Soroka
I have used the photograph above before. It is Michael Soroka‘s first MLB pitch. I took it, so that unlike most images that I put up here, mumbling “fair use” and pointing to the aggregate revenue of Braves Journal, I actually own this image. Feel free to use it.
Is there an alternate universe in which Michael Soroka is still a Brave? Of course there is. I saw Everything, Everywhere, All At Once — that documentary about parallel universes. But we live in this one, and he’s a Diamondback facing the Braves. There are a number of things I find suboptimal about this universe: this is one of them. As suboptimalities go, it is of a pretty low order, but when I watch him pitch against the Braves, it looms a little larger. On the other hand, the universe where Jim Leyritz is arrested without bail on October 22, 1996 looms larger still. My head swims with alternative universes — I do not sleep well.
The Game
Bryce Elder, going for his second complete game of his career, didn’t have a 1-2-3 inning until the 6th inning. Everyone was so surprised, he was yanked after that. He left with a 2-1 lead, but a DBack homer off Fuentes tied it up.
The bottom of the 7th saw a leadoff Austin Riley double and a successful Jim Jarvis sacrifice. If that sounds like a nod to small ball, the ensuing three-run homer from Matt Olson should disabuse you from that particular heresy.
So today was another FLIGGY relief day. After Fuentes gave up the solo shot, Lee was perfect. That left the roulette wheel that is the August Iggy with a 3-run lead. A leadoff walk created a frisson of fear, and the subsequent single transformed the frisson to an allotment of apprehension. A flyout was seemingly followed by another flyout, but a balk was called on the delivery, raising the allotment to a cauldron of crisis. A groundout led to a run and a flyball from James McCann ended it, emptying the cauldron.
It’s off to Minnesota tomorrow, where the Twins are trying to thwart a Phillies sweep as I type. Enjoy whatever universe you currently inhabit.
Imagine a world where Freeman left and Olson slipped through to, say, Philly.
The last time I checked, Olson had a few more WAR as a Brave than Freeman did as a Dodger. Of course that doesn’t take into account Langeliers’s 11 or so WAR and assumed future value, but I think the Braves also have saved some money on Olson’s contract versus Freeman’s. Anyway, the de facto 1B trade hasn’t turned out as badly as many of us feared it might. Regardless, I doubt the Dodgers regret signing Freeman, & I still miss him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/sports/baseball/tommy-john-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1
I had the good fortune of once meeting Tommy John. Somewhat strangely, it was at a Manhattan nightclub called Pangaea (in 2004, IIRC). He was with his wife and an elderly gentleman. They had just finished dinner at a nearby Meatpacking District restaurant & they were just stopping in to say hi to someone.
I got the heads-up & was introduced. We had a nice conversation. I told him that I saw him pitch the 2nd game of a doubleheader at AFC Stadium in 1973 before he had his famous surgery. I asked him how he did vs. Henry Aaron and he said: “I didn’t face him that much — I spent most of my time in the American League, but… believe it or not, I did OK against him. It was the Pat Tablers and the Tom Pacioreks that always gave me the most trouble.”
At the time, he was the pitching coach of the Staten Island Yankees & he invited me to take batting practice at the park. (WTF? Really?) Totally down to earth & cool. Of course, I was beaming the rest of the night.
RIP, Tommy John.
Great story, ububba.
Imagine a world where this is the Braves roster
C Shea Langeliers
1B Freddie Freeman
2B Vaughn Grissom
SS Braden Schewmake
3B Nacho Alvarez, Jr
OF Cristian Pache
OF Drew Waters
OF Justin-Henry Molloy
DH William Contreras
SP Michael Soroka
SP Tanner Gordon
SP Jared Shuster
SP Kyle Muller
SP Freddy Tarnok
RP Evan Phillips
RP A.J. Minter
RP Victor Vodnik
RP Tristan Beck
I am very happy with the team we have.
Isn’t Ned Yost managing that team?
Fredi is his bench coach.
Dansby Swanson pulled his oblique and may be out for awhile.
Carlos Santana was released to give him a chance to catch on somewhere else.
Murphy on the bench again lol
It’s August 17th and he has 31 ABs.
I think Murphy’s only job the rest of the year is to spell Baldwin behind the dish (a Drake break!). Doubt he starts a single playoff game.
Maybe next year, if the stars align and he can get a normal spring training and avoid injury, we can see where his actual talent level is now. I say if he’s hurt again or still sucks by next July, trade him for a bag of balls. But they won’t even release Kim, so I doubt it.
When I heard the Braves called up Ray Kerr I thought “he has to be 50 years old” before I realized I was thinking of Ray King, who last pitched for the Braves 23 years ago and is, in fact, 52 years old. Or as Emily Litella used to say: “Never mind.”
Ray Kerr? I hardly know’er.
Ray “Burger” King… sure, I remember… a one-year Brave.
He was part of that trade w/ St. Louis that worked out really well for them. I definitely remember that.
They don’t make pitchers like Ray King and Bob Wickman anymore.
AJSS activated and Kinley DFA’d (!). Now more LH than RH in bullpen.
Victor Mederos had an option left, I believe. If so, I don’t get this choice, even though Kinley hasn’t been himself in a few weeks.
We kept Mederos for his bat.
Ivan on Battery Power said he had a source who said Holmes had a history of being really pissed after being pulled earlier from games than the other starters. My guess is that they may leave him in the rotation so that he won’t become a malcontent as a reliever, and he may be a candidate to be traded in the offseason.
Wouldn’t be the first time the Braves have put the emotional needs of one ahead of needs of the team/organization. That’s how we got Snitker for one sleepy final season, because you couldn’t remove a nearly-half-century employee despite his being completely disengaged in the job.
Channeling my inner Chip, I think Holmes may be upset because he’s been pulled four times this season with two out in the 5th, depriving him of chances at wins. In two of those occasions, the Braves were up by 2 and if he had finished the 5th without allowing more than one run, he would’ve gotten the Ws. Another time the team was down by a run and he took the loss, and another time the team was down but he got a no-decision. As for the other two comparable pitchers, Elder has been pulled once down by a run after 4.2, but he got a no-decision, and Perez hasn’t been pulled in that situation.
I don’t know about those individual games or about pitch counts, but in general Holmes has been pulled a bit earlier than Elder or Perez, and his splits are more uneven than theirs. Holmes’s ERA in the first inning, when the opposition presumably has its best hitters in the optimal order, has been 3.13. It has increased steadily until reaching 5.48 in the 4th, then has fallen to 3.57 in the 5th and 0 in 10+ IP in the 6th-8th. Despite the poor 4th inning ERA, he’s only been removed twice in the 4th, 2 times after 4, and the abovementioned 4 times in the 5th. He’s only been allowed to start the 6th 7 times, so his big drop-off comes after 5. By times faced each batter as a starter, he’s allowed a .603 OPS the first time, .a frightening .953 the second time, and .639 the third time, but after his putrid second times through, he’s only been allowed to face 85 batters a third time (207 1st time & 200 2nd time).
Elder’s ERA splits by inning and OPS splits by batters faced are more even: 1st ERA 4.88, 2nd 4.88, 3rd 3.38, 4th 5.01, 5th 2.75, 6th 1.65, 7th 1.69, and 8th 18 (2 ER in 1 IP). His OPS splits by times faced are .651, .751, .691, and .727. Perhaps because his 5th inning performance has been good, he’s been allowed to start the 6th 17 times and has finished 15 of those innings. His drop-off comes an inning later, as he’s only started the 7th 7 times.
Perez has started 20 games and made it into the 5th 18 times. He’s started the 6th 8 times, so his drop-off comes at the same place as Holmes’s but isn’t quite as pronounced. With a 5th inning ERA of 1.02, I’m surprised Perez hasn’t been left in longer, but maybe it’s a pitch count issue. His OPS by times faced batter are .685, .651, and .643, so again much more even than Holmes’s.
I didn’t look at Sale, because if Holmes is upset about being pulled earlier than Sale, he’s not real bright, and the others don’t have enough starts that I think their results would show much.
So Holmes has in fact been pulled earlier than the two most comparable pitchers and in situations that cost him two wins, but I can see why.
Lodise promoted to AA. I wonder who plays more at shortstop between he and Gil.
4-6 since putting Kim and Murphy in the lineup on the same night — when the eight-game winning streak ended. And now down 2-0. Never mess with a winning streak.
Albies needs to try some plate patience. He’s trying to swing his way out of the slump, and it’s not helping.
This isn’t a team that’s going anywhere in October. They’re good entertainment from April through September, and I suppose that’s precisely what the ownership group wants.
I believe this is EXACTLY the needle ownership wants to thread. To be the Pittsburgh Steelers — the modern version, not the “Steel Curtain” one — of MLB. Good enough to be in the conversation almost every year and reasonably relevant to keep the people streaming into The Battery, but the only way there’s any hope of postseason success is if they get on a heater and things break perfectly. Which they did in 2021, but when you look back at how that team was duct-taped together, that was a one-in-200 shot.
I don’t think you can predict how we will do in October. We were almost unbeatable early in the year, went through a horrible June Swoon, then we turned it around in some ways in July, August looks like a mixed bag. I’m not sure if this is poor management or good management or what. We are 126 games into the year and I have no idea what we have. At this point I think we have as good of a chance as anyone to win the world series and as good of a chance as anyone to get eliminated in the first round.
Recapped