Only time for a very brief recap here, as Ryan is dealing with a family issue.
But brief is all yesterday’s game deserves. The Fish defeated the Good Guys 5-1. Chris Sale wasn’t great—giving up five runs—but it wasn’t a bad outing at all. He went seven innings, striking out seven and yielding six hits. The big blow against him was a bases clearing triple in the fifth inning; the bases were loaded thanks in part to a couple of very bad ball/strike calls.
Even the best offensive teams don’t rake in every game. The Hammers had one of those games yesterday. Despite two doubles and a triple, they went 0-4 with RISP and scored just the lone run. The highlight, such as it was, to my mind at least, was a rocket that RAJ hit off the top of the left field wall for a double. It didn’t make a difference in this game, but it looks like Ronald may be slowly finding his timing. It’s only a matter of time before he starts doing his thing. I think that time is about here.
Enough about yesterday. As Bobby Cox always insisted, the goal isn’t to win every game, it’s to win each series. The Braves can and should do exactly that today at 1:40 behind Uncle Charlie Morton. Unlike Bobby, Snit doesn’t have a Sunday lineup of scrubs—the usual guys take the field today. I’ll bet they score a lot more than one run today, Marlins starter Jesus Lazardo is off to a rocky start–let’s get to him early.
Ronald also hit a 108mph “groundout.” I do not worry about him at all. The Braves hit a lot of balls hard yesterday; they also swung through a ton of Meyer’s sliders and changeups, and I doubt they’ll do that the next time they see him.
Let’s go get em today!
As ever, give Charlie a lead and he’ll barf it right back. What an awful pitch.
This offense is good.
[/analysis]
That was a rushed minimalist recap I posted, but the Braves were paying attention nonetheless. They’re taking my advice to rough up Luzardo early.
Since they are now taking my advice, does anyone have any other wisdom I can share with them? Like perhaps to Charlie, when you get a lead, try to keep them off the board.
This is more or less a Platonic Charlie Morton start – some beautiful curveballs, some hangers that get crushed, lot of strikeouts. Sometimes he’ll go 5 2/3 and give up 1 run; sometimes he’ll go 5 1/3 and give up 4.
C.J. has been praising our baserunning this game and that’s been spot on. Some excellent steals and other extra bases taken, and they’ve largely been the difference in the game. Fundamentally, my best advice to the team is to keep taking every little advantage they can.
That’s spot on about Charlie. It can be maddening, but even with the range of outcomes you describe, he is still a valuable guy to have in the rotation,
At this point, I’ll be delighted if he goes 5 1/3 and gives up 4. As of my writing this comment, that’s exactly what he has done so far.
EDIT–should have known. That’s the fifth run.
Hey, Charlie only gave back half of the lead. Progress.
You were saying?
The bullpen is rested now, so why is Morton back out for the 6th?
Low pitch count. But Charlie gonna Charlie.
In some ways he is the most infuriating pitcher in the rotation.
Also, Dylan Lee is not the man to get out of a jam.
This is a .500 team as currently constituted.
Wondering the same. Our starting staff is hot garbage right now aside from Lopez and Max(1 start).
This team is just fine… nothing to see here… smh
Terrible starting pitching. No way we should give up this many runs to White Sox, Mets, and Marlins.
Ugh. Chip-like fly-ball judgment.
We are getting nothing out of the catchers spot without Murphy.
You’re right, neither have been hitting at all. TDA can’t catch up to fastballs anymore.
We swing at SO many bad pitches.
Ozuna wants that option picked up next year!
Once again, the team saving Snitker from a number of bad management choices
Wasn’t even that bad of a pitch. Maybe he wanted it in the dirt, but it wasn’t a strike.
well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. It’s nice to get so many comeback wins but we eventually need some better starting pitching.
A win is a win. With this offense, they are never out of it.
Toscano says Vines is starting tomorrow.
Vines? shouldn’t Vines be like third in line for the next start?
Think it’s because they don’t want Vines to sit too long. They called him up a few days ago in case they needed a long reliever and they didn’t. He’s on like 6 days rest. It’s also an opportunity to manage Lopez’s workload by pushing him back a day.
Ynoa had a nice bounceback outing today. Went 4 innings and only allowed a walk and a solo homer. Might need him at some point.
Doesn’t get more clutch than that, Marcel.
Whew.