ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Cubs – 07/12/2003

Hey, eight games in a row is still pretty good… Horacio Ramirez had nothing, this coming off of a strong stretch. He left with two out in the fourth having given up all seven runs, six of them in the inning (actually, the last was an inherited runner Gryboski couldn’t strand). He wasn’t really pitching well before the fourth, he was just managing to get out of jams.

The Braves rallied for two in the eighth, but the rally stalled. Their only other run came on a Furcal solo homer in the third. DeRosa was 0-4 with two strikeouts in the game, including a big one in the eighth, and I wonder if maybe things would have been different if Marcus Giles hadn’t been kicked in the head by a Cub yesterday.

Bright part of the game was good work from the pen — Bong, Boom-Boom, and Hodges. The latter two each pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Maybe Hodges will get to pitch more now, but I doubt it. Still, we need twelve pitchers in case a game goes 15 innings!

The Phillies won again to pull to 7 1/2 back, but then they’re playing the Mets. The Marlins have a chance to pass the Expos if they can win a meeting of the two tonight.