ons Talking Chop User’s GuideTalking Chop PodcastAround the NL EastBaseball Analysis PrimerBraves try again for first win behind WrightNew Kirk Gibson Jersey ,100commentsThird time’s the charm?EDTShareTweetShareShareBraves try again for first win behind WrightReinhold Matay-USA TODAY SportsLosing the season opener? Not fun. Losing the season opening series? Less fun. Being one of only four teams to be winless on the young season? Straight-up lame. At least the Nationals are right there too. In any case, the Braves will get a third bite at this particular apple on Sunday night, as they complete their season-opening series with the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.As part of their “augh everyone is hurt” rotation reshuffle, the Braves will be sending rookie Kyle Wright to the mound for his first career start. Wright did manage to grab six major league innings at the tail end of the 2018 season, but all of them came in relief, and he didn’t exactly sparkle, with more walks than strikeouts and a couple of dingers yielded. Still, that’s not exactly relevant for his future outlook, especially not compared to his mid-3.00s FIPs and xFIPs in Double-A and Triple-A last year. Expectations aren’t super-high for Wright, both with this being his first start and projections that aren’t super-hot on him (he’s was projected as putting up #4 starter-ish numbers before the season), but given the fact that the Braves’ pitching has yielded 18 runs in two games, it also can’t get much worse than it already has been.Wright will be opposed by Jake Arrieta, who is starting his second year in a Phillies uniform. His first year went... okay. Arrieta compiled 1.9 fWAR, on the back of a 103 FIP- and 100 xFIP- http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , which is about as average as you can get. Of greatest concern for him and the Phillies was a dip in his strikeout rate and his ability to miss bats: since his ridiculous 2015 season, his whiff rate has fallen and fallen, and changing teams did nothing to arrest that descent. Even emphasizing his slider and changeup at the expense of his sinker and curveball, as he did last year, did not reverse the trend. nor gaining over 1 mph on the sinker over 2017. While you might hear irritating narratives tonight about Arrieta fading down the stretch last year, that’s largely just noise. He actually posted a lower xFIP and higher strikeout rate in the second half. In particular, commentators might want to tell you about how awful his last nine starts were, but he mostly just got stung on some homers while having an elevated strikeout rate and the same walk rate during that season-concluding stint. Basically, don’t write him off just because he gave up some runs (in large part due to a 23% HR/FB) at the end of the year. He’s still... okay. Despite logging 170-plus frames in 2018, Arrieta only managed to face Atlanta twice last year. The first time, in May, he had one of his better starts of the year, hurling six and two-thirds scoreless while allowing just eight baserunners as the Phillies cruised to a 4-0 win. But, the Braves got their revenge by beating him as they clinched the NL East on September 22 Victor Martinez Jersey , as Arrieta had arguably his worst start of the season — just two innings and a 3/2 BB/K ratio. Three walks and a Johan Camargo single in the first gave the Braves a lead they’d never relinquish, and some singles added insult to injury in his second inning of work. The rest is history.But, really, all of this is history. The only question really is — after today, will the Braves being winless in 2019 be history as well? Or will the misery continue for another day?Game InfoAtlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies7:05 pm EDTCitizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PATV: ESPN (sigh, is MLB.tv still blacked out for ESPN games?)Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM, Rock 100.5, Braves Radio Network LAS VEGAS (AP) — Baseball players may get a little more sleep when traveling after Sunday night games next year.ESPN announced Monday it is moving up the starting time of the nationally televised game by one hour, with the first pitch planned for shortly after 7 p.m. Eastern.“From a travel perspective, it’s amazing what (difference) one hour can make,” said Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, whose World Series champions already have been selected for five Sunday night games next year.Philadelphia hosts Atlanta in the first Sunday night game next season http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , on March 31, the second game of a television doubleheader that begins with Texas playing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.Among other Sunday night games next year will be a World Series rematch between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston at Fenway Park on July 14, four games between the Red Sox and New York Yankees (June 2 and Aug. 4 in the Bronx, July 28 and Sept. 8 in Boston) and the Little League Classic with Pittsburgh and the Chicago Cubs playing Aug. 18 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Sept. 8 game will start at 8 p.m. — both teams play again at Fenway Park the following day.ESPN started the “Sunday Night Baseball” telecast in 1990, and it developed in a showcase time slot. It nearly always is the only game scheduled for that time.But players who had to travel after games complained they reached the next city at dawn, disrupting their sleep schedules ahead of the next series against an opponent that usually has more rest.“When I was with the Yankees, that was one of the things I had to get used to,” Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi said. “That was one of the tough parts.”Major League Baseball has been more cognizant of player health issues in recent years. As part of the collective bargaining agreement that started in 2017, baseball scheduled earlier start times for many weekday games on getaway days beginning last season.MLB also is nearing an announcement on broadcast coverage for its first games in Britain, between the Red Sox and the Yankees on June 29 and 30. Fox is likely to televise the Saturday game and ESPN the Sunday game, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity Sunday because the announcement had not yet been made.