Braves worst loss of the season, Michael Harris update, and more

[Music] good evening and welcome back to Sports Talk ATL I am Chaser joined by Alex Lord rough weekend really for Atlanta Sports in general I mean you talk about the Atlanta Braves and and we'll split this up but the Atlanta Braves they lose AJ Menor they lose probably the most devastating game of the season yet it seems like we say that every single day and they find out a new way to lose so I guess we'll start with that um they blow this game 8 to2 Luke Jackson comes in it's even eight to four they're down to a point where they just need one out right there's two outs nobody on base you got a four-run lead and the Rockies stram together what five six hits um they end up taking the lead they win the game and what's funny it's almost comical because like I I actually turned this game off and I didn't find out until like two hours after the game that they had lost it cuz I just I wasn't on social media I just figured the game was a win I Spencer SW and Bo pitched well cair stayed hot the offense looked confident I was like all right decent weekend you take two out of three against a bad team and then all of a sudden you don't take two out of three you lose two out of three yet somehow the Braves make up ground in the NL East and the Wild Card race but it's still looking Bleak because teams like the Cardinals and the Giants the Giants who we play a four game set with um this week to open this week all of a sudden that that has huge playoff implications as they're just a game and a half the Cardinals are just a game and a half back the Mets are a half game back even teams like the Cubs and reds who look like they were out of it uh it seems like nobody when it comes to the Mets Braves Phillies nobody wants to be in the playoffs they're all like please please just just take it away the fact that the Braves are seven and a half games back in the division almost feels laughable feels like they should be 50 games back feels like they shouldn't be in a postseason spot this is a team that's played well under 500 baseball I think seven games under 500 since late late April they've just not been a good baseball team they're the one of one of the worst offensive teams they did have a good offensive weekend but it nothing feels like it's going right and then on top of that AJ Minter goes back on the I velocity has been down hasn't looked like the same guy hip inflammation same injury he suffered from early in the season so it just I I like the the amount of like positive spin you can put on the brave season is kind of there's none right the only thing that you can say if you're trying to look thing positive everything's in front of them you know they still have a half game lead if they somehow play decent baseball and get in there they have a shot but other than that there there's no positive spin you can really put on anything the pitching staff looks a little bit worse injuries it's just bad right now yeah uh this team has not played complimentary baseball over uh a two- week stretch the entire season um I don't even know if they played complimentary baseball over a week um straight it's an incredibly they're consistently inconsistent uh you know typically it's been the offense that's let them down this season but like you said the pitching staff has really faltered as of late now you could blame whatever you want to blame but those are the facts I mean the nobody's forcing Brian Snicker to throw Luke Jackson out there and then you know Joe Jimenez comes in and doesn't get the job done so you know it's one facet after another that lets this team down one picks the other up and then the other one whether it's the rotation or the bullpen or the lineup uh falters late and you know that's just been the song and dance of this season a season from hell because AJ Menor is down I counted it and I may have even missed some guys but there's nine Allstar caliber players some of them have are obviously Allstars some of them haven't made them like Michael Harris is obviously an All-Star caliber player nine different All-Star caliber players has spent extensive time on the injured LIF list for the Braves this year now obviously more is going into the Braves losing or not winning consistently than just injuries like I said there's been uh you know um uh shortcomings from guys like Matt Olsen but I it's just one thing after another I think the biggest thing that has stood in the Braves way is that inability to build any momentum when you think they finally have it something like this where you're like we have it locked up we take two of three from a one of the worst teams in baseball and then something like this you said it last week or maybe you said it earlier this week that you don't know what rock bottom is is if this isn't it we witnessed Rock Bottom hopefully on Sunday hopefully see that's the thing like they they invent new Rock Bottom Rock Bottom like the goal post keep getting moved for what rock bottom is with this team and I frankly I don't know what it is and I don't know how you have any confidence in the way and AJ Mentor just puts in even a further damper and frankly you talked about Luke Jackson why Luke Jackson was even on the roster and why Dylan Lee is getting his Innings manipulated so you create extra rest for guys like Chris S and and Brian Sinker said we talked about it last which is hilarious is this was the point that like you were like oh now we got to wake up it should have happened two series ago yeah I mean it should have happened in the second half of the season I I don't know where the brav sense of confidence that they were just going to flip a switch and turn this all around when their offense has been one of the worst in baseballs dating back to April right we're not talking about little sample sizes where yeah these underperformers and guess what Michael Harris and ozie Alis we knew they weren't walking through that door so we knew the offense was still going to be a problem for weeks I don't know where this false sense of confidence and we've seen it from the guys whether it's resting pitchers or the lack of moves at the trade deadline this sense of confidence that oh we're going to get in right and now we now we know like going to get in doesn't I mean frankly when you're really thinking when you're and this is why it's nice to look at it and be like oh we're still in a playoff spot and and before the weekend even though we played terrible baseball we weren't in a playoff spot but in the reality of this situation when you're looking at these Wild Card Standings like you got five teams six teams within three or four games only one of those teams needs to go on a streak and get hot like we've seen with the Padres and the Diamondbacks and all the sudden you're four or five games back I mean the Braves are four games back of both the Padres and the Diamondbacks they play good ball it only takes the Mets the Giants the Cardinals whichever one of those team it only takes one of them it only takes one of them getting hot and all of a sudden you're two three games back you go and lose three out four of the Giants you're now you're really really like you're really behind the eightball and I guess you're looking for a positive Michael Harris he should be back I believe on Wednesday August 14th he's eligible to come back he's been tearing the cover off the ball and Gwynette 500 OBP um I know Gwinette you know they need to be taken with a grain of salt but it looks like he's fully healthy and ready to go and should be ready to contribute Ronaldo Lopez coming back uh about a week from today we'll see when he actually makes his first start every as long as there's no setbacks um but yeah those are about the only positives I I just I I've lost confidence in this team and I I think most Braves fans have and and there's no reason to believe that they're going to really flip the kind of switch they need because I'm telling you 500 ball is not going to get it done they're going to have to play well above 500 ball the rest of the way to make the playoffs they're gonna have to it it it it was at the trade deadline and now more than ever it the the strategy is hopes and prayers at this point because like you said nobody the only additions we're hoping for are guys who are already in the building other than Michael Harris for a large part of the season so like this is the uh this is the team that we're with for the rest of the season nothing is going to change Michael Harris alone is not going to change anything even when Ronaldo Lopez comes back that's not going to change anything like AJ miners now now the bullpen is down one of our key setup guys and even before you know even with the struggles you still trust and love a guy like AJ Mentor in that role so you know I if you're a brace fan you're basically looking at Alex anthopolos and still scratching your head like what the hell were you doing at the trade deadline in my opinion at that point it was a lot of hopes and prayers and even now it's still a lot of hopes and prayers like even if like you're mentioning the Braves had to go and play some unbelievable even then this still might not be in the control in their own control you say it as if like everything is in front of them and yes but mathematically like how many games are left yes it is very much in their control I don't really know if that's true after watching this baseball team for four months like I is it in their control really I think we're just hoping that everyone else sucks and maybe we go on a little bit of a run at the end I mean that's really what it is we're hoping that four or five guys in the lineup are hot at the end of the season and we sneak into October and then you know all of the stars in the entire galaxy have to align for us to maybe get to the NLCS that's what we're we're banking on hopes and prayers I mean you're banging on the fact that baseball's a crap shoot that's really what you're banging on that's hopes and prayers to me yeah but that's not hopes and prayers because baseball is a crapshoot like we've seen it it is a crapshoot but like I I would be sick to my stomach because you're going to be right where like we sneak in barely over 500 end up you know winning a couple of series and it's like this team has no business belonging in this position and though it can happen I'd be sitick to my stomach because some people would be Vindicated in the fact that they're defending Alex anopolis and his work at the trade deadline or Brian Snicker and the way he's managing I don't think anyone's gonna really be Vindicated unless they the World Series by that because if even then I just feel like that's I mean you win the World Series I don't care you can be Vindicated I mean you're going to be Vindicated you win the World Series but you fall short you fall you end up being a bat short you're gonna be like damn I wish we had just done a little bit more you end up missing the postseason obviously we're gonna have these conversations but yeah I don't think you're Vindicated unless you win a World Series because the expectations like coming into the season what what was the saying it was World Series or bust and just because the injuries are here doesn't mean you could have made moves to make that happen but hey the injuries don't stop with the Braves we had several big ones we'll talk about that after the break with the Falcons