Series preview: Braves at Giants
Series preview: Braves at Giants
When (TV): 10:15 p.m. Thursday (SPSO); 10:15 p.m. Friday (WPCH); 4:05 p.m. Saturday (Fox); 8:05 p.m. Sunday (ESPN)
Radio: 680, 93.7, 100.5
Probable starting pitchers:
Thursday: Braves RH Tommy Hanson (12-5, 4.27 ERA) vs. LH Barry Zito (9-8, 4.42)
Friday: Braves RH Ben Sheets (4-3, 3.07) vs. RH Ryan Vogelsong (10-7, 2.85)
Saturday: Braves LH Mike Minor (6-10, 4.74) vs. LH Madison Bumgarner (14-7, 2.83)
Sunday: Braves RH Tim Hudson (12-4, 3.69) vs. RH Tim Lincecum (7-13, 5.30)
About the Braves:
Batting: Brian McCann was 7-for-48 (.146) with no extra-base hits and one RBI in 15 August games before Wednesday…. Dan Uggla was 31-for-215 (.144) with five homers, 40 walks and 79 strikeouts in in his past 64 games before Wednesday, including 2-for-23 in his past six…. Jason Heyward is 11-for-24 (.458) with three homers and seven RBIs in six games at spacious AT&T Park…. Chipper Jones has a .293 average, 23 homers, 86 RBIs and a .916 OPS in 114 games vs. the Giants, including .295 with four homers and 23 RBIs in 28 games at AT&T Park.
Pitching: Hanson is 3-1 in his past seven starts despite a 5.85 ERA; the Braves scored six runs while he was in three of those, five while he was in another. He’s 8-2 with a 3.78 ERA in 12 road starts, compared to 4-3 with a 4.81 ERA in 11 home starts. Hanson is 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA and .153 OA in three starts vs. the Giants, with 21 strikeouts in 21 innings…. Against the Giants, Sheets is 4-3 with a 2.34 ERA in 10 starts (0-2 with a 4.34 ERA in three at AT&T); Minor is 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA in two starts; and Hudson is 7-4 with a 3.29 ERA in 16 starts (2-2 with a 3.27 ERA in six at AT&T).
Miscellaneous: Against Zito, Reed Johnson is 9-for-29 (.310), Uggla is 6-for-22 with a homer, and Jones is 2-for-12 with a homer…. The Braves were 4-12 with a .229 team batting average and 4.83 ERA in their past 16 games against the Nationals before Wednesday, and had scored two or fewer runs in seven of those 16 games…. After hitting .249 with 43 homers and 200 runs in 40 games (29-11) through Aug. 17, the Braves hit .186 with seven runs during a four-game losing streak before Wednesday.
About the Giants:
Batting: South Georgia native Buster Posey was a blistering 51-for-125 (.408) with 11 doubles, nine homers and 36 RBIs in 35 games since the All-Star break, including 7-for-12 with three doubles and six RBIs in three games last month against the Braves…. Former Phillie Hunter Pence was 16-for-80 (.200) with one homer, 15 RBIs and 22 strikeouts in 20 games since being traded to the Giants.
Pitching: Zito is 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA and .327 opponents’ average in his past five starts, and lasted 5-1/3 or fewer innings in four of those games. Left-handers have hit just .197 with two homers and a .555 OPS in 122 at-bats against him, while righties have hit .275 with 16 homers and an .826 OPS in 403 at-bats. Zito is 4-0 with a 1.64 ERA in his past five starts vs. Atlanta, including seven scoreless inning (three hits) in a July 17 win…. Against the Braves, Vogelsong has no decisions and a 0.96 ERA in two games (one start); Bumgarner is 0-2 with a 3.78 ERA in three starts; and Lincecum is 6-4 with a 3.12 ERA in 10 starts.
Miscellaneous: The only Giants with as many as nine at-bats against Hanson are Pence (4-for-16), Pablo Sandoval (1-for-10) and Angel Pagan (2-for-9)…. The Giants were 12-6 with a .304 batting average, 6.2 runs per game and a 4.19 ERA over 18 games before Wednesday night’s series finale against the Dodgers. San Francisco was 4-2 with a .280 average and 29 runs since Melky Cabrera was given a 50-game drug suspension, including wins against the Dodgers in the first two games of the series before Wednesday…. The Giants won two of three at Atlanta July 17-19.
– By David O’Brien
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
20 comments Add your comment
Old devil
August 22nd, 2012
3:55 pm
First!
Old devil
August 22nd, 2012
3:58 pm
David, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be the first to comment on your blog today. Such a meaningless accomplishment somehow feels so good!
DawgDad
August 22nd, 2012
4:16 pm
“It’s not the end of the world,” said Paul Maholm, Tuesday’s starter and loser. “We’ve got 40 games left or whatever it is.”
Whoa there, Paul. I understand you weren’t here last year, but you might want to THINK before you speak.
The six-man rotation is failure to manage the business properly. Just my opinion, but of course it’s supported by 135 years or so of MLB history. I like Medlen. A lot. Like his approach and demeanor on the mound. If he wins tonight how could they possibly justify holding him off on five days rest?
John Lenin
August 22nd, 2012
4:21 pm
Looking forward to the Giants is somewhat better than looking backward to the Gnats. At least we’ll still have a chance to take this series.
stevie zero
August 22nd, 2012
5:51 pm
dan uggla sucks
Wink
August 22nd, 2012
5:59 pm
Braves just need to win games, but I got a feeling they are going to put a scare into Braves nation by coming dangerously close to losing the Wild Card lead they have.
To make matters worst they will be the first team to lose the one game playin format, thus blowing a wild card lead two years running.
Last year, FG shut down the Constanza & Bourne relay team a couple of games early and blew the lead, by bringing back players off the injured list for the final games.
Now FG will blow it again by baby sitting egos! Uggla & McCann are killing us. They need to put them in a 6 game rotation. Really they have created a big hole in the line up…with Janish bringing up the rear and hitting wise look like he has a better idea about hitting than Uggla & McCann.
They can’t win it with Prado & Heyward, the shaky lead off hitter and Chipper playing every other day!
New Line Up:
Bourne C
Prado 2B
Heyward RF
Chipper 3B (relieve with Francisco)
Freeman 1B
Johnson LF
Ross C
Janish SS ( until Simmons finally returns)
Fredi G has to give us a chance to win…at least one of the Wild Cards.
Bob
August 22nd, 2012
6:19 pm
The hallmark of a Fredi coached team (Atl or Marlins) is huge swings both ways. When he has the talent, he doesn’t know how to properly use it, and when he has to actually manage, he doesn’t have a clue. Past time to clean house for the old Cox/Wren culture. Just my opinion.
Game Changer
August 22nd, 2012
6:27 pm
Uggla and Fredi’s managing is killing the braves.
Chipper: Fredi my knees are sore
Fredi: how you get in here
Chipper: on my two legs
Fredi: You are starting at third, long as you can stand up and swing a bat the way you do your playing.. In two months you can figure out how to walk again if it comes to that.
Absolutely silly that Chipper is not playing every day.
Uggla is the worse second baseman in the last thirty years of braves baseball /
Tip O' the Cap
August 22nd, 2012
6:33 pm
Hey DOB, good to see you back. And LOL, it really IS better that you leave off Minor’s record (above). It makes the matchup with Bumgarner seem less daunting than it is.
Ebenezer Snerdberg
August 22nd, 2012
6:55 pm
HAVANA FATS HAS TIPPED HIS CAP SO MUCH, HIS BRAINS HAVE SPILLED OUT. WHEN YOU PLAY THE VARSITY YOU PLAY YOUR FIRST STRING, NOT YOUR BACK-UPS. THE MAN IS A JOKE AS MLB SKIPPERS!
Dan Struggla
August 22nd, 2012
7:00 pm
If Fredi plays his starters, you all whine about Uggla and McCann. He plays perfectly capable “back-ups”, and you all still whine. No pleasing this fanbase.
Nerdville
August 22nd, 2012
7:07 pm
Beat the Giants? Hah. These hapless Braves will continue their losing ways against the Giants. Why? Because the Giants are a pretty good team. This bunch of Braves are good at beating up on the weaklings, but when it comes to serious competition they wilt.
Ebenezer Snerdberg
August 22nd, 2012
7:09 pm
AMERICANS LOVE A WINNER,
AND WILL NOT TOLERATE A LOSER!
-GEORGE S PATTON JR, LtGEN, USA
Felix
August 22nd, 2012
9:15 pm
Just wondering….. since we are going next to San Francisco, and they do have a history of using drugs; wondering how many Giants are doping…….
Hotlanta
August 22nd, 2012
11:41 pm
Just because Uggla is having a terrible season doesn’t mean the Braves should release him. Did we release Heyward last year when he was pitiful? No. Uggla’s past speaks for its self. I believe next year he will work it out. Just have faith in your team and don’t always look to release the guy for a bad season. It happens in sports. Braves fans need to support their players and not trash our team. Braves all the way!
Hmmmm
August 23rd, 2012
12:15 am
Giants are taking it to LA, whose pitching staff took it to the Braves … I don’t suspect this will be an easy series but none the less in a 4 gamer they need to at least split it.
Hanson/Sheets/Minor/Hudson. 4 pitchers who either need to pitch better than they did their last time out or the offense needs to give them a few more runs to work with (and he’s facing off against Bumgarner: “recorded eight consecutive quality starts”, “batting .167 off with runners in scoring position” … I tell ya, the guy never catches a break in terms of opposing pitcher)
ChipperisGod
August 23rd, 2012
12:27 am
I applaud Fredi’s move tonight. Shook up the line up, and Medlen was just an absolute Ace tonight. We still need to do better with RISP, but we cashed in on some opportunities when we needed to.
We still need to win a series from a quality opponent, and we’re good enough to do so. Could have taken series from Dodgers and Nats, but we hung tough in all the games in those series. Didn’t roll over and die and kept competing even though we made some mental blunders, this team is trying its butt off every night.
I love the way Uggla plays, he tries really hard and always hustles. However, this deal with him is not working out. Both years were disappointing, and we are not paying him 62 million dollars to get hot for two months ever season and be cold the rest of the time.
I hope he can salvage what’s left of this season. He has flashes of brilliance and power, but it’s just not enough to justify the means.
Hope we can split with the Giants, or what’d be great is if we could steal 3 of four. I’m calling a split. Tough team, tough environment, but I think we will compete and come out even with a tough squad. I know we can take them too though, and if we get a break here and there, we can take three of four.
ChipperisGod
August 23rd, 2012
12:29 am
every*, my bad.
trionbd
August 23rd, 2012
8:26 am
@DawgDad…Your opinion isn’t based on fact. The truth is that even a 5 man rotation is something that’s just come around in the last 30 – 40 years. Prior to that it was a 4 man rotation for a number of decades….before that it was a 3 man, and going back to the turn of the last century most teams only carried two starting pitchers. If you look back at box scores from 100+ years ago you’ll see it was common for a starter to pitch a complete game but lose. Sometimes even games that went extra innings. Using a 6 man rotation helps to keep our guys fresh through to the end of the season. Most of our guys have some history of injury, so why not try to maximize their potential every time they go out? Most teams playing in October are using pitchers that are running on fumes. Should we make the post season, I think that gives us a little advantage by using rested guys.
HAL
August 23rd, 2012
8:33 am
we produced with men in scoring postion/?SHOULD READ HE PRODUCED MEANING PRADO AS USUAL THE ONLY CLUTCH GUY ON THE BRAVES OHH WAIT I FORGOT THIs bigot blog dosent like prado hes hispanic or ugla whos whitelol