Braves Win 5-3

After a frustrating loss to the Phillies last night, the Braves recovered today and beat the Phillies 5-3. Last night was one of those "They should of won" games where the Braves had several opportunities to put the game away quickly but didn't. This included two situations with bases loaded and one out. Brian McCann grounded into a double play the first time. Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman struck out for outs two and three the second time. There was a very questionable strike three call that went for a ball as well.

- Jair Jurrjens did his job yet again. He pitched 7.1 innings allowing three hits, two earned runs, walking one and striking out six. He now has five wins, zero loses and a 1.66 ERA to start the season.

- Venters and Kimbrel closed the game out for the final 1.2 innings. Kimbrel got save number nine.

- Martin Prado is definitely player of the week. He was 2-4 with a home run and three RBI today. "Prado has raised his average from .252 to .295 while hitting .386 (22-for-57) this month. In the 22 games the Braves have won this year, Prado has hit .376 (35-for-93) with five homers and 21 RBIs. In their 19 losses, he has hit .205 with one homer and six RBIs." So obviously he is a very important part of the ball club.

- Freddie Freeman collected a couple of hits.

* Tim Hudson will be on the mound tomorrow as the Braves face last years NL Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay. We are going to need an outstanding performance from Hudson in order to have a chance at this one. Just ticks me off that the Braves should of had game one in the bag. They could of finished with another series win regardless of tomorrow's outcome.

The Braves schedule does get easier as they play the Houston Astros followed by the Arizona Diamond Backs after the Phillies series, however, both series are only two games a piece. Winning all four shouldn't be a hard task.

Braves Updates

Going to do a list style here. Sorry for the lack of articles lately.

• Braves barely avoid being swept by the Washington Nationals.

• Braves lose game one of Phillies series. Several runners in a couple of bases loaded opportunities were left stranded in this very frustrating game.
  

• Brandon Beachy heads to the DL with a strained oblique. Replacement is yet to be determined (Minor?).

• Jason Heyward's shoulder is feeling better. Not ready to return full time yet.
  

Braves Lose Two In A Row to Nationals

Boy, do things turn sour quickly in Atlanta.

Errors and blown saves.

Braves Off Day- Phillie Series Catch Up

The Braves have a much needed off day today (Monday) as they head back home to get ready to play the Washington Nationals. The Braves won the series in Philadelphia winning two out of three games. Finally, the Braves look a little more legit, and the best part is that Dan Uggla hasn't even started hitting yet. They get another test as they play the Phillies again starting Friday. This time in Atlanta.

In game two the Phillies returned the favor and shut out the Braves 3-0. Julio Teheran did alright for his first start in the majors. Can't really expect a 20 year old player to throw 9 innings of shut out ball vs. the Phillies in Philadelphia. Either way, it was a good experience for him. I think it's obvious that he is not ready just yet. I hate to say this, but I'm glad he was able to get a start in while the Braves didn't waste one of our regular starters in a game where the offense put up 0 runs.

Game three was good. The Braves beat another good pitcher in Cole Hamels. The final score was 5-2 Braves. Jair Jurrjens keeps on rolling. He threw 6.1 innings and gave up only one run. He is 4-0 to start the season and has a 1.50 ERA. Freddie Freeman might be back on the rise. He was 3-4 with an RBI and two runs. He hit a home run off of Hamels.

* The Braves will play Washington tomorrow with Tim Hudson on the mound. Another complete game shut out for Hudson?

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.”