NLDS notebook: Darren O’Day thriving as bullpen leader

- Despite using five relievers in Game 1, the Braves feel good about their bullpen for Game 2. Chris Martin threw the most pitches (26), but none of the other four threw more than 11. Bullpen management will be especially key this postseason given the lack of off days during series.

“There may be a guy or two we stay away from today,” manager Brian Snitker said. “The game will dictate. The temperature of the game, where we’re at, the score, all that stuff.”

- Among the more efficient relievers Tuesday was veteran Darren O’Day, who threw nine pitches in a scoreless inning. O’Day’s leadership and humor have been important behind the scenes in the Braves' bullpen, though he didn’t expect to take on such a role.

“I fell into it here,” O’Day said. "It wasn’t one of my goals. I think that’s part of the appeal of having an old guy like me around. The last couple years, just speaking personally, have been pretty tough on me, just being injured a lot and not being with my teammates. I said this year that I was just going to try to enjoy every day of the season. We’re in a strange situation right now. We weren’t guaranteed a full season, so we were just going to enjoy this, and it turned out that this is one of the best bunch of guys I’ve ever been with.

“We’re having a lot of fun. All the best bullpens I’ve been in, the guys enjoy being around each other. This group has made that easy, so I just facilitate that and try to get guys to get to know each other and trust each other, which is the biggest thing in the bullpen.”

- O’Day, who was part of playoff teams in Anaheim, Texas, Baltimore and Atlanta (last season), said this is the deepest bullpen he’s experienced.

“This is the deepest bullpen,” he said. “We can run guys out there for 12 innings, whatever we have to. It’s different having this expanded roster, but we just have a lot of talent at the top of this organization. We have a lot of guys who were ready for the opportunities presented to them. These young guys have come up, we give them chances and they’ve been awesome. I’ve been in some good bullpens, but this one just goes deeper than the rest of them.”

The Braves' relief group has a nice mix of veterans and youth. As O’Day mentioned, players such as A.J. Minter, Tyler Matzek and Jacob Webb have come up from the minors and earned important roles in the bullpen. Experienced players like O’Day, Mark Melancon, Shane Greene, Chris Martin and Will Smith provide the bullpen more credibility than its had since the Kimbrel-O’Flaherty-Venters days.

- O’Day apparently also embraces being the nickname distributor. An avid Star Wars fan (“I grew up in that era”), O’Day nicknamed Matzek “the Death Star,” but he’s still trying to get it to catch on.

“The Empire built this secret weapon that could just come in and destroy anything,” O’Day said. “Right-handed or left-handed, you could put guys in both boxes, and I think Matzek could throw a fastball and curveball by both of them. It’s just plus-stuff across the board, and he’s attacking hitters right now. It’s fun to watch. One of the unsung heroes of this year is Tyler Matzek. Whatever role they put him in, he’s going to give you his best, and it’s pretty damn good.”

O’Day is most proud of nicknaming Anderson “Screech,” after the character on “Saved by the Bell.” Anderson, a 22-year-old, didn’t understand the reference, however.

“That is a nickname that everybody has taken to and it’s stuck,” O’Day said. "The only problem is Ian had to google who Screech was. He’d never seen ‘Saved by the Bell,’ which most of the guys in the bullpen had grown up with. I think if he shaved the beard, if you look up some of his younger pictures, I think Screech is pretty spot on. That’s probably the one that we as a bullpen have agreed upon. That one is going to stay. And he’s taken to it.

“Ian is an exceptional young man. He takes it all in stride. You can see how composed he is on the mound. He’s really impressed all of us, just coming into the locker room. The kid is joking around and laughing the day before a playoff start. Today he’ll have his game face on, but he approaches all of this with a humor and maturity that’s rarely seen in a young guy like that.”

- Snitker’s son, Troy, is a hitting coach with the Astros, who took a 2-0 lead over the A’s with Tuesday’s victory. While Brian’s Braves are playing in Houston, Troy’s Astros are in the American League bubble in southern California, facing the A’s at Dodger Stadium.

If the Astros win one more, they’ll advance to the AL Championship Series, which will be held in San Diego. The only way the Snitkers would cross paths, of course, would be a Braves-Astros World Series in Arlington.

“I came in and was searching for that (Astros) game,” Snitker said. “I wanted to watch. I like seeing my son on TV if they pan to the dugout. It’s hard being three hours – I guess we’re two hours here – ahead of him. I have to be careful texting him in the mornings because I know he’s not up. We texted as soon as I got here yesterday. It’s fun. I can’t say how proud I am of him for what he’s accomplished and what he’s doing.”

- Here’s the Braves' lineup for Game 2 against Lopez:

CF Ronald Acuna

1B Freddie Freeman

DH Marcell Ozuna

C Travis d’Arnaud

2B Ozzie Albies

SS Dansby Swanson

LF Adam Duvall

RF Nick Markakis

3B Austin Riley