Aug 07 2008
Same script, different day: James gets taken deep, Braves lose by one on the road
By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com
Giants 3, Braves 2
Top of the Order: Chuck James gave up – surprise! – a home run, putting the Braves in a first-inning hole from which they could not recover in losing their 26th consecutive one-run road game.
The Good: Brian McCann showed no lingering signs of the concussion that sidelined him last week, going 3-for-4 with a run scored against Tim Lincecum, one of baseball’s nastiest pitchers. Omar Infante and pinch-hitter Ruben Gotay had one hit each. Buddy Carlyle scattered four hits over two scoreless innings, walking one and striking out two. Julian Tavarez and Will Ohman each fired a scoreless frame. Jeff Francoeur threw out Fred Lewis at home plate, juggling the ball before letting loose a great throw to McCann for the out.
The Bad: James pitched better than in his return to the majors Friday, but come on, how in the world can you NOT be better than Chuckie was against Milwaukee last weekend? His line wasn’t horrid: five hits, three runs, no walks (hard to believe) and three strikeouts in four innings. But James gave up a homer to Aaron Rowland in the bottom of the first, and Lincecum made sure it would hold up. The Braves mustered just five hits and left six runners on base. Yunel Escobar made an error, as the middle of the Braves infield – Escobar and Kelly Johnson – both look like they could use a day off from the defensive standpoint.
View from the Sports Garage: What’s that, you say? Surely not another homer from James? Yep. As sure as the day follows the night (God bless you, Skip), Chuck gets taken downtown. It happens with alarming frequency, too. Aaron Rowland’s shot off James in the first was the 10th gopher ball Chuckie’s allowed in 2008 in a scant 29 2/3 innings. That follows a season in which James got taken deep 32 times in 30 games. Honestly, those sound like numbers for some high school team’s No. 3 starter, not a guy who won 11 games in the majors in 2006 and 11 more in 2007. Chuck is an enigma in the fact he doesn’t throw but two pitches (fastball and change-up). Actually, Chuck mainly threw fastballs against the Giants. That works if you hit 99 on the gun. Chuck doesn’t hit 99 on the gun. Maybe that’s why so many of his pitches hit 99 … row 99 of the bleachers. Ah heck, another one-run loss on the road. Twenty-six in a row and counting, the beat – and the major-league record – goes on. Remember the last time the Braves won a one-run road game? A 7-6 victory on Aug. 9, 2007, at Shea Stadium. That was the game Willie Harris robbed Carlos Delgado of a homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. That was one year ago Saturday. With that win, the Braves moved within 3 ½ games of first place. Like we said, it’s been a while.
On deck
Braves at Diamondbacks
9:40 p.m., Chase Field
The Skinny: The maturation of Charlie Morton (2-5, 6.56 ERA) continues, and during that indoctrination into the major leagues come ups and downs. Morton is coming off one heck of an up, holding the Brewers to two runs over seven innings in his last start on Saturday. That followed a rough stretch in which Morton couldn’t locate and consistently pitched from behind in the count. Not Saturday, when Morton held the Brew Crew to one hit over six innings. For the Diamondbacks, Yusmeiro Petit (1-2, 3.03 ERA) lost to the Dodgers in his last start, giving up five hits and three runs in five innings. He replaced Gainesville High graduate Micah Owings in the rotation.
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