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BRAVES NEWS
Ozzie Albies homers twice as Braves knock off the Blue Jays
The Braves bounced back in convincing fashion on Wednesday, scoring nine runs to halt their recent struggles at the plate. Ozzie Albies delivered two home runs, giving him 20 on the season, to further emphasize how deserving he is of an All-Star selection. Those two homers along with big hits up and down the lineup gave starter Mike Foltynewicz enough to sneak out a win. After cruising through six shutout innings, Folty found huge trouble in the seventh, allowing five runs including a grand slam by Devon Travis. This cut into the Braves’ 7-0 lead, making it a two-run game in short order. The Atlanta offense bounced back, however, scoring twice more on Albies’ second homer to help seal a 9-5 win.
Freddie Freeman to participate in 2018 Home Run Derby, will face Bryce Harper
In somewhat unexpected news, Freddie Freeman was announced as a part of this year’s Home Run Derby, which will take place on Monday. The news came down around the time the Braves’ win over the Blue Jays was finalized, and now fans can look forward to seeing a Brave in the contest for the first time since Andruw Jones in 2005. Oh, and Freddie will be taking on future Braves right fielder Bryce Harper in the first round...
Chipper plans to rib Smoltz in HOF speech
According to some serious insider information provided by Braves beat writer Mark Bowman, Chipper Jones is composing aspects of his upcoming Hall of Fame speech to include a ribbing of fellow Braves legend John Smoltz. Here is the gist of the story:
When Maddux and Tom Glavine were inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2014, they aimed some bald jokes in the direction of John Smoltz, who responded the following year by wearing a wig during his induction speech, which poked fun at Chipper Jones’ Twitter usage.
Now it’s Jones’ turn to retaliate. As the former Braves third baseman has prepared to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 29, he has shared a few conversations with Maddux, who predictably wants a portion of Jones’ speech to create a laugh at the expense of Smoltz.
”I would say [Smoltz] deserves a lot more than I am going to give him,” Jones said. “He makes himself such an easy target. Doggie and I have talked, and trust me, Doggie wants me to bury him. But I think there’s some good to taking the high road every once in a while. But I’m going to get him.”
MLB NEWS
Yankees have made ‘strong offer’ for Machado
Another day, another rumor surrounding Manny Machado. The Yankees are now considered the front-runners according to multiple reports, with a “strong offer” reportedly on the table.