Well…it looks like good news from Austin Riley today as he’ll avoid the IL but continue to be day to day. That’s fine by me because Ray Short has picked up Austin Riley’s Rake and is swinging and diving into Charlie Culberson folk hero status.
I don’t feel like we are talking enough about Chris Sale. In 7 games started, he’s 5-1 with a 2.95 ERA. The Braves are 5-2 in games he’s started, his WHIP is below 1 and his K/BB rate is 6.50. That’s absolutely bonkers. If Sale can stay healthy and productive, he could very well collect 250 strikeouts by game 162. As of right now, he’s tied for 18th in the majors. Tyler Glasnow is leading the charge with 73 in 57 innings, but he’s scheduled for an injury soon.
Jamison Taillon is countering Sale and has had great results but a lackluster stat-line. Maybe the Braves can get on track tonight, flip Taillon’s script, and remind him that he’s a Cub.
An Upcoming Transaction
Pierce Johnson is expected to be activated on Friday, which means the Braves are going to have to make a 26-man move. Smart money in on Jackson Stephens being DFA’d. He’ll likely go unclaimed and return to AAA as he’s on a split contract.
Finally, that’s more like it! Way to go Olson.
Slugging at last, slugging at last, thank God almighty, Matt’s slugging at last.
Since I commented yesterday about how bad our hitters have been, I wanted to note how good our starters have been. Not including today’s games, since 4/21, they’ve done this:
19 GS, 115 IP, 8.5 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 (3.4 K/BB), 2.27 ERA, 3.61 FIP.
That’s literally the best in baseball over that span. Second-best are the Cubs, and tonight’s gem by Sale has clearly widened the gap. Just extraordinary stuff.
Our pitchers did it again. That’s our fifth shut-out in the past 19 games, according to the radio guys. That’ll play
That might have been a good trade with the Red Sox
Think you’re onto something there.
Not including tonight, Chris Sale has the second-best ERA since 2000, minimum 1500 innings pitched. He’s at 3.13 – well behind Clayton Kershaw at 2.48, but slightly ahead of Johan Santana (3.14) and Max Scherzer (3.15).
As the man said, that’ll play.
If you would have told me at the start of the year that we’d lose Strider for the season and Murphy for a good portion of it. I’d be very concerned. If you told me that we’d have only Ozuna and DArnaud with an ops above.800, I’d be even more concerned. If you would have told me that we would have a .667 winning percentage at this point with all the problems noted, I would think you were crazy.
Recapped: https://bravesjournal.com/2024/05/15/hammers-7-cubbies-zilch/