Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop, Box Score, Fredi Gonzalez Interview Highlights

Baseball Reference

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Braves looked a solid, playoff team right in the face this week…they came away with one victory and some hard fought games.  Mike Foltynewicz didn’t last long on Thursday evening as he gave up five runs (four earned runs) off seven hits in three innings.  It was kind of a head scratcher when Brian Snitker took Folty out of the game in the top of the 4th inning for a pinch hitter.  But the bullpen didn’t get used on Wednesday because of Julio Teheran’s 7+ innings so why not?  Already down 5-1 in the top of the 4th inning, Snitker decided to bat Reid Brignac instead of Folty while a runner was on third with two outs.  Brignac struck out after being ahead in the count 3-0.

Braves lose 8-2

RUM BUNTER

Pittsburgh Pirates 8, Atlanta Braves 2: Stars And Stiffs

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: It’s always tough to admit failure, but the Pirates were clearly the better team in this Braves/Pirates series.  It was nice to see the Braves pick up one win against them at PNC Park, but we probably won’t remember that win when we think about this series in the future.  Just wait until 2018 Pittsburg!  Well, this team is probably built to be good then to…oh well, at least it will be a better matchup.

"Polanco’s home run was one of the most impressive I have ever seen at PNC Park. In the second inning, he drove a breaking ball on the outside edge of the strike zone over the 410 sign in the left field notch for his fourth home run of the season. Right-handed hitters do not hit home runs over the notch let alone left-handed hitters.Polanco’s triple was impressive as well, as he turned on an Eric O’Flaherty pitch on the inside corner to drive it off the Clemente Wall. Prior to this season Gregory Polanco had really struggled with left-handed pitching, but that is no longer the case.Finally, Gregory Polanco also showed off his defensive skills in this game. Chase d’Arnaud hit a ball into the right-center field gap tonight that Polanco got to, caught off, and then held d’Arnaud to a single on. This may not sound like much, but for most hitters that hit was going to be a double. Especially from a speedster like d’Arnaud. Simply put, there is nothing Gregory Polanco does not excel at on a baseball field. He is truly turning into a walking toolshed."

AJC

Fredi Gonzalez begins life after Braves

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: As we learned yesterday, former Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez sat down with the Associated Press to discuss what happened behind closed doors.  The AP was  able to get a lot of solid answers out of the 52-year-old and here are some more of the highlights from what Gonzalez said.

"— He doesn’t want to sit out next season and would like to coach (“it’s not manage or bust”). He pretty much ruled out a TV gig and seemed intrigued by a front office job.— He admitted losing took a toll on him. “I started to feel myself get really short with people,” he said. “That’s not my style. I felt my temper would flare at certain things. I’d lash out. I think it would continue to get worse and worse and worse.”— Gonzalez said a recent blowup with a member of Atlanta’s executive team had gnawed at him. “I got into a thing that, after the fact, I knew I shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “The circumstances have been building up.”"

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Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Is there anything that this new ball park won’t have??  Thanks to Jeff Barnes, we learned yesterday that the Braves new SunTrust Park will have a separate suite for Chipper Jones…or maybe it’s a suite that you can rent out and live the lifestyle of ol’ Chip.  Whatever the case, this is pretty cool.