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The Braves lost 10-5 to the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday to complete their total no show in the series. The Braves fall to 36-35 and while they are only one game out of the division lead the total domination displayed by the Phillies is extremely concerning. The Braves run differential is now solidly into the negative and is the 4th worst in the National League. Things are getting serious.
Aaron Harang finally had the full on disaster start that Braves fans have been worried about from the journeyman starter who had stringed together such a miraculous start to the season. The regression sword of Damocles finally sliced Harang’s head off to the tune of five innings pitched, thirteen hits, nine runs, three walks and two wild pitches. It was about as ugly as it could get.
The Braves actually lead in the second inning of this game as hard as that was to believe after the disaster that was to follow. Evan Gattis hit a two run homer to extend his franchise best hitting streak for a catcher to 17 games. Gattis has been everything this season his wildest and most crazed supporters said he would be. He has a 936 OPS. Gattis has been incredible.
Ryan Doumit mad himself useful in a rare start with a two run single in the second that temporarily gave the Braves the lead in the second. Doumit also added a solo homer though that fell under the category of too little too late. The Braves were utterly dominated in this series by a collection of past their prime former stars, middling prospects and uninspiring journeyman. It was about as poor a series as the Braves could have and in the moment it feels like some kind of dividing line for the season. Even the most measured of Braves will be calling for major changes after this one.
Notes:
- This team should be better than it is. A lot of players should improve with some regression to the mean but there is also plenty of dead weight. Dan Uggla, Jordan Schafer, and Luis Avilan don’t really have a role on this team.
- Aaron Harang is officially a pumpkin. Move him to long relief and bring Alex Wood back.
- Superstar Ryan Howard strikes again! He will immediately turn back into a walking reminder of Ruben Amaro Jr’s incompetence now that he has left Turner Field.
- "LOL nothing matters" will probably be the entirety of the series recap.