Braves split 4-game series with Mets
The Good: It’s great to see Tim Hudson back and healthy. He shut out the Mets for 6 innings on Saturday. He gave up 5 hits, walked none, and struck out 1. … Rafael Furcal continues to turn his season around, going 6-for-14 in the series to raise his batting average to .261. … John Smoltz and former Brave Tom Glavine battled mano-a-mano, finishing in a dead heat, 1 run apiece, after 7 innings. The one difference was the Braves scored a run for Smoltz off Roberto Hernandez in the 8th, giving him his 10th win of the season (and 6th straight win). He allowed 4 hits, walked only 1 and K’d 5, including the 2,500th strikeout of his career. … Jay Powell pitched a scoreless inning of relief on Sunday and appears ready to be an integral part of the Braves bullpen the second half of the season. It’s my belief he may actually be called upon to close games later this season if Chris Reitsma should lose the job due to injury or underperformance.
The Bad: Kelly Johnson is still slumping. He was 2-for-16 in the series and popped up a critical suicide squeeze that would have put the Braves ahead late in Thursday’s game. … Marcus Giles missed Thursday night’s game with flulike symptoms after taking a vacation in the Bahamas during the All-Star break with some teammates. He then went 1-for-12 in the final 3 games of the series. … Ryan Langerhans was 2-for-11 in the 4-game set.
The Ugly: If Mike Hampton is ready to help the Braves overtake the Nationals in the 2nd half, he didn’t show it Sunday. He was battered by the Mets for 5 runs on 7 hits in just 2 innings of work. There seems to be no indication that his prior injury bothered him and we’ll just have to hope he can return to his old self starting next Saturday.
