re: ATL Thread 10/27 World Series Game 2 @ Astros: Astros win, series 1-1 headed back to the A

Wow I just now finished my essay and glad I missed it looks like cold bats and what ever the frick happened in the second cost us the game

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I can think of two scenarios only that would boil my blood enough to melt and I'm not going to say them until after the world series and I'm sure most ATL now exactly the 2 I'm thinking of in past years.

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Hate to say it, but it’d take something really stupid for me to melt at this point. I pretty much punted on this season when Ronald went down, and then we made the World Series and beat the Dodgers to get there.

Obviously, ill be bummed if we lose this series, but this tram has surpassed my expectations by a thousand miles that its really hard to get mad with anything that happens at this point.

Now, if we somehow let Freddie walk, I’ll melt

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If we let Freeman walk, the city will burn.

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The only way the city wouldn't burn is if someone decides to just spend stupid money to get him. I could see someone like the Angels offering something like 6/$180M. I don't think that'll happen though. I think he'll be back.

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If we let Freeman walk, the city will burn.

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I’ll be right there.

Didn’t get to participate in this thread, but a few thoughts, both good and bad. In no particular order:

1) It’s baseball. shite happens. Just one of those games.

2) Max is not a #1. He doesn’t have the makeup. And there’s too much velo difference between his fastball and his curveball for it to be his strikeout pitch. He needs to throw that slider more and work all off-season on developing a change he can move in and out to both LH and RH hitters.

3) That said, Max settled down and at least got through 5 giving a night off to our best relievers. After the 2md, I said, “ok, Max, even if we lose, your job now is to just get outs and save Minter, Jackson, Matzek, amd Smith. With the travel day tomorrow, they should all be fresh come Friday.

4) we got Lee and Chaves some decent work they can build on, especially Lee. But Kyle Wright looked good striking out the side in his 1 inning. I’ve said since before the playoffs that for the Braves to win this thing, it’s gonna take somebody finding their big balls and give us an unexpected Bryce Wilson type performance. All the more important with Morton out. That may be Wright.

5) d’Arnaud’s home run was huge. Not only did it immediately answer their run to tie the game, but he had been struggling, and maybe got a little confidence back that he can build on. He did by getting a hit his next AB, I think.

5) We hit 2 piss rods down the 1B line that were easy doubles if there wasn’t a runner on 1st being held by thief 1B. Again, that’s baseball and shite happens. It was a loss, never much in doubt, and should be easy to get over psychologically.

6) Joc Peterson is not a good every day player. With the Dodgers, he always seemed to play much better in the playoffs than the regular season. He does have a flair for the dramatic, though. I think he’s most valuable as a power LH bat that can come off the bench and pinch hit in a big high leverage situation, especially if we’re down or tied and need a big bomb. And with him in the lineup, we have no real threat to come off the bench.

7) We move Joc out of the lineup and are fine. Who are the Astros taking out of their lineup? Alvarez is their DH, hits 4th, is hitting .410 in the postseason with 2 home runs, 9 RBI, and an OPS of 1.299. In the regular season, he hit .277 with 33 home runs, 104 RBI, and an OPS of .929. But he only played 42 games in the field this year, all in LF. He DHed 98. Only played in 2 games last year, both at DH. In ‘19, he played 10 games in LF and 74 at DH. I don’t think you can take his production out of the lineup, probably put him in left, but he’s a liability in the field.

Brantley has started in LF in the playoffs and hits 2nd. Hitting .352 in the playoffs with 9 RBI and an OPS of .778. Hit .311 in the regular season with only 8 HR, 47 RBI, and an OPS of .799. Played 84 games in LF and 8 in RF. In ‘18, he played 134 games in LF and 7 at DH. In ‘19, 120 games in LF, 9 in RF, and 25 at DH. In ‘20, 19 in LF and 26 at DH.

Tucker hits 6th and played RF. Hitting .298 in the postseason with 4 home runs, 15 RBI, 4 SBs, and an OPS of .957. Hit .294 in the regular season with 30 home runs, 92 RBI, 14 SB and an OPS of .917. Played 133 games in RF this year, 4 in CF, and 4 at DH. In ‘20, 42 games in LF, 7 in RF, and 10 at DH. In ‘19, 11 in LF, 11 in RF, 4 at 1B, and 1 at DH.
In ‘18, 20 in LF, 3 in RF, and 1 at DH.

Siri played CF tonight. It was his rookie season, and only played in 18 regular season games—4 in LF, 5 in CF, and 9 in RF. He’s the only player on their roster listed as a CF, though Chas McCormic did play 33 games this year, despite being listed as a LF. And his offensive numbers are pretty meh.

I’d imagine they’re not going to want to keep the top 3 guys in the lineup because they’re big parts of it. Alvarez has only played LF in his MLB career, so I assume he starts there. But he’s only played 52 total games there in his career. As opposed to 174 at DH.

Then I guess they play Brantley in RF since he’s actually played there, though only 17 total games compared to 357 in LF.

Tucker is hitting to well to take out of the lineup, I think, so he probably plays CF, since he’s the only one of the 3 to ever play there in a MLB game. But he’s only done it 4 times total. He’s their every day RF, playing in 133 games there this year. But it took him a while to settle in there, because he’s only played there 154 games total. He’s played 73 games in LF, 4 at 1B, and the aforementioned 4 in CF.

So there’s a HUGE offensive gap between their top 3 OFs and their 4th. But the 3 of them have only played a combined 4 games in CF, all by Tucker, their place every day RF. So, they’re gonna have to either sacrifice a ton defensively to keep all 3 in the lineup, or take a huge bat out of the lineup and play rookie Siri in CF. Regardless of what Dusty does, no DH gives the Braves a HUGE advantage there the next 3 games in Atlanta.

8) Game 3 with Ian is a must-win for Atlanta. He needs to dig deep and find his balls. And I think he will.

Shitty result but glad we got our big 4 bullpen arms two days of rest. Also hopeful that outing by Wright will give him some confidence for the rest of the series. He may prove to be a key guy with how lethal their RH hitters are.

Over/under +1 run for Houston by HP ump in game 2?

Shite is getting ridiculous.

Welp it appears I picked a fantastic time to go to the fair with the fam last night

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Braves hope to repeat last nights performance and go home up 2-0. Fried is on the mound looking to bounce back from his last start vs the Dodgers. Jump on em early and often again. LFG!!!!

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Lot of butthurt Braves fans...