Braves' Diaz at home in Philly

By DAVID O'BRIEN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Philadelphia — Under any circumstances, Matt Diaz enjoys hitting at Citizens Bank Park. But as hot as he is at the plate now, each game in this series must feel like Christmas morning for the streaking Braves right fielder.

“I don’t know any human being that would not like hitting in this park,” Diaz said of Philadelphia’s cozy stadium, where Diaz’s career-first three-double game Friday wasn’t enough to prevent a 4-2 Braves loss in the series opener.

Diaz entered Saturday night’s game with a .354 average, three homers, and a .688 slugging percentage in 17 games at the Philly park.

“It’s kind of like the dimensions of Cincinnati [Great American Ball Park is nicknamed Great American Small Park], with the air flow of [Colorado’s] Coors [Field],” Diaz said.

There aren’t many places Diaz hasn’t hit blazed lately. He was 16-for-26 (.615) in six consecutive multi-hit games before Saturday, and had a .367 average and 1.004 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 46 games since July 1.

His .392 average against lefties was fifth-best in the majors before Saturday.

Tough-luck loss for Hanson

Braves rookie Tommy Hanson was tagged with the loss Friday on his 23rd birthday, while 46-year-old left-hander Jamie Moyer got the win.

Hanson had a four-game winning streak snapped in hard-luck fashion — he was limited to two innings after two lengthy rain delays in the second inning.

“Not the way I wanted the night to go,” said Hanson, who had been excited about his first start against the Phillies. He gave up two hits and one run, on a Ryan Howard homer to the left-field bleachers (the first of two Howard homers).

“Tommy had his best stuff of the season, I thought,” said manager Bobby Cox, who was disappointed the game was restarted after the first delay and stopped again seven minutes later.

“He was ready,” Cox said. “His mentality is a little different than some kids.”

Hanson came back after the first, 63-minute delay and struck out two of the next three batters to end the inning just before a second delay. The Braves weren’t about to let him come back again after cooling down a second time.

“Definitely not how I wanted the night to turn out,” Hanson said.

Howard’s first homer gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead it never relinquished, so Hanson (9-3) got the loss. Moyer worked 4-1/3 innings for his 258th win, moving to 2-0 with a 0.87 ERA in two relief appearances since losing his starting job.