Braves Report

There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home. The Braves arrived back in Atlanta and started winning again. It looked like the Braves were going to get blanked, again, Jurrjens gave up a couple unearned runs early, hitters weren’t hitting, but thanks to some late inning heroics, the Braves walked away with a win and a chance to climb in the standings.

Jurrjens’ outing was almost Glavine-like. From the very first inning it was clear that Jurrjens didn’t have his best stuff, his pitch count was mounting, but he just wouldn’t give in, he wouldn’t. You don’t often see that kind of composure out of a player so young. Due to his pitch count, he was only able to go five. But in that five, he pitched around eight hits and three walks, not allowing an earned run (two unearned). The game was then turned over to the pen. Ohman struggled, walking two. Where it mattered he was perfect, no runs. Bennett also went an inning, perfect, striking out one. Acosta went two innings, got the win, only allowing one hit. We really have nothing to complain about tonight from the mound.

Now, the bats, that’s another story. Is it time to start worrying about Tex? (blog idea?) He has the lowest average of any of our starters and rarely seems to get the ball out of the infield. The team tonight was carried by two. No surprise, one of them was Chipper, two for three with a walk. He’s sporting a gaudy .423 average. That is just insane. McCann was our other big bat. He was three for four with and RBI and two doubles.

Tomorrow’s game, 7:10 PM. Not nationally televised.

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This game really shouldn’t have been a surprise, facing a potent lineup, in a tiny park, a flyball pitcher on the mound, not exactly a winning setup. Besides, due to his shoulder, James wasn’t able to learn another pitch over the winter. So, we really should expect the same results we got last year. Tonight, we weren’t disappointed, in a few innings, several Phillies tore the cover off the ball.

As I said, James just didn’t have it. He walk five in four innings and three balls left the yard. I guess you could say, he wasn’t able to find the zone, and when he did, the results weren’t good. He also gave up 6 six hits. On the night, he ballooned his ERA to 8.22. Once James was done, the pen gave us some good innings. Campy came in and pitched thee innings, gave up five hits, but more importantly, no runs. Resop pitched one, also holding the Phils scoreless.

No offense tonight, none. We only managed four hits. Only one for extra bases. Oh, and if that weren’t embarrassing enough, we also hit into 3 double plays.

Tomorrow’s game (hopefully better), 7:35 PM. Not nationally televised.

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It was a long road, but Glavine finally got his first win since returning to the Braves. It wasn’t easy, he pitched a couple great games which led to no decisions, the pen blew a couple leads. Even this game didn’t come easy. The pen did everything in their power to blow it, but lucky for us, it’s hard to blow an eight run lead.

This was not Glavine’s best outing of the year, but he breezed through the first five innings, at one point, striking out three of four. He tired in the sixth, where he gave up the four runs, but he did limit the Phils to only four hits. Bennett got the final out of the sixth. Ohman pitched a brilliant inning, not allowing a runner to reach. Ring was breezing, got two outs quickly, but he couldn’t finish the inning, allowing a run. Boyer really struggled, but in the end, no runs were charged to him.

The bats had everything working early on and were able to add on as we got deeper into the game. First, three Braves went yard, Escobar and Chipper in the first, then KJ in the second. Beyond that, several Braves had multi hit nights. Kotsay had two hits and scored twice. Chipper also with two hits, two runs, and two RBI. McCann, two hits, 3 RBI, and a run scored. KJ, once again lower in the order, really flourished. He had 2 hits, the home run and a double.

I would have liked the end of the game to be a little less stressful, but a win is a win.

Tomorrow’s game, 7:05 PM. Not nationally televised.

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The Braves have GOT to get over this road/one run loss issue. It is getting to the point of insanity. Seriously, what the hell is going on? Is there a single team in baseball with a worse away record? Is there a team in baseball in baseball with a worse one run game? (Those are both rhetorical questions).

Jo-Jo gave us a pretty good start. It wasn’t as good as his past couple, but I gotta believe, if we get almost 7 innings and only 5 runs out of him against the most potent line up in the NL, that is a good sign. More importantly, he walked none. Campy closed out the the seventh. Acosta pitched the 8th, only allowing a hit.

Once again the bats almost got it done, almost. Chipper Jones continues to be the most professional hitter in the game of baseball. He went 3 for 4 with a walk. Simply amazing… Even more amazing, his average is back up to .415. Also, with a good night, Frenchy. Apparently, he did some work, shortening his swing, and it seems to be paying dividends with 2 more hits tonight. KJ, having been dropped in the order, answered with two hits.

Tomorrow’s game, 7:05 PM on ESPN.

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Braves Report was mentioned in the ‘Shameless Plug’ section on yesterday’s House of Braves Talk weekly podcast.

The guys on the show are knowledgeable about Braves baseball, they discuss relevant and current info about the team, and they’re entertaining to boot (the description of Wickman was brilliant). It’s definitely worth checking out, and you can listen to the rest of their shows on their website, houseofbravestalk.com.