At the ballpark
The Braves shuttle provided by MARTA will operate from the West End station beginning Monday and continuing for the rest of the season. The shuttle previously left from Five Points Station, which is two stops south of Five Points on MARTA’s Red/Gold train line.
The shuttle will pick up and drop off customers at the north end of the West End Station, located at 60 Lee St. SW. It operates starting 90 minutes before each Braves game and runs throughout the game until one hour after the final out.
For more information on the West End Station go to: www.itsmarta.com.
Braves flashback
Chipper Jones turned 42 on Friday, the day before the birthday of another Braves great, the late Warren Spahn, who was born in 1921. The Post Game blog wished the Hall of Fame left-hander a happy birthday and noted all of his accomplishments:
“Spahn won 20 or more games in 13 of his 21 seasons, leading to his 363 wins. That number ranks sixth all-time.
“He spent 19 seasons with the Braves franchise, both in Boston and Milwaukee. He went 1-1 in the 1957 World Series, which the Braves won in seven games.
“Spahn threw two no-hitters at the ages of 39 and 40, respectively, and made 14 All-Star games.”
Opposing view
The Braves headed to Philadelphia for a weekend series after being swept by the Mets, but it could be worse. They could be the Phillies.
In his series preview, CSNPhilly.com write Corey Seidman details Philadelphia’s issues:
“The Phillies enter the weekend with the fewest runs scored in baseball, the most errors committed in baseball, and the most walks of any pitching staff in the National League.
“So, really, they can only improve moving forward.
“The defense has been a major issue through 16 games. In my opinion, it’s more of a short-term concern than the offense because this is a team that cannot consistently bunch runs together and will therefore need to play clean games to win.
“Aside from Freddy Galvis, who has soft hands and is capable of making fantastic plays at shortstop, the Phillies don’t have a strong defender anywhere else on the diamond. Maybe Jeff Francouer in right field, who has decent range and a top-notch arm.
“But the Phils are weak defensively at both infield corners, they have an inexperienced center fielder in Odubel Herrera and an increasingly mistake-prone second baseman in Chase Utley.
“The Phillies need to do a better job supporting their pitchers on both sides of the ball. If they don’t improve and improve soon, there will be no limit to how many losses they can pile up.”
By the numbers
11.19
Career plate appearances per strikeout for Braves third baseman Alberto Callaspo entering Thursday’s games. Callaspo is the active leader in the majors ahead of Yadier Molina (10.78 entering Thursday), Dustin Pedroia (10.66), Ichiro Suzuki (10.24) and Albert Pujols (10.17).
