The Game
After facing Michael King and Dylan Cease, the Braves faced Randy Vásquez in Game 3. Vásquez was, like King, part of the Juan Soto trade from the Yankees. He’s the fourth Dominican player named Randy, and if you can name any of the other three you should be writing recaps. Tonight was his 4th start against the Braves, and he was 0-3 coming into this game, though none of the other three appearances were all that bad.
The Braves didn’t do much against Vásquez early, but what little they did do was negated by outs on the basesThey are the team for. Have the Braves ever had a savvy team on the bases? They are the team whose most famous baserunning comes from Albert Hall, who once commented after trying to stretch a double to a triple: “That’s the outest I ever was.” (I couldn’t find that quote on the Internet, but it’ll be there after today.)
Vásquez faced Spencer Schwellenbach in his 2025 debut. I didn’t see any obvious shadow problems that late afternoon games sometimes give pitchers, but both of them were dealing throug six. Schwellenbach was slightly better, never letting a guy get to second, and yielding only a single to Jackson Merrill, who nobody else appears to be able to get out either.
Both starters went 6, giving up nothing. (Vasquez did give up Drake Baldwin‘s first MLB hit.) This game would come down to bullpens — again. My vuing seemed particularly déja. Bummer struck out Jose Iglesias (a mid-game replacement for a calf-ailing Manny Machado) and Jackson Merrill (!) but gave up a ground rule double to Cronenworth when a shot up the middle bounced off the sole of Bummer’s foot and trickled into the dugout. Thus began strategery. After an intentional pass, Schildt substituted Yuli Gurriel, Snitker substituted Daysbel Hernandez, and a seeing-eye single plated the first run.
Would it be the only run? Profar was stranded after a single in the eighth. Enyel de los Santos made a clean Braves debut in the 8th. Lacking a closer, Schildt went with Adrián Morejon to try and get the save. Ozuna walked and was pinch-run for by Eli White. Albies flew out to deep right. White then stole second, and the 1 for 20 with runners in scoring position became 1 for 21 when Harris grounded out. Drake Baldwin took a slightly questionable 3-2 pitch for a strike to end the game. 1 for 22 is not how you’re supposed to hit with runners in scoring position. Those are the kind of keen insights you pay me for.
OK. I’ve decided I may be the problem. I’m benching myself for the next four games. And if we’re 4-3 after that, I may bench myself for the whole season.
Announcing
I continue to think AJ Pierzynski is an underrated color guy. The senior Fox color guy, somebody named Smoltz, could get some pointers from AJ regarding the amount you want to hear the color guy talk.
Hitters aren’t hitting and pitchers aren’t pitching (aside from Schwelly). Small sample size, but the bullpen is exactly what we feared it would be. The fact that Bummer graduated to high leverage just because he was still on the roster is pretty telling, coupled with the Neris signing and the trade for Suarez and his career 5.47 era should tell us all we need to know. AA didn’t address the bullpen and here we are. I know the bullpen is the easiest to fix during the season but this division is really good and we could get buried quick.
Small sample, yes, and I’ll reserve some judgement until Strider and Acuña are back, but instead of maximizing their opportunities with this core and championship window, the vibes are that this team is stagnating.
0-3 certainly generates bad vibes (among fans, at least), and going 1-22 w/RISP leads to plenty of frustration. On the other hand, it’s a three game sample. We’ve learned absolutely nothing of any predictive value about about this team and where it is likely heading over the course of the season.
I will point to a couple of things we’ve seen so far that make me feel good. Schwelly looked terrific; he’s a delight to watch. But I much prefer PDQ as a nickname for him. And I love what I’ve seen so far from Baldy (that’s apparently what his teammates are calling him). Surely we can come up with a better nickname, though. For Ryan or for me, Baldy is apt. For Drake though, here are some ideas to get us started: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj2x-ucgLKMAxUANNAFHWk1GewQFnoECFsQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fhiphophero.com%2Fdrake-6-god-6-man-toronto%2F&usg=AOvVaw22eFyN34w2EYDQuzOo89Zd&opi=89978449
You may have noticed that I made the personal decision to sharply curtail Braves Journal nicknames in my recaps. But I certainly don’t intend that to apply sitewide, or even to hold myself to it. So brainstorm away. That said, I was a little disappointed that no one commented on my Howie Kendrick jape on Opening Day, particularly since it made me spend 15 minutes thinking about George Hendrick .which had nothing to do with anything except the odd connections in my own cerebrum.
The Howie Kendrick/Drake reference certainly deserved a shoutout. But now you’ve got me thinking about George Hendrick and the proper length of pants. Of course there are many worse things I could be (and have been) dwelling on, so thanks for that.
“My vuing seemed particularly deja” is the most JonathanF thing ever and I’m here for it. I’m NOT here for 0-3, but Aaron Bummer was legitimately bummed when that skate save rolled into the dugout…he seemed to know that run was going to score.
I’m telling you, Schwelly will be in a Cy Young conversation at some point.
Thanks Christian, but the real way to thank me is to forget you have a life and get back to doing some recapping. (I am exactly 83.7 percent kidding.)
0-162 is much more likely than 162-0 at this point. All I can say is we started fast last year and finished slow. Maybe we can start slow and finish fast. Not ready to give up yet especially after a West Coast swing.
Last year’s 1-0 game was an indicator of just how bad things were. I hope this one isn’t.
Great catch by Kelenic, but we just can’t buy a break. Tatis’ double was BS.
Including postseason, this team is 65-65 in its last 130 games.
Maybe that’s what the Braves are now. A middling team.
Smith-Shawver’s changeup (splitter) looks great, but he hasn’t thrown a first pitch strike in about an inning and a half. It just feels like this team isn’t ready for the games to count.
Calls to mind the old cliche that you can’t win a World Series in April (or March) but you can sure lose it.
Our pitchers have been uniquely awful at holding runners this series. The Padres have been running wild and there’s only so much that Tromp and Baldwin can do to keep them at bay.
Time to trade for Sandy Alcantara. Get it done, Wren!
Good first inning by Suarez, though the strike 3 call was a gift I’m almost too embarrassed to feel grateful for.
Did Robert Suarez get dressed in the wrong clubhouse?
This blows. 2023’s offense just seems so far away. Of course, it’s missing a healthy Murphy and Acuna, but still. No one in this lineup looks like the 2023 version.
Matt Olson feels ripe to turn into Chris Davis.
Freddie’s skill set was far more likely to better than Olson’s because of his superior ability to hit for average. That was the hole in AA’s thinking regarding his unwillingness to give Freddie the sixth year. I’d take Freddie at age 37 over Olson at age 35.
The fact that Arcia is tied for the team lead in batting average (at .222) is surprising, disappointing and consistent to what our offense has been so far.
The good news is that after the Padres put us out of our misery, we can go play the World Series favorites and hit against Glasnow and Snell. Fun!
Ugh. Did Ozuna just decide he couldn’t beat Machado to third?
At least we have the Savannah Bananas.
This is the time for Neris… game is over so allow him to pitch himself to a DFA.
But hey, at least we weren’t no hit. Close, but we are not making history tonight.
A listless franchise that hasn’t accomplished anything in almost four years.
Héctor Neris doesn’t appear to have much left.
Recapped.