The season started, but nobody told our offense. The team is 0-6 and has scored nine total runs, but seven of those runs came in the first two games of the season. In the past four games, the Braves have been outscored 15-2.
And in many ways, any measure of the team’s offense is slightly misleading, because the team’s offensive performance has been propped up by Marcell Ozuna, who is leading the major leagues with 10 walks and currently has a .542 OBP, which is higher than the team’s OPS.
For those of you with heart conditions, or who are with young and impressionable children, I suggest that you turn around in your seats:
Outside of Ozuna, the rest of the hitters are hitting .131/.198/.220.
So, when I went to sleep last night, the Braves were clinging implausibly to a 1-0 lead they’d eked out when Mookie Betts made a throwing error in the first. Dodger starter Dustin May, pitching his first game in two years, looked fine and the team had trouble picking up all the sweepers he was throwing from a three-quarters angle, but frankly this team couldn’t hit in T-ball right now. He did not look like an ace to me.
Chris Sale was less dominant but he got through the first five innings undamaged. Then the Dodgers did Dodger things: Ohtani walked, Betts homered, and that was the ballgame.
This team looks listless, just as they did last year after the ruinous spate of injuries. This year, they’ve come out of the gate with a dead-eyed stare. They are not playing with confidence, and I’m not sure they could beat Georgia Tech right now.
This team is sick.
I’m coming around to the idea that we were cheating in 2023.
I am not sure we could be successful if we knew what was coming. They are flat out broken right now.
Not a fan of the approach that Hyers is teaching. The Braves have been way too passive at the plate, particularly early in the count. They have the third-lowest 1st pitch swing% (22.8) and the seventh-lowest zone swing% (64.9). Those are far, far different from what we’ve seen in the past. In 2023, for example, those rates were at 33% and 70.9%, respectively. The problem is that they’re taking way too many hittable pitches early in the count, then using a suboptimal swing after they fall behind. Not sure why they decided to abandon the “swing hard, early, and often in the zone” approach that led to so much success over the years.
It’s worth noting that there are a couple of guys in the lineup who’ve actually done well but have been on the receiving end of some absolutely horrendous luck:
Drake Baldwin – .113 wOBA / .390 xwOBA
Matt Olson – .315 wOBA / .454 xwOBA
If a few of their barrels had fallen for hits or actually gone over the wall, we might not be winless right now.
I’m sure it’s difficult to optimize approach at the plate when you have a third a second to make a decision to swing, but taking good pitches early in the count is not the answer. We need to continue to swing hard at fat pitches while discouraging Harris and Albies from swinging at every pitch. Arcia, I assume, is a lost cause.
If there’s a silver lining to our start it’s that it puts pressure on coaches to adapt. If we had squeaked out a couple of wins, there’s a lot less pressure.
Tonight’s lineup is one of the ugliest I’ve ever seen. I know they’re facing a lefty and everything, but having Tromp, White, BDLC, Allen, and Fairchild in the same lineup is kind of nauseating.
That outfield is a split-squad lineup.
But hey, six new office buildings in The Battery!
The Braves Organization is running a business. A baseball team is just superfluity.
They may have miscalculated as to the importance of the team being watchable.
It will be really interesting to see fan reaction this weekend if we come home 0-7….heck, it will be interesting coming home 1-6.
Hopefully L-Der can surprise us all and get us our first win. It would certainly defy logic.
It appears that two different Braves runners crossed home plate in the first inning! By jaybers, a lead!
Hey, keep hitting it to Muncy… he seems inclined to help solve our run-scoring problem.
EDIT: Thanks, CF… we’ll take all the help we can get.
Bobby’s Sunday lineup on a Wednesday. Crazy!
Bobby’s Sunday lineup gettin’ er done. Crazier!
Something’s wrong with my calendar. I have April Fool’s Day as yesterday.
I’m watching, and I’m seeing a lot of what I wanted to see: Matt Olson stayed in that at-bat, fouling off high fastballs till he got a ball to drive. Our guys have worked the count on a famously wild pitcher and gotten a ton of walks. The errors helped plate a couple, and the ump is squeezing Snell some, but there ain’t much in the world a bases-loaded double won’t cure.
This is a step in the right direction.
For sure. Putting good wood on balls tonight and even making some loud outs
Are Elder and the long/middle relievers going to give it back?
Apparently so
One earned run in the last 44 innings.
That was a smooth play by Tromp. It was also badly needed.
I didn’t love his pitchcalling during the inning – way too many sliders, and they started teeing off before Elder finally started mixing in more sinkers. But that was a really great play on the swinging bunt.
Where do the Dodgers find the young arms they have? Is our scouting department that bad? We don’t have anyone in the pen that throws like Casperius.
Gotta cash in here…
EDIT: Eh, that was definitely ball 4 to Riley. Terrible call.
I thought Ozuna got it far enough, but I get that Tromp can’t run.
The pitch that rung up Riley is a pitch the ump has been calling… sometimes, tonight. I think Austin needed to protect the plate a little better, given that there was already one out. But Olson’s popup tendencies are really frustrating.
UPDATE: Wow, the Dodger defense has been dreadful.
How many brothers have played for the Braves (not necessarily together)? Off the top of my head, I have Yates, Torre, Aaron, d’Arnaud, Niekro. I know I’m missing quite a few.
The Upton brothers, too!
Tim and J.D. Drew!
What a depressing loss. This team needs an enema.
Gifted five unearned runs and it’s still not enough.
This team sucks. But Pennant Park will be fabulous.
I am not sure we have one above average arm in the pen. Maybe Iggy but everyone else is terrible. AA absolutely failed this offseason.
Scratch that…Iggy is mediocre too.
Middle of the order, please deliver us…
OK Guys… when you’re ready to start the season, just let us know. We’re ready when you are.
This is what happens when one teams good players show up and the other teams don’t. Was there any doubt that Ohtani or Betts was going to walk it off? This looks as hopeless as the rebuild years.
Welcome to Inverse 1982. 🙁
Recapped.