Loading ...
Lowe Outduels Santana, Braves Win
Written by Colin on May 12, 2009 – 10:57 amThis is why we signed Derek Lowe.
While the Braves’ offense faced Johan Santana, Lowe went to the mound in the brand new Citi Field to ensure the Mets continued the trend of offering Santana little or no run support. Santana, for his part, was very good – he held the Braves to seven hits and two unearned runs in 6 1/3 innings. But the Braves’ offense backed Lowe’s great start with enough productivity to take advantage of the Mets’ errors. What was a tie game turned into an 8-3 win for the Braves – and Lowe improved to 5-1 on the year.
Santana has had some bad luck against the Braves. Despite being arguably the best pitcher in baseball, he’s 0-4 against the Braves in six starts (Braves have won 5 out of 6). The Mets are paying Santana a LOT of money and though he’s been effective, he’s not walking off with the win against the Bravos. After yesterday’s outing, Santana’s ERA is a ridiculous 0.78, by the way. Interesting tidbit: The Braves are the only team in baseball Santana has faced without winning.
This is why Derek Lowe is the ace of the staff – he’s a big game pitcher. “I love facing guys like that – especially Santana,” Lowe said, “He’s going to beat you more than you beat him. But it’s fun to pitch in those games, when every pitch could be the game.”
Interestingly enough, Lowe offered some high praise after the game for Jair Jurrjens. “We have our best pitcher going tomorrow,” Lowe said – referring to the young Curacao native. I’ll also point out that New York’s beloved “Larrrry” was sitting out of last night’s game.
Star of the road trip: The Braves are 5-1 on this 8 game road trip so far, and you have to pin a lot of it on Casey Kotchman, who has 10 RBI in the past 5 games. Kotchman is hitting the ball well and showing us why the Braves thought he’d be a good fit at first base.
Tags: Derek Lowe, Johan Santana, New York Mets
Posted in Game Analysis | 2 Comments »
By gtmurff on May 12, 2009 | Reply
This is one of those games that I wish was played at the Ted. And ole fashioned pitcher's duel is always fun to watch. Especially when it falls in the Bravos favor.
Then, top off the road trip with Kotchman filling the void for the injured guys… it makes watching the games that much more fun.
Go Braves.
By RueGrant on May 13, 2009 | Reply
I was so floored by Lowe last night. I couldn't have asked for more. He had the bat, he had the pitching, he was in the game.
When we're on, we're on. That's good to see, and makes me really anxious to see if we keep it up.