A Brilliant Reynaldo Lopez and Needed Offense in Big Win for Braves

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman, and it is a pleasure to be with you once again. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you're excited for this edition of the Hammer Territory Podcast, because I know I am. For two reasons. Number One, we have a win to recap, a six stree win for the Braves over the Orioles in what was an impressive pitch of performance at offensive performance. And Stephen Tolbert is back from his travels seeing the Braves in the Greater Maryland area. But Stephen, glad to have you back, sir, Hope you had a great trip.

00:00:56
Speaker 2: What's up shot on Hey buddy, Yeah, man, it's good to be home. A lot of reasons. It's good to be home. But I missed doing the show. Shout out to Scott and you and Brad for holding down the fort. I know we had some good episodes. I know justin Disconald came on with Scott while I was gone. I know you did a show, Brad did a show, So I appreciate you guys of course covering for me. But yeah, it was a fun trip. We'll talk about a little bit more as we go on the show. But yeah, we got a win today and that's you know, if if we had come on here of having to talk about the sixth loss in a row, the the tone of this show would have been much different. But got a much much needed win today. Of course we'll talk about it, but it's always good to do these with you, buddy.

00:01:38
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and let's start there. Of course you had the Hammer Territory podcast, part of the Foul Foul Territory family of podcasts. But you know, in a very much perhaps his most impressive start so far for the Brazen Renondo Lopez. We'll actually get to him in just a moment, because I want to talk about the offense, because any type of good performance from the offense that that's where we start. And in this game, in particular, Steven, we were three for sixteen with runners in scoring position. Yes, that's been the normal trend over the past two months, but we'll set that negative to the side. Let's focus on the positives. The Braves got the ball rolling early in the first inning. At one point they were one for one with a two run double off the battle Marcelo Zuna. They got some runs early they got three overall hits with runners in scoring position. But to me, Steven, I know, they were three for sixteen, but the sixteen opportunities is what stands out to me. That was the result of several hitters who had been struggling recently having good at bats. Ozzy Albi's four hits, Adam Devall had his best offensive game in quite a while, Michael Harris a goodwin as well. While we didn't see just a ton of runs, the overabundance of opportunities certainly is a positive and it was much needed to stop this losing streak.

00:02:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, listen, three for sixteen with runners at scoring position is a bit of a double sided coin, right, You can focus on the three or you can first focus on the sixteen. You know, just getting that many opportunities is a positive for this team. Just any offensive life is a positive. I mean, you know, like you said, Ozzie had four hits, Braves had twelve hits overall, you know, just traffic on the basis all day, you know, just a normal a normal variant in terms of runners and scoring position outcomes. And the Braves probably scored ten or eleven runs in that game. But you know, they got out with six, so yeah, you.

00:03:33
Speaker 1: Could focus on the three.

00:03:34
Speaker 2: You can focus on the sixteam We're gonna focus on the sixteen because the Braves won the game. I had the Braves lost the game, we would probably be focusing on the three. So but yeah, I mean Ozzie against lefties, we know is typically a pretty good matchup for Braves fans. You know, I like Ozzie batting in the two hole against the lefties. I don't love it as much against righty's, but that's you know, that's a separate conversation. The Braves don't have a ton of options at the top of the lineup right now, so they're just gonna have to kind of make do with what they have. But Ozzy Egan's lefties is always a good matchup, of course, Marcel, it's been the best hitter on the team. You know, Davall had a decent day, has had a pretty good stretch here. He's been one of the few guys that hasn't been slumping. So yeah, overall, it's it's nice to see runners on base. It's nice to see opportunities. It's nice to see some some offense, just some hits. Honestly. I mean, you know, we've been so desperate for runs lately that you know, just just having guys on base, just having the threat of offense was nice to see. And obviously, you know, they came through with a few of them to get six runs on the board, which is more than they've scored in a while. I think they scored eight runs in the first game against Boston on this trip, and they haven't scored more than five runs in any of the games. I think they've scored eight before today. They scored sixteen runs in seven games, which is barely over two runs a games. So you know, six runs, of course, is tremendous. Obviously, you would like to cash in on more of those opportunit unities so that the tying run doesn't come to the plate like it did the ninth inning. You know, usually when you leave that many guys on base, you don't win the game, you.

00:05:07
Speaker 3: Pay for it.

00:05:08
Speaker 2: But the Braves had such an overabundance of guys on base that the few times they came through were enough to hold down and win.

00:05:15
Speaker 1: The game, absolutely, And it was just great to see. It was just nice to see opportunities early and it was nice to see late the Braves be able to put some insurance runs in place after Kyle Stowers hit that pre run homer off Pierce Johnson. He was great to see the Braves be able to respond. So just the offense came to life again. You know, the execution certainly still has a ways to go, but it was nice to get a victory, and it be because of how good the offense was. But I can tell you whether the Braves are playing well or not, it's always a great experience to go to the ballpark. And Steven, I know you have a first hand account of this here recently with your recent trips, but I continue this Stephen, when you're trying to find tickets to a Braves game, you have to feel good that a place you could go is Seat Geek is one stop shop for any type of sporting concert or just even in general that you want to attend.

00:06:07
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00:06:22
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00:08:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think he's certainly gonna be well. I don't want to say certainly. There's been a lot of really good pitching performances in the National League this year, so I'm not gonna say certainly, but he is. He is definitely going to be in high consideration for the All Star Game, him and Chris Sell both and probably Max Free honestly, but there's a lot there's a lot of really good starting pitchers and they only take usually like six or seven guys. So you know, Ronaldo might lose out to a numbers game, but you know, he's just been incredible. I don't I mean not. I never in a million years saw this coming. You know, he's got an era. What I think after today, it's a I looked it up. It's like a one a one seven era. After today, you know, another six show innings. You know, the strikeouts have really jumped up, which helps his peripherals. You know, he's not living by good batted ball luck as much as you know, he's getting his fair amount of strikeouts. I think he's I think he's up over nine strikeouts per nine innings, which is a strong number. You know, you can you can win everything you need to win with With the number that strong, he's not walking anybody, which is very impressive. You know, he's still got some batted ball numbers that are favorable that should regress a little bit. But you know, he's got a one to seven ERA, but he's got a two eight three PHIP, so it's not like he's you know, it's not like he's three runs. You know, he's got like a three run spread there. I mean, a two to eight FIP is still fantastic. He's just been amazing. You know, today he had ninety nine miles an hour on the radar gun, I think for the first time all year as a starter. So you know, he's got more in the tank. He definitely holds some you know, this is a guy's reliever. We saw throw. You know, he was throwing a hundred one hundred and one as a reliever. So he's definitely got more in the tank. Obviously, when you throw six seven innings, when you're throwing a hundred pitches, you can't max separate like that. But when he wants it, when he needs it in big spots, he can go up to ninety eight, ninety nine and probably even one hundred if he needed to for a couple of pitches. So it's been, it's been incredible. You know, I don't want to. I am always cautious about this. I don't want to. I don't want to reset the expectation for him where this is the new expectation. I don't think that's fair. I think he should be considered more of a three, four, five starter, where you know he's gonna be you know, if he gives you an ERA in the threes, then you're just you're a static with that and you take it all day long. I don't think a one to seven e RA is his new you know, baseline talent level. That's upsurd, that's you know, that's cy young stuff. But you know, we keep saying he's gonna regress, he's going to regress. I still think it's gonna happen. Some of the numbers are a little too obvious, not too but you know, it's not as clear cut as it was earlier in this season, where he wasn't striking a ton of guys out and he was very much living off some good bat at ball numbers and stuff that was clearly going to regress. And now it's not so clear. I mean, he could definitely run an era in the twos the rest of the year if he you know, if he keeps pitching like this, I don't think a one. I don't think any something in the ones is realistic. But he's been incredible. I mean, he's been a god send. Him and Chris Sale are just they have saved the Braves in ways we don't even understand. I mean, if they you know, the only time the Braves win games lately is if they if they really just throw out elite pitching. And obviously Pierce Johnson had a rough day to day, but you know, if if that hadn't happened, then the Braids would have thrown a shutout today. So but you know, the offense was able to cover a few runs up for the first time in a while. I was good to see. But We're always been incredible and I'm so happy for him. All the credit goes in the world to him, Alex for making the move. You know, that was not a move anybody saw coming, you know, signing Lopez, turning him into a starter. It was so odd that we weren't even sure they were being honest about it. I mean, we were talking about, you know, if this is kind of a smoke screen to see if they can go get another starter, but they were dead serious about it. They were dead set on it from day one. They said it from day one. He's gonna start. He wants to start. He things he can start, and he has and he's been unbelievable. So all the credit in the world to him. It's been it has been a lifesaver for the Braves.

00:12:32
Speaker 1: Over the past hundred years, there have only been five instances in which a pitcher in his first thirteen starts with a franchise has done like Ronaldo Lopez has has a you know, one point seventy ra or lower and seventy strikeouts across those thirteen starts. Al Lider back in nineteen ninety eight, and then here recently Justin Berlander with the Astros in twenty seventeen, but also in two thousand and eight, Edison Balquiz with the Reds and C. C. Savathi, you know, with with the Milwaukee Brewers, and then Renaldo Lopez this year. So that just shows how rare it is for a pitcher to come in and perform at the level that Renald Lopez has been doing in a new setting, in a new role. That's what makes it even more impressive. So it was it was quite awesome to see. And to your point, Stephen, you know, a month ago we were talking a bit about regression for him because you know, he had an eer a you know, I think around two point five, but as Phip was at four, well that Phip, you know, going down now to two point eight three. You know, again, it just shows that the secondary, you know, the the underlying metrics are supporting the quality effort. So it's going to be great to see. But something else that I that I've been waiting to hear about Stephen, it is your first hand experience of seeing the Braves in person. I know that A point that you have brought up that I think is very valid is that you know, the Braves have had some atrocious luck at times when it comes to balls that they put in play. I know you saw that firsthand. But they've also had some pretty atrocious approaches at the plates in terms of stuff they can control. But just a couple of things that stood out for you from the performances that you saw in Washington and Baltimore, maybe not all negative, but but definitely I'm sorry that you had to see the baseball games that you saw during the stretch that you did.

00:14:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, And I had a lot of people sending tweets at me to this similar effect of you know, sorry that this is the baseball you're watching. What I will say is the worst day at a baseball field is still better than most days, still better than working and you know, and having to grind away a day. So yes, it was not the best baseball that I watched over the last week. Obviously, the Braves were in the middle of a five game losing streak through all of it. But you know, the first game we watched, the first game I was at, was Chris Sales game in Washington, d C. It was the Friday night game, and you know, he pitched it. He pitched outstanding. He was lights out, He was nasty. The offense didn't show up. Obviously lost. I think they lost two to one in that game. But you know, he was incredible. I was. I had never seen him pitch live before. You know, I was in a pretty good advantage point where you could see, you know, exactly how uncomfortable that it bad he is. His stuff was nasty. Obviously, he was coming off that that rough game against Oakland, so it was good to see him bounce back. And then so I went to the Friday night game, and then I went to the Sunday game. That was originally going to be Max Freed, but then it obviously turned into Hearston Waldrip's major league debut. That was a weird game. That was a really weird game. You know, Hurston was pitching really well and then gave up like seven runs in like ten minutes. It just it snowballed on him quick. I think he probably got a little a little flustered. You know, he started walking a lot of guys after that three run homer that he gave up, and then you know, he got pulled and the first pitch that Aaron Bummer threw was a three run double from from Abrams, and that pretty much ended uh Waldrops, you know, in terms of his line. So but it was still cool to see. It was really cool to see, you know, a guy's major league debut. You know, I thought he looked good at times. The splitter is a real pitch. The fastball obviously is you know, it's ninety seven, ninety eight ninety nine. He's got real velocity. He's got to work on the slider, he's got to work on his other breaking stuff. I don't think it's fully there, but the splitter is a real pitch, and you know that that's gonna be interesting.

00:16:24
Speaker 1: You know.

00:16:25
Speaker 2: I wasn't sure if he'd get another start after that one. I thought maybe he'd get sent back down to work on that stuff a little bit more. But obviously we learned today that he is going to start. He's going to start the last game against Tampa this week, so that's cool. And then I went to see those are the two DC games, and then I went to the Tuesday game in Baltimore, which was the Max Freed game. That was probably the most frustrating game just because the offense was just nowhere to be found. I mean, a Sean Murphy hit that ball. I was right there. Seann Murray hit that ball two hundred and I mean three hundred and ninety eight feet and to left field and it didn't go out, because that's the only place in the majors where you can hit the ball that far and not go out to left field. And then the next inning the guy hits a three round homer for Baltimore. It was just a that was That was the you know, the other two games were fun to watch. It was cool to see Hurston, was cool to see Sale. That game was very annoying just because the Braves had other than that shot by Murphy, the Braves just had no life on offense. So but you know what, like I said, it's the worst day you spend at a ballpark, is still better than most. You know, we're doing this thing. I'm trying to do this thing. Once they came out with the balance schedule a couple of years ago, I decided I want to see the Braves play in all the road parks. I wanted to go see all the away stadiums, but see a Braves game in that stadium. And so that's we We did Boston last year, we did DC in Baltimore this year. So that's just something we're doing. But yeah, it was a lot of fun. I had a ton of fun. It's you know, the baseball or at least the results aside, you know, spending time in the parks. Camden Yards is a really really cool park. It's got a lot of it's not terribly old. It's only about forty years old. It's not like Wrigley or Finlay, but it feels kind of older than that. It's got a lot of character, it's got a lot of unique features. You know, they've got the big warehouse and right field. It's a really cool park. I had a lot of fun. DC is a cool city to be in, even if you're not watching baseball. So it's a really fun trip. The baseball sucked, but you know, that's baseball for you. But I highly recommend it if you haven't done d C Baltimore. You know, that's a great trip and it was a lot of fun for us.

00:18:33
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know, I jokingly said what I said. I agree with you one hundred percent, especially when you can go to another ballpark, you know, especially one you know that that has the history of Camden Yards and you can see, you know, a new place, you know for a team that we see frequently play the Braves in the Nationals. I'm sure it was a great time and always enjoy your perspective. But one other thing I want to ask you about as we get into you know, some of Alex Andthopolis's comments from yesterday. Alex thought I talked about it on the pod from Wednesday. But when you gets your perspective on a few things, Steven, one thing that Alex talked about was the fact that, yes, the Braves are using a six man rotation. It's their way of being proactive for them to be able to keep their best arms as fresh as possible going into the playoffs. But the thing that I'll say is this is that I don't think something that has really been mentioned that much is the fact that the Brave has faced one of the best lineups in baseball, like the Orioles are a top three team in baseball right now with one of the better lineups in the game, and the Braves kept them under four runs in all three of these games. I think that that's noteworthy. And I also think that Spencer swellingbox performance from Wednesday's game was absolutely outstanding as well. He pitched more than well enough to get the victory. The offense just wasn't able to support him. But just your thoughts. You gave your thoughts on Hurston waldrip, but just your thoughts on the six man rotation moving forward, the effectiveness of that, you know, to keep themes arms spread as we progress, but also the experience gained by Waldrop and Schwellenbach, who after this season they could potentially use this experience as a reference point for as they take on bigger roles in the rotation in the future.

00:20:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the six man rotation is interesting because the reason teams don't use a six man rotation kind of the detriment of that strategy is that it's effectively taking starts away from your best pictures and giving them to your fifth, sixth, seventh best pictures, which is why teams don't typically do it. Right Like you, if you have you know, high level pictures at the top of your rotation, you want those guys out there as often as possible as the logic, and that's why a lot of teams don't do it, and the Braves haven't done it. If you go look at you know, alex in th Oppos's history with the team, they have almost never done a six man rotation. I think what this is is a response to and I've talked about this a little on Twitter, the regular season matters a lot a lot less than it used to. It just when you have expanded playoffs, you know, and everybody who makes the playoffs essentially has the same chances, there's very little difference between being the sixth seed or the one seed. I know people will talk about the days off and the you know, it's getting to set your pitching. But you know, we've seen in the past where that can be just as much of a detriment as it can as it can be a helper. When you have expanded playoffs and there's not a ton to play for in terms of where you're seeded, the regular season just doesn't matter that much. And I hate to say that because I love regular season baseball. I love It's one of my favorite parts of baseball. It's what makes baseball unique. I wish that baseball had done something different and protected its regular season more, but they didn't. They went the other way. They expanded playoffs. They made it even more useless. And that's kind of where we're at. And I think this is a response to that because, like I said, typically when you have a six mon roation, you're taking starts away from your best pictures and giving him to your sixth, seventh, eighth best pictures. But in a world where the regular season doesn't matter as much, the positive of the six men rotation is you keep your starters, your elite starters healthier for October. And I think the Braves, I think the the value judgment they've made is that, yes, we may we may not win as many games in the regular season, but what is winning one hundred and four hundred and five games done for us over the last couple of years. We need to get to the postseason with our pictures healthy, because that's how we won in twenty one when Max Reid and Charlie Morton were dominating every start they made. The bullpen was, you know, dominant in October, and that's how the Braves won a World Series. I think the Braves have switched their thinking because it's it's now it's no longer about getting your best pictures out there as much as possible. It's getting your best pictures as much rest as possible and getting them as healthy as possible to October. And I agree with that. I think it's a smart move. You know, I would not be surprised if they were doing if they did a six month rotition most of the year. Chris Sale has had a long injury history. Everybody knows about it. Ronaldo Lopez has been a reliever of the last three years. Max Freed is coming off of an injury real year. Last year, they've already lost Spencer Strider. Like keeping this bullpen, I mean, keeping this rotation healthy is a critical, critical piece to anything that Braves want to accomplish. So I think that's what I think. It's a change of thinking of getting your best pictures out there as much as possible to now getting your pictures as much rest and getting them as healthy as possible to October.

00:23:35
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00:24:56
Speaker 1: Of course, the other thing that stood out, another storyline, besides the offense struggling, was that Brian Snicker started trying, you need to do something that he usually does not do, and that is, you know, shuffling the lineup back and forth. A couple of weeks ago, about three weeks ago, you and I discussed, you know, what is it going to look like at the top of the order, and it necessarily hasn't hasn't necessarily changed that much in terms of the top of the order. You know, it's still Michael Harrison Assi Alby's mainly. But we we've seen Marcelo Zuna shifted a few times, you know, We've seen Austin Miley shifted down. We've seen some adjustments at the bottom of the order. The one main takeaway that I have from all this is that Marcelo Zuna should be batting the third no matter what. He should battle the first inning, he should try to get as many productive bats as possible with people on base. He should be in that third hole. But in terms of you know, Adam Devaul struggles here recently, you know, Kellennick, you know, kind of getting hot. Just what are you? What do you make of some of the lineup shifts and you know, kind of like me and saying Ozuna should definitely bat third. Is there anything that stands out to you that should be a mainstay of the Braves lineup approach at this point.

00:26:01
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I would say our CN needs to bat ninth every game, no matter what. You know. The caveat, of course, is the lineup doesn't matter that much. I will say this, I wasn't as upset as other people were when they moved a Zeno to five for Riley. Like I get, I understand that. Trust me, I completely understand everybody's point that Azuno has been your best hitter, you want him batting third or you want him batting in the first inning. The only problem with that logic is there's been a lot of studies done on like lineup construction in the best place to put your best hitters, and typically speaking, the third spot in the lineup is is a bit overrated just because of how often that spot comes out with two out and nobody on in the first inning, Whereas, like the fourth spot in the lineup, if somebody gets on, anytime that spot comes up in the first inning, you're it's coming up with a runner on. So like I understand what people are saying, I understand why people are mad, but there is arguments to be made. But like the second spot in the order of the fourth spot in the order are more important than the third bot in the order just from a value standpoint. So and listen, the Braves need the guys who are hitting in those spots to hit better regardless of where they're here, right because there's no way to hide guys. It doesn't matter where you put them. Austin Riley learned this lesson the hard way over you know, this week against Baltimore. But it doesn't matter where you are on the lineup. If you're going bad, the big spot will find you. You know, if there's a basis loaded situation, you're gonna be a If there's you know, two on two outs, we need a big hit, it's gonna be you. That doesn't matter if you're batting second or fourth, or fifth or sixth. I mean Orlando Arcia. Every time Orlando Asia a bat's like fifth or sixth in the lineup, inevitably the biggest spot in the game comes with him at the plot late. So you know, the Braves just need their guys to hit better. Austin Rally has to hit better. There's no there's no way forward for the Braves with Austin Riley hitting the way he's hitting. Like, you can't you can't move, You can't rearrange your lineup enough to make up for that. At some point, you're just kind of rearranging teck chairs on the Titanic, like you need your best hitters to hit better. Austin Riley has to hit better. Adam Deavall has been atrocious since Kuna went down. You know, Michael Harris is still really struggling to put anything together. Before today, Ozzie Alby's was in a really bad funk. He obviously had four hits today, so hopefully that gets him going. But Matt Olson's been a bit better but still inconsistent. All of them have struggled with runners in scoring positions. So yes, lineup matters to an extent, but it doesn't matter past the extent of your best hitters just need to hit better, and so I'm not as worried about that. I would put RCA at the bottom of the order. I think he's the worst hitter, so but yeah, other than that, I don't really have a strong opinion.

00:28:47
Speaker 1: Well, then let's get a bit more of your opinion on Austin Riley, because I agree with you from a couple of perspectives. The most important factor moving forward for this team is Austin Riley coming back to be an elite hitter. That's just the simple truth. You know, he he probably has as high as a ceiling, you know, than you know, nearly anybody on this team. I'd say it's hard to argue against a zuna, right now hard to argue against what you know Matt Olson did last year, but those guys are performing right now. Austin Riley, you know, he's struggling, yes, from a results standpoint, But me and Scott talked about it last week a bit just looking at you know, why has he been struggling, and the thing that stood out was that he's seeing more fastballs than he ever has before. He's seeing them at a higher velocity. But interesting, you know, I looked a bit deeper into things today. You know, the amount of balls that he's putting in play at one hundred miles per hour or more in terms of exit velocity this year, He's putting the same amount of balls in play from a frequency standpoint that he has you know, in the past. But what stands out, Steven, is that of those balls that are one hundred miles per hour or more off the bat for Austin Riley, nearly thirty percent of them have been ground balls between two thousand and one, twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. Half of them are round balls this year. So I know that you you know, looked at some of his at bats, you know firsthand, and some of them it just seemed like he was struggling badly. But even when when he's making solid contact, a lot of the contact is on the ground. Just what are your thoughts about Austin Miriley. It seems like that things can turn around for him quickly, but that ground ball frequency certainly has to be a spot. The ball just has to go in the air.

00:30:25
Speaker 2: War Yeah, I mean his ground balls are definitely up, and like you said, in terms of when he hits the ball hard, especially his ground balls are up. He's got three homers for the year, Alston really has three homers for the entire year. We're in the middle of June. I mean, yeah, he missed, he missed. He missed about ten days with that side injury. But he's got three homers in June and our three homers, you know, as we sit here in the middle of June. So yeah, he needs more power. He's got to get the ball off the ground. He's he's in a kind of a strikeout funk right now. You can tell it's mental at this point. I mean he is, he is. He's struggling with his swing, take decisions. You can tell by the pitches he's you know, swinging out the pitches he's taking. It's just it's all mental, right, He's he he is in his head, you know, Snit's talked about it a lot. When when these guys start struggling, it becomes a mental battle as much as a physical battle. He just needs some good results. He needs to take some pressure off of himself. You know, every time you fail in one of those positions. And he had a rough day to day. I think he went like, I think he was over five today and I think four of them came with runners and scoring positions. So you know that's not gonna help. But you know, every time you fail in one of those positions, you just put even more pressure on yourself the next time up, and then more pressure the next time and more press Like it's a it's a it's a brutal it's a brutal snowball effect. So you know, he he just needs some good some good outcomes.

00:31:51
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:31:51
Speaker 2: You know, a blue pit, you know, a ball over the wall would do wonders for him. A line drive that finds a gap, you know, just any any any kind of positive would be huge for him and then just build on it from there. But the amount of pressure he's putting on himself right now, Yeah, he's he is. Every time he goes up to the plate, it's like, oh two, he's you know, he's swinging at a bad pitch taking a good pitch, like you can just tell he's like what, you know, what's happening, Like what's going on? Like he can I'm sure he doesn't understand what's happening. So it's brutal for the Braves, of course, especially without Ronnie. You know, Austin is the highest. Austin signed the biggest contract in the history of the franchise, and that's part of this too. I mean, we're we're crazy if we don't talk about that. Like there's pressure that comes with signing the biggest contract in franchise history. And you know, every time he's not performing, I'm sure he's thinking about that, and I'm sure he hears that. You know, social media can be a brutal place when you're not doing well, and I'm sure he's caught a lot of crap for it, and you know that just adds to the pressure. So he needs some good results, you know, some good bats, you know, take a walk, take some good pitches, you know, kind of what made Austin Riley turn into Austin Riley was his ability to not swing at those bad pitches, not swing it those sliders away. You know, he got really really good at at at taking those pitches and then and then punishing mistakes on the zone. He just needs to get back to that guy and take some of the pressure off. There's still a long way to go. You know, Austin can still write a whole different story for the twenty twenty four season, especially if he has a big second half of Big October. No one's gonna remember this, but he needs some positive results and you know, hopefully that starts on Friday, you know, when they get home versus Tampa.

00:33:40
Speaker 1: Absolutely and and you know this is typically the time of year where you see Austin Ryland really Austin Riley really get going. I meant to look at it having asm yet, but if you remember over the past couple of years, you know, I believe it was twenty twenty two he had that incredible month of July which resulted in the two hundred and MEI dollars contract extension. Last year he started taking off at June as well, so it would be a great time for Austinmiley to get going, and there's no better time than president And I think that's what kind of defines this upcoming series with the Tampa Bay Rays. You know, the Braves, after the Rays, they've got you know, they're going home. But after the Rays, they face the Tigers, they face the Yankees, and they face the Pirates another series. You know, for the rest of this month. There's some pretty notable starting pitching that the Braves could face in those series. This series against the Rays, I think comes down to two things. For the Braves, you just want to get a series win. You want to get a series win after the struggles that you've had over the past three weeks or so. But also what kind of defines this series is that kind of like the Braves, the Rays have a lot of underperforming offensive players as well. Which team is really going to see one of their better players step up to have the best offensive series of you know, all the players who will be playing this weekend. I think that's what defines it. You know, which team is going to have the better, you know, offensive approach and really start to put things together offensively. The Braids are gonna have Chris Sale then Charlie Morton, then Hirston Waldrick making his second career start. You'd love to go ahead and get Friday and Saturday's win. But to me again, Stephen, it's, you know, the Braves offense really needing to find a foothold and find some success and whatever way possible they need to get that series win. That's two things that stand out to me. What stands out to you about this weekend series against the Rays?

00:35:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, listen, it's very funny if you look at the two teams, there's a lot of similarities. You know, the Rays were of course expected to be one of the best teams in baseball. They've been one of the best teams in baseball for the last I don't know, five seven years. You know how far back you want to go, But you know, you look at their lineup, I mean it's it's it's maybe struggling worse than the Brazz I mean, Randia rose Arena has a sub six hundred ops for the season, sub six hundred. He's got a five ninety ops right now. Brendan Lyle's got a sub seven hundred ops. Yandy Diz has a sub seven hundred ops. Jose Siri has a sub seven hundred ohps. You know, it's just a lot of that. It's a lot of really bad offense. And they've got guys who can pitch. They've always got guys that pitch. They've always got a deep bullpen. But you know, they're not a big market team. They depend on kind of their three or four really good hitters to be you know, really good hitters. And that's kind of what they haven't done this year. So and obviously Braves fans all that sounds very familiar. So, like you said, it's gonna be what offense kind of finds itself a little bit. It's gonna be good pitching. You know, the Braves have Sale going, so that always helps Charlie Morton and then and then Waldrop will see how he does for a second start. I imagine O go better than his first. But yeah, which offense can get going, the Braiz will be back home, which will be nice. But yeah, one of these offenses got to get going at some point. Hopefully it's Atlanta. They're a long long pass to Getting six runs today was a big deal. You know, sixteen played appearances with the Runners in scoring business is a good thing. Obviously you'd like to capitalize on more of them than they did today, but six runs gotta win. Hopefully they can build on time. It's been I look this up today, it's been like since the middle of April with the Braves have scored five runs and back to back games, like five five plus runs and back to back games. They did it in that series against Texas, like in middle of the middle of April where Darnault had that three homer game. That's the last time the Braves scored five plus runs in two games in a row. So, you know, they scored six today. It would be wonderful to come out tomorrow put another six seven runs on the board and just and see if you can get something, go and see if you can get hot. You know, Alex talked about this in his interview. The playoffs are still very mannered, like they're they're then the National League overall is pretty down this year. Obviously everybody knows Philly has been great. But you know, even if the Braves don't win the division, like making the playoffs is still very manageable, Like it's still in front of them. They still have a high percentage odds of making the playoffs. They just got to get going. They just got to get their guys going. That's the most important thing. Get Austin Riley going. You know, Adam de Wall all against right handers is bench just brutal. Get him going. Michael Harris is still, you know, struggling with with swinging at decent pitches, taking bad pitches. You know, hopefully this game will get Ozsie going, get mad a little more consistent. Hopefully a Zuna doesn't cool down at all, because the Rays can't afford that right now. But get their guys going. Just get your guys going and then see what happens.

00:38:31
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and you know you'd love to win this series. But at the very least, hey just have more home runs than your opponent in a series. As good as it was to see things Thursday, we still didn't see a home run. I'm trying to remember. Yeah, now, none of our runs came off a home run. Matt Olson obviously hit a big one on Wednesday, but yeah, yeah, just you know, get get get maybe out Homer your opponent. I don't care how bad they're shruggling. Just have that under your belt. So if we get a series win, we can hit more homers in the Rays. I'll take that as a great weekend, and of course, you know want to put it out there to Braves country that it's an awesome weekend for baseball. You got the Braves returning home, coming off of a needed win. You've got Drake Baldwin and Nacho Alvarez who are now at Gwennett. Nacho Alvarez hit his first home run I believe in triple a earlier today. Then of course you got the College World Series with a certain team being number one in the nation. Steven, you may not have a comment on that, but all joking Aside's gonna be a lot of fun this weekend, a ton of baseball to watch. But Steven, it's great to have you back anything else you have for us as we wrap up this edition of The Hammer Territory Podcast. A winning edition of The Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:39:38
Speaker 2: No, it's good to be home. Like I said, I appreciate all you guys covering the podcast. If you haven't checked out the episodes the last you know week or so, make sure you do that. Like I said, Scott had a great episode with Justin Toscatto of the AJC. Justin had a lot of really good insights. You should definitely go listen to that. There's been three or four episodes since I've been gone, so make sure to check them all out. We appreciate it as always, thanks for the support, it's been amazing and yeah, go.

00:40:02
Speaker 1: Brieves absolutely and also you know, hey, I know it was a week ago, but the content still there. Steven's conversation with them Mark Bowman was an awesome conversation as well. Had had a lot of insight and also some good laughs, so make sure you check that one out as well. But you can find Steven Tolbert at b Underscore Outliers on x slash Twitter. You can find me at stats a say z in the same place you can find Hammer Territory outcross all forms of social media of course, part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. And just hit that subscribe button wherever you enjoy listening to your podcast. That's what will be for free at any time that you subscribe for Steven Toilbert. My name is Sean Colman Gobraves. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast.