In the building where my Great-Grandparents took me to Sunday School, they have these things called “Elders.” I hope at least that those people were in action today, because Bryce Elder was not doing the Lord’s work this particular Sunday. Bryce allowed 10 hits and 6 runs over 4 innings, and his ERA rose to 3.15.
The Mets take the 3-game series and move to 14 games back of the Braves. Meanwhile, enjoy the picture above from the time that Ozzie Albies initiated a series of events culminating in Larry Jones receiving a Crown.
San Francisco comes to town on Tuesday at 7:15 Eastern, Grant Holmes and Adrian Houser scheduled.
I’m willing to basically call this our annual June swoon. The team we’ve seen this past week has looked nearly as crappy as the team looked dominant in April and May. It’s a long year, and thank goodness we banked all those wins when we did.
Having said that, I would like to see Walt Weiss fine Austin Riley a thousand bucks every time he pops out on the first pitch with a man in scoring position. The guy is going through it, but he’s pressing all to hell and, to my eyes, it’s resulted in a completely undisciplined plate approach. I don’t know what to advocate other than a sports psychologist to help him build his mental strength to focus on the individual matchup, but he’s still trying to hit a five-run homer, and he winds up making weak contact – or none – on most of his plate appearances.
Savant says his swing speed is still excellent, so that’s not the issue. Surely he has had an eye test recently? Otherwise, it’s mechanical, so there should be some hope he can get it figured out. I will say he is traditionally a 2nd half player, but it would be nice if he wasn’t so bad right now.
Seems like plate discipline is the issue to me which might be a result of pressing. Needs to lay off the outside breaking pitches. But he hasn’t hit the ball hard even on the straight inside pitches. I think a sports psychologist would do wonders.
Bowman says Strider’s MRI showed no ligament damage, just inflammation. Great news. I wonder what caused the severe velocity drop, though.
I certainly welcome this day off…
Ritchie’s gonna pitch the middle game of the SF series & it looks like we’re holding Sale for the Brewers.
If Sale goes Friday, that’ll be 9 days between starts. Valuable goods.
Glad Strider has no actual damage, but it doesn’t really change much for us in 2026. He’s proven that he can’t really be relied upon, and you can’t really have any expectation of him making significant contributions this season or beyond.
I would imagine the doctor is going to tell him to rest the arm for at least a month, then he’ll have to go on a rehab assignment and ramp things back up, so maybe he’ll be available in August?
Edit: That’s the plan: https://x.com/Braves/status/2066589353392964027
You’re right. Bowman added they Strider is shut down for 4 weeks. They will do a follow up MRI, and if that’s clear he will begin a throwing program.
Seems to me that he might be best served to come back as a reliever for 2026. Gonna take some time to get stretched back out to start.
I wish that the Braves would get an OF better than Eli White and let Dubon/Mateo/Kim duke it out for SS or fill in when some IF gets injured. The Braves need runs. They lose when they fail to score.
Nobody’s going to confuse Eli White for Mike Trout (of any era), but on Saturday White went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, a HR & 2 RBI in a game the Braves won 3-1.
That day, he was the offense.
I don’t disagree that the Braves could use some more RH power that perhaps could platoon in corner OF and DH. Opposing teams have noticed and are spamming LHP as much as they can against us.
As far as I can tell, RH power is a scarce resource across the league. Just look at the Phillies, who’d probably sell their mommas for a right-handed power bat. We really don’t have a better option than “get Riley right.”
Drake is back!
Hallelujah!
Yup, that oughta help a lot.
Drake’s career vs.
RHP: .270/.344/.471 in 483 PA
LHP: .319/.391/.550 in 179 PA
Braves resigned Carrasco and Handley to minor league deals.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/06/braves-re-sign-carlos-carrasco-maverick-handley-to-minor-league-deals.html
CJ calculates that the Braves are 3.2 runs above expected due to the use of ABS challenges.
https://x.com/CJNitkowski/status/2066185910375391543
This piss-fest weather doesn’t seem to bother Drake — just like he never left.
Welcome back!
Baldwin’s homer was calculated at 473 feet, the longest in MLB this season!
Will they get 5 innings in tonight?
It looks ridiculous out there.
Holmes and Elder simultaneously turning into pumpkins is quite the problem.
Hard to judge Holmes too harshly in these conditions.
Why did they even start the game like this?
2:36 am. Once again, folks, I am failing you. G’night.
It’s only 9:00 where I am and I’m struggling to stay awake. But I’ll do my best to stick it out and post something in the way of a recap. You’re my inspiration in that regard. If you can post recaps from Europe, I should be able to do that five miles from Truist Park. (I hate to tell y’all but we are still getting a little drizzle here at my house.)
They’re putting the tarp on. I’m starting to doubt my ability to stay up for this one.
I would like to see JF do an analysis of Atlanta’s record when he is out of the country. I believe it’s really important the JF only travels outside of the country during the offseason.
Not exactly recapped, but a new post is up