All apologies for (gasp) not posting yesterday. Reality has a cumbersome habit of intefering with the cyberworld. I missed the opportunity to write about a Braves win, and today I won’t have that opportunity. Atlanta racked up another home loss, this time to the Houston Astros. While rightfielder Jeff Francoeur looks to regain his stroke in Pearl, Mississippi, his Atlanta teammates once again came up lacking on offense. The Braves mustered only one run on two hits Saturday against journeyman Astro’s pitcher Chris Sampson (4-3). The lone Atlanta run came on a Brian McCann homerun in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Braves could do nothing from there on, tallying only two more hits against three Houston relievers.
Braves starter JoJo Reyes (3-7) gave up four runs in the first two innings, and he was pulled with one out in the fifth. Manny Acosta stranded his inherited fifth inning baserunners and pitched a scoreless sixth. Buddy Carlyle (who’s era is down to a sterling 1.57) pitched two more scoreless innings to keep Atlanta close, but after Jeff Bennett gave up two runs in the ninth the score ballooned to 6-1, and the Braves went quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Atlanta falls to 41-47, seven games off the pace in the N.L. East.
On a more positive note, AJC.com reported Saturday that reliever Rafael Soriano threw twice without pain at the Brave’s complex in Orlando. He’ll rejoin the Braves so manager Bobby Cox and pitching coach Roger McDowell can make their own assessment on Soriano’s status.
Cox will turn to rookie Charlie Morton to start in tomorrow’s day game, he’ll face veteran lefty Wandy Rodriguez. Morton, who got rocked by Philadelphia last week (who didn’t?) looks to rebound against a less than volatile Houston lineup.
Due to time constraints, we’ll have to bypass the minor league report this morning. Check back tomorrow and we’ll fill you in on all the actual minor leaguers, plus the number of Atlanta players that are currently milling around down at Mississippi.
