Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: A Rejected Trade

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Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) hits a single during the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

This was really bad, last night vs. Philadelphia, punctuated by a fifth inning that had to be seen to be believed… and you truly don’t want to see it. Let me just say that there are actually times in which errors should be issued even though no player actually mishandles a ball or throws it away.

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It’s pretty clear that the team was embarrassed by their performance Friday night, though the mood was set early when Ryan Howard did what Ryan Howard does to Atlanta and cleared the bases with a first inning double. A sacrifice fly later and it was 4-0 quickly.

Williams Perez, for his first time back from the DL and Gwinnett rehab outings, was not sharp, and it showed. He was around the plate a lot, and he hung multiple pitches in the zone that were hammered. In all, he was charged with 9 earned runs (again, if I were the official scorer, I’d lop 1 off that total) over 4.1 innings, giving up 9 hits and walking 4 batters.

It just wasn’t his night.

Matt Marksberry came in for his major league debut in a bad spot – and I can’t believe Fredi Gonzalez did that to him, either – in relief of Perez. Once that 5th inning mess was finally dispatched, he pitched a 1-2-3 6th to better show why he was in the majors.

Jake Brigham and Andrew McKirahan followed up with uneventful innings to finish up.

After that fiasco fifth, the Braves had a 9 run deficit (would have been 10-0, except for a successful replay review). Atlanta took an inning to recover, then tried to save face, with a run in the seventh, plus 2 more in the 8th.

Those runs in the 8th were a bit special: the 100th career home run by Freddie Freeman – an opposite field shot that collected Cameron Maybin as well.

The Braves slide down to 11 games below .500 with this loss, 9 games out.

So when does Hector Olivera arrive (answer: mid-August)?

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