The Tale of Sale and Shutouts

00:00:20
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope wherever you are and wherever you were listening, and you were having a great start to your Wednesday, a great night on Tuesday, great start to your Wednesday, and you should be if you are in Braves country, because let's be honest, we go back. You know, not this past Sunday. This past Sunday wasn't that much fun. But you got on the previous Sunday, the Braves one in five on that West Coast road trip, you know, versus the Mariners, versus the Dodgers. We were talking about, you know the fact that the Braves offense has just sputtered, just had not been successful. But since then, a little bit of home cooking. The Braves now fifteen and four at home, best team in baseball at home they now have thankfully, since that West Coast road trip, they are six and one, and as Steven Tobert, my podcast partner, and I have discussed before, it's always good to be able to talk about Bracet baseball when they're in the midst of a good stretch of winning instead of losing. Steven, how are you tonight.

00:01:12
Speaker 2: Sir, Sean, what's going on, buddy. It's good to talk to you again. Yeah, it's been a you know, it's been our roller coaster, honestly. You know, that West Coast trip was so bad, and I mean, you know, the getting swept by the Dodgers and kind of convincing fashion was kind of the cherry on top to that whole trip. And then you know, a credit to them, and they came home that you know, it was a pretty soft week in terms of schedule.

00:01:35
Speaker 3: They had two off.

00:01:36
Speaker 2: Days in the week. They only played five games. You know, they had two against the Red Sox. They came in won that series pretty easily. The pitching, you know, we're going to talk about it here in a minute, but the pitching really dominated that series.

00:01:49
Speaker 3: And then went up to New York very easily could have had a sweep.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: You know, pitch well enough to have a sweep at least, you know, from the starter standpoint, just let one get away on Sunday. But it took two of three there and then and then you know, came back home and I've obviously gone two and over so to Chicago with these first two games, So yeah, six and one since that pretty disastrous West Coast trip. It's a really good bounce back, and you know, we'll talk about it a little bit more in detail as we go, but yeah, it's always good to do these with you.

00:02:17
Speaker 1: Buddy, Absolutely, and and you know we're gonna start it off, you know, with no For those who've listened to the podcast again, you could find Hammer Territory part of the Foul Territory podcast network wherever you get your podcasts also across all forms of social media at Hammer Territory on Twitter, at Hammer Territory on Instagram, Facebook, myself at stats sac on Twitter, Steven at Beat Underscore Outliers. But Steven, I have a fun stat to tell you, and it's so much fun I can barely contain my excitement. Stephen. There have only been three instances this year in which a team held their opponent to zero run score in back to back games. Do you want to guess what those two games were? Are those two? You want to guess the two teams that have done those three occurrences now so far?

00:03:08
Speaker 2: Well, obviously the Braves were one because they just did it the last two games. Yeah, I don't know who's the other one.

00:03:17
Speaker 1: It's the Guardians, who also did it, and then the Braves. The Braves actually did it on April twenty second. In April twenty third, they are the only team so far this year that has held their opponents to zero runs in back to back games. And the reason I bring that up, Stephen, is because we've talked about what has dominated a lot of conversation about the Braves here, you know, in recent days, is the fact that the offense that has not lived up, you know, to its reputation, it thankfully is starting a bit too. Seven runs is the first time we've scored that many, and I believe in over three weeks. But we talked about the pitching has been good, but I don't think we've talked about just the fact that the Braves pitching has really started to emerge as being one of the best staffs in baseball. And it's no surprise that the two starting pitchers who were on the mound in these back to back shutouts for Ronaldo Lopez on Monday and Chris Sale on Tuesday. Stephen, Chris Sail another excellent night overall when it came to his production, limiting the Cubs all night long. And the great thing about Sale is that he just looks so comfortable on the mound seven innings pitch. He's consistently hitting that seven innings mark so efficient, nine strikeouts only to its allow no walks two point five five four e ra I know he onlyb dot Com just released their cy Young favorites for each league so far.

00:04:32
Speaker 4: It was a.

00:04:32
Speaker 1: Travesty that neither Lopez or Sale or on that list. But you got two pictures who are pitching like all stars, the two pictures that Alexon Thoplis had this all season. It's been great to see their consistency.

00:04:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean if I had told you, you know, if I told you in spring training that the Breads were going to have two aces in the rotation, I think everybody would have just assumed that that was Max Freed and Spence Strider. Everybody would have probably been like, yeah, of course, the Bridge, we're gonna have two aces. They've had two aces for the last couple of years. But if I told you in sprint training of the Bridge are gonna have two aces and neither one of them were Max Freeder Spitzer Strider, that would have come as a shock, I think.

00:05:14
Speaker 3: And that's how good.

00:05:15
Speaker 2: That's how good Ronaldo and Chris Sale have pitched. I mean, they've just been unbelievable, a level that I think even the most optimistic outlooks probably would not have been able to predict. You know, I think with I think with Sale, I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna try to say this the correct way so people don't get mad at me.

00:05:36
Speaker 3: I think with.

00:05:37
Speaker 2: Sale the numbers are more real then maybe with Ronaldo. I think I think Ronaldo is probably pitching a level above his talent level. I think when we get to the end of the year, Ronaldo's probably gonna settle into more of a you know, he's got like a one three e er a right now. I don't I don't know that that's Ronaldo's true talent level. I think he's probably closer to a three year a guy. But that's still fantastic, of course. But with Sale, I mean we've seen we've seen Chris Sale do this, you know, when he's been healthy, like he's has plenty track records being the best pitcher in baseball when he's right. So you know, for as far as he goes, I mean, he could absolutely win the side, you know, like there's no there's there's no question he could finish the year with an era and the twos if if he stays healthy, you know, for the for the whole season. He's just that good, so you know, and then Max has really picked it up as we've gone, and Charlie Morton's pitched really well. Brad and I talked about that on Friday night after his last start. So yeah, this rotation has been nails, and jeez, couldn't I mean, just couldn't come at a better time with the offense. I mean, you know, the starting rotation in the offensive kind of uh zig zagged a little bit and as one went, the others come, and as one come, the other went, and it's it's.

00:06:55
Speaker 3: It's actually timed out pretty well with the Braves.

00:06:57
Speaker 2: Have it at any point gone, you know, the offenses down and the pitching is down. They've they've at least had one of them going to keep them in games, and that's why they still have one of the best records in baseball despite being inconsistent. So yeah, it's been fantastic and sailing in Lopez and alex and Thoptless of course for acquiring the two of those guys deserve a lot.

00:07:18
Speaker 1: Of credit, absolutely, and you know you were talking about the numbers for Chris Sale and Renaldo Lopez. You know, entering tonight, you know, Chris Sale now has a two point five to four e RA, Renald Lopez after last night on one point three to four and inery. But entering tonight, Chris Sale had a lower expected ERA, a lower FIP and a lower X FIP. You know, when it comes to X, when it comes to expected the R Chris Sale injuring tonight was at a two point eight four, Renaldo Lopez at three point seven one. And it makes sense, you know, right now, Renaldo Lopez has a ninety percent rate when it comes to you know, leaving left on a ninety percent left on base percentage, that likely will go down a bit, and so you may start to see his you know, a bit of regression. But overall he's been outstanding. But Chris Sale, what stands out to me so far this year, Steven, He's at an entering tonight was at nearly an eleven k per nine rate, but a one point six y nine walk rate. I think that's what's outstanding to me. When it comes to Chrisale, he looks as sharp as he ever has, you know, I don't think that anyone you mentioned it. I don't think anyone really could have, you know, confidently, expected for Chris Sale to show anywhere close to what he was during his peak. But he's showing that right now and over eleven k per nine rate while also having which now is probably a walk rate of under one point five point nine innings. He's been absolutely accurate, just excellent, And you may worry a bit about the Indians that he's pitching, but with that walk rate being so low, he's been so efficient that you don't really worry about the workload. It could not have worked out better when it comes to Chris Sale. And if the Brads can continue to get a Chris Sale who's near the level that he was, is potentially being the best pitcher in the American League five, six, seven years ago, they've really got something moving forward to put with Max Freed at the top of this rotation.

00:09:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that slider, you know, that slider is is kind of back to being vintage Sale. Left handers are just I mean, left handers are just kind of hopeless against them right now. I think leftis are hitting like one one fifty against him on the year or something like that. Something crazy. I mean, he's he's dominating left handers. You know, the fastball is still plenty good enough, ninety four, ninety five pretty consistently. Like you said, his command has been fantastic. He's pitching deep into games, which is another thing. You know, it's not five and dive every time he's I mean tonight he was just I mean, I don't know if the Cubs ever got close to scoring against I mean it was never even. Tonight was like as stress free a seven innings pitched as you could possibly have in a major league game. I mean, he he quite literally cruised.

00:09:51
Speaker 3: Through seven innings.

00:09:52
Speaker 2: And you know he's he's pitching deep into games. Stuff looks good, he looks good, he looks healthy, he looks like he's kind of rejuvenated his career, you know, and if he does, I mean, this is an all time move by Alex and Thoppolos. If we get if we get kind of the second half of Chris Sales's career where he he kind of picks up where he left off when he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. I mean, the Braves just kind of steal and remember, I don't know if people remember this, but Boston is paying Boston sent over like seventeen million dollars in that trade, and Chris Hall only makes sixteen million dollars this year. Boston is paying for all of his salary in twenty twenty four. The Braves aren't paying a dime to Chris Sale this year. So all of this is you know, I mean.

00:10:37
Speaker 3: That kind of value.

00:10:38
Speaker 2: No, yes, they did have to give up Vaughan CHRISLM and that's not nothing. But you know, especially with the injury to Spenser Strider, everything Sale is doing is just magnified that much more. It's just been unbelievable.

00:10:48
Speaker 3: Knock on wood.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: Of course, you know, injury stuff is always the concern with him, but he's been amazing and if this continues, this will be an all time move from Alex and Topples.

00:10:58
Speaker 1: I think another thing that stayed in that about Alex and Thopolis's af seas and that may not be talked about that much, but it was from a depth perspective. We talked about Ronaldo Lopez, you know, and Chris Sale looking like absolute home runs as far as the starting pitching rotation goes. But Alex and Thopolis also made it a point to really deepen the depth that was there for the Braves in terms of their rotation as well as their bullpen when it came to left handers, and also when it came to the quality of that depth, adding Aaron Bummer, adding Chris Sell, adding Ray Kerr. You had Tyler Matz coming back. Obviously Matzik has not been able to really contribute anythings so far. You had Dylan Lee coming back from injury, and you also had a j Mentor. But I think that it's notable that the Braves had four innings from last night, including Mentor's bounce back performance, but also seven innings from Sale tonight. That was eleven innings from Kerr or excuse me, actually twelve innings between Kerr, Dylan Lee and matt and Mentor last night and then Chris Sel and Aaron Bummer tonight. That is twelve innings of the Braves left handers, twelve straight innings going against the offense that was second in baseball coming into this series against left handed pitching. I think that that is a notable stretch of success that really shows that the Braves were spot on when it came to not only identifying getting some South Paul depth and they're you know, ready to go at the major league level system. But also they got quality. That's a really good stretch for the Braves lefty depth in their bullpen and their starting rotation, and that really is encouraging as we go throughout the season in the special lining up for the playoffs.

00:12:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the more you look at Alex's offseason, you know, people were upset, you know, when the Aaron Bummer trade initially happened, just because it's you know, it's sent away Soroka and Nicky Lopez and you know, Shoemake guys who fans liked. But you go, look at what those four guys the Braves traded away have done for the White Sox. It's been a disaster for all four of them essentially.

00:12:53
Speaker 3: And you know I've.

00:12:54
Speaker 2: Already I've written about it, I've talked about it. I think Aaron Bummer's been fantastically. You know, he's been really really good. I mean, he's had some bad luck, but he's been he's.

00:13:02
Speaker 3: Been very good. But yeah, Aaron Bumer.

00:13:05
Speaker 2: Uh, Chris Saylee ray Kerr looks incredible. I mean he's throwing ninety seven from the left side with a really good slider. I it's gonna be interesting see what happens with him when when Pierce Johnson comes back. I don't know if you can send him back down as good as he's looked, you know, obviously, uh and Topploss added kel Nick, he had a deval you know, we don't we we can't forget. You know, Pierce Johnson and Joejamenez were free agents too that you know, those signings happened before free agency started, but technically those were additions in the off season because both those guys were free agents and and Alex added those guys too. So yeah, we probably need to talk more about how how good of an off season Alex had and how how many of those guys are contributing at the moment. We'll do that a little bit more as it gets, you know, further in the year, of course, but yeah, he had a really good off season and he's you know, the amount of depth on this team, especially when you factor in the injuries they've already and the severity of the injuries they've encountered to still have one of the best records of baseball. All credit in the world goes to Antopolis.

00:14:11
Speaker 1: And I think another interesting thing that stands out to me from the off season is we could talk about all the moves that Alexanthopolis made, but I think sometimes the biggest moves that you make are the ones that you don't and Alexanthopolis all off season long, even after you know the second straight you know time where the Braves struggled in the playoffs, he talked about the fact that the list, so We've got a lot of confidence in our offense, and the Braves offense so far this year, you know, outside of Marcello Zuna, who I clearly think it should be in the MVP conversation in the National League so far is Braid's offense hasn't lived up to their reputation so far this year. But tonight it was nice to see the second straight nine of nine plus hits, I believe seven runs for the first time maybe since April. But the thing that stood out to me tonight, Steven was Matt Olson and Michael Harris the second they both went deep, they both hit home runs, and I think that outside of you know, Akune and Austin Miriley, who will talk about in a minute, those two are really your highest upside offensive players. I'll even say that Michael Harris the second at the same level, maybe a bit higher actually than in the Nausey Albey's when it comes to offensive upside. But the point that I'm getting at is that balance wise, getting those two going from the west side would be a really encouraging thing to see. You've seen them make good, solid contact in recent days and weeks, but it was nice to see them both be able to home run the same night, a night where you're hoping it could be a reference point to really get them going here in the near future.

00:15:34
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean with Matt, this has been coming.

00:15:37
Speaker 2: I mean, Matt's really been crushing the ball lately, and you know, it was just a matter of time. Riley went through a similar thing. He's been crushing the ball. You've been Acunya. I mean, I know Acunya was over five tonight, but Acunya hit some absolute rockets. The one he hit in the eighth inning I thought was gone for sure, just died on the track. But yeah, there's been some really hard hit balls, you know. Like I said, Matt's been Matt's been kind of on it for a while. The breakout was coming with Mike you know, I'm anytime he swings at strikes and takes balls, I'm excited. I mean, the four pitch walk he took the bat after the home run was almost as exciting to me as the home run, just because he you know, he laid all four pitches out of the zone in a row, and that's the second time he's done that, I think in this series. And so, you know, he had a three hit game against the Mets, you know, the same thing. He was taking a lot of pitches out of the zone and only swinging at pitches in the zone. And you know, we've talked about it a lot with him, but that's kind of the key for him. If he swings at strikes, he's got all the time in the world. That dude can hit thirty home runs no problem. He's got light tower power. But you know, when he starts swinging at junk is when he goes to these kind of miserable stretches for him. So, yeah, it was good to see the office just in general. Like you said, they had ten hits last night for the first time, and like three weeks they hit you know, tho was the first time in three weeks they'd hit double digit hits in a game. Tonight, they had seven runs for the first time and probably about the same amount of time, So it's been a long time coming. It's been a pretty unusual dry spell for what should be one of the most talented offenses in baseball. Obviously, they're dealing with injuries. You know, they don't have Murphy, they don't have Riley right.

00:17:17
Speaker 3: Now, but.

00:17:19
Speaker 2: It's good to see. It's it was a welcome sight. Seven runs, you know, that big six run inning. We're kind of used to seeing that. They scored in the first inning, which is something we haven't seen a lot. So yeah, I'm good to see, hopefully the sign of things that come this. You know, this Cub staff is one of the best staffs in baseball, so they're not doing it against just anybody. And the two guys they faced in these first two games both that years and the ones when the game started, so you know, it's it's still pretty tough pitching they're facing.

00:17:46
Speaker 3: And to see the.

00:17:47
Speaker 2: Offense breakout like that was was tremendous and hopefully a sign of things to come.

00:17:53
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and we talked about you know that the all sidon zood O'Reilly Ronald mccuni junior Michael Harris. Each of those guys coming into Deny a hard hit percentage of a forty eight percent of better. Each and every one of them, they're expecting bad and average. They're expecting slugging their expected wOBA. All those numbers they're expecting numbers were you know, at different levels of significance. All of them they're expecting numbers were better than their actual numbers. So, in other words, better days are to come for this Brave's offense. But speaking of better days to come for this Brave's offense, the one thing that I will say is is that the Braves continue to get a bit of positive news. When it came to Austin Riley for those you know who remember, I believe it was Sunday. Was it Sunday? Yeah, it was Sunday when Austin Riley exited the lineup against the Mets with you know what was called tightness in his side. Of course, you know us seeing what happened with Sean Murphy is the starring game of the Sea in the first game of the season, fearing the oblique Is he going to be out for a long stretch something We definitely don't need but thankfully it seems as if Austin Riley continued to get better. On Tuesday reported feeling much better when it came to his side. It looks like that he may actually avoid an il stint. Probably will you know, return at earliest on Friday, but definitely with the team that has suffered their you know, fair share of injury so far into significant players. Steven, good to see that Austin Riley. It seems to he's avoided major injury. He should be back sooner rather than later.

00:19:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he was, you know, he was kind of rounding into form. It was really bad timing, you know, I thought he was really starting to break out a little bit. And you know, the Breakers don't have a ton of depth in terms of infield. You know, Zach Short has come in and done unbelievable in Austin's absence. He's made a difference in every game he's played in so far. So good for him. But obviously you don't want to depend on that for too long. And like you said, it looks like we're going to avoid anything serious with Austin. I do think I think if it was the playoffs, he would probably be playing right now. I do think because it's May, I think you're right. I think the earliest we will see him as Friday. I think he'll get Tomorrow off, and then obviously Thursday's an off days, so you know that's by giving him tomorrow off, you essentially give him two extra days rest.

00:20:05
Speaker 3: So I'm guessing that's what Snit's gonna do.

00:20:08
Speaker 2: It obviously helps when you've won the first two games of the series, there's less pressure to play him, So I'm guessing that's what it is. But yeah, it looks like we awarded serious injury. You never know when a guy pulls a muscle on his side like that. Like obviously, we're still waiting on Sean Murphy to come back. He's not gone out on the rehab assignment yet. Snit talked about it the other day. It wasn't the most you know, it wasn't the most glowing update you've ever heard. Snit was kind of in a bad mood when he was talking about it, so it's tough to tell exactly what he meant, but it didn't sound like it was particularly close.

00:20:37
Speaker 3: But you never know.

00:20:38
Speaker 2: I mean, he could go on on a rehab assignment tomorrow for all we know, so we'll see. But yeah, the fact that Riley awarded a big injury huge. You know, we need to get him back out there to see if that bat can come alive again with a Kunyan and Olsen and get this offense rolling again.

00:20:54
Speaker 3: Absolutely.

00:20:55
Speaker 1: Speaking of the offense rolling, you know again, I know that they're nowhere near where you would expected him to be. You know, a couple of home runs tonight, but the home runs haven't been coming in bunches as you would expect. But see it. Something that stands out to me is, ever since that West Coast road trip, you haven't seen us in a game have the most strikeouts we've had is ten in a game since that West Coast road trip over this six to one stretch, you know, since that West Coast road trip out to Seattle in LA regularly having about four or more walks per game as well. So the Braves, I think, approach at the play, even without the home runs not yet being there where you expect for them to be, They're still doing a good job kind of creating the opportunities. It's just them converting the opportunities. And one good thing, one other good thing that was great to see tonight compared to the past few nights, there were no hickoffs. I really can't comment to the point of what exactly was cluing teams off as to why they were able to pick a Coony off three times and Albey's off, you know, once between Sunday and Monday. But I one thing I'm more than sure about is the fact this Bray's offense isn't to the level that it needs to be for them to just be given outs when it comes to pickoffs at that rate. So it was nice to see the Braves avoid those pickoffs. Seems like they definitely had to talk about it. But expanding on that, it seems like the approach for the Braves is definitely in place. It's just now really starting to see those hard hit balls either fall in or go over the fence more often.

00:22:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, the pickoffs were weird.

00:22:20
Speaker 2: You know, everybody has a different opinion on on getting thrown out on the basis. Some people believe that it doesn't matter when or how you get thrown out on the basis. If you ever get thrown out on the basis it's a it's a mistake, it's a it's.

00:22:35
Speaker 3: A boneheaded play.

00:22:37
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily agree with that. I do think there are times where the other team just makes a play. You know, if you try to steal and and and the pitcher, you know, slidesteps and the catcher's got a good pop time and they throw you out. You know, was that a mistake or did you just get thrown out? Now there are times when you get thrown out on the basis because you did something stupid. You know, if you're standing out on second and a ball is get gets hit to the shortstop and you try to break for third and he throws you out, Obviously you made a mistake there. When you're talking about pickoffs, pickoffs kind of live somewhere in between those two, right, and so people get very upset about them. I understand they're they're they're not a good look. If Acuna had been thrown out at second those three times instead of picked off at first, I'm guessing the the the fever pitch would have been much less. It's something about getting picked off first that just it seems like it's a way worse than getting thrown out at second, even though effectively it's the same thing. So, yeah, it was a very unusual, Uh, and obviously Osi got picked off right after that, so it was a rough stretch. And like you said this and Brian's snickers said it after the game, at least before tonight, this offense has not scored nearly enough runs where the Braves can just be given out to way on the basis and you know, I'm hoping, I'm hoping that was just a one time kind of flukish thing where they just all kind of happened at once. But yeah, that was weird. That was wild, and and hopefully it's behind us now. But you know, yeah, it's good to see the offense. It's good to see the home runs. It's good to see, you know, barrel balls. You know, the Braids are still kind of unlucky in that regard. We've talked about it a lot. I'm not going to go through it all again, but you know, the Brids still are dealing with some barreled out issues that are are much more significant than most teams.

00:24:27
Speaker 3: But the balls leaving the yard, the weather is getting warmer.

00:24:30
Speaker 2: This team usually warms up with the weather, so hopefully those balls start flying out a little bit higher rate. And this is just kind of the start of it, you know, it's been about three weeks, about a month for this offense in terms of.

00:24:43
Speaker 3: Really being dynamic.

00:24:45
Speaker 2: And you know, obviously they they face some incredibly tough pitching. They've had an unbelievable stretch of like five or six straight series against you know, top ten pitching teams in baseball. So that doesn't help, of course, but you know, hopefully the offense is coming because is that the pitching is not going to pitch to this level all year long. The offense is gonna have to pull some more weight at some point.

00:25:08
Speaker 1: And Steven, I think that that's an important takeaway for where we are. We're in mid May, the Braves are at twenty six and thirteen. I think that that's not going to surprise many, but I do think that it's noteworthy of just how quality of competition the Braves have faced. As you mentioned, we're going through like the past five or six, you know, series that we've seen against you know, top ten pitching stasts, especially some of the stronger bullpens in baseball. But before that, within the first three weeks of the season, we faced all four of the teams that were either in the AL or n LCS last year. The dinonbacks the Rangers, the Astros as well as the Phillies, and we went ten to two against them. The fact that the Braves have are twenty six and thirteen. They've lost Spitzer Strider, they've been without Sean Murphy, they're the main three guys offensively have not really been going on. They were without Ozzie Albi's for an extended stretch. But the fact that they face on the toughest schedules in baseball and they're still twenty six and thirteen, to me, that tells me there's a lot of room for improvement in this team. And yet, as you mentioned yesterday, there's still on pace to win one hundred and six hundred and seven games.

00:26:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think we're gonna see for the third straight year, I think we're going to kind of see that. You know, we get to June, June first, and this team just explodes, just takes.

00:26:29
Speaker 3: Off like a rocket.

00:26:30
Speaker 2: Because my guess is by that point, the offensive guys are gonna be hot. You know, the schedule is gonna lighten up a little bit. The bullpen pieces should be back, Sean Murphy should be back. You know, My guess is we get to June and we're going to see another you know, we've seen it the last two years where the team gets to June first and they just hit another gear and they leave everybody behind them. And you know, it's not like the Rays are are are playing bad baseball. I mean they're I mean they've got almost as so one hundred winning percentage at this point in the year. They're on pace for like one hundred and five wins. So you know, let's not get too crazy about it. They're still winning at a pretty incredible clip considering everything that's happened so far. But yeah, my guess is once once these offensive guys start really going the schedule lightens up a little bit, you know, the bullpen gets healthy again, I think you're gonna see another year at least offensively. Now, we do need to expect at some point the starting pitching is gonna take a step back. They're not gonna I don't think these guys are going to pitch, you know. I mean, right now, these guys are averaging like seven innings to start in like one earned run for like the last three weeks.

00:27:38
Speaker 3: I mean that's crazy.

00:27:39
Speaker 2: Like the starting pitching has been absurd and thank God, it has because the offense has been pretty bad in that stretch. But you know, we should expect a little bit of regression from the starters. They're not gonna pitch like this all year long. But even with that said, the rest of the rest of the team should be ready to carry more of the load. And I think once we get to June first, like the last couple of years, you're gonna see a whole different gear, especially offensively.

00:28:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and as we wrap up this edition in the Hammer Territory podcast, now, yes, we expect the offense to get going, but again, I just think it's awesome to see. Yeah, I agree with you the pitching overall for the starting rotation, especially without Spencer Strider, we're you know, we're seeing them probably pitch a bit over their heads, but again, you know, the underlying metrics don't necessarily suggest that they're just completely you know, outperforming their metrics. You're seeing Max Freed start to round in perform and round in performance his excellent, excellent performance last I believe Saturday against the Mats, we talked about Chris Sale as well as Renald old Lopez, but Steven, what about Charlie Morton? Three and oh three point one four e ra A forty three and needs so far, at forty years old, continuing to mispats at a pretty good rate. He'll be on the mound against Jave or Assad of the Cubs. The Brads are gonna be facing a third straight Cubs starter with an ERA under two. So the Braves are facing their own you know, quality, you know, their own They're facing quality opponents. But Charlie Morton, I don't think that he's being talked about enough, just how consistent he's been. He puts together another performance, then the Braves sit here and find themself sweeping. You know, when the top five six teams in the National League, it just keeps getting more and more positive. But your thoughts so far on Charlie Morton, who seems to be going through one of his better stretches as a Brave starter.

00:29:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna start calling him, you know, Charlie Brad Roland Morton, Uh, just because you know, Brad's been kind of his main cheerleader for the last few years now, and you know Brad's been right. I mean, you know, there's been times where Charlie has looked like he's forty years old, and some of the you know, some of the fans have gotten pretty loud about the fact that maybe it's time to hang him up for Charlie or time for the Braves to move on. And you know, every time you get to the end of the year, you look up and Charlie's got an era in the threes and a fip in the threes, and he's still you know, holding his velocity and still looks good and looks healthy, and you know, same thing this year, and maybe even as a touch better this year, quite honest. So so you know, I, if I'm honest, I'm always a little skeptical. You know, Father Time is undefeated. You know, I am kind of always waiting for that other shoot to drop with Charlie and for him to start pitching more like his age. But you know, all you can do is be impressed. And you know, I do think at some point, you know, Charlie's going to start to show a little bit of you know, a little bit of his age.

00:30:29
Speaker 3: But it might not be this year, you know, it might not. It might he might.

00:30:33
Speaker 2: I mean, he's done it the last couple of years where he gets at the end of the year and he still had a really, really good season. So credit to him. He's obviously in unbelievable shape. You know, he obviously does a lot of hard work in the off season to take care of himself get his body ready to pitch a major league season at his age. So credit to him for the amount of work he must do, you know, away from the field to do this kind of stuff. But yeah, it's been an unbelievable start for him. Hopefully it can get continue, you know, obviously it'd be lovely if he could do it, you know, for tomorrow and the Braves get a sweep going into the off day. But yeah, he's been amazing. And you know, I told Brad on Friday night, every time he does it makes Brad look smarter and smarter because Brad has been you know, Brad's been his biggest fan for you know, two or three years now.

00:31:21
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm gonna tell you another thing. I'm a I'm a fan of it. Sweeps and the Braves could get that on Wednesday night, it'll be a great development. But again, we've worked our way through a couple of weeks where you know, again we had that West Coast road trip ten days ago, very frustrating and seeing the offense was no fun at all, you know, getting swept like we did in La. Of course, we had the loss against the Mets on Sunday, but this Braves team just it seems to be finally getting a bit of a stretch. Charlie Mortan's the job done tomorrow. We've swept the Cubs seven and one in our as last eight games, going into our our next off day, which will be our only one for quite a while, but then potentially getting Pierce Johnson Austin back for a four game series against the Padres. Good things are coming for the Braves. Hopefully numbers will start, results will start to match efforts, and I think that you're going to start to see the best days for the Braves certainly ahead of them. So Stephen, anything else that you've got forrest when it coast to this edition of the Hamber Territory Podcast.

00:32:18
Speaker 2: Nope, Yeah, just a you know, big game tomorrow obviously Scott and Brad will will will podcast after that game, talk about, you know, whatever happens in game three of this series. One thing I do want to kind of put on people's radar. We do have some interesting guests coming up some special guests coming up later in the week.

00:32:36
Speaker 3: Will be on the lookout for that.

00:32:38
Speaker 2: And as always, we are incredibly appreciative of the support you guys have been incredible since we moved over from Battery Power, you know, kind of the number of downloads and stuff we're getting on a show, you know, every every week in terms of you know, the every show we do has been phenomenal. You know, all we would ask is just continue, you know, help us grow it, tell a friend about it, keep downloading those episodes. We're gonna keep bringing them to you. And we we are very very much appreciative of the support we've been given.

00:33:11
Speaker 1: One hundred percent echo what Steven says. It's just fun to talk about to talk Braves baseball with great minds like Steven, but just in general, also just providing you know, you know, our thoughts and you know what you know, our analysis, what have you that. You know, it's good to see so many people enjoy it. Kate, thank you enough, you know, for that support. But for Steven Talborth, you can find him at be Underscore Outliers myself, Sean Covien you can find me a Stat's sec. Find the podcast available wherever podcasts are at Hamber Territory. Just hit that subscribe button and you'll get the latest content whatever it's available for free. It Also make sure to follow all of the Hammer Territory representation across all forms of social media Twitter, slash x, Instagram, Facebook, constantly uploading content nearly on an everyday basis at those locations.

00:33:56
Speaker 4: Until next time. For Steven Tilbor, my name is Sean Coben. We will be back with you as Steven Mitchen. We're gonna be having some special guests, maybe even this week. We'll talk to you again suit here on the Hairy Territory podcast

00:35:02
Speaker 1: Bast the House