House That Hank Built
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Atlanta Braves Season of Sunday Surrenders Continues

By Fred Owens

Jun 5, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Matt Wisler (37) pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 5, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Matt Wisler (37) pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Last Six Outs

Alexi Ogando came in to pitch the seventh and walked Grandal after an eight pitch at bat. He retired the next two hitters but Utley doubled to right center scoring Grandal making it 10-3.

Newly crowned Braves killer Corey Seager followed that with along home run to right, his fifth against Brave pitching in this series. After another long at bat, Thompson walked but thankfully Scott Van Slyke popped up to end the inning.

The Dodgers brought on Chris Hatcher to pitch the eighth and retired the first two hitters, thanks to a superb play by Howie Kendrick at third that robbed Francoeur of his third double of the day. Markakis followed with his third hit of the day ad Garcia kept the line moving with a double past third scoring Markakis. He advanced to third on an error by Hernandez in left.

Pierzynski singled to right scoring Garcia but Kelly Johnson struck out to end the inning.

Arodys Vizcaino came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and retired the Dodgers without incident even though Garcia threw a softly hit ground ball into the stands instead of to Snyder at first.

Snyder led off the ninth against new Dodgers pitcher Louis Coleman and promptly homered over the leftfield wall, his first major league home run since July 29, 2013 when he hit one for Boston off David Price.

Good and Bad

In spite of the drubbing there were a couple of bright spots.

Good:

  • Francoeur went two for three with two doubles and a walk, scored twice and threw out a runner at the plate from Medium left field.
  • Nick Markakis seems to be waking up, going three for four with a run scored and an RBI. Garcia and Pierzynski both went two for four and drove in a run each.
  • Brandon Snyder hit his first homer since July 29, 2013 when he took David Price deep. He now has six major league homers.

Bad:

  • Wisler had a really bad day, his release point clearly stayed in the locker room. Usually when his sinker is hit for a fly ball it’s an out but today they didn’t sink and landed over the fence. I’ve said that AJ isn’t a good catcher but today can’t be blamed for Wisler’s performance.Prior to todays game Wisler had thrown 21 1/3 innings to AJ with a 1.66 ERA and 0.738 WHIP. Throwing 46 2/3 innings to Tyler Flowers resulted in a 3.86 ERA, 1.200 WHIP. His career numbers aren’t as good but this season he and AJ seem to be on the same page.
  • Getting picked off first when your team is down by six just can’t happen. Mallex knows better but it isn’t the first time he’s had a lapse on the bases. It’s a sign of his inexperience and he will learn from it.
  • The lineup is really beyond help this season when facing good pitching or even just average pitching. Kazmir is a really overrated pitcher. The Braves had him on the ropes early but when the Dodgers tied it up Kazmir was suddenly an ace.  This is due to lack of talent and we hope to see that improve when the roster is complete for 2017.

Next: In Summary and some news

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