Atlanta Braves Sunday Report

Well I don't think the season could have started off any worst for the Braves as they were swept by the Mets in New York. The story of each game was the Braves lack of offense which continued a trend from last September's collapse. The Braves totaled just 7 runs and 14 hits in the 3-game series but the underlying numbers were ugly. The Braves were a dismal 0-for-6 with 7 LOB in game 1. In game 2 they were 0-for-4 with 7 LOB and in game 3 they were 1-for-4 with RISP with 3 LOB. Those kinds of numbers aren't going to win very many games.

THURSDAY
---Mets
---Loss 1-0
---WP: Ramon Ramirez (1-0)
---LP: Tommy Hanson (0-1)
---S: Frank Francisco (1)

The Braves opened the season with a tough luck 1-0 loss. It goes down as the first 1-0 loss in a season opener in Atlanta Braves history. Tommy Hanson pitched well as he cruised through 5 innings before running into trouble in the 6th inning. After a leadoff walk Hanson gave up back-to-back singles including a RBI single to David Wright to give the Mets the 1-0 lead that would stand up. Johan Santana went 5 innings getting out of a 2-out bases loaded jam in the 5th inning by striking out Michael Bourn to end the inning. Braves rookie Tyler Pastornicky hit a triple in the 7th inning for his first ML hit. The Braves finished with a lousy 4 hits.

SATURDAY
---Mets
---Loss 4-2
---WP: R.A. Dickey (1-0)
---LP: Jair Jurrjens (0-1)
---S: Frank Francisco (2)

On Saturday it was more of the same for the Braves as the offense struggled to get anything going against the knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Dickey's only mistake of the game came in the 5th inning when with 2-outs he walked Michael Bourn and then Martin Prado hit a screaming 2-run homerun down the left-field line just inside the foul pole. It briefly tied the game before the Mets reclaimed the lead 3-2 in the bottom of the 5th. The Mets hit 3 solo homeruns, 1 for David Wright and 2 for Lucas Duda. For Duda it was his first career multi-homerun game. Jair Jurrjens struggled with his command in the strike zone and failed to make it out of the 5th inning before running up a pitch count over 100 pitches. Jurrjens final line was 4 1/3 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs (all earned), 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. Jason Heyward looked good as he had 2 walks and a triple in 4 plate appearances. Juan Francisco in his Braves debut was 0-4 but hit 2 liners that were caught. Freddie Freeman had 2 singles.

SUNDAY
---Mets
---Loss 7-5
---WP: Jonathon Niese (1-0)
---LP: Mike Minor (0-1)
---S: Frank Francisco (3)

Sunday was an up and down game for the Braves. The good was the Braves took advantage of a huge error by Mets outfielder Lucas Duda and turned that into a 4-run 7th inning. The bad was that the Braves managed just 3 hits in scoring 5 runs. The good was that Mike Minor for 4 2/3 innings was really, really good. The bad was he gave up a 2-out single to opposing pitcher Jonathon Niese and then the wheels just fell off as the Mets ended up scoring 2 runs in the 5th inning to make it 4-0 at the time. Minor then returned to the hill to start the 6th inning and didn't record an out as the Mets scored 3 more runs to take a 7-0 lead. Minor was eventually charged with giving up 6 runs (all earned) on 6 hits in 5 innings with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts.

The upcoming schedule sees the Braves taking on the Astros and then returning home as the Brewers come into town on Friday.

GAME 1 - MONDAY APRIL 9TH - 8:05 PM - FOX SPORTS SOUTH
Brandon Beachy vs. J.A. Happ

GAME 2 - TUESDAY APRIL 10TH - 8:05 PM - FOX SPORTS SOUTH
Tommy Hanson vs. Kyle Weiland

GAME 3 - WEDNESDAY APRIL 11TH - 8:05 PM - FOX SPORTS SOUTH
Randall Delgado vs. Wandy Rodriguez

GAME 1 - FRIDAY APRIL 13TH - 7:35 PM - PEACHTREE TV, FOX SPORTS SOUTH
Randy Wolf vs. Jair Jurrjens

GAME 2 - SATURDAY APRIL 14TH - 7:10 PM - PEACHTREE TV, FOX SPORTS SOUTH
Shaun Marcum vs. Mike Minor

GAME 3 - SUNDAY APRIL 15TH - 1:35 PM - SPORTSSOUTH
Chris Narveson vs. Brandon Beachy

Atlanta Braves Sunday Report

This week started off bad as the Braves were swept by the Reds. The Mets lost 2 of 3 to the Padres so the Braves were only 2 1/2 games behind the Mets at mid-week. The 2nd half of the week was great. The Braves signed Julio Franco from the Mets and he made an instant impact. The Braves finished the week 1-3.

MONDAY

---Reds

---Loss 10-3

---WP: Bobby Livingston (2-0)

---LP: Kyle Davies (4-8)

Kyle Davies started for the Braves and faced 5 batters without recording an out before being lifted by manager Bobby Cox. Davies gave up 2 runs, 2 hits, 3 walks and left the bases loaded while he was in the game. Ken Griffey Jr. added a 3-run homerun in the 2nd inning off the Braves' Oscar Villarreal to make it 5-0 Reds at that point. For Griffey it was career homerun number 587 breaking a tie he held with Frank Robinson. The only Braves offense came from Andruw Jones who had all 3 RBIs.

TUESDAY

---Reds
---Loss 6-5
---WP: Bronson Arroyo (4-10)
---LP: Jo-Jo Reyes (0-1)

Jo-Jo Reyes pitched very well in only his 2nd career start and held the Reds scoreless for 4 2/3 innings. In 6 1/3 innings pitched he gave up only 2 runs on 8 hits. He was later charged with 2 additional runs when Peter Moylan came in in the 7th and allowed 4 runs. The Braves made a comeback in the 8th when Andruw Jones hit a 2-run homerun and Kelly Johnson had a 2-run triple. Chipper Jones added a run scoring single in the 9th but the Braves comeback fell short as they lost 6-5.

WEDNESDAY

---Reds
---Loss 5-4
---WP: Mike Gosling (1-0)
---LP: Jose Ascanio (0-1)

This was a wild game. John Smoltz made his return from the DL and was just unhittable. He pitched 7 shutout innings while recording 11 strikeouts. Those 11 strikeouts were his most in over 2 years. This was a back and forth game as the Braves scored in the 7th to take a 1-0 lead and give Smoltz a chance for his 10th win of the season. That went out the window when Rafael Soriano gave up a 2-out 2-run homerun to Adam Dunn. The Braves tied it at 2 in the bottom of the 8th on a sac fly by Jeff Francoeur. The game then went to extras. The Reds took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 10th on a Scott Hatteberg RBI single off Tyler Yates. Chipper Jones, following a leadoff single by Edgar Renteria, hit a game tying double. After a Jones stolen base and a walk to Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur came up with a chance to win the game. The Reds then called in centerfielder Ryan Freel to play right on top of the 2nd base bag so the infielders could play their normal defensive positions. It worked as Francoeur hit a screaming liner that was caught by a leaping Brandon Phillips who then doubled off Chipper Jones at 3rd to end the inning. Phillips than won the game for the Reds in the 15th with a 2-out, 2-run single to give the Reds a 5-3 lead. The Braves scored a run in the bottom of the inning but fell short losing 5-4 in 15 innings.

THURSDAY

---Cardinals
---Win 10-1
---WP: Tim Hudson (10-5)
---LP: Mike Maroth (0-3)

Andruw Jones got the scoring going early with a 1st inning 2-run homerun off Cards' starter Mike Maroth. The Braves added a single run in the 2nd on a homerun by Matt Diaz than with 2 out in the 4 the Braves scored 5 runs to take a 10-0 lead. The highlight of the inning was Julio Franco, who was starting in his 1st game back with the Braves, capping the inning with a 2-run single.

FRIDAY

---Cardinals

---Loss 4-1

---WP: Adam Wainwright (9-7)

---LP: Rafael Soriano (2-2)