Chris Sale and Adam Duvall Deliver Big Performances in Braves 4th Straight Win

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hammer Territory podcast. My name is Sean Coleman, burning the Midnight Oil with you here late on Tuesday going into Wednesday, our normal time that we record, and I'm here with my podcast partner Steven Tolbert and Stephen. I don't recall there may be being a time this year, possibly in April, but I don't. It's been a while that I have looked more forward, even with as late as it is, looked more forward to doing a podcast with you, because Stephen, the Braves have won four games in a row. We deserve this, Stephen. As much as we've talked about the brains after some disappointing losses, we deserve this, sir. How are you doing tonight?

00:01:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's up, Sean? Certainly a little bit later than what we record. It's it's about twelve thirty on the East Coast. It'll be well past one when we get done recording this. But like you said, it's always easier to do after a win. And you know, the Braves have gone out west and and won the first two games in this Diamondback series after one in the last two games against Philadelphia, four games in a row. You know, the offense is really going. Uh They've scored at least five runs in five straight games, which is you know, is far far removed from what they did in that home stand against the Pirates and the Giants. So yeah, it's it's really encouraging stuff. You can see multiple guys in the lineup kind of getting it going, Sean Murphy, Adam Devall, you know, Riley's been hot, Kelnick's been hot, Mazuna's had some Piket big hits, Eli White came up with a big hit tonight, Davall. So yeah, it's been good to see, and obviously it's coming at a good time because the Braves had gone through that really rough stretch and have come back out of it and won a big series against Philadelphia. Now I've gone out west and taken the first two from Arizona.

00:02:11
Speaker 1: And as I mentioned, four in a row, and we're obviously going to get to the offense in just a moment here because of how good it's rolling right now. But Steve and I also think, you know, it's it's definitely important to point out that just as significant the starting pitching is, once again, you know, as it's done all year, significant, it is consistently keeping the Braves in positions to win games. Spencer Swellenbach on Saturday, Rnaldo Lopez on Sunday, Rice Elder last night, Chris Sale tonight, Chris Sale probably had you know, one of his you know, less least impressive starts that that he's had over the past ten starts that he's had. But yeah, he still did more than enough to help us win the game. And again, Bibb, we talked about the offense. I think it's important to mention that the Braves pitching continues to be elite and if our offense is now able to continue as important as that he is, this starting pitching is if it stays elite, the Braves are gonna win into high clip as they're doing right now.

00:03:13
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, listen, Philly scored one run on Saturday, they scored zero runs on Sunday. Arizona scored four runs last night, but you know one of those was in the extra innings, was the ghost runner scoring so and then obviously Arizona I scored two runs tonight. So yeah, I mean that's that's been the strength all year, it really has. And you know the difference is the Braves have had to win these games three to two, two to one, one, three to one. And now they're getting some easy wins, right, they're getting some six nothing, some five ones. Tonight it was six to two, like that's you know, this is much more what I thought this team would be. Where you're not having to just you know, scratch and call for every single win. You know, you you can use your bullpen at leisure because you're not having protect a one run lead all the time. You know, uh, Sniker was able to use Jesse Chavez for a big part of the game tonight after Chris Sill left, which of course saves your high leverage guys for you know, closer games, and that stuff adds up. And that's one of the benefits of scoring runs is you're not always having to use your high leverage guys to win games. If you can win games six to two or seven to one, you know, six to nothing, you know, you get wins without having to use your best relievers. And that that's that that just has such a cumulative effect. They really can't be measured. So yeah, big big deal. Obviously the pitching has has been as solid as it is, but they all excuse me. The offense coming along with it and allowing some easy wins, some some low leverage bullpen usage and wins is a big deal. It'll pay dividends.

00:04:46
Speaker 1: Later, absolutely, And speaking and speaking of paying dividends later, you know, I know that you know many you know this, this is no secret to many. But right now, I think you know, likely did the Braves make the playoffs? And you know, are in a favorable position as favor a position as they can be once the playoffs start. I think we are right now in the midst of what could be the most important stretch of the season. Because you want to talk about over the weekend we play the Phillies. Obviously, it doesn't seem like that the NL East is going to be you know that likely to get this year, but hey, we've come back from big you know, deficits before. But you talk about the series against the Phillies and then on the road against the Diamondbacks and the Padres and coming back against the Cardinals to open the second half of the season. That's your main division opponent that you're going after, plus three of the other major players in the wild card. You know race that the Braves are are leading right now, but I bring that up because if there was any time for our offense to get going, Stephen, it's right now. And while there's many factors that we're going to discuss, one of the things that I felt was important to mention when we were struggling, when Sean Murphy and Austin Riley came back right after Ronald Acunya Junior went down, I and others mentioned I believe you did as well. If the Braves offense is gonna get going, it's going to be when Sean Murphy and Austin Riley are clicking at the same time. And that's exactly what we're seeing. Both of them have played huge parts in the series, especially in yesterday's game, but when those two were going, you've got some very effective offensive contributors, and that's what can make your offense diverse, and it also makes your offense consistent. That's what I think we're seeing right now.

00:06:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, they just needed they needed more than, you know, two guys at a time. Like all year long, it seems like the Braves offense has been relying on one or two guys at a time to do all the damage, and that just inevitably leads to like one or two or three runs scored at the most. And you know, when you have Kelnick, you know, contributing, and you have Austin contributing in Matt Olsen and Ozuna and Murphy and Duval and Eddie Rizzario and Eli White tonight Lake, when you have you know, four or five six guys contributing, it's just so much easier to score. I mean, there's just so many more opportunities to score runs. You're just not having to wait on one guy to come back around and do any sort of damage. So, yeah, it's big, And what I would love to see is an extended stretch. That's what we haven't been able to do this year. We've had these little pockets of offense. The Braves did it a couple of weeks ago against Tampa and Detroit and even against New York and a little bit, but then it went cold again. And so that's what I'm That's what I'm kind of waiting to see, is can we get an extended, like month long hot streak with the offense reel off like you know, twenty wins out of twenty six games or something like that. You know, what we've seen them do in the past, especially in June and July where they usually play, so well, that's kind of want I want to see, you know, make the division race a little more interesting, you know, blow the rest of the wildcard teams out of the water and just make sure they know they have no shot at that number one wildcard spot at the very least. You know, that's what I want to see, and watch the offense kind of carry the team for about a month or so, because that's what I expect. Even without Ronald this this offense still has enough talent to do that, and so yeah, that's what I want to see. It's nice to have it in these last four or five games, But can they keep it going? Can they do it for like a month? Can they do it for two months? Can they do it for the entire second half? I mean, heck, that would be amazing if they could just start mashing baseballs again for you know, the rest of the year and really remind team, right, you know, remind the league that this is one of the best offenses in baseball. So yeah, it's good, it's good to see it in this kind of short burst, But can they continue it? Can they carry it? You know? Through a much longer stretch. That's going to be the key.

00:08:44
Speaker 1: And I think the big key that has allowed for this offense as a whole to really get going once again, Steven, is that it just feels like it feels like that we're more consistently seen productive at bats and we're seeing, you know, these players comfortable at the plate, at the plate, and they're going what is giving to them. Specifically for the lineup as a whole, it certainly seems for a right handed heavy lineup they are more confidently going to the opposite field. Now it's happening in different forms. Austin Riley obviously is hitting the ball in the air more, but since you've seen him really get hot over the past three weeks, you can kind of correlate it with the fact that you're seeing a lot of his well hit balls going to center our right center. Orlando Arcia, Yes, his numbers still are not that impressive, but one thing he's more consistently done is hit the ball hard to the right side. And even though an error led to a run off his bat tonight, putting the ball in play that hard consistently is eventually going to lead to good results. It seems like Steven that listen, I don't think that the goal has you know, I think the goal was always the same, but they're just more consistently being confident in going what's given to them with the opposing with the opposing pitching, and they're taking it the way that the pitch is going. I think when this team is driving the ball to right center, to right field or up the middle, that's when they're at their best. And I think that's a huge contributing factor to how good the offense is going.

00:10:07
Speaker 2: Right now, Well, that end fastballs, Like you know, this team is supposed to mash fastballs, and there's been a lot of the season where they've just missed a bunch of easy not easy, it's never easy, but a bunch of middle fastballs. And you know, those are the pitches that this team is supposed to crush. And you know, Riley did it last night. Murphy hit that. I mean four hundred and forty what monster blast to write center field off a fastball that was away like you were talking about. But yeah, hitting fastballs, hitting fastballs where they're pitched, making other teams pay for leaving fastballs over the plate, That's what I expect out of this team, and you know, that's been good to see. And the power, you know, that's been another really encouraging sign is the power has come back. I mean the Braves hit. I think they hit eight or nine home runs in the Philly series. There's been plenty of power so far in this Arizona series. Obviously this is a really good place to hit. You would expect that. But you know, Alex has talked about it. You know Snitker talks about it all the time. This is not a manufacturer runs lineup. There is very little speed in this lineup. There's very little overall athleticism. There's not a lot of you know, buna, guy over take the extra base like that's not how this team is built. This team's built to hit doubles, triples and homers, and it's been good to see like that. That's what that's what this team needs to do to score runs. And they can't do it. They have the talent to do it up and down the lineup. They have guys they have still have six, seven, eight guys that can all hit. Are probably twenty plus homers smy thirty some forty plus homers. So it's good to see. That's what this team is built on, that's what they need. And like you said, it's it's always easier when you just take what the pitcher gives you. It's always easier when you make sure you're making them pay for leaving fastballs over the middle the plate. And that's what we've seen more of. And I would, you know, I would just I would love to see it for another month, another two months, another three months. Just a consistent, you know, long stretch of games for the offense really shows up.

00:12:16
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And you know, we go back about three three and a half weeks ago when Austin Riley was you know, you know, struggling, and then about June fourteenth is when he really, you know, was able to you know, get to where you know he usually does this time of year and turn into an MVP level hitter. You know, at that time, you know, his production against fast falls, I think against four Steamers. Three weeks ago, he for the season he was like at a one eighty slugging percentage, but his expected slugging percentage was around four to twenty five. Well, three weeks later, he's now slugging near four hundred on forcing fastballs with his expected slugging at five point fifty. So the point that I'm getting at is that he's definitely elevated his overall production. And for Austin Riley, he talked about it. He felt that he was doing the right things. He just needed to get some success going. And I use that as an example because now I think over the past week we're starting to see the same thing with Adam Devall. If you go back to him getting the game winning hit against the Pirates two weekends ago, since that time, you've seen big hit after big hit from Adam Devall. He crushed a three run homer tonight that basically put the game in the braves favor, and it's just great to see. Adam Devall has always been a streaky hitter, There's no doubt about that, and he can go ice cold or he can go red hot. Right now, he's red hot. But I think that one of the things that stands out the most, and he's discussed as well, he just needed to have a stretch of success. He needed to have a big moment that he could build off of, and that's what we saw against Pittsburgh and now we're starting to see that he still has an inning to be a true contributor to a winner.

00:13:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we just never seen Adam go through. I mean, everybody knows that Adam is streaky, but the level of death that he was for the first three months of this season, I mean he was, I mean his season. His WRC plus for the season was in the low fifties for the season, not that like that's not a split. I don't know, that's not like over two weeks or a month, like for the entire season, his WRC plus was in the fifties. And and you know, most of it is because he just could not hit right handed pitching to save his life. You know, he was still doing pretty well against lefties, but you know, I've said it a bunch before, but you just see so much more right handed pitching over the course of his season, and he is he you know, before this hot stretch, he just could not do a single thing. He had a negative WRC plus against right handed pitching before this stretch. So not only to see him get hot, but to see him get hot against mostly right handed pitching. You know, tonight he obviously hit that bomb against Gallon, a really good right handed pitcher. He had another single against one of their right handed relievers later in the game. So like that's the encouraging thing is that, you know, and we've talked about this, but Devaal has never actually been a really big platoon guy, Like he's always been able to hit right handed pitching, you know, which is what's made this stretch of you know, this is long, long stretch, this like three month stretch of just not being able to do anything against them so unusual. So yeah, it's great to see. You know, they need it desperately. The Braves need as much help as they can get against right handed pitching. You know, that's why they brought in Rosario. I'm still guessing they're gonna make some moves of some sort to help with that as well. But the all getting hot and being able to carry his or his weight and maybe even the weight of other guys against right handed pitching would be massive. I mean that would just that would take such a weight off the rest of the lineup if he could start pulling some of his weight.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: And I don't care if the Braves do have the stretch that you're talking about them having this you know, hey, they can get back near the top of the league in offense and start winning, you know, over a month or so at a seventy five percent clip. To me, that doesn't mean that the Braves, oh, we figured it out, we're finding the outfield. We really don't need to make some sort of relevant or significant move at the deadline. No, to me, if the Braves are improving their offense, that should give Adam or alexan Thopolis even more reason to go get a significant contributor to this offense. Because again, while it's great to see the Braves offense starting to live up to where you expect for it to be, you definitely don't want for it to, you know, go back close to what it was when a few of these players may get back into a cold stream. So Steve and I think again, even though the offense is having success, finding another outfielder who can get on base as a pretty good clip, who can contribute at a very good clip when it comes to hitting against right hind and pitching, that still, according to Ken Rosenthal, seems to be the priority for the Braves, and I think that it becomes even more clear for them to make a relevant move that you know, helps out for the for the playoffs. Potentially us playing better offensively gives us even more reason to go get a pretty good level of outfielder to add to our current contributors.

00:17:07
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they're still going to add somebody. I think, you know, Eli White, Eddie Rosario, even Adam Duvall. You know, these guys are still you know, getting pretty significant playing time and pretty significant bats and and I don't know, you know, I don't know if that's exactly what you want if you're trying to win a World Series. I think there's just another level above that that you're probably trying to get to. In all due respect to those guys, but you know, I mean, Eddie Risari was just released by the Nationals. Eli White is a career minor leagueer. Like, you know, the the goal, the the aim should be a little higher. So yeah, even even if the offense gets hot and some of these guys play well, if you're Alex, you still got to go get an outfielder. You you can't depend on that. You can't depend on these guys to do that all throughout the year and into the postseason without adding anybody. You know, maybe it reduces, you know, the urgency to add you know, a top of the line player. Maybe you know, you can go a little bit more of a platoon player or somebody who's maybe not a star level player, but I still think you need to go add somebody. Just you know, one hot streak should not greatly deter your plans. If you think you need an outfielder, then you know, four games against the Diamondbacks and the Phillies shouldn't change that, and I don't think it will. Alex is a you know, the Braves are one of the smartest front offices in baseball. So my my expectation is, and just like Rosenthal reported earlier this week, the Braves are going to be aggressive in the outfield market in some regard uh how you know, we'll see exactly how that shakes out in the next three weeks, but that, yeah, that's my expectation.

00:18:56
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and so it definitely appears to that that's going to be a focus of you know, the Braves when it comes to the trade deadline, and Stephen, we've talked about it a little bit as well. One thing that probably makes the outfield a bit more of a priority is the fact that the Braves, you know, we've seen Spencer Schwellenbach have a very good, you know, basically you know, two or three week stretch of excellent starts. His results haven't always been there, but he's done more than enough to obviously keep his spot in the rotation. We've had a couple of good spots starts from Bryce Elder here. Recently. We are now see a J. Smith Shauber back in the majors. You know, he's now in the bullpen. Dylan Lee in yesterday's moves sent down to the minor leagues. But I bring that up just your thoughts on the bullpen moves Dylan Lee to the miners. It seemed more just you know, more of an operational type thing and procedural thing for Dylan Lee. I think he'll be up soon, but don't need going down to the minders a J. Smith Schaumer coming up to the bullpen. The point that I'm bringing up is is that we've talked about those young arms potentially limiting innings for our starters for Chris Saylee, Ronaldo Lopez and others, but I also think that they could be versatile arms that can help out the bullpen as well. I think what we're setting up is that you're going to see those young arms play big roles in the second half of the season, and it really could be interesting to see a J. Smith Shauver possibly get an extended look in the bullpen.

00:20:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be inter see what they do. I think I think the moves this week were more dictated by the fact that a they wanted to give all their starters an extra day's rest, which is not anything new. They've been doing that all year and have even gone to six man rotations at time to make it happen. And so Brice Elder was called up, and then I think AJ was called up just because when they wanted to get a reliever back up for the rest of the week, none of their relievers on their forty man roster were actually available to come up because they had not been down in the miners long enough. You know, you have to stay down fifteen days after your option before you can get called back up unless you're coming back up to replace somebody who's going on the IL. So like Daves, Bill Hernandez and Dylan Lee both weren't eligible to come back up. And so my guess is they just called up AJ because he was available and on the forty men roster, and could sit in the bullpen and be kind of an emergency guy. I saw Buman report earlier that if he's not used in the next couple of Gay days, they'll they'll probably send him back down and get somebody else up. So I don't expect aj is going to be in the bullpen. I do think aj is going to play a role in the second half of the year, though, Scott and I talked about this on Sunday. But you know, the Braves have shown a strong, strong desire to give their starters as much rest as possible. They have really shifted their they have really shifted their kind of ideological approach to the regular season and going from you know, pitching their best starters as much as possible to now, you know, giving their starters as much rest as possible. And I think that's gonna continue in the second half. I think they know their entire season relies on getting Chris Sale and Max Freed and Ronaldo Lopez and Charlie Morton to the postseason healthy. And you know you're I think you're gonna see Bryce Elder. I think you're gonna see a j Spis shaw Er. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Braves went to six man rotation throughout the season. You know, even if it means maybe not winning the division, I don't think. I don't think that's the braves number one goal. I think the braves number one goal is to win a World Series, and they know the best way to do that is to get these starters to the postseason healthy. And that means, you know, sometimes you're gonna go with a six man rotation and sometimes you're gonna have Bryce Elder pitching a game instead of Chris Sale And and does that give you the best chance to win that game? No, probably not. But you know Bryce Elder can throw decent games. He did it, you know last night against Arizona. Thought he had really a really strong game. You know, I didn't love the way it ended. I thought snit was too slow in taking him out of the game, which is a whole separate conversation. But he still had a strong game. And I think the Braves are going to utilize that all throughout the second half, where you know, maybe giving Chris Sale and Ronaldo Lopez an extra day dress doesn't necessarily help you win or give you the best chance of winning that day, but he gives the Braves the best chance to win a World Series because it's going to allow those guys to get October healthy. So yeah, those guys. You know, AJ is gonna play a big role in the second half. I bet, I bet Bryce Elder plays a big role. The number one, the far and away, the biggest priority the Braves have the rest of the way is getting their best starters healthy to October. That is a number one plan, a priority one, and that's it. And so everything they do is going to be unto that goal.

00:23:45
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and and so we turn our attention and I agree with you. I think that, you know, as much as the offense was talked about last year and we talk about offense being the identity of this team, you want it to be that way. You want the offense to be as good as posts. I think it's clear that for this twenty twenty four campaign. And it's so crazy to say this, the fact that Spencer Strider right now is injured and not going to contribute this year, but the Braves' best ticket to get to the World Series and have a chance to win the title is through their pitching and if they can, especially their starting pitching. If they can have that starting pitching healthy when the playoff comes around, you have to feel pretty good about where you are, especially if the offense can contribute. But tomorrow's starter, Charlie Morton, Steven, what it gets your thoughts on him? A pretty decent year so far. You know, Brad Rowland has been a huge advocate of Charlie Morton's, you know the fact that it's underrated. Just how consistently reliable Charlie Morton has been as a pitcher who, yeah, has duds at times, but he consistently puts your team in a position to win. He consistently, you know, give it, steps up in big moments and I think you know, a recent conversation that he had with Ken Rosenthal, he kind of gave us some bobs that you know, yeah, I'm thinking this is probably going to be my last year, you know, in the majors. But I think that overall you have to be pretty satisfied with her he's been this season. Stephen, where are you at with Charlie Morton, with how he's performed this year? Do you think that you could, you know, confidently want him back next season? And and and do you feel that with how he's pitching this year, you know that he once again shows just that, you know, while he's never truly been elite really in a Braves uniform over an entire stretch of a season, the consistency that he's shown is pretty valuable when he's on the mound.

00:25:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, I mean I I listened to that interview that he gave to Rosenthal. You know, he's definitely I think I think Charlie is definitely giving off more vibes that this may be it. You know, I've just gotten that since he's been a bit I don't want to say melancholy, but he's almost he's almost had like this, you know, kind of taking in enjoying the last ride kind of mentality and all the interviews he's given this year, And you know that might just be me reading more into it than that then it's actually there. But I don't know. I do I do feel maybe stronger that this is going to be his last year. I do think if he wanted to come back, I think the Braves would be interested. I don't think they'd be interested at twenty million a year, you know, I doubt they would re up at that number, just because he is more of a back end starter now. You know, Charlie's got an era in the four is a fip in the Fords. That's just kind of what he is now. I mean, listen, he's forty years old. Father Time is undefeated for a reason. You know, He's probably not a twenty million dollar a year pitcher anymore. Although I do think people overreact to that number. I think people. I think people at least, you know, general fans kind of misunderstand how much twenty million dollars is, especially on a one year deal, and what that should buy you. But I don't think the Braves would re up at that number next year. But if he was, if he still wanted to pitch, you know, he's perfectly good in terms of the back end starter for you. You know, I've talked about this before, but the thing that's gonna be interesting to me is, you know, if the playoffs started tomorrow and let's say the Bride win the wild card, you know, does Charlie Morton get a start in a in a three game series. You know, I don't. I would have a hard time believing he would start. He's not gonna start with Max or Chris Sale obviously, but you know, Ronaldo Lopez or Charlie Morton, you gotta pitch Ronaldo in that's I mean, Ronald's got any R in the ones. I mean, you know, that's where it really comes down to, is is what is his playoff what is his playoff role at this point in his career? And if he's not one of your three best starters, you know, he would still pitch in a seven game series, because you need four starters in a seven game series. But you know, if a guy's not gonna pitch in a three game or a five game series for you, then you know, I don't know if you can pay him twenty million dollars a year anymore. So it will be interesting if he just hangs it up or if he wants to come back. I think the Braves would be interested, but I doubt it'd be for twenty maye. I think they would probably negotiate that down to something a little more manageable. But yeah, I mean, people over react to Charlie. You know, he's he's the four starter in the rotation, and he's a perfectly serviceable four starter in your rotation. He's a tremendous clubhouse guy. He helps the young guys. You know, he's a no nonsense, no drama kind of player. So and I imagine the young guys that get to sit with him and talk with him probably have been better because of it. So I have no problem with the money they paid. Charlie. I doubt it. You know, I do have a feeling this might be the last ride for the Braves and Charlie. But we'll see, you know, we'll see when we get to November.

00:28:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you go into last year's playoffs with Spencer Strider as your number one. Max Freed is your number two, Charlie Morton is your three, and then Bryce Selder as if as that four if you need him. That's how you went into last year's playoffs. This year's playoffs, Charlie Morton isn't that Bryce Elder role. And that is such an upgrade in terms of experience, in terms of, you know, what we've seen him do in past playoffs, but also speaks to just how confident you are in a Freed sale. Ronaldo Lopez top three even without Spencer Strider. So once again, at the end of the day, when we talk about the job that Alex and Doplas did during the off season. The biggest thing that many looked at was pitching depth. Quality of pitching depth, and I think that people can confidently say they are going to be The Brazs are in a much better position going in this year's playoffs. If everyone can remain healthy, then they have over the past two but Stephen, over the next couple of days, We've got Charlie Morton and Max Reid on the mound against Arizona. It remains to be seen who Arizona is going to be put on the mound. The Braves have to feel pretty confident in those two stars remaining in Arizona, and if you can go winning this Arizona series into San Diego, you have to feel pretty confident about going into the All Star break. I feel very good that the Braves are going to be able to get some needed wins and really get some momentum going into the All Star Break to start off the second half.

00:30:00
Speaker 2: Will Yeah, I've been tracking Twitter just to see if the Diamondbacks released who they were starting. You know, it looks like from one of their beat writers, looks like Slade Secone Secon. I don't know how you say that to be honest with you, somebody I've never heard of is starting tomorrow and then I don't think they've announced for for Thursday yet, So you know it should be you know, I emphasized should it should be advantage Braves. Charlie Morton is certainly more established and you would think more reliable than somebody Nate's named Slade Secony. But you know, we'll see. You know, the Braves had a rookie on the mound against you know, on Monday against Arizona and really couldn't do a lot with him. I mean, they didn't score until you know, the ninth inning. You know, Austin hit that a home run in the first, but they didn't score again until the ninth inning on that on that three round homer from Murph. So you know, rookie pitchers can sometimes be a blessing and a curse, you know, if they if you don't, if you're not familiar with them. You know, the Braves have had their share of struggles against against young pitchers. They're scene for the first time, so yeah, we'll see how that goes. But yeah, I mean, obviously on paper, you know, you like the matchup for the Braves having Morton in Mexico in the next two days against some relative unknowns for Arizona. So you would hope you at least get one of those two games and leave, you know, leave the desert with a with a three to one series win.

00:31:30
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and of course we will be with you if any big news comes along, and including the Braves continuing to win, which hey, nowadays is pretty big news, We're gonna be here to have you cover. But also we're gonna have some in depth analysis when it comes to the upcoming MLB draft that'll be going on obviously now aligned with the All Star Break. It's gonna be a very fun you know, top of the draft this year. I think the Braves are picking twenty fourth, twenty four to twenty fifth this season. But we will of course have analysis for you win it to the draft, but before and afser so make sure to check out some more insight on that later this week. Also, of course, you know myself, Steven Scott Brad We're gonna be with you in different variations as we go into the All Star Break and start the second half of the season. But Steven, do you have anything else as we head too, you know, the last two games of this Arizona series with some really good momentum, hopefully winning five in a row tomorrow. Anything else you got for us as we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:32:27
Speaker 2: No, yeah, it just it'd be really nice to win one of these next two and get up a series win, you know, one last series to go before the All Star Break. Gets a momentum, you know, I think minimum momentum is a little overrated, but you know, winning is certainly better than losing. So if we want to call it momentum, we can call it momentum. But I would I would love to get at least one more in this series. Go to San Diego, have a good showing there, and go into the All Star Break with some with some momentum, and maybe come out in the second half and start chasing down the.

00:32:58
Speaker 1: Phillies absolutely and listen, you know, while the Phillies continue to win, the Cardinals continue to win. You know, when it comes to you know, who the Braves are trying to chase and who's chasing the Braves. At the end of the day, the Braves right now can only control and what they can control, and right now they're doing a very good job of winning at the clip that they need to to remain in a favorable position when it comes to the playoffs. So for Steven Tolbor, my name is Sean Cohen. Pleasure being with you. Hope you have a great evening and a good start to your Wednesday. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory Podcast