Braves Weekly Wrap-up

The roller coaster ride that is the Atlanta Braves’ season continued this week.  After winning 5 out of 6 last week, the Braves came into this week with lots of momentum.  The momentum, however, did not carry over to this week.  The week began with a three game sweep to the Yankees.  Although the losses hurt, it’s perhaps the way in which the Braves lost that is most alarming.  In the first game, the Braves were shutout by Yankees starter Ivan Nova.  Randall Delgado threw 5 innings and gave up 3 runs.  The game Tuesday against the Yankees was perhaps the most disturbing.  In Tuesday’s game, Alex Rodriguez tied the game in the eighth inning with a grand slam off of Braves reliever Jonny Venters.  After one of Mike Minor’s best outings of the year, Atlanta’s setup man continued to struggle, blowing the lead and costing Minor a win.  The final game in the home series with the Yankees on Wednesday was another case of Atlanta’s offense struggling to hit together.  Although they mustered 12 hits against the Yankees, they managed to score only two runs in a 3-2 defeat. 

Braves fans will no longer have to watch Livan Hernandez squander their leads.

                                              

The offense was rescued by rookie shortstop Andrelton Simmons in the series opener with the Orioles on Thursday.  With the Braves down 2-1 in the sixth, Simmons belted a 3-run homer to give the Braves a lead they would not lose.  Also in this game, Martin Prado proved why he is arguably the best utility player in the majors.  Filling in for an injured Freddie Freeman, Prado played first base like a perennial gold-glover.  The second game of the series with the Orioles did not go as planned for the Braves.  The only hit they managed off of Orioles starter Jason Hammel came in the 7^th inning off the bat of Jason Heyward.  The final game on Sunday was another example of the offense not hitting together.  They managed to get 7 hits off of the Orioles starters, yet they failed to score a run.  Randall Delgado’s best start of the year - an 8 IP, 3 H effort - was squandered.      

Beachy leaves his start on Saturday with arm discomfort

The biggest storyline of this week was the injury to Brandon Beachy.  Coming into the game on Saturday, Beachy was leading the majors in ERA at 1.98.  In Saturday’s game, he hadn’t allowed a baserunner going into the 4^th inning.  With two outs in the 4^th, he walked Chris Davis.  He was then removed from the game due to arm discomfort and placed on the 15 day DL shortly after the game.  The loss of Beachy makes an already shaky starting rotation even more questionable for the short future.  The Braves haven’t yet confirmed who Beachy’s replacement will be, but one can assume it will be either Kris Medlen or Julio Teheran.  Although Medlen is the more experienced pitcher, Teheran has very little left to prove in AAA.  At some point, the Braves have to call up Teheran for good if only to see whether or not he can be a successful major league starter.