Kawakami, Braves unravel against Padres

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Braves’ plans for a big homestand have fizzled, and they face the dispiriting possibility of being swept by the last-place San Diego Padres and having their postseason chances diminished.

They got hammered 12-5 by the Padres on Wednesday night before a sparse crowd at Turner Field, where they demonstrated how not to push for a playoff berth.

Brian McCann’s three-run homer in the first provided a 3-0 lead that stood through five, but it unraveled on Kenshin Kawakami (6-10) and the Braves in a ragged, six-run sixth that sent San Diego to its second win in as many nights.

“Pretty helpless feeling,” Chipper Jones said of the sixth, when the Padres got seven hits against Kawakami and Eric O’Flaherty. “You play a game hard, and you just don’t show up for one inning. It kind of snowballed from there. ...

“We didn’t make pitches, and we didn’t make plays.”

The Braves are 2-3 on this six-game homestand. They fell behind Florida to third in the National League East and fourth in the NL wild-card standings, eight games behind division leader Philadelphia and 5-1/2 games behind wild-card leader Colorado.

“I’m well aware of [playoff-race implications], and that’s the reason it’s disappointing that I wasn’t able to perform,” Kawakami said through an interpreter. He was charged with four runs and seven hits in 5-1/3 innings.

The Braves must win Thursday night against the Padres just to avoid being swept by a team that came to town 22-1/2 games out of first in the NL West.

“Listen, anybody can beat anybody,” said manager Bobby Cox, when asked about losing these back-to-back games. “Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia last night without any of their [Pirates] regulars and almost beat them again tonight.”

Before this series, the Braves had won eight consecutive series and 19 of 25 games in four seasons against the Padres. But for two nights they’ve been out-played by a rebuilding San Diego team with nothing to play for but the future.

O’Flaherty said it had nothing to do with the pressure of a playoff race.

“I don’t think the pressure of playing this time of year gets to anybody here, especially against a team like that,” said the left-hander, who was charged with three hits, two runs and one out while recording just one out in the sixth.

“If anybody, we might have let up a little bit, maybe lost focus.”

Jones did not agree with that assessment. At all.

“We didn’t lose any focus through six innings,” Jones said. “Position players didn’t lose any focus. We didn’t lose any focus last night [in a 2-1, 12-inning loss Tuesday]. We battled our tails off.

“I don’t think ... .” The veteran paused. “Nevermind.”

Padres right-hander Tim Stauffer (2-6) worked five innings and didn’t give a run after McCann’s homer. He was 0-4 with a 5.40 ERA in his past four starts.

Jones, whom the Braves have always been able to count on to carry them for long stretches, went hitless and is mired in 1-for-32 skid with one RBI in 10 games. He has hit .237 in his past 63 games, after hitting .335 in his first 48.

Kawakami flirted with danger in the first, but escaped after loading the bases with no outs. He also stranded two runners in the second, beginning a stretch in which he retired 10 consecutive batters, protecting the 3-0 lead.

Then things turned ugly in the sixth. Cox said he thought Kawakami might have been tired after working so hard in the first two innings. Kawakami said not.

“I should have approached some batters differently” the third time he faced them, he said.

After Adrian Gonzalez doubled to lead off the sixth, Chase Headley singled, and Will Venable hit an RBI double that popped out of right fielder Matt Diaz’s glove at the wall.

A groundout drove in the second run, then Nick Hundley hit a game-tying double.

O’Flaherty relieved Kawakami, and the hitting continued. On a Luis Rodriguez single to center, Ryan Church made a strong, but low, throw to the plate that McCann mishandled. Two runs scored on the play, the second after the ball squirted out of McCann’s glove.