-First, it was great to get the series today. I wrote this morning that we had a chance to end a couple of bad streaks today and we really took care of business in doing so. Today was arguably a more dominant win than Friday night. Regardless of what Ga Southern is (I'll be shocked if they finish +.50v0), we owed them and ended the series very well today. It reminded me a bit of Tennessee in 2011, up there, where we screwed around and didn't play well and lost a game (the opener in that case), but you knew that we were the better team and we proved it by whipping them soundly in the rubber game, after they'd swept us the season before.
-I thought we had much better offensive focus today than yesterday. I thought that Ga Southern made a mistake in pulling their starter when they did. But even so, it felt like a much better approach today than we had yesterday.
-Kevin Smith was superb. He doesn't blow out the radar gun, but that guy can really locate. You'd never know he was making his first career start watching him... That was as grown up of a debut performance as I can remember... It was similar to Ryan Lawlor's first career start for us in 2014, but Lawler was a transfer and an an older guy.
-Shane Tucker definitely has bullpen stuff.... Lot of fastballs, for sure. That was a logical choice to follow Kevin Smith, similar to Bo Tucker following Robert Tyler. Shane's control looked a little questionable at times, but I like that goes right after the hitter. He doesn't miss because he's pitching around anyone, at least he didn't today. Adam Goodman looked really in relief also. I can see him being more of a longer guy and maybe getting some spot starts. All freshmen on the mound today and those guys all looked polished, as did Blakely Brown. You just can't say enough about Fred Corral.
-Pitching staff recorded 32 K's this weekend, well over 1 per inning. It won't be like that all season, obviously, but that takes so much pressure off the defense.
-Keegan McGovern is REALLY seeing the baseball. Holy smokes... did he make it look easy out there this weekend. 5/12 with 0 K's and 1 walk and was a couple of feet away from having 3-4 HRs this weekend. Skyler Weber had a fantastic weekend as well.... Getting Wrenn back and having those guys in the top 3 with Daniel Nichols 4 looks pretty good to me.
-I was surprised that Daniel Nichols only got 2 hits on the weekend. It seemed like more. He's another guy who is really seeing it, and it seemed like Ga Southern actually pitched him more carefully than they did McGovern.
-We only attempted 1 steal all weekend long. Also surprising, even without Stephen Wrenn.
-On the catcher situation.... It'll eventually be Skyler Weber back there primarily. It's kind of hard to spin that into a good situation right now. The freshman struggled this weekend, but as we said going in, it's a very difficult transition to make for a young guy. The throws back to the pitcher only bother me in as much as it makes the pitcher work harder than he should and (this is bigger to me) neither our SS nor 2B move in closer to the mound with a man on base to cut down on the consequences of a throw getting away. The latter seems to suggest that we don't think it's a big deal in the dugout, and it can be a very deal. I went to a Braves game in 2012, Thursday afternoon game against the Mets. We had a runner on 3rd and the throw back to the pitcher kicked off the pitcher's glove and started rolling toward 3rd base. The runner on 3rd, Juan Francisco of all people, took off and scored. We wound up winning that game 1-0. It can be consequential, very much so. But unless someone is on base, the throw back isn't that much of a concern. The errant throws to 3rd and the short throws to 2nd were bothersome. It's a very tough assignment for a true freshman to catch 27 innings on Opening Weekend. I get that. But the reality is that situation is going to have to improve, and I think it will.
-Finally, LJ Talley probably had the best 0-9 weekend at the plate that you'll ever see. He got a couple of bunts down, which was good, and he didn't strike out any.... But he really hit the ball hard a couple of times and didn't once look overmatched up there. If it really does balance out, he's going to have a 9 hit weekend later on in the season (hopefully down in Gainesville). He really handles the bat well. I remember when Kelly Johnson came up with the Braves in 2005.... He got off to this really slow start at the plate, something like 1-31 or something crazy like that. People kept asking Bobby Cox why he kept running Johnson out there. Bobby said basically that Kelly was giving him good at bats and wasn't getting himself out, and that things would even out. As much of a Bobby Cox as I was, I remember being skeptical. But lo and behold, Bobby was right and Kelly did turn it around. 11 years later I watch LJ Talley go 0-9 on the weekend and feel just fine about the guy offensively.
Man it was great to be back over there. It was a long time since last May, obviously, but I don't know, it just never feels like very much time has elapsed once the new season starts....
-I thought we had much better offensive focus today than yesterday. I thought that Ga Southern made a mistake in pulling their starter when they did. But even so, it felt like a much better approach today than we had yesterday.
-Kevin Smith was superb. He doesn't blow out the radar gun, but that guy can really locate. You'd never know he was making his first career start watching him... That was as grown up of a debut performance as I can remember... It was similar to Ryan Lawlor's first career start for us in 2014, but Lawler was a transfer and an an older guy.
-Shane Tucker definitely has bullpen stuff.... Lot of fastballs, for sure. That was a logical choice to follow Kevin Smith, similar to Bo Tucker following Robert Tyler. Shane's control looked a little questionable at times, but I like that goes right after the hitter. He doesn't miss because he's pitching around anyone, at least he didn't today. Adam Goodman looked really in relief also. I can see him being more of a longer guy and maybe getting some spot starts. All freshmen on the mound today and those guys all looked polished, as did Blakely Brown. You just can't say enough about Fred Corral.
-Pitching staff recorded 32 K's this weekend, well over 1 per inning. It won't be like that all season, obviously, but that takes so much pressure off the defense.
-Keegan McGovern is REALLY seeing the baseball. Holy smokes... did he make it look easy out there this weekend. 5/12 with 0 K's and 1 walk and was a couple of feet away from having 3-4 HRs this weekend. Skyler Weber had a fantastic weekend as well.... Getting Wrenn back and having those guys in the top 3 with Daniel Nichols 4 looks pretty good to me.
-I was surprised that Daniel Nichols only got 2 hits on the weekend. It seemed like more. He's another guy who is really seeing it, and it seemed like Ga Southern actually pitched him more carefully than they did McGovern.
-We only attempted 1 steal all weekend long. Also surprising, even without Stephen Wrenn.
-On the catcher situation.... It'll eventually be Skyler Weber back there primarily. It's kind of hard to spin that into a good situation right now. The freshman struggled this weekend, but as we said going in, it's a very difficult transition to make for a young guy. The throws back to the pitcher only bother me in as much as it makes the pitcher work harder than he should and (this is bigger to me) neither our SS nor 2B move in closer to the mound with a man on base to cut down on the consequences of a throw getting away. The latter seems to suggest that we don't think it's a big deal in the dugout, and it can be a very deal. I went to a Braves game in 2012, Thursday afternoon game against the Mets. We had a runner on 3rd and the throw back to the pitcher kicked off the pitcher's glove and started rolling toward 3rd base. The runner on 3rd, Juan Francisco of all people, took off and scored. We wound up winning that game 1-0. It can be consequential, very much so. But unless someone is on base, the throw back isn't that much of a concern. The errant throws to 3rd and the short throws to 2nd were bothersome. It's a very tough assignment for a true freshman to catch 27 innings on Opening Weekend. I get that. But the reality is that situation is going to have to improve, and I think it will.
-Finally, LJ Talley probably had the best 0-9 weekend at the plate that you'll ever see. He got a couple of bunts down, which was good, and he didn't strike out any.... But he really hit the ball hard a couple of times and didn't once look overmatched up there. If it really does balance out, he's going to have a 9 hit weekend later on in the season (hopefully down in Gainesville). He really handles the bat well. I remember when Kelly Johnson came up with the Braves in 2005.... He got off to this really slow start at the plate, something like 1-31 or something crazy like that. People kept asking Bobby Cox why he kept running Johnson out there. Bobby said basically that Kelly was giving him good at bats and wasn't getting himself out, and that things would even out. As much of a Bobby Cox as I was, I remember being skeptical. But lo and behold, Bobby was right and Kelly did turn it around. 11 years later I watch LJ Talley go 0-9 on the weekend and feel just fine about the guy offensively.
Man it was great to be back over there. It was a long time since last May, obviously, but I don't know, it just never feels like very much time has elapsed once the new season starts....
