Braves to See Familiar Faces When the Padres Come to Town
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Braves will see many familiar faces when the San Diego Padres come to town for a four game set this week. Atlanta and San Diego made two blockbuster trades this season. Former Braves Justin Upton, Melvin Upton, Jr. and Craig Kimbrel now play for Bud Black in southern California. Along with several promising prospects, Atlanta has both Cameron Maybin and Jace Peterson on the team because of these two trades.
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Atlanta (27-29) outside of yesterday’s shutout has been raking at the plate the last ten or so days. This new look team in 2015 can actually manufacture runs and hit sacrifice flies, foreign concepts to the disastrous 2014 club. While the bullpen hasn’t looked worse since 1990, it pitched four scoreless innings yesterday. President of Baseball Operations John Hart has made a few moves the last few days to help bolster this bullpen. Peter Moylan is in AAA Gwinnett with veterans David Aardsma and Dana Eveland joining him since being signed by the Braves this weekend.
San Diego (29-29) seems to have a hit-or-miss offense on their hands. Some days it’s like the ’27 Yankees, other days it’s the 2014 Atlanta Braves. Upton Funk will do that to you. I’m a little surprised that the Padres aren’t an above average pitching team under Bud Black (-0.9 WAA as a staff). His staffs usually thrive in spacious Petco Park. On paper I’m looking at this team it looks like a serious playoff contender when it all clicks for the Pads. Then again, we said the same things about the 2014 Atlanta Braves. I’m anxious to see what San Diego looks like in early June during this four game set with Atlanta.
Jun 2, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Shelby Miller throws in the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Tonight’s starters are Shelby Miller (5-2, 1.89 ERA) for the Braves and Ian Kennedy (3-5, 6.60 ERA) for the Padres. Miller is winless in his last three starts. His last outing against Arizona was by far his worst performance of the season, 4.1 IP, 6 BB’s, 4 ER’s. Shelby looks to get back on track tonight at Turner Field where he has allowed just 5 earned runs in 4 starts. Kennedy has given up 12 home runs in 9 starts for the Padres this season. He hasn’t gone more than two starts with out giving up at least 5 earned runs. With the way that both starters are pitching and how strong Atlanta’s offense has been recently, I’d be surprised if the Braves don’t win tonight.
Mike Foltynewicz (3-2, 4.29 ERA) is going to try his luck against ‘Big Game’ James Shields (7-0, 3.58 ERA) Tuesday night. Folty has been inconsistent for the Braves in his rookie year, though his walk totals have diminished in his last four starts. He’s still good for about 7 K’s a game, but I’m not liking how’s he clearly a flyball pitcher. His GO/AO ratio in each start has been sub 1.00, meaning he has recorded more outs in the air than on the ground. That’s not a good thing for a power pitcher as solid fastball connection can yield mammoth blasts if the location is poor. Shields has yet to lose since coming over to San Diego from Kansas City this offseason. He’s the type of pitcher you build your staff around. James has won every he has been (Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and now San Diego). He’s a tremendous competitor and I expect the Padres to lean on him during a probable postseason push during the Dog Days of Summer.
Williams Perez (1-0, 3.55 ERA) will take on Tyson Ross (3-5, 3.75 ERA) Wednesday night. There are things that I love about Williams Perez, especially the bite he gets on his breaking ball. But he’s also walked a lot of batters in his last two starts. I believe he can stay in the rotation so long as the walks don’t become an issue for the young Venezuelan. Ross was an All-Star for San Diego last year. Despite a losing record, he’s actually pitching fairly well. I think he’s not getting very much run support in his starts as he usually surrenders 2 or 3 ER’s per start.
May 3, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran (49) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds during the first inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
In the series finale Thursday afternoon, Julio Teheran (4-2, 4.87 ERA) squares off with Andrew Cashner (2-8, 4.05 ERA). Julio hasn’t won any of his last three starts. His ERA is over 5.00 in his last seven appearances for the Braves. I do think he pitched well Saturday night, going 7.1 innings and allowing 4 ER’s in a no-decision. He had more life on his fastball against the Pirates than he’s had all season. I can’t wait to see Teheran get back to being the top-end of the rotation starter we all know he is. Cashner has given up 12 ER’s in his last two starts for the Padres. He might be fallen victim to lack of run support just like his teammate Ross. Cashner at one point this season lost five consecutive starts without allowing more than 4 ER’s in any of them.
I’d like to think that Atlanta can win three of four against the Padres and get back to .500 before this upcoming weekend. If the offense continues to produce for the Braves and be an issue for the Padres, Atlanta could build some confidence by winning a series at home against a decent ball club. If Atlanta envisions itself as a playoff contender, it has to start winning series against teams in their realm like San Diego.