No Chipper, no Escobar, no Huddy and now no Smoltz. If there are 4 pieces we need four us to be successful, it would be those four. Hopefully tomorrow’s off day will give our walking wounded enough rest to get back in the game, because Prado and Lillibridge just aren’t the same as Chipper and Escobar. Signs are good Chipper will be back soon, Escobar may be a little longer. As far as starters go, hopefully Hampton will be able to give us some innings soon and Glavine is on his way back.
Smoltz just didn’t have it today. Watching him pitch was painful. Every inning his arm slot just dropped lower and lower, then his fastballs got slower and balls started leaving the yard. He only managed four innings, giving up seven hits, four runs and two home runs. So, again today the pen was called on to go more innings than they should have. Buddy did a nice job in his inning, only allowing a hit. Ohman had a rough outing, four hits and two runs in two innings. Resop pitched the last inning, striking out two.
The bats largely didn’t show today, at least not early in the game. Tex had two more hits, both doubles, a run scored and an RBI. His average is slowly creeping up. He’s up to .265 now. Frenchy also had two hits, one a double. Kotsay had two singles. And for the bad news, we left 14 runners on.
Tomorrow is an off day, Tuesday’s game, 7:10 PM. Not nationally televised.
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