The Braves rallied late to overcome another gopher ball laden outing from Jorge Sosa on Elvis night in Atlanta. Jorge pitched okay, he just left several pitches out and over the plate - and in the big leagues you can't do that and get away with it. The good news is it was his longest outing of the year and his most economical use of pitches thus far this season. Amazingly, in giving up four runs in six innings he lowered his ERA. He is headed in the right direction as each of his starts has gotten better as the season opens its second month.
On the offensive side of the ball, this home stand might have been just the thing to get some of the Mendoza Patrol going in the right direction. Francoeur got right on Sunday, and Tuesday's game was Marcus Giles' turn to get it turned around. His four for five performance keyed the Braves rallies, and his hit in the eighth inning drove in the winning run. More importantly, though, these two guys will need to keep the momentum going as the Braves head out on another long nine day road trip. This trip holds a lot of importance for the club since all the games are against teams within the division.
More good story lines from the game include everyone in the lineup except Langerhans had a hit, including Edgar Renteria who extended his Major League best hitting streak to 17 games. The bullpen was solid as a unit, with Cormier bailing out Remlinger in the eighth, and Reitsma throwing a spotless ninth for his sixth save.
Former hefty lefty Brave Ray King got the loss for Colorado.
In Philadelphia the next two days it will be Smoltz vs. Myers, and Thompson vs. Lidle, then back to New York for what will be already our third series of the year with the Mets. The good news is, this time around we should miss Pedro and Glavine. The matchups for the Mets series this weekend look like this: Davies vs. Trachsel, Hudson vs. Zambrano, and Sosa vs. Maine (John Maine of the Virginia Maine's, he of the minor league journey-man starter ilk who's filling in for the injured Bannister). If we hit and pitch like we have been the last three days, this could be our most successful road trip this year.
Colorado 4, Atlanta 5 at Turner Field
Colorado Record: (15-12)
Atlanta Record: (12-14)
Winning pitcher - Lance Cormier (2-1)
Losing pitcher - Ray King (1-2)
SV - Chris Reitsma (6)