Atlanta isn't a city that is known for diehard fans, particularly when it comes to baseball. The announced attendance at last night's game was ~22K, but given the authority afforded to me by virtue of my attendance, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not even close. Try 15K. The traffic heading into the stadium was thin, the pedestrian traffic even more so. The Nalley lot was half-empty, as was the Green lot. It was one of the quietest crowds I've witnessed first-hand. When Brian McCann hit his homer, the crowd didn't even start cheering until the ball cleared the fence. The guy sitting behind me, a native Clevelander who seemed to think that Medlen only throws fastballs and changeups, remarked about the dull crowd: "This is a first place team!" he said, "Where is everyone?" His buddy promptly informed him that the Falcons were playing a meaningless preseason game less than five miles away, not to mention live SEC football on TV, and that explanation is as fitting as any I suppose. It's almost September. The division is decided. While this is the best team in baseball, they're on cruise control for the next month, and I can't say I blame my fellow Georgites from wanting to indulge in some football, be it pro or college, if for no other reason than to break up the monotony.
With 29 games remaining, the Braves have a better-than-average chance of reaching the 100-win mark for the first time since the 2003 Braves went 101-59. They'll need to go 19-10 to make that happen, and when you look at the remaining schedule, there's no reason to think they can't pull that off. Winning 100 games will almost certainly distinguish them as the team with the best record in the NL, barring a late surge by LA and StL, though realistically, 96 wins should clinch it. Given the what the situation looked like entering this season, that's an impressive accomplishment by Frank Wren and Fredi Gonzalez.
So while the remaining games won't exactly have a playoff feel to them, there's still plenty of reasons to watch or be in attendance. Tonight's pitcher for Miami, Jose Fernandez, is as good a reason as any. So far the Braves have missed him in each series they've played against the Fish, but their number finally comes up tonight.
Fernandez's performance in 2013 has been a silver lining in an otherwise disastrous season for Miami, and he stands out amongst a particularly strong rookie class that includes the likes of Matt Harvey, Shelby Miller, and the Braves' own Julio Teheran. He is 2nd only to Harvey in FIP amongst rookie starters at 2.65, and he boasts a tERA and SIERA of 3.40 and 3.22, respectively. He's not a guy that relies on smoke-and-mirrors to do the dirty work, instead, he boasts excellent command and control of his pitches. His fastball sits in the mid-90's, and he features a plus curve that serves as his out-pitch. Here it is in all its' glory:
He can also throw a change and a slider in any count, and it's not often that he misses his spots with these pitches. He doesn't give up many homers, though part of that is likely attributable to the cavernous expanse of territory known as Marlins Park.
Fernandez flew through the Marlins' minor league system, pitching less than 150 total innings above rookie ball. He was on the national prospect radar before the season, but the consensus at that time was that the Fish would wait until late this season or even 2014 to call him up. Doing so would have been in their best interests as it would delay the start of his arbitration clock, not to mention they had nothing to gain from him dominating at the major league level since they had no chance of competing anyway. Despite all of that circumstance, they called him anyway, and haven't looked back. It may not be what Andrew Friedman would do, but then again, this is Jeffrey Loria we're talking about. He doesn't have to make sense.
This guy is an excellent young pitcher, and although the upcoming series probably isn't very compelling for some baseball-weary members of Braves country, if you have to watch one game from it, tonight's game is the one. This may be the only opportunity we get to see this kid pitch until next season, so make the most of it.
Series matchups:
Tonight, 7:30 (local broadcast)
Jose Fernandez v. Julio Teheran (watch this game!)
Saturday, 7:10 (local broadcast)
Jacob Turner v. Mike Minor
Sunday, 5:00 (local broadcast)
Nate Eovaldi v. Alex Wood (underrated matchup here!)
(Stats via FanGraphs)
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