Punches Thrown! Jorge Soler Charges Mound In Brawl with Reynaldo Lopez

In episode 358 of the Hammer Territory Podcast, Scott Coleman and Stephen Tolbert react to a crazy brawl between former Braves World Series hero Jorge Soler and starter Reynaldo Lopez, plus they break down the first two games in Anaheim.

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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Hammer Territory Podcast. I

Speaker 1: am Scott Coleman and we are recording once again Deep

Speaker 1: into the Night with my good friend Steven Tolbert and

Speaker 1: I mean Stephen. Tonight's game had everything to it, a

Speaker 1: wild game out in Anaheim, and we of course are

Speaker 1: gonna break it all down.

Speaker 2: What's up, buddy, Yeah it was. That was a game

Speaker 2: that had everything, and we're gonna talk about it all.

Speaker 2: But yeah, long game, West Coast Games. It's about one

Speaker 2: am East Coast, twelve am my time, so we're deep

Speaker 2: in the night.

Speaker 3: But that was a fun one. To stay up for.

Speaker 2: The win is always fun, of course, but just it

Speaker 2: was an enjoyable game, and obviously we're going to talk

Speaker 2: about it all, and.

Speaker 1: Of course we are not going to bury the lead.

Speaker 1: So yes, the Braves did win. It was a very

Speaker 1: enjoyable seven to two win. But the main event the

Speaker 1: fight heard around the world. We are going to mix

Speaker 1: it up engineered by fastenal So fifth Inning a mostly quiet,

Speaker 1: normal game. The Braves were up by a couple of

Speaker 1: runs at the time, and all of a sudden, a

Speaker 1: legitimate brawl breaks out between the Atlanta Braves and the

Speaker 1: Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night for those who maybe

Speaker 1: weren't up late or just want to relive it in

Speaker 1: the moment. To set the stage earlier in the game, actually,

Speaker 1: in the first inning, Jorge Solaire, World Series Hero hits

Speaker 1: a two run homer off of Ronaldo Lopez, and the

Speaker 1: next to bat, so Laer gets hit in the hand

Speaker 1: by a fastball thrown by Ronaldo Lopez. But I'm sure

Speaker 1: Solaire wasn't thrilled about it, but it was, you know,

Speaker 1: he brushed it off. He went to first base, no harm,

Speaker 1: no foubt. Flashed forward to the fifth inning, and a

Speaker 1: high fastball that gets past Jonaheim apparently set off Jorge Solaire,

Speaker 1: and the two starts staring each other down and you blink,

Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, Jorge Solaire, who is about

Speaker 1: six foot three and two hundred and fifty pounds, is

Speaker 1: charging the mound at Ronaldo Lopez. Legitimate punches were thrown.

Speaker 1: I mean, I don't even know where to start. This

Speaker 1: was an actual, honest to goodness brawl on a baseball field,

Speaker 1: and I mean, man alive, where should we start with this.

Speaker 2: Tremendous baseball fight. First of all that's that was a

Speaker 2: real fight. There were real play, Like a lot of

Speaker 2: these baseball fights are nonsense. There were Solaire was stolen

Speaker 2: some haymakers. I think Ronaldo the ball in his hand

Speaker 2: and he was throwing swings with the.

Speaker 3: Ball in his hand.

Speaker 2: So I'll say this, So obviously Celari hit the home

Speaker 2: run in the first inning. When Lopez hit him with

Speaker 2: a pitch. The next time up, it was like a

Speaker 2: two to two count. It was like the sixth pitch

Speaker 2: of the bad and there was already a runnerund bait,

Speaker 2: like there was no planet where Ronaldo was throwing at

Speaker 2: and he hit him like it was one of those

Speaker 2: where like it hit like his wrist or his hand.

Speaker 2: It was pretty close to the zone like and no planet.

Speaker 3: Wasn't intentional.

Speaker 2: And then the third time up, the one that goes

Speaker 2: over the catcher's head was also not really that close

Speaker 2: to Solier. It just kind of went above. It was

Speaker 2: higher than the catcher could catch or it just surprised

Speaker 2: him and it went over his head and him threw

Speaker 2: down to second. And there was like a whole play

Speaker 2: at second and like the broadcast had kind of moved

Speaker 2: on from the whole play and Apparently solia and Lopez

Speaker 2: were just staring at each other this whole time. The

Speaker 2: whole time, the whole play is happened. They're just staring

Speaker 2: at each other, and I guess somebody said something and

Speaker 2: Soleari comes charging. Listen, if you're gonna make a list

Speaker 2: of like the last people on Earth you want to

Speaker 2: have a fight with, I think Jorge Hilaire like might

Speaker 2: be one, because the dude is made of like granite.

Speaker 3: One of the.

Speaker 2: Strongest people I've ever seen. He comes charging at Lopez,

Speaker 2: which I would have to change my shorts if Hoorge

Speaker 2: Hilaire ever came running at me like that. And then

Speaker 2: the greatest thing I've ever seen, the greatest thing I've

Speaker 2: ever seen is the manager for the Atlanta Braves, wat Weiss,

Speaker 2: who is like sixty I think he's sixty two, who

Speaker 2: is also like an MMA trainer, comes out like a

Speaker 2: bat out of hell and tackles JORGEZ Solaire on like

Speaker 2: the first baseline, Scott, I swear to god, I was.

Speaker 2: I was cackling at my TV. It was It's like

Speaker 2: eleven thirty at night here, my entire family's asleep, and

Speaker 2: I am cackling as the manager of the Atlanta Braves,

Speaker 2: is tackling one of the strongest human beings on the planet.

Speaker 2: Ten out of ten, ten out of ten fight everything

Speaker 2: I want in a baseball fight.

Speaker 3: That fight had.

Speaker 1: Yeah, this was a legit brawl. That was not the

Speaker 1: like I always think in the NBA players get up

Speaker 1: in each other's faces, but rarely do punches actually get thrown.

Speaker 1: Rarely does a coach or a manager perfectly formed tackle

Speaker 1: one of the players involved. I mean that was I

Speaker 1: think Kirby Smart might have called Walt Weiss after the

Speaker 1: game to see if he can come out and go

Speaker 1: to springball to show the boys had to tackle, because

Speaker 1: that was, I mean perfect for him took so I mean, honestly,

Speaker 1: Solaire almost looked like not in shock, but almost in

Speaker 1: shock a little bit. He was like, how did I

Speaker 1: go down so fast? Because Walt got him from the side.

Speaker 1: It was, I mean, it was crazy. And I hope

Speaker 1: that Rinaldo is fine because he did try to throw

Speaker 1: some punches, and I think the Braves broadcast alluded to

Speaker 1: the fact that he might have made contact with Solaire.

Speaker 1: Was Solaires still villan his helmet? I should have watched

Speaker 1: it back right before. But you obviously we don't need

Speaker 1: Rinaldo Lopez throwing punches, especially with his right hand, so

Speaker 1: we have to hope that he's fine. And I will say,

Speaker 1: I know a few people were asking, I would assume

Speaker 1: both players are going to get suspended. Usually it's one

Speaker 1: it's like one time through the rotation tends to be

Speaker 1: the suspension for pitchers, which is five days. Of course,

Speaker 1: then you just have to find somebody to make a

Speaker 1: start for the one day that Lopez would miss. But

Speaker 1: that was that was real. I mean, that was like,

Speaker 1: oh my god, all right, there's And it's crazy because

Speaker 1: Jorge Solaire might have the most famous swing for this

Speaker 1: franchise this century. How many times have we watched his

Speaker 1: home run in Houston, Game six of the World Series,

Speaker 1: and all of a sudden he's charging the mound and

Speaker 1: throwing punches and getting tackled and I mean, just a

Speaker 1: crazy night out in Anaheim.

Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a legitimate World Series hero for the

Speaker 2: I mean, one of the top five, maybe top three,

Speaker 2: biggest home runs in the history of the Atlanta Braves franchise.

Speaker 2: This man hit like five years ago. He was teammates

Speaker 2: with Ronaldo Lopez. I believe in twenty twenty four when

Speaker 2: he came back, like they were on the team together

Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four, because the Braves traded for Solaier

Speaker 2: at the deadline, and that was the year Lopez broke

Speaker 2: out and was one of the best pitchers on the team.

Speaker 2: Of course, what Weiss has known so lair longer than that,

Speaker 2: because what Weiss was around in twenty twenty one when

Speaker 2: Solaira got traded for the first time. So like never

Speaker 2: anybody that you would think would fight.

Speaker 3: Now there is a history.

Speaker 2: I do want to make sure we make like I

Speaker 2: think Solaiir has dominated Ronaldo Lopez like it, like I

Speaker 2: think he's got like five or six homers against him,

Speaker 2: like and CJ brought that up on the on the broadcast,

Speaker 2: like you know, that's what Solaiir is thinking, like I've

Speaker 2: dominated this guy.

Speaker 3: Now he's hitting me.

Speaker 2: And then the next one goes above the catcher's head

Speaker 2: a little too close.

Speaker 3: And then though the crazy thing was it wasn't like

Speaker 3: as soon.

Speaker 2: As the ball goes over the catcher's head, Solaire is charging.

Speaker 2: There was a legitimate, like thirty second pause of them

Speaker 2: just staring at each other, and it is at any

Speaker 2: point if either it just looked somewhere else for half

Speaker 2: a second.

Speaker 3: This not this would not have happened.

Speaker 2: But they literally just stared at each other and then

Speaker 2: it just it went off and just I was ready

Speaker 2: to run through a wall for Walt Weiss. I tweeted it,

Speaker 2: I've never bought a manager's jersey in my life. I

Speaker 2: might go buy a manner. I might have a Walt

Speaker 2: Weiss jersey hanging behind me for like every show we do.

Speaker 2: That was awesome, Scott. He tackled Jorge Solaire. Somebody tweeted

Speaker 2: him they were like, it looked like Solaira got the

Speaker 2: first down, but that was a nice form tackle, Like

Speaker 2: that's how it was literally a football tackle. Ye. Unbelievable

Speaker 2: Walt Weiss. I mean, I know he's already got the

Speaker 2: club and the clubhouse loves him. It's not a situation

Speaker 2: where he won over the clubhouse, but he won over

Speaker 2: a lot of fans tonight. I'll tell you that because

Speaker 2: Brian Snicker is not tackling Jorge Solaire or should he

Speaker 2: even tried it seventy years old, But that was on Scott.

Speaker 3: That was unbelievable.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I would love to be in that clubhouse tonight.

Speaker 1: You can guarantee they will have the replay. And I'm yeah, really,

Speaker 1: just good on Walt Weiss for defending his players. And look, man,

Speaker 1: this we had heard, I had heard shortly after Walt

Speaker 1: was hired, like, Hey, this guy is not somebody that

Speaker 1: you're gonna mess with. He's gonna command the clubhouse. He's

Speaker 1: like he's talked about doing his like MMA workouts and

Speaker 1: he's in the weight room at five am, thrown around

Speaker 1: a lot of weights, especially during spring training, like not

Speaker 1: someone you mess with, even as somebody who's a little

Speaker 1: bit older. But yeah, I mean, I'm sure that won

Speaker 1: over a lot of points in the clubhouse. And I mean,

Speaker 1: what a great if Folks somehow went to bed early

Speaker 1: and didn't see it and are watching or listening to

Speaker 1: the show but still haven't seen the full clip. Please

Speaker 1: do it. I know, Steven, you were tweeting the amended

Speaker 1: version which just had the tackle, but yeah, i mean,

Speaker 1: perfect form took down two hundred and forty pound jorgees

Speaker 1: Solaer to the ground. And you know, it's probably a

Speaker 1: good thing because the last thing you want is somebody

Speaker 1: to get hurt or to break a hand or break

Speaker 1: a finger throwing a punch in a fight, because God knows,

Speaker 1: that's the last thing we need.

Speaker 2: If if you look at the image that I tweeted, like,

Speaker 2: Walt might have saved Ronaldo Lopez's life because Solaire was

Speaker 2: loading up a punch that if he had landed, Ronaldo

Speaker 2: would be dead, Like he would just be dead. So

Speaker 2: Walt might have saved literally saved a man's life tonight.

Speaker 2: It was unbelievable at eleven o'clock at night to watch

Speaker 2: this was one of the greatest things I've ever seen.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and you know what, the rest of the

Speaker 1: game too. We're going to get into the rest of

Speaker 1: the game here in a minute. But you could just

Speaker 1: tell the electricity in the stadium was there, the players

Speaker 1: had an edge to them, like. It really did kind

Speaker 1: of waken up and otherwise relatively sleepy game so far.

Speaker 1: I mean, it was four to two midway through. Braves

Speaker 1: were playing pretty well, but no drama, no real excitement

Speaker 1: other than a couple of nice hits from the Braves,

Speaker 1: and of course Solaire had the homer in the first

Speaker 1: but man, seriously, you blinked and it was a replay

Speaker 1: and then you look up and it was like, oh

Speaker 1: my god, what's happening? Like what did I miss? It was?

Speaker 1: This was a good one. And I mean, frankly, we

Speaker 1: just we have not had many braves brawls like this

Speaker 1: over the years, either.

Speaker 3: No, no, and it's it.

Speaker 2: You could tell like Brandon CJ did not like they

Speaker 2: were already looking down at notes, probably like thinking about

Speaker 2: what's happening next, and you could just hear Brandon.

Speaker 1: What what what?

Speaker 3: What's what's happened?

Speaker 2: Like it literally came out and the camera where the

Speaker 2: camera they were showing were showing the play at second

Speaker 2: base because again the catcher was throwing down the second

Speaker 2: to potentially have a play on the runner. Nobody was

Speaker 2: even thinking about picture catcher and then it just went bananas.

Speaker 3: Oh my god.

Speaker 1: That was yeah, what a night, and it led to

Speaker 1: a really good, enjoyable baseball game too, which we are

Speaker 1: going to talk about. That, of course, was our mix

Speaker 1: it Up segment engineered by Fastenal Fastinal Industrial Supplies Innovative Solutions.

Speaker 1: Want to learn more, visit Fastenall dot com. All right, Steven,

Speaker 1: So we have discussed the UFC fight that broke out,

Speaker 1: and now we're going to talk about the baseball game

Speaker 1: that transpired, and hey, the Braves desperately needed to win

Speaker 1: a baseball game. They had lost three in a row.

Speaker 1: Some of the good vibes that we had after the

Speaker 1: first week of the season had kind of gone away

Speaker 1: after a handful of really disappointing losses. But the Braves

Speaker 1: get to win on Tuesday, seven to two. And I mean,

Speaker 1: let's talk about Ronaldo Lopez, who before the fight was

Speaker 1: throwing the ball really, really well. Four and two thirds innings,

Speaker 1: only three hits, two runs, and I will say both

Speaker 1: of those runs in the first inning were unearned because

Speaker 1: Austin Riley made an errant throw with Mike Trout running

Speaker 1: and kind of set the inning sideways. Only two walks

Speaker 1: and seven strikeouts and four and two thirds for Ronaldo,

Speaker 1: and maybe most notably, his fastball velocity was hitting ninety

Speaker 1: seven multiple times. Really a good sign and a good

Speaker 1: effort from Ronaldo tonight before it all kind of fell

Speaker 1: apart with the fight.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I'm fascinated to watch every Ronaldo Lopez outing

Speaker 2: now because as you've watched him pitch, and like you know,

Speaker 2: you see kind of where the stuff is.

Speaker 3: The slider is just not quite what it was, just

Speaker 3: is it? And he gave up.

Speaker 2: The two run homer on a slider to solair doesn't

Speaker 2: have the same velocity, doesn't have the same depth. And

Speaker 2: I think Ronaldo knows that because he's using the fastball

Speaker 2: a ton and he was just pumping ninety five, ninety six,

Speaker 2: ninety seven tonight a lot on the top of the

Speaker 2: zone and he I mean, he was just going right

Speaker 2: after guys and they really couldn't hit it.

Speaker 3: And even though it's a relatively straight.

Speaker 2: Fastball, it's not like a pitch that is just like

Speaker 2: this dynamic moving fastball which a lot of guys have,

Speaker 2: But he just peppered the zone with it. I thought

Speaker 2: his command was really good tonight. And then he's the

Speaker 2: slider is still good enough where if the fastball is

Speaker 2: that good, you can use it to get swing and

Speaker 2: miss out of the zone, which he did. And the

Speaker 2: Angels had a lot of righty's in there against him,

Speaker 2: which I didn't fully understand. I don't know the makeup

Speaker 2: of their team that they might not have a choice,

Speaker 2: but which always helps, of course, because you can use

Speaker 2: the slider to go away from him. But I am

Speaker 2: it's gonna be interesting to watch Ronaldo how he pitches

Speaker 2: this year, because I don't think he can quite pitch

Speaker 2: like he did in twenty four when he was one

Speaker 2: of the best pitchers in the in the league. Because

Speaker 2: in twenty four that slider was unbelievably good. It graded

Speaker 2: out as one of the best pitches in baseball, and

Speaker 2: this year it's graded out below average, to be honest,

Speaker 2: And so I think he's gonna use the fastball more

Speaker 2: and I'm curious to see.

Speaker 3: How that goes.

Speaker 2: It went really well tonight, a lot of swinging mess

Speaker 2: really good command. Fastball command is it was I think

Speaker 2: what I took most away from this outing before all

Speaker 2: the craziness happened, and that is repeatable, so like you

Speaker 2: can rebuild yourself a little bit out of that. But

Speaker 2: it was a great outing for Ronaldo.

Speaker 1: You know, and for a guy who basically didn't pitch

Speaker 1: all of last year too. Like I think it's probably

Speaker 1: fair to say there was going to be some rust,

Speaker 1: and I mean we all hit the panic alarm whenever.

Speaker 1: His velocity was way down at the end of the

Speaker 1: spring with good reason, and thank goodness, they were able

Speaker 1: to fix the mechanical problem that was lowering his lost.

Speaker 1: I mean, he was throwing eighty eight in that final

Speaker 1: spring start and he was hitting ninety seven what three

Speaker 1: weeks later. I mean, that's that's a massive sigh of

Speaker 1: relief for the Braves. You know. Offensively, tonight, the Braves

Speaker 1: were facing a lefty and they really stacked the rightys.

Speaker 1: So Eli White started in center field and placed on

Speaker 1: Michael Harris. Mauricio Dubon found himself in left field, and hey,

Speaker 1: shouts to Mauricio Dubon, like, what a ballplayer. Well, we'll

Speaker 1: give Dubon his flowers here in a minute. But Dubon

Speaker 1: was in left field for mike Ystremsky and Jorge Matteo,

Speaker 1: who was coming off that really nice game over the

Speaker 1: weekend in Arizona, was at shortstop. Let's talk about Mauricio

Speaker 1: Dubon for a minute, Like I think fans know. I mean,

Speaker 1: he's been out of his mind for the first two

Speaker 1: weeks of the season. I don't think he's necessarily going

Speaker 1: to continue to hit this way, but every night Man

Speaker 1: Dubon finds a way to make an impact, whether offensively, defensively,

Speaker 1: running the base is timely, hitting like he's been one

Speaker 1: of the best, most consistent hitters on this team so

Speaker 1: far in a time where a lot of their stars

Speaker 1: just are not hitting.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and the offense has been unbelievable. The defense has

Speaker 2: been very good. The Braves lead the majors in turn

Speaker 2: double plays, I believe, and a lot of that is

Speaker 2: just Mauricio being extremely quick. We know Ozzie is not

Speaker 2: the quickest on the turn, so Marisio has to do

Speaker 2: kind of most of the work getting the ball to second.

Speaker 3: I've been really impressed, you know.

Speaker 2: I Mauricio is a free agent after this year.

Speaker 3: I would not be stunned.

Speaker 2: You know, you can't go crazy with it, because Mauricio

Speaker 2: is not going to hit like this, and I don't

Speaker 2: want fans to expect him to hit like this. You know,

Speaker 2: he's been a monster offensively. He was abouting fifth tonight,

Speaker 2: which I guess the lefty is not crazy. He's really

Speaker 2: hit left as well for his career. But you know,

Speaker 2: as in everyday he's more of you know, ninety ninety

Speaker 2: five WRC plus kind of guy, which I expect him

Speaker 2: to kind of get back to at some point, but

Speaker 2: that's still very valuable at shortstop. I would not be

Speaker 2: stunned at all to see a blue box at some

Speaker 2: point that has some sort of you know, because uh,

Speaker 2: Hassan Kim is a free agent next year, they don't

Speaker 2: really have a shortstop ready to go in in the minor,

Speaker 2: like you could sign him to like a two or.

Speaker 3: Three year deal.

Speaker 2: The number would have to be right. It would have

Speaker 2: to be a reasonable number. You can't pay him based

Speaker 2: off what he's done the last two weeks. That would

Speaker 2: be reckless. You have to pay him on what he's

Speaker 2: done the last two or three years. But it would

Speaker 2: not stun me at all to see some sort of

Speaker 2: extension just to give the braves because even if you

Speaker 2: go get a shortstop, or if you have a guy

Speaker 2: come up who's really good, you know, if you if

Speaker 2: you if you do the contract right, Marito can still

Speaker 2: be kind of your super utility guy. So it's not

Speaker 2: like you wouldn't have a use for him, even if

Speaker 2: you wouldn't got somebody else. I don't know, I could

Speaker 2: see it. It would make a lot of sense to me.

Speaker 2: But he's been fantastic offensively and defensively. It's ninety bad

Speaker 2: at fifth. I guess the lefty, which I kind of like.

Speaker 2: I think that's what they should do for right now.

Speaker 2: They gave Mike the knight off and Debond played left

Speaker 2: with Eli White center. I don't hate that set up

Speaker 2: right now. I mean, until Sean Murphy comes back and

Speaker 2: they get a little bit of pop against lefties.

Speaker 3: That does make some sense to me.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, it was good to see. We're

Speaker 1: talking baby steps here, but it was good to see.

Speaker 1: Austin Riley had a couple of hits. He went the

Speaker 1: other way with an RBI single early in the game,

Speaker 1: which is good. I mean, we'll take the wins for

Speaker 1: Austin when we can, and had a couple of deep

Speaker 1: at bats too, where he saw a lot of pitches.

Speaker 1: Maybe the results weren't there, but those are generally good

Speaker 1: signs when you're working deeper intoccounts and seeing pitchers a

Speaker 1: little bit better. Ozzi Alby's had another home run, which

Speaker 1: from the left side, which is of course the far

Speaker 1: inferior side of his platoon. Really good signs all around,

Speaker 1: like a good night. Acuna hit a ball well in

Speaker 1: the ninth inning to get his first hit of the series.

Speaker 1: So for an offense that's kind of slept walking. I mean, goodness, gracious,

Speaker 1: they got dog walked by Storano on Monday night in

Speaker 1: the game. Good to see the bats come to life

Speaker 1: a little bit and really kind of rally, especially when

Speaker 1: they needed it, knowing that you lost your starting pitcher

Speaker 1: in the fifth inning and that their bullpen had to

Speaker 1: cover the final four plus.

Speaker 2: Yeah, Acuna had a line out in the first and

Speaker 2: then hit a ball to the warning track his next

Speaker 2: time up, and then got to hit the ninth and

Speaker 2: his baby stub. I mean, we're looking for any kind

Speaker 2: of sign of life that you know, we're grabbing on anything.

Speaker 2: Austin I thought had some of his best at bats

Speaker 2: of the year tonight. Like you said, even where he

Speaker 2: didn't get hit, he get a hit. He went deep

Speaker 2: into counts, which means he's seen the ball well. I

Speaker 2: was worried after that error in the first that led

Speaker 2: to directly to two runs. I was like, oh, man,

Speaker 2: Austin's going to be a mental mess tonight. But I

Speaker 2: thought he had really good at bats. Baldwin keeps hitting,

Speaker 2: Olsen had a good night, Ozzie's been really good. You know,

Speaker 2: if you get a Kunyan Riley going, and both had

Speaker 2: signs tonight that they might be coming, I mean it may.

Speaker 2: It just makes life so much ease. You're not gonna

Speaker 2: pitch like this. You're just not gonna pitch like this forever.

Speaker 2: I mean, even if you think these guys are a

Speaker 2: very good rotator, they're not like the best rotation in baseball,

Speaker 2: which is kind of the level they've pitched at so far.

Speaker 2: They're gonna give up some runs at some point, so

Speaker 2: we've seen in this three game losing streak, you're gonna

Speaker 2: give up run Like you got to be able to

Speaker 2: score a little bit better than the Braves have, and

Speaker 2: a lot of it's been with like runners on base,

Speaker 2: where the offense is kind of just falling apart.

Speaker 3: So it's good to see.

Speaker 2: To night there was like three or four in the

Speaker 2: furt and one inning of like multiple hits with runners

Speaker 2: on base, productive outs like sack flies, like stuff the

Speaker 2: Braiders don't normally do very well. So all of that

Speaker 2: was a very good sign on top of getting a

Speaker 2: maybe getting a Koonya and Riley like waking up a

Speaker 2: little bit. Yeah, good signs all the way around.

Speaker 1: And once again the bullpen was really really good everybody.

Speaker 1: I guess Aaron Bummer was not the sharpest and gave

Speaker 1: everybody a little bit of a heart palputation there in

Speaker 1: the eighth inning. But for the second time in the

Speaker 1: last few days, Walt Weiss used Robert Swarez in the

Speaker 1: seventh inning of a game against the top of LA's lineup,

Speaker 1: and I think that's something that all of us on

Speaker 1: the potter in favor of and like to see Walt

Speaker 1: be creative there. He was also very aggressive in the

Speaker 1: eighth inning. Aaron Bummer comes in. The Braves are up

Speaker 1: by three, and Buemer promptly gives up a couple of

Speaker 1: base runners, and then with one out there were runners

Speaker 1: on second and third, and it was like, oh boy,

Speaker 1: here we go again. The Braves are going to somehow

Speaker 1: kind of screw this game up. But what was really

Speaker 1: aggressive and he brought Rys to Iglacias in Iglesias gets

Speaker 1: two massive strikeouts in the eighth inning to keep everything

Speaker 1: at bay, and then the Braves went on to add

Speaker 1: a couple of insurance runs in the ninth and the

Speaker 1: ninth inning was relatively clean. But I thought, again, really

Speaker 1: good bullpen management from Weiss and Robert Swarez and Rislaglacias.

Speaker 1: I mean, take a bow. Those dudes are locked in

Speaker 1: and just look so good. Early in the season.

Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought.

Speaker 2: Tonight is kind of the the quintessential reason why you

Speaker 2: don't always just tie your best relievers to certain innings,

Speaker 2: but you tie them to situations. Because the two biggest

Speaker 2: situations tonight were the seventh inning, when the top of

Speaker 2: the order was up and it was only a two

Speaker 2: run or three run lead at that point, and then

Speaker 2: the eighth inning, when there was two runners on and

Speaker 2: the top of the order was coming back around. Those

Speaker 2: were the two biggest moments tonight. And for those moments,

Speaker 2: what Whiss had the Braves two best relievers pitching in

Speaker 2: those moments, And by the time we got to the

Speaker 2: ninth inning, the Braves have already added on more so

Speaker 2: the leverage was much less. Now they still use toglecias,

Speaker 2: which I understand because he was already warm. But when

Speaker 2: the game was being decided in the seventh and the

Speaker 2: eighth inning, and let's be honest, if somebody else was

Speaker 2: still managing this team, I don't know.

Speaker 3: That we're operating that way.

Speaker 2: What Whitss had his two best relievers on the map,

Speaker 2: and that's all you can ask, Like, you know, all

Speaker 2: you can do is put the team in the best

Speaker 2: position to be successful and the results are the results.

Speaker 2: You know, you just have to focus on process. And

Speaker 2: I thought by process, listen, it's not the most impressive

Speaker 2: thing Walt Weis did the night. We've already covered that,

Speaker 2: but I thought it was the most the second most

Speaker 2: impressive thing, especially bringing Suarez in the seventh. Like you said,

Speaker 2: it's the second time he's done it. They had Zacharnido

Speaker 2: and Mike Trout up in that inning, and so it's like,

Speaker 2: all we're using Swarez and I love it. I love

Speaker 2: not having these guys tied to innings, but having them

Speaker 2: tied to situations in moments and leverage versus just innings,

Speaker 2: which is how we have operated for the last like

Speaker 2: nine years. So hats off to Walt Weis. I thought

Speaker 2: that was tremendous managing.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I could not agree more. Really good stuff tonight

Speaker 1: from Walt, and hopefully the boys can win again on

Speaker 1: Wednesday and take the series. All Right, Steven, We're going

Speaker 1: to take one more quick break to hear word from

Speaker 1: our partners. When we come back, we're going to talk

Speaker 1: briefly about Monday night's game, and then also some encouraging

Speaker 1: signs with Spencer Strider and Sean Murphy more on that

Speaker 1: in just a moment. After a word from our partners.

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Speaker 1: All right, Stephen, we will be mostly brief on Monday night.

Speaker 1: Nobody wants to relive that very frustrating baseball game. Of course,

Speaker 1: the Braves did lose six to two. It was their

Speaker 1: third loss in a row at the time. Offensively, not

Speaker 1: a whole lot. Drake Baldwin did homer again early on

Speaker 1: and Mauricio Dubon homered late, but in between those, Jose

Speaker 1: Soriano just mowed this baseball team down. And then there

Speaker 1: was also just kind of this weird, out of the

Speaker 1: blue implosion from Chrisale. I mean, frankly, one of the

Speaker 1: worst starts that Chris has had since he came to Atlanta.

Speaker 1: And that's I mean, that's saying something, but just kind

Speaker 1: of a stinker of a game, and I mean, I

Speaker 1: was it's always jarring to see Chris Sale struggle so much.

Speaker 2: Yeah, first and foremost, Jose Soriano is a monster. There's

Speaker 2: probably a lot of Braves fans that don't know who

Speaker 2: he is because he plays on the West Coast, but

Speaker 2: you got a first hand view, and this is not

Speaker 2: new I don't think sorianom's giving up a run this

Speaker 2: year yet. And if you look like it's stuff and

Speaker 2: like the way the grade pitches like Soriano ranks among

Speaker 2: the best in the game, He's going to be a

Speaker 2: I think he's just kind of now coming on. I

Speaker 2: think he's twenty seven.

Speaker 3: I think Jose.

Speaker 2: Soriano is going to become a much bigger and bigger

Speaker 2: name as we get through the next couple of years,

Speaker 2: especially if he gets traded, which I imagine he's going

Speaker 2: to at some point.

Speaker 3: He's a monster.

Speaker 2: And so, yeah, the offense didn't have much, but you

Speaker 2: know the Chris Sales start. It's funny because I looked

Speaker 2: at the expected numbers at the end of the game,

Speaker 2: and the Braves by like expected batting average still had

Speaker 2: a higher number. Like Sale didn't get hit around at all.

Speaker 2: It was mostly command based, like the hits he gave up.

Speaker 3: He had one inning.

Speaker 2: Basically where he gave up like four runs. I think

Speaker 2: he had three walks and a hit by pitch in

Speaker 2: that inning and then like two seeing I singles.

Speaker 3: It was not a lot of damage.

Speaker 2: It was just like his command fell apart for like

Speaker 2: fifteen twenty minutes and then the next inning he gave

Speaker 2: up another blue pit and then Adele hit a two

Speaker 2: run homer off I don't know, I'm not really I

Speaker 2: don't know why they brought him back out after that

Speaker 2: implosion in the fourth, but they did, and he gave

Speaker 2: up a two run homer. So yeah, not a great

Speaker 2: start from Sale. I think Sale has had one of

Speaker 2: these every year, Like I remember last year. I think

Speaker 2: it was against the A's where he got just kind

Speaker 2: of randomly lit up. And I don't worry about it

Speaker 2: too much. Sale is a psychopath. I mean I made

Speaker 2: the joke that he went down in the tunnel and

Speaker 2: like murdered somebody after that start. He was so mad,

Speaker 2: So I don't worry about him at all.

Speaker 3: Like he's he is.

Speaker 2: I would bet on him to pitch a shutout next

Speaker 2: inning our next time out, So as long as he's healthy,

Speaker 2: I know, it doesn't really bother me. But yeah, it

Speaker 2: was just not a good outing, and add on top

Speaker 2: story on it was just awesome, and yeah, the Braves

Speaker 2: just didn't have much of a shot.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Sale, he's the ultimate competitor. I mean,

Speaker 1: did you see he hit himself in the head with

Speaker 1: the baseball. At one point he was very cruely frustrated.

Speaker 2: Whoever was in the tunnel was lucky that he was

Speaker 2: only hitting himself. I mean, he could kill as angry

Speaker 2: as he gets about losing, he could kill somebody if

Speaker 2: he really wanted to. So yeah, I do not worry

Speaker 2: about Sale at all. I think he's gonna have a

Speaker 2: monster year. It's just a bad start.

Speaker 1: Yeah, he'll He is supposed to make another start this

Speaker 1: weekend against the Cleveland Guardians. You know, god speed. I'm

Speaker 1: sure Chris is gonna be determined and motivated to bounce back,

Speaker 1: because that is not a guy who struggles very often,

Speaker 1: and when he does, it feels like he gets on

Speaker 1: the back back on the right path very quickly. A

Speaker 1: couple of encouraging injury notes. I feel like we've talked

Speaker 1: about these players a little bit and it's never like

Speaker 1: a big, substantial update. But Sean Murphy and Spencer Strider

Speaker 1: are progressing in the right direction. It was reported on

Speaker 1: what is today, Tuesday? It's all a blur. It's one

Speaker 1: thirty six in the morning now on the East Coast,

Speaker 1: Sean Murphy is scheduled to begin a rehab stint with

Speaker 1: Gwinnette on Friday. However, the Braves have said that Murphy

Speaker 1: is going to need pretty close to a regular spring

Speaker 1: training in order to be a game ready for the

Speaker 1: Atlanta Braves. That means at least I mean, I think

Speaker 1: we're talking at least ten days, maybe two full weeks

Speaker 1: for Murphy before they really will make it an evaluation

Speaker 1: and call him up. But so far, no setbacks on

Speaker 1: his surgically repaired hip, which is obviously good news. And

Speaker 1: I don't know, Stephen, end of the month seems pretty

Speaker 1: probable at this point for Sean Murphy to make his return.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw some people confuse that that they were

Speaker 2: saying that Murphy's going to need like a full six

Speaker 2: week spring training, and that's not what they That's not

Speaker 2: what that report meant. That report meant that Murphy's going

Speaker 2: to need like a normal what a normal position player

Speaker 2: would need in spring training, which is about two weeks.

Speaker 2: Spring training is for pitchers. Position players need about a

Speaker 2: week to two weeks. And I think by rule, Sean

Speaker 2: Murphy can only be down for like twenty days anyways,

Speaker 2: so it's not gonna be more than twenty days, and

Speaker 2: I guess it's gonna be less. Yeah, I think two

Speaker 2: weeks is probably the what I would say. I think

Speaker 2: they want him to catch a full nine innings, like

Speaker 2: two games in a row, obviously, get four or five

Speaker 2: at bats in in the game, and do that, take

Speaker 2: a day off, do it again. So yeah, when is

Speaker 2: it plus today? The April eighth or ninth, or it's Tuesday, Wednesday,

Speaker 2: I don't know what day it is, so yeah, maybe

Speaker 2: close to the end of the month, maybe a little

Speaker 2: before that. I could see like April twenty fifth, something

Speaker 2: like that. But yeah, it's claw. I mean it's you know,

Speaker 2: when we were thinking like it might be end of May,

Speaker 2: you know when we were.

Speaker 3: In spring training.

Speaker 2: That's still substantially better than what we thought originally. So

Speaker 2: he's still ahead of the the original schedule we thought.

Speaker 2: But now he's got to get through playing live baseball,

Speaker 2: you know, for nine innings, and not get hurt, not

Speaker 2: have any kind of reaggravation. This is kind of where

Speaker 2: you kind of see how healthy that hip really is.

Speaker 2: And hopefully he's back in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1: For sure, and we'll hold our breath on Murphy. And

Speaker 1: you know, I'd love to get Murph back. I know

Speaker 1: he has some big fans in Atlanta. I know he

Speaker 1: has some haters in Atlanta and everybody in between those

Speaker 1: those two extremes. But I mean, just even defensively, and

Speaker 1: his work with the pitching staff is unquestionably fantastic. And

Speaker 1: then if he can provide some pop and hit some homers,

Speaker 1: I mean, that is one thing definitively that Sean Murphy

Speaker 1: can do. He could run into a pitch and hit

Speaker 1: it four hundred and twenty five feet and that's only

Speaker 1: going to help the middle of this order, especially with

Speaker 1: kind of the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the offense

Speaker 1: so far.

Speaker 3: Yeah, especially because lefties. He's always mashed lefties.

Speaker 2: And like tonight we saw, I mean, Jonaheim has done

Speaker 2: really well defensively, but Jonahim is not going to provide

Speaker 2: I mean, I think he's batting eighth or ninth every

Speaker 2: time he hits. And and you saw tonight like when

Speaker 2: they go to this kind of right handed lineup at

Speaker 2: the bottom, it's you know, it's Jonaheim, it's Jorge Mateo,

Speaker 2: it's Eli White. It's like, this is not the greatest

Speaker 2: bottom third of a lineup I've ever seen. And that's

Speaker 2: something Murphy can help with and eventually Kim will help with.

Speaker 2: We're specifically against lefties, both those guys would be in there,

Speaker 2: and the lineup is just substantially deeper for sure.

Speaker 1: And on the other injury note, Spencer Strider through another

Speaker 1: bullpen session on Tuesday. It sounds like next step for

Speaker 1: Spencer will be throwing a live batting practice in the

Speaker 1: next few days, and assuming all goes well there, I

Speaker 1: would imagine a rehab start will be on the horizon.

Speaker 1: But I think we're still probably at least ten days

Speaker 1: maybe fourteen days away before the Braves, we'll have a

Speaker 1: real opportunity to make a decision and potentially bring Strider

Speaker 1: back to the rotation.

Speaker 2: Yeah, he's the one I'm really interested to see because again,

Speaker 2: spring training is for pitchers. Now, Spencer went through most

Speaker 2: of spring training, but he's had this big gap where

Speaker 2: he hasn't been able to really I mean, he's had

Speaker 2: these bullpens, but like throw fifty sixty seventy pitches like

Speaker 2: these guys do at the end of spring training to

Speaker 2: get ready for starts. So like how many I know

Speaker 2: he's gonna have to pitch some in the miners. You

Speaker 2: would think, like how many does he need. Are they

Speaker 2: going to build him up slowly? The fifth starter spot

Speaker 2: in the rotation right now, it's kind of a little

Speaker 2: bit of a disaster, like Jose Suarez and Martin Perez

Speaker 2: have both had one and both went pretty poorly, so

Speaker 2: you know, but you can't really factor that in when

Speaker 2: you're dealing with the health of Strider. So I'm curious

Speaker 2: to see how long this one takes. I think this

Speaker 2: one probably will end up taking longer than Murphy, but

Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, it could be too weak,

Speaker 2: it could be a rider on the same they could

Speaker 2: do like beginning of May. It's just going to depend

Speaker 2: on how much how many stars Spencer needs to build

Speaker 2: back up to where he was before he got hurt

Speaker 2: at the end of spring.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and of course all eyes are going to be

Speaker 1: on the radar gun. You know, what does his life

Speaker 1: batting practice look like in a few days and then

Speaker 1: whenever he does make a start, probably with Gwinnett, you know,

Speaker 1: how does he look And if Spencer looks great, then

Speaker 1: maybe you are aggressive and if the medical team signs off,

Speaker 1: then you can have Strider back sooner rather than later.

Speaker 1: But you also just don't want to mess with an

Speaker 1: oblique injury. I mean, that's the last thing we need

Speaker 1: is for that oblique to get reaggravated and then all

Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're really scrambling if you would lose

Speaker 1: Spencer for a significant amount of time. All right, Steven,

Speaker 1: So we've kind of reached the end of this long

Speaker 1: West Coast road trip. It is an afternoon game on Wednesday,

Speaker 1: so it's actually a four oh seven pm Eastern time start.

Speaker 1: Grant Holmes is set to face Lefty Reed Debt Mers

Speaker 1: and then the team finally gets a day off on Thursday,

Speaker 1: and it'll be a long flight home after the game

Speaker 1: on Wednesday, but I am sure those guys are looking

Speaker 1: forward to a day off at home, sleep in their

Speaker 1: own beds. And then of course, on Friday, the team

Speaker 1: will begin a home stand against the Cleveland Guardians. So

Speaker 1: let's end this series with a win. I think everybody

Speaker 1: would love that flight home after a win. Wrap up

Speaker 1: the West Coast trip with a winning four and three

Speaker 1: record would be really, really nice to have. And then

Speaker 1: let's get back to winning games more consistently. And I

Speaker 1: think it's Cleveland and then the Miami Morelands are the

Speaker 1: second team on the homestand coming up, which is certainly

Speaker 1: two series that you feel pretty good about overall.

Speaker 2: Yeah, so tomorrow is Grant, and the Brain's actually gonna

Speaker 2: need some innings out of Grant because obviously with the ejection,

Speaker 2: were not only pitch like four and two thirds tonight,

Speaker 2: I think, and then not only that, but Suarez through

Speaker 2: like twenty six twenty seven pitches, and then Iglesia is

Speaker 2: through two innings, so I don't really know what the

Speaker 2: state of the bullpen. It's obviously also the end of

Speaker 2: a thirteen straight stretch.

Speaker 3: So everybody's been used a lot.

Speaker 2: So the grand Holmes like, if Grant Holmes will still

Speaker 2: like eight innings tomorrow, that would help a lot.

Speaker 3: But yeah, you're right there.

Speaker 2: They get home and the schedule remains pretty light. I mean,

Speaker 2: Cleveland's good, Cleveland's Cleveland's always like some level of good.

Speaker 2: But and they will be getting the back half of

Speaker 2: the Bridge rotation, which is not the greatest right now,

Speaker 2: But and then you got Miami, Like, those are two

Speaker 2: series you should at least win, like two out of

Speaker 2: three would be the expectation. But I'm very curious to

Speaker 2: see how they get through tomorrow's game now, Obviously with

Speaker 2: the day off on Thursday, they can be sort of

Speaker 2: aggressive with a bullpen.

Speaker 3: Maybe Suarez could pitch.

Speaker 2: I don't know how careful they're gonna be after twenty

Speaker 2: seven pitches today, but yeah, getting through tomorrow will win tomorrow,

Speaker 2: would just make everything feel so much better this West

Speaker 2: coast trip. West coast trips always suck, especially at the

Speaker 2: end of a thirteen straight stretch. So getting a win tomorrow,

Speaker 2: get the off day, happy flight home, and then a

Speaker 2: couple of winnable series when you get back to the

Speaker 2: truest part.

Speaker 1: For sure, and a really fun game on Tuesday night.

Speaker 1: Good to get back in the win column. And again

Speaker 1: the fight of the the fight of the year, the

Speaker 1: fight of the last couple of years for the Braves.

Speaker 1: And shouts to Walt Weiss for a perfect form tackle.

Speaker 1: I mean, they're gonna show that show that clip in

Speaker 1: high school summer ball here pretty soon teaching the boys

Speaker 1: how to tackle, because that was perfect.

Speaker 2: I'm gonna print that off like frame it, like that

Speaker 2: was the great That was the greatest thing I've ever seen.

Speaker 1: You know, on on our YouTube videos we have that

Speaker 1: montage of former and current Braves. We got to like

Speaker 1: get the good guys at Foul Territory to edit in

Speaker 1: Walt Weiss's perfect form, tackle to the Our, to our intro,

Speaker 1: I need it. We will get on that soon, all right, folks.

Speaker 1: That is going to do it for this edition of

Speaker 1: the podcast. As always, a big thank you for checking

Speaker 1: out the show. We will be back soon with more

Speaker 1: coverage as always, and until then we will see everybody

Speaker 1: next time.