A Braves perspective from all the way out in the Hawaiian Islands.
The Time Is Now
Posted 05-30-2010 at 06:31 AM by BarveFanHawaii
First of all, I'd like to leave a few pieces of my lemon chicken as a sacrifice to the great Jobu and a Nature Valley Oats 'N Honey granola bar as an offering to the baseball gods for what I'm about to do.
I'm going to do a tad bit of looking past our current opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and talk about a big time series at Turner Field against the NL East leading Philadelphia Phillies.
It's not that I do not respect the Pirates (very few people do, anyway) as I believe they have some nice young talent to build around for the future. They are loaded with potential and they've shown flashes of it from time to time over the weekend series thus far. However, there has been no bigger matchup to date during the 2010 season as there will be beginning on Monday.
Even if Jobu and the baseball gods decide to spite the Braves for my blasphemous foresight, the worst case scenario will have us heading into Monday's series opener with the Phillies at least 2.5 games out of first place in the NL East...or better yet, 0.5 a game out of first. (Go Anibal Sanchez!)
It did get me thinking, though. If there were ever a time to slap the Phillies down and smite their crippled bodies down in ruin, it would be now.
In 6 previous meetings this seasons, the Braves have struggled mightily against the Phillies starting pitching, leading to an overall record of 2-4; which one of the two wins was a game we stole right out from under their noses on a blown save by Ryan Madson and the infamous silent treatment walk-off for Nate McLouth.
The problem in those 6 games was ultimately the offense for Atlanta. In the 6 games, the Phillies starters were able to carve the Braves lineup up and down and limit the usage of their suspect bullpen. They totaled 43 IP while only allowing 28 hits and issuing 11 walks; a WHIP of 0.91. In those 43 innings they allowed 6 earned runs (all of which came in two games) for an ERA of 1.26.
Things have changed since our first two confrontations. Bobby Cox has shaken up the lineup and moved Prado into the leadoff spot and placed Jason Heyward behind him. With this new setup, the Braves have taken off as of late and are on a roll as a whole and clicking on nearly all cylinders.
The Phillies, however, are coming off somewhat of a cold streak. They have won two straight before Sunday's finale, including Roy Halladay's perfect game (congratulations to Roy, even though I hope he never does it again as a Phillie) but they are also coming off a 3-game set against the New York Mets in which they were held scoreless by the likes of R.A. Dickey, Hisanori Takahashi, Mike Pelfrey and the suspect Mets bullpen. With no offense directed towards Mr. Dickey, Hisanori-san and Mikey P...they aren't exactly the who's who of pitchers who should be tossing consecutive shutouts, you know?
So I say again. The time is now. To make a statement. To show them we've got our swagger back. To show the league who the team to beat is. We were a better team than they pushed around earlier in the seasons. They're surely a better team than they've showed lately. But in a series in which we'll miss Roy Halladay and Jamie Moyer (a guy who has completely baffled us this season) and get to face two guys who didn't shutout our hapless lineup earlier this season and a guy we've historically owned...we should be able to show them a little bit of what we're all about.
Make me...check that...make us proud, Atlanta Braves.
Go Braves.
Or...as the growing superstition goes...Go Barves.
I'm going to do a tad bit of looking past our current opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and talk about a big time series at Turner Field against the NL East leading Philadelphia Phillies.
It's not that I do not respect the Pirates (very few people do, anyway) as I believe they have some nice young talent to build around for the future. They are loaded with potential and they've shown flashes of it from time to time over the weekend series thus far. However, there has been no bigger matchup to date during the 2010 season as there will be beginning on Monday.
Even if Jobu and the baseball gods decide to spite the Braves for my blasphemous foresight, the worst case scenario will have us heading into Monday's series opener with the Phillies at least 2.5 games out of first place in the NL East...or better yet, 0.5 a game out of first. (Go Anibal Sanchez!)
It did get me thinking, though. If there were ever a time to slap the Phillies down and smite their crippled bodies down in ruin, it would be now.
In 6 previous meetings this seasons, the Braves have struggled mightily against the Phillies starting pitching, leading to an overall record of 2-4; which one of the two wins was a game we stole right out from under their noses on a blown save by Ryan Madson and the infamous silent treatment walk-off for Nate McLouth.
The problem in those 6 games was ultimately the offense for Atlanta. In the 6 games, the Phillies starters were able to carve the Braves lineup up and down and limit the usage of their suspect bullpen. They totaled 43 IP while only allowing 28 hits and issuing 11 walks; a WHIP of 0.91. In those 43 innings they allowed 6 earned runs (all of which came in two games) for an ERA of 1.26.
Things have changed since our first two confrontations. Bobby Cox has shaken up the lineup and moved Prado into the leadoff spot and placed Jason Heyward behind him. With this new setup, the Braves have taken off as of late and are on a roll as a whole and clicking on nearly all cylinders.
The Phillies, however, are coming off somewhat of a cold streak. They have won two straight before Sunday's finale, including Roy Halladay's perfect game (congratulations to Roy, even though I hope he never does it again as a Phillie) but they are also coming off a 3-game set against the New York Mets in which they were held scoreless by the likes of R.A. Dickey, Hisanori Takahashi, Mike Pelfrey and the suspect Mets bullpen. With no offense directed towards Mr. Dickey, Hisanori-san and Mikey P...they aren't exactly the who's who of pitchers who should be tossing consecutive shutouts, you know?
So I say again. The time is now. To make a statement. To show them we've got our swagger back. To show the league who the team to beat is. We were a better team than they pushed around earlier in the seasons. They're surely a better team than they've showed lately. But in a series in which we'll miss Roy Halladay and Jamie Moyer (a guy who has completely baffled us this season) and get to face two guys who didn't shutout our hapless lineup earlier this season and a guy we've historically owned...we should be able to show them a little bit of what we're all about.
Make me...check that...make us proud, Atlanta Braves.
Go Braves.
Or...as the growing superstition goes...Go Barves.
Total Comments 0
