00:00Then the pressure's right back on New York.
00:01No doubt.
00:01We'll see how it plays out.
00:03We'll talk plenty about it, but we've got to start with what we saw last night
00:05with the Atlanta Braves, guys.
00:07They are on fire, and this is very reminiscent of what we saw in 21 when we won it
00:16and in 23 when we had the best offense in the major leagues.
00:20Right.
00:20We just found ways at the end of games, Mike, to win a base knock, RBI, double,
00:27RBI, home run, game walk-off.
00:30That feels very similar to me when I'm watching this team.
00:34And, guys, we're off to the second-best start, Mike, in franchise history at 22-9.
00:39Yeah, man, and I made this declaration a little bit earlier in the week,
00:42so I'll just make it again.
00:43I did it on social media.
00:44I'll make it brief.
00:45Again, I did suffer from post-Freddie departing syndrome because that would be
00:49PFDS, but I'm over it.
00:52And I didn't know about Olsen.
00:54Now, again, who's the leader in that club?
00:56I still don't know if we got that.
00:57And that was kind of my argument, which maybe is too nuanced for some Braves fans
01:01to tell me to get off Olsen's back.
01:02But I just love this guy's game.
01:04He's so clutch.
01:05He's just – you know, there's a lot of guys who are just very low-key.
01:08I mean, there's no superstar about Matt Olsen.
01:10He's just – he loves his job.
01:12He's a dude, and he does it every day.
01:14But, again, I just want to apologize to Matt if I doubted you back in the day
01:17because I'm in your corner now, brother.
01:18Not that it matters, but this guy's so money.
01:20Last night he was a rock star.
01:21Can I say, though, I think a lot of Braves fans, whether you want to admit it or not,
01:25were feeling the same way.
01:27Freddie had a special place in our heart, okay?
01:29And then we win a World Series, and we're like, we're on top of the world.
01:33Hey, Mike and I are talking about how much better are we going to make this team?
01:36Acuna's coming back.
01:37All the things are lining up.
01:38What do you mean he's leaving?
01:40So I think a lot of people felt the same way you did.
01:44And, look, this is what happens when a guy comes in and replaces a guy that's beloved by the fan
01:50base.
01:51Right.
01:51You have to prove it to us.
01:53Well, Matt Ryan went through, and Mike Vick was knocked out of the box.
01:56And to this day, unfortunately, for whatever reason – I know the reason,
01:59but for the reasons that he still didn't win over all the hearts and minds, which is silly,
02:03but he did the job.
02:04No doubt.
02:05And the best franchise quarterback we've had.
02:07So for Matt, the thing for me, Mike, and this is what I love about him,
02:12is he knew that, never addressed it, never talked about it, never was mad at anybody.
02:17I can't believe these fans are treating me this way.
02:19He's never come out and said that.
02:21He just shows up to Mike's point, ballpark every day, play, have graded bats, and do my job.
02:27And we now, I think, appreciate what he is, and now we've turned that corner.
02:33For many of you, maybe it was a couple of years ago,
02:35I think a lot of you feel the same way Mike did.
02:37Like, okay, keep proving it.
02:39Hit another home run.
02:40I don't believe it.
02:41Like, and now he's there.
02:43And again, I had a guy hit me up.
02:44He's like, well, you should beef with him in the first place.
02:46I just thought he was kind of streaky.
02:47You know, he'd go through a cold patch, you know,
02:49and sometimes it would take almost a month to get out of it.
02:51I know that happens in the show.
02:53You know, let's hope that Acuna, he's getting his out of the way,
02:56Austin Riley, too, and they're going to be raking all the way.
02:58But yeah, the guy just shows up, and that swing is so pretty, man.
03:01Boom, that ball just keeps on going and going.
03:04The natural.
03:04And yeah, so, and the fielding is, again, the wild throw on the pickoff.
03:09We'll get into it.
03:10That was such a crazy inning for J.R. Ritchie,
03:13who would have probably, you know, gotten the dub if things worked out.
03:17There was a check swing that just went down the line on third base.
03:20It was like literally the goofiest thing I've ever seen.
03:23And then you get the wild, I mean, the error, the throwing error at first base
03:26in the pickoff attempt, and all of a sudden it's, whoa, we're down now.
03:29But he battles, that kid, he's got it.
03:31And by the way, he's got that sort of unflappable, cool Greg Maddux.
03:35He's always a lefty, but you know what I'm saying?
03:36He's just got that vibe on the bump.
03:38Yeah, we went up on Ozzie's home run, and I was, you know, like,
03:40damn, okay, here we go.
03:41And the Tigers come right back.
03:43Mike, he didn't lose his cool after giving up that home run, right?
03:46I mean, they go ahead, and you're like, eh.
03:48And you felt like he was going to fall apart.
03:50By the way, Walt Weiss is saying the Braves will keep him in the rotation,
03:53as they should.
03:53His next potential star to be against the Mariners in the Mariners series.
03:57But let's hear from Matt Olsen, because last night that walk-off was electric.
04:02Oh, man, I mean, obviously he's got, you know, a unicorn pitch.
04:05You know, that cutter, some spatula.
04:08How's that feel?
04:09Woo!
04:10Gatorade dunk.
04:10He had to do that.
04:11Oh, man, honestly, I saw Ozzie miss under or above a couple,
04:15and just looked like he was getting a little more on top than he normally does.
04:18So I wanted to make sure, just have a double play,
04:21and try to get something in the air a little bit,
04:22and he left that one over the plate.
04:23Yeah.
04:24He's talking about Kenley Jansen, and how cool is that?
04:27I mean, the little nuance things, picking up on how the ball was traveling,
04:31how he was delivering it, and he went to the plate with a plan.
04:33I think that's what great hitters do, though.
04:35They pay attention.
04:36You see it once.
04:37You see it twice.
04:38And by the way, Jansen, this is not his first time facing him,
04:40so you start to pick up on those nuances, Mike,
04:43and then you go, if he does that, in your head.
04:46It's like a movie, guys.
04:47If he throws this pitch, I know where I'm going with it,
04:49and he knew exactly what to do.
04:51Matt Olsen was talking about how fun the Braves clubhouse is right now.
04:54Again, 22-9.
04:55You've got to go back, okay, to the 97 team.
05:00That's the last time that we were 22-9.
05:02Hello.
05:03Even on the World Series team, it didn't start this way.
05:06Here's Matt Olsen.
05:07Yeah, we're definitely having fun with it.
05:08Winning cures all, so we'll see how long we can ride this streak out.
05:12Well, look, don't you think this is contagious, though?
05:15Yes, it totally is.
05:16And, like, Money Harris, we've talked about everybody in this ballpark
05:19and, you know, just getting behind these guys.
05:21And, you know, Dubon, every night another guy's contributing,
05:24but the guys that are supposed to now are starting to get it into gear.
05:27And, again, if Austin Riley can just still, you know, onward and upward for him,
05:30he's like the only kind of missing piece of the equation.
05:32Murph will be back before you know it.
05:34Drake hits everybody.
05:35I mean, Drake's got a plan for everybody.
05:37I mean, it's rare to see him into a double play or anything,
05:40but, you know, normally he's just so on point, he's so locked in,
05:44and, you know, that phrase, it's like that stupid phrase you're on golf,
05:48great ball striker, professional hitter.
05:50You know, he's a professional hitter who happens to be a catcher.
05:52Yeah, I think, Mike, he's going to start getting respect
05:55as to how guys go about pitching him.
05:58I think a lot of these guys are still going,
05:59ah, man, he's rookie of the year, whatever.
06:02And they're not taking into account, to your point,
06:06his ability to have a contact.
06:07Like, he's not looking for home runs every time.
06:09Like, I think that second at bat, all right,
06:11he goes opposite or opposite field, and you're like, whoa.
06:13I mean, it was, or maybe it was the right field,
06:16but I'm impressed with that.
06:18I think you say this all the time about what Chipper tells these guys.
06:21Right.
06:22Take what they give you.
06:23Hey, man, I mean, I'm not saying that we've got guys committed
06:27to launch angle and all that, but it's Chipper.
06:29I mean, Chipper's philosophy is pretty simple.
06:31Go with the pitch.
06:32Don't try to pull everything.
06:33If you're, you know, just go, just take a ball to center field
06:36that drops is still good for you.
06:37And that's what you see these guys start to do.
06:39And then next thing you know, like Austin Riley,
06:41a lot of line drive home runs as he's starting to get things going again.
06:44It's Dukes and Bell Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
06:46Plenty on the Hawks game six tonight.
06:48It's going to go home, man.
06:50And that is the case tonight, that we're facing with the Knicks.
06:53Pre-game at 6.30.
06:54Tip is at seven right here on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
06:57Let me hear Walt Weiss, man, because say what you want,
07:00pushing all the right buttons here early on,
07:02and guys are coming through.
07:05I've talked about how when you have good years,
07:07you tend to have wins like that.
07:09You look back and there's 10 or 12 games that you won
07:11that you necessarily shouldn't have.
07:13And so we've had a few of those already.
07:14So that's a good sign.
07:16Yeah.
07:16Yeah, man.
07:16Things are so bad in Philly.
07:17They had the Phillies in a suite at the Flyers-Penguins game last night.
07:20They booed the Phillies.
07:21More on that in guy talk.
07:23I mean, Phillies are struggling.
07:24The Mets are a lost puppy.
07:26You know, they just lost again.
07:27And then you look at Walt Weiss, and again,
07:29it's like you didn't reinvent the wheel,
07:31but it's his spin on how you manage a club.
07:35So there's some of the things that Snicker did,
07:37but I just think, and Tony Gwynn told us about this two weeks ago,
07:39different energy.
07:40Yeah, it is.
07:40It is.
07:42By the way, Matt Olsen, two for four,
07:43including the walk-off two-run home run.
07:45J.R. Ritchie did allow three runs.
07:47It was actually two earned, I believe, for Ritchie last night.
07:50Walked four, four Ks.
07:52But guys, Mike said it.
07:53Sometimes you watch a guy,
07:55I think we did this with Strider.
07:56And you're like, hmm, there's something there.
07:59And I hope, by the way, Strider comes back and is on point.
08:02I really do.
08:02I don't know what to expect.
08:03I don't want to get overly excited about.
08:05Grant said the VLO is 97, 98 at some point.
08:08Mike, if it's that, then he's truly back.
08:11Because when he got back last year, it was like,
08:13ah, remember, we kept stressing.
08:14I don't see it.
08:15He's not back completely.
08:16So I hope that's the case,
08:17because that's just more ammunition for this starting rotation.
08:21Last night, by the way, shout-out to Bullpen.
08:22I mean, look, guys, that's a really good club.
08:26And Ritchie gave up those runs, and then Dylan Lee comes in,
08:29four strikeouts, and one and a third, or one and two thirds.
08:32And then Ronaldo Lopez comes in for two innings
08:35and shuts these guys down with two strikeouts.
08:37Excellent job last night by the Bullpen against a very good hitting club.
08:41And as I said, it was just one of those nights where that double
08:46is the stupidest-looking double I've ever seen.
08:47It was like a number that just goes down the line.
08:50You're like, really?
08:51That's a hit?
08:52And it's the baseball gods.
08:54But he did show his poise and didn't get too rattled.
08:56All right, man.
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