“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.”
- 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. ↩︎
- 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/ ↩︎
Buzz Capra’s 10-hit shutout from that season:
https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1974/B06020MON1974.htm
Tough luck tonight. Thought we were gonna make ’em pay for that error.
8 innings from Elder is so freaking impressive. All teams have ruts where they wont really scores, but if the pitching stays this consistent we will continue to have a great season.
I couldn’t watch this game, but that won’t stop me from opining. Obviously Weiss felt the pen was shot and he couldn’t go to any portion of his 3-headed monster. That’s fair and I concur. But it seems like the idea was that Elder for a 4th time through the order was a better option than a fresh Martin Perez pitching 2 innings. In hindsight, it’s easy to say Elder was the wrong move. But in general I would like to see more multi-inning games from our stable of long relievers to spell the short men. And frankly Perez has been sensational.
I was watching, and I agreed with your assessment at the time. OTOH, it was a close call. Elder had been dominant through 7, and was at 89 pitches. Then he got the first two hitters in the 8th on a pop and a grounder. Maybe at that point he should have gone to Perez to face the lefty Abreu. Elder gave up a double. So now you’re facing Contreras with the tying run on second. I think Walt decided to rely on the platoon advantage against the righty. We know how that turned out. But it almost worked. The count went to 0-2, with strike two a swinging strike at a slider in the dirt. Elder threw another slider in the dirt, but Contreras laid off to make it 1-2. He threw yet another slider well below the zone, but this time Contreras was ready and golfed it out to left. Give Elder some credit–he didn’t throw a meatball down the middle. But it’s also the case that 4th time though the order Contreras knew what to expect.
I agree with this. Fuentes and Reylo need to pitch multiple innings in their appearances if they are going to be unavailable the next game.
Thanks, JF. The 1974 Buzz Capra (RIP) memories are poignant for me. The 1973 Braves had a phenomenal offense, leading the NL in runs scored by a wide margin. In addition to the three 40 homer guys (Aaron, Evans, and Johnson), Dusty Baker and others were solid. But they finished 5th in a 6 team division, 22.5 games out. In 1974, in an amazing turnaround, the team went from worst in the league in runs allowed/game to first, thanks largely to Capra and Knucksie (7.4 bWAR) but also several other solid performers. And the record improved from 76 wins to 88, despite the offense dropping back to 8th in a 12 team league.
So I was convinced that a Golden Age was coming–just combine the offensive performance from 1973 with the pitching of 1974, and this would be the best team in the league. As it turned out, as Jonathan notes, Capra was never effective again. And the team for the next several seasons combined the pitching futility of 1973 with the offensive futility of 1974. The team lost over 90 games each year for the rest of the decade. I internalized the lesson that the Braves would never have a top notch pitching staff. And truth is, the team never developed a solid pitching staff until the 1990’s. But that history is the main reason that the 1990’s under Bobby Cox–with the best consistently excellent pitching staffs in MLB history–were so sweet to me.
Yup, those were 2 tantalizing seasons — the last couple years of Henry Aaron’s run.
And even though the ’74 club didn’t have anywhere near the offense of the previous season, Ralph Garr (“The Roadrunner”) had his career year. He won the batting title (.353), leading the league in hits & triples.
Remember when he’d come up to the plate at AFC Stadium? He’d get announced and you’d hear: “Beep-beep!”
AUSTIN GOMBER
Agree with all assessments about Elder. The offense has been sleepy lately. Need to break out today. Go Braves.
What a great and needed start by Holmes. If the bullpen can hold them scoreless, the team will have given up just 2.0 runs per game over the past 11. And no game more then 3.
If I were manager I would’ve ordered the troops to score the 7 runs last night and the 2 runs today.
But seriously I’m on daddy daycare duty all weekend so I can’t watch. Has Reynaldo figured something out?
Recapped.