Jair Jurrjens struggled with his control in the first inning of last night’s game.  Jurrjens, who has really been the ace of this staff this season, allowed five runs in the first inning.  All of the runs scored with two out.  Chipper Jones and Yunel Escobar committed throwing errors in the inning so only four of those runs were earned.

The Braves scored one run in the third inning off a single by Grego Blanco.  In the sixth, Blanco was in the mix again, he bunted for a base hit to lead off the inning.  Mike Pelfrey then walked Yunel Escobar and Chipper Jones.  Brian McCann grounded into a double play, but that scored Blanco and moved Escobar to third.  Escobar then scored on a wild pitch by Pelfrey.  However, Mark Kotsay lined out to left to end the inning.  The Braves didn’t really get much on Pelfrey as he allowed only three hits. 

The Braves wrap up the series at Shea tonight.  Mike Hampton will be on the mound for the Braves and the Mets will counter with Pedro Martinez.  The Braves have an opportunity to play spoiler as the Mets are in a fight for first with the Phillies holding only a game and a half lead over them.  The Phillies are playing the Nationals who have now lost something like 12 in a row.

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Mark Kotsay and Jeff Francoeur had big nights at the plate for the Atlanta Braves on Thursday against the Chicago Cubs but it still wasn’t enough as the Cubs beat the Braves 11-7. It seemed like everytime the Braves would score, the Cubs would come right back and score again and just kept the pressure on the Braves the entire game. With the loss, the Braves were swept in the three game series.

Tom Glavine only lasted four innings as he gave up seven hits and seven runs. Glavine wasn’t getting some of the calls he usually gets from umps and walked four batters while giving up two home runs. He is now 2-4 on the year. Buddy Carlyle and Blaine Boyer both gave up two runs each as well out of the bullpen.

Kotsay led the Braves at the plate by hitting for the cycle and finishing the game with two rbi as he went 5-5. Jeff Francoeur hit a three run home run that got the team back in the game but it still wasn’t enough to catch the high powered Cubs offense. Martin Prado and Chipper Jones both added single rbi’s as well in the game.

It was definately not the way the Braves wanted to play the series. Hopefully they can play better this weekend against the San Francisco Giants.

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Just a quick update about game one of a double header on Wednesday afternoon.  The Braves were hammered by the visiting Chicago Cubs by the score of 10-2.  The Braves had plenty of chances to score some runs in the game but they left 17 runners on base and could not get the big hits when they had runners on base.

Charlie Morton took the loss after only lasting 2 1/3 innings.  Morton gave up four hits and four runs while giving four walks.  Morton was getting hammered so the team had no choice and had to take him out early.  With the bullpen throwing so much I don’t expect good things out of the second game.  Vladimir Nunez was charged with four runs while Francisley Bueno gave up two more runs out of the bullpen.

Mark Kotsay and Omar Infante both had a rbi each for the Braves offense.  Hopefully the bats will come around and score more then two runs in the nightcap.  Stay tuned for our update this evening!

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First off, sorry for the late update as I totally forgot I needed to update the Braves site this week while Bart is out of town and studying for his bar exam. Good luck with that Bart, and we can’t wait to have you back here at braveshomeplate!

So yeah, Monday night was a night that the Braves have probably already forgotten about.  They were manhandled by the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 12-3.  The Cardinals scored nine runs in the first five innings and were quickly up 9-0 on the Braves.  Charlie Morton took the loss after giving up seven hits and eight runs in only 3 2/3 innings.  Morton is now 2-4 on the season.  Jeff Bennett went on to give up a run in relief of Morton and then Royce Ring was charged with three more runs in the eighth inning.  It sure wasn’t a good night to be a Braves pitcher that is for sure.

On the offensive side, the first two runs came in the sixth inning.  Yunel Escobar hit a rbi double that scored Gregor Blanco, and then Mark Kotsay singled in Blanco for the second run.  In the eighth inning, Mark Teixeira doubled to deep left center and Escobar scored the third and final run for the Braves.

It will be interesting to see how Teixeira plays the next few days as he has been rumored to be being shipped out of town before the deadline on Thursday night.  If you hear of any rumors, please leave a comment on a post here and we can talk about them.

I think the Braves will come out and play a better game on Tuesday night.  I mean, they pretty much can only improve from Monday nights butt kicking.

- Cliff

Tuesday night’s game was a microcosm of the Braves’ season.  They received good pitching from their rookie starter Charlie Morton, but the offense’s perpetual battle to come up with timely hits, or any hits at all for that matter, left the Braves on this night on the wrong end of a 4-0 shutout.

On Monday, it was the Braves who were able to take advantage of a brilliant pitching performance from pleasant surprise Jorge Campillo.  They also took advantage of runners in scoring position, something at which they have failed miserably this season.  So complete a team win was Monday night’s victory, Chipper Jones proclaimed it their best victory of the season.

Back to reality.  What has become indicative of Bobby Cox’s team during the last three seasons, the Braves’ inconsistency and lack of fundamental play manifested itself just one day after such an impressive win.  Whatever they did right Monday night, they did wrong Tuesday, starting with the deciding fourth frame.  The Braves began the fourth with three consecutive walks to the heart of the lineup.  Thing are looking pretty good, right?  Recently recalled Marlins starter Rick VandenHurk is reeling, and the Braves are poised to put a few runs on the board to provide their young starter a cushion.  Up steps Jeff Francoeur (cue the music when a game show contestant fails.  You know, “wah, wah, wah.”)   True to his terrible ‘08 form, Jeff swings at the only 4 pitches he sees and strikes out.  I’m nearly certain struggling pitchers view Francoeur walking to the plate as something akin to a sigh of relief. They’d rather see him step to the dish than the opposing pitcher, undoubtedly.  At least the pitcher would make a guy who had walked three straight hitters throw him a strike.

So, not so unpredictably, the Braves squander as promising a scoring opportunity as a team can get, as neither Kelly Johnson or Mark Kotsay could bail Francoeur out.  Move now to the bottom of the inning.  Morton allows free passes to two Marlins batters.  With two outs, he can get out of the inning unscathed and keep the game tied at zero.  Oh, but no.  Mike Jacobs hits a three-run bomb.  Game, set, match.

To this point, the Braves had not even managed a hit.  They finished the game with one, a measley single from Chipper, and the season in a snapshot is complete. The Braves squander great scoring opportunities, while their opponent takes advantage of lesser ones.  The Braves get good pitching, but their over-eager offense makes the opposing pitcher look like 2001 Randy Johnson.  Finally, the one single redeeming moment (no pun intended) is a basehit by their only stud — Chipper.

What else?

- Jeff Francoeur has 2 extra-base hits in his last 25 games.  You wonder.  If the Braves are sellers at the end of the month, what will happen to Jeff?  Will they try to move him?  Will they send him down for the rest of the season, since they are conceding the season anyway?  Or will they allow him to further devolve at the major league level?

- Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning Tuesday night.  It was his first action since June 5th.  He struck out two after giving up a leadoff single to Hanley Ramirez (Ramirez was later thrown out attemting to steal second).  Soriano’s velocity was down a little bit, but the end result was obviously good.

- Kelly Johnson is batting .163 in 15 July contests.  He has one extra-base hit over that span.

The Atlanta Braves got a great performance on the mound by Jorge Campillo who pitched seven shut out innings and limited the Florida Marlins to only two hits while the Braves defeated the Marlins 4-0.  It was exactly the way the Braves wanted to start the series with the Marlins.  Campillo earned the win after striking out six batters and improved his record to 5-4 on the year.

Will Ohman and Mike Gonzalez pitched the eighth and ninth innings to finish off the Marlins.  All in all all three Braves pitchers threw a great game and did a great job.

Mark Kotsay got the scoring started in the 2nd inning for the Braves when he singled in Mark Teixeira for the Braves first run.  Chipper Jonese added a rbi single in the 5th inning and then Teixeira had a rbi double that scored Jones in the 7th inning.  In the 9th inning, the Braves added on an insurance run when Martin Prado doubled and Kotsay scored.

The Braves will look to go up 2-0 in the series as they face off against the Marlins again on Tuesday night.

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Maybe there’s a reason why fans don’t show up until the 4th inning in LA. Absolutely nothing happened in this one for the first 4 and a half frames. Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson were literally perfect, recording the first 27 total outs of the game in order. Both guys had their nastiest sinkers working. Between the two, 29 ground ball outs were recorded. Lowe was just a little bit better though, his only mistake coming in the 8th when he surrendered a solo home run to Jeff Francoeur.

Known as one of the best dirtballers in the game with Brandon Webb and Chien-Ming Wang, Lowe was filthy tonight. 16 of the 23 outs he recorded were on the ground.

The Dodgers got on the board first in the bottom of the sixth on a Matt Kemp home run.

The Braves had a chance to pull even the next half inning. Gregor Blanco led off the top of the 7th with a solid line drive single to center field. Sensing that this might be their only opportunity to score, Bobby Cox decided to play hit and run with the next batter, Yunel Escobar, and it worked. On one of the most heady baserunning plays you’ll see, Blanco went 1st to third on Yunel’s groundball out to the SS. But the all of a sudden struggling Chipper Jones couldn’t get him in from third with less than two out. He grounded out weakly to the pitcher. Chipper was probably trying to put the ball on the ground to a middle infielder. Unfortunately, his aim was off, and the Blanco was stranded at third.

The Dodgers stretched their lead to two in the bottom of the inning when the much loathed Andruw Jones handled an 0-2 pitch from Hudson for an RBI single.

The Braves pulled within one on Francoeur’s home run in the 8th. But it was all they could manage. Dodger closer Takashi Saito slammed the door in the 9th, retiring the side in order. The Braves have now lost 24 consecutive 1 run games on the road.

What else?

-Mark Kotsay inexplicably tried to steal second in the top of the 8th with 2 outs and pinch hitter Ruben Gotay batting. Mark was thrown out by 10 feet, and the decision ensured that the Braves would need to get a guy on base for Chipper to have a chance in the 9th down by only a run. Whomever’s decision it was, Bobby’s or Mark’s, it was a terrible one. Sure enough, Saito retired the final Brave batter in the 9th, while Chipper watched from the on-deck circle. The Braves have lost 24 straight 1 run games on the road.

-Cueball had it working tonight, undoubtedly summoning strength from the tarantula on his right wrist. But Chip Caray’s man crush, Lowe, just wasn’t going to be denied. This was not a game for long-ball digging chicks or the casual fan. For those who can see the artistry in what Lowe and Hudson were doing, though, it was as good as it gets.

-Lowe started the season hot and then cooled off quickly with a 6.11 May ERA. I’d say he has settled back into good form. Tonight he recorded his 7th quality starts over his last 10.

Number 32 for the Reds had a stellar performance Friday at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Jay Bruce, a 21 year old native of Beaumont, Texas sparked the Cincinnati Reds with two hits and two runs helping in a three to two victory over the Braves. The center-fielder helped himself to a game tying RBI in the bottom of the sixth inning. After a sacrifice fly by Brandon Phillips the score was two to one in favor of the Reds. Tom Glavine who started the day was able to get through the sixth but the damage was done as the Braves were unable to finish the deal. Mark Teixeira opened the scoring a with a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth, Kelly Johnson who had doubled to open the inning scored on the play. The Braves then answered the Reds in the seventh inning with a run scoring double play by Reuben Gotay. The Reds won it in eleven innings, scoring off two defensive miscues by Chipper Jones who also went 0 for 5 for the day, striking out once and grounding into two double plays.

Notes: Mark Kotsay was put on the DL list today. Josh Anderson was called up and has taken his place on the roster. John Smoltz is to pitch one more minor league assignment and may be available for action on Monday.

The Atlanta Braves completed a double header sweep of the New York Mets on Tuesday with a 6-2 win in the second game.  That was coming off a 6-1 win in the first game of the double header.

This time it was Jorge Campillo who shut down the Mets as he tossed seven innings to pick up the win and improve to 1-0 on the season.  Campillo only gave up three hits while striking out seven batters.

Jeff Bennett pitched a scoress seventh inning before Blaine Boyer came in and gave up two runs while only recording two outs in the eighth inning.  That is when Manny Acosta came in to get the last four outs of the game and pick up his third save of the season.

At the plate for the Braves, Mark Kotsay had a two run home run in the eighth inning.  Other then those two runs, the four other Braves runs all came within the first three innings of the game.  Chipper Jones had a rbi double in the first inning to get the Braves on the board.  Mark Teixeira then had a rbi single third inning before Kelly Johnson had a two run double.

Good day for the Braves as the win both games and improve their record to 24-21.  Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves hit three home runs as they beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-6.  The Braves avoided he the three game sweep by getting this win over the Phillies.  Good win for the Braves as they didn’t want to drop all three games.

The Braves hit three home runs as Chipper Jones, Kelly Johnson, and Yunel Escobar all went deep.  Mark Kotsay, Brian McCann, Jones and Johnson all finished the game with two rbi.  Escobar, Jeff Francoeur, Gregor Blanco, and Tom Glavine all had one rbi in the game as the Braves really spread about the offense.

Glavine was able to pick up the win in the game as he pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up four hits and four runs.  Two of those runs came on a two run home run by Chase Utley in the sixth inning.

Royce King was the only Braves reliever to give up a run as he let a run in in the eighth inning.  Blaine Boyer pitched the ninth inning to record the save for the Braves even though he gave up one run and had to get out of a big jam to hold the Phillies off.

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