As they slide in the standings, can the Atlanta Braves make a stand on this long road trip?

Braves and Baseball fans it's time to take a trip from coast to coast across Major League Baseball there it goes a long drive if it stays Fair HRA one strike away Sandy into his wind up here's the pitch swung on and miss the perfect game Fly ball deep left Center gr him on the Run yes yes yes the lot of Braves have given you a championship listen to this CL left side Swanson to First Braes the world champions Braves and baseball talk straight from the diamond here's grb mcau hello and welcome to from the diamond I am Grant mcau live from the Kia studios in Midtown we are wrapping up a weekend for the Atlanta Braves that unfortunately we've got a running theme going in this season this has been yet another forgettable series unfortunately for Atlanta and there was just such an opportunity out there in front of them they had it right there in their hands until it slipped through their fingers in the eighth inning as the Braves Bullpen unable to hold on to a commanding lead against the Colorado Rockies and you know a lot of times I've seen a club roll in the course field and weird things happen and most certainly some weird things happen for the Braves but it wasn't just a product of the ballpark there were a lot of other factors that were going into it but on a day your offense scores eight runs you need to win that baseball game Braves couldn't do it on Sunday and as a result of that a disappointing series loss for Atlanta right after showing some real Signs of Life on Saturday we're going to talk all about that series unfortunately we got to take a look back at the week that was for the Atlanta Braves which when we talk about the term forgettable you could apply it to the recent home stand particularly the series split against the Miami Marlins and then a series sweep that was about as decisive as I have ever seen by the Milwaukee Brewers over the Atlanta Braves in which they absolutely just demolished the Atlanta pitching staff and rolled to a very convincing three- game sweep and you felt like the pr were right back in the tail spin that they were in coming out of the All-Star break none of this is new unfortunately now six-game losing streaks that was a new thing the bres had not had one of those since 2017 and now they've got two of them in a 3 four we span following the All-Star break and not a good time ever for a losing streak but I don't know if you need me to tell you but I will anyway how time works and time is ticking down on the 2024 Major League Baseball season and the Braves I don't know if I need to tell you that the 2024 ride has been unlike any other in recent memory for this Braves team there are times where you could say they'd have no luck if not for bad luck they've had some injuries they've had some attrition they've had some regression they've had a lot of other2 words that you could use to try to explain this season but in the end they still find themselves sitting right here searching for answers at the plate it looks like they found some that's definitely a good thing and I don't know if there's so much looking for answers in the individual standpoint on the pitching side as much as maybe some things finally caught up with the brav some ill-timed injuries didn't help Max freed landing on the injured list Ronaldo Lopez on the injured list couple of guys we'll talk about a little bit more later on and then all of a sudden this whole rotation this whole Carousel that they've had going on with the starting rotation trying to give guys extra rest trying to make sure that everything's gassed up ready to go late in the season for the stretch drive and obviously uh the October innings they very much like these guys to throw well they're going to have to figure out their October Innings after they're done sorting out their August Innings and their September Innings if they want to get there to even have anybody throwing anything other than a ceremonial first pitch come October that's the situation I think the bravs find themselves in right now and look I understand because I've covered baseball for 20 years that it's the middle of August this club's over 500 they are within shouting distance of the Wild Card race certainly it's strange to say that the Braves aren't so much with within shouting distance of the division when a week ago on this show I feel like we were having an entirely different conversation had the Braves figured things out after that previous six-game losing streak they won six out of seven then they settled for what I would say was kind of a sour taste in their mouths with a split of a four-game series against the Miami Marlins Club a game on that Saturday a week ago that they should have won then they were shut out in back-to-back days they went on a 24 inning scoreless streak from the end of that Marlin series into that Brewer series let me tell you the Milwaukee Brewers they had no such problem scoring runs so all of a sudden like the feeling around this club went from one end of the spectrum completely back to the other but this is not the first time this year that I feel like we've had this conversation but we know that offensively this club has not looked right really since the first three weeks of the year and even that if we want to go back and get technical about it it wasn't like it was full of all the home runs that you were expecting from this club there a lot of doubles a lot of hits a lot of runs all those things are fine they don't have to lead the league in homers if you score a whole bunch of runs obviously but from May the 1st on there has been a very different Braves Club than the team we saw in April than the team we saw a year ago than the team we saw in 22 21 you get the picture this has just not been the same Braves Club it hasn't looked the same it hasn't felt the same it hasn't played the same there has just been so much in this and I'm going to have David O'Brien of the athletic join me for a long conversation later in the show it's going to be a two-parter so look forward to that we're going to clear some time in both our schedules and talk about what is going on with the Atlanta Braves what's not going so great for the Atlanta Braves and what in the world has to happen for this team over the final six seven weeks of the regular season if they even want to get into October and yes the question of when has turned into a question of if for the Atlanta Braves and how could it not because if you pull back and look at the big picture at this point it's not just about a Bad series it's not just about a six game losing streak it's not just about the offensive struggles the pitching struggles I mean all the individual conversations that we've been having all season long at this point it's about wins and losses and not just yours it's also about the wins and losses of all the other teams in the wild card and let me pull out my cellular phone let me pull up the most up-to-date standings for the wild card as we sit here just after 8:00 eastern time on a Sunday because if you look at that division you the PRS and the Mets they're tied for second place they're both five games over 500 the Phillies are there the Phillies have had a little bit of trouble in the second half but the wild card has been a completely different story for this team the Diamondbacks and the Padres have pushed their way to the top Now by virtue of a Mets loss today the Braves have moved into a tie with the Mets for that third and final wild card spot but depending on the tiebreakers by the time you get done with the season you can't exactly count on that you don't want to be counting on TI Breakers the bravs have done it before but I don't think they want to be counting on it this time particularly with a wild card a game and a half back the Cardinals a game and a half back of that the San Francisco Giants and guess who the Braves are going to be seeing this week for a four game series out in San Francisco yeah that'd be the Giants they're going to see that club again but the Braves have lost seven out of 10 here in the in the 10 game standings while the Diamondbacks and the Padres and the Padre's have been red hot for about two and a half three weeks and so of the Diamond Backs let's be fair because they built up that four game lead over the break and Mets in the wild card but eight out of 10 both of those clubs have won and they have moved into a position where you know you could look at both of those teams as making the Dodgers a little bit uncomfortable out in the west but I say all that to say it's not decided for the Braves it is not a right of passage for the Braves to get to October at this point they're looking at seeing what a couple of teams out west do a team in their division is doing and a couple of teams that are hot on their heels might also be able to do and these head-to-head matchups are going to become so important because you've got that big series with the San Francisco Giants a team that's a game and a half back of you in the Wild Card you don't figure out a way to win that series you're going to be taking on some water and that may be the uh the least of the problems As you move forward you're going to once again have to come face to face with the Phillies a couple of times if you have any hopes whatsoever of making any run whatsoever that division it's gone from the math kind of being on your side because of the sample size games left to head tohe head you get it done or you don't and that may just be the way that that goes but regardless of how they get into the postseason the Braves have just got to figure out a way to do it if they figure out a way to do it we've all seen in October anything can happen if you get hot at the right time but the latest in the string of bad losses on Sunday a seven run eighth inning and a defeat 9 to8 at the hands of the lowly Rockies and I ask again is this no pun intended Rock Bottom for the Braves in 2024 is this the worst loss that we've seen this year now I would tend to say yes for reasons other than being a prisoner of the moment or recency bias but I also watched this team play last week and I feel like I was asking the same question is this rock bottom well this has to be Rock Bottom for this club doesn't it and I know that's all relative for a club that's winning I mean we're not talking about a team that's going to lose 100 games but when your expectation is and I quote World Series or bust then yeah you're going to have some problems explaining five games over in the middle of August listless offense and a lot of trouble pitching and now these two things have converged are happening at the same time because the Braves pitching staff had covered up so much of the offensive struggles of this club that when it started leaking oil well now you've got a whole different kind of problem it's the second six game losing streak for the Braves and I do think this one was worse than the first one the first one was kind of surprising I mean I don't know if it was shocking but it was at least surprising because the Braves had closed out the first half with a little bit of momentum then they come out win the first game after the All-Star break and they lose six in a row that kind of felt like all right well you got to get right then they win six out of seven and then on this roller coaster ride they go right back down to the bottom losing six in a row but then it looked like maybe offensively anyway maybe Kors field was the place that the offense needed to feel like its old self again so that it could have the the transitory power bringing that forward the offense scored 19 runs in the past few two games I'm not going to complain about that I don't care what the V is but in scoring that many runs in those two games you should have won both of them but the craziest fact I think they came out of Saturday's win 11 to8 Over the Rockies was that's the first time the Braves have scored double digit runs since the first series of the Season back in March I know it ain't 2023 anymore but that's the kind of stat that really just makes you scratch your head and wonder how in the world it got to this for this club after slugging their way to that win on Saturday and getting the best start they've had in over a week I told you the pitching staff's been having a hard time Spencer schellenbach continues to deliver he did it in Kors field just a a marvelous start for this 24-year old Ry who has been a godsend to this rotation that has had injury questions pretty much from the first two weeks on when they lost Spencer strier coming out of the All-Star break you got a double dose of it with Max freed and Ronaldo Lopez and all Spencer schwellenbach has done is come in and take the ball whenever the Braves handed it to him and pretty much go out there and deliver he had a couple of hiccups early on but man he has settled in over the past month and a half or more at this point and he's an integral part of this rotation and if you were to make that depth chart I think I talked about this last week here on the show if you made that depth chart in spring training of guys I expect should have multiple starts for the Braves in 2024 Spencer schach probably would have been at the toward the bottom end of that list and not because of the talent but because this was a guy with very few professional Innings who had been mostly a position player in college who had gone through Tommy John who was starting the year in a a you just wouldn't have expected it I don't think doesn't mean he couldn't get to the major leagues but you probably didn't expect to see him in the first half but we're glad we did at this point the Braves in a 10- game trip against three opponents two with a losing record another one in the giants has been hovering around 500 for most of the season and and bottom line it for this road trip the brav Need to win seven out of 10 I mean worst case scenario they got to find a way to limp home five and five they cannot afford a losing road trip period maybe the most obvious statement the first of the obvious statements I'll make on this show but they need to figure out a way to win seven out of 10 because after the Giants you get another one of the worst teams in baseball in the Los Angeles Angels you don't if you mess around and don't win that series and come home at that point I mean the momentum heading in the wrong direction is going to be pretty palpable given what we've seen here in the second half but getting beat the way that the Rockies of all teams did in the late Innings has taken the shine most certainly off of Saturday's win Lost the series and put more pressure on the Braves and this road trip I think is going to be about as much regular season pressure as the Braves have felt in a while because it didn't feel any in 2023 or not much not much after the month of June anyway that's when they took off and just didn't come back that didn't happen this year though but here we approach mid- August the Braves season it feels like is just teetering and their hopes of anything to do with October are kind of dwindling and we just can't keep saying well there's a lot of baseball left because the time is running low now these losses are adding up and again it's not just losing but the way they're losing that I think is going to take a toll over time with this club they need to get right we'll see if they're able to do it on this road trip coming up on the show I will chat with David O'Brien of the athletic we'll take a deeper dive into what's going on with the Braves what needs to happen sooner than later for this club and let's just go ahead and call it sooner up next though we'll dive into this week in Braves baseball as it was not the greatest as we continue on from the diamond with Grant MCCA right here on sports radio 929 the game back to gr moli for more from the diamond welcome back in to from the diamond with Grant mccaulay here on sports radio 929 the game we're live from the Kia Studios on Sunday down in Midtown as the Sun is setting on the weekend and the sun has set on the Braves hopes of winning a series out in Colorado unfortunately Big Time comeback by the Rockies in the bottom of the eighth inning took what looked like a Braves win a brave Series win and turned it into not only a frustrating loss I don't throw around the word demoralizing too often but I can't imagine it felt too good to be up six in the eighth and lose 9 to8 but that's where the Braves find themselves and thus lost the first series on their 10 game Road Trip they got the Giants coming up they got the Angels after that before the Braves get home it's 10 games in 10 days no off days no resets it's just jump on a plane get out there and play the next one and just have to figure out a way to put some of this stuff behind them and I think think the Braves have been saying that an awful lot this year that's for sure Braves dropping a series though in Colorado to a Rockies team that is among the worst in Major League Baseball though and it now puts the onus on really right here in the middle of this 10 game road trip because you're kind of hoping Rockies not a great team Angels not a great team and no pun intended the wild card in all of this was how do you do against the Giants and now very literally the Wild Card implications of how you do against the Giants is also going to be in play here because San Francisco if they're able to make some serious hay against the Braves in this upcoming series over the next few days that could change the Dynamics of the wild card yet again and I expect that thing to change quite a few times based on who gets hot and some of the head-to-head matchups that are going to be happening down the stretch and the fact that yes we are coming down the stretch you can't say there's a lot of baseball left I feel like you can say that anytime in the first half I feel like you can say it rolling out of the second half but once you get past the trade deadline I I I just don't know that you can say it all together that much I mean sure a couple of months a lot can happen we've seen the Braves do more in a shorter amount of time I guess but now this is going to be one of their tallest tasks of this recent run of success that they've had they've definitely had you know their medal has been tested we hear from Brian Snicker later in the show just talking about this series and the fact that Sunday's game got away from them we're going to hear from Luke Jackson in just a moment here who unfortunately was the man who was tasked with getting through the eighth inning couldn't do it and in so not doing the Braves suffered that nine to8 defeat the offense though it came in and it got going at least it seems to be and I will put the caveat I said it earlier say it again probably say it another couple of times before we get off the air here it was corfield I do understand that things happen there that maybe don't happen everywhere else and though there is that factor that we need to note the pitching staff just not having a great time lately and that predates rolling into K's field and innings like they had in the eth against the Rockies on Sunday so as much as Saturday was a much needed sign of life for this team LLY offensively a loss like they had on Sunday really sucked the air out of it Atlanta up 8 to2 in that eighth inning the Rockies went out in a very quick and decisive attack against Luke Jackson and then Joe jimnez and I mean they weren't waiting around they weren't working full counts they weren't taken walks there weren't wild pitches stolen bases and some of the other stuff that maybe we were seeing against the Milwaukee Brewers in the previous series no yeah the Brewers also slugged their way to that sweep but it was a quick and decisive momentum shift for the Rockies in the eighth inning and by the time all was said and done they' piled up seven runs Luke Jackson was the man on the mound when that all started of course he just came over in a trade around the deadline over with came over with Jorge Solair from the Giants Luke talked about what has been a place he knows all too well he's been with this club before he's been through these kind of games before but um what were the feelings after losing a game like this one that his team very much needed to Salt away to start this road trip here's Braves reliever Luke Jackson after the game scored enough runs to win today I let us down made a couple bad pitches that I wish I could have back um just uh I think the way they're swinging it right now bounce B absolute terar so can't hang your hat I know this is crappy loss and one of that sting a lot but these are the ones that uh kind of feel the fire I know I'm better than that I know GE he dominates I put him in a tough situation tonight which sucks you know like getting warm getting warmed fast and just one of those weird days but I'll be better than that next time out I got two outs pretty quickly as you kind of look back at it does it feel like it just happened so quickly after that yeah I mean gave up a Colorado homer which is always fun and then uh yeah O2 on a couple guys and didn't bury a slider and gave a base hit to right field and I think it just one after the other you know it's just first pitch first pitch first pitch first pitch after that which is just sometimes you know I always say it balls goes at people and nobody says anything and then the ball goes in the Gap sometimes and everyone points at you but you got to make better pitches I didn't make B good pitches today as you said you know teams can go through a stretch like this and react in two different ways exactly it's you feel good about the guys here I mean this is a playoff team this team I mean I think they were struggling hitting for before I got here and then all I've seen is just home run after home run and I mean it's pretty impressive these guys lineups absolutely clicking on all cylinders and I'm excited to see the rest of the season uh you has got over the hump in 21 and have that experience how much Credence can you give that in terms of like I mean that team wasn't 500 until August this one's been above 500 through the whole year like how much does it matter yeah I mean playing you want to play your best baseball at the end and uh I think uh once end of August September kicks around and everyone's clicking on all cylinders it's it's time to shine and I mean these guys are all playoff players a lot of this team's the same team a lot of these guys have been in the postseason five six seven years in a row so team that's built for IT team that knows what's at stake team that can come through in the end it's a team that's taken a lot of hits though this year the injuries have have been a hit the regression of the lineup has been another hit and here over the last couple of weeks the rotation has taken some hits of pitching staff has taken some hits or well more than a few hits they're taking their lumps right now and when those two things are happening simultaneously I mean they don't all have to be as bad as that series against the Brewers which again is one of the worst that I've seen since the Braves got on their run of success that again in 2018 like you just don't see too many series like that I'd pull up the post that I saw about all the different things that the Brewers did in that series that team has never done in the same series based on all the hits and the runs and the homers and all the things they were doing none of it added up to being anything good but you needed to put that out of your mind you needed to go out to Colorado you needed to handle business and as Luke Jackson said unable to do that needed to make some better pitches it wasn't just Co field I mean the Home Run obviously that's one of the big big exclamation points on that inning but the Rockies went up there aggressive and unfortunately they were just stringing hits together and things got bad in a hurry for him Atlanta pitching staff though has been taking on the chin here a lot lately they were able to get a good start on Sunday it's a shame to waste that that you got from Spencer swellen boach and how good was he once again six Innings of two-run balls seven strikeouts for him and he he got in some trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning and one of the things that's been so impressive to me and I know I asked Brian snitter about this a month ago when you watch Spencer swelling boach pitch what stands out to you and he said without a hesitation Mound presence and that's usually a thing that you associate with a veteran pitcher you know somebody who's been around a little while has you know 30 40 50 starts under their belt at least where you see okay this this person has really established himself well Spencer swach has done that in a very short amount of time and you wasted the first quality start that you've gotten in about a week because there was a ring until Grant Holmes went five innings in the opener against the Rockies the Braves hadn't gotten five innings out of a starting pitcher all week that's a bad Trend because what does that Trend do not only are you maybe behind the eightball because it's been some rough starts now all of a sudden the bullpen is having to come in and cover a lot more Innings they're having to do it in a short amount of time and I think that could be some of the factor here and I I know there are some people and you know I'm on social media you can find me at Grant mccaulay on most platforms you know upset about all right well Luke Jackson came in and gave it up Luke Jackson's had problem s in the past he's you know it's Mercurial might be the nice way to put it but you know some things have gone a with him on the mound but ni go Ry with a lot of pitchers on the mound but it just feels like maybe Luke finds himself you know walking that tight RPP a little bit more than some pitchers do but I would say to you it's a six-run lead every pitcher in your Bullpen should be able to pitch with a six-run lead there's no reason Joe himz needed to start that inning let alone have to come in and clean it up but that's where you're at now I think some of the big questions are of course as you manage this Bullpen and figure out what the best deployment is when can you get Dylan Lee back in this mix because his the fact that he had options is why he's pitching for Triple A gwet right now the rest of the brav bullpen you just didn't have a lot of flexibility so when you needed to make these roster changes where you're taking this guy up and this guy off it I'm going to talk to David O'Brien about this because the whole way that the pitching staff has been managed I understand it you know I get the extra rest for the starters but it does create kind of a domino effect of other things that can happen as a result of that and those other things I speak of are not having a lot of players that you can option to the miners from the bullpen side of things they had Ray cerr who's out for the season and Dylan Lee basically that are optionable pieces right now that you can afford to send back down to the minor leagues the rest of these guys are either out of options or you're not moving them down you're not changing them out but getting Dylan Lee back in that Bullpen could help a little bit but again it's roster construction roster Crunch and trying to make some moves in that starting rotation that they've wanted to give that extra rest to Chris sa and Ronaldo Lopez and I'm not going to say it hasn't benefited them but there have been some effects of that I think here lately that has made that a little bit more Curious I mean I I don't know if the plan was to completely skip Spencer schellenbach in Colorado and and just give him a longer rest and then all of a sudden they found themselves in the skid and realized hey we U probably just give an extra day or two and just get him on back out there because I know they have to look at his Innings coming into the season with 65 Innings of professional baseball under his belt he is already throwing the most Innings he's ever thrown as a pro which doesn't mean that he can't do it but you have to be mindful of how you do it and I think they're trying to do that but even with all the extra rests that you gave Ronaldo Lopez he still kind of slowed down around the All-Star break obviously having some forearm pain or soreness that resulted in him landing on the injured list that's something to keep in mind and he hadn't thrown over 100 Innings since 2019 so I know they're trying to manage that but still eventually I think the continuity not being in place is going to be a factor because in all these minor league pitchers that you're bringing up you know one day they're starting to guette then they're lining up for their next start oh no scratch that here's a couple extra days now we're going to throw you into the rotation in Atlanta and no matter how you pitch we're going to send you back to the minor leagues now this has been going on for a while and I understand why teams do it but I don't necessarily think that it is the ideal scenario for young pitchers to be on that train now aren't they going to be happy to come to the big leagues for any amount of time that they can well sure but wouldn't you like to stay there and wouldn't it feel a little bit different if the plan was just a little bit more linear those are just some of the thoughts I have on it I don't know that it's benefited some of the young pitchers to have to do all of that but again necessity is the mother of all invention and the Braves are trying to do it and manage their staff based on what they're seeing and what they feel like they need to do but the production has certainly taken a hit over this past week so can they get that all sorted out we're going to talk a lot about the Braves offense a little bit later in the show we did see some encouraging signs though that I do want to discuss real quick before we jump to a break and before David O'Brian joins the show here as well Matt olssen with that huge game on Saturday you needed to see that and hopefully that's a sign of things to come because I have talked about it on this very show in this very Studio on this very microphone that's a Lynch pin of the Braves offense you get Matt Olsson going that could change the Dynamics of this entire lineup you don't have Ronald Luni Jr walking through that door again this year so you don't have the National League MVP but if you get the guy that led all of baseball and home runs in RBI to go on a heater that might help you out you get that guy at the top of the order Jorge Solair get him going the way he has been this past few days that one also serve you well if you're the Braves we'll talk more about the Braves offense later on but when we come back we are going going to jump into a little bit more discussion about what is going on with this team what needs to happen for this team how did the Braves get to where they are and how did they get out of it in some cases David O'Brien of the Athletics going to join me next right here on from the diamond with Grant McCaul on sports radio 929 the game welcome back in to sports radio 929 the game Grant with you from the Kia Studios on a Sunday night as we wrap up the weekend for the Braves who are out on a 10 game Road Trip they have finished their business in Colorado the next stop is San Francisco and of course over this next what month and a half the Braves are hoping to not only just chart their course through a successful road trip here but a close to the season that will help them climb back into that wild card race and rescure that place in October they were holding on to for so long that place that slipped through their fingers this past week with their second long losing streak of the second half not something we're accustomed to seeing from this Braves team but something that has been a stark reality at times in 2024 the inconsistency of this club mostly on the offensive side yeah that stretched on over to the pitching side on this recent home stand especially the sweep against the Milwaukee Brewers it sent the Braves out on a road trip with less than no momentum it sent them out there with a mission to turn things around that's what they were trying to do at Coors Field this weekend to help me talk more about what's going on with the Atlanta Braves on this road trip I want to welcome David O'Brien of the athletic into the show he joins me on the W for.com hotline well Dave I think it's safe to say this Brave season is shaping up a little bit differently than a lot of people including the Braves themselves expected uh it's been a roller coaster we're going to get into it here but first and foremost thanks for making some time to join the show no problem good to be with you grant it's been the craziest season I mean in the bad way obviously because 2021 would be tough to match as far as just being unexpected you know and how it ended after being where they were at mid-season that year and then going on to win the World Series never even facing elimination in that postseason all that so that would probably still top it as far as sheer surprise in other direction but uh yeah you just couldn't have expected a the Litany of injuries this year to keep people not just injuries yeah but also just so many guys that had career best seasons last year and collectively you know there wasn't a stretch last year where you had more than say three guys not surging at any time in other words there were five or six guys at all times surging this year there have been many times where it's literally only been Marcel Ozuna and most times where there's been no more than Marcel and two other guys hot at any given time so that's kind one of those things you just can't put a finger on and go what's happened there's there really no explanation no there's really not and theyve spent a lot of time trying to figure it out they've got a little less than 50 games to go to try to sort this thing out but the question has kind of Mor from a when to an if for certain this spray se's been a roller coaster ride in more ways than one you mentioned a few of them there the injuries clearly have taken a toll we'll get into that later the most obvious one though is their way of winning and losing games and it's been these wild swings back and forth a week ago it seemed like maybe they were on the upswing they'd won six out of seven maybe they were climbing back in the divisional race but Dave last week I I don't know about you but it's been about as forgettable as it gets during their run of success beginning in 2018 yeah I think this has been the worst week that I can recall certainly I can't remember that one that was so encapsulated almost an entire seven game home stand in other words beat the the Marlins the first two games of the series like they should have the Marlins coming off a dismantling basically at the trade deadline you thought okay this is they they might win four it's hard to sweep four from any team by any team but you thought they'll win three out of four at least uh you know Mar might get a well- pitched game like happens with them all the time but they'll win three out of four and then and then face the Brewers again for the second time in a week in a week and a half and and they'll be fine and instead the last two games of the mar series they just fell in their face it was utterly it was a horrendous couple of games and continued that throughout the Brewers Series yeah what the Brewers did to Braves pitching is something I just have not seen or expected since the Braves got really good again in 2018 when they' won the first division title I've never seen a Braves pitching staff much less a Braves pitching staff this staff led the majors in erra y just over a week ago that's why you didn't expect what has happened and some of that fatigue from the pin that's had to carry so much of the load and all of a sudden the starters weren't going five innings tough to win that way yeah less than five innings from your starters and a pen have your key guys having to pitch after they've had done such a good job of giving those Bullpen guys rest all year all of a sudden you can't there's not enough rest to go around when you got to cover four Innings every game yeah it's just been a combination of things really the last week has been the perfect crap storm if you will of uh poor poor hitting poor hitting and poor pitching for the first time all year I mean at least uh maybe not the first time but the pitching staff for the most part have been really solid and and is what kept the Braves afloat and well over 500 for most of the Season yeah the pitching staff I've said many times imagine last year's offense with this year's pitching staff and you got a team that's gonna win 120 games yeah no that's a really good point you can't do that no so you've had and now the pitching staff is showing it's it's it's worn out it looks worn out and what they've done you know we're going to talk about what they've done with the rest for the starters I understand why they've done it and it worked fine for a long time but that philosophy is also kind of backfiring now because you're forced to thrust guys in there who just either aren't ready or in the case of I think Bryce Elder cannot handle this back and forth erratic schedule of pitching one day in in Triple A then getting scratched from the next triaa start and pitching three days after that in the in the major SO pitching on eight days rest yeah and then going sent back down whether he pitched poor are pitch really well which both of those instances happened in the last week and a half with him but to your point I mean this pitching staff is a group that's held it together all year for the Braves held them in contention for a postseason spot after a very good April obviously the offense which we'll get to in a moment has been MIA for large portions of the season but now they are facing some pretty significant questions on the pitching side the health of Max freed and Ronaldo Lopez thrown into the mix Charlie Morton has been shaky Bryce Elder as you mentioned he hasn't been able to step in consistently and it's wild to see how much they done collectively this year with no Spencer Strider since week two of the season but it has been a struggle here lately Chris s's been terrific Spencer swach has provided a huge boost I don't think anybody saw that coming outside of those two though the Braves have way more questions than answers at the moment do you think that right now it is a bit more complicated as they try to alternate those arms in and keep providing the extra rest to certain starters because as you mentioned you talking about a perfect storm I mean things are just not really not lined up I don't feel like for that kind of shell game they've been playing with the last couple of spots in rotation absolutely once you had a Max freed go on the iil with the forearm neuritis nerve irritation that was the first kind of wrench thrown into the works and then you had Lopez who you've bent over backwards trying to make sure that he and and I understand why they did it because you know he hasn't pitched 70 innings in four years five years whatever it's been so once he went on the IL with forearm strin even though the MRI was clean and they initially said you know we don't think he's going to miss any time and they eventually were indicating he might even make his net start which I thought was crazy you know he's gonna fly back to Atlanta get an MRI and then not even push back his start and then it was like okay now we think we'll push back and start a couple of days okay and then all of a sudden for the second or third time this year they waited too long to put a guy on the iil it did it with Lopez where you waited to put him on the I when you could have done it right after it happened and he wouldn't be out as long as he's going to be out for a long time there it was merely plugging in a guy well what helped you was you had so many off days early on then you had so many rain outs so between the off days and the rain outs and the fact that you had five guys going every five days you know the same guys you had Lopez healthy you had freed healthy then it was just a matter of plugging in someone like a Bryce selder or Smith Schauer a walr early on so you could do it but once you had two of those guys on the I two of your three All-Star starters went on the iil despite all of their efforts to give them extra rest they you still didn't prevent injuries so because they still went on the io with forearm situations so that made the whole shuffling just a nonstop okay how can we get this guy back up sooner than the aisle thing okay this guy could be hurt we could put him on the aisle bring this guy up plug him in it's just a constant constant shuffling of the rotation in order to get this you know precious extra rest for everybody and as it turned out the extra rest really I mean you could argue that yes it got him to the allstar break got them to a 100 games and it probably worked but in the end it's they hurt anyway so you did all this shuffling and despite all your efforts to prevent injuries to your key starters because they knew they could not afford to lose starters two of the three Allstars like I said are hurt one coming out of the allstar break and the other immediately after the allstar break so I just don't know that in the end like Chris S for instance they start Elder in the first game of the Brewer series Elder facing the Brewers for the second time in a week and they give Chris Sale an extra day Chris Sale would have been on extra rest already pitching the first game of that Series right as it ended up he was on two days extra rest and it was Elder's third start after the All-Star break and Chris sa only made two which is crazy when you think about he's Elder is one of the guys who keep going on the shuttle back and forth to Triple A and he made three starts before Chris S did coming out of the allstar break Chris s's perfectly healthy yeah I mean there's some quizzical ways to look at all of this and let me ask you this before we turn it over to the offense Alex anop didn't find a deal for a starting pitcher that he liked at the trade deadline I know some of the prices and some of the names that were traded weren't really you know names that are going to move the needle all together that much but you know whatever help you can get there's an argument to go out and get it so when we look at this I guess it's the question becomes who can step in and help them get back on track I mean we went through a lot of this this shuttle from Triple A guette I don't know that it's the most streamlined way to handle this but you do have AJ Smith Shau Ian Anderson we haven't seen much of this year those are a couple names that I've circled that I think have to be better than some of the names that have been thrown out there thus far yeah those are two Ian Anderson and Smith Scher and I think Alex weighed those into any decision about going out and get a starter because like you said they could have certainly used one and I thought they needed to get one but I o saw the prices that were paid for the for even relievers at the at the trade deadline it was insane and I think Alex he's never going to say it but if they had to be honest to go look look where we are record-wise how this offense is performing we've been waiting a hundred games for the offense to turn around it hasn't happened do we really want to mortgage the future because they've got a a a bottom five or so uh according to all the rankings it's bottom five everywhere uh minor league system you really want to to uh trade one of your top at least one of your top prospects to go out and get a starting pitcher you could plug in here for what when the offense again has shown no signs of turning around you know because I thought they needed to go get an Innings eater type of a stter like a Fetti and I thought that could have really helped them I never thought they were gonna go out and get an ace because then you have to give up you just don't have the prospects to give up that kind of Prospect Capital and in some cases they were expiring contracts or under control for one more year when you're going to have I mean looking forward it's not rose-colored glasses to think next year's rotation when you've got Strider coming back you got Lopez under contract you got Chris S under contract the guys we talked about are going to be healthy provided they don't have new injuries but I don't know that you need to go out and give up top prospects to get a guy who might have one year left if if it wasn't even some of them are expiring contracts yeah so anyway I think Ian Anderson and Smith Sher I mean so far Ian's not lighting it up but he's doing fine I mean he's okay he's better than what you're getting right now every other start from Elders has been a disaster and I think Grant Holmes is you know he's showing both some fatigue and team's getting a book on him now you know but I mean Grant Holmes has been terrific but I thought he was better suited for that multi- ending role he was doing yeah I thought he was really solid in that for now and then if you want to get him truly stretched out because he didn't really get stretched out down in minor he made like three starts down there midseason stretch out but if you wanted to stretch him out in in spring training you could do that like you did Lopez this year and then decide when the season begins where you want to start him but I think for now Grant Holmes is better in a multi- inning like he was three Innings at a time that he was just dominant so um Ian and Smith Scher could really help them if either or both of them especially and if Lopez can stay healthy once he comes off because the MRI was clean I mean this to me is totally a precautionary thing a chance for them to rest him without telling him we're shutting your down while you're completely healthy we're just shutting you down I think that's what they did really though because they can it's basically giving him three weeks to rest in the middle of the season so his endings don't Mount faster than it but he was not hurt you know he had some tighten his forearm but I think it was more normal type Titan his pitchers hit and he kind of freaked out and you know after the third inning was with as soon as they saw that he was having any trouble they weren't going to risk anything and I understand why the way he's pitching but he was already showing some signs of fatigue in his last few starts before that happened he had the last two before that injury start and the injury start after three the first three innings were scoreless but he wasn't himself in that against the met that game so he was showing some signs of fatigue compared to what he had been before that so I think it's a good time to for them to rest him you just hope that he can ramp it back up and get right where he was before that that little stretch of uh of games where he was where he wasn't the same yeah and I think there was always a question about how do you manage these Innings Brian snitter has said before like we're not big into the Innings limits we're not thinking about where we're going to shut guys down we're just trying to figure out how we're going to get there all along and they're going to sort all of that out but continue my conversation with David O'Brien of the athletic he joins me on the Wade for.com hotline and I know Dave nobody expected them to do what they did in 2023 every year but I don't think anybody could have predicted this lineup with most of the same pieces would fall this far and this fast so everybody from the players to the fans has to be wondering what changed how do you fix it I'm not sure you or I have the answers to this I don't know if anybody do no we don't have the answers because if we did I mean Kevin siter nobody was saying a year ago Kevin siter they would have ready to put a statue up for the guy you know yeah so he doesn't forget how to be hitting coach in one winter you got to look at the players and I don't think there's any one neat and tidy explanation I know in the social media era everybody wants someone to be held accountable someone wants to be The Fall Guys someone has someone has to have the answers when sometimes there just aren't and this is a real inexplicable season kind of like last year was you looked at last year's numbers and you go how can they have so many guys having ops's of 900 or higher you know how can so many guys be hitting 30 home runs are the Braves using different balls than other people I mean or what Orlando Aria did in the first half last year was crazy it was by far the best he'd ever been but up and down the lineup you had guys that were had slightly above average to well above average career years and this year it's gone it's like it's almost like the baseball God said in one year we're gonna even it out not like we're gonna take a couple of those guys and they're gonna have bad years coming off career years we're gonna make all of them have below average years and the big one to me is Matt Olsen Ian he goes from leading the majors in home runs and RBI and covering both sides of the plate hitting everything last year fast balls breaking balls to this year for 100 games being so behind on heaters and you're like how did that happen last year he looked so balanced after working in the offseason the preious previous two offseasons on his balance on uh the machine where the Wade uh which the weight that he had on each of his feet so he had proper balance it didn't lunge to this year lunging and being in bad position and being beat on heaters and then being caught in between on heaters and breaking balls so he was just kind of lost for games then he goes to a stretch where he looks like the Matt Olsson of old you know and you're like okay he's figured it out and then he goes back to striking out two or three times every game so it's just like but he went from leading the majors and homers and RBI to you look at his numbers now and they're not just uh okay coming off that high they're career worst right now so we went from career best to Career worst really in a lot of areas you look at his numbers now are the are they going to be the worst he's had since his call up which wasn't a full season anyway or 2020 um yeah or 2020 which yeah that's not and that I never even count that as a full year you know right because he's the kind of he's the kind of guy that goes through streaky three four weeks where 2020 when you play 60 games if he has one of his typical bad spells he's not going to recover from that just like Ozuna you look at his crazy numbers and a and a few other guys the numbers they put up in Freddy Freeman in 2020 you get hot for a month you go on a heater your numbers are going to be just ridiculous and 6 game season so I don't even count that the season but otherwise Olson in a full season is going to have his worst year coming off his best year so and then Austin Riley the one that surprises me Austin Riley even though you look at his numbers you're like he's still good he's their second best here behind Ozuna but he was the guy that if you look at his numbers over the previous three season nobody was as consistent as Austin Riley he averaged like 35 36 homers 99 RBI and it was like every year during those three after the shorten season it was like you can count on Austin ry's numbers at the end of year you might go through a two we stretch a three week stretch where he's really struggling but then he's going to go a heater and he's going to end up with those numbers when you look at his Ops and everything they're down about 100 points the home runs the rpis are not going to be there and he said a few lately they're not going to be there at the end unless he just goes on a huge surge you know for about a month so but it's up and down Ria you know I think we got a little fooled by R in the first half last year because basically he's been a well below average hitter since like the week before the allstar break last year so or week or so before the break he's been back to being a well below average hitter you know he might throw in a week or two where he's like he's been on this this streak on Bas streak lately and he h some home runs but still his numbers for the year are well below average um and then that the you know and Michael Harris was struggling before he got hurt he wasn't doing anything before he got hurt Ronald aunia wasn't even close to his last year's form before he got hurt now I'm sure auna would have got it going because he's just too talented not to but he wasn't before he got hurt Adam Deval was doing exactly what they'd hope to have him do against left-handed hitters as a platoon guy until he had to play every day and then he was just awful yeah so he was nothing like the hitter that they thought he would be and he's also lost the step defensively let's be honest Kellick gave us a couple of months there where you're like okay now I understand why Seattle initially wanted him why he's 5-2 player why the Braves moved mountains to get him and took on bad contracts for five years of control for a couple of months he looked like that guy but he's kind of spped back into being okay still a guy that needs a lot of work I said the talent is there but he's still a guy that's not that's not a complete player yet he's still raw in a lot of ways yeah Kellick has been a bit of an enigma throughout his career still a talented player but can he turn the corner chatting with David O'Brien of the athletic he joins me on the Wade for.com hotline can the Braves turn the corner Dave they've got less than 50 games to go as they rolled into the weekend and Colorado didn't start off their road trip on the right foot certainly but we've seen crazy things happen in the past this wild card is kind of bunched up at the top but if the season ended today which it doesn't the Braves have been pushed out of a of a spot in the postseason and that hasn't happened this late in the season in quite some time as you look at this club we discussed all the flaws we discussed all the questions around it what he expects over the final six seven weeks of this team do you think that they have what it takes to maybe figure this thing out push themselves into October where the old saying goes anything can happen if you get hot that's the thing is it's not going to take lightning to strike twice but they're going to have to do something like they did and they did this in 2021 I hate to go back to 2021 because that was a kind of a magical season but right remember they were below 500 in the first week of August in 2021 they still weren't as far behind in the division as they are now so and obviously in the Wild Card race but if you look at the at the the surge they went on after they made those trades and some guys heated up and different stretches and the bullpen remember got on that crazy roll at the end of the year yeah I remember I remember Will Smith and the game in San Diego I think they had the bases loaded and he got out of that jam and it was just like crazy and from there on he was never the he was incredible till the end of the postseason and then I remember uh Rosario go hit him for the cycle in that game in San Francisco yeah on and he got hot he had right he had come off the iil and he got hot then and really in the post season we know what happened you know each of those guys they traded for made a huge contribution in the postseason so um and then down the stretch a lot of guys got hot things just started going their way and they went on some they went on some great tears there after the first week of August so the reason that you that gives you hope is we know what they can do some of these a lot of these same guys were on that the bullpen is better now than it was then the pitching staff if healthy is a lot better the starting rotation is so much better than it was in 2021 I mean people are amazed if you go back and look who started the games for them in the postseason you're like huh yep and they won so it can be done there's no doubt and because we've seen the Braves do it it's not like it was decades ago it was four years three years ago so it can be done and they and they have reason to Hope because you got Harris coming off the iil and you know he's going to be better than he was 4 win on the a or at least you think he will be you've got Azie coming back first or second week in September they hope that could be big but you obviously need olssen to find out what's wrong and get hot and stay hot for a while because he has not had a surge of more than a couple of weeks all season and he's got to have like he's so important to this offense because when he's going well it's him and Ozuna you got in riy you got three of the best power hitters in baseball that's what you had last year yeah right now you've had one of those guys you've had Austin Riley going some nice runs but he has been nothing like he has in the past the 35 home run type guy and Olson obviously has not been anything close to what he was last year you need those guys to heat up and carry the load because the only guy the guy that we have hardly mentioned in this whole thing the only guy beside the pitching staff that was carrying them has been Ozuna yep of all people and who would have thought it the guy that everybody thought been should have been released in last April he hasn't he really hasn't slowed down for more than two weeks since the beginning of May 2023 wild you know wild and that was when he was trying to hit home runs and Tri to get to 30 before the allstar break and and then once he figured out what he was trying to once he was figured out what he was doing wrong he went back to his regular routines and he's been himself I mean he's been he's been phenomenal but uh he's got to have some people help him I'm kind of surprised he still sees as many pitches to hit as he does to be honest you know yeah but um because he's not got people around him that scare anybody but yeah they can do it do I think they're going to do it it would surprise me but it wouldn't shock me if they did because I saw them do it in 21 they have the same core basically that they had then with a glaring exception of Freddy Freeman and Freddy's only so glaring when he's playing when when Olsen is playing like he is now that's what it's glaring last year nobody was saying you miss Freddy you know last year nobody was saying that but now I understand why people you know you miss Freddy because Freddy didn't Freddy was Mr consistency and and had came up so big with Runners and scoring position and that yeah we haven't even gotten into all the drilling down on it but their their performance with runners in scoring position situational hitting abysmal during stretches like this has been abysmal abysmal and of course we know for the Braves it's not going to be some kind of easy task to get into October considering you look at that wild card picture every day it has changed quite a bit you've got teams surging the Braves have been if not in a free fall save that one week where it seemed like they turned things around they certainly haven't been playing the most inspired brand of baseball so it it leads you to wonder a lot about what the viability is of even getting getting into the postseason through the wild card if they go cold like this at the wrong time and look there's no good time for it anyway and the other problem of course they're trending in the wrong direction in the Wild Card race the three teams ahead of them are all trending in the right direction the potre the Diamondbacks and Mets are playing their best baseball the Padres especially they're like 15 16 and three since the allstar break you know they've won six in a row while the Braves have lost six in a row the Diamondbacks same thing they're now getting you had a chance to bury them with Carol struggling but now he's hitting like like himself the Mets are have got a good vibe going after you know being the Mets for the first half metsing it up but now they're playing well I mean cap tip to them because they're playing well now and they've got a Vibe going now so you had a chance to to Really catch the Phillies and I thought they were going to reel them in they got them within like five games cut it from 10 to five in less than a week but now look at the Phillies they're almost back up to where they were and the Phillies are starting to show signs of life again you know you don't want that to happen because I think in another week you might say goodbye if there's any chance of catching a Phillies which I think is very minimal at this point yeah but if there's any chance that could be gone in a week if you don't turn this around in a hurry but you need to they gotta worry about the Mets more than they do the Phillies right now yeah that's saying something about where the season has gone no doubt all the Mets had to do was bring in grimus from McDonald's and turn their whole season around I don't know if the Braves could have gotten the Hamburglar or Mir McCheese at the trade deadline but uh any and everything would have help I I I tell you what man I you get some some passionate responses When you mention this but we've talked about this uh off record between us and and I've talked about it with Bo and and Justin and off and on for the entire season when things just didn't feel the same but I I finally tweeted it the other day because you know you hate to say something like this because it people extrapolate or people read into it what they want to so when I write that I think this team has really miss Ron Washington and I also mentioned e in there because you know you don't want to say they missed one or the other but what because e did a great job too as the Outfield coach and you look at their base running and their Outfield play this year their Outfield defense has been nothing close to what it was last year no a mess but was I try to explain it's hard if you're not around the team as close as we are to the team and you don't see what happens in the clubhouse you don't hear how guys speak of him you don't hear his booming voice and his cackle of a laugh all the time through good and bad yeah you don't understand the intangibles that wash brings Beyond being a great infield instructor his intangibles are off the freaking chart and people go well it's really work with the with the uh Angels I'm like man that's that's apples and oranges that's a that was a crap team that he stepped into a terrible Vibe they've had going for years and one manager is not going to come in and magically turn that around but as a coach on a really talented team where he could concentrate on Intel instructing and being not a cheerleader but being this motivational guy both at third base when he's talking to guys over there but especially in the clubhouse and when he's on his knees hting fungos before the games and when he and Aussie are going at it constantly and making everybody else laugh even when they've lost three in a row that kind of it's you cannot express to people how important wash was for the intangible side of it and that's not throwing too under the bus Tu aopo is is fine as a third base coach he's fine from what everybody says as an info coach he's fine he just doesn't half and his first year as a major league coach and and I don't think anybody has wash his personality no doubt his is extroverted oh personality that just entirely fills the room which is why the Angels hired him to be the manager at 70 some years old because he is such an extraordinary individual personality wise so two is not going to come in and fill those shoes no matter how good he is at the nuts and bolts of the job because he does not have Wash's personality his gravitas that people listen to him it's just not the same and it there was no way it was going to be the same so what I worried about when they lost wash I thought they're going to miss wash it has come to pass to fruition and I think even more than I imagine because when things went South people got hurt they started losing games I think that's where Wash's personality was more important than ever yeah at making sure this team stayed stayed itself stayed upbeat stayed optimistic stayed having fun and without him it's hard it's hard you lost chunks of your personality when you lost Freddy when you lost Danby blah blah blah to me wash was as big a loss as anybody at keeping the chemistry of the team going the clubhouse yeah just one of the many things you can point to this club and wonder when are they going to get right when are they going to figure it out can they figure it out and time is a course running low David O'Brien of the athletic appreciate all of your time look forward to chatting with you again soon and I'm sure I'll be seeing you out at the Ballpark before too long all right man thank you when we come back we will take a look around the big league see what else has happened across Major League Baseball and we'll discuss what's to come on this road trip for the Braves as they try to regroup after what was another debilitating loss on Sunday to the Colorado Rockies all of that it's coming your way next on front the diamond with Grant McCaul on sports radio 929 the game back to gr moli for more from the diamond welcome back into from the diamond right here on sports radio 929 the game I am grant mcau that was quite a discussion we just wrapped up on the Atlanta Braves with David O'Brien of the athletic definitely appreciate all of his time this weekend uh not a memorable trip to Kors field putting it lightly for the Atlanta Braves who lost two out of three and that included a really really again I don't use this term lightly and I typically don't throw it around a lot in the regular season and haven't had to for the Braves but demoralizing yeah I think today's might have categorized as that most certainly and the brav are going to figure out a way to get past it and to move on because their next challenge is going to be against another Wild Card hopeful these suddenly surging San Francisco Giants they the same team that traded Jorge Sol to the Braves you thought maybe they'd be doing some more selling there's a lot of rumors about Blake Snell moving at the trade deadline he did not and he is one of the reasons why the Giants are surging a bit in the standings of the wild card and the West in general and I want to talk about these standings a little bit and kind of delve a little bit further into the wild card as well because the West all of a sudden looks just a little bit more interesting at least in my eyes than it has been in recent years now the Arizona Diamondbacks I think surprised the baseball world by getting to the World Series a season ago I don't think they were a club that came in with that kind of expectation being heaped on them there were club that was trying to make those steps trying to have a a good season maybe get into October and they certainly did that because when you do who knows what can happen the Dodgers are now sitting on a three and a half game lead over both the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres now Arizona has won three straight so of the Dodgers so they've been able to hold off the national league pennant winning Dbacks thus far but the Padres have been one of the best teams in the second half and so all of a sudden there is I think a little bit of intrigue out there and there's going to be some head-to-heads certainly between all those clubs that could make it even a little bit more interesting but as of right now the Dodgers have a three and a half game lead over both the Diamondbacks and the padr now the Giants are nine games back I'm not saying they're going to make a run in the division but could they make some noise in the wild card they definitely could looking over at the Wild Card Standings which again we talked about a little bit earlier in the show as the Braves you know by virtue of a Mets loss are sitting in a tie for the third and final wild card spot but over the weekend they also got themselves as of that sweep of Milwaukee by the Milwaukee Brewers they got bumped out of the postseason picture for a second knock back down into third place again as the Mets have been also over the last couple of months playing some really good baseball so now your wild card has the Diamondbacks and Padres in the top two spots tied up 66 and 53 their records the Braves and Mets both 61 and 56 game and a half back St Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants who have as many wins as a Braves do this year they got 61 of them but they've got three more losses so they're a game and a half back as well the Cubs they've won four in a row eight out of 10 are the Cubs pushing their way into the wild card cuz when we talked about the trade deadline a couple of weeks ago and my expectation was hey the Cubs might be that low-key team that sells off some pieces and really racks up at the deadline they didn't really do that wasn't expecting huge names I didn't expect Cody Bellinger to get traded and know a lot of people did I didn't expect that you know guys like Dan B Swanson not going anywhere but I thought maybe they just with an eye on 2025 cash in a couple of chips here or there and see what they couldn't do but now all of a sudden you know again you win some games at the right time all you have to do is find your way in to this postseason picture but that's what the Wild Card looks like right now your division leaders at this point Philadelphia Phillies at 69 and 49 have the best record in the National League Dodgers also 69 and 49 a share of that now the Phillies have been holding to that for a long time but after losing three straight again and this is another thing for the Braves if they had any eyes on the division a week ago that deficit had gotten down to five games and somehow the Braves in losing six straight and seven out of eight were not able to take advantage of the fact that Phillies have played really poorly in the second half with very few bright spots here or there they look like the Phillies again but this has been a tough two or three weeks for them the Milwaukee Brewers 67 and 50 just behind as far as the best records in the National League are concerned peing at the American League you got quite a race between the uh Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees I'm going to talk about the Yankees in a moment because there was some broadcast hij Jinks and that's exactly the kind of stuff I like to talk about on the show but 70 and 49 are both of those clubs and seven and a half games in front of the Boston Red Sox who are 61- 55 Rays still hanging around 500 59 of 58 and the Blue Jays 10 games under 500 in the seller of of the East the Cleveland Guardians 20 games over 500 they've got a three and 1 half game lead over the twins four game lead over the Kansas City Royals who were a club that did a lot of buying at the deadline Royals are a really fascinating Club number one because they've got the young talent and led by Bobby Whit Jr they went out I thought made some nice little free agent acquisitions over the winter and they made a couple of more trades I don't know a club like the Royals feels like it could be pretty dangerous when you get into the postseason particularly in you know that short series Variety in the LDS or in the Wild Card round as the case may be that could be a club that all of a sudden could throw a wrench in the works for a lot of the other you know maybe bigger bigger better record clubs and keeping in mind what we've seen the last couple of years where yeah you may win your Division and your reward could be sitting around for a week while other teams continue to play and all of a sudden you got to crank this whole thing back up and it's a cold day outside and it may not want to turn over as far as the offense is concerned that's what it's felt like in Atlanta the last couple of Octobers I don't know if that'll be the case over the American League but yeah I like that Kansas City team a lot the Astros have taken back over the west by half a game over the Mariners the Rangers World Series champs eight games under 500 doesn't look like they're going to make too much of a push this year uh they are much closer to the Los Angeles Angels and even closer to the Oakland Athletics in the bottom of the standings in the west than they are to the first place Astros as of this moment but that's what's going on as far as the divisions are concerned now I told you I had some podcast hinks going on and I want to share this with you there were so many different highlights from this game for me to pull but the one that got my attention was the headline I I like a little site called awful announcing if you haven't seen it it kind of Chronicles things that go on in Sports Talk Radio and other you know broadcasts all that kind of stuff definitely check it out awfulannouncing.com the headline was Jazz Chisum hits home run after Craig Carton calls him disinterested as a broadcaster a play-by-play broadcaster in my day which was in the minor league baseball and clearly none of the 30 clubs have called me and said hey how would you like to call the games for me by the way I would answer if you want to give me that call still a dream Craig Carton I don't doubt that this was a dream for him but I would describe him as ill suited for this particular position we know John Sterling stepped away after decades behind the mic for the New York Yankees love him hate him Sterling he was unique you John Sterling he built himself a legacy now they're trying to figure out how to fill those shoes and somehow Craig got to come into the store and try those shoes on I don't know why I don't know that he's buying them I don't know that they're going to sell them to him but I know he had to sit there with Susan Waldman and make some what I would describe as awkward cross talk between these two he's now the coast of FS1 the Craig Carton show he used to be on WFAN that's a long story you can Google that one if you want to Susan wahin though is another staple of Yankees broadcasting and the Texas Rangers were in town this weekend and carton was in the mix I guess to perhap caps serve as Sterling replacement I guess they're doing an open try out and again my phone hasn't rung I feel terrible about that but some awkward exchanges between these two throughout the course of the game none perhaps better than when carton decided to go full Sports Talk Radio and share a story about Jeff Frank getting his entire body shaved with Susan Waldman as one does apparently I don't know that she needed that story I don't know that anybody listening to a Yankees game necessarily needed that story but here we are but the awkwardness also according to this article led to what we will call the reverse announcer Jinx because Again Sports Talk Radio you may be familiar with this concept um a lot of times you will get people that will come in and they will give you their genuine authentic opinion of what's going on and it will be grounded in fact and research and all those things will happen others have their own criteria for what they say Craig Carton I believe has his own criteria or just simply felt the urge to fill the time in the broadcast and decided to do it this way uh he explained that jazz Chisum was disinterested I don't want to spoil too much of the rest of it you already know what's going to happen here but let's hear Craig Carton and Susan Walman having a little discussion as Jazz Chism is at the plate in the eighth inning for the New York Yankees on Sunday so two outs now in the eighth that's going to bring Jazz Chisum up chism's been on base twice he's also struck out twice I thought looked a little disinterested back in the six but Susan said no no don't don't say that that's I could be wrong I've been wrong many times Well disinterested means he doesn't care and he cares as much as anybody maybe even more not disinterested that's he has set a great start to his Yankee career all right that's my scolding for the day you're going to be okay I have to get swing the bat oh he didn't swing the bat one and two to Chism two outs here in the bottom of the eighth High Fly ball to deep center field back goes to varis at the wall g a solo home run for jazz Chisum and the Yankees now lead ate nothing he wasn't disinterested on that one thank [Music] you Susan had that right that was the call on WF let me give proper credit to that first of all second of all I don't think that Craig Carton has done what I would refer to as the vocal exercises to make sure that his vocal cords were still going to be in attacked by the time he got to the late Innings because the voice cracking was real by the time he got to the end of that game if you haven't and I'm not going to play all of these but if you go find this article on awful announcing Jazz Chism hits home run after Craig Carton calls him disinterested and listen to his call to close the game it is so bad that I would feel guilty playing it again on the radio it should be forgotten forever no one should ever speak of it again it is that bad but of course it's on the internet which means it will live forever so go ahead and check that out if you want to but it's going to be really interesting to see what direction that they go I don't expect it to be Craig Carton when it comes to the replacement for John Sterling I mean you're talking about a gold standard franchise in all of sports nobody is going to be everybody's favorite you know there was only one Vince Scully that kind of thing but it's going to be really fascinating to see who steps into those shoes and are they going to become synonymous with Yankees baseball for decades would be a pretty cool gig that's for sure so that's your look around the big leagues that is a couple of things happening in other places look at the wild card and of course some awful announcing quite literally and figuratively when we come back though we will take a look at some of the things the Atlanta Braves are facing over the course of this road trip over the course of the regular season the rest of the regular season I should say which is drawing to a close and the brav need to turn some things around we'll see if they're able to do so we'll talk about that and wrap up this edition of from the diamond next right here on sports radio 929 the game back to more from The Diamond Sports Radio 929 Bame welcome back in to from the diamond with Grant mccaulay on sports radio 929 the game we wrap up this weekend we wrap up this show with a little bit more Braves talk on what was a frustrating stop in Denver when the Braves wheels up heading to San Francisco for the next four days and they're going to try to take it serious from a Giants team and get themselves back on track on this road trip a pivotal 10 game Road Trip that you thought look like at least on paper which the game is most assuredly not played on as an opportunity for this team to maybe get itself back on track make a move and Surge and get where it needs to get in the wild card if nothing else and assure that spot in the postseason and while there is obviously still time to go this season it is ticking down you no longer can look out and say okay well the majority of our schedule's in front of us or half of the Season still to go you've now gotten to that point where you're down to the nitty-gritty as the saying goes that's the most PC the one we can use on this show it's time to put up or shut up put it that way and the Braves have a very important road trip in which they were facing not so great team to started out lost two out of three got stunned on Sunday with that seven run eth inning we've talked a lot about that we're going to about to hear from Brian Snider and his comments after the game here from the brav skipper on how to size that up because again there's just it's not going to be easy to put it behind you but that's what you got to do that's what the job is no matter what position you play but it's especially true for relievers when it doesn't go well and we heard from Luke Jackson earlier on he's aware of how quickly things turned because the Braves went from holding a nice tidy lead in this game to staring at a one-run deficit and ultimately a 98 loss in the span of six pitches that's what happened in the eighth inning as the Rockies were surging through but let's hear from Braves manager Brian Snicker who talked with the Braves media after the game to discuss about this loss how it hits them what's going forward and I thought interestingly enough and listen for this as we get uh about a couple of minutes in what are the Braves doing with this pitching plan of the extra days you heard my conversation with Dave O'Brien about this earlier I mean are the Braves finally at that point where maybe they need to stop it and just focus on hey we've got who we've got and they need to go out there and Pitch every fifth day and that's just where we're at or can they continue to try this thing out in the midst of what is becoming a very unfun portion of the schedule let's hear what Brian scker has to say about all of those things right here on from the diamond with Grant McCaul on sports radio it's a tough one there that's that was even weird for here you know kind of felt like we weren't out way in the eighth and next thing you know the freaking roof caved in I don't know yeah it's a hard one to explain I know you got a lot of time left and that kind of stuff but feel like when you're going through a stretch like this it's just everything's going against you and but you know what though you create your own opportunities your own luck I think you know know it's um you know yeah you can say all the thing they hit some right out of our reach things like that but you know what we control that it's good to see we you know scored some runs and did all that Spencer he he fought his way through his outing and you know me was right there on pins and needles and got out of it and you know even kind of needed one more out in the eighth yeah that's tough I mean cuz you know you do play a good ball game and and everything goes well and then span of about 30 minutes it just blew up when you're in a stretch like this how much can demoralizing losses like this kind of wear on guys know I mean I don't know I hope it doesn't you know I don't know I mean you got to fight through it I mean it it's just the hard part of this game man you got to turn the page and we got to go out and we got to come out and figure out a way to win a game tomorrow I mean it's no fun doing this obviously yeah I don't know how weird was that e you don't really see jenez get hit like that kind of it quick just I felt you know I didn't want to even warm him up quite honestly I just felt with the lead like that we could probably hopefully stay away from him and Iggy both and you know then I'd have probably lost my house if brought him in and think he couldn't get it out um you know before all that happened looking ahead to this week it's it just time to go with everybody on regular every yeah no that's where we're at right now you know it's kind of go time with all that there's no more extra days and all that andless we work it in with off days so it it's yeah we we don't have options we got to go with these guys and hopefully everything goes well with Ronaldo and you know we get him back in there will he make a rehab start he make a rehab start yeah I can't remember what day it is and he feels good and his sides and all that you know we'll see after the Rehab start hopefully that's good then we can get him back in there and and um you know probably you know then then five are going to go for the rest of the way you know it's a tough loss this is a horrible loss but you know what I look I'm I guess the eternal optimist that there's still a lot of time for us to do a lot of really good especially as you know what Michael's looming and and Aussie's healing and you know we get Ronaldo back and you know what this could be a faint memory here you know that's just kind of way I got to look at it and can you take positives from just a three-game stretch of offense and the abats you saw on just the guys I mean you know and you always hope that that that's what's going to happen here you know in this park so hopefully we carry it on to you know San Francisco and keep it going it's good to see Jorge kind of squar some balls up this series which is really good and you know we saw what he can do for us and and um that can be big I mean this is you know a gut-wrenching loss but we got to turn the page because we got to play tomorrow you know hopefully we got we're talking about something really good tomorrow well the Braves are hoping to put it behind them and for it to B to be I guess a blip on the radar that's Brian Snider after the loss on Sunday 9 to8 the Rockies coming back scoring seven times in that eighth inning and it just one of those losses that you know you just look at the last week or 10 days of some of the losses of Braves de or just the second half for that matter and you keep asking yourself this rhetorical question I mean was that the worst one feels like the worst one certainly looked like the worst one and then unfortunately you keep finding your way into what may end up being a more or the latest most disappointing one and and certainly that's what uh Sunday's game was but a couple other things he hit on in there the first was and I think time is relative obviously the Braves are still within fighting distance in this wild card race they're still mathematically right there hanging on with the Mets there in that third spot with teams nipping at their heels with a couple of teams that have passed them that have been surging in both the Diamondbacks and Padres and there's a lot to be decided and still plenty of time to figure that out to punch your ticket and get into the postseason that much we do know but in terms of what we have seen and whether or not it can finally turn into what they're hoping for it to be there's not as much time for that I think but again you only have to play get hot at the right time and you can forget a lot of these things even a loss like Sundays could be put behind them but time I think it is relative I'm kind of looking at it thinking it is the time has arrived for them to figure it out and that I think kind of dubv Tails into the other thing that he said that I thought was interesting was yeah we've done the mix of starter in get extra days try to give you know additional rest to starters all that kind of stuff with the rotation and now they've kind of gotten to the point where if they have an off day maybe they can sort something for that extra day of rest but you pretty much need your best or most experienced pitchers to be out there every fifth day at this point Ronaldo Lopez will have a rehab start I assume with triple A guette and then be back in the not too distant future as well we got Max readed back he had one not so sharp start at home then he go into Colorado I don't really know what to make of that that can be an unfun place to pitch I think we all know that we'll see if Max Reed is back to himself here in the second half because they need that to happen Chris S has been tremendous Spencer schellenbach has been tremendous Charlie Morton has had a jackal and hide kind of year especially lately he's been alternating good and then really bad starts and the Braves just need some consistency out of it it's not about going out there and throwing in six scoreless every time so quality starts would go a long way just getting that six Innings has been a challenge over the past week Spencer swelling box the only guy that's been able to do it for the Braves that's certainly not ideal for them but yeah going with the best five that you've got which as we know once he gets Lopez back is Chris Sale Max freed Ronaldo Lopez Charlie Morton and Spencer swach those the Five Guys you need to go fight with down the stretch maybe you can throw somebody else in here or there I know talked a lot about can Ian Anderson help out could AJ smer help out they could maybe they will but this whole trying to get somebody else into the mix every turn through the rotation which has been an exhaustive process and was made only worse by losing freed and then Lopez to the iil I don't think that they're in a place where they can afford to do that and it doesn't sound like Brian Snider thinks that either a couple of good things that happened in Colorado yes there were a couple obviously Saturday's win was a big one Matt Olen had two homers including a Grand Slam in that game a good series for him four for 12 couple of walks as well the two homers seven runs knocked in three runs scored get Matt Olsson going that could be big for this Braves team they've been waiting for it all year I know Matt olsson's been waiting for it all year you heard from him a couple of weeks ago on the show like it it's been a tough process most certainly and he's trying to get it all sorted the new guy in town Jorge Solair in Colorado seven for 13 with three homers and nine runs knocked in that's the jge solir the Braves need right it doesn't all have to be homers and yes it was Colorado but as I said earlier in the show and I'll stand by it Jorge Sol can hit him out of any park it does not matter but it's good to see those kind of swings piling up for him you certainly need those another thing that could be positively affecting the Braves lineup Brian sger also talked about there is the return of Michael Harris Harris is 10 for 23 down in Gwinnette on his rehab assignment he's batting 435 at a homer over the weekend he has started playing more center field he's kind of alternating now between center fielder in DH but I think we'll see him out in the Outfield couple of more times and then get his stuff packed so he can head out to San Francisco and join the Braves on this road trip and not a moment too soon they have needed Michael Harris back both defensively and offensively for a while you talk about compounding matters I mean he's been gone not even three weeks after Ronald aunia Jr went down for the year they lost Harris because aunia was the very end of May and it was the 14th of June that Harris went down with that grade two hamstring strain and then of course a alz could be back in September but yeah there's a ways to go before you get to that but encouraging signs from the Braves offense past couple of days with Matt Olsen with Jorge Solair those are things that you needed to see and of course you know Marcel Ozuna he was also out there in Colorado mashing as one would expect from the Big Bear Austin rley swinging the bat well for a while uh now so if you can get this whole the top of the order going with Solair with Austin Riley with Marcel Ozuna and with Matt Olsen then you can kind of bring Michael Harris back into this mix all of a sudden you got to be feeling pretty good about that Orlando AR has been swinging the bat better that'll help lengthen that lineup down at the bottom and I know there was a lot of discussion about this this week online and and I I understand it but then again I think we're kind of grasping at straws a little bit on this one it's the playing time for Shawn Murphy Shawn Murphy has lost some playing time lately and I don't think that there's a a bigger thing involved in this other than Travis darno swinging the batw right now and I understand what they traded to get Shawn Murphy I understand the expectation of the contract and the playing time but the Braves I I think believe that they've got two catchers that can handle this staff and they can handle the bat and that's the situation that they're in Travis darno is not the traditional backup catcher who's going to get a start once a week and I don't know that there are too many catchers out there right now that are being pushed to the Limit that Shawn Murphy really pushed himself to in 2022 before he came over to the Braves that last year with Oakland I mean you can be a Workforce you can catch a lot of those games but they are going to take a toll and then of course this year they didn't get the opportunity to be a Workforce because on opening day he strained his oblique since he's been back it's just been hot and cold offensively and and really more cold than hot and with Travis darno swinging the bat well and I understand you know people want to say well he can't get in a rhythm if he's not playing every day Shawn Murphy has caught basically two-thirds of the time since it came off the injured list he's playing twice as much as Travis darno but Travis darno has been playing more lately because he's swinging the bat well and if you haven't looked at the pr offense if somebody's swinging the bat well they should probably be in the lineup as much as possible because that has been the exception and not the rule unfortunately this year but those are just my thoughts on on the Murphy thing going forward could that playing time obviously change it could sha Murphy could get hot Travis darno could cool off and the whole thing could swing back in the other direction but I think that the Braves look at Shawn Murphy as an important part of what they're doing what they've built obviously hated to lose him for two week or excuse me two weeks would have been nice two months in the first half so we'll see if they're going to be able to get this whole lineup moving one guy who won't be doing any more moving than shaking in the Braves lineup unfortunately Eddie Rosario designated for assignment earlier this week very quiet stint with Atlanta 24 games he batted just a buck 53 with three homers not the Eddie Rosario everybody's going to remember from the Heyday of 2021 but yeah I think the Braves decided with Michael Harris and his return looming they just go ahead and get a little bit of Defense with Eli white put him into the mix and Ramone laurano who was dealing with a little bit of a heel issue doesn't sound like that's very serious he should be available and that's San Francisco Series so a couple of other things odds and ends upcoming for the Braves four games in San Francisco they start at 9:45 p.m. eastern time the next three nights that's Monday Tuesday Wednesday 3:45 on Thursday and then some more late baseball for you so you may want to have that afternoon or even that evening coffee I know I will as the angels are the next stop 9:38 first pitch on Friday and Saturday and a 4:00 game is coming your way next Sunday but that's what's ahead for the Braves what's behind the Braves hopefully is the worst that they're going to play on this road trip losing two out of three to the Rockies want to thank David O'Brien for checking in having that long talk with me about what's going on with the Braves we'll be talking about it a lot more moving forward of course from the diamond you can find wherever you get your podcast also on the odyy app to make sure you are subscribed and I appreciate all of you as always R along with me for the late edition of from the diamond looking forward to getting back with you next week my thanks to Sunny for the great producing tonight and until next time this has been from the diamond with Grant mol on sports radio 929 the game so long everyone [Music]