#11 .500, Sale, Eddie, Nick, Snit, Kelenic, National Bradcasts

[00:00:02] It was just absolutely pouring like two exits ago and there's not a drop of water on the ground here. So hopefully that's going to be the case. We don't have to deal with any weather tonight. There is weather in the forecast over the weekend. And just kind of a quick broadcasting note. Saturday's game is a Fox game, so that's national. Sunday's game is Sunday Night Baseball. So that's espn. Also a national exclusive. But if like we got rained out tonight or we got rained out on Saturday, local would actually have to pick that up. So it could be a little bit of a messy weekend. Let's hope not. We will see. Man, so close on that road trip. If you guys remember, after the 017, I tweeted about some history, maybe some of the overreactions that we were seeing from people about this start and what was capable and the schedule had laid it out where there was a real possibility, kind of a stretch, but a possibility that the Braves could get back to.500 before we got to May 1st. That was close. I really thought we were going to get there. That would have been fun for me to actually see us at 15 and 15. We lost the game right the one right now. We talked about potentially being 16 and 15 going into May 1, but because of the one rain out, there was a real chance that they were going to be an even.500 to start this month. That would have been amazing. It didn't happen. It was a tough loss, 2 to 1 to the Colorado Rockies. The Braves did not hit a home run in Colorado over the three game series. And they've been launching baseballs all over the place. That was kind of some of the irony in winning that series. And I was sitting on a stat that I was so excited about nerding out that had the Braves won that game and didn't hit a home run, they would have been just the second team ever to go into Colorado since that ballpark opened up to sweep a series without hitting a homer. It's only happened once the Dodgers did it. I think it was 2007 or 2009. It was close, but it didn't happen and that's fine. So either way, Chris Sale pitched great. Probably his best game of the year. Punched out 10 through seven innings. I thought he was done after six. He wanted to go back out there and he was great. That's really good news. I was wondering how his slider was going to play. When you talk about altitude, you lose certain movement on your pitches. And he went out and probably had the best slider of his season so far. So this is just a guy you don't doubt at all. Really funny. Watch him dominate the way that he did. He's been in a position a couple of times now since he's been a Brave. He's put together these unbelievable starts and somehow we have not won those games. But that's the way baseball goes. But Chris Sale was great, really encouraged about the way his last couple of outings have gone for him. Eddie Rosario is back, as everybody knows and wondering about the role he did get. The start in the day game, the travel day. Verdugo got a day off. Eddie Rosario for me probably is not going to get very many starts. Probably will be used as more of a pitch hitter from the left side. I think it probably made sense to say send Jared Kelnick down, let him get consistent at bats. I saw some quotes from him, seemed like he had a really good attitude about it and understands it. He's still young, he's only 25 years old. He's got a ton of talent. He's going to be one of these guys that maybe it happens a little bit later in his career, but I think it's going to happen and I hope it happens because I really like Jared Kelnick and wishing him the best and he could very well be impactful on this roster before the season is over. But Eddie I think is more of a pinch hitter, maybe that once in a while spot start if the Braves think they need it or if there is an injury. But in the meantime, it's going to be Verdugo, it's going to be Michael Harrison, it's going to be the emerging Eli White who just continues to get base hits. He is so fun to watch. I know we talk about him a lot and then this team only gets better when Rollin gets back at some point. So all of that is really good news. I ran across the stat yesterday sitting around doing a little bit of prep. We all know that Nick Allen is a really good shortstop and played good defense. Waking up today, he's got the highest outs above average of any shortstop in baseball. He hasn't been good. He's been great, which is amazing. This has been such a fine and such a nice add for the Braves and what he has done defensively, that was the one thing, you know, wondering. I knew what his bat was. We all knew how good Orlando was defensively. We watched spring training unfold. I know I've talked about this a couple of times. But to see that stat and it's one defensive metric and it's not the be all end all, but it's a tip of the cap to Nick Allen who has the highest outs above average among all shortstops in baseball. And I've managed to get this far without calling him Neil Allen, who's a former left handed pitcher, former pitching coach of mine. So that's a small victory for me as well. Gotten really close a couple of times. The end is what's going to throw me off. So it is Nick Allen, not Neil Allen. Hopefully I don't say that one single time on the broadcast. Really good matchup today. Grant Holmes with the Dodgers coming into town against Yamamoto. We just got our ballots yesterday to vote for the National League Player of the Month, Pitcher of the Month, Rookie of the Month and Reliever of the Month. [00:04:32] I voted for Yamamoto. I had to. I tried to be as objective as I possibly can. For me, Yamamoto has been the best pitcher in the National League so far this year. So that's a really tough matchup. He's been good, getting settled in after his first year with the Dodgers. He missed some time last year but he looked looks even better this year. Grant Holmes had his first start against the Dodgers. Remember that was the team that drafted him what, 11 years ago and it was the most emotional on the outside I think I've ever seen him so far in his time as a big leaguer here with the Braves. I suspect it'll be a little bit different for him by going back and pitching against the team that drafted him, the team that he thought he was going to have a big league career with. And obviously he's taken this long path but one that has worked out really well. So I think the experience for Grant Holmes second start here against the team that originally drafted him should go pretty well. And he's been a nice little group right outside of what we saw from Suarez against Arizona. Just a guy who happened to see him really well one day and hit three home runs against Grant Holmes and four against the Braves. Everything else has been pretty good here lately. So he is locked in. I mentioned the national games over the weekend. We also. I will finally miss a regular season game that's not national. Coming up here, Tom Glavin's going to be in next week for the four game series against the Washington Nationals and then Frenchie is going to be in for the four games. Do I have it backwards? Oh, it's the red coming in first. So Glav has the games I believe against the Reds. Then there's a trip to Pittsburgh. I'll be on that one. And then we have a four game series back at home against the Washington Nationals. Frenchie will be on that one. Glav will take the Boston trip. Glav always goes to Boston. Of course, that's his spot. So I will. I got quite a bit of time off. I think it's like 13 of the next 16 days. So just knocking out that, knocking that out now in case I get any questions about it. Shocker traffic. Hey, I'm headed in early today because I'm doing radio, my radio show, 2 to 5 on MLB Network Radio, SiriusXM channel 89. I bring that up because Freddy Gonzalez is going to be my co host for the full three hours. Freddy has started doing a little bit of radio. This has been the first year in his baseball career where he hasn't been with the team. First time he didn't go to a spring training. Freddy's a really good guy. I've known him for a long time. I had him as a coach when I played here in 2004. So Freddy and I will be together for the next three hours, 2 to 5 Eastern Time on MLB Network Radio. And our guest today, one of our guests today I haven't looked at the whole rundown will be Brian Snicker. So that's gonna be a lot of fun with Snit with Fred. [00:06:54] And we'll talk a little Braves, we'll talk a little manage stuff, managerial stuff, all the good stuff that you would expect. So that'll be fun. Today, 2 to 5 Eastern Time. If you ever want to call in or text to that show. 866-ML-NXM is the number 866-652-6696. Let's go give a little payback to the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend.