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In an attempt to mollify the Dodgers, tonight’s game started at 7:21 Pacific time. Apparently, they said they weren’t fully awake last night which is why they only won by one run. The Iron Law of Baseball is: When in Doubt, Mollify New York and Los Angeles. If neither city is miffed, mollify Chicago.
I lasted until the 7th inning, which is a lot more than the starters lasted, so I guess I’ve been stretched out. I sure feel like I’ve been stretched out. The 7th inning was also longer than the Braves chances lasted. Oh, they hung around for a while, but a combination of some bad pitches, some good hitting and an an atrocious fielding play had made it 7-1, and a pretty good bottom of the sixth had made it 7-3, but zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Two semi-baseball observations:
- What do the following players have in common? Sasaki, Yamamoto, Ohtani, Nomo and Kawakami? All five are Japanese and have disappointed Atlantans. Have the Braves even had a Japanese player other than Kenshin Kawakami? I still don’t know what he did to piss off the front office badly enough to be completely disappeared. But Japanese players are rising all over the league, it seems to me, and the Braves have seemed to ignore it while still monopolizing the Curaçao-Aruba-Bonaire market, even to the extent of throwing money at guys in drug rehab. Has the Kawakami experiment so spooked the Braves that they are unwilling to even consider the largest source of players outside of this hemisphere?
- It’s been a long while since I listened to John Smoltz, and I’ve done almost no media commentary this year, which implicitly shows how little I have to say about Gaudin or Nitkowski — they are perfectly adequate. But my God I’ve forgotten how much John Smoltz talks. Shut up! People are trying to sleep here! And it’s not just that he keeps saying the same things over and over — it’s that he uses the same filler clauses to say them: “I know the game has changed, but…” “You wouldn’t think that X is a skill, but….” “This is something that Y can learn from and learning is tremendously important.”
One more chance to beat the Dodgers this year before we destroy them in the playoffs. Don’t sleep on the Braves’ chances.
Had a shot at hitting .500, but the guys were cool with a 4-2 road trip and Snitker threw Rosario in there for good measure. Now you’re back to four games under, probably five after Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman smash some Elder pitches into Marietta. This team that looked like it was on the rise for a bunch of title runs this decade now seems kinda broken and past its best days, thanks in particular to ownership focused on shareholders, laid-back management, and risky personnel moves—or no moves at all.
Well, I’ll be damned.
Thanks for the laughs, JonathanF. The Curaçao-Aruba-Bonaire market has at least brought some advertising to the park, finally. I keep wondering what Truist would look like with Japanese language ads, though. Maybe someday.
Smoltz’s flat, midwestern droning is insufferable. He’s like the chatty guy sitting next to you on a long flight you’re doomed to listen to for three hours. I hope Timo had a better time with the people he sat next to than we did at home.
On one of the From The Braves Booth podcasts, Joe Simpson made a comment about Smoltz in response to a listener question – I can’t quite recall. But, anyways, the thrust of his comment was along the lines of, “You had to be careful talking to John Smoltz. He’d get on a topic and talk for forty-five minutes.” I guess it tracks.
I actually had a great time apart from the results. Was at the ballpark at 6. Ate and went back to the hotel to take a nap (I AM getting old…) and arrived back in time for the first pitch. By the time the game started, there were still a lot of Dodgers fans around. I scored great tickets thanks to a last minute rain delay re-purchase and had a couple living in Atlanta next to me on one side, he from Germany, she from Mexico and a Mexican family to my other side. Turned out the Mexican girl and family originate from the same region in Mexico. And the German guy was from northern Germany same as me. I had a wonderful time. Oh, and I really don’t care too much anymore about the apparently great numbers Bummer has, he sucks every time I am watching… Back at the park tonight. With Elder vs Ohtani, Betts, Freemen…what can go wrong?
Sorry for the long post
[JF note: apologizing for calling this a “long post” makes me feel like John Smoltz. Bring ’em in today, Timo.]
Glad you had a decent time, Timo!
Takashi Saito had a terrific year for us in 2010!
First, I had completely forgotten Saito, so thanks. Second, he gave us 54 pretty good innings, but nonetheless the Braves released him after one season, i.e. they didn’t make a QO to even try and keep him, the only time that was true in his career. Third, he was 40 years old at that point. Fourth, he was originally signed by … the Dodgers. After his three years with the Dodgers, no team kept him more than a year.
When we benched our hottest hitter Verdugo on game 3 of the Rockies series and put Rosario back in the lineup, my interest in the 2025 season collapsed. With Sale on the mound and a chance to go .500 that was a must-win game. To say Rosario looks lost in the batters box is an understatement. Where did he even come from? Why was he playing? Reminds me of September 2023 when we benched our starters so “Forrest Wall” could get dozens of ABs. Why did we do that? Who knows? Where is Wall now? Who knows? Who cares? Batting is about timing and rhythm and benching hot hitters is insane. Benching all your starters prior to the playoffs is insane. Someone please get me when Snitker is gone. This is tough to watch.
In previous years, this team had the talent/margin of error/presence and personality of of coaches (e.g. Wash, EYSr.) to overcome the void in the dugout.
It doesn’t now.
They’ll never do it because traditional baseball organization, blah blah blah, but fire him into the sun.
To the extent that ADHD is a valid construct, I suffer from some degree of it. The absolute worst is the talker who uses excessive preamble, disclaimer, qualifier, asides that trigger an infinite regress of tangents, and generic verbal filler. Get to the point or put a sock in it Smoltzie. Give me Skip Caray’s parsimonious and pithy quips.
I’m not gonna overreact. The Dodgers are really good, and we don’t have our two best players. The good news is that we don’t play a currently division-leading team until June 17th against the Mets, though we do have the play the 21-13 Giants and 21-13 Padres between then. But more importantly, we don’t play any time remotely as good as the Dodgers until, well, never because we don’t play the Dodgers again. The best teams we play between now and June 17th are the 21-13 Giants, 21-13 Padres, 18-16 Red Sox, 18-16 Reds, and 19-14 Phillies. And even more importantly than that, we get to play the 15-19 Nats, 12-22 Pirates, 17-16 D-Backs, 16-18 Brewers, and 6-27 Rockies again.
So of the next 12 series until the Mets come to town in mid-June, I would describe the teams this way:
-Very tough: 2 series (Giants, Padres)
-Beatable: 6 (D-Backs, Red Sox twice, Phillies, Reds)
-Easy series: 4 (Nats twice, Pirates, Rockies)
Atlanta could easily win 8 of those 12 series (especially if Acuna gets back), and we’d be golden.
To me, it’s less that we have a losing record and more that we don’t look like we can compete with one of the top 4 teams in the NL. There’s lots of time to fix the record, but we’re just not much of a challenge for the Dodgers. Adding a CY finalist and MVP could make things look very different though.
I think we’re a top 12 team right now, a top 5-6 team with Strider and Acuna, and a top 3 team if we add at the deadline with the money available. We went into this season with an incomplete team and that’s completely on AA. But the season is nowhere near decided other than the fact that the Dodgers are by far the best team in baseball and maybe this decade.
After a this last incident, I’m just afraid we’re going to be breaking out the Mac-as-injured-Mike-Hampton videos for Strider. Or maybe Strider and Acuna. Rag on Olson all you want, but he’s always ready to go.
I almost didn’t put Strider since it would not surprise me if he never stayed healthy consistently. He’s certainly not in Mike Hampton territory, but he’s had exactly one full season. He’s pitched more than 131 IP once. Staying healthy and making 30 starts is a skill, and I’ll die on that hill. Very few guys make 30 starts every year. That’s why Charlie Morton made $20M into his 40’s. But if you get 20 good starts from Strider this year, then that is 20 games we’re much closer to winning than if his replacement pitched, and that’s something.
Who is that guy on the mound and what has he done with Elder?!
Elder going Matzek style.
Hot take: veganism isn’t good for professional athletes.
Dustin May is one ugly dude.
5 hottest Dodgers—go.
Steve Garvey
Duke Snider
Jackie Robinson
and… I give up… Tommy Lasorda
PS: Once they sign Verlander (don’t they have every great pitcher eventually?), I’ll go with Kate Upton
Riley is on pace for a 40 homer, 120 RBI season.
Elder is trying to become a passable BOR guy.
Took me 45 seconds to figure out that meant Back of the Rotation. Figured it was some archaic Braves journal glossary stuff that referenced Bachman Turner Overdrive or some other old guy stuff.
Looks like we might need another Riley 2-run homer. The one run lead probably isn’t safe
Maybe I was wrong about him.
If he can eat innings and keep the ERA around 3.90 and the WHIP around 1.35, he’ll do as a 4/5. The key to both is keeping the HR/9 around 1.0; it was 0.98 in 2023 (including the exquisite-but-unsustainable first half and the ghastly back half); that year, it balanced out to an ERA of 3.81 and a WHIP of 1.28.
It’s always that one BP meatball over the heart of the plate with him. In that regard, he’s sort of like 2023-24 Charlie (but with less velocity).
Noone warming in the pen. I wish Snit was ready.
Where’s Tyler Matzek when you need him?
Iglesias in for the 1 run save. Buckle up.
Iglesias against the Dodgers, what could go wrong?
Our defense sometimes..woof
Nice job Iggy… that was whet we pay you for.
Props to Elder as well.
Never in doubt!
That was fun
Finally…
That was fun. Exciting game. Go Braves!!
Recapped.