Talking Chop

The Braves did it all on Wednesday night: hit, pitch and field. Going into the 6th inning it looked like more of the same for our beloved Bravos, failing in big situations, struggling to get out #3 in the inning, not-so-smart defense, and so on. But after a 1-out double by Marteeen Prado and walk by Chipper, Brian McCann hit a huge 2-run double to the gap in right-center field. After a walk to Glaus and a fielder's choice groundout by Yunel Escobar, Jason Heyward kept the inning alive with a rocket single to RF, which somehow scored Troy Glaus from 2B.

Troy Glaus essentially clinched the game for the Braves, after a MONSTER 417ft. 3-run HR was belted into the 2nd-deck seats in left field. Peter Moylan, Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner all worked a scoreless inning to end the ballgame.

Trivia Question/Stat of the Night: 9.82 -- What is significant about this number? The answer will be posted tomorrow morning. Whoever gets it right gets a big e-high five!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (with the Awesome too) after the jump...

The Good:

1. Troy Glaus - It's about time Big Fella'. During his first 2 ABs of the night, Troy kept putting great swings on the ball, but would just miss the pitch. That changed in the 7th inning. Troy brought the POWAH and it sounds like a bunch of Jason Heyward shirts are going to be purchased? I don't know...ask royhobbs Sgt. Slaughter about it.

2. Tommy Hanson - Dude is filthy. Boy Wonder pitched 6 strong innings, and if it wasn't for a few mistakes in the 5th inning to Heart (ask Smoltz's beard on this one) and Adrian Gonzalez, Tommy probably would've thrown a shutout. The 4BBs aren't great, but as long as Hanson can get those under control, he's in line for a great sophomore season.

3. Brian McCann - It was getting to the point in the Game Thread where people were wondering out loud if we'd ever get another hit with RISP. BMac delivered, ripping a 2-run double into the right field gap. After being down 0-and-2, Brian battled back and cashed in on a mistake by Clayton Richard. It seemed to ignite the offense and get us going at the plate.

4. The Bullpen - Another night, another solid performance from the bullpen. Moylan was filthy. Saito looked like he did when he pitched as the Dodger's closer in 2007 and 2008. And Billy Wagner was bringin' the heat, hitting 96mph multiple times. Noice. It's gonna be scary once Craig Kimbrel gets here in a few months.

5. Chipper scoring from 1st base - Way to run, Grandpa! When BMac ripped the double in the 6th, I figured we would have Chipper and Brian on 2nd and 3rd with Glaus coming to the plate. Chipper showed why he can still play for a few more years, and looked Heyward-esque rounding 3rd base (Okay, maybe not...but still.) Good to see Chip running and feeling well.

The Bad:

1. Walks from our pitchers - I might be nit-picking here, but Hanson walked 4 and Wagner walked 2. Against better hitting teams, walks are going to kill us. 6 isn't horrible, but it certainly isn't great.

The Ugly:

1. Leadoff Hitters - Another night, another 0-fer at the plate. In a move that drove Talking Chop crazy (with joy), MattyD was inserted to the #1 slot, but went 0-for-4 without showing too much patience. I know it's early, but the one hole in our lineup is at the very top. Melky takes a ton of pitches, but couldn't hit my fastball right now. MattyD can hit, but isn't very patient at the plate and seems to be a better hitter when he can be aggressive and not worry about taking pitches. Ugh.

2. Melky Cabrera - I know I know, he's been unlucky this year and takes a ton of pitches (Thanks, Justin). Tonight, he went 0-for-3 with an IBB and 2Ks. He's now hitting .094. In his last 19ABs, he's 2-for-19 with 3BBs and 4Ks.      Ugh.

3. The Padres fan who kept yelling "LET'S GO PADRES" by himself over and over and over again - 36 six times folks. Thirty-six times. Over and over and over again. Shut up already.

(And now the Awesome)

1. Player of the Game: Brian McCann. I know Glaus had the big HR and Tommy had the sexy 7 strikeouts, but BMac delivered a huge double in the 6th. If it wasn't for that hit, we might be pulling our hair out about our offense right now.

2. Hitting with RISP: 4-for-9, baby. That's improvement for ya!

3. Only 1 more game on the West Coast road trip - It seems like forever since we last played at The Ted. After the game tomorrow, we make the long flight home to our (hopefully) filled ballpark in Atlanta.

Open Thread Comment Count: 2,182.

Number of times Chip Carey said "fisted": 2

Upcoming Games: As mentioned above, tomorrow will be the final game of the Padres series and West Coast trip. Tim Hudson will pitch for the Braves, while sophomore stud Mat Latos ("The Braves are Latos Intolerant" har! har!har!) will pitch for the Padres. First pitch is at 6:35EST.