Atlanta Braves Sunday Report

Okay folks. Every Sunday for the reminder of baseball season I'm gonna give yall my Atlanta Braves report for previous week. I hope yall enjoy.

The week leading up to the All-Star break saw the Braves post a 4-3 record to finish out a 10 game road trip at 6-4.

MONDAY
---at Dodgers
---Loss 8-2
---WP: Joe Beimel (2-1)
---LP: John Smoltz (9-5)

The story of this game was again the lack of run support for John Smoltz. Smoltz lost for the 5th time this season and the Braves in Smoltz's 5 losses have scored a total of 4 runs. For Smoltz it goes down as a loss but it was another quality start by him and with any run support of any kind he could easily be 14-0 this season. But I guess that is the way baseball goes sometimes.

TUESDAY
---at Dodgers
---Loss 7-6
---WP: Rudy Seanez (5-1)
---LP: Wilfredo Ledezma (0-1)
---SV: Takashi Saito (23)

This was a wild game that saw both teams combine for 12 runs in the first 3 innings of the game. Both bullpens then shutdown the opposing team's offenses until the Dodgers scored on a single by OF Matt Kemp in the 7th to give the Dodgers the 7-6 win.

WEDNESDAY
---at Dodgers
---Win 5-2
---WP: Chuck James (8-7)
---LP: Mark Hendrickson (2-4)
---SV: Bob Wickman (15)

This Independance Day win was just what the Braves were looking for to end their 3 game losing streak. Chuck James didn't have his best stuff but managed 5 innings giving up just 1 run on 4 hits on 77 pitches. The Braves offense game courtesy a 2-out 2-rbi single by Chipper Jones in the 5th, Brian McCann's rbi single in the 6th followed by a Yunel Escobar sacrifice fly with an Andruw Jones 7th inning solo shot, his 14th homerun of the season, capping the scoring.

THURSDAY
---at Dodgers
---Win 8-6
---WP: Peter Moylan (3-1)
---LP: Eric Stultz (0-1)
---SV: Bob Wickman (16)

The story of the Braves 8-6 win in this game was Chipper Jones. Chipper Jones hit a solo homerun in the 6th inning to give the Braves a 7-6 lead. For Jones it was career homerun No. 371 tying him with Braves great Dale Murphy for first place on Atlanta's all-time homerun list. But Jones wasn't done. He hit another solo homerun in the 8th inning to cap the scoring. It was homerun No. 372 putting himself above Murphy and all the other Braves greats.

FRIDAY
---at Padres
---Win 7-4
---WP: Buddy Carlyle (3-2)
---LP: Justin Germano (5-3)

Andruw Jones hit a 2-run homerun in the 4th inning and Buddy Carlyle added a go ahead rbi single in the frame and the Braves won 7-4 behind a strong outting from Carlyle. Carlyle pitched a career-high 8 innings and tied a career-high 7 strikeouts to help the Braves win their 3rd straight game.

SATURDAY
---at Padres
---Loss 8-5
---WP: Heath Bell (3-2)
---LP: Tyler Yates (2-1)
---SV: Trevor Hoffman (25)

Padres starter David Wells was ejected in the 4th following a Jeff Francoeur homerun but the Padres rallied late to win 8-5. After Andruw Jones had tied the game at 5 in the top of the 7th with a 2-run 2-out triple the Braves' Tyler Yates battled control issues and the Padres scored 3 runs to take a 8-5 lead and win by the same score.

SUNDAY
---at Padres
---Win 5-4
---WP: Kyle Davies (4-7)
---LP: Greg Maddux (7-6)

Braves starter Kyle Davies outduled future Hall of Famer and former Braves' great Greg Maddux over 6 innings as the Braves won 5-4. Brian McCann hit a 2-run homerun in the 2nd and Kelly Johnson later added a solo homerun in the inning to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. McCann then added a 2-run single in the 6th that chased Maddux from the game. The Padres made it close in the 9th off Braves' closer Bob Wickman but Marcus Giles took a called third strike to end the game.

It was a great week for the Braves considering they were playing the cream of the crop in the National League. They end the week just 2 games behind the Mets in the divison so things are really looking great. The Braves have gotten on a nice roll winning 9 of 13 heading into the break.

John Smoltz will miss the All-Star game Tuesday but is schedule to pitch the 6th game after the break against the Reds on the 18th of July. In his place Jo-Jo Reyes is starting. Reyes showed some good signs Saturday when he made his ML debut. But as the case with any rookie pitcher he had his struggles also. I really like what I saw from the kid and if he keeps learning he could be a staple of the Braves starting rotation for years to come. He will make his 2nd big league start on July 17th against the Reds.

The Braves record at the All-Star break is 47-42. At the break last year they were 40-49.