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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: On the Block and on the Schneid

By Alan Carpenter

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Apr 24, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Aaron Blair (36) lays down a sacrifice bunt leading to a run against the New York Mets during the fifth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 24, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Aaron Blair (36) lays down a sacrifice bunt leading to a run against the New York Mets during the fifth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /

Lack of Lumber Spoils Blair Debut as Braves Fall 3-2

It was a valiant effort, but once again, the Braves came up short.  When taken together, it is evident that Atlanta had chances against the Mets in this series… and could not string together enough hits to finish the task in any of the games:

  • Against Matt Harvey:  7 hits and a walk in 5 innings.  10 LOB.
  • Against Steven Matz:  9 hits in 6.1 innings.  8 LOB.
  • Against Jacob deGrom: 8 hits in 5.2 innings.  9 LOB.

Sunday it came down to an anxious Daniel Castro at the plate with a chance to tie the game on a single, but he got behind in the count and grounded the ball to second base to end it.

At some point, we’ll have to stop blaming the schedule or the quality opposition pitching.  Atlanta’s players are not hitting, and that’s why they now have the worst record in baseball:

  • 3 home runs.  Rank 30th, but even if they go out and somehow slug 7 tonight against Boston, they will still be 30th.
  • 28th (tie) for runs scored.  Oddly, that’s tied with a first place team (the White Sox) and just ahead of the Angels.
  • Slugging:  .289… that’s not only last, but .100 points short of twentieth place.  If you were to remove Nick Markakis‘ .439 slugging (9 doubles), then you’d have a team slugging number of .259.
  • Markakis is leading the team in OPS at .850.  The only others above .700 are Beckham, Castro, Garcia, and Flowers… all except Garcia are role players.

All of this unfortunately overshadows a solid first outing for Aaron Blair, who was probably the victim of a bit of adrenaline fatigue on top of the anemic bat support.  He, like Matt Wisler did against Clayton Kershaw, matched his mound opponent well, until the sixth inning starting poorly and Alexi Ogando was unable to stave off the Mets.

Here’s your box:

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