00:00We do have, of course, that game 3-2 coming up at 8 o'clock Eastern time.
00:06Nola's going to start.
00:07Nola has already said in interviews past the one team he hates facing
00:12is the Atlanta Braves.
00:15But we also know Wheeler is lurking.
00:17We know that Sale is lurking.
00:20I don't know who in the hell is this pitching starting tonight for Atlanta.
00:25Does it matter?
00:26I'm going to talk to you about it.
00:26Yeah.
00:27Well, help me understand who Kerr is, please.
00:30Okay.
00:30Okay.
00:30That's a great question.
00:32So here is the deal.
00:35Ray Kerr was a prospect for the Braves that missed the majority of the season.
00:42And when the Braves clinched things up last week,
00:45they had already pitched Kerr a couple of times.
00:48He didn't pitch until August.
00:49He threw, I think, like 14 or 15 innings, and he looked fantastic.
00:54So the Braves clinch before they get to Miami, and the games didn't matter.
01:00And so they decided to experiment with this exact opener matchup.
01:07They pitched Kerr and Holmes back-to-back against Miami.
01:12And so Alex Anthopoulos is the president of the Braves.
01:15And before I went on my pregame show, I'm like, hey, tell me a little bit about Kerr.
01:21Like, what's the deal here?
01:22And he legitimately told me at that time that if Kerr did well, there's a chance that they could do
01:29this exact same thing if it came to a Joe in the postseason.
01:32And Kerr, Joe, looked awesome against Miami.
01:37I'm going to tell you something now.
01:38I am going to do this on video, and it's going to look very bad for me if he does
01:44not pitch well tonight and gets killed.
01:46I think Kerr is going to be really, really good.
01:50I think this is a really good pitcher for the Braves that if they advance, we could be talking about
01:56him pitching a lot in the postseason.
01:58This is not some unknown kid.
02:01I think that there's a real shot that he ends up being the player for the Braves both now and
02:07for the future.
02:07Here is my concern, Joe.
02:09I'm not positive that Holmes is going to pitch well, backing him up.
02:12I can't say that.
02:13That's my concern here tonight.
02:15That is if Kerr pitches two or three scoreless innings, and then they go to Holmes, and then you have
02:21all those righty-lefty matchups with Harper and Schwarber,
02:25could that be the difference in the fifth inning?
02:28In the sixth inning, and that may very well be, but I do think first three innings or so, very
02:35low-scoring game between these two teams today.
02:38I think Nola will bounce back.
02:39I know he was horrible opening up the other day on short rest.
02:42I think he'll be better, but Joe, it is an absolute coin flip game from the fifth inning on for
02:47me tonight.
02:48But don't sleep on Ray Kerr pitching tonight.
02:51And, of course, naturally, if I'm wrong, tomorrow I'll come back and say I'm wrong.
02:56But the Braves like him a lot, and they just prepped for this five days ago in Miami, doing the
03:02same exact thing, and they had good results.
03:04So let's see if they—now, again, Miami's not in the Philly.
03:07I'm not trying to play that game offensively.
03:09They're not, okay?
03:11But I like it.
03:12I think the Braves got a shot in this.
03:15And if it doesn't work, oh, my gosh, if it doesn't work, Joe, I don't know what the end result
03:20is going to be.
03:21But that's my takeaway for it.
03:22I just don't want you to sleep on this kid tonight.
03:25It's not like a complete shot out of the dark.
03:28Well, I'm also—I mean, I heard, Craig, maybe you've heard different, but Ray Kerr, I believe Brent Suter is also
03:35in some sort of opener capacity here as well.
03:39And the bottom line is, listen, Grant Holmes is available.
03:42We know everyone that's going to be available.
03:45But if Kerr can go out, great backstory from everything that I've read you just said.
03:51Like, it was an unfortunate—this guy's like a trooper.
03:54Like, he could have quit at any time, but apparently, great story.
04:00This would make a fantastic story for not only Braves but Major League Baseball if he's able to go out
04:05there and dominate.
04:06Listen, you've called these guys before.
04:09You know, you've heard about it.
04:10You've seen them.
04:11So is it Strzok from the Mets?
04:13We made fun of you, and he goes out and wins all these games.
04:17Strzok, I mean—
04:19Listen, it's possible—look, this is one of those situations that could completely backfire.
04:24This is one of those situations, Joe, where it's more about the person than really what it is about the
04:30pitcher.
04:30We're going to learn—I mean, when you're throwing a kid like this who's never pitched in the postseason before
04:36against Bryce Harper and Schwarber and Turner and Bowman, all these guys,
04:41if this guy pitches well, it's the beginning of something for this kid.
04:45And if not, we look back and say,
04:47how in the world were the Atlanta Braves in this position that they had to throw Ray Kerr in Game
04:523?
04:53But I got a sneaky suspicion from what I saw that I think he's going to be good tonight.
04:59I don't think he's going to get crushed.
05:01I have a good feeling tonight about him.
05:04Now, that being said, don't ask me what the score is going to be in the seventh inning
05:07because he's not going to play a factor in it.
05:09Noel is not going to play a factor in it.
05:10I don't even know if Holmes is going to play a factor in it.
05:12But you're right about Brent Suter.
05:14I think the reason why they went with Kerr, a lot more swing and miss in his game than Suter.
05:19These guys connect against Suter.
05:21It's going a long way.
05:23Big difference.
