Enjoy it while it lasts, because the Braves are on the uphill slope of their season-long roller coaster. After losing two of three to the Nationals, and the first game of the series at Wrigley against the Cubs, they came back behind stellar pitching to take the last two games and win the series.
Kenshin Kawakami continued his run of great starts (save for the last one) by holding the Cubs to just one run (a sixth inning homerun by fellow countryman Kosuke Fukudome) on 4 hits and 2 walks. The bullpen troika of Peter Moylan, Mike Gonzalez, and Rafael Soriano finished out the game by allowing just 2 more Cubs baserunners. It was the second straight game that Braves pitchers have held the Cubs to 1 run.
The top of the lineup duo of Nate McLouth and Martin Prado stayed hot as they scored 3 of the Braves 4 runs. Prado was on base 4 times, with 2 singles and 2 walks. Casey Kotchman added the Braves second run with a sixth inning homerun.
Brian McCann pulled his best Jeff Francoeur imitation by going 0-for-5 with a strikeout and 4 LOB. As for Francoeur, he stayed true to form by going 0-for-4 with a strikeout and 3 LOB.
Let's enjoy this win, and this series win, and let's hope the Braves can take the momentum into Colorado and win that series to finish up the first half of the season.
0 recs | 47 comments
Frenchy has to go now.
Zeus12888 - July 8, 2009
did anyone else notice the huge grin he kept flashing at the camera during monday’s game on espn? i couldn’t figure out if he was being sarcastic or if he’s completely lost his mind. either way, it freaked me out a little bit.
Bravely going forward - July 8, 2009
SO TRUE
I hate his goofy fucking smile like nothing else.
VivaLosBravos - July 8, 2009
Nice win.
I’ll second what Zeus just wrote. How does FYF continue to start let alone continue to get at bats?
Sparhawk - July 8, 2009
Let’s just hope the Phillies don’t score another 22 runs tonight and Cincinnati can help us out again. We can get back to three games before spending 4 games in Chicago, which should make the offense look better.
Bronn - July 8, 2009
Francoeur has a job, while millions of Americans dont
Pathetic.
ATLandUNC - July 8, 2009
and i have a college degree to boot!
bpk228480 - July 8, 2009
Let’s not be ridiculous..
BravesWin - July 8, 2009
Worst decision of his life
was not taking that offer from Clemson.
VivaLosBravos - July 8, 2009
How do you figure? He’s grossed over $6 million so far and will probably get someone to pay him at least a million more next year.
17843 - July 9, 2009
Good game. Really hope Conrad can keep up the good play. Love seeing his hussle out there. Little nervous about this series in Colorado. Hopefully the offense heavy park will help us more than them.
MTSU11 - July 8, 2009
Who knew that all it took to sparkplug the offense was to bench Chipper and put Francoeur back in. 4 runs today is the most we’ve scored in 5 games.
Bronn - July 8, 2009
That is good comedy. LOL
Cracker! - July 8, 2009
what are our options for RF? diaz? blanco? maybe infante or gorecki from AAA?
there needs to be a change.
Scott Coleman - July 8, 2009 via mobile
Compared to FYF...
All of those sound damn good to me :-)
Zeus12888 - July 8, 2009
what do you think of Blanco hitting leadoff and trying Mclouth at number 3 again? he only hit there 2 games and that was after he was traded 1000 miles so his early struggles are understandable. maybe he could even hit 5th?
Scott Coleman - July 8, 2009 via mobile
If
Blanco Leads off McLouth should hit 2nd
drumzalicious - July 8, 2009
Denard Span
bwellnjonesco - July 8, 2009
I wonder if we could trade Kris Medlen and maybe someone else for Span
Heyward is the next crime dog - July 8, 2009
thats the guy on the Twins right?
And what do you guys think about Shin-Soo Choo??
Scott Coleman - July 8, 2009
Does no one realize he has a 2 year military term coming up?
bigjoe - July 8, 2009
Is it assured that he’ll have to go or will he get an exception?
soup du jour - July 9, 2009
If he didn’t get one for carrying Korea to the WBC finals on his back, he’s not getting one.
bigjoe - July 9, 2009
yeah the guy on the twins
Heyward is the next crime dog - July 9, 2009
Just finished it. What a nail biter until the top of the 9th. Whew.
KK did well, Moylan worked a great 7th and Gonzo almost gave too much drama again…OMG I almost swallowed by gum when Esco made that catch in the 8th. What a relief. Soriano did his usual great job to close it out and we got the WIN!!
Now we’ve won 2 in a row – and took the series it’s on to Colorado to keep it going…..
NCChopper - July 8, 2009
esco had a huge play. im really happy we’re “supposedly” shopping him since Bobby doesn’t like him.
Scott Coleman - July 8, 2009 via mobile
Yeah I know. Bobby hates shortstops who play good defense and hit well and enjoy themselves on the field. Escobar is such a jerk.
Bronn - July 8, 2009
oh come on
Bobby doesn’t dislike him for enjoying himself. The guy is quite talented, but any Braves fans who says that they don’t see why Bobby dislikes him is lying through their teeth. In my opinion it’s definitely not reason enough to deal him away, but he is not exactly what you’d call a high effort player. When it should be an easy play, he just sort of half-asses it and much more often than it should, it ends up costing the team because he makes a lot of bone-headed plays on the basepath, in the field, and has a number of habbits that look cocky to the other team and officials.
was385 - July 8, 2009
I actually
see no evidence at all that Bobby doesn’t like Escobar. There have been rumors about whether Escobar was “hurt” or if he was being sent a message, but those were just rumors without any basis in fact.
Even if he was sitting the kid to send him a message-well, he loved Andruw Jones and didn’t hesitate to bench him when he thought Andruw wasn’t trying. If anything, I think Escobar is one of his favorite young players right now.
Bronn - July 8, 2009
Where there's smoke, there's fire
Almost always rumors have basis in fact (especially when they come from team beat writers). Bobby will never publicly call out a player but we’ve seen a number of media sources say that Bobby has been frustrated with Yunel’s antics, Yunel has been pulled out of a game for a stupid play, etc. The fact is that Yunel has had the same bad habits since he was called up and has yet to even really make progress on getting rid of those habits. Also, keep in mind that Andruw was 20 or 21 when Bobby famously yanked him out of the game, Yunel is at least 26 right now.
was385 - July 8, 2009
Who cares!!!
That a boy - July 9, 2009
obviously bobby does
and when he decides who plays, its a pretty big deal
was385 - July 9, 2009
Once again who cares!!!! Bobby needs to be in the FO enjoying air conditioning with Wren and the Gang. If they ever got rid of YUnel because of the mentioned above they would be very stupid.
That a boy - July 9, 2009
i'm not disagreeing
I’m just saying that there are plenty of thing he does that would severely frustrate a manager.
was385 - July 9, 2009
Cincinnati is clinging to a 1 run lead over the Phillies. Dusty scares me, though, I don’t know how long he’s going to keep Homer Bailey in there. The kid is pitching over his head a little bit, and the Reds have a rocking bullpen, so I hope Dusty goes to them before it’s too late.
Bronn - July 8, 2009
Crappity crap crap
I jinxed it. Jayson Werth HR. I hate myself.
Bronn - July 8, 2009
And now Bailey is missing with his fastball and his offspeed pitches.
Bronn - July 8, 2009
Damn you
you owe my fantasy team a win for that jinx!
justincredubil02 - July 8, 2009
Prado(L)
SayHeyWerd - July 8, 2009
Mets stomping Dodgers through 6, Not good news either!
I was hoping at least one of them would lose!
Dodgers need a huge comeback
HEYJUDE - July 8, 2009
At least the Nationals lost?
Bronn - July 8, 2009
YES!
So now of the 6 series they’ve won all year, 2 are against the Braves.
Scott Coleman - July 8, 2009
good win but frenchy has to go why didnt Diaz start
Heyward is the next crime dog - July 8, 2009
What's up with McCann lately?
Has he just been in a slump or is there more to it. I know he had a couple of RBI’s the other night but other than that he has seemed a little lost. He has admittedly been lacking at the plate lately. Hopefully he’s not hiding some type of injury.
For our team to continue with any momentum we need him to be driving in runs. We can’t count on 2-1 wins every night. Our pitchers are probably all going to go through a meltdown soon.
Fischerking - July 9, 2009
one of the announcers mentioned
that McCann’s timing and approach was thrown off by wakefield. I don’t think it’s anything serious, just needs to find his stroke.
was385 - July 9, 2009
What do you mean?
Is there more to it? What else could it be?
sddbaker - July 9, 2009
reply fail….supposed to be reply to fischerking….
sddbaker - July 9, 2009
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