I was tempted to just recap the Falcons game in this space, as I watched 100 percent of it and none of the Braves game this afternoon. Plus, like, it was an exciting game that the right team won. I realize not everyone might appreciate that, though, so instead, I’ll put about as much into this Braves recap as the team put into this game…which is to say not much.
The Marlins completed a three-game sweep of the local nine with a 16-2 whitewashing on Sunday. Miami scored five runs in the third and four each in the sixth and seventh. And a few more in other innings, as well.
Charlie Morton did not have his best start, by any means. He allowed 12 baserunners over 4.2 innings, so that’s not great. That broke down as six hits, five walks and a hit batsman, and he allowed six runs over that stretch.
Obviously, the offense didn’t get much going either, unlike the first two games of the series where the offense did fine and it was the bullpen that was the real issue.
Had you asked me prior to this weekend, I’d have not been surprised at us dropping this series after we just clinched the division…what with the Marlins playing for their lives and the rest of our regular season having just been rendered largely irrelevant. Though this series was a mess of the highest order, I don’t find it relevant in any meaningful way. Obviously, you’d like the team to shake this off and get back to playing remotely palatable baseball during the season’s final couple weeks. They will host a Phillies team that re-separated themselves for the top NL wild card spot over the weekend. That will be a three-game set, followed by a four-game trip to Washington to close the road schedule.
Rando back. Think the Phillies or Dodgers can’t knock this team out now in the post season? How about the Marlins that just scored over 30 runs in 3 games. Lol! Braves won’t even get to the World Series this year
Rando back.
My bad, team, I should know better, but I fed the troll.
Think the Phillies or Dodgers can’t knock this team out now in the post season?
Unless somebody shares some evidence that the way teams play in one mid-September series three weeks before the playoffs has some outsized impact on said playoff performance, I’m gonna go on thinking what I had been thinking all along, which is: sure, the Phillies or Dodgers (or Cubs or Marlins or whoever) could beat the Braves in the playoffs. Anything can happen.
Mostly, though, I’m thinking about the psychology of the commenter who constantly predicts the worst possible outcomes–and seems to want credit when they’re eventually right. (As if we aren’t already aware that even the very best teams face long odds in the playoffs.)
What’s with this phenomenon? Are doomers simply trying to hedge their emotional bets, so if the Braves get knocked out, at least they can fall back on “being proven right”?
Why else would anyone want to pit themselves against the team they’re supposed to be rooting for in this way?
This series has nothing to do with the strength of the team. They are trying out pitchers for the postseason roster. So far, apparently, not much luck. But this is about finding the best 26 not about winning.
Meh.
Like Roger said, the Braves must’ve viewed this series as an opportunity to experiment and determine which pitchers will/won’t make the postseason roster. It stinks that they got swept in the process, but it’s not like it was totally uncompetitive. The first two games of the series were pretty close until Hand, Yates, and Tonkin all had their respective implosions.
Speaking of Hand — I knew he was a lefty specialist, and I’ve seen basically all of his appearances with the Braves, but I didn’t realize just how good he’d been against them this year. A few numbers jump off the page, like his 2.00 FIP, 2.89 xFIP, and 0 HR allowed. He shouldn’t be making any high leverage appearances, but if he’s used to face lefties in the middle innings, he can be a real weapon.
No worries, I just arrived in Atlanta. Back to winning tonight! Go Braves!
Missed the entire Marlins series, but I can’t get too bothered. Winning 6 of 8 from LA & Philly put us in a position to completely punt one series without too much worry, and here we are… still 4.5 games ahead of LA with 13 games to go. As long as the bulk of our roster is healthy, we should be alright.
Re: Falcons/Packers
Took a 6:30 pm flight out of Hartsfield yesterday & there were a ton of people wearing Packers & Falcons jerseys (obviously just coming from the game) just staring at each other on the Plane Trains. Those in green looked a little stunned. Probably not a terribly fun flight back to Milwaukee, I’d guess.
Re: Dipshit trolls
They don’t deserve oxygen (or, perhaps, any sustainable nourishment), but I’m sure there’s a generic sports-radio program they can call. In a land of infantile dipshits, they have plenty of company.
I don’t think you want 2023 Kyle Wright as your stopper. I will settle for him seeming to have figured it out by the next start
The silver lining in a game like this is, well, if you were gonna score just one run, good thing it was in the game you gave up 7. Now let’s win 4-3, 3-2