Braves Shut Out Phillies - Julio Teheran Debut Saturday

A wonderful game this was, shutting out the Phillies in Philadelphia. The Braves got the best of Cliff Lee again, even though Lee had a whopping 16 strikeouts in seven innings.

- Derek Lowe did pretty well. If we needed him to pitch a good game this was a game to do it in. He still seems to have trouble going to at least seven innings, but I'll gladly take the six scoreless innings, two hits, one walk and four strikeout performance from him.

- The best of the bullpen came out to finish the game. I would have to give Eric O'Flaherty MVP of the game. He came in after Derek Lowe was pulled with a runner on second and third with no outs. What does he do? He strikes out the next three batters!

- Jonny Venters is great. Pitched a scoreless 8th with two strike outs.

- Craig Kimbrel came in the game to finish the 9th. I was surprised considering the five run lead. Perhaps Fredi Gonzalez wanted to preserve the shut out. Kimbrel seems to pitch better one he makes regular appearances I think.

- The Braves put together a nice string of hits to score three runs off Lee. Alex Gonzalez started with a double that was nearly a home run. Gonzalez scored on a Chipper Jones line drive that was nearly caught by SS Jimmy Rollins but tipped over his glove. Brian McCann hit a double that scored Chipper from first (Chipper can still run). Uggla hit a double that scored McCann. It was rather nice to see.

- Jason Heyward had the day off, but came in to pinch hit. He got a base hit and then later scored a run.

- Freddie Freeman was 0-4. I'm getting concerned about him now that he is only batting .217 so far this year. Its three points better than Uggla's average though!

* The Braves played a double header on Wednesday and the Braves want the starters to get the regular five days rest. So to make that happen, Braves top pitching prospect Julio Teheran will be making his major league debut tomorrow (Saturday). This is quite a situation for a 20 year old pitcher who has never pitched in a big league game. Starting in front of a rough sell out crowd in Philadelphia vs. the Phillies isn't going to be easy.

Here is a nice review of Teheran by a baseball scout on baseball prospectus.

"In five starts this year for Triple-A Gwinnett, Teheran has a 1.80 ERA while allowing 25 hits over 30 innings, walking eight and striking out 25. After struggling with his command in an ugly second start, he has been a strike-throwing machine, walking two over 20 1/3 innings in his last three outings while averaging a highly efficient 13.3 pitches per frame."

A scout currently in his fourth decade of evaluating players was gushing over Teheran today. “I've never put a higher grade on a 20-year-old pitcher in my career.” Going deeper into Teheran's arsenal explains why. “He was 92-96 for me while averaging 95, and the pitch is hitter-untrackable, as he hides his arm behind his back and it explodes on hitters. That combination of arm velocity and deceptive velocity is a rare and beautiful thing.”

“There's power, there's touch and feel, and there's mound presence well beyond his 20 years,” the scout concluded. “He's going to be a number-one starter on a championship-level team.”