00:00Last night, Braves took on the Walgreens Nationals in D.C., won 9-4,
00:05had a bit of a scare in the sixth when Ronald Acuna Jr. was taken out of the game.
00:09It was the second time he was hit by a pitch.
00:12X-rays did show he's all good.
00:13Walt Weiss said he's going to be fine after the game, but his hand was swelling,
00:16so they wanted to get him out as soon as possible.
00:19And then Bryce Elder hit C.J. Abrams.
00:20Both teams got warnings.
00:22Bryce Elder did throw for six and two-thirds innings, had three hits,
00:25three runs, two walks, six strikeouts.
00:27It was a little shaky in the first inning, but then he locked in.
00:30Yeah, it's been the theme of Braves starting pitchers, it feels like,
00:33is they're shaky early in games, and then they kind of lock in.
00:35They call that a quality start for you kids checking boxes at home for stats.
00:40Bryce Elder with another quality start any time you go six with three or less runs.
00:47I love what Bryce Elder did.
00:48Can we just stop this narrative, though, that this is the first time anyone's
00:52defended Ronald Acuna Jr. in the history of time of him in a Atlanta Braves uniform?
00:56I distinctly remember in 2019.
00:59There's a narrative out there like that?
01:01Oh, yeah.
01:01Oh, yeah.
01:02There's – yeah.
01:04And you'll hear it later on this radio station from 2 to 7 probably.
01:09And it's like – like Snitker was one of the first people out of the dugout in 2019
01:15when the Marlins hit him.
01:17I remember it like it was yesterday, and he was screaming at – I don't know if it was –
01:22was it Uribe or whatever the pitcher's name was.
01:25But I don't also believe that Walt Weiss ordered this.
01:28I believe Bryce Elder went out there and said, got a 7-3 lead.
01:33We've put these guys kind of – they're done.
01:36They're not coming back.
01:37And C.J. Abrams is their best – to me, he's their best player.
01:41I just like how he hit him in the butt.
01:43And he didn't – well, and that's the thing.
01:46He knew it wasn't going to hurt him.
01:47It's Bryce Elder.
01:48So he don't really throw enough – it was 91.
01:50He don't throw it hard enough to really hurt – now, 91's going to hurt,
01:53but he don't really throw hard enough to break anything, and he hit him in the tush.
01:57Right?
01:58The buttocks, as Forrest Gump would say.
02:00Gluteous maxes.
02:00That's the perfect way to execute it.
02:03And I thought that the Marlins manager was a little bit ridiculous carrying on as long as he did.
02:09Dude, you know this is coming.
02:11I mean, it's Marlins.
02:11The Nationals manager, he carried on a little – even C.J. Dikowski at one point goes,
02:15all right, enough time has passed.
02:18It's a chilly night.
02:19You got a pitcher out there.
02:20It is a long inning.
02:22This has gone on long enough.
02:23He needs – they need to get him off the field.
02:25Yeah.
02:26I don't – I – and listening to some of the Nationals broadcast team commentary
02:30where it's like he steals the base when he gets on.
02:32He's like, that's how you get him back.
02:33And I'm like, get him – get him back?
02:36He got punked by 91 in the buttocks, dude.
02:38Like, what are we talking about?
02:39That was as gentle as you could possibly have gone back at them.
02:43That was as gentle as you could possibly have done it.
02:45And I agree with you.
02:46I don't think Walt Weiss, like, had a conversation with Bryce Elder
02:49and was like, you need to go out there and hit him.
02:51But I think he would have if he didn't hit him.
02:53Like, I think that it was already just known.
02:55I think it's just – you have to go hit him.
02:57I think if Bryce Elder goes out there and goes one, two, three,
03:00probably after the game, Walt Weiss is going,
03:02you know you probably should have taken one of those guys out.
03:04Like, let's just be clear about that.
03:06And Ronald – look, man, I get it.
03:08You're going to have to pitch him inside.
03:09His plate coverage is insane.
03:10And, you know, hopefully the power starts coming around in a bigger way.
03:14But you can't miss inside twice and hit him, dude.
03:17Like, and I think I heard CJ Nikoski say that yesterday.
03:19Yeah.
03:19You can't miss inside twice like that up and in
03:21and think you're going to get away with it.
03:23So you think it was intentional from Jake Irvin?
03:27No.
03:27I think – no, I don't.
03:31I think he's pitching him inside and he – I don't – look, we've talked –
03:37this conversation feels like one of the most had conversations in the city
03:43since Ronald Acuna Jr. stepped foot on the field for the Braves.
03:47You have to pitch him inside.
03:49There have been times where I wholeheartedly –
03:52Don Mattingly and the Marlins, when this all became an issue,
03:56absolutely said, if you hit him, you hit him.
03:59I don't care, go inside all you want.
04:01I think Jake Irvin was trying to have some self-preservation in that game
04:05and he was trying to not let Ronald Acuna Jr. beat him.
04:08And, yeah, he was pitching inside.
04:09But you can't hit him twice.
04:11And I do believe that there is a mentality set by Walt Weiss
04:16in spring training about here's how we handle our business.
04:19But I don't believe when Bryce Elder grabbed his glove to go out back on the field
04:24and that inning, after the big half inning, Walt Weiss said, hit one.
04:30It was targeted by Bryce Elder and we know it was targeted because he waited a batter
04:35and waited until CJ Abrams came up because that was one out in the inning.
04:38The one thing I want to say real quick is kudos to the umpires
04:43because we have seen in the past when the Marlins hit him twice in a game
04:51where they immediately gave both benches warnings.
04:55And Ronald Acuna Jr. made a little bit of a stink when he got hit the second time.
04:59He did the stare down, took his helmet off twice, stared down again, walked slowly to first.
05:05They could have, and I've seen them give warnings right there.
05:09They didn't.
05:10They let the Braves get the get-back.
05:12Then they issued the warnings.
05:14They didn't throw anybody out.
05:15I thought that was as well-handled as you can have from the umpires.
05:19And they'll probably, though, come out tonight and warn both benches.
05:23Yeah, I agree with you on that, man.
05:25And, again, Ali said this to me earlier.
05:27It's like one of those games where you had such a big series over the weekend
05:30and they come out and they kind of start laying an egg early.
05:33And you're like, all right, well, we kind of got ahead of ourselves this weekend a little bit.
05:36You know, a little bit of a letdown on a Monday.
05:39Okay, we can kind of see that.
05:41No, absolutely took foothold, starting with Drake Baldwin and the contact he's making right now.
05:47I told Ali this morning, I was like, at some point, he's going to hit a little bit of a
05:50lull.
05:51Can't continue at the clip he is.
05:52And it's going to make me so sad.
05:53Because right now, he's Tony Gwynn.
05:55Like, he is swinging, and I said today, a tennis racket.
05:59It's crazy.
05:59But the same is for Dom Smith.
06:01I mean, he's going to cool down, too.
06:03But he got another hit last night.
06:05I mean, but it was.
06:06They have afforded themselves some grace when it comes to these games.
06:10Like, when Bryce Elder was a little shaky during the first inning, and they were down, too.
06:14It was like, well, you know.
06:16We knew it was going to happen.
06:17They were going to.
06:18Listen, maybe they had a good time last night celebrating the Phillies.
06:22Like, it's all good.
06:24And, you know, I think it's a really good point.
06:27They had nine runs last night.
06:29Two of them came on a home run.
06:31And you look at the beginning.
06:33They had good base running.
06:36Dom Smith gets the double.
06:37Then there's the pass ball.
06:39You know, Olsen hits the sack fly at one point in it.
06:43And then they had, I think Harris had the single up the middle.
06:47Like, it was.
06:48It's really.
06:50Look.
06:51This team is still not really built for small ball.
06:54And I'll still die on that hill a little bit.
06:56But they are just.
06:59They're doing what Chipper Jones has talked about.
07:01It's been missing for the game for a couple years.
07:03It's timely hitting.
07:04Not being afraid.
07:05You talked about Tony Gwynn with Drake.
07:09The ability just to slap that ball the other way down the line.
07:12Like, those little things.
07:14That timely, you know, just taking what they're giving you
07:18and not trying to sit ahead of a home run every time is really working.
07:20I agree, man.
07:22We've got to get into a conversation later about Ronald Acuna
07:25and it's caught stealings.
07:27The pickoffs, man.
07:28We've got four stolen bases this year and three pickoffs.
07:32I'm struggling.
07:33I'm almost more bothered by his failure to challenge correctly.
07:41Because he's got some bad challenges.
07:43But he does so much right, you forgive him, right?
07:46I guess that's the conversation we'll have later.
07:48Of course.
07:49Sure.
07:49All right.
07:50Well, they play again tonight in D.C.
07:52Reynaldo Lopez is on the mound.
07:53First pitch is at 645.
07:55And Thursday, the Hawks will face the Knicks in Game 3
07:57of their first-round playoff series.
07:59Remember, the only place to get the game for free
08:01with local announcers is Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
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