Show #484: The Starting Rotation Takes Shape

You're listening to Atlanta baseball talk, your weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta Braves. Welcome to Atlanta baseball talk show number 484. Today is Sunday September 20th, 2020. My name is Steve. I'm joined by both Hamming and Curtis and folks. Please help out the show by telling your friends sharing links and writing reviews. If you don't, Markeke isn't Dan's beat don't get another hit all season.

I mean, seriously, it's big stakes. Otherwise, I'm in September. I totally thought it was going to be Dan Quinn will be the new head coach of the Atlanta Braves. That would have been much better. That's really good. The worst thing ever. Oh my God. Oh, I, you know, I'm mad at myself for believing for even any time that the Falcons are going to win that game.

Once I saw that like I was sort of half paying attention because I was doing other stuff and I saw that it was 3937 and we had somehow let it be that score. I said, we're losing this game. We are losing this game. Oh, I texted my friend when the, when the Cowboys came out and scored two touchdowns right at the beginning of the second half.

I texted my friend at that point and I said, we're losing. I mean, at least they stay on brand, but my God. Oh, yeah. All right, folks. And tonight's show will discuss the stake. Where things stand with the starting pitching and some alarming numbers for the offense. But first, a quick break. So as strange as it seems, the final week of the season, regular season starts

on Monday. And here's where things stand. So first, the division. As we record the show, the Braves are up on the second place, Marlins by three games who split their double header on Sunday with the Nationals. We lead the Phillies who are in third place by four games. So we start a four game series with the Marlins on Monday. Lots to be decided in those next

four days. You know, particularly with the Braves finishing out the final three games of the season against the Red Sox, while the Marlins finished out the season with three against the Yankees. So certainly tougher sledding for the Marlins. The Phillies, by the way, have four with the Nationals and then three to end the week with the Rares. So look, the playoffs are not in doubt. Their

magic number, the Braves, magic number for the playoffs is four. But the seeding is certainly up in the air. Right now, we are the three seed and would face number six, of course, St. Louis. So as we record this, right Sunday night, the Cubs and the Twins are playing. The Twins are up, I'm sorry, the Cubs are up to zero. Wait, is that right? I don't

actually know. Yeah, the Twins are up to zero. So right now, we are one game behind the Cubs in the Lost column. So if the Cubs lose tonight, the Twins, we would be tied for, you know, the number two seed. But they have the tiebreaker, right? Yeah, right now they have the tiebreaker, because it's broken down by an intervision, interdivision record. So ours is 2015. There's

this 21 and 15. They have four against the Pirates left. So it will come down seemingly to how we do against the Marlins and how that you against the Pirates. Yeah. So remember, the three division winners right are the top three seeds, regardless of record. And then if you drop into second place, you are fourth, fifth or sixth seed, again, based on record. So guys, for

this conversation, let's assume we win the East. Okay. And if that's the case, our most likely opponents come from a group of the Cardinals, the Phillies or the Reds, at least based on today, right? The brewers and the Giants are. You know, a few games back. I mean, things could happen this week, but let's assume cards, Phillies and Reds. So Curtis, who do you want to

face in the first round? Anyone but the Cardinals. Yes, did. Oh. Yeah. You know, we've really struggled against the Marlins this year. And they are an infinitely better team. But I would take them or the Phillies over the Cardinals. Obviously, we're not going to be able to do that. We're not catching the Dodgers. So it's going to be one of those three teams. I will totally

take the Phillies. I would tell my God, the Phillies to me are the dream matchup on us. Three games in Atlanta against the Phillies. I will take that all day. And then the Reds. The Phillies still have the worst bullpen in the National League. I mean, I think they sort of know we can beat them too. Right. Yeah. No doubt about it. And honestly, I'll take

the Reds. Right. You get Bauer, Luis Castillo, Dees Cliffini. I mean, Bauer is scary. But the Reds bullpen is 12th in the NL in the RA Castillo and Dees Cliffini. I'm not scared of. You know, and the Cardinals, of course, again, second year in a row, we would be much better than on paper. But Flarety and Wayne Wright, you know, are the same line at a

all laid out that we lose two to, you know, a three game series, two to one against the Cardinals at home in the wild. I mean, it's just it. It's already giving me hot sweat nightmares. Yeah. And I just I don't want to see. Oh, what's his face? The catcher. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hate Malina. I hate the Cardinals. We are cursed against them. Yeah,

bring on the Phillies, bring on the Reds. You know, I'm looking at the right like Milwaukee is one game back of the eighth seed. I'm sorry. Yeah. One game back, basically one game back because seven and eight are essentially tied. Milwaukee and San Francisco are both one game back of the seventh and eighth seeds. I mean, things could change this week. Completely flip. And I would

take Milwaukee or San Francisco as well. Just no. St. Louis and let's just get the Phillies. Let's just have an easy road to start for once. Agreed. Yes. Would you rather face? So if it worked out this way and you dodged the Cardinals in the first round, would you rather play them than the Cubs? Would you rather, you know, if the Cubs had the Cardinals, would

you rather the Cardinals beat the Cubs? Or would you rather play the Cubs? I don't know. There's something scarier about the three game series like the Cubs are a better team than the Cardinals. Yeah. No, I would, I think in a five game series, I'll, I'll take my chances with the Cardinals. Well, and I mean, if it ends up like this, obviously, it would be better

to get the Cardinals because at least you'd have home field. Yeah. We'll have you some racquet or whatever. Gotcha. I should follow baseball. I mean, to be honest, I sort of wish. Well, I don't know. I was, and maybe we'll get into this later. But, um, it would be great to catch the Dodgers of the Padres in a five game series and versus the seven game

series, I think, like, just, I feel like our, the longer we see them, the thinner our starting pitching gets. Don't you think there's a chance that the Padres given their youth. I mean, I know they're sort of food loose and fancy free, but maybe with the playoffs, it becomes a little more pressing. Sure. And Tatees is cooled off. I mean, you know, the Padres, other than

our history against the Padres for whatever reason that history is abysmal, but I'm not super scared of the Padres. Yeah, although I would like to avoid the Padres and the Dodgers for as long as possible. Yeah. You know, here's the thing. I mean, really getting ahead of ourselves. If we, if there's some miraculous, uh, you know, occurrence, right? And we, and we win the NL pen

and I'm much more scared of the Dodgers than I am of anyone in the American league. Totally. So there is that. All right. So as we look toward the playoffs, this week that just ended, right, was as meaningful as it gets where the starting pitching is concerned. As we got the start of the Cole Hamill's era, freeds return from the IA. And that's the end of

the game. So I think we're going to have to go to the NL and start by Anderson and Wright. So Ham, let's take it in order and start with Hamill. So your thoughts about his start. Well, he, he looked great. I thought, I mean, the outcome wasn't fantastic, but considering that in the past year, he'd had two live batting practice sessions. And that was it in

a year. Um, to come and get, you know, I mean, look so good. Those first two innings. And then, you know, he just, he stumbled a little bit in the third inning. Um, but all of his pitches were working. Um, you know, I was really heartened by it. And I think he could have pitched, I feel like he could have pitched a lot longer. I think

obviously he was around a 50 pitch count. Um, and the whole, you know, getting Hamill's was going to be like signing someone or trading for someone at the deadline. Uh, is feeling like that's proving true. So I was really excited by his start. Yeah. I mean, he, he got tired in the third inning. You know, so he started leaving balls up. He wasn't locating. But yeah,

he, look, he looked like he can still pitch. He didn't wake up with his arm on the floor the next morning. But we haven't heard anything about him not feeling good. Right. Um, yeah. It's great. My God, it's fantastic. Excited to see him tomorrow. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, all right. So after going on the I.L. with a back muscle issue, also known as worst start of the

year, I.D.S. Max Fried returned on Friday night. So Kurt, your thought on Max Fried's return to the lineup. Other than his velocity still being down a little, um, he looked vintage early season freed. Um, just locating his fastball all over the place. Um, you know, his breaking ball working. It was just, uh, it was so refreshing to see him back after the last couple of starts

he had had where he was not up to what our expectations were. Um, despite they weren't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, it's just, uh, was not what we had come to expect from Max Fried starts. But, um, yeah, it was. Right. And that's what it was. I mean, he comes back and, and you need the braves to have any chance of the playoffs have

to have an ace that can match up in game one. You can't automatically put yourself down. Oh, and one, you know, you have to have a chance to win that game. And Max, three of you will give you a chance to win that game against anybody. So, um, him coming back and looking like that was, was a huge, uh, boost for, I'm sure the team's confidence,

um, and my confidence is a fan as well. Yeah. I mean, so I'm going to talk about his velocity for a second. Right. So his four seam fastball front and I averaged 92.1 miles per hour, which was better than the 90.9 in that last outing before he went to the I.L. But not the 90.9. 93.4 that he had averaged in his first eight starts. So, you

know, I don't want it to drop anymore. That's concerning. Is he still just tired? And that's the velocity thing. And he's going to get more tired. Or is he feeling better and moving, you know, which way is the arrow pointing? We won't know. You know, we may learn more right on. I think it's, well, I don't remember. I think it's Wednesday night that he starts again.

Um, he's getting an extra day's rest. And it could go up there. I mean, maybe, you know, it was hurting. And so his velocity was down and then it stopped hurting and he's just sort of working his way back into a little bit more form. Who knows? Um, yeah, we're, we're toast without him. Yeah, for sure. It needs kind of, it needs to be said. Yeah.

If it needs to be said. So moving on to Saturday night, uh, and we got in an Anderson start. So the line was not good. Four and two thirds, three earned runs, four walks. But you know, what I'm not not super concerned about it. The strike for one thing the strike zone was terrible. Like in this season of terrible home plate umping, it was, you know,

it was in the, it was bad. It was as bad as it's been all season. Yeah. Um, you know, not an excuse for all of it, right? I mean, he wasn't super sharp at times, but things could have gone better. Had he had a better ump behind the plate. And to me, the best part about it is, and you know, we talked about it. Um, with

David Lee, last week that like the maturity factor, right? He didn't fall apart. Right. Like he was able to grind through it. Like if that happens in his first playoff start, God forbid. Right. He, he looks like he's not going to let it get out of control. And he will still pitch some innings. And it won't become, you know, a faulty first inning. I, I, it's

like the ceiling is really high, but the, the floor is not too low. Yeah. And especially with the team like, you know, an offense like ours, the fact that he'll, you know, exactly those two things. I mean, that, you know, he can take a couple of lumps and then still, you know, stop the, stop the damage, stop the leaking or whatever. And um, let the offense

still give us a chance. It's all you want. Don't take us out of the game. And I, and I feel confident that um, I, for me, even more so than right. And obviously, too key. I feel that Anderson has that, you know, more than those guys do. And all the rookies, you know, and, and you know, he, his location was off. It was probably his worst

location of the year. And he's still figured out a way to get through. For an a third and, and, or two thirds and, and not, you know, only give up three earned. I mean, and I think it was that start. Like wasn't in that first inning, you know, that 33 pitch first inning, or whatever. The really cheap shot that just bounced off home plate and over

Riley. Like he got the ground ball. He even needed like the first inning could have gone better than it did. So. All right. And let's end on Kyle Wright, Jim from Sunday's finale in New York. But I have your thoughts there. Just amazing. His stuff was filthy today. I mean, his fastball was lively and just killed just painting the corners. Um, his slider was as advertised.

And his curveball was amazing. Like all three pitches were plus pitches. It seemed like, um, you know, and, and, and it all stems from control. No walks today. Um, I guess he had one late, um, at the, at the end of the six inning, which actually, when he got pulled. But, um, you know, I mean, for the rest of the day, he was had control, which

gave him confidence, which allowed him to attack and, um, and he did. And it, and it showed. And if, I mean, that he looked like an ace today. There was great. It was great. You hope he can keep that control, you know, with control. He can do anything. It seems like I mean, talk about the arrow pointing in the right direction with him, right? Season high

in innings. Six and a third season low and walks like we just said, one season high and strikeouts with six. Yeah. It was just, it was perfect. Man. And his stuff is so good. I mean, just those low fast pitches. Just, I mean, he, it's, it seems unfair. Right. He had a lot of pitchers. Just, you know, our hitters just mixed up and just watching those

strikes. It was nice to see. Um, he's great. Well, it's all about his curveball working. Um, the two start cities had that have been good. Um, and with the last two, the one against the nationals and this one, um, it was, it's all about his, his curveball. I mean, the, the game against the nationals, he got a strike or a swinging strike on six of the

13 curve balls that he threw today. He, that was, that's 46% today. It was at 44% throwing 18 curves today. So Sunday. So, you know, that it's these guys, they got to have a second pitch. You know, they got to have a second pitch that's working. Um, the first one, the first one, the first one, the first one, the first one, the first one. So, the

first three, obviously, he's gotten to where now he has a change up. Uh, uh, you know, I mean, it's just developing more pitches that these guys have Anderson. Um, yeah. So, right, uh, has the stuff, but it's got, you know, he has to display something more than just his fastball. Um, like any of these guys, these guys can time a fastball. Well, he's got a slider

too, though. Yeah. I mean, he throws the, or cut fastball or something. He's got a fastball that moves. It was moving great today in the curve. Yeah. Of course. So, you know, my point. No, I mean, no, you know, but I think he's got to display something else. And you've got to also be, you've got to be effective with it. You have to be able to

throw it for strikes. So they can sit on anything. Yeah. Exactly. You know, there's something about the 2020 season and no fans and the stadiums that I feel like will only benefit Anderson and Wright. Don't tell John Spolts. What's that? Don't tell John Spolts. Yeah. No. I hate brought up that. Any Anderson being robbed of being able to spend time with his family after getting a

win. Again, in the game that he called. I know. Oh my God. But, but seriously, like imagine, you know, whatever being it, you know, being in Philadelphia with a packed house and the show nuts, the first walk you issue, right? I mean, they're not going to deal with any of that. That's only going to benefit the young guys. Absolutely. Totally agree. So staying with the playoffs,

MLB announced earlier this week that there will be no off days in either the three game wildcard round. Or the five game division series round. So Kurt, particularly with the five game division series, this is not a great thing for the Braves, right? I wouldn't think so. I mean, you know, the Braves don't have the starting pitching depth to sort of absorb that type of schedule

because freed. You know, you're only going to get two starts out of them over that course of time. So where before if you were getting days off, you might get three. And then you start out of him over those eight games. So, and how do you set it up? If he starts game one, I mean, do you wait to, you know, I, where do you throw

him again? You know, I mean, if you're going to write in a typical five game series, you can throw your ace twice. But with no off days, if he, if he were to pitch game five, it would be on short rest, right? It'd be four days rest. Like, yeah, you got to figure particularly given what seemed like fatigue and the back. There's no way. There's no

way. There's no pitcher on our, no pitcher on our team. Would we throw on five days or four days rest? Yeah. I'm going to be psyched and we get Tommy Malone start game five. So, but at the team, I mean, at the same, well, I mean, at the same time, it's where our offense and are really, really deep bullpen is an asset, right? Because the other

teams have play five games in a row, right? And get into, if you can get into the bullpen and get those guys going on multiple days, you can wear them out. And our offense can be relentless when we're cooking. So I think obviously our starting, our starting pitching is, is, you know, whatever, whatever the opposite of an asset is. A liability. A liability. Thank you, Kurt.

But, but I think, it's interesting. I think we may, I think that may suit us better. These, these back to back to back games. I think our offense and our bullpen will put the pressure on them more than the bad starting pitching will. So, Ham, set your one through four order in the rotation. I go, I actually go freed. Wait, you're going to start with freed.

Full T full T, Nuka, Tuki. I'm actually going to Tukin, Tom, and out there. At the same time. Either side of the rubber. Well, just, you know, taking turns. Yeah. So freed. I think Hamils, actually, I don't know. Maybe I'm a little high on him, but like just having been there and seen all that. And to get to, you know, maybe to get to wins takes

the pressure off of right or Anderson. I think I go Anderson third, right, fourth. So I go freed Hamils. Anderson right. Kurt, is any different? Yeah, I mean, that's same as logical. I guess it just depends on what Hamils next start. Sure. Sure. No doubt. And obviously he's super rested. I mean, look, you know that that snicker desperately would want to start him in game two,

because he's a, you know, he's a veteran. He's been there before. I don't know though. I mean, I think you go Anderson two and then Hamils three and right. Yeah, because that also, if you end up in a game three in that wildcard grounds to throw e.n.e. Anderson into that game, not that he has not performed amazingly. It's some, against some serious competition and big name

teams and all that kind of stuff. I mean, Yankees and Red Sox and who else, you know, nationals. I mean, all the teams that he's had to face so far. Nothing's been cheap. I mean, the Red Sox are bad, but it's still the Red Sox. But that would be a tall test to ask of a guy who's, you know, not had a bunch of major. And

that's what it starts to start in a way nation game. Yeah. So, but, but then I mean, Steve, who's your, who's number five then? Because it's you, I mean, you know, obviously the, the DS is fine, but whatever that played the first series, but the five games here. Yeah, the wildcard series, but the five game series, who's depends. Right. We're going to talk about the, there's,

there's an unnamed starter. I don't remember what day it's Tuesday or Wednesday. I have it in my notes. Right. I mean, does Malone return and does he look decent enough? No. You know, my guess is that if it really goes to a game five, it's a, it's like a bullpen game and, and you know, a starts. Yeah. Can you imagine? Oh, I can't. And yet I

can. But seriously, I wouldn't be surprised. Right. I mean, and you know, in his last outing, I think it was his last outing when he started that game. He looked to make it. Amazing. He looked amazing. And you know, Snickers like, I love that guy. I love that guy. Let's see if I can get six endings out of him. Yeah. Exactly. Three times to the lineup.

Let's give him three times to the lineup. Let's bring Luke Jackson in for three times to the line. Oh, geez. All right guys. Let's go inside the numbers and look at one big bright spot and then some not so bright spots. So we'll start with Aussie. All these. So in his first 11 games of the season, prior to going on the IL with his wrist injury,

he's slashed 159, 196, 273, one Homer and two doubles in the 10 game since returning, heading into Sunday's game against the Metz. He has slashed 341, 372, 683. See, he's OPSing over a 1000. He has four homers and two doubles, add a two and four day on Sunday with another double in his 11th game back. I mean, Aussie has just three soul bases. Looked back crazy.

Two. Yes, three soul bases. Yeah. In that time, since he came back from, yeah. Yeah. Insane. Just insane. And like, you know, we're going to talk about the poopy spots. I think in a second, you're, but you know, there was a point where the rest of the line, it wasn't you know, where he was batting ninth, where I sort of loved the line up when he

was batting ninth, because all of a sudden, you know, the game gets going on and then it's Aussie, Akunia, Freeman, you know, the it just makes the lineup look great. So, and especially now that everybody else is falling off the cliff, it's nice to have Aussie. Right. But the flip side of that is you want your got your best guys to get as many a B.

I know, I know, I know. I mean, like really, he should be batting fifth and not six, but we'll take it. Sure. All right. So let's head on. Right. The not. Sorry. There's one, there's one fun stat that I saw that I have to throw in on the Aussie thing. So throughout the Braves, franchise history, of course, going all the way back to the Boston. Doves

and whatever they were, they had never hit six or more homers in a game twice in one season. Since Aussie's been back, they've done it twice in nine games. So fun. Yeah. It's been a fun offensive year to be sure. All right. So Nick Marcajus in his last 13 games heading into today is slashing 135, 185, 216. He had an over three on Sunday to add

to that. Now, of course, four of his seven total hits were doubles, because that's what a professional hitter does. But it has been really bleak from Marcajus. And we need him to figure that out. Like, you know, I remember talking about this when he opted back in and we were like, well, at least we won't have the second half falling off a cliff, because it'll skill

be first half in terms of games. And yeah, he did the math. We can fool him. That's right. So crazy. God. He read the news and knew that the season was shorter. And now. All right. Austin Riley, not as bad, but in his last 14 games heading into today's Sundays, slashing 232, 328, 304, one homer and one double. He was 0, for four in Sunday's game.

You know, he has dropped down. I mean, to Snickers credit, right, he has dropped Marcajus and Riley. We're about to talk about Dan's, we, you know, down to 7, 8 and 9 as he should. So Dan's be in his last eight games heading into today's is slashing 061 179, slugging 091 with an 0 for four on Sunday's game. When you are on basing almost twice the

number of your slugging, it's not good. Yeah. Yeah. It's horrible. I mean, and he like, I mean, it's, he's for September, he's 211, 337, 338. Like he's been bad all month, particularly the last eight games. And it happens every year. This is what happens. He's, he starts to stumble. And, and then, but he's still, you know, he's still getting walks in a clutch hit, but like

he's starting to strike out and then he starts pressing. And like, I mean, he's gotten, it's all strikeouts, which is just strike out, strike out, strike out and going hitless. And his walks are down. Like he's, I don't think he has, you know, I didn't look over the past eight games, but his walks are way down. Well, I'm basing 179. He's not walking much. Yeah. I

mean, it's pressing. Yeah. And there are, like you said, hand, they're all striking out a lot. And, and, you know, with this three game at home series, Markeke has been just abysmal at truest park this year. 179, 258, 390. So, you know, it's, yeah, it obviously everybody's not going to be clicking at the same time, but we need more from at least one of these guys

or a collection of the three of them. We need to have some production. We can't have a third of the lineup just cycling through that we're getting no production from, especially with the middle and the top of the lineup coming up middle in front of these guys top behind them that, you know, you're just going to store your stranding so many guys on base. And just

giving innings away. And it's not really the three guys are named Ender or Camargo. It just seems unfair. Yes. His ender still has to be considered. Um, but look, the top six are carrying things and they continue to carry things. Um, but you're right. I mean, one of these guys, and look, Dan's we could snap out of it any day. So could Markeke and Ryle, I

mean, you know, they've all had really, really hot streaks. This year, hopefully they're getting the cold streak out of the way, but, you know, times run out. I do, I do still trust Dan's be to be clutch. If he's even if he's, you know, cold, cold, cold, I think he still has those clutch hits and I'm sure we saw at the site. Losers that we keep

talking about that series last year, but I mean, Dan's one of the only huge hits on that series. Yeah, but worth it. I mean, you look at some of the other line of so I mean, just looking at, you know, and like you said, the Dodgers and like we, we're, if the those guys aren't hitting worth then I know you say that. I know you hate

when I say that, but our lineup doesn't set you look at the Cubs. They're, they're like all those guys are still there, right? By as in Rizzo and Bryant and, um, Hap, um, they're, I mean, they're like, they're loaded. The Cubs are loaded and when those guys aren't hitting all of a sudden, our lineup feels a lot thinner. No, I grant you the bench is not

deep. No, right now. I feel like the, the duck with the cigar drops down every time Ham says that's what's the duck with the cigar? That old show that what's his face? The Marksbrother, Grascio Marks, wow, wow, Kurt appealing to our great-grandfathers out there listening. Hey, look, we got to, we got to get my reference. We got to get to all of our demographic here. 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 that are coming up this week, but first how do we do last week? Let's start with our listener picks. Um, you make me pick them. I'm gonna pick them. All right, starting with Lendrim Moro, he predicted that Hamilton Anderson would combine

for 12 plus innings, two wins, 15 plus strikeouts, less than four runs and less than four walks. So they combine for eight innings, zero wins, 10 strikeouts, not 15, six earned, not four, and five walks, not four. Thanks for playing Lendrim. Next up, Mark Clements predicted the infield would hit seven homers. We'll go around the horn. Riley had one swan's and none. All these two and

Freddie won for a total of four. So thanks, Mark. Our next up is Rob Jared Warner predicted that Markeke is going back to Baltimore, would hit at least 325 with four doubles. I can just stop now, right? Yes. You had me at Markeke's. And although I wanted, I do want to give Jared credit for and their Dar no would hit at least two homers and one

game deciding go ahead hit with the met. So Markeke is clearly, I mean, he went one for eight. In the Baltimore series, Dar no did hit two homers, but no go ahead hit. I mean, you know, when you go back to Baltimore, all that pressure. Yeah. Yeah. Marke Moreau predicted another three homer game from a brave this week. Ozzy did have a two homer game. That

was as close as they got. Tyler Garner, very close, predicted freed Hamilton and Anderson would give up no more than six earned. And the braves would hit ten or more homers. So seven earned across those three pitchers and the braves did get ten homers. Very close, Tyler. And then last up, Tropical Depression Alec predicted the seven through nine spots in the lineup, would hit three plus

homers and eight plus RBI. So there were four homers, but only seven RBI. Very close. But thanks everybody for playing. Let's see how we did. I predicted the two key and Kyle Wright would get up no more than four combined earned runs. So Tookie blew that all by himself. Yes. So that was not great. Hammy, you predicted that Ozzy and Akunya would hit four homers and

steal three bases. And despite you trying to trick me by talking about Ozzy's three stolen bases. He really didn't have any this week. They did each hit two homers. So you got the four homers, but no stolen bases for either this week. Although Akunya did get picked off twice if that if that helps. That takes away from I think you just subtracted away from stolen bases.

And Curtis, you predicted the braves would score 50 or more runs this week. Only 31. That Baltimore's 15 game, 15 run game. That Baltimore series was just so bad. So bad. All right guys, let's see what we got this week. I will start. I predict Dan's going to be Riley and Markeicus collectively hit four or more home runs this week. Going to get all those guys

off the Schneider. All right. Hammy, what about you? We need it. Hopefully we ride that to the braves, clenching the East on Wednesday. All right. That would mean when in the first three games against the Marlins. Let's do that. That's right. Yes. Curtis, how about you? More positive news. Five quality starts for the braves this week. Wow. Shot in the pitch. Wow. With full tea. That's

not part of this. I'm just throwing that in there for fun. Faulty getting that one of this. So the TBD person is going to have a lot of stuff. The reason is TBD is because the guy couldn't spell full to nave it. Send just gave up. All right folks. Remember you get to play each week to get your shot in the dark and before first pitch

on Monday via Twitter. If we pick yours, we will discuss it on next week's show. And you could win an ABT. Coosie if you hit it exactly. So let's talk about the week. We had guys seven games this week, all at home, final seven games of the regular season, four with the Marlins and three to finish it out with the red size. And let's look at

those pitching matchups. So game one against the Marlins, wascarinoa faces Trevor Rogers and his six ERA and 1.5 whip. Game two on Tuesday is Hamils versus Jose Urania and his six ERA and 1.5 whip. The brave scored three in five innings earlier this month against Urania. Wednesday is TBD versus 6-0 Sanchez, who's very good. His 275 ERA is 1.08 whip. He shut us out for six

innings when we last faced him. So all right, predictions. Who gets that start on Wednesday? I will start first and say it's alone. Ham. Tomlin. All right. I don't know. Malone. You're right. You're right. It's Malone. It's full team. See, here's the thing. I really wanted to be full. Because that would be fun. But it seems like they would have brought him back already. If they

had any inkling, like they're not going to just bring him up to eat innings, they would bring him up because they want to see what he has. And he's like, you know, I'm not sure what I'm saying. If he could pitch in the playoffs and it seems like that, you know, that boat has sailed. Yeah. Don't you think? I'm just out there. No, I know. And

I did. I read something DOB where he said, although there were some promising signs. There were also like, he wasn't ready to come back. You know, like he's looked as bad as he's looked good down there. Yeah. I'm sure heard on one of the post game shows this week, like Nick Green or something, say something similar. Like they've seen good things and not so good things.

Yeah. So I would be surprised. So I bet it'll be Malone. But, you know, Tom and Tom and Tom certainly is an option. All right. So the final game against the Marlins will be Max Fried versus Pablo Lopez. He of the 3.960 R.A. and the 1.2 Whip also of the, you know, ignominious sort of record of being the guy that started the 29 to 9 game.

That poor guy. He looks like he has good stuff. He just could. Find the strike zone in that game. Yeah. So onto the final three games with the Red Sox, Ian Anderson will face Chris Massa and his 540 ERA and 1.7 Whip. And Marcy starting one of these games for the Red Sox. What's that? Yes. I said, isn't ham starting one of these games for the

Red Sox. If you sleep at, if you spend the night overnight and camp out, they'll let you start. So yeah, I'm gonna try to. Yeah. And please start stretching like tonight. Okay. You're gonna hurt yourself. Me and Fultip both. The second game against the Red Sox will be Kyle Wright versus Tanner Hauke, who has one start this season, where he shut out the Marlins for five

innings. And then the final game of the season, a three o'clocker for some reason on Sunday. There are no starters announced. Now it would be Hamils on regular rest and Hamilton on regular rest. That's right. Well, regular air quotes. I mean, you're resting. Yes. I guess it's very. They've got to start Hamils on Sunday, right? You want him to build up innings and build up his

stamina like it's. Absolutely. Sure. Right. And get him into rhythm. And yeah, absolutely. You start. So it will be him. And let him throw a seven innings regardless. So Curtis, seven games. What's the record this week? Um, five and two, three and one, two, now let's go six and one. Whoa. Three and one, three and a, you know, I'm not going to get a win. Yeah.

No. Hamil, it's definitely you. Okay. I'm a little insulted. But all right. The Eiffus pitch that you're working on in the backyard. So yeah, I will. I'm five and two as well. Three and one and two and one. Hamil. Uh, they're running the first three against the Marlins. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think, um, I think they lose the last one against. No, but that's

going to be pretty free, right? Would be pitching Thursday. I think they sweep the Marlins and then sort of are locked into being. I think they're not going to try as hard against Boston. And they go one and two. Whoa. Pickets Boston. So five and two, but just not the way you set it. All right. So, you know, as we, we're about to wrap this up.

It's the eighth inning in the twins Cubs game and the twins are up for zip. So, you know, we go to bed tonight, likely tied for the second seed with, with the tiebreaker, right? No, no, they have the tiebreaker. Oh, they win the tiebreaker. Right. Right. They're in it right now. Yeah. They have one more win in their division than we do. So if we're tied

tonight, obviously, it comes down to, therefore, against Pittsburgh and our four against Miami. And that will, and obviously, you know, with it's tied then, then we still have to play the last three. Interesting boys. It's what a, what a great final week we got coming up. All right, guys. Remember, you can find us at Speaker iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify. As always, you can find

us at AtlantaBaseballTalk.com to access all of our shows. And 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 AtlantaBraves. To find new shows to post in our forum or to send a comment, please visit us at AtlantaBaseballTalk.com. And to admit the problem

is a hard thing to admit. Had to get on the program. And enemy, he wrote for you quit. Had to make peace with my enemies. He's obsessed with power greater than mine.