Braves drop 2 of 3 to the Padres
The Good: Ho-hum. Another great series for Jeff Francoeur. He tallied 6 hits in 13 plate appearances (wait, make that 14 – he actually walked for the first time, intentionally mind you), adding 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored. … Rafael Furcal and Marcus Giles were each 5-for-15 during the 3 games. … The Dr. Jekyll side of Horacio Ramirez made its appearance Saturday night as he held the Padres to 2 runs on 6 hits in 8 solid innings. It was, of course, a home game. … John Smoltz took care of business as usual and, as usual it seems, had nothing to show for it at the end of the night. 7 innings, 2 runs, both earned, 8 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts comprised his laudable line Sunday night. … Jim Brower is gone (for now). Yippee! 
The Bad: Mike Hampton gives up 7 earned runs on 11 hits to a sub-.500 ball club in 3 1/3 innings. This is ridiculous. Send him down for more rehab or disable him. … The dog days of summer are taking their toll on Andruw Jones apparently. He was 1-for-9 in the series and begged off a start to rest. In seasons past you would have to drag him out of the lineup kicking and screaming. Of course, these are petty complaints when you take into account his home run total that still leads the majors and the exceptional defense he plays. … Speaking of tolls being taken, Brian McCann was 1-for-9 in the series. This is understandable as he started 14 straight games! 
To say Bobby Cox has little confidence in Brayan Pena is an understatement. … Chipper Jones cooled off a bit, going 2-for-11 in the set.
The Ugly: It was unfortunately a very memorable major league debut for Braves rookie pitcher Joey Devine. After being called up from Class AA Mississippi early Saturday morning (and getting 45 minutes of sleep) the much-heralded reliever gave up a decisive grand slam to Xavier Nady in the 13th inning. He had pitched reasonably well up to that point with 1 of the 2 walks he issued being intentional. There’s little doubt this kid will bounce back and likely be a key in rebuilding the shaky bullpen.
