CHICAGO – For the first half of the Braves' season, the pitchers needed to be nearly flawless many nights to make up for an under-performing offense.
However, that hasn’t been the formula since the All-Star break. Braves starting pitching hasn’t been as strong as it was in the opening half, but the bullpen has remained dominant while the offense has gone from one of the league’s worst to one of its best.
"Pitching really picked us up the first half," said second baseman Dan Uggla, who's led the second-half offensive resurgence. "That's baseball. Look at the pitching that we were facing the first half. We just managed to score enough to win ballgames.
“The way that we’re going now is the way we envisioned.”
Braves starting pitchers have seen their ERA climb by more than a run since the All-Star break, primarily because of struggles by first-half aces Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens.
Braves starters were 14-11 with a 4.25 ERA in 36 starts since the break before Monday night’s series opener against the Cubs. In 92 starts before the All-Star break, they were 39-25 with a 3.23 ERA.
Improved hitting has made up the difference. Before the break, the Braves hit .237 -- 14th in the 16-team National League -- and had a .305 on-base percentage that put them ahead of only San Diego (.300).
They had hit .273 since the break, tied with Colorado and Milwaukee for first in the NL, before Monday. The Braves were fourth in the league with a .333 post-break OBP.
After ranking fourth in the NL with 97 homers before the break, they've led the league with 45 since.
Newcomers Jose Constanza and Michael Bourn helped raise the Braves' OBP and stolen-base totals in recent weeks, while Chipper Jones' hot streak boosted the power component that was handled mainly by by Brian McCann, Freddie Freeman and Uggla in the first half.
"Everybody's stepped it up," Uggla said. "Constanza, Bourn, Mac. Chipper's been raking. Freddie. [Jason] Heyward's been swinging a lot better. [Martin] Prado. It's really coming from everybody."
That's especially true of Uggla, who had exactly the same number of hits (55) in his past 41 games before Monday as he had in his first 86 during a career-worst first half.
He's hit .350 with 17 homers, 36 RBIs and a 1.136 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 41 games since July 5, the day he began an Atlanta Braves record 33-game hitting streak. In 86 games through July 4, he hit .173 with 12 homers, 29 RBIs and a .568 OPS.
Hanson keeps it brief
Hanson said his shoulder felt fine when he threw nine pitches in the bullpen on Monday at Wrigley Field. It was the right-hander’s first time on the mound in 16 days.
He’s on the disabled list with shoulder tendinitis and tentatively scheduled to make a rehabilitation start Saturday for Triple-A Gwinnett.
Hanson’s full side session on Tuesday could determine whether he’s ready to make a rehab start.
“I just threw a short one today,” he said on Monday. “I felt fine. It was all right. I just wanted to get on the mound and try to get my arm back in shape. That’s part of the process of being able to get back and be able to pitch in games."
He last pitched Aug. 6 at New York, where he gave up a career-high four homers and seven runs in 3-1/3 innings.That dropped him to 1-3 with an 8.10 ERA and .313 opponents’ average in five starts since the All-Star break. Hanson was 10-4 with a 2.44 ERA and .190 OA before the break.
He had an MRI a few days after the New York start that ruled out structural damage, and then received his second cortisone shot in two months for tendinitis.
In his absence, rookies Mike Minor and Randall Delgado have been impressive. Minor will continue in Hanson's rotation spot for at least another start or two.
“Everybody’s been throwing well, so it’s not like there’s a rush for me,” Hanson said. “Obviously I want to get back out there as soon as possible. I’m tired of sitting around. But as far as the team standpoint, there’s no rush for me to get back out there. Mike’s been pitching good. Everybody that comes up has been pitching good. ... But I am itching to get back out there. I’m tired of sitting around.”
Moylan begins rehab
Pitching in his first game in more than four months, reliever Peter Moylan worked an inning for Triple-A Gwinnett on Monday night and had no problems with his surgically repaired back.
The Aussie sidearmer allowed a hit and a walk with a strikeout in the first inning of Gwinnett’s game against Charlotte.
Asked by text message how he felt afterward, Moylan replied, “Good, man. Got ahead of hitters, but the slider was [bad].”
The Braves expect to activate Moylan when the major league roster is expanded Sept. 1.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez said the Braves would probably add about seven to the roster, including top pitching prospects Julio Teheran and Delgado from Gwinnett, and a third catcher, likely J.C. Boscan.
