Morning Chop: Atlanta Braves News 8/29
Screenshot from MLB.com Videos – EJ Channels Nascar Driver
Braves reach 80 wins on Chris Johnson’s game-winning single
The Atlanta Braves became the first team to reach 80 wins this season with their 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night. Jordan Schafer drove in Atlanta’s first two runs with a bases loaded single in the second inning. After Cleveland chipped away and eventually evened the game with single runs in the fourth and eighth, Schafer took charge again, singling and then stealing second base with one out in the ninth. That set the stage for Chris Johnson, who after an intentional walk to Freddie Freeman brought Schafer home with a walk-off single.
Braves Player Channels NASCAR Driver During Postgame Interview
As we’ve pointed out before, the Atlanta Braves hold a huge lead at the top of the NL East, and members of the team are probably having trouble finding ways to keep themselves entertained as they slog through the end of the season. That brings us to Elliot Johnson, who decided to pretend to be a NASCAR driver during last night’s postgame interview.
I haven’t seen too many interviews with NASCAR drivers, but all of the ones I have seen sound exactly like this, so kudos to Johnson. He showed some real dedication to his character.
Skewed Left – Overlooked Atlanta?
“There are fewer things that I think could go really, really wrong with this team than maybe any other team in baseball.” – Zachary Levine (hey, that’s me), Effectively Wild podcast, episode 143.
This sentence was uttered on my first appearance on the podcast, some 130-plus episodes ago, and since this seems to be the order of the universe, let’s count the things that have gone wrong for Atlanta since then…
Braves Sending Eight Prospects to AFL
The Braves have named a bevy of players – eight to be exact – to participate in this year’s Arizona Fall League (AFL). Since its inception in 1992, the AFL has been a showcase for teams to help some of their more highly regarded prospects further refine their skills beyond MiLB regular season games. This year, the league will run from October 8 through November 16. The league consists of 6 teams in 2 three-team divisions. Atlanta’s prospects will play on the Scottsdale Scorpions of the East Division, along with prospects from the Giants, Mets, Pirates, and Yankees organizations.
[Editorial Note: The list includes the following: Tommy La Stella, Kyle Kubitza, Elmer Reyes, Robby Hefflinger, John Cornely, Shae Simmons, Aaron Northcraft, and Juan Jaime].