonny Chirinos: batting practice machine. If he has another bad start this weekend the Braves may cut bait.
Are you kidding on Chirinos? He has been our innings eater (along with Elder) this week by pitching 5 full innings (Strider 2.2, Fried 4) and has a much better ERA than Morton and Elder since he started.
I’m actually totally kidding on Chirinos, but that paints a pretty bleak picture of our starting staff lately. I’m hoping the Mets will save the day (and rotation) for us as they often do.
The Braves must not think that Alan Winans stuff will play in MLB, because his Triple A stats suggest he deserves a chance. A longer look than a lone 4 inning spot start
He’ll be back, I’m pretty confident. To be clear, he’s definitely not the answer! But he’ll be back.
By the way, the Rome Braves are changing their name. I submitted a request to call them the Hammers.
https://www.milb.com/rome/forms/name-the-team
Great idea, Alex!
This is the Friday night game thread!
While having no idea where the ball is going, our boy Charlie has thrown 88 pitches, walked seven, and somehow stranded two runners in all four innings of this game with the Mets.
It’s painful to watch. Hope he gets and IL stint, can go somewhere to work on his mechanics.
Given the schedule tomorrow, I think you’ve gotta see if you can nurse him through one more inning. I’m not especially excited about the prospects, though.
Good thing we are playing the Mets. 7 walks in 4 innings? That’s awful.
I’d make him eat one more, honestly. 100 pitches thru 5. That was a quick fifth 🙂
The Pirates hitters, give them credit, were scrappy all week long. The Mets hitters have, um…not been. The number of dumb swings that have led to pop-ups that have bailed Charlie out tonight so far has been staggering.
And as I say that, Vogelbach somehow strikes out on a pitch that hits him…LOL
L O Freaking L
Agreed. That’s the big difference between the Mets and Pirates. The Pirates would have at least 5 runs by now.
And that was as professional a 5 innings as you will ever see. I love me some Charlie. He looks like he needs tommy john
I didn’t watch at all. When you say he looks like he needs TJ… are you being serious?
Can we stretch out Pierce Johnson? (I’m kidding) but dude has been 🔥 since coming over!
Recapped