Spencer is the third most common male name in my mother’s family for the last 8 generations or so (surpassed only by Shepherd / Sheppard and Robert). So, I have an inherent sentimental spot for a “Spencer.” Spencer Strider gave up 7 runs in three innings. Despite that, if the bullpen E (plus unearned) RA had finished below 4, the offense would have still bailed him out. I took a quick look around and didn’t find anything enlightening on Strider (as in “what the _ is going on!!!”). It doesn’t take orthopedic brilliance to realize he needs either rest or another “fix” or to retire from baseball. Hey, MORONS, DON’T send him back out in 5 or 6 days.
I said “return to normalcy” because this ended a 5 game winning streak and 8 out of 9. At no time this year (prior to this string) has this looked like an “8 out of 9” team. The offense was awake, but not enough to make up for a lot of bad pitching. This was the White Sox, a team that came into last night with 12 fewer wins than the miserable 2025 Braves. But lack of opposing talent hasn’t prevented this bunch of Braves from stinking up the joint before, so . . .
Well, sometimes you have to look on the bright side like that million candlepower lamp on the front of the locomotive. Jurickson Profar hit 2 home runs and went 3 for 5 and raised his seasonal OPS to .826. Maybe he will be over 2 WAR next year (little steps forward, little steps forward). Michael Harris II went 4 for 4, including a home run. Overall, 15 hits and 3 walks (doesn’t quite fix giving up 19 hits and 5 walks). Luke Williams got to pitch. AND he was one of the two Braves’ pitchers last night (out of 5) NOT to allow a run. Also credit Tyler Kinley with that great level of performance. Huzzah. Besides that, and that maybe the Battery made some money last night that may get spent on players, there wasn’t much else good to say. So, that is all I have to say about that.
Well, tonight we get a Bryce Elder start. If the offense goes off like last night, we probably win. Which will it be “normalcy”, or “recency,” that is the question.
Since July 12, Harris is slashing .400/.414/.723 with 21 XBH in 32 games
I’m going to keep harping on this until it stops being an issue, but Michael still hasn’t walked all month. Since his last walk on July 28, his K/BB ratio is 14 to 0. I wouldn’t mind nearly as much if he never struck out, but he’s striking out seven times as often as he’s walking, by far the most brutal rate of his career, and the fact that he’s literally going backwards in his strike zone control really horrifies me. He will never be able to manage his slumps until he can improve his abysmal control of the strike zone.
Sadly, at this point I don’t think his Francoeurian recognition of the strike zone is going to improve.
He’s just so much more talented than Francoeur in every respect. I will not give up hope.
Fangraphs has an article on Harris up today.
I agree with Alex. To some degree, Frenchy couldn’t help himself. Harris can put the bat on just about anything, which means he doesn’t need to be worried about deep counts. Hard for me to see how it isn’t just discipline.
When he was in a major slump, that was a good opportunity to have him be super selective and practice a different approach. Now that he is hitting .400, how do you tell him to stop what’s working?
I just realized I brought back text from Baseball Prospectus (that is how the little bolded name thingies get in there) and then DIDN’T delete the pre tagged text. I am now going to see if my edit skills let me fix that.
I saw where we got out playoff odds up to 0.3%. I guess this loss probably lowers is to 0.1%.
We claimed Jake Fraley from the Reds. He’s actually a decent 4th OF option.
I like him better than the last OF we picked up off the Reds scrap heap. Stuart… wait, what was his name? I refuse to look it up. I’m a little impressed that I’ve already forgotten.
Stuart Little. Mousey little guy. Couldn’t hit a lick
David McCabe is slashing a cool .346/.420/.528 over 44 games in the second half at AA. Seems like with our offensive woes and possible DH needs for next season, we would see what he can do at AAA. I really like him to be a pro hitter.
I root for the guy but he can only hit junk — any fastball over 94 or so eats him up.
Who had “MHII will be must-watch TV after the All Star break”?
He really is something.
Well this qualifies as an Elder quality start
I have a new nickname for Elder, but I’m saving it for a few days.
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