Well, that’s why they have the best record in baseball.
The San Francisco Giants, in a nutshell, did what they’ve done all year. They hit a pair of home runs, they got great starting pitching from Logan Webb, and their bullpen nailed down a 5-0 victory.
It’s not ideal, especially on a night where the Phillies won, but it was probably going to happen sooner or later against this opposition. Now it’s time to just flush that one and go try to grab the series win tomorrow.
Positives:
- Huascar Ynoa wasn’t vintage, but he was pretty good. I’m sure he wanted the breaking ball he hung to Logan Webb in the third inning back, but he got plenty of soft contact and worked around a few spots where his control was shaky. But he did what Max Fried did last night by keeping his team in the game. Sometimes that breaks right and sometimes it doesn’t.
- Two more hits for Austin Riley and a missile in the 8th inning that was caught. He is on top of everything right now.
- Welcome to Atlanta, Eddie Rosario. He struck the ball well for a lineout to deep left field in his pinch hit at-bat.
Negatives:
- 1-for-10 with RISP, and the worst of it was the 6th inning. The Braves had runners on the corners with nobody out after a Wilmer Flores error, but wasted it after Dansby Swanson popped out and Travis d’Arnaud tapped back into a 1-6-3 double play. It could’ve been a different game with a run or two there.
- Speaking of Swanson, he came up to the plate with a runner in scoring position four times tonight and went 0-for-4. You can’t go crazy about it with how well he has hit lately, but that was a night to forget.
- A ball that shorthopped on Riley in the 8th ended up costing the Braves a pair of runs, even though technically it wasn’t scored as an error. It probably wouldn’t have mattered, but it could’ve made the final six outs a little more interesting on offense.
- So, Chris Martin. He has a 5.27 ERA since the All Star Break and has only thrown two 1-2-3 innings in those 14 outings. Sticky stuff casualty, just having a bad month, a sign of aging, all of the above? Who knows, but it’s not pretty right now.
- The outfield in right center field was rough tonight. First Ozzie Albies had to make an over-the-shoulder catch on a ball in that triangle in the 4th, then a ball did drop in between Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, and Albies in the 6th innings. Both cases looked like ones where an outfielder needed to take charge, and it didn’t happen either time. Can we get Ron Washington to work on pop-ups along with his work on ground balls?
- The Braves did not force the Giants deep into their bullpen, and that could matter tomorrow with some uncertainty about who will start the game for San Francisco.
- That was the first time all season the Braves have been shutout in a nine inning game at home, and the first time they’ve been shutout in a nine-inning game anywhere since the second game of the season up in Philadelphia. Start a new scoring streak tomorrow, I guess.
Former Brave Of The Day:
I suppose it kind of has to be Tommy La Stella again with his two RBIs, huh? Sigh.
Quote Of The Game:
“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.â€
— Babe Ruth
Tomorrow’s Goal:
Let’s just get Ian Anderson looking healthy and comfortable on the mound and then see where things go from there.
Thanks Alan. Martin’s k/9 is 6.4, and I’ve been worried about that for a while.
Ian Anderson activated, Edgar Santana sent down. Tomlin definitely has the pictures.
The options game finally caught up to us. This must make the six man rotation the way we go forward. Does this mean that Santana will be one of the two callups in Sept?
Tomlin defenders: explain to me how the team will be better with Tomlin on the team rather than Santana.
[@Roger just above. Maybe, but that makes it even stupider. What role would Tomlin fill after more relievers are called up?]
In other, not entirely unrelated, news I was struck last night by how Chip said that Rosario was “acquired from Cleveland for Pablo Sandoval.” I realize that that accurately describes the transaction, but it doesn’t come within a parsec of explaining the transaction. If I am one of Chip’s “casual baseball fans,” am I supposed to conclude that the Guardians are idiots?
@4
In other, not entirely unrelated, news I was struck last night by how Chip said that Rosario was “acquired from Cleveland for Pablo Sandoval.” I realize that that accurately describes the transaction, but it doesn’t come within a parsec of explaining the transaction. If I am one of Chip’s “casual baseball fans,” am I supposed to conclude that the Guardians are idiots?
I think it’s actually intended for the casual fan to not discuss concepts like salary dumps, implying that the hitter at the plate at that particular moment is an overpaid stiff. I don’t think that makes the casual fan enjoy what’s happening on the TV at that moment. It’d be really for the more serious fan that you’d explain why such a trade would happen. Plus, it’s probably not in Chip Caray’s best interests as someone who interacts with the team to imply that a player-favorite like Sandoval sucks and Rosario is overpaid.
Overall, I do think that while Chip does attempt (and often fail) to provide in-depth analysis at times, I think it’s definitely clear at this point that the casual, uninformed fan is the primary audience of most team’s broadcasts. “Hey everybody, come watch this man race people on the warning track, and wow, look at how big this fan’s ice cream is!!!!”
We’re currently 1-3 against the primo competition, so that’s a little concerning. Got a fair pitching match-up today, and of course we’re at home. Really need to win this one, because then we go to LA for 3. The shine could come off this in a hurry if it becomes clear that we can beat up the bad teams but are not enough against the best teams.
I look on MLBTR. No Tomlin. I look on Braves beat writers’ Twitters. No Tomlin. I look on Braves roster. Tomlin. I say, Braves Journal, you one lucky guy.
Tomlin defenders: explain to me how the team will be better with Tomlin on the team rather than Santana.
OK, first of all, there are no “Tomlin defenders,” there’s only me–although I am more than enough–and since I agree that Tomlin is bad, I would classify myself as an “Alex Anthopoulos defender.”
Secondly, if people missed the point the previous ten times it’s been explained, why try again? It’s certainly not intuitive, but it’s also not that hard to understand.
In a way, you can interpret the Tomlin non-move as the Braves believing we’re likely to need a mop-up guy over the next couple series. Does that help?
@7 We can shut down for the day now. Our work here is done.
The only way to interpret the Tomlin non-move is to think that none of Smyly, Touki, or Ynoa will be used in the long reliever role. We will have a six-man rotation at least until the next day off. Tomlin can still be DFA’d at any time and someone else recalled. And, of curse, the only reason Tomlin would “have” to be DFA’d would be for a 40-man slot to add someone else. And, heck, you can DFA Yoan Lopez for that. Or put Ozuna on the 60 day IL. But, frankly, I’d rather have Santana or Newk coming in during the middle innings than Tomlin.
BTW, anyone think that Kranitz being Kapler’s former pitching coach has an influence on the Giants being able to jump on the Braves’ starters in the first inning? Considering how well they’ve pitched after the first, you’d have to think there might be something to that.
In the last 16 days, Tomlin has pitched 2/3 of an inning. The idea that we need 14 pitchers more than an extra bench bat is beyond my comprehension.
@6 I don’t think it’s that clear-cut, Rob. We have done atrociously against the AL East this year and the Yankees had luck (and umpires and replay) on their side. We have not done badly against the NL West at all (except Arizona…… lol), even before the deadline moves.
Also, today’s lineup reflects the first try at using our players based upon matchups. Joc moved up before Dansby (Joc has killed DeSclafani). And Rosario in place of Duvall. It kinda leaves us with a limited OF defense but matches up well. It’s making me start to think Heredia/Pederson and Rosario/Duvall are the platoons with Soler playing every day.
The only way to interpret the Tomlin non-move is to think that none of Smyly, Touki, or Ynoa will be used in the long reliever role. We will have a six-man rotation at least until the next day off. Tomlin can still be DFA’d at any time and someone else recalled. And, of curse, the only reason Tomlin would “have” to be DFA’d would be for a 40-man slot to add someone else. And, heck, you can DFA Yoan Lopez for that. Or put Ozuna on the 60 day IL. But, frankly, I’d rather have Santana or Newk coming in during the middle innings than Tomlin.
I can’t find fault with this either. I’m also too lazy to really think about it.
Did anyone else find “of curse” rather funny? Tomlin is a blessing!
Here are two sets of questions that might be helpful for you who are struggling. I am also too lazy to do this work myself:
1) Do other teams have mop-up guys? How easy are they to distinguish? (I’d hypothesize that the line tends to blur on bad teams.) How does our mop-up guy rank against other teams’ mop-up guys? Is there, like, a truly great mop-up guy out there who makes sure every foregone-conclusion game stays a foregone-conclusion game without fail every single time? Should we make him his version of a Cy Young award? And should we not name this award after Josh Tomlin? I say we should.
2) Can playoff roster construction accommodate a mop-up reliever?
FWIW I do suspect, as someone said in a previous thread, that Tomlin’s days are indeed numbered–just like the rest of us. Enjoy today.
Vogt is Kevan part II
Vogt is another one of those guys, I won’t remember he ever played for the Braves in two years. He has been absolutely terrible. Get Contreras up and in there as the back-up catcher.
Our shift…lol yet another routine play that becomes a hit. As a pitcher I would be furious
Both Anderson and DeSclafani are working sooo slowly.
Braves batting line the last 10 games plus today is:
.229/.291/.372
That is just not going to get it done.
Edit: and just as I type that, we get some Soler power.
Strong young men.
Riley… what a season he is having.
I kind of think that business with bringing the trainer out was a gambit to get Long more time to warm up, given Kapler’s history with this sort of thing.
@22 he has certainly quieted the critics
@6 and 13–
fun with small sample sizes: today’s score holds and we’re 4-2 against the two best teams in the league.
Of course neither that nor the recent two losses against the Yankees tell us anything about what’s likely to happen in the postseason.
@17 seriously. Contreras or Shea.
Anyone checked on Riley’s WPA recently?
Mets and Phillies are both winning.
If Snit has Matzek face just one batter here, that will be stupid.
Good return for Anderson. He looked good today
@26 I mean I hear ya, but surely it’s too early for Langeliers? I keep wanting to say Contreras should come up after AAA season ends, but as someone noted here that season ends in early October this year.
I’m just not sure how to balance Contreras’ development against a better backup catcher.
When it comes to a mop-up, long relief guy, for me the best we’ve had was Cristhian Martinez. Rubber-armed, could go two or even three innings if absolutely necessary, and thoroughly decent. Tomlin is a lot closer to Josh Collmenter – a former starter who washed out of his former role for the same reason he’s washing out of his latter role, no velocity and not enough command to make up for it.
Incidentally, I think Jorge Soler could be one of the five best deadline hitter trades we’ve picked up in the post-McGriff era. (Considering what we gave up, I’d put him ahead of Tex.) Who else has been more effective?
(Thought about Julio Franco so I looked him up, and while he is definitely on the list of best second-half pickups, he was actually an August free agent, back when you could do that!)
I dunno if he went but it was close and I will take it.
@32
Once we get to the playoffs, we need a starter in that role and not Tomlin. Until then, I guess I’m OK with whatever, although I will say the option game for the sake of the option game is dumb. It sometimes feels like they just send the other guy down because he has options without actually asking themselves if there’s any reason to keep the guy they’d have to DFA.
@34 Touki has to be top of that list, right? He’s the one w relief experience and can’t be one of our best four starters now.
@7 What is that a parody of, Fun Police? I can almost hear the original quote, but I can’t quite place it.
Welcome to Atlanta, Edward!
@36, that’s Rufino Li area’s greatest quote!
Glaus is a weird comp for Riley. Glaus was a great player but he couldn’t see .300 with a telescope.
Roooooooooosario!!!!!!
Uh, I like Rosario thus far
@38 haha. Y’all have been on a roll today.
If they freaking send runners back to second and third on this, that’ll be a farce.
And they didn’t.
Stupid Vogt.
Vogt looks completely lost
@38
I think Glaus was a decent comp for pre-2021 Riley. Austin might have graduated to a new comp this year.
Snit wouldn’t put Tomlin in would he? 5 runs are not Tomlin Territory.
By the way, kudos to Snitker for putting in Matzek and Rodriguez, his two best relievers, early, and having a quick hook for Anderson when he appeared to flag all of a sudden. This is a subtle way in which he’s not as mindlessly old school as he’s sometimes portrayed.
I’m terrified to even type this, but Riley’s getting to be what Marte was supposed to be. This is Matt Williams territory.
@45 honestly that’s more than fair. A year ago I would not have said Riley was likely to be close to .300 either.
Re: Tomlin
All this fuss over the 26th man. Back in my day, rosters had 25 players and that was good enough. Having a lousy pitcher eat innings during blowouts is a luxury. Tomlin is not particularly good at eating innings. I’m convinced he’s got a “coach” or “dad” gig going in that bullpen.
Re: Predicting the Playoffs
Worry about that in October. Lotta crappy wild card teams win it all. Especially in Miami. Also, it’s an odd year. So the Giants aren’t winning this year.
The radio announcers said that RH hitters are 1 for their last 55 (counting today) against Matzek, which is especially impressive since Matzek is a lefty. They seemed to think that might be a record. As Johnny Vander Meer was a LHP, he probably got pretty close to it just in his consecutive no-hitters, since I expect most of the batters in those games were RH. He didn’t give up many hits in the games before & after either.
With Anderson and Ynoa back, this team is vastly better than its record. The Braves are now one of the best teams in the NL. One reason WC teams make runs is that they get some players late in the year that change the team complexion and make them better than their overall record. With this pitching staff and these players, we have every reason to be positive about winning playoff series.
And next year, with a fully healed Ronald, we should be favored to win the NL. If we keep this team together, I’m not sure the Dodgers are any better.
I have to give props to the Braves’ minor league pitching coaches. They have done a great job getting Ynoa, Anderson and Touki prepared. All 3 of them have looked better than before they went on the IL in their first few ML starts.
Former Brave of the day candidate: Nick Ahmed, 2-run hit to get the D-Backs to 4, Phillies 5.
@52 Yes. Add Soler, Duval, Joc and Rosario and we’re up there with the Giants and Dodgers even this season.
@51: Before I get to calculating, what was the exact record they were talking about? I mean, it’s easy enough to calculate consecutive ABs against righties. But is it the fewest hits in 55 ABs? The most consecutive ABs with one hit or less?
Well here’s a test. Probably out, but there’s no way there’s enough evidence to overturn it, you would think.
Ya gotta feel bad for Long. Came in down 3-0 and still asked to throw over 90 pitches.
He now has my permission to put Tomlin in. But I would still rather it have been Santana, for the record.
Apparently, Touki is warming up. Don’t like it. Wish it was Smyly instead.
@58 100% agree
This makes it additionally confusing that we didn’t dump Tomlin. I mean, if you’re not even gonna put him in here… What, you’re just keeping him in case the Dodgers boat-race us in a game or something?
@61 They wanna see how many runs he is able to give up in Denver.
Great game, great win. Go Braves!
@55, they weren’t specific, but I think the spirit of what they were talking about would be the most consecutive AB with one or fewer hits by batters of the opposite handedness from the pitcher.
By the way, in looking at Vander Meer’s consecutive no-hitters, I was surprised to see that in his second one, he struck out 7 and walked 8.
@61, I’m glad to see Touki getting some work if he’s not going to be starting.
Double No Hit Vander Meer was known for his stuff and lack of control. If he had any command, he would’ve been known for a lot more than two consecutive starts.
Touki could be dynamic out of the bullpen if he isn’t starting.
Consecutive hitless streaks to right-handed batters
Craig Kimbrell, 2017: 52
Clay Kirby, 1971: 53
Joel Pineiro, 2001: 51
Woody Fryman, 1966: 52 Lefty
Johnny Vander Meer, 1938: 54 Lefty
Jim Brewer, 1972: 52, 1 hit Lefty
Tom Brewer, 1967: 56, 1 hit
Lefties in italics
Errata: Tom Brewer was in 1957, not 1967. Plus, there a lots of pitchers with one hit in considerably more at-bats, including all the guys above, who followed up the hit they allowed with, for example, 13 more hitless at bats (Kimball.)
Errata erratum: Kimbrell
*Kimbrel
I’ve done a little more looking. My candidate for best string against righthanded hitters is JR Richard in 1980, who gave up 3 hits in 113 AB. The best lefty performance is Andrew Miller, who gave up 5 hits in 121 AB to consecutive righthanded hitters in 2015.
Recapped.