Atlanta Braves news: chop, box, trading Matt Kemp will be tough, Ender Inciarte’s 200th hit!
By Jeff Schafer
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The New York Mets got to the Atlanta Braves bullpen late on Tuesday night to take the victory. The Mets have now won two games in a row against the Braves with one game left in this series. The Braves fall to 71-86 and the Mets improve to 68-90.
R.A. Dickey pitched really well for the first six innings of that ball game, but in the 7th inning he gave up a one-out single and then a two-run homer to Kevin Plawecki…yes, I had to look up how to spell his name. One bad pitch and the Mets are back in this game. Dickey went 6.2 innings, giving up five hits, two runs, no walks and had four strikeouts. Dickey will get one more start with the Braves in 2017 on Sunday. It’s still TBD if the Braves will pick up his option for 2018 or even if Dickey wants to return…he may decide to retire, he’s will be 43-years-old on October 29.
Atlanta’s offense got things going early with a run in the first inning and two runs in the second inning. But then went pretty quiet throughout the rest of the game. In total, the Braves had 11 hits, but only those three runs.
What a way to start the game off…in the top of the 1st inning, Ender Inciarte doubled off Rafael Montero to get his 200th hit of the season. What a year Ender is having…2016 Gold Glove Award winner (hopefully 2017 as well), 2017 NL All-Star and now a 200 hit season. It was the first Braves hitter since 1996, Marquis Grissom, to get 200 hits…he had 207.
"There it is...number 200!" @enderinciartem reaches the 200 hit milestone w/ a leadoff double in the 1st. #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/9IUlNBrnnE
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) September 26, 2017
Braves have five games left in the 2017 season
Braves lose 4-3
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ender Inciarte CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | .306 | .351 | .413 | .764 |
| Ozzie Albies 2B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .272 | .348 | .441 | .789 |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .312 | .404 | .596 | 1.000 |
| Nick Markakis RF | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .276 | .355 | .388 | .743 |
| Tyler Flowers C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | .285 | .381 | .450 | .830 |
| Johan Camargo 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .297 | .329 | .452 | .781 |
| Dansby Swanson SS | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | .233 | .317 | .330 | .647 |
| Jace Peterson LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .219 | .315 | .326 | .641 |
| R.A. Dickey P | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .148 | .148 | .148 | .295 |
| Dan Winkler P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Matt Adams PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .274 | .319 | .524 | .842 |
| Sam Freeman P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| A.J. Minter P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Team Totals | 35 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 41 | .314 | .385 | .400 | .785 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R.A. Dickey | 6.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4.26 |
| Dan Winkler, H (3) | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.38 |
| Sam Freeman, BS (2) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.61 |
| A.J. Minter, L (0-1) | 0.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.38 |
| Team Totals | 8.1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3.24 |
Matt Adams Limited to Pinch Hitting
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: There you have it…Matt Adams has been dealing with a hamstring injury and that’s why we haven’t seen much of him lately. I, along with many others on social media, just figured Brian Snitker lost his mind on Monday when he started Rio Ruiz at first base and Adonis Garcia at third when Adams sat on the bench. There was a reason behind the madness and the hamstring was the issue.
Now, my problem shifts from being upset about the lineup, to why didn’t we know about Matt Adams hamstring issues? I realize the MLB doesn’t make teams disclose all injuries, but it’s not like we’re trying to hide a backup first baseman’s hamstring problems. Maybe it’s just me thinking too much into it, but I would have liked to know about this before my blood pressure raised so much on Monday afternoon.
"Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Adams (hamstring) is still slowed by his hamstring and remains limited to pinch-hitting duties.While Adams does have 20 homers and 64 RBI on the year, he hasn’t been fantasy-relevant since Freddie Freeman moved back over to first base.With only a handful of games left in the regular season, Adams should be ignored in fantasy leagues."
Next: Why is catcher Tony Sanchez on the active roster?
The Braves would love to trade Matt Kemp. Good luck with that
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: It’s almost October baseball! What a great time of the year. You have a nice fall breeze in the air, pumkin beer, football, baseball playoffs, trees are turning colors…everyone just seems to love the fall. October baseball will be great no matter if your team is playing or not, but for the Atlanta Braves, the months that follow will be even more enticing.
The winter months for the Braves front office and John Coppolella are going to be very interesting and fun to watch. They’ll have a couple big decisions to make over the next five months before the 2018 Spring Training season begins. And it all starts with the manager. Will the Braves bring back Brian Snitker? Will they find a trading partner for Matt Kemp or Nick Markakis…and will that value be similar or better or worse than what we got in return for Brandon Phillips. See Tony Sanchez.
Atlanta will try to trade Kemp or Markakis this offseason in hopes to provide a position in 2018 for top prospect Ronald Acuna.
"If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Braves don’t owe Kemp ($36.5 million over the next two years, not counting the $3.5 per annum still being paid by the Dodgers) anywhere near as much money as the Angels owe Pujols ($114 million over four). There are bad contracts, and then there are Bad Contracts. But here’s the kick in the pants: As it stands, the Braves are set to pay $29.25 million next season to Kemp and Nick Markakis, corner outfielders whose combined age is 66 and whose combined WAR is minus-0.6.It’s clear one has to go. Ronald Acuna has to play somewhere. The trick is in getting some other team to cooperate. Most every team has a right fielder better than Markakis. Going by WAR, every team has a better left fielder than Kemp. The Braves would surely have to eat some the $11 million owed Markakis to make him go away. (That, or sweetening a deal with a mid-level prospect, which would hurt worse.) I’m not sure they’ll find any interest in Kemp."