Hey y’all.
July Fourth and the AJC Peachtree Road Race aren’t until Friday.
But with the Braves taking their holiday today, it’s a good time to reflect on … whatever it was we saw over the last two weeks.
Quick links: The Hawks and free agency | Howard injured in Dream win | New sports bars
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
Credit: Butch Dill/AP
Credit: Butch Dill/AP
About two weeks ago, the Braves began a crucial stretch of games: Thirteen straight within the National League East, including two series with the Mets and another with the Phillies — teams that have bounced back and forth for the division lead.
At the time, I boldly declared that we’d know a lot more about this team (and its likely approach to the trade deadline) by the end.
But I’m not so sure we do.
“We played some really good baseball, and then we left a few games out there that I think we could have won,” third baseman Austin Riley said.
Indeed. Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Phillies means the Braves finished their two-week stress test at 7-6.
A closer look at the roller coaster ride:
🎢 Overall, the Braves swept one series (Mets), split another (also Mets) and lost two more (including one with the lowly Marlins).
🎢 They scored five or more runs six times. Matt Olson got hot and Ronald Acuña Jr. stayed that way.
🎢 They scored three runs or fewer the other seven games.
🎢 Reigning Cy Young winner Chris Sale cracked his rib cage.
🎢 Twenty-year-old prospect Didier Fuentes made his first two Major League starts. Results: Not great.
🎢 Center fielder Michael Harris II has now sat out two straight games amid his near-league-worst offensive performance.
🎢 Also, this woman absolutely dominated the Freeze in their race.
Despite dropping four of their last five, Atlanta technically made up ground in the division.
But 38-45 and 10½ games back ain’t anything to crow about.
Neither is being eight games back of St. Louis for the final wild card spot, with Arizona, Cincinnati, San Francisco and San Diego in between.
Perhaps a (theoretically) favorable slate featuring the Angels, Orioles, Athletics and Cardinals will help the Braves get things going again before the All-Star break.
Ditto for the return of Jurickson Profar, who’s slated to join the club Wednesday.
Or maybe this is just who the Braves are. Slightly better … but not good enough.
What do you think about the Bravos? Shoot me an email with thoughts.
READY TO SHOP
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
The way columnist Michael Cunningham sees it, the Hawks are a playoff team after the addition of Kristaps Porzingis — and the road to becoming a real contender starts tonight.
NBA free agency officially begins at 6 p.m.
💵 The number to know for Atlanta is $29 million. That’s (roughly) how much new general manager Onsi Saleh has to spend while keeping payroll under the luxury-tax threshold that Hawks ownership is historically hesitant to cross.
“This place is going to be great, and it’s going to be great for a long time,” Saleh said. “That’s the vision here.”
A WIN, AN INJURY AND AN ALL-STAR?
The Dream started their weekend by falling short against the league-leading Minnesota Lynx. They finished it by dominating inside against a similarly talented New York Liberty team and claiming the 90-81 victory.
Forward Brionna Jones led the group that scored a season-high 62 points in the paint.
“She’s been exceptional all season,” Dream coach Karl Smesko said. “She’s like everything you want in a player.”
🏀 The bad news: Rhyne Howard, the team’s second-leading scorer this season, left Sunday’s game early with an “upper-body injury.”
She was later seen wearing a sling, but no official updates yet; follow reporter Wilton Jackson for the latest.
🏀 Looking forward: WNBA All-Star game starters get announced tonight at 7 on ESPN. Methinks Atlanta’s Allisha Gray finds herself among them.
THE BIG NUMBER: 160,000
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
We poked fun (at FIFA) when early attendance for Club World Cup matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium left plenty to desired.
So it’s only fair to circle back after a crowd of more than 65,000 folks showed up Sunday to watch Lionel Messi and Inter Miami lose to Paris-Saint Germain.
That makes a respectable 160,000 or so over four matches, with one more on the way Tuesday.
ALSO INTERESTING
🤤 Two new sports bars opened in the Atlanta area last week: Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux at the Battery and Streakers at the Politan Row food hall in Dunwoody, which purports to “revel in the scandals, intrigue and gossip of everything sports-adjacent.” Sure why not.
- Coming Friday at Kirkwood’s Pullman Yards: Jolene Jolene, a bar focused primarily on women’s sports.
🎾 Wimbledon gets underway today in England. As always, we’ll be keeping tabs on former Atlantan Coco Gauff … who says everyone needs to chill out about rival Aryna Sabalenka’s post-French Open comments.
🤩 The WNBA plans to expand to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia in the next five years. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert called the move to 18 teams “a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum.
WEEKEND WONDERPERSON
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Chase Elliott, the pride of North Georgia, makes a last-lap maneuver at the venue formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway, wins the Quaker State 400 and clinches a spot in NASCAR’s playoffs — all while driving a car with a paint job designed by an 11-year-old cancer patient?
Sure smells like Weekend Wonderperson material to me.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
I've never in my whole life, this is unbelievable. This is something I'll remember the rest of my life.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Until next time.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
