Braves Top Angels For Series Win, Brawl Suspensions, And More

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast. This is episode three five nine. My name is Brad Rowland and I'm joined on a Wednesday evening Deepen in the Night by my good friend Stevens Tolbert Steven. What's going on, Bradley?

00:00:34
Speaker 2: What's up, buddy? It's been a minute since you and I have done one of these. You have been the world traveler here lately. Obviously a final four for the Ages. For the Michigan fans like yourself, I'm sure that was I know you're there covering it as media, but even I'm you know, as a fan, I'm sure it was pretty freaking incredible to watch your team win a national championship. But it is good to have you home talking a little Braves. A lot's happened. It has been a crazy couple of days and country while you've been off on your travels.

00:01:04
Speaker 1: It has and obviously a successful series. Scott and I on Sunday were kind of making fun of the notion of never losing a series versus winning the series because they didn't win the last one, but they had not lost the series yet and they won this one with back to back victories over the Angels. I did become a listener to the show today. Steven and Scott anybody missed it went deep into the night on Tuesday into Wednesday to record an episode that was I don't know if that was the new record, but it was in probably the top five to ten latest episodes ever recorded. So shout out to you guys. That was a fun one.

00:01:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. I think we started recording at like twelve thirty Eastern, I don't remember. Not only was it a late game obviously was on the West coast, but it was also like a three and a half hour game, which in the pitch clock era just doesn't happen anymore, and you know, the brawl in the middle was a big part of that. But yeah, it was late night, and I think Scott got it up at like two am, maybe three am in terms of like when the actual audio went up. So appreciate everybody that stayed up. I'm guessing a lot of people listened to it this morning. But it was worth it. It was a fun show, it was a fun game. And then today we got another fun one with the Braves, kind of one going away.

00:02:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'll talk about the suspension fallout, which we got word of today. But let's just go ahead and start with the game the Braves if anybody missed it, one eight to two on Wednesday afternoon on Getaway Day, the final game of this thirteen day, thirteen game gauntlet to begin the season, and honestly, it looks like it was kind of breezy. I'll raise my hand. I wasn't watching most of this live because of day job responsibilities and things, but I did get to catch up with it and got to watch a lot of great Holmes. I'll ask you what was your biggest takeaway, because you know, a two victory, it's like, all right, rocking chair game when I saw isn't necessari way that. I mean, they pulled away along the way, but it got a little dicey in the second inning in particular. That's why where I want to start. But uh, where do you want to go with breaking down what became the series win on Wednesday?

00:03:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, they got off to a good start. They scored a couple of runs early, Grant gave Grant Holmes a lead, Ikuna had a double. They kind of did ABC Baseball got him in. I think Olsen homer after that or maybe that was later, No, that was later. They got two runs on the board, and they got to the second inning and Grant Holmes just ran into a He gave up a leadoff homer to Solaira, which was hilarious after the events of earlier in the day and last night, and then he just started walking everybody like he had all of a sudden, the bases loaded, with nobody out, he walked. I think he walked in a run, and then somehow he got out of it. He didn't give up another run after that. I don't know how he did it. And then after that the Braves were able to get back in the lead with the Olsen home run, and then and and Homes settled in. So that second inning and especially that at bat to Mike Trout, he threw a hanging slider to Mike Trout with the bases loaded. That damn near killed me because Trout, like old Trout, doesn't miss the old Trout sends that ball to the moon. This version of Trout missed it, and it kind of the game kind of switched there and the Braves kind of took control of it.

00:04:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, we would never know what would have happened if it hadn't gone exactly that way. But just to back you up in second ndying Grant Holmes, who pitched well on the hole in this game, but outside of that ten minute period. He opened the ending with the solet home run which you just mentioned, but it's even funnier considering he was literally on appeal from suspension at this moment. Then it's a walk, a single, a walk and a walk, so five straight batters either homer or reach and that it's basis loaded nobody out. It's like this is a disaster scenario, like the Braves are now probably the underdogs to win this game in general, even though they were huge favoritist moments ago. And then and then it's strikeout, fly out and then the aforementioned ground by trap that he misses. So it went from like, hey, we're up to nothing and cruising to while the Braves are real underdogs now because they're basis loaded with nobody out in the tie game to escape. And then the Braves never trailed in the game because in the top of the third is when Olsen Homer's and then they taken another one on. So it really got This game really was a roller coaster within about a twenty minute period, twenty five minute period where the entire game was basically decided because the Braves took the lead, but they could have lost it and instead you're up by three. It went from it really was about it about as big of a swing as you'll get in that short period of time.

00:05:36
Speaker 2: Well not only that, but you know, and I know you were I know you didn't see a lot of it last night, but you know, the Braves didn't have a big chunk of their bullpen available today. Glacia's pitched two innings last night. Swore as through almost thirty pitches in his outing, there were just gonna be a lot of guys down, and obviously Ronaldo Lopez got ejected in like the fourth thing.

00:05:59
Speaker 1: So yeah, I would have been a lot to cover another game like that.

00:06:02
Speaker 2: Had a lot of innings to cover today, And if Grant Holmes gets rocked in the second inning, like if Trout hits that ball over the wall or something, you know, today could have gotten away very very quickly. So not only granted getting out of that inning was somehow the game still being tied, but then going on to being able to pitch, I wanted to pitch six seven innings today or something like that. It was just massive, and then the offense obviously made the game elementary. But yeah, the whole thing switched in that bottom of the second.

00:06:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so Grant Holmes throws six and two thirds five hits, did walk three, but struck out six two runs. Like he wasn't incredible, but he really was very solid outside of that fifteen minute span essentially, And I you know, like, like I said, I was traveling last night and did not make it to two am. But it really reminded me of to having a Sale yeah two days ago, whereas like Sale was looking fine and then he suddenly had this like blow up and Holmes had that kind of trending that and then managed to damp it down beforehand, because you're right, I mean ended up. They end up covering all innings in this game with only Holmes pieumps and Jose Suarez who probably would have had it for like four innings Suarez if if not for Holmes figuring it out. So you know, in the end, it's a it's a game in which you allow two runs to keep the Braves Era sparkling, as it has been all year long. But it was also teetering so close Margins, I mean, overall, I guess really the that was the takeaway as far as the nuts of Bolts are concerned. The offense putting up eight runs is the like more encouraging factor, in particular because every single player who appeared reached base at least once. And I don't know, but I mean Olsen had the biggest swing with the home run, but Acony and Riley both looking like a cone and rally was probably the best thing. I mean, I was never worded about Ronald. I don't think you were either, but Riley reaching base three times and having and having a double is like, oh, that's that's nice to see based on everything that we've seen so far.

00:08:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, honestly, scoring eight runs the day after scoring seven runs, to me, is way more impressive than when they scored seventeen in one game.

00:08:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then and then you and then you guys called your shot to say that they wouldn't they wouldn't be scoring after that, and they didn't score after that, So they.

00:08:24
Speaker 2: Didn't score for like four games after that, and so like backing it up, and not only backing it up, but the way they scored their runs the last two days where they're moving guys, they're hitting with the runners on base, they're getting you know, they're they've even got like productive outs. They've got like multiple sacrifice flys in the last two days, the bravest you know, in the last few years will go weeks without a sacrifice fly. So and the power was still there, you know. Obviously Olsen hit the big Homer racoon. You had a couple of doubles, like Riley had a double, like the guys looking like themselves, the big guys looking like themselves, and then just scoring runs consistently, which this team hasn't done in like three years. You know, I can probably count on one hand and other times I've scored seven runs then followed up immediately with eight. So that was, Yeah, that was good to see. And obviously the big guys getting going.

00:09:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's eight runs against a you know, not overly impressive Angel switching staff, but I'm with you. Fifteen runs and back to back days, the Brads are now up to six to six runs at thirteen games. That's five runs a game. Like, I know, there was the one outlier in there with seventeen, but in general that's that's what you want to be doing. Five runs a game is a good clip to be at, and they're doing what they're gonna do. Look, it's funny. One more caveat about that seventeen run game, but the Brads are now in a tie with Dodgers for the run differential lead all visuy baseball, Like, eight and five is eight and five, and that's totally fine, and you haven't lost a series yet, but the underlying stuff is generally more positive when you are leading the league in runs allowed and your top five and run scored and like that combination is exactly what you want. Obviously, it's not breaking any new ground, but I've Scott and I both felt like conflicted on Sunday. I feel a little bit less conflicted at eight and five. I did six and four.

00:10:06
Speaker 2: Basically, well, yeah, and they you know, it's basically impossible to lose three games in a row and still have not lost a series, but the Braves kind of did it in the only way that it's physically possible, which is to lose the last two games of a four game series and then then the first game of a three game series, And so it got pretty negative there for the you know, those last three games and the offense was starting to look a lot like twenty twenty five, twenty twenty four, people were like, oh god, Austin Riley looks awful. Acuna has been one of the more unlucky hitters of baseball. I tweeted something out earlier about his expected numbers, and I'm with you. I was never really worried about Acunya. But still you want to see the guy have results. He's finally getting some results. But yeah, the Braves, you know, you kind of have to look deeper than just surface standings and stuff like that. This or early if you look at stuff like base runs, which kind of measures teams by their inputs versus their outputs, which which is what I like to use early on it. At least the Braves have been a really good team. They should have a better record than they do. I think I think they're already like minus three in terms of they should have three more wins than they actually do just based off of inputs. And that stuff gets heavy. I'm not gonna get too much into that, but the Braves, like the nuts and bolts under the hood, stuff does look good, like even if you account for the pitching probably going to take a step back, which it is almost certainly going to do. The starting pitching is not going to pitch at this level all year, especially the names. Now they might get improved performance by the fact that they get guys back healthy, but under the hood does look good like it just objectively does, and the Braves could even be in a better spot than they are now if some of their secreencing had happened differently the first ten days. So overall, yeah, I feel pretty good right now.

00:11:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, all of their wins I shouldn't say all but one of their wins so far have been by more than two rents. So when they're winning, their bludgeoning, which is good. And because normally, like you know, close games are a little bit more random, I mean brandom. I know that's so dangerous word to people that people don't like. But you know, you're gonna win something, you're gonna lose some love run games, that's just what's gonna happen sometimes. And the Braves have I believe they are zero to two in one run games and one of those was an extra ending game, So again, under the hood encouraging. So for me, I don't know, a good Wednesday, I could getaway day. I'm sure it always feels better going into a finally a day off and a long flight after a win. And uh, you know. We'll leave it there for now. But we have more discussed in a second, including the suspension fallout which was always coming to some degree after the fracas on Tuesday, plus update on Sean Murphy, a little bit of look ahead of the weekend, and more. It's coming up after a word from our partners on today's show. In the pharmaceutical world, there's no room for air quality, Cleanliness and consistency are everything. Fast and All supports pharma operations. We controlled inventory solutions, clean room ready products, and a supply chain built for traceability. Our local teams help you reduce contamination risk, eliminate surprises, and keep production moving fastenal where precision and supply means confidence in every batch.

00:13:08
Speaker 3: Want to learn more, visit fascinall dot com for Industrial Supplies and Innovative Solutions. That's f A S T E n A L dot com.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: All right, Stephen, Dealer's choice. You want to talk about the suspensions.

00:13:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's get out of the way.

00:13:25
Speaker 1: Okay, So you brought this up to me offline and I'm gonna let I'm gonna tee you up for it. It was this weird timing thing because it got announced today on Wednesday that both Ronald Lopez and race Layer got seven game suspensions and undisclosed fines. The league announced that, and then within hours it was the appeal was done and Lopez the suspension was dropped from seven to five. Yeah, and obviously that's good news for the Braves, right that. We'll talk about talk about that in a second as far as the fallout as concerned. But when we were talking about so offline, you were mentioning like why not just wait till the appeal's done? Like, I don't know this, it doesn't really make sense to me. It's like this false start to where like everyone's talking aout this whole round of stories about seven game suspensions, We're all doing the math on okay, what is going to mean for retition, and then similarly, minutes later it's like, no, never mind five.

00:14:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was like forty five minutes later they draw they like released, oh, we've already I guess listened to the appeal, made our decision, and here's the like just wait just give me the final number. I don't need the whole like the recipe to get there. But yeah, So I saw some people and I saw the Foul Territory guys talking about this earlier today on their show, and I specifically wanted to listen to their show because that's two catchers that are on that show and their perspective on like a brawl, especially when the catcher, you know, the catcher's role in that stuff. It was it was interesting to me. But I saw them talking about this, and I saw Brace fans talking about this as well, but not really understanding why Ronaldo would be spended or be fine, because you know, technically Solaire charged the mound and like there should just be a certain level, like I should be able to if a grizzly bear runs at me, I should be able to defend myself, Like it's not one of my I'm just supposed to tie my hands behind my back and let him beat the hell out of me. Like no, But if you go back and actually watch the video, Ronaldo actually does walk off the mound and like step towards Solaire and then he's kind of got his arms out and then Solara kind of charged, so like both guys approached one another, and I think the I think the reason that Ronaldo was ejected from the game, what the umpire told, what weiss, was because he left the mount, because he stepped towards home plate. Ronaldo also was hitting Solair in the head with the baseball, which is like, you're gonna probably get suspended for that, Like you can't use the baseball as a literal weapon. I've never seen that. I mean, last night's brawl was a ten out of ten, like never in my life, for a number of reasons. One Ronaldo going full fight with his glove and the ball still on both hands. I've never seen that, and then using the ball as a weapon hitting a Solert literally in the head in the helmet, which hitting a guy with your pitching hand in the helmet, It's just another level of crazy. But I always expected Ronaldo to get to get suspended, Like I was not shocked by this. It's usually the equivalent of one start for a pitcher, which is essentially what this is. So nothing about today, other than them releasing the number the games suspended and then forty five minutes later updating it, none of that really surprised.

00:16:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I know you guys covered a lot of this last night. I the takeaway still for me is what Weiss's form tackle that was legend. That was stuff of legend and also in a more serious, slightly more serious fashion. I loved Weiss's comments post game. I think he did a great job with all of it. Basically. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I I understand people don't want Renaldo was suspended. I never thought that was ever gonna be a possibility, Like, and at no point after watching that that I think Renaldo will get off Scott free. I don't know if it was gonna be the same suspension for both guys, Like that's up for debate, but there was pretty much no scenario where he wasn't gonna get suspended, I thought after watching the way that went down.

00:17:20
Speaker 2: So yeah, And I'll say this about Walt's comments, which you just mentioned, and I think what you're talking about is really tired. Where he was talking about his relationship was so lair. The only way you can tackle a human being like that is if you have a pretty good relationship with him.

00:17:32
Speaker 1: He was him down after the game, was like after the whole thing slowed down. He was like they were like love you not lovey dovey, but they were like totally fine. You know what I mean, Walt doesn't.

00:17:40
Speaker 2: If Walt doesn't have a relationship with Solaire and he tackles him, Solaire's gonna pick him up.

00:17:45
Speaker 1: Well, he wouldn't.

00:17:45
Speaker 2: Is just gonna be a second brawl.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: And he wouldn't have though, Like I mean, you know what I mean, Like I know Walt wall Scotton Street cut right now, which for good reason, and he has the background and all that stuff, but I don't think if that was a player he didn't know, that would have been out.

00:18:01
Speaker 2: And then what he said after the game was like I will never let one of my pitchers throw it a guy, yeah, because he can't get him out, which is what I love to heart. I hate this old school like if a guy hits a homer off, you you gotta you gotta have him wear one, Like that's the whole crap we went through with a Kunya and a Raino the Marlins a few years ago. Like I hate that stuff, and I'm glad Walt said that. And if you watch the circumstances of the game and Scott and I went through this last night. There was no planet where Ronaldo was throwing it. So the pitch he hit him on was a like a two two pitches, like the sixth pitch of the at bat, which you don't hit somebody on the sixth pitch of the if if you're mad they hit a homer off you, you're gonna hit him on the first pitch of the at bat or the second. You're gonna try and then try again. So he wasn't. I in no way believe Ronaldo was trying to hit Solaire. But I'm one hundred percent agreement with you. I love his comments like we're never gonna be that, We're never gonna let guys just throw it hitters just because we can't get him out, because I I agree with that, Like philosophically, that's how it should be.

00:19:04
Speaker 1: I agree for sure. And you know now that we know, you know, processed stuff aside, we know it's five games. The Braves, I think Grant McCaulay I saw, tweeted out the produced suspension and one of the top replies was like, wait, an off day? What does an off day look like? In joking fashion, because the Braves have not had an off day. Yet their first off day of the season is Thursday, as people are probably listening or watching this podcast. But because it's not five games and you get the off day, he might not He actually isn't going to miss a start if they follow what they could. Now they the Brave's not said that they're going to do this, but if you do the logical progression, you could, you know, Holmes pitch today. You could basically go off day, Bryce Elder, Martine Pez, Chris Saale, Grant Holmes on Monday on regular rest, four days rest, and then you and that that's five games and then you go back to Lopez. So again they've not said that, but I mean, there's a world in which this just doesn't impact the Braves at all. Like this that would have been the normal. I mean literally, other than flip flopping one day of Holmes and Lopez, that's the only impact. If the Braves want to get one little back on the mount as soon as possible.

00:20:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, if anything, it's probably gonna cost some of the guys, like they would have had an extra day's rest with the off day, Like everybody would have been pushed back a day. And now everybody's probably gonna end up still pitching on four days rest.

00:20:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, Holmes is really the only one. Like even then, like everybody else should be kind of back to where they Holmes is the one. It's gonna lose a day.

00:20:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then you're also not allowed to replace him on the roster and.

00:20:44
Speaker 1: That's that's that's the short But even then, like it's a starting pitcher, so yeah, you weren't going to do that anyway, he wasn't gonna be there for those five days. I don't know, it's uh if.

00:20:53
Speaker 2: I it's pretty it's it's it's a it's always a bigger deal for the position player than the pitcher, just based on a number of game. Now, in terms of impact of game, it's relatively the same because a hitter only gets fourd bats and a handful of defensive appearances, and a starting pitcher has a much bigger impact on the one game he's playing. But yeah, it's a bigger deal for the position player. And I didn't hear so Lair. I'm assuming Solaiir is going to appeal. He's gonna have a tougher time because he's the one that charges the mound. But we'll see what happens, but yeah, it's it's gonna have a pretty minimal impact on the Braves in terms.

00:21:25
Speaker 1: Of Yeah, the initial report was that he was appealing. I never saw if he got a reduced ruling or not today, so my apologies on that.

00:21:31
Speaker 3: But.

00:21:33
Speaker 1: No, I mean it's ironic because the Brives just played this thirteen game thirteen day stretch. If this happened a week ago, it would have impacted them a lot more. They would have had to call up a sixth I mean, they would have had to go with, you know, a Pupen game or call up someone from the miners and maybe we would have gotten a gr Richie or did your font test start, which would have been more exciting for some people but including me. But you know, because of when it happened as well, it's kind of business as usual. I will say, before I forget to say this, I saw Didier was like pretty dominant today in Gwinett six shinnings and like just didn't even get touched, which is encouraging. It doesn't change anything for the short term plan, I don't think. Because the Braves area announced probables for the weekend and one of them is Martine Pez so I don't think that there's gonna a change coming this weekend, but I love to see did your front test pitching? Well I didn't watch that start, but hey, I trust what I've been told by people that did, so there's that.

00:22:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Scott. It was either Scott and I or Sean and I can't remember talked about this, but I think, and it's just my opinion, I've not heard this. I think if Spencer Strider wasn't so close to coming back and taking that fifth starter spot, then Didyer would have been a real candidate for being in the rotation for the first month of the season. I don't think the Braves really want to do the like jerk him around Gwinnett Atlanta, Gwinette Atlanta like they've done guys in the past, and Strider like being at least somewhat close to coming back, I you know, we have to actually see him pitch in minor le games and get built back up. I don't want to say it's like imminent, but I do think if if there was a longer potential hole in that fifth spot in the rotation then there currently is. I do think we'd see fint because Wintez is like as ready as you can probably be for a picture at least, Like it's not position players where you let you make them force your hand like pictures. Once they get to triple A and start striking people out at this level what he did in spring training, like did hear, is ready to be in the majors at this point, at least ready for another shot at it. He might not succeed, but he's ready for another shot at it. I think the Braves are just one, you know, trying to protect their depth with Martin Perez, and two they know striders coming back relatively soon and they don't want to jerk the kid around, which I don't necessarily disagree with. Though if I if Martin Perez gets lit up again on Saturday or whatever day it is, you know, ask me again, my opinion might change. But for right now I do kind of get the logic of what they're doing.

00:24:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree for the record. Other kind of this is kind of kind of a I shouldn't say slow because a lot of things happened yesterday, which you guys covered since then. The only other real news is that Sean Murphy is officially going to begin his rehab assignment in Gwinnett's, which is of course down the street if you're not familiar with the local geography. And I believe it's going to be happening as soon as Friday. Friday's not yeah Fridays, the Fridays down today, and with someone like Murphy like, he doesn't have to be down that long. I I don't know when we'll see Murphy in Atlanta, but it won't be long, I don't think. But once he starts playing games in Gwinnette at Triple A, when it's thirty minutes down the road, I don't think he's going to be long for the Miners unless something goes wrong. That's my that that they've not said that, But that's just when a guy like this established gets on the field in games at Triple A, like they didn't send him to Rome or anything like, he's you know, it's going to be pretty quick, I think, would be my guess.

00:24:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and him not having literally any kind of spring training probably means he's going to be down for at least a week.

00:25:05
Speaker 1: I would say, just yeah, I was guessing. I was guessing a week, just just like they were doing the same game stuff. They were all mentioning, like I think even what was like he didn't have spring. It's very very plainly like he just didn't have any at bats. That's all that is. But I don't know. I don't think he's gonna be there. Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe I will certainly wear.

00:25:24
Speaker 2: A lot of it, A lot of It's going to come down to the hip as well, like how does the hip respond to playing nine innings and being in a in a catcher's crouch for nine innings?

00:25:32
Speaker 1: That is the that is the deal with him. I mean hopefully, Look, I'm I'm pro Shaw Murphy. Hopefully he's actually honest with the medical staff. You can't assume that anymore. I guess with Sean Murphy, who just didn't tell anybody who's hurt for a year. But yeah, you're right, it's it's a different thing to be in a game. I mean, I know it's triple A playing in a game, catching in particular in a game is a different beast. But uh, he'll be back soon enough. And look, I Jona hint has been fine. He can't hit. That's just like what it is. So it would be nice to have.

00:26:07
Speaker 2: I do think there's a chance they keep him. I do think there's a chance they might go with three catchers.

00:26:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, somebody asked me that the other day and I kind of felt the same, Like there is a world, I mean, that is an optimal roster management. But especially when you like have basically just announced that you're gonna play Trick Bulbin every single day in some way, which is understandable with how good he is, and it's with the DH like you can get away with it a lot easier than you used to be able to get away with it.

00:26:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, like Kyle Farmers like like appeared in like one game, So like you, you very clearly have an opportunity where you could run three catchers. I've thought, I mean ever since the offseason war was very obvious they were gonna use catchers as dhs as much as they were going to, especially after the profile news, I thought there's a chance they could carry three just for that, just for the mechanics of that alone, where where you're a lot of the times having a catcher DH, it's just easier to do three catchers, and when you have a position player on your bench that's barely playing anyways, We'll see what they do I could. You know, you can go the other way as well, but I would not be don't be surprised at all. They keep three.

00:27:10
Speaker 1: I didn't realize this. He's actually played, He's actually appeared in three games. I don't I don't know what he did in those three games. He only has two plays I.

00:27:16
Speaker 2: Miss I missed all three of them. Apparently, I don't.

00:27:20
Speaker 1: Even know what that guy looks fill in phil in duty. He played well. Both his play appearances were in the first week. I think anyway, it doesn't really matter. But yeah, it would not shock me if we see him stick around. But that's a seven for another day. But Murphy's coming back, coming close. We will see. That's really the only bit of actual news. I don't know, Steven, I have I have a question. What have you enjoyed more in the last two days, the Braves win in two games comfortably or the Phillies not scoring a single run in two days?

00:27:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I always enjoy a good negative Philly stat. And listen, they had a rough opening week too. They had a home stand against the Rangers and the Nationals or something like that, and got lost both series and they couldn't score. I've had questions about that team. The rotation. You know, Zach Wheeler has not looked good. Like he's thrown like ninety one miles an hour right now. The offense looks poor. I will always take the Braves scoring fifteen runs in two games, because that's just a sight for sore eyes. It's been like three years since we've seen this offense consistently perform, So give me that all day. But I love a good Phillies bash stat anytime you have one.

00:28:42
Speaker 1: Slightly tongue in cheek, but I just had to mention that the Phillies haven't scored a run in two days, which I only honestly knew because of their of the online meltdown that was happening in Philadelphia. I have a lot of people that I follow that are Phillies adjacent, and they were not enjoying themselves over the last two days. Of course, I take pleasure in on some level. The weekend series begins Friday after the afore mentioned off day. The Guardian's come to town. They have the same record as the Braves. They are eight and five. The Brids are eight and five. Cleveland's always like pretty good, you know what I mean, They're not a great team. They don't spend a lot of money, so they're always kind of like on the margins. They're like the worst version of the Brewers in the American League, basically like kind of figuring it out pitching and making it happen. But that's a decent baseball team. They are better certainly than that the teams the Braves just saw. They're better than the Angels. They are, you know, I think probably better than the Royals. Arizona's kind of comparable, maybe just to Cleveland. I don't know, we can we can get lost in that. But it's also it's one of those series that does not, you know, line up terribly for the Braves. Pitching wise. They will see Tanner Beebe, who's pretty good on Sunday, but that he's against Crysale Sale. I believe, as you said last night on this particular show, I can't imagine him not pitching well on Sunday. But yeah, we'll find out. Oh, by the way, we'll probably talk about the game between now and then. Sunday is the first Braves game on NBC National NBC broadcast Sunday night prime time. The old ESPN slot is now an NBC slot, and that's the first time that Braves will have that slots on Sunday, it's leaving Braves.

00:30:26
Speaker 2: Guardians is the first one.

00:30:28
Speaker 1: It's Braves, I mean Braves and anybody. You know. It's behind the Yankees and Dodgers. Braves are like next on the list of preferable national TV t maybe the Red Sox, but like they're definitely top five solidly because they just bring their own audience. You know, it's like a built in million people literally that just will watch because the Raves are on, So that's always helpful.

00:30:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Guardians always remind me of like the Reds, maybe because they're both Red, but like they can't score typically.

00:30:57
Speaker 1: They're both red and the same state, so that was date.

00:31:02
Speaker 2: They don't spend any money. They you know, they're always having to like find diamonds in the rough. I looked at the pitchers the the Guardians would throw it. I've heard of one of them. I've heard of Tanner Bebe. I've literally never heard of the other two guys. So not not that the Braves have like their best guys going either, but yeah, it's at home. The Guardians have a hard time scoring runs. They do go through little I mean, they still have Josie Ramirez, who's a monster, but that's a series you. I mean again, the pitching matchups aren't like amazing. The Sunday night ones by far the best.

00:31:35
Speaker 1: But well, and the worst one for the Braves is probably Saturday. Parker Messik is a guy who's not a big name, but who is like a twenty five year old lefty who was good last year in a small sample size and was good in his first two starts this year, so like he might be good. I don't know if he is for sure. I won't claim to be an expert on that, but he's facing Martin Perez and he's a lefty, which the Bridge are not set to bash right there. So I think the least favorable game on paper it is not the Right Elder game, which is interesting because Bryce has been good and they're facing a lesser picture on paper on Friday Night. So I think if there's one to circle that's a danger spot on paper where things are often not won and lost, is Saturday Martine Press.

00:32:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's a it's a you would expect a two out of three, Like that's what you go in because Bryce Elder has been actually fantastic.

00:32:27
Speaker 1: It has been, and we keep shouting him out it it's for a good reason. I hope you can do it again. Every once in a while, people some I don't even know if it's people. Someone will ask us or maybe yell at us that we are like reading for the team to do badly to make ourselves right, and that's just never how we are on this podcast. Like I would I said this on the show the other day, you would agree. I'm sure if Bryce is a young vote getter this year, I'll be thrilled. I will be dead wrong, but I'll be thrilled. Same thing I'm always. I like to be right, for sure, but I want to be right in the right direction. I don't want to be right by saying that somebody's not gonna go well.

00:33:03
Speaker 3: So, like I.

00:33:07
Speaker 2: Say all the time, I will gladly crow if I I mean, we you know, we do give opinions about players, like I guess we could come on here and every every question just say, well, I don't know, we'll see, but you know.

00:33:19
Speaker 1: That's which we have to do sometimes.

00:33:21
Speaker 2: But yeah, but every once in a while, you want to give an opinion, you know, and if they're if it's wrong. It's wrong.

00:33:26
Speaker 1: You know.

00:33:26
Speaker 2: I gave on Michael Harris's opinion a couple of years ago that I thought the guy would be an MVP candidate, and he was like the worst player in baseball the next year. So like, we're wrong, We're wrong all the time. Like it happens, I don't. I would listen. Bryce Olver wants to go win a cy Young or make an All Star team, sign me up right now. I'll take it, especially the way the health of this rotation looks. If if talking to Greg Maddox and that was a big story the last couple of days, Bryce Elder apparently had this big, you know, kind of awakening with Greg Maddox about how to use a slider if that, if that is actually gonna work, and Bryce Elder is like a really good picture. I am all aboard. I will buy a jersey. I will be the biggest price over fan you will ever find.

00:34:08
Speaker 1: Yep, we are aligned on that. And in general, like the pitching staff being as good as it is. I you said this earlier, I agree, like they're it would be shocking if the Braves pitchers have to not regress because they are literally number one in the league right now, in the major leagues right now in e RA as a team that's everything.

00:34:26
Speaker 2: What's the team FIP right now?

00:34:28
Speaker 1: I don't have it in front of me. It's a lot higher than the IRA. Let me pull it up. But I say all that like, they don't have to regress. It does not mean they have to be bad. So the team FIP is like in the load of mid three, it's like three point three point three right now, three point four, which is still good. They're there, this is coming into today, so this is not include today. Let me do the old refresh live stats on fangrafts. This is Ribboning Podcast Radio. Yeah, three point three PIP, which is again good. There's seventh in the majors in FIP. That's not two point zero five era where they are right now, So there is some aggression built in there, but hey, PHIP is more of an indication of what the quality has been. For instance, Renald is a good example of this. Right Obviously we're not all got a lot of talk about the brawl, but he's pitching with an ERA of like one and a fifth of like five. Like, I don't know which one of those is more real, but neither one of those is real. I don't think. I don't think. I don't think. I don't think he's a five era pitcher. I don't think he's the one URI pitcher. That's one of those we'll have to see. But seventh Pricelder, like Pricelder has a zero R right now, I don't think he's gonna keep that hot take.

00:35:36
Speaker 2: So, and you do have to factor like the level of competition the Brakes have played, I don't know. I don't know relative the rest of the league. The Brads have played a relatively easy schedule to start YEA, they have not played any I don't know if they've played anybody that would you would currently consider a like lock to be a playoff team. The Diamondbacks are probably the closest, depending on how I guess how you feel about the Royals, But the Guardians are probably the best team they've gonna play in that regard where I can very easily see the Guardians being in the playoffs, So you know this will be a test. The Marlins have played really well and that's who they have coming in after the Guardians, So yeah, you have to factor in the schedule. I do think the pitching is going to regress, but I also think the offense is going to improve just organically as well. So just because even if the pitching does regress, that doesn't necessarily mean that the level of the play from the team goes down. It can actually go up. I just think it might look different, but I you know, again, we talked that we opened the show with this under the hood stuff like I am encouraged and a Kunya and Riley looking much more like Acunyan Riley. I'm super encouraged. You know, Murphy's gonna come back pretty soon. I'm I feel pretty good right now overall.

00:36:48
Speaker 1: Two and can be famous last words, but I do feel yeah, pretty good. Yeah, we can leave it there for now. Steven on a shorten episode because it's my fault with recording Lyne, I had to cover the Hawks Cleveland, by the way, a lot of Atlanta Cleveland. Right now, the Hawks play the Calves twice in three days. They have probably gonna be a playoff serious I should estion they probably potentially a playoff series between the between the Calves and the Hawks and now Braves Guardians. So if you're if you know anybody in Cleveland, you're in a rivalry for the next week plus with the Caves.

00:37:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, shout out to the This is a Braves podcast, but it's also you know, a lot of Atlanta people shout out to the Hawks. Right, incredible turn around the second half. They're going to be a playoff team. It looks like they're going to actually be outside or you know, in the normal playoffs and not even in the play in which I don't remember last time.

00:37:32
Speaker 1: Though, I don't follow the Hawks closely, Steven, so I don't know anything about that.

00:37:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you're famously famously don't know anything about.

00:37:39
Speaker 1: The Apologies for the delayed podcast. That's that's because I had to cover a game site. That's it happens, man, I I the I shouldn't say the toughest. The most interesting time for me on this podcast is the times when the Hawks are still playing, which means yeah, October, which which didn't matter this last year because the Braves were not the playoffs, and until the Hawks lose the beginning of the season. Once the Hawks are done playing, I'm not rooming for that, but I'm kind of double dutying more often than not.

00:38:09
Speaker 2: But what are they They're like the fifth They're like the.

00:38:12
Speaker 1: Sixth seeds currently the five seed in the East. As we're talking, people don't care. But five seed Atlanta versus Cleveland rivalry for the next week plus. If you're a Hawks fan, I host a Hawks podcast, so it's called Lot on Hawks to find it. Steven, thank you for being here staying up late with me on a Wednesday evening into Thursday. Folks can find you on Twitter. You are by far the best live tweeter on this podcast. I'll tell you that right now about the Atlanta Braves, be underscore outliars.

00:38:41
Speaker 2: Correct, Yes, be underscore Outliars. Sean has been away doing some personal stuff. He'll be back soon. Brad's been winning a national championship, being Scott had been hold down the four. But we're gonna have the whole team back here pretty soon. And listen, the season is now just fully repped up, like we're past the opening week and we're past all the new stuff. We're just in full season mode and I'm I'm absolutely thrilled. I can't wait. The team does look pretty good right now, and we'll be here to cover it all.

00:39:12
Speaker 1: We will be, indeed, So please please please subscribe to Hammer Territory anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, et cetera, ratings and reviews, comments, all that fun stuff. And tell your friends. If you are a Braves fan, which i'msureing you are for listening to this podcast, you might know some other Braves fans. Perhaps, how about just sending a link to the podcast. Hey, this is a good podcast, Share it with somebody. If they give us a chance and they don't like it, that's cool. But how they give us a chance, we appreciate it. Thank you, Thank you again to Steven, shout out to Sean, shout us to Scott, thank you for listening as always, and we'll see everybody next time.