Alternate title: How Sweep It Is
Take your pick of cheesy titles, the Braves made it happen today and put the Phillies and their mouthpiece, Jimmy Rollins, in their place. By all accounts, Chuck James was in Chuck James-esque form. He threw a lot of pitches, especially in the fourth and fifth innings, but he wiggled out of trouble and got some big strikeouts when he needed to.
The bullpen scraps came on and did an admirable job until Macay McBride ran into a bit of trouble in the ninth by walking the bases full. Chad Paronto couldn't completely bail him out and walked two himself, forcing in two runs. But Rafael Soriano came on to get the save - the third save from as many Braves pitchers in as many games.
For the series, almost as impressive as Brian McCann and Edgar Renteria have been, or as impressive as the starters and the bullpen have been, was how we kept the Phillies big RBI men from driving in a single run. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard were shut down in the Ribi department for three straight games. When was the last time that happened? Perhaps we should have Elias look into that.
On the flip side of us shutting down the Phils top two hitters, was how our hitters were in a sense shut down as well. As of this posting, the Braves batters lead the major leagues in strikeouts - a whopping 34 in three games. Perhaps the Phils just had our number, or perhaps our fears about our hitters being strikeout prone were valid. On the other hand of this flip side, we are leading the majors in homeruns. Let's see if we can turn around the former and keep on keeping on with the latter.
Atlanta 8, Philadelphia 4 at Citizens Bank Park
Atlanta Record: (3-0)
Philadelphia Record: (0-3)
Winning pitcher - Chuck James (1-0)
Losing pitcher - Adam Eaton (0-1)
SV - Rafael Soriano (1)