They’re starting to show off, in a good way. The Braves had no runs through five innings Wednesday night in Queens. They had seven by game’s end. Freddie Freeman drove in the first. Ender Inciarte hit a home run. Johan Camargo hit a three-run homer, his second in four days. Ryan Flaherty hit a homer. Nothing to it, huh?
Sean Newcomb worked seven scoreless innings. He yielded two hits. He struck out eight. He outpitched the excellent Jacob deGrom, who -- to be fair -- left after four innings with a sore elbow. (Mets pitchers are forever leaving with sore elbows.) The Braves won 7-0 to clinch their seventh series victory of this very young season.
Oh, and I almost forgot. They moved into first place in the National League East.
I’m trying -- really and truly! -- not to spew huzzahs every hour on the hour, but let’s face it: The Braves have it going in a way we haven’t seen in a good while and feared we mightn’t see again. They’re 18-11. They have the fifth-best record in baseball. Teams ahead of them: Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, Diamondbacks. Not the Dodgers. Not the Cubs. Not the Indians. Not the Nationals. And now not the Mets.
I’m getting tired of inserting the obligatory “it’s still early” into every missive, but it is. Rob Manfred isn’t apt to issue an executive decree that the playoffs will start this weekend. But the longer this goes -- and this has been ongoing since Opening Day -- the more we have to admit: This no longer seems a team playing eight miles above its head; this has come to appear a young team discovering how good it can be.
The Braves are 6-3 against the Phillies, 4-1 against the Mets, 3-3 against the Nationals. Yes, there are 133 games to go, and young teams can go cold. (So can veteran teams. This is baseball. Stuff happens.) But the Braves just got through a night that saw deGrom start against them and Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna Jr., who hadn’t been making many outs, go a collective 0-for-10. They won by seven runs. They’re in first place on merit.
