Series preview: Braves at Mets
Series preview: Braves at Mets
When (TV): 7:10 p.m. Friday-Saturday (WPCH), 8:05 p.m. Sunday (ESPN)
Radio: 680, 93.7, 100.5
Probable starting pitchers:
Friday: Braves LH Paul Maholm (9-7, 3.75 ERA) vs. RH Matt Harvey (1-2, 3.86)
Saturday: Braves RH Kris Medlen (2-1, 2.37) vs. LH Johan Santana (6-7, 3.98)
Sunday: Braves RH Ben Sheets (4-1, 1.41) vs. LH Jonathon Niese (8-6, 3.82)
About the Braves:
Batting: Dan Uggla is 9-for-26 (.346) with team-high eight RBIs in August. He’s hit .297 with six extra-base hits, 11 RBIs and a .840 OPS in his past 10 games, after hitting .110 with four extra-base hits, nine RBIs and a .461 OPS in his previous 42 games…. Chipper Jones has hit .366 (41-for-112) with 13 doubles, five homers, 22 RBIs and a 1.066 OPS in 32 games since June 26.
Pitching: Maholm is 5-1 with a 1.41 ERA in his past seven starts, the loss coming Saturday against Houston in his Braves debut (seven innings, six hits, three runs). The lefty is 4-3 with a 4.45 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) against the Mets, including 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in five games (four starts) at Citi Field…. Medlen has no decisions and a 1.65 ERA in 12 games (two starts) against the Mets, and Sheets is 5-2 with a 4.05 ERA in nine starts against them, none at Citi Field.
Miscellaneous: The Braves are 12-3 with a 1.88 ERA and 78 runs in their past 15 games, and 22-8 with a 3.00 ERA in their past 30…. The Braves are 5-0 with a .333 average and 44 runs in their past five games vs. the Mets, after going 0-4 with a .152 average and just eight runs in their first four against them this season…. Reed Johnson has a .368 average (25-for-68) and .986 OPS in 22 games against the Mets, including .370 (10-for-27) at Citi Field. He figures to get playing time in the series, with two lefties starting for the Mets…. Freddie Freeman has a .322 average with 13 extra-base hits and 18 RBIs in 25 games against the Mets.
About the Mets:
Batting: David Wright is 13-for-33 (.394) with a homer and six RBIs in nine games against the Braves this season. He has 28 homers, 74 RBIs and an .840 OPS in 138 career games against Atlanta…. Since the All-Star break, Wright and Ike Davis each had a .242 average in 25 games before Thursday, and between them they had 13 homers (eight by Davis), 25 RBIs and 54 strikeouts in 190 at-bats during that period….
Pitching: It’ll be just the fourth major league start for Harvey, 23, the seventh overall pick of the 2010 draft out of North Carolina. He has 23 strikeouts and seven walks in 16-1/3 innings in the majors, after posting 112 strikeouts with 48 walks and a 3.68 ERA in 20 Triple-A starts this season. He had 11 strikeouts in 5-1/3 innings of his big-league debut July 26 at Arizona…. Santana is 3-8 with a 2.99 ERA in 15 starts against the Braves, including 0-2 with a 14.21 ERA in his past two…. Niese is 4-2 with a 3.66 ERA in nine starts against the Braves.
Miscellaneous: Since ending a six-game losing streak against the Dodgers and Nationals in late July, the Mets were 6-7 with a 4.38 ERA and .248 team batting average in their past 13 games before Thursday’s series finale vs. Miami. They scored three runs or fewer in eight of those 13…. Daniel Murphy had a .362 average and .912 OPS in 53 home games before Thursday. Against Maholm, Murphy is 5-for-6 and Wright 7-for-23.
By David O’Brien
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18 comments Add your comment
ChipperisGod
August 9th, 2012
2:13 pm
We’ve been killing Johan this year, and I look for Malholm (despite bad numbers against Mets) to rebound and give another good starting performance tomorrow. I think we take at least 2 of 3, which we need to do because the schedule is about to get brutal after the Padres series.
With series against the Dodgers, Nats and Giants back to back to back, we need to win the series we are supposed to (which we’ve been doing), and go pound for pound against teams that are on the same level as we are. I believe those three series may define our season. WE need to beat the Nats in a series, this is of paramount importance. They have a tougher schedule coming up, too, but if we’re going to catch them, we’re the ones who have to do it.
Still, maybe we get lucky and the Astros finally get a game out of the Nats. They’ve pushed them in the three games, and I’m hoping they finally get one tonight.
Go Braves!
DAWG POUND
August 9th, 2012
3:06 pm
Of course those games will define the season… As will every single game the Braves have remaining. Remember last year??? We were supposed to cruise into the playoffs… NOT!
Last thing the Braves need to do is exactly what you are proposing… Worry about who the Nats are playing.
Fact is the Braves need not worry about the Nats. They need to worry about who they are playing on any given night and hope they can at least secure a wild card spot at the end of it all.
Don’t kid yourself the Nats are going to be tough to catch. They aren’t exactly playing a tough schedule the rest of the way either!
Tumbledown
August 9th, 2012
3:22 pm
I agree completely Dawg Pound. The old adage is true, play one game at a time.
nc fan
August 9th, 2012
4:02 pm
5th
nc fan
August 9th, 2012
4:03 pm
Enter your comments here
Teddy B
August 9th, 2012
4:51 pm
I hope Heyward gets a day off sometime soon, hate to see him get burnt out and work himself into a big slump towards the end of the sesason. He’ll be key to us winning anything. Uggla too.
Mets R Best
August 9th, 2012
4:53 pm
Braves fans: The Mighty Mets have stunk lately….ever since they got cheated out of a couple of wins down there in Georgia not too long ago As I have said since, don’t go to Turner Field if you want a fair game. They got crooked umps down there. Since your team has been hot since the all star break, I’m keeping my mouth shut on making predictions about this upcoming series. It could get ugly.
Dominic
August 9th, 2012
5:08 pm
Funny stuff..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttZNc0Nfxg
DoninAcworth
August 9th, 2012
5:28 pm
R. Best you need to wake up and read the newspapers about your Mets. Gosh, are you
on some kind of a vacation down in New Mexico or something. Still, our Bravos are finally living up to the potential they have so if we continue to win each series we will be where we should be come September when all heck could break loose.
kral
August 9th, 2012
5:46 pm
yeah rumor is the red–neck mafia payoff the umpires in ATLANTA..they also run a nudie bar featuring only female alligators
BravesWin
August 9th, 2012
8:16 pm
Uh-oh…”It’ll be just the fourth major league start for Harvey, 23, the seventh overall pick of the 2010 draft out of North Carolina”…New guys tend to baffle the Braves. We need our bats to stay alive.
This is going to be a long stretch of games ahead of us against what should be a relatively easy slate of teams. I hope everyone can stay healthy.
Nerdville
August 9th, 2012
11:23 pm
If the Braves want to catch the Nats, they need to sweep the Mets. They ought to sweep the Mets because New York is just a bad, really bad team.
ricky
August 10th, 2012
1:49 pm
Still cant post from my Andriod so I will sneak and post at work. When you going to work that out for me DOB? Anyway, I look for Jayson to get the day off tomorrow against Johan, he deserves a day break. Also look for the Braves to take 2 out of 3 in this series……….man can the Nats just lose?
John Edwards
August 10th, 2012
4:26 pm
I wish we had more games against the Nats left this year. No one else is helping us out by slowing them down. Their rotation is flat out ridiculous (and should be for years to come), and their hitting is solid, too. Now they’ve got an experienced catcher to handle those young arms and who can hit as well. Scary stuff. It’s going to be up to us to knock the Nats off their pedestal, and we, with 6 solid starters (assuming Hanson is healthy) and an awesome offense (Go Uggla!) can definitely do it. GO BRAVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Struggla
August 10th, 2012
7:09 pm
Mets R Best: “Braves fans: The Mighty Mets have stunk lately….ever since they got cheated out of a couple of wins down there in Georgia not too long ago As I have said since, don’t go to Turner Field if you want a fair game. They got crooked umps down there.”
What a dumb *** comment!!! It’s not like Atlanta keeps the same umps all year! They are rotated throughout the league. Typical Mets fan to blame everything BUT the team for their losing ways! Run along now…
Struggla
August 10th, 2012
7:12 pm
At least you realized they have stunk lately
Hmmmm
August 10th, 2012
9:31 pm
stupid ESPN …. taking the Sunday game. They’re starting a 20 day/20 game schedule, it’ll be a short turnaround from the end of the Sunday game/flight back to Atlanta/rest/7PM Padre game!
The Mets? They have an off day on Monday …. it’s like you’re trying to tire the Braves out. Why punish them with a Sunday game?
טיפולי בוטוקס מחירי×
August 12th, 2012
12:56 pm
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