Derek Lowe has given up only three runs in his past two starts and lost both of them. The Braves have been shut out in each of Lowe's past two starts -- by Yovani Gallardo on Tuesday in Milwaukee and Cole Hamels and two Phillies relievers on Sunday.
Just when Lowe has done some of his best work as a Brave, the run support he received early in his tenure here seems to have vanished. Sunday’s loss dropped him to 1-2 despite a 1.45 ERA. He has quality starts in each of his last two outings. He's not using that as consolation, though.
“I don’t believe in quality-start stats,” Lowe said. “You either win or you lose and that’s it. I don’t take small victories out of this game. Back-to-back games where I got outpitched; you just try to go out there Friday night and do better.”
He was referring to his next start against the Mets.
Lowe's biggest regret Sunday was a 2-2 fastball to Shane Victorino, who homered to right field to put the Phillies up 2-0. With the way Hamels was pitching, the deficit loomed large at that point.
“We tried a different tactic over the last at-bat,” said Lowe, who’d given up singles to Victorino in each of his first two at-bats. “It was a good game plan, terrible execution. Everyone knows he likes the ball inside, and I was trying to throw it away and it went inside.”
Uggla’s good glove
In his first 10 games as a Brave, fans have seen second baseman Dan Uggla tumble into shallow center field making an over-the-shoulder catch.
He's barehanded a throw from Alex Gonzalez to complete a double play, and that was only the second-most exciting double play they've completed this week compared to one in Milwaukee.
In Saturday's game, Uggla snuffed out a grounder he had no business gloving to take a hit from the Phillies' Wilson Valdez.
Not bad for a player who was greeted by questions about his defense upon his arrival in November. A lot of that had to do with the reputation Uggla earned from the 2008 All-Star, when he committed three errors in the national spotlight.
“I’ve been answering questions like that ever since the All-Star game,” Uggla said. “That’s just the way it is.”
Uggla had the second most errors among all second basemen over the past two seasons with 34. But Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who had managed him in Florida for 3-½ years, said a lot of those errors came from making the extra effort to even get to balls.
Ironically, it’s been Uggla’s offense that’s been slow to take. He’s hitting only .158 (6-for-38).
“I think he’s playing with a mentality right now if he’s not going to get a hit, nobody else is going to get one either,” Gonzalez said.
Smoltz vs. Phillies rotation
No one will ever know how the members Braves rotation of the 1990’s stack up against the Phillies rotation of 2011 on the field, but there is evidence for how one of them stacks up on the golf course.
John Smoltz took on all five of the Phillies starters in a scramble for MLB Network, which aired Saturday. They played nine holes at the Innisbrook Resort near where the Phillies train in Clearwater: the Phillies starters' best ball vs. Smoltz. The only advantage Smoltz had was the chance to take two putts on every hole. Smoltz finished 1 up after nine holes.
“We had a good time with it,” said Smoltz, a scratch golfer, who was at Turner Field to broadcast Sunday’s game on TBS.
When asked to compare the Phillies starters to his former golf buddies Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Steve Avery, he said they're very different.
“They’re more serious,” Smoltz said. “In their own way they have fun, but it wasn’t like the Three Stooges, Avery, me and Doggie, and probably the more stoic Glavine.”
Up next
Jair Jurrjens is scheduled to start Monday night for Triple-A Gwinnett in what should be his final rehabilitation outing. If all goes well in five or six innings with his strained right oblique, Jurrjens should debut on Saturday against the Mets. Jurrjens has missed two starts on the disabled list.
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