The Game

For the third day in a row, the Braves faced a Japanese pitcher. The New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin, on being confronted with his desire to eat Chinese food for the third night in a row, countered: “1/6th of the world’s population sees nothing odd about eating Chinese food every night.” So there are plenty of teams who face a Japanese pitcher just about every night, it’s just that there aren’t that many in MLB. Tonight’s opponent was Tomoyuki Sugano, whose name doesn’t remind me of WWII, unlike Isoroku Yoshinobu Yamamoto. There have been a lot of good Japanese pitchers, but I’m still a little mad that Hideo Nomo edged Chipper Jones for rookie of the year. Only a little, though. I’m mellowing.

When i was a kid, I could name every starting NL player. There are more teams now, and my willingness to study agate-type box scores has waned, but I looked at the 26 man roster and I only heard of a handful of these players, and one of those was Jimmy Herget, who no one has heard of me but me and his mother. (He’s the one I thought looked like a grownup version of the kid from Deliverance when he was on the Braves.)

Walt Weiss continues to take my advice, leaving Ha-Seong Kim at shortstop and tonight having Dubón spell Riley. I have lots more advice if he’s interested. Just express an interest in the post-game interview, Walt, and I’ll be in touch.

After series against Milwaukee and LA, the task was to suppress any overconfidence facing the bottom-dwelling Rockies. The good news was that the risk was so obvious that it was pretty easy to address directly.

On my broadcast, the booth mikes went silent starting in the bottom of the second. Thus, I was left to my own devices to watch Ronald Acuña Jr. score from first on a Michael Harris II double and figure out what happened. (That’s what happened.) The sound came back with Yaz up and Harris on third. He struck out, so it must be the commentary that’s been holding the offense back. OK… maybe not. Sean Murphy doubled in Harris. Kim was HBP, and a Baldwin single brought home Murphy for the third run.

In the third inning, the Braves did some small-ball practice. Acuña singled with one out, was sacrificed to second by Harris, and Dubón singled to bring him in. Seemed more like “proof of concept” than strategy.

On the other side, Sherlocks went unblemished through the first four, but a sac fly brought home Zac Veen, just as diagrammed. A single brought the Rockies good power hitter, Hunter Goodman, to the plate representing the tying run. A seeing-eye single brought home another run, bringing up TJ Rumfield (of the Bailey). A groundout brought home a third run. It was refreshing to give up three runs in an inning and not feel impending doom.

The bottom of that inning saw whatever glimmers of doom felt by the Holmes-haters subside. An Acuña double and Harris homer got two of the three back. (See? That’s why you don’t bunt.) A Dubón single chased Sugano. No more scored, but the lead was back to 3.

Dodd took the 6th. Kerr took the 7th. A sac fly yielded his first run of the season. One-name Mederos took the 8th. (Although if I call him One-name Mederos, that gives him two names.) He barely escaped giving up a run on a confirmed appeal. Iggy took the 9th. Hunter Goodman led off with a cue-ball single, but a double play ended the threat.

The good news: RAJ looked good, Murphy looked good. The Braves gave up 12 hits, but 11 were singles.

That’s five straight wins, and four straight against the Rockies this season. Pedal to the floor, boys.

4:10 start tomorrow.