I must apologize. I think I have gotten more wins percentage wise to recap than the current 43.8 winning percentage would suggest. But despite all, what happens is seemingly always a one run game. As of this morning, we are 15 and 28 in those very one run games. But this time, we got to the mountain top, and have seen the promised land.
I am relatively sure the circumstances of my birth don’t classify me as a bastard. Sometimes, I am pretentious, but not often. However, as a natural part of my ingrained personality as an Enneagram Type 5, I do frequently see evidence of our alleged annoying trait, “intellectual arrogance.”
First, the most notable item is a tip of the hat to Bryce Elder. He got a “QS”, not an “EQS.” And, “slightly above” a “minimum Quality Start” because he delivered an extra inning. 6 strikeouts and 2 walks. But, for most of this year either (a) the offense would be putrid or (b) at least one guy in the bullpen would be “episodic.” Some offense, no “episodes,” and that equals one W (a seldom seen letter). Then we got 2 of the better pitchers to finish it. Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias (with nary a ball in his inning of 7 pitches) had non scoring innings, so we didn’t mess up sub part (b), preceding.
Well, what about the offense? As the catcher Gus said to Billy Chapel, “tonight we don’t suck.” The Braves offense took that to heart. No sub part (a) failure. Mets went up, then Braves tied. Later, Braves went up. Mets went up one. Braves got back 2 in the 8th inning that made the difference. Hitting stars were the deservedly frequently maligned Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris, II. Ozzie had 7 total bases and was a triple short of the cycle. Harris and his 3 hits got him up to the magical number of .250 for his seasonal batting average. Overall, 9 hits and 2 walks. If you put 11 on safely, maybe a few will score (well, we know by the course of this season that frequently that DOES NOT happen).
And that amazing performance earned the Braves a trip to Cleveland. Thankfully, it isn’t January.

Thank you, cliff.
I had sworn off watching any more Bryce Elder starts — why torture yourself — but relented last night and it was a very satisfactory game. Good pitching, timely offense, and letting the Mets lead in it just long enough to get the home crowd’s hopes up. Is there any sweeter sound in sports than a Citi Field crowd booing the home team?
In August, it’s music to my ears.
Those leaky middle-relievers…
When Elder is perfect, he’s good enough.
It’s sad that Elder isn’t even our worst starter. On occasion, though, he can go out and throw a gem like last night.
There are some pitchers so variable in their outcomes that their worst outings come to dominate their results. Yet these pitchers are perfectly capable of putting up good games as well. It’s just that you can’t have an ERA better than 0.00 while you’re unlimited on the upside.
Yes, Elder has a very small margin for error. But when those errors don’t come (or when he is facing a pressing team that misses the errors) he has major league talent. What he doesn’t have (and will probably never have) is major league consistency.
Agreed, Jonathan, and well put. Even the worst major league pitchers are talented enough to look elite on any given night.
It is possible Elder could learn some consistency. He’s been around forever now but he’s still only 26. And whether he’s getting bombed out of the stadium or making the All-Star team, his FIPs have been somewhere between the high 3’s and low 5’s. It’s not crazy that he could become a low-4’s ERA, low-4’s FIP innings eater making $15M a year for a long career. Miles Mikolas has had a nice and long career of being pretty darn mediocre (4.23 ERA in 1,213.2 IP). Taijuan Walker (4.14 ERA in 1,239.1 IP) and Jon Gray (4.47 ERA in 1,228.1 IP) are a couple other examples.
Or he could be completely out of baseball next year.
There’s a plausible scenario where Elder is still plugging away somewhere after Strider, Schwellenbach, and Holmes are all done.
I know Charlie Morton is truly a unicorn with his late career success, but Elder could be that big, strong, easy-throwing, durable arm that Morton ended up becoming. Through age-28, Morton had a 5.06 ERA and -1.1 bWAR in 473.1 IP. Through age-33, 9 big league seasons, Morton only accumulated 1.3 bWAR. Then age-34 is when his career really started when he had his elite season: 3.4 bWAR for Houston. Not saying this could be Elder, but if a starting pitcher somehow stays healthy (to your point about Strider and Schwellenbach), it simply gives them more time to figure out how to become the type of pitcher they need to be to be successful.
Back to Morton, this was his age-34 to age-40 seasons: 18.1 bWAR, 3.64 ERA, $112M earned. Incredible.
Morton had amazing stuff at 23 but he lacked the command he needed until 30. Elder lacks the stuff and will have to be perfect to succeed. Maybe Jaime Moyer or Bob Tewksbury is something to aspire to.
Not sure I’ve seen an arsenal and approach quite like Waldrep’s. Splitter, cutter, slurve all 87-89 with very different action. Not sure if intentional but he seems to throw them all sort of down the middle and let movement take care of it. The 4 seamer almost seems like a show pitch.
Recapped once I edit the cover picture.. Done