Medlen Struggles, Braves Drop The Series

In a game that saw the Braves pound out 19 hits and 13 runs last night, the Braves offense was kept mostly quiet today by Phillies’ starter Jonathan Pettibone as the Phillies take two of three against the Braves by beating them 7-3.

While Medlen was vying for his fourth straight win and shake off some of the poor run support and bad luck he ran into in the early part of this year, he most certainly did not help himself today. Medlen went only 5 1/3 innings and gave eight hits, seven runs (six earned), walked three and struck out five while giving up a home run to Domonic Brown.

In case you missed it B.J. Upton was ejected today by home plate umpire Doug Eddings arguing balls and strikes. If you’re keeping track at home, that was three, count ’em, three people ejected by the umpiring crew for this series. Now I’m not one to call out an umpiring crew (with the exception of Sam Holbrook) but anytime you have to eject three people, two players and a manager, during a series you have to question yourself.

The Braves did try to manage a rally in the seventh inning but it was to no avail when B.J. Upton and Freddie Freeman both went down on strikes to end the rally. The Braves were 2-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. It’s been a struggle all year for the Braves, and something has to happen soon with the RISP stat or things could get ugly. Not saying they will, but could.

Looking for some positives in this game? Well, Brian McCann has started to turn up the heat at the plate. McCann extended his hitting streak to eight games and is batting .594 during this streak. Today he was 3-4 with a run scored and has seen his average go up above the .300 mark at .304.

Chris Johnson continues to get the job done at the plate. Johnson launched his sixth home run of the year and also stretched his hitting streak to eight games.  Although he was 1-4 in today’s game, Johnson is still batting .332 for the season, and has had some big time at bats this year while playing a fairly decent third base.

The Braves now hop on a plane and will take their collective talents down to Miami where they will square off against

LeBron James and the

Miami

Heat

Marlins in a three game set where I am sure the fans will be out in droves to watch their beloved

Heat

Marlins.