Francoeur’s Phillies Knock On Wood’s Braves 5-2

First it was Dan Uggla.  Tonight it was Jeff Francoeur.  How many former Braves are going to have their way with the Atlanta pitching staff?  Francouer had four hits and two RBI’s as the Philadelphia Phillies defeat the Atlanta Braves 5-2.  Alex Wood dug a hole in the first inning that the Atlanta offense could never get out of.  It’s amazing how little run support Woody gets in his starts.  He was far from spectacular, going just 4.1 innings and allowing 3 ER.

Aaron Harang has pitched well for the Phillies this year.  He went six innings allowing just one earned run, an RBI single from Freddie Freeman to score Andrelton Simmons in the sixth inning.  Maybe John Hart should have considered giving Harang another one year contract with the Braves.  Harang gives his team a quality start just about every time he takes the mound.  The bullpen operates normally every fifth day in a Harang start.

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The bullpen did alright in 4.2 innings of work, 2 earned runs between five guys.  I felt like Philadelphia could have scored more runs tonight as no Braves pitcher really had a great sense of the strike zone.  The at bat between Luis Avilan and Ben Revere best illustrates the kind of night it was for the Braves bullpen.  Avilan’s release point on his changeup kept making the offspeed pitch dart towards Revere’s head.  The second loose change miraculously avoided Revere’s gut and hit the knob of his bat.  AJ Pierzynski then promptly called a fastball outside to end the nonsense as Revere struck out swinging to end the top of the eighth inning.

Simmons and Freeman continue to swing the bat well.  The problem with the Braves at the plate tonight was that they just left too many guys stranded in scoring position.  This hasn’t been lingering problem for Atlanta this year so hopefully it was just part of tonight’s loss.

Tomorrow’s starters are Shelby Miller for the Braves and Chad Billingsley for the Phillies.  Miller has looked good so far in his first five starts for the Braves.  Billingsley will make his first Major League start since April 2013 when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers before arm trouble derailed this former All-Star.  First pitch is at 7:10 PM ET.