AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 17
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Braves playing spoiler - in reverse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Something tells me there aren’t many Mets fans sneaking onto this blog at the moment. Am I right?
Guess the Braves are playing spoiler in reverse. OK, fine, not that they would ever be happy about losing to the Phillies, and watching the Phils take over first place in the NL East again, but geez, they’ve got to be getting fairly used to it by now.
The Phillies are 11-2 against the Braves this season. Four of the games in the series have been decided by one-run - including last night’s 8-7 Phillies win - and surprise of all surprises, the Phillies have won all four of those.
So if the Braves win those four games, they’d be down only 7-6 in this season series. But the numbers won’t let those one-run games fool you either. The Phillies have been dominant against the Braves this season, no way around it. I give you Exhibits A, B and C:
• Runs: Phillies 83, Braves 61
• Batting average: Phillies .314, Braves .252
• Home runs: Phillies 25, Braves 13
• ERA: Phillies 3.81, Braves 6.47
• Saves: Phillies 7, Braves 1
And the Phillies come in hot, winning five in a row through last night and 8 of their last 11. Should we re-document this for the Mets faithful? The Phillies have gone from 3 ½ games back to first place in less than a week.
So is this Phillies team just that much better than the Braves? Or is there some mojo at work, the kind teams sometimes get against another team during the course of a season. The Braves seem to have a little of that against the Mets this year. Nothing like in, say ’99, but to some degree.
The Braves have a chance to put that to the test again and do some spoiling for real when the Mets come to town this weekend. It’s the last three games at Turner Field of the year. Are you coming out?
By the way, I’d say the Nationals are pretty good at this spoiler business - a sweep of the Dodgers Aug. 26-28, taking two of three from the Phillies Sept. 1-3, and now winning the first two in a four-game series with the Mets, including last night by 1-0 shutout. They’re trying to mess things up.
ROOKIE RECORD: Jair Jurrjens, who takes the mound tonight, needs two wins in his last three starts to match the Atlanta record for wins by a rookie pitcher. (And hey, why not, three wins in three starts and he breaks it.)
Craig McMurtry won 15 in 1983. Jurrjens leads all major league rookie pitchers with 13 wins. He’s won two of his last three starts and he’s coming off the 10-strikeout night against the Rockies.
Jurrjens is 1-1 in two starts this year vs. the Phillies. Remember his eight innings of shutout ball in Philly on July 25? The night before the world began to cave in? That’s what Jurrjens is capable of doing against this team, and he’s not pitching in a band box this time.
Of course, he’s not as charmed a pitcher at Turner Field as he was to start the season. Jurrjens went 5-0 with a 2.48 ERA in his first eight starts at Turner Field. Since then he’s gone 2-4 with a 5.44 ERA in his last seven starts at home.
And wouldn’t you know the turning point in that tide was a July 3 4-1 loss to the Phillies at Turner Field? See, you can’t make this stuff up.
Jurrjens did say after his last start against the Rockies, he’d made some adjustments in his workout routine to keep a little more life on his pitches over this last month. He said he was throwing less between starts and had cut out lower body workouts, which was helping keep his legs fresh.
His fastball was lively last Thursday - Bobby Cox said he saw it up to 95 mph. He could use a good one tonight.
RAYS WIN, RAYS WIN?: A source very near and dear to my heart tells me that a Tampa Rays announcer has been ripping off Skip Caray, using “Rays win, Rays win, Rays win.”
I heard it for myself on Sports Center with the “Pump up the Volume” call from the Rays’ 2-1 win over the Red Sox last night. Not too long (though not immediately) after a walk-off hit by Dioner Navarro, Dave Wills breaks into “Rays win, Rays win, Rays win.”
What do we say here folks, sincere form of flattery? Or does the guy need to come up with his own gig?
Speaking of Skip, there’s still time to vote on the Ford C. Frick award for Skip or Pete or Ernie Johnson. You’ve got until Sept. 30 to do it. Go to baseballhalloffame.org. Top three vote-getters will be on the ballot for consideration by the selection committee.
LEAVING LAS VEGAS: Ah, just read that the winter meetings are in Las Vegas this year. Funny, I guess some sports writers will be combining their vacations and their work come early December. Maybe tell a few white lies about how long the winter meetings actually last?
