Aug 18 2008
Onward and downward: Braves drop 12 games out in East
By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com
Giants 3, Braves 1
Top of the Order: A dozen games out of first place in the NL East, the Braves’ downward spiral continued as Atlanta could only muster four hits in losing for the sixth time in seven games.
The Good: He took the loss, but Charlie Morton bounced back from his dreadful showing against the Cubs on Wednesday with his third good start in his past four appearances. Morton gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings, walking two and striking out six. Do that most days, and you’ll be alright, kid. Morton threw 69 of his 111 pitches for strikes, displaying good control and pitching with confidence. The Braves’ bullpen pitched three scoreless innings, two from Julian Tavarez and one from Buddy Carlyle. The offense just couldn’t do anything against San Francisco All-Stars Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson. Mark Kotsay drove in Yunel Escobar for the Braves’ only run. Gregor Blanco stole his team-high 11th base.
The Bad: One night after pounding out 16 hits, the Braves only produced one-fourth of that number and left nine runners on base. Atlanta hitters struck out 12 times. Jeff Francoeur left four on base, grounding out to end the eighth inning with the bases loaded. That’s 3-for-25 for Frenchy this season with the bags packed. The loss drops the Braves to 12 games under .500 and 12 games out of first place … hey, at least it’s the same number. Easier to remember that way.
View from the Sports Garage: Good pitching beats good hitting. Anybody who’s followed baseball for, oh, five minutes or so has heard that trite saying once or twice or a hundred times. But for the most part, it rings true, and we know the Braves aren’t a great hitting team. If you’ve been watching the past 12 days, you know Lincecum is as good as they get (since he’s beat the Braves twice in that span). So it shouldn’t be surprising the Braves struck out 12 times on Sunday (10 coming against Lincecum) and added another notch into the loss column. Wow, this season has really plunged deep into the toilet this past week. I know, it’s been bad for quite a while now, but the realization of playing out the string really hit home as the Braves were steamrolled in three games by the Cubs and how have dropped two of the first three to the Giants. At least football season starts soon.
On deck
Braves vs. Giants
4:30 p.m. today, Turner Field
The Skinny: Jorge Campillo (7-5, 3.09 ERA) comes into today’s homestand finale looking to bounce back from allowing five runs Wednesday in a loss to the Cubs. But four of those runs came in the first inning, and Campillo only allowed five hits. Campillo has won four of his past five decisions and has pitched his way into a rotation spot in 2009. Where would this bunch be without him? For the Giants, Barry Zito (6-15, 5.73 ERA) toes the slab. Yes, that Barry Zito. Remember when the right-hander pitched for the A’s and was one of baseball’s best hurlers? Yep, that was a long time ago. The Zito who pitches for the Giants stinks, leading the majors in losses.
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Bud, I hope that the Braves can capture some of their lost magic and become the spoiler.
Yeah folks, the Braves certainly have a chance to be spoilers, but they have to muster more than three or four hits in a game for that to happen.
Otherwise, they will continue to produce performances that smell like rotten meat in a fridge that was left open for four days.
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