The Atlanta Braves ran into a buzzsaw Thurday night at Turner Field. Philadelphia ace Cole Hamels (9-5) held the Braves to one run on five hits in 8 2/3 innings. The Phillies took their sixth straight win 4-1 at Turner Field on the strength of solo homeruns from second baseman Chase Utley, first baseman Ryan Howard and third baseman Pedro Feliz. Say what you will about Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens (8-4), but the rookie righthander was dealing strikes all night. Unfortunately a handful of those strikes wound up beyond the outfield wall. Hamels by contrast was absolutely unhittable tonight; he threw 125 pitches, 82 for strikes.
Braves rightfielder Jeff Francoeur went 0 for 4 and remains mired in the longest slump of his career. He ended the game with a pop-up, leaving third baseman Chipper Jones stranded at second base.
The first two games could have been won. Atlanta faced two starting pitchers with era’s around 5.00. Tonight the 1927 Yankees couldn’t have touched Cole Hamels. The loss was the eighth in nine games for the Braves vs. Philadelphia this year. Atlanta falls to seven games back in the division, six games under .500.
In the twenty-six games since the last Philly sweep at Turner field, the Braves have gone 8-14. They’ve been swept in three series in that span, and they’ve only won two series out of the last seven. They’ve weathered injuries to their best hitter, their shortstop, two thirds of the outfield and seven pitchers.
In a different division Atlanta would be hopelessly out of the pennant race. They are fortunate to be a mediocre team in the middle of a weak division. The Phillies aren’t the world beaters that come to Atlanta once a month, but they’re certainly not mediocre. The most Atlanta can do at this point is go into the All-Star break on a winning note, take advantage of the opportunity to rest (and in Francoeur’s case, just clear his head) and dig in for a serious run to start the second half. No need to panic, but it’s definitely time for this team to bear down.
Minor League notes
A Rome starter Cole Rohrbough pitched 2 2/3 innings (probably with a limited pitch count while he continues to recover from an ankle injury) allowing three runs on five hits in a 4-3 loss to the Ashville Tourists Thursday night…AA Mississippi starter Todd Redmond was elected to the Southern League All-Star game, along with closer Luis Valdez and outfielder Matt Young…Travis Jones hit a ninth inning homerun in A Myrtle Beach’s 8-3 win over Potomac Thursday night
This just in: Bill Shanks has reported that Atlanta has demoted Jeff Francoeur to AA Mississippi and promoted outfielder Jason Perry from AAA Richmond to take his place.
