Atlanta Braves news: morning chop, box, Micah Johnson’s scary 30 minutes
By Jeff Schafer
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Miami Marlins jump out of the gate early again on the Atlanta Braves, but this time they don’t let the Braves catch up. Friday night, the Marlins had three runs on the board before I was done eating dinner. They were able to get to Mike Foltynewicz in the 2nd inning after piling together a double, a walk and back-to-back singles. In the 3rd inning, Derek Dietrich hit a solo homer to right field and just like that Miami was up 3-0.
Miami totaled seven runs on Friday night…without star power bat Giancarlo Stanton who was given the night off.
The Braves looked like they had a hard time picking up Jose Urena’s fastball. He throws hard and has been exceptional on the road this year — (9-1 on the road). Remember those runs I was just talking about? Urena helped putting one of those on the board in the 2nd inning as he singled in Ichiro. Oh what a night!
Braves lose 7-1
"The Braves’ lone offensive outburst came from Freddie Freeman. He belted a solo home run in the fourth inning, his 25th. According to Statcast™, the blast went 393 feet and had a launch angle of 36 degrees, the sixth-highest angle he’s hit this season.But the Braves couldn’t keep pace with the Marlins’ offense. The bullpen allowed four runs and now owns a National League-highest 4.73 ERA. Since the All-Star break, the Braves’ bullpen has allowed 100 earned runs in 171 2/3 innings pitched.“We were kind of put to the test right there as we wanted to keep it close,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “If we keep it 3-1, then we feel pretty good about our chances coming into the ninth.”"
If you stopped watching, you’re missing Oz and Dansby
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Since returning to the Atlanta Braves on August 9th, Dansby Swanson is hitting .333 with 31 hits, seven doubles, two triples, 18 walks and only 18 strikeouts. He’s definitely turning things around with the new stance at the plate and his new approach. He’s now batting .239 in 2017. Here’s an interesting stat…through the first four months of the season, Swanson had only 69 hits. In the past month he’s had the 31 hits.
Oh, and his middle infielder friend? Ozzie? We’ll he’s doing pretty good as well.
Through his first 36 games in the bigs, he’s batting .278/.336/.450 with two homers, six doubles, five triples, 12 walks and has 24 strikeouts. Ozzie is now batting 2nd in the Braves lineup and hasn’t taken a day off since joining the Atlanta Braves on August 1st.
These two up the middle guys are exactly what the Braves need. They bring joy and excitement to the organization and will for many years to come. With Ronald Acuna most likely joining them in Atlanta next year, this lineup is coming together nicely. If the young pitching staff starts clicking, watch out for the Atlanta Braves in 2018!
"Albies and Swanson are starting to make sweet music together defensively, and at the plate each is emerging as a key piece of the Braves’ lineup going forward, both hitting for higher average and getting on base at a high rate in recent weeks, both showing good plate discipline, good speed — OK, great speed in Albies’ case – and line-drive swings.Perhaps you read and heard all the hype about Swanson and Albies for two springs and got a little numb to it, particularly when Swanson struggled mightily for most of the first four months this season while Albies toiled at Triple-A and … well, I can see where the excitement level might’ve been difficult to sustain for even the most ardent fans.But it’s happening now, folks."
Next: Ronald Acuna might need a bigger mantel
Braves’ Micah Johnson plays on following false alarm
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: I feel as though, things like this keep happening within the Braves organization. Does anyone else feel that way? The Braves do these little things that are neither not the correct way to do things or a small mistake that should have been known. Maybe I’m just thinking back too much, but I just have that feeling.
I saw this tweet last week and even sent my best wishes to Johnson. I thought the Braves did him wrong and I was kind of pissed off about the situation. Here is Johnson’s response to the original tweet (that’s been deleted)…
This article from the Marietta Daily Journal is saying that it was a “mishap by the Braves in communication.” The Braves did announce the move as a corresponding move to add Tony Sanchez to the 40-man roster — the catcher the Braves received for Brandon Phillips. I’m guessing what happened was the Braves thought the 40-man roster would have been full by adding Sanchez, but it wasn’t since Phillips was removed.
"Imagine seeing your dreams and goals seemingly dashed away with less than 140 characters. Picture spending nearly six months working your back to your dream job and believing that it’s gone with a single tweet.Micah Johnson experienced that when he thought the Atlanta Braves had designated him for assignment and removed from the 40-man roster when rosters expanded for September. For a frantic 30 minutes, Johnson thought his Braves career was over.“It wasn’t funny or cool,” the 26-year-old utility player said. “I was very nervous. I saw all my work go away with one tweet. My phone was blowing up. I was trying to call my agent and figure out what was next. I didn’t know what would be next. We work so hard to live this dream and to see it be in jeopardy on Twitter.”"