Some days, it’s just not your day.
Braves Diary (14/162)
Gotta make it exciting, eh?
It turns out we saw something that we’ve never seen today in the bottom of the 9th. Will Smith walked the bases loaded and struck out three batters in the same inning, got the same, and gave up no runs.
Before that, the game looked like it was pretty much in hand, even though the Braves only led 5-2 for most of the back half of the game.
I also listened to a fair part of this one on the radio, since I was out and about getting my second shot. Right now I have just a sore arm, thanks for asking.
Braves Diary (13/162)
Well, I missed the early part of this one since it started pretty early out here on the West Coast. I did see the last few innings, though.
The bullpen still seems a bit leaky for my tastes. AJ Minter entered the top of the 9th with a 5-4 lead and blew the save after walking the first batter.
Fortunately for him, me, and the Braves generally, the offense looked like a bit of its old self in the bottom of the inning. No, there wasn’t a big blast. But there was a good eye and patience from every hitting except for d’Arnaud. Ender amazingly got a hit, Acuña followed with another. Freddie coaxed a 9-pitch walk. d’Arnaud made the first out, but Albies saw four straight outside, which brought Ender home. Dansby then walked it off.
I exhaled, and the team is on to Chicago for a trio of afternoon games. I’ve got the day off tomorrow to go get my second dose of Pfizer. I’m looking forward to it.
Braves Diary (12/162)
12 games, three four-game streaks. 4 losses, 4 wins, 4 losses.
Ronald Acuña is so good right now that I need to internalize how to produce ‘ñ’ on a Windows machine. (It’s Alt+0241.) He just about won the game by himself tonight, but alas, he could not produce a clean top of the 10th out of the bullpen or do everything, as he got a chance to bat in the bottom of that inning and struck out. Believe it or not, that will happen to him sometimes.
Freddie Freeman is starting to show signs of life on this homestand, but the rest of the line is struggling in a major way. That said, they still scored 5 runs tonight. With an average pitching performance that’s still winnable, and we haven’t been getting a whole lot of those either.
Braves Diary (11/162)
Well, that didn’t go to plan.
It’s seemed like something is off about Max Fried all year. I don’t know for sure if there is really something wrong with him or if he’s just going on the IL out of an abundance of caution (yes, I am saying that not all IL assignments are above board). Either way, he may need a couple of weeks.
There were encouraging signs from the offense, but the pitching was far too generous on the evening. This going to need to be tightened up.