Series Preview: The Braves Will Never Play At Home

Written by Jonathan on June 22, 2010 – 10:35 am

It seems like the Braves have played most of the season on the road, which isn’t completely true since we’ve played 31 home games; after the upcoming series we will have played 42 games on the road. There’s a highlight in this however. We’re 24-7 at home and with more home games than road games in the second half of the season, that should work out in our favor.

Going into tonight’s game against the Chicago White Sox, the Braves are 18-21 on the road. A series sweep in Chicago would bring the squad up to .500 on the road. This is far from a slam dunk however. The White Sox (while 34-34) on the season are riding a 6-game win streak, while the Braves are bringing a 5-game win streak of their own to Chicago. I’ll strategically mention now however, that the Sox had a win streak with back-to-back sweep of the Pirates and Nationals.

The White Sox are not a great offensive team, ranking 10th in the AL and 23rd in MLB in total runs scored while the Braves rank 1st in the NL and 5th in MLB. If the Braves can put some runs on the board (the White Sox are allowing 4.6 per game) then they should be alright.

The pitching matchups favor the Braves slightly in the first two games when Tommy Hanson takes on John Danks tonight and Tim Hudson faces Mark Buehrle on Wednesday. It’s anyone’s guess as to which Derek Lowe will show up to cap the series agains Gavin Floyd who has had a less than stellar season but has looked sharp in his last couple of outings.

I’d like to be able to call this one a sweep for the Braves, but I see this ending as a 2-1 series victory instead. The White Sox come into the series 10-2 in interleague play while the Braves are 7-2. I’d say their record is a little padded by the six wins over the Nationals and Pirates so hopefully the best playing team in the NL right now can bring them down to size.

…….maybe we can grab Andruw while we’re there.


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Braves Take First Interleague Set

Written by Smitty on May 18, 2008 – 9:57 pm

This is how we like to send off the opposing team; with two out of three games ending in a Braves victory. Taking two out of three interleague games against the Oakland A’s, the Braves demonstrated resolved and consistency.

During a beautiful Sunday, seemingly made for baseball, with the Braves wearing their crisp red alternate home jerseys, the team continued to show the kind of balance they need to win.

Sure, Jo-Jo Reyes seemed a touch inconsistent at the beginning of the game. But give him credit. Allowing two runs and 8 hits in 5 innings, he also had six strike-outs, and retired the order scoreless in the 2nd-5th innings.

Mi Hermano Cubano, Escobar, came through in a big way, going 3 for 4, with two RBI. But he got a bit greedy on one at-bat and tried to stretch a simple single into an impossible double, getting tagged at second.

Again, McCann with the doubles! He got another one today giving him three in as many days. But the man of the hour was Omar Infante, pinch-hitting in Kelley Johnson’s place. Bobby Cox obviously wanted an opposite-hitting batter against the pitcher, and, boy, did it pay off! On the first pitch, Infante smacks a two-RBI stand-up triple giving us a couple insurance runs in the eighth.

The bullpen, starting in the 6th inning was superb, no flawless, giving up no runs at all. Manny Acosta, again, slams the door. They have held the opposition scoreless in their last 16 innings of work.

Kelley Johnson contributed a bunt single and a triple, and Tex gave us a double, but his .247 average is really starting to bug me. Also on a negative note, Francoeur was hitless, leaving four on base.

In all, it was a superb day for ball, and a superb (yes, “balanced”) performance by your Atlanta Braves.


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