Old-school pitcher’s duel, their’n against our’n, and our walking wounded offense came up just short. Max Fried actually outdueled Aaron Nola, but our offense hit into three double plays, left nine men on base, and managed to turn nine hits and three walks into two runs; the Phillies only left one man on, so they were able to turn five hits and one walk into three runs.
In fairness to Nola, he’s a hell of a pitcher. In his career, he’s faced us more than any other team, and here’s his line: 36 GS, 222 1/3 IP, 16-11, 3.60 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 219 K, 60 BB. That’s basically an All-Star season by an absolute horse.
And, again, Max was just better. Last night, Aaron Nola went 5 1/3, yielding eight hits and two walks, but he stranded men in scoring position in the second, fourth, and fifth, and the Braves obliged him by stranding a man in scoring position as soon as the Phillies dipped into their bullpen to relieve him in the sixth. Meanwhile, Max went seven innings, yielding just four hits and two runs.
The Phillies cashed in their opportunities and the Braves didn’t. We’ve seen that movie before. Flush it, and go back out there tonight.
I really appreciate Arcia‘s defense and passion, but definitely tired of him picking fights with Bryce Harper, and I look forward to the Nacho Alvarez era starting. Arcia does have surplus value so he should get us something back.
Agreed…his antics are tired.
I get being tired of Arcia – he’s barely adequate, sometimes with emphasis on the first, sometimes the second.
But based on Nacho’s first audition, I just don’t see him as remotely ready. I loudly and constantly poormouthed him and talked him down and it wouldn’t have taken much for him to make me eat crow. Unfortunately, he came up and proved me right.
While I agree that the Braves didn’t cash in on opportunity, the ump was straight butt last night. The Ump Scorecard came out and it was 0.86 runs skewed toward the Phillies. There were some absolutely game changing strikes called agains the Braves last night.
Fair point:
https://umpscorecards.com/single_game/?game_id=747084
I knew it was coming, but I didn’t see this last night:
LHP A.J. Minter today underwent left hip surgery, performed by Dr. Thomas Byrd in Nashville, TN. He will miss the remainder of the 2024 season.
If Arcia keeps hitting HRs against the Phils, I’m plenty happy to see him do whatever he wants.
To put it nicely, to hell with Bryce Harper.
Where I fall too. Natspos delenda est.
Arcia is one of my all-time least favorite Braves. I would have released him after last year’s NLDS. The problem is that we can’t because the position is so hard to fill. Still, he hasn’t set the bar high this season. He’s one of the worst SS in all of MLB. Nacho can’t play SS, he’s built more like a catcher lol. And I agree with the decision to let Dansby walk, he’s not worth the money either. There’s only a small handful that are. I just wish Snitker and AA would tell him to STFU and play ball.
Heyward DFA’ed. Play him in RF against RHP?
Can he catch?
Hitting right around the Mendoza line. Even with Laureano’s contributions being spotty at best and Duvall being a big nothing burger lately, don’t think Heyward is an upgrade.
Arcia has hit much better recently and his wRC+ is still awful.
Not to beat a dead horse, but we should have used our prospect capital to upgrade short after Dansby left instead of trading our excellent hitting and dirt-cheap catcher for an older, more expensive catcher.