Smoltz K’s 10, Braves Shut Out Fish

Written by Jonathan on April 18, 2008 – 12:01 am

Here are a couple numbers to consider:

Firstly: 4 plate appearances, translating into two homeruns, a double, and a walk. Bringing the average for the season up to .440
Secondly: 5 scoreless innings pitched, 10 strikeouts, bringing the total career K-count to 2996.

Yes, Chipper Jones and John Smoltz, the elder statesmen of the team, combined for a masterpiece of teamwork tonight. And it felt so good to get back in that “W” column.

But there’s more:
- Brayan Pena pinch hit and scored on Kelly Johnson’s home run.
- Kotsay triples, Kotsay doubles.
- Immediately following Chipper’s second homer, Teixeira and MCann do the same.
- THE BULLPEN DOES IT RIGHT!
- Ohman, Resop, Acosta and Buddy Carlyle perform superbly.

Obviously demoralized from a slew of recent bad news, prior to the game the team had a brief meeting with normally reticent Bobby Cox. I don’t know what he said, but it worked.

Yes, Moylan may be out for the season.
Yes, Soriano is on the DL.
Yes, Glavine and Hudson both underwhelmed recently.
Yes, going into this game, our starters had the next-to-last worst league average for innings pitched.

But something tonight was in the water. Like all the planets lined up and the Braves found everything they needed in order to get it done.  Here’s hoping they are on to something.

And I can’t wait to see Mr. Smoltz get his 3000th strike-out.


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Posted in Game Analysis | 5 Comments »

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5 Responses to “Smoltz K’s 10, Braves Shut Out Fish”

  1. By Jonathan on Apr 18, 2008 | Reply

    The pitching staff combined had 16 strikeouts and a beautiful 3-hit outing. This is the kind of game I expect to see out of the Braves more often, on both sides of the ball.

  2. By Josh on Apr 18, 2008 | Reply

    The majority of these guys will love the fact that they get to sleep in their own beds this week. The road trip from hell is over!!! I saw
    last night what I expected from this team from the beginning. I hope Smoltz’s sore shoulder and the speculation of Hudson having a dead arm will die with the last road trip. Lets turn this thing into a winning streak.

    Go Braves!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. By Jonathan on Apr 18, 2008 | Reply

    I was reading some of the speculation on Hudson this morning. Scary scary stuff. Let’s hope it’s not the case.

    And on the bright side, at least our game didn’t go into 14 innings like the Mets/Nats game. Or even worse, 22 innings like the Rockies/Padres game last night.

  4. By Josh on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply

    The majority of these guys will love the fact that they get to sleep in their own beds this week. The road trip from hell is over!!! I saw
    last night what I expected from this team from the beginning. I hope Smoltz's sore shoulder and the speculation of Hudson having a dead arm will die with the last road trip. Lets turn this thing into a winning streak.

    Go Braves!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. By Jonathan on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply

    I was reading some of the speculation on Hudson this morning. Scary scary stuff. Let's hope it's not the case.

    And on the bright side, at least our game didn't go into 14 innings like the Mets/Nats game. Or even worse, 22 innings like the Rockies/Padres game last night.

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