Hooray for no more 10 PM starts! That needed to be said. The author doesn't care for them whatsoever.
Yesterday's scheduled off-day couldn't have come at a better time for the Braves, who limped home from a disappointing 2-5 west coast road trip having split the LA series and promptly being swept by a San Diego team that, in spite of the results, is still a very mediocre club at best.
There were a few positives to take from the San Diego series. First, Justin Upton seems to be slowly getting back in his groove. Heyward and BJ continued their good work. Freeman is hitting everything right now. Huddy had another solid outing, and in spite of the losses, Teheran and Maholm didn't look that bad.
The Padres found themselves the beneficiaries of some timely hitting and good performances from their starters. Sure, they're not the Cardinals, and they're probably not even the Rockies, but they are a major league team, and over the course of a long season they're bound to get hot and pull a few games out that they may have otherwise lost, all things being equal. It's a frustrating series to lose, but the Braves will get another shot at them when they come to Atlanta in September.
The defending world series champion San Francisco Giants roll into town tonight with a 5-6 record in June and 12 losses in their past 17 road games. They have a (-14) run differential this month, giving up 55 runs while scoring only 41, ten of which came in yesterday's 10-0 blowout of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for Giants fans, they will face Atlanta without some of their key players, including Pablo Sandoval (foot injury), Angel Pagan (hamstring), and most likely Marco Scutaro, who has been diagnosed with something called a "mallet finger", a malady that is a sure frontrunner for coolest-sounding injury in the history of the entire freakin' world. While one might hesitate to think that this Giants team is made of the same substance that the previous world champion teams were made of, the core of those teams is more or less still intact, and just because they've been playing poorly as of late doesn't mean they can't come in and take three.
One more note on the Giants: Brian Stow, the fan that was viciously and senselessly beaten after a game at Dodger Stadium two years ago, finally went home to Santa Cruz, CA today, after splitting time between hospitals and rehab centers. Here's to a long, fulfilling life for Mr. Stow, and swift justice to the unfortunate souls that put him in that position.
Tonight begins an eight-game homestand, with three against SF followed by the rare five-gamer against the Mets (including a double-header next Tuesday). Atlanta owns the best home record in baseball at 21-7, and the pitchers have a sub-two ERA in the last 15 games at Turner Field. Offensively, they have some fairly large splits at home versus the road, including a 20-point delta in OBP (.333 at home versus .313 away) and a 15-point difference in wRC+ (112 at home versus 97 away), just to name a few. Numbers on both sides of the aisle can be expected to regress towards the mean as the season plays out, but having 53 of the final 96 games at home is good news for this team.
Series matchups:
Friday, 7:30 (local broadcast, nationally on MLB Network)
Madison "Mad Bum" Bumgarner v. Kris Medlen
Saturday, 4:05 (local broadcast)
Chad Gaudin v. Mike Minor
Sunday, 8:00 (local broadcast, nationally on ESPN)
Tim Lincecum v. Julio Teheran
Starting lineup for tonight's game:
1. Simmons (sigh)
2. Heyward
3. J Upton
4. Freeman
5. McCann
6. BJ Upton
7. Uggla
8. Johnson
There is increasing clamor to see Simmons bumped down in the order, most recently from Talking Chop's Ben Duronio as well as here. It is rather curious to see him consistently hitting at the top of the order despite his lack of production, especially considering how fluid Fredi has been with BJ, Uggla, Johnson, and others. Maybe he knows where the bodies are buried.
Other notes:
Mark Smith, one of the best Braves writers in the game right now, has a great write-up on FanGraphs about the Rome Braves. It's a must read.
Former Brave and resident Georgite Eric Hinske received a five-game suspension for his role in the LA-Arizona melee. He is planning an appeal to the league.
Third-round pick Carlos Salazar (RHP) signed with the Braves, reportedly for more than the slot recommendation of ~$500K. He joins second-round pick Victor Caratini (C/3B), fourth-round pick Tanner Murphy (C/RHP), and sixth-round pick Stephen Janas (RHP) as the only picks taken within the first ten rounds to sign thus far.
(All relevant info courtesy of FanGraphs, ESPN, MLB.com, and MLBTradeRumors.com)
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