Morning Chop: Atlanta Braves News
The Atlanta Braves have taken the first two games of the three game series against the Houston Astros, with a shutout in game 2 where Alex Wood proved phenomenal in his return to the starting role. The Braves will go for the sweep this afternoon. Check out the box scores from the shutout last night, courtesy of Baseball Reference.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Pit | Str | PO | A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B.J. Upton CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .204 | .272 | .339 | .611 | 20 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2B |
| Tommy La Stella 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .280 | .350 | .312 | .661 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 0 | SB |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .286 | .375 | .495 | .870 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 0 | HBP |
| Ramiro Pena PR-3B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .205 | .263 | .341 | .604 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Evan Gattis C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .292 | .345 | .562 | .906 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2·2B |
| Jason Heyward RF | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .254 | .343 | .388 | .731 | 22 | 12 | 3 | 0 | HBP |
| Justin Upton LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .272 | .341 | .513 | .855 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | HR,SF |
| Chris Johnson 3B-1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .280 | .299 | .362 | .661 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 3 | |
| Ryan Doumit DH | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .207 | .233 | .305 | .537 | 11 | 10 | |||
| Andrelton Simmons SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .251 | .286 | .363 | .650 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 5 | |
| Alex Wood P | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Shae Simmons P | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Juan Jaime P | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Team Totals | 29 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 34 | .172 | .265 | .379 | .644 | 128 | 91 | 27 | 10 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Wood, W (6-6) | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3.07 | 25 | 79 | 53 | 29 | 7 | 17 | 10 | 10 | 4 |
| Shae Simmons | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.64 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Juan Jaime | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0.00 | 31 | 109 | 74 | 37 | 14 | 23 | 11 | 11 | 4 |
Benjamin Pace of our sister site on the FanSided Network, ATL All Day, recaps the shutout of the Houston Astros by the Atlanta Braves last night, and focuses on the great outing of Alex Wood. Check out Benjamin’s article.
Alex Wood dominates as Atlanta Braves blank Houston Astros
"The Atlanta Braves dismantled the Houston Astros in Game 2 on Wednesday night, thanks in part to the excellent pitching performance by newly promoted starter Alex Wood. The last start for Alex was back on May 4th against the Giants, and while Wood was relegated to the bullpen in the interim, I was never in favor of that move. Wood has starter-quality stuff, and he got to put it on full display against the Astros. Alex finished the game going 7 innings, allowing only 3 hits, no runs, 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts. With that showing, he exited with a 4-0 lead and the shutout held up through the last two innings thanks to good relief efforts by Shae Simmons and Juan Jaime."
Todd Salem, featured columnist for the Bleacher Report, shares his take on the 2014 MLB Trade Deadline shopping list for the Atlanta Braves. Check out Todd’s article, and see if you agree.
Atlanta Braves’ 2014 Trade Deadline Shopping List
"The Atlanta Braves currently find themselves staring up at the first-place, smooth-throwing Washington Nationals in the NL East. As of the start of games Wednesday, the Nats had allowed the fewest runs in the National League thanks to a stellar staff and good bullpen.If that wasn’t enough, in a bit of a surprise twist, the Miami Marlins,New York Mets and even Philadelphia Phillies are all hanging around in the East division, with no one more than 5.5 games out of first place. It is the tightest division race in all of baseball."
Mike Vernon of MLB takes a look at the long history between the Atlanta Braves’ Fredi Gonzalez, and the Houston Astros Bo Porter, and how the Atlanta Braves will be going for the sweep in the finale of the current series. Check out Mike’s thoughts.
Long history brings together Fredi, Porter in finale
"When Bo Porter was a third-base coach for the Florida Marlins, he spent games taking signals from Fredi Gonzalez, the current Braves manager.This week’s series between the Astros and Braves, which wraps up Thursday, is the first time Porter’s team has faced Gonzalez’s in a Major League game.“I’m completely in his head,” Porter said. “Whenever you take signs for someone from that long, I’m pretty sure he’s sitting over there saying to himself, ‘I’m pretty sure Coach may be thinking along with me here.'”"
Mark Bowman, MLB reporter for the Altanta Braves, shares his thoughts on his own blog about how Jason Heyward is the only logical choice to consistently fill the leadoff spot. Despite B.J. Upton getting at least a couple cracks of the bat in his recent games at leadoff, I have to agree with Mark. Check out his thoughts.
Heyward remains the only logical option to consistently fill the leadoff spot
"Fredi Gonzalez watches the same games and analyzes the same numbers that you do. When he put B.J. Upton in the leadoff spot for Tuesday night’s game against the Astros, he fully anticipated the ridicule that followed. But as long as he wants to keep Jason Heyward in the middle of his lineup, then he really does not have a logical option to place at the top.Raise your hand if you just read that previous sentence and said something like, “Yeah, so, just go with the most illogical option?” (Seriously, you just raised your hand with nobody around you understanding why. And you think Fredi is a buffoon for putting B.J. in the leadoff spot.)"