Beachy’s on standby, but Braves need Jurrjens to pitch

PHILADELPHIA – While we certainly admire the confidence of rookie right-hander Brandon Beachy and his expressed desire to pitch tonight or any night to help the Braves in the pennant race, that is not a development that Braves fans should hope to see.

Jurrjens questionable for tonight after tweaking knee in bullpen session Friday. Braves have prospect Brandon Beachy on standby in Philly in case he's needed to start the opener of the biggest series of the season, so far.

Because as much as some believe that youth should be served any time a veteran has a bad stretch or even a bad couple of starts, the fact of the matter is, the Braves do NOT want to have a rookie make his major league debut with a start against the Phillies at sold-out Citizens Bank Park in late September in the throes of a pennant race. No, no, no.

They have Beachy, 24, on standby here in Philly in case Jair Jurrjens, who “tweaked” his knee recently, can’t make his scheduled start tonight in the opener of a much-anticipated series between the NL East-leading Phillies and second-place (by three games) Braves before what will surely be a raucous crowd hoping to see the streaking Phillies put a big dent in the Braves’ division-title hopes.

But those who think that because Jurrjens is coming off two bad starts in a row and has a 4.92 ERA in his past 11 starts, that the Braves would somehow be better off starting an untested kid who has pitched in eight games above Double-A, well, I can only presume you’re forgetting a couple of things.

First, Jurrjens is tough-minded and has come through many times before in big games against top competition.

Secondly, he’s fared better than all other Braves starters against Philadelphia and particularly at Citizens Bank Park, where few visiting pitchers have pitched better.

Jurrjens is 3-3 with a 2.56 ERA in nine career starts against the Phillies, including 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA in his past six.

At hitter-friendly, homer-aiding Citizens Bank Park, Jurrjens is 2-1 with a sparkling 1.87 ERA in five career starts, with only 21 hits (two homers) allowed in 33-2/3 innings.

Needless to say, the Braves do not want to have to scratch him and send 24-year-old Beachy out in his place. Beachy’s had a terrific, breakout year in the minors, and his performance is the reason the Braves would rather have him rather than, say, Kenshin Kawakami, replace Jurrjens if it comes to that.

But as GM Frank Wren said this morning, Beachy is in Philadelphia only as a precaution, in case Jurrjens was too sore to pitch effectively. Wren said Jurrjens felt a lot better on Sunday and indicated to me this morning that he would be pitching tonight, barring any setback between yesterday and today.

I expect to see Jurrjens facing the Phillies and resurgent lefty Cole Hamels tonight. But just the fact that Beachy is here tells you how highly the Braves view him, and how legitimate his chances could be of competing for a rotation spot at some point next season, perhaps as soon as spring training if the Braves have any injuries or make any offseason move to unload a contract.

Beachy climbed from obscurity into the prospect rankings after a breakthrough season in the minors in 2010. He went 5-1 with a minors-leading 1.75 ERA in 35 games (13 starts), and had an eye-popping 148 strikeouts with only 28 walks in 119-1/3 innings.

He spent much of the season at Double-A Mississippi, where he soared after moving from the bullpen to the rotation. He finished at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he was 2-0 with a 2.17 ERA in eight games (seven starts), with 48 strikeouts and eight walks in 45-2/3 innings.

He features a 92-94 mph fastball complemented by two quality pitches, a changeup and curveball.

It’s been a rapid ascent for Beachy, who signed with the Braves as a non-drafted free agent two years ago out of Indiana Wesleyan. He showed no signs of an imminent rise in 2009, when he pitched at three levels in the minors and had a 3.87 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 76-2/3 innings.

The Braves would prefer not to be forced to add him to the 40-man roster already in order to make a starter tonight, but the mere fact that they are prepared to do so should tell you plenty about how quickly Beachy’s stock has risen this year and how highly he now is regarded by Braves officials.

Beachy had a breakout season in the minors to put himself in position for such an important assignment, if he's needed. He had the best ERA in all of minor league baseball and rose up the prospect charts from relative obscurity.

♣ Facing the Phillies at “The Bank”: If Jurrjens makes tonight’s start he will surely want to be careful with Chase Utley, who is 5-for-22 with three homers against him.

Jurrjens has allowed 19 hits and 11 runs in 8-2/3 innings over his past two games. Not the kind of roll you’d like to be on entering this atmosphere. But again, he’s fared better at Philly than almost any other visiting starter who’s pitched as many games there.

Besides Jurrjens, veterans Billy Wagner (former Phillie) and Takashi Saito have also fared well at Citizens Bank Park, but the Braves will be without Saito. He’s in Atlanta today for an MRI on his sore shoulder, the results of which we might not have until tonight or Tuesday morning.

Wagner has a 1.93 ERA in 83 career appearances at his old home park, with 37 saves in 42 chances. He’s allowed eight homers in 88-2/3 innings there, with 102 strikeouts and 23 walks.

“You’re going to give up runs [at Philly],” Wagner said. “It’s less than likely we’ll go out there and throw shutouts, either team, in that place. What you have to do is control what you can control. If you give up solo home runs, OK. It’s tough – if you get to the ninth inning and and it’s a 3-2 ballgame, 4-3 ballgame, you know what? It’s a crapshoot. Because they don’t have to hit the ball good there [to get it out].

“So if you give up a home run, you have to continue to compete and keep them right where they’re at. Just keep trudging along. Because it’s a tough lineup to face and think you’re not going to give up runs.

Jurrjens (or Beachy) will face Cole Hamels tonight, and Hamels comes in on his best roll in some time. The lefty is 4-0 with a microscopic 0.31 ERA and .160 opponents’ average in his past four starts, with 31 strikeouts and 6 walks.

Against the Braves, Hamels is just 3-3 with a 5.18 ERA in his past eight starts, including 1-1 with a 6.39 ERA in three this season.

♣ After tonight: On Tuesday, Braves rookie Mike Minor makes his first start against the Phillies, and draws the tough assignment of facing big ol’ Roy Halladay.

(By the way, I had an Philly writer tell me yesterday in New York, when Tommy Hanson walked past us, that he was startled by how much Hanson looked like a young Halladay. I told him I agreed and had mentioned the same thing many times – from red hair to body type, Hanson does look like Halladay’s younger brother.)

Minor has faded some in his past few starts, usually done in by one bad inning during that span that’s seen him go 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA and .351 opponents’ average. He was 3-0 with a 3.91 ERA and .261 OA in his first four starts, and has conceded he’s felt tired down the stretch of his first full pro season.

Then there’s Halladay, a horse of a pitcher, a throwback who goes 7-9 innings every start, even in the last month of the season. He’s 8-2 with a 2.97 ERA in his past 10 starts, but here’s cause for hope, Braves fans: He’s only 3-2 with a 4.41 ERA and .297 OA in his past five starts, after going 5-0 with a 1.66 ERA and .225 OA in his previous five.

Of course, you might want to turn away when I give you his career numbers against Atlanta: Halladay 3-0 with a 0.63 ERA against the Bravos, including 2-0 with an 0.36 ERA in three starts during the 2009-2010 seasons.

In two this season, he’s pitched a pair of five-hitters in wins against the Braves, allowing no runs on April 21 at Atlanta and one run on July 5 at Philly. That one run came on a homer by Chipper Jones, who will be a spectator Tuesday.

The series finale Wednesday pits the aforementioned Hanson against the other Philly Roy, Roy Oswalt, who has been even better than the Phillies thought he’d be when they traded for him.

Oswalt is 7-1 with a 1.94 ERA in 10 starts since coming north from Houston.

“We know they’ve lined up their rotation to give us their three best,” Derek Lowe said Sunday. “It should be a lot of fun.”

A cynic might say that’s easy for Lowe to say, since he said it Sunday after beating the Mets. In other words, he won’t be pitching in this series at the bandbox here in Philly.

But Lowe’s opinion was echoed by other Braves on Sunday. Wagner pointed out that sometimes it’s tougher for teams to face an unknown like Minor (the Braves can attest to that, given their struggles against first-time opposing starters in recent years).

McCann pointed out that the Braves have plenty of exceptional pitching themselves, including a stellar bullpen.

Derrek Lee, whose grand slam Sunday lifted the Braves to a 6-3 sweep-completing win at New York, said of the Philly showdown: “It’s a big series. Obviously they have great pitching and they have a great offense. But I like our team, too. I think it’s going to be a good series, and we’ll see what happens.”

Many Braves pointed to their team meeting Friday, which was organized by David Ross at the request of a few other players. They said the message that got through in that meeting, from Wagner, Ross, Eric Hinske and Chipper Jones, was to focus on every pitch, every at-bat, and worry only about the things you can control, not what other playoff contenders are doing.

“We all understood the importance of this road trip,” Lee said, “and we were ready for it. That being said, [the Mets sweep] is only three games of nine. We’ve got to keep the same focus and intensity for the next six games.”

McCann said, “We came [to New York] with the mind-set of ‘win every inning.’ This is playoff time. We have two weeks until the season is over, so everything from here on out is playoff baseball.”

McCann didn’t scoff at the question, but also made it clear, when someone asked about young Braves being overwhelmed potentially by what awaits at Philly, that the Braves are not going to be all wide-eyed and awed.

“I don’t think any of us are looking at it as, ‘Oh my God, we’ve never been here before,’” McCann said. “I got to play in the playoffs when I was 21, so I can’t imagine it being any more nervewracking than it was then.

“You know, there’s a lot of young guys in here, but we all expect to be here. We all expect to produce at this level, and I don’t think anything’s going to take us away from that.”

Lee’s a veteran who has played in front of plenty of hostile crowds, in the playoffs and regular season.

“Philly’s always fun,” he said. “They get good crowds, and they’re into it. East Coast crowds are loud, so it should be fun.”

♣ FYI: The Braves’ bullpen has whittled its ERA to 3.02, second in the majors to San Diego’s 2.81. Billy Wagner (1.43) and Jonny Venters (1.76) have the second- and third-lowest ERAs in the NL…. Wagner (.157), Venters (.193) and Takashi Saito (.196) rank third, seventh and ninth among NL relievers in opponents’ average…. Venters leads all of major league baseball, starters and relievers, with his .159 opponents’ average (21-for-132) with runners on base. Few other relievers have enough such at-bats to qualify.

Let’s close with one from the late, great Mark Sandman and Morphine, which you can hear here. Couldn’t find any full-length videos of original, but here’s a decent cover of the song.

“IN SPITE OF ME” by Mark Sandman (Morphine)

last night I told a stranger all about you

they smiled patiently with disbelief

I always knew you would succeed

no matter what you tried

and I know you did it all

in spite of me

♦

still I’m proud to have known you

for the short time that I did

proud to have been a step up on your way

proud to be a part of your illustrious career

and I know you did it all

in spite of me

in spite of me

♦

late last night

I saw you in my living room

you seemed so close but yet so cold

for a long time I thought that you’d be coming back to me

those kind of thoughts can be so cruel

so cruel

♦

and I know you did it all

in spite of me

in spite of me