Braves Ride Dominic Smith’s Walk-Off Grand Slam To Opening Series Win
Brad Rowland and Scott Coleman co-host Episode 353 of the Hammer Territory Podcast, breaking down the first weekend of the 2026 season for the Atlanta Braves. Topics include a pair of wins over the Kansas City Royals, Dominic Smith's walk-off grand slam, Reynaldo Lopez getting his velocity back, Didier Fuentes rolling, "one of those days" on Sunday afternoon, and much more.
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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hambord's Territory podcast.
Speaker 1: This is episode three five three. My name is Brad
Speaker 1: Roland and I'm joined on this Sunday evening edition of
Speaker 1: the podcast my good friend Scott Coleman, and I'll wait
Speaker 1: as long as I possibly can talk about college basketball. Scott,
Speaker 1: how are you on the Sunday.
Speaker 2: Evening Hello, Brad. I'm doing great because baseball is back
Speaker 2: in our lives and the Braves had a good weekend
Speaker 2: all things considered. We will of course talk about those
Speaker 2: games on the show and some other news and notes
Speaker 2: that have popped up. But hey, a two in one
Speaker 2: weekend to start the year. Of course, the Braves lost
Speaker 2: on Sunday because we always record on Sundays, and goodness
Speaker 2: we never get wins on Sundays. But it's just one
Speaker 2: of those things. At this point, I guess will have
Speaker 2: to live with it. But overall, a lot of good
Speaker 2: and maybe a little bit of bad this weekend, and
Speaker 2: we're of course going to dig into all of it.
Speaker 1: Absolutely mostly good. A successful weekend for the Braves, a
Speaker 1: series victory if anybody missed it. By the way, Scott
Speaker 1: and I did a breakdown of the opener on Friday night.
Speaker 1: That is still relevant to listen to right now, so
Speaker 1: we will talk to that game anymore today. Probably maybe
Speaker 1: included some big picture stuff, but that is in the
Speaker 1: podcast feed right now. We are also Hamer Territory. We
Speaker 1: are part of the Foul Territory podcast network. We cover
Speaker 1: the Braves all year round, including right now and Scott.
Speaker 1: As we dive into the opening weekend series, we're going
Speaker 1: to mix it up, engineered by our friends at fasten All.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes we might dive into the Sunday game first. It's
Speaker 1: the most recent thing that happened, but not today because
Speaker 1: Saturday's game was crazy enough to where I don't know
Speaker 1: about you. I think I got like seven people saying
Speaker 1: are we doing a podcast? And we don't often do
Speaker 1: Saturday night podcasts because the Braves often play Sunday afternoons,
Speaker 1: so it's like kind of a you know, the timeline
Speaker 1: all that stuff. But I was tempted if we weren't
Speaker 1: in college basketball mode. I know you were watching your
Speaker 1: team in big fashion on Saturday night. I was at
Speaker 1: a Hawks game, so it was really not tenable, but
Speaker 1: it was an awesome game on Saturday, so we kind
Speaker 1: of have to start there. I feel like the Braves,
Speaker 1: if anybody missed it, we're down two to nothing going
Speaker 1: to the ninth inning, and then all hell broke loose
Speaker 1: in a positive direction for the Braves. So I know
Speaker 1: we were in different spots, But what was your reaction
Speaker 1: to that? Kind of that's one of those moments like
Speaker 1: during the course of season that you kind of don't
Speaker 1: forget and it's almost like weird that it happened so early,
Speaker 1: but it was a wild one. And shout out to
Speaker 1: Dominic Smith for being the hero of the weekend.
Speaker 2: My big takeaway was you could probably count on one
Speaker 2: hand the entire number of games that we had like
Speaker 2: Saturday nights last season. Like we know, the Braves could
Speaker 2: not win a close game. Comeback wins we're few and
Speaker 2: far between. Braves team that basically didn't score for eight
Speaker 2: innings and really didn't have a ton of opportunities to
Speaker 2: be honest, to kind of steal a game in the
Speaker 2: ninth inning and drop six runs with a walk off
Speaker 2: grand slam, that's just not something that you won see
Speaker 2: a whole lot in two. Comeback wins like that really
Speaker 2: add up over the course of a season. It was
Speaker 2: really nice it guaranteed a series victory. Nobody wanted to
Speaker 2: start the year losing a series to the Royals, who
Speaker 2: are a decent team but not a great one by
Speaker 2: any means. Really, just a cool moment, as we learn
Speaker 2: more after the game. Just an amazing moment for Dom Smith,
Speaker 2: who was of course the hero on Saturday Night.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, first, you know, yas drugs in the
Speaker 1: first run, Harris runs in the second one with a rocket,
Speaker 1: with a rocket up the middle. Harris is the game
Speaker 1: time single actor hits the pitcher. It's kind of a
Speaker 1: I think everybody made the same joke like that would
Speaker 1: have been a double play last year, and everyone understood that.
Speaker 1: It was like one of those things that broke in
Speaker 1: the right direction for once for the Braves. And then
Speaker 1: Dom Smith literally in his Braves debut. We've talked about
Speaker 1: him a few times over the last few weeks, but
Speaker 1: he had never played with the Braves before we knew
Speaker 1: he was going to start the game against the right
Speaker 1: handed picture all those things. I thought it was also interesting,
Speaker 1: kind of synergistic that he kind of was up with
Speaker 1: the best scoring opportunity that the Braves had in the
Speaker 1: game before that and did not come through back in
Speaker 1: the fifth inning and just kind of let the tension build.
Speaker 1: And people know by now almost certainly that are listening
Speaker 1: to this or watching this, that he had a walk
Speaker 1: off grand slam and it was the Braves' first walk
Speaker 1: off grand slam since the Brooks Conrad game that I know,
Speaker 1: Sickers remember, I know you, and I remember back in
Speaker 1: twenty ten. That was a crazy comeback win. And the
Speaker 1: crazier like not even just Braves thing is. According to
Speaker 1: a Elive Sports Bureau which has you know, like the Beacons
Speaker 1: of all stats, Don Smith is the first player in
Speaker 1: the history of Major League Baseball to hit a walk
Speaker 1: off grand slam in his first game with a team. Obvious,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of qualifiers, but man, that's anytime you
Speaker 1: make major League baseball history, which is like you know, one
Speaker 1: haldor fifty years of baseball, like that just speaks to
Speaker 1: how outrageous this whole thing was before you even get
Speaker 1: to the personal side of it, which is also awesome
Speaker 1: for Dob Smith and crazy and emotional all those things,
Speaker 1: but man, what a time, like what a crazy way
Speaker 1: for a game number two of the season to.
Speaker 2: End well, and you know, to get to dom Smith,
Speaker 2: I thought, basically everybody in the lineup put together a
Speaker 2: really good at bat. There was Ozzie Drew a walk
Speaker 2: that was really important. We mentioned Mike Kistremsky, and man,
Speaker 2: it's only been a couple of games, but Mike Kistremsky
Speaker 2: is a professional hitter. Like big fan, big, big fan
Speaker 2: of what Mike can do, great hand eye coordination. Of course,
Speaker 2: he got it all going with the first run in
Speaker 2: and then similar to what I said a minute ago
Speaker 2: about the twenty twenty five Braves not winning many games
Speaker 2: like the one on Saturday night, sometimes the ball just
Speaker 2: has to bounce your way a little bit, and that's
Speaker 2: what happened when Michael Harris lined that ball up the middle,
Speaker 2: and I couldn't tell if it hit the pitcher or
Speaker 2: if it like ricocheted weirdly off the mound and then
Speaker 2: the pitcher. I don't know either way. It was perfect
Speaker 2: because if that ball gets through it was very likely
Speaker 2: going to Bob Witch Junior, who was shaded up the middle.
Speaker 2: He steps on second base, throws the first and the
Speaker 2: game is over. So there was a couple of things
Speaker 2: that needed to go perfectly right and they did. And
Speaker 2: we will absolutely take it and set the stage for
Speaker 2: Dom Smith. There the chance to be a hero, and
Speaker 2: here he was obviously. I mean, and this is the
Speaker 2: part that we could have known in the moment. No
Speaker 2: one knew in the moment. We didn't on the.
Speaker 1: Outside, but Don Smith lost his mother thirteen days prior,
Speaker 1: and everyone around the team knew it. And there was
Speaker 1: lots of stories being written. I know Gave Burns wrote
Speaker 1: one for the AJC and talks about you know, Dom's quote.
Speaker 1: So I'll read this to you now. He says, this
Speaker 1: is Tom via Gabe. This team is just so awesome.
Speaker 1: I'm so blessed because of the love they showed me.
Speaker 1: Every day I've come in. They're asking about her, asking
Speaker 1: about her well being, My well being. That's all they
Speaker 1: really cared about. They didn't care about baseball end quote.
Speaker 1: So that's a number one encouraging I like, you know,
Speaker 1: supporting it to you know, you never know how guys
Speaker 1: are going to be, but we're on the outside. It's
Speaker 1: encouraging to me. It's heartwarming to be that like the
Speaker 1: Braves clubhouses like that. It's obviously early in the season,
Speaker 1: but that's a cool thing. And just the fact that
Speaker 1: he was the hero on this night when he's going
Speaker 1: through all his personal tragedy, and that's what we can
Speaker 1: use for it. So it's powerful. I don't want to
Speaker 1: make it obviously baseball is not as big of a
Speaker 1: deal as that, but they provided him a night or
Speaker 1: a week or a moment of you know, joy that's
Speaker 1: worth it even beyond the baseball. So a cool, cool
Speaker 1: thing that happened for the Braves on Saturday Night.
Speaker 2: And we've talked about on the show, especially once we
Speaker 2: knew that Jerkson Profar was not going to be part
Speaker 2: of this team. But Tom Smith is going to play,
Speaker 2: or at least we hope he is going to play
Speaker 2: a big role on this team as probably your primary
Speaker 2: DH most nights against right handed pitching. And you know,
Speaker 2: again we've talked about Tom Smith that folks missed those episodes.
Speaker 2: Over his career, he's had some highs and he's had
Speaker 2: some lows. And in twenty twenty five with the Giants,
Speaker 2: he hit right handed pitching quite well. And that's just
Speaker 2: kind of what you're hoping for as this team has
Speaker 2: had to pick up the pieces with Profar suspended for
Speaker 2: the entire season. You know what, man, you take it,
Speaker 2: You take the win, you take the moment really such
Speaker 2: a powerful moment, especially, I know that quote that you
Speaker 2: just read was really powerful and touching and just kind
Speaker 2: of added a cherry on top. And I'm sure it's
Speaker 2: been just a brutal last couple of weeks for Dom
Speaker 2: and and you said it exactly right. The fact that
Speaker 2: this clubhouse has a real culture to it and a
Speaker 2: care about it. I think those things add up, both
Speaker 2: on the field and off. It was it was nice
Speaker 2: to see and again, just a really fun game and
Speaker 2: a great moment for Dom Smith.
Speaker 1: Absolutely so history being made, a fun one for the fans.
Speaker 1: A comeback that early in the season in a game
Speaker 1: that you know, I wasn't I was following it. I
Speaker 1: didn't write it all off. They're done by two runs,
Speaker 1: but you know, expart him to win it. So that
Speaker 1: was a crazy thing and we had to leave with
Speaker 1: that because it was by far in Dom Smith's name
Speaker 1: was the big name for the weekend. A lot of
Speaker 1: those things happened, but that weekend belongs to Dom Smith.
Speaker 1: In a second, Scott, we'll dive into the rest of
Speaker 1: what happened on Saturday, Sunday, big picture stuff, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But that will wrap up our mix it Up segment today,
Speaker 1: answered by our friends at Fastenal. Fastenal Industrial supplies innovative solutions.
Speaker 1: If you want to learn more, visit Fastenal dot com. Okay, Scott,
Speaker 1: let us discuss Ronaldo Lopez still sitting on a Saturday game.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of angst perhaps wonder perhaps about
Speaker 1: what Renaldo might look like, because if people missed it,
Speaker 1: then maybe it weren't down In last week he had
Speaker 1: a scary spring training outing where Ronaldo was sitting like
Speaker 1: eighty nine with the fastball, and basically everyone around the
Speaker 1: team knows he can't do that and be successful. Even
Speaker 1: Alex at Thoughtoulos on the radio was like, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: not going to work basically, But there was reporting Alex
Speaker 1: said the same thing about how something happened in the
Speaker 1: bullpen session where they fixed it mechanically with Ronaldo and
Speaker 1: his velocity just suddenly returned. I'd love to be a
Speaker 1: fly on the wall to figure out how you suddenly
Speaker 1: get six miles an hour back in your fastball over
Speaker 1: one second, but hey, apparently it happened. And long story short,
Speaker 1: Renald Lopez wasn't incredible on Saturday, but he pitched at
Speaker 1: a level that was, let's just say, very very encouraging
Speaker 1: compared to what we would have looked like on the
Speaker 1: few days before that.
Speaker 2: Everybody had their eyes on that radar gun. Reading the
Speaker 2: very first pitch of the game and sitting ninety five
Speaker 2: in the first and averaged ninety four and a half
Speaker 2: with his fastball was really encouraging, because I mean, I'll
Speaker 2: be honest, I'll raise my hand when when we all
Speaker 2: saw that Ronaldo's philosity was down so much in that
Speaker 2: last spring start, and then they came the report of well,
Speaker 2: they fixed a mechanical issue in a bullpen session, and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden he was throwing five miles harder. Truthfully,
Speaker 2: I didn't really know what to make of it. I
Speaker 2: really didn't buy it. But they were right. I mean,
Speaker 2: clearly there was something wrong, and credit to the coaching
Speaker 2: staff and the front office guys who probably dug real
Speaker 2: deep to try to figure out what was going wrong
Speaker 2: just one start. But it was encouraging. I think you
Speaker 2: said it perfectly. A good night from Ronaldo one that
Speaker 2: he seems to be mostly healthy. Six innings, three hits,
Speaker 2: two walks. But if you're looking to be mystic or
Speaker 2: hoping for areas of growth. Only three strikeouts and he
Speaker 2: only got two swing and miss over six plus innings.
Speaker 2: That's not great. You would like to see that number
Speaker 2: be higher, and hopefully the next time he goes out
Speaker 2: there one the velocity is continuing to be in the
Speaker 2: mid nineties with the fastball in two, you'd like to
Speaker 2: see him get a little bit more swing and miss,
Speaker 2: presumably when he goes out and faces the Diamondbacks next weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's one start, so I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: make too much of this, but his fit was over
Speaker 1: five for example's that's like a number that's you know,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say is gospel any time, but especially on
Speaker 1: every one start. But still it's like an indication, like
Speaker 1: under the hood, it wasn't necessarily dominant, But I'm just
Speaker 1: more encouraged by the velocity being what it was. I
Speaker 1: think that there's every reason to believe that if we're
Speaker 1: not all to help Lopez is healthy, he can be
Speaker 1: a quality starting pitcher. We've seen that the if is
Speaker 1: the health, and that was what we were all worried
Speaker 1: about more than anything was like, is he hurt and
Speaker 1: that's why he's sitting eighty nine. Apparently not. So that's
Speaker 1: that's encouraging. That's the most important thing here. He was
Speaker 1: able to keep them in the game and pretty well.
Speaker 1: Also on that note, the Braves opened the season with
Speaker 1: fifteen consecutive scoreless innings. That's the second longest run in
Speaker 1: the history of the franchise, only behind a run of
Speaker 1: Tom Glevin and John Smoltz. You've had heard of those
Speaker 1: guys bucking ninety two.
Speaker 2: What did those guys? Yeah, what those guys ever do
Speaker 2: on a mound?
Speaker 1: Exactly? So that was fun and we're ald it was
Speaker 1: part of that. He led a solo home run to
Speaker 1: start the seventh that he got into the seventh too.
Speaker 1: So giving them some length right now is helpful. That
Speaker 1: didn't happen necessarily as much today, but saving the bullpen
Speaker 1: for thirteen games in thirteen days is not a small feat,
Speaker 1: and that was helpful as well. I have to ask
Speaker 1: you about something. Granted, this is a win, we've we've
Speaker 1: covered it. It's positive almost across the board. The Braves
Speaker 1: did a very bad job with their challenges on Saturday.
Speaker 1: They lost both of their abs challenges in the first
Speaker 1: fourteen pitches of the game. I know we're all kind
Speaker 1: of figuring out, and this includes me, we're all kind
Speaker 1: of figuring out what the optimal usage is of challenges
Speaker 1: because it's just starting, right, It's this whole new thing,
Speaker 1: and what's high leverage enough, which players have the green lights?
Speaker 1: Like this was gonna be debated for a long time,
Speaker 1: So I don't have it figure it out. I can
Speaker 1: tell you one thing, though, you don't want to lose
Speaker 1: two challenges in the first inning, full stop, Like that
Speaker 1: seems bad. It's almost certainly the record through three day.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't imagine a team lost their challenges
Speaker 1: faster than the brace of this weekend. If they did that,
Speaker 1: I'd be impressed. So what did you make of that?
Speaker 2: So I thought it'd be worthwhile to have a conversation
Speaker 2: about abs because we now have one weekend of real
Speaker 2: baseball under our belts. My first takeaway is that two
Speaker 2: challenges in a nine inning game feels a little light
Speaker 2: and c J. Nikowski and Brandon Gordon were talking about
Speaker 2: that in the booth and they also kind of shared
Speaker 2: those sentiments. Now, maybe you add a third challenge, but
Speaker 2: you only get it in the seventh inning or in
Speaker 2: the ninth inning or something like that. But I think
Speaker 2: as the season goes along, we'll kind of learn how
Speaker 2: to be more effective and use the most of your
Speaker 2: two challenges. As long as two challenges is all you have, man,
Speaker 2: the Braves have to figure out how to better challenge. Now.
Speaker 2: I don't want to turn this into a dump on
Speaker 2: Drake Baldwin dump on Ronald Acuna junior session here, because
Speaker 2: they're going on the fly just like we are. But
Speaker 2: you know, to be fair to Drake, the pitch that
Speaker 2: he challenged in the first inning was close. I think
Speaker 2: it missed by a tenth of an inchure like, it
Speaker 2: was really really close. It was borderline. But it's also
Speaker 2: the first inning of a zero zero baseball game, and
Speaker 2: it was like the fifth pitch thrown that night. And
Speaker 2: I get it. You want to steal every strike that
Speaker 2: you can, but keep it, keep it holstered, man, like
Speaker 2: you can't do it. And then Ronald's was egregious. It
Speaker 2: wasn't even close. It was a strike. Everyone knew it
Speaker 2: was a strike. It wasn't even close. So look, the
Speaker 2: Braves won the game, but what if they burn those
Speaker 2: two challenges and in the ninth inning, Dom Smith instead
Speaker 2: of getting a meet ball right down the middle, lays
Speaker 2: off a fastball that just misses the corner, but the
Speaker 2: umpire calls strike three and he's out and you don't
Speaker 2: have a challenge, so you have to be more cautious.
Speaker 2: I almost wonder if it's gonna become more of a
Speaker 2: thing where like teams don't really challenge unless there's runners
Speaker 2: on base or unless you are beyond the fifth or
Speaker 2: sixth inning. Because it didn't blow up on the braves.
Speaker 2: But they have to get better at abs. They have
Speaker 2: been bad at challenging so far in the year, you know,
Speaker 2: and Saturday night was the epitome of man, we got
Speaker 2: to figure this stuff out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this isn't not to be a half hour topic,
Speaker 1: but it's one hundred percent right, and it's across baseball,
Speaker 1: and you know, I remember when they first, when it
Speaker 1: first became official that we're gonna do this, it was like,
Speaker 1: which teams are gonna have different philosophies on this, Like
Speaker 1: some guys wonn't even be allowed to basically by their teams.
Speaker 1: They were like, hey, you're not allowed to challenge, Like
Speaker 1: pick a random role player. I won't try to pick one,
Speaker 1: but like a lower level guy on the Braves might
Speaker 1: might not have the juice. They might be like, hey, no,
Speaker 1: if Ronald Acunya or in Drake Balwin and Matt Olsen
Speaker 1: want to challenge something, they're gonna have more leeway. That's
Speaker 1: just the reality of it.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: With that said, you know, I guess if you are
Speaker 1: playing Brad Bingo on this night, I'm gonna bring up
Speaker 1: the NBA which I tend to do sometimes, But the
Speaker 1: NBA has a challenge with now and it's within the
Speaker 1: last few years, and there is real theory on when
Speaker 1: to challenge, and it's like basically leverage index. It's like, hey,
Speaker 1: is this worth it even if you think you're gonna
Speaker 1: win it, even if you're confident you're gonna win it,
Speaker 1: is it worth it to have even like a five
Speaker 1: percent chance of losing this challenge in the first ending
Speaker 1: in a low leverage situation. And the answer is probably no, honestly, Like,
Speaker 1: it's not worth one pitch in the first ending unless
Speaker 1: it's like some massive lever spot, probably because because what
Speaker 1: you said, with only having two, you got to really prioritize.
Speaker 1: And I would imagine some teams are going to be like,
Speaker 1: you know what if we if we lose the first one.
Speaker 1: We're not challenging a single thing unless it's a giant
Speaker 1: situation later in the game like that. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of probably how I would lean right now on the outside.
Speaker 1: And look, I'm not an expert on this, but if
Speaker 1: I was down a challenge early, boy, the bar would
Speaker 1: be really high for me to challenge anything, and I'd
Speaker 1: be telling my team that. Obviously, it's different in the NBA.
Speaker 1: It's the coach challenges. In baseball, it's split second players.
Speaker 1: That makes it a lot harder. Like Matt also tried
Speaker 1: to challenge one and they toltally didn't do it fast enough,
Speaker 1: and it was like pretty fast. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: one of those things where I was like, really, it's
Speaker 1: gotta be faster than that. Like it wasn't like he
Speaker 1: stood in the box for thirty seconds, and I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of the challenges that play it
Speaker 1: wasn't like that. So there's a little bit of gray
Speaker 1: area there too, Like there's not like an official time
Speaker 1: that you have to challenge it. It's really complicated. But
Speaker 1: your baseline takeaway is correct. The Bravees can't afford to
Speaker 1: do that because it's going to get to beat at
Speaker 1: some point over a long season. If you fire challenges
Speaker 1: into the sun every night, it's gonna hurt you at
Speaker 1: some point. So I'm not panicking about it. I just
Speaker 1: it's a good time to talk about it because it
Speaker 1: was so hilarious. Honestly, it wasilarious. I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: they're out of challenges. This guy's been out for six minutes.
Speaker 1: They don't have a challenge anymore. It's crazy.
Speaker 2: So let me ask you and then we'll wrap up
Speaker 2: the segment. But I mean, what did you think of
Speaker 2: ABS this first weekend? Did you like it? Do you
Speaker 2: think it needs improvement? Did you hate it? Did you
Speaker 2: feel like it's made the games slower? Or where are
Speaker 2: you at?
Speaker 1: No? I don't hate it at all.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 1: I you know, we've joked forever about robot umps, and
Speaker 1: I get that it's much more nuanced than that. I
Speaker 1: do like the idea of it. I think it works.
Speaker 1: I think it worked from my viewer perspective, they'restough to
Speaker 1: figure out, like it was always going to have some
Speaker 1: question marks, Like I was talking about Olsen, like how
Speaker 1: long it's too long? Is a question that has to
Speaker 1: get answer across baseball for example, but I think that
Speaker 1: the reason why it's only two is that they're worried
Speaker 1: about pace of play. And I get that. I mean
Speaker 1: they got such a home run, and I mean that
Speaker 1: in a you know, hilarious way, but of with the
Speaker 1: pitch clock that is almost unanimously beloved and it was
Speaker 1: almost immediate. Everyone was Wow, this, this rocks right for
Speaker 1: pace to play, you don't want to give too much
Speaker 1: of that back with challenges, but I don't. At the
Speaker 1: same time, how long does it actually take? Is it
Speaker 1: ten seconds?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Maybe not? It's fast, so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm in on, if anything, more challenges, but in
Speaker 1: general I like that there is a way to fix
Speaker 1: and get the calls right. I am. I'm never about
Speaker 1: a zealot for full robot MPs. If they did it,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be bothered by it at the way a
Speaker 1: lot of people would. But I'm in on this as
Speaker 1: a concept. I already was and I still am now,
Speaker 1: which is what i'd be kind of what I would
Speaker 1: say after three days, four days.
Speaker 2: It's interesting you made the point. So I'm actually pretty
Speaker 2: against robot OMPs. I think it would become stale. I
Speaker 2: think it would become almost boring, a little bit, But
Speaker 2: I do think ABS is a giant step in the
Speaker 2: right direction because the case in point from the weekend
Speaker 2: was Cebe Buckner was behind the plate in a Red's
Speaker 2: game called strike three, immedia challeng pitch was nowhere close.
Speaker 2: The very next pitch was called strike three, was challenged again,
Speaker 2: nowhere close. That's what we need to get rid of
Speaker 2: the most egregious calls. And there were two runners on base,
Speaker 2: two runners in scoring position when Juhanio Suarez challenged twice
Speaker 2: and won twice both challenges like, that's what we need
Speaker 2: to get rid of, the game changing, outcome changing bad
Speaker 2: calls and not zero zero game. In the first inning,
Speaker 2: Acuna is up one to OHO in the count and
Speaker 2: once of course he wants to be up two OHO
Speaker 2: in the count and missing a challenge with nobody on base, like,
Speaker 2: that's that's not what we need.
Speaker 1: I agree, And that reminds me that people were making
Speaker 1: people like could anybody possibly be worse than ce B Buckner?
Speaker 1: And that, of course led to people my age, That
Speaker 1: led to a lot of ic Eric greg gifts on
Speaker 1: oh twere triggering. Even now it's been thirty years almost
Speaker 1: I'm still triggered. But yeah, Abs, we are pro It
Speaker 1: seems like on this podcast. I don't actual don't actually
Speaker 1: don't know if Shawn Steven agree. I think Stephen agrees.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about Shawn Sean Sewan's old school. You know,
Speaker 1: I love Sean. I'm gonna be nice to Sean for
Speaker 1: at least a few days based on college basketball results today.
Speaker 1: But okay, Scott, let's move on in a second talk
Speaker 1: about Sunday's game, which was honestly just one of those
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Speaker 1: Scott let us talk about the game earlier today as
Speaker 1: a record of this podcast on Sunday. As much fun
Speaker 1: as Friday was, as much drama and energy and just
Speaker 1: joy as Saturday brought, Sunday was one of those games
Speaker 1: that's kind of frustrating. You already made a joke about
Speaker 1: losing on Sundays every week, hopeing that won't continue this
Speaker 1: season like it did last season for our podcast. But
Speaker 1: in addition to it being a you know, relatively competitive,
Speaker 1: close fought loss, it was one of those where just
Speaker 1: nothing was falling in for the Braves. They were smacking
Speaker 1: the ball of the entire game. The Royals Will were not,
Speaker 1: and the Braves still lost. And those people that like
Speaker 1: value process like we do, it's like it really each
Speaker 1: of you when it's like the Braves were the better
Speaker 1: team it seemed like on Sunday and it didn't matter.
Speaker 1: They just kind of had the breaksgo against them.
Speaker 2: It really did. And thankfully you win the first two
Speaker 2: games in the series, and you always want to be greedy,
Speaker 2: you always want to go for the sweep. But it
Speaker 2: was just one of those games. And if you look
Speaker 2: at expected batting average, the Royals expected batting average on
Speaker 2: Sunday was one fifty nine. The Braves, on the other hand,
Speaker 2: were three oh six. And it's funny when I watch games,
Speaker 2: my go to is, oh, that's out. Whenever a ball
Speaker 2: gets hit, well like it just oh, that's out. And
Speaker 2: I said that like three times on Sunday, and somehow
Speaker 2: none of them went out. I don't know how Acunya's
Speaker 2: ball didn't leave. I don't know how Michael Harris's ball
Speaker 2: didn't leave. And I thought that Matt Olsen got one
Speaker 2: too when he golfed it down the right into the
Speaker 2: right center field gap. Just one of those days, annoying, frustrating.
Speaker 2: Really didn't have a whole lot of action on the
Speaker 2: base pass either. I guess credit to Seth Lugo, who
Speaker 2: was just pounding the homeplate zone, but also gave up
Speaker 2: a lot of hard contact and just the Braves just
Speaker 2: were on the wrong side of the batted ball luck.
Speaker 1: On Sunday, through the first seven innings, the Braves had
Speaker 1: hit the five hardest balls of the game. They were
Speaker 1: all over one hundred and five miles an hour, so
Speaker 1: like five genuine rockets, including two that you just mentioned
Speaker 1: in the Harris and Acunya shots that were you know,
Speaker 1: those were by the data, by the eye test, by
Speaker 1: all of it, like those were home runs more often
Speaker 1: than not, not every single time, I guess, but more
Speaker 1: often than not. Anyway, five hardes hit balls of the
Speaker 1: game were all from the Braves through seven innings, and
Speaker 1: all five of them became outs, not even doubles, they
Speaker 1: became outs, which is like doubly brutal. Finally, Drake Balwin
Speaker 1: broke that shriek with it hit with the home run
Speaker 1: that he hit in the eighth, but still only one
Speaker 1: of the six hardest hit balls in the game was
Speaker 1: a run or not even not an out for the Braves,
Speaker 1: and they just, you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: Bring back the juice balls, I guess, because I couldn't
Speaker 1: believe I'm with you. The Akunya and Harris Ones were
Speaker 1: both like, whoa, but that didn't go out of the ballpark,
Speaker 1: Like what are we even doing here? And maybe you
Speaker 1: get those one of those every once in a while.
Speaker 1: I know what Wise gave a quote about the wind.
Speaker 1: He was like, maybe it was the wind or something
Speaker 1: like it. Maybe maybe it was the balls that day.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe it was the wind. You know, I'm not like,
Speaker 1: it's not not a conspiracy. Sometimes things go against you,
Speaker 1: and that's one of things that's beautiful about baseball, and
Speaker 1: also one of the things that's maddening about it is
Speaker 1: that there's so many games and sometimes the better team loses. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's just that's today is one of those things.
Speaker 1: Honestly to me, Like I don't mean to like, I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to downplay the Royals, like they won the game.
Speaker 1: Good on them, they executed better than the Braids did,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to say, but it just was, it
Speaker 1: was so obvious to me the Braids were were quote
Speaker 1: unquote running bad today, and it was like that was
Speaker 1: the theme of the day. It just kind of had
Speaker 1: to be for me.
Speaker 2: And I thought Grant Holmes was okay over five innings,
Speaker 2: only gave up three hits and two walks, did allow
Speaker 2: three runs to score, struck out four, got ten swings
Speaker 2: and misses. I thought the slider was good. He did
Speaker 2: leave his fastball in the zone a little too much.
Speaker 2: I think it was the first run of the game.
Speaker 2: I think Grant would probably tell you he would want
Speaker 2: it back runners on the corners against Bobby Witt Junior,
Speaker 2: and he went ahead one two. But instead of I mean,
Speaker 2: if it was me, and I'm not a big leaguer,
Speaker 2: but if it was me, I'm throwing that nasty slider
Speaker 2: off the plate at least twice, if not three times,
Speaker 2: and seeing if Wit will go fishing. Instead, he threw
Speaker 2: I think a fastball that missed, and then he threw
Speaker 2: a belt high right down the middle fastball that Wit
Speaker 2: line the other way, and I think that scored the
Speaker 2: first run of the game. And then Kansas City tacked
Speaker 2: on a few more. Again, nothing overly concerning. I thought
Speaker 2: Holmes was fine. He gave the team a chance to win.
Speaker 2: And you know, if you have a little better luck
Speaker 2: on batted balls, maybe you do score more than just
Speaker 2: the one run. But it was overall, it was just
Speaker 2: one of those days and not a disaster by any means,
Speaker 2: but also a little bit of a bummer coming off
Speaker 2: of two really nice wins to open the year.
Speaker 1: Agree, Holes was fine, He wasn't great, He wasn't terrible.
Speaker 1: People I know, including me, are going to be monitoring.
Speaker 1: Grant had some really bad numbers the second time through
Speaker 1: the order last season, like an era of almost seven
Speaker 1: and today I didn't want to see that. He did
Speaker 1: allow two runs out of the three that he allowed
Speaker 1: the second time through the order, but I don't think
Speaker 1: he was getting teed off on, So that's not the
Speaker 1: worst thing. You're right that that pitch to Wit was
Speaker 1: not a good pitch. That's I can't imagine he wanted
Speaker 1: to have that be where it was, but especially against
Speaker 1: that player, their best player and all that stuff. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I thought the takeaway was that he was okay, And
Speaker 1: you know what, let's avoid the half hour pitching conversation.
Speaker 1: But if grand Holmes is okay, the Braves are going
Speaker 1: to be okay. Like you know what I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't think that there's always a debate about like what
Speaker 1: grand Holmes is. I think it's worth saying again, like
Speaker 1: he was pretty decent last year, He's not so spectacular pitcher,
Speaker 1: but he can he can when you he can win
Speaker 1: your baseball games. He can get you through six innings,
Speaker 1: like he can do some stuff that's valuable to you. Alex.
Speaker 1: Alex keeps saying that Holmes would have been the guy
Speaker 1: that went to the bullpen if they signed somebody or
Speaker 1: trading for somebody. So obviously he's like he was the
Speaker 1: fringy guy like Lopezz ahead of him by all accounts.
Speaker 1: But Holmes is okay, and he was okay. That's kind
Speaker 1: of where I was. The guy by the way, the guy,
Speaker 1: the guy came in after him was was better than okay,
Speaker 1: which is it's kind of stark to me that the
Speaker 1: guy came in after it seems to be better than him.
Speaker 1: But uh, you know, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I like grand Holmes. When Grand Holmes
Speaker 2: starts a game, I feel pretty good that the Braves
Speaker 2: at least have a decent chance to win the game
Speaker 2: that night. If you said, Scott, what are your ten
Speaker 2: biggest concerns with this Braves team, I don't think Grand
Speaker 2: Holmes would even come into my mind.
Speaker 1: And I agree.
Speaker 2: Hopefully a little more swing and miss a little a
Speaker 2: few more strikeouts, I think, especially with that slider, he's
Speaker 2: capable of doing that. And then you know, it was nice.
Speaker 2: I guess if you're looking for a positive or a
Speaker 2: silver lining. On Sunday, Grand Holmes starts and then Diddy
Speaker 2: or Fuentez covered the final four innings of the game,
Speaker 2: and one that really saves your bullpen. You don't have
Speaker 2: to use anybody other than Fontes. And I don't know
Speaker 2: about you, man, I was really impressed by Didtier four innings,
Speaker 2: only gave up one run, two hits, one walk, four strikeouts,
Speaker 2: and was really attacking and commanding the zone and was
Speaker 2: really making hitters work for it. So I know, of course,
Speaker 2: Didier was like the story of spring training, and I
Speaker 2: thought today, for his first appearance of the regular season,
Speaker 2: really impressive. And I'm guessing the Braves leave Didier in
Speaker 2: the bullpen for a little while, but I think eventually
Speaker 2: he's going to force his way to the rotation. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I didn't think so too. And you know, as good
Speaker 1: as he was in the spring, as encouraged and excited
Speaker 1: is the word I would use about him as I
Speaker 1: was in the spring, It's different when you're actually in
Speaker 1: a major league game, and the fact that he came
Speaker 1: in and the stuff looked great. He you know, navigated
Speaker 1: four innings and it wasn't a blowout like sometimes you
Speaker 1: bring in a guy like that in that spot and
Speaker 1: or reliever throws four innings, it's like, oh, because they're
Speaker 1: down ten to one. But no, they were in the
Speaker 1: game the entire way, so it was like it was
Speaker 1: super low leverage and he pitched really well. I give
Speaker 1: up one run, that's I mean, struck out four and
Speaker 1: looked really crisp.
Speaker 3: With me.
Speaker 1: The stuff is everyone knows is really good. He was
Speaker 1: when he was sitting like ninety seven, like just bringing
Speaker 1: the heat and looking great. So right, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: one it's one outing. But I I almost would take
Speaker 1: away more from that than anything in the spring because
Speaker 1: he was facing major leaguers and it was at a
Speaker 1: major league game, so that's where I was. I liked
Speaker 1: seeing that, and I don't blame anybody for jumping to
Speaker 1: all right, once's it gonna start, because especially give the
Speaker 1: state of the rotation, and we'll talk about that more
Speaker 1: in a second when we previews the next couple of days.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of uncertainty after these first three.
Speaker 1: I mean as much as you and I just said,
Speaker 1: we're okay with Grant Holmes. The three guys were okay
Speaker 1: with have already pitched. Yes, Uh so we'll see how
Speaker 1: the next couple days ago and maybe didtier if things
Speaker 1: don't go well, and look, we hope they go well,
Speaker 1: like I hope Brice Elder throws great on Monday. It'd
Speaker 1: be great. If they don't go well, it's gonna give
Speaker 1: even louder towards studio front, says like immediately, So the
Speaker 1: brains have to know that I'm sure and I think
Speaker 1: that this is clearly the plan, and I liked it.
Speaker 1: They get that they let him keep going, Like treating
Speaker 1: him as a pure reliever would have been silly, but
Speaker 1: having it for a four innings like has triple benefit
Speaker 1: like for him, for the team, for the bullpen, all
Speaker 1: these things, and in a loss like that was a
Speaker 1: good way to end the game. In some ways, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: a little bit of an upswing. Despite the negative.
Speaker 2: Result, you can absolutely learn things as a young pitcher
Speaker 2: pitching out of the bullpen. And I mean Max Freed
Speaker 2: talked openly about it years ago that hey, when he
Speaker 2: came up, he wasn't really sure how to go through
Speaker 2: a lineup multiple times, and sitting out in the bullpen
Speaker 2: for a couple of months and pitching in relief really
Speaker 2: did him a lot of good. Hopefully it's the same
Speaker 2: case with Dittier. Clearly a very talented kid, and one note,
Speaker 2: I know people were like, well, why isn't he in
Speaker 2: the rotation. My biggest thing is I think they are
Speaker 2: trying to limit his innings early in the year. You
Speaker 2: probably don't necessarily want Dittier to make thirty big league
Speaker 2: starts and approach two hundred innings, hopefully with a playoff
Speaker 2: run attached on that. So I get it, but again
Speaker 2: I give it a few weeks. I really do think
Speaker 2: Diddier is probably going to be on the Spencer Strider
Speaker 2: timeline from a few years ago, in the bullpen for
Speaker 2: a while, but eventually you'll find himself in the rotation.
Speaker 1: I agree it could be suited rather than later. But
Speaker 1: I think their plan anyway seems to be ticket slow,
Speaker 1: keep your endings down, get some experience and learn on
Speaker 1: the job, so to speak. And I'm okay with that,
Speaker 1: and he looked really good today. From here, I do
Speaker 1: want to take one more quick break you have from
Speaker 1: more partners, and then we'll get to some other observations
Speaker 1: from the rest of the weekend and a brief look
Speaker 1: at the week ahead, because the Braves have what's what
Speaker 1: ten more games in ten days, like the action, that's
Speaker 1: not gonna slow down anytime soon. I promise you that.
Speaker 1: So in a second, we'll dive back in after a
Speaker 1: word from our partners. Okay, Scott Brobably speaking, nothing crazy here.
Speaker 1: We thought this a little bit on Friday, but I
Speaker 1: thought it was encouraging on the whole from a trio
Speaker 1: of guys who the Braves kind of need to be
Speaker 1: good this year. And that trio is Michael Harris, Ozzy
Speaker 1: All and Austin Riley. I don't really had an o
Speaker 1: for to day, but look good before that. Harris. I
Speaker 1: know I called my shot a little on Friday with him.
Speaker 1: He looks great, man, I don't want to jixit. I
Speaker 1: like what I've seen for Michael quite a bit. And
Speaker 1: then Ozzie looks like I won't say full on prime Ozzie,
Speaker 1: but some good science, good plate appearances, no real takeaway.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to say that out loud, like I'm
Speaker 1: trying to go like, you know, it's funny. The two
Speaker 1: guys who have kind of struggled so far are Acuney
Speaker 1: and Olsen, who I just don't worry about in any way,
Speaker 1: shape or form. So when that happens, that generally means
Speaker 1: that everybody else has been like kind of doing their job.
Speaker 1: And those three guys are included.
Speaker 2: In that really encouraging first series of the year from Harris,
Speaker 2: all these Riley, you have to have good seasons or
Speaker 2: at least somewhat bounce back seasons from those three. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 2: Michael Harris had the home run on opening Day, so
Speaker 2: did Ozzie Alby. So yeah, like, overall, good series, I
Speaker 2: think you take it. I think it's baby steps at
Speaker 2: this point. I think Mike has done a pretty good
Speaker 2: job too of working a little bit deeper into accounts
Speaker 2: and not just giving away at bats, which was something
Speaker 2: he was doing every night last year. But yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: I will say it was interesting. The one kind of
Speaker 2: lineup or roster position change that took place on Sunday
Speaker 2: was Jorge Mateo was a shortstop. I don't know, man,
Speaker 2: I understand why Walt Weiss wanted to get Mateo. A
Speaker 2: couple of reps. Get him out there. It's early in
Speaker 2: the year, it's March or twenty ninth, but Mateo is
Speaker 2: pretty underwhelming. Did not look very confident at the plate,
Speaker 2: made a weird gaff play in the shortstop hole where
Speaker 2: he should have just ate the ball and instead like
Speaker 2: kind of threw it and it could have led to
Speaker 2: a run. Quite honestly, thankfully, I don't think it did
Speaker 2: that enitting or maybe the runner would have scored anyway,
Speaker 2: But regardless, I think I got enough of Jorge Mateo
Speaker 2: as the starting shortstop on Sunday and I'm ready for
Speaker 2: Mauricio Dubon to be back out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was not surprising, but also like if that
Speaker 1: was game like eight and he hadn't played yet, I
Speaker 1: would have been like, Okay, get him in there. It's fine.
Speaker 1: Game three. It was a day game. Perhaps that's why
Speaker 1: it's early in the year, but yeah, I didn't love that.
Speaker 1: I also, I also cannot be the guy who criticizes
Speaker 1: that when I've always said that they probably should use
Speaker 1: their bench more now right now, it's so early in
Speaker 1: the season. It's like hard to say that with straight face.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I grew with your takeaway. It didn't look great.
Speaker 1: But Dubond isn't supposed to wasn't I shouldn't say, isn't
Speaker 1: was it supposed to be playing? Trust for every day
Speaker 1: right now? He is because he has to. But if
Speaker 1: he's back in there on Monday, I'll FILLI fine, that
Speaker 1: would be what I would say. Maybe Dumon woke up
Speaker 1: with like a headache or something. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe, but I get it. It's early. Yeah, we
Speaker 2: don't want to talk out both sides of our mouths.
Speaker 2: We do want to see this team rest. It's players more,
Speaker 2: not have bailiers go out there for every single inning
Speaker 2: of every single game. But yeah, let's get Mauricio back
Speaker 2: in there on Monday night.
Speaker 1: Absolutely a little bit of news that happened over the weekend,
Speaker 1: not hugely groundbreaking, but notable. On the two guys in
Speaker 1: the position player side who are currently injured, Sean Murphy
Speaker 1: is apparently able to do baseball activities already, and it
Speaker 1: seems to be quite a bit nearing his rehab assignment.
Speaker 1: So that's a good sign. Means he's kind of on track.
Speaker 1: They don't generally give you timeline for like here's what
Speaker 1: he'll play in a major League game, But it seems
Speaker 1: like he'll be in the minors like pretty soon and
Speaker 1: be on track. That's good. Hassan Kim is behind Murphy.
Speaker 1: Hard to tell how much behind. He's taking dry swings.
Speaker 1: It seems like he hasn't faced pitching yet. But I
Speaker 1: would say for me, it's like just avoid setbacks with
Speaker 1: those guys Like I kind of like, okay, check the
Speaker 1: box for me, But checking the box is better than
Speaker 1: not checking the box. And I do think that some
Speaker 1: of the lineup stuff that we have talked about at
Speaker 1: nauseum the last couple weeks would be eased if they
Speaker 1: even had Sean Murphy. As much as he's not super
Speaker 1: popular in some corners of braized internet, he's a lot
Speaker 1: better at baseball than some guys that they have available
Speaker 1: to them right now.
Speaker 2: So oh absolutely. And defensively, I mean, even if you
Speaker 2: don't believe in Sean Murphy the hitter, defensively, there's no
Speaker 2: denying that Murphy is one of the best defensive catchers
Speaker 2: in the game. It'll also to d H Baldwin more
Speaker 2: and keep him fresh, And I mean shouts to Drake Baldwin.
Speaker 2: As we're talking about players who had a good weekend.
Speaker 2: Oh man, he is so good. Drake Baldwin is going
Speaker 2: to be an annual All Star, maybe even like MVP
Speaker 2: vote received, vote getter, Like he's not going to be
Speaker 2: an MVP of the National League, I don't think, but
Speaker 2: Baldwin is so impressive. Wanted to give him a shout out.
Speaker 2: But yeah, encouraging sounds like maybe a week away from
Speaker 2: Murphy beginning his rehab assignment, and then he has about
Speaker 2: three weeks to go through that before the Braves have
Speaker 2: to make a decision. And then with Kim, especially just
Speaker 2: with that hand, as he really rams up his batting
Speaker 2: and swinging against live pitching, you just have to hope
Speaker 2: that everything is going to hold together in that surgically
Speaker 2: repaired finger that he has. But I don't know, Maybe
Speaker 2: seems to me like early May is probably still a
Speaker 2: fair enough timeline for Kim. Maybe mid May at this point,
Speaker 2: but we'll see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just don't even want to guess, But I
Speaker 1: seem like they were at least on track. I'm sticking
Speaker 1: to that. That's what I'll glom onto for now. And
Speaker 1: as we get more information, like when they announced Smurphy's
Speaker 1: rehab assignment, that's the next step for him and TVD
Speaker 1: on all that stuff. Before we go out of here,
Speaker 1: let's look ahead at the week to come. The Braves
Speaker 1: now play three games against the well, I can't remember
Speaker 1: what you said. Didn't you use like like a combo
Speaker 1: phrase for their.
Speaker 2: Yeah the oak Flemento Vegas Athletics, because uh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they're still playing. If people don't know this,
Speaker 1: they're still playing in Sacramento this year. They don't really
Speaker 1: have a city like you know, every every other team
Speaker 1: has a like Atlanta Braves like they're it's they're kind
Speaker 1: of they're not even calumb the Sacramento A's like they're
Speaker 1: just they're just the a's they have at me playing
Speaker 1: in Sacramento. It's this very odd situation at the game.
Speaker 1: Is it the games in Atlanta, So that's easier to digest.
Speaker 1: But that's just coming in to town starting Monday. They
Speaker 1: have not won a game yet. They just went on
Speaker 1: three against Toronto. Toronto's good, so that's not like a
Speaker 1: death sentence. And there are some believers in the A's.
Speaker 1: I've saw some people pick up the basic make the playoffs,
Speaker 1: so they're this is not your older brother's as they're
Speaker 1: not a disaster like they're they're they have talent, They're
Speaker 1: not I don't they don't think they're like the Yankees
Speaker 1: or anything, but they are not the White Sox. That's
Speaker 1: what's what I would say about the A's. They're they're
Speaker 1: pretty competitive. I think I alluded to this earlier, but
Speaker 1: we are now in the part of the pitching rotation
Speaker 1: that is the real uncertainty. Bryce Elder is going to
Speaker 1: go on Monday against I believe it's is it Aaron Savali?
Speaker 1: How do you say his name?
Speaker 2: I never know? Is that right? I think it is
Speaker 2: sounds right. Yeah, we'll get Let's ask Sean our resident name.
Speaker 1: Let's not let's not ask Sean to pronounce anything on
Speaker 1: the podcast. Uh So that's look, we've talked about Bryce endlessly.
Speaker 1: We'll see what he looks like. I don't want to
Speaker 1: cast dispersions. He has been reliable as far as being available.
Speaker 1: That's a key to Bryce Elder is appeal, I think,
Speaker 1: and honestly, I think you can get out the A's.
Speaker 1: I worry more about Bryce Older when he faces good teams.
Speaker 1: To be honest, I always have. He's always been able
Speaker 1: to be decent against lower level teams. So as okay,
Speaker 1: and then Tuesday is a TBD in the rotation as
Speaker 1: of right now. I just checked this again one more
Speaker 1: time as we're talking. Sorry, by the way, Elder, isn't it.
Speaker 1: I think Elder's face of Jacob Lopez. I think Sabali
Speaker 1: is now going on Tuesday. They changed that today as
Speaker 1: of as of eight fifty two pm Eastern time, regardless,
Speaker 1: and Jacob Loves is a left hander, so that'll be
Speaker 1: that's important for lineup deployment on Monday. But Tuesdays is
Speaker 1: a TVD. There's only so many options it could be.
Speaker 1: So I did think in the back of my mind.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you had this thought, So tell
Speaker 1: me if you didn't. I thought going into today, if
Speaker 1: they didn't need to use Diddy or Fuenttes, that maybe
Speaker 1: they would start him in the fifth game and kind
Speaker 1: of shock everybody. But he's not going to be available
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. He through four innings today, so that's that's
Speaker 1: no longer available. So it comes down to uh Jose Suarez.
Speaker 1: It's the only guy on the forty man that they
Speaker 1: could not forty man active roster, I should say, And
Speaker 1: then they could go rogue and go with like Martine
Speaker 1: Perez or je Richie question Mark. I mean, my guess
Speaker 1: is gonna be Suarez. I think it's notable that they
Speaker 1: haven't announced him yet. I don't know why they haven't.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it means anything. It may not, but
Speaker 1: they had not announced that even though he's like the
Speaker 1: obvious guy on the roster, that they would be so
Speaker 1: like what you will.
Speaker 2: My guess will be Jose Suarez and a prayer and
Speaker 2: just I agree, see how it goes. I did think
Speaker 2: there was a chance that Diddy or was gonna start
Speaker 2: on Tuesday, but because they had him cover the entirety
Speaker 2: of kind of the back half of today's game, I
Speaker 2: just probably not.
Speaker 1: But yeah, if if he had thrown, if you had
Speaker 1: thrown like an ending in a third once this weekend,
Speaker 1: it'd be like, all right, that's just throw a he
Speaker 1: can he could pitch on two. I'm not saying it
Speaker 1: was gonna happen, but once you like, I gotta go four,
Speaker 1: all right, crossm off for this time, this time, for
Speaker 1: of the rotation, he's not available.
Speaker 2: So probably Jose Swarrez. I mean, if I'm Walt Weiss,
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously you go inning by inning and see
Speaker 2: how it goes, but probably aim hope for three, four,
Speaker 2: five innings if all is going well with Swarez, and
Speaker 2: then you evaluate. If you're ahead, obviously you deploy your
Speaker 2: big dogs out of the bullpen. If you're losing by
Speaker 2: seven runs, then somebody's gonna eat those innings and get
Speaker 2: their work in. But yeah, this is this is gonna
Speaker 2: be the scary part of Atlanta Braves games. When Chris Sale,
Speaker 2: Ronaldo Lopez, and Grant Holmes start, I think the Braves
Speaker 2: have a real chance every single time. But as long
Speaker 2: as you don't have Spencer Strider, and you don't have
Speaker 2: Spencer Schwallenbach, and you don't have Hurston Waltrip, and you
Speaker 2: don't have Dittier in the rotation, you don't have Jr.
Speaker 2: Richie in the rotation, these fourth and fifth starter spots
Speaker 2: are going to be very scary. And in my mind,
Speaker 2: if you can just go fifty to fifty in these
Speaker 2: games and kind of keep your head above water and
Speaker 2: not totally sink, I think you that every day long,
Speaker 2: and hopefully in the next couple of weeks the rotation
Speaker 2: gets to be in a better spot than right now.
Speaker 2: Because this is I mean to be honest, this is
Speaker 2: pretty scary that you're four days into the season and
Speaker 2: presumably your next two starters are Bryce Elder, who has
Speaker 2: a mid five's ERA over the last like two and
Speaker 2: a half calendar years, and Jose Suarez, who's kind of
Speaker 2: like a journeyman lefty at this point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking for something something to clube onto With Elder.
Speaker 1: I didn't really find it, to be honest, Like he
Speaker 1: even he has these are career splits, but like career
Speaker 1: splits are worse at home than on the road, he's
Speaker 1: pitching at home. H He's been a little bit he's
Speaker 1: lived a little bit better in his career early in
Speaker 1: the season, Like he has a sub for era in
Speaker 1: March April May. So maybe that's something I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm grasping. This could be an absolutely nothing whatsoever. I
Speaker 1: do think that it might be idotab but I think
Speaker 1: it's also born out if you look at a little
Speaker 1: bit closer. But he has been a lot better against
Speaker 1: not great offenses. See if that goes anywhere. But you're right,
Speaker 1: I think the takeaway is I'm a little bit afraid
Speaker 1: it's better that they're facing the A's than if they're
Speaker 1: facing the Dodgers this week. Give them the rotation available.
Speaker 1: But we will see. And then Chris Sale pitches on
Speaker 1: a Wednesday, at least that's of right now. He has
Speaker 1: been announced he's probable on Wednesday. That's a twelve to
Speaker 1: fifteen PM Eastern Time aka nine to fifteen am baseball.
Speaker 1: Where Scott Coleman is. Oh, Wednesday breakfast meeting or something.
Speaker 2: I guess something.
Speaker 1: I want to tell your boss if you have, if you
Speaker 1: have a meeting that morning to watch Christill.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean for Chris Sale. It might be worth it,
Speaker 2: you know, if it was somebody else, I don't know,
Speaker 2: but yeah, the Businessman Special on Wednesday, because the Braves
Speaker 2: will play that game, hopefully get a series win against
Speaker 2: the Athletics. It's such what a weird I hope it
Speaker 2: all works out. Yeah, the A's and then they go
Speaker 2: west and they then travel all the way across country.
Speaker 2: Do not have an off day, which is a little weird.
Speaker 2: Play four games against the Diamondbacks and and then three
Speaker 2: games against the Angels, so not you know, not a
Speaker 2: daunting West coast trip by any means. I kind of
Speaker 2: like getting them out of the way early in the year.
Speaker 2: While guys are fresh. You know, the Diamondbacks are okay,
Speaker 2: the Angels are a disaster. You know, hopefully you can
Speaker 2: keep the winning going against those teams. But yes, I mean,
Speaker 2: as we talked about a few weeks ago on the show,
Speaker 2: the early season schedule, it's relatively friendly for the Braves,
Speaker 2: and hopefully they're able to take advantage and keep winning series,
Speaker 2: because especially with all these injuries, if you keep taking
Speaker 2: two out of three, even if it's not sexy, you're
Speaker 2: going to be in good shape at the end of
Speaker 2: the year. If you can do this with any kind
Speaker 2: of regularity. For sure.
Speaker 1: Much you noted the scheduling thing there, because I already
Speaker 1: saw somebody ask me today like, hey, why is the
Speaker 1: Braves already playing a noon game in the first week
Speaker 1: of the season, And it's because of what you said, Like,
Speaker 1: if you don't have a day off, you have to
Speaker 1: play in the afternoon to go to Arizona. You cannot
Speaker 1: plan a night game and flat at Arizona. That's not
Speaker 1: gonna work. So that's why. Unfortunately, it's the best Petchy
Speaker 1: matchup of the series. It's sale against Lesaverino, who is
Speaker 1: their number one starter, and it's a game at noon
Speaker 1: and like I candidly won't be able to watch it
Speaker 1: in real time. I will be at my office, so
Speaker 1: I'll be watching it later on with it with a
Speaker 1: lot of other people. But yeah, we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1: And the Braves will be favorite to win the series.
Speaker 1: Will they win it? We'll see, and uh, I know
Speaker 1: they are, in fact in the Betty market favored to
Speaker 1: win the series. But help Steph Chris Sale on My
Speaker 1: Mounain last game and then, uh, you already mentioned it,
Speaker 1: but your your Arizona Diamond Max this weekend unfortunately for
Speaker 1: you usually like you're the mayor of Phoenix when the
Speaker 1: Braves come to town. I know you're just like holding
Speaker 1: court with all the people that you know, these Braves
Speaker 1: fans might be in town. It's like Scott's a celebrity.
Speaker 1: It's Final four weekend. I don't know how much you're
Speaker 1: gonna be over in Phoenix on the Final four weekend, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel bad. I mean, a couple of people
Speaker 2: reached out and shout out to you, guys and gals.
Speaker 2: I've run into people at Chase Field too, and they're like,
Speaker 2: are you Scott from the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yes, yes, I am because it's full name
Speaker 1: for the podcast.
Speaker 2: That's right, And I actually hand out business cards and
Speaker 2: it says Scott for the podcast, and then the Hammer
Speaker 2: Territory logo is on the back. But you know, Thursday
Speaker 2: night Friday night games tough to get up there, at
Speaker 2: least for me. Saturday is the Final Four where Arizona
Speaker 2: and Michigan will play, so Brad and I are not
Speaker 2: on speaking terms this upcoming weekend, and then Sunday is Easter,
Speaker 2: so I mean, just it's a.
Speaker 1: Really tough time. Honestly, I feel I kind of felt
Speaker 1: bad for you because that's like the one time you
Speaker 1: can see the Braves easily, right, relatively easily, is when
Speaker 1: they go to Arizona, And it's like the worst possible
Speaker 1: weekend for them to be in Arizona, especially Arizona, Like yeah.
Speaker 2: Quite literally the worst weekend of the year for me.
Speaker 1: And if people this far you probably know. But Scott
Speaker 1: is a devoted Arizona Wildcat, so that's not really an
Speaker 1: option Final four weekends. So I'm looking forward to watching
Speaker 1: some baseball. I'll be at the Final Four in Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: so I will be watching on second screens and stadiums
Speaker 1: and all that fun stuff too, so we'll be piecing
Speaker 1: it together, but we will have full coverage always, and
Speaker 1: we'll have coverage before that. We'll have full coverage of
Speaker 1: the A series. I'm not sure what the podcast will
Speaker 1: be next, probably Tuesday if I weren't to guests, but
Speaker 1: we'll see. Keep it locked. The best thing you can
Speaker 1: possibly do to find the podcast and subscribe check out
Speaker 1: the show Apple, Spotify, YouTube to search our territory on
Speaker 1: your favorite podcast player. If it's not there, and it
Speaker 1: should be, let us know if you can't find it,
Speaker 1: and we will definitely help you to do that, and
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Speaker 1: If you're an audio listener to podcasts like I know
Speaker 1: I am, just take a second and subscribe and like
Speaker 1: on YouTube just to help the pod. If you're a
Speaker 1: YouTube watcher because you just love watching Scott's face make
Speaker 1: fun of me on the podcast, you can just subscribe
Speaker 1: on audio as well auto download. I'm not above asking
Speaker 1: you to gain the system. I'm really not. We're trying
Speaker 1: to do the podcast for it's free to free podcast.
Speaker 1: Just click click a click a button for us. We
Speaker 1: want to support the show, so Scott anything else to
Speaker 1: add other than go blue.
Speaker 2: At the end of the podcast, Yeah, I was gonna say,
Speaker 2: bear down, everybody. A nation will be cheering for the
Speaker 2: Wildcats this upcoming weekend.
Speaker 1: It's honestly probably true. I can almost guarantee you the
Speaker 1: Neutrals will be on your side because that's just what happens,
Speaker 1: which is interesting.
Speaker 2: Okay, well we'll take it, everybody. I will sing the
Speaker 2: fight song now so you can practice it on your
Speaker 2: drive to work. We'll all sing it now. I will
Speaker 2: spare that.
Speaker 1: Time for today's podcast. Yes, we're running out of running
Speaker 1: out of time, and yeah I could. I could complete
Speaker 1: the Hamword territory sweep on Saturday. My team just beat
Speaker 1: Steven Steam and Shawn Steam in succession. I don't. If
Speaker 1: you listen to the show two weeks ago on Selection Sunday,
Speaker 1: you will note that I picked Arizona to win the
Speaker 1: national championship on this podcast, so you'll know how I
Speaker 1: feel about the game. Scott hopes I'm right. I hope
Speaker 1: I'm wrong. We'll see anyway, enough of that the on
Speaker 1: the podcast. We'll probably do one more before the game,
Speaker 1: and I will try not to do this again. But
Speaker 1: please subscribe to the show. Follow Scott on Twitter if
Speaker 1: you'd like to. At Scott Colin fifty five. He's way
Speaker 1: better to follow than I am this time of year,
Speaker 1: but I'm also at bt reld. You going to follow me,
Speaker 1: and more importantly, the show as at hammerd Territory. Subscribe there,
Speaker 1: follow us, Tell your friends sincerely, Tell your friends thank
Speaker 1: you listening. As always, we'll have more to come this week.
Speaker 1: Baseball's back room buddy. I'm having fun. Because having fun
Speaker 1: it's here. Stay with Will teas and long. I will
Speaker 1: see you all next time.