Braves News
Nicasio Finally Gets The Best Of The Braves
Juan Nicasio went into this game having never beaten the Braves in his career. Unfortunately for the vast majority of people who read this blog, the tables finally turned, as Nicasio finally got one over on Atlanta and the Rockies beat the Braves 3-1. Troy Tulowitzki continued his unbelievable start to the season at the plate with a homer, while the Braves lone RBI of the night came from a sac fly from Justin Upton.
Gattis Comes Back To Lineup After Illness
After sitting out most of the Brewers series and Friday night's tilt with the Rockies due to an illness that came upon him right before Tuesday's game against the Brewers, Evan Gattis finally made his return to the lineup. Gattis went 0-3 with a walk in his return, and this was after Gerald Laird went 5-15 with 3 RBI during his 4-game run as the starting catcher in lieu of Gattis.
Johnson Apologizes For Freak-Out, Stays In Lineup
After he threw a pretty big tantrum in the dugout following a strikeout during the 2nd inning of Friday's contest with the Rockies, Chris Johnson was removed from the game. This was mostly due to the fact that he managed to smash a bat into smithereens and part of the smithereens hit Fredi Gonzalez and Gerald Laird. After apologizing to those two, everything seemed like water under the bridge, and Johnson returned to the lineup. Johnson's currently hitting .265/.288/.341 and the all-important BABIP is sitting at .352.
This past week, there were some worries about a sore elbow from Jonny Venters that Venters himself tried to squash those concerns by saying that he was perfectly fine despite initial soreness. Now, after a week of rest, the former set-up man for Craig Kimbrel will now put that elbow to the test once again in a BP session. If all goes well, a minor league assignment could be in the cards soon for Venters.
Walden's Hamstring Is Improving
In other injured Braves relievers news, Jordan Walden could be coming back soon, as his hamstring is reportedly "feeling a lot better," and should be throwing from a mound on Monday or Tuesday. Walden's ERA has been at 2.92 while his xFIP is currently 2.39 over 12.1 innings of relief work so far in 2014.
League Wide News
Rays Win In 15, Get 2nd Consecutive Walk-Off Victory
The Tampa Bay Rays may be off to a slow start to their 2014 campaign, but things are looking up after a 1-0 walk-off victory on Friday and then a throwing error from Red Sox reliever Andrew Miller in the bottom of the 15th helped give the Rays their 2nd consecutive walk-off victory. The defending World Series Champions are currently in a bit of a hole themselves, as they are now 20-28, have lost 9 straight, and are 7 games back of the 1st place Blue Jays (yes, you read that right. The Blue Jays. From Toronto.)
Tigers Get A Whiff Of A Strong Odor
For the Detroit Tigers, it was a foul Odor. For the Texas Rangers, though, it was a sweet scent as Rougned Odor (currently the youngest player in Major League Baseball) contributed 2 triples and 5 RBI to the Rangers' cause as they trounced Detroit by the score of 12-2. According to our friends at Lone Star Ball, Odor has been doing a great job in lieu of Jurickson Profar and has definitely given the Rangers a strong sense of long-term security when it comes to 2nd base in the future.
A beautiful day for classic Negro Leagues uniforms: pic.twitter.com/YIBoCLVfbU
— MLB (@MLB) May 24, 2014
San Diego Trades Hundley To Baltimore For Patton
After having a pretty good 2011 season where he was worth 3.3 WAR according to fangraphs, former Padres catcher Nick Hundley never seemed to replicate that performance. With the emergence of a couple other catching prospects, Hundley became surplus in San Diego, and the Padres used that surplus to acquire a reliever in the form of Troy Patton. Meanwhile, with the completion of this trade, the Orioles currently have 5 catchers on their 40-man roster. That's kinda weird.