LIVE: Braves need to win ‘gimme’ series vs. Nationals
This photo of a male fan in a wedding dress was more interesting than anything else from the Braves' loss to Washington on Saturday. He was arrested. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
The Braves’ franchise reached the 10,0000-win mark the other night. If they had played better against the Washington Nationals, that achievement would’ve be reached a while ago.
As has been stated several times before, particularly by Chipper Jones, one key to the Braves winning the National League East Division this year is how they play against the teams they should beat. Washington is at the top of that list. The Braves are only 59-58 all-time against the Nationals, including 4-4 this season after Saturday’s 5-2 loss.
Since the franchise relocated from Montreal in 2005, the Nats’ overall record is only 459-606 (.431). But in the season series against the Braves, they’ve gone 9-10, 8-10, 7-11, 12-6, 8-10, 10-8 and 4-4.
“We have to take advantage of nights like last night,” Jones said in the clubhouse before today’s game “The Phillies go out and get pummeled [by the New York Mets 11-2] and we know it. We’ve got to turn it up a notch on nights like that and be sure we take advantage of their losses.”
Jair Jurrjens (12-3, 1.87) makes his return the All-Star Game to start against Washington’s Tom Gorzelanny (2-6, 3.94). Of course, Gorzelanny’s career numbers (38-43, 4.59) aren’t nearly as impressive as his outings against the Braves (2-1, 3.18). Go figure.
A few bullet points before we open the live blog:
– Foxsports.com is reporting that the Detroit Tigers are interesting in Braves’ starter Derek Lowe.This isn’t the first time Lowe’s name has come up in trade rumors. The major impediment to a deal in the past always has been his contract ($15 million per year). But his deal has less than a season and a half remaining and a trade might be more do-able now than last year. I’ll get into that more in the game column.
– Dan Uggla has an eight-game hitting streak — and, no, that’s not a typo. During that span, he is 10-for-29 (.345) with four doubles, three homers, six RBIs, six walks and a .457 on-base percentage.
– After Saturday’s loss, the Braves own only the fifth-best home record in the National League (29-19) but they have the best road record (26-20). They leave immediately following today’s game for seven road games — four in Colorado (45-48) and three in Cincinnati (46-48).
That’s it for now. Be back for the first pitch.
By Jeff Schultz
♦
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186 comments Add your comment
Jeff Schultz
July 17th, 2011
4:46 pm
Da Squeeze — I’m aware there are good hitting shortstops in baseball, but they’re not readily available at the deadline and if there’s one position a team generally will take defense over offense, it’s shortstop. That’s my point.
Jeff Schultz
July 17th, 2011
4:46 pm
Brooks Conrad hitting for Kimbrel.
"Chef" Tim Dix
July 17th, 2011
4:47 pm
chick’s tied @ 1, 98 mins in.
Jeff Schultz
July 17th, 2011
4:47 pm
Not sure if they’ve announced on TV but Phillies beat Mets 8-5. Braves down by 4 games right now.
Unruly Ruler
July 17th, 2011
4:50 pm
Squeeze, you got to remember that Fredi had Alex in Fla so there is no way he is going to bench his home boy !
Jeff Schultz
July 17th, 2011
4:51 pm
Nice sacrifice by Schafer, who has had another solid game. 1/3, 2 runs, walk, 2 SBs.
"Chef" Tim Dix
July 17th, 2011
4:52 pm
USA chicks WIN!
J-Smoove
July 17th, 2011
4:52 pm
2-1 USA!!!!!!!
Da Squeeze
July 17th, 2011
4:52 pm
Ok, Jeff. But since the Braves main rival is the Phillies who have a SS (Rollins) that does both then it makes Braves fans see the ineptness in Alex ability magnified…
Sonny Clusters
July 17th, 2011
4:52 pm
Right man at the plate. Get ready.
"Chef" Tim Dix
July 17th, 2011
4:52 pm
er…game continues
J-Smoove
July 17th, 2011
4:53 pm
It’s not over yet “Chef”
Da Squeeze
July 17th, 2011
4:53 pm
I heard the Chicks love Dix ?
"Chef" Tim Dix
July 17th, 2011
4:53 pm
er…match continues
"Chef" Tim Dix
July 17th, 2011
4:54 pm
little a “head” of myself
Da Squeeze
July 17th, 2011
4:54 pm
Bad running.
J-Smoove
July 17th, 2011
4:55 pm
can we please get some base running leasons?!?!
Jeff Schultz
July 17th, 2011
4:55 pm
That hurts. Head-up play by Desmond.
J-Smoove
July 17th, 2011
4:55 pm
lessons
Da Squeeze
July 17th, 2011
4:55 pm
Tag was high, he was safe.
G
July 17th, 2011
4:55 pm
Twice in this series… What is going on? These guys are idiots!!
5150 UOAD
July 17th, 2011
4:56 pm
nice play to hold that ball
US Woman score. lead 2-1 with 15min to play.
G
July 17th, 2011
4:56 pm
Stop running on bals hit in front of you. That is a fundamental pee wee baseball rule
"Chef" Tim Dix
July 17th, 2011
4:57 pm
True Da Squeeze, so very true. It’s a tough life.
J-Smoove
July 17th, 2011
4:58 pm
BRAVES WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff Schultz
July 17th, 2011
4:59 pm
Freddie delivers. 2-out RBI single, Braves win 9-8. … WP-Kimbrel. LP-Matthews. Time of game: 3 hours, 20 mins.
J-Smoove
July 17th, 2011
4:59 pm
Way to go Freddie!!!
5150 UOAD
July 17th, 2011
5:00 pm
Great. Freddie perfect.
Now the US Women to win
Da Squeeze
July 17th, 2011
5:00 pm
And see Jeff, Braves have good hitting 1B (Freeman) and 2B (Prado) like Phillies 1B (Howard) & 2B (Utley). But Phillies have good SS Rollins and Braves have sorry Gonzalez.
J-Smoove
July 17th, 2011
5:02 pm
Alex is probably top 3 defensive shortstops in the league and he has decent power. Rollins is good but he is not even close to what he used to be. Give it up Squeeze. GO BRAVES!
J-Smoove
July 17th, 2011
5:03 pm
squeeze… prado plays left field now by the way. Uggla plays second base
Da Squeeze
July 17th, 2011
5:05 pm
If you think Alex is even close to Rollins you are loco !
Saint Dawg>>>
July 17th, 2011
6:03 pm
There is no such thing as a GIMME” vs the Nats. they are very good and young team..they will be a countender for the next few years bank on it!!!!
Da Squeeze
July 17th, 2011
7:05 pm
Nice Karma J-Smoove , USA lost !
Ronald Millsaps
July 17th, 2011
7:10 pm
I’m just now reading about today’s game, which I saw or heard none of. Braves.com’s coverage of it is disappointing in that it focuses almost squarely on Freddie Freeman’s game-winning single and is rather ho-hum about, for example, Nate McLouth’s two-run homer.
To remain with said example, if McLouth doesn’t homer, Freeman’s single doesn’t drive in the winning run at that point. Let’s not overlook the overall structure of the win, which most do oftentimes. Let’s also not act like Freeman’s being 21 makes him nearly exempt from being productive. He obviously has a lot of God-given talent and works hard to develop it, so the results in question can be expected.
Ronald Millsaps
July 17th, 2011
7:17 pm
“da”– Karma doesn’t exist.
FOX’s coverage of the All-Star Game was expectedly awful. Heath Bell’s interview after his slide was unbelievably indecisive (he asked his teammates if he should slide; he wasn’t going to, but then he saw his teammates move for him and then “kinda had to” and “kinda did”… WHAT???). Tired of hearing about Brian Wilson and the Giants. He, that team, and that city are just weird. I don’t even like giving yet more publicity to those folks by these two sentences, but maybe they’ll offset some of the other publicity.