Show #474: A Slow Start In Tampa Finishes With A S

You're listening to Atlanta baseball talk. You're weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta Braves. [ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [ Welcome to Atlanta baseball talk show number 474. Today is Sunday, August 2nd, 2020. My name is Steve. I'm joined by both Hammy and Curtis and folks. Please help out the show by telling your friends sharing links and writing reviews. We're going to be talking about the news.

one of his starts. I mean, it just happened to be he was here then, but oh, when did I mayor? Alright. Folks, and tonight's show will discuss Fulties DFA. Marquesis returned, the back end of the rotation and the Jekyll and Hyde offense. But first, a quick break. Alright, so lots of news off the field this week starting with Mike Fulton-Evich. So last Monday night against Tampa,

after three and a third innings of six earned runs and bear nearly a 90 mile per hour fastball, Fultie was DFA mid game. Crazy. Crazy. He and his $2 million salary cleared waivers, all 29 other teams passed on him and he accepted his assignment to the Gwyneth satellite squad. He is off the 40 man roster and like you said, Hammy, wow. Yeah. So, Ham, your reaction.

Wow. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I saw in our, is he still in the running for Lois ERA as a starter as I picked on our preseason bets? It doesn't look great. It doesn't, but I'm going to hold out hope. I'm not closing that door 100% yet. I mean, wow. And you know, in hindsight, all the signs seem pretty obvious. The loss weight, the loss velocity

and the fact that even against his own team and then against the Marlins and preseason, he just was, was not there. I just, I mean, I, I'm not, I can't imagine what's going on in his head, but I think that loss to the Cardinals really ruined him. That playoff lost. I mean, I think he was, you know, up and down. He's a very, you know, it's

pretty shaky mental guy to put it technically. But I think he just, I think he even rambled. And I don't think we ever see full T again. And I mean, I can't, I can't imagine a situation dire enough where full T is starting a game for us again this season. And again, and then after the season, he's done. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting, right? I mean,

he looked terrible against the Marlins and his fastball velocity was down. It was that, it was that big question heading into that first game in Tampa. Would, would he have been able to figure it out? Was it not just the Ross and Bag and the rain and the elements in Atlanta the week before, clearly it was not. I think the, yeah, the biggest surprise for me

was the speed with which they did it, right? Like I get it to 60 game season. And there's no time for these things. But, um, yeah, it was really shocking to just see it in print. Uh, like that was. Well, I mean, do you think there was, I, we haven't, I haven't seen anything. I don't know if you guys have that he like melted down when

he went back into the dugout. I mean, any, maybe the clubhouse and that was. I contributed to it. Nothing about that. I saw nothing about it. I mean, um, I got to imagine. Sorry, so you go ahead. I was just going to say, like, ham, I get it. Like it makes sense that he just did not rebound from that game five start. On the other hand,

he was one of the three guys with, um, with Nukem and, uh, Soroka, who was, you know, throwing six days a week, right? At that, at that high school. Like it's not like he wasn't put in the work. No, but it's, I know it's, but I think it's not the arm. It's the, it's the mind. And then he, I mean, the weight, and this would be

a different show, right? We could spend it. But the weight loss is a really curious thing, right? Like is that because he's trying to easy overworking out, right? As he, you know, I've heard some people say if you do like Peloton every day, it's actually not great for you or whatever. That type of cardio. Do you think he's wired that way that he was overworking out

and just not keeping on weight? Well, first, I need to change my exercise, Regimen. Thank for saying that. He's on the Peloton right now. I am. I do most of my shows from the Peloton. I'm bit Steve. Oh, no one was mistaking you for being on the Peloton. Um, look, the, the, the weight loss, sure, it could be a mental thing. The weight loss could be,

he was just like, I'm going to eat chicken every day in the off season and the loss of weight. You know, he lost all his strength, right? Like, I mean, that could really be the whole thing. So if you eat the whole. Pop eyes every day is at the same as eating chicken every day. It's good for you. That's good for you. Because if so, I

mean, good, good luck. Are you on the Peloton right now, Kurt? I'm on the Popeyes. And he was so good when he came back from AAA last year. I mean, those 10 games, he had a 265 year, he slashed 211 273 57. His stuff is filled the masterpiece in game two. His stuff is filthy when he doesn't get in his own way. Yeah, because he had

sort of come back with the overcoming which I'm sure is a full legitimate anxiety. When you have an arm issue that you have to overcome the fact that your arm might blow out again, you know, that you have to get past that and that that's just part of it. And I'm sure it takes a lot. That's a lot of rehab. That's probably a lot of pain

that you have to go through and to worry that that's an issue. And for him to come back through all that too. It's sad. I mean, beyond everything for the guy. And Steve, I think it was your tweet. But I don't think he wanted to end up in Gwyneth with the Braves. I think that he was probably in his heart, hoping for a change of scenery.

And maybe I'm totally wrong. I'm not talking about that, but I'm betting that he was hoping that he would have an opportunity to go somewhere else and sort of figure this stuff out rather than continuing to have to cycle through this situation with the Braves. And maybe there's part of that that he's got to, you know, he can't come through. He can't live up to because

he's still with the same franchise. There is no doubt in my mind that he was like, God, I could really use a fresh start. He can't have very positive feelings about the Braves right now. Given how it all went down or given that it just went down at all. I mean, he was a foundational piece of the rotation. Now, I'm not saying it was the wrong

decision. It was probably the right baseball decision. But he's got to know that, I mean, that that was coming. I'm sure that, you know, he can't be shocked that the Braves did that. I mean, after and they were, they watched him, you know, when they came back and watched him in the pan and all the pitching coaches watched him, crannets and everything. They knew he was

back. And they were like, you know what, you're bad, but we're going to give you a start. But you're bad. You're not good right now. And if you have, if you can't get it together, that's it. I mean, maybe I think he had to understand that that was probably in the cards. And on the flip side, he may have thought he had one or two more

starts, right? I mean, but he, but the, like we said, that sort of enters the interest squad game and then the preseason game against the Marlins. I mean, he looked horrible. Well, I hate it for him. The guy I do too clearly cares so much about. Winning maybe too much about the team. It's just it's just a it's just a terrible story. The whole thing. And

a macro level too. I mean, it's it's amazing. The teams. I mean, I hate to say I feel sorry for the meds, but like all the stuff that's happening with that team, you know, it's it's it's almost like it's happened to every team. And you come into this season. I'm sure the Braves had full to penciled in as their third starter for however many starts that

was going to be. And they were just going to ride that and hope that they were going to get more better fullty than bad fullty. And now they don't have him. They don't have a third starter that can even go like four innings right now. And it's just created chaos on the back end of the of the rotation. I mean, thankfully, right and two key pitched

well, but neither one of them that went that deep. And so it's just sort of starting to grind on these. We need Will Smith back pretty quickly. Yeah, takes some. Some. Innings away from the rest of these guys that are having to cover so much of these games. I saw somewhere that at least at least three games. We had to go four and over four and

a third. Innings this week. The relievers did. Well, none of the not. Siroka and freed guys have gone more than four and a third. Yeah. Not once. So yes. All right. So this past week, Nick Marquakis reversed course to become the first player this season to opt back in. So Kurt, what do you think? I think this means for the Brains. How's this going to play

out? Well, it's I'm not exactly sure. I obviously he's going to be a left handed bat that they're going to want to use. I mean, Matt Adams is certainly not set the world on fire being our primary. Lefty sort of role player. So I'm sure that they would love to have him pull and it be the left handed DH. I think they're right. So I think

that's how field defense is pretty set. And they're not going to pull those in outs. Who is pretty good defensively other than that one play that everybody freaked out about. But do balls look great. The whole Brains defense. Enders look great. Infield. So. So comparison to the Matt's. My God. It looks good. Yeah. I think that that's what he's going to end up being is the

is sort of the heavy weft handed DH guy. I mean, there's a lot of. As now as we wanted to believe this offense was. And I know it's still early in the season. This offense is not. I mean, there's a lot of. Holes. In this offense right now. So we could use a guy that could come in and and be a professional hitter for us. Yeah.

I mean, I think I hope he becomes that every day ish DH against righty starters. The the role that Matt Adams has been in. But your right Kurt. Adams has not been good. I mean, he's slashing 222 250 370. He's got one homer. His weighted runs created plus is 68. I mean, he's not good. Yeah. And and Ronald. You know, Ronald is great in right field.

If you guys saw Sunday's game. The. Ronald gets turned around in center field. Some I mean, he gets it done. But it's kind of shaky. So a lot of putting Marquakes and right and shifting Ronald to center. It doesn't really work. You know, I mean. Yeah. My hope is that he just becomes that every day. DH against right is and we're going to see a lot

of them. We talked about it. Right. Certainly in the NLE's and then. You know, some good ones in the AL East. I mean, he slashed 298 371 446 against right handed pitchers last year. So I mean, he's still very useful. He had nine homers 17 doubles. That was what we thought, you know, when we assumed he was going to be here, we had this role for

here that when there's a right handed pitcher with a DH. That, you know, he would be facing a lot of right handed pitching. I think Ozuna is a very pleasant surprise. Yeah. And you know, I mean, our defense been amazing. Our defense has been amazing. And so I think he makes us just a lot more versatile. You know, and I'm glad he's back. It's funny. We

were. It's fun. The journey of Marquakes. If we went back through the sort of history of the three years about comments we made about like pro Marquakes against Marquakes, the fluctuations. It's probably been, you know, some of the most the highest between any braze player that we've talked about. But I'm glad he's here. I think he'll be a boon. Yeah. And it puts Matt Adams back

into a role that he's probably better suited for, which is lefty bat can hit a home run off the bench. He's getting exposed as an everyday player, which he's basically been. He's been like five days a week guy. Yeah. And he's not that guy. No. Marquakes is a definite upgrade. Yeah. All right. So onto our friend, Joe Lississine, who on Friday night inherited a basis loaded

mess in the fourth from Sean Newcombe, allowed all those base runners to score via two, you know, two via basis loaded walks, and allowed four runs on his own gave up five hits. The next day on top of this released him. I mean, not a ton to talk about, right? I just love the urgency with which anthropologists is managing the roster. Yeah. Like these, you know,

fringy guys, if you can't do that thing, you've been brought into do. And in Shisein's case, it's be that piggyback when one of the starters hasn't had a good game. If you can't do that, you're gone. And Shisein is gone. Yeah. It's sort of a mercenary mindset. Let's see the next guy. Yeah. Where's Leone? Where's Big Sexy? Exactly. All right. So Curtis, you referenced it a

few minutes ago, the third, fourth, and fifth spots in the rotation. So the in season auditions continue. And let's start with Sean Newcombe. Do you think he gets another start? Yes, I do. Only because where else is that start coming from? Right. I mean, I guess you could, you know, the red sucks in an opener tonight. Maybe there's an opener deal, Tomlin or something. But I

think you got to give him one more start, even though the games are 2.7 more worth it or whatever. You know, he looked horrible in the second game. I mean, he looked, he threw like 94 pitches, 84 pitches. And however many few endings, he pitched in the first game. But he still has good stuff. I mean, he's, when he's looking good, he's looking good. He's got

to throw his breaking ball for strikes. But I guess there's two. Two questions. Does he deserve another start? Or should he, will he get another start? And I think our options are pretty thin right now as we look at that being a Wednesday game, I guess. So yeah, I think he gets that start. And maybe he calms down. I don't know. I feel like our hands

are a little bit tied. Do you bring Ian Anderson up right now? Yeah. I think that that can come, but I don't think it's time yet. And you're right. And there's a shortage of alternatives. Yeah. Tomlin's really your only other alternative. And I think that's what I'm going to say. And God, Tomlin has just been nails for the most part. But if he better suited, what's

that? The whole bullpen has. Yeah. They've been amazing. Yeah. What were you saying? You know, and the bullpen's also getting lefty heavy, all the sudden, which is another reason to, if you can eat some more starts out of Newcoma, and you see him on some sort of positive trajectory, you keep in there. It's interesting. Of the three guys, I kind of have the least faith in

Newcoma long term. In a starter's role between two key and call right and him. Two key and call right and him. Well, there's, there's good reason for that. I mean, his numbers. If you, if you look, paralleling almost the same amount of starts versus relief appearances. Obviously, this is not the same. Innings pitch, but as a starter. And with this is, of course, well documented by

this point. But the numbers are pretty glaring starter. His ERA is 4.15. His whip is 1.448. That's 55 career starts. 52 relief appears. His ERA is 3.1.167 whip. Strike out to Walt Ratio as a starter's 1.87 as a reliever. It's 2.9. So he seems like he is so, and I know we, I, I've, I've personally talked about this. I know we've sort of discussed this. And

this season being what it is where you're sort of throwing everything out there. It seems like he is a prime candidate that they start Tomlin for two innings. And then let Newcoma come in and maybe pitch 4. 5 innings. And I know maybe that, I like that. Can't, you can't present that mentality like force it upon him. Because he, he knows what's coming. And maybe he,

it's not the same as warming up as a reliever. Because he knows he's going to be stuck into that role on that date. And maybe that's the thing. He's looser when he's warming up in the bullpen. Because, you know, he's always got to be ready as opposed to just focusing on one start. But it's, it's dramatic. You know, I mean, it's amazing that it's that, such

a discrepancy. And he is. He's very talented. Hamilton and it's I want him on the team. I want him on the team as a reliever. It's unfortunate. I mean, it's almost like a closer to me too. But it's unfortunate that he just cannot control his pitches when he starts. Well, did you guys, so he, a chipper was calling a game where he was pitching. And sort

of broke it down and said that like he can't throw his breaking ball for strikes. And so, I think, it's not that he's going to be able to get in the way he can. And I don't know. I'm not sure if I can, but I'm not sure if I can get out of the way he's going to get in the way he can get in the

way he can get in the way he can get in the way he can get in the way he can get in the way he can get in the way he can get in the way he can get in the way he can get in the way he can. So people are just sitting on fastballs with him. Right. And so, when he's missing with his breaking

ball, he becomes a very one dimensional picture. And then it's just relying on his fastball, which is not good enough to beat teams on its own. Right. And then he just is wildly erratic. But he's got good stuff. And I think maybe, I don't, I am with you on the starter card. So I think that it's just like, Just like fault. It's between the ears. It

becomes a thing of between the ears. And maybe he just needs to come in and be sort of a. You know, two thirds of an inning here and not worry about the starts. But I want him on the team. I want him on the team. Oh, no doubt about it. And look, I think we're going to see a few more starts. And maybe he just figure

something out. And the rotation can use it. So on to Tuky, who had his first shot at the starting rotation this weekend. And it was pretty good. Four innings, three hits, three walks, five strikeouts, no runs. So Curtis, what do you think about what you saw from Tuky? I thought he looked great. I mean, he had moments that he sort of lived up to his expectation.

Certainly earned another start. Maybe a couple more. He's another guy that we've seen flashes from. And then, you know, when he had, it seemed like I forget what game it was that he came in and relief. And sort of threw gasoline on a fire. It was one of those Tampa games in Tampa. I think that memory serves. But I think it was Faulty's game. Yeah. Maybe

so. But yeah, I mean, you know, it, he, it seemed like it was a moment where he had it together. He never got himself in a lot of trouble. And I think that they out of caution took him out after the four innings or whatever it was. But yeah, I mean, we've got to find one of these guys. Somebody was talking the other day about on

Twitter about, oh, where are these pictures that the Braves were supposed to have in their system. Well, they're all sort of there. They're just still young and still sort of figuring it out. And you also had a generation of these guys with Whistler and Aaron Blair and stuff like that. None of those guys hit. So we are where we are. But you don't have that, that,

you know, next generation of mid 20s guys that are still around pitching for the Braves. Tehran too. So these guys are still really young. And they've, they've got to figure, they haven't had a lot of it. I mean, Tookie, I think it's only had four or five starts in the major leagues. So he had five last year, I think. Really. Was it that many? I thought

he did. Yeah, I mean, you know, Tookie's had a tough time in it in that he's been that dominant triple A starter. And then they start him one or two times in the majors. And then they throw him in the bullpen and then making the long guy. And they've never really stuck with him in one role. You know, and that's, I think that's tough, right? Yeah.

Well, and also he got COVID. Yeah. I mean, he's like, he never, I mean, snip was saying this today. He never got stretched out. Really. Right. I mean, he came in for that full teeth. And he was like, yeah, I don't think he did. I don't think he did. And then he was like, well, that's a really, really big thing. And then this was his first

start. And I mean, I think, to, Kurt, you said it. He, you know, in Snickers that he had a lot of traffic. Like he was just laboring, all day, it was never easy. But he didn't break. And then I think the next start, his goal should be just to throw more innings and throw more strikes. But I think he looked great. He looked better than right.

I think right looked better. Obviously today. Then he did on his start earlier than week. But Tookie looked better than he did. I thought this week. He got out to be underscore outlier, Stephen on Twitter, who's a great follow. By the way, he pointed out that six of Tookie's seven base runners were lefties. So I think part of this whole thing for Tookie is figuring out

how to pitch to lefties. He just doesn't seem as comfortable when he's doing it. It isn't getting the, isn't getting those, those results, you know. And, and like these young guys, he struggled more the second time through the lineup. He gave up three walks and two singles. And his second time through. But like you guys are both saying, definitely things to build on. I want to

see more of Tookie. I mean, I think that he's a legit, you know, possibly good sort of story to come out of this. All right. So third and final Kyle Wright. He made two starts this weekend in his first game. He was just absolutely brilliant. Those first two in the, well, sorry, in the first game. So wait a minute. His first two innings. Did you turn

it off early? I mean, I think, I think it was like 18 of his 21 pitches in the first two innings were for strikes. And then the wheels came off in a big, big way. Sunday was, you know, he scattered hits and walks, but seem to find his footing a little bit more as the game went on. Hammy, like you said. So, ham, you want to

see more of Kyle, right? I do. I do. I think you talk about number of times through through a rotation, right? I think that's what I'm going to say. Our bullpen is good enough to allow us to have starters who don't get through the rotation too many times, you know, because of their youth or index. Yeah, through the lineup. Yes, I'm sorry. Yeah, lineup. So, and

I think, right, looks great. Right. I mean, I think there's a lot to build off of. I think there's some easy things to maybe cut down on. And he's got a good support network. He's got a great. I mean, you know, you saw that double play that got turned behind today. He's got great defense. So that bet. He's got a great relief core. I mean, Tyler

Matsik came in and really bailed him out too. And so, yeah, I mean, it's sort of the thinking behind why you give Newcom another start. Also a little bit is that there's other reasons to have confidence besides our starting pitching in our team. Yeah, I mean, right may have the best stuff of all three of these guys. Yeah. And he's just got a, you know, he's

just got to implement. And he's sitting. He's hanging out with. I mean, he's got to do something. Right. Tookie young. I mean, these guys are like, it's the small smalts, clavine, apri, like they're all, it's just, it just seems like it's promising for him. So, I'll, I will definitely give him more than one other start. Yeah. And I, I think we see a few more. Well,

and to real quick, I, the point that you were making about Newcom, that, that came where he pitched those two great innings. And then came out in the third. Well, he was not. His, either they were not offering it his breaking ball or it was not in the zone. Where they even needed to offer it. And then he had to come in with a fastball. Yeah.

And they were just sitting on it. And they, these guys just got to learn. They got to learn to pitch. I mean, you know, you, they try and get to find with what they're doing, trying to throw the, and, and, and Glamon was talking about it in that telecast was like, he's just, he's trying to throw the greatest slider that's ever been thrown in his entire

life. And he's just got a pitch, you know, I mean, he doesn't need to make the greatest pitch ever here. He's just got to learn. To relax and go out there and do it. And I mean, obviously, Glamon, he, and Glamon said he was lucky that he was on that 89 Braves team that was terrible. And there was no pressure on him to do anything other

than learn how to pitch where these guys have a much bigger spotlight on them. But yeah, he looks like he's got the components. He just needs to, he just needs to put it together. So guys, I want to talk about the offense. We've focused on pitching a lot. So how incredible these first 10 games have been. Given a lot of the things going on, the Braves

are seven and three, right? And as of a few hours before recording this Sunday night, the Braves were second in runs scored in all of baseball with 57 to behind the Padres. Now it's not a pretty picture everywhere. Sixteenth and OBP 12th and slugging. But really, it's been like two guys propping up the lineup. Dan's B, who is slashing 368, 400, 605 with 11. And RBI.

OZuna is slashing 324, 439, 676. They're both OPSing over 1000. And then let's look at the top of the line. Let's look at one, two, and three, and Akunya, Albi's and Freddie, who are all OPSing, respectively, 648 for Akunya, 550 for Albi's, 799 for Freddie. Their weighted runs created plus were 100, were 100 is league average. Akunya's six. 68, Albi's is 47. And Freddie, who's done

more, is 140. I mean, it's crazy, right? Kamargo and Riley, Kamargo's batting 190 and Riley's batting 115. Imagine what this lineup will do when people actually start to hit, you know, like the back of their baseball card, as you say. Yeah. And I think they will. I mean, I think we're starting to see signs of it, certainly. Right. Akunya's heating up for sure. Yeah, Freddie will

definitely heat up. And I just, I have just, I think there's so many good bats in the lineup that there's maybe not pressure on Riley and Kamargo necessarily. I think Albi's will come around. I don't know. I mean, it's like the ones that we were most worried about, like we did the show about, and we said, you know, who can we least afford to have a

bad start? And I think Dan's B was one of the choices. And I think we all picked Dan's B. And then we also talked about, I think we all picked Dan's B. And then we also talked about, I think we all picked Dan's B. We talked about a Zuna how he was sort of replacing Donaldson and was so critical to sort of being, you know, replacing

that linchpin. And those who pieces have hit and carried us, like you just said, Steve. And so. Well, right. And I think that question was aside from Akunya and Freddie, who can least afford and those guys. Those were the guys. Right. So now let's get Freddie, who's looked better and better. And then Akunya is the same thing and gives you, it gives me a lot of

confidence in the offense. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's worry honestly is all these and his wrist that has now resulted in two missed starts. I hope it is really just over cautiousness and nothing else. Sorry, Curtis. What were you going to say? That's okay. Mom. Austin Riley. I mean, I know it's early, but he's three for 26 with 10 strikeouts and does not look good. I

guess I just made him more than Camargo. I still think the ceiling is higher with Riley. And I would be, I would be willing to ride that, you know, to put my money on him over Camargo. Yeah. Hmm. But no, I know. Look, I mean, as good and both of their defense has been amazing. And God Riley is so surprisingly good for a dude his size.

But yeah, just nothing, just, just nothing offensively from those guys. Travis Darnow is a pleasant little surprise. I know we haven't seen a ton of them, but I mean he is. Yeah. He's five RBI in the big comeback game on Friday. It was just amazing. Yeah. So we paid for. We needed it. Right. All right, guys. Next up is shot in the dark, but first a

quick break. All right. Shot in the dark are crazy predictions for the games coming up this week. But first, let's see how we all did this past. And we'll start with our listener pick. So first up, James Plexico. He predicted that Camargo and Riley would combine for zero errors, four plus homers, and less than 10 strikeouts. So no errors, nine strikeouts, but only one home run

this week. So thanks for playing James. Next up, Kevin Butler predicted that Ozzy would stay hot and hit for the cycle over the raised series. Now Ozzy only got three singles over those four games. So thanks for playing Kevin. Next Justin Lawson predicted that Akunia Freeman and Ozuna would combine for more than 10 homers this week. They each hit one home this week. Thanks Justin. And

last up Bill Minor. He predicted that we would chase Charlie Morton before the fourth inning. Morton went five innings, but thanks for playing Bill. Damn. Nobody. Nobody. I like the Ozzy one for the cycle over the series. That was a good one. Yeah. I'm sorry. That is. So let's see how we did. So I predicted that the Braves would go five and two this week. He

can then Akunia would hit three homers. I did get the five and two part right, but fell short on those home runs. And the five and two exactly the split with the raise and the sweep of the Met. Good job. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Ham, you predicted that Freddie would hit two homers, two doubles and bat over 300. So Freddie had one home or one

double. Same game to 80. Yes. All right. In Curtis. Not as close as Hannah and I. I'm just living off of the last week. Yeah. That's right. So, Chris, you predicted that the starting pictures would give up seven earned total all week. So Fulti gave up six in the first game. Which should not help. And then writes five in game two really made it tough for

you. Yeah. But Curtis, no one can take away from you that you won July. Oh, nice. What was the final? How many runs that the starters give up this week? I did. I stopped looking at you. Stop once you stopped counting on Monday. Yeah. After after Tuesday was 12. All right. So let's see what we have this week. So I am predicting that a starter, not

named Soroka or freed will complete at least six innings in a start this week. Hammy, what do you got? I got that the braves outscore their opponents by 15 runs total for the week. That would bode well. All right. Curtis. Similar to your Steve, I have that are three, four, five, which would be Messer's right. Newcombe and two key to your son that they combined to

pitch 16 innings or more this week. Give up combined six or runs or less and walk combined in or fewer guys. Good luck with that one. Also good. That would really be good. All right. Folks, remember you get to play each week to get your shot in the dark in before first pitch on Monday. Send it in via Twitter. If we pick yours, we'll discuss it

on next week's show. And you could win an ABT, CUSI if you hit it exactly. So guys, before we get into the week ahead and the pitching matchups, we have an announcement to make about the show. This season will be the last for Atlanta baseball talk. It is our 14th season to do in the show. And we have loved it. I mean, I can't say that

enough. We've loved interacting with everybody. And getting your tweets and your emails and your comments and frankly, most of all hanging out with each other on Sunday nights. But we have decided to call today. So please do stick with us for our final season. Play shot in the dark each week. So Curtis wife can stop being pissed about all those cruises. And really just a huge

thank you to everyone for spending your time with us over all these years. And yeah, we're going to miss it. Yeah. But that's the thing. This is going to be one grand hurrah. That's right. Going out with the World Series as I predicted. If the season doesn't get canceled on Tuesday. Right. Right. It's Tuesday or the World Series. I mean, that's really what's in play here.

So. Yes. I guess. Well, we'll do our final show. Yes. Yeah. We will. One way or another. And we'll say things. I guess it's what I'm going to say. We'll say nostalgic things. Great. Well, things. Yeah. More on the stop. I'm more on this to come. Yes. We'll stick words. We'll say things. I commit to that. All right. So let's look at the week ahead. Seven

games this week. One more with the Metz, the Weirdo four game series that wraps into Monday. So one more of the Metz, three with Toronto. And then back on the road for three with Philadelphia. Our first time seeing the Phillies. The Phillies who, you know, have not played much. Yes. And nor have the Blue Jays. All right. So the Metz game features a rematch of opening

day with Soroka against a grom. DeGrom in his second game of the season gave up to earn against the Red Sox. And then three with the Blue Jays who as, you know, Sunday ends are three and four on the season and have been sitting around all weekend as their games with the Phillies were postponed. You know, the Blue Jays would be cool. I mean, my God,

just to see Bishet and Guerrero and Bigeo that's going to be pretty neat. You know, and sweeping them. Yes. Yes. So first up against the Blue Jays will be freed against Matt Shoemaker who held the raise to one run over six innings in his one start this season. And then guys, at least according to ESPN, there's a whole lot of no other opposing starters named for

the rest of the week. And I think we're going to see a lot of this. Frankly, this season just with how fluid everything is. So, you know, like we talked about, you know, right, I would assume we will see freed Nukem and Tukki against the Blue Jays and then right Soroka and freed for the three games in Phillies. So two Soroka starts, two freed starts and

then sandwiched in between. What do we say? Right? Nukem, Tukki. Right. So seven games. Curtis, what do you think? What do we go this week? I think we go four and three again. Again, we're five and two. Sorry, I'm going to predict four and three again. Better set. Yes. I will go five and two again. I mean, I just, you know, we're going to beat the

moths. We'll take two from the Jays and we'll take two from the Phillies. I think we sweep the Phillies. I say we go six and one. Whoa. I like it. My son likes to keep telling me he's like, you know, if the playoffs are going to be over the next season, I would have been able to play with the playoffs or played today. Like they're not,

but tell me more. Yeah. The Orioles would be in the playoffs. Have we finally beaten the, you know, the Marlins winning percentage? We're tied. No, we are, I think we're over them. We were tied last night. We're above them. Let me check that. Thank God. We got rid of the pesky Marlins. I wonder if they still qualify if they end up a season two and one.

Yeah. I know. I mean, you know, when, when all, when all the, when all the Marlins mess started last week, right? And games started being postponed. MLB came out and said, look, we don't really have to play, have every team play 60 games. We can, we can base some of this stuff on winning percentage. Because they are making stuff up as they go along. Yeah. But

at some point, right? I mean, you can't have missed so many games. I mean, it just becomes silly. We will see it is, it is tenuous out there. Best. All right, guys, that is the show. We are back to our every Sunday schedule. Remember, you can find us at Speaker iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify. And as always, you can find us at AtlantaBaseballTalk.com. Be sure

to follow us on Twitter at ATLBaseballTalk and to like us on Facebook. Thanks again for listening and go brave. Thanks for listening to AtlantaBaseballTalk. Your weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta Braves. To find new shows, to post in our forum or to send a comment, please visit us at AtlantaBaseballTalk.com.