Morning Chop: Atlanta Braves News
Three in a row against the Philadelphia Phillies, with one more to go, spells sweet revenge for the Atlanta Braves, who were swept by the Phillies the last time they met in a series. Aaron Harang will take the mound in the final game of the four game set today, and try to complete the full sweep.
David Hale pitched well, but was limited to just five innings, which tells me that he will go right back to the pen and Harang will hang around as a starter. Check out the box scores for both batting and pitching from yesterday’s evening game of day-night double-header, courtesy of Baseball Reference.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Pit | Str | PO | A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Schafer CF | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .188 | .246 | .250 | .496 | 19 | 13 | 0 | 0 | SB |
| Andrelton Simmons SS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .248 | .289 | .355 | .644 | 20 | 15 | 3 | 1 | |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | .292 | .383 | .503 | .887 | 15 | 7 | 9 | 1 | |
| Justin Upton LF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .281 | .347 | .514 | .862 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 0 | |
| Ryan Doumit RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .221 | .244 | .349 | .593 | 16 | 11 | 3 | 0 | HR |
| Jordan Walden P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Gus Schlosser P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Chris Johnson 3B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .285 | .303 | .366 | .669 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| Tommy La Stella 2B | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .276 | .342 | .343 | .685 | 19 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 2·2B,GDP |
| Christian Bethancourt C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | |
| David Hale P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .077 | .071 | .077 | .148 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 1 | |
| Dan Uggla PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .164 | .239 | .234 | .474 | 3 | 2 | |||
| Anthony Varvaro P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| Jason Heyward PH-RF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .247 | .344 | .377 | .720 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | GDP |
| Team Totals | 38 | 5 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 40 | .342 | .375 | .474 | .849 | 146 | 94 | 27 | 10 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Hale, W (3-2) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3.02 | 20 | 74 | 48 | 32 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 5 |
| Anthony Varvaro, H (8) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.32 | 9 | 40 | 26 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| Jordan Walden | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.95 | 3 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Gus Schlosser | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 4 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1.00 | 36 | 143 | 93 | 60 | 8 | 25 | 14 | 16 | 8 |
Our own Jeff Schaefer wrote about the call-up last night of catcher Christian Bethancourt, but you might also want to read the thoughts of Jason Mast from Grading On The Curve, one of our sister sites on the FanSided Network.
My own take on Bethancourt sort of has me scratching my head. I love the kid as a catcher, but I have to wonder if they were merely shopping him yesterday. There’s currently little room for him with the big club, and I seriously doubt, as has been suggested, that the Braves will be moving Gattis to right field (even with B.J. Upton‘s struggles). It may be nothing more than Gattis being injured. I think it would be a mistake to trade Bethancourt, but could Bethancourt be a part of a trade package soon?
Prospects get the Call: Christian Bethancourt
"With their major league catchers ailing, the Braves made a surprise move yesterday, calling up catching prospect Christian Bethancourt for the second game of their Saturday double header against the Phillies.The 21 year old catcher started the nightcap and went 1 for 4, collecting his first major league hit with a single in the sixth."
David Miller of Rants Sports take a look at Chris Johnson, and notes that how his heating up lately is a good sign for the Atlanta Braves. I don’t think he ever really cooled down that much, but David makes a good point.
Chris Johnson Heating up is Great Sign for Atlanta Braves
"When looking at the successes that the Atlanta Braves enjoyed in 2013, it is easy to pick out the starting rotation and the awesome work by the bullpen. Jason Heyward had a great middle part of the season when the Braves took off and left the Washington Nationals in the dust. All of this is true but it forgets a key component to the success the Braves had in 2013; Chris Johnson. This season has not been as good for Johnson until this last month and the Braves need him."
The Miami Herald picked up Carroll Rogers’ recap (Atlanta Journal Constitution) of the Atlanta Braves’ sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday in the day-night double-header. Check out Carroll’s thoughts.
Braves sweep doubleheader against Phillies, 10-3 and 5-1
"On a trip that started with a series split in Washington to fall out of first place and was nearing a close with Saturday’s day-night doubleheader against a Phillies team that just swept them at home, the Braves responded with a sweep of their own.The Braves won the day game 10-3, and the nightcap 5-1 to go up 3-0 in the weekend series.And the Braves did all this on a day when they weren’t sure what they would get from their cleanup hitter and primary catcher Evan Gattis, who left Friday’s game with back spasms and hasn’t returned."