Braves Pitching Delivers Huge Series Win Against Phillies

00:00:23
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you're having a great week so far Thursday night entering into Friday and bye gosh. We have some positive things to talk about when it comes to the Atlanta Brays, fresh off winning two out of three games versus the Philadelphia Phillies. This is a podcast that I know, me and a podcast partner, Steven Tolbert, have been really looking forward to having to be able to talk about for a long period of time. And Steven, it's good to talk with you. This week once again, didn't start off in the best ways, but you mentioned it, you mentioned it on Monday Day night. How this team responded was gonna be a very interesting thing to see, and by gosh, I think they responded in about as good a form as they can. Great series win for the Braves.

00:01:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's up, Sean?

00:01:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a really good I mean, obviously, anytime you beat Philadelphia two out of three, you know you take that. Honestly, the Braves could have won all three games. They had the tying in winning runs and scored position the ninth inning last night and could have easily won that game. You know, Philly probably could say the same thing. They probably could say. You know, all three games were winnable for them for them as well, well, very close games, low scoring games. The pitching really dominated. The pitching was really more of the story. But yeah, listen, without Riley, without Solaire, you know, this is how the Braids are gonna have to win games right now, is with great pitching and some timely hitting, and even if it's not that much timely hitting, just enough timely hitting the win the game. And you know that's what they did in this series. It took two out of three, so yeah, it's it was a really I was really impressed, especially with the pitching, with how they responded after the Riley news. You know, if if the Phillies had come in and just and just torn them up for three games, you know, it'll been a different story.

00:02:20
Speaker 2: But the pitching really held.

00:02:21
Speaker 3: Its ground, dominated in some stretches even and that's what without Chris Sale pitching in the series, and the offense did just barely enough to get two out of three. So yeah, it was a great series and a really good response to the to the you know, heartbreaking news we got on Sunday about Riley.

00:02:41
Speaker 1: And and to add to that, you know, it was a great response to to the to the Riley injury news. But I also want to put shin a spotlight on the fact that there's a very real chance, Stephen, this could be one of the n L wild card matchups six weeks from now. You know, the Braves after this victory, are two games up with the Mets for the final wildcard spart in the National League. The Mets playing the Padres right now, that's gonna obviously that series this weekend is obviously going to have implications all week long on the wildcard picture. But the point that I'm getting at is is that you very much could see the Braves versus the Phillies in a wild card setup, which would be three games, likely at Citizens Bank Park, and I know that that may be the most advantageous home park for anyone in baseball right now. But the key is is that this was like a playoff series. This very much could be a preview of a playoff series we see in October. And the Braves pitching showed, and to your point, they showed without their best picture, just how effective they could be the Phillies are at full strength, they had and they had plenty to play for, and we were still able to win two of the three games and be in a position to win the third. I don't want to put too much significance on that, but it goes to show that even though this pitching staff was expected to regress after the first half, it struggled here recently, it's still is more than good enough to make a difference, to make noise, and it's a good enough staff basically leading the way to be able to win a playoff series.

00:04:09
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean this pitching staff, you know, and again Chris Sale did not pitch in this series, but you know, with Max Freed looking more and more like Max, with Ronaldo coming back and looking as strong as he did, which was a massive part of this week, with you know, Schwallenbach being you know, probably maybe the most underrated rookie pitcher in baseball this year. You don't hear about him nationally at all, but he's been unbelievable at in. Charlie Morton, Yeah, I mean, this pitching staff can go beat anybody in a playoff series. You know, if you only give up one or two runs. Any offensive baseball can cover that up even if the Braves are diminished, you know, quite a bit in that area. So yeah, I mean, it's this play. This pitching staff is plenty good. And you know, with the with the win tonight, the Braves won, the Braves are now six and two versus Philly, and that's a very important number because once you get the seven wins, that means you win the season series, which is the first head to head tiebreaker, So.

00:05:10
Speaker 2: That's a big deal.

00:05:10
Speaker 3: So the Braves just have to win one more game against Philly this year to get the head to head tiebreaker. Now that only matters obviously if they finished the year tied. But the division race is not over yet, and the Braves still have four games head to head with Philly. They take care of business in that series. You win the head to head tiebreaker, then you only have to tie the Phillies to actually win the division. So you know, that's a notable part of this as well, that the Braves are in a good spot to take the head to head series. But yeah, I mean, this pitching staff has been unbelievable and we talked about it after the Riley News. This is how the team is gonna have to win. They're gonna have to win on the backs of their pitching off this really really good rotation.

00:05:50
Speaker 2: Off this absurd bullpen.

00:05:52
Speaker 3: They're ridiculous closer that we're gonna talk about here in a minute. That's the formula for this team. And if they get you know, if they have a game where they score five or six or seven runs and hey, even better. But you know, with this kind of new version of the Braves, this is how they're gonna have to win for the rest of twenty twenty four.

00:06:11
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00:07:27
Speaker 1: So, Steven, let's talk a bit about the star of the game in my opinion on Thursday night, and that of course is Spencer Swellingbot. Now we've talked about him at linked on this podcast, Brad and Scott have talked about him. It's no secret that Spencer Swellerbock has probably been the biggest revelation, you know, in a positive way this season for the Braves. I'm not saying he's Sue loyvil of A, Spencer Strider or Michael Harrison the second in twenty twenty two, but Spencer Swellerboch truly has become one of the best rookies in baseball this season and one of the better rookie arms in baseball this season. Could you answer me this question, Stephen, who started for the National League in the All Star Game?

00:08:10
Speaker 2: That was Paul Skans.

00:08:11
Speaker 1: Paul Skins started the game. It started the All Star Game for the National League. Steven, let me ask you another question. Over the past two months since June twenty second, when you compare Spencer Swellenbach and Paul Skeins, the same pitcher has the better fip X, fip K rate, and walk rate. Between Spencer Swellenbach and Paul Skeens, could you tell me which pitcher has the better mark in each of those categories over the past two months.

00:08:41
Speaker 3: Well, I'm hoping it's Spencer Swollenback because otherwise this is not a great segment for him.

00:08:46
Speaker 1: It absolutely is. The point that I'm trying to get at is that as much as Paul Skins has been talked about this season, and he has been absolutely phenomenal. Over the past two months, Spencer Swellenbach has actually been right there with him in terms of what he can control. In terms of his effectiveness on the mound. You know, his ability to throw strikes. He still gives up the home run a bit more than Skiings and you know, a bit more than he probably like, but that part of his game has definitely dwindled down in the right direction. The point that I'm getting at is is that for two months now, Spencer Swellebotton not only has proven to be right there with Paul Skins in terms of his ability to get stuff done on the mound, he's been one of the best pitchers in the National League. And the other key ingredient after tonight Stephen is I think that we are starting to see that he can deliver in big moments. We've seen him do it against the Orioles, We've seen him do it against the Phillies. I feel that if he's needed to pitch at least one time threw a lineup in the playoffs, he could do an effective job. It was a really big opportunity for Spencer Swellenbach tonight. He wants against delivered and he again has been an absolutely awesome revelation that is adding to just how good this pitching staff can be.

00:09:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, for so much of the year, the fifth starter spought was just a black hole, and the Brays were just desperate to find anybody to fill it, you know, after the Strider injury and everybody got pushed up. You know, we did the Bryce Elder stuff, who did the Darius Vines, we did the Alan Winings. You know, they just could not find anybody to solidify that spot. And then he's come up and he's been unbelievable. You know, I think my favorite I think my favorite swallen Box status. He's faced three hundred and thirty three hitters this year and he's only walked fifteen of them. You know, for a rookie pitcher, where command is is is usually so you know, rookie pitchers in command or is not a are usually not a great combination. And for him to come up and throw those strikes the way he does, you know, it's not like he's throwing eighty nine miles an hour right either. You know, he throws ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven. He can even bump it up to ninety eight at times.

00:10:51
Speaker 2: But he just doesn't walk people.

00:10:52
Speaker 3: And you know, when you don't walk people and you force the other team to earn everything they get.

00:10:58
Speaker 2: That's that's a big part of the battle, quite on it. And he's been unbelievable.

00:11:01
Speaker 3: And you know, the Braves have said in the past that you know, they're just gonna pitch him as long as he feels good, They're gonna pitch him. They're not doing any more of this rest and you know, extra rest stuff that they were doing earlier in the year.

00:11:14
Speaker 2: They they've kind of, you know, gone away from that.

00:11:17
Speaker 3: And snitd even said the other day with Lopez back, you know, they're not doing a six man rotation.

00:11:22
Speaker 2: Uh, you know, Holmes is going back to the bullpen.

00:11:25
Speaker 3: It's gonna be these five guys every you know, every turn to the rotation, and that's what it's gonna be. And you know, if you're a Braves fan, that's all you can ask for, right, just pitch your best guys and whatever happens happens, you know, injuries or injuries, there's nothing you can do about them. Just put your best players out there and whatever happens happens. And that was My frustration early was, you know, intentionally not putting your best players out there for rest purposes, which I understood, but like at some point, you know, you got to try to win. And you know that's what they've done. They've they've gone to no more extra days rest, no more six man rotation, USh fallen Back's gonna be that out there every fifth day. We're gonna put our best guys out there and see what happens. And that's what they're doing now, and you know, it may work, it may not, but at least you can you know, at least you can live with that, like you've got your best guys out there. Whatever happens happens.

00:12:19
Speaker 1: And plenty of good has happened when it comes to Spencer swelling Bach on the mound. But another you know, big performance, especially over the past ten days. You know, we go back to that Colorado game two Sundays ago, you know, in which the Braves lost nine to eight, and then one of the things that really stood out to me in those first two games against San Francisco, and we talked about this on the podcast, Stephen, was how Brian Snicker pushed a lot of the right buttons in those two games, managing them like playoff games, and one thing that he did in a surprising fashion was not necessarily a heavy use, but the reliability that he had on Ryce Selly Glacias in those games, who was able to get the job done both times. But that stands out about Ryce cell Iglacias. We talk about how amazing it is to see what chrisil is doing at his age, Marcelo Zuna is doing as his age. Ryce Seliglacias is thirty four years old, but he may really could be Right now in the midst of his most dominant stretch of pitching that we've seen in his career. He has absolutely been outstanding. He's been a huge reason despite these injuries that we've experienced and these losses that we've experienced, the Braves have been able to bounce back. And Steven you mentioned it right as he was facing Harper to start the ninth inning on Thursday night. Yes, Harper has owned him more often than not, but he looked dominant against even Harper. We talk about all these different veterans who have stepped up and delivered so far for the Braves this season, but right now, Rice Sellyglacias is performing as good as any of him and the numbers are just absolutely outstanding.

00:13:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's not getting enough national attention.

00:13:57
Speaker 3: You know, if you ask the average fan of the casual fan, you know, named the ten best closures in baseball, named the five best closures in baseball.

00:14:04
Speaker 2: I'm not sure a lot of people outside of.

00:14:06
Speaker 3: Atlanta even mentioned Rosiello Iglesias. But after the night, he's got a one four five ERA for the season, for the entire season has a one four or five year And you know, obviously that's an entire body worth of performance. But it's what he's done lately that has moved into the truly absurd.

00:14:29
Speaker 2: So if you haven't seen this.

00:14:31
Speaker 3: I saw a couple of people tweeting it out. But in his last ten appearances, so going back to July thirtieth, so in his last ten appearances, Rossielglesias has retired thirty three consecutive batters. He has not given up a hit, a walk much, I mean, forget about a run. He has not given up a base runner in his last ten appearances since July thirtie he has not given up a base runner. He's literally been perfect. In the month of August, he has pitched a perfect game plus six additional outs in his last ten appearances. He has not giving up an earned run since Juwel since June sixteenth, I get, we're almost a September. He has not given up an earned run since June sixteenth. I mean, it's unbelievable what he's doing. And again, this offense is not exactly like giving him, you know, three run cushions every time he goes out on the mound. He's doing a lot of this stuff with one run leads, much like tonight. You know, you remember in San Francisco he did it with the ghost frount A on second base and he still got through the inning without giving up a run. It's just been unbelievable. It's been unbelievable. And you know, the Braves are playing so many close games, They're playing so many one run games. For him to do this at a time when the offense is really struggling to put anything significant together. You know, his margin of error is so small every time he goes out, and to put up this stretch of baseball where he literally has not given up a base runner of any kind in the month of August is is unbelievable. And he he he needs more national There needs to be more national attention given to Rossio Glaes if he if he was doing this for the Yankees, this is all you'd hear about. And you know it's it's gone way under the radar for way too long. And he's been incredible. You know, I tweeted this out a few weeks ago, but or I think it's just like last week at some time. But you know, the Braves acquired him at the twenty twenty two trade deadline. In the two years since the two plus years that they've had him, he's second among all qualified relievers in era. He's got like a one eight five ERA since the day the Braves acquired him, you know, over.

00:16:56
Speaker 2: Two years ago. I mean, he's just been nails. He's been on believable.

00:17:00
Speaker 3: He's been so much better than I ever thought he could be. That was a big contract they took on when they got him. You know, they took on that whole It's like fifty million dollar contract for him, which is why they didn't have to give up much in the trade. But he's been so much better than I thought he could be, and he deserves way more attention than he's getting because he has been arguably the best reliever in baseball this year and nobody's talking about him.

00:17:25
Speaker 1: Well, that's why it's so much fun to talk about him when he's performing well. And the big thing, Steven, you know, I'll let you elaborate on this a little bit as well, is that you know this is the thing. You know, we saw it against San Francisco on UH in the in the pitching matchup between Chris So and Blake Snail, and we're seeing we saw it again in the series multiple times. I know that the Braves pitching staff has gone through a bit of regression. I know that they have gone through some injuries as well. But again, when you're talking about the ability for this team in a playoff series, whether it be three or whether it be five games or even seven games, when you're talking about the majority of the games in each of those series being Sell and Freed and then being able to hand the ball over to Jimenez and then ricell Iglesias for two plus innings after Freedom Sell hopefully goes six plus, that is really really advantageous for this Braves team, like they very much can do some damage with not too many arms because of how good Iglesias, Jmenez and Cel have been this year, Max Freed when he's on, and if Ronaldo Lopez wants to regain his strengthrom the first half of the season, that would be great as well. But the back end of our bullpen, in the top end of our rotation, even with Sell not pitching in this staff. I know we keep talking about it in this podcast, but we just want to hit home, whether it's the start of the game or the end of the game, the Braves in a short playoff series can really really find success if those top arms perform to the level they have most of the season.

00:19:00
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean, that's that's what wins in October is pitching. You know, the Braves are the greatest offense we've ever seen last year, and you know, Ranger Swarez basically ended their year on his own, you know him and Zach Wheeler, so.

00:19:14
Speaker 2: Great.

00:19:15
Speaker 3: Pitching is the ultimate equalizer in in uh in October, and that's why the Brays went and got Chris Sale, by the way. You know, they were tired of having you know, these top top arms shut their lineup down, and you know they got to October. The last couple of years and Spitzer Strider was hurt, Max Fried was hurt, and they didn't have those top arms. They had a great offense, but they didn't have those top arms that were healthy. And you know they they did nothing in October because of it, like you need that to advance in October.

00:19:47
Speaker 2: And that's what I mean.

00:19:48
Speaker 3: If this team can make it, If this team can.

00:19:50
Speaker 2: Make the tournament, they can win it. Of course they can.

00:19:53
Speaker 3: Chris Sale, Max Fried, Ronaldo Lopez, Swallenbach Morton the back into their bullpen. Those guys by themselves can win the Braves of World Series, like with the offense doing very little, because that's how they've been winning lately. The offense scores two or three runs a night and the pitching makes it hold up and one hundred percent. They can win a World Series with this staff. That's how good the staff is. It's unbelievably good.

00:20:19
Speaker 2: But they got to get in and that's gonna be the key.

00:20:22
Speaker 3: Can they can these guys stay healthy first and foremost, which has been obviously the the you know thing that's bit the Braves all year is staying healthy. But can they stay healthy? Can they get to October? Can they make the tournament and then just see what happens. Yeah, I mean, you know, nobody wants to face Chris Sale and Max Freed and Ronaldo Lopez and the Braves bullpen in a short series. I promise you nobody.

00:20:48
Speaker 2: Nobody wants to do.

00:20:49
Speaker 3: There's not a team in baseball that's like, yeah, give me Chris Sale in October, like.

00:20:53
Speaker 2: Nobody wants that. The Braves.

00:20:55
Speaker 3: And if the offense gets going at all, if so Laire and Ozuna and Olsen and know Soelaire should come back on Friday. If the offense gets going at all, this team can be really really dangerous in October. But you gotta make it. You got to make the tournament and you got to get their healthy. And the Braves are not going to get their fully healthy obviously, they haven't been fully healthy since opening Day.

00:21:16
Speaker 2: But if they can keep what.

00:21:17
Speaker 3: They've got, if they can just get this team to October healthy, they can still do damage.

00:21:22
Speaker 1: And of course we talk about getting there is the big key, and that shines the spotlight back on the offense. In some again key additions that Alex and Thopolis has made that not much emphasis was put on, not a lot of value is put On or anything like that. And this isn't Jacques Solaire Rosario in twenty twenty one. This is Ramon Loreano, Wit Mirrorfield and g O Orcilla all being added because they were free agents released from their previous teams earlier this year, or put on waivers, whatever have you. Each of these players added in time. But yet, Stephen, each of these these players are now a mainstay in the Braves lineup. And they each had multiple big moments. You know, or Sella tonight, a big RBI hit, a couple of big defensive plays, Mierfield at the top of the order, getting on base, putting the ball in, playing key areas, Loriano at the play in the field. Each of them had big moments. When so Layer comes back, I still think it's gonna be him and Michael Harris at the top of the order. But that's gonna put Ursella, Loriano as well as Mierfield at the bottom of their order. I'm confident that could be a productive bottom of the order. But I don't necessarily think these guys are all of a sudden going to turn into all stars. But when we talk about things that need to happen to get us to that tournament. As you say, those guys being contributors would be a huge key to make that a smooth journey to get there. And they're each old they're in the bargain. So far, it's been really fun to see how productive each of them have been.

00:22:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been huge. I mean, especially this stretch with so Lair out and obviously Riley out. You know, you know again Solaire is supposed to come back on Friday. We'll see if that actually happens. But you know, the Braves needed some guys just to come up with kind of some random big hits this this series and last series. And you know, they did just enough to get four wins out of six games.

00:23:22
Speaker 2: And like you said, it's been.

00:23:23
Speaker 3: Kind of a hodgepodge of of different things. You know, Loreano has a big game here there, Mirifield has a big game there here there. You know, Chelle's defense has been really good so far. I know, the numbers for the season for him have not grated out well, you know, the defensive metrics have not looked pretty for him, but he's looked really strong.

00:23:42
Speaker 2: He's turned a bunch of double plays.

00:23:44
Speaker 3: You know, he hasn't really He's made every play hit to him and that's really all you can ask for. He has come up with a few hits. You know, that's what the Braves need right now. They just need kind of these random performances here or there to just get through until they get so lair back. You know, Ozzie's gonna be back soon. You know, until they get there, the guys that are are are coming back. Until they get those guys back, that's what they need, you know, they need and try to, you know, scrape together three or four runs in a game and hope the pitching staff can cover, you know, make that, make that stand up. So yeah, it's been huge, and you know I would love to win a few more of these games, like five to one instead of two to one. You know this, watching this offense is probably gonna take years off my life and having to watch all these three to two games and having to sweat over every single pitch. But you know that's kind of how this team is gonna have to win right now. You know, with the lineup they're putting out there, they're not gonna score five or six or seven runs a night. They're gonna score three or four at the most usually, and you know, the pitching staff is gonna make that hold up or they're gonna have to make that hold up to win. So hopefully when we get some of these guys back, it won't be as tight every night. But you know, without Riley, without Acunya, you know they're gonna you know, Matt Olson is still not fully Matt Olson. Every time it looks like he's gonna turn around, you know, turn the corner, maybe get going, he has a stretch where it's not so great. So they're just gonna have to piece it together on offense, and you know that so far they've done it, and we'll see if they can continue. Hopefully they get the latter back on Friday, that would be a huge part of it. If they can just get him back to in right field and leading off, that would help a lot.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Now let's have a little bit of fun, Steven, because you know, we don't usually you know, talk too much about speculation or things like that, especially for you know, scenarios that may not be all that likely, but in this case, want to make an exception. John Adler on a Twitter slash x you know, reached out to each of us here at Hammer territory with the with the prison scenario. You know, of course, there was the news today earlier today that the Los Angeles Dodgers designated for assignment a certain player who Braves fans may still you know, have have some fan for. And his name is, of course, Jason Hayward. Jason Hayward had a bit of a rebound year last year for the Dodgers. This year has struggled for a good portion of the season, but he's now now been designated for assignment. Don't know if he makes it to the Braves, but Steve and I at least want to mention this because as we get closer to September, there's still these basically ten days where the Braves can still look to bolster their lineup by adding players to the organization that would be eligible for the playoffs and of course eligible to help them in the stretch run. Jason Hayward's numbers may not be that great, but would you compare him to potentially an Adam to Ball or others. I think you could make a case where if he's there, it would make sense for the Braves to explore adding him, especially if they feel they can have him have success against right handed pitching. I don't know your thoughts. Don'tant to spend too much time on this, because again, it's probably not a likely scenario, but I think it's at least something that could intrigue the Braves if he makes it to them.

00:27:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, their position player group has been so decimated by injuries and underperformance that you know, Jason still walks at like a nine percent clip, which is, you know, kind of the what they were attracted to by Witt Mayfield, and we've seen how he's bounced back once he got to the team. I would not be stunned at all, you know, even if you know, obviously everybody's gonna remember the fact that Jason started his career with the Braves, and it would just be cool to see him back in a Braves uniform.

00:27:30
Speaker 2: That would be very cool.

00:27:32
Speaker 3: Uh. You know, I I'll never forget where I was to day he debuted and hit that home run against the Cubs. One of the best memories of my Braves life for sure, one of the most well, you know, one of the most vivid memories, to be honest, And it would be unbelievable to see him in a Braves uniform again. But even if you put kind of sentimentality aside and just talk about like on the field, you know, somebody that walks as much as Hayward does still have some value, especially on a team that still struggles with on base. You know, he's left handed, so he could potentially help you get his right handed pitching. He's having a kind of a reverse splitz year where he's hitting lefties better this year versus instead of right he's but you know, reverse splits are usually just a product of small sample size. If if you just take the larger sample, which is his career, you know he's always hit right he's better than lefties, so you know he could potentially help you gets right handed pitching again. He walks a lot, you know he's probably better. And even though Adam Devall had a good game tonight, you know, Loriano's really taken over against anytime there's a lefty on the mound. The only reason to All played the night was because sole there is still out. But anytime there's a left he on the mount, it seems like Loriano's kind of getting that start. So I don't know obiously what they did. You know they might not like having another lefty when they already have Hayward, or when they already have Harris and Kelnick on the team. That might be more lefties than they want. But we'll see, we'll see what they do. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody else just grabs him, you know, before he even gets to the Braves.

00:29:05
Speaker 2: The Brids don't even get a chance to make that.

00:29:07
Speaker 3: Decision, because I think he could still help a team with his walk grate.

00:29:11
Speaker 2: He's obviously a really good clubhouse guy. So but we'll see.

00:29:14
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised, but I would be a little bit surprised if he actually made it to the Braves. If he made it to the Braves, I wouldn't be surprised if they picked him up. But I'm guessing another team in the waiver priority we'll grab him first.

00:29:25
Speaker 1: So Stephen, the attention for the Braves now turns to Washington and a bit of a two parter here is we end this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast. The first thing is is that the Braves need to have redemption on their mind, and I know you especially want them to have it on their mind with what you witnessed earlier this year. But the pitching matchups for this series Chris Sale versus Mackenzie Gore, Charlie Morton versus Jake Irvin, and Ronald Lopez versus DJ Hurts. Now, at first, you know, hearing those pitching matchups, I could easily see many thinking, well, the Braves should easily have the the upper hand each of those pitching matchups. Well, it's just not true. Each of these pitchers have had successful outings against the Braves so far this year. This National pitching staff is very, very underrated in my opinion, it has the potential to be very good, but for this Braves team especially, I think facing two left handers, for this Braves team, the focus has to be on you are the better team, likely because you have the better offense. We need another one of these weekends where the offense shows up and dominates and at the very least get the series win, hopefully a series sweep.

00:30:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the Braves have not played well against the Nationals at all this year. You know, they had two four game series earlier this year and the Braves went one to three in both of them. So the Braids are two and six against the Nationals. This year, which is one of the reasons the Braves are where they are in the standings because they really had a hard time beating the bad teams. And I was actually at two of those games in Washington. I was actually at the Chris Sales start in Washington, and he pitched unbelievable. You only gave up two runs and seven anythings, but the offense couldn't cover up. So, you know, the Braves need to find their offense again. You know, hopefully Soleira is back. Like you said that. You know, Washington is not nearly as bad as people think. Uh And obviously Brace fans know that because Washington has played so well against the Braves, so is not is not a guaranteed series win. It's not, you know, I guaranteed anything. We've seen the Braves you know, have you know, good stretches of baseball and then immediately follow that up with bad stretches of baseball, even against bad teams. So nothing's for granted, you know, even with the Nats in town, like you need to go take care of business. The Mets are on the West coast. The Mets are you know, playing San Diego in Arizona this week. You're at home playing Washington, like, you need to win the series.

00:31:49
Speaker 2: At the very least.

00:31:51
Speaker 3: You got Sale, Morton and Ronaldo on the mound, so Laire again hopefully is coming back.

00:31:56
Speaker 2: You need to win this series.

00:31:59
Speaker 3: You know, that should be the that should be the absolute, you know, the lowest possible outcome as you win to a three. If you sweep, great, but you know, win the series at the very least, you know, get some revenge on Washington for for what they've done to you earlier in the year, and hopefully maybe actually start to get a little bit of a lead on the Mets. You know, hopefully the Mets have a rough trip out West against two really hot teams in San Diego and Arizona, and the Braves can take care of business at home and maybe actually build a little a little bit of a lead. That would be that would be nice to see. But yeah, nothing can't take anything for granted with the Nats. They've they've kicked the Braves butt all year. So they need Sale to come out and put you a great one tomorrow night. And for the love of God, if the offense could just put up like four or five runs, that would you know, these two to one three to two games are gonna kill me. Like, I just need like a four spot or a five spot somewhere just to alleviate some of the stress. If they could oblige that, that would be that would be lovely.

00:33:00
Speaker 1: Gonna have to make sure that Steven has a defibrillator next to him before we enter September, and if we inner October, we're gonna have to. We're definitely gonna have to make sure that Steven's got all the medical attention that he needs. And I'm right there with him, Steven. One other last question for this National Series. You're talking about the offense. Do you still think it makes sense with Solaire back to put him and Michael Harris in front of Olson or in Ozuna and Olsen, or do you potentially keep Wit mirror Field up there, maybe lower Harris down in the lineup? Would you make any changes still go with your best players? What do you think your approach may be when it comes to the lineup entering this series.

00:33:34
Speaker 3: The only guys I would leave the same are Solaire, Ozuna, and Olsen. I leave those guys one, three and four. But if there's a lefty on the mound, I would put like Louriano or our Maryfield batting second, and if there's a righty on the mound, i'd put Michael Harris like I wouldn't you know if if they if they've got a lefty on the mound, I wouldn't have two of your first four hitters be left handed, like tomorrow night they face a lefty and McKinsey or I would have so hopefully Celaire's back first of all, but if he is back, I would have him one probably like Loreano two and then Ozuna three. Try to get him, you know, three straight lefties or three straight righties to start the game and see if you can bust open maybe a bit of a rally in the first inning. And then when there's a ridy on the mount, stick Harris up there. You know, I would try to. I would try to get the platoon advantage as much as I can with the lineup, especially now that you're you're having all of these kind of minor players having to step in and play roles. You know, these guys aren't used to batting in one spot, so you can be pretty aggressive with how you move around your lineup. When there's a lefty on the mound, I'd have righty's at the top. When there's a rioty on the mound, I'd put Harris at the top and get another lefty in there, you know, if I'm if I'm King in the World or King of the Braves, at least that's.

00:34:51
Speaker 2: How I would do it.

00:34:52
Speaker 3: Obviously, what they do tomorrow, if Silaire's back and the Braves facing two lefties in this series, if they use Loariana or Mierfield at the top, yeah, I'll be see if they do that.

00:35:04
Speaker 2: That does make sense.

00:35:06
Speaker 3: But you know, Snit sometimes it just likes having his you know, four guys at the top. I could see him putting Harris there no matter what. But if it was me, I would put a I'd put a few Ritis up there, you know when the Nats they're roll lefty.

00:35:19
Speaker 1: And the thing that stands out again is that, you know, from Brian Snicker through this roster, I think there's just a sense of urgency. I think that there is, you know, a clear understanding that you know, you can't you rest on your laurels anymore. You can't let things kind of play out, you know, let things you know eventually work out or things come to you. You need to go grab the momentum. You need to make the most of it. And we've seen from the offense to getting on base better, the pitching staff kind of rounding back into form. We see this team now clearly showing they understand that they that there's no more time to waste. They've got to get the opportunity taken care of to where they don't have any more of these games where if they should win, they wind up losing. They've got to get the series winn or a series sweep this weekend. They absolutely have to, especially riding the wave of momentum from this Philly series, and it's going to be a lot of fun to see. For Stephen Tolbert, you can find him at b Underscore Outliers on Twitter. My name is Sean Coleman. You can find me at stats s AC on Twitter. Make sure to check out Hammer Territory across all forms of social media and on YouTube audio only, but make sure you hit subscribe there. It's just a great way for you to have multiple options to listen to us, and of course check out Foul Territory. The Hammer Territory part of the part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts for Steven Tolboro. I my name is Sean Coleman. Go phrase We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast