Sweeping the Twinkies never gets old!
Chris Sale had another strong start; he was a little inefficient but he still wound up with 6 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 6 strikouts, 1 walk.
(Oh, and he’s leading the Major Leagues in WAR. He has never won the Cy Young Award, but he finished in the top six for seven straight years from 2012-2018. If he can post a few more years at this level of performance, he’ll have a good case for Cooperstown. I will not make any other comments or predictions about end-of-year honors because it’s unlucky, but I love the guy I’ve watched this year and I now feel personally invested in his legacy.)
The Braves are 8-2 in their last ten games. Last night was a solid example of the style. Jorge Soler, batting second, opened the scoring with a solo homer – he’s now hitting .213/.377/.492 and in all, he has an .880 OPS with the Braves across two tours of duty, nearly 100 points higher than his performance with all other teams (.786 OPS everywhere else). It remained 1-0 until the 6th, when the Twins got their only rally going. Jorge Soler quite unexpectedly flashed his leather, hosing Manuel Margot at the plate, but the Twins strung together two more singles to push across the tying run.
The offense, wonderfully, did not let that go unanswered. Marcell Ozuna drew a leadoff walk, which Matt Olson immediately cashed in by doubling, and Ramon Laureano singled him home. He got thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on a swinging bunt, but amazingly, Luke Williams (!!) doubled home two more to give the pen some Reitsma Room.
Luke Jackson came in with a four-run lead, about as much as I’m comfortable with, and pitched a scoreless inning; Joe Jimenez struck out the side, and then Raisel Iglesias followed. Lights out and shake hands.
Tonight, it’s on to Philadelphia:
Philadelphia, known as “The City of Brotherly Love” ever since Benjamin Franklin invented sarcasm in 1767, is the largest city in Pennsylvania and a suburb of New York. Philadelphia was founded by Quakers, who have to still be wondering what happened. The city was the site of the writing of the United States Constitution and the nation’s capital from 1790 to 1800. Pennsylvanians were hoping that the country would never get around to actually building Washington DC and the capital would remain in their state. Things in Philadelphia have consistently gone downhill since 1800.
Let’s go get ’em!
I’m in Philly today. After yesterday’s debacle at the hands of the Astros, this city is on pins and needles.
A Philly fan friend of mine told me a week ago, “No way you get closer than five games.”
Let’s goooooooo!
Phillies miss Chris Sale yet again. If we win three or more with their rotation set up optimally and ours not…whoa, things would get interesting. Might be good in the long run for them not to see Sale until the playoffs. Gotta get there first, but hey we’re rolling out a half team of random dudes and we’re still in it. Gotta give AA and Snit some credit.
For all the talk about his bad defense, I told you Soler had an arm. After all, it’s not like we could put Acuna out there.
Also, I think Laureano was safe after looking at the replays. It was at least close enough to be inconclusive.
fun little article on Charlie Morton and his curve ball of destruction:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5727831/2024/08/29/braves-charlie-morton-hit-batters?source=user-shared-article
Hitting a batter before Schwarber is awesome. Let’s see how it goes
Welp, no worse for wear.
Olson picked a good time to become the best version of himself.
Belated game thread has been posted.