The week ahead: Back to the future. After hosting San Francisco and St. Louis last week, the Braves visit both cities in their first western trip of the year. Neither destination has been particularly profitable over the past five seasons. Since 2010, the Braves are have gone 7-10 at AT&T Park, where they open a three-game series on Monday, and 6-10 at Busch Stadium, where they play over the weekend having lost 10 of their past 13 games there. The team is off on Thursday.
Best pitching matchup: Julio Teheran said he had all his pitches working last Saturday when he faced the Giants in Atlanta. He gave up just four hits and struck out seven in seven innings. Problem: Three of those hits were home runs (Brandon Belt, Buster Posey and Michael Morse). He lost 3-1. Teheran had never given up three homers in a game before. Wednesday night in San Francisco, he gets a second chance. He faces left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who yielded just one unearned run in beating the Braves 4-1 last Sunday. Atlanta has scored just one earned run against Bumgarner in the last three times they've faced him, losing all three.
Who's hot: The Giants' rotation contributed plenty to the Braves' losing streak. In their three wins last weekend, Giants starters allowed just two earned runs in 18 innings (1.00 ERA). Against the rest of the league, San Francisco starters entered the weekend with a 4.15 ERA. … Posey went 4-for-11 against the Braves last weekend, boosting his career average against them to .341 with 18 RBIs in 23 career games. … St. Louis SS Jhonny Peralta entered the weekend on a six-game hitting streak (.375 with a homer). … Cards 1B Matt Adams and OF Matt Holliday were both hitting .353 (7-for-22) when their current road trip led them to Pittsburgh.
Who's not: Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval (.174) is having a dismal spring, with four hits in his past 26 at bats and no RBIs in his last 17 games. … Ex-Brave Gergor Blanco, a .252 hitter in his two Atlanta seasons, is batting just .108 with two hits in his last 25 at-bats. He is being used almost exclusively as a late-inning defensive substitute. … St. Louis RF Allen Craig, coming off a .315 season, entered the weekend hitting only .202, riding a 2-for-20 slide. … The Cardinals entered the weekend with just 21 home runs, ranking them 26th among 30 major league teams.
Notes: In a scheduling rarity — at least for a trip that doesn't include Chicago — the Braves will play three day games during their six-game excursion. Entering the weekend, their record in day games was 5-5 while they were three games over .500 (13-10) at night. … As was the case when the Giants were in Atlanta last weekend, the Braves will not face former teammate Tim Hudson (4-2, 1.99) during their visit to San Francisco. … Since the Cardinals moved in new Busch Stadium in 2006, the Braves have won 11 of 26 games in St. Louis. … The Braves will not play the Cards or Giants again during the regular season. … Following their return to Turner Field on May 19, the Braves will close out May with 11 of 13 games at home.
