3-2 Again, With Opposite Names Attached

“Rivalry” Games

It was Joe West’s mother, Mae¹, who famously said: “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.” Ha. Ha. And there are some things whose charm never wanes, like wins. But interleague play? It used to be something special, and it is certainly nothing special now. Not at all. There are places, like New York, where the annual rivalry weekend still elicits some anticipation, but for strained constructed rivalries like Braves-Red Sox it’s definitely just another game². And since the playing rules between the two leagues were unified, there is no particular reason a game against Cleveland is any different than a game against Cincinnati.

Put it another way. On my way back to the Northeast tomorrow, I’m going to have breakfast at Waffle House. I will enjoy it. This is, for this lapsed Southerner, a treat. But I’m pretty willing to guarantee you if I still lived in the South, I wouldn’t go to Waffle House every day, or every month. Too much smothered hash browns is too much, Mae.

The Game

Drake Baldwin got the scoring started with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first. The Bloody Sox tied it on a close sac fly play at the plate which wouldn’t have happened at all but for a defensive lapse by Austin Riley that thwarted a double play. (I’m not an Official Scorer. I’m allowed to assume a double play.

Bladwin knocked in the go-ahead run in the fifth, plating José Azócar following his second double. (By that point I was on my second double as well. Hat tip, Skip Caray.)

Bryce “O Ye of Little Faith” Elder continued his march to silence however many remaining critics are out there: insect overlords, you on board at this point?

But I want to take Bryce’s excellent season so far to remind us of another great Braves pitching season:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/16/2026.

That season, if you don’t recognize it, is Buzz Capra‘s 1974. We lost Buzz this week, and Bryce Elder is about the same age as Buzz was when he put up this season. RIP, Buzz. That was a hell of a season.

Elder pitched into the 8th, but a two run homer by Willson Contreras in the 8th gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead. Martin Perez mopped up the remaining outs for the good guys. On the other side Payton Tolle finished off his eight innings, and grizzled veteran Aroldis Chapman was summoned for the potential save.

Ozzie fouled out, Olson just pulled a potential tying homer foul, and it was up to Riley. He hit a garden-variety grounder to The Other Andruw, who botched the throw, bringing up Mauricio Dubón. Jorge Mateo, running for Riley, stole second and Dubón walked on four pitches. Michael Harris II came up next, and he walked on four pitches. Ha-Seong Kim then rifled an 0-2 pitch off Chapman’s heel, but he caught up to it and nipped Kim at first to end the game. While I believe you can in fact win them all, history seems to suggest I’m wrong.

Rubber game tomorrow. Bragging rights in the “rivalry.”

1. I couldn’t find any credible picture connecting Mae West with baseball, so I did the best I could. She is pictured here in Diamond Lil. Get it? Oh, and of you who think Cowboy Joe West was Mae West’s son are wrong — he was her nephew. ↩︎
2. Of the rivalry games, there are only two exceptions to the rule that the rivalry is either teams in the same state or in two neighboring states. Those two exceptions are Braves-Red Sox, presumably based on the 247 remaining Bostonians who remember when the Braves left (and care); and Seattle-San Diego, presumably based on Worls Series futility OK Geography nerds: Arizona and Colorado meet at a point…. that’s neighboring enough for me/ ↩︎