clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Braves vs. Brewers - Series Preview

By Scott Coleman
Don't worry Old Man, I'm back.
Don't worry Old Man, I'm back.

After a wild All-Star Break that included Brian McCann winning MVP of the Mid-Summer Classic and and the acquisition of Alex Gonzalez, it's time for some Braves baseball.

The hot-and-cold Milwaukee Brewers will make their way into Hotlanta for a 4-game series. The Brewers had been struggling before the break, but swept the lousy Pirates to end the 1st half. Two of the wins did come in extra innings against one of the worst teams in baseball, so take the sweep for what it was.

The Brew Crew are currently 40-49 on the season and sit in 3rd place in the weak NL Central. 

Here are some basic offensive stats for the Brewers and their NL rankings:

Runs: 418 (4th)
BA: .260 (7th)
OBP: .336 (5th)
SLG: .432 (2nd)
HR: 110 (1st)
SB: 49 (11th)
BB/K Ratio: 0.48 (5th)

As you can see, the Brewers are a very talented offensive club. Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Casey McGehee and Corey Hart form a very potent middle of the order and Rickie Weeks is a pretty good leadoff man. They don't get much production from anyone else though. Alcides Escobar isn't hitting much of anything, George Kottaras has been catching lately without much offensive contribution and Carlos Gomez is barely OPS'ing .600.

Now some stats for their starting pitchers:

ERA: 4.63 (14th)
FIP: 4.65 (15th)
Innings Pitched: 500.0 (14th)
K/9: 7.34 (5th)
BB/9: 4.05(16th)
BAA: .275 (14th)
WHIP: 1.52 (15th)

That's horrible, and that's with ace Yovanni Gallardo in the rotation. Gallardo is currently on the 15-day DL and will miss the series. Dave Bush and Randy Wolf have both been decent, Manny Parra is mediocre and Chris Narveson is pretty awful. Both Wolf and Parra are both lefties though, and we all know how the Braves do against those.

And their relievers:

ERA: 5.25 (15th)
FIP: 4.00 (10th)
Innings Pitched: 293.1 (16th); Oh my goodness.
K/9: 8.35 (6th)
BB/9: 3.77 (7th) 
BAA: .280 (14th)
WHIP: 1.52 (14th)

Similar to their starting pitchers, the bullpen is pretty bad as well. Their lower FIP suggests they aren't all that bad, but the rest of the numbers are still pretty ugly. Trevor Hoffman is no longer the closer and Joh Axford has done a nice job in the 9th innings for them. Carlos Villanueva, Todd Coffey and Zach Braddock make up their middle relief and they're all decent. Kameron Loe has been a bright spot for them and he's been very good in his stint in Milwaukee.

Pitching Match-Ups:

Thursday, 7:10EST: 

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Jair Jurrjens 1-3 7 7 0 0 0 0 35.0 30 23 21 4 16 25 5.40 1.31
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Dave Bush 4-6 24 17 0 0 0 0 95.2 103 51 44 11 40 52 4.14 1.49


Friday, 7:35EST:

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Tommy Hanson 8-5 18 18 1 0 0 0 102.1 106 50 47 7 34 104 4.13 1.37
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Randy Wolf 6-8 20 19 0 0 0 0 116.1 117 66 59 21 58 74 4.56 1.50


Saturday, 7:10EST:

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Tim Hudson 9-4 19 18 1 0 0 0 121.1 94 32 31 9 43 61 2.30 1.13
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Chris Narveson 7-6 23 14 0 0 0 1 86.2 101 60 58 13 35 71 6.02 1.57


Sunday, 1:35EST:

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Derek Lowe 9-8 19 19 0 0 0 0 113.2 116 57 55 9 44 70 4.35 1.41
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Manny Parra 3-6 26 9 0 0 0 0 69.2 86 41 36 9 33 71 4.65 1.71

More From Battery Power

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Battery Power Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Atlanta Braves news from Battery Power