I apologize for the lack of a recap to last night’s game. It was great, with both teams scoring two in the 9th to keep the game tied, two scoreless innings of Manfred Man relief from Scott Blewett and a two out game-winning RBI in the bottom of the 11th from Drake Baldwin. But you guys knew that already, right?
A weekend series in Pittsburgh, a team which fired their manager yesterday and hasn’t been to the playoffs in a decade and currently sits at 12-26. What could go wrong? I don’t even have to ask, do I? But once again, 0.500 is within reach with a series win.
In other Braves news, tfloyd gets results! Last night may finally marked the end of the zombie Rosario experience. He was cut loose, and Luke Williams was recalled from Gwinnett. B-r-a-i-n-s!
Ever since one of last night’s heros, Drake Baldwin, made the team it has been nagging me who he looks like. I have a thought, pictured below. Does anyone agree with me?
I’ll post the starting lineups when I get them. Game time 6:40. They go to bed early in Pittsburgh…. hopefully in sadness.
And no Skenes this weekend…
Burn the Jolly Roger & let’s head home at or above .500.
What was the point of signing Rosario in the first place?
Luke Williams has been horrendous at the plate this season, though his bat isn’t why he’s here. He can pinch run and play almost any position in a pinch.
Sometimes the Olson contract looks really bad
I feel I should say something positive about Eddie Rosario. His AB’s this past week were certainly terrible, but you can’t say his performance alone cost the Braves a victory in either game. On the other hand, as a pinch runner last night he scored the tying run in the ninth. I’m not sure Sean Murphy would have scored on Harris’s hit. So thank you, Eddie! Having said that, if his only value to the team is as a second pinch runner when needed (as it apparently was), then the roster spot is much better taken by Luke Williams.
Love the Brian Hunter comparison, JF! Seeing him brought back some great memories of the magical 1991 season.
Rosario put a clown emoji on his Insta story. He obviously didn’t think he should have been signed for a few days and then DFA’ed. Don’t we owe him the entire minimum because this was a major league deal?
https://x.com/DOBrienATL/status/1920936605973357055 No.
https://x.com/Braves/status/1920930918903984541
Ozzie in the leadoff spot and Verdugo with the night off. Must be against a LHP. FML
A positive thing to say about Eddie Rosario is that he played a major role in the Braves winning the 2021 World Series. That’s enough to make me have positive thoughts about him, even though I didn’t want him back on this year’s team. No ill will towards the man, but I don’t want Francisco Cabrera back either.
Absolutely. Zombie Eddie Rosario should bever be confused with the live player of 2021.
Of course I also have very positive feelings about 2021 Eddie Rosario and I always will. That’s one reason I tried very hard to find something good to say about 2025 Zombie version. But still, nothing in his brief 2025 Braves stint became him like the leaving it.
While I’m happy for Max Fried’s success, I can’t help worrying that our coaching and analytics staff perhaps are not helping our players to get the very most out of their talent. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but that was kind of my takeaway from this Rosenthal piece on how Fried has been so damn good this year:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6343544/2025/05/09/yankees-max-fried-mlb-notes/
I feel like there have been enough recent examples of guys coming in and playing better than their history that I don’t think that guys leaving us and playing better elsewhere is any different. And of course, it’s hard to know what to believe about guys who have only played for us. There’s no counter-factual that Acuna signed with the D-Backs or something. Would Acuna be a better player elsewhere? Harris, Albies, etc. Who knows.
Guys that have left us and got better:
-Fried, so far
-Freddie
Guys that have not:
-Dansby
-Morton but he died
Kelenic could leave here and probably not get any better.
Guys who have come here and gotten better:
-White (I think I can label this one a success even in SS)
-Merrifield
-Laureano
-Iglesias
-Ozuna
Guys who have come here and have gotten worse:
-Arcia
This is obviously an incomplete list but I would bet that most teams have it pretty well split. And the Dodgers have a worse problem: so many of the pitchers they bring in get injured.
I think it’s wild that you give Rosario a pinch hit AB down one run in the 9th with a runner on, but then you DFA him two days later…
It’s like the Hector Neris situation. High leverage in game 1, DFA’d three days later.
So far neither pitcher is living up to his name.
This offense is anemic.
This series is already shaping up as yet another disappointment. Another lifeless performance against a sub par team. We could make a high school pitcher look like Cy Young
The offense as a whole since the 2023 season has been so disappointing.
And this whole approach from the new hitting coach is not paying off at all.
Wild how the lineup completely craters when Verdugo isn’t leading off.
I think maybe Rosario was just supposed to keep the bench warm until Acuna gets back, but AA saw that Snit was actually using him, so he had to save Snit from himself and get rid of him.
Man our offense blows. 4 regulars hitting in the .220s.
If we led off the 9th down 3-0 getting thrown out at 3rd somebody should be fired
Can’t ask much more from Bryce Elder. Especially against a pitcher named Falter? Cmon guys
That was our 17th game scoring 3 runs or less. I don’t see Acuna fixing it.
Recapped