BRAVES NEWS
Braves score early and finish strong in victory over Mets
After getting shut out over 11 innings on Saturday night, Freddie Freeman and the Braves made sure that no such thing would happen on Sunday afternoon. Freeman hit a homer in the first inning to put Atlanta ahead 1-0, and the Braves stayed ahead thanks to Bud Norris neutralizing the Mets’ offense. Atlanta eventually for four runs in the eighth inning, and that was enough to give the Braves the series split against New York.
Bud Norris continues to make himself attractive to trade suitors
Bud Norris had another good outing on Sunday, as he finished his start with eight strikeouts, zero walks, and only four hits allowed over seven shutout innings of work. It was another good performance in what’s been a positive string for the 31-year-old righty, and it’s making him look like a very attractive trade chip for potential contenders.
While Norris has certainly played a key role as the Braves have won eight of their past 11 games with two starting pitchers -- Foltynewicz and Williams Perez -- on the disabled list, he has also seemingly made himself much more attractive to teams that will attempt to acquire a starting pitcher before the non-waiver Trade Deadline.
Norris produced a 6.79 ERA in the 11 starts he made before being released by the Orioles last year and then posted an 8.74 ERA in the five starts he made this year before the Braves decided they would rather fill his rotation spot with one of their younger starters. However, he did win 15 games and made two postseason starts for the 2014 Orioles. Thus, there might be some teams willing to buy in on his recent success with the Braves.
Josh Anthony will be heading to Auburn after all
It’s been a strange week for Braves draft pick and JuCo star Josh Anthony. Earlier this week, Anthony announced that he was heading to Auburn University instead of signing with the Braves. However, some guy at a Jimmy John’s claimed that Anthony would be signing the Braves, and indeed, Anthony did come to an agreement to join the Braves. However, the signing would have put Atlanta over their bonus pool cap, so they took the contract back and now Anthony is heading to Auburn. You got all that?
Anthony confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser that Atlanta executives called him Friday morning to say they could no longer honor their offer. Anthony said Braves officials informed his father that if they signed Anthony to the agreed upon amount that would put them over Major League Baseball's bonus pool cap and force them to potentially lose a future draft pick.
"They told me that if they honored the deal then that would put them in the tax and so they couldn't do it," Anthony said. "I was ready to sign and they revoked the offer."
Not soon after Anthony was informed of the situation by Atlanta executives, Auburn head coach Butch Thompson called to say the Tigers would still honor his scholarship agreement.
Aaron Blair will be given time to figure things out
Aaron Blair got absolutely rocked by the Mets on Friday, and ended up being demoted to Gwinnett the following afternoon. This is the second time that Blair has been sent down since making his major league debut, and he’ll probably be spending a good amount of time with the G-Braves this time around. Still, the Braves aren’t giving up on the 24-year-old yet, as evidenced by Brian Snitker’s thoughts on the situation.
"I think it was to the point where I think he needs to maybe step out of the fray a little bit," Snitker said. "I told him sometimes you’ve got to take a step back to take two steps forward…. When we sent him back before to do this the last time, he only pitched three innings (in Triple-A). He didn’t get three starts, he got three innings.
"So hopefully now it’ll be a situation where he can go back and maybe get two or three starts. I don’t know how long it takes to get himself back going to where we think he should be, where we want him to be."
MLB NEWS
Jose Fernandez makes mincemeat of Cubs offense in Marlins victory
Marlins ace Jose Fernandez made another home start on Sunday, and even if you’re a team with an offense as good as the Cubs, you’re still at risk to fall victim to Fernandez and his excellence at Marlins Park. As such, Fernandez picked up 13 strikeouts and only gave up four hits and one run over seven innings of work as the Marlins picked up a series victory in a three-game series against the Cubs. Chicago’s actually fallen on tough times as of late, as the Cubs have now lost six out of their last seven games.
Giants walk-off vs. Phillies and now have most wins in NL this season
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants now have the most wins in the National League so far this season, and they picked up win #49 in walk-off fashion. Granted, it seemed as if the Giants were doing their level best to hand the game to the Phillies at times, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they eventually picked up the win, and the even-year monsters are probably feeling really good about themselves at the moment.