A Fight at the Bat Rack as Braves Stun Phils
7-0 after 1 inning—can’t say I’ve experienced that before.
Before I could even settle into the seats at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, the hit barrage from the Braves side commenced. Ronald Acuna Jr, the franchise’s star and current leadoff hitter, singled, which was followed quickly by back-to-back home runs by Matt Olson and Austin Riley.
It didn’t stop there; after a blink of an eye, and only 2 outs, Acuna was back up again, and a pitching change was in order. 5 ER in 0.2 IP for Dylan Covey, a rough 20-minute stint for the right-hander. It got the Braves fans quite riled up, and made me realize how fervent the fanbase is—the whole crowd mercilessly chanted as Covey walked into the dugout and Jeff Hoffman warmed up, doing the famous Brave chop move with their arms as they celebrated the early lead.
And these excited fans clearly got to the pitchers: 2 more runs were knocked in before the Phils could finally stop the bleeding. But it left a crooked number with a 7 spot up on the scoreboard, and there were still 8 innings left to play.
On the other side of the diamond, Spencer Strider was quite effective, as anticipated. Fireworks sparkled above the stadium after each of his 9 punchouts, and the Phillies took several innings to piece anything together, in part due to the Braves’ terrific defense.
For example, Kyle Schwarber hit a ball 402 ft into center that Michael Harris II miraculously caught, robbing a sure home run by a few feet. The most amazing part was not because of how hard Schwarber hit it, but because Harris had very little time to set his feet and jump. If anyone had any concern about the 2022 Rookie of the Year Harris and his potential sophomore slump, his defense is one place he has not regressed, that’s for sure. It is among the best catches I’ve seen, let alone live, and he sure was fired up about it.
As I had some more time to assimilate, I soaked in the stadium a bit more. It’s a stadium full of paradoxes—it’s 30+ minutes from the city center, a clear downside to drawing as many fair-weather fans as other places, but the stadium was mostly full, with some of the most engaged supporters I had seen. While the stadium is in the middle of the suburbs, it strives to have a lively bar scene much like Fenway and Wrigleyville, as dozens of sports bars, restaurants, and businesses have been (and continue to be) developed next to the stadium.
The space is growing into its own, bustling district, entitled the Battery (get it?!), and it is a cool, separate part of the region. But it definitely took some getting used to—part of what I like most about stadiums like Wrigley, PNC, and San Francisco is that they are incorporated into the surrounding cities and landscapes, and the same cannot be said about Truist—when we got out of the car to enter, it felt like we could have been 30 minutes from my house in the Northeast.
Meanwhile, the Braves kept rolling. Acuna had a great day, quickly notching a few more hits, ending the day with a 4-5 stat line, with 3 singles and a triple, and 3 RBIs. It felt like he was bound to get a hit every at-bat by the time the game got deeper.
Olson was similarly locked in, adding another multi-homer game to his resume. And Ozzie Albies, a personal favorite player of mine on the Braves, got two hits and RBIs, too. It was an onslaught, and converse to the Braves’ players flashing the leather, the Phillies defense did not help the rest of their team out, making 3 errors in the early going. The most wild misstep was Trea Turner, who let a ball go right through his legs, in what felt like a little-league play, causing two runs to score. The Braves stayed aggressive on the basepaths too, stealing bases in what felt like a twist of the knife in this NL East matchup. When all was said and done, the Braves collected 11 runs, and the Phils only managed 4.
In terms of the stadium and atmosphere, one thing I liked was that there weren’t just the classic, bordering on hokey, games in between innings. Sure, you had your ball under the cap game where the contestant has to follow the ball and guess under which cap it is, but there others: relay races between people dressed up as power tools (a shameless plug for Home Depot), obstacle courses where a fan had to make it through a route in a certain time, and more.
One thing I wish I could have seen was the Freeze, a former track star turned local legend who raced a selected fan from pole to pole (not every game, only every so often) but provided them with a 200-foot head start (in only a ~500-foot race!). Unfortunately, he no longer does it, but it is an example of how the stadium staff and organization are trying to ensure engagement from the crowd—something that they may need to worry about less than in other places. As I mentioned earlier, it felt like the fans were quite excited and focused on the game, more than the likes of many other teams. The excitement level might not quite be at Wrigley’s level, but much more enthusiastic than other, larger-budget franchises.
Before the game concluded, I walked around the stadium to check out some of the attractions. I was intrigued by center field—just over the 400ft barrier stood several tall evergreen trees, and a large fountain of water. The liquid provided the trees and other fauna growing in the section with necessary water, while also serving as fountains that would spray water several feet into the air after every home run (which happened several times during this game).
On the way out of the park, I checked out the monument garden, opposite of center field. There consisted of a small exhibit/museum, showcasing some of the Braves largest accomplishments from past years.
A large statue of Hank Aaron and a “755” sign created with baseball bats were flanked by all of the former jerseys that the Braves used in past decades, like when they were the Boston Braves, Bees, and Beaneaters. Seeing select memorabilia, like former players’ gloves, and a bottle of champagne from a prior World Series win, all provided an exciting window into the past of this storied franchise.
As I walked back to the deck to take one last look at the view, I understood just why so many from the Peach State are excited to root for their Braves, the longest-continuously operating major league baseball team in the world.
coryattheballpark 