For some reason, Dale Murphy is trending on Twitter and as I started searching, I found this gem!
My daughter is named Murphy and Dale Murphy just so happens to be my favorite Brave of all time, but my daughter’s name was actually inspired by hiking across Ireland. Still, Murph is just the best. Now to the bad news.
Ozzie Albies Down for Awhile
In less than 3 full weeks of play, the Braves are down their 3rd cornerstone player.
David Fletcher has received the call back to the bigs and, if he stays, he’ll not be able to be optioned back to Gwinnett without being DFA’d by the org. Luis Guillorme will get the first start at 2B. With both Sean Murphy and Ozzie Albies out of the lineup, this team will really have to lean on the top 6 to produce.
This team is taking more bumps than Ric Flair.
Let’s win these 3 & get out of town before the whole lineup goes down.
That performance by Lopez in the 4th was deeply encouraging. Did AA do something brilliant again?
I mean, tonight Lopez has been relatively dominant… and super-efficient.
His line: 0 R, 6 IP, 4 H, 7 K, 1 BB in only 94 pitches.
What’s not to like?
López has been Strider-lite.
Kelenic has been striking out 31% of the time coming into the game, and has struck out 2 times in 3 PAs tonight. And now his BABIP is coming back to Earth.
Lopez looks good, but I’m still not sold on Kelenic. That at-bat was as bad as the team’s approach last night was good.
I mean, Kelenic isn’t gonna hit .400 the rest of the year, but I’ll take 2-4 with 2k’s every day.
The team as a whole has been weird, lack of homers, Acuna and Olson regressing (at the moment) , injuries, unlikely heroes…..not to mention no starting pitching. Take Lopez out of the equation and the team ERA rises to 7
Bummer is really, really not right. Totally understand why he’s only getting his work in a relatively low-leverage situation, but he is giving up tons of hard contact.
Bummer just isn’t it. If you can’t trust him in a 6-0 game when can you trust him?
My White Sox-addled friend said that Aaron Bummer is fine until he lets one man on, at which point he completely melts down. I’ve seen nothing to tell me that his assessment wasn’t spot-on.
Are we over Bummer?
I still think Bummer will pull a “Jimenez”. Struggle early and come on strong.
I think a lot of the early pitching struggles may be due to missing Murphy. But that may be wishful thinking.
Braves back to tie for fewest losses in MLB. Hard to complain.
I think the Jimenez comparison is fair enough. Clearly our team sees something in him. But I also have faith that if he can’t turn a corner, they won’t hesitate to cut him loose.
Recapped
Will it be big to lose Fletcher on waivers?
The minors are thin.