Braves Lose 20th Straight One-Run Road Game

The Braves entered the bottom of the ninth leading on the road by one run for the first time in a long time, yet could only achieve what they had in their last 19 one-run road games: a loss. Rafael Soriano, in his first save situation since April 6^th. Soriano allowed the tying run to score when Ryan Freel scored on a groundout by catcher David Ross. Manny Acosta (3-2), pitching for the third straight game, allowed rookie phenom Jay Bruce to hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11^th.

Francisco Cordero (2-0) allowed a single to Josh Anderson to start the inning and allowed him to take second after both Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson struck out. Chipper Jones was then intentionally walked. As always, though, the Braves failed to score with an opportunity. This time Mark Teixeira, who hit a game-tying three run home run in the top of the third, lined out to center.

The Braves, who seem unable to get anything going offensively unless the other team does it first, lost their 20^th straight one-run road game with the only positive being the fact that they got later into the game with a small lead at all and Smoltz one game closer to coming back.

Ken Griffey started the scoring off for the Reds in the bottom of the first. Griffey, after Bruce singled with one out, launched the 599^th home run of his career off Jair Jurrjens, the Braves starter. Griffey’s home run was just the third allowed by Jurrjens all year, he then proceeded to allow his fourth as Brandon Phillips hit one to follow Griffey.

After loading the bases on three walks with a strike out sandwiched in between, Jurrjens got pitcher Josh Fogg to ground out to end the inning.

Fogg, starting for the first time since April 16^th, allowed six runs in three and one third innings for the Reds, despite the fact that he had a lead to work with in three of the innings he pitched in. Leading 3-0, Greg Norton hit his first home run for the Braves—a two run shot that followed a Jeff Francoeur single.

With the score 3-2, Jurrjens allowed two more runs on a Griffey sacrifice fly and an Edwin Encarnacion single. Fogg, with a three run lead again, proceeded to allow Mark Teixeira’s three run home run. Johnson doubled to lead off and Jones walked ahead of Teixeira’s hit.

Both pitchers would allow one more run before leaving the game. Neither team would score again until Francoeur hit a home run to lead off the seventh off reliever David Weathers.

Game Notes: Bobby Cox was ejected for the third time this season when arguing a play at the plate that involved Freel scoring the tying run.

Link: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=140#s=140&f=2939&t=2531242 – Link that explains the Braves road woes.

I Don’t Have The Will To Title This Game Thread

If it hasn’t been terribly apparent lately, I’ve been finding it increasingly difficult to write game threads.  Wondering why?  Well mainly because every Braves road game is the same.  Play great all day long.  Great starting pitching outings, solid defense for most of the game, but no run support.  Then, late in the game (8th, 9th and 11th innings in 3 of the last 4 games), we give up silly runs and lose by 1.  That’s how the season on the road is going.  At home, the Braves are unstoppable.  On the road, I’m pretty sure an infant girls softball team could beat us.  The Braves are sporting an amazing 7-19 record on the road so far this season and how we still have a record over .500 is beyond me.  I’ll always be a diehard Braves supporter until the end, don’t get me wrong, but something has to give here soon.

This afternoon, Jair Jurrjens takes the hill for the Braves trying to turn things around and get them going in the right direction.  There’s still a chance to take this series from the Reds so let’s get it going.  Hopefully Chipper Jones can shake off the rough night he had last night and get the hot bat going again.  Go Braves!

Like Déjà Vu All Over Again

Great American Ballpark was supposed to be a haven for the Braves bats this weekend as they played the Reds. Not so, as Edinson Volquez silenced the Braves’ bats and Jay Bruce scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11^th for a 3-2 win, and the Braves’ third one run loss in four games.

Both Tom Glavine and Volquez did not allow a single run until the top of the fifth. Kelly Johnson doubled and moved to third when Chipper Jones grounded out to second. Mark Teixeira drove Johnson in with a sacrifice fly to center.

In fact, Glavine and Volquez had almost identical lines. Glavine – 6 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 5 Ks. Volquez, 6+ IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 7 Ks. Former Brave Kent Mercker(1-0) got the win in relief while Royce Ring(1-1) took the loss.

The Reds answered back with two in the bottom of the frame. Joey Hairston and Jay Bruce hit back-to-back doubles to score the first. Bruce moved to third on Ken Griffey’s groundout to short and then came in to score on Brandon Phillips’ sacrifice fly.

In the top of the seventh, Braves had runners on first and third with no one out after Greg Norton chased Volquez from the game with a double and Omar Infante singled. Ruben Gotay drove Norton in from third on a groundout, but also grounded into a double play—one of three on the day for the Braves.

Going into the top of the 11^th, the game was still tied. Johnson singled ahead of Chipper. While you like the Braves chances in this situation, Chipper was 0 for 4 at this point and his next at bat was his second GIDP of the day, dropping him to 0 for 5 and his average to a paltry .411.

In the bottom of the frame, off Ring, Bruce had his fourth hit of the day. Griffey followed with a hot shot to the third base side that Chipper was unable to come up with. Phillips followed with another hot shot to third that Chipper again could not come up with.

The Braves send Jurrjens to the mound Saturday to take on Cincinnati’s Josh Fogg.

Injury Update: Mark Kotsay was placed on the 15-day DL and will have his back checked out. Josh Anderson was called up from triple A to take his place on the active roster. John Smoltz will make another rehab appearance, this time in relief, to test his shoulder again. Smoltz is expecting to join the Braves on Monday at home against the Marlins.

Two In A Row On The Road?

The Braves are in Cincinnati for the start of a three-game series against the Reds to end the road trip.  After the offense came alive last night to prevent the sweep in Milwaukee, the Braves are looking to try to improve the dastardly road record.  Here’s hoping that Glavine can get out of the 5th inning tonight.  Edinson Volquez, or should I say Krusty, is taking the mound for the Reds tonight to try to continue his impressive 7-2 season with a win.

Now’s the time where the Braves need to turn the corner and start stringing together some wins on the road if we want to compete this season.  We swept the Reds at home earlier in the month, including a defeat of Volquez, so I know the team can do it.  Let’s get it going early and often.  Go Braves!

Home Dominance: Reds Swept

The Braves are 11-4 at home so far this season (now if only we weren’t 4-11 on the road) and it was a much needed 3-game sweep of the Reds after we had dropped 4 straight on the road.  We’ve been pretty lax about getting game recaps up lately, so I’m going to do my best to give a quick recap of the Reds series:

Game 1 - Friday - Braves 2, Reds 0
Friday night’s game was an absolute gem for Tim Hudson.  We’ve been a bit worried about Hud lately with his visible lack of speed and inability to get deep into a game.  But Friday night, he looked like the Tim Hudson we expect to see on the mound.  He threw a complete game, 3-hit shutout of the Reds, while striking out 10 and not issuing a walk.  The offense didn’t really provide much support outside of a two-run home run for Brian McCann in the bottom of the 4th, but who needs it when you have a pitching outing like that.  Hudson only seems to be doing well in every other start however, so we’ll see how he looks next time out.

Game 2 - Saturday - Braves 9, Reds 1
I’m not going to lie.  I was worried going into the game on Saturday with Jo-Jo Reyes making his first big league start for the Braves this season.  Jo-Jo has tended to pitch amazingly well in the minors and then not been up to snuff when he made his appearances in the bigs.  For 5 innings on Saturday, however, he looked decent.  His control fell apart in the top of the 6th and Bobby Cox wisely got him out of the game.  This was definitely the right decision for the team as a whole and for Jo-Jo’s confidence in his ability to pitch.  Through 5 1/3 innings, Reyes issued 4 hits and only gave up 1 run while striking out 5.  He gave up three walks as well, all in the top of the 6th.  The offense helped seal up the win for Jo-Jo with a 6-run bottom of the 7th.  The Braves had 7 doubles on the day.

Game 3 - Sunday - Braves 14, Reds 7
Yesterday’s game can best be described as a slug-fest with the teams putting up a combined 30 hits and 21 runs.  Tom Glavine didn’t have his best stuff for the game, going only 4 2/3 innings and giving up 6 runs.  Royce Ring came in to finish off the 5th inning, and, by throwing one pitch, gained the win on the day.  The offense looked stellar yesterday however, bolstered by 3 doubles from Kelly Johnson (which gave him 5 doubles in two games) and home runs from Chipper Jones and Mark Kotsay.  Chipper had a total of 5 RBIs on the day.

Overall, I know the Reds aren’t really a great team in the league this season, but the sweep was just what the Braves needed at this point.  They’re back to .500 baseball again with a record of 15-15 and have an off-day today before a three-game set at home against the Padres.

Oh No Jo-Jo

Well, I figured it would happen sooner or later this season, but this was a little sooner than I thought.  Jo-Jo Reyes is back in Atlanta from Richmond.  Now I’ve made no attempts at hiding my feelings about Jo-Jo in the past, but I am not completely unreasonable.  I will give him three starts before completely passing judgment this time around, but if I don’t approve of at least two of those starts, I will be right back to my old school of thought on him.

True to his usual form, Jo-Jo has been unstoppable in Richmond thus far this season.  He has the second lowest ERA in the International League at 1.17.  Reyes has given up 3 runs in 23 innings across 5 starts.  Control is where he has lacked in the majors, throwing high numbers of walks, however, in Richmond, he has only walked 8 while striking out 25.  We’ll see how he looks in Atlanta this time around, but making it deep into the game has always been a weak point for him.

Jo-Jo makes his first big league start of the season tonight against the Cincinatti Reds.  It’ll be hard to match Tim Hudson’s complete game, three-hit shutout from last night, but I’d love to see him try.  The Braves look to extend their home record to 10-4 tonight.  We’ve been struggling on the road, so we need to get the wins where we can.  Let’s see if we can get another win streak started this evening.

Reds Coming To Town

There’s good news and bad news about the Cincinnati Reds coming to Atlanta for a weekend series against the Braves.

Good News: We’re back in Atlanta where we have an 8-4 record.  On the road, we have a paltry 4-11 record.
Bad News: We’re trying to figure out how to get the offense going to kick out of a 4 game losing streak.

Good News:  The Reds aren’t having a stellar season, with a 12-17 record.
Bad News:  We aren’t either, with our 12-15 record.

Good News:  Tim Hudson’s doing well every other start, so he’s due.
Bad News:  Edinson Volquez is pitching for the Reds and he’s on fire this season.

So that’s the meat of it.  The real question tonight is whether or not the Braves can figure out Volquez, who has only given up 20 hits in 29+ innings so far this season.  He’s carrying a 4-0 record and a 1.23 ERA only giving up 4 runs in his first 5 starts this season.  On top of that, he’s struck out 33.  Can the Braves find a way to crack through this hot streak.  Volquez has only gone 5 innings in his last three starts; maybe we can beat up on the bullpen.