Talking Chop

The Braves played a solid series all-around and won three out of the four games. They opened up winning the first three in relatively easy fashion, but were unable to close out the sweep last night against Johan Santana. These are the types of series you get from playoff-caliber teams.

Game 1 Recap:
Game 2 Recap:
Game 3 Recap:
Game 4 Recap:

What We Liked:

Jason Heyward: The Rookie of the Year candidate went 9-17 with three doubles, a home run, and a walk. In two of the games he recorded four hits and he had seven RBI for the series. This was a dominant series for Heyward, who has the second highest wOBA in the N.L. over the past 14 games, behind only Carlos Gonzalez.

Omar Infante: The leadoff man went 7-17 with a walk, setting the Braves up for multiple scores, especially in the first and third games of the series. Omar looks on his way to winning the batting title and it truly seems like he will "autosingle" every time he comes up to the plate.

Tommy Hanson: Hanson completely dominated the Mets in the series' third game. He lasted seven innings and allowed just two base-runners. The only hit allowed was to David Wright, one of the top third basemen in baseball. He struck out just four, but it was awesome to see him put on such a great performance after struggling in his past two starts.

More after the jump:

The Catchers: Both Brian McCann and David Ross produced when they started this series. Combined, they went 7-13 with two walks, two home runs, and six RBI. The Braves have, without a doubt, the best catching combination in baseball and this is truly one of the reasons the Braves have had such a potent offense all year. McCann has been the most productive hitter, and when he is out Ross has been able to keep up so the offense does not miss a beat.

What We Didn't Like:

Alex Gonzalez: Seabass went just 1-11 with a walk, one RBI, and one run this series. It seemed as though all cylinders were firing for the whole team, but it wasn't so for Gonzalez. He was even sat down for Brooks Conrad in the third game of the series with Infante moving over to shortstop (his flexibility is lovely). Gonzalez will have to start producing better or this may become a regular occurrence.

Left Field: Matt Diaz and Eric Hinske combined to go 0-12 this series, which is absolutely unacceptable. Three lefties started, so a majority if the blame can be put on Diaz. He has to start being more consistent and so does Hinske. If not, they may suffer a similar fate as Gonzalez. Infante may see some time in left or Melky Cabrera may get some more starts if neither of the platoon partners produce.

Peter Moylan: He didn't necessarily have a bad series, but his performance last night was ugly. He threw 14 pitches and only five of them were strikes, which is definitely worrisome. Moylan was once the best Braves reliever, but he has become very inconsistent and somewhat unreliable. 

Number of the Series: 9

The Braves scored nine in both of the first two games, giving them a great chance to win the series. In addition to scoring a bunch of runs in the first two games of the series, according to the "Simple Rating System" on Baseball-Reference, the Braves are the best team in the National League with a score of 0.9. The closest teams are the Phillies and Padres at 0.6. The only two teams in baseball with a better score are the Yankees (1.4) and Rays (1.2). Basically, that says that the Braves have been the best team in the National League based on how many runs they have scored, allowed, and their overall strength of schedule to date.