Well, a couple too many pitchers didn’t have it last night. Obviously the big issue is that we saw a different Spencer Strider last night. The simple answer for what happened is that a power pitcher that only throws two pitches had a little too much missing from his fastball. DOB hit the nail on the head:
When guys know what’s coming, it’s got to be really good. For instance, the home run off of him in the 3rd was off the inside corner, 95MPH, but it was pulled right inside the foul pole for a home run. Guys can beat him if he doesn’t have his best stuff. Matt Olson knew Camilo Doval was going to bring him 99 MPH up and in, and he was still able to hit it into the Chop House seats in the 9th. So tonight was just a tough night for Strider.
Dylan Lee gave us a chance to get back in the game getting 5 much-needed outs after Strider departed, but Darren O’Day, Collin McHugh, and Jacob Stephens just could not give us a chance to out-score these guys. Kenley Jansen pitched in the blowout against Chicago three days ago because he hadn’t worked in a while, so it was unfortunate that since he was needed two nights ago against the Giants, he wasn’t available last night. Will Smith, it appears, was also not available. And since we were almost always behind in this game and Snit uses that as an opportunity to get other guys in the game, one decision led to another which led to another, and you guys can decide if you agree with the bullpen usage. Snit has his ways; most of them are pretty analytical, some are old school, and I take the good with the bad.
But what’s encouraging was the power production from Matt Olson, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Marcell Ozuna. Olson, who only had a .347 SLG in the month of June, came in with two huge home runs, a 3-run and 2-run apiece. Same with Ozuna; he had a .373 SLG in June coming into the game, and he contributed a homer. Acuna’s power is also way down, and he brought us a big home run. His .457 SLG in June is way below his norm too. So those guys getting going means a lot for our lineup, and I’m going to optimistic there.
The thing that will get overlooked in a slugfest with lots of big moments was something I thoroughly enjoyed: Michael Harris II made one of the most beautiful throws I’ve seen in a while. Bowman put it in perspective:

One fun thing about the camera over home plate is that you can see the tail on the ball by a left-handed center fielder when he’s squared up to throw the plate. How many times have you seen a left-handed center fielder not get on top of the ball, and the throw tails away from the catcher? Not this time. That is a perfectly thrown ball with perfect back spin, and when an outfielder gives the catcher that perfect back spin, the ball hits the grass, kicks up, and it looks like it’s floating in the air for the catcher to make an easy catch and tag. A++ throw from a guy who’s been making a lot of those.
Let’s win the series tomorrow.
Great recap, Rob. Thank you.
Quite the game. I gave up at 12-8. There were some balls smacked hard last night, but Mikey’s throw was my favorite play of the game. The kid plays centerfold. Nobody’s Andruw, but Harris has a stronger, more accurate arm.
Poor Snidely, foiled again. I was impressed with his demeanor as things fell apart. Mama said.
Thanks again, Rob. You do good work. Go Braves.
Quite the pitching match up today. Almost worth staying up for. Almost…
Michael Harris is certainly a player I would gladly pay to watch play for years to come. He is not only a very good baseball player but he also plays the game the way it is meant to be played. An absolute joy to watch.
Ozuna is on pace for 32 homers and negative WAR. Amazing. The club is still on the hook for $37MM after this year. I don’t see Liberty behaving like Steve Cohen and just flushing that much money, but I think it’s going to come to a head sometime soon. I admit that I was in the re-sign Ozuna camp. Woof.
An everyday lineup with Duvall (.273 OBP) & Ozuna (.275 OBP) has its issues.
Hope they both pick it up some & end up hitting their share of big HRs.
The thing I will say about Ozuna is that he is fielding his position well- as long as he plays DH.
5 — And I guess that with Arcia playing everyday he soon regresses to his career norms.
@4
Td cheekily alluded to this @6, but I must confess I don’t know how it works. Will Ozuna’s WAR go up simply by virtue of no longer playing in the field?
@4
25-plus HR and a negative WAR is otherwise known as the “Chris Davis,” who in 2017 had 26 HRs but a minus-1.3 WAR (mostly because he was minus-1.9 dWAR). The frightening thing on Ozuna is the minus-0.2 oWAR.
Varsity wins arbitration, $6.85 vs. $6.6.
From a payroll perspective, I imagine he’s been getting paid $6.6 and will get some back pay?
Yeah, I don’t know how this works for those who win their midseason arbitration hearings. Does the extra pay work like a lump-sum bonus or is it added in a prorated fashion to their salary for the rest of the season? Not that it greatly matters, I don’t expect, but I was curious as well.
Dunno, but for Aaron Judge, it might matter a bit.
His arbitration hearing is later this week. He & the Pinstripes are about $4M apart ($17M vs. $21M).
Considering he rejected their $30.5M-per-year deal before the season (for a contract that would run until he’s 37), this should be interesting.
FWIW, there are many around here believe he’ll be an SF Giant next year anyway.
I find the whole Judge situation puzzling. If he didn’t want to play in NY anymore, why would he let the Yankees even make an offer? If he has any interest in playing in NY, the cost of insuring this contract against career-ending injury this year would be ruinously expensive, surely enough to offset any added money from any offer better than that.
I guess the possibility is that Judge doesn’t want to play in NY, told the Yankees that, and then the Yankees told him: fine. But now we have to make you a mega-offer for you to turn down so that we can save face. But if I were Judge I’d resent being put in that position.
I’ll preface this with the fact that I know absolutely nothing about the status of Judge’s working relationship with the Yankees, but I will say that I tend to be skeptical when it’s just assumed that a player will drop everything at the first available opportunity to go play for the team he grew up rooting for. Players do wind up on their childhood teams often enough to not be totally dismissive of it, but I would guess that when it does happen, that team probably wound up winning the AAV Derby, and I would guess that is the real driver of the situation.
My sense is that players wind up on their childhood faves more often at the end of their careers than with their big payday.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s not that hard for Ozuna to be worth his contract. Austin Meadows hit .234/.315/.458 in 142 games last year for Tampa Bay as a half DH, half below average OF and was worth 1.8 fWAR. Ryan Mountcastle was a half DH, half below average 1B in 144 games and hit .255/.309/.487. He was worth 0.7 fWAR. Somewhere between those two players is all Ozuna has to muster. He just needs to play 150+ games and give us a couple hot streaks, and he’s worth at least close to his money.
#13
Or he genuinely thought he’d get a larger, long-term deal from the Yanks. (FWIW, considering the length of the proposed deal & his relative inability to stay on the field, I thought it was a very fair offer.)
At this point, I think he may just be trying to get a number established (from the Yanks and, perhaps eventually, the Mets) & hoping the Giants (or another WC team) will pay more. And yeah, he’s from NoCal & he grew up a Giants fan — if your fave team will pay you the most money… hey, why not?
He’s betting on himself this year in a big way (so far, so good), but history tells us that he’s a guy who does get injured.
BTW, the Mets just got swept in their 2-game series in Houston. Time to pick up a game.
Riley is out of the lineup. Gosselin at 2nd and Arcia at 3rd. Ozuna moved up in the lineup and batting 3rd (ugh).
Facing a tough lefty tonight… Riley’s been slaughtering LHP this year (296/386/634), so… maybe it’s a precaution? A planned day-off?
18 — Snit said he was banged up after that play diving into the dugout.
Just in case you’re a fan and haven’t seen this yet!
Yea …tough tonight … missing D’arnaud and Riley against a lefty .. im afraid we could get no hit tonight .
Ok, 3rd time through the order boys. Get to work.
Arcia with an ‘at em ball. Tough luck.
The Giants bullpen has been worked hard this series. Hopefully it shows in the 8th and 9th.
Michael Harris doesn’t have the best plate discipline. He’s going to have to learn not to swing so much at balls out of the zone, as MLB pitchers will soon exploit that.
Wish we could have seen Minter and Smith last night instead of O’Day and McHugh and Stephen’s… I still think Strider is better utilized in relief …
Guess that’s why ..lol .
Lol… insurance run against the stupid shift with two strikes (again). Stupid is as stupid does
Shifting so that you can’t get a double play when you really need one is the stupidest play in baseball. The double play is more important than your stupid-ass hit probability zones. For the love of God, I’m eventually gonna lose my mind on that this year! It’s so effing stupid!
This game could be over if not for the shift …
To be fair, an idiotic outfield shift by the Giants allowed Ozuna to score there. All in all, I’d call it even.
The Giants had all three outfielders bunched between the gaps, so Ozuna was able to score on a ball not that close to the line on a play where he initially took a step back toward second.
hard contact up the middle by Duvall. Braves win! stolen base crucial in the ninth
WHOOOOO! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN!
For me, tonight was actually the best game of the year. The first seven innings was the May Braves. The last two innings were the June Braves. Seeing this team climb up off the mat, first off of Rodon and then the bullpen, was absolutely awesome. And Charlie is looking an awful lot like Charlie.
WHOOOOO!
Great AB’s by Dansby, Ozuna William and Duvy. What a great win!
WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
I am still in a state of disbelief. We should have needed one less run if we had scored the extra run in the 7th. What a great win. Still two evenly matched teams but you may have to admit the Braves’ bullpen is better.
Tremendous win.
And the extra bases taken by Ozuna (on the Olson F8) & Contreras (SB of 2nd) were huge. Nice to have a catcher who can steal a base…
We’re 10 games over .500 now & a win tomorrow puts us 4 GB.
@23 Prophetic
17-3 so far for the month of June. I don’t know what the best June in franchise history was, but this team must have a good shot at that record. I do know the 1992 team was 18-3 in June before losing 3 of the final 4 of the month to go 19-6 for the month.
Great win. Wrong pitcher again gets credit.
When will MLB correct it. Never would be the appropriate answer.
In June 2002, the Braves were 21-5. This ties for the 2nd best June ever (in a nonstrike year: the 1981 Reds were 8-1 in June and the Yankees were 9-2) with the 1936 Cubs.
The only better June was the 1954 Yankees: 24-4
I intended @38 as a Bat Signal, with confidence JonathanF would answer the call. You’re a terrific resource, man—thanks!
recapped.