Ozuna Walks Off Phillies as Braves Win First Series of 2025

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello everyone to welcome back to the Emmorate Territory Podcast. This is episode one seven nine. I am your host, Brad Rowland, coming to you quite deep into the night on Thursday evening into Friday morning, and I'm joining it as always by Scott Coleman. Scott, we should say this at the top of the show. This is the first time we've ever done this. We're trying to go live. This is not gonna be a regular occurrence, but nobody get excited. We're just testing it a little bit and we thought, hey, when would be a better time than at one twenty am Eastern? How are you sir? Hello Brad?

00:00:52
Speaker 2: Uh Yeah, I don't know if our decision making tonight was the smartest to launch a live show for the first time in the history of Hammer Territory podcast on after an eleven hour okay, Freudian slip, an eleven inning, eleven hour baseball game, thank god the Braves won, or this might have been a nine minute show where we both said bad words and signed off, But hey, a win is a win.

00:01:17
Speaker 1: The Braves found a way to win.

00:01:19
Speaker 2: It was a crazy game that quite literally had everything, and thank god we can finally say they have won their first series of the season.

00:01:28
Speaker 1: That's right, And look we should say at the top of the show we are part of File Territory as a network, we are Hammer Territory. We covered the Braves all year round. We're very busy on this podcast, and that includes shows already this week. In fact, back to back days, our colleagues Steven Tolbert and Sean Coleman did shows after the first WEE games in the series. You and I talked on Sunday, et cetera, et cetera. We were talking about this, especially our guy Sean, that I personally am not recorded after a win this season until today, so that was well timed. We were not playing on this being at one twenty, but because of the aforementioned forty, it's a bit of an eleven hour game. Wasn't quite eleven hours, but it was close. There was like almost three hour rain delay. If anybody missed this game, I can't imagine you did or wish you wouldn't know what happened by now, but it was a very long rain to lay, which caused Seam about to leave the game a little bit older that he might have because he had a pretty low pitch count all these things. It was tied. There was all kinds of machinations that will go through in just a little bit. But look, let's start broadly positive, right, It was a lot of fun at the end of the game tonight. To be very clear, I'll start you this is actually funny. You mentioned it too without us talking about this. I was uncontrollably laughing at the horn being played for literally like a minute straight, like whoever, like just fell fell on the on the on the loud speaker horn at true spark at the end of the game. It was fitting given the heroics from first Austin Riley and then Marcelo Zuna walking it off. But that was incredible. And look, the Braves won the series, and the Braves won their I mean it wasn't always pretty, but they won the homestand too. I mean there were three and two on the homestand and we did stay before they went on the home before they came home. That all they had to do was kind of win the homestand we didn't think it was gonna be five games, but with thought it was gonna be six games. All that stuff, But pretty good vibes considering how low the vibes were I don't know, thirty minutes ago.

00:03:19
Speaker 2: Oh the vibe change in the eleventh inning tonight, Just to recap it quickly, you talk about potentially going from losing on a basis loaded walk when you were a pitch away to two different batters, and even though Sworez walked in one run, the Braves, I mean they thank god. Austin Riley came up smacked a double into the gap, which was really good to see a guy who's really struggled this year. And then Marcelo Zuna, who has been the one and only constant in this lineup since day one, just launched a ball. I would love to know if anybody actually recovered that ball and left field, because I think pretty much everybody had moved closer to home plate for the four hundred people who were in attendance. But hey, that was awesome. It was just one of those nights, and the game wrapped I think at what one fifteen am or something crazy like that. The horn, that hockey horn is going strong. I would love to know what that sounds like. In the apartment complexes across the street from Truest. Yeah, they might have thought something catastrophic had happened. It was noe. The Braves won a baseball game at one am. But yeah, from a ViBe's perspective, you win a game. It was not maybe not a fun game. There was a lot of frustration for the ninety five percent of it. But again, a win is a win, and the Braves hopefully can use this night to lead frog them and get them going again the way we thought they were going to absolutely.

00:04:45
Speaker 1: And look, we are aware of the Braves are three and nine. We get it. I already saw a response like all the Racials three and we get it. Guys like they're not. It's not been great so far, we understand. But they just beat the Phillies in a series and that's a jumping off point perhaps for the future. And look, they still can't score. We'll get into this in a second, but they came into tonight with the second fewest runs in baseball. They had thirty four runs in the first eleven games. That's really bad, especially when they had a ten run game in there, so you can do the math on that. And then they proceeded to score one run tonight in the first ten innings and wasted all kinds of opportunities. I have a note here to myself that Ozuna is still the only regular in the lineup with an OPS over seven to twelve this season. Like, if you want to broad like, it's still not pretty, but you've got to win some of these and they've lost a few of these already. I mean, we talked about it a lot between the four of us. They've had some winnable games and that's not satisfying, but they have been in a lot of these games and they haven't won them. So that was the first time for me it was like, oh, they almost weren't supposed to win tonight. It's kind of the way I feel right now, like they also could have won up some but it was like the first time I felt like they stole one, like legitimately stole one with the way things had not gone right the whole game, and they had that feeling like happened another twenty times this year. You know, it's a long season, you would hope, but getting one like this that was on the brink a few different times and then looke, you know, falling behind in the eleventh enny give have a running the eleventh they had they had to actively go out and score at least one run to stay alive, and they actually did it in some ways.

00:06:20
Speaker 2: We had watched this exact same game play out what three times four times already, and until the eleventh inning, the Braves were zero for nine with runners in scoring position with seven runners left on base.

00:06:34
Speaker 1: Fitting we have we have literally watched this.

00:06:36
Speaker 2: Game a handful of times this season, and at least for one night, and it was really encouraging to see guys like Riley and Ozuna step up. I thought Sean and Steven said it perfectly on the podcast after Wednesday Night's very frustrating loss. The Braves need more from their stars. And sure maybe they're not getting getting a ton from Jared Keelnick or Brian da la Cruz or whoever's playing short stop that night, but the players who the Braves really are going to lean on need to be better. Olsen has been very average. Riley had a pretty good night tonight, not a bad series quite honestly, but again, the Braves need more from Riley. We'll talk about Ozzie Alby's and Michael Harris. At some point those dudes look lost up there. I don't know what's happened.

00:07:19
Speaker 1: To I mean, I don't know, we'll get into it.

00:07:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, lots of dice act, but at least for the start of the pod, keep it positive. That was a great game to win. The Braves really needed a game like this. Now they're going to have a crazy travel day. I think they're going to get down to Florida to play the Rays at what four am?

00:07:38
Speaker 1: Five am?

00:07:40
Speaker 2: I think the broadcast said that they had basically an escort waiting for them outside the ballpark to get them to the airport to fly down. Thankfully it's a short flight, but yeah, just going to be a whirlwind and hopefully they come out ready to go on Friday. Absolutely, we'll get into that and much more on the podcast. But yeah, weird five S Day ends really lay I'm sure were. In fact, I'm one hundred percent sure a lot of Braves fans went to bed thinking they were probably gonna wake up to a loss. Uh or people left the ballpark thinking that it was a tie game in the and the rain delay and you mentioned earlier, but Steven, I believe, in a very funny way said and singular was enjoying the game at the end of the game in Truest Park, but Yeah, a great vibs night, and we'll have plenty more to get to on the podcast.

00:08:22
Speaker 1: Look at deep time on the game, et cetera. First though, or from our partners on the show, out to.

00:08:31
Speaker 2: A band work, watch me some bingers and RP eyes.

00:08:37
Speaker 1: I'm just god they have my local dem or true.

00:08:41
Speaker 3: We'll put the bos and they don't win in the Shames.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: Stream. Now, let's just dive into the game itself. Like, by the way, if you missed anything from Tuesday and Wednesday, we might reference those games, but there were podcasts on those games that we've already done that wasn't us, but it was Sewn Steven. Listen to those shows, et cetera. We'll do a deeper dive on today's game for obvious reasons. As a beta four to two win. We won't go like anything. It's not a playoff game. We won't go any framing or anything like that. But I have to start with something that's very on brand for us to start with. There were two butt attempts in this game. One of them was early, one of them was late. I actually didn't like the one that was early even more than that was late. What did you make of I know, look, I know it was Stuart Fairchild hitting, which is probably probably what happened. And part of this as well was what Michael Harris struggling and him bunting late in the game. Are the Brays bunting again? Scott? What's happening here? You remember? Remember it wasn't there like a year plus they didn't butt at all, like there was zero buns forever, and now they're just bunting all the time. Again, what's going on here?

00:09:54
Speaker 2: I believe they went the entire season and then laid down a bunt in like Game one sixty one or something like that.

00:10:01
Speaker 1: What has happened to this team? We love? They are bunting that lot.

00:10:05
Speaker 2: Why I understand a little bit the thought process bunting with Michael Harris in whatever inning that was. It's delirious, Brad. It's very late, Scott.

00:10:16
Speaker 1: By the way, Scott did not sleep very much last night, so that's that's even even more fun for Scott. It's usually you would think Scott would be the one and the better sound of mine because he's three hours behind, and I would be the one dying right now at one point thirty in the morning. It's actually reversed today, which is funny. But here we are.

00:10:31
Speaker 2: I have been up and kicking since about three forty five am, so it's it's been a long day, Brad.

00:10:36
Speaker 1: What is sleep? We can sleep when we are dead, That's correct.

00:10:39
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I guess Michael Harris was facing a lefty. He's he's struggled against lefties this season. I can maybe see it. You get the runner up, but at the same time, then you had the back end of the lineup coming up, and.

00:10:52
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:10:53
Speaker 2: I in in general I am anti bunt. Fully, I fully understand that tonight they started Stuart Fairchild, and you know, Brian de Lacruz has done okay, but his numbers are not great.

00:11:06
Speaker 1: I fully get it. Man.

00:11:07
Speaker 2: This lineup is supposed to have Ron Ducuna in it, it's supposed to have Jerks and profar and it is supposed to be so much better than what it has been. But in general, I am not a fan of giving away outs when all you needed was a singular hit to win the game. You know, thankfully it didn't end up biting the braves in the butt.

00:11:25
Speaker 1: It did not, and the way that I put it, and I still would put it now, is like I actually understood the Harris funt you referenced it because he faced his face and lefty. Although I think there's actually a percept I not checked this tonight after that happened. People think that he is a bigger split than he actually has for his career and even last season. By the way, Michael Harris had a better, better numbers last year gets left, hiss and rights. He's not some giant platoons. But I think that's kind of been lost. I saw a lot. Well he's face to left you what do you expect. I'm like, well, this year's yeah, so far it's been twelve games or wherever it's been. Anyway, it was more of the irony of if you told anyone with a pulse, even like a few months ago, much less a few years ago, that the Braves were going to have Michael Harris sack bunt with Nick Allen behind him, they would have thought you were going to be institutionalized. You know, it just didn't anyway for another day. But I always wanted to bring that up because, by the way, just a little behind the scenes, it's one thirty in the morning. We just almost called this podcast in the newest edition, like never bunt or something that was one of the names we talked about. I remember this, Yeah, pretholitaratory. We're trying to faire what we're gonna do next. We were talking about never bunt as a podcast, never bud We hate books. Yeah, never bunt in Atlanta Braves podcast. It was one of the runners up to Hammer Territory. But and it's a little tongue in cheek, obviously there are times where you do want to bunt. It makes sense all that you're not totally out of the stone age. But yeah, yeah, thankfully again we can move on from the never ending bunt decision because when those.

00:12:56
Speaker 2: Bunks are being placed in the game, of course my mentions, what of what are you talking about? This is the right move or no, this is stupid, don't bunt. It's probably somewhere in the middle.

00:13:07
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't like bunning, but I do understand it more when you're not doing much. And this lineup they currently have is not the same lineup that we would have thought they were gonna have. So anyway, moving on. There were other mishaps too, go for all them, but you mentioned giving away else Ozza gave it out away on the bass paths tonight, Like there's a couple of things that you just there's we're not trying, we're not trying to dwell on it, but they're still doing stuff that's maddening right now. I just want at least acknowledge that on the podcast. There you go ahead.

00:13:34
Speaker 2: A great moment I think it was the eighth inning and CJ. Nikowski in the booth, Jordan Romano comes into the game and he goes, Romano has really been struggling. I'm surprised if Billies are pitching him here against Austin Riley, Marcelo Zuna and Matt Olsen and what happens. But the two three four in the lineup, Riley crowns the ball weekly to third and then there are back to back infield pop flies, And in some ways that was.

00:14:00
Speaker 1: Kind of it.

00:14:01
Speaker 2: There was also a moment like seven hours ago in the game when Matt Olsen had a fourteen pitch at bat yep, and it ended up being a sinker right down the middle of the plate that he should have hit four hundred feet. Instead, he rolled over it and hit it right to the second basement for an inning ending double play. I tweeted it, that's somehow like the most fitting twenty twenty five Atlanta Braves play. Imaginable, you know, there's this was hardly a ten nothing everybody dance in the streets win.

00:14:31
Speaker 1: No, it was definitely not on a more positive note because it's we're due for one of those now, you know, it's really good Scott special Swallenbach. Yeah, baby, I actually didn't think he had his best stuff today? Is that fair to say? I don't think he was like incredible by his standards today, but that speaks to his standards, right, six innings, seven hits, one run, flash recouts, two walks. The one run allowed was on a home run to h and I pulled this today was to Kyle Schwarber, who's at watching forty four home runs per season in the last three years. So there's not really any great shame in allowing the home run to Collish Warber in solo fashion, and Schwelly got their six innings with only eighty one pitches thrown, so like he could have kept going other than the rain delay made it impossible for him to keep pitching. But you know, obviously more soul is doon as the star of the night for the walk off, but before that, the star of the night was Schwollenbach for just holding things together and not having the Braves lose this game in regulation innings.

00:15:28
Speaker 2: The way it's been the first couple of weeks. Spencer Schwellenbach day is far and away the best day. And you're right, he did not have his ultimate command. His stuff was not the crispest we have ever seen it. But the guy just battles and there was a bizarre four pitch walk and everybody was like, whoa Spencer never does this? You mentioned the one blemish was the home run to Swarber. That's gonna happen. The guy's awesome just hits tanks every.

00:15:54
Speaker 1: Single night, seemingly.

00:15:56
Speaker 2: But it speaks a lot to Schwellenbach did on nights where he does not have his A one stuff against a very very good team.

00:16:01
Speaker 1: And I wanted to make one quick point.

00:16:05
Speaker 2: The Braves have faced the Phillies, they have faced the Padres, they have faced the Dodgers. If you are looking for reasons to be positive moving forward, I promise you the Braves are not going to have many stretches the rest of the baseball season. For the next five and a half months where they are going to play three teams out of four series as difficult as the Phillies, Padres and Dodgers. I mean, of those three, two of them could be in the NLCS in September or in October.

00:16:33
Speaker 1: So schedule gets easier.

00:16:35
Speaker 2: And again for Schwellenbach and I did his job, kept the Braves in the game.

00:16:38
Speaker 1: He's been three for three in great starts, and he just continues to impress. You're one hundred percent right about the schedule. And I know they played the Marlins two but only twice. So, like you know, ten of the first twelve games have been against the absolute crim of the crop in Midgeleague Baseball. So that is a reason to not panic as much. And just to give the number on Schwellenbach a zero point four to five ERA in his first twenty innings of work this year. I know you already gave him a sy On Award just a few days ago. We'll just do it again now. Perhaps he's at least I would say this, he's at least a candidate for SI Young. Yeah, at some point, you what you did say in our in our pre season efforts, he is now third in the betting odds if you are a betting man, Brad Schwallenbach is third in the National League.

00:17:20
Speaker 2: At least he was as of a couple of days ago to win the cy Young It'll be a fun storyline.

00:17:25
Speaker 1: God, I hope he stays healthy.

00:17:26
Speaker 2: He's just such a talented kid, just a meteoric rise and is genuinely one of the best pitchers in the National League.

00:17:33
Speaker 1: And let's help.

00:17:34
Speaker 2: This season could be a special one if they can get their big three healthy in their rotation.

00:17:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned the four pitch walk and we'll move on. But nineteen strikeouts at three walks this season for Spencer. That's why I was so weird that he did that, because he just doesn't do that. He's not the biggest strike cup guy in the world, but he doesn't have to be when you don't walk anybody, which is very very nice. Okay, so post post two and a half hour three hour delay, right, a lot happened, but a lot didn't happen, and the Braves had chances to score. We's just mention this. Jared Kelnick just had a nine plate appearance stretch where he had five walks. What were the odds on that before that happened, I was probably not available at fandor DraftKings, I would imagine. But uh, five walks and nine play appearances for Joe Kellnick and just he doesn't mean, I know he used to walk more. People said that the other day. I get it. He used to. He had a better walk right in Seattle. I understand that. But he has not walked much in Atlanta, to say the least. And I was walking all the time. We'll take it. It's funny.

00:18:33
Speaker 2: Our co host Steven tweeted something similar tonight about Kelnick walking, and I couldn't believe I was asking it.

00:18:39
Speaker 1: But I mean, you consider Kelnick at leadoff I saw you, I'd say, you say that, I wanted to punch you through the screen. And then I slowed down and I was like, not the craziest thing I've ever heard. Because there are any great options, which we had discussed numerous times, they don't have a leadoff hitter right now. They just don't have one. So yeah, I mean against a righty, would it be insane to try? No? I would say, yeah, try that, We'll see.

00:19:02
Speaker 2: I mean, Michael Harris has a lot of talent, has a lot of skill, but he is just not a leadoff hitter. He is a power guy who needs to be in the middle of the order. Ozzie Albey's has never been a leadoff guy. You know, I was like half joking when I said Kelnick for lead off, but hey, yeah, it's not I would I probably wouldn't do it, But it's not the crazest thing I've ever heard. After a walk, whether he's first or fourth or ninth, take the walks all day long. We know there's gonna be a lot of swing and miss with Kelnick. He has always struck out a lot. But if he can get to a point where he has a high on base from the walks and then run into a home run every now and then, which we have seen he has a lot of raw power, you take that all day long. I mean, that is so much more valuable. Then it seems like Kelnick sometimes just tries to like shoot the ball the other way for a single. That's really not him. And when he had that great month of June last year, he was really hitting for power and he was really pulling the baseball and then it went away. So good signs more of it this team desperately needs on base and hopefully keil Nick. I mean, it seems like he's gonna be out there for quite some time. It seems like we're at least weeks, if not a month away from Ron Lacuna Junior coming back, and even more so for profar.

00:20:11
Speaker 1: If Kelnick wants.

00:20:12
Speaker 2: To finally figure some things out, then that would be huge for this team.

00:20:15
Speaker 1: It really would be. And I gave the numbers earlier about how bad the lineup has been. It's still true, but there are little signs of life and certain guys Riley tonight, Kelnick's taking walks. I just simply do not believe Michael Harris is this. I just don't. Maybe I'll be wrong. I just don't believe it. But he's stalk with good so far, all those things. But you could find a little bit about sim if you're looking for it. Scott, I do want to get into the I'm not gonna say curious like decisions, but just interesting bullpen machinations tonight, and we'll do that in just a second. After word from our partners on the.

00:20:48
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00:21:51
Speaker 1: Okay, Scott teased it, but some bullpen talk here and some positives too, but some interesting stuff. So one thing is that Russell Iglesias has not looked incredible to anyone, I don't think this year, but I'm not even bring that up for that reason. He pitched for the third consecutive day, which he basically never does. He did it once last year in the middle of the summer, but the Braves tended to shut him down and not have him be available a third day in a row last year, and here in mid April. I was not expecting to see him three days in a row. What did you make about other than the show urgency where they just like, all right, we're trying to win this thing, or what's going on here?

00:22:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, a little bit of a surprise to see him tonight. I mean, rice Ell is a competitor, and I know he's had some blow ups this season, and I'm sure there's no one on earth who wants to get back on track more than him. So I'm sure he said, yeah, I'm good, I got an inning in me. Sometimes we've seen Ricell cover both the ninth and tenth innings. I think it was pretty clear they were not going to do two tonight, but hey, credit to him. He looked better. I almost wonder if it's just more rust than anything he barely pitched the first week of the season, and then he's immediately thrown into the highest of leverage. That's tough to do, especially for a guy who has a routine and has been doing it for a decade. He's clearly gonna be down Friday. I wouldn't be surprised if the Braves don't pitch him on Saturday too, if they can avoid it. Of course, if it's a one run game in the ninth they probably have to go to Ristyle again. But hopefully the Bats are able to wake up and not have to lean so heavily on the bullpen, especially on Friday night after they were used so much on Thursday.

00:23:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, and one of the reasons why I wanted to get spoopen stuff is that I just checked to make sure that I think we didn't miss anything on Twitter. Maybe that's still happening. But is Pierce Johnson hurt Scott, because if he's not hurt, I don't know why he didn't pitch in this game. He definitely appeared to be unavailable for whatever reason. Because I don't believe that snit would have gone to Rafael Montero, followed by Suarez and Montero make his Brave's debut in a super high leverage spot and then they use their worst reliever and they haven't betting at a tie game, so I'm assuming Pierce was unavailable for whatever reason. Maybe if you want to be super generous, they said, all right, we're using rice El today and we're not gonna use Pierce tomorrow, so Pierce can close. But that's some galaxy of brain for me, Like, I just don't know what's going on. I'm we're all guessing it's again, It's it's two am. But that was interesting to everyone. That was like, what's go call on Peers, Johnson, where's he? Where's he at right now? Yeah, Pierce just hasn't pitched a bunch. And he did throw on Wednesday night.

00:24:21
Speaker 2: He got two thirds of an inning, gave up two singles, so maybe they didn't want to go to him. But before Wednesday, the last time he pitched was in Los Angeles, and I know there was an off day and there was the rain out and all that, but so far they just haven't given him the ball a bunch. Amiel Delos Santos has been a really nice find. He's done a nice job from the right side.

00:24:41
Speaker 1: Day's bell looks awesome.

00:24:42
Speaker 2: I mean, daysbell stuff is as good as anybody's in that bullpen right now. So I think, I mean, you have to hope that Peerce is fine. He had a few injuries last season too. But it'll be curious, especially if it's a close game on Friday. If Pierce Johnson doesn't pitch in a close game on Friday, I think I'll be even more concerned. But they may, I mean, maybe by default tonight or intentionally, they did not want to go to him knowing that tomorrow was gonna be a tough game to navigate after everything tonight.

00:25:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, again, caveats. We went live soon, so we didn't watch snit like I would have liked him normally watch it. But it's so late. So if he says something not that we didn't, we didn't hear it. Give us some forgiveness on that. We mentioned the name of Rafael Montero. You and I have not talked about Raphael Montero. It was discussed earlier this week on the podcast The Braves Traded for him. If you missed that, a quick reminder of that he's a thirty four year old right hander who was really, really, really good for one year in twenty twenty two with the Astros. They won the World Series that year, he was awesome. He got a big deal from them and was almost immediately not very good again. The Braves trader for him this week the Astros. Actually he makes a lot of money, but the askers are paying most of the salary. It's been reported it's gonna be like three million ish for the Braves this year, which they, as you smartly pointed out to even me, the Braves do have some extra money laying around from jerks and profar Unfortunately, that's the one maybe small silver lining of that is that they say for some of that money. But the metrics have not loved Monto recently. There is some stuff with his splitter apparently that was looking really good at times. But it's kind of a new pitch for him, or we say a new emphasis for him. We seen him pitch one what's not of the Braves. He looked good tonight. I don't think he was hitting a spots necessarily, but he got a couple of big outs. What'd you make up his debut and like even that trade because it was like a bigger name guy but not someone who's been pitching well for a couple of years.

00:26:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's an interesting gamble. It's kind of been the theme for the Braves the last two months, is just to accumulate as many relievers as you can and hope that a couple of them stick. Montero, once upon a time was awesome, but now he's in his mid thirties and really his change up just wasn't cutting it anymore, and his fastball was getting pounded. I think big league hitters were just waiting on the fastball and he had to make it. Itdjustment and for him to be able to pick up a splitter. The broadcast had a really cool side by side of how he throws the change versus how he throws the splitter, and it looked good and it was just one appearance, but it was against the very top of Philadelphia's lineup with the ghost runner on second base, and I think Schwarber grounded out, and then he got a strikeout of Trey Turner, walked Bryce Harper, and then got a strikeout of Nick Castianos, who struck out five times of Castianos saves his every single hit for the playoffs. Seemingly but hey, big spot to end, I mean big spot regardless, really big spot to make your debut. And if you know the Braves are buying low. Clearly Houston wanted to move on on his expiring contract and if if he can be another right handed arm in that bullpen, you take it.

00:27:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'm okay with the Braves taking shots of the bullpen. We talked about endlessly about them not investing in the bullpen this winter, that no one loved that, and they got Kimber. We'll talk about a little bit later on the podcast that's out there lingering as a potential. But Montero they didn't have to wait on like he was already in in form. He pitched immediately basically on arrival. I don't know if he's gonna be good or not, but they at least have a plan. It seems like for him having Forbo splitters like just utilize what he can do. And Uh, first first outing was positive, so there you going, and they trusted him. I mean I think it was probably again out of necessity with Pierce Johnson seemingly unavailable, but they did try and it worked in that spot. Uh, Suarez was less effective in the eleventh he just couldn't throw a strike. Basically, it didn't bite them because they win the game. But he allows the run and up you shouted out, Sean Murphy in real time. I want to I'll throw it to you. It could have been worse if not for Sean Murphy doing Sean Murphy stuff defensively.

00:28:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, two phenomenal blocks by Murphy. Suarez clearly was overcooking his fastball and two just they were destined to be wild pitches and Philadelphia would have scored at least one run if not too based on how wild it was. And Murphy is really good back there. It's so good to have Murphy defensively. And we'll see on the bat. That is the one big question. But if there is one thing I can absolutely guarantee you one hundred percent, it is that Sean Murphy's defense is elite, and it's been elite for years. He's great at receiving the ball and stealing strikes, really good blocker. He is a brick wall back there and usually pretty good at throwing out base runners. Although, dear God, Brad, we need to have a meeting with the pitching staff and say, guys, you have to look the runners back or they're going to steal on you. I think Steven had the number that opposing runners are like twenty two of twenty three on stolen.

00:29:38
Speaker 1: Bases this year. I think it's like ninety eight. It's yeah, it's eighty of nineteen. But similar, it's the same. It's the same thing. Give it.

00:29:45
Speaker 2: It's given twenty four hours and they'll be twenty two and twenty three.

00:29:49
Speaker 1: It's wild. You know, you got to do something.

00:29:50
Speaker 2: You have to step off, you have to throw the ball over to first base. Maybe it's a coaching thing, but I don't know. It's regardless. It is good to have Murphy back there and hopefully the bat comes along too. He did have the home run the other night, had a couple of singles, you know, very important player for the team, especially while Acuna and Profar are both.

00:30:10
Speaker 1: Out for sure. And we'll see about the bullpen. But I've said it a million times, the bullpen has not been the issue this year. Performance wise, It's not been great, but it hasn't been the issue. It hasn't been. It's been yeah, not great again, not great by any means. But they did their job to night, even today, I made this point on Twitter. I think you can't expect to never give up a run in extra innings and in majory baseball with the way these with with with the way the rule is, the run expectancy for an inning is pretty darn high. With we're on a second base and no outs, like you can't just expect zero's you got to score. And that's so getting up one run in two innings, it's like kind of what you're supposed to give up. It's not a big deal there. But again sus Murphy for bailing that out a little bit, and uh they did it, so we already covered it. But we all know how into the bottle and the bottom off the eleventh Beenning Riley with the greatest bat a. I think I think ce jess is on the broadcast as well. You kind of know what else is going right when he's like that was the right center field like missile, yeah, to tie the game, just a great swing under control, like not not over his skis at all. And then Marcell's Marcel he's still the only I mean it's been a year plus at this, but he's been the only guy hitting for what sixteen months whatever? How many months is thirteen two years. I mean it's incredible. No, it's about he he's he's he's been the only eye hitting for thirteen months. Oh for him, his Yeah, for him, it's like two and a half years now of him just doing this. But uh, I mean anything to add about the end, It was just it was awesome. Play the horn, I guess forever.

00:31:43
Speaker 2: Play the horn so loud that everybody within fifty miles.

00:31:46
Speaker 1: Here's it.

00:31:47
Speaker 2: Somebody invested heavily in a horn this offseason, and hey, I mean it would be pretty cool to hear that thing in like a playoff game with forty thousand people screaming and the pandemonium. But hey, for the five hundred people who stuck around, awesome. It must have been a cool experience that you don't get to see a lot of baseball games with that few people in the stands at one in the morning. And then to see a walk off win really both, as we've talked, a frustrating game.

00:32:14
Speaker 1: But also a fun one. They mean they won, they really knew to win.

00:32:17
Speaker 2: If they would have lost tonight on a basis loaded walk I mean, you know, you can imagine the vibe on Friday, Yeah.

00:32:25
Speaker 1: I mean I almost forgot that that's how they scored the run. It's it's in our notes. I almost forgot that's how they scored. It would have been a heck of a way to open this podcast. The Breaks just lost on back to back walks an eleventh inning with their Worshili run the mount and they were.

00:32:40
Speaker 2: One strike away to the last two hitters that they ended up walking. I mean, it would have been it was another one for the books. But hey, the Braves they figured out a way tonight at least to win the game.

00:32:50
Speaker 1: They won a baseball game. Scott, Is there anything you want to say about the game, because if not, we have another order of business talk about. It was a big news thing from Thursday. It's the positive news story. Is that? Okay with you there?

00:33:00
Speaker 2: Yes, let's get some Spencer Strider into this podcast.

00:33:03
Speaker 1: So today on the show, our segment coming up now, the spotlight is brought to by Fatal Sports Network, you know String Braves games. There. We'll sorry more about that in a second. That spotlight is on Spencer Stryder. All signs, and I mean all signs point to this being his final rehab appearance. He pitched in Gwinnette on Thursday afternoon snicker and Snicker fashion did not fully say he's gonna not pitch in the Myers anymore, but everyone, including Sticker even was like kind of like half smiling about it. He's coming up this week almost certainly five and a third innings, struck up thirteen on ninety pitches and struck out his first six batters he faced. I mean, it's triple A. He should dominate down there, to be fair, but you can't do much more than he did today to be like, hey, guys, I'm ready. I'm ready. My name special Strider. Yeah, I'm gonna say uncandidate. So I mean, oh, one thing I do want to ask you. I didn't watch it all. I saw a lot of the clips. Everyone was watching people I trust, like Gore of a doc and people like people I trust. We're saying his changeab look great today, which is a new RN not I could not cletely, but certainly if he's throwing that more and effectively, it's like even more absurd because he's been this guy without having that pitch, and if that's a real weapon for him now, it would be kind of scary.

00:34:24
Speaker 2: Hours Man Spencer Strider has a really really good change up now to go with that fastball and that slider and even the curveball that he worked in last year.

00:34:35
Speaker 1: I mean, he's just going to be so dynamic.

00:34:37
Speaker 2: And maybe because Strider doesn't necessarily have the one hundred and one mile an hour velocity left, or at least he's not going.

00:34:44
Speaker 1: To have that in the tank to begin the season.

00:34:47
Speaker 2: As he continues to build up strengthen that elbow, maybe he is going to lean on that change up a little bit more to be effective and get through lineups multiple times. Of course triple A, but man, thirteen strikeouts is thirteen strikeouts and to do it on ninety pitches, he's really efficient.

00:35:06
Speaker 1: I mean nobody squared him up.

00:35:07
Speaker 2: I think Straider gave up a double and then a couple of scattered singles and that was it.

00:35:12
Speaker 1: Only two walks.

00:35:13
Speaker 2: So the command really in all the starts, the command has been good too. And it's funny when Strider had struck out thirteen, everyone was like, why isn't he pitching tonight in Atlanta? Why is he in the minor league still? But it's not a bad thing. He got up to ninety pitches and I would be shocked if he is not starting for the Big League Braves next week.

00:35:32
Speaker 1: We did discuss that, you and I on Sunday, like, hey, he might be ready, but the Braves tend to be a little bit cautious, which is fine. I think we agree that was fine and that made sense to me. And yeah, I think the way he pitched today it would have been it would look just fun in a middleague mound. But all signce sports him being back. And somebody asked, actually the show on Twitter today if they would maybe hold him back to debut at home, which is a week from today. What should we from Fridays for listening to this podcast. I don't think so, only because that's a long time between outings and you want to kind of be on schedule when you're ramping up, would be my only read. Does that make sense to you because like they're going to be in Toronto when he would be on schedule to pitch, which they can still do. But what do you make of that?

00:36:13
Speaker 2: I think through all of Spencer's rehab starts and spring appearances, it's been at least the normal rest, if not one extra day of rest. So I guess it's not totally impossible, but it's a pretty tough road trip, and I think the Braves are going to want to keep Spencer on the normal schedule he's been on, so maybe, I mean, I think I guess they would see how he feels when he wakes up on Friday, But as long as that elbow feels okay, I would imagine they're going to have him out there.

00:36:40
Speaker 1: I think Wednesday is the probable day for him to go. We'll see.

00:36:44
Speaker 2: They could always throw a bullpen game or something like that if they want to be careful and give him an extra day. But at this point, man, I mean, it has been smooth sailing since I mean really since the beginning of spring training.

00:36:55
Speaker 1: He looks good.

00:36:55
Speaker 2: The velocity is good, the command is good, the stuff has a lot of break and movement. Let's see what Strider can do, and let's all just cross our fingers and say a prayer that he's going to be okay, because I mean, just even the highlights today and the miners, we're just so much fun to watch.

00:37:10
Speaker 1: Struck out thirteen of twenty one batter's faced and that's a pretty good way to sign off your minor league tenor and tenure if we had to guess on the podcast, All right, Scott, More to come in a second on the Ray series, and a little bit of news first though, the Moriby explainer on our partners at fandel Sports Network. You can now stream Braves games through FanDuel Sports Network, and if you use the promo code Baseball thirty, that's promo code Baseball thirty, you can start it off with a thirty day extended free trial at Fanduelsportsnetwork dot com slash packages that is Fanduelsportsnetwork dot com Slash Packages Promo Code Baseball thirty All Coorsparts Pot twen twenty five, nineteen nine nine, a month after free trial, kemsburn free trial to avoid charges, alibaated to Christmas apply visit Final Sportsnetwork dot com fortty tips. Okay, Scott, Before we get to the race series, two quick pieces of news, one of which we've already kind of talke about because it's kind of same update. But it was another update on Ronald Kunya today that was similar to the last one. He's gonna go to LA next week. It seems like to be kind of his final clearance. Essentially, he's gonna see his doctor a surgeon, get signed off on, and then ramp up from there. Timeline unchanged seems like mid May, maybe early May at the absolute earliest. Like it's kind of an update, but also it's a as long as it's not a bad update, I'm fine, just be on schedule. We're going.

00:38:32
Speaker 2: Oh man, if it's not a good update, I am not going to be fine. But I think I think we're gonna get good news here. Let's hope, and you know, let's say I think somebody reported it'll be early in the week, so maybe Monday or Tuesday. I would imagine that Ronald will then really let it cut loose at the outfield, doing all of his drills, cutting on the base path, running, you know, full speed in the outfield, I mean, the things that you have to do to really ramp up.

00:38:57
Speaker 1: And then I'm guessing.

00:38:58
Speaker 2: We're probably two weeks out from a rehab appearance. Although because he really didn't well, he didn't play at all in the spring, and he hasn't done much other than take batting practice and some basic fielding practice so far, I'm guessing Ronald's gonna get at least two weeks in the minor leagues, maybe even more than that.

00:39:16
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:39:17
Speaker 2: I mean, I think the results will probably say if he's batting four fifty after two weeks, it's probably Ronald Acuney Junior time. But it's gonna take a while for him to get his timing and his legs underneath him and all the things he's gonna have to do to come up and be effective. And as we have seen, the Braves have been very, very very cautious with Ronald, and I think once he really ramps up, the one thing we're just gonna have to hold our breath on a little bit is that there isn't any serious soreness or tendonitis or anything like that in that need.

00:39:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, the big test, like you said, it's the cutting, and that's it's not true when you have a long termage like that, Like running a straight line is not the same thing as running side to side, and you know, you know, doing something he's gonna have to do play in the outfield. So that's the biggest thing. We're not quite there yet, and we'll find out in the next few days at they're staun track, but all signs are good. Just hold your breath a little bit until you get the sign off there and moving forward. The other bit of quick news is Craig Kimberrell updated. I believe it was on Thursday, still ramping. He's not actually had face to hitters yet, which surprises people. We did talk about someone when I signed them, Like, there are degrees to how ready guys are. There are some guys that are chilling and some guys that are maybe throwing. And Craig was not in camping anybody. He was a true free agent and it appears that he was not doing anything.

00:40:34
Speaker 2: It seems like Craig Kimberrell was literally sitting on the couch when they signed him. You know, he's been doing it for fifteen years. He's made a lot of money. Kimberl.

00:40:44
Speaker 1: I'm sure.

00:40:45
Speaker 2: I mean, they wouldn't surprise me if he said no to other teams. He might have been waiting for the Braves. And you know the fact that he's still not facing hitters tells me it's probably going to be at least another month until he's probably with the big league team. And honestly, I don't think it's a guarantee anymore. When the Braves signed Kimberl, I thought it was very likely because of the state of the bullpen, and we knew that some of those guys just weren't going to cut it. But they've added Montero, even Suarez has not been.

00:41:13
Speaker 1: A complete disaster.

00:41:15
Speaker 2: Anil de los Santos has look good. Da Hernandez has look good. And you know, if the Braves do call Kimberl up, he's owed two million dollars. That's not throw away money, and for a.

00:41:26
Speaker 1: Team that it looks like he's gonna.

00:41:28
Speaker 2: Need to add at the trade deadline, while also probably wanting to stay under the luxury tax. Two million dollars is two million dollars, So I don't think it's going to be a charity call up. I think Kimberle's gonna have to look good. The stuff is gonna have to look good, and that's probably something. In three or four weeks we'll have a better idea of I think we agree.

00:41:47
Speaker 1: My only potential difference there is that I think he will get the benefit of the doubt. I think he has to look bad to not get called up. Would be all I would say. Like, I think if he looks okay in the minors, he's coming up. That's my guess. I could be wrong. You could be right. I think the only thing that's maybe changed is that the bar is maybe a little bit higher, Like, yeah, that makes sense. I just don't think that, you know, he is. I wonder how much of this is also the legacy thing because he is a great brave Like does that matter at all? I mean, Alex is pretty calculated. He's the one making the final decision. But is there any sentimentality there at all? Is there anything that's like relational about this at all? Or is he just a guy that they signed? Is he Craig Kimberle in capitol letters or is he that level of picture that he's been recently that they're trying to read because like, look, there was some good for Kimberroll last year. There's a really bad for Kimberle last year. And he's an older guy. Oh that's anyway that The only thing that I would say is like, I don't know how low or how high the bar is. I think that he will get the benefit of the doubt. I just don't know how much. So we agree though he's not guaranteed the spot. He never was and we said that even the day that he signed. He's never been it's it's a minor league contract. It's a minor league contract. Whenever you do that, even if it's implied that the guy will probably come up, it's not guarantee unless once he's there and he's you gotta, he's gotta, because if we just laughed about it, but he isn't he isn't facing hitters yet. I mean, he got signed two weeks ago, a month ago, a full month ago. Like that's actually kind of crazy. Hasn't faced a hitter yet, Like, I get it. You don't want to be crazy, like you want to wrap him up slow. And I'm sure the Braves knew they weren't bamboozled by kimberl I don't think so. It's like they must have known this is gonna happen. But when you are agreeing to that, you got to know, like you're talking about may for him to pitch in a game that matters to you, and that's, you know, not a guarantee. I want to go wrong between now and May Well, that's the perfect lead in.

00:43:47
Speaker 2: I mean, the likelihood is that at some point in the next four to six weeks, one of the relievers is probably gonna get hurt. That's the maybe or be terrible, like someone will blow up or whatever. Yeah, it's it's not in Yeah, that's why. By the way, it's something. That's why you bring back.

00:44:02
Speaker 1: Justice Chavis on a minor league contract so he's close by. That's why you trade for Rafael Montero, just to see like they are still taking shots of this thing. We wish they had invested more. But yeah, the likelihood of the same bullpen being the same bullpen all year is basically zero.

00:44:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. If I had to bet you five bucks live on the podcast, I would also say I think kimberl gets called up at some point.

00:44:25
Speaker 1: Why not?

00:44:26
Speaker 2: I mean he would have to be You know what if they call Kimberle up and he just gets the ball knocked out of the stadium five appearances in a row, then you're out.

00:44:35
Speaker 1: No, Yeah, I would hope that the leash is short. But we'll talk about that more when he comes when he win, or if he comes up, we'll discuss this again, I'm sure. But that's the most recent update, and I think you and I have the same reaction, like, oh, how's it faced to hitry? That's interesting? All right, last thing off the podcast, because We've gone way too long. It's two in the morning. The Braves go to Tampa Bay. We talked about us earlier, but the turnaround time is crazy here playing a night game. They got delayed. They're not gonna get into Tampa until four in the morning. Three in the morning. Something crazy. They play, and they play on Friday night. Tampa's playing on a spring training park. For those of you that don't remember this, they're playing at the Yankees spring facility, George Steinbrenner Field. It's apparently pretty friendly to power. The Angels hit. The Angels hit eleven home runs in three days there this week. Damn. And that's the that's the Angels. They're not like known for their bopper I mean, Trot had two of them. But hey, but they're okay. The Razor are an okay team. They're supposed to be okay team. They were projected to be like an eighty two win team something like that. They're always respectable. They do a great, great job with with the resources that are very few. But they're not some great team either. And it's a Friday night game followed by afternoon stuff on Saturday and Sunday, so it some more sleep for people like us Scott, uh, and the pitching matchups are now out. They weren't out earlier today, and now they are Bryce Elder on the mount on Friday in the opener because they have to have a they have he's the fifth guy. I mean, I I have some rations, but you just did. The people didn't see that on YouTube Scott excelled, Yes, but uh, he's there against TODs Bradley. Saturday is Smith Shover against Drew Rasmussen, and then Sunday is Chris Sale against Shane Boz and the headliner of the weekend. Those are TUGA pitchers. Obviously in Sale hasn't been great lately, but he's still Chrisaale. So uh yeah, I mean not exactly a murderer's row on Friday and Saturday of starting pitching. But to be fair, Todd Bradley on the mountain for the Rays, like this is not a situation where the Brads are gonna be joh underdogs on Friday, even with Elder on the mountain. Yeah, yeah, I mean the Rays.

00:46:37
Speaker 2: The Tampa is always somehow in it, and they've gone off to a little bit of a slow start. The pitching has not been anything special, the lineup's been fine. Tampa does have a couple of injuries which is probably holding him back a bit, So maybe.

00:46:52
Speaker 1: The Braves are catching a mini break there. But no matter what.

00:46:55
Speaker 2: The Rays, they're always prepared, They always have good scouting, they always have a good game plan. And I think if you're the Braves, even after the elation and happiness of winning on Thursday night, going into back to back games Bryce Elder and A. J. Smith Shaver, I mean, I think you'd be thrilled if you can win one out of those two games. Oh yeah, and then hopefully Chris Sale can get back on track on Sunday.

00:47:17
Speaker 1: And you know, at this.

00:47:18
Speaker 2: Point it's gonna take a little while for the Braves to dig out of this hole.

00:47:23
Speaker 1: But they just need to keep reeling off series victories.

00:47:26
Speaker 2: If they want to win ten straight, awesome, let's let's go win ten in a row.

00:47:30
Speaker 1: Boys. But if you can just take two out of three, win three out of five, you know that that kind of thing.

00:47:35
Speaker 2: You'll look up at the end of the month and you'll be back to five hundred, and then you start to get your reinforcements.

00:47:41
Speaker 1: You can tell yourself a story of how this is gonna get better for sure, and you know, we're I'm a believer in that in general, you just try to go win series. That's and that's it's an old school thing, I think to some degree. You know, Bobby used to say that. Sticker says that too, like you just want to win, say but it's true. You just want to stack series wins and if you win enough of them, you're gonna be on the right side out of it at the end. This is not gospel, but I just looked at betting odds for the game on Friday because they're live, because we're so late at night here, the Braves are any slight underdog in the betty market on Friday with Elder on the road. You'll kind of take that to your point. I think there might be underdogs in both games and we small and like, yeah, go one and one and hand it to Sale on Sunday. And I still believe Sale is going to be good. I know there was some concentration there and he's not looked great, but I still believe Chris Ale. So yeah, show it on Sunday and we'll see Scott. We've navigated a podcast. It was apparently live people were commenting, so I assume people were actually being able to watch this live in real time. And God's speed to all of you sickos at two am, please shout outs to you, anything to plug for you out of here.

00:48:44
Speaker 2: Scott, I'm ready to go to bed.

00:48:47
Speaker 1: Scott's gonna be in bed in like thirty seconds after this podcast signs off. Follow Scott on social media at Scott Coleman fifty five for all kinds of braves musings, mostly braves now for a whilecause Arizona basketballs not happening for a little while now, so yeah, yeah, no colts for a while. So it's just it's gonna be all braves all the time. Maybe some movie stuff. Knowing you, but follow Scott on social media, follow me if you'd like to at bt roll and follow our show though most importantly at Hammer Territory, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and do us a SOTYLO. If you've made it this far, you probably already subscribed. But if you're not subscribed, please go ahead and do that on whichever platform or platforms if you want to help the podcast, the best possible way is double multiple times, even like click around. I'm not above asking for that. Apple, Spotify, overcast, YouTube ratings, reviews, all that fun stuff, and we'll have plenty more. I don't know what the plan is over the weekend, but as always, or at least as most of the time, we'll have a show Sunday evening to wrap up the ray series, so stay tuned for that. Scott, thanks for doing this, man, I appreciate you stand up late with everybody. Can you imagine if we stayed up until two in the morning for a lost Brad it would have been an all timer. Well, the show would have been shorter. Yeah, I'm pretty sure about that, and people will and the audience would be a lot less of people watching live and probably after the fact as well. So we're grateful for a win because generally speaking, wins get more views and downloads everybody. Not a huge rocket science thing there. People want to listen after wins. But hey, while we're here, if you were that person who only listens or Downlod's after the win, just smash download after the walls. You don't have to listen, just just a little download, just click.

00:50:25
Speaker 2: It's all helps us out. What's the old skip carry? As long as you promise to patronize our sponsors. You're welcome to find something else to do with your night, whether you listen to every second or hey, if you just hit that download button and go about your day. We appreciate it all the same, and hopefully we have a lot more podcasts like this, more winning podcast. We finally got one for you, Brad, A win tonight live for the whole nation.

00:50:52
Speaker 1: I am no longer defeated. There you go, not undefeated, but defeated. I was defeated until today, and now I'm not saying so. Thanks for everybody for being here, Thanks to Scott for being here. We appreciate the sport always. We'll have a new show on Sunday. We'll see everybody next time. M