Mets arrive for four game set vs. Braves.
The Braves made it to Monday on a high off of a big comeback vs. the Marlins. They overcame a 6-1 deficit by scoring 6 runs in their final 2 innings to steal the series from the Marlins. They maintained their 2 game lead over the Phillies in the NL East.
They will have their work cut out against them, however, as the Mets come to town with three left-handed pitchers slated to pitch against the Braves.
Game 1 – Pat Misch (0-3, 3.50) vs. Jair Jurrjens (5-4, 4.36) – Misch has made three starts for the Mets and has a quality start in all three outings, yet he is 0-3 during those 3 games. The Mets haven’t given him any run support, totaling only 3 runs in support of him. Against the Braves in his career, he is 0-2 with a 10.22 ERA over 6 starts. Luckily for Misch, he is a left-handed pitcher and the Braves have struggled vs. lefties this year. Jurrjens is coming off one of his worst starts of the year vs. the Rockies. He pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up 7 runs and 9 hits. He blew most of a 9 run lead by himself. Against the Mets, he is 6-2 with a 2.62 ERA in 9 career starts. At home this year, Jurrjens is 5-0 with a 1.81 ERA.
Game 2 – Jonathon Niese (8-6, 3.63) vs. Mike Minor (2-0, 4.00) – Niese is coming off a rough start vs the Marlins in which he gave up 7 earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched. His four starts prior to that, he was 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA. He is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA vs the Braves in his career. Minor last pitched against the Cubs on August 22 in a game he won 16-5. He gave up 3 runs in 6 innings. He was optioned to the minors for a few days and was skipped in his last start in an attempt to not run up his innings in his first year in the big leagues.
Game 3 – Mike Pelfrey (13-7, 3.61 ERA) vs. Tommy Hanson (8-10, 3.76) – Pelfrey is 3-1 with a 1.20 ERA in his past four starts. He is 4-7 with a 5.45 ERA vs the Braves in his career. Hanson is coming off a poor outing vs the Marlins. He gave up a season-high four homers against them and 7 runs in 5 innings pitched. He is 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in his past two starts.
Game 4 – Johan Santana (10-9, 3.02) vs. Tim Hudson (15-5, 2.24) – Santana is 0-3 with a 3.91 ERA in his past 3 starts. The Mets have scored 5 runs in support during that time. He is 2-6 with a 2.31 ERA in his career vs the Braves. Hudson helped stop the Braves 4 game losing streak in his last outing giving up 1 run in 7 innings against the Marlins. He is 12-5 with a 3.43 ERA vs. the Mets.
Are the Braves shopping Troy Glaus?
Troy Glaus on the move?
Fox Sports is reporting that the Braves may be interested in moving Troy Glaus before the end of the waiver deadline. There are some American League teams that reportedly have interest in the hitter as a DH and occasional first baseman. Teams that are reported to have interest are the Red Sox, Rays, Twins and Rangers.
This would be an interesting development if this is the case. Troy has had an up and down year, with most of the time being spent on the downside.
For the year, he is hitting .239 with 16 homers and 70 RBIs. He was placed on the DL back on August 18th with sore knees. The plan was to let him rest his knees for a few days, then give him some work at 3rd to see if he was still capable of playing 3rd base.
He has been playing 3B and has been respectable defensively. Offensively, he has hit .385 with 2 homers.
Glaus is eligible to come off the DL on Thursday. The Braves could use his potent bat in the lineup, but not his terrible bat that he displayed in every month except May.
Martin Prado has done a good job at 3rd and has continued to hit well. Omar Infante has been on fire in August and has been a great addition at the top of the Braves order. Glaus is not expected to get any time in the OF.
One option could be to put Prado back at 2nd and Infante in left field. Left field has been a trouble spot for the Braves this year.
More than likely, Glaus will back up Derek Lee at first base and come off the bench as a pinch hitter.
He is only owed $300,000 for the rest of the year, although he does have incentives that kick in depending on his plate appearances.
Not sure what the Braves could get in return for him, but it probably isn’t much. Maybe the Braves could send Kawakami or McLouth with Glaus somewhere.
The Braves are also expected to bring up Freddie Freeman in September to their big-league roster.
Braves win a thriller, down Marlins 7-6.
B- MAC wins it!!!
For all of the downs that this team has felt over the last week, they needed a boost like they got today. The Marlins shut down the Braves for 7 innings behind a solid start by Josh Johnson. Unfortunately for the Marlins, Johnson could not go the distance. The Braves scored 6 runs in the 8th and 9th innings to take the series from the Marlins and will at a minimum stay 2 games ahead of the Phillies in the NL East.
The Braves got no help from Derek Lowe. Lowe lasted only 3 innings and gave up 5 earned runs. He gave up 3 runs before he ever recorded an out off of a 3-run Hanley Ramirez homer in the 1st inning.
Cristhian Martinez came in to shut down the Marlins for 4 innings, giving up only 2 hits and one run.
The damage came against former Brave Will Ohman and Leo Nunez. Hinske doubled in his 2nd run in the bottom of the 8th inning. Then, the Braves scored two runs on Gaby Sanchez’s fielding error to pull within 6-4.
Matt Diaz hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 9th inning. Brian McCann hit a game-winning home run that had to be reviewed and overturned for the walk-off win. He hit the yellow line with a hit to right field to cap the comeback.
The win was the 23rd comeback win for the Braves this season in their final at bat.
Lowe looks rough early.
Derek Lowe gave up a three run home run to Hanley Ramirez before getting an out. He squeaked out of further damage, leaving runners on the corners. Braves better solve Johnson fast.
Braves offense: hit or miss.
The Braves offense showed up behind Tim Hudson last night and scored 12 runs. Matt Diaz, Eric Hinske and Martin Prado hit home runs to propel the Braves.
This was the 5th time this month that they had scored more than 10 runs. Actually, this was the 5th time in their last 13 games that they had scored more than 10 runs. Before August 15th, they had only scored more than 10 runs 6 times from April through August 14 totaling 116 games.
For the month of August, the Braves are hitting .257 as a team. In the 5 games that they have scored more than 10 runs, they have hit .365. What is startling, however, is in the other 21 games in August, the Braves have hit only .227 as a team. In 81 % of their games in the month of August, the Braves have hit .227.
They have scored 133 runs in August. Outside of the 5 games that they had an offensive outburst, they have scored 72 runs over 21 games averaging 3.43 runs per game. They scored 46% of the runs that they have scored for the entire month of August in the 5 games of 10 runs or more.
Needless to say, the Braves offense is either a hit or a big miss. They need more consistency at the plate.
Yet,
