Are We Hitting Worse Than Last Year?

OK… Yes. But I don’t think it’s as bad as it might look. The Braves had a Team OPS of 0.730 over the first 52 games. If we look at every 52 game span in 2023, the worst such span was 0.781 (April 5th-June 2nd.) That’s a really big gap between the worst 52 games stretch you managed last year and this year’s first 52 games.

On the other hand, when we examine it player, by player, it’s not nearly as bad. Here are the first 52 game OPS of the Braves players here in both years compared with their worst 52 game stretch last year (Why 52? Because I did this earlier this week):

Player2024Worst 52 in 2023
Acuna.716.925
Albies.727.744
Riley.672.696
Olson.744.733
Ozuna1.00.727
Harris II,678.700
Arcia.662.547
d’Arnaud.834.648

So while the team is doing a lot worse than last year, No one is horribly below their worst 52 games last year, except Acuña, and he doesn’t matter any more. So, we suck, but the real problem is that everybody but Ozuna and d’Arnaud are sucking at the same time, and the pitching has bailed us out record-wise.

The Game

In the spirit of honesty, I didn’t turn this game on until the 4th inning. Until the Braves show me they’re serious as hitters, I’m going to half-ass it as a recapper. Pleasantly, the Braves were up 3-0. Reynaldo Lopez was continuing his march to most overlooked story of the 2024 season. When the Braves score 3 and they have Lopez on the mound, the game is over. It ended 4-2. That said, there were a few scary relief moments, particularly off Joe Jimenez. But the bullpen came through as well. I’m no longer acknowledging who is responsible for a mere four runs.

The All-Edible Team

Tfloyd reminded me after last week’s game that Bob Veale was a pretty good lefty for the Pirates. He is correct, but it got me to wonder about the All-edible team. I’m going to impose a few rules here, the most important of which is that nicknames don’t count, so Pickles Schlosser, Pepper Martin and Catfish Hunter don’t count. I considered making an exception for Bruce Benedict, but decided not to. Also, I can be a little liberal with spelling. Here’s what I came up with:

Pitchers: Bob Veale, Mark Appel, Eddie Bacon, Anthony Bass, Billy Beane, Pedro Borbon, Lefty Capers, Rocky Cherry, Todd Coffey, Phil Coke, David Cone, Tyler Danish, Pete Fries, Mark Hamburger, Herb Hash, Earl Huckleberry, Bob Kipper, Bob Lemon, José Lima, Buck Marrow, Ricardo Pinto, Cliff Speck, Steve Trout, Bob Veale

Outfielders: Trey Amburgey (OK… he wasn’t much of a player but I love the name), José Azocar, Kevin Bass, Ken Berry, Rob Deer, Kyle Garlick, George Gerken, George Haddock, NIck Martini, Christopher Morel, Bob Pate, Felix Pié, AJ Pollock, Jim Rice, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Trout, Zack Wheat

Infielders: Randy Bass, Seth Beer, Sid Bream, Jake Burger, Trey Cabbage, Mike Carp, Harry Colliflower, Dick Groat, Jake Lamb, Spencer Steer, Bobby Sturgeon, Bobby Wine

Catchers: Johnny Oates

I learned several thing from this: first, this is a ridiculous amount of work for almost no payoff; second, it’s amazing how many fish surnames there are; third, it’s going to be tough on Johnny Oates to catch every game for this team; fourth, I clearly have no life.

Tonight’s Mets Crack

A guy in a bar tonight said: “The problem with the Mets is that they have no chemistry,” I said: “They have chemistry to spare — they synthesize sulfuric acid every night.”