Braves Report

Let me start out by saying that I dislike the Cardinals. I don’t know what it is about them as an institution: Tony La Russa, David Eckstein, whoever their new shortstop is, Blaine Boyer, and ESPN’s love-fest with Pujols, but I don’t like them. I also don’t like the fact that they always beat up on the Braves. Last night was just such an occasion and proved to be frustrating to watch at times. It was a 1-run loss that put them below .500 in a game where the offense struggled to mightily to do much of anything. I’m going to chart a graph of how the Braves seem to always stay at the .500 line.

Jair Jurrjens started the game and gave a pretty good effort: 6 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. 6′s and 2′s. Unfortunately, he hardly got any run support, which caused him to get his second loss of the season, despite having a 1.72 ERA. Moylan followed him in the 7th inning, giving up a walk to the opposing pitcher, who would later score on a single (Ben rant: I also hate walks from the bullpen. I think they should be fined whenever they do it). That run would be the difference in the game. Soriano pitched the next inning, with 2 strikeouts and a walk (!). Bennett, O’Flaherty, and Buddy all got an out in the 9th, with Bennett giving up a hit. Not a terrible night for the pitching staff, but a few blemishes that the offense wasn’t able to overcome.

Ah, the offense. They lacked plate discipline in this game. Facing sinker-baller Joel Pineiro, they could hardly get anything going. Whenever they did, it would be erased by a double play. Of the 18 outs Pineiro recorded, 13 were from ground balls. Furthermore, he worked 6 innings, yet he only threw 76 pitches, 50 for strikes. He was just on top of the game and they couldn’t get anything going off of him. One player who did get something was David Ross, who is playing extraordinarily well. He doubled in a run in the 2nd inning. Francoeur also had a sacrifice fly in the 7th, for the Braves second and final run of the game.

[Image: Yahoo! Sports]

Casey Kotchman also had three hits on the day, including a pair of doubles, but couldn’t get anybody in with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 8th. Oh well. Escobar, Chipper, Schafer, and Infante also each had a hit, just not at the right times.

Braves lose game one by 1, 3 – 2.

Next game: Tuesday vs. Cardinals.

7:00 PM. Lohse vs. Reyes. Prove me wrong, Reyes, so that I don’t have to say that they should’ve started Buddy.