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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Braves’ big win offers hope for second half
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I hate West Coast trips.
Because I have to be at work at 7 a.m., I fell asleep with the game on while the Braves were still being no-hit by Chad Billingsley. Boy, was I surprised this morning to see what I missed.
After enduring all the recent frustration at the plate (they’d been shut out in their previous 23 innings on the road), it would have been nice to enjoy last night’s offensive explosion. Even Jeff Francoeur got in on the fun with a well-timed single — not to mention the great throw that doubled up Andre Ethier at first base in the third.
If you missed the fireworks, too, here’s Dave O’Brien’s game story and the highlights from the boxscore:
• Brian McCann went 2-for-4, blasting two home runs.
• Mark Kotsay went 3-for-4 and scored twice.
• Kelly Johnson went 2-for-5 and scored three times.
• Gregor Blanco went 1-for-3 with two walks. By the way, the leadoff man’s OBP is .369, third on the team behind Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira.
Strangely enough, Chipper’s bat was quiet during all this — he took an 0-for-4 collar, striking out three times.
Judging from some of yesterday’s posts to this blog, a lot of you have given up on this season, and I can understand why. But McCann, for one, thinks last night’s 9-3 win is a sign of good things to come.
He told O’Brien, “I think we’re in a good state right now. Everybody’s back healthy. This is our lineup, this is the lineup we broke spring training with. So we’re all excited.”
I was trying to stop scoreboard-watching until they got back to .500, but that’s not going to happen. So now they’re five games out of first (and 3 1/2 behind the Mets and Marlins) with four games left before the All-Star break — tonight’s rubber game in L.A., followed by three in San Diego.
If this is an indication of what the lineup is capable of when it’s healthy — and the pitching continues to hold up — there’s good reason to have hope for the second half of the season. So I’m not giving up on them. Call me a delusional fan, but I think we might yet get to see what this Braves team can really do.
Upcoming TV Schedule
Wednesday: vs. Dodgers, 10:10, FSN South
Thursday: Off-day
Friday: vs. Padres, 10:05, SportSouth
Saturday: vs. Padres, 10:05, SportSouth
Sunday: vs. Padres, 4:05, SportSouth
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