The Braves were 19-7 last Sunday and looked like the best team in baseball. They are 20-12 after the West Coast disaster ended today, 5-1.
Atlanta hoped to salvage a game of the Dodgers series, sending Max Fried to the mound. After walking Mookie Betts to lead off the bottom of the first, Max hung a center-cut curveball to Shohei Ohtani. Blah, blah, blah. 2-0 Dodgers
James Paxton started for LA. He is now 4-0. The veteran lefty had walked 22 hitters in five starts entering the game. Yada, yada, yada, he threw just 84 pitches in 6.2 innings and walked just two Braves.
In the sixth, Fried hung another bender to Teoscar Hernandez and meh, meh, meh, a two-run blast made it 4-0.
Atlanta’s offense woke for a moment in the seventh. Matt Olson, who hasn’t hit water when falling out of boat all season, laced a single off the right field wall. Thinking he had all of a sudden gained some speed, he tried for two and was out by a mile. Marcell OHzuna followed with a homer to cut into the lead, but that was it.
The series, for me was summed up in the top of the eighth. Jarred Kelenic pinch hit for Chadwick Tromp. Blake Treinen was making his first appearance since September of 2022 and was all over the place. Kelenic worked a 3-1 advantage, and then swung both ball four and ball five, killing the inning before it started. Ohtani then led off the bottom of the eighth and blah, blah, blah, the Dodgers won, 5-1.
Our friend JonathanF asked for some things for us to complain about. We now have a week-full of things to complain about. Not only can Olson not hit water if he fell out of a boat, he also can’t catch a cold. As terrible as Kelenic’s AB was, Matt’s impersonation of Roger Dorn in the bottom of the eighth on a slow roller up the line was downright embarrassing.
Here’s to hoping a return home for a quick two-gamest with the Red Sox does the trick, but yada, yada, yada, the Sox have the best team ERA in baseball so far, and it isn’t close.
Dis is what I was looking for! Dissension! Dissatisfaction! Disgruntlement! Dissing!
I’m here to serve. I’m not a fan of the Harbaugh family, but there family line “Whose got it better than us? Nobody!” always runs in my mind…except this weekend. The WOE IS ME is strong after that series!
Honest to goodness, you know the worst thing about the West Coast is? Not that we tend to struggle, but just that I can’t ever watch the games. When was the last time we just played at 7PM? I don’t remember who is on the team at this point. OK, that’s an exaggeration.
Starting tomorrow, we have almost 2 weeks straight of 7 PM games.
That’s more of a silver lining TBH
Yeah, poor Olson. These 2 days off in the next 4 should help these guys. God help the Mets if we get hot again this weekend.
Do the Braves practice with the new hi tech pitching machines? My guess is that the Dodgers do.
I forgot how much I love Mark DeRosa. I’m never home to watch MLB Central. He’s got such a great baseball mind and way of communicating. Would love to see him managing but he’s gotta love this gig he’s got, and I would too.
This losing stretch is plainly on you, JonathanF. I hope you’re happy with all this unhappiness.
I accept responsibility for my irresponsibility.
That was a horrible road trip, to be sure, but at least Ronnie appears to finally be rounding into form. His timing on fastballs seems much better than it was to start the season. Harris also looked good yesterday, with balls in play that were clocked at 110.8, 103.1, and 106.5 mph (though, unfortunately for him, all of them were caught for outs; it might behoove him to start elevating a little more).
We have to live with the slumps our better hitters are experiencing now; but what’s tough is 3 or 4 are slumping at the same time. The real problem ( that must be corrected) is how the lack of scoring (homers) has exposed our inability to execute important fundamentals that win close games and play-off series.
Examples- not moving runners; base running blunders; gut pitches to top hitters plus not prioritizing right mental decisions in key situations.
Glad to see a new voice on Braves Journal! Welcome, Rex!
OK, reset… maybe the days off surrounding the BoSox 2-game series will be helpful.
Only saw a tiny bit of the LA series this weekend — caught Pages’ extra-inning dunker on my phone in a cab on the 59th Street Bridge — but it sure seemed like the struggle to score runs followed us from Seattle. I love the big series, but it didn’t break my heart that I missed most of this one.
Yeah, this team’s gotta hit homers — essentially, that’s how it won last year. Hopefully, the Bravos will start hitting again by the time they reach Flushing this wknd. Break out the big sticks on the Mets, fellas. At the very least, it’ll make the 7-train ride home much more pleasant.
Braves on pace to hit half as many homers as last year…that’s not bueno. Phillies definitely have had a easier schedule too.
Overall my worry level is at a 3 out of 10.
Matzek to the IL and Ray Kerr recalled. I’m really excited to see Ray. I’m guessing Matzek will stay down for quite awhile.
I don’t really like how people call these “phantom IL” stints. Matzek undoubtedly has a ton of elbow inflammation. The same reasons he’s out of options and people think they need to skirt the rules are the same reasons he probably has elbow inflammation: he’s old. I’d shut him down for a while and then, to your point, give him a long rehab assignment. He’s indeed injured.
Would it be absurd to stick him on the 60-day, shut him down for a month, and then start him back up for a month and get him back in July? I don’t think so. And would he object? He’s 33 years old and injured. Take your time, man. It’s a long season, and he made his money in the postseason anyway.
Because he’s on a guaranteed contract, the Braves could definitely move him to the 60-day IL if they deem it necessary. However, I’d wager a guess that they’ll leave him on the 15 day until they have a need to transfer him. Honestly, that could be sooner than later, though.
I’m pretty much a broken record at this point about the pointlessness of the regular season, so if it were up to me, I’d rest everybody as much as I could so they could be dialed in August/September/October, but I’ve already belabored that point enough. Hangnail? 60 day IL, baby. We’ll see you in August.
FORREST WALL WATCH
Our man Forrest is hitting .311/.436/.467 with 2 HRs and 2 SBs in 55 PAs. According to the Twitters, he just went first to third on a swinging bunt to the pitcher, so the speed is still there. With that said, he’s striking out twice as much as he’s walking and has been caught stealing 3 times to those 2 successful attempts.
Recapped