I always try to look on the bright side of life. So let’s focus on the positive this morning.
–For the second game in a row, the Braves crushed Pure Evil, aka the Marlins. This time it was 12-1, after Tuesday’s 11-2 drubbing. The Braves have now won the season series against the Fish for the eleventh straight season. I will never tire of beating the Marlins. Once again last night, a Fish pitcher hit Ronald Acuña Jr with a pitch. I’m sick of this. I had hoped that getting rid of Daon Mattingly might have halted that tendency, but no such luck. This team can’t beat the Braves, so instead they consistently throw the ball at our best player. The good news is that Ronald is apparently ok.
–Our guys have already won the season series against the Mets. If they take 4 of the remaining 7 against the Nationals, they will take that season series as well. This weekend they play four against the division-leading Phillies. Take 3 of those 4, and they will have won that season series and swept the season series against each division rival. Too bad the NL East isn’t a college football conference. If my Georgia Bulldogs win all of their conference games, they will play for the conference championship.
–Not that it matters, but with the last two blowouts, the Braves’ season run differential is almost even, just minus 2. If Pythagoras determined the standings, they would only be 6 games out of the Wild Card.
–Since the All Star Break, the Braves are 19-19. Before the ASB, they were 11 games under .500. As you know, their two best starting pitchers, Sale and Schwelly, went down for the season (or at least until September) in the weeks before the break, and then a week or so after the Break, Grant Holmes, who had been good to excellent, went down for the season. As a result they turned to folks like Erick Fedde and Carlos Carrasco, and Bryce Elder has continued to start.
So if you told me that without those three starting pitchers, the Braves would nonetheless be playing .500 ball six weeks later, I would not have believed it. The offense was dreadful all year, and now it appeared the rotation might match the offense in futitility.
How have they done it? The starting pitching has not been as bad as I feared, thanks mainly to Joey Wentz and Hurston Waldrep. Wentz turned in another outstanding performance yesterday, going 6.2, surrendering a single run on 4 hits. And you are probably aware that the Millionaire, who only joined the team earlier this month, is 4-0 with an ERA under 1.00.
The offensive turnaround has been dramatic. In the first half of the season, other than first base, catcher, and DH, each position was disappointing to dreadful. Right field was a black hole until Ronald came back from injury, Riley underperformed at third, and Nick Allen, although excellent defensively, is not a major league hitter. But the real problems were left field, center field, and second base. Each of those positions were at the very bottom offensively in MLB.
Yesterday, as has so often been the case in the last weeks, all three positions were excellent. Profar went 2/3 with 3 walks, a homer, and 4 runs scored. His season OPS is .877. Michael Harris went 2/5 with a home and 3 rbi’s. His OPS is approaching .700, after hovering in the middle 500’s into July. And Ozzie went 2/5 with a homer and 5 ribbies, giving him 3 homers and 9 rbi in the last two games. By the way, Profar, Ronald, and Drake Baldwin combined for 10 walks on the game. When the top of the order gets on base at that rate, it’s not too hard to score double digits.
–It’s on to Philly. Tonight it’s Cal Quantrill vs. Aaron Nola. If you want to look on the bright side, Quantrill has a lower season ERA (5.51) than Nola (6.52).
This is the stupidest thing ever. No chance anyone will be upset with an announcer calling for violence. What’s the point of this comment? “Oh, you must not be too mad or else you would try to kill him, so you’re just posturing”? Does showing restraint deserve mockery? What a joke of an organization. Now trade us Edward Cabrera for pennies on the dollar so we can use him for something positive.
Mark Teixeira’s running for office. Someone needs to go interview Huddy.
https://patch.com/connecticut/greenwich/former-greenwich-resident-yankees-star-mark-teixeira-announces-run-congress
Nostalgia Alert: The Braves host Seattle next weekend & the Sept. 5 promotion is “Grunge Night & Flannel Fest.”
Hello my fellow Braves Journalers! I frequent these parts more than you know, but just come on to read as my time is limited. While better late than never, I’m glad to see this team is playing better baseball and hope that it carries into 2026. Between teaching, a wife that travels, after school sports activities for my 2 daughters, and 3 kids to take care of, I’ve been unable to watch a lot this year. Maybe it was a good thing for my mental health considering the first 100 games was less than good.
I am confident that 2026 will see a renewed payroll to grow this team and I’m also glad to see that Ozzie is looking like his old self. Shoulders take a long time to “get right” and it looks like Ozzie is coming back around to his normal self.
I hope all are well. I told Jonathan that I’d be around to help with some recaps but unfortunately, that was a lie.
Go Braves!
Anyone wonder why the Marlins have a dreadful run differential and better record than us? Doesn’t this series sum it up pretty well? They won 2-1 and lost 11-2 and 12-1. Just the reverse for us.
Pythagoras says anyone scoring 24 runs and giving up 5 would sweep.
“That’s baseball, Suzyn…”
Sometimes God sends us a reminder that Bryce Elder isn’t the worst you can do at starting pitcher
As someone once said, there’s an awfully big difference between “can” and “ought.”
Austin Cox has also been showing lately why he was picked up off the scrap heap.
If you want to make Pythagoras laugh, tell him your plans.
Are we the 1st team to have 2 different guys hit 4 HRs in a game against us in the same season?
Recapped
Best thing, besides the “W,” was Wentz bouncing back like a Major League starter. He got thrashed in his last start, but handled it like a pro. He may finally be reaching his potential!