BRAVES NEWS
Braves ruin Alex Wood's homecoming and pick up fourth straight win
After losing nine straight games to start the season, the Braves have responded by rattling off a four-game win streak, with the latest victory being an 8-1 drubbing of the Dodgers on Alex Wood's big return to Atlanta. Wood lasted only four innings, as the Braves hit him early and often. Meanwhile, Ryan Weber, Williams Perez, and three other relievers did a good job of neutralizing Los Angeles' offense, as the Braves looked comfortable throughout the contest and eased to victory in this one. Also, Tyler Flowers went 4-4 with three RBIs because why not?
Hector Olivera will be on administrative leave for at least two more weeks
Meanwhile, currently inactive left fielder Hector Olivera will be spending at least another fortnight on the sidelines after MLB and the player's union agreed to extend his stay on the administrative leave list. This will give baseball more time to finish their investigation of his domestic violence incident so that they can come up with a proper ruling on the situation.
Mallex Smith isn't too down about slow start
After getting off to a bit of a slow start to his major league career, Mallex Smith has turned things around over the past two games -- he delivered the game-winning RBI on Sunday against Miami, and then had a 3 RBI night against the Dodgers on Tuesday. Through it all, Smith has stayed positive and remained confident, which is part of the reason why the Braves decided to give him a chance this early in the season.
"Baseball is hard," [Smith] said. "You get off to a slow start, so what? We play so much. We’ve got a lot of opportunities to make it up. So I stick with it. You remain confident in yourself. Just put in the work, and you should be all right."
...The Braves ultimately decided to let Smith take his lumps in the majors now. Gonzalez said team officials were encouraged by Smith’s resiliency at Gwinnett last season when he made adjustments to break out of a hitting slump.
Braves stock hits "ironic" marks
During yesterday's news and links, we shared with you the fact that the Braves' debut on the stock market on Monday didn't go so well, as prices dropped almost as soon as the stock hit the market. Well, our friends at the Sporting News noticed something a bit weird about the prices.
After opening at $36 per share on the Nasdaq stock exchange, the price nosedived as badly as the Braves did in their first nine games and closed at $19.95 per share, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
That’s $19.95. As in 1995.
Yes, even the closing price served as a mocking reminder that the Braves haven't won a World Series in 21 years.
A second Braves stock also performed poorly Monday and closed at $19.14, according to the New York Post.
That's $19.14. As in 1914 — the year of the franchise's first championship.
You can't make this up.
Leave us alone, it's already been a rough season as it is! Anyways, I guess since 1995 is on the brain, let's enjoy this video of Vin Scully calling the final out of the 1995 World Series.
MLB NEWS
Nationals hit four home runs in seventh inning to beat Miami
The Washington Nationals went absolutely crazy in the seventh inning of Tuesday night's game against the Miami Marlins, as they hit four home runs and absolutely blitzed Miami on their way to a 7-0 victory. The highlight of the dinger bonanza was Bryce Harper's second grand slam of the season. Yes, Bryce Harper already has two grand slams by himself while the Braves as a team have hit three home runs so far this season. Yikes.
Mets slam six homers during 11-1 clobbering of Philadelphia
In further NL East beatdown news, the New York Mets also showed off their power stroke on Tuesday evening, as they hit six homers and utterly hammered the Philadelphia Phillies to the tune of 11-1. If the early going of this season is any indication, then this year's NL East race is probably going to come down to which team can get the most wins off of the bottom-feeders of the division. So far, both the Nats and Mets are holding court when it comes to teeing off on their divisional opposition.