If you didn’t watch this one, I feel bad for you.  You missed a classic.  I had tickets to a concert tonight, but at about 4:00 my wife and I agreed we’d rather stay in and watch the Braves. No regrets here—I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.  It was as tense–and as fun–as any game this year.  And a good preview of October baseball.

Tyler Glasnow vs. Bryce Elder is just the kind of matchup that folks were worried about when AA  did not acquire a top-tier starter at the deadline.  Elder-Glasnow is not what they want to see come October.  As it turned out, the two starters were essentially equal on the night.  Bryce Elder continues to show that while he may not be top-tier, he’s very solid and knows what he’s doing out there.

Glasnow was making his first start since May, and the rust showed in the first.  Four of the first five hitters singled, scoring two runs, and Albies drove in the third run with a sac fly. A fourth run scored on a passed ball, but the home plate ump somehow believed the pitch hit the bat of Yaz.  It didn’t, as replays plainly showed, but for some reason that call is not reviewable.  Making it worse, Yaz then got rung up on an ABS reversal.  Still the Braves led 3-0 after one.

Could Elder hold them? Yes and no.  He gave up 2 runs in the second and another run in the 4th, to make it 3-3.  He held them there through six, making this a “quality start.”  Elder went six innings, surrendering 3 runs on 8 hits, walking none.  I thought his start was better than those numbers indicate.  The 8 hits were all singles, and many of them were softly hit.  Crucially, he didn’t walk anyone.  With any BABIP luck, Elder could have held them scoreless.  What was frustrating was that he held Ohtani and Freeman hitless, but numbers 7, 8 , and 9 in the order, none of whom are anything special, had 5 hits against Elder.

Meanwhile, after that rough 1st, Glasnow looked more like the guy LA pays the big bucks for.  He shut the Braves out in the 2nd through the 5th.  Truth is, the hits he yielded in the first, like Elder’s in the 2nd and 4th, weren’t hit very hard.  Between them Elder and Glasnow gave up 14 hits, but all were singles, and most weren’t hit hard.

So it was 3-3 after 4, and it stayed that way until the 8th.  Dylan Lee had pitched a scoreless 7th.  Weiss used Lee in the 7th rather than the 8th because the top of the order was up, which includes lefties Ohtani and Freeman.  I’m liking Weiss’s bullpen management.  To my surprise, Walt turned to Anthony Mederos in the 8th in a very high leverage situation.  After two quick outs, that decision was looking pretty good.  Mederos then walked two batters, proving that he probably won’t be a high leverage option again.  Fortunately Dylan Dodd got pinch hitter Miguel Rojas on a harmless fly ball to keep it tied.  Dylan Dodd will be forever younger than Dylan Lee, but he has become just about as good.

In the bottom of the 8th, Olson led off the inning with a double, which included one of the uglier slides into second you’ll see.  That was the first XBH of the game after 16 (!) singles.  Dubon advanced him to third, but MHII couldn’t deliver.  Fortunately, Ozzie drove in the go ahead run with a two out single to center. 

In the 9th, though, the Dodgers had 3 future HoFers lined up against the recently shaky Raisel Iglesias, so it was far from over.  Ohtani led off with a triple.  It was well struck, near the top of the wall in left, but Lane Thomas had a good chance to catch it but missed.  By the time he got the ball in, Shohei was on third with no outs.  At that point, you just hope to hold them to one run and walk it off in the bottom of the inning.  But Iglesias struck out Freeman and got Betts on a weak grounder to short.  Weiss wisely decided to walk Muncie intentionally, even though it meant putting on the potential go ahead run.  Muncie’s been hot lately, and today is his birthday, which he shares with ububba, Elvis Costello, and Gene Simmons.  That’s three people who are great at their job, and Simmons is not terrible.  Walt’s gambit paid off as Iggy induced Edman to fly out to center, and–Braves Win! Braves Win! Braves Win!

Braves can win the series tomorrow behind AJ S-S against Sasaki. And then they can sweep on Thursday behind Sale.

*   *  *

Very sad news today with the passing of Dolly Parton.  All of us in my family are huge fans.  What a great body of work she leaves; more than that, she made the world a better place because she lived.  I leave you with these lyrics from “Travelin Through”:

Well, I can’t tell you where I’m goin’, I’m not sure of where I’ve been
But I know I must keep travelin’ ’til my road comes to an end
I’m out here on my journey, tryin’ to make the most of it
I’m a puzzle, I must figure out where all my pieces fit

Like a poor wayfarin’ stranger that they speak about in song
I’m just a weary pilgrim tryin’ to find what feels like home
Where that is, no one can tell me, am I doomed to ever roam?
I’m just travelin’, travelin’, travelin’, I’m just travelin’ on

Oh, sometimes the road is rugged and it’s hard to travel on
But holdin’ to each other, we don’t have to walk alone
When everything is broken, we can mend it if we try
We can make a world of difference, if we want to, we can fly

Goodbye little children, goodnight you handsome men
Farewell to all you ladies and to all who knew me when
And I hope I see you down the road, you meant more than I knew
As I was travelin’, travelin’, travelin’, travelin’, travelin’ through