Miracle on Hank Aaron Drive: Late Long Bombs Lead Atlanta

ATLANTA 4, PHILADELPHIA 3

The Phillies have now had their Tommy Hanson-Rafael Soriano moment. After a dominating performance by starter Kyle Kendrick, Charlie Manuel turned the 3-0 game over to his closer and could only watch as the Braves went on to win the game 4-3.

Kendrick, who had an ERA of 17.27 in 5 2/3 innings over two starts, simply dominated the Braves with his sinker. The one inning he ran into trouble in was the fourth. Martin Prado singled with one out and Chipper Jones hit a double off the right-field wall to move Martin to third base. Brian McCann was intentionally walked to get to Troy Glaus. Glaus to grounded to Polanco at third to start an inning-ending double play.

The Braves didn't have another base runner until McCann singled in the seventh. A walk to Nate McLouth in the eighth inning provided the Braves with their only other baserunner against Kendrick. The Phillies starter went eight innings and allowed four hits and two walks, striking out two Braves hitters.

Tommy Hanson, on the other hand, had a strange game. He pitched well, but the Phillies lineup made him throw a lot of pitches and got a couple of runs thanks to some funky hits. With one out, Chase Utley checked his swing on a full-count pitch and ended up grounding the ball down the line past third base for a freak double. Ryan Howard then grounded into the overshift, but the ball kicked off of Glaus's glove for a single, allowing Utley to score. In the fifth, Placido Polanco had a similar double to Utley's hit.

Hanson was removed after 4 2/3 innings in favor of Eric O'Flaherty to face the lefty Phillie mashers. Utley foiled that plan by singling up the middle, scoring Polanco and putting the Phillies up 2-0. O'Flaherty got Howard to line out to Glaus to end the inning.

Peter Moylan pitched a scoreless inning and Kris Medlen went two innings. He allowed a run on two singles and a fielder's choice in the seventh, but didn't allow anymore damage. Jesse Chavez pitched a scoreless ninth for the Braves.

In the bottom of the inning, the Phillies brought in Ryan Madson, who was 3-3 in save opportunities this year. Prado, the leadoff batter, grounded out to short to start the inning. Jones then coaxed a walk out of Madson to bring up McCann. The Braves catcher lined out to Raul Ibanez in left for the second out. Glaus then swung and missed at a fastball then watched a pitch in the dirt. The next pitch, a fastball down the middle, was deposited in the left-field seats. Jason Heyward, who was 0-3 on the day, was next. He watched a fastball on the outside corner then got a change-up down the middle of the plate. The ball ended up in the right-field seats and the game was tied.

The Phillies didn't score off of their former closer Billy Wagner in the top of the tenth, so Manuel sent in The Ageless One (as Braves announcer Joe Simpson called him) Jose Contreras to pitch the frame. Braves outfielder Nate McLouth was the first to face him. The struggling center fielder tomahawked a 2-2 pitch to give the Braves an improbable victory. The whole team went into the clubhouse so as McLouth returned to the dugout, there wasn't anyone but a batboy there. The team celebrated in the hallway to the dugout instead.

My Take and Odds 'N Ends: I was prepared to accept defeat, but knowing that Kyle Kendrick was coming out of the game gave the Braves players and their fans (including me) some hope. It paid off immensely.

When I said the Phillies now have their Hanson-Soriano moment, I was referring to a game on September 9th last year where the Braves got eight innings of five-hit shutout ball from Hanson and he had only thrown 98 pitches. Despite that, Cox put in Soriano to close the game, when he had pitched in three of the last four days. Almost like clockwork, the Astros scored two runs with a single, double, intentional walk and another single to win the game. Thankfully, I think Cox is shying away from that type of managing this early on in the season.

All alone, Jason Heyward has driven in 25% of the Braves' runs (16 of 64). Far and away, he's the best player at adding Win Probability percentage points for his team (2.6 total), which is twice the total of Brian McCann's amount (1.3). For what it's worth, the Braves player right now who has the lowest total is Troy Glaus (-1.6).

Outfielders: Promise And Potential, And Hopefully No Duds

It's the Braves outfielders' turn!

LF Matt Diaz - (425 PA, .313/.390/.488, 18 2B, 4 3B, 13 HR, 58 RBI, 35/90 BB/K, 133 OPS+)
LF Melky Cabrera - (540 PA, .274/.336/.416, 28 2B, 1 3B, 13 HR, 68 RBI, 43/59 BB/K, 99 OPS+)
CF Nate McLouth (total stats PIT and ATL) - (591 PA, .256/.352/.436, 27 2B, 2 3B, 20 HR, 70 RBI, 68/99 BB/K, 109 OPS+)
RF Jason Heyward (total stats with three teams) - (422 PA, .323/.408/.555, 25 2B, 4 3B, 17 HR, 63 RBI, 51/51 BB/K)
CF Jordan Schafer - (195 PA, .204/.313/.287, 8 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 27/63 BB/K)
UT Mitch Jones (2009 AAA Albuquerque) - (434 PA, .297/.364/.651, 26 2B, 3 3B, 35 HR, 103 RBI, 40/102 BB/K)

On the surface, the outfield spots are only half-settled. Realistically, the jobs are mostly set in stone, but a couple of players could force their way onto the Braves with strong springs.

Matt Diaz, picked up by the Braves for minor league pitcher Ricardo Rodriguez just four years ago, has flat out hit ever since he came to Atlanta. His 2009 season made up for a mostly-lost 2008 campaign; his OPS, OPS+, RBIs, homers, and stolen bases were all career-high totals. However, he will most likely remain a platoon partner for a left-handed batter. What supports that is Diaz's career OPS splits:

Career vs. RHP: .722 OPS
Career vs. LHP: .921 OPS

The most-likely platoon partner for Diaz should be the Braves' newest acquisition Melky Cabrera. After being signed to a $3.1 million one-year contract, the former Yankee outfielder is one of the first in line to get an outfield spot on the club.

Some Braves fans may argue that he doesn't deserve a spot with the club because of his weak statistics for an outfielder. For his carer, Cabrera has a .269/.331/.385 line with just 36 home runs (13 coming last year, nine in New Yankee Stadium). He's similar to Martin Prado in that he doesn't walk or strike out much (43/59 BB/K in 540 PA last year). The light slugging could prove to be a problem, but Diaz should be able to balance it out like last year.

Nate McLouth will be manning center field full-time for the Braves in the 2010 season. His splits with Pittsburgh and Atlanta were nearly identical except for slugging (.470 with the Pirates, .419 with the Braves). McLouth was knocked out of action for about a month with a left hamstring injury and felt the effects of it for a while. He should be healthy for the season and be able to return to the form that he had in his breakout 2008 season.

The most important player in the Braves' outfield mix is one who was named MLB.com's top prospect last week. Jason Heyward earned that ranking with a very strong 2009 campaign, spanning three levels. The Braves have made it clear that he'll be given every chance possible to make the Braves out of spring. If so, it's also possible that he could produce right out of the gate and improve the right field position's black hole from last year.

Two wild cards to make the team are Jordan Schafer and Mitch Jones. Schafer, who started the year with the big club and hit two home runs in his major league debut, injured his wrist making a diving catch and wasn't effective since then. There is a possibility that if Cabrera underperforms and Schafer has another strong spring that Melky would be traded to make room for Schafer on the roster.

The last candidate is career minor leaguer Mitch Jones who had a monster season in Class AAA Albuquerque. He could get a utility role because he has experience in the outfield and the infield corners.

The Braves outfield last year started with such promise, went through some turmoil, but eventually stabilized. The outfielders should be able to provide much more stability throughout the 2010 season.

Pirates Frustrate Braves Bats, Hand Them Fourth Straight Loss

PITTSBURGH 3, ATLANTA 0

Starter Paul Maholm and the Pirates continued the trend of Atlanta's ineptitude against left-handed pitching, dealing Jair Jurrjens a hard-luck 3-0 loss. Wasted scoring chances plagued the Braves the entire game as they left six runners in scoring position, four against starting pitcher Paul Maholm and one against reliever John Grabow.

The only run of the game was scored in the second inning. After Brandon Moss had a leadoff triple (the second of the game, probably caused by Jordan Schafer's inexperience in attempting to catch each ball), he scored on a one-out groundout to Kelly Johnson up the middle, who made a nice play on the ball. The Braves had the bases loaded with no one out in the ninth, but Casey Kotchman popped up to the catcher for a rare infield fly rule call. Jordan Schafer then bounced out into a double play to end the inning.

Pittsburgh's 1-0 lead held up the entire game as the Braves continued to leave men on base (nine in total). Jair Jurrjens pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up just the one run and striking out seven batters. He left the game in the seventh inning after walking two straight Pirate batters. Peter Moylan finished the inning by getting pinch-hitter Delmon Young to pop up in foul ground.

Nate McLouth gave Pittsburgh some insurance with a two-run home run off of Braves closer Mike Gonzalez in the eighth. Matt Capps pitched the ninth for his third save.

It seemed all night that in scoring chances, the Braves hit balls right at Pirate fielders. Quite frankly, it was a particularly frustrating loss. Hopefully, the Braves bats decide to wake up tomorrow against Ian Snell.

W - Paul Maholm (2-0)
L - Jair Jurrjens (2-1)
S - Matt Capps (3)
HR - Nate McLouth (3)

THREE STARS

GOLD
P Paul Maholm, Pittsburgh - 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO, W

SILVER
P Jair Jurrjens, Atlanta - 6 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO, L; 1-1, BB

BRONZE
CF Nate McLouth, Pittsburgh - 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI

AP Photo by John Heller