The general thought is that when a lesser team plays a greater team, the lesser team can’t afford mistakes. Somehow Luis Arraez was on second, Jazz Chisholm doubled, and Arraez got thrown out at the plate. Did Brian McCann secretly snatch the body of Luis Arraez? Inquiring minds want to know. Up to that point, it looked like an “oh _ _ _ _ Elder” start. After that, Bryce Elder kind of did a poor man’s (better than a homeless man’s) version of Greg Maddox. Overall, 6 2/3rds IP, 86 pitches, 4 K’s ) 0 (did you catch that zero?) BB, 0 R but 8 hits. However, only 5 of those after the initial near disaster and all of those were singles and several of those were erased on groundballs. So, the Braves continue to get workmanlike or better “playoff level number 5” starts out of fifth starters.
It also looked like the Braves would blow out a bunch of runs in “1” as well. 1 out first and second, then 2 outs 2nd and 3rd but no runs. It stayed 0 to 0 until bottom of 4. Then, the currently designated masher stepped in and mashed. A one out Marcel Ozuna walk was followed by (any guesses?) a Travis d’Arnaud home run. Then, next batter, Adam Duvall walks and Michael Harris II grounded Duvall to second. So, the highly esteemed offensive force known as David Fletcher singled Duvall home. That was all of the scoring experience.
Top of 5 which followed encapsulated the evening. Emmanuel Rivera grounded out. Nick Fortes grounded out. Luis Arraez grounded out. It is not that when you keep the ball on the ground, good things necessarily happen. But, when you keep the ball on the ground, really bad things rarely happen.
Snit thought Elder was tiring after he gave up a 2 out single in the 7th, so Pierce Johnson came in and struck out the aforementioned Fortes and got to take his bow and make an exit. Then, the current version of the tag team of Mr. Wrestling No. 1 and Mr. Wrestling No. 2 (A. J. Minter and Raisel Iglesias) did their usual top rope drops and throat punches and allowed zero (0) baserunners and each got one K.
Tonight, Max Fried gets to go Marlin fishing. He usually has one of those greatly outfitted boats. And, who knows, maybe little d goes off for 3 home runs again.
This is a great recap, Cliff. I’ve realized lately how dry my recaps are and I need to step up my game.
Bravo, Cliff. Bravo, Bravos.
Just win, Ryan.
Elder was pitching last night the same way he started the 2023 season and it was glorious. If he can continue to live up in the zone with his FB and below the zone with his sinker, he’ll be just fine and could very well be an All Star again.
The old boys from Atlanta slung the leather around yesterday. Orlando’s barehand play was amazing. Almost got him.
Bryce is a ground ball machine, and that works really well in the regular season, against bad offenses, and with our defense. Not sure I’d start him in a playoff game, but he’s definitely earned another start. I would think that he can slide back into the 5th starter spot.
I see a .980 OPS out of the catcher position. When did Murphy get healthy? Oh… wait…
My weird fan interest: the Braves win a second World Series this year, Snit retires, and Travis takes over. Vogt broke the seal on MLB catchers going immediately into managing. Of course, Snit can stay as long as he’d like. And Bochy’s older and just won a WS so it’s not like Snit is over the hill.
Does anyone know how to change this stupid picture of me from like 10 years ago?
EDIT: It appears mission accomplished but I have to wait for it to update, it also appears.
Pros:
• Elder with great results; not issuing any walks was huge, as was getting a bunch of grounders (57.1 GB%) and some timely double plays
• d’Arnaud is a one-man wrecking crew right now
• Riley continues to look good defensively; is at +1 OAA so far this year (he and Arcia are the only Braves with positive defensive value so far)
Cons:
• Elder threw a few too many middle-middle four-seamers in the 1st and got bailed out by Arraez’s base running error; still, he did great after that and likely earned himself another start