Looking ahead to the Mets vs. Braves - MLB

I went on Ted Berg’s Baseball Show over at SNY.TV this afternoon to help Ted scout the Braves in advance of the Mets-Braves series. I used the phrases “atrocious,” “terrible” and “sink hole” to describe the Braves’ play of late, so that was fun. I also made two pretty bad errors:

1. I called Fredi Gonzalez “Freddie Freeman” which is something I’ve been doing while writing since spring training and can’t seem to stop; and

2. I said that the Braves don’t give a long leash to young players. This is patently false and I knew it as soon as I got off the phone with Ted. I had this concept in my brain a couple of years ago for reasons that aren’t clear, and then someone who is not a Braves fan — and thus more objective than me — pointed out to me that I was full of beans. And since then I’ve noticed and appreciated that the Braves do, in fact, give young players a lot of chances, actually, and one need look no further than the presence of Jason Heyward, Freeman, Craig Kimbrel and Jonny Venters in key positions to realize it.

What I said about Freeman still stands — the Braves have no choice but to stick with him no matter how bad he hits — but why I auto-piloted to that “the Braves keep young players on a short leash” thing is a mystery to me. Just wasn’t thinking. This simply is not the case and hasn’t been for, like, a decade at least, even if it was ever true.

Anyway, enjoy.

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”