Braves Regular Season

Golden Tornadoes

Ramblin' Wreck
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653
Wayback Machine here.

Braves just took 2 of 3 from the Phils… again. If only they could beat the Colorados of the world.
I think you alluded to this in a previous post, but now that the Phils are playing teams that actually have postseason aspirations, they very much are looking like a mid-team again. Beating up on the teams that are tanking and inflating your winning% only lasts for so long.
 

Golden Tornadoes

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
653
Another note from last night. Did anybody else catch that bottom of the 8th when Jose Ruiz came in and literally couldn't locate any pitch other than his fastball? No Braves hitter could catch up to it either. It was kinda depressing that we knew what was coming and still couldn't touch it. Also, talk about an efficient 9th from Iglesias. 12 pitches, 10 for strikes, and the whole "Bryce Harper is 6-9 with 4 HRs and 9 RBIs against Iglesias" got squashed in swift fashion. Schwellenbach has officially made the adjustments necessary and is turning into a quality starter. He is a good number 3 or 4 type guy who can eat innings, limit runs, and generate strikeouts.
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
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3,112
Glad they pulled it out. Another unnecessarily close game with a team who's year ended before it started. Smh

That Iglesias guy is lights out rn
Sale wasn’t dominant stat wise, but he did his job. 9 H and 1 BB over 7.0 isn’t his best outing, but with the exception of the one inning where they strung together 3 hits, he was always in control. The Braves’ rotation is carrying the club right now. Hitting is better but not near where it needs to be. 7 more weeks.
 

Techwood Relict

Helluva Engineer
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1,238
I suspect this will occur as soon as another OF is acquired.
So a month ago, July 26th, I thought Laureano was toast. All he's done for the last 30 days -
.319AVG .373OBP .551SLUG .924OPS

What the hell do I know??
Frustrated Here We Go GIF by Sesame Street

Go Braves!
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
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3,112
Nice win last night. However the Braves blew one 4-run lead and almost another. SMH.

To beat a dead horse: Once again, we see the reality of probabilities. The more pitchers used, the higher the probability of finding one who will have a bad night.

Granted, we had a 10-inning game and that Schwells wasn’t terribly sharp, however, he had a 4-0 lead with 2 out in the 5th. Yes, he walked 2 straight batters with 2 out. Yes, he had thrown 104 pitches and I’m sure he was tired, but he’s a pro athlete! So you have runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 out. Why not let him work his way out of that situation? Why waste Lee in that situation?

Unless he told Snit he was hurt, I don’t get pulling him there. If you let Schwells finish the 5th, you can use Lee in the 6th and avoid Chavez altogether. (For those not paying attention, paying attention, Chavez has given up 7 runs and 9 hits in his last 3 games, 3.1 innings. That’s equivalent an ERA of over 18.00). Sigh.

I guess I should just enjoy the W.
 

kg01

Get-Bak! Coach
Featured Member
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14,851
Location
Atlanta
Nice win last night. However the Braves blew one 4-run lead and almost another. SMH.

To beat a dead horse: Once again, we see the reality of probabilities. The more pitchers used, the higher the probability of finding one who will have a bad night.

Granted, we had a 10-inning game and that Schwells wasn’t terribly sharp, however, he had a 4-0 lead with 2 out in the 5th. Yes, he walked 2 straight batters with 2 out. Yes, he had thrown 104 pitches and I’m sure he was tired, but he’s a pro athlete! So you have runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 out. Why not let him work his way out of that situation? Why waste Lee in that situation?

Unless he told Snit he was hurt, I don’t get pulling him there. If you let Schwells finish the 5th, you can use Lee in the 6th and avoid Chavez altogether. (For those not paying attention, paying attention, Chavez has given up 7 runs and 9 hits in his last 3 games, 3.1 innings. That’s equivalent an ERA of over 18.00). Sigh.

I guess I should just enjoy the W.

Schwellen looked visibly gassed. He was done or they would've let him finish the 5th. 100+ pitches in 4+ innings isn't good for him. Bullpen needs to do their job.

And for the love of all that's good and holy can we stop putting Chavez and Lose Jackson out there? Please?
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
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3,112
Schwellen looked visibly gassed. He was done or they would've let him finish the 5th. 100+ pitches in 4+ innings isn't good for him. Bullpen needs to do their job.

And for the love of all that's good and holy can we stop putting Chavez and Lose Jackson out there? Please?
He had one batter to beat. He’s a professional athlete. It’s his last out. 4-0 lead, 2 out, 2 on. Suck it up and deal. Just my $.02.

I might compromise if he thinks to himself, “If I remove Schwells early, who can go 1.1 inning and hold the lead and get me back in schedule?” That person is not Jesse Chavez right now. He may not even make a postseason roster. Poor decison, IMPO.

Which gets me another point, beyond the probability issue: Your best pitchers are your 5 starters, your closer, and maybe your set-up man. Your worst pitchers are your middle/long relievers. This is generally true on all teams. If those middle/long relievers were better they’d either be starters or set-up/closers.
It’s not a closed case that any middle/long reliever is better than even a fatigued starter. My default would be unless he tells me he’s just done, or unless he’s injured, he finishes that inning. If he tells
Me he’s done after 104 pitches and 4.2 innings, I tell my pitching coach to put him in a training regimen that will stretch him to go longer. Yes, I’m old fashioned but that’s just sad to me.
 

kg01

Get-Bak! Coach
Featured Member
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14,851
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He had one batter to beat. He’s a professional athlete. It’s his last out. 4-0 lead, 2 out, 2 on. Suck it up and deal. Just my $.02.

I might compromise if he thinks to himself, “If I remove Schwells early, who can go 1.1 inning and hold the lead and get me back in schedule?” That person is not Jesse Chavez right now. He may not even make a postseason roster. Poor decison, IMPO.

Which gets me another point, beyond the probability issue: Your best pitchers are your 5 starters, your closer, and maybe your set-up man. Your worst pitchers are your middle/long relievers. This is generally true on all teams. If those middle/long relievers were better they’d either be starters or set-up/closers.
It’s not a closed case that any middle/long reliever is better than even a fatigued starter. My default would be unless he tells me he’s just done, or unless he’s injured, he finishes that inning. If he tells
Me he’s done after 104 pitches and 4.2 innings, I tell my pitching coach to put him in a training regimen that will stretch him to go longer. Yes, I’m old fashioned but that’s just sad to me.

I won't argue that it worked out, but it was the right decision to pull him. He showed, vs the prior 2 batters, that he was done. It is what it is.

And I don't view starter vs reliever as black and white as you describe. A reliever is often better in certain situations than a tired starter.

Just because a guy is a reliever doesn't mean he's not good enough to start. Relievers train too. In explaining why Lopez has been so good, the broadcast cites his training and mentality as a reliever.
 

stinger78

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I won't argue that it worked out, but it was the right decision to pull him. He showed, vs the prior 2 batters, that he was done. It is what it is.

And I don't view starter vs reliever as black and white as you describe. A reliever is often better in certain situations than a tired starter.

Just because a guy is a reliever doesn't mean he's not good enough to start. Relievers train too. In explaining why Lopez has been so good, the broadcast cites his training and mentality as a reliever.
That’s fine. We don’t have to agree. It’s OK to be wrong. You’ll be fine. Ha!
 

SuperToe

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
81
Braves can add 1 pitcher and 1 position player on September 1 when rosters expand. I’d like to see Daysbel Hernandez to bolster the pen. I would love to see a lefty bat off the bench, but I don’t see many good ones in Gwinnett, so I’d probably go with Tromp or Baldwin to have a third catcher available. Who ya got?
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,112
Braves can add 1 pitcher and 1 position player on September 1 when rosters expand. I’d like to see Daysbel Hernandez to bolster the pen. I would love to see a lefty bat off the bench, but I don’t see many good ones in Gwinnett, so I’d probably go with Tromp or Baldwin to have a third catcher available. Who ya got?
Good question. I haven’t had time to watch the Stripers much so I go with your recommendation. Daysbel has been good when I’ve seen him. Luke Jacksin doesn’t need to be on a playoff roster. Much as I hate it, I’m thinking neither does Chavez.
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
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3,112
It took a while to recover from that gut shot. Everybody knows I'm sensitive.

(Had a morning call, otherwise I would've come up guns a-blazin')
Good. Now that you’ve recovered….

It is certainly not iron-clad, but I’ll go to the mat on my assessment of the bottom shelf bullpen pitcher vs. a starter. In the vast majority of cases, that is not a good swap. Certainly situational factors are important, but I’d be real hard-pressed to remove a starter tossing shutout ball with 2 out and 2 on in the 5th. It would have to be an extreme situation for me: along the lines of extreme fatigue, heat exhaustion, sickness, or injury. They are professional athletes. They should be trained to be able to perform through pain, fatigue, difficulty, etc. and make the play. Haynes King wasn’t tapping out Saturday after F$U scored to tie it up with 6 minutes left. You better believe that guy was dog tired. I’ll bet any sum that CBK didn’t consider going to Pyron for that last drive. Elite athletes have to suck it up and perform when the chips are down. Baseball pitchers these days are the very few who get the hanky-drop treatment. Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, etc. would have fought Snit for the ball the other night. It’s (obviously) a part of baseball these days that I cannot fathom.

OK… rant off.
 
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