B-Ray-ves Report: Shut Out & Rained Out

Nate McLouth’s “O-face” wasn’t exactly the “O” the Braves were looking for as they were shutout 4-0 by Milwaukee in McLouth’s debut. (Photo: AP Photo/John Bazemore)

In this “B-Ray-ves Report,” we discuss the good and bad of Yunel Escobar’s defense while the Braves were shut out 4-0 by Yovani Gallardo and the Milwaukee Brewers. The Rays’ were rained out, but play today at 1:05. King David Price will be matched up against Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia:

Current Series:

Atlanta -

Friday: Brewers 4, Braves 0 (WP - Gallardo, LP - Jurrjens)
Saturday: vs. Milwaukee - 7:00 PM EST (Vazquez - Suppan)
Sunday: vs. Milwaukee - 1:30 PM EST (Hanson - Parra)

On Deck: Four game series vs. Pittsburgh Pirates beginning Monday

Tampa Bay -

Saturday: @ New York (A) - 1:05 PM EST (Price - Sabathia)
Sunday: @ New York (A) - 1:05 PM EST (Garza - Chamberlain)
Monday: @ New York (A) - 7:05 PM EST (Sonnanstine - Pettitte)

On Deck: Three game series @ Los Angeles of Anaheim beginning Tuesday

Yesterday’s Triple Play:

Atlanta -

Something Positive: Showing the Range/Cannon - On a night when the Braves didn’t hit and had two errors, little positive can be taken, but Yunel Escobar did give the fans in attendance something to cheer about when he made a running play deep in the hole at shortstop and firing back across the diamond while still on the move to nail J.J. Hardy. It was impressive that Yunel got to the ball, but the throw was perfect — no bounce, right on target, just a seed across the diamond. Honorable Mentions: Nate McLouth makes his debut in an Atlanta uniform.

Something Negative: 5th inning D - Yunel’s defense also was the predicator of many a sigh and moan in Turner Field last night when he made an error and botched what should have been an inning-ending double play both during the fifth inning. Escobar made a nice diving stop to his right on a hard hit ground ball by Ryan Braun but made an ill-advised throw to second base that was off the mark (and it didn’t help that Kelly Johnson made no effort to knock the ball down). The error advanced the runners to second and third forcing an intentional walk of Prince Fielder with first base open. After the walk, JJ induced a routine ground ball that Escobar either took his eye off of or was distracted by the advancing runner. The ball rolled up his body and hit the ground in front of him. Yunel corralled the ball and got a force out at second but a run scored when the Braves didn’t turn the double play.  Honorable Mention: Gallardo shuts down the offense (8 IP, 2 H, 0 R).

Something Crazy: Back to No Support - Jair Jurrjens has been the Braves best pitcher thus far in the season. Despite giving up 9 earned runs in his last two starts, Jurrjens still has a 2.84 ERA. However, he’s only 5-3 in 12 starts. The reason is simple — a lack of run support. Friday night marked the third time Jurrjens has gotten zero runs scored while he was pitching. Besides JJ’s last outing against Arizona when the Braves finally scored him some runs, the Braves have scored 26 runs while Jurrjens has been pitching in his 11 other starts. That’s only 2.4 runs per game! Tough to pick up Ws when you are required to hold the opposition to two runs or less (I mean how many people have ERA’s below 2 these days?).

Tampa Bay -

Something Positive: rained out.

Something Negative: rained out.

Something Crazy: rained out

Team Leaders:

Atlanta -

Starter’s ERA
1. Jair Jurrjens - 2.84
2. Derek Lowe - 3.40
3. Javier Vazquez - 3.58

Tampa Bay -

Starter’s ERA
1. James Shields - 3.40
2. Matt Garza - 3.67
3. Jeff Niemann - 3.77
***David Price has a 3.00 ERA, but only 9 IP thus far.

Standings:

NL East

AL East

Shotgun Spratling

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