Not exactly how you drew it up, but the guys shook hands at the end of the evening.
In the early going, it was a textbook version of the Good Hammers: Max Fried was pitching pretty well, and the offense bided its time until hanging a five-spot on Zack Wheeler, a guy who normally kills us. After the fifth inning, we were up 6-1 on homers by Matt Olson (tying Andruw Jones‘s record), Marcell Ozuna, and Ronald Acuña Jr. But those were early returns. The latter part of the game was like a redux of the first game on Monday.
Fried came out after just 87 pitches, likely because Snitker is still working to manage his workload as he comes back from his lengthy time on the shelf. Michael Tonkin rebounded from a rough outing in Pittsburgh on Saturday to throw two innings, allowing one run. That took us to the 7th inning, with Atlanta up 6-2. But the Phillies have a very good offense, and our bullpen has badly scuffled against them on this trip.
So Joe Jimenez came in and immediately crapped the bed, yielding a solo homer to Bryce Harper and a two-run homer to Bryson Stott, who’d entered the game as a pinch hitter two innings before. That cut the deficit to 6-5, which did not leave enough Reitsma Room for Raisel Iglesias, who did not enter the game with the full trust of the Braves Journal Faithful, and who lived down to expectations by immediately serving up a game-tying home run to Trea Turner.
I think Joe Jimenez has been better than we give him credit for; his poor reputation with the fans on this board is largely because of an awful run in May where he gave up runs in six of the 11 appearances he made that month. Since then, he’s been pretty lights-out: a 2.78 ERA, 3.57 FIP, .220/.271/.407 batting line against, 69% strike percentage, 11.4 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 (good for a cool 5.1 K/BB), and those numbers include last night.
Iglesias missed April, and he had a bad start to his season, too: his ERA didn’t come below 4.00 until Independence Day, and that was a game on which he gave up a walkoff single to score the Manfred Man, which meant that the run was unearned and his ERA came down. Still, he too has been better than we give him credit for, I think. Since July, he has a 2.33 ERA, 2.93 FIP, .222/.282/.323 batting line against, 69% strike percentage, 10.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 (3.4 K/BB), and those numbers include last night, too. He’s not exactly Peak Craig Kimbrel, but then again, neither is Craig Kimbrel, who was credited with the loss last night on an unearned run as Eddie Rosario singled home the Manfred Man.
Iglesias shouldn’t be immune to criticism, but he shouldn’t get more than he deserves, either.
I gave a lengthy defense of the trade to acquire Jimenez in the comment thread shortly after his meltdown, because again, he really has been quite good for us. But just like our starters had a collective dead-arm period a few weeks ago, our pen seems to be going through something similar right now, particularly as the Phillies have a lot more to play for at the moment than we do.
In the meantime, the Magic Number to win the division is 2, and the team record is 95-50. The team is the envy of baseball and has been all year, and has so many weapons that multiple players can play poorly for weeks at a time and the team can continue winning at a .650 clip. The Phillies are a good team, but they only have one more win than the Cubs, and the Marlins, Reds, Diamondbacks, and Giants are all nipping at their heels in the Wild Card race. They currently hold the first Wild Card spot by 3.5 games, so it’s not like their backs are against the wall. But they need to keep their foot on the gas.
Spencer Strider vs. Christopher Sanchez tonight. I’m sure a lot of people in the clubhouse would love to see Spencer put himself back into contention for the Cy Young, which his current 3.83 ERA all but precludes. Go get ’em, kid!
Iglesias has certainly had some rough moments this season, but generally, I feel pretty confident when he’s on the mound. He was absurdly good during his time with the Braves last year (0.34 ERA, 1.52 FIP, etc.), but we all knew that kind of production wasn’t going to be sustainable over the course of a full season.
Iggy is still getting plenty of whiffs (90th percentile) and plenty of swings on pitches outside the zone (98th percentile). His four-seamer and sinker have gotten him into some real trouble, but his slider and changeup have been lights out. If he can throw his fastballs on the outer edges more, he’ll be even more effective than he’s already been.
Thanks, Alex. I appreciate your setting forth the evidence that the bullpen, including especially Jimenez and Iglesias, has been very good this season. I try to ignore the commenters who complain so regularly about the bullpen, but the refrain has gotten tiresome. Of course both Jimenez and Iglesias have sucked in their last couple of outings, and I do understand frustration and perhaps anxiety about their potential post-season performance.
But I’d still take the Braves’ pen over most anyone else’s at this point. They are not perfect; no bullpen is. Except the Braves bullpen in the 2021 post-season, which came about as close to perfection as we are likely to see on this side of the vale. That may be part of the problem–I think we may be spoiled. But the good news is a bullpen doesn’t have to be perfect to win a World Series.
One thing that has set this blog apart from so many other sites on the internet is that people generally make assertions based on evidence. We don’t necessarily agree with each other (and that’s a good thing!), but opinions asserted here over the years have historically been based on facts. Thank you, Alex, for reminding us of the facts about Joe and Iggy.
I suspect you’re right that Strider’s Cy Young chances are close to nil, based on his ERA. In an earlier era, his gaudy Win/Loss record would have garnered him support. Pete Vuckovich won the AL Cy Young in 1982 because he went 18-6, for the best winning percentage in the league. His ERA was 114, only 14th in the league. Fortunately voters are savvier than that nowadays. Jacob deGrom brought home to most folks who didn’t know already that Wins are not a good measure of pitcher success.
But the funny thing is, although Strider’s been lucky in his Win total, he’s been pretty unlucky in his ERA. His FIP of 2.89 is the lowest in the league. I’m not saying he deserves the Cy Young, but in some ways he’s pitched better than many folks are giving him credit for.
Y’all probably figured out that I meant to say his OPS+ was 114.
I’m not really down on Iglesias. In fact, I think he’s been a great closer. I am more miffed at the coaching staff not playing leverage matchups. All three batters Iglesias was set to face have had especially good results off of him (not even including Turner’s HR last night). He was just not the correct pitcher for that situation and everyone watching knew it. They showed the matchup results on the screen at the beginning of the inning.
Playing matchups with just a handful of plate appearances can be a fool’s errand. It’s awfully hard to draw firm conclusions from a handful of at-bats.
Wins are the most important thing for a starting pitcher. Strider should be a slam dunk for Cy Young *
I don’t really believe that, I just staid it for the benefit of Jonathon F. I know he appreciates it. (-:
I do.
Putter last night said that this bullpen isn’t The Night Shift. I agree. But I remind everyone that until the playoffs, the Night Shift were a lot more porous than this bullpen is. As amazing as their playoff run in 2021 was, I remind everyone that small sample size works in both directions, and that the performance of a rested bullpen with playoff-caused rest can differ dramatically from in-season performance.
On another note, Atlanta can clinch the division tonight with a win. How many of you predicted at the start of the year that the Braves would clinch on Sept 13? If so, please help me with stock purchases.