Too Little, Too Late: Braves 6, Phillies 4

by WholeCamels on Sep 19, 2009 9:59 PM EDT

Utterly dominated by a division foe for eight innings: Check

Starting pitcher exits after three ineffective innings due to injury: Check

Snooorrrrre for a couple hours: Check

Tease of a ninth inning rally: Check

Braves starter Javier Vazquez had another fine start in what has been one of his best seasons, going seven innings and allowing just three hits, striking out five Phillies.

More importantly, Pedro Martinez left the game after three innings with what appears to be a neck strain. He was ineffective while he was in the game, leaving us to wonder if that 130 pitch outing on Sunday is having a carryover effect. We'll probably never know for sure. Martinez allowed seven hits and three runs in his three innings, striking out just one.

The Braves scored six unanswered runs before the end of the fifth inning off Martinez and Chad Durbin. Matt Diaz, of course, kicked us in the crotch yet again, hitting a two run homer in the fifth inning to give the Braves a 6-0 and virtually put the game away.

The Phillies only scoring came in the ninth as the game already appeared to be in hand for Atlanta, as Ryan Howard rocked a two run home run to left off Braves reliever Rafael Soriano. Pinch hitter Matt Stairs followed with a double down the first base line, and Raul Ibanez walked, putting the tying run on deck. Pedro Feliz proceeded to pop up to left, and pinch hitter Shane Victorino followed with a strikeout. Another pinch hitter, Greg Dobbs, lined a single to right, driving in pinch runner Eric Bruntlett, and Jimmy Rollins followed up with another RBI single.

Ben Francisco, representing the go-ahead run, popped out to right fielder Matt Diaz (naturally), ending the game.

Well, rats.

Season series with Atlanta closes tomorrow afternoon, as the Braves' Tommy Hanson takes on Cliff Lee for the Phillies.

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Cliff Lee vs. Tommy Hanson

Should be a good matchup. If I remember right we didn’t really get much of a look at Hanson last time because of a rain delay. Hanson’s recent outings look like Cliff Lee’s in early August: one run on two hits in five innings (another rain outing?) followed by two starts, no runs allowed against the Astros and Mets.

by phillyinportland on Sep 19, 2009 10:22 PM EDT reply actions

Great caption.

Maybe it was just me, but this game had a distinct “We just needed to make sure we didn’t get swept this series, and we already won Game 1 last night” feel to it.

And as a side note… I, for one, am glad that it took the Braves so long to get their offense to any sort of functioning level this year, because if this division race were nip and tuck right now, I’d be terrified of trying to beat out a team that’s running a rotation of Vazquez/Hanson/Lowe/Hudson/Jurrjens out there.

by PhillyFriar on Sep 19, 2009 10:57 PM EDT reply actions

Unintentionally hilarious?

Caption of the photo accompanying this post.

by phatj on Sep 19, 2009 11:11 PM EDT reply actions

or intentional?

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Sep 19, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions

We may never know

by phatj on Sep 20, 2009 8:43 AM EDT up reply actions

YES WE DO

I Wrote it! ME me me!

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Sep 20, 2009 9:29 AM EDT up reply actions

Should be a great game tomorrow

Hanson vs Lee could be magical. And I know there’s been a lot of bitching and fighting this season between Braves and Phillies fans, but it really has been a great season series. Everything from:

Derek Lowe dominating on opening night (seems like that was just yesterday, huh?)
Phillies scoring 8 runs in game 3 to win 11-10.
Howard and Diaz hitting TWELVE homers combined in 18 games.
And so on and so forth…

Tomorrow should be fun.

Frank Wren for GM of the Year.
"Wait, bait and bash." - Jason Heyward's personal philosophy.

by Scott Coleman on Sep 20, 2009 1:31 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Yeah it is nice that the Braves and Marlins have been doing pretty well since the Mets went kerplatt. I actually am glad the Phillies are not in the situation the Cardinals are in, where everything is pretty much over with. Not only does that make for less interesting games, but I have a feeling it can negatively impact a team’s ability to focus at a high level going into the playoffs.

by Whack8888 on Sep 20, 2009 2:18 AM EDT up reply actions