Friday, June 12, 2009

Braves close out homestand with a loss



Another day, another brilliant pitching performance wasted by the Braves. This time it was an eight innings, one run outing by Javier Vazquez that was blown by not just the bullpen but also by ineffective hitting. Vazquez owned Pirates batters, striking out 12 on his way to a no-decision. But Rafael Soriano allowed two two-out singles by Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young that scored two runs, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving the Pirates the win.

The Braves bats continued to be silent. In the five losses suffered during this homestand, Atlanta failed to score more than two runs - including two consecutive shut-outs by the Brewers - but never gave up more than four. Conversely, in the four games the Braves did win, they never failed to score less than four runs, yet gave up five runs or more in three of the victories. Bottom line, the Braves are going to need to get some offense going if they hope to continue to contend for the NL East.

News&Notes: Atlanta called up Barbaro Canizares for his major league debut on Thursday. Although he needed a third party to get the message…Reminder: I am heading down to Baltimore this weekend to catch the Braves taking on the O’s at Camden Yards. I will post pictures and musings next week.

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