The Braves scored 7 runs Tuesday night, the first time in 20 games they have scored more than 6. Matt Olson homered, doubled, and drove in four, Michael Harris II hit his first dinger in weeks, Marcell Ozuna had yet another RBI, and no one got picked off base.

Seven runs was a bit profligate, as it was 6 more runs than they needed.  Chris Sale and two relievers combined to shutout the Cubs. Sale was masterful once again. He tossed seven shutout innings, surrendering just two hits, with nine K’s and no walks.  Ryan commented in the game preview on how terrific Sale has been so far. Indeed, he seems to get better each start.  So far (knock on wood) he’s been every bit as good as peak Chris Sale of 2012-2018.  As Alex noted in the comments, that is very good indeed. Sale has the second best ERA of any pitcher since 2000.

And we have it on good authority, from Mark Bowman’s recap tonight, that Sale has silenced his doubters with his effective start to this season. It’s been a while since I’ve noticed a Peanut “silence his critics” quote; does “silence his doubters” count?

It’s not just Sale.  Since April 15, the Braves’ starters have the best ERA in baseball. The offseason acquisitions of Sale and Reynaldo Lopez are Exhibits A and B to the brilliance of Alex Anthopoulos.  Have you heard any criticism lately of AA’s odd offseason moves? Those doubters are eerily silent.  Max Fried has been excellent since his shaky first couple of starts; the critics who emerged after his first couple of starts have been strangely quiet. Charlie Morton has been the same solid starter he’s been for years, despite having turned 40 this year.  Those who wondered whether he could keep it up at his advanced age have likewise been forced into silence.

Last night was the first time in over a month that the Braves’ margin of victory was at least 7 runs. Remember the olden days of 2023, when the team scored 7 runs almost every other game?  (They averaged nearly 6 runs per game last year).  I said in this space a week or two ago that I enjoy tight, low scoring games, but last night was a reminder why they call this type of game a “laugher.”  Laughter is good for your health; the stress of a one run lead in late innings probably isn’t.  Jackson Stephens pitched the 9th inning. Things have gone either very well or very poorly when he pitches the ninth inning, but in either case it’s not stressful.

Ray Short, the guy who has replaced Austin Riley since he left Sunday’s game, had yet another hit in his first AB of the night.  In case you’re wondering, Baseball Reference has his name as Zachary Ryan Short, Zack for short, but B Ref also says Zack Short has a career OPS of .569, for an OPS+ of 58.  That’s not good.  For your reference, Max Fried has a career OPS of .542; in fact, Max’s career BA is 44 points higher than Zack Short’s.

In yesterday’s recap Cliff called him “Ray” Short.  As usual, Cliff is onto something.  In his first eight plate appearances for the Braves, this guy named Short was 2-4 with a single, double, and 4 walks.  That’s an OBP of .750 and slugging % of .750, for an OPS of 1.500. Even after going hitless in his last two AB’s last night, his Braves OPS is 1.200.  Clearly this guy is not the “Zack” Short who has bounced around for a few years. Let’s keep calling him Ray.

In a comment in the game thread after the game, TD said: “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.” Amen.

And here’s what I can’t help but think about that: the Braves are just two games behind the Phillies. The Phightin’s are off to their best start in many years—everything has gone right for them.  By all rights, with all that’s gone wrong for the Braves, they should have them buried in a deep hole at this point. As good as things have gone for the Phillies, I can’t help but relish their unease at the Braves on their heels.

Braves go for the sweep tonight behind Uncle Charlie. Let’s keep silencing those doubters.