House That Hank Built
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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Welcome to the Hotel California

By Alan Carpenter

Jun 6, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres second baseman Yangervis Solarte (right) reacts as he is congratulated by left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. (2) after hitting a three run home run during the third inning against the Atlanta Braves at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 6, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres second baseman Yangervis Solarte (right) reacts as he is congratulated by left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. (2) after hitting a three run home run during the third inning against the Atlanta Braves at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /
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Braves’ now-traditional West Coast woes continue – even the Padres looked good against Atlanta last night.

"My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim I had to stop for the night There she stood in the doorway; I heard the mission bell And I was thinking to myself, “This could be Heaven or this could be Hell”"

To say that the Atlanta Braves struggle in California is a strong understatement.  True, in this season, they are not exactly hitting on any of their cylinders right now, but the California swing has been particularly problematic.

  • 2013: 3-8
  • 2014: 1-8, including a disastrous 0-8 July-August trip, which added sfgSeattle
  • 2015: 3-7
  • 2016: 0-4 so far

That’s a total of 7-27, which doesn’t even count Diamondbacks games, which haven’t ended much better.

How bad has it been?

The last positive California season record was back in 2012… by one game.  This despite scoring a total of 4 runs in the last series that year… and managing to eke out one win against the Padres.

That didn’t happen last night.

The Latest Trip

So far this year, the Hotel California has already been a forgettable venue:  Mike Foltynewicz was shut down with bone spurs.  Last night Williams Perez was removed from the game early due to problems with the tripceps muscle in his throwing arm.  Mallex Smith got lazy and has been benched for disciplinary reasons.

7. 127. 2. 17. Final

And last night it rolled on:  The San Diego Padres continued their own domination of the Braves with a 7-2 victory, backed by a 3-run jack by Yangervis Solarte and the pitching of Christian Friedrich (6.2 innings, 6 hits, 2 walked, 7K, 2 ER).

Old friend Ryan Buchter finished it up with a non-save-situation completion.

Sure:  the Braves did get 9 hits… but check out some of the hits involved:

    Single to 3B (ground ball)Single to CF (ground ball through SS-2B)Single to CF (ground ball through SS-2B)Single to SS (ground ball to weak SS)

The other hits were driven with some authority, but none of them were really put together.  Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman‘s woes continued:  0-4 with 3 strikeouts and a big missed opportunity in the first inning.

Freeman is now 11th in baseball in strikeouts with 65… an uncharacteristically high figure (27%) from him:  a 19-20% rate is more typical.

But on top of his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Spring, Freeman had other issues last night on top of that:

“I don’t know what it is,” Freeman said. “I threw up about six times today and threw up once yesterday. That’s no excuse, but I just wasn’t feeling good.”

Freddie:  the guys are not supposed to get morning sickness!

No further word yet on Perez, who left in the 5th inning after a single, wild pitch and a double, though there was this wait-and-see message:

"You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave"


 

Next: Go Back to the Prairie

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