Braves Report

As I mentioned for yesterday’s game, writing about a team that always loses gets tiresome. Fortunately in tonight’s game, even though they lost, they did provide some excitement at the end. It wasn’t enough to win, but it’s a good reminder of why I’m in this for the long hall.

Kenshin Kawakami, or ‘Kiwi,’ started this game and from early on it was apparent that it was going to be a weird start. For one thing, he was throwing a ton of pitches in only a few innings. He was also striking out a lot of guys. He did end up getting pulled early because of his pitch count, though: 5 innings, 8 hits, 2 ER, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts.

[Image: Yahoo! Sports]

A ton of hits, but he pretty much kept the game within reach. O’Flaherty would pitch the next 2 innings, only allowing a hit. Soriano followed, with an inning of his own, striking out 1. Gonzalez would pitch the 9th, not recording a single out, and allowing 2 hits and a walk. After an error by Chipper, 2 runs would score (1 earned). This would prove to be the difference in the game. Buddy would come in afterward to pour some water on the flames, which he did very effectively. Unfortunately, 4 runs would score over the course of the night, which was just one too many for the offense.

The offense didn’t really do too much in this game until the end. They scored their first run in the 7th inning off of a Martin Prado pinch-hit double. Then, nothing really happened until the 9th. That’s where things got interesting. With two outs, it looked like the game would end on an Omar Infante pop-up to Delgado. Well, Delgado dropped it, and a run scored. Immediately after that, Escobar would single in a run, putting the tying run on third for Chipper. However, he would fly out to right to end the game. An exciting end, but just not the right result.

Other offensive notables were Escobar, who had 3 hits in the game. David Ross continued his good hitting, with a double. It’s going to be interesting seeing him get replaced by McCann, probably on Friday. Kotchman continued his good hitting, with two hits tonight, one a double. Infante and Francoeur also each had a hit.

I guess Chipper could be considered the goat in this game, seeing as he gave up an error which led to the go-ahead run scoring. He also made the last out of the game. Additionally, he lined out into a double play with the bases loaded earlier in the game. Not the greatest night he’s ever had, but I’m sure he’ll acknowledge this tomorrow. Oh well, can’t win them all (or most of them).

Braves drop another series, 4 – 3.

Next game: Wednesday @ Florida.

7:10 PM EST. Lowe vs. Taylor. End this streak already.