RAJ
After today’s work, Ronald Acuña Jr. has appeared in 27 games this season, and he has scored 29 runs, has 15 RBI, 38 hits, 5 doubles, 8 homers and 21 walks. I looked through baseball history and have found exactly three seasons in which someone did better or equalled Ronald in all 6 of these categories in their first 27 games in a season:
- Bryce Harper, 2017 (34 runs, 27 RBI, 38 hits, 8 doubles, 9 homers and 25 walks)
- Barry Bonds, 1993 (30 runs, 29 RBI, 38 hits, 11 doubles, 8 homers and 23 walks)
- Babe Ruth, 1926 (34 runs, 41 RBI, 38 hits, 8 doubles, 11 homers and 21 walks)
We are blessed.
The Game
Apparently, Bryce Elder and Sandy Alcantara are pitchers of roughly equal quality. (There’s a sentence that was never true before this year, and probably isn’t true this year either, except for exceedingly lax definitions of “roughly”.) The Braves took a couple of leads which the Marlins promptly erased. Then the Marlins took a two-run lead, which the Braves cut into before the Marlins re-established it (the last run Grybo’d off Dylan Dodd.)
By the 7th, both starters are gone, and, once again, we got a bullpen matchup for the victory. Austin Riley represented the tying run in the 7th, fecklessly. Austin Cox made his Braves debut, cleanly. After an Alex Verdugo single to start the 9th, Michael Harris II represented the tying run, double-fecklessly with a GIDP. A Sean Murphy strike out ended the proceedings, sadly.
Obligatory Literary Reference
In Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, the fisherman Santiago hooks a marlin, but comes up empty at the end. Trying really hard counts for nothing against the fates. While Hemingway eventually made the playoffs, Santiago did not.
Four against the Mets in CitiField starting tomorrow.
As I recall, the fisherman really liked DiMaggio. I think if we had him in center field, we’d be playing better.
As I said, the Braves need to win on the road or else there’s no reason to continue this. 3 runs or less almost always equals loss especially this year. I agree that Elder should have been pulled earlier (it doesn’t help for me to scream at the screen), but Snit has a slow hook when we are behind. Dodd, in particular (and Cox), was an admission of loss. Both Dodd and Cox are presumably our lowest leverage relievers, but it doesn’t matter if you score 3 or less. Acuna scored 2 of 3 runs and Baldwin scored or drove in 2 of 3. It’s the Acuna and Baldwin show and that is not enough.
I’m sure there will be a crash, but so far I have been pleasantly surprised with Dylan Dodd in the bullpen. He has pitched in 7 games, still hasn’t allowed a run and has a .63 WHIP. Small sample size but so far he looks like a totally different pitcher in the bullpen.
Will there be a crash? He’s a lefty, they gave him a long leash as a starter, and now he’s airing it out in the pen. He’s getting hit kinda hard in AAA (21 hits in 18 IP), but he’s striking out a lot (25) and not walking much (3). He’s 27 and he appears to be officially a reliever. I think he might be here to stay.
Why this team continues to play Alex Verdugo makes no sense.
White might not hit much either but at least he can run and field.
Carlos Rodriguez is on fire at Gwinnett right now. He doesn’t hit for power but gets on base a lot. And he’s already on the 40 man. He can’t possibly be worse than the sucking vortex at the bottom of the order right now.
Worth noting that Nacho Alvarez is hot since coming off the IL, though he’s played all 7 games at third base so the Braves don’t seem to think he’s a potential solution to the middle infield. (For good reason, judging by his week at second base in the majors last season).
It’s almost impossible to contend when this much of your lineup is awful:
https://x.com/mlbbowman/status/1937172018006286459
The Sale injury is absolutely devastating; it effectively ends any hope of the playoffs and probably ruins his trade value. It’s possible a playoff team will still trade for him, but it makes it less likely he’d get a great return.
The team shouldn’t give up any real prospects unless it’s an upgrade for multiple years. Dump Bummer and Johnson’s salaries and let younger guys like Dodd and Lara get bullpen reps for the rest of year. If you can pull off a Murphy trade for an upgrade at SS or 2B, great, but that’s probably an off-season move.
RAJ: In 117 PA/27 G, he’s .396/.504/.698 for your basic 1.202 OPS.
He’s a real treasure, no doubt.
A caveat… I sure hope this year doesn’t become one of those seasons where he’s the only thing worth watching (like Murph in ’87, the three 40-HR guys in ’73, etc.) For the moment, let’s keep beating up on the Mets… I’ll take that, too.
Tonight, JonF & I will be in Sec. 103 by the RF foul pole, 9 rows back in fair territory. It’s soupy hot w/ an “extreme heat warning,” so the ball might be flying tonight. Here’s to Ozzie or Olson (or both) dropping one in our lap. Go Braves.
Looking forward!
As to RAJ, here’s the thing that surprised me: when I ran his numbers, I just assumed that there’d be somebody obscure with that fast a start to a season. The fact that the only other three are all MVPs of the first order was surprising. Since he was the only one of the four batting leadoff, he trails them all substantially in RBIs, but he’s right in there in every other metric.
Go Braves!
I sure hope we don’t give up on Nacho as a 2B. Not only do we need one of those, but we also have a pretty good 3B and Nacho doesn’t strike me as a corner bat.
The offense needs help, but with four players not hitting, even a PED infused Profar won’t move the needle much. We need some of the AA magic when he replaced the bullpen or outfield. I don’t think we’ll get it, though.
The Yankees are starting our old friend Allen Winans tonight; reportedly he’s looked fantastic in Triple A. I wish him well, but if the Yankees turn him into Mini-Max Fried I’m going to be super pissed.
He has looked fantastic at AAA before. He’s even impressed at MLB, but not consistently. Hasn’t had MLB stuff to my eye–a lot like Elder. If they unlock something it will be impressive.
Shout out to JonathanF and ububba. You’re getting the job done so far. Keep it up!
We’re doing the best we can!
Watching Ozzie swing the bat this year, it’s hard to wrap your mind around the fact that he hit 33 homers just two years ago.
I don’t know how much longer I can watch Eli White
Watching MHIi at the plate this year, it’s hard to wrap your mind around the fact that his OPS+ in 2022-23 was 123. (This season it’s 62)
A win, a most palpable win!
Dylan Lee!
Dylan Lee indeed. Almost Matzek-like.
Gotta love those 1-run games’
Here’s to good pitching & a couple well-timed sac flies.
That was a real nail-biter.
Let’s go for 5 in a row vs. the guys.
recapped.