Braves.Today.Com

By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com

Braves 4, Padres 1

Top of the Order: Desperately needing a win in the next-to-last game before the All-Star break, Jeff Francoeur and Brent Lillibridge led the way as the Braves moved to within 6 ½ games in the NL East.

The Good: Francoeur had his best offensive game in months, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, raising his average to .234 (that indicates how crappy it’s been for Frenchy, doesn’t it?). Lillibridge had his best game of his rookie season, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, an RBI and his first major-league homer. Speaking of raising averages, Chipper Jones broke out of his 1-for-14 funk on the road trip with three hits in four at-bats, his major-league leading average moving up to .378. Brian McCann walked three times. It was enough for Charlie Morton to snap his recent skid, the rookie right-hander giving up just four hits and one run in 5 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out four. Will Ohman came on with two runners on and left them there. Blaine Boyer (two innings, three strikeouts) and Mike Gonzalez (one inning, one strikeout, picking up his third save) were outstanding.

The Bad: The major news on this side of the ledger is Yunel Escobar is scheduled to have an MRI Monday on his ailing left shoulder. Escobar won’t play today and hopefully will be ready to go when the All-Star break ends. The top two hitters in the order – Gregor Blanco and Kelly Johnson – combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts. Mark Kotsay also went hitless. Hard to complain, though, when you get a road win and gain a game on the Phillies. I guess what’s also bad about all this is the Mets are charging hard to the front, having won eight in a row to pull within ½ game of the slumping Phils. All it’s going to take is two good weeks from somebody for grab hold of this division, and the Braves can ill-afford for it to happen while they are struggling.

View from the Sports Garage: One more mile to go, and this unbelievable first half is finished. Thank goodness. A nice win last night, for sure, with Francoeur improving to 4-for-16 since being recalled from Double-A Mississippi. Maybe Lillibridge can hit major-league pitching; he sure did last night. Here’s hoping Escobar can get his shoulder well over the break, though. The Braves came through last night with good hitting and stellar bullpen work. Morton probably still goes back to Richmond if (disclaimer: the following has been typed about Mike Hampton 4,592 times in the past two years) Mike Hampton can join the rotation after the break. One more game until the break. There isn’t another team in baseball that could use four days off than this one. However, a win today gives the Braves series victories in two of their final three series before the break, and would keep them no worse than 6 ½ games out.

On deck
Braves at Padres
4:05 p.m. Sunday, Petco Park

The Skinny: The good news for the Braves is Jorge Campillo (3-4, 3.06 ERA) climbs the bump today for the final game before the break. The bad news: geography. Twice this season, Campillo has pitched on the West Coast. Twice, the right-hander has lost 1-0 despite pitching well. Monday, Campillo pitched seven innings, allowing five hits, but the Atlanta offense couldn’t come through. For the Padres, left-hander Randy Wolf (6-8, 4.38 ERA) makes what could be his final start with the Pads. Wolf, who allowed just one run in seven innings in a victory over Florida Tuesday, is the subject of trade rumors and could be moved as the non-contending Padres slash salary in advance of the trade deadline.

—30—

Trackback URI | Comments RSS