The Braves got a 3-run shot in the first inning courtesy of Marcell Ozuna and that was enough as they beat the Phillies 5-1.
The Good
- Spencer Schwellenbach pitched the game of his life, giving up 7 hits (all singles), only 1 walk, and 1 run through 6 innings. IMO, this solidifies his position in the rotation.
- The relief core of A.J. Minter, Joe Jimenez, and Raisel Iglesias were brilliant, giving up no hits and only 1 walk.
- Ozzie Albies and Marcell Ozuna were responsible for all 5 of the Braves runs via dingers.
- Jarred Kelenic continues to thrive at the top of the order, getting on base twice and scoring twice.
- The top 6 combined for 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 RBI, and all 5 of the runs scored
The Bad
- The bottom 4 in the lineup combined to go 0 for 14 with 1 walk.
- Even winning by 4 runs, the Braves had a HUGE opportunity to blow the thing wide open with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, but Ks from Sean Murphy, Adam Duvall, and a popout from Eli White spoiled the opportunity. The back 1/3 of the Braves batting order needs a complete redo.
A Question Worthy of Debate
Ozzie Albies is a forced to be reckoned with from the right side of the plate. Even in a down year for offense, Ozzie is carrying a .909 OPS against LHP, but a measly .673 against RHP. Is switch hitting still working for him? His career numbers say yes, but 2024, albeit a small sample, is saying not so fast. Thoughts?
Sunday Game Thread
Reynaldo Lopez takes the mound today against Michael Mercado, game time 12:35 CT/1:35 ET. I’m predicting a big game from Matt Olson.
It sure was nice when the Braves had the best 1-9 in the game. Hope the trade deadline proves to be fruitful.
I addressed the Ozzie as switch hitter question two years ago: https://bravesjournal.com/2022/12/17/2022-player-review-ozzie-albies/ (For some reason, all the apostrophes show up as ’ in my browser, but just assume I was drunk when I was typing… I probably was.)
I haven’t followed up to update the numbers, but it is still obvious that the left handed Ozzie Albies is a roughly average MLB second baseman while the right handed Ozzie Albies is elite. That said, it doesn’t mean that hitting right handed against right handed pitchers won’t have him do worse than he does now as a left handed hitter. Again, he has some guys, like Greinke, who he has experimented against, but I think he has revealed that he thinks his right-handed bat is too slow to pick up right handed power pitching.
Thanks to StephenW yesterday or the day before for drilling down on league-wide SLG and the Braves’ unique unluckiness.
Kelenic is my daddy
As Chip would say as everyone would cringe: bombs away in Atlanta, GA
Are they sure that was Roger Clemens and not John Candy?
Yesssss, home run power. 3 homers this inning: Duvall, Kelenic, and Olson. We need Olson to get hot in the worst way.
Finally. This feels good.
I will say the definition of hibernation mode might be having the first four hitters strikeout facing a 9 year minor league veteran making his major league debut.
Then the minor league dude homers…lol nice job Eli
I’m going to spend the rest of this game trying to figure out the record for most consecutive strikeouts at the start of a career….
Hope you’re feeling better, JF. When I had Covid I didn’t do anything nearly that interesting or productive. Come to think of it, I’m not that interesting or productive when I’m well.
As long as the Braves are hitting homers and winning games, I’m happy being unproductive!
OK… This is not the complete answer, but it’s the best I can do without more effort than I’m willing to code up.
There are four other pitchers who struck out the first four guys they faced in their career in their first game. (That’s the limitation here… it would take more work to find guys who faced fewer than four in their first game, struck them all out, and continued in their next game)
Grant Anderson, Wade Davis, Neftali Feliz and Brandon Crumpton. Davis, interestingly, struck out four and then gave up a homer to the next batter, just like Phillips did today. So you watched baseball history tied today.
Kevin Pillar says he’s planning to retire. Wonder if they try to bring him back.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/07/kevin-pillar-likely-to-retire-following-2024-season.html
Yes, please. Shouldna let him go. He was cheap and decent.
The last 2 games have felt a lot closer to the Braves of 2023, which is a great thing, I have to confess that I am higher on Schwellenbach than any pitcher I’ve seen since Strider. The guy has a solid arsenal of pitches and good stuff. Beyond this, he’s fearless and throws a ton of strikes. His problem has been he’s been a little too fearless and challenged hitters when he should be trying to entice them to swing at balls. I think that can be learned. My track record is not very good on pitching prospects but hopefully I’m right on this guy.
Back to today’s game, Lopez continues to amaze me.
Schwellenbach has been really impressive. His fastball doesn’t have the best movement but his slider and split have been really effective. I hope he and AJSS stay healthy because if so they have bright futures in this rotation.
Kelenic has stepped up in such a big way after Ronald’s injury and I’m so happy to admit I was wrong about acquiring him. I think he still has some upside left; it’s hard to quantify, but his approach looks much better than in March and April. I’m very happy AA is on our side.
Curious why you would be against acquiring Kelenic, a cheap 23 yo outfielder who had already posted a 2 WAR season and had a glove that played in center. I did not see the downside at the time.
This is what happens when you give a sick guy a computer. I was wrong. There is in fact one guy who struck out the first six batters he faced in his careeer. It was Pete Richert in this game: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196204120.shtml
He made his MLB debut when he entered for the Dodgers with two outs in the top of the second and struck out Vada Pinson. In the third, he struck out Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, Wally Post and Johnny Edwards. Yep — a 4 strikout inning, because Coleman reached on a passed ball. That made five straight strikeouts. In the top of the fourth, he struck out Tommy Harper before retiring Joey Jay on a groundout to first. That’s six straight strikeouts to start his career. (My previous program missed the strikeouts where the runner reached first. My new method also covers the situation of debuts that span multiple games.)
Phillips’ performance today is still tied for second, and adds Nick Maronde, JC Ramirez, Tyler Robertson and JoJo Romero to the group (those are the multigame guys).
Some of you may remember the JoJo Romero debut. His victims in 2020 were Duvall, Riley, Camargo, and (9 days later) Inciarte.
Hadn’t thought of Pete Richert for a few decades. I remember him mainly as a very good reliever on the excellent Baltimore teams of 1969-1971.