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Last night was a great night for the Braves, as their offense kept rolling along and Atlanta ended up putting a major beatdown on the Phillies to the tune of 12-2. Tonight will be the season series finale between these two teams, and it might be a spirited contest between the two cellar-dwellers of the NL East.
For starters, the lopsided result at The Ted last night resulted in one of the Phillies calling for a players-only team meeting immediately after the game. It’s unclear if this will have a huge effect on the handful of games that Philadelphia has left on their schedule, but it is admirable that someone in that locker room cares enough to call an urgent team meeting when the season is basically over and done. It may not matter too much to players who probably won’t be there next year (such as tonight’s starter for Philly, Jeremy Hellickson) but the guys who will be around as the Phillies continue to rebuild will probably appreciate it, and they may come out fired up for tonight’s game against the Braves.
Meanwhile, the Braves are just trying to keep the good times rolling. It’s been a lovely month for our guys, and a win tonight would be a nice way to end the season within the division. Freddie Freeman’s lengthy hitting streak is still alive, the Braves offense as a whole is still clicking in a major way, and they’ll have Josh Collmenter going for them tonight. Collmenter has pitched very well in both of his starts for Atlanta, and if things continue to go well for Collmenter and the Braves keep on hitting, then the team meeting probably won’t matter much for Philly and we’ll probably see yet another Braves victory in September.
It’s taken a while for things to actually get fun for the Braves, but it’s happened. It’s a shame that this didn’t happen until the end of the season, but here’s hoping that the good times continue into next season, right? Also, this is Ryan Howard’s final game at Turner Field — never again will he torment the Braves at this ballpark after tonight, because surely this won’t translate to SunTrust Park. Hallelujah.
Game Info
Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016, 7:10 pm ET
Location: Turner Field, Atlanta, GA
TV: Fox Sports Southeast
Radio: WYAY 106.7, Braves Radio Network, 680 AM / 93.7 FM