That’s more like it. The Braves broke it open for eight runs in the second, capped by a three-run homer from Chipper, and coasted from there. Jaret Wright got back on track in a big way, taking a perfect game into the fourth, striking out seven and not walking any, and holding the Dodgers to one run on three hits over seven innings.
Chipper continues hot, going 2-5 with the homer; he got above .250 for a time there and it at .249 now. Drew had three hits, including a double; Julio and Marrero also had three-hit games. Andruw had the game off with what turns out to be a “sore back”, so Drew played center, Marrero right, and Thomas got the start against a lefty; the latter went 2-4.
Roman Colon relieved Wright in the eighth and for the second straight game looked very strong, getting the Dodgers 1-2-3, throwing eight strikes in nine pitches. Reitsma, for some reason, was used with a 10-1 lead to start the ninth and left after two pitches when he was hit in the hand. If it’s serious, I don’t know who the Braves will turn to as their top setup man, but Reitsma’s tired anyway. Tom Martin got in a bit of trouble but got out of it.
The Marlins and Phillies won to stay 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 out respectively. The Mets lost. The Braves get a travel day before starting a three-game series with the generally hapless on the road Rockies in Atlanta on Tuesday. Turner South for the first game, TBS for the third, and of course Sportssouth in the middle.
Jeff Francis makes his major league debut on Tuesday night. He’s put up some pretty amazing numbers this year (like a full season of Meyer in AA, essentially) so it will be very interesting to see how he handles a big league lineup.
While they’re not completely done with the tough teams yet, the Braves just made it through probably the toughest ten game stretch of their schedule going 5-5. I’ll take that.
I’ll take that too, in the regular season. It does strike me that the stretch we just got through was “The Postseason Opponents,” and things weren’t quite as easy as they had been against lesser foes.
It’s nice that we seem to have Gagne’s number, but all of these playoff teams will be tough. Actually, there’s another one coming to town later this week. “Superman, Schmidt and sidekicks.”
I’d love it if the Giants were a postseason opponent. In fact, nothing would please me more than to not have to deal with the Cubs Cretins again this year.
(Schadenfreude, anyone?)
I have mixed feelings on a Cubs series. It would be devastating to lose to them again, yet greatly cathartic to beat them. If we see them in the first round, we will have just finished the regular season with a three game series against them. That would be kinda weird.