Tagged: Baltimore Orioles

Rotten start to key stretch for Braves

By Bud L. Ellis
budmansbravesbeat.mlblogs.com

ATLANTA
— OK, so the weekend starts with Sidney Crosby hoisting the Stanley Cup and
concludes with Kobe Bryant celebrating the NBA championship.

Yeah, not exactly a dream sports weekend for me. Not a big
fan of either Sid the Kid or Kobe.
Just not.

So it’s only fitting that the Braves would add to my weekend
misery, turning the easiest of the three stops on their three-city road swing
into a house of horrors.

Saturday, one bad inning led to an ugly 8-4 loss at Baltimore that only
served as a prelude to the embarrassing debacle of a performance we were
subjected to Sunday.

Derek Lowe couldn’t throw a strike, Yunel Escobar looked
like he’d never been on a baseball field before, and the Atlanta offense was shut down by a rookie in
an 11-2 loss that, honestly, wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate.

Yeah fellas, nice way to start a three-week stretch that’s
going to define your season. If this is the way you’re going to play against
the Reds, Red Sox, Cubs, Yankees and Phils between now and July 2, we might as
well just move ahead to other pursuits because the Braves will be 12 games out
by then.

Not exactly what the Braves needed to open the trip, for
sure. After a good performance Friday night, all hell broke loose in the
seventh inning on Saturday. Consider that the Braves gave up 17 runs in their
final 10 innings in Baltimore.

Lowe, who’s churned out quality start after quality start,
looked like anything but an ace on this day – eight hits, seven runs, three walks
in 2 1/3 innings. Of course, it didn’t matter because Baltimore
rookie Brad Bergesen had the Braves on lockdown – Atlanta mustering just five hits.

Then there was Escobar, who botched two plays early in the
game and found himself on the bench in the third inning. As talented as he is,
the mental lapses by Esco are getting a bit tiresome.

So, too, is the lackluster play of this team. Nothing like
opening a critical road trip by getting blasted twice in a row by a team that
had lost seven of its past eight games. Nothing like opening said critical trip
by falling into four place, 6 ½ games out of first.

If the Braves don’t play better than this, there won’t be
any need to worry about the rest of the season … because we’ll all be looking
to 2010.

–30–

Positives aplenty as Braves open road trip with W

By Bud L. Ellis
budmansbravesbeat.mlblogs.com

ATLANTA
— Doesn’t this almost always seem to happen? Just when you’re ready to give up
on the Atlanta Braves, throw in the towel and start counting down the days
until the Falcons open training camp, this happens:

The Braves give you reason to believe.

I know, it’s a 162-game season, and I’ve been around through
many a campaign. But my frustration level was at a season high following
back-to-back losses Wednesday and Thursday to the Pirates to end the homestand.

Starting a nine-game road trip that also begins what likely
will be a season-defining four-week stretch, the Braves responded with plenty
of offense and a grind-it-out performance from a guy making his second
big-league start, downing Baltimore 7-2.

Consider Friday’s positive signs:

  • Yunel Escobar gave the Braves a first-inning lead with a
    two-run homer and scored three times.
  • Brian McCann went 4-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs, raising
    his average to .331.
  • Garret Anderson
    drew a walk with the bases loaded.
  • Martin Prado returned to the lineup with a solo homer.
  • Rookie Barbaro Canizares went 2-for-5.

It was enough for Tommy Hanson, the super prospect who in
his second start didn’t have the electric stuff that he displayed in his
major-league debut. But Hanson showed his grit and determination, grinding
through 5 2/3 innings and dodging nine hits and five walks to secure his first
big-league win.

The bullpen locked it up from there with 3 1/3 scoreless
innings, although one must wonder with a five-run lead, why in the world Bobby
Cox felt compelled to pitch both Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez?

Alas, no complains about a win that came on a night the Mets
lose to the Yanks (Luis Castillo, meet Kelly Johnson) and the Phillies lose to
the Red Sox. Now the Braves sit 5 ½ back in the NL East and just two games back
in the wild-card race.

The win also came on a night where the Padres announced ace
Jake Peavy – who nearly was traded to the Braves for a deal widely believed to
include Escobar, a deal in which San Diego pushed hard for Hanson’s inclusion –
went on the DL with an ankle injury that will sideline Peavy for a month.

All in all, a pretty good kickoff to the road trip. But
these are the Braves … let’s see what today brings.

–30–

After stumble at home, Braves hit the road

By Bud L. Ellis
budmansbravesbeat.mlblogs.com

ATLANTA — Going to keep this short, as we’re now nearly 24
hours clear of Thursday’s offensive (and umpiring) debacle against the Pirates at Turner Field, and
a few hours away from the start of the road trip.

No way in the world the Braves should’ve lost that game
yesterday. No way. I told myself when Matt Capps (who’s from my hometown, by
the way) fanned Brian McCann to seal Atlanta’s 3-2 loss that I would keep
myself off the blog for 24 hours, lest I rip apart the team from bow to stern.

Close enough to 24 hours, although I’m still seething about
the Braves blowing the absolute best start by an Atlanta hurler this season. Javier Vazquez
was dealing, folks. Total command of the strike zone. Could do anything he
wanted at any time. Even the homer he gave up wasn’t a bad pitch.

When your starter gives up two hits and one run in eight
innings with no walks and 12 strikeouts, you have to win that game. I don’t
care if you’re playing the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Pirates, or my kids’
Little League team, you have to win that game. The Braves managed to lose it,
and it hurts.

I understand it’s hard to sweep a four-game series, but the
Braves really needed to take care of the Pirates Wednesday and Thursday before
embarking on this roadie through Baltimore, Cincinnati and Boston.
The Orioles are struggling, yes, but the Reds have that great young pitching
(and the Braves never play well in the little bandbox along the banks of the Ohio), and we all know
what the Red Sox have been doing lately.

So here are the Braves, heading into tonight at Baltimore with Tommy
Hanson toeing the slab for his second career start. Save the fastballs that
were up in the zone in the middle innings Sunday, I don’t think the youngster
could’ve had a better debut. His stuff is electric. I love his makeup and
moxie. I don’t think pitching on the road will faze him one bit (and typically
I shudder when a rookie makes his first start away from home).

As we all know, the pitching hasn’t been the problem.
Vazquez’s effort yesterday was better than Derek Lowe’s season-opening gem in
Philly, better than Kenshin Kawakami’s duel with Roy Halladay. The Braves won
both of those games. They should’ve won yesterday.

But they didn’t. The season marches ahead. On to Baltimore … hopefully the
Braves packed their bats.

–30–