Sunday Night Baseball: Dodgers at Braves
Sunday Night Baseball: Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Braves
A hot August night in Atlanta sets the scene for the ESPN Sunday night showdown between the Braves and the Dodgers at Turner Field.
Dodger All-Star Chad Billingsley (10-6 3.96 ERA) matches serve with Jair Jurrjens (9-7 2.69 ERA) in a battle of promising right-handers.
Second-half track
Coasting along with the biggest lead at the All-Star break, the Dodgers headed into Atlanta at 7-7 post-break, including 1-3 away from Chavez Ravine.
Meanwhile, the Braves’ 9-5 mark since the break, including 6-2 at home, has put them back in the in the National East chase, trailing the second place Florida Marlins by two games.
Leading the surge has been outfielder Garret Anderson. Heading into the series opener on Friday, Anderson was riding an MLB-best .465 batting average in 12 games since the All-Star break, including four home runs and eight RBIs.
Black-and-blue
Be sure to check out the status of outfielder Ryan Church, shortstop Yunel Escobar and second baseman Martin Prado. All three players were on the pine nursing injuries prior to the start of this series.
Church was scratched in favor of Matt Diaz. Diaz has been good against the Marlins historically, and Church is still experiencing some soreness in his hyper extended right elbow. He was not available to pinch-hit.
Escobar (sore right wrist) left Thursday’s game in Florida.
Prado took a Matt Diaz line drive off his left ankle during batting practice Thursday. He was not available off the bench because of swelling.
"He makes the lineup go,” said manager Bobby Cox on Prado, who has sparked the Braves' offense since becoming the starting second baseman and batting second in the order.
Missing pieces
Both teams made moves to bolster their roster before the non-waiver trade deadline.
L.A. acquired former All-Star closer George Sherrill from Baltimore on Thursday. Sherrill is most welcome considering the Dodgers bullpen had pitched a staggering 354 innings this season prior to the start of this series. The key is that Sherrill has pitched just 41 1-3 innings, far fewer than any of the relievers who have been in the Dodgers’ bullpen continuously since opening day.
However, the move didn’t please shortstop Rafael Furcal. He was hoping the Dodgers would add a main arm to the starting staff.
"Right now, this team is special, very special. It reminds me of some of those really good teams I played for in Atlanta,” Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal told reporters.
Meanwhile the Braves sent Casey Kotchman to the Red Sox for Andy LaRoche in a swap of first basemen.
LaRoche, who previously played for the Braves from 2004-06, has hit at least 20 homers each of the past four seasons, while Kotchman hit a total of eight in the 130 games he played for the Braves.
The arms have it
Jurrjens allowed two runs on seven hits, walked one and had five strikeouts Tuesday night against the Marlins in Florida. He settled for a no decision. Jurrjens, who could easily be 13-3 on the season with a little better run support, is 3-0 with a 0.44 ERA his last three home starts
Billingsley had a one-hitter through five innings before coming apart in a 10-6 loss at St. Louis on Tuesday. The game was delayed for nearly an hour and a half because of a threat of heavy rain that never came.
Billingsley was tagged for four hits, six runs and six walks in 5 2-3 innings. The All-Star has struggled of late on the road where he is 2-3 with a 6.37 ERA his last five road starts.
Courageous call
While the Dodgers have won six games in a row away from home on Sundays, they had dropped six of their previous seven games at Turner Field prior to the start of this series.
It’s hard to overlook a pitcher who has been perfect in his MLB career against tonight’s opponent (Jurrjens, 2-0 1.38 ERA) versus another that is winless lifetime (Billingsley, 0-2 7.86 ERA) against Atlanta. Be brave and back Atlanta.
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